For anyone who wants to complete every aspect of their Pokédex, the Vivillon addition to Pokémon Go offers a challenging goal. There are 18 distinct versions of this Pokémon, and the way you unlock them comes from exchanging post cards with friends.
Of these 18 unique forms, two are proving to be the most challenging to unlock. The ones proving to be the most difficult Vivillon forms to unlock are the Ocean and Sandstorm variations. Each type of Vivillon is connected to a specific part of the world, and you need friends to send you postcards from those locations. Here’s what you need to know about how to get the Ocean and Sandstorm Vivillon forms in Pokémon Go.
How to get all Vivillon form locations in Pokémon Go
You go about getting a Vivillon with a specific pattern by matching it up with the region in the real world. Some of these forms appear in more than one location. For example, if you want a High Plains Vivillon, you can receive a Postcard from the western United States or Eastern Europe. After you have that postcard, pin it to your postcard book in Pokémon Go, allowing you to encounter a Scatterbug and evolveinto that Vivillon form.
Here’s a full breakdown of all the Vivillon Forms and the regions they can appear in, giving you an exact idea of what Post Cards you need to get.
| Vivillon Form | Postcard Region |
|---|---|
| Archipelago | Caribbean South Africa |
| Continental | Argentina Central Europe Central Asia India |
| Elegant | Japan |
| Garden | Ireland United Kingdom New Zealand |
| High Plains | Eastern Europe Western United States |
| Icy Snow | Greenland Northern Canada Northern Europe |
| Jungle | Central Africa Colombia Indonesia Northern South America |
| Marine | Chile Eastern Europe Greece Spain |
| Meadow | Central Europe |
| Modern | Southeastern United States |
| Monsoon | Southeast Asia |
| Ocean | Hawaii Galapagos Islands Madagascar |
| Polar | Alaska Chile Eastern Canada Northeastern United States Northern Europe Western Canada |
| River | Egypt North Africa South Africa South Australia |
| Sandstorm | Middle East |
| Savanna | Brazil North Australia |
| Sun | Madagascar Mexico |
| Tundra | Iceland Northern Japan Southern Norway Sweden |
The two most difficult Vivillon forms to track down for players are the Ocean and Sandstorm forms. The Ocean ones appear in Hawaii, Galapagos Island, and Madagascar, and the Sandstorm one appears in the Middle East.
How to find Ocean and Sandstorm Vivillon forms in Pokémon Go
To find both forms for Vivillon, you must find friends from Hawaii for the Ocean variant, and UAE, Dubai, Qatar, Israel, and areas around that segment of the world to get Sandstorm. Finding other players in these places can be tricky, but luckily we have compiled a few resources that helped us get these forms easier than using sites like Twitter and Facebook to reach out to others to see if they can help you. It should be a short exchange if it all works out.
While there are general resources such as this Google doc on which people can share their regions and friend codes, specific places exist to find or ask for friends from certain areas.
How to find Ocean Region Friend Codes in Pokémon Go
There are multiple resources you can use to help you find players in Hawaii that can share gifts with you to get the Ocean pattern Vivillon form. Some of these include:
It’s also worth just looking around online, like on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), and searching for keywords like “hawaii pokemon go” to see who is around. Because Pokémon Worlds 2024 was held in Hawaii, there was an influx of players going to this location to compete or watch what was going on. It’s worth asking anyone you know who is attending to send you a gift while they are over there.
How to find Sandstorm Region Friend Codes in Pokémon Go
Like Hawaii, multiple resources are available for finding friends in Sandstorm regions. Don’t expect these trainers to add you back, but it is a way to make the process easier than relying on a potluck. These resources include:
The Sandstorm one is arguably the hardest one to get out of all the different patterns, and it even took me several months to find. Granted, now that the enormous number of people looking for them has pulled back from the immediate hype when the Vivillon released to Pokémon Go, you may have a better chance of finding players to help you.
