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‘Pokemon Go’: Is Gen 2’s South America Region Exclusive The Only Geo-Exclusive?

By Dustin Kemp
Published on: 17:44 PST, Feb 20, 2017

There is already a confirmed Pokemon Go region-exclusive for South America, and it is one of the more popular generation 2 Pokemon. The question remains, though, is it the only region exclusive being added?

Quickly after its release last Summer, ‘Pokemon Go’ became a hit all over the world. [Image by Drew Angerer/Getty Images]

Pokemon Go released the second generation of Pokemon into its digital world just a few days ago, and the huge throngs of people initially attracted by the game’s release back in July of 2016 have sat up and taken notice. Not only has it once again become a common sight to see many passersby playing the mobile game when you’re out for a walk, but Pokemon Go forums across the internet, such as The Silph Road, have been lighting up with Pokemon Go player theories and observations concerning what’s going on in the game.

According to iDigital Times, one of the observations shared by lots of South American Pokemon fans — and even a few residents of the U.S.’s Southernmost regions — is that Heracross, the extremely popular fighting beetle Pokemon, is exclusive to those areas.

It makes sense that South America would be getting a region-exclusive with the new generation of Pokemon Go, since it is the only major region for Pokemon fans that did not get one in the first gen. Canada and the US were the only place you could find Tauros, Mr. Mime was native only to Europe, only Asians could find Farfetch’d, and Australia was the only continent to host Kangaskhan.

Africa and Antarctica are not central locations for Pokemon interest, so they may be getting skimmed over. But Pokemon is played frequently in South and Central America, and it is about time they saw some love from Pokemon Go’s region exclusivity chart. It should also be noted that the southern tips of Texas and Florida were not included in the area that could catch Tauros, so people in those places can encounter Heracross.

South America may have had to wait a bit longer for its Pokemon Go region-exclusive, but it certainly got a good one — Heracross is one of the most popular gen 2 Pokemon. The success of the Pokemon, which does not evolve to or from anything else and has a design based off a Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle, is probably due in part to the fact that it was used by Ash in the anime. Part of it might also be that it is the only bug/fighting type Pokemon, not just in the 240ish that Pokemon Go has introduced, but in the 800+ total that have been released.

Now that we know that Heracross is exclusive to South America, though, another interesting question is raised: is it the only region-exclusive Go is adding this gen?

According to BGR, every single Pokemon of the second gen has been spotted in Pokemon Go games in multiple countries at this point except for Heracross, Smeargle, and Delibird. Are Smeargle and Delibird region-exclusive Pokemon, then?

Well, Smeargle, the Pokemon who looks like a bipedal dog with a paintbrush for a tail, is not — or at least, not yet. Pokemon Go Hub‘s team dug into the code of the gen 2 Pokemon Go update and found that its move data is not even programmed into the game, and its info is basically the same as the blank slate we saw for Ditto at the start of the first gen. Also like Ditto, Smeargle is a gimmick Pokemon; its ability to copy and reuse the moves used against it in battle is comparable to Ditto’s ability to temporarily transform into any opposing Pokemon. Also like Ditto, it looks like Smeargle will not even be implemented into the game until several months after gen 2’s debut.

It looks a lot more likely, though, that Delibird is a region-exclusive for Pokemon Go. Its code reveals it does already exist and is indeed out there, but it has yet to be found. A very plausible reason for its elusiveness (so far) is that it is exclusive to Antarctica. Almost no one lives there, so that would provide a reason no one has encountered it in Pokemon Go, and the Pokemon’s persona, a reclusive but friendly ice-type bird, would fit perfectly with the icy continent.

There is little doubt that the two remaining unseen non-legendary Pokemon will crop up in the following weeks or months, and you can keep checking back at The Inquisitr for Pokemon Go updates as they develop!

[Featured image by Niantic and 24d8bd43_811/iStock]

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