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demonfox38 · 5 years

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Shiny Hunting - A Review

So, I currently have 118 shiny Pokémon in my possession.

It was not my goal to have that many of the little critters around. I’m not a complete masochist! Make a living PokéDex? Maybe, if we’re not counting mythicals. Getting shiny versions of each of them? Are you serious? I don’t have the time or patience for that nonsense! They’re probably not even legitimate!

But, I did put in somewhere between two to three months collecting the little jerks, so I do want to talk about it. At the very least, it could be a lesson in statistics. Maybe a cautionary tale, too.

What’s a Shiny?

Look. I’m not going to assume you know what I mean when I talk about “shiny” Pokémon. I mean, maybe Pokémon was a cultural phenomenon 20 years ago, but I can’t pretend that my readers were alive or cared to play the games back then. I just want you to have an understanding on why there’s such a fervent hunt for the little mutants. Also, maybe to justify putting in the time I did to get them.

“Shiny” Pokémon are any Pokémon that are not of their natural color palette. Essentially, they are the equivalent to albino or melanistic specimens of real-life creatures. Depending on the (relative) ease of capture, popularity of the Pokémon, and the difference in colors, a Pokémon’s shiny form can vary greatly in appeal. Some may look a shade lighter or darker than their original colors, while others can be made of completely different color schemes.

The rate of these Pokémon appearing varies greatly depending both on the game the Pokémon is being hunted in and what accessories and seeking styles are available to the hunter. For the games I was hunting in (being primarily “Y”, “Alpha Sapphire”, and “Ultra Sun”), I was facing odds as high as 1 in 173 to as low as 1 in 5,464. That’s not even as rough as it used to get in previous generations, where chances could drop lower still to 1 out of 8,192! Given such variance in my chances, I knew it was in my best interests to maximize my luck as much as possible. So, I opened up a spreadsheet, picked what Pokémon I wanted, and calculated the best chances I had for each species.

25 Pokémon. That was all I wanted. 25!

Guess I’d better explain how I got those other 93, huh?

Overview

For each method I used, I’ll be discussing the following:

What games I used this method in

What the rates of success are using this method

How many Pokémon I caught using this method

How to use the method

Whether or not I liked this method

The statistics I used for estimating my chances using each method came either from Bulbapedia or Serebii.Net . All statistics are assuming that the player has earned a Shiny Charm, which you can only get from certain NPCs in game after finishing your Pokédex (typically, a post-game achievement.) I mention this because the Shiny Charm improves your overall odds, no matter what method you are using. Also, I think it’s important to get your badges and brawls out of the way, first. At least it’ll prevent you from accidentally catching something you can’t control or over-leveling your Pokémon on frivolous tasks.

Random Encounters

Games Used: “Pokémon Y”, “Pokémon Alpha Sapphire”, “Pokémon Moon”, “Pokémon Ultra Sun”

Average Rate of Success: 1 in 1364 (roughly)

Shiny Pokémon Earned Using This Method: Machoke, Lycanroc (Night Form), Oricorio (Sensu Style), Flabébé (Blue), Kecleon

All of the Pokémon listed above were gathered while either leveling up other Pokémon or en route to hunt a different species. So, basically, it was nothing more special than just entering an area where Pokémon had the potential to appear, then getting lucky. There’s really nothing much to say about what happened. Sometimes, just in the course of game play, you can get a surprise!

Which, let me tell you. As someone who uses False Swipe to capture most of their Pokémon, netting a ghost-type shiny truly was a stroke of luck. Or at least, having confidence in the strength of my Pokémon.

(For those not in the know—False Swipe is a move that reduces a Pokémon’s HP to 1, but never kills them. This is a normal type move, which is typically ineffective against ghost Pokémon, barring the use of special items or moves. Still, it’s probably your best attack for netting a new pal, alongside the supports of Hypnosis, Sing, Thunder Wave, Stun Spore, or Sleep Powder.)

