pokemon gen 1 safari zone tips

• PRO Courses Guides New Tech Help Pro Expert Videos About wikiHow Pro Upgrade Sign In
• EDIT Edit this Article
• EXPLORE Tech Help Pro About Us Random Article Quizzes Request a New Article Community Dashboard This Or That Game Happiness Hub Popular Categories Arts and Entertainment Artwork Books Movies Computers and Electronics Computers Phone Skills Technology Hacks Health Men's Health Mental Health Women's Health Relationships Dating Love Relationship Issues Hobbies and Crafts Crafts Drawing Games Education & Communication Communication Skills Personal Development Studying Personal Care and Style Fashion Hair Care Personal Hygiene Youth Personal Care School Stuff Dating All Categories Arts and Entertainment Finance and Business Home and Garden Relationship Quizzes Cars & Other Vehicles Food and Entertaining Personal Care and Style Sports and Fitness Computers and Electronics Health Pets and Animals Travel Education & Communication Hobbies and Crafts Philosophy and Religion Work World Family Life Holidays and Traditions Relationships Youth
• Browse Articles
• Learn Something New
• Quizzes Hot
• Happiness Hub
• This Or That Game
• Train Your Brain
• Explore More
• Support wikiHow
• About wikiHow
• Log in / Sign up
• Hobbies and Crafts
• Video Games
• Multi Platform Games
• Pokemon Video Games

How to Catch Pokémon in Safari Zone

Last Updated: May 21, 2023 References

This article was reviewed by Ishrak . Ishrak is a Gaming & Video Expert specializing in sharing Pokémon and Minecraft videos. With over eight years of gaming and streaming experience, Ishrak has a follower base of over 35,000 YouTube subscribers and over 8 million views. He is also a Pokémon ROM-Hacker and some of his most popular videos highlight tips and advice for people learning how to play Pokémon games. This article has been viewed 115,939 times.

In the Pokémon series of games, Safari Zones are special unique areas in each game where rare Pokémon that don't appear anywhere else in the game can be caught. Safari Zones always operate with different rules than the rest of the game world - instead of battling Pokémon in the wild like you normally would, you'll need to carefully use baits and deterrents to get Pokémon to let down their guards so you can catch them. This can be quite challenging, so knowing the ins and outs of Safari Zone mechanics in each game is vital for success.

Navigating the Safari Zone

Fighting and capturing pokémon.

• Note that the "run away" option functions as normal, so we won't be discussing it.

• However, using bait will also make the Pokémon more difficult to catch in a safari ball. Thus, striking a balance here can be difficult — the longer you get the Pokémon to stick around for, the harder it will be to actually capture it.

• However, there's an important downside: using rocks will also make the Pokémon more likely to run away. In fact, after taking more than a few rocks, a Pokémon is virtually guaranteed to run away — some will exit the battle sooner. Thus, once again, using rocks means striking a delicate balance as you try to capture your Pokémon.

• Note that you only have a limited supply of safari balls (depending on the game, usually 30), so save them for Pokémon you want to catch. It's generally the best use of your time to use your safari balls for Pokémon that are only found in the safari zone.

• Note that safari balls are weak compared to the pokéballs you can use in the rest of the game. In addition to this, especially rare Safari Zone Pokémon are extra-difficult to catch. [2] X Research source This can lead to some very frustrating situations — for instance, it can easily take 20 or more tries to catch an exceptionally rare Pokémon like Clefairy.

General Tips

• Bulbapedia, an online user-supported Pokémon encyclopedia, has extensive information about each game's Safari Zone, including maps and guides covering where to look for the Pokémon in each zone. See the Bulbapedia Safari Zone article to get started. [3] X Research source
• Note that there is no step limit in the Safari Zone in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver. [4] X Research source

• Across all of the games in the series, the entrance fee has stayed the same: 500 P . This includes the Great Marsh in Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum, which is not technically a Safari Zone but behaves very similarly.
• One smart strategy is to save your game before you enter the Safari Zone. This way, if you don't catch any Pokémon you want, you can re-load to avoid paying the entrance fee again.

• As an example of the sort of equation used in the games to determine whether certain Pokémon are captured, consider the equation from the Generation games (Gold and Silver): a = max((3 × HP max - 2 × HP current ) × rate modified / (3 × HP max ), 1) + bonus status where HP max is the Pokémon's maximum HP, HP current is the Pokémon's current HP, rate modified is the catch rate of the Pokémon modified by the ball used (every Pokémon and every ball modifies this in a certain way, and bonus status is the modifier for any status condition (sleep and freeze are 10, all others are 0). [5] X Research source When you throw a ball, a random number between 0 and 255 is generated. If this number is less than or equal to a, the Pokémon is caught.

Catching Pokémon in the Kanto Safari Zone

In the following sections, we'll highlight the rare Pokémon in each Safari zone and give specific advice where applicable. To keep these tables to a reasonable size, we've included only the rarest Pokémon in each area — for exhaustive information, consult the Safari Zone guides at Serebii.net and Bulbapedia.

Catching Pokémon in the Hoenn Safari Zone

Note that the Generation 4 Hoenn Safari Zone (Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire) won't be covered here as the player is allowed to engage in ordinary battles in this zone.

Catching Pokémon in the Sinnoh Great Marsh

Though Sinnoh's Pokémon preserve has a different name, it functions virtually identically to Safari Zones in other regions.

Catching Pokémon in the Johto Safari Zone

Note that the Safari Zone is not available in Generation 2 (Gold/Silver) but is available in the Generation IV games that visit Johto (HeartGold/SoulSilver). Note also that in this Safari Zone the player can arrange the six different areas in any arrangement desired. Finally, many of the areas in the Johto Safari Zones have Pokémon appearance rates that are not yet known — only data for the known areas has been included. See Bulbapedia for more information. [6] X Research source

Expert Q&A

• Once again, the data in the tables above only deals with the most noteworthy Pokémon in each area. In fact, many more Pokémon appear in each Safari Zone. Thanks Helpful 3 Not Helpful 3
• Remember — you have a limited number of steps inside the Safari Zone, not a limited amount of time. Thus, you can take as long as you like if you control your movement carefully. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 4

You Might Also Like

• ↑ http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Kanto_Safari_Zone
• ↑ https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Red_and_Blue/Safari_Zone
• ↑ https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Safari_Zone
• ↑ https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Johto_Safari_Zone#Areas
• ↑ https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Catch_rate#Capture_method_.28Generation_II.29

About This Article

• Send fan mail to authors

Reader Success Stories

Jan 16, 2017

Did this article help you?

Apr 1, 2018

Featured Articles

Trending Articles

Watch Articles

• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Do Not Sell or Share My Info
• Not Selling Info

Don’t miss out! Sign up for

wikiHow’s newsletter

• Search forums
• Hi all. We have had reports of member's signatures being edited to include malicious content. You can rest assured this wasn't done by staff and we can find no indication that the forums themselves have been compromised. However, remember to keep your passwords secure. If you use similar logins on multiple sites, people and even bots may be able to access your account. We always recommend using unique passwords and enable two-factor authentication if possible. Make sure you are secure.
• Be sure to join the discussion on our discord at: Discord.gg/serebii
• If you're still waiting for the e-mail, be sure to check your junk/spam e-mail folders
• Pokémon Games
• Pokémon Generation III Discussion
• Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald

safari zone tips...

• Thread starter dripdrop
• Start date Jul 6, 2006

Thunder Trainer

• Jul 6, 2006

are there any strategies for the safari zone? (other than throw safari balls) and are pokeblocks good?  

Golden_Latias

#slayqueenslay.

Pokeblocks help lure more Pokemon to the area, I think. Throwing a Pokeblock when you encounter them makes them stay, I know that.  

SneazzL.com

any tips on catching good pokes? i only catch weaklings also how do you make really good pokeblocks?  

dripdrop said: any tips on catching good pokes? i only catch weaklings also how do you make really good pokeblocks? Click to expand...

Dark Aerodactyl

I am not a spammer.

pokeblock help you alot  

Dark Aerodactyl said: pokeblock help you alot Click to expand...

Eevee_Master

I don't use them. I only use them for contests and stuff ^.^  

are there any non-rsyduck pokes in the water?  

mewfanforlife

Well-known member.

Pokeblocks don't help that much. I've caught all the safari Pokiemon without ever using one.  

<-- Solves any case!

pokeblocks help. but only if the pokemon has the right nature. It will run less easely. It can still run however, even if the pokemon has te right nature but the chances are just smaller. Further if you're searching for a specific nature put a SINGLE flavour pokeblock in those feeders (those white blocks in the midle of the grass) and you'll get only pokemon of a nature that corrosponts with that flavour. (if you use bunnyhop on the acrobike the pokeblock stays there and you can stay as long as you desire to stay in the safari zone.) example: red for attack boosting nature. that way i caught 10 herracross with attackboosting nature.  

