So, I got this idea stuck in my head – I wanted that shiny Gholdengo. You know, the golden guy, but the rare shiny version. Seemed like a cool goal.
First thing I learned, you can’t just stumble upon a shiny Gholdengo out in the wild. Nope, doesn’t work like that. You gotta evolve it from a Gimmighoul. Okay, fair enough, I thought. Grind for an evolution, standard stuff.
The First Roadblock
Then came the kicker. I started hunting those little Gimmighouls, the ones in chests and the tiny ones hiding everywhere in Paldea. Spent ages on it. Then I found out – the Gimmighouls you catch in Scarlet and Violet? They can’t even BE shiny. Like, ever. Seriously frustrating. Felt like I’d wasted a bunch of time.
Figuring Out the Real Path
Had to look around, ask some buddies, check online chatter. Turns out, the only way to get a legit shiny Gimmighoul right now is through Pokémon GO. Yeah, the mobile game. Apparently, they can be shiny there during special events if you use something called a Golden Lure.
So, I had to:
- Dust off my old Pokémon GO account.
- Link Pokémon GO to my Scarlet game on the Switch. This involved sending postcards back and forth. A bit clunky, but whatever.
- Doing that gives you a Coin Bag in GO, and sending more postcards eventually gets you Golden Lures.
- Wait until I actually got a Golden Lure. Took a few days of sending postcards.
The Pokémon GO Grind
Once I had a Golden Lure, I popped it on a PokéStop. Suddenly, Gimmighouls everywhere! For like, half an hour. So I just started catching every single one that appeared. Tap, swipe, catch. Repeat. A lot.
Used several Golden Lures over time. Most Gimmighouls were just the regular kind. Checked every single one. It was tedious, tapping through my Pokémon storage again and again.
And then, finally! After who knows how many catches, one popped up with a different color. Silver body instead of gold. That was it! The shiny Gimmighoul. Felt pretty good, not gonna lie.
Back to Paldea and Coin Hell
Okay, shiny Gimmighoul secured in GO. Next step: get it into my main game. Had to use Pokémon HOME. Transfer from GO to HOME, then from HOME to Scarlet. More menus, more loading screens.
Now the Gimmighoul was sitting in my PC box in Paldea. But it wouldn’t evolve just like that. Remember? Gholdengo needs 999 Gimmighoul Coins. And the coins I got in GO didn’t count here. Ugh.
So began the real grind in Paldea. Running around the entire map. Climbing every single watchtower. Checking every ruin. Clicking on every tiny, hidden Gimmighoul for 1 or 2 coins. Battling the chest forms for 50 or 60 coins. It took hours. Days, actually. Just running routes, grabbing coins, over and over.
My map looked ridiculous, covered in icons I’d visited. The coin count climbed so slowly. 700… 850… 950… it felt endless.
Victory at Last
Finally hit 999 coins. Felt like ringing a bell or something. Pulled the shiny Gimmighoul out of the box and put it in my party. Gave it one level up using a candy (any level up works once you have the coins).
Then I watched the evolution screen. Poof! There it was. Shiny Gholdengo. Instead of bright gold, it’s got this cool silvery-white look. Definitely stands out.
Was it a massive pain? Absolutely. Connecting games, relying on timed lures in another app, then the massive coin grind… it’s a lot. But hey, I got my shiny Gholdengo now. Looks pretty slick running around beside me. Mission accomplished, I guess. Just took way more steps than I first thought.
