Pokémon Go players miss rare chance to evolve certain Pokémon due to bug

One of the most powerful recent additions to Pokémon Go is locked behind a unique real-world-tied evolution method, but during its projected availability period this month, many could not obtain it.

Pokémon Go players around the world reported that, during the most recent sighting of the full moon, they were unable to evolve their Ursaring into the powerful Ground/Normal-type, Ursaluna. Regardless of if they had enough Teddiursa Candies to trigger this evolution under these circumstances, the “evolve” button for Ursaring simply told players to wait for a full moon, seeming to completely ignore that one was visible at the time.

Ursaluna, a Pokémon native to the Hisui region that has not yet been available to use in any mainline Pokémon game outside of Pokémon Legends: Arceus, was introduced into Pokémon Go this past November. For that day only, players could evolve Ursaring into Ursaluna without the full moon requirement, though now the only way to obtain this Pokémon is by waiting for the monthly lunar occurrence in the real world.

While Pokémon that appear in the mobile title like Eevee and Cosmoem only evolve during certain times of the day, Ursaring is the only Pokémon that evolves under very specific lunar conditions—with its method of evolution rivaling that of the unique nature of Inkay. Yet this manner of evolution is faithful to the game Ursaluna first appeared in, as only during a full moon could players use a Peat Block on their Ursaring to trigger an evolution.

As a full moon only appears every month or so, players that were unable to evolve their Ursaring into Ursaluna will have to wait until next month to do so, particularly on March 7 when the moon is expected to shine its brightest. Players are supposed to have the entire day that the full moon appears and the day after to evolve Ursaring, though if this bug persists, it may take longer to get a hold of an Ursaluna.

Niantic has yet to address this bug within Pokémon Go, and it is currently unclear if it will compensate those impacted with an evolution period for Ursaring before the full moon returns next month.