Pokemon is filled with some unique evolution methods and forms across several species. Some may say that Vivillion is one of the more annoying Pokemon with its forms. But I think it was pretty interesting. It debuted as part of Pokemon X/Y, the first pokemon game on the Nintendo 3DS in 2013. Depending on the region of your game, a single certain form of Vivillion would be available out of a total of 18. There were 2 additionally forms released later as events, for a grand total of 20 forms.
The impetus was to connect and trade with people all over the world to get all of the forms, if you wanted them. But, because of this obtuse mechanic, they have not been available in any main game since. Two years ago, with the release of Pokemon Home, I decided to try and get all of the forms by doing trades and it didn't take me too long to do so.
With the release of Pokemon Scarlet/Violet in November, Vivillion had finally returned. However, only the Fancy pattern (which was previously event only) was available in the game. All of the other forms were available in the game's code, but how could we get them? Things started to become slightly clearly when Scatterbug and Vivillion became available in Pokemon Go in December. Oh, we could just transfer them from Pokemon Go once Pokemon Home support came to Scarlet/Violet.
In order to catch Scatterbug and Vivillion in Pokemon Go, you had to save Postcards received from Presents which you receive from Friends on your Friend's List from all over the world. If you saved 3 Postcards from a region, you'd get an encounter with a Scatterbug from that region. Evolve it to Vivillion to get that form. Some regions are more obscure than others, like Saudi Arabia and Hawaii essentially being their own regions, but it was not too tough to get them all.
Prior to the release of Scarlet/Violet, connectivity between Pokemon SV and Pokemon Go had been hinted at with the new pokemon, Gimmighoul. Treasure Chest forms were available in Pokemon SV, while a separate exclusive Roaming form would be available in Pokemon Go. And, with the most recent Pokemon State of the Union, it was announced how you would do this and it had an extra benefit.
In order to get Gimmighoul, you need to send a Postcard from Pokemon Go to Pokemon Scarlet/Violet. This gives you a Coin Purse in Pogo that works like an incense. Run the incense and Gimmighoul will spawn for the next 30 minutes. Additionally, every five days you'll get a Golden Lure. In order to evolve Gimmighoul, you need 999 coins, just like Pokemon SV. You get some by catching Gimmighoul, but you get a lot from Poke-stops with Golden Lures.
Anyways, on the Scarlet/Violet side of things, whichever region was the origin of the Postcard determined which form of Vivillion would spawn over the next 24 hours. Now, it was possible to collect all of the Vivillion forms by yourself! AND, with shiny hunting specific pokemon SO SO easy in Pokemon SV, I decided that this would be my new goal.
Vivillion does spawn in the wild up in the north by the Fairy base. My route starts at where the Tera Sylveon spawns. I set down my pickup there, make a Bug Sandwich, and basically drive around in circles spawning and respawning Vivillions. Several other things spawn, too, which is annoying, but I quickly caught my first Shiny Vivillion.
The pattern of Vivillion's wings is identical to its non-Shiny form. The body is the only difference. It's pure white, rather than white and gray. It's difficult to notice at a glance, but when you are paying attention and now what to look for, it is noticeable enough.
You can only send one postcard from Pokemon Go is a single day. However, you can connect multiple accounts and send multiple Postcards to Scarlet/Violet. I have two main accounts for Pokemon Go, plus an extra one that I only use for extra free stuff. So, I'm able to send 3 postcards in a single day. 18 regional forms with 3 postcards a day. That's only 6 days. :)
Shiny Hunting is Pokemon SV still depends on random chance, but I can usually get a shiny to spawn within 30 minutes with a sandwich. If not? Just reset the game and try again. Just don't save after making a sandwich unless you get something you want to keep.
I got my first Shiny Vivillion on March 4th, and now only 2 weeks later, the collection is complete, including the whole evolution family, and a few extras that showed up along the way.
See all the individual shiny catches in the gallery below.
With the 18 regional forms and the base Fancy form, there are 19 total forms available out of a total of 20 in Pokemon SV. Actually, only the regional forms are available in Pokemon Go at the moment. Maybe when Pokemon Home gets an update to include Pokemon Scarlet/Violet, we'll get some way of getting the Fancy form in Go.
But, it's unclear how the Pokeball Form of Vivillion will be introduced. Previously, it was available through an event only. Although, it makes the most sense that they'd be available through an event in Pokemon Go.
Maybe for this year's Go Fest, when you spin stops at the event, you'll get a gift, and the postcard for that gift will give you the Pokeball form of Vivillion. Then, transfer that to Scarlet/Violet, and get your Vivillion that way, too.
Time will tell.