The Pokemon franchise is one of the most beloved franchises of all time. It has spanned tons of media, including games, anime, movies and merchandise since its inception. A large part of Pokemon's appeal as a franchise comes from the unique designs of the hundreds of monsters that reside under its banner. From puffy little fluff balls to menacing beasts, the Pokedex contains a Pokemon for everyone.

One of the major appeal of the Pokemon games is the chance to encounter a shiny variety of a Pokemon. Shinies are essentially Pokemon that have a different color scheme than their standard counterpart. Starting with Generation 2, the franchise has released a shiny version of all of its Pokemon designs. These are the coolest that each region has offered.

10 Kanto Region: Charizard

Charizard

Charizard, being the popular Pokemon that it is, deserves to have a cool shiny variant. Charizard's shiny was not always as glorious as it is today, being purple in Generation 2. Fortunately for fans, this fire lizard received a total makeover for its shiny, turning into a black-and-red dragon-looking beast. Black is always a cool color to go with for a shiny form, and the contrast it boasts with the red underwings on Charizard is truly mesmerizing.

Charizard has received many forms over the years, including two Mega Evolutions and a Gigantamax form. The black color scheme also sits well with Mega Charizard Y and Gigantamax Charizard, making this iconic Fire-Type the best Generation 1 shiny and a fan favorite for many.

9 Johto Region: Umbreon

Umbreon

Often considered the best eeveelution, Umbreon is a Dark-type Pokemon introduced in Generation 2. While Umbreon's standard design is decent on its own, with its black body and golden-yellow circular highlights, its shiny form looks even more majestic.

Shiny Umbreon's design sees only a slight change, with the yellow color of the spheres being replaced with a striking blue. This simple change makes the overall design much more elegant. Umbreon's beautiful design, combined with its powerful move set and defensive capabilities, make it a highly sought-after monster.

8 Hoenn Region: Rayquaza

Rayquaza

Generation 3 is known for bringing forth some of the most vibrant Pokemon designs in the franchise, and the Legendary dragon Rayquaza is a fantastic example. Rayquaza is one of the strongest and most widely known Pokemon. Its standard design shows Rayquaza in an elegant emerald-green color, with red and yellow and orange highlights. A shiny Rayquaza, on the other hand, boasts a beautiful black serpentine body while retaining the yellow and orange highlights.

Related: The Best Green Shiny Pokemon

The black color gives a better contrast with the other details on Rayquaza's body, making it look even more menacing. Rayquaza's striking Mega form also retains the black color scheme when shiny, making it one of the best designs that the franchise has to offer.

7 Sinnoh Region: Luxray

Luxray

Luxray is an Electric-type Pokemon introduced in Generation 4, whose design is based on a lynx. Luxray's normal color scheme includes a black-and-blue body with some yellow highlights. The standard design is quite magnificent, and makes this beast look quite menacing. Luxray's Shiny form dawns a golden yellow color instead of blue, making it look more like a real wildcat.

The yellow color also serves to symbolize its electric typing. Luxray pulls off the black-and-yellow color scheme with finesse looking elegant and threatening at the same time. Luxray is also quite a powerful Pokemon to use in combat.

6 Unova Region: Chandelure

Chandelure

Chandelure is a Ghost/Fire-type Pokemon introduced in Generation 5, and is known as the luring Pokemon. Generation 5 is known for having the most controversial Pokedex, but it cannot be denied that some designs from the Unova region are top-tier. Chandelure is just one example of a neatly designed Pokemon, based on a chandelier.

Related: All Pokemon Belonging to Generation 5

A standard Chandelure has a dull black body with intense violet flames coming out of its arms. A shiny Chandelure changes things up by replacing the violet flames with bright orange ones. Its eyes also change from yellow to pink, which makes for an excellent contrast with the orange flames.

5 Kalos Region: Greninja

Greninja

Greninja is the final evolved form of Froakie, introduced in Generation 6 as the Water-type starter Pokemon for the Kalos Region. Soon after being revealed, Greninja rose to mainstream popularity, becoming one of the most popular Pokemon ever. Greninja's design is based on a frog combined with that of a ninja, making it an exceptionally well-designed Pokemon.

While Greninja's standard blue and pale yellow color scheme suits its Water typing well, its black-and-gray shiny form is way more fitting for a ninja. Shiny Greninja's scarf-like tongue also turns a bright red, which makes the overall design even more appealing. Its Ash-Greninja form also pulls off the black color scheme stunningly.

4 Alola Region: Vikavolt

Vikavolt

The Alola region is home to many vibrantly designed Pokemon of which Vikavolt is definitely one of the best. Vikavolt is a Bug/Electric-type Pokemon known as the "Stag-Beetle Pokemon." A standard Vikavolt has an interesting greenish-blue body and long jaws that are bright yellow on the outer side. These jaws are where a Vikavolt stores its electricity.

A shiny Vikavolt's design completely revamps the color scheme by replacing the blue with an elegant silver, and replacing the yellow accents with an intense green. A regular Vikavolt is an intriguing bug in its own right, but a shiny one is bound to leave fans captivated by its odd but effective color scheme.

3 Hisui Region: Hisuian Zoroark

Hisuian zoroark

The Hisui region is one of the most interesting ones to date. It is set in an ancient time and harboring Pokemon that have now gone extinct. Out of all the regional variants and new Pokemon the Hisui region brought forth, the title of the best shiny goes to Hisuian Zoroark.

The standard Hisuian Zoroark was already fan-favorite Pokemon with its gray body, white fur, red highlights, and Normal/Ghost-typing. A Shiny Hisuian Zoroark, meanwhile, looks even more intriguing by replacing the red highlights on Zoroark's fur with a light purple one.

2 Galar Region: Corviknight

Corviknight

Hailing from Galar, Corviknight is the region's most iconic bird-based Pokemon. Known as the "Raven Pokemon," Corviknight sports an elegant lustrous black color for most of its steel body, except for its lower beak and legs which are matte black to give its design more contrast. The black armor looks very solid and perfectly represents Corviknight's Flying/Steel-typing.

Related: Best Black Shiny Pokemon

Shiny Corviknight changes things up by replacing the black with a light rustic brown shade and turning the fur on its neck gray. Further changes can be noticed in Corviknight's Gigantamax form, which changes the red under its wings to a bright golden yellow.

1 Paldea Region: Iron Thorns

Iron thorns

The Paldea region introduced the concept of Paradox Pokemon, which refers to past or future variants of present Pokemon. One of the most iconic designs to come out of the Paradox phenomenon was Iron Thorns, said to be a future variant of Tyranitar. Iron Thorns takes Tyranitar's iconic Godzilla-based design and turn it into a Mecha-Godzilla.

A regular Iron Thorns has a pale-green and black metallic body with neon green glowing shapes on its body's front. In contrast, shiny Iron Thorns drops all the green for a metallic silver, while retaining the neon green glow. This makes the design even more appealing.

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