Easy Shiny Pokemon to catch before Pokemon Bank closes

It’s not too long now until the near-complete closure of the Nintendo 3DS’ online services in April. Though most online games are closing their doors, Pokemon Bank is sticking around for a little while longer. That being said, we have no idea when exactly it will close – but we’d estimate it won’t be around for more than another year. If you’re looking to pad out your collection with some easy Shiny Pokemon, we’ve put together a list of easier Shiny hunts you can do before Pokemon Bank closes sometime in the near future. They all take place in past Pokemon games, and we’ll be including lots of different games here.

Easy Shiny Pokemon list

There are plenty of easy Shiny Pokemon hunts on Switch, but today we’re talking about ones only available on the DS and 3DS systems. We’d include Game Boy Advance Pokemon games here too, but Shiny Pokemon are notoriously difficult to obtain in those titles. Here’s what we came up with:

• Starter Pokemon hunt in HeartGold/SoulSilver. At the beginning of the game, you can save in front of Professor Elm’s starter Pokemon machine. Upon inspection, you can then choose one of three Pokemon to bring with you on your adventure. Here’s the cool part – in this game, you can tell if the Pokemon is going to be Shiny before you accept it. Chikorita, Cyndaquil, and Totodile all have fairly distinct Shiny variations. Though this Shiny hunt is full odds of 1 in 8192, you get to view all three Starter Pokemon at once. It’ll still take a while, but it’s a good idea if you want to replay HeartGold or SoulSilver with a Shiny first-partner Pokemon.
• Red Gyarados (HeartGold/SoulSilver). If you’re looking for an easy Shiny Pokemon, this is probably the easiest one in history. You get the red Gyarados during the story.
• Shiny Gible or Dratini (Black 2/White 2). After defeating Benga at Black City or White Forest, he will give you a Shiny Gible in Black 2 or a Shiny Dratini in White 2 for free. It takes a lot of setup to get there, sure, but you at least don’t have to soft reset or do random wild encounters!
• Nature Preserve Haxorus (Black 2/White 2). After you complete the National Pokedex, the professor will let you go to an area called the Nature Preserve. There, you will be able to find and catch a guaranteed Shiny Haxorus. Nice!
• Friend Safari (X/Y). If you’ve beaten Pokemon X and Y but don’t have the Shiny Charm, this is the hunt for you. Add a friend to your 3DS system and you’ll unlock their corresponding Friend Safari, which contains two Pokemon. Trade or interact with that friend on Pokemon X, Y, Omega Ruby, or Alpha Sapphire and you’ll unlock a third Pokemon in the Friend Safari. The Shiny odds here are 1 in 512 regardless of whether or not you have the Shiny Charm. The Pokemon in each of your friends’ safaris are randomly selected from a pool of potential Pokemon. There’s some good stuff here!
• SOS Method (Sun/Moon/Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon). This is a feature across all Generation 7 games on the 3DS. Pokemon have a chance to call in an ally when you use an Adrenaline Orb and keep them at low health. Not all Pokemon have a high call rate, however, but this is a very decent Shiny hunting method.
• Ultra Wormholes (Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon). There are two types of Shiny Pokemon in Ultra Wormholes: normal and Legendary/Ultra Beast. Normal Pokemon have an incredibly high chance to be Shiny, with odds as high as 1 in 10. Legendary Pokemon have a standard rate of 1 in 1365 with the Shiny Charm, making Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon the fastest reset time to hunt Shiny Legendary Pokemon.

Eventually, Pokemon Bank will close, rendering any Shiny Pokemon caught via these methods unable to be legitimately transferred to series entries on the Switch. As always, we don’t recommend focusing solely on Shiny hunting – most Shiny hunting methods are pretty tedious. It’s a good idea to set up something like a YouTube video while you soft reset on the side. It really helps break up the monotony!

Did we miss any particularly easy Shiny Pokemon, and are you planning on hunting some of these? Maybe you already have some? Whichever the case, let us know in the comments below. Alternate-colored digital creatures are one of the simple joys of life, and we’d love to hear about some of your experiences. If you’re looking to read more about Pokemon, check out our big list of guides for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet and its Indigo Disk DLC.

Pokemon Bank is available for free on 3DS until further notice. However, you’ll need to have downloaded it already – it’s now unavailable from the eShop, which has shut its doors entirely.