Shiny Pearls are one of the new resources introduced in DLC 1: Bubbly Basin for Pokémon Pokopia. They're almost certainly one of the materials you'll most want to collect during your adventure, as they're needed to construct many of the underwater town's themed buildings and other items... However, this resource also has a rather unusual method of acquisition that you may not discover on your own. To make things easier, we've prepared this entry of our guide to explain how to unlock Shiny Pearls.
Shiny Pearls in Bubbly Basin aren't found lying around the world like other materials, nor can they be purchased from the Pokémon Center shop. Instead, they are obtained through a specific process. Only a handful of Pokémon species can give you this type of pearl, and they'll do so in exchange for Grubby Pearls.
Fortunately, Grubby Pearls can be found throughout the world. More specifically, you'll find them mainly in Bubbly Basin's deeper caves. They look like small, sand-covered spheres that are partially buried in the ground, like the ones highlighted in the following screenshot:
Some Pokémon may also occasionally give you Grubby Pearls as random gifts, or you can buy bundles of them from the Pokémon Center shop after raising the area's Environment Level high enough. You can also find them in large quantities by visiting the Basin Dream Island once you've unlocked the Starmie Doll needed to travel there, which you obtain during the DLC's story.
Once you have some Grubby Pearls, you can turn them into Shiny Pearls by finding a Pokémon with the Scrub specialty. This new specialty is exclusive to just five of the Pokémon included in DLC 1:
All of these Pokémon have the Scrub specialty, so you can show them a Grubby Pearl from your inventory and ask them to turn it into a Shiny Pearl. You can hand over up to 10 pearls at once, and the Pokémon will gradually clean them over a short period of time.
Of the five Pokémon listed above, Shellder is probably the easiest and quickest to obtain. It has a high chance of appearing when you create the Basin Tall Grass & Coral habitat using four patches of Seabed Tall Grass, one Small Coral, and one Tall Coral. All of these elements can be found in the town's main plaza.
And that's everything you need to know about obtaining Shiny Pearls. Remember to keep using this method whenever possible to build up a good supply of the material, so don't hesitate to pick up every Grubby Pearl you come across during your adventures.
