Pokemon GO Halloween 2022: Predicted debuts, megas, shinies, and more

With October arriving in only a few days, Pokemon GO trainers are looking forward to the game's upcoming Halloween celebrations. Although Niantic has yet to release details about the festivities, that hasn't stopped the community from attempting to find out what additions may be on the horizon.

Details about the Halloween event will likely arrive next week, but many players and community groups have already used datamining information to make educated guesses as to what may be introduced when the Halloween festivities begin. One such group, known as PoGOCentral on Twitter, compiled their predictions for what awaits trainers on the horizon.

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Pokemon GO: PoGOCentral's predictions and their plausibility

October 2022's Community Day has been confirmed to center around Litwick (Image via Niantic)

Apart from October's Community Day, Niantic hasn't released much information about the events for the month. However, PoGOCentral has looked at previous trends that Niantic has followed to predict what the developers may introduce this year. Furthermore, the group has backed up some of their claims through the use of recent datamining discoveries made by groups such as PokeMiners.

Until Niantic confirms or denies these speculations, they should be taken with a grain of salt. However, there's nothing wrong with theorizing about what's to come in the month of October.

In previous years, Niantic has usually introduced a new Pokemon every October. These Pokemon tend to be either Dark or Ghost-types, and PoGOCentral has predicted that either Sandygast or Mimikyu may be included for Halloween this time around.

Mimikyu, in particular, has often been requested by the mobile title's community, and leaks in previous months seem to be pointing to its arrival sooner rather than later.

Sandygast is also an intriguing inclusion, as it would provide a particularly unique elemental typing of Ground and Ghost to Pokemon GO. The Pokemon also evolves into Palossand, increasing its overall stats and presumptively its CP in the mobile title. It's unclear how Palossand would fit into the PvE and PvP meta, but its unique typing may make it a niche pick in some circles.

Another major Pokemon GO prediction is backed by recent datamining revelations. Dataminers have found the presence of Mega Energy for Banette. This has led PoGOCentral to believe Mega Banette will soon be available, either shortly before the Halloween event begins or right after it kicks off. Considering Banette's status as a Ghost-type Pokemon, it is a natural fit for the Halloween season.

PoGOCentral also predicted that a new shiny Pokemon would be released during Halloween, as Niantic has done during previous Halloween events. While it's unclear as to which Pokemon will receive the shiny treatment, PoGOCentral has speculated that Golurk may be the lucky pick. This is due to Golurk emerging in recent months during various events. Shiny Stunky has also been pitched, as it's a Dark-type Pokemon, and PoGOCentral considers its shiny form to be "long overdue."

Apart from this, PoGOCentral speculated about Pokemon would arrive as 5-star raid bosses. Darkrai has been a fixture in the past few years due to its Dark typing and intimidating appearance, but there is a second prediction that is more interesting.

PoGOCentral thinks that Origin Forme Giratina may return to Pokemon GO. This would undoubtedly incentivize plenty of trainers not normally interested in Halloween to attend the events for its raids. Origin Forme Giratina is a popular pick in Pokemon GO's Master League PvP, so many Pokemon GO trainers would go the distance to capture the mighty Ghost/Dragon-type.

Until Niantic makes official announcements, these predictions remain speculative, but the Mega Banette theory does have some datamined information to back it up. Pokemon GO trainers will simply have to wait and see what develops as October and Halloween approach in earnest for the mobile title.