Catching in Gen 1 is really CONFUSING!

Catching a Pokémon is simple: weaken it and throw a strong Ball. I mean, there is no way things could be THAT much more complicated... right?
Gen I Capture Mechanics article on The Cave of Dragonflies: www.dragonflycave.com/mechani...
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Video on the Gen 2 mechanics (where things get really weird): • Catching in Gen 2 is h...
Gen 1 Living Dex playlist: • Pokémon Living Dex Gen 1
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Pokémon Gen 1 website: i-made-a.website/pokemon_gen1...
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Twitch livestreams: / lyrara_lyra
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Music list: i-made-a.website/music_list/g...
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:13 Patreon
1:34 Catch rate
2:24 Status effects
3:20 Hit points
4:07 Ball used
6:30 The Master Ball
7:21 The Safari Ball
8:17 Wobbling (or shake)
9:23 The ultimate catching strategy
10:39 Conclusion

[@Lyra]

There is a mistake: the Ball modifier is 12 for every Ball except the Great Ball with 8. The conclusion is still the same but I inverted the numbers, my apologies. Also, people are sharing their "schoolyard trick" and I absolutely love some of those techniques! Keep it coming :'D

[@Mizuki312]

I had my own (still do it when a Pokémon gets hard to catch): As soon as the Ball starts flying towards the Pokémon (not before the trainer throws it in later gens) hold Up+A+B, pressing the buttons VERY FAST (almost at the same time) but making sure you press them in that order. Then depending on the Generation you are playing: Gen 1: When the Ball hits the Pokémon, release and quickly press and hold Down+A+B until it's caught. Gen 2 onwards: While the Ball opens and the Pokémon gets in, keep holding Up+A+B until the moment the Ball starts to fall to the ground. Then release, and, as quick as possible, press and hold Down, then A+B for each time the Ball bounces before it stays on the ground and starts wobbling. The last time the Ball is going down before wobbling, just hold down the three buttons and don't touch anything else.

[@a2pabmb2]

@Mcheetah Because Spore is a 100% accuracy move. Sleep Powder is only 75% accurate.

[@DrSalvador555]

Wasn't there a problem with statuses not working as intended? Like Poison or Burn didn't affect like it was supposed to?

[@Kali_Krause]

My schoolyard trick: Missingno :) That's it. I always checked the Hall of Fame with a valid pokemon to prevent it from corrupting my Hall of Fame data. I'm on a Glitch pokemon spree because I want to make a tier list for glitch pokemon

[@StormEagleCH]

The trick that I still use to this day (I am 23, for the record) is pressing a directional button for each ball shake. When the ball connects, I may press left. After the first shake, I may press up. Second shake, left again. Third shake, down. It is completely random which combination I use each time I throw a ball, as I have a figurative 25% chance of guessing correctly. In that sense, it basically becomes a QTE with RNG involved, as I have to immediately decide which button to press next in that moment. Or maybe it’s just my autism coming to the surface trying to alleviate the tension of catching and the boredom of extended sessions. Yeah that’s probably it

[@Zero1Zero1]

My favourite tech was pressing A in time with the ball wobbles. Did nothing but it felt like it helped lol

[@ryuku2]

My strategy was to put a pokemon card of the pokemon I was trying to catch between the game cart and the gameboy color. Did less than nothing, probably, but it never failed for me.

[@Elitekross]

It was b for me

[@triggeredcheese5318]

I felt like I was the only one who did this, everyone else just held it

[@mohimbrood5787]

Thought had to hold B when u threw it lol

[@Abdega]

I want to say some people who actually know the mechanics deep enough *DO* press A or B to try and manipulate the values for the pseudorandom number generators when trying to catch

[@Root3264]

Fact is, everybody had their special sauce on the schoolyard when it came to catching Pokémon. It was like a closely guarded trade secret lol

[@Laezar1]

closely guarded trade secret? more like fast spreading bullshit lmao, pokemon playground knowledge had the scientific accuracy of anti vaxxers.

[@linkthepringlesman3951]

“Talk into the DS microphone at a steady volume” was mine. Worked well.

[@Lyra]

I don't... what... but the mic... huh?

[@ado-]

"Alternate A and B rhythmically to their cry" was mine. Definitely made me pay way more attention than I would have otherwise.

[@KingCarna]

Holding down down and B starting at the second bounce of the ball

[@imaginaryboy2000]

One time in the FRLG Safari Zone, I fished up a Dratini and, when throwing the safari balls, I sniffed during the ball shaking. It worked, and for years after that and to this day, I still sniff when throwing pokeballs.

[@loulou3676]

When the DS games came out and the DS had a microphone in it, the schoolyard rumor was that saying certain phrases (like "Gotcha!" or just screaming really loud) would help boost catch rates. Clearly the mistake was we weren't sniffing

[@MythixcalSky]

I used to close my eyes and my ears when catching legendaries and I remember I had 4 pokeballs left because I forgot to restock on ultra balls and I had encountered shiny lugia. It had 1hp and it was asleep, I threw a pokeball and ran into another room and closed my eyes and ears, around 2 minutes later I saw the screen say "give a nickname?" or whatever it said; I had the best reaction ever.

[@brendanstreecko7847]

@@MythixcalSky lucky, i paralyzed a moltres and got it to 1 hp and it still drained 14 ultra balls so i just reset (heartgold)

[@daksmos924]

these methods are all wrong u can't move u can't even blink or breath

[@marilynlucero9363]

Nope, you have to Hold in B, hold in [Up] and sacrifice a newborn goat into a burning oven. We all know doing this gives always a 99.9% catchrate.

