Pokémon is coming to smartphones. In 2016, the Pokémon Company will launch Pokémon GO, a free mobile game for Android and iOS, where players search real-world locations to discover, trade and battle Pokémon. A separate Bluetooth smartwatch, dubbed Pokémon GO Plus, notifies players of nearby events and allows them to catch Pokémon with the press of a button.

The Pokémon Company has spent the past two years plotting Pokémon Go with Nintendo (late CEO Satoru Iwata, in particular). The app will be developed by Niantic, which released a similar augmented reality game, Ingress, in 2014. The appeal of Ingress, as Niantic head John Hanke said at a press conference yesterday, is that "a walk in the park or a trip to work could be part of an epic sci-fi battle for the fate of humanity." Watch below.

Revisit "The 29 (!) Pokémon Trainers We Met at JapanLA's Nine-Year Anniversary and Pokémon Boutique."