Press B just as your character throws the ball, and then hold Up...

[Aeroblast]

...just as the ball opens, and press left and right 10 times while it's shaking, and any ball works just like a master ball! *gets shot 5 seconds later*

You've all heard it before, supposed "button shortcuts" to catch those elusive legendaries. Did you ever believe in these rumors? If so, did you actually try them out in vain hoping these button combinations "worked"?

 

[blue]

Holding the DS upside down was supposed to be a guaranteed capture... needless to say it never worked.

 

[Treecko]

I always did the "press A while catching a Pokemon to ensure it would get caught." thing as a kid. Now I know it's beyond fake. A few years back I also heard by saying "Gotcha!" into the DS mic, it increases the catch rate. I tried it a few time and the Pokemon I was trying to catch was caught on the first try making me believed it worked. Though the next few times I tried it, my capture failed. D:

 

[Zorogami]

The one i feel like knowing all my life is "Hold B+Down As soon as the Pokemon is inside the Pokeball" and the optional continuation of "then mimic the left/right shakes with your D-Pad". Of course it never helped, but old habits die hard and i still do that from time to time xDD

 

[Blastin'Tyruntz]

Nope, only mashing the A button in my former GBA which made the A button to pop out...foolish me.

 

[Pendraflare]

I would hear stuff like that on occasion, but I never really believed it personally. It was funny to think about, though.

 

[Elder]

Press A repeatedly.
Press B repeatedly.
Press A & down repeatedly and simultaneously.
Press A as the ball takes the Pokémon inside, press A each time the ball shakes.
Press B as the ball takes the Pokémon inside, press A each time the ball shakes.
Press A as the ball takes the Pokémon inside, press down each time the ball shakes.
Press B as the ball takes the Pokémon inside, press down each time the ball shakes.

These are the few that I remember trying in earlier games; though, I've never confirmed if any of them actually work. I don't do any special methods anymore, I just let the ball go and hope for the best.

 

[Sheep]

I tried it as a kid.. once. Assumed it would work but was heartbroken when the Pokemon popped out of the ball and never tried again. Tough for my young self because I'd believed anything at that point. ~o~

 

[mangamusicfan]

Never Knew about Some of these rumors lol.
And I always Thought I knew many of them!

 

[Flushed]

I did believe in these back in the day, even as the Pokemon clearly pops out of the ball haha.

Nowadays I just pray to Goomy and that usually works. I get critical captures like every other ball I throw.

 

[Imperator161]

I recall people saying to hold B or A or (direction) + A or B for an instant capture. I tried it a couple of times, but it didn't help my capture rate at all, so I stopped.


I do recall the time someone suggested I do start + down + B (or something close to that) to capture Pokemon in Red. Unfortunately, it was hard to hit all of those buttons for me at once at the time, and start and select were pretty close to each other, so I ended up soft-resetting the game. I didn't know anything about soft-resetting at the time, so I thought I had just wiped out my save file. Needless to say, I was rather relieved when it was still there, though upset about losing some progress.

 

[Hiatus]

I've heard a ton of Pokémon capturing tricks like this, and have tried each and every one of them. Unfortunately, though, nothing seemed to have worked. ): Now, I just simply don't bother anymore, and go with the plain old False Swipe + Spore strategy when capturing.

 

[Timbjerr]

The one that I believed in when I was a kid playing Blue was "throw a great ball and hold up+B as soon as the ball opens up", I still find myself doing it subconsciously even though I know al these button inputs are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. XD

 

[Aeroblast]

The one that I believed in when I was a kid playing Blue was "throw a great ball and hold up+B as soon as the ball opens up", I still find myself doing it subconsciously even though I know al these button inputs are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. XD

So you only carry great balls, I take it? :P

 

[Gulpin]

I still always hold down B while trying to capture wild Pokemon. I know that it doesn't work and never has work, it's just something that I used to do in my earlier days that I thought may have worked and it's something that I subconsciously still do today.

 

[classiccartoonsftw]

I never tried any of these tricks out. I just rely on luck when catching Pokemon.

 

[大輔]

These rumors were super hilarious. I tried it as a kid on Pokemon Colosseum because catching the johto legendary trio was super annoying and time consuming :P

 

[Lil MuDkiP849]

*Looks at other responses saying nothing helps*

Well...lol, I've been mashing the A button since I was a little kid...and just yesterday I was still doing it >,< I can't help myself, It just "feels" like it helps and "usually" when I mash really fast I catch the pokemon lol

 

[Brendino]

It doesn't matter to me that all of these possible button combinations for a better chance at capturing Pokemon have been proven false- I still press up+B right when a Poke Ball opens when trying to catch Pokemon. It's not so much a habit as it is a ritual this point, and I'll probably keep doing it on any games that come out in the future, too.

 

[Rabby]

I basically spam the A button hard when I was to capture somethin v.v
I mean, I tried Dialga once (in dp) with an ultra ball, like...so many years ago. I spammed dat button, it clearly worked. I was surprised and I was like, oh yes! Im invincible (I was rly little ^^) .
It never worked after that lol. All I do, is....wish, with all my might :P