Shiny Pokémon used to be one Highly rated possession by Pokémon fans everywhere. These rare Pokémon with alternate color palettes have a 1 in 4,096 chance of appearing in the wild in more recent games. Because of this, the special Pokémon has long served as a Icon of a dedicated trainer that will put Hunt rare monsters on anything else. Catching a single shiny Pokémon can take hours of honing sessions. But that’s starting to change, as recent mainstream games have made it easier to find shiny Pokémon, and now it seems like everyone and their moms have shiny Pokémon.
Technically, anyone who has played Gold Pokémon and The silver, or their remakes, have probably attracted at least one shiny. In those games you come across a red Gyarados as part of the main story. But this outside Special Gyarados, polishing proved difficult in previous generations. From the second to the fifth generation (Pokémon Black 2 and White 2), shadow visibility is even lower now — 1 in 8,192.
Of course, each game makes players develop their own tricks and strategies to get shiny Pokémon. In Yellow and The silver, some shiny hunter It is estimated that the player has a 1 in 64 chance of hatching a shiny one if one of the parent Pokémon is shiny. That does require starting with a shiny one, though, so those who want something different from Gyarados can mull over and get one out in the wild. So starting to catch one in the wild still requires a lot of honing as the player gets over the low odds. In the early days, items that increase the spawn rate of shiny Pokémon were non-existent, so if you don’t breed you’ll have to cycle through encounter after encounter on the lawn when You run around and bump into Pokémon one by one.
Over time, shiny hunting tends to get easier. In Diamond and Pearl, we learned about the Masuda breeding method, which increases the odds of hatching shiny Pokémon from eggs when you breed Pokémon from two different languages. (Because of this, Dittos from other countries are the mainstay of Pokémon breeding. Sorry Ditto!) black 2 and White 2 introduced Shiny Charm, which effectively triples the odds of encountering a Shiny Pokémon. After that, Game Freak almost doubled the overall odds of encountering a shiny Pokémon in X and Y.
This shining trend of becoming more popular continues with Nintendo Switch games and remakes. In Pokémon: Let’s Go Pikachu and Pokémon: Let’s Go Eevee, Game Freak made the transition from wild monsters that spawn in the grass to monsters that spawn in the afterlife. Instead of seeing one appear in battle, we can see dozens of Pokémon walking around at once, including shiny ones. Combine that with in-game events like Mass outbreak in Legend: Arceus and scarlet and Violetand you have many chances to chase the shiny guys.
Based on the odds and anecdotal evidence, there’s no doubt that catching this tough monster has gotten easier. When I test out a shiny hunting harness In scarlet and Violet, I finally caught a shiny Larvesta within 30 minutes. (It’s the sparkle I’ve been longing for and hoping for ever since Black and White.) Of course, a little luck has contributed to my success, but I’m not alone. TikTok is full of people’s accounts shiny touch Random Pokémon without looking them out; a viral video that, according to the user who posted it, shows one person catching countless shine in a day. I spoke to two extremely hard-working shiny hunters who often stream their hunts for hours on end, both of which confirm that hunting has become easier in general.
For Wafer who streams his hunts on Twitchhunting shinies in new games has become easier, although games like scarlet and Violet lack of audiovisual clues indicating Pokémon in the wild. (In Legend: Arceusa bell alerts the player to the presence of something shiny; scarlet and Violet doesn’t have that feature, and unfortunately it may rule out colorblind players or those simply unfamiliar with the shape of a certain shiny Pokémon.)
“I have to say, personally, I’m very happy with the changes to the game of ball hunting, as I don’t have as much time to hunt as I used to and I love hearing stories about people who have played the game. games for years are finally getting shiny for the first time,” said Wafer.
Wafer admits the joy of receiving that particular Pokémon. But the gatekeepers responded by emphasizing the relative rarity of shine in various Pokémon games. Steve Sarumi, a streamer and podcaster who runs the Pokémon podcast It’s super effectivenote that the number of shiny Pokémon guarding the gate has increased as it becomes easier to catch them.
“The debate around how ‘easier’ shiny Pokémon will devalue the other shiny ones, is pointless to me. If I happened to come across a shiny Koffing on my journey in Pokémon crystalsPersonally, I wouldn’t consider it more valuable than coming across that Pokémon in Shield. Both are shiny Koffing at the end of the day,” said Sarumi.
As catching shiny Pokémon has become easier over time, those wanting an extra challenge have found a way to increase the difficulty of Pokémon collecting. Wafer told me he’s seen more and more players searching for “shiny live dex” and trying to get shiny versions of each Pokémon in the game. So instead of going in search of a specific Pokémon, hunters will try to catch all 400 in games like scarlet and Violet.
However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t now super rare Pokémon to hunt down. Pokémon Sword and Shield introduced marked Pokémon. Marked Pokémon have a special “mark” in the ribbon submenu of the Pokémon summary. Each sign acts as a kind of honorific attesting to the unique situation in which the trainer captures it. When you send a marked Pokémon out, it will have a special title, such as “Mimikyu the Sleepy”. scarlet and Violet there are dozens of spots, with Serebii estimating the rarest point to have a 1 in 1000 spawn rate.
Sarumi says these marked Pokémon have become new targets for aggressive hunters.
“Not only do I think a marked shiny thing is an extremely fun thing to collect, but it also gives the feel of a more ‘hard to find’ target without creating a barrier to hunting. shiny search for more subjects.”
