Do you have to beat the battle frontier to catch shaymin?

Answer 1

Well, to catch Shaymin you must have the mystery gift Oak's Letter which was available via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection September 28th to November 8th. Without this it is impossible to catch Shaymin. Although I don't have Shaymin I know you can catch him with Oak's Letter any time you want, whether you've just got you're starter or have completed the game (which you won't have because you're still missing Shaymin).

For those of you who have got Oak's letter this is how you get the mysterious pokemon. If you don't understand mystery gifts you have probably checked your bag, find it wasn't there and given up. But to get it you must (after supposedly receiving the letter) talk to the delivery man by the counter in any Pokemart. Now check your key items and it should be there! It's description is "A letter from Professor Oak. Written in it is a request for you to go to Route 224". Before the next step SAVE YOUR GAME! So now go to Route 224. Hopefully you should be able to do this next bit by yourself. I say this because I haven't got a clue what to do next! You will fight Shaymin in land form but to change it into sky form you need to go to Floroma town with Shaymin in your party and talk to the girl near the town sign who will give you the Gracidea which when used on Shaymin transformes it.

P.S: If I have made any mistakes in this article please note it is entirely down to my own stupidity