Highlights
- PokeStops are an important part of the Pokemon GO experience, providing players with Field Research, items, and a connection to the real world.
- Players can submit PokeStops for approval through Niantic Wayfarer, a community mapping program that aims to approve stops with educational value or interesting features.
- One Pokemon GO player discovered an old PokeStop promoting Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee, showcasing the nostalgic and surprising nature of PokeStops.
A Pokemon GO player found a very old PokeStop promoting Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee. PokeStops are part of the core Pokemon GO experience and a way of bringing the Pokemon series into the real world.
PokeStops are the easiest way for Pokemon GO players to get Field Research and items. They are also related to relevant landmarks such as sculptures, memorials, mosaics, or high-traffic places like parks and libraries. If the player is level 37 and wants to submit a PokeStop to be approved, they must enter Niantic Wayfarer, a community mapping program that lets players collaborate on Niantic’s real-time map. The developer strives to approve PokeStops that have some educational value or are simply interesting. But despite this, it’s not uncommon for Pokemon GO players to find PokeStops that are quite strange. And proving that Pokemon GO‘s PokeStops hold many surprises, a trainer has found one that has been standing for quite some time.
Reddit user Adrinotfound found a PokeStop promoting Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee. The player shared a screenshot of a PokeStop in Queens that invites players to “have a Nintendo Switch holiday experience” with the Gen 7 games. The PokeStop image is promotional art for the Pokemon: Let’s Go games, showing Pikachu and Eevee side by side. Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee are remakes of Pokemon Yellow, and the first Pokemon games released for Switch. Niantic heavily promoted both titles on Pokemon GO, including adding themed PokeStops.
The Pokemon GO community was impressed by the OP’s discovery and shared similar stories. Two players said their local malls have Pokemon: Let’s Go PokeStops, and one trainer said they found last year a “Raids 2020” PokeStop in New York City. Another comment mentioned that their city has a PokeStop promoting Pokemon Sun and Moon games, the Gen 7 titles that introduced fans to the Alola region. Different Redditors shared PokeStops that still exist in the game, but the businesses related to them are no longer operating.
As well as being an important part of Pokemon GO, PokeStops tell many interesting stories like the one shared by Adrinotfound. A Pokemon GO trainer once encountered a PokeStop in real life, and another had an intense encounter while scanning a PokeStop. Although it is possible to remove or change a PokeStop, it is unknown whether Niantic will remove the one found by the player. After all, while the PokeStop is old because it promotes five-year-old games, at the same time it carries a lot of nostalgia for Pokemon GO players.
Pokémon GO
After a test run via an April Fools’ joke on Google Maps, Pokemon GO was released to the public in the summer of 2016. The AR mobile app saw unparalleled success and continues to be one of the largest mobile games in the world, pulling in billions for developer Niantic.
- Franchise
- Pokemon
- Platform(s)
- iOS, Android
- Released
- July 6, 2016
- Developer(s)
- Niantic, The Pokemon Company