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Pokemon GO update is here, buddy system live

By Christine Wang Dickson

PARIS, FRANCE - SEPTEMBER 08: Kids show the screen of their smartphone with Nintendo Co.'s Pokemon Go augmented-reality game at the Trocadero in front of the Eiffel tower on September 8, 2016 in Paris, France. The Pokemon GO game allows to hunt on their smartphone or tablet virtual creatures scattered in public spaces. Launched in July for the first time, Pokemon GO has surpassed the 500 million downloads bar. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images)
PARIS, FRANCE - SEPTEMBER 08: Kids show the screen of their smartphone with Nintendo Co.'s Pokemon Go augmented-reality game at the Trocadero in front of the Eiffel tower on September 8, 2016 in Paris, France. The Pokemon GO game allows to hunt on their smartphone or tablet virtual creatures scattered in public spaces. Launched in July for the first time, Pokemon GO has surpassed the 500 million downloads bar. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images) /
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As of Saturday, a new Pokemon GO update will be pushed out to both iOS and Android devices. What do we have to look forward to?

Niantic has announced that a new version of Pokemon GO is in the process of being released to phones everywhere. Special to this update is the unveiling of the new Pokemon buddy system.

The buddy system will allow players to choose one of their Pokemon to accompany them as they walk around. The chosen Pokemon can eventually generate candy depending on distance traveled.

Many people are excited about the buddy system. For those Pokemon you rarely ever see in the wild, this will give you another way to earn those candies. This also finally gives us a consistent way to level up and evolve our starter Pokemon, something that is at the heart of literally every other Pokemon game.

Lastly, the idea of having one of your Pokemon be your “buddy” is, frankly, adorable. It makes us think back to that iconic image of Ash and Pikachu, together forever as they face their fictional world.

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According to Niantic’s patch notes, other updates include:

"– Made it easier to select smaller Pokémon on the screen.– Fixed an issue where Eggs would sometimes hatch without displaying the animation.– Improved performance reliability when a device switches networks to no longer cause the application to hang or stop updating.– Pokémon GO Plus support– Minor text fixes."

Related Story: Pokemon GO Plus Release Date

While the addition of the buddy system will be refreshing, it seems other big tenets of the game are still not ready for the public. Noticeably absent are an improved Pokemon tracking system and Pokemon trading, something which Niantic has stated it will be prioritizing.

Are you excited about buddy system going live? Let us know your thoughts on the Pokemon Go update in the comments section.