Pokemon GO Bug Turns Buddy Pokemon into Scary Giants

By John Jacques 25 December 2016

• nintendo
• ios
• pokemon go
• android
• pokemon
• the pokemon company
• mobile

A new bug in Pokemon GO is making buddy Pokemon appear as Godzilla-sized giants, sometimes engulfing the entire map under the size of the monstrous Pokemon.

The popular Pokemon GO application is getting plenty of more features in the near future, ranging from the long-awaited addition of new Pokemon to the ability to catch shiny Pokemon. This weekend, though, something new unexpectedly popped up, and this change wasn’t an intentional one from Niantic.

In the Pokemon GO application, all Pokemon are scaled down on the map so that players can easily see who is around them, and not find their avatar suddenly hidden underneath an Onyx’s shadow. However, a recent bug has thrown all sense of scale truly out the window, rendering buddy Pokemon to be Godzilla-sized giants wreaking destruction over wherever players happen to be. The giant Pokemon cover a large span of the map itself, making it difficult for players to see if any other regular-sized Pokemon or even entire PokeStops are hiding underneath their giant pixel-based pal.

There seems to be a glitch in Pokemon GO where each time you tap your player profile icon, for a split second, your buddy Pokemon . . . pic.twitter.com/CZUPfUrqGD— Nicolo (@Nymo) December 8, 2016

The Pokemon GO subreddit has been flooded by players posting screengrabs of their giant Pokemon buddies. Some imaginative trainers are happy toting a giant Dragonite around their hometown, while others seem to have grown tired of the influx of screenshots the bug has initiated.

Niantic hasn’t commented on the bug at this point in time, but it’s not hard to imagine that the studio will attempt to fix the issue causing giant Pokemon by the time the big update rolls out next week. The studio just recently fixed an issue with Gym training rewards a few days ago, so we expect it will be quick to nip the giant buddy issue in the bud as well. Any trainer who hasn’t been able to enjoy the sight of a giant Ditto engulfing city streets under its blobby dimensions should do so soon rather than later, before the opportunity is gone forever.

Last week saw the poorly-kept secret that Niantic was partnering with Starbucks become official, adding an impressive ~7,800 Starbucks locations as both PokeStops and Gyms, while also allowing trainers who stop by these locations to purchase a special Pokemon GO-themed Frappuccino for a limited time. The coffee giant is far from the first business to link up with Pokemon GO, joining the ranks of Mcdonalds, Sprint, and even RadioShack as official Pokemon GO partners.

More details about the new Pokemon arriving for the application will come out December 12th. No news on if they’ll be able to become giant buddies, either.

Pokemon GO is available now on iOS and Android devices.