The Red Gyarados
Everyone remembers the first time they encountered a Shiny Pokemon. For most, this was the Red Gyarados in the Lake of Rage, a looming anomaly that alerted most of us to the existence of other, miscolored Pokemon hidden in the game with a low probability of appearing anytime. In retrospect, the Red Gyarados isn’t as novel as we felt at the time. After all, everyone got a chance to battle it! You have a Shiny, I have a Shiny, we all get Shinies!
But in the heat of the moment, encountering this powerful, unique Pokemon felt truly special. And the elation we’d experience later, when we ran into our first *actual* Shiny in the wild? Completely priceless. Now, if only I had had Poke Balls on me at the time, so I could have captured that blue Snubbull I ran into in my Pokemon Silver game…opening an empty bag may have been the most disappointing moment in my gaming life!