Can Slugma be shiny in Pokemon GO?

From 6PM to 7PM on March 30th, 2021, there will be a Spotlight Hour to catch the Lava Pokemon, Slugma, in Pokemon GO.

Is there a chance that Shiny Slugma might be coming with this event though? Unfortunately, no.

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Can Slugma be shiny in Pokemon GO?

Image via The Pokemon Company

The answer is, sadly, no. Niantic hasn’t released shiny Pokemon for any of their Spotlight Hour events in a long time. There will be a large amount of Slugmas to be caught during the hour, but none of them will be shiny.

This is a bit disappointing seeing as though most of the other Generation II Pokemon already have shiny forms. Slugma was released in Pokemon Go back in 2017 and still hasn’t received a shiny version.

Slugma was one of the new Pokemon introduced in Generation II that could only be caught in the Kanto Region. It evolves into Magcargo, a lava snail that used to be the only Fire-type and Rock-type Pokemon in existence (before Coalossal came with Pokemon Sword and Shield).

Magcargo’s claim to fame was likely its inclusion on Gym Leader Blaine’s team in the Generation II games. In HeartGold and SoulSilver, Baine’s Macargo had a White Herb, so when the Pokemon used Overheat and had its Special Attack dropped, White Herb would reset its stats. This was definitely a surprise for players to deal with.

Niantic has gone through the rest of the Generations, having recently released shiny forms for most of the Generation V Pokemon as well as the Talonflame line from Generation VI. Many fan favorites from Pokemon Gold and Silver, such as Typhloshion, Ampharos and Tyranitar, have all received shiny forms.

Believe it or not, though, Slugma isn’t the only Generation II Pokemon waiting on a shiny. Hootoot and Spinarak don’t have shiny forms available either as of yet. It is likely that Niantic is only going to focus on the most popular Pokemon in every Generation to give shiny forms to, and Slugma might not make the cut.

Just because they won’t be releasing Shiny Slugma though, doesn’t mean the entire event is wasted. Players will earn Double Catch Candy for catching Slugma during the Spotlight Hour.