Pokemon Go players terrified by “creepy” Vulpix and Ninetales bug

Philip Trahan
pokemon go vulpix ninetales header

Pokemon Go players have discovered an eerie bug in the recent Halloween update that caused Vulpix and Ninetales to freeze in place.

Pokemon Go’s Halloween 2022 update is in full swing and players are finding all sorts of spooky Pokemon in the wild.

The Halloween 2022 Part 2 event added a handful of brand-new costumed Pokemon, including Pumpkaboo, Gengar, Vulpix, and Ninetales.

Unfortunately, it seems a fittingly creepy bug has affected both Spooky Festival Vulpix and Ninetales and players are starting to get creeped out.

Pokemon Go players creeped out by Vulipx and Ninetales

The bug in question, which was shown off by Reddit user cklxs on TheSilphRoad subreddit, seems to disable all animations for both Spooky Festival Vulpix and Ninetales.

The post’s caption reads, “Well this is just creepy lol. In addition to costume Vulpix, costume Ninetales animations don’t work, it just stays put.”

As a result, the two Pokemon simply stand still as statues when encountered. In the overworld, their models seem to glide over the terrain in an eerie fashion.

Additionally, when players encounter either Pokemon in battle, they just stare lifelessly forward — aside from an occasionally jumping animation.

However, it seems some players aren’t too bothered by the bug and claim that Niantic is just getting into the Halloween spirit.

“All the animation bugs are obviously intentional because it is Halloween and Niantic thinks it is creepy,” said user Lambsauce914

Others noted that the models move similarly to ghost characters in the mainline Pokemon games. “She moves exactly like that mysterious ghost girl who comes out from the elevator in [X & Y]. Maybe the code has finally been cracked.”

Though it’s highly unlikely that this animation glitch is intentional on Niantic’s part, it certainly makes for a creepy experience when stumbling across Vulpix and Ninetales in the wild.

About The Author

Philip is a Staff Writer at Dexerto based in Louisiana, with expertise in Pokemon, Apex Legends, and general gaming industry news. His first job in the games industry was as a reviewer with NintendoEverything.com while attending college. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication focusing on Multimedia Journalism, he worked with GameRant.com for nearly two years before joining Dexerto. When he's not writing he's usually tearing through some 80+ hour JRPG. You can contact him at philip.trahan@dexerto.com.