Earlier this month, there was a news story about a Pokéfan who had managed to catch not only every single Pokémon, but also every single shiny. Considering that the likelihood of finding a shiny Pokémon is around 1/4096 — although you can increase the rate slightly with various methods — this is a pretty impressive feat that would have taken a lot of resets, fishing, and walking back and forth in long grass. A tedious challenge, to be sure.
I have played almost every Pokémon game. I skipped Black and White 2, and I never finished Sun and Moon, but other than that, I'm fairly well-versed in the Pokéverse, even if my battle strategy is akin to entering a fencing competition with nothing but a large wooden club and a fistful of steroids.
I have only ever encountered two shiny Pokémon in all that time. The second was a shiny Trapinch in Sun and Moon, and because I never finished the game, I never even bothered to evolve him into a fabulous shiny Flygon (I know, I'm sorry) — but this story isn't about dear Pinchy. This is about the tragic story of my first ever shiny.
I don't even remember which game it was — I'm sure someone in the comments will be able to figure it out from the context — but it was early on. I had picked my starter, and I was about to set off into the magical world of Pokémon, a ten year old with nothing but a snazzy hat and a dream of beating a bunch of adults in one-to-one animal combat.
I would train and raise a group of Pokémon specifically selected for their cuteness, because that's the secret winning strategy. I would level them up to at least 70, with zero regard for IVs or EVs, and beat down the Elite Four with nothing but determination and a bag stuffed full of Revives and Hyper Potions.
But before all of that, I had to learn how to fight. The Professor — I don't remember which one, sorry — took me out into the grass, and instructed me to walk around for a bit. A Pidgey came sliding into view, and, being an old hand, I was ready to Tackle-Tackle-Tackle-Tackle it to death. But then it sparkled. I'd never seen a shiny before, but I'd seen enough Pokémon cards to know that something sparkly had to be good. I wanted this Pidgey. I wanted to capture him in a tiny ball and call him something like "Birdy" or "Beaktopher".
Just one problem: I didn't have any Pokéballs. I was learning to fight Pokémon; I hadn't reached the stage of the tutorial that let me catch them. I had no choice but to batter this gorgeous bird to death. It felt like Professor Treename was forcing me to put my own dog down by siccing a new puppy on it. Like I'd been naughty at my own birthday party, and had to give all my birthday presents away to my friends as a result. It was child cruelty, I tell you.
Other than that single Trapinch (which I did catch, at least), I have yet to find another shiny Pokémon. I sincerely hope that the Pokéteam has changed the way the game works in more recent instalments of the series to ensure that no poor child has to go through this pain again. I'll always remember you, shiny Pidgey. Mostly because I tell my therapist about you every single week through a veil of tears.
Do you have a tragic shiny story to tell? Let us know in the comments. We're here for you.
Comments 61
Coincidentally, looking at that article banner art, my very first random shiny happened to be a pidgey on silver. I did catch it~
Poor little pidgey, I most likely either saved over that file, or it is trapped on a N64 cartridge somewhere.
My luckiest shiny would be one in Diamond, I just randomly decided to breed octillery with ditto to hatch a remoraid. I'm not sure why, can't remember what did I need a remoraid for. That one egg had a shiny remoraid inside, and I still have it.
To this day I've found two shinies and both of them were Sandshrew in the same desert area, first in Pokemon Sapphire and then later in Pokemon Emerald.
I also found a shiny Raticate in a Pokemon hack I was playing but I donno if that really counts.
My first shiny was an Electrike in Ruby. Funny thing is my second shiny was also an Electrike but this time in Emerald
My first Shiny was a Gigalithe in Sun. Later that same week I found a Shiny Klefkey in that Island where you collect beans.
Drop rates that low are abusive and disrespectful of a players time, and shouldn’t be programmed in a video game.
To anyone reading:
Do chain fishing in XY or ORAS for an easy shiny. Get yourself anything with Suction Cups or Sticky Hold, give it a Smoke Ball to automatically run if it isn't shiny, stand in one spot, and fish up Pokémon consecutively without moving or failing to catch. You'll have a shiny within an hour and a half tops.
Or
Do Ultra Wormholes in USUM. Either go as far as you can and go into Wormholes that have two rings, or just go into the first Wormhole with two rings that you see (as long as it isn't white). If the encounter in the Wormhole isn't a Legendary, it has a high chance of being shiny.
