How to Get Aerodactyl in Pokémon X and Y (Old Amber, Not the Grass)

Aerodactyl isn’t in the grass in Pokémon X or Y. You revive it from Old Amber. Get TM94 Rock Smash in Ambrette Town, ride a Rhyhorn across Route 9 to Glittering Cave, and smash the cracked rocks in the cave’s deep room until one gives you Old Amber. Take it to the Fossil Lab in Ambrette Town, and the researcher there turns it into a level 20 Aerodactyl on the spot. Pokémon X and Pokémon Y work the same way. Once you’re back from the cave, a scientist in the same lab also gives you Aerodactylite, its Mega Stone.

This covers Pokémon X and Pokémon Y on Nintendo 3DS and 2DS, up to the last update, version 1.5. None of the updates changed Old Amber or the Fossil Lab. Pokémon Legends: Z-A, Let’s Go, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, and Pokémon GO all handle Aerodactyl differently, so their steps don’t apply here.

Aerodactyl in four steps

1. Get TM94 Rock Smash: speak to the girl outside Ambrette Aquarium, next to the Pokémon Center, in Ambrette Town. Teach it to anything that can learn it. You don’t need a Gym Badge to use it on rocks.
2. Ride a Rhyhorn across Route 9 to Glittering Cave. The entrance is at the top of the route.
3. Smash the eight cracked rocks in the cave’s deep room until one gives you Old Amber. To bring them all back, step back into the main tunnel, then re-enter the deep room.
4. Back at the Ambrette Fossil Lab, talk to the researcher and pick Old Amber. You get a level 20 Aerodactyl right away.

Aerodactyl in X and Y at a glance

Question	Answer
Can I catch it?	No. It isn’t a wild Pokémon anywhere in X or Y, and it isn’t in the Friend Safari
Where is Old Amber?	Random Rock Smash find in the deep room of Glittering Cave, north of Route 9
Where do I revive it?	The Fossil Lab in Ambrette Town, instantly, for free
What level is it?	Level 20
How early can I get it?	Before the second Gym, as soon as you’ve been through Glittering Cave
Do I need a badge for Rock Smash?	No. It’s TM94, and you can use it in the field at any time
Where is Aerodactylite?	A gift from the scientist in the Fossil Lab after the Glittering Cave visit
Is it different in Pokémon Y?	No. Same cave, same rocks, same lab
Kalos Pokédex number	Coastal Kalos No. 068

Aerodactyl isn’t in the grass

Aerodactyl has no wild encounter anywhere in Pokémon X or Y, and the Friend Safari doesn’t have it either. The Jaw Fossil and Sail Fossil you pick between in Glittering Cave become Tyrunt and Amaura, not Aerodactyl. Old Amber is the only way, and the cave’s rocks give you as many as you have patience for.

Get Rock Smash and reach Glittering Cave

For TM94 Rock Smash, speak to the girl outside Ambrette Aquarium, next to the Pokémon Center. You arrive in Ambrette Town after Route 8, before the second Gym. TMs in X and Y can be used again and again, so you only need it once. Plenty of early Pokémon can learn it, and so can Aerodactyl once you have it.

Glittering Cave is north of Route 9. You cross Route 9 on a Rhyhorn, and the cave entrance is at the top of the route. Inside, follow the main tunnel to the end to reach the deep room, where Team Flare and the Fossil Lab’s assistant are on your first visit. The Jaw and Sail choice happens there. The full story visit is on the Pokémon X fossils page.

Smash the eight rocks in the deep room

The deep room of Glittering Cave has eight cracked rocks. Walk up to one and press A, and the game asks if you want to use Rock Smash. Old Amber only comes from these eight. The first part of the cave has no cracked rocks, and the rocks on the Ambrette Town shore never give Old Amber.

Once you’ve smashed all eight, walk out of the deep room into the main tunnel and step straight back in. All eight rocks are back. Keep going around the room and out again until Old Amber drops. It’s random: it can show up in the first few rocks or take a lot of laps.

What each smash can give you

Breaking a rock does one of three things: it leaves an item, a wild Pokémon jumps out, or nothing happens. Old Amber is one of the items, so many smashes give you something else first.

Result	What you get
An item	Hard Stone, Revive or Old Amber (after the Hall of Fame, other fossils too)
A wild Pokémon	Dwebble 65% (level 15 or 17) or Onix 35% (level 15 to 17)
Nothing	The rock just breaks

How often the item is Old Amber

Item	Before the Hall of Fame	After the Hall of Fame
Old Amber	about 8.5% of items	about 10% of items
Hard Stone	about 64.5% of items	no longer drops
Revive	about 27% of items	no longer drops
Other fossils	none	the rest (Skull, Armor, Cover, Plume, plus Root and Claw in X or Helix and Dome in Y)

These are shares of the item results only, and they’re approximate. They aren’t your chance per rock, because a rock can also give a battle or nothing. After the Hall of Fame Old Amber is a little more common, and the Hard Stones and Revives are replaced by other fossils. The post-game table is broken down fossil by fossil on the fossils page.

Revive it at the Ambrette Fossil Lab

Walk back to Ambrette Town and go into the Fossil Lab. The researcher who was in Glittering Cave runs the machine now. Talk to him, choose Old Amber from the list, and confirm. There’s no waiting and no fee: you get Aerodactyl in the same conversation, and the game lets you nickname it.

• You can hand over a fossil with a full party; the researcher looks after the revived Pokémon until you free up a slot and come back for it.
• If you say no when he asks, you keep the Old Amber.
• Hunting a shiny? Save before you talk to him (see the shiny section below).

