
I’ve heard it said that Pokémon GO is a kid’s game. It is not. If we were to accept that, then we would also be accepting that children would be walking dozens of miles in a week while playing a geolocating smartphone game.
That’s what would be happening if the child were to attempt to change Zygarde’s form in Pokémon GO.
Obtaining Zygarde itself is easy. All you have to do is complete a few simple research tasks in-game, and you’ll be practically gifted Zygarde. The catch is, it’ll be in its 10% form. Which works as a starting point if the idea is to earn its stronger forms.
But then there’s the way you change it’s form. If you, the person reading this, happen to be the person who decided how Zygarde should change forms in Pokémon GO, you should be defenestrated. You’re a monster.
Zygarde can change forms after the player collects cells from routes. Routes take an explanation, but to keep it succinct: it’s a pathway between pokestops and/or gyms, in which certain Pokémon may appear if the player follows them. And near the end of each route, a Zygarde cell might appear.
Or not. It’s random whether a cell appears. Sometimes, your real-life effort is rewarded with nothing. Which makes this game a lot more realistic than I’m comfortable with, to be honest.
Each route can reward one (or no) cell per day. The maximum that a player can obtain per day is three, and a player can continue playing routes until they reach that number. Routes are usually a few hundred meters in length.
By now, you’re probably starting to figure out the hell that Pokémon GO puts players through just to collect enough cells to change Zygarde’s form. Now, consider how many cells that it takes to get Zygarde to 50% form: fifty of them.
Okay, that’s consistent with the main games, where it takes 50 cells to reach 50% form. True to lore. And it would take a minimum of 17 days to reach 50% form, provided the player went at it passionately.
But then there’s my experience.
When I first started hunting Zygarde cells, I was living in an apartment building. The closest route was on the bottom of the hill, so it took some effort to get to it. When I did, it was usually because I was going for a walk, anyway.
So, I had realistic access to just one route. One cell per day, if any. Except, I was busy. I worked a lot of overtime. So, it was usually more like one (or no) cell per week. And that’s assuming that I even bothered. Because, let’s be honest here, routes is an incredibly lame feature.
By the time I moved out of Stonerville and into a bigger place, I only had around 25 cells. But, there were more routes near my home. So, I decided to go for 50% Zygarde. Usually a few routes per week. I wasn’t being overly serious about it.
Not until the home stretch. Up to 47 cells. Only 3 more to go. There’s were 5 routes nearby that I could reasonably do. I was excited, because I could possibly get them in one day!
So I went for it. Five routes in one day. Only got one. It was as though the game knew I was close, and decided to be stingy, to spite me. I went home and got a drink. I felt like I needed it.
Next day, it was two to go. After getting home, I hastily downed dinner, ready to go for the other two. I had five routes to swing at them.
And only got one. Again. Leaving me with one to go. I went home and drank, again. Not because I felt like it. In fact, I didn’t feel like much of anything. The experience broke me.
Why is this game so cruel? Is it so much to ask to get a consistent reward so that we don’t get our hopes up if it doesn’t work out?
A new day. One more to go. I got it on the first route. I went home and drank some more. To celebrate, I suppose.
I wish I could feel like I won. People who complain about Genshin Impact don’t know just how good they have it. If the game disappoints them, at least they were sitting down to play it. It’s not like Genshin Impact disrespects their real-life efforts.
But then there’s Pokémon GO. It’s as though the game makers just didn’t care.
Hello, elephant. I see you there, taking up all that space in the room. This is the point where I get around to addressing you.
Zygarde 50% form. That implies the existence of a Zygarde Complete Form. Can you guess how many cells it takes to get to it?
You might guess 50 more cells. That would be reasonable to extrapolate from the fact that it took 50 to reach 50% form (even though we started from 10% form, and therefore sould have only needed 40 to reach 50% form).
And that would also be consistent with the main games, where achieving Complete form took 100 cells total.
But then, we’d be assuming that Niantic cared about Pokémon lore, or could do simple fucking math.
To bring Zygarde to Complete form takes 200 more cells. That’s in addition to the 50 that it took to upgrade from 10% to 50%. So, 250 cells total.
I don’t know who decided to make the requirement that many cells. But I imagine that they have a statue of them somewhere in Eastern Europe, which is frequented by people who are unironically grateful that he made children starve a few decades ago.
So, am I going to go for Complete form?
What do you think?

















