Ever failed to catch a shiny?

[Sheep]

I'm sure many of us have had success stories with catching shinies, but have you ever failed to catch any? What happened?

 

[Devalue]

Maybe one? Remembers doing an online Dynamax Raid in Sword/Shield. Joined a Tyrogue raid that was shiny. Failed to catch it. Was not too broken up about it. Prefers the normal colors on all three evolutions.

Fainted one, maybe two shiny Dittos on purpose. Beat up Dittos in SOS battles trying for a 5 IV one. Caught 20+ Dittos. Saw several shiny Dittos. Caught the first few. Hated to break the chain by the third or fourth, especially on a relatively bad Ditto. Planned to trade them. Wanted to give better ones.

 

[CoolKid575]

Yes. On July 4th, 2022 I was going through the Seafoam Islands in SoulSilver and reached Articuno; I had forgotten it was there so I didn't stock up on Pokeballs but I still wanted to catch it. I ran out of Pokeballs (I had around 50 of various types) trying to catch the first and the second struggled to death. The third was a shiny and I really wanted to get it; unfortunately fate wasn't on my side as I had to slowly watch it break out of every single ball I had until I ran out. I also failed a shiny Geodude in Oreburgh Mine by accidently fainting it in one hit.

 

[TwilightBlade]

In Pokémon Crystal, I encountered a shiny Grimer. I didn't have any Pokemon on my team to weaken it, so I threw an Ultra Ball, but it popped out. It fled. Apparently, Grimer are some of the few Pokemon coded with a high rate of fleeing in a generation 2 game. :( I did end up hunting for a shiny Grimer in Pokemon Violet recently to avenge it.

In Pokemon Violet, I encountered a shiny Hoppip. I didn't check its moves before trying to lower its HP. It used Memento and fainted itself.

Those are the only ones I can remember at this time.

 

[Explorer of Time]

There's been a couple times in GSC where I failed to catch the Red Gyarados. Other than that, not really. I have terrible luck even finding shinies.

 

[Elder Trainer]

Twice. I encountered a shiny Machop in FR, and I accidentally selected Run when I was trying to throw a Poke Ball. I eventually caught a shiny Machamp in PLA years later to make up for it.

Speaking of PLA, I tried and failed to catch a shiny Wurmple. It popped out of the first ball I threw at it, and every other ball I threw missed as it ran away and eventually despawned. I can't decide which of the two shiny fails embarasses me more....

 

[Squirtkipfan01]

TECHNICALLY...
in pokemon legends i JUST managed to spot a shiny abra, but it teleported away before i could engage. Im not too upset about it

 

[Lavender]

When I was getting all the shiny Eeveelutions in Violet, I accidentally despawned 2 shiny eevees by going into Medali.It was an outbreak right by the town.

 

[ReKoil]

I failed a shiny Golduck in Emerald's Safari Zone. I did try to catch it, but it ran after a couple tries.

Coincidentally... I caught two shiny Golduck in SV and another in PLA, along with a shiny Alpha Psyduck.... 😅

 

[Sweet Serenity]

I have failed to catch the shiny red Gyarados in Pokémon Crystal before, where I accidentally defeated it before catching it. Thankfully, it is encountered in the game's story, so I saved my game before engaging with it.

 

[Palamon]

I WILL NEVER FORGIVE MIRA IN DIAMOND FOR KILLING A SHINY ZUBAT WITH HER KADABRA SHE'S ON MY SHIT LIST FOR LIFE.

Other than that, a Shiny Nidorina ran away after I threw a rock at in the FR/LG Safari Zone.

And a Togepi despawned in Legends. These are the only Shiny fails I can think of from main series games. I will not be counting romhacks.

 

[Iceshadow3317]

Nope. Luckily I've never failed a shiny catch after I knew what they were. The only time I've ever failed at catching a shiny pokemon is in the original Gold/Silver/Crystal when I was going to Cianwood and encountered a shiny tentacool. At the time I didn't know shiny pokemon were a thing, so I ran from it because I had encountered so many pokemon and didn't know repels were a thing at such a young age. Every other shiny pokemon I've ever encountered I've always caught.

I will say that I thought I missed a Toedscruel in the Teal Mask DLC region because it looked blue in the wild, but just ended up being the real color and the blue was coming through much more than in Paldea, but after looking it up, Shiny Toedscruel isn't blue. It would have been a cruel twist of date if I had missed a Toedscruel all these years later lol.

 

[Jbsundown]

Yes! In Pearl I came across a shiny Graveller in Mt. Coronet if I remember correctly but I didn't have any poke balls at all to use. I think I remember taking a photo on my Sony Ericsson phone at the time to show my friends instead but knowing the camera quality of the time it probably wasn't even noticeable.

 

[CoolKid575]

Yes! In Pearl I came across a shiny Graveller in Mt. Coronet if I remember correctly but I didn't have any poke balls at all to use. I think I remember taking a photo on my Sony Ericsson phone at the time to show my friends instead but knowing the camera quality of the time it probably wasn't even noticeable.

Do you still have the picture?

 

[RadEmpoleon]

The only time I can think of was when I was hunting for a shiny Stufful through SOS chaining. I did find one around 60 or 70 calls, but I failed it because the shiny Stufful called another Stufful which used Brutal Swing and knocked it out. I think I just continued chaining in that same battle and found (and caught!) another shiny one.

There was another time where I almost failed a shiny Beldum because those things are just so hard to catch. Their catch rate is 3, the same as most legendaries. I was worried it would run out of PP on Take Down and then struggle to death. (I had Alolan Marowak out so I wasn't worried about it taking recoil damage.) Luckily it had a few more Take Downs left when I finally caught it.

 

[Jbsundown]

Do you still have the picture?

Oh no! I don't even know where the phone for it would be I'm afraid!

 

[Incineroar]

I have.

Wally once sent out a shiny Zigzagoon to fight Ralts. I wouldn't have had any way to catch it. :why:

 

[Zeostar]

I actually don't recall this ever happening.

My luck with shines isn't great to begin with, but when I do find one, I play passively. I'll throw everything in my inventory while almost never attacking. Going off the idea that it'll be caught eventually. Money is plentiful, shiny pokemon are not.

 

[Palamon]

Oh, I remembered another one. I saw a Shiny Noctowl in heartgold & ran out of pokeballs, but I sift reset to pretended it never happened & got a Shiny Drowzee Same day.