Masuda Method / International Marriage

Games Used: “Pokémon Y”, “Pokémon Ultra Sun”

Average Rate of Success: 1 in 512

Shiny Pokémon Earned Using This Method: Furfrou, Honedge, Houndour, Mienfoo, Litwick, Popplio, Vulpix

The Masuda Method (also known as International Marriage) is one of the oldest and most reliable methods of generating shiny Pokémon. It’s been around since the era of “Pokémon Diamond” and “Pokémon Pearl”, when Pokémon games started using the Internet to trade creatures among its players. Basically, if two Pokémon from two separate regions breed with each other, they have an elevated chance of their offspring being shiny. If you ever see requests for foreign Dittos on the GTS asking for ridiculously uneven Pokémon to trade in return, this is why. (Also, just general greed. That’s why one should always check the filter to remove requests for legendary trades!)

This method typically works the best when you have two Pokémon of the same species, but different languages (like, an English male Furfrou and a Spanish female Furfrou.) You can crossbreed as well to get moves passed down to Pokémon that would otherwise never learn said moves, like breeding a Male Primarina that knows Moonblast to a female Alolan Ninetales to get a Vulpix that knows Moonblast. (The babies are usually of Mom’s lineage, FYI. The exception to this rule is Ditto, which again, explains their demand.) Crossbreeding typically takes a little longer, as Pokémon of two separate species won’t generate eggs as fast as those of the same species. But, assuming you’ve also nabbed an Oval Charm in your pursuit for a Shiny Charm, it’s not that much worse off.

Now, for the Pokémon I got using this method, you may notice a few similarities. I used this method when:

The Pokémon was a starter Pokémon (i.e., not available in the wild)

The Pokémon was unavailable in the game I was using (i.e., Houndour in “Pokémon Y”)

The Pokémon was a Ghost type and difficult to reliably chain and capture (i.e, Litwick and Honedge)

Alternative methods were less than enjoyable for hunting shinies (and boy, we’ll get into that in a bit!)

The nice detail about this method is that its reliability is static. The odds will always remain the same, no matter how much time you put into it. It won’t increase, but you can’t lose advantages due to your own putziness, either. However, it can take time. A lot of time. Like, my getting a shiny Furfrou took the entirety of September to do. And if you’re using a Generation 6 game like “Pokémon Y” or “Pokémon Alpha Sapphire”, you could be footing quite the daycare bill for housing your breeders, too. At least, if they’re not at level 100, anyway.

However, I don’t think the odds for this method are quite accurate. You can recoup your losses, but this depends on whether or not you are using the next method in junction with your international shipping.

Wonder Trade

Games Used: “Pokémon Y”, “Pokémon Ultra Sun”

Average Rate of Success: 1 in 60 (from personal experience)

Shiny Pokémon Received Using This Method: Abomasnow, Aerodactyl, Alomomoloa, Ampharos, Arceus, Aromatisse, Charizard, Cloyster, Cresselia, Dedenne, Delphox (x2), Diancie, Dragonite, Eevee (x4), Floatzel, Forretress, Froakie, Gardevoir, Genesect, Golduck, Gothitelle, Grimer, Heattran, Heracross, Hitmonlee, Honchkrow, Infernape, Jirachi, Keldeo, Kyogre, Landorus, Lugia, Manaphy, Mantyke, Meganium, Metagross, Mew, Moltres, Necrozoma, Nosepass, Omanyte, Palkia, Palpitoad, Pelipper, Pheromosa, Poliwrath, Porygon2, Raikou, Rayquaza, Regirock, Roserade, Seel, Scrafty, Sharpedo, Shaymin, Sigilyph, Solrock, Steelix, Suicune (x3), Sunkern, Swampert, Talonflame, Torchic, Treecko, Typhlosion, Venonat, Vicinti, Vivillion (x2), Walrein, Yveltal, Zapdos, Zoroa

Now, I know what you’re thinking. “What the hell? That’s so many! Why would I use any other method?” And, you’re right. This was by far my most successful method, producing 79 out of the 118 shiny Pokémon that I received. But, I think I should mention a couple of small details on this method before you go clogging up the Wonder Trade with the first disposable Pokémon you find.

If you’ve ever thrown a Zigzagoon into the Wonder Trade system, then I hope you get pimples on your next date. (Unless you’re doing a Wonderlocke playthrough. Then you are forgiven, and good luck!)

Wonder Trading is two players throwing random Pokémon at each other. Nobody picks who they are assigned to, nor what they get. For the most part, it’s just pitching garbage at other players. In my case, I used it to offload Pokémon that I had bred, but were not shiny. Yes, there’s an option to just release your surplus creatures, but I didn’t have the heart to do that. Besides, I’d like to think that what I passed on were in some way beneficial. Maybe not all of the Furfrous, but the Popplios had to be of some worth to 66% of the playing population.

