How to get a Shiny Starter in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

Die-hard Pokemon fans may want to start off their adventure with a shiny, and it’s totally possible in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. So, if you want a Shiny Piplup, Turtwig, or Chimchar right off the bat, we’ve outlined the process for you below. Here’s how to get a Shiny Starter in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.

There are two things you’ll want to do to make this process easier. First, go into your game options and set the text speed to fast. Next, scroll down and turn off Autosave, as well. Most likely, you’ll need to repeat the process hundreds of times, so the text speed and autosave options will help save you some time. Without further ado, here’s how to Shiny hunt starters in Pokemon BDSP.

How to get a Shiny Starter in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

Here are the steps to follow to get a Shiny Starter:

1. Launch the game and begin the story.
2. Approach Verity Lakefront with Barry. 
3. Save the game before the cutscene.
4. Button mash to get through the cutscene.
5. Choose your Pokemon and send it into battle.
6. See if it is shiny or not.
7. If not, press the Home button, close the game, and repeat.

At the very beginning of the game, you will walk alongside Barry leading to Verity Lakefront. You’ll want to save your game as close to the cutscene as you possibly can. Save it a few times to make sure you don’t miss your opportunity if you must. The point where you save here is where you’ll be respawning (likely thousands of times) after each attempt at a shiny.

Then, you can walk toward the lake and begin the cutscene. The whole cutscene takes about 40 seconds until the point where you can select your starter Pokemon from the briefcase. Mash buttons to skip through the text as quickly as possible. After the scene is done, you can choose your starter Pokemon, whether it’s Piplup, Chimchar, or Turtwig. 

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to tell if your Pokemon is shiny until sending it into battle with the Starly. It can be a bit difficult to tell if Piplup is Shiny due to its colors, so you can check at the Pokemon Summary screen after battle if you are unsure.

At this point, chances are you did not receive a Shiny. If you did, congratulations on having fantastic luck. For everyone else, you can press the home button, close the software, relaunch the game, and try again from your previous save point. Remember to inch a bit closer to the lake and re-save if you saved a bit too far away.

The chances of getting a Shiny Starter Pokemon in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are 1 in 4,096 (0.024%). 

Now that you know how to hunt for your shiny starter in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, who will you choose? Will it be the Tiny Leaf Pokemon, Turtwig? The Chimp Pokemon, Chimchar? Or the Penguin Pokemon, Piplup?