Pokemon Legends: Z-A has got the shiny hunting sicko in me cautiously optimistic, but I hope the RPG doesn't repeat one of Scarlet and Violet's biggest mistakes

Pokemon Legends: Z-A is right around the corner, and as a fan of the series for 17 years, I'm very excited to return to Lumiose City and get fully acquainted with the all-new real-time battle system. But there's one thing that's gnawing away at me, the unknown of it leaving me a tad nervous – how is the new RPG going to handle shiny Pokemon after Scarlet and Violet's questionable downgrade?

Shiny Pokemon have been my holy grail since I stumbled across a Bulbapedia page about them in 2009, and my eyes were opened to another world. There's just something so enticing about finding ultra-rare variants of your favorite Pokemon, complete with a new color palette and sparkles to boot. As a kid who'd never seen one in-game, the concept almost seemed like an urban legend, and I was immediately fascinated.

Alas, I wasn't lucky enough to find one myself until Pokemon Black and White's European launch day in 2011 (it was a Patrat on the first route who I creatively named Sparkles and I still treasure her to this day, thanks for asking), but once I did, I got fully sucked into shiny hunting as an activity. In the years since, I daren't estimate how many hours I've spent chasing those sparkles (successfully, for what it's worth), and each time a new Pokemon game releases, I'm eager to see what methods are available to help track the things down, and the last few titles have been, well, quite a rollercoaster in that regard.

All that sparkles and shines

Technicalities of the various different chance-boosting methods aside, Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee were the first mainline games in the series that allowed you to see wild Pokemon in the overworld – shinies included – with sparkles constantly shimmering over them to indicate any rare finds. Pokemon Sword and Shield took a step back, with shinies not visible in the overworld at all, but Legends: Arceus then saw them return with the best version of the system so far – not just a sparkle appearing on shinies as they spawn in, but a sound, too, so even if you didn't see a shiny 'mon appear, you know there's one on your screen somewhere to track down.

Beautiful. Immaculate. Everyone loved it. So you can imagine my confusion when Scarlet and Violet rolled around, complete with a fully open world, and removed the sparkles and audio cue altogether. I genuinely thought it'd be something quickly patched in after launch – after all, those features weren't just useful for dedicated shiny hunters, they're also accessibility tools.

Some shinies are almost identical to their regular forms, and some Pokemon are so tiny it's nearly impossible to tell if they're a different color than usual – it's something I've struggled with, and I'm not visually impaired. However, that patch never came, and even though they're fun games to shiny hunt in, it's always a headache knowing you need to scrutinize everywhere to make sure you don't miss anything. The thought of me unknowingly running past shinies that slipped past my gaze haunts me if I dwell on it too much.

Needless to say, ever since its announcement I've been hoping that Pokemon Legends: Z-A takes notes from Legends: Arceus with some variation of its visual and audio indicators. In fact, it's something I was secretly hoping I might be able to prove when I went hands-on with the game last month at a preview event. Unfortunately, I wasn't lucky enough to encounter a shiny Pokemon within that hour, but after the preview was over and whispers began to circulate that someone apparently did, I became even more intrigued.

Serebii's Joe Merrick – an individual who got this apparent third-hand account of the sparkly 'mon being found – wasn't able to verify if the cues were back, but claimed that it's been suggested that fans will be happy, which seems promising.

Since then, the mystery has deepened further, because perhaps the world has already seen a shiny Pokemon in Legends: Z-A, after all. Over the last few days, fans have spotted something unusual in the back of one of the recent Japanese trailers. Computer, enhance – is that a shiny Pidgey? Unless the lighting in that specific spot is really strange, it sure does look like it thanks to that golden hue. In fact, it appears that there's a regular Pidgey just above it, which makes the difference seem even more obvious.

It's still debatable if it actually is a shiny Pidgey, and either way it doesn't help us know if there was any indication of it spawning in the first place. I'd question why the person recording the footage didn't run straight over to catch it if there was, though. Come on, it's a sparkly bird! If so, however, there are certainly no Let's Go-style consistent sparkles visible.

Gotta catch 'em all

And that brings us to another point – actually catching these rare Pokemon. When it was initially revealed that Pokemon can be fully knocked out in battle and still captured in Legends: Z-A, I thought it'd be great news for fellow shiny hunters. No more fear of accidentally KO-ing something you've been looking for for hours! However, after my preview session last month I'm a little more hesitant to rely on this – I battled an Alpha Houndoom twice during my session, and both times knocked it out in my attempt to catch it. Each time I was only able to throw one ball – as soon as it broke out, it despawned, with seemingly no chance for me to throw another.

Obviously, being a pre-release preview there are no guarantees that this is final, but it does seem like knockout captures could be more of a last-resort option rather than something to actively aim for, at least with Alpha Pokemon. I didn't encounter the same issue with regular 'mons, but maybe I was just lucky there.

Given that this is another Legends game, I'm still cautiously optimistic that Legends: Z-A will do right by the shiny hunting community and give us back those Arceus features we so loved, though. If it does, I can guarantee many, many more hours of mine being spent roaming the streets of Lumiose City. If not, well, to be honest with you I'll probably still do the same, just with a bit more eye strain involved. Look, I just gotta see what a shiny Mega Malamar looks like, I just hope The Pokemon Company makes it a more enjoyable experience for me to do so.

This Pokemon glitch has gone undocumented for 19 years, and I'm betting the one player who was told they were wrong about it 15 years ago is feeling pretty smug right now.