Try as I might, dear readers, I have yet to unhook myself from Pokémon X. So I’m going to continue to subject you to news on the subject until I get tired of it or find something else to write about. First, I mentioned in a previous post that Nintendo would be releasing a fix for the Lumiose City save bug. Il est arrivé. You may sound your individual trumpets or vuvuzelas in celebration.
by Zapgod16 @ deviantArt
Now, being a PokéNerd, which I assume that you are if you’ve continued reading to this point, you know how precious a Shiny Pokémon can be. You also know how existentially frustrating it can be to try to catch one. If you don’t know what a Shiny Pokémon is, it is one that has been color-swapped in some way. Some, like Pichu for example, are not made particularly impressive by the switch, while others, like the black Rayquaza, look pretty sick. Contrary to popular belief, there has been no connection between Shiny status and stats in the handheld games since the Metal generation (Gold/Silver). However, just as there was a certain status to having a Red Gyrados or a color-swapped Dusknoir, Shiny Pokémon are still pretty sweet. It’s like having a misprint poster or a limited edition jacket. But, as I’ve mentioned, they’re hard to find. Your chances of finding one in the wild are about 1 in every 8192 wild battles, and as the happy people at Serebii.net are happy to remind us, this is an instance of independent probability: “meaning after 8,191 battles it’ll still be 1 in 8,192 and not a dead cert that you will get one i.e. not 1 in 1 battles.” Similarly, the odds that an egg will be shiny are 1 in 8,192.
Masuda, Game Director for the Pokemon Series
In general there are two methods to increasing one’s likelihood of encountering a shiny Pokémon. The first, and better-known, of the two is the Masuda Method, named for Junichi Masuda, co-founder of Game Freak. He revealed that by breeding two Pokémon from games from different countries (one Garchomp from a Japanese cartridge and a Ditto or a Charizard from an American cartridge, for example), a player could increase the likelihood that the egg would be shiny. Significantly. In generation V, using his method, a shiny egg will occur about 1 in every 1,368 instances. That’s a huge jump, but in practical terms it’s still rather rare.
The other method is more intensive. It’s known as “chaining.” By activating the PokéRadar and KOing or capturing a Pokémon discovered this way, you begin a chain. Then, you must continue to defeat the same Pokémon over and over. As the number of Pokémon defeated in a chain goes up, so too do the player’s chances of encountering a shiny Pokémon. The chain is broken if you encounter a different Pokémon or one outside of the area in which you began the search. But, if the grass shines instead of shaking when one activates the PokéRadar, there’s your Shiny! For a specific breakdown of how exactly to get the job done, check out this chaining tutorial on Reddit. Here’s a video:
But Pokémon X and Y are shaking more than just grass. Generation 6’s new features include a PR studio in Lumiose City where players can make videos featuring trainers and their Pokémon. All sorts of sound effects, video effects, and backgrounds can be utilized in pursuit of the ultimate Pokémon publicity video. And because you can’t let the internet have anything nice without it being ruined or made beautiful, or both, players are using to them to make hilarious video projects and even short music videos. Before you head over to Kotaku to check out more, feast your eyes on this:
With the ability to interact with Pokémon and the world itself in new and exciting ways, Gen 6 has raised the bar on Pokémon and any similar handheld video games. Furthermore, the occasion of its release has encouraged people to give Pokémon a second look. Take, for example, this article, which uses mathematical analysis to determine which of the Gen 1 starters is the most advantageous choice. It is, much to my personal chagrin, Squirtle, but you should look into the article to see how it works out. There are charts! Everyone loves charts!
PokéNerds, our chariot has arrived, and we are joined by Seattle Seahawks player Doug Baldwin. I’ll leave you with this:
Lady Geek Girl and Friends 