Pokemon Scarlet & Violet shiny hunting “so much easier” with simple trick

It seems Pokemon Scarlet & Violet players are finessing Shiny hunting mechanics even further, as a new technique is helping players find even the most hidden Shiny Pokemon in much less time.

One of the best modern elements of Pokemon games are Shiny Pokemon, and while there are countless arguments about how easy finding them has gotten over time, many fans can at least agree on one thing. Shiny Pokemon can be very hard to spot.

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet expand the franchise in so many great ways, including the new Shiny sandwiches, but while those tasty subs make Shiny Pokemon more common, they don’t make them more visible.

Certain Pokemon have nearly imperceptible differences when Shiny, like Tandemaus, Charcadet, and Minior. This means, that even when using a Shiny sandwich, players often have to painstakingly auto-battle through every single Pokemon, instead of just being able to spot the Shiny.

Well thankfully some clever Pokemon Scarlet & Violet players are sharing a new technique, which not only works alongside Shiny sandwiches and outbreaks, but also helps players to spot if there is a Shiny in the overworld, and it’s incredibly easy to do.

New Pokemon Scarlet & Violet Shiny method found

In a post shared to X (Twitter) by Pokemon content creator SBCoop, this new Shiny hunting method banks on the amount of spawns possible in the game, and the fact that Shiny Pokemon are counted separately.

It hinges on players forcing an isolated encounter, which means using a Shiny sandwich with Level 3 Encounter Power for a specific type (like Fire/Water etc) so only one type can spawn, and then moving to an area where only one single Pokemon of that type can spawn.

If you know that only Charcadet spawns in one small clearing, and you use a Level 3 Fire Encounter Shiny Sandwich, then only Charcadet can appear. However, until now, players would still have to battle through waves of the Pokemon to find the Shiny.

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet only spawn 15 Pokemon at a time into the world, to avoid overloading the Switch’s RAM. But to stop the game from loading a Shiny Pokemon, and then the player losing it as they move, Shiny Pokemon do not count as part of the game’s pool of visible Pokemon.

So, essentially (and this is also documented very well in SBCoops original post):

1. Find an area where the Pokemon you want to Shiny hunt spawns
2. Use a Shiny sandwich that also has LV. 3 Encounter for its type
3. Be sure no other Pokemon that spawn in the area share that type
4. Open up a picnic, and then close it again
5. Count the amount of your chosen Pokemon that spawn
6. If there are 15 exactly, no Shiny, open and close your picnic again
7. If there are 16, you have 15 normal, and one Shiny
8. So, if you count sixteen, save your game and bag that Shiny Pokemon!

Fans are extremely grateful in comments below the original post, and have tested it with multiple Pokemon, including the Minior used in the original experiment.

In a quote post of the original comment, another Pokemon player shared an image showcasing 16 Turtwig, and one was indeed Shiny. They commented, “Done this with a shiny that’s easy to see, and it’s true 16 Turtwig. WILD.”

Another person adds, “Dang, I had a Minior outbreak the other day or else I would of totally tried this!” Before another Pokemon player says, Can confirm this does work! Did it with Litten which is much more obvious but the 16 theory checks out so even small Pokemon it’s very much possible!”

Sadly it’s not foolproof, as one person comments, “just tried this with Tandemaus in a Kitakami outbreak. I counted 16 but unfortunately as far as I can tell, there wasn’t a shiny.”

However, a lot of people are reporting success in the comments, and when this technique does work it is sure to be a massive help to partially sighted or colorblind players as well. Maybe one day the overworld sparkles from Pokemon Legends: Arceus will return. Maybe one day…