Shiny fail jumpscare terrifies Pokemon Scarlet & Violet player

Zackerie Fairfax
pokemon trainer jumpscare

There are many ways for players to fail Shiny encounters in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, but one player’s heart skipped a beat after a Shiny vanished as soon as they made contact with it.

Shiny Pokemon are back in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, and thanks to revamped textures and dynamic lighting, Shinies look better than ever before. But due to spawning mechanics and lack of visual/audible signifiers, Shiny Pokemon are easier to fail as well.

Shiny Pokemon can pop in and out of the player’s render distance in a split second. They can fall off cliffsides or run too far too fast. And if players aren’t prepared, some Shinies can Self-Destruct ending their lives before the player even gets a chance to catch them.

But one hunter about to encounter a Shiny Kirlia was jumpscared when the Pokemon vanished before their eyes.

Shiny Pokemon vanishes inches from trainer

The incident was shared by Reddit user Friedall who was hunting for Shiny Kirlia just north of Porto Marinada. The footage was captioned, “Kiliar pranked me hard,” during which the player looped around the lighthouse and spotted a blue-haired Kirlia standing near the cliff’s edge.

They approached the Kirlia and went to save the game, only for the Pokemon to vanish as soon as they pressed the “X” button to open the menu. Friedall quickly unpaused the game and ran forward to no avail. It wasn’t until after they stepped away from its spawn location that the Shiny Pokemon reappeared.

Friedall went on to encounter and capture the Shiny, but not before it gave them quite the fright.

This occurred because of how Pokemon Scarlet & Violet handles spawns when specific menus are open. Since the game doesn’t actually pause when menus are pulled up, Pokemon within a certain vicinity of the trainer will “disappear” to minimize visual clutter.

Luckily, these Pokemon only vanish visually and can still be encountered once the menu is closed or else Friedall would have shared a much sadder story.

About The Author

Zackerie is a former Senior Writer for Dexerto who covered a wide variety of games and entertainment. He has a degree in Creative Writing and was previously the editor of The LaRue County News. Zackerie switched to games media in 2020 writing for outlets such as Screen Rant, Fortnite INTEL, and Charlie INTEL.