Pokemon: Overworld Spawns And Their Effect On Shiny Rates
by Jude Locke
The elusive shiny Pokémon and their fun color variants are ceaselessly sought after by Pokémon gamers everywhere. The addition of overworld spawns, and subsequently allowing shiny spawns in the overworld, allowed us to see these creatures roam the world of Pokémon freely.
In the newest Pokémon addition, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, overworld spawns are the only kind of spawns available and thus the only way to encounter and catch shiny Pokémon. What does this mean for shiny hunters?
Let’s be clear, changing from Pokémon spawning in the grass, to some overworld and some grass spawns, to finally exclusive overworld spawns has had no bearing on the rate at which shinies become available. Initially, shiny Pokémon did not exist. They were introduced in generation 2 and maintained a spawn rate of approximately 1/8192 until generation 6 at which point it was reduced to 1/4096. These numbers can be reduced through an assortment of methods, but the base numbers prior to those applications remain the same.
So, if this is true, why does it feel like there are more shinies in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet? The answer is far more simple than you might initially assume. It is not that shinies are more plentiful; it is instead that shiny hunting is far easier.
Because all available Pokémon are able to be seen, players can choose to interact with whichever ones they want. In this case, you might have access to 20 different ‘attempts’ or ‘rolls’ on getting a shiny, and you can ‘roll’ again by leaving the area and forcing new Pokémon to respawn. This is compared to original spawns which would require players to engage in an encounter with every single one of the ‘attempt’ Pokémon in order to tell if it’s shiny.
While reduced spawn rates have slowed this progress a bit with Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s most recent updates, in hopes to reduce lag and other issues in the game, this version of encounters still greatly reduces time spent on a shiny hunt.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are available on Nintendo’s eShop.
