Pokémon Go players typically encounter a handful of issues while playing the mobile game. These problems range from visual issues, lag during player battles, or inability to participate in an event because of a network. A recent problem centers around catching the Pokémon that players find while exploring the world, and despite throwing a Poké Ball in the correct hitbox, they are unable to successfully capture them.
The hitbox issue kicked off during the weekend with the arrival of new shadow Pokémon. One Reddit user shared their woes by displaying a video of them attempting the catch one of the new shadow Pokemon, Wailmer, and throwing their Poké Ball directly at it, only to phase straight through it. The player tried a few more times, but ultimately, the Wailmer escaped.
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Several other Pokémon Go Reddit users sounded off in the comments about also facing equally frustrating problems. The problems also appear against Pelipper’s beak, when Golbat flies too high, and a few other examples. Some players are sharing that phones with lower resolution have had more success catching Pokémon, while others say that they may require AR mode, which can drain a smartphone’s battery relatively quickly.
This appears to be happening with several new and existing Pokémon, but problems like this are not the only ones plaguing Pokémon Go players. Over the weekend, Elite Raids returned, allowing players to catch Hoopa Unbound for a limited time. Following this raid’s completion, players were supposedly going to receive rare Pokémon spawns, but this seldom happened, with many Pokémon seeming to be less common. This isn’t even touching on the problems that developer Niantic dealt with when attempting to get Zorua in the game at the end of October.
Hopefully, the studio is at work handling these hitbox problems. Catching Pokémon is critical in Pokémon Go, especially regarding the new shadow Pokémon appearing for the current Team Rocket Takeover event, set to end on November 17.
