The Best Looking Shinies In The Game

Key Takeaways

• Shiny Pokemon have become a beloved staple in the franchise, with over 1000 Pokemon to catch in Pokemon Go.
• Shiny Zoroark, Goodra, and Amoonguss have visually stunning coloration, making them worth the effort.
• Unique color schemes for Pokemon like Shuckle, Lapras, and Wailord in their shiny forms add a fresh twist to their original designs.

Released back in October of 2000, Pokemon Gold and Silver introduced a new game mechanic to the then four-year-old franchise, giving players the chance to catch color-swapped variants of their favorite pokemon, referred to as “shiny Pokemon” by developer Game Freak.

Since then, shiny Pokemon have become a beloved staple of the Pokemon franchise, with Pokemon Sword and Shield bringing the total number of catchable shiny Pokemon to an astounding 898 in the main series games. Of this expansive list, Niantic‘s 2016 AR mobile title Pokemon GO lets players catch over 350, including a number of fan favorites from across the series’ eight generations.

Updated November 28, 2024, by Blaise Santi: Pokemon Go is quickly coming up on its 9-year anniversary, and the game has never been more fun! Because they’ve now caught up with all generations of Pokemon as of Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, there are over 1000 different Pokemon to catch, and that’s not even including Shiny forms! These special, rare forms of Pokemon might be tough to catch, especially for extremely rare Pokemon or legendaries. However, these additional Pokemon are the ones we think are worth it just for their alternative designs alone.

30 Zoroark

The Illusion Fox Pokemon

Zoroark is one of the most iconic Pokemon from the fifth generation, and it can be difficult to find in Pokemon Go. Its pre-evolution, Zorua, will often disguise itself in the wild as the player’s partner Pokemon, but players won’t be able to tell until they successfully catch the Pokemon. Still, if you’re prone to getting tricked by Zorua often, you’ll have no trouble finding yourself a Zoroark.

Shiny Zoroark, while even harder to come by, is well worth it. Its red-highlighted fur is replaced with a stunning purple hue, making it one of the most visually stunning Dark-types in Pokemon Go.

29 Goodra

The Dragon Pokemon

Goodra and its pre-evolutions easily take the cake for the cutest pseudo-legendaries in the entire franchise. In addition to their cute, greyish-purple color, they also have a pretty unique shiny coloring, with each of the three stages adopting a pale yellow color with reddish-orange bellies.

However, managing to evolve your Goomy into a Sliggoo, and then that into Goodra, will take some elbow grease from players. Sliggoo requires 100 Goomy candies to evolve into Goodra, and it also needs to be a rainy day. Suffice it to say, if you have nothing else to do on a rainy day, try opening up Pokemon Go to see if there are any Goomys near you!

28 Amoonguss

The Mushroom Pokemon

Amoonguss and its pre-evolution, Foongus, are unique Pokemon in the franchise. These mushroom-shaped Pokemon blend in with tall grass by looking like Poke Balls, which is a trait the Pokemon even shares with its Paradox form in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet: Brute Bonnet. As you can imagine, the shiny version of these Pokemon take things a step further.

By changing the Poke Ball color on these Pokemon from red to purple, it now resembles a Master Ball, one of the rarest items in the Pokemon franchise. The only downside to shiny Amoonguss is that trainers in the wild may mistake it for an incredibly lucky item they’ve found in tall grass!

27 Mudkip

The Mud Fish Pokemon

We’re convinced that Mudkip’s shiny form could be literally any color, and we’d still consider it one of the best shiny starters in Pokemon Go. However, the hot pink coloring replacing the variations of blue for Mudkip’s entire evolutionary line surprisingly works.

Mudkip just barely edges out its evolutions in being the best-looking shiny of the trio, due to its darker-orange-colored gills pairing better with the pink color than Marshtomp and Swampert’s lighter-orange. Still, it helps that all three of them look incredible with this color scheme, which is more than can be said about many other shiny starter Pokemon.

26 Azumarill

The Aqua Rabbit Pokemon

As far as Shiny Pokemon in the entire Pokemon franchise, Azurill and Marill aren’t that impressive. Their good-looking blue color is replaced by a bright green reminiscent of Charli XCX’s Brat. However, things really take a better turn with their final evolution, Azumarill, which adopts a bright yellow coloring that almost looks golden.

