Shiny Pokémon
From Freepedia
A shiny Pokémon is an alternately colored variant of a Pokémon. They can be caught in any Pokémon RPG from Gold and Silver, though the odds of catching or finding one is 1 in 8192. There is one major exception to this--in Pokémon Silver, Gold, and Crystal, there is always one shiny, red Gyarados in the Lake of Rage.
There is no distinction unless the Pokémon is traded to a later version, as the first-generation games do not recognize shiny Pokémon.
Shiny Pokémon are not necessarily better than regular Pokémon but, in the metal generation games, they have an attack gene at the 70th percentile for their species. In the GBA generation, however, "shininess" had been given their own value and are effectively the same as any other Pokémon in battle. Most shiny Pokémon are considered to be collectors' items in the games since they are so rare.
In the FireRed and LeafGreen versions, and the Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald versions you can still catch a shiny Pokémon, with the same odds. Shiny Zigzagoon were given out from GameStop in July 2004. In the Trainer Memo section of the Pokémon Summary, a message would read "fateful encounter". Other Pokémon traded to Ruby and Sapphire through Nintendo promotions, such as from Pokémon Colosseum, or its pre-order disk bear this description. Also in FireRed and LeafGreen, shiny Pokémon are frequently encountered in the Trainer Tower, under the control of an opponent.
The term "shiny" is in fact a term used by the pokémon fan community, probably because of the flash of stars appearing as the Pokémon enters a battle, and no official term is used by Nintendo for these Pokémon. The term 'Alternate Color' is used in the video games.
Shiny Pokémon in the anime
A number of Shiny Pokémon have been seen in the anime over the years. Most notably, the Noctowl owned by Ash Ketchum is a Shiny Pokémon. Yet the first one was a Shiny Mew, which appears at the beginning of the first opening.
Other notable trainers with Shiny Pokémon are Jackson, a trainer Ash battles in the Silver Conference, who has a Shiny Magneton, and Winona, the Fortree City Gym Leader, who has a Shiny Swellow. The famous Red Gyrados was caught by Lance when Ash was at the Lake of Rage, and was seen again when Lance appeared during the battle between Groudon and Kyogre.
