Some players of Niantic’s popular Pokemon GO wait for what seems like an eternity before their first encounter with one of the game’s rare Shiny Pokemon, but one lucky gamer managed to snag one of the elusive creatures after an inadvertent misclick. Denying reports indicating that Pokemon GO’s revenue has dropped significantly compared to previous years, recent statements from Niantic show that the developer continues to remain optimistic about the mobile title’s future.
Originally released for iOS and Android in 2016, Pokemon GO was the second title from developer Niantic featuring location-based gameplay as a central mechanic. While Niantic’s 2013 game Ingress had found a small but devoted fanbase over the years, Pokemon GO’s simple-yet-addictive gameplay allowed the developer to finally gain a truly global audience. Players are able to collect many of their favorite creatures from the franchise’s long history in Pokemon GO, but encounters with the game’s elusive Shiny Pokemon are exceedingly rare. Earlier this month Niantic released a new game, Peridot, which has led some Pokemon GO fans to question the developer’s long-term commitment to the Pokemon-themed AR game.
In a new post on r/pokemongo, Redditor Calplush12 shared a picture of the rare Shiny Slugma they caught while playing Pokemon GO recently. Their post states that they accidentally used their Daily Adventure Incense after loading up the game only to have the elusive Pokemon appear. Introduced to the game late last year, the Daily Adventure Incense item temporarily gives players an increased spawn rate for Pokemon as long as they’re moving. Sporting a light grey appearance in place of the Lava Pokemon’s usual bright red coloring, the Shiny Slugma made for an unexpected but welcome addition to Calplush12’s Pokemon collection.
Fans of Pokemon GO responding to the picture of the Shiny Slugma congratulated Calplush12 on their unexpected find, with several Redditors sharing similar stories of accidentally encountering a Shiny. One long-time fan of the Pokemon games shared their surprise at seeing the rare variant, stating that they’d “been playing pokemon for 13 years and had no idea shiny slugma was grey.” Commenting on the Shiny Slugma’s decidedly unusual appearance, another Redditor joked that it “looks like those poor unfortunate souls from The Little Mermaid.” Another post having a laugh at the bizarre-looking Pokemon’s expense suggested Calplush12 name it “lil booger,” to which they replied that they would.
It's not every day that a misclick in the popular mobile game leads to a player capturing one of Pokemon GO’s most elusive creatures, so Calplush12 was definitely lucky with their slip of the finger. And now that they have the much sought-after Shiny Slugma in their collection, they still have some time left to train it ahead of Pokemon GO’s A Valorous Hero event later this month.
Pokemon GO is available on Android and iOS.