Fix Implemented for Broken Shiny Zacian in Pokémon Go

Pokemon Go enthusiasts in New Zealand and Australia often get early access to new Pokemon due to their time zones, and a recent event featuring a Shiny debut has stirred up some issues in the region.

Shiny Legendary Pokemon are highly coveted among trainers, which explains why they are frequently sold on eBay with promises of enticing online trades: fans are eager to showcase these alternate versions of their favorite majestic creatures.

The Legendary Heroes event in Pokemon Go has introduced Shiny Zacian for the first time, allowing players to capture the vibrant blue dog in the mobile game. Unfortunately, many players reported that, although Zacian featured the Shiny animation, it retained the same color as its normal form.

The Niantic Support Twitter/X account promptly addressed the situation, informing trainers that they were aware of the issue and were investigating it further.

Trainers, we are investigating a visual issue affecting shiny Zacian, causing the shiny Pokémon to appear with the shiny animation but the standard color. Note that this is not impacting the shiny appearance rate or other shiny-related features (e.g. PokéDex, transfer warnings).

— Niantic Support (@NianticHelp) September 25, 2024

Detectives on The Silph Road Reddit theorized that the problem stemmed from Shiny Zacian’s graphic assets not being correctly incorporated into the game, resulting in the default color scheme loading while the animation functioned as expected.

Fortunately, Niantic acted swiftly, and users have been reporting that the issue has been remedied. Shiny Zacian is now finally available in Pokemon Go, showcasing its stunning blue form.

While glitches are not uncommon in Pokemon Go, this particular incident has been one of the more unusual occurrences. Typically, most bugs in Pokemon Go arise from individual user experiences in the context of millions of players engaging with the game simultaneously.

This unique situation where a Shiny form remained undisplayed was universally experienced, yet only a handful of players might have been fortunate enough to encounter Shiny Zacian during the glitch’s active period. Now that the issue has been fixed, the regular Zacian with the Shiny animation is a thing of the past, officially meaning that one of the rarest Pokémon has disappeared.

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