While Malaysians are busy catching Pikachus and Bulbasaurs all around the country — or getting into trouble with the police — our fellow Pokémon fans in China are still waiting hoping for the game to be released in the country.
Well, the wait is over – sort of!
Chinese mobile app developer Rejected Games: FPS Adventure & Sport Simulation recently released Monster Ball – a clear knock-off of the insanely popular Pokémon GO.
Touting itself as a “practice game”, players can practice their Pokeball throwing skills at characters that look eerily similiar to the real thing.
Here, we have a very stoned-looking Snorlax:
Here’s a very bored-looking Charmander:
And of course, we have the main character: an angry-looking Pikachu-rabbit hybrid thingy (to be honest, if we look this sh*tty, we would be angry too):
Monster Ball’s release was first reported by Pokedex News, a website dedicated to all things Pokémon GO.
The game was initially released on both the Apple Store and the Google Play Store in late July, but according to reports, Monster Ball is no longer available on the former.
However, according to tech site The Next Web, the official Google Play Store version has officially been renamed to Ball Practice For PoGo and it now features cute animals and multi-coloured balls instead, because, you know, copyright.
Due to China’s super strict rules and regulations, it is very unlikely that the Pokémon GO will be released in the country.
The game’s developer, Niantic, has reportedly shown no interest in challenging the Chinese government’s ruling and they will most probably not push for the game’s release in the country.
So, if you’re from China, we guess you would just have to catch irritated Pikachus or high-on-drugs Snorlax on the knock-off app.
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