3rd Gen Soft Resetting for a Shiny Starter

On Ruby and Sapphire how many times can I soft reset for a shiny starter before my shiny counter breaks?

There is no "shiny counter" when resetting for a shiny starter on R/S/E. You always have the same chance of finding a shiny starter on every reset: 1 in 8,192. You can reset as many times as you want to try and find a shiny.

There is no counter or "chaining" for soft resets. As already stated you always have a chance of 8192 to get a shiny so you just have to keep trying until you get that lucky one. I've been doing on and off SRs for shiny Torchic on Ruby for a few months and a bit over 1000 SRs, just waiting for the lucky day it pops up when I pick it up to do a few more. It can take a while so just be patient.

Ir does break after awhile. My sister told me after a certain number of soft resets I can no longer get a shiny starter and have to restart with a new save file.

Konekodemon said:

Ir does break after awhile. My sister told me after a certain number of soft resets I can no longer get a shiny starter and have to restart with a new save file.

Click to expand...

That sounds like your sister might have some misinformation. What you just said is partially true, but only for Emerald and Ruby and Sapphire when they have dead batteries. There is still no chain at all when soft resetting, it would be impossible for a chain of any kind to happen since SR is resetting the game like if you were actually turning it on and off, it doesn't store any information.

The part that is somewhat true is starting a new file after doing some SRs. If your shiny frame is not in an early frame of the game you should restart and do like 100 or so to see if you get a shiny or not. If you're unlucky then the shiny frame is probably not early in that file meaning you restart and try another 100 or so and check your luck with that file. This only applies to Emerald and dead/dry internal battery Ruby and Sapphire. The RNG works different in those.

My game DOES have a dead battery.

In that case then you should follow the restart rule. I say restart on a new file after about every 100-200 SRs. The trick is to try and SR every so often at different times. Like do a few as fast as you can, then do some as you see the banner for the route, then some before the banner disappears, then some as it goes offscreen, so on and so forth. That way you have a better chance to find the shiny frame it's on. If you only keep on doing it as fast as you can you lessen your chance and limit yourself to only the few frames in the beginning when you could have had the early frame on that file and just didn't know. Hope all this helps you.

Has anyone actually achieved this? That is some real dedication. Resetting a game for this reason would drive me up the wall.

Many people have done this. It really takes nothing to reset the game to try and find an event shiny Pokemon.

Although not in R/S/E, I know someone who reset OmegaRuby to get a shiny Treecko. She finally got it after resetting the game over 5,500 times.

I remember I tried resetting for a shiny Rayquaza back on Sapphire (when my internal battery was still working), and I must've tried resetting about 500 times before giving up. Knowing that I still only had a 1/8192 chance each time, I eventually just gave up. As much as I'd love to SR for a shiny Pokemon of any kind, I just don't have the patience for it, especially in older games like this when there's nothing to increase the rate of finding one, like the Shiny Charm in newer games.

Elysieum said:

Has anyone actually achieved this? That is some real dedication. Resetting a game for this reason would drive me up the wall.

Click to expand...

I'm with you on this one, I've started so many games of pokemon in the past 20 ish years, and I think I've been lucky enough to see 2 legit shiny pokemon, imagine resetting over and over and over, I've done it for natures, but I definitely prefer those odds.

Good luck with the resets though guys, you are much braver than me ;)

Tangential to the topic - how do you soft-reset? Might try it for the Kanto and Hoenn legends (Already have a normal Bulbasaur at lv.40 so not changing him).

And would it work for gift pokémon i.e. Lapras?

Amore said:

Tangential to the topic - how do you soft-reset? Might try it for the Kanto and Hoenn legends (Already have a normal Bulbasaur at lv.40 so not changing him).

And would it work for gift pokémon i.e. Lapras?

Click to expand...

You can soft reset by pressing A+B+Start+Select at the same time. And yes, you can soft reset for Gift Pokemon as well, since I know people have done it for the Lapras from Silph Co., and even Pokemon like Dratini you can buy at the Game Corner.

So lemme ask a question so I can understand this correctly: You can soft reset as many times as you want in a Sapphire game that doesn't have a dry battery without having to start a new save every 50 or so SRs? And if so, would doing that anyways help the game so that the shiny frame is more likely to be in the early game? I've never purposely hunted out shinies before so idk :/

Jacella__2583 said:

So lemme ask a question so I can understand this correctly: You can soft reset as many times as you want in a Sapphire game that doesn't have a dry battery without having to start a new save every 50 or so SRs? And if so, would doing that anyways help the game so that the shiny frame is more likely to be in the early game? I've never purposely hunted out shinies before so idk :/

Click to expand...

....You can still soft reset after an internal battery runs dry.

Astinus said:

She finally got it after resetting the game over 5,500 times.

Click to expand...

5,500 times is insane. I'd have got bored after 5! How did she keep track or was it an estimate?

This reminds me of Animal Crossing New Leaf, people will keep resetting to get the villagers they want.

tranceking26 said:

5,500 times is insane. I'd have got bored after 5! How did she keep track or was it an estimate?

Click to expand...

Thank you for allowing me to remember two years ago! It took me some time to figure out who I was talking about, but I did remember.

She streamed the hunt on Twitch. While I don't know her set-up, I can guess from other streamers that she probably had a script that would allow her to raise the counter by 1 when she pressed a button (either on her keyboard or stream deck.) And I think that was also how she didn't get bored during the hunts, or any other ones she did. She streamed them on Twitch, and had a community of people to talk to.

Her final count was actually 5719 SRs!

Astinus said:

Her final count was actually 5719 SRs!

Click to expand...

Didn't realise the thread was that old, I need to pay more attention at times!

Ah very clever! Streaming it on Twitch would certainly make the whole thing easier to do, plus I imagine the moment she finally got a shiny was epic.

Is there a vod of her getting it?

tranceking26 said:

Is there a vod of her getting it?

Click to expand...

Warning: She and her husband are both very excited once she gets it, so headphone users beware!

Astinus said:

Warning: She and her husband are both very excited once she gets it, so headphone users beware!

Click to expand...

Haha, awesome reactions. That Treecko does look good. I like the name she gave it too.