Have Shiny Pokemon Lost Value?

[Palamon]

I feel like, over the years, Shiny Pokemon have steadily declined in value. Back in Generation II (before they were even called shiny Pokemon) the odds were 1 in 8,092 and you'd be lucky to even find one besides the Red Gyarados if you weren't a hunter. Which I am not, by the way.

I'd say for most, up until they introduction of the shiny charm, shiny Pokemon felt more...special? If you get me. I remember how exciting it felt to find one completely randomly because you never know when one might pop up if you're not a hunter.

Then around after the shiny charm and the introduction of Generation 6, they halved the shiny odds, making them easier to find. While, at first glance this is a good thing, I truly think this is when shinies started to lose value. They had become much easier to get.

But, I honestly feel like it hit an all time "shinies aren't special anymore" around Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon with the Ultra Warp Ride where are just extremely easy to get if you go far enough. I don't know, but I liked it more when shiny Pokemon were something you had to be lucky to encounter, not something extremely easy to get.

So, for me, shiny Pokemon have mostly lost value.

Aside from Scarlet/Violet where I have only found one so far, but eh.

 

[Sweet Serenity]

Shiny Pokémon never had any value to begin with. They're simply an alternate color scheme for Pokémon. They don't perform any better competitively or in battle in general. In fact, in Generation I and II, you could argue that they were worse in battle and competitively because it was impossible to have a Shiny Pokémon with maxed out IVs because being Shiny back then was determined by IV spread. Shiny Pokémon are just simply rarer than non-Shiny Pokémon. Merely because something is rarer than another thing doesn't always make it more valuable. Personally, I never saw a reason even to own a Shiny Pokémon unless you simply enjoyed the Pokémon's alternate color. For example, Starmie is my favorite Pokémon and Reshiram is my favorite legendary Pokémon. Because I enjoy their color schemes and fact that they are my all-time favorites, I took the time to Shiny hunt them. Other than that, Shiny Pokémon never really mattered to me. Sure, I would record it whenever I find them in Pokémon Violet because encountering them is cool because of the rarity, but I never really saw them as "valuable." Yet, I get the fact that people enjoy simply using them as collector's items because they are rarely encountered. Finding a Pokémon with perfect IVs in the wild is much more valuable, mainly because you have a 1/1,073,741,824 chance of finding one and, not only that, but they also performed at their highest potential competitively, making them not only super rare, but also useful for something.

 

[Corveone]

Shinies are glorified color swaps, they never had any actual value. They were simply Pokémon with alternate colors that extremely lucky players could occassionaly find. Until people put them on a pedestal and started collecting them because they were so special... and the more people have something, the less special it becomes.

Sometimes there is this perception that something has more value just because we invested more time into it, but it's not something we can actually achieve through skill or effort, it's just enduring RNG for hours to find a Pokémon that won't be any better than a regular version of the same Pokémon we can find in a few minutes.

It's just a subjective value the owner assigns to whatever it obtained based on the time they spent of that search. But at the end nobody will care if someone else's shiny is a full-odds that took 20 hours to find, or was found much quicker after boosting chances with whatever method, or done via cheating, hex edit, etc.

 

[RadEmpoleon]

Honestly they're still special to me, even if they're significantly easier to find nowadays. I don't really mind that the odds were lowered, or that there are many methods to further decrease them. It still doesn't 100% guarantee a shiny Pokemon. I'm not an active shiny hunter by any means, but I have had my fair share of shiny hunting. Sometimes I get lucky, and other times I get too impatient and give up. It's still an enjoyable experience either way.

EDIT: I will say this, the only time when I think shiny Pokemon are worthless are when I see a battle team of all shinies. I usually assume these are all hacked in some way, which immediately devalues them.

