Can Mewtwo be shiny in Pokemon Go? (March 2023)

Mewtwo is one of the most powerful pocket monsters in Pokemon GO. The artificially created Pokemon has excellent stats in the game, which, combined with its pure Psychic typing, makes it a strong addition to your team. It is also one of the most elusive creatures in Niantic's mobile game, with only two ways of getting it in the game.

Shiny hunting is a popular hobby for Pokemon GO players, you may have wondered if you can catch a shiny form of this Legendary Pokemon from the original video game series. Of the two ways to catch Mewtwo in the game, only one offers a shiny variant, but even that is rare.

This article will tell you about the two methods to catch Mewtwo, and which one has the chance to spawn a shiny version of the pocket monster.

---

There is only a minuscule chance of encountering shiny Mewtwo in Pokemon GO currently

The two ways to get Mewtwo in the mobile game currently are:

• Complete the level 50 special researches to get Mewtwo as a reward.
• Defeat Team Rocket GO's leader, Giovanni, to get your hands on a Shadow Mewtwo.

The only way to get the shiny variant of Mewtwo in the game currently is through the first method. Upon reaching level 50 in the game, you unlock a special research, at the end of which you receive Mewtwo as a reward. There is a small chance that this creature can be shiny.

However, given that this is not a repeatable method, if you don't get the shiny variant in your first go, you will not be able to find it in the game at all currently.

The other method of catching Mewtwo in Pokemon GO is defeating Giovanni in some events, like the Team Rocket Takeover event that camein October 2022. You could catch a Shadow form of the legendary Pokemon after defeating the boss; however, it has been confirmed by Niantic that Mewtwos that spawn through this method cannot be shiny.

This makes shiny Mewtwo one of the rarest shiny pocket monsters in Pokemon GO. If you missed the chance to get one through special research, all you can do is hope that Niantic makes it appear in five-star Raid Battles in the future. So far, there has been no news of such a thing happening in the near future.

---

All things considered, it is important to remember that shiny variants of pocket monsters only add an interesting cosmetic dimension, and don't provide any stat boosts. Mewtwo is still one of the strongest Pokemon in the game. Especially if you have the Shadow form, which gets an offensive boost, you can dominate both PvE and PvP battles with it.

Mewtwo is currently unavailable in Pokemon GO outside the special research method. But if and when it comes back again, you will do well to take strong Dark and/or Bug-type pocket monsters to fight it to have the best chance of emerging victorious. If you catch it by defeating Giovanni, do not purify it because of the additional attack boosts it gets on top of its already busted stats.