Pokemon Go players baffled by “missing” Dark-type Shadow variant

Pokemon Go players have been sharing their theories about why the Shadow variant of a specific Gen 3 Dark type has been missing for over four years.

Hoenn native Absol has been common in the mobile game since Niantic started introducing Ruby and Sapphire’s Pokedex in 2017.

However, its corrupted counterpart hasn’t been seen since it rotated out of Shadow Raids at the beginning of 2020.

Lamenting the Shadow ‘mon’s AWOL status on Reddit, one user said, “Did Niantic forget about Shadow Absol? It’s been missing for four and a half years.”

The thread’s author specified just how long they’ve been waiting: “February 2, 2020, was the last day Shadow Absol was available in the game. To put it differently, that’s over half the amount of time the game has been out.”

Responses shared in the author’s confusion. “Absol seems to be a blind spot for Niantic,” came one reply, adding, “Took them ages to get it back into Mega Raids. Like years, after the Mega system rework.”

“All these comments of Niantic blind spots make their repeated event spawns/Raids hurt even more.” came another. In contrast, others admitted they weren’t aware the Shadow Pocket Monster had ever been available in the first place.

“I didn’t know it was available since I had a brief hiatus around then. In fact, I was about to correct you because my brain read it as Mega Absol.”

Unsurprisingly, the conversation quickly turned toward pointing out other Shadow specimens like Lapras, Tangela, and Delibird, which vanished into the ether after their initial introduction.

With any luck, Niantic will see fit to bring Shadow Absol back the next time Pokemon Go’s Raid schedule changes. Still, in the meantime, plenty of other lucrative ‘mons are milling around to throw your Poke Balls at, including Paldean natives Tandenmaus and Maushold.