Pokemon GO Kicks Off the Road of Legends July 6 as a Warm-Up for GO Fest 2026: Global

Pokemon GO's Road of Legends runs July 6 to July 10, 2026, a week-long warm-up packed with raids and rewards that leads straight into GO Fest 2026: Global on July 11 and 12.

Pokemon GO is the free location-based AR game where you walk around in the real world, catch Pokemon on your phone, and battle at Gyms and Raids. It launched in 2016 and is built by Niantic, the studio behind Ingress and Pikmin Bloom. One thing changed behind the scenes: Niantic's games business was bought by Scopely in a 3.5 billion dollar deal that closed on May 29, 2025. The same Niantic team still makes the game, they just have a new owner now.

The Road of Legends (in Japan: 大いなる軌跡) is the reason searches are spiking. It runs in your local time from July 6 at 12:01 a.m. to July 10 at 11:59 p.m., which in Japan means July 6 to July 10 JST. The whole point is to get your team ready for GO Fest 2026: Global the following weekend.

Here is what you actually get. During the event there is no Remote Raid Pass limit from July 6 through July 12, so you can raid as much as you want. You can grab up to 2 free Raid Passes a day by spinning Photo Discs at Gyms. Premier Balls catch better after raids, Party Power charges faster, and Trainers level 31 and up are guaranteed Candy XL when trading. There is also a GO Pass with reward tracks to grind through the week.

The bigger hook is the Special Backgrounds. Catch certain Pokemon from five-star Raids, Primal Raids, and Mega Raids between July 6 and July 12 and they can show up with a souvenir background on their summary page. Those used to be locked to in-person events, so getting them at home is new.

Then GO Fest 2026: Global lands July 11 and 12. The headline act is Mewtwo in Super Mega Raids. Every Mewtwo you catch there comes with at least one Mega Level already unlocked, so you can Mega Evolve it without paying the usual energy cost, and it is more likely to roll high Attack, Defense, and HP. Mega Mewtwo X and Mega Mewtwo Y are both featured.

Pokemon GO is free to download on iOS and Android. You can play the whole event without spending a yen, though some raid passes and the premium GO Pass track cost real money or in-game coins. Plenty of trainers clear the week purely on free passes.

All of this sits inside the Forever Forward season, which runs June 2 to September 8, 2026. That season leans on GO Fest, Mega Evolution, and Dynamax Pokemon, so the Road of Legends is one beat in a much longer summer.

Why it's blowing up right now

The Road of Legends is the kind of event that gets the whole player base logging in at once: free raid passes, no remote raid cap, and a shot at souvenir backgrounds you could only get in person before. In Japan the 大いなる軌跡 keyword spiked the moment the dates went live. The real payoff is July 11 and 12, when GO Fest 2026: Global drops Mewtwo Super Mega Raids worldwide. If you want a strong Mega Mewtwo, this week of prep is how you get there.