This generation arrived with Pokémon Gold and Silver alongside a host of popular features, including eggs, baby Pokémon, a host of legendary Pokémon, shiny forms and two new types - dark and steel.
Just like every other generation in Pokémon Go - Gen 1, Gen 3, Gen 4, Gen 5, Gen 6 and Gen 8 - the Pokémon of Gen 2 were gradually released into the game, with some arriving a number of years after its initial release.
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We didn’t, however, have to wait long for the true force of Gen 2 to arrive, because, on February 16th 2017, 84 Pokémon from Gen 2 were introduced into Pokémon Go. With seven notable exceptions, you could now catch every Gen 2 Pokémon from Chikorita to Tyranitar.
Alongside these Pokémon a new evolution method was introduced - item evolution. Taking direct inspiration from Gold, Silver and Crystal, items like the Sun Stone and King’s Rock can be used to evolve specific Pokémon. As long as you have the right amount of candy, of course.
After this, the next Gen 2 Pokémon would be released on July 22nd 2017 when, alongside Articuno, Lugia was released in five-star raids to celebrate the release of legendary Pokémon into the game.
The legendary dog trio - Raikou, Entei and Suicune - were the next Gen 2 Pokémon to be released on August 31st 2017. For the first month of their release, each legendary dog was only available in five-star raids in a specific region, but they would later be made available to every trainer around the world through a variety of means.
Gen 2’s final legendary Pokémon - Ho-Oh - was released into five-star raids on November 27th, 2017. It would be followed by Delibird on December 21st 2017, which, since its release, has remained an event-exclusive Pokémon - only appearing during the December holiday event.
Celebi, Gen 2’s mythical Pokémon, was released during Go Fest 2018 and became available to all players via The Ripple in Time special research quest, which was released on August 20th 2018. The shiny version of Celebi would later become available through the limited-time special research quest, Distracted by Something Shiny.
Smeargle, the final Gen 2 Pokémon to be released, arrived on February 25th 2019, alongside the new Go Snapshot feature. The only way to catch this Pokémon is to use the Go Snapshot feature and hope that Smeargle photobombs one of your pictures; since this occurs randomly, Smeargle can be one of the hardest Gen 2 Pokémon for players to catch.
Gen 2, similar to Gen 1, has experienced a number of small changes as the other generations have been released.
The most notable is how a number of Pokémon, such as Sneasel and Piloswine, gained new evolutions as Gen 4 was gradually released. To obtain these evolutions you need to gather a specific amount of candy for the Pokémon you wish to evolve and a Sinnoh Stone. With these items in hand, you can finally evolve the Gen 2 Pokémon, such as Togetic into Togekiss.
Adding Umbreon and Espeon to the Johto Pokédex has also become slightly easier since their release. While you can still use the Eevee naming trick if this is your first time obtaining these Pokémon, you can now ensure their evolutions by having Eevee as your buddy and walking 10km during the day or at night.
This is a reference to when these Pokémon’s evolutions occur in the main series instalments which have a day and night cycle - Espeon for the day, Umbreon for night - with the buddy system being a stand-in for the hidden Friendship stat.
The Season of Mythical Wishes continues with the Winter Holiday event, which has brought Mega Glalie to Pokémon Go. Don’t forget to partake in the new Go Battle League season.
Elsewhere, be sure to use Daily Adventure Incense for the chance of encountering Galarian Articuno, Galarian Zapdos and Galarian Moltres.
Both Heracross and Corsola are regionally exclusive Pokémon in Pokémon Go; they do, occasionally, leave their specific locations during certain in-game events, such as Go Fest.
Unown also only makes an appearance during specific Pokémon Go events and, even then, only specific letters will be available. This means, if you want the complete Unown collection, you need to pay attention which Unown are available and when.
Below you can find the complete list of Gen 2 Pokémon, along with the amount of candy required for their evolution:
Good luck completing the Gen 2 Pokédex!
