I can say without a doubt that 2023 was an interesting year for Pokemon Go. 

We saw the revival of the #HearUsNiantic movement after Remote Raid Passes rose in price (which served as the final straw for the community after a laundry list of prior offenses). There were issues with some in-person events; I know my local Go Fest in New York City was disrupted by poor network connection. 

And there were some… interesting Community Day choices across the board. The Generation 6 starters were no-brainers, and Noibat and Axew were very cool. It was also great to see the regional form Community Days continue with Slowpoke and Galarian Slowpoke, although the Wooper and Paldean Wooper Community Day felt very out of place compared to the rest of the year’s picks.

As I dive into which Pokemon I think deserve a Community Day event in 2024, I’ll set some ground rules. I’ve talked about what makes the best Community Days top-tier events in the past, but I want to qualify what I think the word “deserving” should mean for this list.

Firstly, I’m not picking any starter Pokemon. It’s likely we’ll see the Generation 7 starters throughout the year since we got Rowlet for the January event. Second, I’ll primarily be making picks from earlier Pokemon generations. No Galarian Pokemon, no Paldean Pokemon — I want to speculate on which Pokemon have been overlooked as Niantic starts to jump the gun on the Pokedex from more recent entries. I think there’s even a decent chance we get to see some older Pokemon get some love, as we just saw Chansey Community Day pass by as the February event.

With that being said, here are the top 10 Pokemon who deserve a Community Day event this year:

10. Ponyta/Galarian Ponyta

Ok, I know I said, “No Galarian or Paldean Pokemon,” but the regional forms don’t count! We need their counterparts to get an event, too!

One of the coolest Community Day ideas Niantic has dipped its toes into has been the dual-regional Community Days, which feature both the original and regional forms of a Pokemon. The Sandshrew event, the Slowpoke event, and yes, even the Wooper event have all been memorable due to featuring two regional forms in one day.

I hope this trend continues in 2024, and I think a great candidate for a Community Day would be Ponyta! As a Generation 1 Pokemon, Ponyta definitely gets a lot of love, but it never really felt like a potential candidate for a Community Day. Galarian Ponyta is a fan favorite, though, and Niantic is starting to be less stingy about this particular Pokemon. In addition to being in the egg pool, Galarian Ponyta has also been a wild spawn for certain events, which leads me to believe that we could definitely have this Pokemon featured in a Community Day event. 

This would be a great choice for a 2024 Community Day, and it’s one of several regional forms that I think deserve consideration for an event this year.

9. Growlithe/Hisuian Growlithe

Another regional form that I think deserves a Community Day event in 2024 is Growlithe! I promise that this list isn’t going to be full of regional forms, but I think Growlithe has just as great a claim to a Community Day event this year as Ponyta does.

These Pokemon share a lot of similarities: they’re fan favorite Generation 1 fire-types that haven’t necessarily been a candidate for this kind of event in the past. Now, they’ve got some juiced-up new forms that Niantic seems to be keen on featuring in this new type of Community Day. 

Growlithe and Hisuian Growlithe are both fan favorites, but Niantic has been keeping them pretty exclusive to themed events and egg pools. I wouldn’t count them out for getting a Community Day feature sooner rather than later, though.

8. Combee

A Sinnoh Pokemon that doesn’t always get the most love, Combee would be a fantastic pick for a Community Day. 

It’s super tough to get a good Vespiquen due to the gender split amongst the Combee population normally. Only female Combee are able to evolve, and furthermore, there’s only a 12.5% chance for a spawned Combee to be a female.

Luckily, Community Days can ship with special circumstances that normally wouldn’t feature in the game. For instance, Teddiursa’s Community Day had a midday “full moon” so that players could evolve Ursaring into Ursaluna. I think the perfect gimmick for a Combee Community Day would be making every spawn a female Combee. At the very least, they could invert the gender ratio during the event. 

The special circumstances and the tons of stardust gains would make this Community Day something that feels important and worthwhile, so I stand behind the idea of a Combee Community Day in 2024.

7. Munna

Munna has always been a bit of a “special feeling” Pokemon. In Pokemon Black and Pokemon White, it was tucked away off to the side of the first Gym in the game. I remember the childlike awe I felt when I ran into a Munna in the wild for the first time.

Pokemon Go has continued the trend of keeping Munna fairly rare. They’ve been in the wild before, and there have been events where they spawn far more frequently than normal. Otherwise, however, they hatch from eggs and spawn from 1-star raid eggs during certain Pokemon Go seasons.

Musharna isn’t that hard to get in Pokemon Go, as you only need 50 Munna candy and a Unova Stone to make Munna evolve. Even still, this Pokemon can be out of reach for new players who don’t have access to certain evolution items. More seasoned Pokemon Go players would also enjoy getting a chance to catch a shiny Munna in the wild. A Munna Community Day would be a solid, middle-of-the-road pick for 2024.