[@Acre00]

For anyone interested in the 255 glitch, when a move with 100 accuracy is used the game rolls a number between 0 and 255. If the number is less than 255, the attack will hit. However, because 255 is not less than 255, every attack with 100 accuracy has a 1/256 chance of rolling 255 and missing. Using an X Accuracy or Swift completely bypasses the calculation in the same way the Master Ball bypasses the catch calculation, and as such are unaffected by this glitch

[@ARandomMinecraftVillager]

I love the fact that that exists, because writing '

[@Acre00]

@@ARandomMinecraftVillager The early Pokemon games are littered with this kind of jank. When a move is used on a pokemon with dual typing, damage calculation will be done properly, but the check for what text appears only checks the first type. So a Poison move used on a Grass/Poison Pokemon will show the Super Effective text even though it did neutral damage.

[@awesomelink2347]

@@Acre00 Not exactly. They check the type interactions in the order they're coded into the game. So for instance, it would still show as super effective against a Poison/Grass-type.

[@awesomelink2347]

Bide and Transform also bypass accuracy. And fun fact, Swift actually doesn't bypass accuracy in the Japanese version, but it does if used against a Substitute.

[@Illdos]

@@ARandomMinecraftVillager To be fair, I was curious if this would be as obvious of a mistake to make on the Gameboy (since assembly languages, as far as I know, don't really use

[@troygarcia6674]

I think the wobble mechanic on the birds is hilarious from a narrative outlook. Like, these birds are actually super easy to catch, if you can manage to hit it out of the sky with a ball.

[@counterleo]

If by "sky" you mean a power plant or a cave, then yes it already sounds a bit easier

[@PhazonOmega]

This explains SO MUCH about what I experienced and thought as a kid. "Status effects give you a better chance to catch!" Yeah, but sleep seemed to actually work, while paralysis didn't do much, and poison and burn did little. "Ultra balls are the best!" Then why do Great balls seem so good? They were my favorite. Cost efficient and combat effective! The Safari mechanics were confusing, and the balls never seemed to work right, even with rocks and bait. Missing? What? But sometimes it would work...? So many mysteries, finally resolved after 20 years.

[@drygnfyre]

Sleep was such an insanely good status in Gen 1, it's no wonder it was nerfed later on (along with freeze). It was the best status for catching (as freeze could not be reliably induced), but for battling, it was even better because it could last up to 7 turns, and you wasted a turn waking up. So you could set up an awful loop of put the target to sleep, let them wake up, put them to sleep again.

[@fruitfulconnoisseur]

If you want to capture Pokemon from the Safari zone in gen 1 go into the Safari zone then turn around and go back out tell the guy yes you're sure leave the building fly back to the area with the guy who had his coffee to initiate missing no trick Pokemon found in that area will be either missing no water Pokemon typically found in that water and Pokemon from the last area you were in just don't catch missing no and make sure no key items are in the sixth position

[@Batterykitten8]

Im impressed you realized all those

[@JO11190]

My schoolyard trick was to do nothing purposefully (I'm always spamming buttons normally). Like when I had a confused status condition, I'd stop spamming and press each button once carefully. "The pokemon is getting an increased chance to get confused if I spamm like crazy". Same when I was catching hard to catch pokemon. I'd stop touching the game when the pokeball wobbles. "Can't make the pokemon more afraid than it needs to" 😂

[@Lyra]

Oh my god, this is so cute! I love it :'D

[@Swordie100]

I did the same with confusion my lord. :""D

[@cloudstrifex88]

I'm still convinced that spamming A leads to confusion more often than not! LOL

[@outspade]

youre onto something

[@cookiesontoast9981]

YES!! When I really wanted to catch a Pokemon I would very gently put the Gameboy/DS down and make sure to stay as still as possible and not speak. 🤣 I swear it seemed like it worked.

[@ungrave5231]

Okay, so I think I must have been duped by my brother. My schoolyard trick was alternating A/B and START/SELECT without accidentally hitting them all at the same time and resetting the game. Needless to say, this often resulted in me resetting the game. I practiced this for many, many years...

[@mjc0961]

Yeah your brother totally pranked you 😂

[@GameyRaccoon]

Aw

[@RTU130]

Ye

[@Space.Ghost.]

All you had to do was hold b and up....

[@xylsky1300]

I used to tell my big brother why he uses a great ball instead of an ultra to catch the legendary birds. I seemed to have a harder time catching them while my brother seemed to catch them faster lmao its funny to find out years later that he was right way back then

[@jahjoeka]

Big brother is usually right about games, unfortunately

[@philiproler5572]

@@gregoryford2532 if they are asleep (or frozen). if he and his brother didnt use status ailments on the legendarys then it makes sense why the great ball was better

[@joshernsteen2066]

This is how they expect the people playing the games to struggle to catch the legendary pokemon when there is actually a proven method to catch pokemon most of the time. I am not sure on how much I can safely say here considering that I am not fully aware of some of the exact levels of specification values myself on this particular topic matter. I still wasted more pokeballs on Victini even though I clearly knew the health range to catch easier at. Nintendo already stated their viewpoint of this particular situation already, I cannot remember exactly they talked it about, though. I am relieved that I am finally get this thoguht out of my head, since I have known this for at least 5 years now. I have known about the Victini health range ever since the Liberty Ticket event was made available for Pokemon Black and White, and definitely even before the games came out. I must have been practicing it way back in Pokemon Red and Blue somehow maybe knowing what the future would be. I swore I was literally talking about what the Liberty Ticket event was going to be in an upcoming game that they were going to be making the future. I believe that Nintendo can take down notes as they feel as appropriate based on the text in Pokemon Crystal about referencing the run that I did during Pokemon Silver about making Celebi gaureented shiny at the earliest possible convience.

