Real trainers don’t Pokemon Go without a little Willow in their pocket

After a storied history making Poke balls, Saffron City tech firm Silph Company recently started trying its hand at software. Inspired by Pokemon Go’s popularity, its latest appWillow aims to hep trainers enjoying Niantic’s location-based hit to be the very best, like no one ever was.

Willow is an app that wants to provide trainers with a competitive edge by making sure they’re informed about the various strengths and weaknesses of Pokemon types in Go, as well as how rare a particular Pokemon might be, and how many candies each requires to evolve. It also provides a handy reference of what kinds of eggs produce what kinds of Pokemon, so you have some idea what you’re walking for.

“We built Willow as a solution for those familiar with Professor Oak’s Pokédex invention,” explained Scientist Beau (pictured, at left) in an email interview, which left me unsure what’s real and what isn’t anymore. “As we research and learn about Pokémon type advantages, we may add more data about types as we want to arm trainers with the necessary information on how to defeat their opponents in Gyms around the region.”

Beau notes that Silph strongly suggests trainers get familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of the various Pokemon types, since that “can mean the difference between victory and defeat,” and once again I am uncertain of whether or not the fantasy world of ‘real’ Pokemon I often imagined in my youth is bleeding over into what we generally agree constitutes real life.

Reaching through the now-diaphanous membrane separating reality from fiction, Scientist Beau tells me that Willow is likely to improve over time through future feature additions, but also says Silph is looking into “opportunities to create other apps” related to Pokemon as well. For now, Willow is a $0.99 addition to your basic PoGo toolkit.