The Mewtwo Times Square takeover turned Manhattan into a live recreation of Pokémon Go‘s original 2016 announcement trailer on July 10, marking ten years since the game launched. The Pokémon Company covered billboards across the square with footage from that first trailer, then invited players onto the same streets to battle Mewtwo in person.
The celebration opened with the original trailer playing across nearly every screen in the square, echoing the final shots that showed hundreds of players battling Mewtwo in the same spot a decade earlier. That image, a crowd of trainers surrounding a single legendary Pokémon in the middle of New York, was the moment that first convinced millions of people the game could work in the real world.
Attendees at the anniversary event faced Mewtwo themselves in a Unity Raid, a battle format that lets thousands of trainers take on one Pokémon at once rather than splitting into smaller lobbies. Anyone who beat it received a special version of Mewtwo available only at the Times Square event, giving players in attendance a Pokémon that can’t be caught anywhere else in the game.
Mewtwo Times Square event unveils Super Mega Raids
The anniversary event also introduced Mega Mewtwo X and Mega Mewtwo Y to Pokémon Go for the first time. Trainers can now challenge them through Super Mega Raids, a new raid tier built around higher-difficulty encounters. Taking one on requires eight or more players carrying high-level Pokémon on their teams.
The new raid bosses add a wrinkle that Pokémon Go hasn’t used before: they can shield themselves mid-battle, and only a Mega Evolved Pokémon on the attacking side can break that shield. In practice, that means a full raid group needs at least one trainer with a Mega Evolved Pokémon ready before the fight can really begin.
From a Google Maps prank to a decade of raids
Pokémon Go launched in 2016 from developer Niantic, building on an April Fools’ joke that had placed Pokémon on Google Maps. The app became a phenomenon within weeks of release, pulling millions of players into city streets and parks to catch Pokémon in real locations, something no mobile game had managed at that scale before.
That success led The Pokémon Company to release Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee on Nintendo Switch two years later. The games were remakes of the original handheld Pokémon RPGs, but borrowed Pokémon Go’s catching mechanics for a home console audience, folding the mobile game’s biggest idea back into the main series.
Ten years after the Google Maps prank turned into a mobile phenomenon, the Mewtwo Times Square raid puts that origin story back on the same streets, while the new Super Mega Raids give current players a reason to keep returning.
- The event recreated the final shots of Pokémon Go’s original 2016 trailer on Times Square’s billboards.
- Players who defeated Mewtwo in the Unity Raid received an event-exclusive version of the Pokémon.
- Mega Mewtwo X and Mega Mewtwo Y are now available through Super Mega Raids, which need eight or more trainers.
- Super Mega Raid bosses can shield themselves; only a Mega Evolved Pokémon can break the shield.