My first was in the bins outside Greggs. My first shiny Pokemon however was a Budew in Pearl. Unfortunately had no way to turn it into a Roserade.
@BloodNinja It doesn't harm anyone for it to be a mechanic. The thing to remember is that, except in Gen II, Shiny Pokémon aren't statistically stronger than any other Pokémon. So it's all about aestethic and the challenge of hunting them. If players want to hunt them, they can, but they're not required to do so, and they're really not missing much if they don't.
My first shiny was Magikarp on an event day in Pokemon Go. He ended up being my first Gyarados.
The first shiny I ever encountered was a random Wingull in Diamond.
Most interesting shiny I encountered was when I booted Let’s Go Eevee for the first time, the first Pokémon to appear was a shiny Bellsprout.
@Shepdawg1 I meant as a general thing, Pokémon isn’t the only game with such bad drop rates! Sorry, I’m against it no matter how you paint it. I know some people aren’t bothered by it but hey, others value their time differently.
Unfortunately I don't remember my own first shiny, but I do remember which one was the most hype for me. Shiny Deino.
I was just watching some television while laying on bed while idly training my Pokémon for the Elite 4 challenge in Pokémon White. Then the little thing pops up. I was so proud of that one.
Then they distributed a shiny Hydreigon to all players and totally ruined the moment.
I also remember catching a shiny Purugly in I think Platinum? That might've been my first legit shiny, but I never liked Purugly so that was a throwaway for me. Traded it off to a friend.
My most prized shiny right now is one I hatched, a shiny Zangoose. Love that thing. And it'll remain in Sun/Moon purgatory for now because heck if I'm gonna transfer it to Pokémon Home. Zangoose isn't even in Sword/Shield, so even if I decide to finally get those games, I won't be able to take that critter with me.
My first shiny other than the Gyrados in Gold/Silver was a Tentacool in Emerald. I still have it, named SHINY in all caps. lol
It's one of my 351 shinys now.
I have never seen a single shiny Pokemon But I also never looked for them the hardcore way
@BloodNinja The rarity of shiny Pokemon is why people value them. If the drop rates were improved, they wouldn't be special. They're not stronger and aren't required for full Pokedex completion.
So I really don't see a valid argument for them not being in the games. Shiny hunters like them, and you're free to ignore them entirely.
I have a full shiny pokedex on Sword! Some I caught and others traded. Pretty sure most are hacked but they look pretty
I remember my first shiny was Litten in Pokemon Sword. Ah, the memories...
@Ralizah Shinys should be in the games, drop rates that low don’t belong in video games, as I stated originally. So what if it’s a cosmetic difference? Drop rates like that are a waste of people’s time, regardless of the reward.
@Zuljaras That's really how it is for casual playthroughs. I imagine that the vast majority of players over the years haven't ever encountered one. Even after they made the odds more manageable in gen 6 on, it was still something like 1 in 4000. Most people probably don't even encounter 4000 Pokemon in a single run.
I'm probably one of the most dedicated Pokemon players around. I've run through the main series titles dozens of times. But random shinys at full odds? I think I've had 7. All the rest or mine were hunted, traded for, gotten as gifts/events or caught in PoGo.
I’ve only ever seen the red Gyrados. Starting to think maybe they’re a hoax and Gamefreak/internet people are just trolling everyone.
Shiny butterfree in Crystal. I was so excited because I had no idea shinys existed, it was a really special moment.
I've only ever caught one shiny, a Zubat in HeartGold who ended being a pretty decent HM mule.
@BloodNinja Low drop rates is basically just Xenoblade. I’ve spent 30 hours on the game so far, picking up glowy blue orbs hoping it’s the item I need. I would love games to be a bit more lenient with their RNG.
I think I've shared this story before. The first random shiny (and I'm 99% certain the only random shiny I've ever encountered) was an Eevee. It was Pokémon Silver. I didn't know anything about shiny Pokémon and I'm not even sure they were even referred as such back then. At least not widely. Anyways, I thought my game was glitching. So I shut it off and on. Felt like a ***** when I learned later what it was
Anyone remember when Game Freak and the Pokemon Company avoided the term "shiny"? They kept calling them "alternately colored" and would make up special names for distributed ones like "Pikachu-Colored Pichu" or "Crown Beasts". It wasn't until Gen 5 that they gave up and made "shiny" the official term.
