Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are revolutionary games for multiple reasons, and while some players are lamenting performance issues that take part of the fun of exploring an open world away, Gen 9 does have plenty of redeeming qualities. The fact that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet removed tall grass and the iconic line-of-sight battles with other trainers may not seem like a pro to some longstanding fans of the series, but it does help players tackle everything at their own pace, including catching wild Pokemon. As such, Gen 9 games feature a vast overworld where Pokemon roam free either on their own or in small clusters, meaning that players who want to catch new and returning species have to exclusively run into them or throw Pokemon at them.
A noteworthy change from Legends: Arceus that didn't make the cut in Gen 9 is the fact that shiny Pokemon in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet don't make the sound they did, meaning that players have to rely exclusively on their sight to spot shinies. This was particularly helpful to know a shiny was nearby without pinpointing the exact location, and this feature's absence becomes all the more problematic in Gen 9. The reason is that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Ditto and Zorua, which are both shapeshifting Pokemon according to the franchise's lore, are actually mimicking nearby critters when encountered in the overworld.
Why Shiny Hunting in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Can be Disrupted by Ditto and Zorua
What this means is that players may encounter a handful of Paldean Tauros, for example, and among them is a Ditto or a Zorua in disguise. To break the disguise, players have to start a battle against that Pokemon, and Ditto's or Zorua's secret identity will remain unrecognizable otherwise. As such, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet players may end up missing out on those Pokemon if they are not particularly careful.
To make things worse, there are numerous species both new to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Pokedex or returning from past games that have very minor differences between their base forms and their shiny versions. For example, Gengar's shiny is almost identical to the Pokemon's regular appearance, and without the Pokemon Legends: Arceus tingling noise when a shiny critter appears, a shiny Gengar would be almost impossible to tell apart from fellow specimens. The problem here is that Ditto and Zorua also shapeshift into other pocket monsters if they are shiny themselves, but they don't keep their species' shiny pattern, and instead adapt to showcase that of the creatures they are camouflaging as.
As such, while on one hand, it's great to see this level of detail in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's open world where species capable of changing their shape do so freely and seamlessly blend into the scenery, on the other hand, it can be a nightmare for shiny hunters. Keeping the same example as above with Paldean Tauros, this Pokemon's shiny form has almost the same color palette as its regular form, and thus it would be fairly difficult to spot in the wild in comparison to a critter whose colors change more drastically.
Luckily, the best shiny hunting method in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet consists of making sandwiches with Herba Mystica, a random drop from 5-star Tera Raids, and it increases both the chance of finding shinies and makes the Pokemon one encounters belong to a specific type. As such, Normal and Dark-type mass outbreaks could feature Ditto and Zorua, respectively, but because it's a controlled environment, players already know they have to be particularly wary of their surroundings. However, for general play and while exploring Paldea, Ditto and Zorua can be quite problematic if they are shiny.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available now on Nintendo Switch.