Why you aren’t finding Old Amber

• Wrong rocks. The rocks on the Ambrette Town shore give items such as Pearls, Big Pearls, Star Pieces and Heart Scales, but never Old Amber. Only the eight rocks in the deep room of Glittering Cave give it.
• Dwebble or Onix keeps jumping out. That’s the wild Pokémon result, not the item result. Run or knock it out, then keep smashing.
• Hard Stone and Revive over and over. That’s normal. They’re the common items before the Hall of Fame. Old Amber is the rare one.
• All the rocks are gone. Step back into the main tunnel, then re-enter the deep room. They reset every time you come back in.
• You took the Jaw or Sail Fossil. That choice gives Tyrunt or Amaura, never Aerodactyl. Old Amber is a separate find.
• The lab won’t revive anything. The researcher who runs the machine is at the dig in Glittering Cave until you’ve cleared the Team Flare scene there.

Is Aerodactyl good in Pokémon X and Y?

Yes, especially if you want a fast flier early. Aerodactyl’s base Speed of 130 outruns almost everything in the Kalos story, and its Attack is high. It can learn HM02 Fly (from Coumarine City), HM04 Strength and TM94 Rock Smash, so it can do field work too.

The catch is its starting moves. At level 20 it has Bite, Scary Face, Roar and Agility, so no Rock or Flying attack yet. It learns Ancient Power at level 25 and Crunch at 33. TM40 Aerial Ace from Connecting Cave (you need Strength to reach it) and TM39 Rock Tomb from the Cyllage City Gym fill the gap. Its other level 1 moves, Wing Attack, Supersonic, Iron Head and the three Fangs, can be taught back later by the Move Reminder in Dendemille Town.

Rock / Flying takes double damage from Water, Electric, Ice, Rock and Steel, and it can’t be hit by Ground moves. Grant’s Cyllage City Gym is Rock-type, so bring something else as your main answer there.

Aerodactylite and Mega Aerodactyl

Aerodactylite is a plain gift, not one of the post-game sparkles on the ground. After the Glittering Cave visit, go back to the Fossil Lab and talk to the male scientist there, and he gives it to you. He’s not the researcher at the revive counter. You can get the stone before you even have an Aerodactyl.

To Mega Evolve, Aerodactyl must hold Aerodactylite and you need the Mega Ring, which you get at the Tower of Mastery in Shalour City later in the story. Until then the stone does nothing. See the Mega Stone list for the rest of the stones.

Tough Claws powers up moves that make contact, such as Bite, Crunch, Iron Head and the Fangs.

Pokémon Y, the Friend Safari and other games

Pokémon Y is identical: the same TM94, the same eight rocks, the same lab and the same Aerodactylite. The only version difference in the cave is which extra fossils appear after the Hall of Fame (Root and Claw in X, Helix and Dome in Y), and that doesn’t change Old Amber.

No Friend Safari type has Aerodactyl, including Rock and Flying. See the Friend Safari list for what those safaris do have.

Other games do it differently. In Pokémon Legends: Z-A you buy Old Amber at the Stone Emporium in Lumiose City, Let’s Go gives it out at the Pewter Museum, and Pokémon GO has its own spawns and raids. None of that carries over to X or Y.

Hidden Ability, shiny and trading in 2026

Can I get Unnerve?

Not on your own. Revived Aerodactyl always has Rock Head or Pressure, and an Ability Capsule only swaps between those two. An Aerodactyl with its Hidden Ability, Unnerve, has to come from a save that already has one, by local wireless trade or through Pokémon Bank.

Can fossil Aerodactyl be shiny?

Yes. It isn’t shiny-locked. Save inside the Fossil Lab with Old Amber in your Bag, revive it, and if it isn’t shiny, soft-reset by holding L + R + Start and try again. The chance is 1 in 4,096 each time, and the Shiny Charm doesn’t help with fossils. More shiny hunting tips are in shiny Pokémon in Pokémon Y.

Trading for one

The Global Trade System and Wonder Trade closed with 3DS online play on April 8, 2024. Local wireless trading still works, and Old Amber is a normal item, so a friend can also send a Pokémon holding one. Pokémon Bank still moves Pokémon between X, Y, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire until February 25, 2027, at 7:00 p.m. PST (11:00 AM on February 26, Beijing time), but only if you downloaded Bank before. First-time downloads ended in March 2023, and re-downloads still work. Pokémon HOME can’t send anything back to Bank or to the 3DS.

Frequently asked questions

How do you get Aerodactyl in Pokémon X and Y?

Smash rocks with Rock Smash in the deep room of Glittering Cave until you find Old Amber, then have it revived at the Fossil Lab in Ambrette Town. It comes back as a level 20 Aerodactyl.

Where is Old Amber in Pokémon X?

Only in the eight cracked rocks of Glittering Cave’s deep room, as a random Rock Smash find. To reset the rocks, step back into the main tunnel, then re-enter the deep room.

Do I need a Gym Badge to use Rock Smash?

No. Rock Smash is TM94 in X and Y, and you can use it on rocks without any badge.

What level is a revived Aerodactyl?

Level 20, in both Pokémon X and Pokémon Y.

Where is Aerodactylite?

The scientist in the Ambrette Fossil Lab gives it to you after the Glittering Cave visit. You need the Mega Ring from Shalour City to use it.

Is Aerodactyl in the Friend Safari?

No. It isn’t in any Friend Safari type.

Can I get an Unnerve Aerodactyl in X and Y?

Not by reviving one. It has to be traded in, or moved through Pokémon Bank before February 25, 2027, from a save that already has one.

Can a fossil Aerodactyl be shiny?

Yes, at 1 in 4,096. Save in the lab before reviving and soft-reset until it’s shiny.

Is the method different in Pokémon Y?

No. Pokémon Y uses the same rocks, the same Old Amber and the same Fossil Lab.