In Pokémon Gold and Silver, the approximate chance of encountering a shiny Pokémon is 1 in 8,192.
Gold and Silver introduced shiny Pokémon, which have alternate coloration from the standard appearance of their species. Their rarity made them a memorable discovery for players, especially because the games offered no general method to make a random shiny encounter common.
The odds apply to ordinary encounters under the mechanics used in the early games. A shiny Pokémon is determined through hidden values connected with the player and the encountered Pokémon, so the alternate coloration is not simply a visual effect that can appear at random during any battle.
The 1-in-8,192 figure remained associated with the games through Generation V. Pokémon X and Y changed the base odds to approximately 1 in 4,096, making random shiny encounters more likely in later main-series games. Special methods and items can also alter shiny odds, so the figure is best understood as the standard early-game rate.