Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Players Are Glitching To Get Shaymin Early

Some of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl’s rarest Pokémon aren’t officially in the game yet, but that hasn’t stopped impatient players from finding creative ways to get at least one of them early. Normally, the mythic hedgehog Shaymin isn’t available outside of special events, but thanks to BDSP’s litany of glitches, it’s already possible to reach its secret island.

Similar to the recent barrage of dupe glitches, players have been found different ways to glitch the game and get Shaymin early. But the most straightforward method by far revolves around the “Surf glitch.” It can be tedious to try and pull off, but it’s simple enough to wrap your head around. Here are the steps as summarized in a recent GameXplain video:

1. Go to the Pokémon League and backtrack through Victory Road until you get to Route 224.
2. Progress until you get to the beach where a Black Belt Trainer is hanging out.
3. Sneak around him and beat the next three trainers.
4. Go back to the Black Belt and stand by the water.
5. Eventually, he’ll spot you and initiate a battle.
6. The moment before the battle begins, initiate Surf on the water.
7. If it works you’ll be in a glitched surf mode after the battle ends.
8. Head back up the path past the three trainers you already beat until you get to the top left corner of the stairs just ahead.
9. Your character will glitch above the stairs, which lets you fly into the water to the left.
10. Head north until you reach the top edge of the map, then use Surf to head right, then head north again, and eventually you’ll reach the garden island where you can catch Shaymin.

Once you’ve captured Shaymin, you can head to Floaroma Town where a woman will give you the item you need to transform it into its grass flying-type evolution Sky Forme. If you want to get really extra about the whole thing, you can even save and restart over and over again until the Shaymin you encounter is a Shiny. There’s then no shortage of ways to start cloning it and distributing it to trainers around the world or hoarding them all for yourself.

As a tie-in to the Diamond and Pearl movie, Pokémon: Giratina and the Sky Warrior, Shaymin isn’t supposed to unlock until an in-game event triggers letters from Professor Oak with instructions for how to find the rare creature. Just about all of the rules have gone out the window with the BDSP remakes, however, thanks to all of their glitches. It’s just pure chaos at the moment.