With the much-anticipated release of Pokémon Sun and Moon, the most recent mainline Pokémon entries, there's already a strong cadre of players who are exhausting their efforts to encounter a shiny Rowlet, Litten or Popplio.
Chances of running into a shiny Pokémon in the wild are extremely slim, but players take on the challenge because it's possible to roam around grass patches and repeatedly try until they finally run into a shiny Pokémon. Starters, on the other hand, are available by default early on in the game, and the starters aren't the type of Pokémon you can randomly encounter in the wild.
However, if you're really intent on picking a shiny starter, there's definitely a way for this to happen.
How To Get A Shiny Starter
Starters are very important Pokémon both either for venerated or neophytes in the Pokémon series since they are crucial facets in allowing the player to contextualize the Pokémon experience. While you're free to ditch your starter in favor of a different Pokémon as your sidekick to rev up your adventure in Alola, chances are you won't do such a thing, since the bond between a starter and a trainer serves as one of the important underpinnings of any Pokémon game.
For players who truly want to veer from the normal path, opting for shiny starters is the obvious way to go. Fair warning: some will have more luck than others. There's no surefire and speedy way to receive a shiny starter. You have to exert tedious legwork and hope it doesn't take you more than a day. Mind you, it took five years for one person to find a shiny Mewtwo. If you're truly determined to get one, you'll have to swallow the fact that it might take very long.
First off, you must save your game after the bridge encounter with their Tapu Koko guardian Pokémon, right before you talk to Lillie about going back to the town. This is the most ideal starting save point since talking to Lily will trigger the cutscene that lets you choose your starter.
Soft-Resetting Your Game
Continue with the selection process and check if your starter is shiny. Keep in mind that starters won't appear shiny until you actually select them. The cutscene won't show a shiny starter, you'll only see if it is indeed when you reach the point where you can give it a nickname.
If the Pokémon isn't shiny, you can perform a soft-reset by holding the L and R buttons and pressing the Start or Select button. The game will reset, bypassing boot up times and opening scenes, which you want to avoid altogether.
Other Tips For Getting A Shiny Starter
To make the process even faster, you can set the text speed to fast. You can also press the A button gung-ho to skip through the dialogue. The odds of encountering a shiny Pokémon are one out of 4,096, so it might really take a while. Some players are reporting a day's worth of soft reset times. You better hang in there if you really want your starter to be shiny.
Each attempt will draw two minutes and 30 seconds, according to Now Loading, so you better be prepared to potentially drain 170 hours of playtime or more. Of course, luck will vary from person to person, so you just have to keep trying.
Have you started building your perfect Pokémon team in Pokémon Sun and Moon? Do you think a shiny starter is worth all the effort? Feel free to sound off in the comments section below!
