A 15-year mystery solved: Professor Tops reveals strategies for hunting elusive Shiny costumes in Pokémon Battle Revolution.
The Historic Breakthrough: Ending a 15-Year Drought
For the first time since the game’s release, a dedicated Pokémon Battle Revolution player has successfully captured a Shiny costume, solving a mystery that lingered for a decade and a half.
A 15-year quest culminated in May 2022 when streamer Professor Tops secured a full-odds Shiny Groudon costume, proving a long-theorized feature was not just a myth.
Since their debut in Generation II, Shiny Pokémon have defined a core pillar of the franchise’s endgame, inspiring a dedicated subculture of hunters. This pursuit of rare color variants has pushed the community to explore every corner of every game, leading to legendary hunts for mythicals and discoveries in spin-off titles.
Among the pantheon of challenging hunts—from the infamous Manaphy Egg run to Shiny-locked cutscene Pokémon—one Holy Grail remained conspicuously unclaimed: a verifiable, player-owned Shiny costume in the Wii’s Pokémon Battle Revolution. References in official materials and scattered rumors kept hope alive, but concrete proof was absent.
Enter Professor Tops of BrofessorsLab. Motivated by the challenge and the lore, he embarked on a focused hunt for the Shiny Groudon costume in April 2020. Unlike passive hope, his was an active, documented mission to confirm the hunt’s validity.
Professor Tops’ journey was a marathon, not a sprint. Hunting intermittently over two years, he finally achieved success on May 12, 2022. His achievement wasn’t merely luck; it was the result of systematic, optimized grinding.
The sheer scale of the endeavor is staggering. Each potential encounter required a full clear of the challenging post-game Magma Colosseum, averaging 12 to 14 minutes. To combat this, Tops employed multi-console hunting—running the game on four to eight Wii systems simultaneously. Despite this massive efficiency boost, he still completed 8,736 successful Colosseum runs, amounting to roughly 300 hours of active hunting time.
“Uncovering a secret hidden in a game for 15 years is an indescribable feeling,” Tops told Dexerto. “This grind was about proving possibility and showcasing the depth of this underrated Wii title to a new generation of hunters.”
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Deconstructing the Hunt: Mechanics, Odds, and Strategy
Tops actively encourages other hunters to attempt this feat. He notes that while the costume hunt is extreme, Battle Revolution contains other, more accessible Shiny Pokémon targets. Furthermore, several other Shiny costumes remain undiscovered, waiting for their first conqueror.
Over two years, 4/19/20 to 5/12/22, I have found the shiny Groudon Costume worn by Terrell. 8736 runs through the Magma Colosseum, it has been an amazing journey with 35 shiny fails along the way! Thanks to everyone who bugged me enough to attempt something never done before! pic.twitter.com/Skt5M5MoNk
— 🛡️ Professor Tops 🛡️ (@ProfessorTops) May 12, 2022
It’s crucial to understand that Tops’ hunt was informed. He wasn’t the first to *see* a Shiny costume; another player had encountered one previously. The critical distinction is ownership. Tops is the first to successfully meet all the conditions to actually add the Shiny costume to his collection.
The exact odds are unconfirmed, but the prevailing theory, supported by Tops, is standard “full odds”: 1 in 8192. A devastating mechanic amplifies the difficulty: you can only claim a specific costume *once*. If you defeat a Colosseum leader and claim their normal costume, you are permanently locked out from ever obtaining its Shiny version on that save file. This is precisely what doomed the previous hunter who saw the Shiny Groudon costume.
“The system is specific,” Tops clarifies. “Certain colosseum leaders wear Pokémon-themed outfits that have a Shiny variant. Earning the costume requires a flawless victory through that entire colosseum, culminating in a battle against the costumed leader.”
Therefore, each check is a major time investment. You must battle through every trainer in a colosseum. Only upon reaching the final leader will you see if their costume sparkles. If not, you must reset your game and repeat the entire gauntlet from the beginning.
The most significant strategic discovery from this hunt is the “Perfect Point.” Tops found that by utilizing this in-game feature, a hunter can effectively re-roll the Shininess of the leader’s costume multiple times *within a single Colosseum clear*. This breakthrough turns one 14-minute run into several potential checks, exponentially increasing efficiency. This discovery is so powerful that Tops has considered using it to hunt all remaining Shiny costumes.
Your Action Plan: A Hunter’s Guide to Success
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Practical Tips and Strategies
Before you begin, preparation is everything. Never claim a costume from your target Colosseum on your hunting save file. Verify this by checking your costume collection menu. Use a separate, completed save file for testing or casual play. Assemble a team optimized for speed-clearing the specific Colosseum. This means using powerful, fast Pokémon with wide-coverage moves to minimize battle time. Consider creating a dedicated “hunting team” save state.
Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
The cardinal error is claiming a non-Shiny costume, which permanently ruins your chance at the Shiny. Always reset without saving if the final costume isn’t Shiny. Another mistake is inefficient battling. Learn the AI patterns of the Colosseum trainers to win as quickly as possible. Time is your biggest enemy. Avoid hunting on a single console if possible; the time savings from multi-console hunting are transformative for a hunt of this length.
Optimization Tips for Advanced Players
Master the “Perfect Point” technique. Research exactly how it works for your target Colosseum—the method may vary slightly. This is the single biggest efficiency gain. If using multiple consoles, ensure they are all set up identically with your optimized team to avoid confusion. Streamline your reset process: have a rubber band or controller macro to hold the necessary buttons for a soft reset. Consider hunting with a partner to share the load and maintain motivation during the grueling middle phase of the hunt.
Target Selection: Not all costumes are equal. Some colosseums are shorter or easier than Magma. Research which Shiny costumes remain uncaught and consider targeting a potentially quicker colosseum for your first attempt.
No reproduction without permission：SeeYouSoon Game Club » Pokemon Battle Revolutions player earns world-first Shiny Groudon costume A 15-year mystery solved: Professor Tops reveals strategies for hunting elusive Shiny costumes in Pokémon Battle Revolution.