Pokemon Theory: The Mystery of the Green Pokeball?

[@lovemachine64]

Or maybe he just painted his Pokeball :3

[@robbieisdabest8793]

Mind 😐 BLOWN!!! 💥💥💥

[@kittykatpikachu]

I was just about to comment that.

[@koolredfoxplays8052]

That kind of reminds me of Diamond and Pearl, where you could decorate your Pokeball, and give your Pokemon a flashy entrance by doing so. If it weren't for the fact that you always needed to take the decorations off before storing your Pokemon back into the PC, it would be one of the best features in Pokemon history.

[@bananaboi6669]

metal cant be painted i think

[@xxxxxx9781]

@@bananaboi6669 wrong

[@PlatinumBalrog]

I think all Pokeballs were intended to be green, but then Coca-Cola made it red for and ad, and it just stayed that way.

[@pogigwapo5093]

Hahaha

[@pogigwapo5093]

Hahaha

[@lcdc_azuralie]

xD

[@cjr5808]

they have the money to But that so possible

[@fancypants2868]

this is pokemon not undertale go to your own timeline undyne

[@trevie25]

I think this was your best video yet.... that green ball always bugged me!

[@Seag-Gaming]

Travis Korson Luigi: ͡° ͜ʖ ͡ -

[@WingerB17]

Mystery trainer? That's clearly Bruno from the Elite Four.

[@Tharja-iBW]

ikr

[@ProtoMario]

WingerB17 Could've been someone else easily.

[@Tharja-iBW]

ProtoMario true but it's farely simple to realise it's Bruno, Bruno is even seen saving an Onix later in the series.

[@FabsterCola]

Dex Holder Green Maybe it's his second one

[@Tharja-iBW]

MASTER BEEEF The battle was at the league, Professor Oak never had a dream to win the tournaments instead he left following his dream of finding all Pokémon in existance.

[@EazyFree]

My theory is the Pokeball used by that trainer was a rental Pokemon. In Pokemon Stadium, the pokeballs for both trainers in the selection screen were green and blue. The place the trainers were at looked like a stadium, so it is possible that the Onix was rented out to that trainer. But that is just my theory :)

[@BulbaTube]

My vote is that its a Safari Ball, and Bruno fighting. Good video, short and sweet!

[@Magicarpmaster]

It might be an early heavy ball from kurt.

[@BulbaTube]

Magicarpmaster tis possible!

[@TinchoX]

Bulba Tube That's totally Bruno I have to agree.

[@GreenJelly_64]

I know the answer to the mystery of the green ball! They spray painted a pokeball green!

[@joshuawillis5969]

+GreenJelly_64 Maybe... NOT.

[@amparoresurreccion5127]

if you say so.....

[@enzofurtado4912]

+Joshua Willis Maybe yes.

[@joshuawillis5969]

Enzo Furtado I was joking...

[@enzofurtado4912]

Joshua Willis It's impossible to understand sarcasm in the coments.

[@factura5]

Gamefreak be like, " the fuck dude! I just like the color green, that's why bulbasaur is number 001."

[@vgfian]

The safari ball idea is interesting too. I also think it could just be a custom pokeball maybe :p

[@louislondon4025]

6 years later and the Strange ball has returned to legends arcues . Crazy

[@deez2037]

Lmao ya sure beat me to it 🙃

[@louislondon4025]

@@deez2037 2 weeks ahead boi

[@HitomiNoRyu]

You should address pokemon gender ratios and how can certain pokemon species even exist when the ratio are so skewed. Sure most pokemon can breed with any pokemon within their egg group but the species of their offspring is determined by the female. That is problematic for pokemon where male to female ratio is 7 to 1. (Even with the crazy gestation period to produce an egg and the sheer amount of eggs one female can produce according to the game)

[@mlmf2012]

braviary is an all male species so..............................

[@romkin1197]

There is just a lot of dittos...

[@gardevoirexe]

What is life, is it nothing but a CUTIE MARK?!?M

[@chezmix64]

I always knew it was a safari ball. Although I AM a gen 3 kid...

[@sooomars]

What makes you whatever gen kid you seeing the gen or the newest gen at the time,( I watched gen 1 first when gen 3 was the newest).

