Shaymin, the 'Pokemon of Gratitude', is a Mythical Pokemon that debuted in Diamond and Pearl in 2022. This cute little hedgehog was locked behind an event in the original games and it still looks like it's now in the Sinnoh Remade—Brilliant Diamond and Brilliant Pearl. Here's how you can catch Shaymin in Pokemon BDSP.
How to Catch Shaymin in Pokemon BDSP
Currently, Shaymin cannot be caught in-game through legitimate means.. From leaks, data mining, and hacking, there are files that indicate that you can earn Letter of Oak at some point in the game.
It was a key item that players could pick up in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. The item description reads: “A letter from Professor Oak. It says a request for you to go to route 224.” Follow the instructions as presented in the description.
If you've already beaten the Elite Four and earned the National Pokedex, there's another exit on the east side of Victory Road. You'll escort Marley, a mysterious Pokémon trainer, along the way. This alternate exit from Victory Road will take you to Route 224.
Go up until you come across this flat rock at the far north end of this Route. Currently, nothing will happen if you interact with it. However, if you have Oak's Letter, it will trigger a cutscene where the Seabreak Path forms. This is an extension of Route 224 that takes some time. It's a long flowery road where at the end you will end up at a place called Flower Paradise.
This is where you would meet Shaymin. It will spawn at level 30, so you may need a weaker party to deal with it. The last thing you want to do is knock him out, miss an opportunity to catch him.
How to catch Shaymin without Oak's Letter
Warning: This section contains a method of exploiting a menu glitch in Pokemon Sparkling Diamond and Sparkling Pearl. If you want to wait and get Shaymin legitimately, you probably shouldn't.
Thanks to a permanent out of bounds and menu glitch, you can get to places that are currently unreachable in Pokemon BDSP. This includes going past the Seabreak Path and going straight into Shaymin's house. This issue can be done on the current version of Pokemon BDSP (Ver. 1.1.2)
Follow the steps below to resolve the issue:
- Match the layout of the steps inside the Pokémon League Pokecenter.
- Make sure the quickslots for your key items are filled with items that will bring up the "Professor Rowan's Words Echoed" dialog box.
- Bring your Poketch.
- Hover your cursor over the HM Fly movement.
- Spam the R and A buttons simultaneously.
- If done correctly, your character should be able to move around while the city map is displayed.
- Climb up and enter the Pokémon League Pokecenter while the town map is still displayed.
- Go to the ground floor of the Pokecenter.
- Go up and then exit the center (you should still be on the City Map screen).
- Use the right analog stick on your controller to readjust the pointer on the map so it's on the top half of the Pokemon League flight zone (end of Victory Road).
- Press A to bring up the dialog box which reads: "Do you want to use Fly to go to the Pokémon League?" ".
- Right at the end of displaying the dialog on the screen, press X to bring up your trainer menu (Pokedex, Pokemon, Bag, Trainer Card, Bullet Pods, etc.).
- If done correctly, your bag menu should be displayed on the city map.
- Press A to confirm using Fly.
- Your character can walk around while your Trainer menu is open.
- If done correctly, head to the body of water with the menu still showing, then press the Plus (+) button to show your quick items again, but also the city map.
- Press B once to exit the map, bringing you to another trainer menu layered above your quick locations.
- Press B again to remove the menu overlay.
- If done correctly, press A at the body of water to surf.
- Confirm it, without moving in any direction before that.
- Just as you jump onto the Bibarel, press any direction with your left stick that corresponds to an item that will bring up the "Rowan's Words Echoed" dialog box.
- If done correctly, your character should stand above the Bibarel, maintaining its walking animation.
- This allows you to pass barriers like trees, cliffs, and the waterfall.
- Explore this section counter-clockwise so you can travel behind the Pokémon League and go straight to Route 224.
You'll need to get a sense of when you're hitting barriers in the unrendered black void. Try to approach the edge of Route 224 just beyond the barrier to land on the Seabreak Trail. It will be completely dark, but if you land in the right spot, you can just travel upwards until you get to the Flower Paradise area.
Performing this tricky method doesn't seem to affect gameplay negatively in any way, although there are instances where your game may crash unexpectedly. Of course, when performing glitches and exploits, everything is at your own risk. This is the only way to catch Shaymin currently in Pokemon BDSP.
Pokemon Shiny Diamond and Shiny Pearl are now available exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.