What makes Wonder Trading such a useful tool has little to do with the game itself, but the unique accounts that sprung up in it. There are several YouTube and Twitch channels that do nothing but give away shiny Pokémon as gifts! They air their trades online, creating somewhat of a gambling culture around their channels. (Perhaps, generating a little revenue through ads or subscriptions as well.) The channels I encountered the most were:

ITSK33N.TV = 21 AuSLove.TV = 11 YouTubeREM27 = 7 ITSK33N.TV E = 5 Wolfie8pieYT = 3 Mike here YT = 2 StringsYTube = 2 bit.do/sp-fb = 1 Flexii.YTUBE = 1 MeanGengarYT = 1 Mitsuki.TV = 1

Are they legitimate shiny Pokémon?

Most likely, not. (I mean, look at this guy!)

These channels are auto-sending Pokémon based on timers and pre-programmed commands, so I’m guessing they’re probably being generated on emulated copies of these games and sent out to the masses. Still, I find it an interesting set of services. I routinely found people in “Pokémon Y” proclaiming their love for ITSK33N.TV and AuSLove.TV in particular, so I know that at least those two entities have gone a long way in preserving interest in the game.

That’s not to say that there aren’t actual people throwing out real shinies in the mix! (I mean, not to pat myself on the back, but I’ve chucked a surplus shiny or legendary out there. It’s good practice!) It’s just more likely that you’ll run into these names while trading.

From personal experience, I was getting a shiny Pokémon for about every one in two boxes of bred Pokémon that I threw into the Wonder Trade system. A box holds 30 Pokémon, so there’s where your 1 in 60 comes from. Again, it’s a very random process. You’re probably more likely to experience getting in contact with these shiny generating services in “Pokémon Ultra Sun” and its generation due to the newness of the game. (At least, until Gen 8 games drop in November.) However, as long as Nintendo keeps the trading systems open on the 3DS, you’re likely going to have an encounter in any game you pick from Gen 6 or 7 eventually.

Or, at least, get hundreds of Zigzagoons along the way.

Seriously. Don’t be that guy polluting the Wonder Trade system with Pokémon you find in the first route of the game. At the very least, have the courtesy to release them when you get them. Gotta take out that trash sometime!

Poké Radar

Games Used: “Pokémon Y”

Average Rate of Success: 1 in 200 at a chain of 40+ encounters (allegedly)

Shiny Pokémon Earned Using This Method: Ducklett

Lord. Poké Radar.

So, here’s how Poké Radar is supposed to work. You have a little wrist device that you press while in long grass to send out a pulse. It shakes the grass, showing you where you can get into encounters with Pokémon in that area. You touch the shaking grass, get into a fight (if you are lucky), defeat the Pokémon in it, and continue entering shaking patches until:

You get a sparkling patch of grass with a guaranteed Shiny Pokémon in it, or

Your chain breaks by encountering another Pokémon,taking over 200 steps outside of the grass, or just generally being out of luck by entering a shaking grassy area with no encounter.

Now, your odds of continuing your chain generally increase by entering vigorously-shaking grass at least four steps away from you. Like, I want to say it goes up 22% for every step you take past your starting position, all the way up to a max of 88%. However, a significant amount of terrain is not accommodating for this method. There’s a lot of either skinny clumps of grass or grassy areas with rocks or NPCs lodged in them. Constraints on terrain was the primary reason I decided to breed Mienfoo instead of using Poké Rader to get it, for example. Additionally, you have no control on which Pokémon you start your chain on. If you’re looking for a Pokémon that has a 10% chance of ending up in the area you’re hunting (like, for me, Furfrou), you’ll usually be soft-resetting 90% of the time to preserve resources spent on encountering Pokémon you don’t want.

Honestly, this is my most hated method for hunting for shiny Pokémon. If you’re looking for a specific Pokémon, then you don’t have control over which Pokémon you get at the start of your chain. And, let’s be honest, it’s probably not one that you want. When you get that chain going, you can risk the game not spawning the correct type of shaking tiles within the space you’re hunting, requiring you to take 50 steps to recharge your radar before taking another shot. If you get too close to the area’s edge, you can risk no shaking grass spawning at all, breaking your chain. Even if you preform a chain properly, you can get screwed by as little as an 11% chance of another Pokémon spawning. Hell, it takes a chain of at least thirty-some Pokémon to even match what you have with the Masuda Method. At least with that, you have a ton of Pokémon to chuck into the Wonder Dumpster to have a chance on reaping rewards for your efforts!