 

[_confused_piplup_]

I disagree with the idea that they never had value. Shiny Pokémon are a nice idea and are pretty interesting imo. They can be found randomly, but people mainly shiny hunt for them. Surely it doesn't require much skill, but mainly patience, however, they are indeed a nice feature in the game. Considering the "collecting" part of Pokemon games, I think they indeed have a value, as it's some sort of "rare thing" you get for being constant and patient.
Now, going to the actual topic, yes indeed they have lost some value. It's way easier to find shiny Pokémon, which goes against the idea of a big reward for the player. In general, I think there's been this trend in the Pokémon series where the games have become easier. Other than that, the lack of possibility of actually collecting all the Pokémon might be another reason why shiny Pokemon might have lost their value. But, I am trying to just understand how people who have been shiny hunting through the games feel, because I have surely tried, but I have never actually found a shiny lol. I mainly found them randomly, few of them.

 

[Squirtkipfan01]

Depends who you ask. As someone who never found a shiny til recently, i value them abit

 

[ReKoil]

Shiny Pokemon only have whatever value you yourself attach to them.
They've become a lot easier to obtain over the years sure, but that won't affect their value to someone who never cared about them in the first place.

Personally I never bothered hunting any before gen 8, as I never had the shiny charm before that point. If I'm gonna do something like Shiny Hunting, you better believe I'm going for the best odds.
For me, I just like hunting shinies for Pokemon I like as well as Pokemon who's shiny colors are just better than their original colors. There is no way I'd shiny hunt Pokemon idc about at all,, though I obviously won't turn down any random shinies =P

 

[Sheep]

There's less of a showoff factor now, so yes, they did lose value if speaking from a trading perspective. But for me that isn't a bad thing - now I can get the shinies I want more easily without spending months on masuda method hatching only to be disappointed. Definitely don't want to go back to the stress of hatching Chespin in XY for 3+ months consistently without getting anything. That's just a tiring waste of time. :(

 

[Devalue]

Depends on the context. Feels special to see one when not actively hunting for it. Hatches a party of eggs with the Matsuda method for the occasional trade. Would be special in that case. Same for playing a game normally. Stumbles across a shiny once every few playthroughs.

Disregards a lot of others' shinies. Ran across plenty of hacked shinies on Wonder Trade and GTS especially. May be one of those.

 

[Iceshadow3317]

I also completely disagree with shiny pokemon never having value. They are far more valued to people than what is suggested here. Why do you think shiny pokemon are often more common in multiplayer? While it doesn't give an advantage there is obvious value in them. It is why people trade shiny pokemon for legendary pokemon.

And I do agree that a Shiny Variant as lost value over the years. There are too many now and Pokemon GO really destroyed many values for some. They tried to make it better in Sword and Shield, but no one care about the different sparkles they give off. I feel like a new type of shiny need to come along. Gold, Silver, any other type of color type would be nice since shiny pokemon have indeed lost their values.

 

[Daveslab2022]

Shiny hunting is the main thing that is keeping me going in Pokémon games lately.

 

[Sweet Serenity]

I also completely disagree with shiny pokemon never having value. They are far more valued to people than what is suggested here. Why do you think shiny pokemon are often more common in multiplayer? While it doesn't give an advantage there is obvious value in them. It is why people trade shiny pokemon for legendary pokemon.

And I do agree that a Shiny Variant as lost value over the years. There are too many now and Pokemon GO really destroyed many values for some. They tried to make it better in Sword and Shield, but no one care about the different sparkles they give off. I feel like a new type of shiny need to come along. Gold, Silver, any other type of color type would be nice since shiny pokemon have indeed lost their values.

The main reason I believe Shiny Pokémon lack value is because they are nothing more than an alternate color scheme for Pokémon that offer no differences in battle or gameplay in general. As a result, I fail to fathom why Pokémon with alternate color schemes are even rare to begin with. I liken a Shiny Pokémon's value to name brand clothing. Sure, while Gucci does look pretty and fashionable, the regular priced clothes from your local shopping center serve the exact same purpose as the clothes from the high-end retail store. Yet, people only place value in the luxury clothing brands because of the brand name. Shiny Pokémon aren't much different. Because of this, it simply isn't worth it to spend several hours attempting to hatch or catch an alternate color.