If you are looking for a rare pokemon, go to its area an only slightly tap the D-pad, that way you will still remain in one spot, only facing a different direction, using this, won't waste the 500 steps. Also when looking for pikachu, you can use a pokemon with static to find it easier, or a pokemon with compound eyes to get a pokemon with an item. Synchronize will make it easier to catch pokemon with the same nature.  

Explosion said: If you are looking for a rare pokemon, go to its area an only slightly tap the D-pad, that way you will still remain in one spot, only facing a different direction, using this, won't waste the 500 steps. Also when looking for pikachu, you can use a pokemon with static to find it easier, or a pokemon with compound eyes to get a pokemon with an item. Synchronize will make it easier to catch pokemon with the same nature. Click to expand...

you amaze me.

Either Pokeblocks or you could catch a wild Tropius or Oddish/Gloom and use it's Sweet Sent to lure pokemon to you.  

pokeblocks don't lure the pokemon. they just make 5 certain natures appear. (namely the ones that like that specific flavour) for making them appear without using ACROBIKE (not pokeblocks) you could use sweetscent.  

• Jul 7, 2006

ok are there any pokeblock feeders in the mach bike area?  

pokeblocks do that??? i dont use them other than contests for my pokemon um to save time dont move just rotate and stuff.  

Chimecho3000

milotic111 said: it's lightlingrod and not static. Click to expand...

Shiny Pokemon Chaser Ky

<-gotcha, 140 eggs.

milotic111 said: it's lightlingrod and not static. for the nature. synchronize makes it easier but with pokeblockfeeder you've got an 100% chance of finding an nature of that flavour (at least i got 20 pokemon with that nature except 10 got away [i know that cause i threw pokeblocks and they liked them]) Click to expand...

♪Crystal Mew♪

Mr. ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒.

• PlayStation 3
• PlayStation 4
• PlayStation 5
• Xbox Series
• More Systems
• If you ever managed to catch Chansey in the Safari Zone...
• Pokemon Red Version
• Topic Archived
• Page 1 of 3

More Topics from this Board

• Just some random musings 3 posts, 9/1 2:34AM
• Player's guide to Red/Blue for my classmates 55 posts, 7/30 12:50AM
• 2023 still playing this? 22 posts, 2/21 5:26PM
• What exactly happens when you get into an encounter with an empty party? 9 posts, 12/25 8:16PM
• Can someone explain how this apparant gen 1 shenanigan worked? 3 posts, 9/14 9:04PM

GameFAQs Q&A

• What level should I evolve my Eevee at? Build 4 Answers
• How do i solve l.t. surge's trash can puzzle? Enemy/Boss 2 Answers
• What's a good HM mule? Build 4 Answers
• what is the best team for the elite 4 ? Build 3 Answers
• How do I get back to Viridian City from Cerulean City? Main Quest 1 Answer

Hoenn Safari Zone

The Hoenn Safari Zone (Japanese: サファリゾーン Safari Zone ) is a special Pokémon preserve where Trainers can enter to catch wild Pokémon . The entrance is on Hoenn 's Route 121 .

In Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire , and Emerald , this Safari Zone is only accessible to Trainers participating in the Safari Game. In a Safari Game, players may only use Safari Balls , and rather than weaken wild Pokémon in battle, players must use non-conventional tactics to try and catch them. For $ 500, the player is granted entry and 30 Safari Balls. In Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, the player is limited to 500 steps and the player is only allowed entry if they also have a Pokéblock Case .

In Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire , the Safari Game has been removed, and players can enter the Safari Zone area without paying a fee. Pokémon found here are now collected through normal battles. Each area also now has both tall and long grass , and while encounters between them are mostly the same, two rare Pokémon in each area can only be found in one type of grass specifically.

• 1.2 Pokéblock feeders
• 2.1 Capture odds
• 2.2 Pokéblock throw bug
• 3.1 Entrance
• 3.8 Vending Machine
• 4.1.1 Area 1
• 4.1.2 Area 2
• 4.1.3 Area 3
• 4.1.4 Area 4
• 4.1.5 Area 5
• 4.1.6 Area 6
• 4.2.1 Area 1
• 4.2.2 Area 2
• 4.2.3 Area 3
• 4.2.4 Area 4
• 7 In other languages

Certain areas of the Safari Zone can only be accessed with the Mach Bike or the Acro Bike . In Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, all areas are accessible with either Bike and Surf , but in some areas, only one type of grass will be accessible without using the other Bike. In Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, there are also breakable rocks that can be used to encounter Pokémon. In Emerald , after the player obtains the National Pokédex , two new areas will open up to the east, featuring many Johto Pokémon not found in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire or Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen .

• In Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, the Acro Bike and Surf are required to reach the long grass within this area.
• In Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, the Mach Bike is required to reach the long grass within this area.
• In Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, the Mach Bike is required to access this area.
• In Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, the Mach Bike is required to reach the tall grass within this area, while the Acro Bike is required to reach the long grass.
• In Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, the Acro Bike is required to access this area.
• In Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, the Acro Bike is required to reach the tall grass within this area, while the Mach Bike and Surf are required to reach the long grass.
• Area 5 is directly east of Area 1. It is only accessible in Emerald , and only after the player has entered the Hall of Fame .
• Area 6 is directly north of Area 5. It is only accessible in Emerald, and only after the player has entered the Hall of Fame.

Pokéblock feeders

In Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire , and Emerald , there are Pokéblock feeders throughout the Safari Zone. If a Pokéblock is placed in a feeder, 80% of wild Pokémon encountered in grass patches and water tiles up to five steps away from the feeder will be forced to have a Nature such that, if an identically flavored Pokéblock were thrown at it, the Pokémon would be enthralled (i.e. its preferred flavor dominates its disliked flavor in the Pokéblock); the feeder has no effect if no such Nature exists. Only one Pokéblock may occupy a feeder, and the feeder's effect disappears after 100 steps are taken.

Due to an oddity in the programming of Pokéblock feeders, forced natures do not have a uniform distribution. This causes natures with higher ID numbers to be more common than Natures with lower ID numbers. For example, if a green (bitter) Pokéblock is in the feeder and forces an enthralling Nature: Calm has an 8.71% chance to be forced, Gentle has a 15.61% chance to be forced, Sassy has a 27.66% chance to be forced, and Careful has a 48.02% chance to be forced (approximately).

Safari Game

In Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, the Safari Zone is only accessible to Trainers participating in the Safari Game. In a Safari Game, players may only use Safari Balls; rather than weaken them in battle, players must use non-conventional tactics to try and catch wild Pokémon. There are four options on the battle screen: throw a Safari Ball , throw a Pokéblock , go near, and run away. Throwing Pokéblocks makes a Pokémon less likely to run but harder to catch, while going near makes a Pokémon easier to catch but more likely to run.

When a Pokémon is encountered in the Safari Zone, the game will track catch and escape factors for it. The catch factor is initially set by dividing the Pokémon's catch rate by 12.75 (precisely: multiplied by 100 and divided by 1275) and rounding down. This has the effect of scaling the catch rate to a range of 0 to 20 (with any 0 value further set to 1, though this does not occur in natural gameplay). The escape factor starts with a value of 3.

These factors are then modified when the player takes an action, as described in the following table.

A Pokéblock will only affect the escape factor if the escape factor is greater than 1. Otherwise, if the escape factor would become negative, it is set to 1 instead. Both factors are also limited to a maximum value of 20.

The Pokémon's reaction to a Pokéblock depends on the combination of its disliked or preferred flavors : it is enthralled if its preferred flavor is greater than its disliked flavor, curious if they are equal, and ignores the Pokéblock if its preferred flavor is less than its disliked flavor. If a Pokéblock is ignored, the escape factor is not affected, but it still counts as thrown for the purpose of throwing subsequent Pokéblocks.

If the player tries to catch the Pokémon using a Safari Ball, the scaling of the catch factor is undone by multiplying it by 12.75 (1275/100) and rounding down to obtain a "modified" catch rate. The effect of these mechanics on the chance of ultimately catching the Pokémon is approximately a 2.5% change for every unit change in the capture factor, with an initial capture probability of approximately catch_rate / 510 rounded down to the nearest multiple of 0.025 (2.5%), or 0.025 if it would be less.

Whether a Pokémon will try to escape is determined at the start of each turn. A random value from 0 to 99 (inclusive) is compared to the escape factor times 5: if the random value is less, the Pokémon will flee at the end of the turn (if not captured). These numbers translate to a 5% change in probability of escaping for every unit change in the escape factor, with an initial 15% chance of escape.

