Catching Mewtwo in Times Square
- Controversial Hundo Mewtwo
- Times Square takeover
- Battling together
I was one of the few invited to the Pokémon Go 10th Anniversary Event that took place in Times Square last week. This event became extremely controversial in the Pokémon Go community, which was understandable, but also a bit challenging as a day one Pokémon Go player who has stuck to the game over the years.
Let's talk about how this all started! I got an email inviting me to a special, secret event in New York City - and initially, I wasn't going to attend. I had My Chemical Romance tickets for the next day, I knew it would be an extremely long travel time, and I felt like I had just been to America recently. There also wasn't really any information on what this event would be. I've been to several Pokémon Go events over the years, and though I have always enjoyed them, part of me figured this might just be a presentation (and it was a long way to go for a presentation!).
Fast forward to Go Fest Copenhagen, another event where I was invited by Pokémon Go to attend. This was the first leg of a three-country journey that I was taking from Copenhagen to Barcelona to Canada. It was a lot of travel in a short amount of time. I had a blast in Copenhagen, saw so many friends, and asked a bit about this secret event. It started to seem like something I couldn't possibly miss.
I got back home after my long trip, sat down and tried to look up if there were any flights that could get me back in time for MCR, and decided to go to New York. With all of this build-up, I was both nervous and excited when I headed to NYC, a day before the event, and primarily slept.
The next morning was a bit of nothing for me. There were some content creators who met up and created content, but I am not in one of those cliques, though I do see them at events from time to time. I went to Central Park, to the Nintendo Store, and to a couple of museums to really explore the city before the Pokémon Go 10th Anniversary event kicked off in the afternoon.
First, we all met in the ballroom of a hotel, where we listened to the VP of Pokémon Go and the President of Scopely Explore talk about their own personal relationship with Pokémon and Pokémon Go. There were reflections on how they have affected the games, how the games had affected them, and a brief (and vague!) look at the future of the game. There were lots of different types of influencers at this event, from Pokémon Go-specific to Nintendo to more generalised lifestyle influencers, as it's clear that Pokémon Go is looking to reach beyond the gamer-sphere of places.
Now, we all knew that there was something going on next. We had been told that something was happening, and there had been leaks of a NYC background in Times Square. So, after a few hours of networking and eating some food, we headed there together as a group. We saw that Times Square already had a huge set-up, there was a DJ playing music, and a massive queue of other people waiting to get in.
These other players who were invited along, the non-influencers, were from local communities. There were ambassadors who were able to bring along a bunch of their community members, and there were players who had been around before Pokémon Go - playing Ingress and then coming on for the beta of Pokémon Go before it was completely out. Everyone was excited and knew they were a part of something.
There were water cans and popcorn at stopping points around the venue, which quickly filled up as music pumped. In-game, we could see years changing on the ground, along with two gyms that cycled through raids that we all took part in. These raids had brief periods of nothing happening, where we all chatted and walked around. Clearly, something was going to happen, and when the sun set, it did.
Times Square went dark after Loud Luxury finished their DJ set, and the OG Pokémon Go trailer played. Someone talked over it, hyping us all up, talking about how we were the ones who were here from the start; we were the ones making that trailer a reality. I do understand that there are thousands upon thousands of other players who also made the game, who made memories. I understand it's impossible to fit everyone into a little space in NYC.
When the trailer ended, a larger video of Mewtwo breaking out appeared on all of the advertisements in New York City, and together we jumped into the raids. We could see some of our Pokémon Go users appearing on the billboards, and then we could see Pokémon battling in them. Though these were pre-recorded (which was something not everyone realised at first), they brought a very impressive and intense vibe to the whole thing. The first raid was done and dusted, featuring the "raising your phone" feature that was at Go Fest, before we were told it was going to happen again.
Honestly, I thought we were done after that first raid. But, so that content creators could create content, they said, there was a second raid that they wanted us to focus on. This is where the infamous Hundo Mewtwo came from - that second raid. At first, none of us knew that everyone had a hundo. People were screaming; people were freaking out over their hundos. It was really, really something to experience with everyone.
Then, it was over. People were heading out, posters were handed out, and I quickly headed to my 1 AM flight to make it out, soon seeing a bunch of different content quickly spreading about how mad people were about who deserved and who didn't deserve an experience like that. Lots of incorrect information said we were all influencers, when the majority were from local communities. Lots of people were just angry.
I do get the anger. I would feel jealous if I were on the outside, looking in. I was surprised that after the backlash, Pokémon Go didn't give everyone who participated in Go Fest Global an encounter with a hundo, global background Mewtwo. I figured that would be the best way to reward everyone who played globally, so that they could experience the same encounter.
Though there has been a lot of backlash, I found that playing in Times Square, surrounded by so many Pokémon Go fans, was one of the best experiences of my life. I cannot believe how incredibly lucky I am to enjoy a game like this, to meet so many new people and to have been able to create a local community that I absolutely love playing together with. Pokémon Go will always be a forever game for me, and I am excited to see where it goes beyond this, though I do hope more of these events are open to more of the world.
