Back in 2000, Pokemon Gold and Pokemon Silver launched for the Game Boy Color in the United States. Along with adding 100 new Pokemon species to the Pokedex, Gold and Silver also introduced rare Shiny Pokemon to the series for the first time. Shiny Pokemon are rare color variants of standard Pokemon and have appeared in every Pokemon title since Gold and Silver.
Chances of encountering one are incredibly low, but if you’re willing to dedicate some time to it, you can receive a Shiny starter Pokemon in Sun and Moon.
READ MORE: How to catch every Legendary Pokemon in Sun and Moon
The process isn’t all that complicated, but the cutscene leading up to the moment where you pick a starter Pokemon in Sun or Moon lasts over two minutes. You’re going to have to continually restart until a Shiny Pokemon appears, and with the odds of encountering a Shiny starter at 1 in 4,096, you can see why this process might need to be repeated for hours or even days.
Here’s a video from SmkGaming05 describing the process in detail:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndjmaDLhzx4
Everything you need to know is in the video above, but if you’d rather have text instructions to follow, we’ve included those below as well:
- Save your game after Tapu Koko saves you from falling off the bridge.
- Talk to Lillie, who is standing between two totems at the bottom of the screen.
- Cutscene begins. You’ll know if you got a Shiny when you can nickname your starter.
- If you don’t receive a Shiny Litten, Rowlet or Popplio, you’ll need to reset.
- In order to soft reset, hold down L + R then press either Start or Select.
Every time you soft reset the game, you’ll end up back in front of Lillie, at which point you’ll need to talk to her to initiate the cutscene once again. This is a painful, arduous process, but if you just have to have a Shiny starter, it’s the only way.
Here’s what all the Shiny starters look like (h/t Now Loading):
If you haven’t already, be sure to read our review of Pokemon Sun and Moon.
