With Pokémon Sword and Shield fast approaching its one-week anniversary, many players will have already achieved their goal of becoming Galar’s champion.
For many (hardcore fans especially), however, being crowned the ultimate Pokémon Trainer is often when the real adventure starts. As always, Game Freak has made sure to pack its latest entries in the core RPG series with a raft of post-game features for fans of all types. Eager to form a competitive-viable team and take on other players? Head to the battle tower. Want to collect every new Gigantamax form and make some Poké Dollars on the side? The Wild Area is for you. Love nothing more than to hunt down extremely rare Shiny Pokémon? Power to you – the grind is one hell of a mountain to climb.
Boosts and modifiers excluded, the chances of encountering a Shiny Pokémon are an eye-watering 1/4000 and as if those odds weren’t already daunting enough, it now appears that an all-new – even rarer – type has been discovered. In what fans are dubbing ‘Square Shinies,’ these extremely rare specimens sport the same alternate color scheme as their standard Shiny counterparts, but with one key difference.
As showcased by Twitter user AceStar, these new variants boast a more flamboyant entry animation. Check out the clip below for a side-by-side comparison.
Also, apparently, there's different types of Shiny Pokemon in Sword and Shield: a Normal Shiny, and a Square Shiny
The Cherubi I found was a Normal Shiny, but the Zigzagoon I chained for is a Square Shiny
Neato! pic.twitter.com/NH0nc3QJPr
— 🦔 • ODG | Ace★ (@AceStarThe3rd) November 20, 2019
So, how exactly does one go about getting their hands on this new breed of rare Pokémon? It’s surprisingly simple.
Assuming the stars align and you find yourself coming face to face with an ‘ordinary’ Shiny, a second dice roll will take place to determine if it’s a so-called square variant. The chances of this occurring begin at 1/16 and increase to 15 in 16 if the player is using the currently popular Chain Hunting method. If you’re unsure of what that term refers to, you can head over here for in-depth Shiny hunting guide. Good luck!
Pokémon Sword and Shield are out now for Nintendo Switch.