Capture odds

The table below shows the chances of capturing a Pokémon if a Safari Ball is immediately thrown.

Pokéblock throw bug

In Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, instead of the escape factor having a minimum value of 1 (5% chance to flee) like the catch factor, the game is coded to set the escape factor to 1 if it would become negative due to a thrown Pokéblock. This means it is possible for the player to throw Pokéblocks such that a Pokémon's escape factor becomes exactly 0, and the Pokémon will have a 0% chance to escape. Exploiting this can make it very easy to catch Hoenn Safari Zone Pokémon. Though, it is worth noting that if the "escape factor" is ever equal to 1, the game will not reduce it further regardless of which Pokéblocks are thrown by the player.

Due to an oddity in the programming of Pokéblock Feeders, the distribution of wild Pokémon's natures is not even across each of the possibilities. This causes Calm Pokémon to only spawn in 1/10 encounters if a bitter Pokéblock is in the feeder while Careful natured Pokémon will occur in nearly 4/10 encounters. This gives players an opportunity to greatly increase the effectiveness of their Pokéblock manipulation.

The optimal catching strategy for exploiting this is as follows:

Make these three single- flavor Pokéblocks: two green * (bitter) Pokéblocks, and one red * (spicy) Pokéblock. Put the green * Pokéblock into a feeder and start a wild encounter near that feeder.

Note: this can be done with yellow * , pink * , blue * , and green * Pokéblocks in the feeder; green * is just the most effective. With any of these colors make a red * Pokéblock as well. If you would like to use a red * Pokéblock in the feeder pair it with a yellow * (sour) Pokéblock.

When the battle starts...

• If the Pokémon's catch rate is higher than 200, throw Safari Balls .
• 1) If the Pokémon is curious (escape factor = 0), throw Safari Balls .
• 2a) If the Pokémon is enthralled (escape factor = 0), throw Safari Balls .
• 2b) If the Pokémon is curious (escape factor = 1), throw Safari Balls .
• 3) If the Pokémon is enthralled (escape factor = 1), throw Safari Balls .

This strategy results in, at minimum, a 75.88% chance to catch any Pokémon that appears.

Vending Machine

In Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire , there is a Vending Machine at the entrance to the Safari Zone.

Generation III

Generation vi.

• No Pokémon introduced in Generation III appear in this Safari Zone.
• In Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire , the entrance to the Safari Zone has a book titled "The Path of the Safari Zone" written by the founder of the Safari Zone.
• In Pokémon Emerald , the Rare Candy in Area 6 cannot be picked up if the player tries to pick it up while facing it from the north or the west.
• Hoenn Safari Zone Areas 1, 2, and 4 from Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire can be found in the internal data of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen . However, the tileset data is missing, so the maps are glitched.
• Both Aipom and Gligar can be found in the Emerald expansion of the Safari Zone, both of which would become version exclusive Pokémon in Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violets DLC: The Teal Mask.

Hoenn Safari Zone Area 1 in FireRed and LeafGreen

Hoenn Safari Zone Area 2 in FireRed and LeafGreen

Hoenn Safari Zone Area 4 in FireRed and LeafGreen

In other languages

• Candidates for moving
• Articles needing better pictures
• Articles with accompanying video
• Safari Zones
• Hoenn locations
• Ruby and Sapphire locations
• Emerald locations
• Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire locations

Navigation menu

Page actions.

• View source

Personal tools

• Create account
• Editor's Hub
• Frequently asked questions
• Bulbawiki forum
• Recent changes
• Random page

Bulbagarden

• Bulbagarden home page
• Bulbagarden Archives
• Bulbagarden Forums
• Bulbagarden Discord server
• What links here
• Related changes
• Upload file
• Special pages
• Printable version
• Permanent link
• Page information
• Cite this page

• This page was last edited on 2 September 2024, at 19:49.
• Content is available under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 . (see Copyrights for details)
• Privacy policy
• About Bulbapedia
• Disclaimers
• Mobile view

• Remember me Not recommended on shared computers

Forgot your password?

• General Discussion

Proof that the optimal Safari Zone strategy is to throw balls every turn

By Atricos September 11, 2021 in General Discussion

Recommended Posts

• Bertolfoso , Jeiseun , OHJI and 22 others

Link to comment

For a full version, check this Imgur album:  https://imgur.com/a/NXfd3Ay

Now I have a paper to link to people when they ask what they should do in the safari.

• FighterChamp , Atricos , JohntheJester and 2 others

I already found 2 typos, but disregarding those, I think it's understandable.

I just wanna catch some Pokemon man ...

• FRACASADITO , PinkWings , Neuzzz and 4 others

Corrected 2 typos: - Section 1.1: "probabiliy" -> "probability" - Section 1.2: "guarantee that if the ..." -> "guarantee that the ..."

1 minute ago, HEARTEATERS said: wrong

Please elaborate, which part have I made mistake(s) in?

thx bro i always needed this kind of proof 

Interesting read. The downfall is that this is that it goes so far over the heads of the community who can't even figure out a basic percentage.

3 minutes ago, EssDeeCee said: Interesting read. The downfall is that this is that it goes so far over the heads of the community who can't even figure out a basic percentage.

While definitely true, there isn't a much simpler method of proving this. I included the "simple explanation" in Section 2.1, so maybe if someone's not too well versed in probability theory, they can understand that non-rigorous reasoning.

I hope you accounted for dn when doing these calculations

CaptnBaklava

I'm a simple man, I see mons I throw balls. 

Good to see that my strategy is proofed now. 

• Quint , Jgaw and Atricos

Or just like...don't go there.

It makes me wonder why these features are even implemented in the game. If they're not actually serving a purpose, why have they been here since Generation 1? Did the formulas change over the years, or is it a PokeMMO thing? Please elaborate on your data points and where it was gathered from.

Also, at the start, you assume the player has infinite Pokeballs. What if the player has exactly 1 Safari Ball left? What should they do then, if they've only got the 1 shot? 

15 minutes ago, Kiralexis said: It makes me wonder why these features are even implemented in the game. If they're not actually serving a purpose, why have they been here since Generation 1? Did the formulas change over the years, or is it a PokeMMO thing? Please elaborate on your data points and where it was gathered from.   Also, at the start, you assume the player has infinite Pokeballs. What if the player has exactly 1 Safari Ball left? What should they do then, if they've only got the 1 shot? 

- The Safari Zone did have a lot of changes over the generations, check the various links on this side:  https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Safari_Zone  As far as I know, the current mechanics that are in PokeMMO are a simplified version of the Generation 4 mechanics.

- It is a valid critique of my method that I ingored the fact that the player could run out of balls. It could definitely happen that the player is very low on balls, is unlikely to catch the Pokémon because of this, so throwing a Rock would be beneficial to raise the catch rate. However that analysis is suddenly way-WAY more complicated, as not only do we need to modify the infinite graph to one that has a given length (the number of balls the player has remaning), suddenly mixed strategies become viable - after using some Safari Balls that don't catch, maybe it's better to throw a Rock so that the catch rate increases. If I have time, I will try to do a full analysis on that, but that would be like 3-4 times longer.

- As for the exact question on "What to do if the player has exactly 1 Safari Ball left", I believe the answer depends on the catch rate and flee rate, and I would need to calculate that.

2 hours ago, Juaske said: I hope you accounted for dn when doing these calculations

Mfw people put more effort in proving catch rates than I did in my bachelor thesis

• TipsyTurvy , CrzPapel , Imperial and 6 others

1 hour ago, Paul said: dn?

The DeciNewton

8 minutes ago, Juaske said: The DeciNewton

not the answer I was hoping for..

• Obvi and JohntheJester

2 hours ago, Quakkz said: Mfw people put more effort in proving catch rates than I did in my bachelor thesis

This was probably the guy's dissertation project for his maths degree at uni - either way I'm impressed

Hey, I really appreciate all of the work you did on this! Having said that, it's possible that the assumptions we've made are naive in terms of the mechanics of the balls and baits. A fairly detailed document has been produced on the matter, and since the game uses Safari Zone mechanics from FireRed (as far as I know), it's likely that it will be applicable to our use case: https://www.docdroid.net/Tx5NbeU/safari-zone-research-pdf

Let me know your thoughts on this and the optimum play patterns they describe!

• JohntheJester

5 hours ago, DamianTe said: Hey, I really appreciate all of the work you did on this! Having said that, it's possible that the assumptions we've made are naive in terms of the mechanics of the balls and baits. A fairly detailed document has been produced on the matter, and since the game uses Safari Zone mechanics from FireRed (as far as I know), it's likely that it will be applicable to our use case: https://www.docdroid.net/Tx5NbeU/safari-zone-research-pdf   Let me know your thoughts on this and the optimum play patterns they describe!

