With the Pokémon franchise spanning across eight generations of games, many players may be wondering what Shiny Pokémon are actually the rarest to find and catch. Although the Nintendo games debuted with the Pokémon Red and Blue Kanto Region in 1996, the series didn't see the addition of Shinies until the launch of Pokémon Gold & Silver. Over twenty-five years later, there now exists over 900 Pokémon that can be caught in the rare alternate-colored variant. However, there are few Shiny Pokémon that are so rare, they are almost impossible to catch.
When the Shiny mechanic was first introduced in the Johto region, players odds of running into the special Pokémon-type was a staggering 1 out of 8192 encounters. Over the years, Game Freak has lowered Shiny rates to 1/4096 in order to make the rare variant easier to find. The series has also introduced post-game items to lower the odds even further, such as the Shiny Charm in Gen 8's Pokémon Sword and Shield. In 2022, the Pokémon Legends: Arceus Mass Outbreak feature made Shinies as accessible as they have ever been. Here is a list of the rarest Shiny Pokémon that most players will likely never own.
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Pokémon Diamond & Pearl's Shiny Munchlax Can Take Hundreds Of Hours To Spawn
In Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, Game Freak introduced a pre-evolution of Kanto's Snorlax called Munchlax. While the Baby Pokémon is easy to find in modern generations, this wasn't the case when the Sinnoh Region first made its debut back in 2006. In fact, Munchlax was actually one of the game's most difficult Pokémon to find, as it didn't actually spawn in the over world map. Trainers wanting to add the Normal-type to their Pokédex had to instead slather Honey on Trees throughout the map and wait a total of six hours to see if the elusive pocket monster would make an appearance. Because Munchlax only had a spawn rate of just 1%, players would have to try again and wait another six hours if it didn't spawn. The encounter was so tedious that the 2021 Sinnoh Remakes gave players a workaround by allowing Munchlax to spawn in the Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Grand Underground. Unfortunately, this was not the case in the originals, and players who tried to work around the problem by speeding up their system's clock were actually penalized with their Honey Tree's no longer changing for 24 hours. Because of the low spawn rate and the six-hour intervals that rely on RNG, some fans have reported spending thousands of hours trying to get the Shiny Munchlax. Over the years, there have been numerous methods discovered to making this catch more manageable, but it's still one of the series rarest Shinies when talking about naturally-spawning encounters.
Pokémon GO' Shiny Detective Pikachu Was Only Obtainable By Mistake
A Shiny Detective Pikachu is so rare, that many players initially thought it was fake. In May 2019, Niantic celebrated the release of the Pokémon Detective Pikachu movie with a special event in Pokémon GO. The in-game celebration featured various Pokémon that made appearances in the live-action film, such as Charizard, Lickitung, and Mr. Mime. However, the event's main feature was a Pikachu that spawned in wearing a Detective hat from the movie and original 3DS game. Unlike most Pokémon in the mobile title, though, the adorable variant wasn't catchable in a Shiny variant. Or at least, that's what most players thought at the time. Niantic had turned off the Shiny feature during the Detective Pikachu celebration for Pikachu, before eventually turning it back on after May 17. Players who took a snapshot of their Pokémon and got photobombed, however, were actually able to catch a Shiny Detective Pikachu if they waited to encounter it after the event ended. But because the rare Shiny Pokémon GO spawn only appeared 1 out of 512 times, most players didn't even know it existed. Despite the mobile app having millions of players around the world, only a few trainers actually have the rare Shiny Electric-type. Even in 2022, there is still a debate among some fans whether the rare variant is legitimate, due to it only spawning in by mistake after the event ended. If reports that a Detective Pikachu 2 movie is no longer in the works are true, this means the Shiny Pokémon GO Pikachu variant may never be available again, as it only appeared in a one-time promotional event that won't ever be repeated.
Shiny Manaphy Needs A Physical Pokémon Game Cartridge That Is Decades Old
In 2006, Game Freak introduced the Sinnoh Mythical Pokémon Manaphy in the Pokémon Ranger Spin-Off game. In order to leverage the Nintendo DS' link capabilities, trainers were able to trade the Legendaries "precious egg" between two consoles that were physically nearby. What makes the Shiny Manaphy so rare, is that the egg was originally meant to be Shiny-locked. However, players figured out that if they trade the Egg back and forth between two accounts, it's possible to make its personality values change enough to become Shiny capable. If that doesn't sound complicated enough, each game cartridge can only have one Egg. So in 2022, fans trying to get Shiny Manaphy legitimately have to find used copies of the 2006 game that still have the Egg on them, as the codes for Pokémon Ranger 2 and 3 no longer work. While players were able to recently get the Legendary in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, Shiny hunting Mythical Pokémon Manaphy is still locked. So the only way to technically get Shiny Manaphy, is by using the decades-old trade exploit. Fans looking to embark on this journey, will need to physically own two DS consoles, as well as multiple Pokémon Ranger games that have not had their Egg redeemed. And this isn't even taking into consideration Gen IV's 1/8192 Shiny rates. Suffice it to say, Manaphy is one of the most physically difficult Shinies to track down.
Pokémon Sword & Shield Sinistea Has "Fake" Shiny Forms
Getting a Shiny Sinistea in the Galar region doesn't seem that difficult on the surface. After all, Sword and Shield's Shiny rates can be cut down to as low as 1 out of 455 encounters with the right items and hunting methods. Where things get really complicated though is the introduction of the Pokémon Sword and Shield counterfeit Sinistea forms. As a nod to knock-off antique dinnerware in the real world, Game Freak cleverly created a rare version of Sinistea that is "authentic". Players can tell if their spooky tea cup is legitimate by a small stamp that sits on the bottom of the Pokémon. Because the vast majority of Sinistea in the game are counterfeits, authentic versions of the Ghost-type have been estimated to spawn at a rate of 1 out of 100 encounters. So not only do trainers need to overcome those harsh odds, but then their authentic Sinistea's RNG is impacted by the game's Shiny rates. When both rates are combined with the Pokémon Sword and Shield Shiny Charm, it's roughly estimated that an authentic Shiny Sinistea can have the odds as low as 1 out of 65,536. Considering there are examples of fans catching the rare variant after 85,000 encounters, it's clear that the Galar ghost has quickly become a Shiny form that will have most fans spending hundreds of hours to catch.
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The rarest Shiny of all time is constantly up for debate within the Pokémon community, as fans often have differing opinions on the feature. Some will argue that only naturally spawning Pokémon that don't need exploits to be caught matter the most, while others believe that every character in the National Pokédex that can be obtained as a Shiny counts. Many long-time fans in recent years have come to believe that Spinda is the real rarest pocket monster in the franchise, because no two Pokémon in the species line have the same swirl pattern.
Because Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire's Spinda has nearly infinite amounts of personality values, there are technically over four billion Spindas that technically exist. Incredibly, there are some versions of the Pokémon that have never ever actually been caught before. With that in perspective, a Shiny Spinda is truly one of a kind. If a trainer somehow managed to get two Shiny Spinda with the same pattern, it would without a doubt become the rarest Shiny of all time.
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