I don’t know why, either. I suppose it might be because it’s so close to yellow, but that doesn’t make much sense. Either way, I’m basically ranking all the orange shinies out there. Not all of these are great, but they are all shiny, and that’s good enough for me.
16. Raichu
Shiny Raichu is Raichu with a tan. He’s the same loveable chubby guy, except he looks like he just got back from Alola. Ironically, shiny Alolan Raichu is even tanner again. So my theory isn’t just nonsense. Seriously though, despite coming in at the bottom of the list, shiny Raichu looks great. The color change to a deeper orange makes him look stronger. He’s not as bright and happy as his yellow-bellied pre-evolution. It’s just a darker shade of orange at the end of the day. If you want to spend possibly tens of hours trying to get your hands on one just for that, then that’s your problem.
15. Mudsdale
At least Raichu was memorable. Mudsdale actually came into the sort of Sun and Moon and was still left on the side of the road, waiting for the Pokémon equivalent of dog’s trust (I know it’s a horse). It’s arguably the worst horse-based Pokémon ever made. I mean, we’ve got Rapidash and Galarian Rapidash, nothing is going to beat that. But the point remains. It gets a golden-orange skin change when it becomes shiny, which looks interesting enough to warrant a spot at the bottom of this list. But I have no idea why you would actually want to hunt this thing.
14. Arbok
Arbok is Pokémon’s danger noodle, and shiny Arbok is golden danger noodle. That’s all it is. The snake becomes gold and gets some purple accents on its big viper chest thingy instead of red (I’m not a snake expert, okay!?) It’s not got enough going on to be any higher than this, but it’s one of those reskins that actually looks like it should be a shiny. Running into one of these in the wild would be a treat. And isn’t that the spirit of shiny hunting at the end of the day?
13. Onix
To this day, I’m mad that shiny Onix isn’t the crystal Onix from way back in the days of the anime. It’s such a missed opportunity. Instead, he looks like this sickly green and orange chain of meatballs. I don’t even know if you can call this orange. I mean, it’s my list, and I think it’s orange… but I get it if you’re annoyed at me for including it. It just sucks that there’s nothing you can do about it, huh?
12. Flareon
Flareon is my favorite eeveelution and one of my favorite Pokémon of all time. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “isn’t Flareon already orange?” Yes, and a gorgeous shade of orange at that. Shiny Flareon is objectively worse looking than the regular version, but I’m including it here entirely because of personal bias. It’s just a lighter color palette. That’s it. There was no effort put into it. Even the white of the tail is slightly lighter. It’s like they just applied a filter to regular Flareon and called it a day.
11. Exeggcute
Shiny Exeggcute just makes these eggs look closer to an actual bunch of eggs. Game Freak even changed the color of this shiny design in Gen VI to look more realistic. I don’t we need more than that, right? It just looks like a bunch of eggs, more so than it did before anyway.
10. Graveler
Geodude was the first shiny I ever obtained. Granted, my friend’s little brother traded it to me off of his DS because he didn’t like how it looked. But it still holds sentimental value for me (I didn’t scam it, I swear. He knew it was shiny, and he asked if I wanted it. I was also 13). Shiny Graveler is the same as Geodude in that it’s just gold. It’s as simple as that. It makes you want to melt it down to see what it’s actually made out of. The screams of Graveler as it burns alive might keep you up at night, but at least you’ll have all that money.
9. Vespiquen
Ah, Vespiquen. I really wish that Game Freak showed you more love. Even though you got a minor part in Crown Tundra, you deserve so much more. At least it has a good-looking shiny sprite, though. Rather than being the typical yellow of a cutesy bumblebee, it’s got a dark orange that looks more similar to a hornet. It’s one of the cooler changes thematically on the list, although that isn’t saying too much.
8. Bewear
Bewear is one of the best Pokémon ever made. All the poor thing wants to do is hug people, but it’s too strong. Imagine the first trainer that figured that out; he goes in for a hug with his adorable bear Pokémon only for it to crush him into a fine tomato paste. Shiny Bewear makes the dude even more loveable. He gets these dark orange paws and a light orange head that looks more innocent than the pink design of the original. It might not be the best-looking orange shiny purely based on design. But it’s got such an amazing story that I have to include it.
7. Vileplume
Vileplume is the OG grass type. This little guy ran so that Victreebel and Scolipede could walk. While I’ll admit that the regular color palette matches the Pokémon perfectly, there’s something special about the shade of orange that was used on the shiny’s flower. It just looks cool. I can’t put my finger on it, but I don’t have to understand why I love it to put it on my list.
6. Breloom
Breloom is one of my favorite competitive Pokémon of all time. Substitute, Sleep Powder, Leech Seed, Poison Heal, Toxic Orb. Do I need any other explanation of why I love it so much? The shiny version of Breloom is a rare example of a color-swap that could have just been an alternative version of the regular Pokémon. It doesn’t look like it would be super rare, but that’s because it just looks so natural.
5. Luxray
Luxray is one of the most beloved Pokémon out there, and there’s a very good reason for that. It’s got such a solid design, great stats, and is an early game electric Pokémon that isn’t a Pikachu reskin. While the black and blue of its regular form work perfectly, the golden shiny swap makes an already intimidating Pokémon look even more badass. It’s not natural looking enough to have you second-guessing if it’s shiny or not, which in this case is a good thing. Shiny Luxray wants you to know that he’s built different.
4. Cinderace
A fire-type bunny Pokémon that’s based on a football/soccer player. I want to find out who came up with that idea and ask them, “why?” I mean, Cinderace looks great and all. But it’s far from a stroke of genius. The shiny sprite, on the other hand, has got one of the best shades of orange that has ever been seen on a Nintendo device. It’s almost like this thing is neon, like it’s glowing. It’s the type of shiny that you hunt because of how it looks exclusively. It also happens to be a starter, and shiny starters are always in high demand.
3. Chandelure
If we’re talking about moments of genius and shiny Pokémon, it doesn’t get any more inspired than Chandelure. It has orange flames rather than purple. You know, like an actual flame. It’s so simple, but it works oh so well.
2. Raikou
Raikou is the runt of the legendary beast litter. That being said, it has the best-looking shiny out of the lot of them. So who’s laughing now? It’s got this deep orange coat that contrasts with the white and black accents incredibly well. This beast looks insane, don’t get me wrong, so it’s crazy in a good way.
1. Ho-Oh
I’m finally able to put this legendary turkey on a list! Ho-Oh already had one of the better-looking color palettes out there. It was alive, vibrant, and looked great. Shiny Ho-oh doesn’t follow that trend at all. Instead, it ups the ante. Shiny Ho-oh is gold and silver, which is absolutely genius by the way (it’s one of the legendaries for Gold and Silver, in case you didn’t know). But aside from that inspired idea, it looks royal. It’s got glistening sliver tail feathers as well as silver on its beak. The wingspan is this majestic orange that’s a far cry from the almost Rio-looking design of the original. Shiny Ho-oh embodies the whole spirit of Gen II, both literally and figuratively.