[@joshernsteen2066]

I might have gave them some of the ideas for the music of the city that the island would eventually be granting you access to as well, if I think I am remembering correctly. Whatever I did end up talking about, I think that gave them permission to use it as they fit. That might potentially explain why the city functions the way that it does in the game as well, I very clearly remember talking about the minor details that they might not do if they choose to create the city in the future game. They might have planned it to be an event location along considering that they said that knew the event location would be a lot easier to access in the future as well. There own message did not mention anything related to minor in game events occurring in the city either, I do not believe that any of them did; I could be incorrect here, however. They are also using their own notes for reference for Pokemon Home as well to stabilize and triple check the functionality of the specific functions.

[@joshernsteen2066]

I did not however mention anything about the Zorua event inside of the city, or anything of the affiliated details; it must have been added in by a Nintendo employee suggesting the idea. That would likely explain the need to transfer the event celebi into the game via the in game method required to unlock Zorua the correct and legal way. Cheating the event celebi inside of the game does not really count in my opinion, although it is likely a whole lot easier to do. It is probably coming out spare boxes that Nintendo made intentionally expecting players to eventually cheat the game. I am not sure if other legally acquired celebi would also trigger the event since other people have commented that legally acquired shiny pixhu also worked successfully as a trigger for the Pikachu Colored Pichu event in Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver. I know that Nintendo plans ahead and makes sure that anything the player base might eventually do in the future will eventually work out in the end if they potentially aware of it. They even fully finish their own ideas, even unfinalized ideas, and make them available for the public on the internet with them fully explaining themselves. I am not crazy here look at the Gen 3 Lost Content video to get a better grasp at least of what I am talking about. The people commenting on the video knows what they are talking about, despite the comments themselves looking like they were insane when they were writing them out.

[@dovesr0478]

Speaking of schoolyard tricks and rumors being comparably insane to actual glitches, the mew glitch is a great example of this. The simplest form of the mew glitch, the one where you use Abra's teleport in combination with a long-range trainer, sounds exactly like one of those """cheats""" found on sketchy video game websites in the late 90s/early 2000s. Most of them were basically impossible to disprove, generally due to the extremely lengthy and error-prone process. If we knew about the mew glitch at the time I have no doubt it would be the same story. Having to press start right as a trainer sees you sounds like some bullshit you would hear from your classmate who's dad totally worked at Nintendo. Really funny to think that we've come full circle from extremely elaborate and non-sensical schoolyard rumors to equally if not more absurd real glitches that can actually do all the crazy stuff promised back then.

[@joshernsteen2066]

The person who programmed the mew glitch into Pokemon Red and Blue did not even know that it was possible for it to be used to catch other pokemon until someone literally showed him in person. He knew already of the other pokemon hex values, he just did not have the time to test them himself. He did talk about this publicly somewhere online. He also admitted that he coded it into the game by a complete accident. He did not have much coding experience when he making Pokemon Red and Blue. It had all been figured out already how to catch all of the pokemon in the game this way via this method, I guess based on what other people have commented about it as well. A complete table with information regarding which trainer gives which pokemon must have been available for at least 4 years now to find online(?) Perhaps included at the bottom of the page of interview with him talking about hex values at least directly(?) Another interview that I found included the complete table of everything that the person playing the game needed to know about at the very bottom of the page. I might have found actually found it considering that I clearly recall a line of him saying that someone interested in this topic will have to refer to this chart for future reference for easier access than hunting around for it online.

[@MrDonJuanquis]

A mechanic I used to believe was, the "smarter" or "calm" the pokémon looked, the less chance it had to hit itself in confusion. And the more "stupid" or "agressive" had a bigger chance to hit themselves in confusion. So for example: a Gyarados,Tauros would always hit themselves because of their agresive nature, meanwhile an Alakazam would almost never hit itself in confusion. And it somehow always happened like that!

[@blanblam8427]

Physical attackers have a higher chance of hitting themselves.

[@jasonreed7522]

I remember thinking aron would snap out of confusion faster than normal because one it broke confusion quickly 3 times in a row. Children are not good at understanding probability and the fact you are probably seeing an edgecase vs a new mechanic. (I also remember facing a rain team in XD and being confused about how thunder wasn't missing and not catching on that thunder always hits in the rain)

[@Winasaurus]

@@blanblam8427 Not true.

[@skyleite]

It’s called confirmation bias in case you’re not already aware

[@1893Mauser]

It's OK. I played pokemon blue before I could read and I managed to brute my way thru.

[@LukeFaulkner]

4:56 If we can prove PokeMart Corp knowingly withheld this important consumer information, we should launch a class-action suit.

[@Super_Top_Secret_Area]

I was afraid this video would be at least a 40 minute feature film of madness. But no, you actually managed to pack it all in a short and easy to understand video. I'm impressed, because when I first tried to read about Gen 1 catching mechanics, it was wacky. I couldn't keep reading, it was too much to see my childhood beliefs disintegrate as I kept reading. And this is such a good informative video, it will help to make the Master Ball urban legend disappear someday.

