Niantic's Pokemon GO had an unfortunately rough start, technically speaking. Despite its wild popularity, the game understandably came with multitudes of technical hitches, which simply comes with the territory when defining a new form of gaming experience.
Evidently, Pokemon Trainers still love Pokemon GO; and although its fun addictive gameplay is certainly responsible for its success, the numerous free promotional gifts from Niantic have definitely helped too. As with many other expansive mobile games, players have learned to anticipate generous apology packages whenever something goes awry in Pokemon GO, and a recent case of missing Shiny Pokemon has resulted in yet another great present.
Pokemon Trainers on Discord and Reddit recently began discussing a mysterious lack of Shiny Shadow Pokemon in Niantic's hit game. Namely, the newly introduced Shiny Shadow Omanyte, Growlithe, and Drowzee. The three Pokemon recently took the stage as Team GO Rocket's bosses' new signature Pokemon, meaning they can now also be encountered as Shiny Shadow Pokemon. However, devoted Trainers began to notice that none of their friends had reported a Shiny Shadow Pokemon since the three's arrival.
It turns out that the rare Shiny versions of these three Pokemon had in fact been accidentally left unavailable, despite the recent update. Thankfully, Niantic swiftly responded to the issue on its Twitter page, and promptly remedied the error. In light of the mishap, Niantic is offering players a free rewards bundle available via the in-game shop. The small token of appreciation and apology includes:
- 3 Rocket Radars
- 10 Poke Balls
- 3 Hyper Potions
- 3 Revives
Pokemon GO Trainers will be able to claim the free box until November 10th, 2020, 6 PM (PDT). Each encounter with a Team GO Rocket Leader requires players to assemble a Rocket Radar, which in turn requires 6 Rocket Radar components. The components are awarded by defeated Team GO Rocket Grunts, so players hoping to challenge any of the bosses generally have to spend some time tracking down, or waiting for, Team GO Rocket Grunts, before even having the opportunity to challenge Arlo, Cliff, or Sierra.
Needless to say, those who were chasing the Team GO Rocket Leaders down in pursuit of a Shiny Growlithe, Omanyte, or Drowzee, felt like their time (and oftentimes money) was wasted by this ordeal. And regardless of time and money spent, players have all the reason to feel disillusioned for mistakenly trusting that a rare in-game reward was simply rare, rather than impossible-to-obtain. In any case, Niantic has made efforts to make amends as quickly as they could, and given that the bundle includes three Rocket Radars, players will be able to instantly re-challenge a Team GO Rocket Leader at least three times in a row.
Pokemon GO is available now on the App Store and Google Play.