Pokemon Go Update Adds Rare Shiny Pikachu In Japan

Pokemon Go has received an exciting new creature: shiny Pikachu is now catchable in the wild! The downside is that the Pokemon is only available in Japan right now, with no word as yet on a worldwide release.

As you can see below, the shiny version of Pikachu is pretty similar to standard Pikachu, except maybe with a little more fake tan--he's looking pretty orange. The creature is significant for being only the third shiny monster available in Pokemon Go, after shiny Magikarp and shiny Gyarados. Shiny Pikachu do, of course, evolve into shiny Raichu.

Although the special mouse is not currently available outside of Japan, there is hope for those of us in the rest of the world. Developer Niantic recently began unlocking Pokemon Go's region-specific creatures in Europe, though only for a limited time. Another Legendary Pokemon is available now, meanwhile, but you'll have to be quick--Zapdos is only available in Raid Battles until August 14.

The electric mouse's shiny edition--which follows previous ones that had a Santa hat or an Ash Ketchum hat--comes as part of The Pokemon Company's Pikachu Outbreak event in Japan. Not all of Pokemon Go's events have gone so well, however. Some in Europe were recently postponed after the Chicago fan fest ran into a bunch of problems earlier in July.

In other Pokemon Go news, a new update is out now, bringing with it a number of bug fixes and re-introducing Team Instinct's leader, Spark. Check out the full Pokemon Go patch notes here.