Mobile game developer Niantic has ushered the Version 0.53 update to its location-based augmented reality mobile game “Pokemon Go” recently and it further heightened the excitement of gamers to the world’s most popular mobile game today.
The update actually changed how “Pokemon Go” tracked distance and accounted for GPS drift. It also improved the interface of the Apple Watch “Pokemon Go” app to display Pokemon eggs obtained at PokeStops, details iDigital Times.
However, what seems to be drawing huge attention to the Version 0.53 update is the fact that it has actually ushered a female Pikachu, a female Raichu which evolved from a male Pikachu.
Niantic did not include a female Pokemon on its announcement for Version 0.53 so it came as a welcome surprise to many gamers of “Pokemon Go.” It could be a way for Niantic to show that it has become gender sensitive as well, note some critics.
Gender differences in the game
As of late, gender differences in Pokemon have sprouted from seemingly out of nowhere on “Pokemon Go,” particularly with the most popular Pokemon of them all, Pikachu.
In some public forum and blogs, there were reports of images and claims of finding female Pikachu in the wild and a male Pikachu becoming a female Raichu when it evolves.
These reports are saying that only Pikachu has seen the gender difference because it’s one of the most recognizable Pokémon.
Female Pikachu has a heart shape at the end of their tails. Male Pikachu has the normal lightning bolt tail. Gender differences in Raichu are not as obvious. Female Raichu has a shorter tail than male Raichu, and that’s all.
Genders in Pokémon were formally introduced in Gen 2, which is outside of the Nidoran lines in Gen 1, and while genders don’t affect battles, they affect how certain Pokémon look and in some cases how they evolve.
It would be interesting to find out if there will be more gendered Pokémon that would appear in the wild of “Pokémon Go,” or if Niantic shall soon confirm that particular feature of its latest update to the game.
Surprise is all over the world
Because of the massive popularity of “Pokemon Go” on a global scale, the reports of a female Pikachu have caused surprise to trainers all over the world. After all, it was something that was never there before in “Pokemon Go.”
They are also surprised to learn that Niantic has not made any announcement about the new feature of their favorite mobile game, reports iTech Post.
Some information was previously provided by the latest android application package update regarding Poke Genders but it did not say anything about having a female Pikachu or a female Raichu.
With the sudden appearance of a female Pikachu in the wild, gamers now have the proof that Niantic has already rolled out the feature.
The Silph Road blog has already posted an image of the recent phenomenon of “Pokemon Go” and claimed that it has found a female Pikachu in the wild.
The site also revealed that when a male Pikachu evolves, it will turn into a female Raichu. It seems clear at this point that the only two Pokemon that displays the new capability in terms of their gender are Pikachu and Raichu.
Gamers know that the male Pikachu has clear differences with a female Pikachu. In the augmented reality mobile game, the shapes of the tails of Pokemon are different from each other.
The male Pikachu tail is like a lightning bolt while the tail of a female Pikachu is shaped like a heart.
Meanwhile, the differences between a male and female Raichu are not that obvious but it seems that the tail of the male Raichu is longer than the tail of the female Raichu.
“Pokemon Go” was the result of a collaboration between Niantic and Nintendo, through the establishment of The Pokemon Company. It was initially released in selected countries in July 2016.