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» As mobile game Pokémon GO launches, players keep finding Magikarp in crazy locations 【Photos】

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As mobile game Pokémon GO launches, players keep finding Magikarp in crazy locations 【Photos】

Casey Baseel Jul 8, 2016
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The pitifully weak Pokémon has been showing up in some embarrassing places, including one that shows a preference for a rival company’s video games.

Despite being based on a Japanese franchise and designed by an American software developer, Pokémon GO, the first mobile game in Nintendo’s beloved monster rearing series, launched first in Australia and New Zealand. While the rest of the world is finally just getting or still waiting for its turn to play the augmented-reality title, lucky gamers in the two southern-hemisphere countries are already living the dream of searching for Pocket Monsters in the real world.

While it’s not yet known just how many of the hundreds of pre-existing Pokémon will show up in Pokémon GO, we do know that the fish-like Magikarp has made the cut. The creature occupies a unique position in the series, in that while trainers patient enough to nurture it into its evolved form will be rewarded with a powerful ally, in its normal form, Magikarp is so weak as to be practically useless.

Because of this, Pokemon GO players can’t help but laugh at some of the less-than-dignified places they’ve been finding Magikarp specimens.

▼ Some say eating a beast gives you its power, but Magikarp hardly has any power to give.

dad was cooking fish tonight and my phone buzzed and pic.twitter.com/4WbeF45d6z

— ✦ rhonnie ✦ 🔜 melbnova #248 !! (@ryonello) July 6, 2016

▼ Cleanup on Aisle 4!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Pokemon Go (@pokemongocenter)

▼ Wait a second, does Nintendo know Magikarp is browsing the PlayStation corner of this game shop?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jovanni Compean Hernandez (@jovanni.compean)

▼ Well, it is a water-type Pokémon, after all.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BHhDNU-Afut/

▼ Having a conference room that’s also a Pokémon habitat is a surefire way to make sure employees show up for meetings.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by RidingWithTom (@ridingwithtom)

▼ Magikarp? More like Magikrotch.

This feels a bit weird, however I obviously want to catch a Magicarp #PokemonGO pic.twitter.com/RQZaT4HjPD

— Joel Jarman (@joeljarman) July 6, 2016

But remember, as amazing as it is to see Magikarp appear against actual backdrops, Pokémon GO is still a video game. The Pokémon that show up on your screen aren’t really there, so there’s no need to actually reach out and grab the physical environment to catch your quarry.

Source: Yurukuyaru via Jin

Follow Casey on Twitter, where all this talk of Magikarp has him feeling nostalgic for Baseball Star’s SNK Crushers, that Shining Force gopher, and other video game characters that suddenly spike in power.