Rare Pikachu added to Pokemon Go as part of April Fools’ day

April Fools’ jokes are appearing everywhere and Niantic couldn’t resist the opportunity to include their own in Pokemon Go.

April Fools’ jokes going too far

There are plenty of Apil Fools’ jokes that could be included in Pokemon Go. Frequently seen Pokemon disguised as the likes of Mewtwo, Mew or Giratina and fake shiny Pokemon are just a couple of ideas.

Thankfully, Niantic have avoided these though, as a lot of Pokemon Go trainers may not have found the funny side of such disappointment. For every trainer that had a shiny taken away from them, another would have been composing a not so friendly message for the Pokemon Go developers.

• Read More: Bug out event starts March 2 – all the details

Instead, Niantic have opted for a light hearted and less frustrating way to get involved in April Fools’ day.

Ash Ketchum appears in Pokemon Go

The main protagonist of the Pokemon anime series is reportedly in Pokemon Go. Ash Ketchum, a play on the Pokemon slogan “gotta catch ’em all”, is apparently channelling his inner Smeargle and photo-bombing trainers’ photos.

Serebii have reported Ash is appearing in random photos, but it has yet to be confirmed elsewhere or by anyone in the Pokemon Go community.

Shiny Pikachu! Not confirmed if it’s real…

Rare hat Pikachu

What has been confirmed though, is ‘Ash hat Pikachu’ has returned. While using the Pokemon Go Snapshot feature, Pikachu, wearing Ash’s hat, will occasionally photobomb.

This results in the rare hat variant of Pikachu spawning, giving you a chance to capture it. It has also been confirmed that a shiny form is available.

Feedback suggests finding a shiny version of a hat wearing Pikachu is far more common in comparison to normal shiny odds. One Pokemon Go player stated the trick to getting a shiny hat wearing Pikachu is to change the name of one of your shiny legendary Pokemon to April 1. Unfortunately though, this was an April Fools’ joke in itself.

• Read More: New lucky friends feature coming to Pokemon Go

Of course, this feature was first adopted by the elusive Smeargle. A key difference is that Pikachu will photobomb more regularly, but can only be caught a reported maximum of five times.

It isn’t clear at this stage whether this special Pikachu will be available after April Fools’ day.