[@chezmix64]

TheSacredWatermelon The newest gen at the time

[@sooomars]

Then I'm also gen 3.

[@MrDay-sd8ns]

chezmix64 The safari ball is a little different in gen 3 than this one

[@decayingyolk]

Thesacredwatermelon I SEE YOU EVERYWHERE IN Mitch's KZbin abd Proto and more

[@badlegochannel6365]

Maybe the trainer's favorite color is green and he painted all his pokeballs green

[@danielrinckey5935]

Here's my take on it. It's a shadowy arena. The poke ball is red, just colored differently with the shadows.

[@DarkDie00]

I always thought that the Green PokeBall was just a customized pokeball that Elite Four members could exclusively customize for themselves and their pokemon whenever they battle.

[@KaxakaDarktree]

The green pokéball is a safari ball. This is obvious because of the fact that it is the only green pokéball in Kanto. For all of us who saw those few episodes dealing with the Safari ball in Gen' 1 knew this immiately. However, you hav to hav a half-decent memory or you will hav forgotten. Male and Female Nidorans as well as their first evolution can easily be found in the safari zone of the Green, Red, Blue, Leafgreen, and Firered games. The trainer, who is an elite 4 member, I believe, also has a Nidorino, which is the prevolution of NidoKing. Since the remakes of the Kanto region hav more environments than just grass and water it is safe to assume that it also, originally, was supposed to hav caves. This is likely when you consider the fact that there's a nearby mountain around the Kanto's safari zone.

[@antonysteben5646]

WELL Ash did went to other regions and challenged the other regions leagues. Maybe Bruno went traveling in other regions, maybe a region we havent seen where you can find an onix in a safari. Maybe, like in a Zoo, Safaris change the species they have over time, and since Bruno is way older than Ash, he could have caught the onix in Kanto's safari and it would totally makes sense.

[@demonking8766]

I have a theory that you can cover and this one has been bugging me and my friend a while.😫 The theory is this could Brandon( the pyramid king) be Paul and reggies father or be related to them in some way. I ask this question on behalf of my friend and myself because we noticed how similar they look. We had no way of backing up this theory. I have been watching your theories and thought this should be right up your alley. I hope you can find something to help this theory or just have fun with it 😆. Good luck proto

[@ctrlaltdel64]

you just answered allot of childhood questions.. Thank You Proto.

[@Merione]

I've always explained that green ball with the fact that the scene that depicts it is actually a TV show that Ash is watching to. Maybe the animators changed the colour of the ball to simulate the altered colours seen through old TV screens (the episode was first aired in Japan in 1997, so it could makes sense). If you notice, also Gengar's colour is altered: he normally is purple, in that scene he seems more grey-ish.

[@silverdragon1314]

Seeing this video I was convinced you were gonna tell me it was Breed into the pokeball. I'm not 100% sure if that's possible, but it makes sense to me

[@connorlusso4339]

Agatha vs Bruno right?

[@TheXev]

The one thing to remember about the first episode of Pokemon.. is just how much of it was setup as a tease for gen two games (like Ho-oh appearing). Perhaps it was originally planned that you could obtain Onix in a gen two safari zone?

[@vgfian]

I'm perty sure it's just a coloring effect. And that the dreamlike atmosphere and dark blue lighting in the beginning cause the ball to turn green, or at least that's how the color artist imagined it

[@Tuuubesh0w]

Dude, "The mystery of the green pokeball" is a statement, not a question. The same thing goes with a lot of your other titles too, like "Why Charizard is not a dragon type originally" or "How Bill created Mewtwo", just to name a few. But hey, there you go though, just take the question mark away and you're done. If you want you could rephrase it to a question, but then again, almost all of your pokevids have a question as a title, so why not mix it up. Statements don't have question marks at the end of the sentence. Anyway, great vids.

[@AJUniverse]

I always assumed that the dude with Onyx just painted his Pokeballs different colors to tell them apart.

[@forastero54321]

This episode just brought back horrible memories of hours upon hours of trying to catch a chansie on the 1st gen safary...

[@KarlyKom]

What if that "mystery trainer" is brock? He kinda looks like him and throws out an onix.

