Pokemon Legends: Z-A’s Shiny Charm is Virtually Impossible to Get

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Whether Pokemon Legends: Z-A improves shiny hunting compared to previous games like those in Generation 9 and Pokemon Legends: Arceus is debatable. While there’s a glitch that makes shiny hunting easy in Wild Zone 3, the game is generally good for finding shiny Pokemon, even just by quickly traveling between locations, as this resets all the Pokemon in the area. However, Pokemon Legends: Z-A automatically saves the game, and the changing day/night cycle can reset Pokemon spawns, potentially causing you to lose a shiny Pokemon during a battle. Because of this, the Shiny Charm would be very valuable, but it’s difficult for some players to obtain, and completely inaccessible for others.

In most Pokémon games, earning the Shiny Charm—an item that increases your chances of finding shiny Pokémon—usually requires completing the Pokédex. This makes sense because completing the Pokédex proves you’ve encountered and identified every Pokémon species, allowing you to distinguish their normal colors from their rare, shiny forms. However, Pokémon Legends: Z-A is different. Instead of completing the Pokédex, it requires players to reach Research Rank 50 with a character named Mable. This new requirement has both advantages and disadvantages, which are outlined below:

  • Requiring Research Rank 50 means that players don’t have to complete the Pokedex for the Shiny Charm in PLZA.
  • Reaching Research Rank 50 in Pokemon Legends: Z-A requires trading to get enough Research points. So, players have to either trade locally or they need to pay for Nintendo Switch Online to complete this task.
  • One of the mandatory tasks includes playing 1,000 battles in Pokemon Legends: Z-A, which can be extremely time-consuming and potentially quite boring, even with existing tricks.

By the time players finish the main story in Pokemon Legends: Z-A, they usually will have completed around 200 to 300 battles. To earn the Shiny Charm, which requires 1,000 battles, they’ll need to battle at least 700 more times.

Pokemon Legends: Z-A’s Shiny Charm Requires 1,000 Battles and Trading

In Pokemon Legends: Z-A, some Research Requests from Mable are required to progress. You need the points earned from completing them to reach Rank 50. Here are the ones you absolutely must do:

  • Surveying Wild Zone 1 (1,000 points) – Register all Pokemon found in Wild Zone 1
  • Surveying Wild Zone 2 (1,000 points) – Register all Pokemon found in Wild Zone 2
  • Surveying Wild Zone 3 (1,000 points) – Register all Pokemon found in Wild Zone 3
  • Surveying Wild Zone 4 (1,000 points) – Register all Pokemon found in Wild Zone 4
  • Surveying Wild Zone 5 (1,000 points) – Register all Pokemon found in Wild Zone 5
  • Surveying Wild Zone 6 (1,000 points) – Register all Pokemon found in Wild Zone 6
  • Surveying Wild Zone 7 (1,000 points) – Register all Pokemon found in Wild Zone 7
  • Surveying Wild Zone 8 (1,000 points) – Register all Pokemon found in Wild Zone 8
  • Surveying Wild Zone 9 (1,000 points) – Register all Pokemon found in Wild Zone 9
  • Surveying Wild Zone 10 (1,000 points) – Register all Pokemon found in Wild Zone 10
  • Surveying Wild Zone 11 (1,000 points) – Register all Pokemon found in Wild Zone 11
  • Surveying Wild Zone 12 (1,000 points) – Register all Pokemon found in Wild Zone 12
  • Surveying Wild Zone 13 (1,000 points) – Register all Pokemon found in Wild Zone 13
  • Surveying Wild Zone 14 (1,000 points) – Register all Pokemon found in Wild Zone 14
  • Surveying Wild Zone 15 (1,000 points) – Register all Pokemon found in Wild Zone 15
  • Surveying Wild Zone 16 (1,000 points) – Register all Pokemon found in Wild Zone 16
  • Surveying Wild Zone 17 (1,000 points) – Register all Pokemon found in Wild Zone 17
  • Surveying Wild Zone 18 (1,000 points) – Register all Pokemon found in Wild Zone 18
  • Surveying Wild Zone 19 (1,000 points) – Register all Pokemon found in Wild Zone 19
  • Surveying Wild Zone 20 (1,000 points) – Register all Pokemon found in Wild Zone 20
  • Evolving Via Link Trade 1 (2,000 points) – Participate in 1 link trade
  • Evolving Via Link Trade 2 (2,000 points) – Participate in 3 link trades
  • Evolving Via Link Trade 3 (2,000 points) – Participate in 5 link trades
  • Winning Pokemon Battles 15 (2,000 points) – Win 1,000 Pokemon battles
  • Investigating Anomalous Alphas (1,000 points) – Catch or defeat the anomalous Alpha Pokemon in Wild Zone 3, 5, and 9

It’s The End of An Era For Pokemon’s Shiny Charm

These are the only required quests to unlock the Shiny Charm because completing all of Mable’s requests earns players 900 bonus points. This allows you to skip other tasks, as long as you don’t miss more than 900 points total. For instance, you could skip the last Pokedex completion request (worth 500 points) and one type-specific catching task, still having 100 points to spare and an incomplete Pokedex in Pokemon Legends: Z-A. This flexibility is new to the series.

Pokemon Legends: Z-A’s Best Methods to Get the Shiny Charm

Some Pokémon evolutions in Pokémon Legends: Z-A require trading, and these can be difficult to achieve if you’re playing alone. While you might want to skip these, getting the Shiny Charm actually requires trading Pokémon. This means you’ll need a Nintendo Switch Online subscription or a way to trade with someone locally if you want to obtain it.

Pokemon Legends: Z-A has improved online trading with its new trade codes. However, some players are accidentally trading Pokemon without the items needed to evolve them, which means the person receiving the Pokemon can’t evolve it.

Many players find the requirement to win 1,000 battles extremely tedious. Instead of legitimately battling, some are finding ways to exploit the system. For example, some players repeatedly challenge trainers at Restaurant Le Nah using a turbo controller and a Pokémon with Rocky Helmet to passively deal damage. Others are manually completing the battles, but using an overwhelmingly powerful, max-level Mega Evolution like Mega Excadrill from Pokémon Legends: Z-A to quickly win every fight.

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2025-10-23 01:40