That study looks fascinating! I've only skimmed though it so far, I'll read it in detail soon.

I was wondering, do we actually have an official confirmation that the PokeMMO Safari mechanics work with the Kanto method?

Since then my calculations wouldn't be applicible for the game. (Though they're still true if we assume what's described in Section 1.2.)

Edit: It seems that the study acknowledges that it's outdated, since it says "The Safari Game mechanics were overhauled to more closely resemble the one in the Hoenn Safari Zone." Though I'm still not sure if that's how PokeMMO works.

I might be saying something stupid here and probably completely wrong, but isn't it true that the part of eating the bait has nothing to do with the percentages? And the pokemon won't flee while eating it? And if so, did you factored those extra poke balls you get to throw meanwhile? 

Again, this mechanic is probably only in my head and not true at all xD

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Smart with numbers, me believe smart.

FighterChamp

You explained maths better than college professors 

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Already have an account? Sign in here.

• Existing user? Sign In
• Online Users
• All Activity
• My Activity Streams
• Unread Content
• Content I Started
• Leaderboard
• Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy .

10693132 front page hits

The Cave of Dragonflies

Where the smallest bugs live alongside the strongest dragons

Gen I Capture Mechanics

Special thanks to a_magical_me , who started analyzing the algorithm, let me use his notes and then provided me with an assembly dump to pick up where he left off. The hacking genius is mostly his.

If you were an avid player of Red, Blue and Yellow, you may have read the other capture mechanics sections and fleetingly wondered, "But what about the times in R/B/Y when it would say, 'The ball missed the POKéMON!'? What was going on then ? How much of this stuff was the same back then, anyway?"

How much, indeed? As it turns out, barely any. The R/B/Y capture algorithm is drastically different from that of the later games; in particular, it really is an algorithm rather than mostly a straightforward formula. And it is also, as it happens, quite interesting - especially if you, like me, have always sort of wondered exactly how that worked. So sit back, relax, and let's take a look at the insides of the game. Or, well, if you don't care about the insides of the game, you can always skip down to the basic summary of how capturing is different in R/B/Y .

Meanwhile, if all you want to do is find out how likely you are to capture a Pokémon in R/B/Y, you'll want the catch rate calculator .

The Algorithm

The capture algorithm proper, as listed below, applies to regular wild Pokémon battles . A few sanity checks are handled before we get to that part:

• If you're not in battle, you can't use a ball. "OAK: This isn't the time to use that!"
• If this is a trainer battle, the capture immediately fails. "The trainer blocked the BALL! Don't be a thief!"
• If this is not the Old Man's tutorial battle in Viridian City, then if both your party and your current box are full, you can't throw a ball. "The POKéMON BOX is full! Can't use that item!"
• If this is a battle against an unidentified ghost, or if the Pokémon is a Marowak and the player's current location is the sixth floor of Pokémon Tower (in an unmodified game, the latter will only happen for the special ghost Marowak), the capture immediately fails. "It dodged the thrown BALL! This POKéMON can't be caught!"

Otherwise, to determine the outcome of a thrown ball, the game executes the following procedure (cleaned up and tweaked for human presentation, of course). Note that any time it speaks of division, it means integer division : the result is an integer and the remainder is simply discarded. Thus, for example, if it says "Divide 5 by 2", the result is simply 2, not 2.5.

• If the ball being thrown is a Master Ball, the Pokémon is automatically caught . Skip the rest of the procedure. ( Yes , the Master Ball is an automatic guaranteed success, as long as you pass the sanity checks above. There is an extremely persistent rumour that it actually has a 1/256 or 1/65536 chance of missing; whatever you may have heard, wherever you heard it, it is not true . It is true that moves that were meant to be 100% accurate would have a 1/256 chance of missing in R/B/Y, but this has no relation to how the Master Ball works in any game; it always simply skips the calculation entirely.)
• If it's a Poké Ball, R1 ranges from 0 to 255 (inclusive).
• If it's a Great Ball, R1 ranges from 0 to 200 (inclusive).
• If it's an Ultra or Safari Ball, R1 ranges from 0 to 150 (inclusive).
• If the targeted Pokémon is asleep or frozen, S is 25.
• If the targeted Pokémon is poisoned, burned or paralyzed, S is 12.
• Otherwise, S is 0.
• Subtract S from R1 (to avoid confusion with the original R1, I will refer to the result as R*).
• If R* is less than zero (i.e. if the generated R1 was less than S), the Pokémon is successfully caught . Skip the rest of the procedure.
• Multiply the Pokémon's max HP by 255 and store the result in F.
• 8 if the ball used was a Great Ball.
• 12 otherwise.
• Divide the Pokémon's current HP by four (if the result is zero, bump it up to 1). Divide F by this number and make that the new F.
• If F is now greater than 255, make it 255 instead.
• If the base catch rate of the Pokémon is less than R*, the Pokémon automatically breaks free . Skip to step 10.
• Generate a second random number R2 ranging from 0 to 255 (inclusive).
• If R2 is less than or equal to the HP factor F, the Pokémon is caught . Skip the rest of the procedure.
• Multiply the Pokémon's base catch rate by 100 and store the result in a wobble approximation variable W.
• If it was a Poké Ball, divide by 255.
• If it was a Great Ball, divide by 200.
• If it was an Ultra or Safari Ball, divide by 150.
• If the result is greater than 255, the ball will wobble three times; skip the rest of this subprocedure. (This can't actually happen, since the Pokémon's base catch rate can never be greater than 255 and we just multiplied it by 100 and then divided it by something greater than 100, but given the shenanigans that can happen when Game Freak forgets to include failsafes , I don't blame them.)
• Multiply W by F (the HP factor calculated above).
• Divide W by 255.
• If the Pokémon is asleep or frozen, add 10 to W.
• If the Pokémon is poisoned, burned or paralyzed, add 5 to W.
• If W is less than 10, the ball misses ("The ball missed the POKéMON!").
• If W is between 10 and 29 (inclusive), the ball wobbles once ("Darn! The POKéMON broke free!").
• If W is between 30 and 69 (inclusive), the ball wobbles twice ("Aww! It appeared to be caught!").
• Otherwise (if W is greater than or equal to 70), the ball wobbles three times ("Shoot! It was so close too!").

What It Means

(Psst, if you don't speak math, you can skip down to the plain English summary , which has almost no math at all. It's simple, I promise!)

So what does this algorithm actually mean for capturing in R/B/Y? How is it different from the later games? (In the rest of this discussion, I will assume you are not using a Master Ball; that case is trivial and it would be a bother to keep mentioning it.)

Well, first, let's look at what the structure of the algorithm actually theoretically means for our chances of capturing the Pokémon. (This gets a bit mathematical, but bear with me.) Let's call the Pokémon's base catch rate C and create a ball modifier variable B to stand for the range of the first random number R1: 256 if the ball is a Poké Ball, 201 if the ball is a Great Ball and 151 if the ball is an Ultra Ball. (Note that this is one higher than the maximum numbers discussed in the algorithm above; this is because a random integer between 0 and X inclusive can take on X+1 possible values, the way that 0–2 inclusive means three values, 0, 1 and 2.) Depending on where R1 falls in this range, three different things can happen:

• If R1 is less than the status variable S , the Pokémon is immediately caught .
• If R2 is less than or equal to F , the Pokémon is caught .
• If R2 is greater than F , the Pokémon breaks free.
• If R1 is greater than S + C , the Pokémon breaks free.

