Pokémon GO took the world by storm during the Summer of 2016 and while most of the world has moved on, there is still a solid group of dedicated players. These loyal Pokémon GO fans were rewarded in 2017 when Shiny Pokémon first appeared in the game with the release of Shiny Gyrados. Since then, Pokémon GO players have worked hard to capture the available Shinies. Unfortunately, there are a number of rare Shiny Pokémon that are typically only available during limited time events. Some of these rare Shinies have never appeared more than once, which makes collecting every Pokémon GO Shiny pretty impossible.
Honorable Mention: Pikachu in Any Hat
photo source: GameRant
- Tauros, Mr. Mime, Farfetch’d, and Kangaskhan
- Lunatone and Solrock
- Halloween Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle
- Stantler with Bells
- Pichu with Any Hat
- Meltan
- Unown U, L, T, R, and A
- Unown G and O
- Party Hat Nidorino and Party Hat Gengar
- Detective Pikachu
Release Date: September 9, 2019
Generation and Pokédex Number: All Generation I; Tauros #128, Mr. Mime #122, Kangaskhan #115, Farfetch’d #083
Appearance Rate: 0.2% for all
photo source: Pokémon GO Wiki
Tauros, Mr. Mime, Farfetch’d, and Kangaskhan are rare region exclusive Pokémon in Pokémon GO. Tauros is only in North America, Mr. Mime is available in Europe, Farfetch’d is an Eastern Asia exclusive, and Kangaskhan is located in Australia. Because each of these Pokémon are scattered in very specific regions in the world, they are extremely hard to get for the average player. This makes finding Shinies of Tauros, Mr. Mime, Farfetch’d, and Kangaskhan nearly impossible. The Shiny versions of the region exclusives were first released during the Ultra Bonus Event in 2019.
Release Date: March 19, 2019
Generation and Pokédex Number: Both Generation III; Lunatone #337, Solrock #338
Appearance Rate: 0.2%
photo source: Pokémon GO Wiki
Region exclusive Pokémon are some of the rarest Pokémon in Pokémon GO and Lunatone and Solrock are no exception. Typically Lunatone is currently locked to the Western Hemisphere while Solrock can only be found in the Eastern Hemisphere. However, to celebrate the Equinox in 2019, Pokémon GO switched the regions for Lunatone and Solrock, allowing players a rare chance to nab the region exclusives. That year, the Shiny versions of Lunatone and Solrock were also released. This was the first time that Pokémon GO released Shinies for region exclusives.
Did You Know?
Lunatone and Solrock switch regions every year during solstice or equinox events.
Release Date: October 17, 2019
Generation and Pokédex Number: All Generation I; Bulbasaur #002, Charmander #004, Squirtle #007
Appearance Rate: 1.6% during event
photo source: Pokémon GO Wiki
The original starter Pokémon – Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle – are some of the most iconic and popular Pokémon ever, besides Pikachu. For Halloween 2019, Pokémon Go dressed up Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle for the first time. Bulbasaur donned a Shedninja costume, Charmander wore a Cubone costume, and Squirtle had a Yamask hat. During the event, from October 17 to November 1, 2019, Shiny versions of each of the costumed starters were also available. The costumed cuties returned for Halloween 2020, but it’s not a sure thing that they’ll return again in 2021. So players may have already missed out on nabbing the Shiny costumed starters.
Did You Know?
Shiny Yamask also made its debut during the Halloween 2019 event.
Release Date: December 24, 2019
Generation and Pokédex Number: Generation II #234
Appearance Rate: 1.6% during event
photo source: Pokémon GO Wiki
Pokémon GO loves making things special for players during holidays, so for Holiday 2019, they released Stantler decked out in bells like one of Santa’s reindeer. A Shiny version of the special Stantler was also released with a spawn rate of about 1.6%, which is typically the standard for Shinies during events. The Holiday 2019 event took place from December 24, 2019 to January 1, 2020, giving players a week to get a Shiny Stantler with bells. This Stantler did not appear again for the 2020 Holiday season.