[@ProtoMario]

KarlyKom Possibly

[@DamonCassada345]

But Brock's Onix wasn't in a safari ball when he battled Ash.

[@shadowfairy7264]

That mystery trainer is Bruno of the elite four. If you go back to 0:49 of this video you can see the mystery trainer isn't wearing any shoes and no shirt. Pokemon episode 73 - To Master The Onix-pected introduces Bruno who has no shoes and no shirt, so comparing the two I would say it's him.

[@squeegie]

You guys are all wrong, that trainer was actually me. Yup.

[@GamerFromJump]

KarlyKom It's fairly obviously Bruno, who also has Onix.

[@tjkuhl93]

I always assumed it was a custom made pokeball since custom pokeballs seem like an amazing business idea in the Pokemon universe

[@trainerjei3004]

If I'm not mistaken, in the episode with the Safari Zone the warden said there used to be a lot of different pokemon, but too many people caught them. It's possible that the trainer caught his Onix before the Safari Zone lost most of it's pokemon.

[@IceFireofVoid]

My sister in White 2 had her Snivy in a green pokéball. I tried to understand why, especially since mine had a normal Pokéball, but I never figured out how. I looked it up on the internet, and found other people who had this, but I had no clear answer. Does anyone know how this happened?

[@wikivocalexpert4860]

+SnowScales Most likely it was hacked.

[@IceFireofVoid]

Wiki Vocal Expert Makes sense since she got a used copy. But it's a pretty random thing to hack in. Like no plot points changed, no extra rare pokémon, no new abilities. Nope. Just make Snivy's pokéball green.

[@FoXMaSteR001]

38s of ads 2:18 of great video/theory 1:25 of ads Common! 49% of the video is just wasted to avoid problems with copyright Oo! Are they so mad in the pokemon company?!! Oo Jesus Christ this is a fan video not a robbery -__-

[@ProtoMario]

FoxMaster I actually have had several people try to come back on me before, that's why.

[@FoXMaSteR001]

ProtoMario Damn :( I hope it will be ok :'(

[@CannibalisticTomato]

It could be an Onix caught in a different region, it's not like those regions didn't EXIST in first gen, they were just rarely talked about, I mean, marril, togepi, gen 2 pokemon appear in the first gen shows, so it's not so farfetched to say that it could be an Onix from a different region.

[@in6seconds]

can you do a theory of why gary/blue/green have a new pokemon with ash and with red? and why he seems like a different person and etc.

[@CNFunnyJon]

Yep. Tauros appeared out of no where. I was thinking it was a custom job.

[@jordantorres2139]

I always thought it was a purposely made green because of the lighting in the arena. It's clearly not very bright since we can't see the trainers so I just assumed that the lack of lighting made it seem like the ball was green. When it is actually red in proper lighting.

[@IgnatiusBlaze4]

OH MY GOSH THAT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE AFTER ALL THESE YEARS :D

[@SuperGoBlaziken]

I liked this, like mini theories :3 You should consider making little theories sometimes again

[@wutzit]

It was Bruno fighting, so an elite four battle was taking place. He is an Elite Four member so I guess it makes sense for them to use special looking Poké Balls.

[@tacomeme429]

BUT PROTO! Maybe the mystery trainer painted his poke ball green because he wanted to!

[@danielamaro4656]

it's actually a known fact that the safari zone was an experiment that was never fully completed in gen 1 (made evident by the game breaking glitches that could be performed by abusing the programming). given that the game had been in development for years and gamefreak was very hard pressed to put it out already, they had to leave the safari zone unfinished, in design and coding, so no one can really say what else we missed out on. there's a good chance there was supposed to be more content, but since the anime isn't exactly canon either you have to take a lot of when they do for what it is: entertainment value.

[@LinkWarrior215]

I somehow get the feeling that Bruno was fighting against Agatha's Gengar. Agatha, being the victor in the end, which is why she is the third Elite Four member to be fought in the Indigo League. (Can't recall the exact order of the two in between Lorelei and Lance, haven't played Leaf Green in like months.)