Other than the Lake of Rage Red Gyarados, my first shiny was a Rattata in Crystal...who I accidentally knocked out.
With its last breath that Rattata cursed me. I didn't see any more shinies in Gen 2. In Gen 3 the only ones I saw were uncatchable - a Meowth and Espeon in LeafGreen's Trainer Tower and a Slaking in XD: Gale of Darkness' Battle CD #26.
I was given the chance to break the curse in Pearl when my Poke Radar chain unexpectedly found a shiny Starly. I caught it and was freed. And a few years later while resetting my HeartGold Ho-oh for high IVs I ended up with a shiny...with terrible IVs.
My first shiny is quite the boring story.
I finished a max raid den, and discovered that one of the Pokémon I’d caught just so happened to be a different colour.
A green chansey. Colour me surprised!
First shiny was in The first silver. a Gold Rattata. lost it when I put it in a gba version
Aside from the red Gyarados, mine was a Poliwag found when fishing in Gold Version’s Azalea Forest. Not wanting to risk making it faint, I just threw the only Master Ball at it, straight off the bat. It’s long gone now, after the battery in the cartridge died, but I’ve caught, evolved and traded many a shiny Poliwag through chain fishing on X Version.
Also given the context of the story, it sounds like the game Kate was playing must have been Gold, Silver or Crystal.
@nessisonett Definitely! Some games nail it, but man I remember back in my Everquest days that the awful RNG was why I cancelled my membership, it just wasn’t worth the effort.
My first shiny was a shiny Zubat in Pokémon Silver, I believe it was at night in Mt. Moon. I had never even heard of shiny Pokémon, but I would soon find out through magazines reporting on many aspects of the game. Good times.
I've had quite a few shinies over the years, and they are easiest to track down in Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee. I got about 30 in there.
my first shiny ran away cause it was a rhyhorn but first obtained was minccino inside a grove area.
I defeated my first ever shiny encounter...
It was Onix on Silver just inside the Union Cave exit before Azalea Town. I think I remember confusing it with the PokeRus, which I still have never encountered naturally. I seem to remember Onix being pretty uncommon in there, and I definitely had the means to catch it. Someone reliably informed me what that weird sparkle was the next day at school.
I believe my first catch was a Swablu, in Sapphire I think. My much younger brother was playing it and he encountered it on Route 114 whilst he was playing, but he was meant to be asleep.
We shared a room growing up, obviously I went to bed hours and hours later, and found him asleep but with the GBA SP and the shiny battle screen on next to him. So I took it and did the rest. The first thing he asked the next morning was 'Did you get him?!'
My heart!
The last noteworthy encounter represented probably one of the severest cold sweats I had ever experienced playing games...
Years later I encountered a blue Voltorb in New Mauville and I genuinely was floored with what to do next. I either weaken it and run the risk of either defeating it, or causing it to self-destruct. Or I throw the best ball I had at the time whilst doing no damage. I had Pokemon in my party that knew sleep inducing moves but that risked self-destruction again through switching.
I sat at the table with my SP in front of me and I just felt frozen, staring at the screen for what felt like hours. Eventually I plucked up the courage to just throw the best catch rate ball I had first time, and thankfully it stayed inside. It's safe and sound on my Colosseum save file on my Cube, as I had recently found out about the fragility of the save batteries in GBA cartridges... Can't remember if I transferred Swablu too, I hope so..
I think I've had about 5 shiny encounters spanning all the games (not including red Gyarados). The other two that I know of were Ditto on Route 34 in Crystal and Skarmory in Seavault Canyon on Fire Red. I caught those two as well thankfully.
My first shiny was back in Silver and it was a Metapod, managed to catch it and later evolve it.
Couple years later my second shiny was also in Silver but this time it was a Vulpix.
I can’t believe Gamefreak would let this happen! Oh wait, yes, I can, but still... talk about a huge disappointment. I’ve only caught maybe a dozen throughout the entire series. My shiny houndour, shiny ghastly, and shiny sneasel in Silver were the peak in shinies in any game for me. They never left my party.
@BloodNinja Then just simply don't hunt them. Sorry, but you are taking things to an extreme.
