Ahoy fellow Pokémon GO players! Kecleon has finally made its long awaited debut in Pokémon GO! This is a Pokémon from generation 3, the first main series games from generation 3 were Ruby and Sapphire and later Emerald. In these games Kecleon hides in a few places by camouflaging and you need a Key Item to reveal it. Kecleon is also known as the Color Swap Pokémon.
It has been a few years since the last time a Pokémon from generation 3 was added to Pokémon GO. Many Pokémon from generations after that have already been added. Due to the fact it took that long, I was actually thinking that Kecleon would make its debut at Hoenn Tour near the end of February. Niantic surprised us though and released Kecleon last weekend after the Chespin Community Day!
After many years it is now finally possible to get a Platinum Medal for the Hoenn Pokédex. I personally don't have it yet because I'm still missing the regional Pokémon Relicanth. It'll probably be in Raids only during Hoenn Toer in February, that's when I'll do a Raid for that one to finally get it in my Pokédex. Maybe I need Huntail or Gorebyss too because my Lucky Clamperl all evolved into the same one.
When Chespin Community Day was over, two friends and I still kept walking around to try and find a Kecleon. It was past 7 pm when we finally found one! With that Kecleon finally found I was able to catch it and get the Kecleon Pokédex registry. Here are screenshots of that and its stats too.
The way we found Kecleon was by walking around doing some Rocket Grunts and going for another Rocket Leader Sierra we had seen earlier in the day. There were 2 Sierra near each other at some part of the city so we walked there. Walking back to the city center I finally saw a Kecleon at a PokéStop and immediately told my 2 friends excitedly that there is one here!
When you open a PokéStop that has a Kecleon you can see a transparent silhouette of Kecleon on top of the PokéStop (because it camouflages), and also the red line that's on its body. If you try to spin the PokéStop it'll say that there is an invisible obstacle in your way. You then have to tap on Kecleon and it'll move away from the PokéStop. Sometimes you have to tap it multiple times before it goes off the PokéStop.
Once it moves off the PokéStop you can spin it for items and then Kecleon will appear next to the PokéStop. It's best to be really close to the PokéStop already so you can see the Kecleon spawn. I've had it happen with the 2nd one I encountered that I had to walk a bit closer to the PokéStop even though I was close enough to spin it. But the spin radius is bigger so yeah just make sure you walk close enough as it'll spawn right next to that PokéStop.
You can also see the Kecleon at PokéStops in the distance (if you tap on them to see the Photo Disc). So if you see one further away you can walk to that PokéStop to go encounter that Kecleon!
Have you caught a Kecleon?