[@lukerobinson5702]

I think it was just more reference to the game because the entire beginning scene was mimicking the cinematic from the original games

[@JerryBlaze7]

i feel like this question is now answer years after this video. Note the changes to the safari zone formula the the creation of "Friend Safari(s)". Its possible Bruno; being a pokemon trainer of the highest stature as a member of the elite four; was asked to help test out and refine such a feature behind the scenes, in earlier days before it was allowed to actually battle the pokemon in these areas; its likely they still sold safari balls to trainers entering safari zone governed locations. This would not only explain the safari ball used on an Onyx - due to there being a rock type friend safari; but also WHY it was caught in a safari ball. After all; were never really told how long the project to create friend safari's had been in production by the old warden of safari zone years prior to its completion.

[@pix3l438]

LOOOOOOL guyz!!! The green pokéball is used to capture captured pokémon as well having more than 1 pokémon in a green pokéball!

[@alexanderbirch4026]

Hey proto maybe when Bruno was a trainer Onix was in the safari zone

[@jtp93]

So my question is in Gen 1 what was oak's custom pokeball in his parcel you received during your first visit of Viridian City?

[@thefool199]

masterball is my guess

[@DryBones271]

Thing is in gen 2, the Master Ball was green (Atleast in gold and Silver) It wasn't until pokemon Stadium 2 it was changed to purple. (Furret's Frolic)

[@zacthemastodonranger]

great video keep up the good work Proto oh can you do a theory on Bulbasaur and how it was able to dig in the show or do a theory on how Malamar can time Travel in the show

[@tranquelmischief]

I just thought it was cool because before they aired the show every commercial and merchandising advertisement used the traditional red and white ball and then the first episode breaks away with a green and white ball providing enrichment in the very first scene.

[@Legendaryknight2]

From what I remember, I just assumed it was a great ball. The different design in those pokeballs were introduced in gen III, while in gen II they had a slilghtly different color than the others, as covered in the video, first gen didn't have well... good colors, so that was my guess.

[@deep2341]

The unknown pokeball is green. Illuminati is green. Illuminati ball confirmed!!!

[@beastcrazyman1285]

Nice B and W soundtrack at the start!

[@adamliddle2060]

i know it would have been more work but it would have been awesome if you changed the pokeball in the intro into a green pokeball

[@wanderergoat7706]

Nice profile pic.

[@axasyang]

U should do the changes of safari balls throughout the generations of the pokemon games...I believe they keep changing them every game

[@RedRumRose106]

could have been the original friend ball?

[@fudgiedoesgames8370]

YASSS

[@nubcub]

Austin Carroll or it could have been a dusk ball

[@koisa8550]

There is an simple answer to this question, there is an episode called "the legend of Dratini" but it Were guns involved in the episode, so it never Aired out of Japan, and then is unknown to the rest of the world, in the show is the only time Ash enter a safari-sone. The video is on youtube, just search for it, there is no dubbed english version, but has English subtitles.

[@TheRachaelLefler]

I think all the light in that scene is just shifted toward the blue end of the spectrum to show that old TV's sometimes show picture like that, tbh.

[@TheRachaelLefler]

Rachael Lefler Well wait, were the other guy's Pokeballs green?

[@TheRachaelLefler]

Rachael Lefler I just double-checked and they don't actually show any other Pokeballs during that fight.

[@AgentBlizzaga]

You know i was always curious about that green ball, thanks.

[@pre-jordanbasketballfan7429]

I think Saferi Zone was originally supposed to be a place where all Pokemon lived so it would be less tedious travel to catch them all

[@jankjason]

I remember how Ash's look alike friend added stickers to his balls, one possibility is that the green Pokeball was painted.

[@conspireddenial]

Not sure if i'll get a response but, and i haven't played red/blue for a long time, but my question is, do you have to pay to enter the safari zone … and if so what is the cost compared to the amount of safari balls? Is it possible that the guy from the anime went to the safari zone, and kept left over balls, eventually capturing an Onix?

[@JoelCarli]

Or maybe... Just maybe... It's a regular Pokéball with a green finish.

[@dorianperez9401]

It could be a reference to the original pokemon red blue and yellow when most of the item pokeballs were green in the routes.

