‘Pokemon GO’: 10 Funniest Places Trainers Have Come Across Pokemon
Pokemon GO is finally here and has already been made available in Android and iOS app stores in the US, Australia, and Japan. Pokemon fans are going nuts, and the Pokemon GO Reddit page is packed with anecdotes about the games, as well as screenshots of the various places players have encountered Pokemon. Some of those places are very appropriate, some don’t make sense (like Pokemon being generated over malls or in the air; hopefully this will be patched in future app updates), and some of them are downright hilarious!
https://twitter.com/raphablueberry/status/750683936746012672
While wild Pokemon encounters do not look as mind-blowingly seamless as they did in the initial Pokemon Go announcement trailer, the system of superimposing the Pokemon encounter visuals over a real-time video of your surroundings is pretty cool. The specific Pokemon a trainer might encounter in a given location often even corresponds to the real-world surroundings. To use an example given in a Pokemon Go review from Polygon, one will be more likely to find water type Pokemon like Tentacool or Seal when near water, or nocturnal Pokemon like Gastly or Clefairy when playing at night. Pokemon GO gets the information about your surroundings from cross-referencing your GPS location with Google Maps, as well as seeing if its built-in image recognition software can recognize whatever is visible via your phone’s camera.
https://twitter.com/TheEvanDaily/status/750960871237615616
Again, some of the instances in which Pokemon Go has chosen to superimpose specific Pokemon are pretty funny. Who knows if the funny placements are tongue-in-cheek (and sometimes dark) humor on Game Freak’s part or just huge coincidences? In any case, here are ten of the funniest examples floating around the interwebs.
- Magikarp Getting Swole
Magikarp has been the butt of many a joke since his debut in the first generation of Pokemon main series video games, and much of the ridicule the poor guy receives is due to the fact that his big brother, Gyarados, is such a powerful — and, at this point, iconic — monster. Well, apparently Magikarp got sick of all the hate and is determined to whip himself into shape for Pokemon GO, because it looks like he’s ready to pump some iron in this screenshot! If only he had arms…
Most people who experienced the worldwide phenomenon that included Pokemon Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, and Crystal will remember what is still viewed by many Pokemon fans as one of the worst areas of any Pokemon game: Diglett Cave. It was a boring hole in the ground infested with Digletts and its infamous reputation has become a big part of the Pokemon’s identity. But even compared to that, this seems a little degrading. Literally burrowing out of the sand where a cat takes a dump? Pull yourself together, man.
When Niantic, who headed up the development of Pokemon GO, decided to put water Pokemon near actual water, they weren’t messing around. Even an aquatic body as small as a bowl of toilet water counts, apparently, and there have been multiple sightings on Squirtle, the generation one water type starter Pokemon, by Pokemon GO trainers all over the country.
Strangely, the same trend seems to hold true with all the gen one starter Pokemon; there have been sightings of toilet-tethered Charmanders and Bulbasaurs as well. Well, as the great Taro Gomi once told us, Everybody Poops.
https://twitter.com/Brand_Onlee/status/750544663736684544
4. Rattata Eating Cat Food
Someone left out a bowl of what looks like cat food, and this Rattata was drawn to it like an actual rat might be. The Pokemon’s positioning and the situation in which it appeared seem almost too perfect to be purely coincidence; that’s some pretty impressive image recognition on Niantic’s part!
No word on why this guy was surveying his boxer shorts while playing Pokemon GO, but it is a fair bet that it was all worth it when it resulted in him finding a Caterpie who looks like it really feels a strong bond with that trainer. Luckily, it has not yet evolved into a Metapod and used harden repeatedly.
https://twitter.com/JarrattOng/status/750601841713577984
6. Exeggcute Over Easy
Like we said, sometimes Pokemon GO has been shown to get the placement of its Pokemon exactly right. The placement of this Exeggcute in this empty pan on the stove, although a definite example of that dark humor we also mentioned, is one of those times. Another hilarious screenshot shows a Magikarp in a frying pan. Gotta love that fatty fish.
This is yet another entry on this list that falls into the category of the humorously macabre. It looks like this poor Rattata recently lost his rodent brethren, and now it just wants those pesky Pokemon GO trainers that seem to have multiplied in numbers exponentially over the past 12 hours to leave the dead alone. Either that or he is just attracted to rotting flesh.
https://twitter.com/darkbluecat/status/750714434411171840
8. Magikarp In A Puddle
Magikarp seems to keep popping up on this list, maybe because Niantic realized what a beloved Pokemon he is and made him easier to find. Usually, the derpy Pokemon is found in or near actual vessels of water. In this case, though, we was found in the middle of the sidewalk. To be fair, Scotland’s streets were soaked when this snap was taken, and Magikarp’s presence on the sidewalk just rubbed that fact in. Apparently, Pokemon Go can even pick up on weather patterns in various locales.
Scotland: A place so wet that Pokemon Go deems fit to place a water Pokemon on the street. pic.twitter.com/LCaer5UQjB
— Daniel Sloss (@Daniel_Sloss) July 6, 2016
9. Weedle In My Food
No one wants bugs in their food. Gross. Get out of here, Weedle, I’m trying to eat breakfast.
Incidentally, Pokemon GO trainers have encountered Weedles on or near snack foods in other cases, too. Is Weedle a junk food hound in Pokemon GO?
Look at the size of that thing! It looks friendly, though, so no need to panic. It looks like this Pokemon GO trainer was looking down on a city street from a nearby hill or something like that, and the size of the Pokemon that appeared in the center of the frame did not adjust accordingly. Maybe Niantic needs to do a little more work regarding Pokemon GO‘s interaction with the camera’s distance sensors.
Do you have any amusing screenshots of your Pokemon Go encounters? If so, show them to the world by posting them in the comments section below!
[Image via Glory/Youtube]
