Finding a shiny Pokémon can be one of the most exciting aspects in any of the Pokémon games! There are whole sections of the Pokémon fandom dedicated to finding those different coloured creatures, and compared to many of the main series games, we have it easy in GO! But not all shiny hunts are created equal. Some take years to complete, requiring hours upon hours of patience, encountering, and potentially disregarding, other shinies in order to find that target.
This is the story of one of those hunts.
Shortly after the release of Pokémon Sword & Shield, YouTuber REVERSAL began hunting for one of the rarest spawns in the game. No, we’re not talking about a Legendary Pokémon, we’re talking about Feebas. For those not in the know, Feebas can only be found through fishing, and only in one spot in the entire Galar region just off of Route 2. Even then you only have a 1% chance of encountering a Feebas. When you add in the 1 in 1365.33 chance of encountering a shiny, with the Shiny Charm, you’re reaching mathematical probabilities that my education didn’t cover!
Over the course of nearly 3 years, REVERSAL would go on to encounter hundreds of thousands of Pokémon from this one fishing spot, most of which being the much more common Magikarp and Chewtle. REVERSAL has now amassed a small country in shinies for Magikarp and Chewtle, but alas Feebas eluded him. On October 25th, 2022, it seemed that the hunt was not to be completed and REVERSAL officially retired the hunt, timing it with the release of Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. That was until July 21st, 2023 when he announced that the hunt would resume, continuing until the new Scarlet & Violet DLC was released!
And today, the day before the first Pokémon Scarlet and Violet DLC released, it finally happened.
After 1,383 days of hunting for a Shiny Feedbas… it finally happened.
The journey is finally over, I can't believe it. pic.twitter.com/t8ZH2hiUCH— REVERSAL (@REVERSALx7) September 12, 2023
On fishing cast 236,184 and after finding 135 shiny Magikarp and 82 shiny Chewtle in this new era of the hunt alone, REVERSAL completed an incredibly long hunt for one of the rarest shiny Pokémon in Sword and Shield. We congratulate your dedication, REVERSAL, what an amazing journey!