Why People Hunt Shiny Pokémon

For many players, the first shiny Pokémon they ever received was the shiny Gyarados from Lake of Rage. Something about its red scales brought out its fierceness. Something as simple as a change of palette brought a layer of life into the game. Some Pokémon are so rare, you have a better chance of winning some money with the lottery than obtaining one.

Ever since they were introduced in 1999 with Gold and Silver, players have happily spent hours getting Pokémon with different colours and that extra sparkle. These rare forms are called shiny forms. The odds of getting one can be tough, but there are still ways to obtain them.

I would say that it has gotten easier over the years with new mechanics, but it can take a lot of time and effort. Because of this, you will see people selling shiny Pokémon on eBay to trade. I saw one seller sell over 400 shiny dittos. Fair play to the guys making these as a side hustle, but wouldn’t be more fun to actually hunt for them yourself?

You are more likely to appreciate the things you made an effort to get as opposed to the ones handed to you on a plate. Obtaining shinies the way Nintendo wanted us to, without data manipulation, means that the shinies are safe to be transferred to future gaming generations.

Obtaining hacked Pokémon is so easy, the chances are that you’ve probably got a couple in your game if you’ve traded a lot. Some dump their hacks on the GTS or Wondertrade with a URL in their nickname to promote their services. If you invested in a cheat device for consoles, like Gameshark or Action Replay, you may have been welcomed by, “This product is not licensed or endorsed by Nintendo.”

Some would argue that shinies have now become redundant. I’m sure you’ve seen people show off all their shinies in Pokémon go community days. The pure luck in the games can be immense. That doesn’t mean they love their shinies any less because they can be more common now.

Exploiting glitches, hacks, and available third-party resources seem like an easy way to do it, but many still frown upon it. It’s much like how people frown upon Animal Crossing players who time travel.

Gamefreak and Nintendo themselves have brought out plenty of shiny Pokémon events over the years. Some are exclusive to certain countries; most that I know are Japan exclusive. If you missed out on an event Pokémon or don’t have the time to get your own shiny, there are Discord servers where you can get one generated for you.

You may wonder, why bother taking the time to get a shiny? It’s just data, after all, I hear you say. It’s just a different colour and it doesn’t even change their stats.

Hacking can be a great advantage, but they come with big risks if not done correctly. Risks and disadvantages of genned or fake shinies can include:

• You could be banned from official tournaments.
• Your Pokémon might be stuck in one game forever.
• It can cause your game to crash or lag.
• There are long waiting times for trade requests.
• If you pay for shinies, you could be scammed.
• In the worst possible scenario, you could risk damaging your game and console. Any imbalance or data the games can’t read could wipe out your entire save data.

In the Gameboy games, everything about the Pokémon was determined by hidden numbers known as DVs (Diversification Values), including gender, stats, and if they can be shiny or not. In later games this was changed to IVs (Individual Values); these do not affect the shiny rates. So in the generation 2 games, a shiny Pokémon could be stronger than a normal form.

All these available methods to get shiny Pokémon quickly are not enough for serious shiny hunters. We can chain for hours, soft reset thousands of times, or hatch hundreds of eggs. It’s exhausting, but it is such an immense feeling when you finally get the shiny that you were always looking for instead of it being given to you on a plate. It’s the journey of obtaining shiny Pokémon instead of the actual results that make the thrill of the chase addictive.

My favourite shinies are ones that I have obtained through either complete surprise or taken hours hunting. Such as Wooloo, in which I hatched over 200 eggs and made over 600 encounters.

The Benefits of Legit Shinies

There are many benefits of obtaining your own LEGIT shinies:

• Makes you want to pick up your game again. I believe we can learn a valuable thing through shiny hunting in Pokémon. Anything worth having is obtained through effort. It can make you appreciate what the creators of the game put in the work.
• Saves money — buying a shiny on eBay or other websites can cost on average $4 each. Popular and legendary Pokémon can cost more. Cheat devices can also be expensive if it’s for an older console. You’ve already spent money on the consoles and the games.
• A chance of corrupting your game and saving data such as the infamous bad egg that wastes slots in your Pokémon boxes. Hunting for your own shinies means that you know for sure that they are legit and will pass any hack checkers online.
• The only way to know for sure if your shiny is legit is to either obtain one yourself or get it from a trusted person.
• Great content —shiny Pokémon is a niche that attracts a lot of attention.
• Dedicated communities all around the internet like Reddit’s Shiny Pokémon Community.

Shinies can make playing Pokémon that much more fun if you get them yourself.