It's the Year of Magikarp: Pokemon's Weakest Monster is Apparently a Pokemon GO Raid Boss

It's the Year of Magikarp: Pokemon's Weakest Monster is Apparently a Pokemon GO Raid Boss

And what a strange year it is.

News by Kat Bailey, Editor in Chief

Updated on 23 June 2017

We're definitely in the Year of Magikarp, folks. Having received its very own mobile game, Pokemon's weakest monster is now appearing as a boss in some Pokemon GO raids.

As reported by Kotaku, Magikarp has been popping up at various high-level raid locations, where it is being rapidly smacked down.

Magikarp has been spotted in a Sprint store in Kansas, a Starbucks in Florida, and other locations, with Pokemon GO players taking to Twitter to report sightings.

One Youtuber asked, "Is Niantic trolling me because I'm spooofing?"

These Magikarp sightings are part of a brand new update in which multiple players can fight powerful monsters together. The update was initially only open to level 35 players, but it's been dropping throughout the day and is now available of players who are level 28.

Magikarp, of course, doesn't make for much of a raid boss, as it can be defeated in approximately 10 seconds. But at least it's yielding some pretty decent rewards in Niantic's notoriously stingy mobile game.

If you end up fighting a Magikarp raid battle yourself, let us know in the comments. In the meantime, check out our guide to Pokemon GO's raid battles.

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More about Pokemon Go

Kat Bailey

Editor in Chief

Kat Bailey is a former freelance writer and contributor to publications including 1UP, IGN, GameSpot, GamesRadar, and EGM. Her fondest memories as a journalist are at GamePro, where she hosted RolePlayer's Realm and had legal access to the term "Protip." She is USgamer's resident mecha enthusiast, Pokemon Master, and Minnesota Vikings nut (skol).

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