Pokemon Go players are fed up with “lazy” Pikachu hat variations

Daniel Megarry

Pokemon Go fans have shared their frustration over the “lazy” Pikachu hat variations that keep getting added to the game as part of special events.

Niantic have made a habit of celebrating special occasions like Halloween or a new movie by bringing special variations of Pikachu to Pokemon Go. This year alone has seen Party Hat Pikachu, Safari Cap Pikachu, Explorer Pikachu, and more added to the game.

Some players recognize that they’re just cute extras to collect, but others find them pointless and would rather Niantic focus their time on changing bigger issues – such as the lacklustre rewards hatching out of 10km and 12km eggs.

Pokemon Go Pikachu hats
Many Pokemon Go players are fed up with Pikachu hat variations.

Pokemon Go players don’t want any more hat Pikachus

A thread on the Pokemon Go subreddit titled “I can’t stress this enough, we do not need or want more Pikachus with hats on” currently has over 8,000 upvotes and hundreds of comments debating the topic.

The main point of frustration among players seems to be that the Pikachu variations are so similar to one another, with only minor cosmetic changes. Recent costumed Pokemon cannot be evolved either, rendering them useless for some trainers.

“I think we should all realize by now they will continue to release lazy as hell content and most of the die hards will keep spending tons of money,” wrote one fan. Another added, “If I could evolve them and stash them in Pokemon Home I wouldn’t mind as much.”

Pokemon Go Pikachu Ash hat
Pikachu hat variants may be cute, but many players find them useless.

Reddit user Kaiju_zero had a very specific problem: They have two shiny Smoochums, but they can’t evolve either of them into shiny Jinkx. Why? Because they’re both the variations that have Bows on their head.

One player offered a solution for Niantic to implement, suggesting that the unlockable costumes should be interchangeable between different Pokemon – although they expressed doubt over whether that would ever happen.

“Imagine if catching a costumed Pokémon unlocked its costume and enabled you to put it on any Pokémon you want,” they wrote. “Then we’d still get cute new costumes for events, but without the pressure to keep random garbage ‘mons stuck wearing them.”

It’s not the only issue that’s bugging fans. With many new and exciting additions like Galarian Mr Mime and Shiny Mew requiring tickets, players are getting frustrated with Pokemon Go locking special edition Pokemon behind paid events.

About The Author

Daniel graduated from university with a degree in Journalism and English Language, before spending five years at GAY TIMES covering LGBTQ+ news and entertainment. He then made the switch to video game journalism where he produces news, features, and guides for Pokemon, Fortnite, Nintendo, and PlayStation games. Daniel also has a passion for any games with queer representation.