Pokemon Go player given first ever legendary as an apology

Pokémon Go’s first ever legendary may be in the possession of a player in Ohio.

Multiple Redditors have seen a legendary Articuno perched atop gyms in Ohio and provided screenshots and videos as proof. What makes this particularly notable is that Articuno is one of the Pokémon that you can’t currently catch.

Proof of its existence have been spotted in Pokémon Go’s files, but it is currently awaiting release.

The owner of this Articuno, kaitcovey, posted about her creature on a local Pokémon Go Facebook group. She says that she received the Pokémon from Niantic as an apology after she contacted them about an issue.

This seems like an unusual response, especially considering how many complaints Niantic must have received. Instead, it’s expected that legendaries will be saved for large public events.

It could also be fake or a glitch – users have reported visual bugs that cause a Caterpie to reveal itself as a Charizard once captured. The game may have also accidentally released an Articuno, which the user captured, or someone modified the Pokémon’s data so that the game identifies as Articuno.

Niantic is yet to comment on this and may have another headache to deal with.