If you’re the type of Pokémon fan who cares about collecting every variation of its 1,000+ monsters, that means constantly seeking out special events to receive a rare critter or searching for hours to find one with a low spawn rate hiding in the tall grass. Shiny Pokémon are the rarest of the rare, with a color scheme different from the regular versions of any given pocket monster. Some rare legendaries are even “shiny-locked,” meaning they will never appear in games with the alternate coloring. But good news: two of them are finally being made available, although you’ll have to complete the entire Pokédex in Pokémon Legends: Arceus or Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl to claim them.
Enamorous was one of the new Pokémon introduced in Legends: Arceus and has been shiny-locked since her debut in 2022. Game Freak is giving a shiny version out to anyone who has completed the Hisui Pokédex and deposited those Pokémon into the Pokémon Home storage app. So if you’ve caught all the Pokémon in Legends: Arceus and registered the completed Pokédex in Home, you’ll be rewarded with a shiny Enamorus: a brighter shade of pink than her normal form. There is no expiration on this offer, so if you haven’t finished the Pokédex, you don’t need to worry about scrambling to claim the shiny Fairy/Flying genie.
The second shiny Pokémon Game Freak is giving out is Manaphy. The fourth-generation mythical water-type creature was introduced as an event Pokémon in the original Diamond and Pearl. Until now, its shiny form was only obtainable by an exploit, but now you can claim one if you complete the Sinnoh Dex in Switch games Brilliant Diamond or Shining Pearl. To be clear, this does not mean you have to finish the entire National Dex including every Pokémon from all four generations—you’ll just need to catch the 151 from Turtwig to Manaphy, and then you’ll get a Manaphy with a blue-green color scheme.
Whether you’re a shiny hunter or not, everyone will have new Pokémon to chase later this year when Pokémon Legends: Z-A launches on the Switch. We still haven’t seen the game in action, but did get a teaser at last year’s Pokémon Day. The Pokémon Company hasn’t announced any plans for a Pokémon Day stream this year, but considering it’s become an annual tradition, we’ll likely see Legends: Z-A on February 27.