Long story short, I find the Poké Radar to be entirely too fragile and unrewarding. It’s literally better to spin in circles than to be a methodical hunter, in this case.

DexNav

Games Used: “Pokémon Alpha Sapphire”

Average Rate of Success: 1 in 173 (maximum)

Shiny Pokémon Earned Using This Method: Absol, Buneary, Cottonee, Feebas (x2), Growlithe, Meditite, Numel, Ponyta (x2), Relicanth, Slugma, Swablu, Venomoth, Vulpix

DexNav, though? Amazing.

Basically, you have an app on your lower 3DS screen called the DexNav that reports what location you are in, as well as what Pokémon you have encountered in the area. Tap on the Pokémon you want, and the navigation tool starts checking for any Pokémon of that type in the area. If it locates one, it’ll give you a hot/cold read-out for finding it until it appears on screen. At that point, you sneak up on it to attack it, then get into a fight with it.

Will you get a shiny every time? No. But, what makes this method impressive is that it keeps count of how many Pokémon of this species you have encountered. As this number goes up, your chances for finding this Pokémon increase, maxing out at around 900 encounters. So, even if your encounters are a miss, the game weighs your time in search for this Pokémon into the equation. In addition to that, the game also improves the sorts of Pokémon it generates, giving different attacks, hidden abilities, and improved IV stats to boot!

Do you have to hit 900 encounters? Hell no! On average, you should be able to find a shiny somewhere between 200-300 encounters in game. Additionally, the game tries to boost your chances of finding a better Pokémon every five encounters or so, culminating at one more chance surge around 50 encounters in a row.

It can still take a couple of hours to find a shiny Pokémon, but honestly, I like this method the best. Even if you don’t immediately get lucky, at least the game keeps track of your effort and tries to help you out. Granted, not many original Gen 3 Pokémon are in hot demand, but there’s enough variety from other generations mixed into this remake to make this hunting style more appealing.

Also, there’s nothing wrong with having a Milotic farm. It’s gotten me through a lot of requests!

SOS Battles

Games Used: “Pokémon Ultra Sun”

Average Time to Success: 3-6 Hours

Shiny Pokémon Earned Using This Method: Comfey, Furfrou, Oricorio (Pompom Style), Salandit (x4), Vulpix (Alolan)

Note: my statistic this time is based on time, not chance rates. Let’s get into that.

SOS Battles are a concept introduced into the seventh generation of Pokémon games (so, your Sun, Moon, and Ultra versions of Sun and Moon.) Basically, it’s an endurance test. The longer you and your Pokémon can stay in battle, the higher your chances are at seeing a Shiny Pokémon get pulled into the fight. This seems to cap out at a 1 in 683 chance, if Serebii.Net is correct. However, these stats seem to be bugged in the regular versions of Sun and Moon, resetting your chances after 255 Pokémon have been pulled into the brawl.

Why I’m focusing on time rather than statistics is that, from a certain perspective, you can get one Shiny Pokémon per battle. But, it all depends on how absolutely stubborn you are and how many resources you have to work with. I mean, for me? I had a roster of level 100 Pokémon and 999 berries a piece of Sitrus, Leppa, and Lum berries (for HP restoration, PP restoration, and stat curing, respectively.) As long as I had electricity in my 3DS, I could keep going for days, if needed.

What I’m saying is that this worked for me, as a single person with a stable source of power. It would not work for, let’s say, a ten-year-old who had to share their 3DS with their siblings.

My patience was tested the greatest with hunting Salandits. For those not in the know, only female Salandits can evolve into Salazzle, their higher form. Female Salandits appear at a rate of one out of eight Pokémon. This kind of aggravating ratio is usually reserved for starter Pokémon or fossilized specimens (i.e., making them harder to breed), but also shows up for Combee’s line. This scarcity means that I was facing odds of 1 out of 5,464 Pokémon that were both female and shiny. (That’s 1 / 683 * 1 / 8, or 1 / (683 *8), if you wanted to do some mathematics today.) That’s ouchy. Like, almost seven times the current Pokédex roster size ouchy.

