Shiny Pokémon Are Now Available In ‘Pokémon GO’, Doesn’t Show On World Map

Last Wednesday, Niantic has released shiny Pokémon for the first time in "Pokémon GO". For avid Pokémon fans, the shiny Pokémon are known to be incredibly rare and will require some meticulous method to breed one. Since the game mechanism of "Pokemon GO" is completely different than those on the Nintendo consoles, obtaining the shiny Pokémon is, without a doubt, trickier as expected.

Questions such as "will these shiny Pokémon look shiny to every player who encounters them" or "are the shiny Pokémon unique to the trainer" immediately raise some heavy discussion on "Pokémon GO" forums. Since only two Pokémon were reported to have their shiny version - Magikarp and its evolution Gyarados, the experiment focuses solely on these two.

At this time, based on reports from the players, it can be said that the same shiny Pokémon can appear shiny for some players and not for others. According to the reports, a player who managed to catch shiny Magikarp in "Pokemon GO" noticed that the same Magikarp which spawned at the same location appears to be not shiny for the other player.  

In Reddit, user OneLastSpock posted two screenshots to support the theory. The screenshots show two Magikarps which were spawned at the exact same location - one is a different color (shiny) and the other one is a normal Magikarp. It remains to be seen if this is a plan that "Pokémon GO" developer Niantic intends to do for shiny Pokémon. The experiment is reportedly still ongoing and we are probably going to receive some development news in the nearest future.

Some have speculated that Niantic intentionally made shiny Pokémon on "Pokémon GO" individual to each player so as to discourage spoofing. After all, the shiny Pokémon don't appear shiny on the map, so trainers will only going to know that they have encountered a shiny Pokémon once they actually start battling with it.