Pokemon Scarlet & Violet’s lack of Shiny cues is a hassle for colorblind players

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet does not include a much-loved feature from Pokemon Legends Arceus and it’s a problem. The lack of any audible or VFX cues to indicate Shiny Pokemon in the overworld is a major issue for colorblind players.

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet have recently celebrated their first DLC launch with the Teal Mask. With that release, a whole host of returning Pocket Monsters have come to the Generation 9 titles.

New Pokemon means a new set of hyper-rare Shiny variants for players to hunt down. For the uninitiated, Shiny Pokemon are elusive versions of Pokemon with an alternate color scheme to their more widely available counterparts.

The practice of Shiny hunting is a popular endgame pursuit for Pokemon fans. Unfortunately, for certain players, this hobby has been made more difficult. Reddit user u/ViolaCat94 opened up about how changes to Pokemon Scalet & Violet had impacted them as a colorblind player.

While other Pokemon games have included things like sparkles and an audible chime to indicate the presence of a Shiny Pokemon, Scarlet & Violet do not. Shiny Pokemon do appear in their alternate color scheme in the game’s overworld but that’s less useful to players with certain types of colorblindness.

“There being no sparkle or chime in the overworld means I have probably missed quite a few shinies being colorblind,” u/ViolaCat94 explained. The presence of these features in Pokemon Legends Arceus prompted them to ask why they had been removed.

Certain Shiny Pokemon appear vastly different from their standard counterparts like a green Dragonite or a Black Charizard. Others, however, have negligible differences and are hard to tell apart from their non-Shiny variants.

“I can see color and there are a ton of them I can’t tell side by side, especially as the weather changes,” one user elaborated. “ I think it’s actually poor design – shiny hunting is one of the major end-game activities and I would play the game more if it was more accessible,” another partially colorblind user responded.

Niantic

The difference between a standard and Shiny Frigibax can be hard to spot in the snow.

Many players expressed a desire for Gamefreak to patch indicators for Shiny Pokemon into Pokemon Scarlet & Violet. There’s been no official explanation from the developer for why they chose not to include them.

For players struggling with the Shiny hunt, Pokemon Scarlet & Violet have a host of other endgame activities including the ever-popular Tera Raid Battles. We’ve got heaps of guides to get you and your team Tera Raid ready below.

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