Can You Get a Shiny Starter Pokemon in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet? Answered

Owning a Shiny Pokemon is sort of a badge of honor. With the spawn odd as low as 1:4096, having one on your team, or heck, fully-decked your team with Shiny Pokemon, would surely make both your friends and enemies jealous. Considering Starter Pokemon are rare, especially in the early to mid-game part of any Pokemon game, now the question is, how can you get the Shiny version of the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Starter Pokemon: Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly?

Can You Get Shiny Starter Pokemon Through Resetting?

Since Starters will always be given to you straight when you start any Pokemon games, some of you might wonder if you can get the Shiny version by resetting the game a couple of times. Well, unfortunately, in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, the starting Sprigatito, Fuecoco, or Quaxly you obtain from Academy Director Clavell is “Shiny-locked”; as in, they will never become Shiny no matter how many times you play the game intro sequences.

According to @Sibuna_Switch, Koraidon, Miraidon, Titan Pokemon, Wo-Chien, Chien-Pao, Ting-Lu, Chi-Yu, all Gimmighouls, and Pokemon from NPC gifts/trades are also Shiny-locked. Shiny-locked Starter Pokemon seems to have started since Generation VIII games or Pokemon Sword and Shield.

Can You Get Shiny Starter Pokemon Through Egg/Breeding?

Nevertheless, throughout the game, you will be able to breed compatible Pokemon (the ones in the same Egg Group or a Ditto) using the new Picnic system. You can then breed your Starter with another Pokemon to produce Shiny Eggs. But it doesn’t stop there! All Shiny hunters would want to familiarize themselves with the Masuda Method.

To put it simply, by trading and breeding Pokemon from two different real-life regions or language options, you can easily multiply the rate of Shiny Pokemon Eggs by six times. Then with the Shiny Charm item, you can increase the odds up to eight times! For Shiny Charm itself, you will be given by Jacq in the Biology Classroom of Naranja/Uva Academy after you have completed the Paldea Pokedex.

Below are the odds of getting a Shiny Pokemon Egg, again, courtesy of @Sibuna_Switch:

Clone Shiny Pokemon via Bug or Glitch

There is also a bug that you can exploit to clone Shiny Pokemon in the wild. For more details, head over to our How to Clone Wild Shiny Pokemon guide, but here’s the gist of it:

1. Activate the battle mode with your shiny
2. Place it in the first position of your team. It is mandatory to have 6 Pokémon on your team
3. Capture any wild Pokémon, then add it directly to your team
4. Just at that moment, you must press the A and B buttons simultaneously several times. It may not work the first time, so repeat it several times
5. You will see that the trick works if the game asks you if you want to send the item to the box on your PC. Now change the mode of your legendary to Mount
6. Go into the storage boxes on your PC, and you will see that you have cloned your shiny Pokemon in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

All Starter Pokemon You Can Find in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

After beating the game and unlocking the National Pokedex, you will be able to encounter Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly as well as previous games’ Starter Pokemon in the wild. To increase the chance of them spawning as Shiny Pokemon, you would want to utilize the Outbreak and the Sandwich mechanics.

See below for the list of all Starter Pokemon in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet‘s wilderness, and don’t forget to check out our The Best Shiny Sandwich Recipes guide for more details on how to improve the Shiny spawn rates.

Generation IX:

• Sprigatito
• Fuecoco
• Quaxly

Generation VIII:

• Grookey
• Scorbunny
• Sobble

Generation VII:

• Rowlet

Generation VI:

• Chespin
• Fennekin
• Froakie

Generation V:

• Oshawott

Generation II:

• Cyndaquil

Generation I:

• Charmander

Related:
Where to get Shiny Stones in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are available on Nintendo Switch.