[@DisneyMagicDreamer85]

Actually folks, this could have been something of an animation trick. If you watch that episode, where Ash is watching a Pokémon battle on TV right before his journey starts, you'll notice that his TV is kind of shadowy, like it could be in black and white. The trainers are not clearly lit and even Gengar is kind of a dullish color too. Without turning the first part of the Pokémon cartoon into a dull gray scale, they could have simply toned down all the colors, but that red Pokeball would still stand out in full color. So they might have taken the complimentary color of red, which happens to be green, and put that on the ball instead. This helps sell that illusion of a black and white TV show, without making the entire cartoon look black and white. Anyway, it's a cool effect, possibly it was indeed meant to look like a Safari Ball, or possibly some other ball that we never knew about, a nest ball or something like that...

[@GenuineRubi]

Hey Proto could you do a theory on why a Pokemon you get from a trade levels up faster?

[@camilo5]

@protomario its nice that you try to find theories such as these but you need more evidence. My thoughts are: As seen in pokemon stadium and many episodes of pokemon, pokeballs can be personalized, it could have just been a green pokeball. Removing and S is not as easy as it sounds unless you paint over it, like painting the red part green. I have more reasons to believe it is not a safari ball because the S is gone and Ash also has a tauros from the safary zone, caught in a safary ball. Later on we can all see that Ash' s ball for tauros is red like a normal pokeball as can be seen in episode 114" enter dragoonite'' and episode 148'' tricks of the trade''. You may say it could be a mistake but the pokeball for totdile and corsola never changes through out the story. My guess is, all pokemon caught in a safary ball is transfered to a normal pokeball.

[@supersaiyandrawing8153]

hey silver had one of those balls too in the manga it was shown on the cover of volume 8. And i think i heard glitchxcitys music in the backround am i right?

[@logansword1725]

The in battle sprite for gen 2 master ball was green. Assuming this trainer was Bruno (an elite four member) it would make sense that he uses master balls. Is it possible that what we saw in the anime is an early master ball and the animators coloured it based on the gen 2 game?

[@NozaJoza]

That trainer hacked to get safari balls out the safari zone :P

[@RupayanLL.M.]

hey Proto can you please explain the concept of Venustoise... & is it possible that there can be more hybrid Pokemon like it...

[@Thatguy25461]

one thing ive always questioned was when brock had a croagunk when ever brock went love struck the croagunk would pull him off into a bush or just out of the picture. HERE IS THE INTERESTING PART croagunk uses poison jab to capture brock but wouldnt the poison kill brock and he cant be immune to the poison since the poison does paralyze him and should have poisoned and killed him also where does croagunk always carry him off too.

[@clericofchaos1]

that works for me, and maybe since onix move around underground one of em accidentally tunneled into the safari zone. not all that hard to believe really.

[@qisiangng1611]

Bruno may have been testing a prototype of the ball on a wild onyx...

[@All4Games4]

The trainer was bruno from the gen 1 elite 4. Uses and Onix (one of bruno's core pokemon) in some sort of arena (poke league from years before ash 's adventure), bruno has a quite unique body shape (buffed and huge) and has spiked hair. Its not unlikely he as an elite 4 member has custom made pokeballs. I don't think its a safari ball because it's missing the "s" the safari balls had.

[@ProtoMario]

No, he was using Nidorino, by that argument Nidorino should've been one of his Pokemon also.

[@ZombieBarioth]

ProtoMario We don't actually see any of his Pokemon in the anime though beyond that point, aside from Hitmonchan and that giant Onix. The anime's creators also take quite a few liberties. Brock having both Zubat and Vulpix, and Misty having Goldeen, Psyduck, and Horsea for example. The silhouette is also bare-foot, and there's only one person in all of Kanto known for that.

[@BDT17]

ProtoMario Bruno uses ground types. Nidorino is a ground type. Duh.

[@BDT17]

DestroyerBDT17 I stand corrected. Nidorino evolves into a ground type Nidoking.

[@ZombieBarioth]

***** Because its not canon to the games, which is what I assume Proto meant in his post. Don't know how I forgot about Togepi though, I guess because it technically wasn't caught as far as I can remember. As far as Zubat goes, I think its because its a cave Pokemon, same as most rock types. That, and the "double gust" move they pulled. Now as for Bruno having Onix, I think it was to sorta link him to Brock, as well as balance out his team. A rock/ground type would help counter his team's weaknesses.

