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‘Pokemon Sun’ And ‘Moon’ Players Relentlessly Soft Resetting For Shiny Starters

By Jovi Figueroa
Published on: 19:25 PST, Nov 19, 2016

Patience, hard work, and more patience define a true Pokemon Sun and Moon champion. And soft resetting until you get a shiny or modest starter is only step one.

There is almost nothing as painstaking and grind-worthy as any Pokemon game on the Nintendo 3DS, what with the challenge to “catch ’em all” or become “the very best.” But regardless of motive, Pokemon Sun and Moon players won’t be able to deny that only two days into the release of the game, they are already clocking in hours of hard work and patience. It’s just that this time around, these first few hours (or maybe even days) are getting spent on soft resetting their Pokemon Sun and Moon games until they get a nice starter.

Starters in the Pokemon franchise are very important and as a Pokemon trainer myself, most of the time, my ultimate team will always include the starter I have learned to love and care for throughout the journey. Pokemon Sun and Moon is not going to be any different, especially with the interesting and powerful starters introduced early on: Rowlet, Popplio, and Litten.

Shiny Pokemon have been around since Generation II but a lot has already changed since then. From shininess being linked to the Pokemon’s stats in Generation II, to getting determined by a calculation of the trainer’s ID numbers and the Pokemon’s personality value in Generation III, odds of encountering Shiny Pokemon these days have become really hard.

As of Generation VI, under normal circumstances, Kotaku reports that Shiny Pokemon probability is as rare as one-in-4,096 chances. But despite these odds, with the off chance of getting a Shiny starter early on in the game, Pokemon Sun and Moon players are scrambling to soft reset to get their desired starter. In fact, we can remember that one man in 2014 who spent five years soft resetting until he got a shiny Mewtwo in Pokemon Leaf Green and Heart Gold.

This case hasn’t been too different in this year’s Pokemon Sun and Moon, where trainers are already clocking in hours, Kotaku reports, to get a shiny, good nature, or a preferred gender starter Pokemon. There’s very little chance that you can get a female starter Pokemon in Sun and Moon and a very, very (emphasis on very) rare chance that you can get a Shiny Starter, so players are soft resetting until they get the characteristics they desire.

What’s taking more time this time around is that the starter cut-scene is just so painstakingly long compared to older ones. But right after your bridge encounter with the Tapu Koko guardian Pokemon and before you talk to Lillie is the best save point you can get so if you’ve made up your mind on soft resetting, there’s no other choice.

Now Loading gives a few tips on how to save time and maybe increase the odds of getting that shiny starter in Pokemon Sun and Moon.

To skip the initial boot-up time and opening scene, soft reset your game like this:

  • Hold down the Left and Right bumpers
  • While holding bumpers down, press Start or Select
  • Game resets

A very important thing to take note of, there is a one out of 4,096 chances that you’ll be able to generate a shiny starter. And you’ll only know that it’s shiny the moment you pick it up. At the moment that they’re all just lined up in front of you, the game won’t show you any indication that one of them is shiny. So pick your preferred starter and you’ll be able to tell if it’s shiny at the screen when you’re asked to give your Pokemon a nickname.

A lot of people at the NeoSeeker forums are already dropping dead after hours of soft resetting to get that shiny starter in Pokemon Sun and Moon but surely, if you’ve managed to do so after a lot of hard work, it’s going to be one crazy feeling of satisfaction. But sometimes, there are also the blessed people of the heavens who get their shiny Pokemon in one try. Ah, luck, what a funny and crazy thing you are.

Are you going with Rowlet, Popplio, or Litten? Will you be spending a few tries soft resetting until you get a female, good-natured, or shiny starter in Pokemon Sun and Moon?

[Featured Image by The Pokemon Company]

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