Also—there is one species of Pokémon that is 7 females to 1 male, if that does anything for you. (It’s the Litleo line!)

It didn’t take me the month it took to finally get a shiny Furfrou in ““Pokémon Y”.” But, it did take nearly two and a half weeks of at least twelve hours of gameplay a day. You run the math on that. (And yes, I was naughty and did parts of it at work. Only when my tickets were finished, though!)

Ultimately, I was okay with this method. It wasn’t as rewarding as DexNav, but I could get it to be more stable and effective than Poké Radar. I can’t say I’d recommend it in its bugged state from “Sun”/ “Moon,” but those playing the Ultra versions should find it to be functional. Just be aware that you’ll need to be really, really prepared to make it successful.

Extra Methods

Now, I did get a couple other shinies from less-than-normal methods of acquisition:

Pre-Owned Games. If at all possible, it might behoove you to get your Pokémon games preowned. If the previous owner hasn’t wiped out their stash, you just might get lucky and get a handful of Pokémon you can either assimilate into your horde or trade off. That’s how I picked up a previously owned Charizard, anyway!

Retailer Distribution. I can’t recommend this too much, as I live in rural Iowa (i.e., away from most retail stores.) But, hell. I did get a shiny Lunala from a GameStop. That was pretty sweet, even if it was a pain in the ass to download the Pokémon Pass app to be able to download a code for it. Save yourself some time and download that to your own phone ahead of your next visit to GameStop or Best Buy or whatever, if you really want to go that route. Otherwise, I’m sure someone will spit one at you in a Wonder Trade one day.

Conclusions

So, I’d imagine that you’ve still got the following questions:

Why did you do this?

Did you have fun doing this?

Are you recommending that I do this?

For me, the first question is the hardest to answer. I think I’m the kind of person that needs to have stupid goals to achieve anything in life. Like, playing video games results in me making spreadsheets, which then results in me making budgets, which then results in me paying off my debts faster. I can’t just say, “I’m going to work on paying off my mortgage” and then make a plan for knocking a 30-year-loan out in 10 years. I’ve got to go “I want to buy video games,” then “I’m going to track the price of video games over several months,” then “I’d better start socking away money in saving and into debt while I’m buying video games.” I mean, Pokémon’s the reason I learned to count in hexadecimal. It’s just how I roll.

This stupid goal was started last spring, when my mom and her friends saw “Detective Pikachu” in theaters. They had no idea which character was who, so I ended up having to explain a lot. (Mom did pick up on Mewtwo being distrustful because of how it was treated, rather than being evil, which was 👍.) I then realized that with “Pokémon Sword” and “Pokémon Shield” coming out, the clock was ticking on being able to get completed Pokédexes in my 3DS games. So, I worked on that for a while, being able to get a Shiny Charm in everything I played. I did all of that in the hopes that, not only could my Milotic farm be useful for the new game, but I could start with my own goobers instead of whatever the game was going to force on me.

And then. Well. That whole cutting Pokémon from Sword and Shield’s roster happened. Then, it really was a matter of just getting what I wanted before time could run out. I mean, servers close all the time. I don’t think you can trade Pokémon from Gen 4 and 5 online, anymore (although, that search system sucked, anyway.) I just didn’t want to lose the opportunity I had to perfect my games, even if I’m not sure the Pokémon I nabbed will be used in the future.

Sometimes, I had fun. Sometimes, I was just praying to both regular Jesus and RNGesus to finally free me from these obligations. I really can’t see how people would be patient enough to get every Pokémon in a shiny form. Especially, legendaries.

If you want to do this, I recommend you sit down, go through a wiki, and try to figure out what the easiest way for you to get the shinies you want is. Hell, get a website, stare at the alternative colors, and figure out if you even like them, first! Personally, I’d recommend using “Alpha Sapphire” / “Omega Ruby”, then “Ultra Sun” and “Ultra Moon” to get what you want. Skip “Pokémon X” and “Y” for that task. (The game itself is entertaining! Just not the hunting methods.)

And again, I can’t emphasize this enough—don’t put Route 1 crap in Wonder Trade. Pimples. Your next date. Cursed. Doesn’t even have to be on your face.

I sure do talk like someone who would own a bunch of Ninetales, don’t I?

#pokemon #long post #post game evaluation #kind of

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