6. Tympole

Another Generation 5 Pokemon, Tympole, is an uncommon spawn with a decent three-stage evolution line. Many new and seasoned trainers alike don’t necessarily have a perfect IV Tympole, and many people certainly don’t have its shiny yet.

Seismitoad is also a bulky Pokemon with a Water/Ground typing. Even though this typing is incredibly weak to Grass-types, it’s very powerful otherwise. It’s part of the reason Swampert is so good, after all!

The Tympole line isn’t as good as the Mudkip line, but this could be a budget build for players who don’t have access to a good Swampert. A Tympole Community Day would be a good way to knock out a Generation 5 evolution line in 2024!

5. Larvesta

Although I don’t expect this Community Day to actually happen, a Larvesta Community Day would be a welcome surprise in 2024. This Pokemon has thus far been rare to the point of being unfun; it has only been available in the rarest tier of hatches from 2km, 5km, and 10 km eggs, depending on the current season.

While 2km and 5km eggs might not be all that difficult to hatch, it’s an extremely tedious process, worsened by the fact that, y’know, they’re free glorified lootboxes. Any time you get an egg, it’s a crapshoot what’s coming out of it — with Larvesta at the rarest tier of hatches, it’s very unlikely players will be pulling this Pokemon.

And when Larvesta is in the 10km eggs? Forget about it. This is a killer grind, especially since players need a whopping 400 candies to evolve Larvesta into Volcarona. It’s not a Community Day event I necessarily expect to happen this year, but the artificial scarcity of Larvesta needs to end sooner rather than later, and a 2024 Community Day would be a great way to do it.

4. Sandile

A fairly rare Pokemon, the most consistent way to get Sandile in Pokemon Go is to hatch it from 12 km eggs, which are only obtainable by defeating Team Go Rocket Leaders. This made sense on release since Sandile is definitely a fan-favorite evolution line from Generation 5.

Here’s the thing, though… Niantic launched the 12km eggs nearly four years ago, and they haven’t ever really been great.

You need to put in a helluva lot of work just to hatch one of them, and the egg pool is a mix of some solid Pokemon with some absolute trash. There’s nothing worse than spending 12km walking an egg just to hatch a male Salandit.

With that being said, I think it’s time for Sandile to get his own Community Day event. Rip the Band-Aid off and start opening the Strange Egg pool up for some spawning events. Maybe even let us get Ash’s Sandile with the glasses. That’d be a neat Community Day treat.

3. Honedge

Community Days have been used very rarely to release Pokemon in the past. Stufful was one of the most recent examples of this phenomenon. It’d be awesome for Niantic to do a surprise release of the Honedge evolution line during its very own Community Day event.

This Pokemon is the base of one of the most popular evolution lines from Pokemon X and Y, and it’s easy to see why. Aegislash has a cool gimmick and great stats, and when it comes to the “inanimate object” Pokemon, a possessed sword and shield are pretty standout designs.

The shiny is also pretty cool, and I’m sure Niantic is hoping to save this Pokemon debut for a hatch or field research event to keep it artificially rare upon release. Still, it’d be a nice surprise for Pokemon Go players, especially if the extra candy from a Community Day event could go toward something like swapping Aegislash forms, perhaps.

2. Zorua/Hisuian Zorua

Zorua was a massive part of Niantic’s Pokemon Go Halloween event in 2023. Players had been anxiously awaiting this evolution line for a very long time, and there was a lot of buzz surrounding how the Tricky Fox Pokemon would make its debut. It’s a master of deception, of course, so how does that translate to Pokemon Go?

In a really fun turn of events, wild Zorua spawns show up as the player’s buddy Pokemon! This was a neat trick, and it was a ton of fun. With that being said, I think Niantic got their mileage out of the Zorua reveal. They’re special, and they’ll remain special, but they’re out there in the wild now for any trainer to catch.

Considering Zorua has a Hisuian counterpart, and Niantic seems like they’re starting to pull in all of the Pokemon introduced in Legends: Arceus, a Community Day event featuring both forms would be a great way for the wispy white Zorua to make its debut! I don’t necessarily expect this event (Niantic would never be that nice to us), but this would make for a super-hyped October 2024 Community Day.

1. Goomy

It’s customary for there to be at least one pseudo-legendary Community Day every year, and we got Axew in 2023. Goomy has been in Pokemon Go for long enough for hardcore players to grind out the evolution line while it has stayed relatively exclusive and rare.

The fact that Goomy has been in the breakthrough research in 2024 indicates that the evolution line is becoming more accessible for casual Pokemon Go players, and it makes sense for us to see more events featuring Goomy very soon.

Goomy is a rare pick in that I think it’s extremely likely for this Pokemon to get a Community Day event this year, and I think this evolution line absolutely deserves it!

What are your most hotly anticipated Community Day events this year? What Pokemon do you expect to see, and what Pokemon do you deep down believe deserve their time in the spotlight? Let me know down below!