Are there shiny Pokémon in Pokopia?

That most elusive of Pokémon, the Shiny, has long been sought after out in the wild by collectors across the globe.

Their mysterious, er, shiny qualities make them a prize worth hunting down, so with the arrival of Pokémon Pokopia for the Switch 2 today, you would not be a fool for thinking there may be some more hiding in there to add to your collection. But are there? Does Pokopia have any shinies at all? Let’s find out

Does Pokopia have shiny Pokemon?

Do you want the good news or the bad news? Actually, there is no good news. Pokopia has no shiny Pokémon – there, we have done it like ripping off a Band-Aid. Straight to the point, you wouldn’t have wanted it any other way, would you? We will caveat that with a tiny, shiny fact that this is not confirmed, but we do not believe there are any. Maybe they are like aliens, probably out there but yet to reveal themselves,

Why are there no shinies?

Game Freak hasn’t issued a direct statement confirming their absence, but players exploring the game have yet to encounter any shiny variants. Combined with the lack of official mentions, reveals, or promotional material showing shinies, it strongly suggests that the feature simply isn’t part of the game.

The likely reason comes down to how Pokémon are obtained in Pokopia. Unlike traditional Pokémon titles, this is technically a spin-off, remember, where creatures can be caught repeatedly, each Pokémon in Pokopia can only be acquired once per save file. In a system like that, adding shinies would create a high chance that many players would never encounter one at all.

Can you play Pokopia on an original Nintendo Switch?

Pokopia is a big Switch 2 exclusive, which is actually rarer than a shiny Pokémon, so you can’t just pop in a cart and go wild. You can play it via Game Share, but for the full experience, you are really going to need to stump up for a Switch 2. Maybe this is the excuse you have been looking for?