Pokemon Go Tour: Kanto includes encounters with Shiny Ditto and Shiny Mew

Pokemon Go Tour: Kanto
(Image credit: Niantic)

Niantic has revealed a bunch of new details about what to expect from the upcoming Pokemon Go Tour: Kanto event, kicking off February 20.

First and foremost, the event will give everyone a chance to catch two quite rare Pokemon. If you manage to complete every task in Professor Willow's Special Research storyline, you'll encounter a Shiny Ditto as a reward for your efforts.

For finishing the event-exclusive Pokemon Go Tour: Kanto Special Research, you'll also unlock a brand new research type, called Masterwork Research, which Niantic says will require "determination and skill to complete." You'll need to earn your platinum Kanto medal just to finish the first page of Masterwork Research, and then you'll need to get to level 40, catch 40 Pokemon of each type, spin 151 unique PokeStops, walk 151km (I'm panting just thinking of that), and do some other unspecified stuff to earn yourself an encounter with Shiny Mew.

For the duration of the event, you'll have access to 10 Collection Challenges that vary based on your ticket color - for more on that, here's our guide to Pokemon Go Tour: Kanto Red and Green tickets and which version you should pick. For the quick and dirty, essentially the color of your ticket determines which Pokemon will be attracted to incense and which ones have a higher chance of being shiny. 

The other Collection Challenges are themed around locations from the original games, including Pallet Town, Pewter City, Cerulean City, Fuchsia City, and Pokemon League. Each location will get two hour-long blocks during the event where the Pokemon from those regions will appear in the wild, and all Pokemon will appear for the last two hours. Here's the complete schedule courtesy of Niantic:

  • 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.: Pallet Town
  • 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.: Pewter City
  • 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.: Cerulean City
  • 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.: Fuchsia City
  • 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.: Pokémon League
  • 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.: Pallet Town
  • 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.: Pewter City
  • 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.: Cerulean City
  • 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.: Fuchsia City
  • 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.: Pokémon League
  • 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.: Pokémon from all previous hours

In case you haven't bought your ticket yet, you have until February 20 at 7pm local time to do so.

If you want to make the most of your time during the event, don't miss our list of essential Pokemon Go tips.

Jordan Gerblick

After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer, I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.