Just like the animated counterpart of the game Pokemon Go, trainers will now experience travelling with a Pokemon that is outside of its Pokeball. Players of the game can already enjoy moments similar to that of Ash and Pikachu in the animated series. Niantic will release an update for Pokemon Go, and it is called the Buddy System.
Players are allowed to have one Pokemon buddy at a time. If a Pokemon is already assigned as a buddy, then it cannot be told to do other tasks within the game. It also cannot be traded unless it will be removed as buddy. It cannot also participate in gym battles. Buddy Pokemon are categorized into four, such as Medium, Shoulder, Big, and Flying.
According to Game Rant, there is an advantage if a trainer has a buddy Pokemon. It can be used to earn candies. Since candies are the only means to evolve a Pokemon, an additional bonus is even added - there will now be candy rewards when trainers travel at a certain distance along with their buddy Pokemon. Most of the Pokemons are only required to travel a distance of one to two kilometers, in order to get candy rewards.
Based on the post from one of the game's blog site, there is a distance and time requirement so that a Pokemon can fully evolve while utilizing the candies that were earned from the Buddy System. For example, the trainers need to travel for a total two-and-a-half hour with a distance of 25 kilometers to have Rattata. In the case of Spearow, Pikachu, Clefairy, Jiggly puff, and Zubat, a total of four-and-a-half hour with a distance of 50 kilometers is needed. This is just an estimate if we assume that a trainer gets a candy per every set distance, and the Pokemon in the buddy system has the same speed limit with the hatching of eggs, which is around three meters per second.