Release Date: Various
Generation and Pokédex Number: Generation II #172
Appearance Rate: 1.6% during events
photo source: Pokémon GO Wiki
Pichu is one of the most adorable and popular Pokémon in the whole franchise and Pokémon GO has made him even cuter by adorning him with a hat for special holiday/seasonal events. Since Pichu is a baby Pokémon, he can only be hatched through eggs, which makes getting a Shiny Pichu a pretty tedious process. On top of that, the hat-wearing Pichus are only available seasonally and if you miss out, there’s no guarantee that that particular hat style will return the next year. So if a player is serious about collecting all the Shinies, they’ll need to hatch as many eggs as possible during an event.
Did You Know?
Non-Shiny Pichus in costume will evolve retaining their costumes.
Release Date: February 5, 2019
Generation and Pokédex Number: Generation VII #808
Appearance Rate: 1.6% during events
photo source: Pokémon GO Wiki
Becasue Meltan is such a special Pokémon, it’s Shiny version is only available during very limited special events. Shiny Meltan made its debut on February 5, 2019 to celebrate Lunar New Year. It was only around until March 4th and then it was removed from Pokémon GO. So far, Meltan has only been available two other times.
Did You Know?
In Pokémon GO Meltan evolves into Melmetal with 400 Meltan Candy. However, Meltan cannot evolve in the other Pokémon games.
Release Date: August 7, 2020
Generation and Pokédex Number: Generation II #201
Appearance Rate: 1.6% during event
photo source: Pokémon GO Wiki
Did You Know?
Shiny Normal Forme Deoxys and Shiny Staryu also had higher spawn rates during Enigma Week.
Release Date: July 25, 2020
Generation and Pokédex Number: Generation II #201
Appearance Rate: 0.8% during event
photo source: Pokémon GO Wiki
In general Unown (alphabet-like Pokémon) are some of the rarest Pokémon across the entire franchise. Although Pokémon GO has been out for a few years, the game had never released Shiny Unown until the 2020 Pokémon GO Fest. During the special event, which was virtual and took place globally because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Shiny Unown G and O were released for the first time. Pokémon GO Fest started at 10 AM local time on July 25, 2020 and lasted until 8 PM local time the next day. This was the only chance that players had to try and catch Shiny Unown G and O as they have since been removed from the game. So far, no one knows if there will be another opportunity to catch the elusive Pokémon.
Did You Know?
Players were able to purchase special tickets for Pokémon GO Fest 2020 that gave them special perks, including increased spawn rate for Unown G and O with incense, which made increased the possibility of catching a few Shiny letters.
Release Date: March 1, 2020
Generation and Pokédex Number: Nidorino – Gen 1 #033; Gengar – Gen 1 #094
Appearance Rate: 10% during event
photo source: Pokémon GO Wiki
The Shiny versions of Party Hat Nidorino and Party Hat Gengar are some of the rarest Shinies in Pokémon GO. The Party Hat versions of both Pokémon were released during a special Nidorino and Gengar Raid Day event that only lasted between 2PM to 5PM local time. Due to this, players had a very small window of opportunity to try and catch a Shiny Party Hat Nidorino and/or Gengar.
According to some reports of the events, most players were focused on catching Party Hat Gengars, making Shiny Party Hat Nidorino the rarer of the two special event Pokémon. Now, the only way to get a Shiny Party Hat Nidorino and Shiny Party Hat Gengar is through a trade and some enterprising players selling these Pokémon on eBay.
Did You Know?
The Nidorino and Gengar Raid Day event was an homage the opening screen of Pokemon Red, Firered/Leafgreen that showed Gengar facing off against Nidorino.
Release Date: May 7, 2019
Generation and Pokédex Number: Generation 1 #025
Appearance Rate: N/A
photo source: Reddit
Currently, Shiny Detective Pikachu is considered by many to be the rarest Shiny ever in Pokémon GO because it was never officially released. Overall, some of the rarest Pokémon in Pokémon Go are the Pikachus with special hats because they’re only available during one-time limited events. Detective Pikachu was only available through photobomb AR encounters during the Detective Pikachu Celebration from May 7 to May 17, 2019.
Technically, Shiny Pikachu encounters were shut off during the event. However, some players who started an encounter with a Detective Pikachu right when the event ended somehow caught a Shiny Detective Pikachu as the code for Shiny Pikachus was turned back on. It appears that very few players were able to catch a Shiny Detective Pikachu, which has filled most other players with envy as collecting Shinies is something that nearly every Pokémon GO player loves.
Did You Know?
The only official Shinies released during the Detective Pikachu Celebration were Shiny Aipom and Shiny Ambipon.
