Pokémon Pokopia Players Are Fulfilling a 30-Year-Old Playground Rumor by Hiding Mew Under a Truck

If you’re around the same age as me or a little older, you may have fond memories of going out to recess and talking with your classmates about Pokémon Red and Blue – which Pokémon you caught, what Gym Leaders you had beaten, and what “secrets” you had found. There was the Missingno glitch that could give you infinite items, and the messed up high-level Pokémon catchable off Cinnabar Island. But there was also a rumor everyone spread despite it never being true: that Mew could be found under a truck just outside the S.S. Anne.

Now, 30 years later, Pokopia players are making this legend true…sort of.

Mew is obtainable in Pokémon Pokopia through a lengthy item hunt that you’ll probably be working on for a good chunk of the game, but that doesn’t have anything to do with trucks or the S.S. Anne. However, a number of players are heading out to Bleak Beach, where a crumbled wreck of the S.S. Anne is docked, and building a truck just offshore. Then, they’re having Mew follow them out to the zone and assigning Mew the truck area as a habitat, effectively closing the loop on the legend.

I’ve seen several interesting variations on this, with everything from fairly simplistic trucks with just a bed and a few other items inside, all the way to more elaborate builds with fully decorated interiors. It’s genuinely delightful.

I really, really like this exterior: the rusted over, broken down version that looks like it went through the same devastation that the rest of Pokopia’s world experienced:

Pokopia has now been out for several weeks, and players are pushing the game’s building features to their absolute limits with incredible things like working calculators. If you’ve been a little burnt out on the game due to the Hoppip incursion, never fear, it’s finally over. You can get back to playing the game I called, in a 9/10 review, “an enjoyable, personality-packed building simulator set in a surprisingly deep world that is stuffed with fun things for its delightful Ditto protagonist to do and create.”

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected].