19 November 2025

Z-A Player Discovers Super Rare Version of Charmander

By newsgame

A Pokemon Legends: Z-A player catches a version of Charmander that has a 0.000122% chance of spawning, which means there’s a 1 in 819, 672 chance. Pokemon Gold and Silver introduced the concept of Shiny Pokemon back in 2000, for context, where a wild encounter had a 1 in 8,192 chance of being shiny. In other words, this Charmander in Pokemon Legends: Z-A is about a hundred times rarer than Shinies back then.

Shinies has come a long way since then, with Shiny hunting in Pokemon Legends: Z-A and other Pokemon games becoming more common as opposed to pure luck. The spawn chances have been adjusted over the years, items like the Shiny Charm have made finding them easier, and various reset methods and so forth have made Shiny Pokemon more of an option and less of a random, amazing luxury Pokemon. Still, a Shiny Alpha Female Charmander (and Charizard) is definitely a super rare luxury Pokemon.

Screenshots shared by Redditor BASEERNINJA show this beautiful Pokemon in the wild and later in the party. While there are plenty of jokes about the chances of a Shiny Alpha Female Charmander becoming a Shiny Alpha Female Charizard are abundant, there is a crackdown of the math and chances too. Assuming the Redditor has Pokemon Legends: Z-A‘s Shiny Charm, this means the fact that Shinies are 1/1024, Alphas are 1/20, a female Charmander is 1/8, the Charmander spawn itself is 1/10, and that there are two potential spawns, that means there’s a 1 in 819, 672 chance of finding this specific Charmander in the wild.

The Chances of a Shiny Alpha Female Charmander in the Wild

Shiny: 1/1024 (with Shiny Charm)
Alpha: 1/20
Female: 1/8
Charmander Spawn: 1/10
+Two Potential Spawns
= 1 in 819, 672, or .000122%
H/T Redditor PlanGoneAwry

Oh, and to make it even more special, BASEERNINJA caught this Charmander with a Moon Ball. It seems they had saved and intended to use Pokemon Legends: Z-A‘s save-and-reset shiny hunting method to ensure they caught it, but according to the Redditor, they accomplished it on the first try. If nothing else, it is adjustments like that which ensure Shiny Pokemon remain special and in the hearts of fans the world over.

Over time, Shiny Pokemon have become more and more commonplace, and it’s even possible to complete living Shiny Pokedexes in games like Scarlet and Violet. That’s a far cry, even if it was technically possible, from the achievements of earlier games. All the same, the introduction of Alpha Pokemon and other parameters ensures that there’s always going to be a way to happen upon genuinely rare, genuinely awesome Pokemon.