[@yeenmachine206]

He probably forgot he had a couple safari balls on him, and decided to just use them to catch an onix.

[@sanigdhaya2488]

Mystery trainer= Bruno Green ball= painted pokeball

[@kotomi758]

I was thinking, what if the Green Pokeballs stopped being made because the Safari Zone manager had a problem with them. Since both the Safari and Green balls are the same, perhaps trainers would sneak in their Pokemon caught in Green Balls. Eventually the Pokeball Factory stopped producing them and instead changed the color from green to red. Thus we get the vintage Red/White Pokeball.

[@_.soymilk]

OHH!!! I've literally wondered for years how or when ash got so many of those bull Pokemon xD

[@Ollie0llie]

proto could you male a theory on why there are alot of legendary pokemon of the same type?

[@mothman2514]

Somebody probably pointed it out,but that first battle is between Bruno and Agatha(most likely)

[@jbaugh8329]

Are starter Pokemon legendaries??

[@ViewerOnline101]

How about the GS Ball. Nothing ever happened with it on the show. I know Celebi was originally meant to be inside it, but that idea was abandoned in favor of the 4th movie. So what do you think of the GS Ball?

[@dskelly0389]

finally I've bean wondering this for years

[@DubLSFaN]

I think Onix CAN be caught in the safari zone, but it's probably pretty rare.Gym leaders get all the good stuff.

[@cowboycolts]

Proto- can you do a video on how Inkay evolves, in the game you have to turn the 3ds upside down so how does it evolve in stuff like the anime? does the trainer do a handstand or does inkay have to float upside down? it's something that has been bothering me.

[@alexrussell2903]

i see it as a international pokeball in other words a pokeball made in another region and overtime we have seen a expanding variety to regions and everywhere in general this man might have been from johto hoenn sinnoh unova kalos or other places so really if we consider to estimate the pokemon world size to our there is possibly 100s of types of poke balls

[@TheRachaelLefler]

Well, in the episode, Ash is watching the fight in question on TV, so I just thought it was due to the overall lighting and mood of that scene that they wanted to make the colors off to show that it was a TV show and not happening in real life. There are a few things wonky about that scene, like why does a Horn Attack by Nidorino hurt a Gengar when a ghost-type Pokemon is not normally hurt by Normal type physical attacks? Where is the location of this match, and how come it's not a place that they go to later? How come in the Indigo League there's never a fight with a boxing-style announcer like in that scene? I'm thinking maybe it was Ash's dream all along.

[@PokeShinobi06]

The show came after the game so maybe they were showing what's coming in gen 2

[@KRUDDYMUSICIAN]

Im thinking they wanted to expand on the safari zone, but due to the limitations of the gameboy, it wasn't feasible.

[@go2gulag138]

the green Ball is there because the TV scene was in another Region where the colors are just reversed

[@dbb3116]

What is the name of that Pokémon episode that was band ?

[@liambolinger538]

Hey proto have you ever heard of the little girl's imagination theory. The theory goes that the whole show is just a little girl's mother telling her a story and the little girl and mother are in the show a lot their first appearance is in 2005 but I don't know the episode

[@Plazmegaonyoutube]

if bagon changed itself to grow wings and fly because it desired what would of been its final form if it didnt turn into a dragon

[@Shahaan]

Some people paint they poke ball to know they Pokemon

[@SasukeUchiha723]

proto can u make a theory on why there are 2 versions of each game.. like red and blue. gold and silver. even though the gameplay, pokemon and etc, are same?

[@zacharyphelps9440]

or maybe onix's trainer just painted the pokeball

[@13KuriMaster]

So THAT was the Deal with that Pokeball... I was wondering about that.

[@ozzymax8090]

Maybe the green ball was a special tournament ball that was updated when ash got there?

[@MinkeyTheFiftyFirst]

Maybe the mystery trainer stole a bunch of Safari Balls (well, at least 1) and used one to catch an Onix else where, or Onix could be caught in the anime's Safari Zone.