Shiny Celebi hunting guide before Pokemon Bank closes

A while back, we put together a big list of Shiny Pokemon that will become unobtainable after Pokemon Bank closes. Shiny Celebi is one such Pokemon, and it’s only available via Pokemon Crystal on the 3DS Virtual Console.

Given that the eShop has closed its doors to new purchases, this means the only legitimate way to get a Shiny Celebi at all (outside of Pokemon GO) is to have already purchased and installed Pokemon Crystal on your 3DS.

How to hunt Shiny Celebi

Assuming you do have Pokemon Crystal downloaded on your 3DS, congratulations – you’re halfway there. In order to hunt for Shiny Celebi, you’ll have to obtain all eight Gym Badges and then defeat the Elite Four and Champion. Once you’ve done that, you can head to the Pokemon Center in Goldenrod City to receive a GS Ball. This is the item that activates the Celebi event in Ilex Forest, so go there next. Walk up to the shrine and save there – this is where you’ll be starting each of your resets.

In Pokemon Crystal, the odds of encountering a Shiny Pokemon are 1 in 8192 (with no way to boost them). That means you’ll likely be resetting for a Shiny Celebi for a really long time, so we’d recommend doing it in the background while you watch videos, read some articles, or another activity. Celebi itself appears at Level 30, so make sure to bring a Pokemon with False Swipe. Its only offensive moves are Future Sight and Ancient Power, which shouldn’t pose a huge threat to your team after you beat the Elite Four.

Again, this is definitely a tough Shiny hunt – but once you do get it, you’ll need to use the Poke Transporter application on the 3DS to transfer Shiny Celebi from Pokemon Crystal to Pokemon Sun or Moon. From there, you’ll need to use Pokemon Bank to transfer your Celebi up to Pokemon Home. In total, you’ll need to have downloaded Pokemon Crystal, Poke Transporter, and Pokemon Bank. These are no longer legitimately available for download, so don’t start this Shiny hunt unless you happen to have all three.

Unfortunately, Celebi is not available within Pokemon Scarlet and Violet (official site for those games here). You can transfer it to Pokemon Sword, Shield, Brilliant Diamond, and Shining Pearl, however. If you do decide to go for this Shiny hunt, we wish you the best luck possible. This is a tough one!