Shiny Pokémon — alternate coloring for Pokémon that are very rare and sought-after — were introduced in Generation II and have become a mainstay staple of the series since then. Each Pokémon’s shiny form is a set palette that is different from their regular coloring, and some are definitely more attractive than others.

However, due to serious hardware and graphics upgrades between Generations II and III, many Pokémon received updated palettes and significant improvements in their designs. As a result, some shiny forms have actually changed from their original looks. Here are just ten of the most notable ones.

10 Raticate

Raticate is a brown rat-like Pokémon with a light beige underbelly, but it was much darker in appearance in Generation II before being seriously lightened later on. In the Gen II games, Raticate’s shiny form was a softer orange that was much lighter than its normal form.

However, starting in Generation II, both color palettes changed. Now, Raticate is the light sandy color we all know and love, and its shiny is a much brighter orange that’s almost red.

9 Spinarak

Typically, most players would know Spinarak as a light green spider-like Pokémon with yellow and black detailing. Its shiny is a light blue with purple legs that almost resembles the color palette of Wooper. However, this wasn’t always the case.

Initially, Spinarak was much darker in color before it was changed to the greener version in Crystal. Its shiny back then was a bright pink-purple that definitely stood out from the crowd. Spinarak underwent one of the most drastic shiny recolors in the series.

8 Psyduck

Psyduck, the confused and strange yellow duck Pokémon, has typically seen little change in its regular coloring, being only a bit of a more washed out yellow in Generation I but relatively the same. However, its shiny saw quite the change between Generation II and the Hoenn games.

In Gen II, Psyduck’s shiny was a bright lavender-like color, sitting between a nice blue and purple. Since Ruby & Sapphire, though, its shiny has been a very light blue that’s closer to green than purple on the blue spectrum.

7 Oddish

Oddish is one of the many Pokémon that saw a significant palette swap in its regular form between Gen II and III. Its coloring traded its dark, almost-black body for a much lighter blue. As a result, its shiny changed in coloring as well.

In Gold & Silver, Oddish’s shiny was a dark green body with bright yellow leaves. However, these days, its shiny is a bluish-green body with lime green leaves.

6 Arbok

Many players have probably missed that Arbok’s design has changed in every generation of the series. The false face on the front of its body actually looks very different in almost every generation, most likely because it’s said that Arbok looks different in each region in the Pokédex.

However, its shiny has changed significantly too. In Generation II, Arbok’s shiny was a light forest green and had elements of purple when seen from behind on its back sprite. However, shiny Arbok is now a rich golden yellow with elements of blue.

5 Diglett

Diglett has always been a strange Pokémon that poses a lot of questions — mainly, where is the rest of its body, and is the dirt shown in its design part of its body? Generation II Diglett seemed to say yes to this second question, as the dirt around the base of the Pokémon changed color when the Diglett was shiny.

Diglett would take on a slightly darker brown for its body and the dirt would change from brownish-red to bluish-purple. Now, however, the dirt remains the same color when shiny, and really the only thing that changes is the color of the Diglett’s nose.

4 Smeargle

One of the most famous palette-swaps in series history is Smeargle. This Sketch-using artist-inspired Pokémon was once shown as brownish-beige with a brown paintbrush tip on its tail. Its shiny was more green with a bright green tail.

However, in Generation III, for whatever reason, its shiny and regular versions were entirely swapped. Now, what was once Smeargle’s shiny form is its regular form, and its former regular form was turned into its shiny and made a bit more orange.

3 Castform and Magearna

These are some weird cases, as they didn’t have a shiny form changed across generations, but didn’t receive one until recently. Formerly, Castform would only look different when shiny in its regular form.

After transforming into any of its weather forms, its coloring wouldn’t be any different. Magearna, on the other hand, looked the exact same when shiny as the shiny form wasn’t obtainable, so it seems one wasn’t programmed. However, in Pokémon HOME’s data, new shiny forms for Castform’s weather forms and Magearna have been found.

2 Charizard

One of the most popular shinies in existence didn’t always look the way it does now. Charizard is commonly held as an example of a great shiny because it is a beautiful black-and-red palette for a dragon-looking monster.

However, in Generation II, Charizard’s shiny was very different, featuring a light purple body with green wings. Its pre-evolution, Charmeleon, also saw a slight change, trading a darker orange body for a bright yellowish-orange one in the same period.

1 Rapidash

With many Pokémon that saw shiny changes, the newer version is often either much nicer or much uglier. However, this isn’t the case with Rapidash, whose shiny form has been amazing before and after changing.

In Generation II, Rapidash traded its fiery-orange flames for bright purple ones and its body became a much starker white. However, now, Rapidash has silvery grey flames that are truly beautiful. It’s hard to decide which of its shiny forms is more beautiful, but the silver flames are definitely impressive.

NEXT: Pokémon: The 10 Best Shiny Rock Types, Ranked