ZA just gave me a big reason to replay it

I have played Pokemon Legends: ZA for a long time due to a few factors: it came out at a time when I really wanted a new one Pokémon the game to play, I really enjoyed the live battles competitively, it had a limited Pokedex that gave me motivation to fully shine hunting it, and it featured a lot of new Mega Evolutions. Out of my 685+ hours in the game, I think I spent at least 300 shiny hunting, and I'd say another 20 or so just resetting my donuts on Asha's since the DLC came out. Despite all this time Pokemon Legends: ZAI didn't complete every single thing it had to offer, especially some DLC quests, the DLC Pokedex, and some legendary or mythic quests.

Recently I went back to the game to get the exclusive Pokemon Legends: ZA Mega Floette for Pokemon championbecause I didn't finish grinding through Infinite ZA Royale for Challenger Tickets. I thought I would eventually go back for the likes of Zeraora and Mega Zeraora, Marshadow, Magearna, and other legendary or mythic Pokemon, but apparently that time has already come. Today, Pokemon Legends: ZA released a new promotion that lets you get a shiny Volcanion in Pokemon, albeit not exactly without effort.

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You can get Shiny Volcanion in Pokemon Legends: ZA, But There's a Catch

The problem is that you can only get Shiny Volcanion Pokemon homeand to do that you have to complete Pokemon Legends: ZA's Pokedex, its Mega Evolution Pokedex and Hyperspace Pokedex. This isn't exactly easy, and even though I had already finished the base game's Pokedex, I'm barely halfway through the DLC. I focused on getting all the Pokemon I wanted first and immediately shiny hunting them, so I wouldn't have to do it later. I'm glad I did, but it took me a little too long for my taste, and I eventually stopped grinding for the remaining species.

Now I find myself booting up Pokemon Legends: ZA again after just over a week since I got the Eternal Flower Floette and its Mega Stone, and I'm not exactly happy with the state of my Pokedex. I've caught 97 Pokemon out of 132, but the ones I'm missing are mostly from special scans, like the ones that let you get Latios and Latias and other shiny legendaries in Pokemon Legends: ZA. Not only that, but these are the Pokemon I have registered in the Pokedex, not necessarily the ones I have in the game.

The reason this is important is that Pokemon home Promotion to get shiny Volcanion only applies if you meet the following criteria:

You must have one Pokemon home account linked to your Switch games
You must have Pokemon home app on mobile
Your Pokemon home accounts on Switch and mobile must be linked
You must have registered all species in Pokemon Legends: ZAs Pokedex in Pokemon homemeaning you have to transfer every Pokemon in the Pokedex individually at least once, and they have to be from Pokemon Legends: ZA originally to make it work
Repeat the process for the Hyperspace Pokedex i Pokemon Legends: ZAs DLC
Make sure you have all the Mega Evolutions in Pokemon Legends: ZA and its DLC unlocked in-game to complete the Mega Evolution Pokedex once the respective Pokemon have been transferred to Pokemon home

Getting Shiny Volcanion in Pokemon Home is a huge grind

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Light (15s)Medium (10s)Hard (5s)Permadeath (5s)

What follows is that even though I've completed the base game Pokedex and a good portion of the DLC Pokedex, I don't have one Pokemon per species in my boxes for the entire base game Pokedex and the one for the DLC, so even mons I've already caught I have to catch again just for this purpose. This makes getting shiny Volcanion a bit of a pain if you don't already have all the Pokemon, and it can be especially problematic for special scanned Pokemon in the DLC.

Despite this, this is the first time since Volcanion's introduction that it can be obtained as shiny. Unlocked Pokemon are unfortunately still a thing, and many animals remain without a shiny form in the series. Now fans can check an item from the list, but more shiny locked Pokemon Scarlet and Violet and even earlier games remain, with one of the most infamous being Victini. I am partially looking forward to actually completing the Pokedex Pokemon Legends: ZA now, but I'm not very happy with the grinding it will require to have a copy of every species in the game and its DLC to transfer to Pokemon home.