Not all shiny Pokémon are created equally. Since their introduction in Generation II, shiny-hunting has become one of the biggest parts of the Pokémon world. They’re incredibly rare, and many of them are much cooler-looking than their regular color palette.
However, some are not. Some Pokémon have terrible shiny forms, either because the colors they change to are ugly, or because they hardly change at all. Generation VIII just released in full a few months ago, but the shiny-hunting world has been quick to determine which are cool and which are not. Here are some of the worst shinies introduced in Generation VIII.
10 Galarian Darmanitan
Despite its regular Unovan form shiny being kind of cool, Darmanitan’s Galarian form did not receive the same treatment. Shiny Galarian Darmanitan is mostly the same colors, save for a color swap in its face and hands from light blue to a terrible shade of green.
Its Zen Mode form, which is ugly when not shiny, is a bit better, but still not a drastic change. The orange eyes and hands change to a shade of fuchsia and red, respectively. It still isn’t much of a change, but it’s less offensive.
9 Cufant
During the few days before Sword and Shield’s official release, many of the Generation VIII Pokémon were leaked to the public. Through these early images, many fans took to Cufant immediately. It was quickly becoming a fan-favorite for a variety of reasons.
Unfortunately, its shiny form is a bit of a letdown. Its orange and green color palette just become more washed out, rather than changing. Game Freak missed a great opportunity to swap the green and orange, making it look more like its evolution, Copperajah.
8 Rookidee
Sword and Shield’s developers did a great job with Corvisquire’s and Corviknight’s shiny forms. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for their base stage, Rookidee. It changed from a nice blue to a terrible shade of manila. Meanwhile, the later evolutions are black, grey, and white when shiny.
Rookidee’s shiny is not terrible, it just pales (literally) in comparison to its evolutionary relatives. The pale yellowish manila is not an amazing color, and it would have served Rookidee much better to adopt the steely black and grey of Corvisquire.
7 Blipbug
This is another example of a shiny base stage that doesn’t measure up to its evolutionary family. Blipbug, the resident “early-game Bug-type” is normally blueish-purple with yellow and white elements. When shiny, that changes only very slightly. The blue stays basically the exact same, while the yellow becomes a light lavender.
It’s not ugly, it’s just very boring and a very slight change from the regular coloring. In comparison, its evolutions, Dottler and Orbeetle, both change much more drastically to aesthetically-pleasing color palettes when shiny.
6 Galarian Stunfisk
Why can’t Stunfisk seem to catch a break? It’s already one of the ugliest Pokémon in existence, to the point of being kind of adorable in its pathetic state. But then, they had to go and make an even uglier version in its Galarian form. Then, they made it even worse with its shiny Galarian form.
Galarian Stunfisk is typically brown, grey, and neon green (a terrible combination). But, its shiny form swaps the green footprints for orange. It’s just bad and could have been so much better. It could have been varying shades of grey or even something more colorful. There’s just no redeeming brown and grey next to neon colors.
5 Perrserker
Speaking of neon colors being paired with neutrals, Perrserker does the same thing. Regular Perrserker is grey, brown, and black — a fine combination on a weird-looking Pokémon. But, its shiny swaps these for a richer brown and light yellow.
Ignoring the obvious comparison to a bathroom joke, it’s just not visually appealing whatsoever. The arms and legs in alternating black and yellow give off vibes of Zeraora without being as cool, while the large brown chest plate is just a weird shade that could have been better.
4 Raboot
The entire Cinderace line could almost be this entry, but Raboot is the worst of the three. Each swaps its stark white coloring for a weird shade of washed-out grey. Raboot and Cinderace’s shade of grey is darker than Scorbunny’s, but none of them are amazing. They definitely pale in comparison to their fellow starters. The Sobble line is fantastic, and the Grookey line is passable.
Raboot is the worst of the three because it’s already a weird Pokémon design. It also swaps its cool black hoodie-like fur for white. It’s just not great.
3 Morpeko (Hangry)
Morpeko’s regular form is a bit of a strange color scheme but definitely benefits from its shiny coloring. It swaps the yellow down the middle of its body for a snow-white. It looks much better between the black and brown stripes on either side of its body.
However, its Hangry Mode doesn’t get the same beneficial treatment. It swaps its terrible purple stripe for a slightly bluer shade of purple. At least the middle stripe blends in a bit better with the jagged edges of the sides of the body.
2 Chewtle
Game Freak has a long history of making terrible green shinies. Fans often joke that they make up a majority of the shiny forms. Whether or not that’s true, green shinies like Ursaring, Salamence, and Espeon are all pretty terrible to most people.
Chewtle received this unfortunate treatment this generation. It trades in its light blue for a very bright green, which looks just dreadful next to its orange and yellow accents. On the flipside, its evolution, Drednaw, is a sick shiny. It’s also green, but it’s a nice dark evergreen that looks incredible next to its rust-orange shell.
1 Galarian Farfetch’d
As mentioned, many Pokémon barely register any type of change in their shiny forms. Pokémon like Garchomp and Gengar are notorious for this, being so subtly different when shiny that you wouldn’t even notice if you caught one if you weren’t paying attention.
This happened to poor Galarian Farfetch’d, which is almost completely unchanged in its shiny form. There’s a very, very slight lightening of the brown plumage on its wings and head. Its stomach also changes slightly to a more off-white than the original. Shiny forms are rarely more boring than this.
NEXT: 10 Pokémon Who Are Useless Until They Evolve
