Pokémon GO has received an update recently and dataminers have already combed through the code in search of hints to what lies ahead in the game. To their surprise, they found hints about Jirachi, the Mythical Gen 3 Pokémon, which suggest that it may be added in the near future.
Dataminer Chrales, a well-known member within the Pokémon GO community, tweeted that an update that mentioned Jirachi, along with two new moves that might also be coming to the game. The first is the Fairy-type move Charm and the second is a Normal-type named Giga Impact.
Jirachi, which is a Generation 3 Mythical Steel/Psychic type, is rare within Pokémon games. Jirachi was not originally obtainable by normal means within the game. The only way to acquire a Jirachi at first was to download it from a bonus disk provided with reserved copies of Pokémon Colosseum. More recently, Jirachi could be downloaded at some Nintendo-sponsored events.
The information in the code refers to an event surrounding Jirachi, and that it seems like the Pokémon will be sleeping when first encountered. This is accurate for the Pokémon, as Jirachi is said to be awake only one week out of every 1000 years. How players awaken and then capture Jirachi is unclear at the moment, but it seems fitting that we are also in the middle of a sleeping Snorlax event after the announcement of the upcoming Pokémon Sleep app.
Pokémon GO players have been anticipating the arrival of Jirachi for some time now. Deoxys, the Mythical counterpart to Jirachi, has already been added into the game, so it would be strange not to include Jirachi. With that in mind, Niantic has not released any official statement regarding the possible arrival of Jirachi, so it could be some time before it appears in-game.
Previously, players had speculated that Jirachi might be added in time for the upcoming Adventure Week in June. However, the event has already been announced, so many are now speculating that Jirachi might appear in a special event during the Pokémon GO Fest later this year. This is an optimistic estimate, as it could be a long time before the Mythical Pokémon is officially added. Developers often inject code into a game long before it is needed, but hopefully, Jirachi will be available sooner rather than later.
If Jirachi does appear during the Pokémon GO Fest, it might not go down well with fans, as players have long complained about the exclusivity of attaining certain Pokémon through legitimate means, leading some to turn to spoofing their GPS location in order to acquire specific Pokémon. However, only time will tell.