Over the past few weeks, Niantic has added several new, high profile Pokemon to Pokemon GO as part of the game's summer festivities. Legendary Pokemon raids have been available for a short time now and have seen thousands of players flock to the streets to try and catch the hard-to-get characters.

But it seems that the legendaries aren't the only elusive creatures that Niantic has been working on, as shiny Pikachu and shiny Raichu have now been spotted in Pokemon GO as well. This news comes from the Pikachu Outbreak Festival which is currently being held in Yokohama, Japan. Those in attendance report that they have been able to capture shiny Pikachu, which is a variation of the character that comes with slightly darker fur. Once caught in the wild, this incredibly rare variety Pikachu can then evolve into a shiny Raichu, which also has darker coloring.

In addition to the shiny Pikachu and shiny Raichu pictured above, fans who have done some digging into the game's code have also discovered sprites for shiny Pichu as well. Though, fans say that it is not yet in the game. Additionally, there are some sprites for shiny Ash hat Pikachu as well as shiny Santa hat Pikachu (and the Raichu and Pichu versions) too. It's unclear exactly how one might acquire a shiny hat version of Pikachu as some of the hat types are limited edition and aren't currently available, but perhaps Niantic will bring these back for a special, shiny occasion.

At this point, it's also unclear whether the shiny Pikachu and shiny Raichu will be introduced worldwide. Per the Yokohama event, the Pokemon only seem to be available in Japan for now, but already fans across the globe are pleading with Niantic to release the characters in other regions.

As seen with the legendary raids, which were first introduced at Pokemon GO Fest in Chicago before being released to everyone, Niantic likes to sweeten the pot for those who turn up to the game's real-world events. However, the company benefits greatly from introducing shiny Pokemon, such as the hugely popular Water-type event which attracted lots of players trying to catch a shiny Magikarp. It would be in Niantic's best interests to release shiny Pikachu all around the world then, so fingers crossed that the rare variant will be released outside of Japan soon.

Pokemon GO is out now on Android and iOS.

Source: reddit