Of the total of B possible R1 values, S of them result in the first path (auto-capture), C + 1 of them (up to a maximum of B - S, since there are only B - S values left) result in the second path where R2 and the HP factor F are calculated, and the rest (if any) result in the third path (auto-failure). We can visualize it like this:

If we assume that R1 and R2 are perfectly randomly distributed (please put a pin in this), it's straightforward to derive a formula for the total odds of capture from this. What we want is the sum of the two possible paths leading to the Pokémon being successfully caught: first, the case where R1 is within the auto-capture range (the chance of which should be S / B, since S out of B possible values of R1 give us that result), and second, the case where R1 is within that white range in the middle (the chance of which should be min(C + 1, B - S) / B) and subsequently R2 <= F (the chance of which should be (F + 1) / 256 - again, it's F + 1 because we're counting the R2 values from 0 to F inclusive ). This directly gives us the following:

`"Chance"_"theoretical"=S/B + (min(C + 1, B - S))/B * (F + 1)/256`

Note that these are not mathematical operations performed by the game; the only actual arithmetic it's doing is within the F variable, while this is a theoretical probabilistic formula derived from the structure of the algorithm. That means these divisions are not integer divisions, and this formula can be rearranged at will without producing rounding errors or the like. Thus we could, for instance, combine those divisions by B and get this equivalent, perhaps somewhat cleaner formula:

`"Chance"_"theoretical"=(S + min(C + 1, B - S) * (F + 1)/256)/B`

You'll see that version again a bit later, but for most of the explanation I'll be referencing the former version. Recall also that the F value, the HP factor, is derived from the Pokémon's maximum HP (M), current HP (H), and a value we can call G, which is 8 for Great Balls and 12 for all other balls, as follows:

`F=min(255, |__(|__(M*255)/G__|)/(max(1, |__H/4__|))__|)`

(You have Javascript off, which means you can't see the fancy equation formatting on this page. You're seeing the ASCIIMath I typed instead, in which the floor function (rounding down) is represented as |__x__|. Treat the |__ and __| as a set of odd parentheses and it's not as hard to read as it looks. But it's prettier if you just turn Javascript on. This website has no trackers, ads, cookie popups, or any other annoying script that you might not want to run, just actual features!)

You probably still don't have a very good idea what any of this really means, but that's okay; we're getting to that. Let's go over the values in the formula, what they mean and how they theoretically affect the result.

S (Status Conditions)

This is a simple variable: it is 25 if the Pokémon you're trying to catch is asleep or frozen, 12 if it's poisoned, burned or paralyzed, and 0 otherwise.

Unlike the post-Advance games' formulas (but like the second-generation formula ), the status is factored in not as a multiplier but an addition. This leads to two interesting conclusions. First, it means that status conditions essentially give a certain baseline chance of capturing the Pokémon - S out of the B possible R1 values will always mean you catch the Pokémon, regardless of its catch rate and HP. Second, addition has a proportionally greater influence the smaller the original value is - think of how if you add 100 to 100, you're doubling it, whereas if you add 100 to one million, the change is barely worth mentioning. This means that while status does provide a substantial improvement to the odds of a successful capture even if your chances are already pretty good, it makes a truly massive difference when you're trying to catch something like a legendary. This is extremely important to keep in mind when capturing hard-to-catch Pokémon in Red, Blue and Yellow.

C (Capture Rate)

This is simply the base catch rate of the Pokémon species, ranging from 3 (for legendaries) to 255 (for common Pokémon like Caterpie and Pidgey). The values for the Kanto Pokémon are mostly unchanged in the later generations, with a couple of exceptions: Raticate went from a catch rate of 90 in R/B/Y and G/S/C to a catch rate of 127 in R/S, and in Yellow only, Dragonair and Dragonite's catch rates were changed to 27 and 9 respectively, while both in R/B and the later games they have a catch rate of 45 like Dratini. For any other Pokémon, you can look up the catch rate in an online Pokédex of your choice and it will be the same as in R/B/Y. (Of course, if you use my calculator , you won't have to look anything up.)

If you look back at the visualization image above, the capture rate's role in the algorithm is to determine the size of the white part of the top bar: out of the B possible values R1 can take, C + 1 of them (or more accurately, min(C + 1, B - S), since the capture rate window obviously can't be bigger than all the B values that aren't in the status auto-capture window) will lead to the HP factor check happening. All values of R1 that don't fall either within the status auto-capture window or the capture rate window are auto-failures. For a legendary (with capture rate 3), there are therefore always only four (3 + 1) possible R1 values for which the game will look at the legendary's HP at all, for instance.

That capping when C + 1 is greater than B - S has some interesting consequences - one of them is that effectively, once the Pokémon's catch rate is higher than B - S, going beyond that no longer has any effect on the algorithm . Thus, for instance, if you're using an Ultra Ball (B = 151), there is no difference between a Pokémon with catch rate 190 and one with catch rate 255. They simply become exactly equivalent.

B (Ball Modifier) and G (Great Ball Modifier)

Quite unlike the ball bonus multiplier of the later games, there are two ball-related modifiers in the R/B/Y formula, both of which are primarily divisors, meaning a lower value for them should in principle mean a higher chance of a successful capture. In the later games, a Poké Ball has a ball bonus multiplier of 1, with a Great Ball having a ball bonus of 1.5 and an Ultra Ball having a ball bonus of 2, forming a straightforward linear progression from worse to better balls. In R/B/Y, however, the ball modifier B is 256 for Poké Balls, 201 for Great Balls and 151 for Ultra Balls and Safari Balls, and furthermore the G value in the calculation of the HP factor (the F variable) is 8 for Great Balls but 12 for all other balls.

This makes it harder to see at a glance just how much more effective the better balls actually are than plain Poké Balls in R/B/Y. However, we can look at the balls' role in the algorithm and figure out what the general idea is meant to be. Let's look at our visualization again:

• Firstly , the B value determines the size of the top bar . A lower B value helps by making the red auto-failure portion on the right side smaller, and thus also making the status auto-capture window and the capture rate window proportionally bigger. For a Pokémon with a high catch rate, however, where there is no auto-failure window, all that lowering the B value past that will do is make the status window (if any) proportionally bigger. Thus, for a Pokémon with a catch rate of 255, a Great or Ultra Ball won't actually be any better than a Poké Ball unless there's a status condition! For any non-statused Pokémon with a catch rate of 200+, it makes no difference to the R1 check whether you use a Great or Ultra Ball. And for any Pokémon with a catch rate over 150, the Ultra Ball won't have the full advantage it's meant to.
• Secondly , the G value is part of the HP factor . G is a divisor on the HP factor value, and it's 8 for Great Balls but 12 for all other balls - which means that until it hits its cap of 255, the HP factor is significantly higher for Great Balls than for other balls, including Ultra Balls - specifically, about 33% higher! This is good, since the second random number R2 is being compared against the HP factor, and you catch the Pokémon if it's less than or equal to it. Even for Pokémon with relatively low catch rates, this actually theoretically outweighs the Ultra Ball's advantage as outlined above if there is no status condition.

This means that Great Balls are actually better than Ultra Balls in many cases, by design ! Pokémon with very high catch rates, in particular, will be way easier to catch in a Great Ball than an Ultra Ball, especially when not afflicted with a status condition, and even Pokémon with lower catch rates should be a little easier to catch in a Great Ball if there's no status, assuming the cap on the HP factor isn't tripped. When is that cap tripped? Well...

F (HP Factor)

This is where the current health of the Pokémon you're trying to catch comes in, making it easier to capture a Pokémon that has been weakened. To recap, the F value is given by the following formula:

`F = min(255, |__(|__(M*255)/G__|)/(max(1, |__H/4__|))__|)`

where M stands for the Pokémon's maximum HP, H stands for the Pokémon's current HP, G stands for the Great Ball modifier discussed above (8 for Great Balls, 12 otherwise), and `|__x__|` stands for rounding x down to the nearest integer. A higher F value means a greater chance of a successful capture.

First things first, let's see what sort of value is going to come out of this for both possible G values. If we plug in H = M to represent a full-health Pokémon and ignore rounding errors, we get...

`F = min(255, |__(|__(M*255)/12__|)/(max(1, |__M/4__|))__|) ~= (M * 255/12)/(M/4) = 255 * 4/12 = 255/3 = 85` (Poké/Ultra/Safari Ball)

`F = min(255, |__(|__(M*255)/8__|)/(max(1, |__M/4__|))__|) ~= (M * 255/8)/(M/4) = 255 * 4/8 = 255/2 = 127` (Great Ball)

Again, note how the Great Ball gives a substantially bigger value for the HP factor. Thanks to rounding errors, the actual HP factor can be a bit higher than these values for a full-health Pokémon, depending on its exact HP value, but it can never be lower.

Ignoring rounding errors, the formula the HP factor is going for is essentially 255 * (M / 2H) for Great Balls and 255 * (M / 3H) for all other balls, which at a glance makes sense as a way to do something like this: at full HP you'll get 255 * (1/2 or 1/3) out of that, and then as H drops, the value will rise. But if left unchecked, the result of that would just rise ever faster and faster, which would lead to absurd results - the value for 4 HP would be twice as high as for 8 HP. That's where the HP factor cap comes in: once you've whittled the Pokémon's HP down enough to make the HP factor value 255, lowering its HP more will no longer have any effect upon its catch rate .

So, just when is this cap of 255 tripped? Well... it only takes a little rearranging of those formulas to show that it happens at around half HP for a Great Ball, and around one third HP for other balls. (This also means that while Great Balls start out with a higher HP factor, Ultra Balls will catch up if you lower the Pokémon's HP.)

