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Highlights

  • Some shiny first-partner critters, such as shiny Swampert and Charizard, have outstanding colors that make them stand out and enhance their appearance.
  • The shiny Pokemon in A tier have amazing color palettes that deserve high praise, although some may not be unique enough to be among the best shiny Pokemon in the series.
  • Shiny Pokemon in B tier often have disappointing color palette changes, with little improvement from their base versions. Some examples include Samurott and Meganium.

Pokemon games in the mainline series typically feature three first-partner Pokemon that players ca n choose from to get their so-called starter - a critter to begin their adventure with. Pokemon Yellow is an outlier in the series to this day because it features Pikachu as the only possible starter, which is also not part of the traditional type trifecta, and on top of that cannot evolve. With shiny Pokemon becoming more and more popular as ways to get them are added to the games, it's a good starting point to determine which starters have good shiny palettes and which got the short end of the stick.

This tier list only includes the final evolution of every possible shiny starter Pokemon, rather than all three stages. Pikachu is not included in this tier list due to being an unevolved form and due to Pokemon Yellow's odd status as a mainline game that strays from typical rules concerning starters. This tier list also doesn't include regional variants for starter Pokemon - namely, those from Pokemon Legends: Arceus - or Mega Evolutions/Gigantamax forms.

shiny pseudo-legendary pokemon tier list
Related
Shiny Pseudo-Legendary Pokemon Tier List

There are currently ten pseudo-Legendary Pokemon in the series, and while some of them have incredible shinies, others are a bit disappointing.

S Tier

  • Charizard
  • Sceptile
  • Swampert
  • Delphox
  • Greninja
  • Decidueye

These shiny Pokemon are S tier because they gain spectacular colors that enhance their appearance by making them stand out even more than they normally would in their base form.

Some shiny first-partner critters enjoy great shiny color palettes that take them to the next level with outstanding colors, sometimes even rare ones, such as shiny Swampert's lilac or Chairzard's and Greninja's black. With Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Indigo Disk making all starters catchable, players may want to keep an eye on some more closely than others, especially in the Blueberry Academy's large open world.

A Tier

  • Venusaur
  • Feraligatr
  • Emboar
  • Serperior
  • Chesnaught
  • Inteleon

The shiny Pokemon in A tier are critters with amazing color palettes that deserve high praise for the way they look compared to their base versions. In some cases, a more bland shiny color palette is helped by multiple forms for the pocket monster.

Although critters like shiny Emboar make for great starter Pokemon in any player's collection, some of them are not unique enough to end up among the best shiny Pokemon in the series, even among starters only. They do still have amazing designs and color palettes that make them stand out compared to their regular forms, giving players a good reason to hunt for them.

B Tier

  • Blastoise
  • Meganium
  • Infernape
  • Samurott
  • Primarina
  • Rillaboom
  • Cinderace
  • Skeledirge

These shiny Pokemon fall in B tier because most of the time they have some color palette changes that are actually subpar or somewhat disappointing because they mainly consist of a shade change.

There are plenty of great shiny Pokemon in the franchise, but some do not meet expectations due to little changes to the overall palette, with a great example being Samurott. Samurott's shiny is darker on the body and then has copper-shaded bits on its arms, legs, and head instead of the regular color, which makes it a bit disappointing. Pokemon games can still change this in the future, as the recent The Teal Mask DLC for Gen 9 significantly improved Kommo-o's shiny, for example.

C Tier

  • Typhlosion
  • Blaziken
  • Torterra
  • Empoleon
  • Incineroar
  • Meowscarada
  • Quaquaval

There are also shiny Pokemon that are not particularly different from their base versions, to the point that only a small bit or detail of their appearance changes, or simply their color palette remains mostly identical.

Pokemon's Incineroar is a competitive threat even two generations after its first introduction, and while it's very strong in VGC, its shiny can feel a little undercooked because its only change is from black stripes to white, whereas the rest remains the same. The same applies to several other starters, which can still be good and worth hunting shinies for, but not much truly changes compared to their base form.