Pokémon GO Plus + Analysis: Is It Worthy? All You Need To Know

The appeal of a peripheral reminiscent of the most classic pokéball is undeniable for Pokémon fans, which is why a few years ago, when Pokémon GO! was quite a social phenomenon, the Pokémon Company launched Pokémon Go Plus, a device like a small matchbox that could be adjusted as a bracelet and that was used to spin the pokéstops and capture pokémon without having to turn on the mobile screen, just by pressing the button in the centre.

Now comes a new device, Pokemon GO Plus +, with a front like a pokéball but just over two centimetres high and a name inherited from the previous one. This second plus indicates that it has more uses than its predecessor and also that it is bigger: this time it occupies almost the entire palm, which makes it more satisfying to carry it because it simulates the size of a Pokeball more. In Pokémon GO! the device can catch Pokemon alone and spin poke stops, and prompts on the screen.

Pokémon GO Plus + serves two applications:

Pokémon GO! and Pokémon Sleep, which on the one hand is good because we get more performance out of it and what we do in one of them rewards in the other, but it must be taken into account that if you communicate with one of these applications you cannot do it with the other. another simultaneously. If at any time it cannot be activated in an application, it is most likely because we have the other one open on the phone. On occasion, we have had to resort to unlinking the device and relinking it to make it work again.

A well-presented device with a week of battery life

The device comes in a compact but well-presented box that takes recycling into account. In the centre of the Pokémon GO Plus + is a large circular button surrounded by half a white and half a red circle. A string is placed at the top to hold it on the wrist although it includes a magnet to fit it into a clip, a more useful option in the case of Pokémon Sleep although it comes off too easily and there is also a button that is used for the synchronization and to mute the device so you don’t hear Pikachu’s announcements. At the bottom is the speaker and the USB-C port to charge it (the cable to connect to a USB is included). The battery lasts a week with intensive use of the device.

Pokémon GO! and Pokémon Sleep interact through the device; what is done in one of them is rewarded in the other.

The first thing to do is synchronize the device with the two applications in two fairly simple processes. In the case of Pokémon GO! It is a little longer since you have to click on the Pokéball, go to options and then to connected devices and services and then to Accessory Devices, where Pokémon Go Plus + is connected and numerous preferences are established, among which is that device tries to automatically capture a pokémon when it detects it in the area, although it launches only normal pokéballs, which warns with vibration and light if there is a pokémon nearby and throws the type of ball indicated manually by pressing the central button, which activates the automatic rotation of the poképaradas in the radius of action.

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The type of sleep that has predominated in our rest will decide which Pokémon are the ones that appear in each sleep study. Once the device has been synchronized with the game, it can be activated and deactivated through a symbol that appears on the screen when we play, although it takes a few seconds in the process. When activated, a Pikachu scream will sound and vibrate. The scream is optional but it always puts the voice of the best-known Pokémon more into the situation. All the functions are followed by light codes that indicate if it is throwing a ball and if it has caught the Pokémon or it has fled. By using only normal Pokeballs, the failure rate is quite high, but the capture process is also very fast.

A special investigation to get a Snorlax with a nightcap

When it has been synchronized with the walking application, a new special investigation appears in which you have to use the device in the two applications for which it is used, including recording sleep for up to 28 days to finish it and that has among the rewards a Komala and a Snorlax with a nightcap. By linking Pokémon Go Plus + with Pokémon GO! A special mission appears.

Linking Pokémon GO Plus + with Pokémon Sleep is easier, you just have to enter the Main Menu and Configuration and Settings and there is already a specific menu for Pokémon GO Plus +. There are links to the device’s website for any questions, although the information that appears on the screen is clear. Pokémon Sleep records sleep and uses it to catch Pokémon and give them the energy to get ingredients to feed a Snorlax and make it grow since the ultimate goal is to make it as big as possible in a week. Every Monday Snorlax changes and, as the game progresses, it is also possible to play in another scenario in which different Pokémon will appear.

To record sleep it is not necessary to have a Pokémon Go Plus + since the mobile phone can be used, although it must be left with the application turned on, face down and connected to the electrical network to avoid running out of battery during the night. This leads to overheating, especially if it stays under the pillow at any time.

The Pokémon in the team, including the Pikachu in the nightcap, collect ingredients up to a limit, so it is convenient to go in every two hours to collect them.

With Pokémon Go Plus + the procedure is more fun and attractive. When going to sleep, the central button is held down and a blue light comes on while Pikachu sings a short lullaby (which can be silenced), when waking up, you have to press said button again and a couple of red blinks with a cry from the Pokémon indicate that the sleep session has ended. When you open Pokémon Sleep it syncs with your device (usually automatically) and a short vibration indicates that the connection has been made.

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With the Pokémon Go Plus + there is no room for heating the phone, but another problem can arise: Those who move a lot at night can inadvertently press the button while sleeping and the process is interrupted, to find themselves in the morning with the surprise that it has not recorded sleep and if the phone to which the device is connected is used with another application, likely, it will not capture the hours of sleep adequately either.

Loading times and almost daily updates

As is often the case with mobile apps, sometimes there are bugs and there are patches almost every day, presumably, it will be more stable over time and all the options will work correctly. It could also do with reducing the lengthy loading times, especially considering that it has quite a few menus and you have to scroll back and forth frequently. Ingredients can be cooked with various recipes that give Snorlax more stamina than the sum of the food used in them.

One detail that we liked is that more than one rest session can be recorded, something very suitable for a summer nap, although sleep time that lasts less than an hour and a half is discarded, which we dare to venture is above average nap duration.

Once the app calculates the sleep time and divides it into light, medium, or deep, it converts it to Zzz power, which is the power that each week’s Snorlax possesses to attract Pokémon. 

The maximum that we have achieved is five for almost 8 hours of sleep and we must discover those who are asleep on stage to collect the different positions in which they sleep. Then comes the “pecking time”, when you wake up the sleeping Pokémon you can give them cookies, with which they add friendship points, when you reach five points the Pokémon joins those we have as helpers, but it is not an easy task. The number of friendship hearts in each cookie is variable and most of the time the Pokémon will not accept more than two, and they will go to the next point in the process.

In each team, we must take into account which Pokémon we choose to obtain the best results.

The game’s monetization, based on monthly premium passes, is a bit more intrusive than in Pokémon GO! Or, at least, it is more present in the game, in which there are different currencies, but it is not essential, it just speeds up the progress.

Teams looking for ingredients to increase the vigour of Snorlax

The Pokémon that become part of the player’s Pokémon Box can be distributed into teams, for which it is convenient to take into account what type of ingredients each one finds and the global points of the team, which indicates its effectiveness. If we have a Pokémon Go Plus + linked to the game, a Pikachu with a nightcap is added to the team, whose friendship will increase with the hours of sleep of the user.

The active team is the one that looks for food for Snorlax, recovers energy when the player sleeps and can level up or evolve at the cost of the points obtained by sleeping and with candies or specific objects, as is usual in mobile games of Pokemon. Team management is somewhat complicated because to level up you have to do it in the Pokémon box. The Pokémon Company and Niantic are adding everyday verbs to their games, first, it was walking and now sleeping, Pokémon Sleep is initially something more complex than Pokémon GO! and for it to work well, it requires entering about three times a day at certain times to feed Snorlax, but it is a way of being aware of the hours we sleep, although at first the procedure of activating and deactivating the app can be tedious.

Neither in Sleep nor in GO! It is necessary to use Pokémon GO Plus +, which also has a high price, but it does contribute to making both more fun, as a whim it is a good option for lovers of the series.