Pokémon Pokopia Has a Super Secret Hidden Reward for Finishing the Entire Pokedex

I reviewed Pokémon Pokopia, meaning I’ve been playing it for longer than most people, and even a few weeks post-launch I’m still chugging away at my builds and my friend group’s Cloud Island. I’m also still trying to finish the Pokedex, which has way more monsters in it than I expected. I was planning to give up, but I recently learned there’s actually a cool reward for finishing it, and now I’m even more invested.

If you would also like to learn about the cool reward for finishing the Pokedex, please scroll on past the video. But it is a bit spoilery, so if you’re not even done with the game yet or just would rather discover it for yourself, please consider moving along. I repeat: SPOILER WARNING FOR THE ENDGAME OF POKOPIA BELOW!

You can actually stumble upon part of the “reward” for finishing the Pokedex early. If you’re poking around the Shimmering Skylands, and I mean really poking, you may come across a very well-hidden cave deep in one of the islands. If you’re looking for it, it’s on the island where you meet Gyarados for the first time. It’s buried deep inside the island, but you can potentially sniff it out by finding a room that has a broken ladder leading to a dead end in either direction, and a black/yellow stripe WARNING panel on the floor. Break through the panel beneath where the ladder would have gone down, and keep breaking downward until you drop into a small cavern.

In the cave, there’s an Area Gate that lets you scan the Pokedex, but it won’t open unless you’ve completed the entire thing, minus event-only Pokémon like Hoppip. That requires 300 Pokémon – an eye-popping amount for a game like this, and a number that includes a handful of difficult-to-find legendaries, too.

So what happens when you do collect all 300? Well, the good news is that if you haven’t tracked down the Area Gate yet, you don’t have to work too hard. Upon finishing the 300th entry, you’ll receive the recipe for the Neo Dowsing Machine, which Professor Tangrowth will tell you to take to Shimmer Skylands. If you grab a Pokémon with the Search ability, you’ll be led to the Area Gate without having to hunt it down yourself. Scan your Pokedex, and head inside…

I don’t want to spoil what’s actually in there, because it’s genuinely kind of cool, especially if you’re a long-time Pokemon fan. But what you get is new recipes for a printer (like the one in the Pokémon Center that lets you make any item you have a picture of), a shutter, and a card reader, the latter two allowing you to effectively make your own Area Gates. You’ll also get a Diploma, just like in other Pokémon games, and you can hang it up on a wall anywhere you like to celebrate your achievement. Congratulations!

I’m over here still trudging my way up from around 250 entries, but I’ll get my diploma soon enough. Good luck, fellow Dittos!

Over 2.2 million Dittos are currently plugging away at the Dex (or at least bought the game). At the moment, many of us are enjoying the Hoppip event, which some of us wish it would just wrap up already. If you’re trying to catch up on that Dex or just finish the story off, we’ve got extensive Wiki guides right here to help you.

Wondering which Pokémon you’ll be able to live alongside? Check out our list of all the Pokémon in Pokopia, and take a look at our Things to Do First in Pokopia guide to make the most of your first few days. To help you get started, we’ve also got a list of 17 things that Pokopia doesn’t tell you, plus How to Raise the Environment Level and How to Raise Pokémon Comfort Level.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected].