Pokemon Sword & Shield Players Discover A New Kind Of Shiny Pokemon

Pokemon Sword & Shield have not been out for long, but already dedicated players are starting to build up a full Pokedex and are hunting for rarer shiny Pokemon. As it turns out, they've got even more to track down that they might have previously thought. There are actually two versions of each "shiny" Pokemon in these games--the regular shiny Pokemon that sparkle with stars when you encounter them or send them into battle, and a variant that sparkles with squares when you find them. Here's what we know and how to find them.

As Polygon has reported, several players have reported spotting and catching these unique shiny Pokemon. One fan on Twitter has gone viral with footage of themselves encountering a shiny square Wooloo the very first time they enter long grass.

The Pokemon community has been trying to figure out the distinction between the two different kinds of shiny critters, and why some have squares instead of stars. Initially, it seemed like square shiny Pokemon were much rarer, yet it seems as though a lot of people are finding and catching them compared to "traditional" shiny monsters; further digging is starting to suggest that there's a reason for that.

The simple version seems to be that squares are theoretically rarer, but are much more common if you are using certain methods to purposefully seek out shiny Pokemon rather than just stumbling across them. The community is continuing to dig into this, so there might be more specific details coming out down the track.

Meanwhile, the official Pokemon website has posted some insight into how to increase your odds of catching shiny Pokemon. The more of a single Pokemon you fight, the better your chances of eventually finding a shiny, increasing from the set odds of 1:4096. You can also encounter "Brilliant" Pokemon, which shows an aura of light when you encounter them in the grass, and rewards you with watts after you defeat or capture it.

Battling a Pokemon once allows Brilliant versions to appear, and the odds of finding Brilliant Pokemon increase again after 20, 40, and 100 battles. They increase dramatically for shiny Pokemon as well--after 50 battles your odds double, after 100 they triple, and then at 200, 300, and 500 battles your odds multiply by 4, 5, and 6. Of course, the rarer a Pokemon is, the harder it will be to find a shiny version (although our guide to rare Pokemon should prove useful.)

Pokemon Sword & Shield received a 9/10 in our review. Kallie Plagge wrote that "in collecting, battling, and exploring, Sword and Shield cut out the bloat and focus on what makes these pillars of the Pokemon games so captivating in the first place."