Especially compared to its pre-evolutions, Azumarill really pops off with this golden yellow coloring, which fits its rabbit-like design and personality a lot better than that hideous bright green. Considering how easy it is to evolve Azumarill and Marill into their final evolution, players don’t have to be stuck with those forms for long.

25 Ninetales

The Fox Pokemon

Ninetales is one of the original 151 Pokemon from the first generation. This Fire-type Pokemon evolves from Vulpix, which is another fan-favorite of the generation, for 50 candies. Thankfully, it isn’t a particularly rare Pokemon, so grabbing it as a Shiny in Pokemon GO isn’t a difficult task.

The Shiny version of Ninetales makes the Pokemon grayish-white with blue tips on the tails. The original is just a cream color, which looked great, but the white makes it stand out more. It is no wonder that a lot of players love this Pokemon and the shiny version, as even its Alolan form has a great Shiny look with a purplish-gray hue.

24 Chandelure

The Luring Pokemon

Chandelure is a Pokemon that was added back in generation five and is the final evolution of Litwick. This Pokemon is based on a chandelier and candelabra, making it a pretty interesting Pokemon that a lot of players thing is cool.

The original form of the Pokemon is bluish-purple and black, which looks great since it is a Ghost/Fire-Type. However, the Shiny version makes the flames on the Pokemon red and orange instead, sticking with the theme of the Pokemon and the Typing.

23 Yveltal

The Destruction Pokemon

Yveltal is the Legendary Pokemon from Pokemon Y. This Pokemon is a pretty popular Pokemon considering almost all box art Legendary Pokemon end up being popular picks for players. However, it is also a pretty interesting Pokemon itself.

Originally, the Pokemon is red and black, which looks pretty cool together. However, the design of the Shiny version makes it stand out. This Shiny changes the black on the Pokemon for white, making it look even cooler than before.

22 Starmie

The Mysterious Pokemon

Unfortunately, Starmie doesn’t have the same pull as a lot of water Pokemon out there. Although those who grew up with Generation 1 will most defintiely remember this iconic pocket monster thanks to Misty, it seems to get lost in the piles of new and exciting Pokemon that are on display.

Thankfully, the developers gave it a strange and unique Shiny color scheme, to help it stand out among the crowd better. Those that love the star-shaped Pokemon can really impress their opponents by snagging its Shiny variant, which trades its purples for blues, outlining its gem with a bright red.

21 Sylveon

The Intertwining Pokemon

Sometimes, the best Shiny variations are the ones that make simple changes. Sylveon is a great example of this practice, thanks to the basic-yet-powerful change to its original design. Most players will immediately remember Sylveon as the beautiful white-and-pink Fairy-type evolution of Eevee, but the Shiny form gives it a new color to proudly display.

The blue used for Sylveon’s Shiny form still fits the Fairy motif very well, while giving players something truly unique to quest for.

20 Furret

The Long Body Pokemon

Another simplistic variant but one that works to great effect is Furret. There are a lot of fans out there that hold this adorable (but actually pretty big) Ferret-like Pokemon in high regards thanks to its absolutely adorable appearance. Although Furret is the most vaiable pocket monster in battle, it hasn’t stopped dedicated players from finding ways to add it to their team.

The Shiny version of Furret swaps out its brown rings for pink ones, creating a simple-yet-bold change to its overall design.

19 Ponyta

The Fire Horse Pokemon

Ponyta was the first of many horse-inspired Pokemon to make its way into the series and is a firm favorite of many Pokemon fans as a result. Its original model features vibrant red flames in place of its mane and tail fur, perfectly capturing the Pokemon’s fire-typing. When it came to designing a shiny form, however, Game Freak took this idea a step further.

Rather than red flames, Shiny Ponyta features flames of a rich and vivid blue. This works nicely, as those who remember their high school science classes will already know, a blue flame is generally a lot hotter than a red one. Ponyta also has one of the cooler-looking Galarian forms too, and that also has a great shiny form.

18 Luxray

The Gleam Eyes Pokemon

Though some may prefer the way that the blue and black contrast in its regular form, Shiny Luxray’s bright yellow coloring definitely makes it stand out from the crowd. Granted, it does take a little away from its iconic yellow eyes, but it’s at least instantly recognizable as a shiny Pokemon, which isn’t always the case.

