How to Know if a Pokemon is Shiny | Pokemon Sword and Shield

This article will show all the information on how to know if a Pokemon is Shiny, its difference with normal Pokemon and the different kinds of Shiny Pokemon in the game Pokemon Sword and Shield.

What is a Shiny Pokemon

Shiny Pokemon are Pokemon that have a different shade of color from their normal counterpart. Shiny Pokemon were introduced way back in Generation 2.

How to Tell if a Pokemon is Shiny

Shiny Pokemon can be identified by the entrance animation of the Pokemon where it shows a shining effect hence the name shiny. Shiny Pokemon can be obtained from either encountering Pokemon in the wild or by breeding a Pokemon.

Difference Between Shiny Pokemon and Normal Pokemon

Shiny Pokemon and Normal Pokemon

Shiny Pokemon

Normal Pokemon

The difference between Shiny Pokemon and normal Pokemon is the color of the Pokemon and the particle animation when it enters battle.

Shiny Pokemon have a special particle animation when entering the battle so be sure to watch out for this as there are Shiny Pokemon with little to no difference with their non-Shiny variant.

The Pokemon's Ability, stats, and appearance will remain the same. Some Pokemon will have a drastic change in colors and some Pokemon will only have a slight change of appearance in color.

Types of Shiny Pokemon

Square Shiny

Star Shiny

Starting from Generation 8, there are now 2 kinds of Shiny Pokemon. In previous generations of Pokemon, only Star Shinies were available in-game. Generation 8 introduced Square Shinies in the game.

Square Shiny & Star Shiny Differences

The only difference between the two is the particle animation when they enter battle.

Square Shiny & Star Shiny Appearance Rate

How to Hunt for Shiny Pokemon

Shiny-Locked Pokemon

Shiny-locked Pokemon are Pokemon that cannot be obtained by soft-resetting the game.

These shiny-variant Pokemon are obtained either through events or breeding.

• Starter Pokemon: Grookey, Scorbunny, Sobble (Shiny can be obtained by breeding)
• Legendary Pokemon: Zacian, Zamazenta, and Eternatus
• NPC trades
• Strong Pokemon from the Wild Area that are higher level than you. (Shiny can be obtained by getting all the badges)

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