Pokémon Go players on the hunt for the rarest of all catches have a new target to acquire from today, Niantic has announced.
Addressing fans on social media, the developer confirms that Oddish, the bulb-shaped Grass-type from Generation 1, will now start appearing in the Wild in its Shiny variant. For fans who perhaps aren’t aware of Shiny Pokémon – understandable, given their absurdly low encounter rates – the term refers to a special variant of any existing Pokédex member that boasts a different color pallete to standard members of its species.
The difference is purely cosmetic, so if your only concern as a Trainer is to nurture and train a battle-hardened team of fearsome combatants, Shiny hunting is unlikely to be your cup of tea. For collectors and completionists, on the other hand, today’s news will be welcomed with open arms.
As to how one goes about tipping the odds in their favor when Shiny hunting, there’s really no trick (besides luck) to speak of. Any Pokémon known to have a Shiny counterpart need only be confronted in the capture screen to discern its true colors, however, so there’s no need to stock up thousands of Poké Balls. Niantic has helped out some by increasing Oddish’s spawn rates for the foreseeable future, though, so now’s your best chance at finding one.
Should you succeed, your sparkling new friend can be evolved into Gloom and Vileplume (or Bellossom) which will retain Oddish’s Shiny quality. As for those that aren’t so lucky, fear not – there’s still plenty of reason to extend your usual hunting sessions. From now until October 10th, Stardust awarded for completing various activities in Pokémon Go will award twice the usual amount of Stardust.
See below for all the details and as always, we wish you the best of luck on your hunt!
Bonuses
- 2× Hatch Stardust
- 2× Catch Stardust
- 2× Stardust from Team GO Rocket battles
- Guaranteed 2,000 Stardust from raids
