Shiny Hunting Guide

Shiny Pokémon. These rare, alternate color variants of Pokémon offer no statistical edge over their normal counterparts, but their extreme rarity make them a treasure desired by collectors, and people pursuing these rare creatures are often known as Shiny Hunters.

This guide will help get you on your way to becoming a Shiny Hunter and hopefully help you find either the Shiny Pokémon of your dreams or add a variety of Shiny Pokémon to your collection.

It is broken up into different parts to improve readability. You can find the different sections of the guides, along with a brief description of what each section covers, down below.


PLEASE NOTE: This guide is currently a work-in-progress! Last updated on March 14. It is not yet finished and needs some refinement. It will eventually include images to help liven up the guide. But hey, if you run across this, maybe you’ll find it interesting. Anyway, on with the show…


The Basics of Shiny Pokémon

It’s important to understand what Shiny Pokémon are. As mentioned above, Shiny Pokémon are different-colored versions of Pokémon. They also have some sort of flash, sparkle, or jingle when they’re sent out in battle, depending on which game you’re playing.

Before You Start Shiny Hunting

There’s a lot that goes into Shiny Hunting, so learning these helpful tips before you start your pursuit of a Shiny Pokémon is a good idea. In this section, you’ll find out about what Soft Resetting is as well as learn about the Shiny Charm to improve your chances of finding Shiny Pokémon.

Methods of Shiny Hunting

There are all sorts of ways to hunt for Shiny Pokémon, some of which are common across all versions of Pokémon, but others are specific to only certain Pokémon games.

Down below you’ll find an assortment of methods that you can use to find whichever Shiny Pokémon it is that you’re looking for.

Starter Pokémon

In every single main series Pokémon game — with the exception of Pokémon Colosseum, Pokémon XD, and Pokémon Let’s Go! Pikachu & Eevee — you can attempt to get a Shiny Pokémon as your starter Pokémon.

Pokémon Breeding (Masuda Method)

Another popular method to get just about every single Shiny Pokémon is good old fashioned Pokémon Breeding. By breeding two compatible Pokémon in the Pokémon Daycare or Pokémon Nursery, you can get eggs of the female Pokémon’s species — or the male’s species if you breed it with a Ditto.

Stationary / Legendary Pokémon

Stationary Pokémon are Pokémon standing around in the field, where you can interact with them to initiate a battle with them. Think Snorlax, Sudowoodo, Lugia, Mewtwo, and so on. They’re not always Legendary Pokémon, but most of the ones worth hunting are. Mechanically, though, they’re the same except for the fact that Legendary Pokémon tend to be much tougher to catch than ordinary stationary Pokémon.

Guaranteed Shiny Pokémon

Although Shiny Pokémon are usually pretty rare, there are a few instances throughout the Pokémon main series games where you are guaranteed to encounter or receive a specific Shiny Pokémon.

Poké Radar Chaining (DPPt)

To be written.

Poké Radar Chaining (XY)

To be written.

Odd Egg (Crystal)

To be written.

Shiny Breeding (Gold, Silver & Crystal)

To be written.

Chain Fishing (XY)

To be written.

Friend Safari (XY)

To be written.

Dex Nav Chaining (ORAS)

To be written.

Horde Battles (XY/ORAS)

To be written.

SOS Chaining (SM/USUM)

To be written.

Ultra Space Wormholes (USUM)

To be written.

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