Pokémon is a well-known franchise throughout the world, with countless fans of the games, anime, books, toys, cards, and whatever else comes from the franchise. Throughout all of these there have been some stand out characters, ideas, and mysteries that have grasped the hearts of many. One of these concepts is that of a “shiny” Pokémon.

Shiny Pokémon are creatures that look a little different than normal. They’re the same Pokémon with the same silhouette, stance, and stats, but with a different colour scheme. These differences range from almost unnoticeable to drastically different, but are always accompanied by some glitter and a chime when they enter a battle in the main series video games. Ash Ketchum even had a shiny Noctowl in the anime! (And no, pink Butterfree is not shiny Butterfree — the show is quite different from the games.)

So now that we sort of know what a shiny Pokémon is, how can we get one? It varies from game to game. For this article, I will keep it within the main series games ranging from Generation II until present day. In the first Generation – Blue, Red, and Yellow respectively — it was quite the task to get a hold of a shiny Pokémon. You had to catch the Pokémon and check its stats to make sure they lined up properly, and then transfer it to a second-generation game to actually see if it worked. It’s fairly confusing to explain entirely, so I won’t get into it.

For the older audiences of the Pokémon games, our first shiny encounter was in the second generation with Red Gyarados in the Lake of Rage. It is one of the only shiny Pokémon to appear in the games as a sprite to interact with, making it locked as a shiny (the opposite of “shiny locked,” which would mean it cannot be a shiny, ever). Without easy access to the internet, forums, and the works, Red Gyarados could have been perceived as the only Pokémon to have this unique color scheme, sort of like a legendary, especially due to it being a sprite in game exactly like the box legendaries were.

So what about other shiny Pokémon? Sadly, without any help, the chances of finding a random shiny Pokémon is 1 in 8192, or a probability of 0.01220703%…

That’s not very much, but luckily there are several ways to make this number grow significantly larger.

The Masuda Method

Starting in Generation IV – Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold, and SoulSilver — we were given the chance to find shinies through breeding. The Mesuda method is named after Game Freak director Junichi Masuda who had implemented this method into Diamond and Pearl so that these elusive Pokémon could have a slightly higher rate of showing up.

In order for this to work, you’ll need a Pokémon from your game, and a Pokémon from another country that is in a different language. The easiest example is English to Japanese, and the best Pokémon to get for this is definitely Ditto. Putting the English and Japanese Pokémon into the Day Care will increase the odds of a shiny Pokémon by a different value per Generation. Before this method was implemented it was the standard 1/8192. Starting in Generation IV it became 1/2048. In Generation V (Black and White series) it became 1/1365. Then finally, with Generation VI (X, Y, Omega Ruby, and Alpha Sapphire) we see it at 1/683, which is the highest it gets generation-wise (so the same for Sun and Moon as well).

So, with every Generation we’re seeing a giant leap towards better chances with the Masuda method. But did you know that you can make chances even higher before the next generation arrives? Sword and Shield are well on their way, but before they get here you can cut down that probability from a whopping 1/683 to 1/512 with just one item!

Personally, I’ve only used this method twice. It’s quite time consuming, and you’re going to definitely want a Pokémon with either Magma Armour or Flame Body as an ability (Slugma or Magcargo are solid options) to reduce the egg hatch times by a significant amount.

Shiny Charm

The Shiny Charm is an item introduced in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 that greatly increases the chances of finding a shiny Pokémon. In these games it increases the chances to roughly 1/2731, but from Generation VI and onward, we’re seeing it at roughly 1/1365.

How does one get this coveted item then? It’s a doozy: you have to complete the National Pokédex of the game you’re playing. Luckily though, this excludes mythical Pokémon like Mew, Celebi, Jirachi and the sorts. Though there have been events and gifts for these Pokémon, they aren’t available to catch in-game.

The Shiny Charm will positively effect every method in this article except for gifted Pokémon (which aren’t a method, but I would like to add that the Shiny Charm does not change their chances of being shiny) and the next method: the Poké Radar.

Poké Radar

This key item is only available in Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, X, and Y, so I’ll go over this relatively quickly as it was replaced by the DexNav later on.

The way this method works is confusing to explain, and uses math far beyond my skill level. The Radar pings other Pokémon in the grass and you start a chain. Catching a Pokémon will increase the chances of seeing the same again by 10%, and you’ll want to keep finding the exact same Pokémon in order to keep a chain going. Once you successfully reach a chain of 40, the chances of finding a shiny are 1/200. Even one level before that, at 39, it is 1/400, so every piece of the chain matters, and the chain can be broken. This is definitely one of the more frustrating ways to get a shiny, and I have personally never tried it, and most likely never will.

