After the launch of Pokemon Legends: ZAa player uncovers evidence that Mareep is Shiny Locked until one of the game's earliest side quests is completed. While most creatures are found in Pokemon Legends: ZA can be Shiny right from the start, unlocking Shiny Mareep thankfully doesn't take much time to do.
Known as the Wool Pokémon, Mareep first appeared in Pokemon Gold and Silver. Mareep is an Electric-type Sheep Pokémon that can be found throughout the Johto region. Mareep later evolves into Flaaffy and Ampharos via leveling. The shiny variant of Mareep has pink wool rather than yellow, and its body is a slightly darker shade of blue than normal. A Shiny Mareep is guaranteed to appear during side missions 17 inches Pokemon Legends: ZAwhere trainers must climb onto a roof to find the pink-woolly Pokémon waiting invisibly.
Unlocking Shiny Mareep in Pokemon Legends: ZA requires a few steps
While most Pokémon can appear as their Shiny variants out of the box, that is not the case for Mareep i Pokemon Legends: ZA. A Twitter user named Anubis stated that Mareep is Shiny Locked until Side Mission 17, titled “A Shiny Mareep?,” is completed. Using a debugger built into devkitPro, Anubis shared a video proving that Mareep found throughout Wild Zone 1 cannot be Shiny until the mission is complete.
While the Shiny Mareep from Side Mission 17 can be easily caught after weakening it and throwing a Poke Ball, its capture is not required for other Shiny Mareeps to appear from that point on. Anubis also confirmed that two other beings appear below Pokemon Legends: ZAs tutelage, Fletchling and Bunnelby, were also Shiny Locked during their first encounters. However, both Pokémon later turned out to be Shiny unlocked after their tutorials were completed.
Usually, Shiny Hunting is a daunting task in most people Pokémon titles, as the odds of encountering one are 1 in 4,096, or about 0.02%, in most situations. In addition, Pokemon Legends: ZA has audio and visual cues to indicate when a shiny Pokémon appears on the screen. The odds of encountering a Shiny Pokemon can also be increased by obtaining the Shiny Charm, although this quest requires you to complete the game's Pokedex and win 1,000 battles.
Although mistakes can be made when Shiny Hunting enters Pokemon Legends: ZAunlocking Shiny Mareep is a simple endeavor compared to hunting down other Pokémon in Lumiose's Wild Zones. Regardless of the future Pokémon titles will follow suit by tying the appearance of certain Shiny Pokemon to early game missions remains to be seen.
- Released
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16 October 2025
- ESRB
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All 10+ / Fantasy violence, in-game purchase
