What Will Pokemon Go's Next Shiny Be?

By Christian Hoffer - January 30, 2018 11:13 am EST

One of Pokemon Go's most recent steps to keep players invested in the game is to add more Shiny Pokemon. Shiny Pokemon are ultra-rare Pokemon that have alternate colorations than their non-Shiny counterparts and are considered a rare prize among Pokemon trainers. And while Pokemon Go has had Shiny Pokemon in the game for nearly a year, they've really ratcheted up the number of Pokemon species with Shiny variants in the game over the last few months.

It seems likely that Pokemon Go players will quietly see more and more Shiny Pokemon in the coming months, usually in association with different mini-events or waves of new Pokemon. Here's a look at some likely Shiny Pokemon we'll see in the coming months.

Chikorita

We reported earlier in January that Pokemon Go had recently added 3D image assets for Chikorita and its evolutionary line to the game. The move was a bit of a surprise, given that Chikorita has been around for about a year now and Pokemon Go's focus was on their newly added "Gen 3" Pokemon.

Chikorita and other "Gen 2" Pokemon have always gotten the shaft in the Pokemon franchise - while Pokemon Gold and Silver are highly regarded among fans, they're typically overshadowed by the original games, and the Johto Pokemon are usually regarded as underwhelming. And while the "Gen 3" releases have gotten tons of Shiny Pokemon, the only "Gen 2" Shiny we've seen so far is Pichu, a Baby Pokemon.

We're not sure how or why Shiny Chikorita would get added in Pokemon Go - but the assets are there already so developers just need to pull the trigger.

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Dratini

Earlier this month, Pokemon Go announced a new mini-event: a monthly Community Day that would give players a three-hour window to catch a "special" Pokemon and receive big in-game bonuses. The first special Pokemon was a Pikachu that knew Surf (a reference to the infamous Surfing Pikachu) but players also discovered that Pokemon Go also increased the chances of players finding Shiny Pikachu in the wild.

Next month's Community Day will feature a special version of Dratini and many fans are hoping that means we'll also see a Shiny version of Dratini appear. A Shiny Dratini is purple instead of blue and it eventually evolves into a Dragonite with green skin like that of a traditional dragon. Players would go nuts for an opportunity to show off a Shiny Dragonite in gyms, so expect to see players out in full force in February.

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Salamence

There's still a handful of "Gen 3" Pokemon that haven't been added to Pokemon Go yet and are expected for release sometime in the next few weeks. Pokemon Go has added at least one Shiny Pokemon with every wave of new "Gen 3" Pokemon added to the game, so we're all but guaranteed at least one more Shiny Pokemon in the coming weeks.

Players are probably looking forward to using Salamence the most out of all the non-Legendary "Gen 3" Pokemon still to come. A powerful Dragon/Flying type, Salamence has a stronger Attack stat than Dragonite, although it's not nearly as bulky. If Pokemon Go were to add Shiny versions of Salamence and its pre-evolved forms, players would be chasing after this already powerful Pokemon even more.

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Altaria

Another "Gen 3" possibility is Altaria, the fluffy Dragon/Flying Pokemon. We're expecting Swablu (Altaria's evolved form) to be pretty common in Pokemon Go, but we're guessing that Altaria will be a lot harder to obtain. Like Gyarados and Wailord, it'll take 400 Candies to evolve Swablu into Altaria...which means players will have to do a lot of catching and/or walking to get one of these Pokemon.

Giving Swablu and Altaria Shiny variants would give players an even greater award for completing the monumental task of accumulating enough Candies to evolve this Pokemon. Plus, a Shiny Altaria is a gleaming gold color - the perfect reward for trainers who manage to obtain it.

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