The first few real-world events have featured out-of-place regional Pokémon. Mr. Mime was featured at Pokémon GO Park, Heracross was featured at Pokémon GO Fest Chicago, and Kangaskhan was featured at the Pokémon GO Safari Zone and the Pokémon World Championships. For the record, Pokémon GO Park and the Pokémon World Championships also featured increased spawns of their native regionals (Farfetch'd and Tauros, respectively). Ignoring that last fact, it's the regionals that have had been moved that seems incredibly interesting.
As PNN has reported on in a Generation Preparation article in the past, Heracross, Kangaskhan, and Mr. Mime will need to be replaced as regionals one day. Mr. Mime gains a Baby form in Gen 4, and Kangakshan and Heracross gain Mega Evolutions in Gen 6. Some Gen 3 Pokémon, and one unreleased Gen 2 Pokémon, have the makings of regionals for Australia, South America, and Europe.
EUROPE: Smeargle seems like the perfect Pokémon to be an European exclusive. It's painting nature and stylish barrett hat makes it the perfect candidate for a Mr. Mime replacement.
SOUTH AMERICA: Tropius and Kecleon both have a very tropical theme, making them perfect Heracross-replacements. Tropius' tropical design almost guarantees that it will be regionally-locked to somewhere.
AUSTRALIA: The perfect replacement for Kangaskhan is defiantly Komala. However, Komala won't be introduced until Generation 7, so we need another option. Zangoose makes some sense for Australia (and even Africa), and Luvdisc would go well with the bright fish of the Great Barrier Reef.
We have no way to guarantee that Niantic will be changing up the regionals with the release of the next generation, but it does make lots sense that they'll do it eventually (especially before Generation 4). Not everyone can travel, and changing up the regionals from time to time can ensure that a Pokédex spot won't forever remain barren. We'll just have to see what Niantic does.
Make sure to vote in the poll below on which one-stage-only Pokémon you think Niantic could make regionals in Generation 3. For the sake of simplicity, we are excluding Pokémon that gain alternate stages in their evolutionary chains later on down the generational line.
As PNN has reported on in a Generation Preparation article in the past, Heracross, Kangaskhan, and Mr. Mime will need to be replaced as regionals one day. Mr. Mime gains a Baby form in Gen 4, and Kangakshan and Heracross gain Mega Evolutions in Gen 6. Some Gen 3 Pokémon, and one unreleased Gen 2 Pokémon, have the makings of regionals for Australia, South America, and Europe.
EUROPE: Smeargle seems like the perfect Pokémon to be an European exclusive. It's painting nature and stylish barrett hat makes it the perfect candidate for a Mr. Mime replacement.
SOUTH AMERICA: Tropius and Kecleon both have a very tropical theme, making them perfect Heracross-replacements. Tropius' tropical design almost guarantees that it will be regionally-locked to somewhere.
AUSTRALIA: The perfect replacement for Kangaskhan is defiantly Komala. However, Komala won't be introduced until Generation 7, so we need another option. Zangoose makes some sense for Australia (and even Africa), and Luvdisc would go well with the bright fish of the Great Barrier Reef.
We have no way to guarantee that Niantic will be changing up the regionals with the release of the next generation, but it does make lots sense that they'll do it eventually (especially before Generation 4). Not everyone can travel, and changing up the regionals from time to time can ensure that a Pokédex spot won't forever remain barren. We'll just have to see what Niantic does.
Make sure to vote in the poll below on which one-stage-only Pokémon you think Niantic could make regionals in Generation 3. For the sake of simplicity, we are excluding Pokémon that gain alternate stages in their evolutionary chains later on down the generational line.