With the launch of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, there’s a renewed quest for Shiny Pokes going on. With almost 500 Pokémon being brought into the Switch port, there’s a lot to catch. And some more industrious players really like Shiny variants. These specially colored rare spawns are very prized among Trainers. And some players want to get tons of Shiny monsters. Getting other shiny variants is pretty easy, once you know what to do. That’s where the odds turn against you though, as it takes a lot of time to get Shiny Pokémon to spawn. You have two options, either wild encounters, or as eggs.
The standard encounter rate for Shiny Pokémon is 1/8192 from Generation II to Generation V and 1/4096 in Generation VI onwards. And that applies to both breeding and wild encounters. There is a way to boost chances, and you should use it. You can actually further reduce that 1 in 4096 chance of Shiny Pokémon in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl by using something called the Masuda Method. So if you’re not using the Masuda method, the best way is to get your breeding chain going, and chaining eggs. Once you get going, it becomes much faster to go for shiny breeding.
But there is one additional trick, you can actually get a shiny starter in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, here’s how.
How to get a Shiny Starter in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl
When you get to the very opening part of the game, you can choose your starter. You will need to mash buttons to speed through the first minute or so, as it’s mostly introductory cutscenes. When you finally land in the lab and choose a starter, there’s a chance it could be shiny. The chance is the same as other encounters, so this may take a long time. Just mash through the intro and then head inside the building and pick a starter.
You will have to then head outside and battle a Pokémon in the grass to check. You will see a red sparkle on its listing in the menu as well, denoting it as a shiny starter in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl At this point, chances are you did not receive a Shiny. If you did, congratulations on that incredible luck.
If not, just hit the Home button and close and reopen the game. From there, redo the opening and choose a starter to see if it’s shiny or not. For now, you can only get a single shiny this way. Eventually, Pokémon Home support will be added, so you should be able to use this trick to get all three starters.
Once you have your Shinies, you can go get plenty of other stuff done. You might also want to search for some other Evolution items. The Razor Claw can be pretty useful, as can the Up-Grade for Porygon fans. There are also a bunch of stat upgrade items to find. If you’re planning on getting into the competitions of who has the prettiest Pokémon, you will need to learn about Poffins too.
There’s a lot to learn about this game. You might want to learn a bit about Affection bonuses. If you want more encounters, try finding some Honey Trees. There have also been some new additions to character customization that you need to know about.
