Online Pokémon trading is simultaneously the best and worst feature in the mainline Pokémon games. Starting with Generation 6 on the 3DS, Pokémon introduced us to the world of randomized trading. Previously called the Wonder Trade, Sword and Shield continues the tradition with Surprise Trades.
But with better online interactions, Pokémon opens itself up to hacking. There are a handful of websites that offer Pokémon hacking services and they constantly “advertise” through Surprise Trades. Needless to say, please don’t use these.
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However, some hacks aren’t that obvious. Fake Pokémon can be hacked or generated. Generally, the difference between the two is that hacked Pokémon are created outside of the game and then ported in, while generated Pokémon are manipulated from the source file.
Hacks are getting so much better, but you can still weed them out from legit Pokémon. While completing the game will help you figure out if a Pokémon is hacked, it’s not necessary.
Why Does This Matter?
This is the big question. Why should hacked or generated Pokémon matter to you? Anyone who competes or wants to compete in the competitive online battles knows that hacked Pokémon are banned. So to get the most out of your Pokémon, you breed them. The great thing about Surprise Trades is that you can save yourself some breeding time. Many players are IV breeding, so you have a good chance of getting a Pokémon with 4 or 5 perfect IVs to start your breeding with.
The biggest issue is that if you get a hacked Pokémon that looks legit and you use that hacked Pokémon as a breeder, then it’ll “infect” any eggs you get from it. Essentially, your entire family lineage from that Pokémon cannot be used in competitive play. And anyone who’s ever IV breeded knows that this means that you spent hours of your life on this for no reason.
So if you’re worried that a Pokémon is hacked, follow the steps below. But if you truly cannot tell, go with the rule: if it’s too good to be true, then it’s probably too good to be true and go with your gut.
But even if you aren’t planning on breeding it, just release the Pokémon. Someone who gets it in a Surprise Trade may not know it’s hacked, might start breeding with it, and then have all Pokémon from that family line disqualified.
Who’s That Pokémon?
Legendary Pokémon tend to be the most commonly hacked Pokémon in Surprise Trades. Usually, hacked Legendaries are Shiny and/or have Full IVs. With Dynamax Adventures, Legendary Pokémon can now have up to four perfect IVs. However, a Legendary will never have Full IVs.
Some Legendaries are also Shiny-locked, meaning that none of the Pokémon games have generated a Shiny version of the Legendary. There are multiple online resources available that list which Legendaries are Shiny-locked and which ones were distributed during a past event. Granted, you have a very low chance of getting an Event Legendary, but anything’s possible.
Some other immediately apparent concerns include the Pokérus marker, Secret Abilities, and non-Event Pokémon in Celebration Balls. You can see all three simply by looking at the Pokémon’s mini summary.
Shiny Pokémon
…So who else knew that there are two types of Shiny Pokémon? Because yeah, there’s two types of Shiny Pokémon: Square Shinies and Star Shinies. The shapes refer to the Pokémon’s Shiny animation – the sparkles that appear when you send a Pokémon out to battle. Star Shinies are the most common and probably what you think of when you hear about Shiny Pokémon. Square Shinies are rare and incorporate square shapes into the Shiny animation.
Overall, Shinies are rare in Pokémon games. Some players like hunting for them. The low spawn rate makes Shiny Pokémon appealing to players, especially if the Shiny color palette is super cute or cool. It is very uncommon for a Trainer to Surprise Trade away a Shiny, even less so when that Shiny has Full IVs and has the square mark. Just. Beware of the Shinies.
Pokémon HOME Ports
Pokémon Home allows you to connect various Pokémon games to a single Box system. Home is compatible with the 3DS games (XY, Alpha Sapphire/Omega Ruby, and Sun/Moon) and Pokémon GO. Pokémon imported through Home will have a mark indicating its origin. A majority of hacked Pokémon will not have these marks.
So it’s entirely possible to receive a Shiny Pokémon who comes from Pokémon GO. Due to the Community Events, Shiny Pokémon are much more accessible in Pokémon GO than any other game. So if there’s nothing else weird or concerning about the Shiny and it has the GO mark, it’s most likely legal.