You may be doing a double-take right now. But yes, it's true! With or without status effects, regardless of catch rates, lowering the Pokémon's HP below one third, or one half if you're using a Great Ball, does absolutely nothing to help you catch it . Continuing to painstakingly deal tiny slivers of damage beyond that is simply a waste of your time and effort. No wonder False Swipe wasn't made until the second generation - leaving a Pokémon at exactly one HP is not actually useful in any fashion in R/B/Y! All you need is to get it down to one third and start throwing balls.

For a low-health Pokémon whose HP factor has reached the cap, regardless of the ball used, the theoretical formula simplifies beautifully to

`"Chance"_"LowHP" = (S + min(C + 1, B - S))/B`

W (Wobble Approximation)

But what about the wobbling? What's all that weird calculation the game is doing just to figure out how many times the ball is going to wobble?

Well. Let's analyze just what the game is doing there, shall we? Most of the variables involved in the wobble calculation are the same or basically the same as in the actual capture formula, so I'll use the same variable names, but since the status factor in the wobble formula is not the same (it's 10 for sleep/freezing and 5 for poisoning/burns/paralysis instead of 25 and 12 respectively) I'll call that S2. With this in mind, here's the formula the game is evaluating:

`W = |__(|__(C * 100)/(B - 1)__| * F)/255__| + S_2`

Hmm. Doesn't this formula look just the slightest bit familiar? No? How about if we ignore the roundings and rearrange it just a bit...

`W = 100 * (((B - 1) * S_2)/100 + C * F/255)/(B - 1)`

...and note that for Poké Balls in particular, `((B - 1) * S_2)/100` gives a result uncannily close to the S variable from the theoretical success formula...

`W = 100 * (S^"*" + C * F/255)/(B - 1)`

...doesn't it look just a little bit like simply a hundred times a variation of another formula we know, with some off-by-one errors and a cap removed?

`"Chance" = (S + min(C + 1, B - S) * (F + 1)/256)/B`

Now, I can't claim I know what Game Freak were thinking when they programmed this calculation. But I would bet money that what the game is trying to do here with the wobbles is to calculate a percentage approximation of its own success rate . When the ball misses, it's because the game estimates your chances are less than 10%, whereas if it wobbles once it's guessing 10-29%, twice means 30-69%, and three times means 70% or more.

This approximation isn't completely in line with that theoretical formula. They failed to account for the status bonus being affected by the ball modifier (as noted above, `((B - 1) * S_2)/100` only approximates S for Poké Balls); the one that should be added to the C value has some significance for very low catch rates; and of course, it ignores the cap on C + 1. What's up with that? Well, they could be mistakes - we are talking about the same programmers who made the stat modification system , after all - but more charitably, I expect they wouldn't really have particularly wanted to waste the additional overhead it would take to be more precise about it for something not exactly significant; it's not as if the player even has much of an idea what the wobbles are supposed to mean in the first place! (The collective fandom had no idea about this until I first wrote it up here in early 2011, to the best of my knowledge.) It's a serviceable enough approximation for the game's purposes, and that's plenty.

Notice anything interesting about it, though? This is a completely static calculation with no random factor to it whatsoever, and that means (unlike the later games) the number of wobbles in R/B/Y is always the same given the Pokémon's HP, catch rate, status and the type of ball . If you just keep throwing the same balls, without the Pokémon's HP or status changing in between, you will always see the same number of wobbles on failure , depending on the outcome of this calculation.

That means that, for instance, if you've landed in one of those situations where it says the ball misses, such as throwing Ultra Balls at a full-health Articuno, it will always say the ball misses - except when you're about to catch it for real! So the moment you see it actually go into the ball, you can already start celebrating. It was easy back in the day to assume that if the ball was missing, the Pokémon was impossible to catch without weakening it more - but this was never the case. It's just R/B/Y's version of when the ball breaks open immediately without wobbling in the later games.

Conversely, if you try to catch a sleeping full-health Caterpie in a Great Ball, the ball will always wobble three times if you fail - you'll never see the ball miss there, or break out after one or two wobbles. This also contributed to the sense that the ball missing must mean something special: it barely ever happened, because it would only happen for Pokémon with very low catch rates. Many of us would be seeing that message for the first time when battling our first legendary.

But Wait, There's More...

All of the above is assuming that the random numbers in the formula are truly random and independent of each other. However , it's actually a bit more complicated than that. Computers cannot produce true randomness, so instead they simulate it with pseudo-random number generators , and as a consequence of how the random number generator in R/B/Y is designed and how it's being used here, the actual results can be significantly skewed when you're using Great or Ultra/Safari Balls.

The details of this are pretty involved, and so I've explained it on a separate page about the RNG mechanics . It's pretty fascinating, I promise - but if you'd really rather not, or if you try to read it and get completely lost, feel free to ignore the why and just move on to the what .

In very short, the skewed RNG means that...

• Poké Balls work exactly as intended; there is no weirdness with them.
• Great Balls are close to how they were intended, underperform ever so slightly for high catch rates but are better than expected for lower catch rates especially as the Pokémon's HP is lowered.
• Ultra and Safari Balls significantly underperform against Pokémon at more than two thirds of their HP with no status but also significantly over perform when the Pokémon is brought to low HP first.
• Status conditions significantly overperform compared to the theoretical S/B baseline chance that they should give when using Great or Ultra/Safari Balls; they are especially effective for the latter, because all RNG weirdness effects are bigger for Ultra/Safari Balls, but status conditions are also better than they should be when using Great Balls.
• Ultra Balls are actually worse than Poké Balls against a full-health Pokémon with a high (>200) base catch rate! (But this is an edge case; please don't conclude from this that Ultra Balls are worse than Poké Balls in general .)
• The hard-to-catch Pokémon in the Safari Zone - Chansey, Tangela, Kangaskhan, Scyther, Pinsir, Tauros, and Dragonair in Yellow - are genuinely significantly harder to catch than intended thanks to RNG nonsense , and unfortunately in the Safari Zone you can't mitigate this by inflicting status or lowering their HP.

Check the RNG mechanics page for a look at why all of this happens and some fun visualizations of it.

In Plain English

Confused by all the math talk? All right; here's a plain, summarized, as-few-numbers-as-possible version of the unexpected conclusions of the algorithm. Remember, this is all stuff that applies to R/B/Y only ; it does not work this way in the later games, including FireRed and LeafGreen.

First of all, regardless of anything else, if the targeted Pokémon has a status affliction, you get a set extra chance to capture it depending on the status and the Pokéball you're using, before the game even starts checking the Pokémon's HP and whatnot. These chances are listed in the following table:

Your overall chance of capturing the Pokémon if it has a status affliction will never be less than the chance stated above, even if it's a legendary at full health - this is a check the game applies before it even looks at the HP or catch rate, after all. This makes status by far the most viable way of increasing your chances of getting a legendary - the improvements to be made by lowering their HP are frankly negligible in comparison. (The chance of catching an average full-HP sleeping Mewtwo in an Ultra Ball is 21.634%; if you also bring it to low HP, that only boosts it to 23.752%.)

Second of all, lowering a Pokémon's HP down further than to about one third of its max HP has no effect at all on its catch rate. If you're using Great Balls, in fact, that cutoff point is at one half rather than one third. Painstakingly shaving off slivers until the HP bar is one pixel wide is and always has been a waste of time in R/B/Y. However , lowering its HP to one third is highly beneficial if there's no status or the Pokémon has a relatively high catch rate, especially if you're using an Ultra Ball.

Third, Great Balls are actually better than Ultra Balls in many cases - specifically, if the Pokémon is at around half of its HP or more , and either there is no status condition in play or the Pokémon has a high intrinsic catch rate. However, if you lower the Pokémon's HP down below one third, Ultra Balls will always be at least as good , and for lower catch rates with a status condition, Ultra Balls will be better even at full HP. Generally, you should use Great Balls if you want to catch quickly, without having to inflict status or damage, or if it's a Pokémon with a high catch rate - but for all difficult captures, the best strategy is to put it to sleep and use an Ultra Ball.

Fourth, wobbles are a loose indicator of the game's approximation of your chances of capturing the Pokémon at the current status and HP with the current ball. This approximation can be significantly flawed, especially when status or high catch rates are involved, but I would guess accuracy wasn't particularly a priority for the programmers, considering it's just determining how many times you'll see a ball wobble on the screen before a breakout. Roughly:

Notice that the message "The ball missed the POKéMON!" is simply R/B/Y's version of the ball breaking without wobbling . The message confusingly implies that the Pokémon is currently impossible to catch, but in reality, if you keep chucking balls, you'll eventually get it - it's just that your chances are low.

