Pokemon Scarlet & Violet player in disbelief after “incredibly unfortunate” shiny encounter fail
The Pokemon CompanyNothing is more painful for Pokemon fans than losing a rare shiny they just spotted. A Pokemon Scarlet and Violet player found this out the hard way when their day was “ruined” by a “cold-hearted” shiny fail.
Searching for shiny Pokemon is the most popular activity among the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet community. The Teal Mask DLC has made shiny hunting bigger than ever with welcome updates to mass outbreaks, spawns in the weirdest places, and a glow-up in graphics.
That said, spotting a shiny is only half the job done as you also need to catch it, and DLC fans are having contrasting experiences, as they either capture multiple shinies or fail terribly.
But nothing compares to how one player missed the boat with a shiny Sandslash, and fellow players related to his “pain.”
Reddit user ‘AshetoAshes’ shared a post that showed an encounter with Sandslash in the Teal Mask DLC of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. While they battled the wild Pokemon, they spotted a shiny Sandslash in the background.
Naturally, the OP immediately abandoned the fight and sped towards the shiny, only to be shocked when the rare species despawned before the encounter could even happen.
The OP wrote: “My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined,” as others added, “That’s incredibly unfortunate that it spawned then just walked too far out and respawned.”
A user commented, “Wow, that thing stood by the despawn circle, stood for a second, and kept walking, I’d be furious,” sympathizing with the player’s experience.
Another called it “cold-hearted” and was willing to give the OP a shiny Sandlash, while one fan shared that they had the same mishap: “I lost a shiny Lokix because I was stuck in a trainer battle. All I could do was watch it despawn.”
But it looks like this was just one among several others as the comments included mentions of several shiny Pokemon misses, such as Iron Hands, Hariyama, Dondozo, Psyduck, etc.
In fact, one of them even had the same shiny encounter fail with a Teddiursa in a different game altogether, Pokemon Legends Arceus. This led many to jokingly state that the game was “taunting” them.
As the community spends hours grinding for shinies, it definitely hurts to see these rare species despawning before fans can even get a chance to catch them.
So if you’re going shiny hunting in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, check out the various sandwich recipes as well as how to get free Herba Mystica in Teal Mask DLC to maximize your shiny encounter rate in the wild.