Pokemon Go trainer finds unreleased shiny Scatterbug

This odd Pokemon Go bug saw one player catch an unseen shiny variant of Scatterbug, much to the surprise of the game’s community.

A lot of the excitement of playing a Pokemon game comes from the tireless pursuit of catching them all. Pokemon Go is no exception — with 786 Pokemon to catch, completing your collection is a significant feat.

In the past, the mobile game has even introduced a whole host of region-specific or weather-specific species to elevate this challenge even further. While there are plenty of exciting and elusive creatures in the Pokedex, an unreleased Pokemon would certainly be the gem of any trainer’s collection. Well, one Reddit user came across just that. 

As result of this requirement, a Scatterbug encounter can be triggered while you’re attempting to catch another wild Pokemon. User norlanian to took to r/TheSilphRoad to share a bizarre glitch that occurred for them as a result.

Pokemon Go glitch triggers a shiny Scatterbug encounter

Scatterbug is a bug-type that was added to Pokemon Go at the end of 2022. However, you won’t come across one of them skittering around in the wild. In order to trigger an encounter, you’ll need to form a collection of postcards.

For now, Pokemon Go doesn’t officially have a shiny variant of Scatterbug available. Yet, a shiny Scatterbug appeared for one player when they tried to catch a shiny Exeggcute. 

While this glitch made for a cool screenshot and an interesting story, the Scatterbug, unfortunately, did not remain shiny once placed in the user’s storage.

Understandably, players were baffled about how this situation even came about. Current speculation is that the sprite for the Pokemon’s shiny counterpart still exists within the code, even if Niantic have chosen not to release it. 

With its awkward clipping model, the shiny Scatterbug might not have the level of polish expected from a finished game asset. Still, it’s an exciting example of some of the Pokemon hidden within Pokemon Go.