Ha, Pokemon Ultra Sun is my favorite game in the series but also enjoying shield. Never caught a shiny in Ultra Sun tho. I'm trying in shield with no luck. Have attacked 1000 Buneary
@roy130390 Not at all. I’ve played games like Everquest, WoW, Guild Wars, Diablo II, and of course, Pokémon and they all have very poor drop rates. There’s nothing extreme about pointing out something that is exactly there. We had people in the comments above state that they played for years and saw two shinies...that’s extreme. Pointing it out, is not.
@BloodNinja Yes, it is extreme because you are acting as if shinies are needed or are obligatory in some way. You said that you see them as waste of time, so simply let others be while you and people that don't want them or see it as a "waste of time" do other things since it's entirely optional.
Gaming is a recreational activity, it's not focused on taking advantage of time so there's nothing wrong with people using theirs for something like that if they want to.
my first ever shiny: I was making my way up the Sky Pillar to fight and capture Rayquaza in Emerald version. I ran into a shiny Sableye on the way up, didn't know what it was but I intended to catch it regardless. I showed my older brother and he just about pooped himself in excitement, which made me jump a bit and I ended up accidentaly hitting the run button instead of the items button. Still hurts...
Later on, I ended up finding a shiny Magnemite in the Power Plant in Leaf Green version. Then, I actually ended up finding a shiny Mewtwo in the same game! So that kinda made up for the missed sableye.
Oh, I found one shiny Flabebe in Y version too.
That's all the full-odds shiniest I've ever gotten. I have few more that I've bred through Masuda Method, or gotten in trades, or chained for, but those weren't as exciting to me personally.
I've never played a minute of Pokémon and I'm not going to start. However, I do read about this... franchise.
This article is hardly the most emotional I have read on the subject. However, it may have taught me something important. I once urged Nintendo Life to provide paid therapy for Kate and Monsieur Olney (and there's nothing wrong with that, I've worked with "head-shrinkers" myself), but I've realized that these articles are intended to fulfill that function. (For Alex, it's about Doshin the Giant, of course.)
In case you're reading this, @Teksetter, I say this purely out of respect and empathy for Kate and Alex, our fellow gamers.
I would train and raise a group of Pokémon specifically selected for their cuteness, because that's the secret winning strategy.
On the other hand, I'm not sure anyone should try to divert or redirect the natural tendencies of a tender soul such as this. Don't ever change, @KateGray.
@roy130390 I never said shinies are needed, please don't put words in my mouth. I'm saying that drop rates for things like that shouldn't be 1/4968 or whatever it is, that's ridiculous. It's even dumber that it's a such a rare drop that doesn't even impact gameplay. Waste of time, period.
My first shiny was a shiny legendary in Omega Ruby. I think it was the one that represented the moon or something. Anyways, I had lowered it’s health down with a flamethrower just enough so I could then paralyze it and have a better chance to catch it. But it got burned. I tried to catch it but it wouldn’t get caught, so I watched as it got one last burn, and It died. I think that’s why I have a slight hatred towards fire types.
My first shiny was a Geodude in Leaf Green. Unfortunately it used Self Destruct after I got it down to 1 HP.
@COVIDberry
Thank you for the summons, and my elementary school daughters and I agree with Kate - cuteness should be the dominant factor when selecting your poké team. 😁
Not that we’ve had much experience with Pokémon games - we’ve only ever played through Let’s Go Pikachu and it seemed to me that roughly 1 in 12 wild pokémon was shiny? Maybe since it’s a reboot game those are not canon shinies and have a much higher drop rate??
But yes, I certainly hope making content here is cathartic for Kate and Alex and the other NL journalists. (At least enough to outweigh the rather unkind comments that result sometimes! 🙄).
Why didn’t anyone tell me about shiny Pokémon?? I must know more about Pokemon now. I’ve never been too big on the franchise. There’s much to learn.
@BloodNinja "Acting as if" and saying that "you said" aren't the same thing, please learn the difference or otherwise you are the one putting words in my mouth. If it's optional and doesn't impact gameplay, then drop rates shouldn't be a problem. It would actually be bad to put something that does impact gameplay needing such a rare occurrence, so you have it backwards. That's actually the strategy that free to play games use to make people spend money.
All activities "waste time", and it's a bit absurd to talk about it specially when it comes to gaming, which is a recreational activity that doesn't have the objective to be productive. People are free to play however they want, period.