[@Lyra]

I am glad to learn you have enjoyed the video! From the very beginning, my goal was to NOT go too deep and start explaining mechanics in-depth. I purposefully glossed over several elements (the intro algorithm, the HP formula, the strange RNG interaction...) because what is the point of making a 40 minute movie if the audience is bored 5 minutes in. Hopefully I achieved my goal of getting the conclusions across while being "technically" correct :') And yeah, I had people pointing out the Master Ball miss in the Gen 2 catching video, so I felt I should check and set the record straight!

[@callmefleet]

Remember tho, Master Ball has a guaranteed miss on ghost pokemon.

[@joshernsteen2066]

It is actually possible to somehow catch the Ghost Maroak in Pokemon Tower. I managed to do probably only a couple times back when I was playing the game a while ago. The game is coded already to respond back to this specific action as well, that much I can probably only recall.

[@joshernsteen2066]

The ghost pokemon is also catchable in the state prior to being available in the game in forms registered in the pokedex as well,as I very clearly recall as well. I would assume that Nintendo made the footage available online to watch considering what the AI was saying about it as well. Nintendo definitely mentioned that they programmed the ghosts to be catchable while originally programming the tower for game, and intentionally left it inside of the game for the people going to play the game to eventually figure out how to do it in the future. I forgot where exactly I read it at probably shortly after I eventually located and read the exact message that they wrote about it.

[@callmefleet]

@@joshernsteen2066 ok

[@KeshavKrishnan]

This makes the balls feel strangely unique instead of straight upgrades. The great ball is an all rounder versatile ball. All the really important pokemon though you catch in ultra balls. It gives a smaller pool of encounters the likelihood to have the same ball and I think that's neat

[@lai_lai_boy]

Some girl told me that I had to hold down and right with my thumb, quickly switching to up and left in time with each ball wobble. I did it for a few gens and I kept doing it even after I realized it did nothing.

[@awesomelink2347]

5:12 Actually, you've got that backwards. It's 12 for everything BUT the Great Ball, and 8 for it.

[@Lyra]

And I watched this part 15 times too... Thank you for pointing it out!

[@superlocke]

is 12 or 8 better in this case?

[@awesomelink2347]

@@superlocke 8, because it divides by it to get an "HP threshold value" of sorts. The higher that value, the more likely you are to catch the Pokémon.

[@justinemrick7042]

Ok Oscar

[@superlocke]

@@awesomelink2347 oh thats interesting, thanks for clarifying!

[@magnus0017]

Wow, I'm only just learning to program and when you told me it was just a bunch of conditionals, I shuddered. The fact that Pokemon ran at all sounds unbelievable.

[@mlpfanboy1701]

Im worse then amature and it sounds horrible.

[@joshernsteen2066]

Based on an interview in English, the series creator said that he always wanted to make a game series that anyone can relate to. It all started because he was really interested in catching bugs as a child. I DO NOT HAVE THE INTERVIEW TO SHOW YOU!!!! He also explained the whole game of A Bug Fable in a few sentences way before they even thoguht of the idea. It also might be the reason that Yanmega was added into Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. They were probably debating about it at first until they realized that the pokemon series series creator talked about it, and that gave them the permission to put it into the game.

[@joshernsteen2066]

Maybe Tangrowrh was added eventually in a similar matter, but I found absolutely nothing to back up this claim with at all. The company does in fact view anything that the pokemon series creator talks about as a form of ultimate gaureented permission or something along those lines. He also knows exactly what he is talking about as well.

[@The_Big_Jay]

Look man, GameFreak never was, and still isn't a decent team of programmers. They can't seem to optimize anything, seeing as every cutscene in Sun and Moon has it's own sperate models, yes 10 separate identical models of Lillie, and they had to get help to squeeze 2 regions into Gen 2.

[@mr.sniffly5297]

@@The_Big_Jayare you sure they weren’t solid at all even during the mid-2000s? I can totally see why they suck now, but gens 3-5 seem fine

[@jlnj0]

Great Ball being the best was something I remember talking about with friends as a kid but it always ended with us guessing it was just coincidence. Thanks for confirming and explaining, I guess we weren't crazy after all!

[@SuperLucky7]

My trick has always been to hold A while mashing Left and Right. The whole idea being that by pressing Left & Right you simulate the wobbling of the Ball to increase the chance of wobbling, and A being the confirmation button would help confirm the capture of a Pokemon...

[@puregameplay7916]

You ALMOST had it right. You can LITERALLY glitch the game by pressing and holding A the INSTANT the pokemon goes inside. While continuing to hold A, press left and right on the d-pad in PERFECT SYNC with the pokeball on screen. It gives your normal pokeball 100% catch rate, and ive actually tested it.

[@obamacare4262]

@@puregameplay7916 sounds (and is) one of those totally legit things I would always try

[@vez3834]

@@puregameplay7916 Amount of tests: 1 Science is beautiful, isn't it?

[@usernametaken017]

​@@vez3834im not sure if it's this exact glitch but there was something similar that speedrunners use to always catch pokemon at full hp

[@MrCheeze]

I always felt that one thing that gen 1 gets right and ALL the other gens get wrong, is that you only need to reduce HP down to one-third to max out the capture chances. Having to reduce enemies to 1HP to max out the odds is just silly, and having a specific move (False Swipe) that does that but is useless for all other purposes is not any better.

[@petelee2477]

I personally don't like using false swipe because of take down, brave bird, and other recoil moves.

[@autobotstarscream765]

Getting a bonus for getting them into the red is fun, it just shouldn't have to be 1 HP on the nose. 😖

[@gengarzilla1685]

It's definitely important to scope out the moves that species knows at that level before you go in for the catch.

