Pokemon GO Player Catches Shiny Pokemon That’s Not Supposed to Be in the Game Yet

A lucky Pokemon GO player recently captured a shiny Shadow Zubat, something that should not be possible, considering that this creature is not officially available at the moment. It’s possible that Shadow Zubat will debut during Pokemon GO’s Taken Treasures event, which will start on January 27, as it will bring many Shadow Pokemon to the game.

Pokemon GO was originally released in 2016 and has been widely successful since then. While the player count of the free mobile game has declined from a peak of 232 million players over the years, Pokemon GO is still popular in 2024, and packed with seasonal events.

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Now, a gamer called ItJustWorks9 revealed that their mother recently caught a shiny XXL Shadow Zubat. Considering that this creature has not been officially released yet, this was probably due to a glitch. To make the situation even more unlikely, shiny Pokemon are very rare in Pokemon GO. While it’s not clear when Shadow Zubat will be available for Pokemon GO players, there’s speculation that one of the Team GO Rocket members of the upcoming Taken Treasures event may use one.

The Taken Treasures event will be focused on Team Go Rocket, and it will happen from January 27 to February 1. During this time frame, players will have a chance to find unique Shadow Pokemon and to fight Team Go Rocket members. While some of the Shadow Pokemon will be returning, others like Shadow Kyogre and Shadow Ho-Oh will appear for the first time in the game and can only be found by completing seasonal research events during the week. Additionally, Taken Treasures will add two new creatures to Pokemon GO, Varoom and Revavroom, which originally appeared in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.

The Team Go Rocket-inspired event is not the only major Pokemon GO event coming up soon. Niantic has recently announced Pokemon GO’s Lunar New Year event, which will happen from February 5 to 11. During this time frame, more Dragon-type Pokemon than usual will appear randomly. Also, Drampa will be introduced to Pokemon GO, including an increased spawn rate for both this creature and its shiny variant. The Lunar New Year event will also feature a Global Challenge task that will require players from all over the world to complete 1,000,000,000 Nice Throws during the week. If the community manages to overcome this number, they will be eligible for exclusive yet unknown bonuses.

Pokémon GO

After a test run via an April Fools’ joke on Google Maps, Pokemon GO was released to the public in the summer of 2016. The AR mobile app saw unparalleled success and continues to be one of the largest mobile games in the world, pulling in billions for developer Niantic.