Superstitious Pokemon Gaming

[Necrum]

We all do it, we all have something that we think is lucky or unlucky, or behaviors that we insist affect the gameplay but really don't, and all kinds of crazy stuff with absolutely no hard evidence. What are your superstitious habits or beliefs in Pokemon games?

For me, Red Gyarados will forever be the most lucky Pokemon ever, and shiny Gible will be the bane of my existence, as the Pokemon I blame for me losing about $400+ in handheld gaming stuffs the same day I caught it.

 

[Hiatus]

I used to believe that when capturing legendary Pokémon, closing your eye-lids and saying something along the lines of "please catch" repeatedly would drastically raise the chance of you actually being successful. Had this belief for an extremely long time, because when I was first attempting to get a hold of Lugia in Pokémon Silver, this is what I did, and it... did work, haha.

Though, above doesn't have any effect in actuality at all, but it's still a fun thing to rely on; personally, I find it to be pretty helping when it comes to motivation, and prevents me from giving up.

Alongside, another thing I used to believe is that if you'd constantly hit A while trying to catch a trainer's Pokémon, it would glitch and things would actually proceed. It never did happen, but whenever I did such a thing and failed, I'd still keep me believing by saying to myself "you're not doing it right."

 

[PokéWreX]

Haha reminds me of all the times I tried to press down and B as a kid as it would supposedly improve the catch rate... it never worked! However I still sometimes do it as a last resort...

 

[Bibliophibian]

If I'm running around a patch of grass and whatever I'm looking for hasn't shown up...I have to change directions and run up and down instead of left and right, or vice versa. Or maybe they're all hanging out in the grass on the very edge or the bit in the very center...

Maybe it's weird, but it makes me feel better to think I'm not being unlucky, I just haven't looked in the "right" spot yet. :P

 

[Wicked3DS]

I heard something where if you held A when you choose an attack and let go just as the text displayed, you would get a critical hit. Not sure if that actually worked in the earlier games, but I would do it later on too. I also close my eyes or close my DS when trying to catch a Legendary/difficult Pokémon to catch.

 

[Musicality]

Ahaha. Don't know where I heard the rumors from, but I would always press B and up when catching a Pokemon because a friend of mine told yours truly a few years ago that it would really raise the catch rate. Especially since I did try the button presses when I was down to my last five Pokeballs when catching Victini, and apparently it did work at the last Pokeball. I've been doing it ever since, despite what they all say. Ignorance is bliss, no? xD

 

[Espeon Master]

Down + B forever when trying to catch a pokemon. Feels like it works, but of course it doesn't.

 

[Hiatus]

If I'm running around a patch of grass and whatever I'm looking for hasn't shown up...I have to change directions and run up and down instead of left and right, or vice versa. Or maybe they're all hanging out in the grass on the very edge or the bit in the very center...

Maybe it's weird, but it makes me feel better to think I'm not being unlucky, I just haven't looked in the "right" spot yet. :P

I used to do something similar, haha. Definitely helps in lending motivation, and keeping you away from giving up.

 

[Necrum]

I've always believed that my last Pokeball had a higher chance to catch. It probably doesn't but it sure is gratifying when your last Pokeball is the one that catches Giratina.

 

[Guardian]

Oh, great topic.

It's funny how everyone did the B + down thing for catching Pokemon.

I, on the other hand had the entirely different method I stzill use.

When I am trying to capture a Pokemon, I tilt the Nintendo DS Lite in the direction of the Pokeball tilting, as if I am the one doing the pokeball shaking thing. right...left....right. :D

 

[Altairis]

Like many others, I thought that pressing down buttons would increase chances of capture, but instead of pressing one button I thought the more you pressed the more your luck would increase... haha. I really don't think that there's anything else I'm superstitious about, I'll think about it~

 

[J9794]

Down+B. Especially on safari zone when those sneaky kangaskhans and tauros appeared.

 

[PlatinumDude]

I believed that certain button combinations made it easier to catch Pokemon. The one I was taught was to hold down A and B, let go of A as the Poke Ball opens while holding "down" on the D-Pad, and mashing the D-Pad as the ball shakes. Now I know it doesn't really work anymore.

 

[Bellsprout]

Clicking the a button at the exact time a poke ball would close when catching a Pokemon would raise the chances of successfully capturing the Pokemon

 

[Brendino]

When I was younger, I found that Down+B never worked for me, so I was convinced that I wasn't doing it right. Eventually I tried Up+B when Pokemon Gold came around, and I had a great string of luck using it, so that's what I continued doing in future games. Even to this day, I know that pressing Up+B doesn't actually do anything, but it's almost become a habit that I have to press it whenever I'm trying to catch a Pokemon.

 

[CJoE]

When i was a kid, i usually press the A button when the pokeball threw out and everytime it roles. But when i tried in Pokemon black, it didn't work but i tried other method like pressing B when the ball threw out.

 

[Zeffy]

I had a belief when I was a child that the characters in the game could hear me. So naturally, every time I faced a trainer, I talk to my handheld. Additionally, I screamed every time I try to capture a legendary. My parents got so pissed that they took away my game lmao

 

[Khoshi]

Clicking the a button at the exact time a poke ball would close when catching a Pokemon would raise the chances of successfully capturing the Pokemon

I've done that, and it's...actually worked a few times. Though, I later learned it was all luck, instead of my Konami Code-esque button inputs. I also used to do other things in addition to the rhythmic A button taps, like:

- tapping the touch screen rhythmically
- doing button combinations
- holding every button on the DS and
- doing a combination of the 3rd and 2nd methods.

It usually gave me the illusion of working, so I continued doing so until I came upon a forum post somewhere saying it didn't help.

 

[Hikamaru]

Like most others I used to think pressing certain buttons increased the chance of successful captures. Turns out that was never indeed the case.

 

[Pendraflare]

In my early days I was always told that mashing A would raise the chances of catching things with lower catch rates, i.e. legendaries. I may have had moments of doing Up+A or something like that, too.