For the first time ever, shiny Pokémon never despawn. Ever. Not if you die. Not if you close the game. Not even if Arceus himself pulls the plug on your Switch. Once that glorious sparkle shows up, that Pokémon is yours — until you either catch it, faint it, or scare it off like an amateur. For reals.
Remember when you’d find a shiny, panic, throw a Poké Ball, miss, and then watch your prize blink out of existence like your will to live? Those days are gone. Z-A uses a brand-new system where the game auto-saves only when you successfully catch a Pokémon — not when it runs or disappears. So if your shiny Furret hunt results in a loss of all your PokeBalls before you can snag it, just reset and—bam—it’s still there. It’s like the game finally learned empathy.
Here's the new shiny catching mechanic for Legends: Z-A – AutoSave!
In this game SHINY POKÉMON NEVER DESPAWN. It doesn't matter if you die, close the game, or the day changes, as soon as a shiny Pokémon appears it will stay there until you defeat it or you make it fly away. pic.twitter.com/RmAycFutrf
— Centro LEAKS (@CentroLeaks) October 16, 2025
And because the auto-save system is quietly working behind the scenes, every shiny you discover gets permanently locked into your world until you interact with it. The more you play, the more your map becomes a shiny museum of sorts — “The Louvre, but Make It Pokémon.” There is one small caveat to this though.
The game saves up to ten shiny Pokémon at a time on your map. If you somehow find an eleventh, the oldest shiny gets replaced. This means you could theoretically spend days building your own glittering safari of rare Pokémon. Even if some are hiding in previously unreachable areas, they’ll patiently wait for you to return, still gleaming like the loyal little treasures they are. Unless you encounter 10 additional shiny Pokémon before returning back to it.
Also, the time of day matters. If you spot a shiny during the day, and that particular Pokémon is exclusive to daytime encounters, it won’t appear at night. But don’t worry — it’ll be back when morning hits. Think of it as your shiny buddy clocking out for the night, grabbing a coffee, and showing up again for the next shift.
As usual, with the Shiny Charm, your odds of encountering a shiny drop to an impressive 1 in 1,024.38 — which sounds weirdly specific, but hey, we’ll take it. It’s a huge leap from the old “pray to RNGesus and sacrifice three Magikarp” approach of the past.
Unfortunately, revived fossils aren’t affected by the charm. So while Aerodactyl and Kabuto might hate you, everything else in Paldea’s chrome-covered streets just got a whole lot more exciting.
For years, shiny hunting has been equal parts passion and pain — a ritual of patience, heartbreak, and Reddit bragging rights. But Pokémon Legends: Z-A has flipped that script. Now, shiny Pokémon aren’t fleeting miracles. They’re permanent residents in your save file, waiting to be admired, hunted, and added to your team.
And while this is great news for the masses, the elite purists might find this to be a blight on their shiny treasure hunts. Whatever, though. With Pokémon GO it has never been easier to find shinies in this day and age so we say enjoy it. Because for the first time in Pokémon history, your shinies aren’t just rare… They’re forever.
