The Pokemon Company
Get ready to finally battle Mewtwo.
Since the release of Pokémon Go last July, players have been clamoring to catch so-called Legendary Pokémon like Mewtwo.
Legendaries are extremely rare and powerful Pokémon from the original game series. And until now, they've been completely absent from Pokémon Go, even as the game has added more creatures from the second generation of Pokémon.
But evidence that Legendaries are finally coming has been uncovered in the code behind Pokémon Go, according to an analysis of the app's most recent update by The Silph Road on Tuesday.
Based on the analysis, Legendaries will be encountered through the game's recently announced Raid Battle feature, which lets players team up to take down a powerful Pokémon occupying a gym for a limited time.
That scenario lines up perfectly with the original trailer for Pokémon Go, in which players gathered in New York City's Times Square to take down Mewtwo together.
A concept illustration of Legendary birds Ho-Oh and Lugia in Pokémon Go.
The Silph Road believes that Legendaries won't be able to defend gyms (likely because of how powerful they will be in relation to normal Pokémon), but the site says that Legendaries should be able to attack gyms alongside normal Pokémon.
It's still unclear exactly when Pokémon Go creator Niantic Labs plans to deploy Legendaries, but references showing up in the game's code indicates that the release is unlikely to be far off. Niantic could choose to release Legendaries at its first major Pokémon Go event in Chicago next month, which is expected to draw around 20,000 players.