DexNav

The DexNav is that little Pikachu with a red background on the touch screen that shows a magnifying glass and the Pokémon available on the route you’re on in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. If you click on a Pokémon you’ve captured before you can see a “search” button, and a search level on the top right. To use this, just tap the search button while you’re near some grass, in a cave, or in the water and a little black blob (for the most part) will appear in an area wild Pokémon are usually seen.

After applying Super Repel (so that other random Pokémon don’t jump out at you) sneak up to the blob with the circle pad and battle it. Each time you battle the Pokémon its search level will increase, and there’s a lot of skepticism as to what that means. Some think every five encounters this way will increase the shiny chance a fair amount, and some think using this method just has a flat rate of finding a shiny Pokémon. Because there’s no official data I can’t say for sure how well this works, but apparently at search level 999 there’s a 1/476 chance of finding a shiny. On the 50th and 100th level of the chain the rates also apprently jump to 1/99 and 1/56.

I’ve found a few shinies this way and the hunts ranged from 39 encounters to almost 400 with the shiny charm.

Chain Fishing

In Generation VI we got chain fishing. The rules for this are pretty simple: stand in one spot, don’t move, don’t do anything but fish. You pull it in too fast or too slow, you break the chain, but if you do it just right every time, the chain continues. Every time you reel in a Pokémon, the chances of it being shiny increases. At a chain of 20 and higher, the chances of finding a shiny Pokémon are 1/100 and with a shiny charm come to 1/96.

That said, if you don’t get a bite, you’ll break the chain. To make sure you get a bite no matter what, grab a Ramoraid, evolve it to Octillery, and check its abilty. If it is Suction Cups, you’re golden. If it’s Sniper, you’ll have to try again. Suction Cups will make sure every time you fish that you’ll snag something on the line.

This may be one of the easiest ways to find shiny Pokémon, but once you hit that high chain and accidentally reel in too quick… well, it’s devastating. I’ve only ever found one shiny this way, but a lot of my shinies are water type, so I may have done this accidentally in the past while training some random Pokémon. My son caught a shiny Magikarp with an old rod and some genuine luck with this method as well!

Horde Encounter

Finding a horde in the Pokémon games is a special event where five Pokémon attack you at once, and you only get to use one of yours! You can force this event at most locations in Generation VI by using the move Sweet Scent or the Honey item. This obviously increases the chances of finding a shiny as you’ll see five of the (for the most part) same Pokémon in one battle, instead of one at a time. The main problem with this is that not every Pokémon on the route, in the cave, or water will appear as a horde, as some locations like the mirage spots in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire do not allow hordes.

This is an easy and quick way to find a shiny Pokémon, and I’ve found quite a few this way in Alpha Sapphire. Though it does get extremely stressful when you have to take out the other four one by one before you’re able to even throw a Pokéball at the shiny. I’ve found a shiny Minun, Plusle, two Machops, Numel, and Roselia this way and each time the number of hordes is different… by the hundreds. I’ve found two shiny Minun within 42 encounters, but it took me approximately 1500 encounters to find the shiny Numel.

Soft Resetting

This one’s not for the lighthearted. Soft Resetting (SR) is what you do when there’s a shiny Pokémon you really want, but is only available through an interaction (like the legendaries or those floating rings that have legendaries in them, and the starter Pokémon). How to do this is simple: save the game, interact with the Pokémon, and if it isn’t a shiny, reset the game. On the 2DS and 3DS, pressing L+R+Start or Select will reset the game and you can load in and interact with the Pokémon once again.

If you’re unbelievably lucky, you could find a shiny this way in a few hours. On the other hand, it could take years… depending on what game you’re playing and if you have the shiny charm. Looking up shiny hunting by SRs on YouTube is daunting. Even looking at some of the legends on r/ShinyPokemon may have you second-guessing this idea. Doing this with a starter may even take longer than with legendaries if you have to watch a cutscene or skip a bunch of dialogue before even getting to select a Pokémon.

I have done with twice, and the first time almost turned me away from it forever. After SRing for who knows how long I found a shiny Cresselia, and then my Pokémon decided they loved me so much that they would get a critical hit… thus knocking out the shiny. Years later I attempted it again with Regice and after over a week of SRing while watching movies I finally found and captured it. Make sure you prepare ahead of time, know their moves and PP, and are stocked with special Pokéballs and strategies. You do not want them to struggle and KO themselves or run out of balls. If you’re in a cave I suggest Dusk Balls, and for any battle maybe Quick Balls, but definitely Timer Balls. (And if you have this Pokémon already through trade, Repeat Balls are amazing).