The Pokéball
The type of Pokéball a Pokémon has can be telling. Currently, the Galar and Alola region starters can only come from standard Pokéballs. As of Sword and Shield/Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, there is no way to catch Galar and Alola starter Pokémon in the wild.
However, the other starters may be in other Pokeballs. The Kanto starters show up in Raid Dens while the Hoenn starters can appear during Dynamax Adventures in the Crown Tundra DLC. And in Sun and Moon, pretty much all starters up to that point can be caught using the Island Scan feature.
Full IVs
IV breeding is a common and necessary practice in competitive play. When all Pokémon are under the same level cap, even the slightest change in stats can make the difference. If you’ve completed the main Sword/Shield game, then you should be able to view a Pokémon’s IVs by using the Judge function in the Pokémon summary menu. If you don’t have that feature yet, some Trainers will use a Pokémon’s markings to show which IVs they have.
Commonly, hacked Pokémon tend to have these markings filled in – breeders can’t be bothered to do it for every Pokémon they hatch. So receiving a full IV Pokémon itself isn’t a red flag, so factor this into everything else. For example, if you have a Shiny Pokémon with Full IVs and a Secret Ability, there’s a high chance that the Pokémon is hacked.
Full Summary
Always check the summary of a sus Surprise Trade Pokémon! First, you want to look at the Pokémon’s history. Did it hatch from an Egg? If so, where?
A good number of hacked Pokémon say that the Pokémon hatched from an Egg in Rose Tower. Considering that the Pokémon Nurseries are on Route 5 and Bridge Field, nowhere near Rose Tower, this is absolutely sus.
Ribbons are also sus. Many hacked Pokémon will have more than one Ribbon available to display on them. If your Shiny, full IV, Level 1 Pokémon has a Champion Ribbon, it’s not real.
Trainer ID
You can find a Pokémon’s Trainer ID in the first Summary page. The game will show you the Trainer name and ID, both of which can indicate if the Pokémon is legit. Look at both the Trainer name and ID number.
Some trainers may try to promote a YouTube channel or a website where you can purchase hacked Pokémon for your game. Yes, this costs real money. Usually, these websites will nickname the Pokémon as their domain name, but most of the time, they also use that domain as their Trainer name as well.
As for the ID number, you want to look for a lot of repeating numbers. Something that starts with 000 at the very least should raise a yellow flag. Yes, it is entirely possible for the game to generate a Trainer ID number like that, but it’s extremely rare. When in doubt, compare ID numbers from Pokémon that are very obviously legal – like a level 3 Zigzagoon with no Perfect IVs. You’ll pick up a pattern with the ID numbers.
Moves
One of the biggest tells of a hacked Pokémon is if all of the Pokémon’s moves are max’d out. This indicates that someone used a PP Up or PP Max, which is common in competitive play. What isn’t common is maxing out a move like Steel Wing or Growl, where the PP is already relatively high. While PP Ups are much more accessible now, no competitive player will ever waste one on Growl or even Sand Attack.
Nicknames
To some players’ delight, Pokémon Sword and Shield allows you to change the nickname of a traded Pokémon once. There are only two restrictions to this: if the Pokémon is fake or if the Pokémon came from an international trader.
This was the genius of the Italian Ditto. Because that Ditto was coded as international, non-Italian players couldn’t nickname it again and just assumed it was because of its nationality status. But that was not the case. Now, we turn to the final line of defense.
Pokémon Memories
Checking a Pokémon’s memories can be the nail in the coffin. So far, every fake Pokémon will have a hazy memory. You’ll receive a specific line from the man:
“[Pokémon] seems to have a fond memory, but it doesn’t seem to be able to remember the details…”
If you get this prompt with at least one other thing listed above, the Pokémon is definitely fake.
Nothing alone is completely foolproof. Overall, if you want to get into competitive play and want to IV breed, be on the safe side and just release any sus Pokémon.
