Shiny hunting in Pokémon has become a little easier over the years with special items that can increase the odds, such as the Shiny Charm introduced in Gen V and Herba Mystica sandwiches that can be made in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. It also helps that newer games such as Pokémon Legends: Arceus and Scarlet and Violet have wild Pokémon running around in the overworld, which means players can find a Shiny Pokémon before entering a battle with it. This, however, also has its drawbacks.
Reddit user Maleficent-Bit1761 shared an unlucky clip earlier today in which the player was surrounded by a swarm of Iron Bundles in Area Zero. With all these Iron Bundles on the loose, it’s likely the player made a sandwich to boost their encounter and Shiny rates to make the Shiny hunt go faster. A Shiny Iron Bundle did eventually appear, but it was too soon to celebrate.
Before the player could even attempt to catch the Shiny, the other Iron Bundles kept sneaking up on them from behind one after another. This was a frustrating problem because the player couldn’t move at all between the battle encounters with each Iron Bundle. The Shiny one could be seen in the background as if to taunt the player, but there was nothing they could do about it until the other Iron Bundles stopped forcing them into battles. The clip showed this had happened at least four times in a row, but it’s unclear how long it actually went on for. It also ended before they caught the Shiny, so there’s a chance that the poor player missed out on the silver penguin after all that frustration.
A few players sympathized with their fellow Shiny hunter and offered a good piece of advice. Rather than running from all of the encounters with the normal Iron Bundles, it would have helped to defeat each one to clear out the area. That could have prevented the accidental chain of encounters altogether.
