How to tell if a Pokémon is Shiny in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Just like in every single other mainline Pokémon game, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet feature shiny Pokémon for players that want to flex on their friends and opponents. But in this game, finding out which Pokémon are shiny is actually harder than usual. Here is a quick guide on how to tell if a Pokémon is shiny in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

Visual indicators

Shiny Pokémon is a double-edged sword in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. In this game, players are able to see every Pokémon in the wild before they have to battle them. This makes it very easy to avoid battles you don’t want to take and allows players to focus on particular Pokémon without having random encounters with others. This saves a ton of time and frustration when it comes to catching wild Pokémon. When it comes to finding shiny Pokémon in the wild, players will be able to clearly see which Pokémon are shiny before encountering it making the process easier.

However, that is actually the negative part of the game. Currently, the only way to tell a Pokémon is shiny is by the color. Shiny Pokémon do not make a sound or have any visual indicator showing they are shiny.

I seriously wish the shiny Pokemon in Scarlet/Violet would shine or make a special sound in the overworld like they did in PLA

— Touya! ★ (@Touyarokii) November 21, 2022

This can be difficult depending on the Pokémon. Some Pokémon have very obvious shiny forms that have a completely different color scheme than the regular version. For example, Charizard’s regular form is mainly orange with greenish-blue wings, but its shiny form is black with red wings. This makes it stand out in the wild, especially in a pack of other Charizards. On the other hand, there are Pokémon like Gengar, where the shiny one is essentially a different hue of purple, making it difficult to tell the difference without any external indicators.

Just make sure when you are hunting for a specific shiny Pokémon that you have done the research to know the color, as that will be the only information you have when it comes to finding one. The shinies do have a sparkle animation once you battle them, which helps to confirm whether or not they’re shiny, but there is no such indicator in the overworld.