Generation IV of Pokémon introduced a ton of “legacy” evolutions — new members of already-established evolutionary families. As a result, many existing Pokémon shinies gained new shiny evolutions, many of them adopting the same coloring and many being dramatically different from their relatives.
Generation IV also introduced some of the most widely-hated shinies in the series, including Pokémon like Garchomp, who doesn’t really change whatsoever. However, some shinies in this generation are some of the best, too, becoming fan-favorites early on. Here are some of the best shinies in Generation IV, and some of the worst.
10 Worst - All Rotom Forms
Rotom, a Ghost/Electric’s type, has a straightforward gimmick that makes it stand out in the series. It can “possess” a series of household appliances, including a lawnmower, refrigerator, washing machine, fan, and a microwave. Each of these forms has a different coloring that matches its new appearance — Mow Rotom takes a green outline, Wash Rotom takes a blue outline, and so on.
But, when Rotom is shiny, every form is the same shade of orange that regular Rotom becomes. It’s too monochromatic and ruins the fun of Rotom’s form-changing gimmick.
9 Best - Empoleon
Sometimes a very subtle change is one of the best. This is true for Empoleon, which trades its multiple shades of blue for other shades of blue. It sounds boring, but the result is actually really nice. The new shiny coloring is more teal and turquoise, compared to the royal blue and almost-black of the Water/Steel-type’s regular coloring.
The entire Piplup family swaps their blue shades for more teal-like blues, but it definitely works the best on Empoleon, which has the most detailed design.
8 Worst - Lopunny and Buneary
If you were to name a terrible color combination, brown and pink is a strong contender. Brown and pink are both already hard to match with other colors, so pairing them together is a terrible result that is just terrible to look at.
Both Buneary and Lopunny take this coloring when shiny, and it’s just bad. It would be nice to see the brown parts of their bodies turn white or even grey, and this shiny would perhaps be way better. But for now, these bunnies look like Neapolitan ice cream without the vanilla.
7 Best - Roserade
Like its preevolution Roselia before it, Roserade takes a great color palette for its shiny form. It normally has a deep plant-like green for its main body with two roses for hands in blue and red, just like Roselia. When shiny, it changes to a nicer green that pairs perfectly with its new purple and black roses.
There’s something so cool about this caped plant Pokémon with purple and black design features. It’s very punk rock and it looks great on both Roserade and Roselia.
6 Worst - Rhyperior
Rhyperior is already an ugly Pokémon, so it would be near impossible for its shiny form to improve it. And sadly, it doesn’t. Rhyperior is the evolution of Rhydon, which is a great design that should have been the end of the evolutionary family.
Unfortunately, the world was introduced to this horribly ugly rhinoceros. Following the ugliness of regular Rhyperior is its shiny form, which is always-terrible combination of brown and yellow. To make things even worse, the brown of its body fades to a sickly-looking brownish-grey. Shiny Rhyperior looks like regular Rhyperior with an iron deficiency.
5 Best - Spiritomb
There’s something so visually appealing for the combination of light blue and purple. It works very well for Emboar and many other shinies. One of these is Spiritomb, which takes on this color palette and looks great doing it.
Normally, this spooky Ghost/Dark-type is purple with a series of green spots around its face. Its creepy jack-o’-lantern-like face is also green to match. When shiny, the purple moves to the face and spots and the main “body” becomes a great shade of blue.
4 Worst - Garchomp
Time for the reigning master of terrible unchanged shiny coloring — Garchomp is infamous for its terrible shiny. There’s hardly any change from the regular Garchomp coloring unless you squint very hard or crank up the contrast on your screen. It’s widely used as an example of bad shinies and has been for years.
Gible and Gabite, Garchomp’s evolutionary relatives, change pretty dramatically. It’s too bad Garchomp couldn’t, as well. At least its Mega Evolution changes, becoming a nice shade of purplish-pink with hot pink accents.
3 Best - Cresselia
Cresselia’s counterpart, Darkrai, is often considered a great shiny. As a result, Cresselia is a bit forgotten and underrated, especially considering its shiny coloring is actually way cooler. This pink and periwinkle moon Pokémon becomes a nice shade of purple with darker blue accents. The pink and blue rings coming off of it turn a nice series of yellow, green, and blue, matching the main body well.
The new coloring kind of matches Cresselia’s lore better, too, making it look closer to a more “nighttime” coloring than its original pink and light blue.
2 Worst - Burmy and Wormadam
As Garchomp is widely-panned for being basically the same in both its normal and shiny coloring, Burmy and Wormadam are sliding past the radar. These bagworm Pokémon are so visually similar in their two forms that it’s almost unnoticeable. Their “bodies” change to a very slightly blue color from the regular grey, while their “cloaks” remain completely unchanged.
This is the one time that Mothim, part of the branched evolution of Burmy, is more interesting than Wormadam, which typically takes the spotlight with its different forms and typing. Mothim actually changes, unlike its evolutionary relatives.
1 Best - Giratina
It’s hard to choose which form of shiny Giratina is better — Altered or Origin. Ultimately, Altered Form just does the shiny better. Both are basically the same, trading Giratina’s red stripes for light blue and its grey and yellow body for beige and silver. Regardless of which form you prefer, the shiny is a really great one that demonstrates a dramatic change in color palette.
The silver is very nice and contrasts well against the black, blue, and yellow of the rest of Giratina’s body. The blue also adds some distinct visual interest overall, and helps make it the best shiny in this generation of Pokémon.
NEXT: Pokémon: The 10 Hardest Sinnoh Pokémon To Catch, Ranked
