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Pokémon YouTuber's Pet Fish Accidentally Reveals Owner's Credit Card Information
posted on by Kim Morrissy
YouTuber Mutekimaru, known for having his pet fish play Pokémon in livestreams, went viral again earlier this week for an even wilder feat than beating a Pokémon game without any opposable thumbs: during a stream of Pokémon Violet, an unexpected error caused the fish to leave the game and enter the Nintendo eShop, where they not only revealed the owner's credit card information, they purchased 500 yen (about US$4).
Mutekimaru (also known as Maurice) had set up a system to allow his Siamese fighting fish (otherwise known as a Betta) to “play” the game. Mutekimaru had his tank divided into different sections designated as a Nintendo Switch controller's Left, Right, Up, Down, A, and B buttons. A camera was then set up to track the fish's movements into inputs as it swam around the various sections of its tank.
So far, the fish have played for 20,000 hours and entered the Hall of Fame in six Pokémon titles without a hitch. In 2020, they even discovered a hitherto unreported glitch in Pokémon Sapphire, and discovered another in Pokémon Sword last July.
However, the fish might actually be too intelligent for their own good because after an unexpected error during a Pokémon Violet stream caused the game to close, the fish ended up in control of the Switch's home menu. First, they changed the user's name from “Mutekimaru” to “Rowawawa¥.” Then they accessed the Nintendo eShop and started causing havoc, using Mutekimaru's credit card to add 500 yen to his eShop balance. After looking at the Minecraft eShop page, the fish accessed Nintendo Switch Online and spent some login points. Only then did they (seemingly) decide to call it a day and put the Switch on sleep mode.
As mortifying as it must have been to receive an automated email out of the blue about his fish's purchases and discover that his credit card information was revealed on stream, Mutekimaru saw the humor in the situation. He posted a tweet last Sunday about what happened. The tweet quickly became viral, accruing over 20,000 retweets.
What a way to cap off the fish playing Pokémon saga. In December, Mutekimaru announced in a video that the streams will end after the current Pokémon Violet run because the fish will be moving to his parents' house. He will still visit his pets regularly, but the YouTube channel will have to continue under a different format. Thanks for all the memories!
Sources: Email Correspondence, Automaton (Yusuke Oizumi)