This method stands equal to a random encounter, so it’s one of the hardest to do.

In-Game Shiny Pokémon

Earlier I mentioned that a Red Gyarados appears in Gold, Silver, and Crystal, but it’s not the only in-game Pokémon that is guaranteed to be shiny.

In Black 2 and White 2, you’re able to catch a shiny Haxorus as part of the post-game story, as well as receiving a shiny Gible in Black 2 and a shiny Dratini in White 2.

There are also two trainers you can battle with guaranteed shinies: in FireRed and LeafGreen a trainer in Trainer Tower has a shiny Espeon, another with a shiny Meowth, and a third with a shiny Seaking. In Sun, Moon, and the Ultra versions a man in Seafolk Village’s Pokémon Center will battle you with a shiny Exeggcute once you become Champion.

Once in a while events will be held that release shiny Pokémon as gifts, such as a shiny Beldum for Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire during an event that lasted for a few months in 2014.

Ultra Wormhole Method

This method is special to Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, two games I have not played yet. After reading on how this method works, its seems as though you enter an Ultra Wormhole and play a mini game. Once you pass 3000 Light Years, there’s a better chance of finding a shiny. But there are side effects; the shiny charm doesn’t make a difference here, and there’s only nineteen Pokémon you can find.

These nineteen Pokémon are: Abomasnow, Crustle, Altaria, Heliolisk, Audino, Nuzleaf, Hippowdon, Swellow, Sigilyph, Medicham, Drapion, Swanna, Grumpig, Lombre, Quagsire, Yanmega, Floatzel, Stunfisk, and Magcargo.

The highest odds you can get for these wormholes is a 36% encounter rate after getting over 5000 Light Years with a Type 4 wormhole. Though if you use this method in order to try and trade a shiny for a shiny, these nineteen Pokémon are looked down upon in value as they’re easier to find than others.

SOS Chaining

Another newer method only in Sun and Moon is SOS chaining. In these games, wild Pokémon have a chance to SOS call for help when they are losing a battle. This method has you lowering the caller’s help as low as possible, using an Adrenaline Orb to increase the chance of calling, and then continuing to defeat the called Pokémon every time a new one appears. A chain of 70 to 255 will up your shiny chances to 1/1024, or 1/683 with the shiny charm.

You will break the chain if you run, defeat the caller without an ally on the field, or if the caller faints with the ally having a call rate of zero. Luckily when an ally appears to be a different family (eg. Cubone calling a Kangaskhan) is does not break the chain. Important note: the chain resets at 256, but in the Ultra version it will continue.

Unavailable Shinies

Sadly, some Pokémon are coded to never be able to be shiny. So if you have one, it’s been cheated in. These Pokémon are: Cosmog, Cosmoem, Solgaleo, Lunala, and Necrozma.

The others are event only: Victini, Keldeo, Meloetta, Hoopa, Volcanion, Magearna, Marshadow, and Zeraora.

Some Pokémon are shiny locked in their games however, such as Groudon and Kyogre in the Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire games, so make sure to check if a Pokémon is shiny locked before attempting to soft reset for it!

And that’s pretty much it!

Now you know the ways to shiny hunt Pokémon! Hopefully Sword and Shield will add an interesting new way to do so as well, and maybe keep the rates as they are — we don’t want it too easy or it’ll take away the joy of actually encountering a shiny Pokémon.

In my personal experience, I’ve obtained some (probably) hacked shinies through Wonder Trade like Volcanion, Porygon-Z, Xerneas, Jirachi, Barbaracle, and Arceus, but have had some decent luck with the actual methods and random encounters too. Since Sapphire, Ruby, and Emerald, I’ve obtained 26 legitimate shiny Pokémon. Ranging from a scary teleport-only Abra, to my first shiny ever Beautifly (was a Wurmple) from 15 years ago, to the two Minun and two Machop I found horde hunting other shinies this week for this article.

Shiny Pokémon will show up when you least expect them; maybe a shiny Geodude will come out of a rock you smashed, or a shiny Tentacool while you’re rushing to get out of the water and to a certain land mass… and it’ll always be a breathtaking experience.

Getting to watch my son play Omega Ruby after I have sunk so many hours into the original games as a kid and the remakes as an adult is a treasure, especially when he finds a shiny Pokémon – and he has five! It’s an unforgettable experience, even if you’re not a hardcore gamer or Pokémon fan, and no matter how old you are.