The catch rate calculator below will show this approximation and the number of wobbles in addition to the actual chance when "Show detailed report" is on, if you're interested.

Visualization

To visualize how your chances of capturing a Pokémon change depending on HP, status, ball and catch rate, you can play with the graph below.

The graph shows dotted lines for the theoretical catch rate for Great and Ultra Balls - i.e. the catch rate as calculated by the intended formula, as if the game had an unbiased random number generator, as a point of comparison for the actual catch rates. There is no theoretical line for Poké Balls, since Poké Balls always work as intended with no RNG bias.

(Worth noting: the graph is somewhat idealized; in actuality, the lines on it should be jagged like a staircase, because the HP factor jumps at 4HP intervals, rather than changing smoothly. I chose to assume the Pokémon has 200 max HP, plot 50 data points for each line, and let the graph draw straight lines between them to better show the overall shape of the graph.)

Status: None Poisoned Paralyzed Burned Asleep Frozen

Game: Red/Blue Yellow

Catch Rate Calculator

The catch rate calculator for the first-generation games is now its own page; look there to easily determine your chances of capturing a Pokémon in R/B/Y without manually working through the formulas.

Page last modified May 28 2023 at 19:53 UTC

Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl (BDSP) Walkthrough & Guides Wiki

• Walkthrough
• Underground

Maps & Locations

Great Marsh (Safari Zone) Daily Pokemon and Guide

★ Game8's Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Wiki is live! ★ All Maps & Pokemon Locations ★ Best Battle Tower Team (100 Win Streak!) ★ How to Complete the National Dex ★ Tier List and Movesets for Online Battle

This is a map and walkthrough for Great Marsh, the Sinnoh region's very own safari zone in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl (BDSP). Learn about the mechanics of the Great Marsh, the Great Marsh Daily Pokemon, what Pokemon are found in each area, and what trainers, items, and events are encountered here.

List of Contents

Great Marsh Map and Items

• Great Marsh Walkthrough and Mechanics

Great Marsh Daily Pokemon

Great marsh pokemon (area 1), great marsh pokemon (area 2), great marsh pokemon (area 3), great marsh pokemon (area 4), great marsh pokemon (area 5), great marsh pokemon (area 6), great marsh tips and strategies, great marsh connected maps, pokemon bdsp related links, great marsh map, connected maps, obtainable items, get defog from ace trainer.

Upon entering the Great Marsh, you'll find an Ace Trainer to your right. Talk to the trainer to get the TM Defog .

This move is very important in order for you to progress through the game so don't forget to get this TM!

Great Marsh Guide and Mechanics

How to enter the great marsh.

You'll find a gate to the Great Marsh at the northern area of Pastoria City . You need to pay a ₽500 fee before you can enter the Great Marsh. Talk to the receptionist and pay the fee to receive 30 Safari Balls , which you can use to capture Pokemon inside the Great Marsh Safari Zone.

The session will end if you use up all 30 Safari Balls or take more than 500 steps.

Some Pokemon in the Great Marsh Change Daily

Six special Pokemon will appear everyday, one for each area of the Great Marsh. Take note that you may have the same special Pokemon for different areas . These six Pokemon change daily and some are exclusive to the Great Marsh.

To view the Daily Pokemon found in the Great Marsh, you can look through the binoculars on the second floor of the lobby. It will only show a random Pokemon from 5 of the areas in the Great Marsh, so you may need to look through it several times to find all six of your Daily Pokemon.

Changing the date on your Nintendo Switch will not affect the Daily Pokemon in the Great Marsh.

View Pokemon in the Great Marsh with Binoculars

You can view the Pokemon you can encounter in all the areas in the Great Marsh by going to the second floor of the lobby in the building and paying ₽100 to use the binoculars. All 3 Binoculars can scan the entire Great Marsh , so it does not matter which one you choose.

Each time you view the binoculars, you will be shown 5 Pokemon from 5 of the different areas in the Great Marsh. There is a chance that you could view one of your 6 Daily Pokemon from the binoculars. If you do not find any of your Daily Pokemon, you can pay another ₽100 to look through the binoculars again.

List of Great Marsh Binocular Backgrounds

The binoculars will show you Pokemon from 5 random areas of the Great Marsh, so it may be difficult to tell what area you are looking at through the binoculars. You can use this list of binocular backgrounds to find out what area each one corresponds to.

Throwing Ball, Bait, and Mud

While scouring for Pokemon in the Great Marsh, encounters inside the area will be different. When engaged in a Pokemon battle, your choices will be Ball, Bait, Mud, and Run.

Throwing Bait at a Pokemon will make the Pokemon more likely to runaway from the encounter, but makes it easier to catch the Pokemon.

On the other hand, throwing Mud at a Pokemon will make it harder to catch , but also decreases the chance that it flees the battle.

Throwing Safari Ball is the safest to catch Pokemon

Simply throwing a Safari Ball is the safest way to catch Pokemon in the Great Marsh, as it does not change any catch or flee rates of the Pokemon you will encounter.

Before Unlocking the National Dex

After unlocking the national dex.

• How to Unlock the National Dex

Encountered in Tall Grass or Cave

Encountered via old rod.

How to Get the Old Rod

Encountered via Good Rod

How to Get the Good Rod

Encountered via Super Rod

How to Get the Super Rod

Encountered While Surfing

How to Get TM95 Surf

Ride the Train to Travel Between Areas

Ride the train inside the Great Marsh to travel between locations quickly instead of navigating through the bogs and swamps of the areas. The train and the stations can be found in the middle of the Great Marsh.

Avoid Stepping in Bogs

Stepping in the bogs in the swampy areas of the Great Marsh will cause you to sink. You need to move around in order to get out of it, but that movement uses up the limited steps you're allotted inside the area.

Be sure to avoid these bogs to save up on steps, as you are only allowed to take 500 inside the Great Marsh.

Use Sweet Scent to not Waste Steps

While in the Great Marsh, you are only allowed to take up to 500 steps before the Safai Game ends. Instead of using those steps to walk around grass patches, you can bring a Pokemon with the move Sweet Scent . While standing in a patch of grass, use Sweet Scent to instantly encounter a Pokemon.

All Maps and Locations

>>10 Yeah, I've confirmed this now, you are not guaranteed to get a post-National Dex daily Pokemon. This makes catching that last one you need all the most obnoxious.

I used the binoculars about 50 times and didn't see a single post-National Dex daily Pokemon. I'm starting to think the Marsh isn't always guaranteed to have one, or the list is wrong.

We at Game8 thank you for your support.

In order for us to make the best articles possible, share your corrections, opinions, and thoughts about 「Great Marsh (Safari Zone) Daily Pokemon and Guide | Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl (BDSP)」 with us!

When reporting a problem, please be as specific as possible in providing details such as what conditions the problem occurred under and what kind of effects it had.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google

Do you want to send this information?

Walkthrough Menu

All Pokemon Wikis

• Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
• Pokemon Legends: Arceus
• Pokemon Sword and Shield
• Pokemon UNITE
• New Pokemon Snap
• Pokemon Mystery Dungeon DX
• Message Boards
• Pokedex Completion Trading Board (8776)
• Ditto / Pokerus Trading Board (5243)
• High IV & Egg Move Pokemon Trading Board (238)
• Shiny, Legendary & Event Pokemon Trading Board (763)
• Extra Eggs and Breedjects Trading Board (95)
• Underground Message Board (23)
• Best Poffin Recipes Sharing Board (61)
• Online Battles Message Board (17)
• Discussion Board (27)
• Friend Request Board (29)
• List of All Pokemon
• Sinnoh Pokedex
• List of Legendary Pokemon
• List of All Generation 1 Pokemon
• List of All Generation 2 Pokemon
• List of All Generation 3 Pokemon
• List of All Generation 4 Pokemon
• List of All Egg Groups
• All Pokemon by Base Stats
• All Pokemon by Speed Stat
• All Pokemon by Weight
• All Pokemon by Hatch Steps
• List of Pokemon by EV Yield
• All Wild Pokemon with Held Item
• List of All Unobtainable Pokemon

Starter Pokemon

Legendary pokemon, rare pokemon, story walkthrough.

