When Pokemon first released in 1996, it wasn’t exactly hard to find legendary Pokemon. While they were seen as the greatest beasts in the game, but catching them was fairly trivial if you just saved beforehand.
Shinies on the other hand, when they released in 1999’s Gold and Silver, were not trivial. These differently-coloured creatures were hard to find with most players never seeing a wild one during a standard playthrough. Nowadays, though, shiny Pokemon are not only easier to find than ever before, but they’re often just given away.
Game Freak has given away shiny Pokemon every now and again since shiny Pokemon were introduced. The Johto games infamously included a Red Gyarados in the story, introducing players to the concept of shiny variants, and in 2003 a distribution event gave players a shiny Zigzagoon for free. (Thanks, Serebii.)
In a recent announcement, Game Freak announced that every Pokemon Legends Z-A player will be able to get two shiny legendary Pokemon for free very soon. Within the game, players will be able to grab both a Shiny Xerneas and a Shiny Yveltal, the two legendary box creatures from X and Y. (And the never-released Z we all wanted.)
Obviously, they’re thematically appropriate shinies to just give away for Legends Z-A as the game returned to Kalos. But while their presence fits the game itself, it simply feels like The Pokemon Company has just acknowledged that many players simply want a shiny or a legendary for the status, not because of the effort it takes to get them.
I’m not a shiny hunter. I have shiny hunted in the past—both in the slower-to-grind Gen 2 and 3 games and in newer games. While Pokemon has become easier and easier, and even shiny hunting has become easier, hunting shinies has always remained the sole remaining challenge of the series. As the series’ difficulty gets stomped into non-existence, shiny hunting has been a fun, albeit obviously repetitive, task for end-game players.
Unfortunately, though, as shinies are now increasingly seen as the must-have item of Pokemon now that the games’ base difficulty has been minimised, there’s a desire for shinies to also be easier to acquire. This isn’t just the case for Pokemon games, either; the anime gives a character a shiny Rayquaza, and even the TCG has stacked the deck with shiny variants as well.
With Pokemon now just continuing to hand out shiny legendary Pokemon, it seems that both legendaries and shinies will continue to be watered down in their rarity. While having a complete shiny Pokedex seems like a great idea, it should be a challenge. Shinies should be exciting to see, and just handing them out like Halloween treats just continues to diminish their point.
