The pet fish of Japanese YouTuber, Mutekimaru, have gone viral after they “illegally” spent their owner’s money while gaming.
Mutekimaru – whose channel is known for letting his fish control and play games – had left his fish alone to play on Jan. 16.
The fish, who can play using a visual controller that translates their movements into button inputs, were then captured on a live stream buying items from the Nintendo Store while playing the video game streaming Pokemon Violet on his Nintendo Switch.
The stream had started normally, but the game encountered an unexpected error and closed.
Without Mutekimaru around to fix the problem, the fish continued to use the visual controller to move around the Nintendo screen.
The fish first found their way to the homepage and changed Mutekimaru’s registered nickname.
After that, they proceeded to the Nintendo eShop and revealed Mutekimaru’s credit card information to the hundreds of viewers watching.
Since Mutekimaru had all his personal details and credit card information saved on the device, the fish logged in and added 500 yen (US$3.85) to the account.
The fish then launched the Nintendo Switch Online, redeemed a new Nintendo Switch Sport character and downloaded the Nintendo 64.
“Should never let our pets play the game without human’s authority,” a viewer commented during the stream.
Some viewers who witnessed the chaos praised the fish, while others were confused, wondering, “Is this the era of fish using credit cards?”
Soon after, the fish’s lucky streak came to an end.
In their final move, the fish placed the Switch into sleep mode and were unable to do more damage.
Realizing the fish’ mischief afterwards, Mutekimaru contacted customer service to ask for a refund, showing video proof that the fish were using his account and spending his money unintentionally.
Seeing the fish spend Mutekimaru’s money, hundreds of viewers and fans donated 500 yen to Mutekimaru.
This is not the first time Mutekimaru’s fish have caught the internet’s attention.In 2020, his fish went viral for finishing another Pokemon game, Pokémon Sapphire, after playing for more than 3,000 hours.
