Pokémon GO’s First Legendaries Are Here

Following yesterday’s Pokémon GO Fest — what turned out to be the Fyre Festival of the gaming world — Niantic decided to release the mobile app’s first Legendary Pokémon, Lugia and Articuno.

Pokémon GO Fest was supposed to be a paid event in Chicago’s Grant Park with player challenges, reward tiers, and a special Legendary Raid for attendees with a global release the next day. Instead, the event was plagued with extremely long entry lines and connectivity issues that rendered the entire game unplayable for a while.

As a result of Pokémon GO Fest’s failure, Niantic is throwing free things at players. Attendees are receiving refunds and $100 worth of Pokécoins, and the rest of the world is getting Legendary Pokémon a day early! The developer announced Lugia would be the first Legendary release, along with Articuno due to Team Mystic’s victory during the event.

You can catch these Legendaries in Pokémon GO by participating in Legendary Raid battles near you. A special Legendary Egg will appear over a Gym when a Legendary Raid is due to go live, so keep an eye on your map. Once the Raid begins, players must team up to battle the powerful Pokémon together and work towards getting that capture — hopefully without losing too many Pokéballs and Berries.

Other rewards from Pokémon GO Fest include double stardust, double candy, double XP, increased Pokémon encounters, reduced hatching distances, and reduced buddy distances. These perks are for all players until Monday, July 24th at 5:00pm PT / 8:00pm ET.

Niantic assured players the other Legendary Birds — Zapdos and Moltres — will make their way into the world of Pokémon GO soon, so keep an eye out for more updates here at A9K.