Pokémon That Can NEVER Be Shiny - A Guide To Avoid Being Duped
Hey everyone. I know that I've had greatly reduced activity on PokeBay lately, but when browsing around today I noticed that there are many posted trades for illegal shinies, with the offerer claiming legitimacy. I know that in many cases people aren't trying to be deceitful, and it's more a matter of being unaware that the Pokémon in question is always illegal when shiny. As a few of you know, I and many people I've worked with have done extensive research into Pokémon game coding in order to definitively prove which Pokémon can and can NOT be shiny. I wish to share the knowledge with all of you, as I know how hard it can be to learn that you've traded away your most treasured shiny for an illegal or hacked Pokémon.
First, there is this Serebii article. At the bottom you can view a list of the Pokémon that can not be shiny under any circumstances. http://www.serebii.net/games/shiny.shtml
There is also this Bulbapedia article. It mentions Pokémon that are unobtainable as shinies, though there are a few errors in what is stated. I will elaborate on each individual Pokémon to help all of you to better understand why the listed Pokémon can not be shiny. http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wi...y_Pok.C3.A9mon
Mew - Mew can be shiny from the in-game event in Emerald. However, the Old Sea Map was only distributed to Japanese games. Any English Mew you'll find is illegal.
Celebi - Celebi can't be shiny, as the Japanese Colosseum bonus disc was looked at in a debugger, and explicitly skips shiny PIDs, regardless of being distributed to the Colosseum save, or a GBA save. I know there are people who say that Ageto Celebi can be shiny, however this was debunked and it was proven that ALL Celebi are unable to be shiny. This link has more details: http://www.reddit.com/r/pokemontrade...cant_be_shiny/
Victini - Liberty Garden Victini has a special function which blocks a shiny PID from being chosen - the game modifies the PID if it were to be shiny. Victini's Wondercard event distributions also can't be shiny.
Meloetta and Keldeo were distributed only as Wondercard events, which were previously stated to not be shiny.
3rd gen distributions can't be shiny, based on the fact that 10th anniversary events can't be shiny.
All Wondercard events can't be shiny, except for those that are always shiny, and the few 5th gen events that have the normal 1/8192 chance of being shiny (Japanese Super Strong events, Spa Land Piplup, Pikachu Festival Pikachu, and international Summer 2012 Pikachu events).
All legendary Pokémon in X and Y are unable to be shiny. While Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, and Mewtwo can be shiny from previous titles, they can't be shiny and have the pentagon icon. Shiny Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde are rejected by the GTS and can't be traded over Wi-Fi.
I also want to address certain Pokémon that CAN be shiny, but only if captured via specific means.
Manaphy can be shiny, but only if it was traded as an egg to another save file. The shiny block function erroneously checks against the TID/SID of the egg, which is always the same one as the file it was received on, allowing for it to be shiny when traded.
Jirachi can be shiny only from the NA Colosseum bonus disc, with the OT WISHMKR 20043/0, or the recently released Tanabata Jirachi that was distributed at the Pokémon Center Tōhoku in Japan from August 1 to 31, 2014.
Shaymin and Darkrai can only be shiny from the Oak's Letter and Member Card distributions respectively. They were distributed only to Platinum games, so Shaymin must be a fateful encounter.
Reshiram and Zekrom are able to be shiny when captured in Omega Ruby or Alpha Sapphire, respectively. Any shiny Reshiram or Zekrom originating from a game other than OR/AS is illegal. The myth about being able to capture a shiny Reshiram or Zekrom with full boxes in Pokémon Black or White is just that - a myth.
Arceus - Arceus is able to be shiny from the Archdjinn of Rings: Hoopa event, beginning on March 7th, 2015 in Japan. Prior to this, Arceus was only legally released by a Wondercard, or by the Dream World and was shiny-locked in all circumstances. The Azure Flute was never released, so all Arceus from the Hall of Origin are illegal by default, shiny or otherwise.
Also, it's ALWAYS a good idea to check out an event database prior to doing any trade, as most of those will at least tell you if that too-good-to-be-true shiny "event" Zekrom is something that actually happened, or just bogus. I'd recommend either http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wi...t_Pok%C3%A9mon or http://www.serebii.net/events/
With the introduction of the Powersaves device for the 3DS system, it's VERY difficult to perform a successful legality check on anything originating from a 6th generation game. People are now able to turn Pokémon shiny and hack Wondercards into their games. Due to this, I'd recommend that everyone be diligent and observant when trading. I'm also going to include a list of 6th generation Wondercards, and somewhat of a means to tell if it was injected using a Powersaves device. That list can be seen here: http://www.reddit.com/r/pokemontrades/wiki/hackedevents
I do hope this has helped some of you, and always feel free to message me if you'd like more information. Happy trading everyone! ^_^
