Jessie and James Pokemon GO: Blasting Off into Pokemon GO Again
By Jack O'Dwyer
Jessie and James, the prolific Team Rocket members from the original Pokemon anime, have been sighted once again in Pokemon GO.
Niantic Labs took to Twitter on Dec. 3 to announce another collaboration event with the latest Pokemon franchise movie: Secrets of the Jungle. The event is slated to start on Dec. 14 and feature an exclusive Special Research story for a limited time. Trainers who take part in the event will have the opportunity to encounter and catch a shiny Celebi as well as battle the infamous Team Rocket members Jessie and James.
A collaboration event with Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle will start on December 14! Encounter Shiny Celebi in a limited-time Special Research story, and Jessie and James return to #PokemonGO. #PokemonMoviehttps://t.co/DiLPVo8pr9 pic.twitter.com/gtfsQ9DR3n
— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) December 3, 2020
Jessie and James Pokemon GO
Trainers should be able to spot Jessie and James in their trademark Meowth hot air balloon. They only need to zoom out upon seeing the shadow and tap on the balloon to engage the two. Each has a team featuring new Shadow Pokemon waiting to be rescued at the end of a successful battle.
Jessie will open with Scyther, followed by Ekans, and close with Stantler. Upon defeating her, trainers can capture her Shadow Scyther with shiny chance.
Scyther, as a bug and flying-type, has an aggressive weakness to rock-types. Its best counters include Rampardos and Rhyperior. Poison-type Ekans tends to be the easiest of the three so, while trainers could place a powerful psychic-type here like Gardevoir, they also could skip straight to Stantler. As a normal-type, Stantler is weak to fighting-types such as Machamp and Lucario.
James will open with Pinsir, followed by Koffing, and close with Grimer. Upon defeating him, trainers can capture his Shadow Pinsir which also carries a chance to be shiny.
Pinsir, another bug-type, will fall flat against fire-types like Chandelure and Moltres. Koffing and Grimer can be grouped together as pure poison-types. Therefore, any combination of ground or psychic-types will do such as Mewtwo, Gardevoir, Excadrill and Landorus.
Veteran fans should recall at least three of these Pokemon being popular choices between the two—primarily Jessie's Ekans and James' Koffing. Additionally, successful battles against them will also count toward "defeat two grunts" tasks.