Shiny Hunting through the years, Pokémon
Shiny Pokémon, a staple in any Pokémon game ever since gen 2. These really rare creatures with just a different color are loved by everyone. Many people are lucky to ever find one in their regular playthroughs. But it also created communities on the internet of hunters, who dedicate a lot of their playing time hunting for these alternate colored creatures. Live streaming it and uploading their reactions to Youtube. Over the years and in later generations GameFreak implemented different methods, next to just running around, to make your odds of getting a shiny higher. In this article, we’ll be talking about every method of shiny hunting per generation/game.
Gen 1(Yes, you’ve heard that right.):
So as I explained before shiny pokémon we’re introduced generation 2. But ever since the Virtual Console release on the 3DS you’re able to transfer these Pokémon over to your generation 7 games. Now in generation 1 and 2, the shininess of a Pokémon is determined by their DVs (modern IVs).
This means that in you catch a Pokémon with the necessary DVs, these being 0/8 for HP, 2/3/6/7/10/11/14/15 for Attack and 10 in all other stats, and transfer it over via PokeBank, then congratulations you’ve got yourselves a shiny. For example: If you catch a Mewtwo in generation 1 with these stats: 228 or 239, 161/163/167/168/173/174/178 or 180, 145, 234 and 201 then congratulations you’ve got yourself a shiny. The only thing you can’t see it yet, just transfer it over and you’ll see yourself. Now you don’t have to do the maths yourselves, there is a handy calculator which will calculate the necessary stats for any Pokémon just enter the necessary DVs I told you earlier. Happy hunting!
Gen 2:
Yes, it’s finally time, the shiny Pokémon have been introduced. Now, are there any fun methods of shiny hunting in Generation 2? First things first, of course, you’re able to Random Encounter to get a shiny, just run around until it pops up! We can’t forget the shiny Gyarados, but that thing doesn’t count.
You’re also able to soft reset for a shiny legendary or any other static Pokémon. In generation 2 this is done by saving in front of the encounter. Then encounter if not shiny press A+B+Left+Right, with this you’ll reboot the game without switching the power off. And then you’ll re-encounter and so on.
Now as mentioned before in the generations 1 and 2 the shininess of a Pokémon is determined by their stats or their DVs. Which have a chance of passing down on an offspring while breeding. A mechanic introduced in gen 2. Where 2 compatible Pokémon can be put in a day-care together to make an egg. But when one parent is shiny and thus has shiny DVs the chances of the offspring being shiny greatly decline from a whopping 1/8192 to a measly 1/64. And yes, the shiny Gyarados can be used. There is also a method to get an easy shiny ditto to breed even more easy shinies with, check out the video down below for more information on that! So happy breeding in gen 2.
Within generation 2 there is actually an event in which the old man from the day-care gives you an egg. This egg contains any of these baby Pokémon: Magby, Elekid, Smoochum, Tyrogue, Pichu, Igglybuff and Cleffa. These are all random so save before talking to him and soft reset if you don’t get the one you want. The Pokémon in this egg has a standard increased shiny chance, this being 14%! So make sure you pick this one up. Fun fact, in the Japanese version of the game this egg has a 50% chance of being shiny.
Gen 3:
In generation 3 the methods of finding shiny Pokémon did change a bit, but it didn’t come with any new methods. First of all the shinyness is no longer determined by the DVs(or now IVs) of a Pokémon. This means that the breeding tactic of gen 2 no longer works and it’s back to the good old 1/8192. So you’re basically just back to Random Encountering and Soft Resetting. They did change the button combination for soft resets, this now being A+B+Start+Select.
In this generation, they also brought back the Safari Zone, which was absent in Gen 2. This is just Random Encountering but it goes way faster because you don’t have to throw out your Pokémon every time. But keep in mind that of course, the Pokémon can run away. The last thing to keep in mind is that you gotta make sure you’re internal battery clock still works before you start hunting!
Gen 4:
This generation came in with some new methods of finding shiny Pokémon. But let’s start with the old ones, Yes you can Soft Reset and Random Encounter. The Button combination from soft resetting has changed to L+R+Start+Select. And the safari zone is back for some quick random encounters.
But let’s start with the new methods, Diamond and Pearl introduced the Masuda Method. It’s a pretty simple method where if you breed with two Pokémon from different countries the chances of the offspring being a shiny multiply by 5! Effectively making it a 1/1638 chance to find a shiny! Keep in mind that obtaining a foreign Pokémon in the DS games is rather difficult since the Wi-Fi for the DS systems is shut down.
These games also introduced the PokeRadar, a very complicated the device which makes patches shake. And by stepping into the right patches you’re able to build a chain up to 40 and every time your chain of the same Pokémon increases your chance of a shiny Pokémon builds up. The chance of your chain continuing increases by stepping into the farthest patch of grass away from you. Check out this video for a more thorough explanation then I can give you here.
