Can you catch a shiny Phanpy in Pokemon GO?

Phanpy has been in Pokemon GO for a while now, but can its shiny form be caught?

Phanpy is well known for being a cute baby elephant. It was released when Generation II was introduced to Pokemon GO in 2017. It evolves into Donphan, a pretty strong and bulky Ground-type. Here is the information on its shiny.

Can you catch a shiny Phanpy in Pokemon GO?

As of now, shiny Phanpy cannot be caught. This is probably disappointing to fans since regular Phanpy has been available for so long. Most of the other Pokemon from Johto had their shinies released, including the Generation II starters, the legendary Pokemon Celebi, and even Delibird. For some reason, though, Niantic hasn’t gotten around to shiny Phanpy yet.

If there was a time for shiny Phanpy to be released, it certainly would have been January 2021. Phanpy had a Spotlight Hour that month. Unfortunately, Niantic weren’t releasing shinies during Spotlight Hours back then. It’s something that they do more frequently nowadays.

In fact, April has been great for catching shinies. Both shiny Bunnelby and shiny Buneary were available during the Spring into Spring event. Shiny Grimer will also be coming with Sustainability Week. It is unclear, though, when shiny Phanpy will make it into the game, if ever.

Even in its original game, Phanpy was hard to come by, nevertheless its shiny. It was exclusive to Pokemon Silver, and even then it could only be caught at Route 45. This route is below Blackthorn City, where the final Johto gym is located. Unfortunately, most players have a team of six ready for the Elite Four by then.

Phanpy evolves into Donphan, which is a pretty decent Pokemon. It has both decent Attack and Defense, gets powerful moves like Earthquake and Stone Edge, and can use Rapid Spin to get rid of Stealth Rocks and Spikes.

Donpahn was also featured in Rampage Rollout, a minigame for Pokemon Stadium 2 on the Nintendo 64. This was a racing minigame where Donphan used Rollout to race across a square track.