• Complete Story Walkthrough
• Getting the 1st Badge
• Getting the 2nd Badge
• Getting the 3rd Badge
• Getting the 4th Badge
• Getting the 5th Badge
• Getting the 6th Badge
• Getting the 7th Badge
• Getting the 8th Badge
• Becoming the Champion

Important Battles

• All Barry Rival Battles
• All Gym Leader Types and Pokemon
• All Elite Four Types and Pokemon
• All Team Galactic Locations and Pokemon

Post Game Rematches

• All Gym Leader Rematch Teams
• All Elite Four Rematch Teams
• All Maps and Pokemon Locations

Important Maps

• Wayward Cave
• Solaceon Ruins
• Mt. Coronet North (To Snowpoint City)
• Galactic HQ
• Mt. Coronet (To Spear Pillar)
• Victory Road
• Stark Mountain
• Snowpoint Temple
• Fuego Ironworks

Grand Underground

• Grand Underground Features
• All Underground Pokemon
• How to Make a Secret Base
• Grand Underground Map
• List of Statues and Effects
• Sphere Trader Locations
• Pokemon Hideaways
• How to Get Shiny Statues
• List of Treasures
• Digging for Treasure
• Underground Man Missions
• List of Spheres
• How to Find Diglett
• Can You Play Capture the Flag?
• Can You Place Traps?
• Can You Use Decorations in Secret Bases?
• List of Pedestals
• List of Moves
• List of Physical Moves
• List of Special Moves
• List of Status Moves
• List of Unusable Moves

All Item Types

• List of All Items and Effects
• List of All TMs and Locations
• List of Recovery Items (Medicine)
• List of All Held Items
• List of Battle Items
• List of Key Items
• List of Evolutionary Held Items
• List of Training Items
• List of All Berries
• List of All Evolutionary Stones
• List of All Poke Balls
• List of Vitamins
• List of Fossils
• List of Mints
• List of Abilities

Tips and Tricks

• Post Game Content
• How to Use the Poke Radar
• Ramanas Park
• List of Swarm Pokemon
• How to Get to the Battle Zone
• How to Get Mysterious Shards
• Ribbon Syndicate Features
• How to Get Trainer Card Stars
• When Do Legendaries Respawn?
• How to Complete the National Dex

Beginner's Guides

• Beginner's Guide
• Best Starter Pokemon
• How to Trade Locally and Online
• Pokemon by Route: Best Pokemon to Catch
• How to Have Pokemon Follow You
• How to Get Money Fast
• How to Join and Create Groups
• Character Creation and Customization
• Pokemon Allowed in Amity Square Guide and Map
• Daily and Weekly Events
• How to Battle Online
• How to Evolve Pokemon
• Language Settings
• How to Add Friends
• How to Catch Pokemon
• List of Best Settings
• What Happens When You Lose?
• Should You Use TMs?

Collectibles and Locations

• Move Reminder: How to Relearn Moves
• All Poketch App Locations
• Move Tutor Locations
• All Honey Tree Locations
• List of Clothes and Styles
• One-Time Events
• All HM Locations
• Pokemon Nursery Location
• How to Change Clothes
• List of Ribbons
• Useful Characters and Their Locations
• Poketch Clowns Locations
• Move Deleter Location
• Pokemon News Press Guide and All Poke Ball Rewards
• Poke Mart Items List and Unlock Conditions

Game Mechanics

• How to Cook the Best Poffins
• Super Contest Show Guide
• How to Use Stickers
• Fishing and How to Get Each Rod
• How to Make Traded Pokemon Obey You
• How to Grow Berries
• How to Use Ball Capsules
• How to Use Vs. Seeker
• How to Use Dowsing Machine
• How to Check Natures
• How to Change Date and Time
• How to Change Nicknames
• How to Win Jubilife TV Lottery
• Massage Girl: How to Get Massages
• How to Delete Save Data
• How to Get More PC Boxes
• How to Access Pokemon Boxes on the Road
• How to Transfer Save Data
• How to Use the PC and Boxes
• Can You Nickname Traded Pokemon?
• How to Stop Evolution
• Characteristics Guide and Meaning
• How to Save Your Game
• How to Release Pokemon
• Is the Fashion Case in the Game?
• How to Adjust Screen Size
• How to Hide the Poketch
• Are There Accessories?
• How to Farm Held Items

Advanced Tips and Tricks

• How to Tell if a Pokemon is Shiny
• How to Do a Nuzlocke
• How to Get All Starter Pokemon

Pokemon Battles

• How to Use STAB Effectively
• Double Battles Guide
• All Status Conditions
• How to Run Away From a Battle
• How to Avoid Random Battles

New Features

• Global Wonder Station

Training and Breeding

• How to Train and Breed Pokemon
• How to Breed Pokemon and Hatch Eggs
• Nature and IV Breeding Guide
• How to Level Up Fast
• How to EV Train Fast
• How to Increase IVs
• How to Reroll for Best Nature and IVs
• How to Increase Friendship
• Pokerus Effects
• Shiny Hunting Guide
• How to Learn Egg Moves
• How to Change a Pokemon's Nature
• How to Check EVs
• How to Check Pokemon IVs
• How to Hatch Eggs Faster
• How to Get Hidden Abilities
• How to Catch High IV Pokemon

Battle Tower

• Battle Tower Guide
• Best Battle Tower Team with 100-Win Streak
• Battle Tower Master Class Guide
• Best Battle Tower Doubles Team
• How to Get BP (Battle Points)
• How to Beat Tower Tycoon Palmer

Tier List and Movesets

• Best Pokemon

News & Game Features

• All News and Game Info
• Differences and Best Version to Buy
• Pokemon HOME
• How Long To Beat
• List of Glitches
• Will There Be DLC?
• Ranked Battle
• Dialga & Palkia Switch Lite
• Available Platforms
• All Gen 4 Pokemon Excluded from Sword and Shield
• Connections to Legends Arceus
• Release Date and Time
• Release Time and Countdown
• Preorder Guide and Bonuses
• Preload Guide
• All Confirmed Pokemon
• All Confirmed Moves
• Remakes' Graphics
• BDSP Review: Is It Worth It?
• Available Editions

Mystery Gifts

• How to Get Mystery Gifts
• Platinum Outfits Mystery Gift
• Manaphy Egg Mystery Gift
• Updates and Patch Notes
• Ver 1.1.0 Update (Day One Patch)
• Ver 1.1.2 Update: Patch Notes
• Ver 1.1.3 Update: Patch Notes
• Ver 1.2.0 Update: Patch Notes
• Ver 1.3.0 Update: Patch Notes
• All Trailers and Gameplay Videos
• November 10 Trailer
• November 5 Trailers
• October 26 Trailer
• September 28 Trailer
• August 18 Pokemon Presents
• Announcement Trailer
• When Will the Next Trailer Drop?

Game Features

• Everything We Know
• Version Exclusive Pokemon
• New Features and Differences
• Multiplayer and Online Features
• National Dex
• Mega Evolutions
• Platinum Content
• Removed Features
• Battle Frontier
• Dynamax and Gigantamax
• Sword and Shield Compatibility
• Sinnoh Regional Variants
• List of All Characters

Main Characters

Supporting characters.

• Johanna (Mom)
• Professor Rowan

Double Partners

Japanese pokemon bdsp walkthrough.

• ポケモンダイパリメイク攻略サイト｜BDSP

Other Pokemon Wikis

• Pokemon Legends: Z-A
• Pokemon Sleep
• 1 Heavy Slam Effect and Pokemon Th...
• 2 Soak Effect and Pokemon That Lea...
• 3 Insect Plate Effect and How to Get
• 4 Big Bluff Cavern Hideaway and Li...
• 5 Smoochum Location, Learnset, and...
• 1 Shiny, Legendary & Event Pokemon Trading Board

Gaming News

Genshin Backlash Cause Devs to Feel Defeated and "Useless"

Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis Review

Spectre Divide Review [PC]

Roots of Yggdrasil Review [PC]

More Gaming News

Popular Games

Genshin Impact Walkthrough & Guides Wiki

Zenless Zone Zero Walkthrough & Guides Wiki

Honkai: Star Rail Walkthrough & Guides Wiki

Black Myth: Wukong Walkthrough & Guides Wiki

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet (SV) Walkthrough & Guides Wiki

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak Walkthrough & Guides Wiki

Star Wars Outlaws Walkthrough & Guides Wiki

Wuthering Waves Walkthrough & Guides Wiki

Once Human Walkthrough & Guides Wiki

Palworld Walkthrough & Guides Wiki

Recommended Games

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity Walkthrough & Guides Wiki

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Walkthrough & Guides Wiki

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Walkthrough & Guides Wiki

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Walkthrough & Guides Wiki

FF7 Remake Walkthrough & Guides Wiki

Pokemon Legends: Arceus Walkthrough & Guides Wiki

New Pokemon Snap Walkthrough & Guides Wiki

All rights reserved

©2021 Pokémon. TM, ®Nintendo. The copyrights of videos of games used in our content and other intellectual property rights belong to the provider of the game. The contents we provide on this site were created personally by members of the Game8 editorial department. We refuse the right to reuse or repost content taken without our permission such as data or images to other sites.

• Popular Articles