a shiny pokémon is a specific pokémon with different coloration to what is usual for its species. it is one of the many differences that a pokémon can have within its species. [...] the term "shiny pokémon" was first created by fans to refer to the sparkling sound effect and animation made at the start of an encounter with one in the games. eventually, this term fell into official usage in generation iv, used on promotional material promoting shiny event pokémon. — bulbapedia

shiny pokémon are incredible! i'm really glad that they were implemented in pokémon games; i've loved them since i was a kid. the first shiny i ever ran into was BLUE ONE the shuppet. she was a random encounter, and we met right outside of lilycove. as you can tell by her nickname, i was pretty young when i ran into her, hahaha - it was during my very first playthrough of sapphire version! even though it was so long ago, i still remember how shocked i was to see her.

back then, i didn't know that people could hunt for shinies. i thought you were limited to running into them in the wild if you were lucky and that was that. i looked into the concept of shiny pokémon again a few years later, during the era of pokémon: platinum... and that was when i learnt that people could actually look for them! i wanted to be like those people, and my first successful shiny hunt was crescendo the shinx. i stayed up super late doing the pokéradar method in platinum in order to catch him. it was intense! i remember clutching my ds, thinking i could never do that again... alas, i would totally do it again. LMAO.

as time passed, i did some scattered, casual shiny hunts here-and-there, not really recording how i got the pokémon - but adoring them regardless! i would peek around the gts to see if anyone was offering shiny pokémon and i would take part in mystery gift events featuring shiny pokémon. i especially had fun fishing for shinies in pokémon: y. during my playthrough of y, my friends and i got into breeding pokémon, too - and, through my research about passing down ivs and natures via the daycare system, i learnt about the masuda method!

i picked up shiny hunting in earnest during my playthrough of pokémon: sun, as i started recording how i ran into each of the pokémon and keeping a log of my shiny hunts on my tumblr blog. it's a passion that has lasted, as i kept up my shiny hunts during all of the pokémon games that followed! i've been trying to keep an archive of my hunts so that i can look back on them in the future, so feel free to check out my shiny pokemon showcase by clicking the link below!

my shiny pokemon showcase!