5 of the visually worst Shinies in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet debuted several bad shinies from a visual standpoint. The differences between these special variants and their regular forms are minimal in terms of how they look. Worst of all, some of the entries shown below had a ton of potential to appear very cool. Game Freak only needed to change up their look a bit. Such disappointments are sadly prevalent in other titles within the series as well.

This list will only focus on new Shinies introduced in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Some old classics that stink, like Gengar and Garchomp, won't be listed below as a result of this minor decision. Nonetheless, there is no shortage of lousy color swaps that can only be described as lazy.

Note: Some aspects of this article are subjective.

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Five of the worst-looking Shinies in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

1) Paldean Tauros

It's just darker (Image via Game Freak)

Paldean Tauros already looks pretty cool. There are several forms of this creature in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, yet all their Shinies are just darker variants of their original versions. That's disappointing since there was some potential to make the Combat, Blaze, and Aqua Breeds more distinct compared to one another.

Instead, gamers are merely treated to something pretty boring. At the very least, Paldean Tauros changes a ton of its body color, even if it's barely a different shade altogether.

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2) Iron Moth

Arguably the worst Paradox color swap (Image via Game Freak)

One issue with some Shinies in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is that they barely see any change. In Iron Moth's case, all its red parts become silver. While this change is noticeable, it's still rather unremarkable. Iron Moth's related Pokemon, Volcarona and Slither Wing, change their wing colors when Shiny. Hence, only seeing Iron Moth alter its tips is disappointing.

At the very least, the things that change here are more noticeable compared to the next entries on this list.

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3) Armarouge

The eyes are the only thing that changes color-wise (Image via Game Freak)

Note: Celuredge has a similar problem to Armarouge when it comes to how their Shinies look compared to their regular forms. Everything that applies to Armarouge for this entry also applies to Celuredge.

A simple eye color change is pretty dull. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Armarouge and Celuredge are quite popular, yet their popularity has nothing to do with their abysmal Shiny forms. Their designs have a ton of potential for what a different color swap could've looked like, yet Game Freak chose to only alter the eyes a bit.

While the change is nice, having everything else stay largely the same is not.

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4) Gholdengo

Its alternate color palette became available recently (Image via Game Freak)

There was once a time when players couldn't farm Shinies pertaining to Gholdengo's family line. The recent Tera Raid event fixed that, except most players won't notice what's different here. Basically, the golden stripes across Gholdengo's body have been replaced by silver ones.

Keeping much of the body a gold color makes sense since its Ability is named Good as Gold. However, that doesn't mean its alternate color scheme is good. Game Freak could have changed something tied to its belt or done something with the hair to make it more distinct.

As things stand now, Gholdengo's not really worth hunting — unless one is very dedicated to collecting Pocket Monsters in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.

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5) Maushold

Another hard one to notice (Image via Game Freak)

Small shinies with tiny differences are a recipe for disaster. The default version of Maushold has a very faded blue for its "clothes." However, its alternate color palette replaces this fake apparel with a heavily subdued yellow.

It's not as if Maushold couldn't have a better design. There wasn't a need to keep everything else the same color, especially since its regular appearance is unnoteworthy as is. It also doesn't help that trying to Shiny Hunt Maushold can be a pain. This is because of its small stature and big head obscuring part of its body from certain camera angles.