When and how Shiny Mew should release in Pokemon Go

We always knew Shiny Mew would be elusive but didn’t realize it would take this long to come to Pokemon Go. While we do know it will eventually come, the question is how should Niantic release it considering its rarity.

There are an array of Mythical species that can be caught in the world of Pokemon Go. The first of those was Mew through the “A Mythical Discovery” Special Research quest and since then we’ve seen Celebi, Jirachi and various forms of Deoxys – just to name a few.

Understandably Mythical Pokemon are very rare in the mobile game. Interestingly, only two Mythical species have had their Shiny forms released – Darkrai and Meltan. We expect Mew to be next.

Raid Battles

There are a few ways Niantic could introduce Shiny Mew to the mobile game. The most obvious of those is through Raid Battles. After all, that’s how all the Shiny Legendary ‘mons have been added.

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That seems a little underwhelming for Shiny Mew, however. There is reportedly just under a 1 in 20 chance of finding a Shiny Legendary when battling in a Raid.

If they did decide to do it this way, then not only would Shiny Mew become too common, but trainers would also have multiple Mews. This seems a bit silly considering it’s supposed to be rare! The Raid Battles method has been done multiple times and Shiny Mew undoubtedly deserves something more exciting.

Special Research

Mew, Celebi and Jirachi have already been added to Pokemon Go via this method. Again though, simply completing various tasks doesn’t seem a worthy way to earn a Shiny Mew – especially if they’re as easy as the tasks from the various Throwback Challenge quests back in April.

It would also mean that any trainer with the patience to complete the tasks would get hold of one. This takes away from its supposed rarity. Where’s the fun in having it, if every other trainer has one too.

Something different

Some trainers may not like the idea of having one chance to get Shiny Mew, especially if there’s only a 10% chance of doing so, but this could happen. It should be bestowed upon the trainers that are most willing to get it.

Maybe Niantic could try something a little different to keep everyone happy. Shiny Mew could be hidden behind some particularly difficult Special Research tasks (obviously not so difficult that it’s infuriating or repetitive).

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To be granted access to it though, they could make it only accessible if you get, say, 14 or 28 Field Research stamps in a row. That way they could differentiate between the Pokemon Go players that really want, and are willing to put the effort in, to get Shiny Mew.

We don’t know when it will finally come around but it will be interesting to see how Niantic handles its release. It’s certainly overdue with Mew first coming to Pokemon Go in March of 2018.