A tradition almost as old as the franchise itself, shiny hunting in Pokemon games is a fan-favorite pastime that scratches that completionist itch that many players have when they play games involving a lot of collecting, and Pokemon Sword and Shield is no different. Actually, with upgraded, three-dimensional visuals and Pokemon models that are more detailed than ever, shiny hunting in Pokemon Sword and Shield is even more enjoyable for players than in other games.

Shiny Pokemon are rare variants of Pokemon that are colored differently from the standard version of that Pokemon with no other statistical or behavioral differences. Along with a Pokemon's nature, gender, form, and some other variations, shininess is one of the differences that Pokemon can have within their species. Shiny hunters are players that spend copious amounts of time searching for these shiny Pokemon and trying to catch them all.

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Redditor Mb0901 is one of these dedicated shiny hunters that goes to great lengths to obtain shiny Pokemon - such great lengths as going through the process of hatching 504 eggs before finally obtaining a shiny Litten. Unfortunately, they were unable to capture a video recording of the actual hatching, but they do share a video of their player character sending out the shiny Litten in battle against a wild Skwovet. The amount of time and patience it must have taken to go through 504 egg hatches in order to get the shiny Litten is extraordinary.

There are so many different Pokemon available in Pokemon Sword and Shield and they all have shiny variations, regardless of how their avatars appear in the overworld (once the player encounters the Pokemon, the shininess will be revealed). Also, the game has personality values, which determines what type of shininess the Pokemon will have (star-shaped sparkles or square-shaped sparkles), adding even more depth to the shiny hunting in Pokemon Sword and Shield.

Shiny hunting in Pokemon games is seeing a golden age as there are even livestrem events for Pokemon shiny hunting now in which players band together to try and catch all of the original 151 Pokemon as shinies within one day (the streamers averaged about 9 shinies every hour, which is impressive given how rare shiny Pokemon can be). In any case, Pokemon players will be shiny hunting for generations to come.

As Pokemon fans gear up for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet to release in November, shiny hunters will be on the lookout for new and interesting ways to go about finding each shiny variant and catching them all.

Pokemon Sword and Shield are available on Nintendo Switch.

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