Pokemon GO Update is Tricking Shiny Hunters

gamerant.com:

Pokemon GO players searching for shiny Pokemon are being tricked by one of the game's latest updates, which introduced the Rediscover GO campaign earlier this month. The Rediscover GO campaign includes visual and quality-of-life updates that aim to encourage Pokemon GO players to try out existing features that were greatly improved.

Although Pokemon GO was released nearly eight years ago, the appeal of the mobile game continues, with millions of players still exploring and catching Pokemon around the world. Developer Niantic continues to release new updates for Pokemon GO in 2024, including the Rediscover GO series of updates. The game's most recent campaign hopes to bring back players by implementing new visual updates, improved avatar features, in-game map improvements, and much more.

Pokemon GO player throwupandaway71 encountered a normal Litwick in the game that appeared to be a shiny Litwick at first glance, due to the game's updated lighting. After throwupandaway71 shared the incident in a Reddit post, many other Pokemon GO players began to chime in with their thoughts on the new lighting. Other players were tricked by the lighting, but some noted that the lack of shiny particles around the Pokemon was a clear indicator that it was not shiny. While the new lighting appears to be received positively by thePokemon GO community on Reddit, many players looking for shiny Pokemon wished that the lighting would not interact with certain features of a Pokemon, such as Litwick's candle flame.

In regard to exploration during nighttime in Pokemon GO, throwupandaway71 notes that the regular Litwick will emit a blue glow, similar to the shiny Litwick. This may especially trick players hunting for a shiny Litwick, since the differences between the normal and shiny variants are very subtle. It's also worth noting thatPokemon GO's Rediscover GO campaign has shiny boosts, so players looking for specific shiny Pokemon may need to closely observe the Pokemon they encounter more