I started fire red and before I got pokeballs found a shiny rattata
i’ve never run into a shiny at full odds (1 per 8,192) ever and i’ve put in literally 1000s of hours (altho a lot of those hours belong to gen 6 and up which never have those odds). the one time i did get a shiny at full odds was while shiny hunting lugia in silver on 3DS virtual console. pretty proud of that tho i didnt count how many resets it took. i have many other shinies i’ve gotten from other methods such as using the ditto trick to get 1/64 odds on gen 2 or some from happenstance for example IV breeding a hawlucha when one popped up (luckily with its color scheme it’s super hard to miss) i’ve also gotten a spinda and caterpie while EV training and some shinies i’ve gotten from ultra wormholes or the friend safari
@Heavyarms55 Those are really bad odds I will research the "shiny" Pokemon and try the best strategies soon
My first ever shiny was a Weedle in Gold's Bug Contest. I also caught a Gligar on the same file.
Unfortunately, Gen 2-3 transfers were impossible and my Gold battery has been dead for long, so I lost my beloved Pokémon.
I've recently decided to shiny hunt those two Pokémon again in X, which is my favorite game of the last decade. I've caught a shiny Gligar yesterday on Route 19 after a solid 600 horde encounters, now it's time to hunt Kakuna in the Friend Safari!
My first shiny was a skitty but I did encounter a shiny smeargle that wouldn't go in a ball and died struggling!
The only shiny I've ever found in the wild was a Deino when I was a kid, but unfortunately I was stupid enough to try and lower its health to make it easier to catch, then knocked it out with a critical hit
(You should really play Black/White 2, by the way! It's one of the best ones.)
@roy130390 Hey, go wrestle with someone else, you aren’t interesting or clever. You’re literally arguing with yourself over points I haven’t made.
@BloodNinja Your entire point is "shiny hunting is a waste of time" as if gaming somehow is a productive activity. You are on a gaming site, people tend to avoid judging how others play their games and how they "waste" their time. You could say the same about completionists, speed running or gaming as a whole as they lack any productive result at the eyes of society and do demand a lot of time. We tend to simply know and acknowledge the satisfaction and pleasure that any of those things give, regarldess of how others see it because it's an engaging activity for us. It's mere objective is entertainment and, while each gamer has it's preferences on how to play we tend to share that so it isn't nice to have someone calling other preferences dumb.
If you dont find me interesting or whatever that's fine, it has nothing to do with what we talk and personally I have no interest in offending you in any way. What you say about me discussing my own points makes no sense and I think that you are taking the discussion too personal.
first was mareep, It was like the game knew that I liked Mareep
@Zuljaras There's been a lot of different methods over the years. The most reliable for me to get a specific mon has always been Masuda Method breeding with the shiny charm. But that's also super boring. I just watch videos while doing it.
Dynamax adventures give the best odds I've seen, but it's tricky to hunt specific mons aside from the legendary at the end of the run.
The wormhole stuff in gen 7 was pretty interesting, but I didn't use them much because I was so burned out from playing so much gen 6 and gen 7 and gen 7 felt almost exactly the same as 6 in terms of visuals and metagame.
Chain fishing can be a really easy way to get shinys too in certain games. But it's another one that's hard to target a specific mon. Horde encounters in XY is a fun one too. And a little more consistent.
SOS chaining in Sun and Moon was cool, but required a lot more focus because it was pretty easy to mess up a chain.
Shinys were pretty easy to hunt in LGPE too. But of course that's mostly limited to gen 1 Pokemon with a few exceptions. But it has the fun aspect of seeiny the shinys in the overworld.
What does a shiny Pokemon do? And can you get a shiny Psyduck? That’s the only one I’d be interested in.
My first shiny was a Scorbunny as I never really shiny hunted back in ORAS and X&Y. I only really started shiny hunting after I saw how cool it was to have one. So I farmed for hours in Sword & shield took me over a month until I finally hatched a shiny Scorbunny. Now I sit with thousands of boxes full of just Scorbunny
My first shiny was from a wonder trade in pokemon ultra sun and my first shiny hunt was cyndaquil in pokemon gold
Ah memories. My first random shiny was a Weedle in Pokemon Silver on a new game file I had just made before I even met Professor Oak. So no pokeballs. I much younger me ran hoping to find it again but of course no such luck.
I see a random shiny again until Gen 5 while ev training. I got a shiny durddigon which I caught and have in one of my games somewhere. Likely X but I am not sure.
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