Important takeaways
- Shiny Fossil Pokémon range from excellent to lackluster, with unique color variations that can be hit or miss.
- Some fossil Pokémon, like Kabuto and Kabutops, glow with vibrant green sheens, while others, like Shieldon, fall flat.
- Some Fossil Pokémon, like Arctovish, have unusual but striking shines, while others, like Archeops, offer subtle color changes.
A fan-favorite subset of Pokemon, the Fossil Pokemon has been around since the beginning of the series. While the newly ancient Paradox Pokemon feel like the Fossil group, they are completely separate with no overlap. Unique from most other Pokémon in that it requires an item to then transform into a member of the player's team, the wide variety of different ancient fossil Pokémon also offers a wide variety of different shiny palettes.
With so many Pokemon to choose from, the range of quality for shiny Fossil Pokemon reaching mountainous heights and cavernous heights. From the usual victims of bad color changes and barely changing from the base color to perfect and drastic variations, the best shiny Fossil Pokemon stand far above the worst.
25 Carracosta
Deeper water depth
One of the more forgettable fossil Pokemon,Carracosta's shiny doesn't help matters with its oft-ignored status. This alternate variant, which falls into the category of bad shinys that most players dislike, only changes the color saturation of the colors of the original.
Getting just a little darker, the shiny Carracosta certainly doesn't appear at the top of any shiny hunter's list.
24 Tirtouga
Coastal Teal
Perhaps one of the more forgotten fossil Pokemon, Tirtouga from Generation 5 offers a shiny swap that often appears with Water types. Usually the watery hues turn a new blue color, Tirtouga's somewhat tropical teal fits right in.
While it's by no means shiny, the switch to a slightly lighter blue isn't as eye-catching as other options.
23 Archeops
Light saturation
The other half of the Tirtouga line, Archeops has many problems, even beyond that are medium gloss colors. Notorious for perhaps the worst ability of all Pokémon franchise, the perfectly subtle color changes for its shiny form are like a cherry on top.
By simply moving a bit of saturation and the feather colors around, the Archeops shiny feels perfect considering everything else it doesn't have going on.
22 Shieldon
Polished metal
Found in the original Sinnoh games, as well as remakes and reimaginings,Shieldon is unfortunately the smaller of Generation's two Fossil lines in the glossy department.
Barely noticeable, the Shieldon's metal plate and body change hues slightly, with the top becoming more blue and the body becoming a lighter yellow. Compared to the alternatives seen even within the Sinnoh fossils, this shiny is best left in the past.
21 Bastiodon
Steel blue
Following in his first stage horse, Bastiodon effectively has the same sheen as the Shieldon, albeit slightly tweaked to better suit this ancient steel monster.
In certain lighting, the shiny Bastiodon's color scheme gives its headplate a blue-black metallic look, and its yellow body isn't quite as neon as the Shield's, so the contrast works a bit better.
20 Lileep
Capture the grass type
Although not terribly shiny in general, Lileep swapping out the exciting purple for a plain green, which suits the Grass type, isn't a bad trade, but it doesn't do much to catch their eye either.
The green works well for Lileep's slightly alien, deep-sea look, but it's not a particularly shiny fossil compared to others.
19 Crazy
Wild Tone Shift
Unlike Lileep, Cradilysis already green body makes a colorful and bright switch to pink, completely betraying the grass-type theme with its shiny design.
While the intense and unexpected change is appreciated, the choice of pink, especially when considering Cradily's distinctive head details, is indeed a choice.
18 Aerodactyl
Light Pink Pterodactyl
One of the original five fossil Pokémon, Aerodactyl's shiny form wasn't revealed until Generation 2, where this stony gray pteranodon monster turned pink.
Definitely a more unique color among stone species, shiny Aerodactyl may not dominate among the Kanto fossils, but the new palette fascinates casual players and shiny hunters alike.
17 Anorith
From silver to gold
With obvious inspiration from its partial Rock typing, shiny Anorith's now brown-gold tones, instead of messy gray, really improve this slightly odd old bug.
The shiny palette may be simple, but its effectiveness gives Anorith an edge over its Hoenn competitor.
16 Armaldo
From blue to red
Much like its pre-evolution, Armaldos tone shift is a logical reversal between typically paired colors. Instead of silver for gold, Armaldo trades his muddy blue for a bright red.
For both a Rock-type and a Bug-type, the change to red is appreciated and provides a rather unique palette.
15 The Arch
Reptile Dinosaur Green
Although the shiny color is quite simple, the change from sky blue to a lizard-like green adds more to the dinosaur feel of The Arch.
Even when Archen is based on a proto-bird, the reptilian aesthetic of scales and odd claws is only enhanced by the addition of neon green frills.
14 Omanyte
Royal Purple Helix
A Pokemon that has gained a literal cult following in recent years, the purple shiny form of Omanyte coincidentally, the somewhat regal air of this seemingly mysterious Pokémon fits.
The departure from the usual blue hues of water-type Shinies makes this originalFfossil stand out even more, with the purple being a simple but nice change.
13 Unmastered
Purple sea monster
Following with Omanyte, Unmastered continuing the royal purple look, but slightly improving on this particular design.
With Omastar looking crazier, more alien and slightly wild compared to Omanyte, its purple body adds to the craziness and enhances the somewhat fundamental change of the first stage.
12 Kabuto
An emerald in the rough
While Kabuto has been overshadowed by its counterpart in recent years, this prehistoric Pokemon is easily the best in the shiny department.
The change here is all about the shell, but swapping Kabuto's leathery brown color for a vibrant green is a refreshing change.
11 Kabutops
From stone brown to lime green
Much like Kabuto, Kabutops continues the wild green shiny change to great effect. With the bug-like design of Kabutops, the neon lime green eases the strange nature of this ancient, scythe-wielding Pokémon.
Shiny Kabutops is so green that it actually starts to look like a scythe, but the bright green color makes it so look like a shiny, and is worth showing.
10 Amaura
A little snowball
One of the four fossil Pokémon in Kalos, Amaura's glossy form is practically perfect. This ancient Pokémon perfectly suits its ice type, swapping its ice blue for a snow white.
Changing cool colors isn't exactly game-changing, but making Amaura look more like writing it just makes sense.
9 Aurora
Snow covered
Much like its first stage, Aurora captures the same snowy color palette, but thanks to its larger design, the icy blue crystals and pattern on the underside of the Pokémon stand out more, adding to its gorgeous shiny form.
Since Aurorus is almost guaranteed to return in the next Kalos game, those who want a rather prehistoric Pokemon have a good hunt ahead of them.
8 Tyrunt
Royal Baby Blue
The second half of the generation 6 fossil set, Tyrunts baby blue is a stark contrast to the stony brown expected of a fossil Pokemon.
With this unexpected dragon type entering the fossil group, its bright blue shiny color only adds to the aura of this powerful prehistoric Pokémon.
7 Arctovish
Unsaturated water tones
One of the more bizarre Fossil Pokémon in the Galar region, and the only group of Fossil Pokémon that isn't part of Rock-type, Arctovish has an unusual but striking shiny shape.
Somewhat reminiscent of the altered shades of blue popular with water-type shiny forms, Arctovish becomes mostly monochromatic, with purple highlights adding to the quirky nature of this Pokémon.
6 Arctosol
Freezing pale palette
Arctosollike Arctovish, captures the same mad science energy as the earlier weird ice fossil, but with better use of color.
The more subtle purple highlights add to the weirdness that Arctozolt is, easily standing out from the rest of the unofficial Fossil group.
