If you’ve ever played Pokémon Go, you have probably noticed that the game has a lot of different concepts that are quite specific in the world of (mobile) gaming. Pokémon Go was truly a revolutionary phenomenon as it enabled users around the world to make their childhood dreams of being a Pokémon Master come alive in some form at least. The virtual reality game was a hit for Niantic and is still played by millions of players around the world, being one of the most popular mobile games ever. Today’s article is going to focus on a specific game mechanism that has been confusing new(er) player eves since its inclusion in the game. You probably noticed that when you roam the map, some wild Pokémon you encounter have a normal, white circle around them, while some have a swirling blue circle. Why is that? Keep reading to find out.
Ever since weather became a factor in Pokémon Go, there are Pokémon that appear with a weather boost with each specific weather. Those Pokémon have a swirling blue circle around them, while other Pokémon, i.e., those that are not weather boosted, have regular, white circles around them.
Pokémon, which is short for Pocket Monsters, is a media franchise created by Satoshi Tajiri and Ken Sugimori back in 1995. It is a fantasy franchise set in a world where humans live together with creatures called Pokémon, who take on different shapes and sizes. It started off as a series of video games for the Game Boy console, but soon expanded to other media. The video games and the anime (including the connected films) are the most popular brands today, although the franchise has expanded to even live-action movies like Pokémon Detective Pikachu. Today’s article is going to focus on the Pokémon Go video game and one of its concepts, so stick with us to the end.
What makes Pokémon Go so popular?
In 2015, Niantic announced the development and the release of an augmented reality (AR) Pokémon video game for mobile phones. The game would allow players to take on the role of a Pokémon trainer and travel around and catch Pokémon. It was a dream come true for every Pokémon fan out there. In 2016, Pokémon Go was officially released and has since become a global phenomenon played by millions of people around the world.
Pokémon Go uses a very simple concept of gameplay. A player must create an account, either with Niantic or using an e-mail. After that, you chose your Gen I starter Pokémon and go on your journey. Using PokéBalls, you catch wild Pokémon, you travel around gaining experience and walking distance, spin PokéStops, and battle in gyms. The goal of the game is to collect all of the Pokémon and reach level 50.
Along the way, you’ll be battling other trainers, participate in raids to catch rare Pokémon, do field and special research quests, collect PokéCoins, add friends, who you are going to fight and trade Pokémon with, and a lot more.
The game has significantly evolved since its debut and now includes a lot of additional elements such as GoSnapshots, long-distance battles and raid invitations, with Niantic constantly increasing the scope of the game with new elements and new Pokémon.
For all those that wanted to be Pokémon Masters when they were little, Pokémon Go is probably the closest they’ll ever come to the status, which explains the game’s enormous popularity.
Why do some Pokémon have swirling blue circles in Pokémon Go?
Initially, all wild Pokémon looked the same when they appeared in the wild, surrounded by an expanding white circle. That circle was the Pokémon’s Spawn Point and you knew, when you saw that circle, that a Pokémon is going to appear there. But, on December 8, 2017, the game introduced a new mechanism, along with the Hoenn Pokémon; a new mechanism was necessary because some Hoenn Pokémon depended on it and thus, the Weather system was introduced.
The Weather system was a real-time weather reading mechanism that mirrored actual weather in the game itself. Day and night were already a thing, but now the map was subjected to different weather conditions. A total of seven different scenarios were introduced then:
- Sunny (day) / Clear (night)
- Partly cloudy
- Cloudy / Overcast
- Windy
- Rain
- Fog
- Snow
Each of these scenarios mimicked actual weather conditions and although the system has never been 100% accurate, it generally does a good job. The system was introduced because some Pokémon had different forms based on the weather conditions, most notably Castform and some Pokémon from later generations. But, along with this, the so-called Weather Boost system was introduced.
Pokémon with Weather Boost appeared more frequently during specific weather conditions and has boosted stats if approached under such circumstances. How could one recognize a weather-boosted Pokémon? Well, it had a swirling, blue ring around it! And with this, we have solved our mystery – the swirling blue circle signifies a Pokémon with Weather Boost and we have just explained what that means. The full ist of benefits includes:
- Increased Spawn Rate
- Higher IV/CP Values
- Bonus 25% Stardust
- Bonus 20% Damage for moves based on weather
- Pokémon Spawns Affected by weather can exceed the Level 30 Cap. (Level 35 Highest spotted so far)
Before we continue, here is a table of all boosted types based on specific conditions:
| Weather: | Pokémon Type: |
| Cloudy | Fairy Fighting Poison |
| Fog | Dark Ghost |
| Partly Cloudy | Normal Rock |
| Rainy | Water Electric Bug |
| Snow | Ice Steel |
| Sunny | Grass Fire Ground |
| Windy | Flying Dragon Psychic |
Why do some Pokémon have expanding white rings in Pokémon Go?
Expanding white rings, which look like a series of waves when you throw a rock in water, are actually normal and they were standard for all wild Pokémon before the introduction of the Weather Boost mechanism.
These circles actually represent what it called a Spawn Point, i.e., the place where a Pokémon is set to appear in the wild. Spawn Points are determined by the game’s internal mechanism in accordance with the player’s location and the rendering of the map by the game’s algorithm. There is really no big secret behind these circles, save for the fact that they determine the range you have to be in in order to see the wild Pokémon on the map and get the ability to catch it.
And that’s it for today. We hope you had fun reading this and that we helped solve this dilemma for you. See you next time and don’t forget to follow us!