Free Shiny Legendary Pokemon Coming To Ultra Sun And Moon Before Sword And Shield Launch

Pokemon Sword and Shield may be arriving on Nintendo Switch in only a couple of months, but in the meantime, The Pokemon Company is giving away one more free gift for the Gen 7 Pokemon games. This October, you'll be able to claim a free Shiny Legendary Pokemon in either Sun and Moon or Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.

Beginning October 21, GameStop stores across the US will distribute a Shiny Solgaleo and Shiny Lunala for the 3DS Pokemon games. To claim the Legendaries, you'll need to head to a participating location and use the Pokemon Pass mobile app to receive a download code--the same way you could acquire a Shiny Pikachu and Eevee code for the Let's Go games earlier this year.

The Legendary you receive will be the opposite of which version you own, so if you're playing Sun or Ultra Sun, you'll receive a Shiny Lunala, while Moon and Ultra Moon players will get Shiny Solgaleo. Each Pokemon comes at level 60 and knows the following movesets:

Shiny Lunala

• Moongeist Beam
• Psyshock
• Moonblast
• Moonlight

Shiny Solgaleo

• Sunsteel Strike
• Zen Headbutt
• Noble Roar
• Morning Sun

Once you've received a download code for the Legendary, you'll need to redeem it within the game using the Mystery Gift feature. Select Mystery Gift from the main menu, choose the option to receive a gift with a code/password, then input your code when prompted and the Legendary will be downloaded. You'll then need to pick the Pokemon up from the deliveryman waiting inside any Pokemon Center.

The Shiny Solgaleo and Lunala distribution will run through November 10, just a few days before Sword and Shield launch on Switch. With the Gen 8 games on the horizon, this will presumably be the last distribution The Pokemon Company holds for Sun and Moon, so you don't want to miss your chance to get the Shiny Legendaries.

There are still a couple of other freebies available for the Gen 7 games as well; you can download a pack of rare berries in the games until September 2, and Pokemon Bank subscribers can get a free Oranguru and Passimian until October 31. You can see all the free gifts still available for Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon in our roundup.