[@sebastianaliandkulche]

Also that the Pokemon can dodge balls. Way more realistic.

[@fansee1368]

They should just make it more powerful if they actually want people to use it, 100 power would be fine cause you won't OHKO the Pokémon anyway

[@renakunisaki]

I remember once seeing this explained using a graph, and that made it immediately obvious what the issue was. The catch rate goes up with better balls, but it can only go so high. The Great Ball hits 100% before the Ultra Ball does.

[@WannabeMarysue]

I thought the "schoolyard strategies" did do something, in that they advanced RNG. Although all the RNG calculations are done by the time you throw the ball, so I guess that doesn't even do anything. Not that it would do anything if the RNG changed in the first place. If it even does.

[@renakunisaki]

Even advancing RNG doesn't really do anything. You might advance it to a favorable position or you might move it away from one. Without knowing its state, you don't know if you're making it better or worse, so on average, it makes no difference.

[@RickyRockstarTNS]

@@renakunisaki This is probably why when you use save states in an emulator, if you keep doing the same thing at the same timing you usually get the same result, but if you move the cursor around in the menu or wait longer to press the button you might get a different result.

[@pigsplayinggames]

it must feel incredible to be the sole patron on a video this good

[@sparkysheep]

This validated SO many of my childhood frustrations you have no idea (plus a few surprises! Like the fact that the hp percentage is fixed, and so high!) but I could never catch a darn thing in the safari zone and now I know why!

[@uidsea]

Everyone knows it was down + B. That's why you guys never caught anything.

[@LunarWingCloud]

I did always find it weird the Great Ball is better in RBY, but it's neat knowing this and saving money and catching the birds with them Glad to see another video of yours!

[@DJFracus]

this very video tells you that it's best to use Ultra Balls for the legendaries though, assuming you're using status...

[@kingoftropes922]

Man I am really digging these in-depth analyses of how catching Pokémon actually technically works. For a series where that is basically the core appeal, there is very little actually covering the mechanics between gens and how they vary and work. I guess that's mostly due to how mathematical it ca get, either way, excellent as always!

[@joshernsteen2066]

Nintendo did infact talk about it somewhat in detail involving certain things of Gen 1, and information involving Pokemon Gold and Silver Ball catching mechanics but it is not really bought up that much at least from the company directly. I had to literally find all of the information myself with no one helping me out at all. They were already well aware of the future that was going to occur involving these concepts and they already prepared their responses in advance to address them specifically if they felt like they had to interject on it. They even said that already knew what videos would be uploaded in the future regarding these concepts, and specifically talked about points that they knew would be missing from them.

[@joshernsteen2066]

They even knew that this specific video would be uploaded roughly in the future as well when they were interviewed about with them clearly stating something regarding to proceed after the video was finished and uploaded. Nintendo was way ahead of its time, that is for sure. They even had instructions for Austin John Plays on what to upload specifically to his KZbin channel as well. I could not make this up even if I tried to. It definitely caught my attention when I first came across it, and knew that it at least partly had to be real.

[@joshernsteen2066]

Both of my previous statements are 100% accurate and actually stated by Nintendo. I believe that want someone to talk about the comments directly in a video if they have them since they really will not bring them up that much myself. They definitely talked about this in some form of word play as well. It is perfectly fine if you do not believe me, it was difficult to track them down way back then when the internet was not so clogged with other information.

[@drygnfyre]

The Pokemon games were very vague about how most of their mechanics worked until recently. Gen 6 and the Super Training feature from 2013 was more or less the first time the existence of IVs and base stats were even alluded to in any sort of modifiable way. The restrictions on vitamins only working up to the first 100 EVs was only removed last gen, in 2019. It took a very long time for the series to finally make it trivially easy to create competitive Pokemon. It seems the whole aspect of "Pokemon are just special and some have different stats than others" has gone away. That's a good thing.

[@IrIcHiHaRu]

Once I had enough to mass-stockpile pokeballs, I only ever went for the default basic ones and just spamming them endlessly till I made the catch lol Never even tried lowering HP or giving status effects, I just instantly started spamming.

[@zeldagamer2123]

So it wasn't just my imagination when I was a kid that using Great Balls is better for catching Pokemon than the other types of ball! I think that was the catalyst for me preferring to use Great Balls to catch Pokemon from each gen onwards, even now. Interesting stuff!

[@jamesworkshop9181]

you can also make another case for them since you can buy more of them comparatively

[@auraguardianred4771]

Not only was this a quick, precise, interesting analysis/overview, I also loved the on-screen Pokémon (and Smash) puns

[@caturiges]

The most impressive feature of your videos are how well presented, informative and entertaining you manage to make them, Lyra! That's really amazing.

[@casual3123]

After learning about the Gen 1 catching mechanics a month ago, I actually took on a Gen 1 Living Dex and it was so much fun abusing the games various glitches to get to Cinnabar as fast as possible to get the Fossils!

[@Kali_Krause]

Did you know you can use certain glitch pokemon in battle? L M 4 can be used in battle as its a stable hybrid of Poliwrath. It's also the most harmless glitch of all

[@casual3123]

@@Kali_Krause No I actually did not know about that. Tbh I used mostly tame glitches like Skipping Brock, Getting Mew, Skipping Snorlax and using the Doll in Lavender Town.

[@estherstreet4582]

Glitchy speedruns are a ton of fun. Especially if you use the glitches for something really tame, I used to fly straight from victory road to cinnabar island and surf along the coast so I could level grind in walking distance of a pokemon centre.