Perhaps most importantly, the yellow coloring highlights Luxray’s electric-typing, which is more than can be said for its regular form. Without knowing any better, players would likely assume that Luxray was a dark-type Pokemon, which would actually make a lot more sense given some of the Pokemon’s characteristics and traits.

17 Dragonite

The Dragon Pokemon

There are quite a few orange dragon-type Pokemon in Pokemon GO, but very few green ones. Given that most mediums tend to portray dragons as being either green or black, Dragonite’s shiny form is therefore a lot more in keeping with the way that most players imagine dragons than its base form.

The light green coloring makes for a pretty drastic change, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It contrasts really well with the purple on the underside of the Pokemon’s wings and also works pretty well with the cream coloring that extends across the Pokemon’s chest and belly.

16 Umbreon

The Moonlight Pokemon

When compared to some of the other shiny Pokemon in the series, some may find Shiny Umbreon to be pretty underwhelming. The changes are certainly quite minimal, but given the strength of the Pokemon’s original design, it’s perhaps understandable why Game Freak took this approach. Being able to easily evolve a Shiny Eevee into a Shiny Umbreon is a nice bonus too.

The blue markings on its head, legs, and tail really stand out against the blackness of the Pokemon’s fur and definitely give the design much more of a dark-type appearance when compared to the original yellow. The blue arguably looks a lot more intimidating too, which better suits the underlying lore behind the Pokemon.

15 Charizard

The Flame Pokemon

Charizard’s original design is one of the most iconic and most recognizable in the series, so it would have been very easy for Game Freak to take a minimalistic approach when it came to designing the Pokemon’s shiny form. Instead, however, the team went in the exact opposite direction, making drastic changes that completely transformed the look of the Pokemon.

Charizard has always looked mean to a certain degree, but Shiny Charizard takes this to a whole new level. The black and crimson coloring is incredibly intimidating and is somewhat reminiscent of its Mega Charizard X form. It may not be for everyone, but many consider Charizard to be the best shiny Pokemon in Pokemon GO.

14 Gyarados

The Atrocious Pokemon

As the first shiny Pokemon of the franchise, Shiny Gyarados holds a special place in the hearts of long-time fans of the franchise, bringing back fond memories of a fateful battle on the Lake of Rage in the second generation Pokemon games. It’s one of the very few instances in the series where players were guaranteed a shiny too, which only adds to the Pokemon’s appeal.

This particular palette swap is especially striking, as it replaces the iconic blue coloring of the gen 1 water/flying type with a bold crimson, enhancing the Pokemon’s already intimidating demeanor to new levels. When it comes to the best shiny Pokemon, Gyrados can definitely hold its own.

13 Spoink

The Bounce Pokemon

There are a lot of adorable Pokemon sprinkled throughout the Global Pokedex but some of them are much more unique than others. Spoink is a good example, thanks to its curly spring-like tail and the fact that it must stay bouncing to keep itself alive. It’s a strange concept that works well, thanks to its adorable design. Its evolution, Grumpig, isn’t as adorable as its small bouncing counterpart, but is still captivating to some trainers.

Spoink’s Shiny form trades its purple and gray for a yellow and gray scheme, infusing some brightness into the cute creature. Plus, its Shiny even resembles the colors of a real-life pig.

12 Spinda

The Spot Panda Pokemon

Spinda is another Pokemon that many fans are likely to overlook but the adorable dizzy panda-based Pokemon is actually incredibly unqiue thanks to its strange patterns. There are tons of Spinda variants that can be caught throughout the Pokemon game, with 9 different shinies in Pokemon GO thanks to an array of different spots.

The original Spinda boasts a proud pink color but the Shiny variant switches things up by changing the pink to a pastel green, giving Spinda a more muted appearance. It’s a welcome change but should give Shiny hunters a headache thanks to all the variants.

11 Vaporeon

The Bubble Jet Pokemon

One of the series’ many Eevee-lutions, Vaporeon can either be captured in Pokemon Go by staking out waterways, dams, and canals or evolved directly from an Eevee. Interestingly enough, if a player has managed to obtain a Shiny Eevee, then evolving that Pokemon will result in a Shiny Eeveelution of the player’s choosing.

As such, Shiny Vaporeon is an especially good option, as the water-type’s usual blue veneer will be replaced with a pleasant pink and purple palette instead. To guarantee their Eevee evolves into a Vaporeon, players simply need to set its nickname as “Rainer,” although this method can only be used once.