The winds of change have been blowing all week in Pokemon Go and many of the features being implemented have been a long time coming.

With the Crown Clash: Taken Over event, trainers could begin participating in shadow raids remotely. Even after the event ends at 8 p.m. Sunday, that change will remain in effect moving forward.

Shadow Pokemon are surrounded by a burning purple aura and are generally considered to be stronger than regular Pokemon because of a “shadow bonus” that slightly increases the damage their attacks do in battles.

Players generally catch shadow Pokemon in the game after defeating Team Rocket grunts, but they’re also available through occasional research task rewards and shadow raids.

Shadow raid bosses can become enraged, meaning their attack and defense stats drastically increase if you don’t defeat them within a certain time frame, making them nearly impossible to defeat without help.

For five-star shadow legendary raids, that meant people had to coordinate with four or more local trainers who were willing to spend their raid passes and endure timely battles with the hope of getting anything better than a base value of six attack, six defense and six stamina.

Now, players who don’t have local communities to play with, can host raids and invite their friends from around the world to help them defeat raid bosses, like shadow Regigigas, which is featured in a raid day event from 2 to 5 p.m. today (Saturday).

I will be playing the event from the Penn State Altoona campus, likely with many local players. When our raid day ends at 5, the event will start on the west coast, and I’ll be able to help my Oregon friends defeat Regigigas in raids.

The remote shadow raid feature is not even the best part about the game’s most recent news.

Pokemon Go has finally increased the remote raid limit from five to 10 raids per day after implementing the limit of five in April 2023. Nearly every day since then, players have clamored for the game to lift its restrictions on remote raids.

There are some who feel 10 remote raids isn’t enough and that the limit should be fully removed. I think this is still a huge step in the right direction and am not really bothered by a limit of 10. This is a win for players across the globe, particularly those who live in rural communities.

Not only does it permit trainers to connect with other players in different time zones, it gives them more opportunities to catch shiny legendary Pokemon and earn valuable resources in the game — candies, stardust and experience points.

But wait, there’s more.

Beginning Monday, trainers will be able to use max particles and a remote raid pass to join max battles remotely for the first time.

That feature will remain in effect moving forward, too. This is perfect for next Sunday when a gigantamax Machamp max battle day takes place from 2 to 5 p.m.

On Saturday, May 24, there’s a Machop community day classic with the bonus of three times catch stardust, which is a great opportunity to earn both stardust and candy for gigantamax Machamp the next day.

I feel these changes are just the beginning of what’s to come in Pokemon Go.

With next year marking the 10-year anniversary of the game’s release, I’d like to imagine that Pokemon Go’s developers are planning huge improvements to continue the game’s momentum and excitement, like implementing bottle caps and remote trading features.

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520 and mchurella@altoonamirror.com