How to Get Shiny Meloetta for Free in Pokémon HOME
For the first time in Pokémon history, Shiny Meloetta is available for all players to claim for free. There is one big hurdle you will have to clear before doing so in Pokémon HOME, however.
With the latest Pokémon HOME update on Oct. 26, The Pokémon Company is giving out Shiny Meloetta to any player who meets certain requirements — along with adding several new features in the app.
This is the first time Meloetta’s Shiny variant has ever been officially obtainable in any Pokémon game. So if you want to get your free Shiny Meloetta, here is exactly what you need to do in Pokémon HOME.
How to unlock Shiny Meloetta in Pokémon Scarlet, Violet, and HOME
You can catch Meloetta normally by playing the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet The Indigo Disk DLC, though it is Shiny-locked in that encounter—just as it is in previous games and Pokémon Go. But thanks to a new distribution in Pokémon HOME, you can get Shiny Meloetta for free just by meeting specific, in-game requirements.
In this case, you will need to fully complete every iteration of the Scarlet and Violet Pokédex. That means filling up every entry of the Paldea, Kitakami and Blueberry Academy Pokédexes in the copy of Scarlet or Violet that is connected to your HOME account.
To meet that requirement, that means you will need to complete Scarlet or Violet’s story, all of the story in both DLCs, and trade with someone who has the opposite version to obtain every version exclusive Pokémon—or just play through both games yourself. Unfortunately, it is not as simple as completing these entries with a copy of Scarlet or Violet that is connected to your HOME account, as you actually need to deposit each individual Pokémon into HOME for it to count in the app, as tested by multiple players on Twitter.
Note that you actually have to deposit that were caught in Scarlet and Violet for these Pokedexes to count.
— HeyLookItsFNaFb (@HeyLookItsFNaFb) October 16, 2024
And uh
I have a long way to go pic.twitter.com/CNB6JmJDbm
That will require you to transfer every stage of each evolutionary line before evolving them, catch multiple of the same Pokémon if they have split evolution paths, and potentially purchase a Premium HOME subscription to unlock more storage space. You don’t need to keep the Pokémon in HOME for the Pokédex entries to count, but without HOME Premium, you can only store 30 Pokémon at a time, which will have you spending even more time transferring Pokémon back and forth.
Once all three Pokédexes are completed, you can automatically claim your Shiny Meloetta in the HOME app. It is important to note that this Mystery Gift is only available on the mobile version of HOME and can only be obtained once per account since you need to link your Nintendo Account to access this feature.
From there, it can be transferred to Scarlet and Violet, though it you can’t send it over to Pokémon Go since all transfers made from Go to HOME are one-way.
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If you were already working on a Scarlet and Violet living dex in HOME, ahead of upcoming releases this will be a breeze for you. But for everyone else, this is likely going to take quite some time. Thankfully, the distribution does not seem to have an end date tied to it, so you can likely pace yourself as you start the grind.
