Pokemon Sword and Shield Makes Change to Starter Pokemon Evolution Shiny Form

Pokemon players getting back into Pokemon Sword and Shield to further explore the Galar region may notice there’s been a big change to certain Pokemon evolutions thanks to the updates in The Crown Tundra DLC. The newest game expansion is available now to all players, and those players are finding many changes that the DLC pack brought to the main game. One example reveals a change to the Shiny form of a starter Pokemon evolution. In The Crown Tundra, the starter Pokemon from the Hoenn region show up as catchable Pokemon throughout the game’s Dynamax Adventures.

Because Shiny Pokemon also have a higher appearance rate in Dynamax Adventures, players have noticed that the developers have made a change to Combusken’s Shiny form, changing it from a pale golden color to a lighter top and a more brilliant shade of red feathers on its legs. This change technically brings Combusken’s Shiny form more in line with its original Shiny form as seen in Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire.

The comparison was pointed out in the Tweet below:

Several other Pokemon also received new Shiny forms in the recent Pokemon Home update. Several of Castform’s Weather forms and Magearna also received new Shiny forms, although these are currently unavailable to obtain through any legitimate in-game means. Whether this means that the Pokemon Company has plans to eventually release these Shiny Pokemon or simply made the forms available for later use is unclear.

In order to get a Shiny Combusken in Pokemon Sword and Shield, players need to encounter a Combusken during Dynamax Adventures and capture it. There’s a 1 in 300 chance that the Combusken is Shiny (or a 1 in 100 chance if players have a Shiny Charm), which seems like low odds but are a lot higher than it would be to get a Shiny Torchic (Combuskin’s pre-evolution) through any other method.