During your video game epic that is Pokemon, you may encounter a Pokemon whose color scheme looks different from its normal version. Congratulate yourself, for you have just encountered a shiny Pokemon.
A shiny Pokemon is like a trophy; while it is not any stronger than its normal version, the fact that you have one is pretty cool. The chances of finding a shiny Pokemon is normally 1 in 8192. That's a 0.0122% chance of finding one! Don't bother breeding for one either, as the chances of receiving a shiny egg are just as slim.
If you have time and want to go shiny hunting, here are some tips:
- Always carry Pokéballs with you. As previously said, you never know when you are going to come across a shiny. If you've found one, it would really be a bummer to not be able to catch it.
- Pokemon that have set locations are easier to find shiny. These Pokemon never change locations, so you'll always find THAT specific Pokemon, thus reducing wasted time. For example, the three starters (at the beginning of the game), Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, etc.
- Looking for a specific shiny in the open wild is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Make that a really big haystack. Because you cannot control what you are going to encounter in the grass, sea, or cave, you never know which Pokemon that you run across will be shiny. Honestly, this type of shiny hunting isn't worth it; don't make Pokemon a tedious activity.
- If you run across one shiny legendary, you will always run across a shiny legendary. In other words, if you have found a shiny legendary that runs away, such as Latias or Latios, the Pokemon will remain shiny the next time you see it. If you run across a shiny Latios, don't worry that you'll never see him again; just battle him as usual, and make sure to save RIGHT AFTER the encounter.
- There are no tricks or cheats to get shiny Pokemon(excluding Action Replay), so if you've heard that if you fly to Celadon City five hundred times and push the truck off of the old man, you will get a shiny, don't believe it. Finding a shiny depends solely on one's determination and luck.
PokeRadarIn Generation IV, the PokeRadar can be used to chain for shiny Pokemon. It's no easy task though; you need to build a chain of 40 Pokemon to increase your chances of finding a shiny Pokemon to about 0.5% or 1/200. According to the formula devised by pika from PokeGuide, this probability peaks at 40 Pokemon. If the PokeRadar detects a shiny Pokemon, the grass will sparkle with four stars as shown in this video. Basics to ChainingTo chain, use the PokeRadar and go to either type of grass. It could take some time to find the Pokemon you would like to chain, so if it is not the one you're looking for, simply run from the battle and try again. More Pokemon can be found in flashing grass. Once you have found the Pokemon you wish to chain, defeat it. You have now started a chain of this Pokemon, and the chain is at 1, as the Pokétch App #20 will tell you. Obviously, 1 is not a high chain. When the grass shakes after the battle, go to the patch that is farthest away. However, there may not always be a "safe" patch.
To find a "safe" patch, firstly, we group the grass around you into four zones as follows:
A safe patch is a patch of grass in zone 4 that is not in the same row or column as your current location. The follow diagram shows the safe patches in a lighter shade.
However, multiple zone 4 patches which are in the same row or column, should be avoided! These red patches are not safe because although they are zone 4, and in the same row or column as one another. The yellow patch is safe because it does not share a row or column with another zone 4 patch.
When your chain reaches 40 Pokemon, don't go into any more patches. Slowly and carefully, reset the radar, and walk to the center of the grass. Reset the radar until you find a shiny. Once again, do not enter shiny patches if they are on the edge of the grass! Do not enter any more patches unless they are shiny patches. They can continue your chain, but there's always the chance that they'll cause your chain to break, which is the worst thing to happen at 40.
MechanicsFor those interested, the exact probability of encountering a shiny Pokemon is calculated as follows. The game generates four random numbers ranging from 0 to 65535. These are represented as binary numbers, 16 bits in length. The bitwise operation "exclusive or" is performed on each of the numbers, resulting in a single binary number in the range 0 to 65535. If this number is less than 8, the Pokemon is shiny. Hence the probability of this occurring is 8/65536 or 1/8192.Furthermore, the two trainer ID numbers (one visible appearing on the menu's trainer card, the other invisible and unknown to the player) makes up two of the four random numbers. While these values remain static throughout the entire game, the other two random numbers are calculated when you encounter the Pokemon in the wild, when you hatch a Pokemon, or when you pick up the Pokemon as a gift (as with the starters). Thus, shininess is no longer determined by http://wiki.answers.com/ivguide.php(It was in Gold, Silver and Crystal) and it is therefore possible to have a shiny Pokemon with maximum IVs.
Now that you know more about the mystery of the elusive shiny Pokemon, your epic quest to catch them all will be that much more exciting. Who knows what your next wild Pokemon will be?
(Credit to Swift and to http://www.psypokes.com/lab/shiny.php)
Randomly when you run into a wild Pokemon it may have a different coloration that's a shiny Pokemon. Also a free shiny Pokemon is found in the lake of rage.
pogi
it is very hard. you have to get very lucky or use a cheat
Unfortunately the chance of finding a shiny Pokemon are quite slim, either your lucky and find one, or you trade with someone who has a shiny you want.
You get it at Gamestop, but this event is already over. Sorry guys that did not get it!
Yes, you can get a shiny Pokemon out of an egg on any game.
Fight tons of Pokemon or cheat
everywhere but very rare
yes.zach does
Randomly when you run into a wild Pokemon it may have a different coloration that's a shiny Pokemon. Also a free shiny Pokemon is found in the lake of rage.
Keep walking in tall grass.
Latias is not available in SoulSilver
pogi
You transfer it from Heart Gold or Soul Silver.
there isn't one.
it is very hard. you have to get very lucky or use a cheat
It evolves by using a Shiny Stone