'Magikarp Jump': New Pokemon game is all about jumping higher

“Magikarp Jump” is an official Pokemon game. The game is reportedly based on the backwoods part of the Pokemon world map.

It is not a game that involves training a Magikarp to become a Gyarados. It does, however, involve a sort of strange league where the player has to jump higher than other Magikarps.

The game starts with a new Professor giving an introduction about the Pokemon journey. It does not require players to choose among Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle. They do not have to train Pokemon to beat Gyms and the Elite Four. All the players need is to catch a Magikaro with an Old Rod, feed and train it so it can jump higher than other Magikarps.

That’s about it. There is no mini-game involved. The description may not sound interesting to many, and some may not even consider it a game.

In order to train, a player needs to press a button every half an hour to collect XP. Another button is dedicated to make the Magikarp jump, hopefully higher than its competitor. Players will have small XP bursts every few minutes if he surfs around and gobbles up food. Training provides higher XP. In addition to this, players can get Buddy Pokemon to help motivate Magikarp with additional gains. Decorations for ponds also do the same thing.

Micro-transactions are part of this game as players can pay for diamonds to buy stuff and stamina-restoring items. Meanwhile, latest reports suggest that Niantic is hiding rare monster spawns from “Pokemon GO” cheats. Players using third-party applications to play have been flagged by Niantic and received a warning message. There are numerous third-party apps to gain advantage over others. Tracking maps tell the players where certain Pokemon are in an area.

Even though using mappers to play the game is enjoyable, and players believe it’s optimal, Niantic considers this cheating. The latest step by the developer, hiding rare monster spawns, is being considered a shadow-ban. It means that the cheats may be at the exact same area as other players; however, they will not be able to see rare Pokemon, only common ones such as Pidgeys and Rattatas. [READ MORE: ‘Pokemon GO’ ban: Niantic hiding spawns of rare monsters from cheats; Players calling it shadow-ban]