[@salchichabarista]

I haven't ever seen any of your other videos, but this was recommended to me. I just wanted to pop in your algorithm and say, awesome work and research on this video! You did great work breaking down the mechanics on video, I loved it

[@RenaissanceManchild856]

You mentioned this in your living dex videos I watched just last eeek and I’ve been trawling the net for a good resource on Gen 1 catching mechanics and couldn’t find them. Thank you so much for this!

[@apawture]

this stuff is so interesting to me. id have no idea how to find this information organically myself, id have no idea what to do with it all, but i looooove learning about how games work! you explain things so well that its easy for me to keep up. i get paid pretty soon, so ill check out ur patreon too while im here

[@edwardnygma8533]

Though it wasn't really a good one, my old trick was to hold down A, and then press the D-pad following the shakes of the ball, and I'd even tilt my head in the same direction as if it helped my chances lol. Hell, I still tilt my head out of habit when I watch pokeballs shake.

[@puregameplay7916]

If you do this perfectly, it actually works. I did this as well and was perfect at it, literally captured every single pokemon in cerulean cave with my first pokeball at full health, including mewtwo.

[@charg1nmalaz0r51]

@@puregameplay7916 thats not how its coded though lol, you are just imposing an explanation on your lucky technique that does nothing in reality.

[@JapanischErfahren]

​@@charg1nmalaz0r51Nah, it works, can confirm.

[@velo_GG]

really enjoy your style. you come at things differently than a speed runner or competitive battler would. but, still teach interesting mechanics from these old games😁

[@loganbarnes8621]

Wow, just got recommended your Gen 2 catching video and was wondering when you’d post the Gen 1 vid after that incredible hook. Posted it like an hour later. Thank you algorithm for the impeccable timing haha. Great vids dude!!

[@ginmil3436]

That was really interesting I hope you will continue this serie for every games!! Thanks!

[@pokemontrainerred5913]

Honestly can't get enough of your videos. Good stuff as always!

[@captianblitz]

You have to love that Gen 1 nonsense code made from duct tape

[@imanalligator9694]

This is the most profitable franchise in all of recorded history btw gen 1 feels like it's one of those unstable elements that scientists make in laboratories Gen 1 is a neutron star that is kept from exploding by a tupperware box whose lid isn't the original one

[@raygun26]

I’m so glad I found your channel the same day you uploaded this. I found you through the gen 2 catching vid.

[@doozy5184]

This actually makes me want to play Gen 1 more. All the weird mechanics makes the catching system sound more strategic.

[@bigkippa]

New upload, thanks for all the great content Lyra ❤️

[@mccajake]

Great video, I’m currently attempting my own Gen 1 Living Dex challenge and this was really helpful!

[@min_guell]

Bro, I loved this video! If you make a video for next generation mechanics (what I'm really expecting) I would definitely watch'em all

[@primeangel]

I was told the SS Anne returns after 100 ingame hours had passed and that you could get to the truck (and mew) like that. I left my gameboy on for hours without playing but the SS Anne never returned...

[@vaultboy4710]

... Damn

[@mumiaparalitica]

Just wanted to say that I found your channel by chance the other week and have been enjoying all of your videos since! I might even try to catch as many as I can on my JP Gold cartridge using your website! Keep it up

[@Elfangor567]

To this day I can't help but rapidly press all the buttons when I'm trying to catch a Pokemon. Or be careful to press nothing when a Pokemon is confused. As a fully grown adult now, I should know better. But no, I keep repeating those nonsensical actions over and over again.

[@daw8099]

i love watching theses type of videos on old pokemon games makes me remember all the good times i had u got your self another sub :)

[@songinout]

Just discovered this channel today, and absolutely love how easily and clear you explain stuff for pokemon! Also your voice is really soothing too, so it makes for watching your videos a calming experience. Subscribed and looking forward to more!

[@joshernsteen2066]

Nintendo expected videoes to be made of certain topics covering the original games sometime in the future covering certain topics that I believe they even said that would almost complete minus hearing out what they have to say regarding the information. They might have even said to comment this exactly in a video covering this exact concept as well. They knew exactly what would happen in the future regarding these concepts as well, I believe that they could possibly have mentioned as well.

[@joshernsteen2066]

Nintendo can write better than Genious Seniority considering that they had to resort to them writing one particular line in one of the GameCube games once they ultimately have their best effort and attempts. The line relates to something that you probably never even triggered in the game at all, something related to you cannot catch completely all of the shadow pokemon in the whole entire game; if you wanted to.

[@joshernsteen2066]

They probably even wanted these two previous comments posted on this particular video idea as well. I might have read something by Genious Senority at least mentioning something related to two these previous comments, and this exact video thumbnail as well. I somehow knew barely the information related the line that Nintendo had to literally step in for prior to finding out the information directly from them.

[@joshernsteen2066]

They also mentioned something inside of one of the GameCube games not to mention anywhere online which involves something related to catching pokemon, that is all I probably can legally say online regarding it. It also strangely mentioned that they knew that we already knew how to do it for a long time already even prior to the game coming out or something along those lines.

[@jobygustaf8271]

​@joshernsteen2066 I know it's been a year but I've read about 10 of your comments on this video and I'm enthralled by your insane pokemon conspiracy theories about how they know everything that will happen in the future and all these vague references to interviews and statements.

[@MelvaCross]

Damn great content. This channel's gonna grow big if the videos are consistently THIS GOOD!

