For its tenth birthday, Pokémon GO is handing every player a Mewtwo with perfect stats, 15 across the board, along with a Master Ball and 500 Mega Mewtwo Y Energy. All it takes is logging in, clearing two very easy tasks and claiming everything before Sunday, September 6, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Even if you have not opened the game in years, this one is worth the trip.
The 10th Anniversary Celebration artwork. ©2026 Scopely / ©2026 Pokémon
How do you get the 10th anniversary perfect Mewtwo?
A free Timed Research called 10th Anniversary Celebration is waiting for every trainer at login. It went live on August 12, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. PDT and stays available until Sunday, September 6 at 11:59 p.m. local time. Two tasks, a single step, nothing to buy: it is the most generous research the game has offered in ten years.
| Task | Reward |
|---|---|
| Catch 10 Pokémon | 1 Master Ball |
| Power up Pokémon 10 times | 500 Mega Mewtwo Y Energy |
| Research completed | Encounter with a perfect Mewtwo, 10th anniversary special background |
One detail that matters: rewards must be claimed before the deadline, not just unlocked. If you finish the tasks on September 5 but leave the encounter sitting there, it disappears on the morning of the 7th. Deal with it right away, the encounter cannot flee, like every research encounter in the game.
The 10th anniversary special background: the Earth at sunrise. ©2026 Scopely / ©2026 Pokémon
How good is this 2387 CP Mewtwo, really?
The gifted Mewtwo arrives at level 20 with 2387 CP and perfect individual values: 15 Attack, 15 Defense, 15 HP. That is what the community calls a hundo, recognisable by its three-star appraisal with the pink trim. In ten years of play, plenty of trainers have never rolled one on a Pokémon of this calibre: the odds of a perfect wild encounter are tiny, and Mewtwo only ever shows up in raids.
Level 20 is just a starting point. It will take Stardust and Candy to power it up, but you are building on a copy that deserves every investment, whereas a regular raid usually leaves you with middling stats. And the special background, the Earth at sunrise, stays attached to this Mewtwo forever: it dates the catch like a collector's piece.
The 10th anniversary Mewtwo in game, with the shiny version on the right. Screenshots collected by Pokémon GO Hub
One last thing the announcements do not shout about: this Mewtwo can be shiny. Early catches shared by players show green-tailed versions, the colour of shiny Mewtwo. Nobody has published odds, but the possibility exists, which turns an already rare reward into a small lottery moment when the encounter starts.
Shiny Mewtwo, with its green tail. ©2026 Pokémon/Nintendo/Creatures/GAME FREAK
Why the unlocked Mega Level 3 is the real gift
This Mewtwo comes with Mega Level 3, the maximum, already unlocked for Mega Mewtwo Y. To measure what that is worth: the in-game info page lists 7,500 Mega Energy for a regular Mewtwo's first Mega Evolution, and it normally takes 30 Mega Evolutions to push any Pokémon to the top level. The gift skips both queues at once, and the research's 500 Mega Energy funds the transformations that follow.
| What it normally takes | Regular Mewtwo | 10th anniversary Mewtwo |
|---|---|---|
| First Mega Evolution into Y | 7,500 Mega Energy | covered by the unlocked Mega Level |
| Reaching Mega Level 3 | 30 Mega Evolutions | already done |
| Candy per same-type catch | +1 at the start | +2 |
| Candy XL chance per catch | 10% at level 2 | 25% |
| Rest between two Mega Evolutions | 7 days at the start | 3 days |
The bonus figures come from the Mega Evolution guide published on the Pokémon website. And the appeal is not just bookkeeping: "Mega Mewtwo Y is arguably the best attacker in the game," as French specialist outlet Gamewave puts it in its event coverage. In practice, you Mega Evolve before a raid, the whole lobby enjoys the attack boost, and every Psychic-type catch of the day pays double Candy with a one-in-four shot at a Candy XL.
Mega Mewtwo Y. ©2026 Pokémon/Nintendo/Creatures/GAME FREAK
What should you do with the Master Ball?
Whatever you do, do not throw it at the research Mewtwo: that encounter is guaranteed and cannot flee, a basic Poké Ball will get there eventually. The Master Ball is the rarest item in the game, handed out sparingly since 2023. It catches any Pokémon with zero chance of failure.
My advice, and I stand by it: save it for a shiny legendary crossed on a bad day, the kind of encounter that flees after three balls and haunts you afterwards. A Galarian legendary bird from Adventure Incense, a shiny met on the last ball of a raid: that is where it changes everything. Spending it for comfort on an ordinary catch means regretting it within the month.
What if you caught the Times Square Mewtwo?
Trainers who attended the July 9 event in Times Square, where a Mewtwo with a New York background was distributed live, do not walk away empty-handed: the research gives them 30 Mewtwo Candy instead of the Master Ball, and their encounter shows different stats. Scopely, which has run the game since 2025, says the Times Square background will return someday for everyone. If you were there, you already own the rarer piece of the two.
Ten years on, Kanto has not moved
Pokémon GO launched on July 6, 2016 with the 151 Kanto Pokémon, and its tenth summer closes with the Forever Forward season running until September 8. Ten years later, the game gives away its most mythical monster, the one everyone was already chasing in the EX raids of 2017. That is no accident: it is a nod to day-one players, and a wide-open door for those coming back.
On our side of the screen, we know the character well: "mewtwo" is, by far, the search that brings the most visitors to this blog through Bing. Its full story, from the Cerulean Cave laboratory to its Mega forms, is told in our article on Mewtwo's origins and powers, and its news does not stop at GO: it also lands in Pokémon Sleep in September.
Mewtwo, the Genetic Pokémon. ©2026 Pokémon/Nintendo/Creatures/GAME FREAK
And if this perfect Mewtwo pulls you back in, there is a way to keep it lit all year round: the Mewtwo crystal LED Pokéball engraves it in 3D inside a crystal sphere, with a light driven by a 16-colour remote, for 29.99 euros. Fans of the original Kanto days will also find Blastoise on a wooden stand at the same price, and the rest of the light-up Pokéball collection covers 21 Pokémon.
The short version
Log in once before September 6, catch 10 Pokémon, power one up 10 times, and claim everything: a hundo Mewtwo at 2387 CP with a special background, possibly shiny, a Master Ball to keep safe and 500 Mega Energy on the best attacking form in the game. Ten years of Pokémon GO celebrated in ten minutes of play, and that is just fine.
Sources: 10th Anniversary Celebration announcement on the Pokémon GO website, Leek Duck and Pokémon GO Hub event pages, Mega Evolution guide on pokemon.com, MargxT and Gamewave coverage. Visuals: ©2026 Scopely, ©2026 Pokémon/Nintendo/Creatures/GAME FREAK, Pokémon GO Hub screenshots.
