For trainers new to the rich world of Pokemon that may not yet be aware of these rare critters, shiny Pokemon are scarce versions of existing Pokemon differentiated simply by a difference in color. They’ve been present throughout the majority of the core-series Pokemon titles, only occasionally being spotted by players due to their extremely low chances of spawning. Although recent entries to the series do offer a number of features that can help expedite a trainer’s encounters with shiny Pokemon, their default chance of appearing sits at around 1 in 4,000, meaning that even fans who have been playing for years might not have come across any in the wild. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s new picnic feature allows fans to share snacks with their Pokemon, with some of the bonus-providing foods offering a substantial boost to shiny spawn rates.
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A clip shared on Reddit by user Art3misvl shares the incredible moment where, against all odds, the hunter becomes the hunted while they’re out looking for shiny Pokemon. The video shows the player away from their controller, their player character in the game standing idly as a shiny Flutter Mane jumps out at them from the side and initiates a battle. This AFK encounter with a shiny Pokemon could have ended in tragedy in a way similar to some other shared clips if the Flutter Mane wandered away and despawned, though it could’ve just as easily never been spotted at all if it hadn’t jumped into battle on its own accord.
While pretty much identical in concept, shiny hunting and the methods associated with it have been subjects of debate among the Pokemon community since the launch of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, with some fans arguing that a few of the new gameplay elements take away much of the challenge traditionally attributed to shiny searching. The game’s large range of bugs often don’t help in this regard either, with many fans complaining about glitches that cause shiny Pokemon to spawn out of bounds and sharing clips that provide proof of their ruined shiny encounters.
Despite the widely-criticized state of the game, many fans have found themselves enjoying Scarlet and Violet much more than they had expected, with some even crowning them as their new favorites in the franchise. While the games’ bugs are both plentiful and often glaringly obvious, most of them seem to make for moments that are more often hilarious than disruptive.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available on Nintendo Switch.
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