The story of the release of Kecleon in Pokémon GO goes back years. Now, with the announcement of the Hoenn Tour in 2023, it should finally be time. But Niantic has been very unclear.
What’s up with Kecleon? The Pokémon is something special, especially in Pokémon GO. Since the release of the mobile game in 2016, there has been no trace of Kecleon. This is not because it visually resembles a chameleon: it simply hasn’t had a release and remains the last monster from the Hoenn region that is not yet in the game. It is quite possible that its camouflage abilities are hindering its release.
But now the big Hoenn Tour has been announced. In February, you will encounter Pokémon from Gen 3. But what about Kecleon?
Unclear announcement of the Hoenn Pokémon by Niantic
This is what the developers say: A few days ago, Niantic announced the Hoenn Tour. In February 2023, the event will take place on-site in Las Vegas and the following weekend as a global event. On Twitter, the team wrote:
The Pokémon of the Hoenn region are taking over Sunset Park, when the #PokemonGOTour comes to Las Vegas in February 2023! Spend an unforgettable day with trainers from all over the world! And who knows what Pokémon await you 😉
On the tour website, it says “Complete your Hoenn Pokédex!” So the clear goal is to fill the Pokédex with all Pokémon from this region.
Here it gets unclear: Niantic writes here in the German announcement (via pokemongolive.com): “Make your way to Las Vegas to catch all the Pokémon you know from Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire – or join the global event the following weekend!”
In the original announcement in English, however, a distinction is clearly made, and a line is drawn. Niantic writes, “have a chance to catch most Pokémon from the Hoenn Region of Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire.” So it’s only about the “most Pokémon” from the Hoenn region and not “all the Pokémon” from the Hoenn region.
It could be a translation error in the German announcement. However, they also write in English “Complete your Hoenn Pokédex.” Even there it is about completing.
This is how trainers react: On Twitter, trainers express confusion about the announcement. Joe Merrick, the operator of the website Serebii.net, writes, “They’re not going to give us Kecleon, are they?”
In the comments, trainers point out that in the previous Johto Tour, the English announcement explicitly mentioned “All Pokémon originally discovered in the Johto region.”
What are the theories? There is a possibility that Niantic was simply unclear in the announcement and that Kecleon will be released during the Hoenn Tour 2023. After all, the announcement graphic featuring Proto-Groudon and Proto-Kyogre also had an error that the team only corrected after the release.
However, there is also a chance that they are deliberately speaking of the “most” Pokémon from the Hoenn region and that there was a mistake in the German translation.
