Pokemon Sword and Shield Player Discovers the Difficulty of Spotting Some Shiny Pokemon

For Pokemon Sword and Shield players on Nintendo Switch, Shiny Pokemon have a lot of appeal. Unfortunately, not all Shiny Pokemon are easy to differentiate from their normally-colored counterparts. One Reddit user almost found that out the hard way through the game's Dynamax Adventures. While selecting which Pokemon to keep, the player had to look closely at the Xatu they obtained before determining that it was, in fact, a Shiny Pokemon! As other Reddit posters pointed out, two red diamonds found in the Pokemon's summary can clear things up, but it's not hard to imagine some players missing out on a Shiny if they don't look closely!

The original Reddit post can be found embedded below.

Dynamax Adventures were added with The Crown Tundra expansion. In this section of the game, players explore a series of tunnels where they participate in Max Raid battles. At the conclusion, players are only able to choose one Pokemon to take with them. Most players are there looking for Legendary Pokemon (a Mewtwo in the video above), but Shiny Pokemon are rarer, and players can always try make a second attempt at catching the Legendary. This process can lead to some difficult choices for players, but for those interested in Shiny Pokemon, the choice is usually clear!

Shiny Pokemon were first introduced in Pokemon Gold and Silver, which also happens to be the game that Xatu originates from. Shiny Pokemon do not offer any specific advantages over Pokemon that have a standard coloration, but they are significantly rarer. Since catching rare Pokemon is a big part of the appeal of the series, some players will go to extreme lengths trying to obtain Shiny Pokemon, including hatching hundreds of eggs, or soft resetting the game over and over before Legendary encounters. Shiny Xatu probably wouldn't be worth that kind of effort for most, but that's up to the player to decide!

Pokemon Sword and Shield is available now, exclusively on Nintendo Switch. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the game right here.

Are you a fan of Pokemon Sword and Shield? Would you have noticed the Shiny Xatu? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!