Pokemon GO trainers have a big weekend ahead of them with the Johto Throwback Challenge. You have one week, starting at 1 PM local time on Friday the 8th and ending exactly one week later on May 15th at 1 PM, to complete all the tasks in this Timed Research quest. Here’s what you need to do, and what you’ll get along the way.
Every Pokemon GO Johto Throwback Challenge Task and Reward
During the week of the timed Johto Throwback Challenge, Johto-region Pokemon will spawn more frequently out in the world, in raids, and from any seven-kilometer eggs that you get during the event. (Note: not that you hatch during the event, but that you acquire in the next week.) You’ll also earn double the XP from catching Pokemon and raiding. Watch out for your chance to catch a Shiny Dunsparce, which you couldn’t get before now, as well as a new hat for Pikachus. This time, it’s an Umbreon cap, as an obvious attempt at camouflage.
Here’s what you have to do to complete this week’s Timed Research, earn a fat stack of rewards, and get your shot at capturing a legendary Ho-Oh. There are 27 steps on the quest in total, but the last 3 are just showing up to collect your bonus XP. Go ahead and take that victory lap while you’re at it.
Note: the tasks in the below table are organized by when you earn rewards, not task order. You don’t need to do these all in a row, and in fact, will probably end up unlocking a bunch of these accidentally over the course of your usual activities. Encounters that you earn via one of the steps or tasks can also be leveraged to complete another step or task; for example, if you capture the Spinarak from the encounter in the first task of Step 2, you get credit for the third task.
| Step | Tasks | Rewards | Completion Reward |
| 1 | Catch three grass, water, or fire-type Pokemon | 10 Pokeballs | 1 Silver Pinap Berry, 2 Golden Razz Berries, Xatu encounter |
| Send a gift to a friend | Dunsparce encounter | ||
| Catch a flying-type Pokemon | 500 Stardust | ||
| 2 | Play with your buddy | Spinarak encounter | 1 Rare Candy, 2 Silver Pinap Berries, Starmie encounter |
| Give your buddy three treats | 5 Razz Berries | ||
| Catch 1 bug-type Pokemon | 500 Stardust | ||
| 3 | Make 3 Great Throws | 1 Charged TM | 1 Silver Pinap Candy, 2 Golden Razz Berries, Miltank encounter |
| Hatch an Egg | Snubbull Encounter | ||
| Catch 1 normal-type Pokemon | 500 Stardust | ||
| 4 | Evolve a Pokemon | Sudowoodo encounter | 1 Golden Razz Candy, 2 Silver Pinap Berries, Misdreavus encounter |
| Catch 5 different species of Pokemon | 10 Great Balls | ||
| Catch 1 ghost-type Pokemon | 500 Stardust | ||
| 5 | Take a snapshot of your buddy | Shuckle encounter | 2 Golden Razz Berries Candy, 1 Silver Pinap Berry, Hitmontop encounter |
| Make 4 Nice Curveball Throws | Mantine encounter | ||
| Catch 1 fighting-type Pokemon | 500 Stardust | ||
| 6 | Catch 1 electric-type Pokemon | 1 Incense | 1 Golden Razz Berry, 2 Silver Pinap Berries, Skarmory encounter |
| Power up Pokemon three times | Lapras encounter | ||
| Catch 1 steel-type Pokemon | 500 Stardust | ||
| 7 | Evolve a Pokemon | 1 King’s Rock | 1 Silver Pinap Berry, 2 Golden Razz Berries, Piloswine encounter |
| Catch 1 water-type Pokemon | Gilgar encounter | ||
| Catch 1 ice-type Pokemon | 500 Stardust | ||
| 8 | Take a snapshot of an ice-type Pokemon | 1 Dragon Scale | 1 Golden Razz Berry, 2 Silver Pinap Berries, Donphan encounter |
| Battle another Trainer | 10 Ultra Balls | ||
| Power up Pokemon 6 times | 500 Stardust | ||
| 9 | Collect the rewards! | 3,000 XP x3 | 10 Rare Candies, Ho-Oh encounter |
This is the second of four Throwback Challenge quests during the month of May. If you can complete all four, you’ll earn access to the Challenge Champion 2020 Special Research, which rewards encounters with Genesect, Galarian Meowth, and Galarian Stunfisk. You’ll also receive Professor Willow’s glasses as a cosmetic item for your avatar. It’s cool, he doesn’t care. It’s not like he ever actually wears them on his face, as people do.
Good luck during the Challenge, trainers. Stop by our Pokemon GO hub page for more useful tips and tricks, including:
- Here’s the schedule for the Spotlight Hour in the month of May
- If you make a Research Breakthrough this month, here’s what you’ll get
- Are you ready for season 2 of the Battle League on Monday?
Pokemon GO is heating up this week, between the next season of the Battle League on the 11th and the Johto Challenge. Have you already burned through all 27 steps and earned your bird, or are you watching the clock and waiting for your time zone to tick over? Check in with our Pokemon trainers via our official Twitter, @PrimaGames.