Moving onwards, generation 4 came with a different set of games. Heart Gold and Soul Silver, these remakes of the generation 2 games didn’t bring any new specific methods but only a really fun hunt with pretty high chances. This being soft resetting for the starters. In this game only you’re able to see if the starter is shiny from the preview while choosing it. This basically means you see three encounters at once meaning your odds will be multiplied by 3! By the way, these games do not contain the Odd Egg event.
Gen 5:
They didn’t change as much in generation 5. The odds of Masuda Method were slightly increased and they removed things like the PokeRadar. But there are two pretty important things to keep in mind in these games. The most important one being that if you manage to complete the National Dex in Black 2/ White 2 only you’ll receive the Shiny Charm from the professor. This item will make your chances of finding a shiny Pokémon multiply by 3, making it roughly 1/2731. This is amazing and makes it totally worth it to complete your dex!
Moving on Black/White made it possible to encounter two wild Pokémon at the time. This is possible on the Thick Grass, darker colored grass in which, two Pokémon can pop out at the same time. With this your able to double your encounter rate!
At last, since this generation some Legendary Pokémon are shiny locked, this means that no matter how many times you Soft Reset they will never be shiny! This will go on in gen 6 and 7, check here for a list on this topic!
Gen 6:
Oh boy, here we go the next 2 generations have a lot of methods and such so let’s begin. First of all the standard shiny odds have dropped to a nice 1/4089 basically multiplying to old odds by 2. Next up the shiny charm still exist. You get it when you complete the National Pokédex. The Soft Reset button combination changed one more time, this time you only have to press L+R+Start OR L+R+Select.
Generation 6 also brought 2 sets of games to the table. These being X/Y and Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, all the usable methods are different between these games, and we’ll focus on the shared ones first.
Horde Hunting:
Hordes are exclusive to gen 6 and make you encounter 5 Pokémon at the same time! This happens randomly, but you can also make it happen by using the item Honey or the move Sweet Scent outside of battle. This spawns 5 Pokémon in front of you, they are basically full odds but then, of course, multiply the chance by 5! This is an easy and fast hunt!
Chain Fishing:
So the odds of this method are unknown to me. But Chain Fishing is THE fastest way to get a shiny. If you are able to stay in the same spot en keep in fishing up Pokémon without failure your odds on a shiny will increase greatly! And you should be able to get it within 100 encounters. To make sure to get a Pokémon on the hook everytime you should try to fish in a corner and with a Pokémon with the ability Suction Cups in the lead. And you’re good to go!
Masuda Method:
Same as in Gen 5! Moving on!
X/Y:
PokéRadar:
Yes, you’re reading that correctly the PokéRadar is back! It’s basically still the same concept, grind up to a chain of 40! The way the patches chain together did change so please check out this guide down below!
Friend Safari:
Friend Safari, a little area in the post-game in which you’re able to catch 2 or 3 different Pokémon per Safari. The different Safari’s you have are determent by how many friends you have. Each 3DS has a set Safari of a certain type to them. If you’re friends with this person you’ll able to access their Safari. In which you can random encounter for these 3 Pokémon which will have a better chance of being shiny. This is assumed to be about 1/512.
ORAS:
I should probably also mention that ORAS brought a lot of legendaries to soft reset for!
DexNav:
If you’ve played ORAS you’re definitely familiar with the DexNav, because it’s introduced to you in the story. A device which lets you sneak up to Pokémon when they are spotted in the grass. The odds are assumed to be 1/512, but no one is certain. When the game was just released people thought you had to chain with this method, but this has been disproven. All you have to do is encounter with the DexNav and you’ll find a shiny eventually. To keep on finding the encounters you should kill all your encounters instead of running away. This makes it easier to encounter.
Gen 7:
Here we go the last generation as of Spring 2018, let’s begin. Generation 7 introduced some new methods and got rid of some too. Everything that was in the 6th generation has been removed except for Masuda Method. Within Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, there are a lot of legendaries to hunt just like in ORAS so more Soft Resetting fun!
Moving onwards the first method is S.O.S. within the Gen 7 games. With these games, wild Pokémon is able to call for help and without you even realizing it you’re facing them in a double battle. A Pokémon will call for help once its health is low, it won’t always do it but the chances will increase. You can also use an item to increase the chances of them calling. The called in Pokémon will have a higher chance to be shiny. The more you let them call in, the higher the chance, so happy chaining. There are some interesting to use for this method. Please watch this video down below for tips.
The second method comes with wormholes. A method introduced in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon and exclusive to those games. You’re able to play a minigame in which you travel through ultraspace and are able to go into wormholes. Within these wormholes you’re able to find legendary Pokémon, but also a set amount of regular Pokémon, these have really high odds to be shiny! I don’t know the odds, but it feels like its about 1/15.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the fastest methods are Wormhole, fishing, and horde. The easiest ones are Horde, wormhole, Soft Reset and Random Encounter. But if you’re a bit more advanced you should totally try PokéRadar. It’s, in my opinion, one of the most fun ways to find a shiny.
This was my Guide talking about every method of shiny hunting out there. This wasn’t as much in depth as I would’ve liked, but there’s no time for that right now. Since there was this much to cover. That’s why I included some tutorials. If there is anything that I missed please let me know down below.