There’s a certain prestige that comes with shiny Pokémon, especially if the shiny in question is one of the starters. You wouldn’t believe how many people I’ve seen repeatedly restart their Pokémon games on the off chance of getting a shiny starter. Of those starters, you can’t get much more prestigious than the very first Pokémon in the National Dex, Bulbasaur. If you want something to show off to your friends, then here’s how to get a shiny Bulbasaur in Pokémon GO.
Bulbasaur’s shiny variant has been available in Pokémon GO since it was added during the third Community Day event way back in March of 2018. It’s a bit tricky to discern from its normal counterpart at a glance, but it’s brighter, more yellow-ish shade of green than the softer blue that covers a regular Bulbasaur. The difference becomes more pronounced with evolution, as a shiny Ivysaur and Venusaur have golden eyes and a bright yellow bud replacing their usual red ones.
How to Get Shiny Bulbasaur in Pokémon GO
A shiny Bulbasaur can technically be encountered anywhere Grass type Pokémon hang out, but without any kind of number fudging, your odds of finding one are around 1 in 500. However, as it so happens, today Bulbasaur is the star of a new Community Day Classic event, and when a Pokémon is highlighted for an event, not only do they pop up all over the place, but their odds of being shiny raise to a much more realistic 1 in 25.
If you play the game while the event is running from 2:00 to 5:00 PM in your local time zone, you’ll be tripping over Bulbasaurs. All you have to do is click on one in the wild, and if it’s shiny, you’ll see the trademark burst of sparkles on the catch screen. You can also improve your odds by activating Incenses and Lure Modules at local PokéStops. If you play for the entire duration of the event, you may not be guaranteed a shiny Bulbasaur, but your odds are gonna be the best they possibly can be for a hot minute.
