Pokemon Scarlet and Violet players seem to be uncovering a lot of Shiny creatures in the new DLC.
The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero (The Teal Mask) launched earlier today on September 13, and already players are tearing through the DLC. If you check the 'PokemonScarletViolet' hashtag on Twitter though, you'll see a curious amount of posts of players coming across Shiny Pokemon pretty early on in the new DLC chapter.
I almost ignored the big pink pig. #PokemonScarletViolet pic.twitter.com/RFhGegFhZ2September 6, 2023
Just above, for example, a player stumbles upon a Shiny Oinkologne, the evolution of Lechonk. In the clip below, someone comes across a Shiny Yanma, not through any great effort of their own but because their Gallade was misbehaving and running around like a creature unleashed.
Just started the Pokemon DLC 3 minutes ago. Got off the bus and tripped over a shiny thanks to Gallade disobeying #PokemonScarletViolet pic.twitter.com/ZNGBdVO6WeSeptember 13, 2023
Then there's the Shiny Poochyena seen just below. Now this thing is just downright adorable, no matter what you think of its Shiny color co-ordination. Twitter also has examples of players catching creatures like Shiny Aipom, another Shiny Poochyena, and many more incredibly rare creatures.
AAAAAAA shiny curse continues #PokemonScarletViolet #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/Ar182UfavNSeptember 13, 2023
It's not entirely clear what's going on here in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, but it's almost as if The Teal Mask has somehow buffed Shiny appearance rates for DLC players. It's extremely difficult to confirm this without any extensive testing, and even then, how the hell would you judge Shiny appearance rates between thousands of players around the world?
And yes, it's worth pointing out that the 'Shiny Charm' item buffs the player's chances of encountering Shiny creatures. It's also worth noting that the Shiny Charm has been in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet since launch last year, but it's not as if everyone was running into Shinies with the same frequency that they are now.
Usually, you'd be really hard-pressed to find Shiny Pokemon in just about any mainline game. The fact that we're seeing all these rare creatures in such a short span of time, right after a major new update was launched for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, does raise some questions.
Pokemon's developer is having "conversations" about how often it releases games, after Pokemon Scarlet and Violet were widely lambasted for their performance issues last year.
