4th Gen Pokeball/Greatball/Ultraball odds.

[Kayke™]

I'm new to the forums...so I'm not quite sure if this has been covered in the past, but sometimes it seems that greatballs have better luck (Or odds...) than ultraballs. I remember watching my friend catch Rayquaza in Sapphire...he threw about 40 ultraballs, not one worked. He threw a greatball since he was out of ultraballs...and it worked. o_0 Right now I'm trying to catch Heatran, and I've noticed the same thing. I threw about 30 ultraballs (I kid you not, it had ONE hit point left.) and none of them rolled more than once. I ran out of ultraballs, and decided to use greatballs. The greatballs would roll 2 times, sometimes even 3. (At that point I was screaming at my DS...) I got bored to tears (Of failing that is...) and just turned my game off...so I haven't caught him yet. =/ But yeah...back to the matter at hand. Is it just luck? Or are the odds between the ultraball and the greatball very slim?

 

[Punishment]

I don't know either. But I caught Uxie with a Great Ball after using about 50 Ultra Balls.

 

[Kayke™]

I wish the people at Nintendo would state the odds in numbers instead of giving a vague description, it's got me curious.

 

[XxTsukasa]

I think Ultra Balls suck compared to everything, including Pokeballs. I can't catch a single pokemon with an Ultra, no lie, without at least using like 10 of them, I can't even catch those bibarels with an ultra ball, it rolls like once, and it pops out.

But my friend catches everything with Ultra-Ball, so I guess it's really just luck or coincidence.

 

[AztecSunshine]

ya my kyogre took me 10 ultra balls than i thout to play with a great ball and voila i captured him same to my brother articouna

 

[Scyther5]

Greatballs are actually secretely better than Ultraballs, its so weird how they don't tell you that.



Hahaha just kidding! But I agree Greatballs always seem to have better luck when catching for me too :x

 

[Kayke™]

Greatballs are actually secretely better than Ultraballs, its so weird how they don't tell you that.



Hahaha just kidding! But I agree Greatballs always seem to have better luck when catching for me too :x

I wouldn't be surprised if that was the honest truth. :x I swear they're trying to jip us out of our Pokedollars...

 

[Innagadadavida]

The description on Serebii states that pokeballs have a catch rate of 1, greatballs 1.5 and ultraballs 2. The highest one, I think was speed balls, which if you threw it at a fast Pokemon, the catch rate was 4. That is, of course, excluding the masterball.

The way I've interpreted it is it's all up to luck. You have a little bit of a better chance of catching a Pokemon with an Ultra ball then a great ball, but you still have a chance with a great ball as well as Pokeballs. It just depends on if you throw it on the right turn.

 

[Ayano Katagiri]

The way I've interpreted it is it's all up to luck. You have a little bit of a better chance of catching a Pokemon with an Ultra ball then a great ball, but you still have a chance with a great ball as well as Pokeballs. It just depends on if you throw it on the right turn.

To be honest, I believe timing plays a role in this too. If you play a Pokemon game on an emulator that allows save states, it gives you the chance to save it before you throw the ball. Depending on when you threw it, it can be caught just like that. But sometimes, even if your timing is off by a second or two, it's a no catch. Dunno if it really is true, but it is something I've experienced when using emulators.

 

[Momoko]

the odds are pretty much the same,dude,as long as it catches the pokemon,their all the same to me. just press up+B as soon as you see the pokeball appear,and your chances will increase by many times.just care less about what type it is

 

[Phanima]

Pressing Up+B doesn't do anything...except makes you run faster north.

I don't catch Pokemon in any other ball than a Pokeball.

The only legendary Pokemon I have ever caught with a Pokeball is Palkia, and it took me 51 Pokeballs to do so, added on a paralysis effect and a fairly traumatised Luxray who sits in a box cleaning itself.

So the odds may be different for each ball, but if you're patient enough, you'll only really need a Pokeball to catch em all.

 

[Apathetic_Yen]

It's an on and off thing for me. At one time ultra balls sucked and great balls were way better and now it's the complete opposite!

 

[Extric]

I belive the whole system is based off of luck. I've had times where I've used 100 ultra balls on a single Legendary and then used a single Pokéball on a Legend and caught it. One example of the single Pokéball is in my firs D/P game. I wanted to try something out so I put Dialga to sleep at the start of the battle and used a Pokéball and on the first try I had caught him.

 

[jerm]

https://www.serebii.net/diamondpearl/items.shtml

if you scroll down theres a thing on each balls catch rate

 

[rishi 20]

wow, that is quite rare but from fire red i have noticed that ultra balls are supposed to have a 10% greater chance then great balls.

 

[Kayke™]

Wow, so an ultraball has only twice the chance of a regular Pokeball? That really isn't as much as I thought. They always made it seem like a regular Pokeball couldn't catch a damn thing after the 3rd or 4th gym leader. But hey, the key word is "chance". Anything is possible.

 

[Nekonron]

I sometimes find a Pokeball to work better than others lol. It really depends on luck on most part.

 

[Punishment]

I think it is also time interval. That the game calculates eac hturn which ball will have the greatest chance of catching a Pokemon. I waited about 60+ turns and tried using a Timer Ball on a Azelf but it didnt catch it. I caught it with an Ultra Ball though.

But for Kyogre in Sapphire I waited 15 turns and caught it with the Timer Ball.

 

[rishi 20]

basicly......its messed up

 

[OffRoadSP]

There is a mathematical formula I saw on GameFAQs once that makes alot of since, and explains it quite thoroughly. I can't seem to find it though. It's in one of the 3rd gen guides. If I find it, I'll post it.