Was last week’s true crime story out of Japan, where a college student insisted he used polite Japanese as he robbed a taxi driver, too much for your poor hearts to handle? If so, you’ll want to click out of this article now. Because this week’s true crime story is even more brutal and heinous. The suspects, small-scale internet celebrities, betray someone who loves them and bite the hand that feeds them. Even worse, there is video evidence of the criminal act happening! The crime: credit card fraud. The suspect: a small school of Siamese fighting fish (or Betta) who are famous for logging 20,000 hours of playtime in various Pokémon games.
The vicious criminal act happened during a stream on the Mutekimaru Channel YouTube account, which is a channel dedicated to watching fish play Pokémon games. Are you wondering how fish can play Pokémon and win at it consistently enough to be entered into multiple halls of fame? It’s through a system that divides the fish tank into sections, with each corresponding to an input on the Nintendo Switch controller.
Getting back to the main story, however, the criminal act in question was documented in a video posted to Metekimaru on January 16th. As you can see in the video, things start innocently enough, with the famous fish enjoying a round of Pokémon Violet, when suddenly the game crashes and puts up an error screen. This is where things start going wrong for the channel’s owner.
It’s not 100% clear what the motives were (perhaps it was blind rage at the crash, a fit of passion, or simply a general feeling of wanting to be mischievous). The fish eventually confirmed the error message, which allowed them to access the home screen and started causing problems. First, it changes the username on the Switch from “Mutekimaru” to “Rowawawa￥,” complete with the yen symbol. After growing bored with that menu, the fish decide to continue their troublesome spree by navigating to the Nintendo eShop!
After a little while (and at least one logout and login), the suspects discover their owner has his credit card info saved which means it’s time to do a little shopping, eventually navigating to where 500 yen (~$4 USD) is charged to the account. As the famous saying goes, though, “Some people just want to watch the world burn.“ Not satisfied with this amount of damage, the fish continue their crime spree by heading to Mutekimaru’s Switch Online account and, after some careful navigating and potentially some consideration, decide to spend login points on a new Nintendo Switch Sports cosmetic upgrade. Finally, this satiates the devious fish, who navigate back to the home screen and put the Switch to sleep.
If you couldn’t tell by now, the tone of this entire article should be read with your tongue firmly planted in your cheek. I believe that is how the channel owner would want the story to be reported since he had enough sense of humor to post a tweet about the incident. He also submitted a refund request to Nintendo.
Youtubeライブにて
ペットの魚がポケモンをプレイ
↓
エラーでゲームが強制終了
↓
ホーム画面に戻される
↓
おもむろにeショップへ
↓
クレジットカード情報公開←イマココ▼配信先https://t.co/6bZgYFWOuW pic.twitter.com/PojCx6ej5l
— むてきまるちゃんねる -Mutekimaru Channel- (@Mutekimaru_ch) January 15, 2023
Fortunately for the fish in question, no charges are being pressed. And after their current run of Pokémon Violet, they can rest easy. They will live the rest of their days in quiet obscurity as the owner will retire the fish to his parents’ house.
Sources: SoraNews24, Anime News Network
