Game Help: Shiny Starters

Hey guys,

I've never done any kind of shiny hunting and I've never encountered a shiny Pokemon besides one that was given to me years ago, but I am getting HeartGold version soon and I am considering trying to get a shiny starter. I wanted to know if you had any advice or discussion regarding soft resetting for a shiny starter.

Is there a trick? How do you pass the time? Have any of you caught shiny starters before, or tried?

I will say that I am a little disappointed in the design of shiny Cyndaquil. That was the starter I was thinking about using but I don't know if I like the shiny color scheme.

Personally I've never attempted to SR for a shiny starter. I've SR'ed for gender but never shiny starter because it's just so tedious. I don't know enough about RNG in HGSS but I'm sure someone could point you to some information on that which would make it a little easier. I DID SR for my shiny Moltres from HGSS and can tell you that took MONTHS of resets. If you plan to attempt it, god speed.

I was doing this hunt until I moved abroad. It is by far the best hunt to start with because you have 3x1/8192 chance of encountering a shiny starter, bringing the odds down to 1/2730. Way better than anything else you can do in Gen IV. Furthermore, the starter selection allows you to see if any of the starters are shiny before choosing, so you do not have to pick one and waste extra time on that. It is the best if you hunt for all three; just check all of them.

There's no trick except having patience. The odds don't mean that after 8191 encounters, your 8192nd one will be a guaranteed shiny. No, every time you soft-reset, all three starters have that exact 1/8192 chance of being shiny or not. As the odds are increased because you are doing three hunts at once, it can be annoying if you don't get there fast. I personally did get annoyed, but I kept pushing through because I at least wanted one shiny hunt done. By the time I moved, I still didn't have a shiny, but I wasn't doing it actively. I think the only thing that can make it less tedious is to be as fast as you can, to see as many Pok?mon as you can (of course not too fast, you need to check if they're shiny still). Keeping count of the amount of resets can be either encouraging or discouraging, depending on yourself.

I watch a few shiny hunters on YouTube and some of them watch shows while they're hunting, and only check their game(s) every few seconds when the encounter happens. I think that's the best way to kill time, and I don't think there's any other way, because watching something doesn't require so much attention that you forget to check your Pok?mon. Some people hunt on multiple games at once, but that's an advanced mode, haha.

That's all I got. Good luck with your hunt!