Lugia Makes an Unexpected Return to Pokemon Go

Pokemon Go's First Legendary Pokemon has made an unexpected comeback.

Earlier this evening, Lugia and a host of older raid bosses made their return to the game as soon as the "Battle Showdown" event ended. The old/new Raid Bosses include Shuppet, Duskull, Electabuzz, Manectric, Jolteon, Jynx, Gengar, Piloswine, Granbull, and Golem.

Lugia was the first Legendary Pokemon to appear in Pokemon Go last year and its face appears on the "Legendary Raid" badge. While Lugia has spent more time as an in-game Raid Boss than any other Legendary Pokemon, it's also one of the hardest to catch.

If these raid bosses look familiar, it's because they're the exact same raid bosses that appeared in the game on March 16th as part of Lugia's last return to the game....which was for a movie promotion over in Japan.

Notably, that event also included the chance for a Shiny Lugia, which players can still capture if they beat Lugia in a raid.

Since Pokemon Go didn't announce Lugia's return beforehand, players are speculating that this was an error on Niantic's part. As such, Pokemon Go players are rushing out this evening to grab Lugia and the other raid bosses while they still can.

Not every player is thrilled about Lugia's return. Several players on Reddit complained that Lugia's reappearance cut into the chances of Latios or Latias appearing in a gym. The two Legendary Pokemon are still appearing as Raid Bosses, but will disappear at the start of June.

Pokemon Go's next "official" event is this year's Adventure Week event, which is set to take place sometime in May. Players also have Community Day to look forward to this month, with a chance to catch Shiny Charmander and evolve a Charizard with the powerful move Blast Burn.

We'll see if Pokemon Go makes an official comment about this strange occurrence, or if Lugia quietly disappears into the night once again.