[@matthiasc.z8332]

Flawless presentation, the design made it engaging and easy to understand

[@GameTacoFTW]

Cool video... Love watching you deconstruct the mechanics that captivated us as kids!

[@superkillerrobo]

I always thought Safari Balls were equal to a Great Ball, having a 1.5x multiplier. Bulbapedia even says Safari Balls have a 1.5x multiplier from gen 1 to 7, and then it was changed to a 1x multiplier in SwSh's DLC.

[@shadylightning4945]

Wow the gen 1 catching mechanics are every bit as bizarre as everything else in gen 1. Enjoyed the video!

[@CabinetGremlin]

As someone who reset his copy of Blue all the time as a kid and also didnt bother lowering the hp of the legendaries before throwing pokeballs, it's really cool to know that it will always either "miss" or shake 3 times! I noticed that pattern as a kid, but I never knew if I was just lucky or if it was intended!

[@holobucket7626]

thanks for the vid, been playing a lot of gen 1 games lately so this is super handy and interesting

[@KuraiNoOni]

I always thought the Safari Ball had the same catch rate as the great ball in Gen I, like it does in later generations. I also believe, that the ultra ball behaves similarly in Gen II as it does in Gen I, since I remember it failing on a Vulpix or a Ponyta, where a Great Ball would succeed at full HP. As a side note, you had me chuckle at gen 2 having fixed the ball mechanics, till you mentioned your other video about the apricorn balls.

[@mjc0961]

Shoutout to the Blaine Ball that has a higher success of catching Pokemon that evolve via Burn Heal. Hah!

[@redgerran]

This is exactly why gen 1 had the best catching mechanics. You knew how close you were to catching a pokemon based on how many times the ball wobbled.

[@willbowden6897]

Another fantastic video. Keep it up!

[@Juddear]

Last time I was on your channel you had 400 subs - you’re killing it, keep it up

[@bobplays2798]

Didnt expect to find such a good video from a small channel. Keep it up

[@purpleboi6517]

My trick is to press A then B then AB coordinating with the ball as it his the ground and bounces. It works bro trust me

[@thenamelessnpc1000]

This just adds evidence to my theory that red and blue are just glitches ducttaped together to resemble a game.

[@LetsPlayKeldeo]

Flipping rad ! Was really hoping for such a video from you

[@raina1848]

Wow, the Great Ball really is great! This kind of stuff helps so much. Thanks!

[@Akwatypus]

Wait, a channel that makes concise videos about the Pokémon code wackiness? Dude, instasub. I hope you get much more content to go through. I personally love the coding madness that is involved with the Old Man, and how that ultimately results in the legendary MissingNo glitch.

[@KaoruMzk]

Fun fact: the hold up and B trick for catching Pokémon, technically, sort off but not really, works. RNG manipulation requires specific inputs in specific frames to guarantee stuff like stats, misses, critical hits and, yes, catch rate. So, depending on the situation, pressing up and B at the correct frames can result in a guaranteed catch. It will probably never happen outside a TAS but it is possible.

[@robZzdaboss]

i thought it was Down and B

[@KaoruMzk]

@@robZzdaboss different “cheats” for different playgrounds I guess. At my school it was Up + B

[@Sliterisch]

Nice Video, would love to see such a video for the other generations as well

[@darkknight7040]

cool thanks for breaking everything down this vid rocks!! 1 thing... i was one of those unfortunate few... my first ever use of the master ball somehow FAILED lol (way back when Blue first came out) i dont remember WHY it failed (missed somehow?) anymore all i remember is i had to reset the system cause "i wont lose the master ball like that!!"

[@dse763]

Fun fact : if you ever wondered why there's a H on the Ultra Ball, that's because in Japanese ... and pretty much every other language, it's called the Hyper Ball. And, in case you're wondering, Ultra Ball is already used as the name of the Beast Ball.

[@verpyplayz5730]

I thought it was an upside-down U

[@counterleo]

Yep, Super Ball and Hyper Ball in French too. I am so glad they kept Ball and didn't translate it to Boule EDIT: In the English version it's Hyper Potion, not Ultra Potion, right? Odd they decided to break the pattern

[@knight4041]

"This removes the need for any kind of strategy" You... use strategies? For catching? What are your options besides using sleep or getting the health down and choosing the best ball?

[@mjc0961]

Using sleep, lowering health, and choosing the right ball are all strategic decisions.

[@Winasaurus]

Bigger scale strategy. Like is it better to buy a ton of poke balls and spam, or just a few ultra balls and really try to make them count? Or whether you should bring sleep-inducers to boost your catch rate or just tank the damage while spamming a ball. Turns out the best strategy is to just use Great balls because they're busted good.

[@PlatformChef]

Wow! Great Video! I was thinking about playing though Pokémon Yellow again and uses Victreebel on my team, but now I plan on having a Parasect just for the ability to use Spore and catch Pokémon much easier.

[@Cerberuswaltz]

Wow, something about gen 1 I didn’t know!!! Great vid!!!

[@jj209th6]

I kinda get what they were going for. The pokeball is simple and works well for the standard basic pokemon you'd see on the early routes of the game. The great ball is very well rounded and works for most other standard pokemon, and the ultra ball is reserved for rare pokemon whose hp might be hard to whittle down (which is why it gives a massive boost from statuses). The problem is that none of this is explained to the player so you just end up wasting money and time chucking what you think is the best type of pokeball and you can't even catch a damn pidgey

[@rotationsituation7378]

When I played frlg as a young kid I had found an abra on one of the early routes,before I threw the poke ball at it I crossed my eyes and it actually caught first try.for some reason this worked with about 10 other pokemon in the playthrough.

