Shiny Starter Pokemon on Fire Red using a GBA Emulator on Android

I'm running Pokemon Fire Red on an Android phone using "My Boy!" emulator. Is it possible to get a shiny starter pokemon (Charmander) by reseting the game everytime I choose the starter pokemon? (I saved the game right before chosing it).

I made this question because I read on the Internet that it's not possible to get a shiny starer pokemon by reseting the game if you're using an emulator, because the interal code that determines whether if a pokemon is shiny or not does never reset.

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1 Answer

It depends on how you reset the game.

Most emulators offer what is called "save states". Save states contain the entire memory dump of a game, unlike regular save games which only contain what the developer believes is important for the game.

Save states are particularly popular among emulator users, because they offer a way to cheat, such as resetting a particular move in combat.

In this case, the save state will contain the RNG (Random Number Generator) which a regular save game would not; why keep the RNG in memory, if you can generate a new one every time you launch the game? Of course, this also means you cannot simply load a save state to improve your chances of getting a shiny Pokémon, you'll have to reload a regular save game instead.

In other words: you'll have to quit the game, launch it again, then load the save game from within the in-game menu.

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