The worst Shiny Pokémon

Pokémon that aren't worth wasting your Herba Mystica on

Pokémon hit the jackpot when it came to introducing shiny Pokémon. By encouraging players to hunt down these exceedingly rare differently colored ‘mons, hours were added onto each games’ potential playtime. Many do it just for the status. Sending out a Shiny Pokémon in battle demonstrates to others the effort you’ve put into the game, and let’s face it, some of them just look really nice.

Some that is. Others are questionable, with many fans choosing to recolor Pokémon’s shiny forms to better suit their tastes. Here’s our list of Pokémon we don’t think it’s worth spending hours looking for.

Regice

There are three general archetypes of shiny Pokémon. The first we’ll be looking at is the Pokémon that look almost identical, here exemplified by Regice. Shiny Regice is a slightly darker shade of blue. In fact, it is so slightly darker that in most of the games you wouldn’t know you had encountered one if the shiny animation didn’t play. They could have changed the color of the eyes(?) as a way to reward players’ efforts, but no. Legendaries are also some of the harder shinies to hunt, making this one all the more disappointing.

Zapdos

Speaking of disappointing legendaries, the second archetype of terrible shiny is changing one part of the design. Zapdos’ body is slightly darker, but the main change is that the feet are orange. Sometimes this is done well - people like Jigglypuff’s green eyes, or Iron Hand’s white hat. But other times, it’s Zapdos. To make things worse, the Galarian Legendary birds are color swapped with their Kantonian counterparts, which looks very cool indeed.

Espeon

The third shiny archetype is green. If you can’t think what color it should be, just make it lime green. You can also point to Teddiursa or Marill for this one, but Espeon is perhaps the worst, as it changes from a delightful light lilac. Some people think the small swaps of Leafeon, Flareon, or Glaceon are worse, but Espeon’s shiny is frankly an assault to the eyes, and to people’s sense of taste.

Gholdengo

There are many reasons why Gholdengo’s shiny is offensive. One, it fills the second archetype of changing one small detail, changing the lines from orange to gray. It is also one of those shinies that are impossible to tell, and one that would be extremely difficult to hunt for, as you need 999 Gimmighoul coins to evolve it. However, the worst thing about Gholdengo is that it’s shiny locked. That means you can’t get it. The data for it exists, but there’s no way to get it. Thanks a lot. Our shiny living dexes will have to wait.

Tandemaus

It can be argued that Tandemaus’ shiny is actually pretty cute. The look of it isn’t really the issue here. In Scarlet and Violet, The Pokémon Company decided to remove the shiny noise and animation outside of battle, which makes similarly colored shinies hard to see. On top of this Tandemaus is tiny, meaning you probably wouldn’t notice a shiny one if it stood right in front of you. It also makes it more prominent that mommy mouse isn’t wearing a top, and daddy mouse is missing his pants, but that’s a discussion for another time.

Flabébé

Some Pokémon with multiple forms also have multiple shinies. These can actually be useful in competitive play. If your opponent isn’t paying attention, they could confuse your shiny Rotom-Wash for a Rotom-Heat, or your Shiny Stretchy Tatsugiri for a Curly one. This can give you the advantage in battle when something comes up they aren’t expecting. Flabébé has five different forms, and yet the bébé blue is the only part that changes. It’s not terrible, but could be better, and in Scarlet and Violet, it’s another impossible ‘mon to see.

Garchomp

Garchomp is another shiny that just goes for a paler shade, so why is it on this list when so many others have gotten a pass? It’s mostly because of just how good it is. Cynthia devastated players with her Garchomp back in Generation 4, and since then, players have been knocking each other out with powerful Chomp quakes. Even in Generation 9, Garchomp sees heavy use in competitive play, which is your best chance at showing off your shinies. But Garchomp just looks the same, and you just look like a tool for hunting it.

Minior

Minior is another Pokémon with numerous interesting forms, and yet the shinies all look the same. In Meteor Form, it looks identical to the standard Minior, then when the shield goes down, it’s black. What made Minior interesting for fans, was the seven different colorful cores it could have, and the shiny form is basically just adding an eighth. Feels like the developers just got lazy with this one after designing one hundred different shade swaps.

Alolan Raichu

The Pikachu line is famous for having some of the series’ most underwhelming shinies. From Pichu all the way to Raichu, they are just darker shades of yellow or orange, with no changes to the black accents. Despite this, Alolan Raichu is probably the worst of them all. It’s brown. Like very brown. I think they were going for the look of a surfer dude who lay in the sun too long, but it doesn’t. It just looks brown.

Ampharos

When you first hear that Ampharos is pink, you think it is a delightful color change. Its prevolution Flaaffy is pink, and it feels like a delightful nod to its roots. For some reason Ampharos’ pink is a little too blue, making it look like a bald sheep that is getting hypothermia. Losing its wool has made it sickly and it is a hairless tube man waiting for a cold snap to end its misery.