Pokémon GO: Decoded

The secrets of Pokémon GO have been uncovered. Reddit user FirestarterMethod posted a protobuf of the Pokémon GO code by data mining the hit augmented-reality game released by Niantic earlier in July. Pokémon is a game historically targeted to younglings, however throughout the years the game has been torn apart to maximize team building and ensure the trainer will be the very best like no one ever was (DUN DUN DUN). Pokémon GO is no exception to this. Crawling through the protobuf, the following information has been discovered:

• Trainer level cap is 40.
• Egg hatching cap is at 20. This means if the trainer is above 20, the egg’s CP won’t exceed what it would be if you were only 20.
• Wild Pokémon cap is at 30. This means the same as the egg hatching cap when finding wild Pokémon.
• There is an achievement/badge rank above gold.
• Bonus XP for catching Pokémon does improve the capture chance of a Pokéball throw (Curveballs, Nice, Great, Excellent, etc).
• There may be future incubators that lower the step count needed.
• Each Pokémon move has an accuracy and a critical hit rate.
• Each Pokémon has its own capture and flee rate.
• Pokémon move damage increases with trainer level.
• Pokémon become harder to catch as the trainer level increases.
• Mewtwo, Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres are classified as Legendary.
• Mew is classified as Mythic.
• The charge meter during battles is filled 0.5 for each 1 HP of damage dealt. This means super effective moves that do more damage will charge the special attack meter faster.
• Leveling from 39 to 40 takes FIVE MILLION EXPERIENCE. The journey from 1 to 40 will take TWENTY MILLION EXPERIENCE. Keep training.
• Pokémon have Attack, Defense, and Stamina (HP). They do not share Special Attack, Special Defense, or Speed like in the game.
• Dragonite has the strongest base attack at 250, except for Mewtwo at 284.
• Moltres has the highest attack of the three legendary birds.
• Articuno has the highest defense of the three legendary birds.
• Pokémon have an evolution modifier and an HP modifier when they evolve. That means the CP and HP go up by said modifier upon evolution.
• Defending Pokémon at a gym attack once every 1.5 seconds.
• Master Balls are in the game, but nobody knows where to find one.
• The Legendary Pokémon have a spawn rate, but do not have a capture rate. Speculation is you need a Master Ball to catch one.
• STAB, or Same Type Attack Bonus, is present in the game. That means if the Pokémon is an electric type, all electric-type moves will be stronger when used by that Pokémon compared to a normal-type Pokémon using the same move.

None of this information is 100% confirmed, but it’s what sources dug up in the game’s code. You can dig through the code yourself here.

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