[@Sly88Frye]

wow! you'd think that this kind of thing would be boring to watch but just the way you explained it and the details are really appealing.

[@jordanvandevere5897]

I like your videos! Well written and entertaining, great work!

[@jessesmith915]

Great video! You deserve a lot more subscribers!

[@HalfDuck]

Ok but gen 1 balls have something that all the other gens don't... Different throwing arcs for every ball type! As a kid it bothered me in gen 2 onwards when all balls were thrown the same lol

[@PureEnragement]

I never knew this

[@roccopiosaracino3681]

I also hate how they changed the wobbling, i liked it more in gen 1

[@Winasaurus]

I just want to say thanks for making a relatively shortform consumable video I can point to when people ask about the master ball missing myth. For years if I correct people about it they'd always just "Nope it's just like the moves", because there was no obvious video I could point to and only bulbapedia calculations, makes it hard to actually correct them. I figure a large part of that is down to gen 1's weird text choices. A breakout with 0 shakes is given the text "The ball missed!", which I guess makes people think it's using some kind of accuracy check when in reality they always hit (minus special ghosts and trainers). It's like how a lot of people thought psychic was good against ghost, when really it's because the only ghost types were also part poison, which is weak to psychic, or the weird text bug that shows moves as super effective/not very effective if used on a pokemon with a dual typing where one type is weak and the other resists, even though it did neutral damage. Eg, grass move on Gyarados, neutral damage, but "not very effective..." text. Edit: Damn you covered the "ball missed" thing

[@snowboundwhale6860]

I remember a couple tricks, spamming A was one, holding up on the d-pad and timing B presses with the wobbles was another. Though it's not catch related, I remember in the gen 4 games being told that speaking into the DS mic cheering your pokemon on helped wake up sleeping pokemon and with the turn loss checks on status effects like paralysis and confusion.

[@FlinnyWinny]

ohhh I've been waiting for a video on the catching mechanics of Gen 1! Thank you!

[@Gravijahz]

I think it's worth mentioning that Pokemon isn't actually more buggy than most other RPGs in the day. It was quite common for things to be programmed wrong, for stats to do the opposite of what they said, items being completely broken and not doing anything, etc. A lot of Pokemons most egregious bugs are from one specific bug (the old man glitch), too, which you are unlikely to have happen in normal play.

[@Lyra]

Indeed! Final Fantasy 7 is another great example of a popular game riddled with glitches and mistakes in the code leading to core aspects not working properly.

[@anthonysheriff2012]

By far the most explained video on catching pokemon in Gen 1 and reasons behind it, LEGEND, defo subscribing :)

[@rmafort2]

Incredible video, thank you!

[@Reluxthelegend]

I wonder if there will be version of this for gen 3 or if they really managed to get everything right there.

[@thiagoveloso7610]

I would like a video of it even if it is all good to go

[@Reluxthelegend]

@@thiagoveloso7610 Yeah maybe a video just explaining how ti works in gen3 would be cool even if nothing is broken.

[@cfan7920]

I'd be interested in knowing more about why bait and rocks are "not worth it", I can imagine the reasons already but no video seems to have covered it as nicely as I imagine you would

[@Shockwave224]

Not sure I agree with him on that, I used a lookup table throwing bait in certain patterns and caught everything in the safari zone in a few hours. Watch Professor Rex’s safari zone guide if you’re interested

[@Winasaurus]

@@Shockwave224 The math for them simply doesn't add up to be worthwhile. 10 balls has a higher overall chance of catching compared to bait+ball 5 times.

[@irgnedeinname]

I knew it! playing pokemon barely being able to read I had my older friend explain/do a lot of things for me with my game. I remember asking him about the best balls and he naturally said ultra ball (In german they are called Hyperball) because the game presented it that way. But I always seemed to struggle most with them I never fully believed it. It feels so good to know after all these years I wasn'T only imagining it.

[@Alexroberts666]

That was an outstanding video - thanks for making it

[@mlpfanboy1701]

8:18 so what you are saying is the safari zone is in fact a scam.

[@mlpfanboy1701]

It also means ash is the luckiest guy on the face of the earth.

[@Me-jx1mo]

Fan fact: I actually had a mew in yellow when I was 6, completely by accident and I hated that pink thing (I had no idea what a mew was by the time) that ruined my save and didn't let me get the weedle I was trading for

[@NidotheKing]

When I was a kid, I would try to sweet-talk the Pokemon. I'd say how cool they are and how I promise not to lock them in my pc forever. That part was a LIE.

[@purplecosmonaut]

Amazing video as always! Very entertaining.

[@PelemusMcSoy]

Is it safe to say that the Great Ball is great? I'll see myself out.

[@Caroniver_Robocacci]

This was a really interesting video concept, but I'm disappointed at how much still felt completely unexplained. You say that the "better" balls generate lower numbers and that this is better, but you don't explain what that number actually does or why it's better for it to be low. You also talk about "Ultra Ball caps for a 190 catch rate, so use Great Balls", but don't explain what that means, either. You also said that the Ultra Ball __overperforms__ at low HP, but then in the Safari Zone section you say that it's pointless to throw rocks at the Pokemon.

[@JapanischErfahren]

True.

[@oddishthoughts]

1:50 Oddish! :D Great videos, happy to subscribe to you!

[@jeffe2267]

I really wish games made this kind of information much more available while playing. I'm always wishing for more documentation within the game to help me understand the math/logic the game is using.