The news that Pokemon GO would be holding some sort of collaboration with musician Ed Sheeran no doubt excited fans of his work but left everyone else either confused. However, even those that dislike Sheeran’s music may have one reason to be excited about the upcoming collab and that’s because it’s bringing back a classic event Pokemon. Specifically, Squirtle with sunglasses.
Developer Niantic shared details about what exactly the Ed Sheeran collab will entail via the official Pokemon GO website. While there will be no entirely new additions to the game, Sheeran’s apparent love of Water Pokemon (the website says that he always picks the Water type starter in the Pokemon games) has led to Niantic deciding to give players another opportunity to capture a unique type of Squirtle.
Back in 2018, one of the game’s community events revolved around Squirtle, one of the original three starters from the first set of Pokemon games. If players were lucky, they could encounter a Squirtle wearing sunglasses, a deliberate homage to the Squirtle Squad from the first series of the Pokemon anime, itself one of the most well remembered and iconic aspects of the show. The Squirtle would even keep the sunglasses upon evolving into Wartortle and Blastoise.
Its limited availability has meant that anyone who started playing after the event hasn’t been able to get a sunglasses wearing Squirtle of their own. The Ed Sheeran collab provides two different methods of encountering one. They will either appear in the wild (albeit very rarely) or will be available to encounter after completing Field Research tasks. Die-hard collectors will also be pleased to know that this special Squirtle can appear in its shiny variant.
Players will have plenty of time to try and capture at least one Squirtle since the event is scheduled to last just over a week. It begins on Monday, November 22nd at 11am PST and ends Tuesday, November 30th at 1pm PST. During that time, all the other Water starter Pokemon (at least the ones available in Pokemon GO) will appear more frequently in the wild: Totodile, Mudkip, Piplup, Oshawott, and Froakie.
As for what Sheeran himself is doing, there will be a special performance available to watch via the in-game News from the moment the week-long event starts. It will feature songs from his latest album, including Bad Habits, Perfect, and Shivers. This makes this the latest in a string of Pokemon music collaborations, with the likes of Katy Perry and Post Malone releasing themed concerts or music videos as part of the franchise’s 25th anniversary, and even getting their own Pokemon trading cards.
Pokemon GO is available on Android and iOS.
Source: Niantic
