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Ran out of Pokeballs

62
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11
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  • Seen Feb 10, 2014
Have you ever been playing the game and hunting an elusive Pokemon for a very long time? (Yes, emerald Feebas Hunters, I sympathize with you..) Or perhaps come across a rare or shiny Pokemon, only to find that you're short on Pokeballs or have none at all and missed the chance to catch it? Share your experience below. I've lost that Shny Makuhita in Emerald. I literally flung the Gameboy on the floor, but that's not the point... xD
 
139
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11
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I think that happen to me just in the first times i played pokemon; because now the first thing I buy are pokeballs, at the beginning of the adventure I buy 10 on 10 pokeballs, even near the end of the adventure i had have more pokeballs than other items like revives, paralize heals, hyper potions.

Some monster have escape from me but when they make explosion or use roar or some other nasty moves.
 

Kikaito plush

Angeline plushxKikaito plush
5,557
Posts
14
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It only happened once when I was trying to catch an Clefairy in Mt Moon on pokemon Leafgeen. I finally found one and knocked it's health to red then found out I had no pokeballs in my bag.
 

MistressShiki

~Dragon~
15
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10
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  • Age 27
  • NJ
  • Seen May 17, 2013
Argg, that's a really annoying thing to have happen. I can't recall any particular times it happened to me, but I know it has. And I was extremely frustrated. XD
 
1,762
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14
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This has literally only happened to me once. After catching a Pikachu in Viridian Forest, I didn't replace the Balls I'd used to catch it, and then BAM, Shiny Metapod. I wouldn't mind, but Metapod has a reasonably easy catch-rate, so I wouldn't have needed to do much, had I the Pokéballs... :/
 

.::Shivam::.

A big Unova fan
9
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11
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  • Age 26
  • Seen May 21, 2013
Happened to only once. When I was trying to catch Regirock. Good thing that I saved before battling him :P
 

Sydian

fake your death.
33,379
Posts
16
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I usually always buy ten Pokeballs upon arriving to a new city, along with five of each other kind available, so I don't have this problem.
 
62
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11
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  • Seen Feb 10, 2014
It only happened once when I was trying to catch an Clefairy in Mt Moon on pokemon Leafgeen. I finally found one and knocked it's health to red then found out I had no pokeballs in my bag.

Agreed Curtis, Clafairy is considered uncommon on rare in Mt Moon, and even if you have a few, it's going to be tough, but without a single Pokeball, you must well just knock it out for the XP.

This has literally only happened to me once. After catching a Pikachu in Viridian Forest, I didn't replace the Balls I'd used to catch it, and then BAM, Shiny Metapod. I wouldn't mind, but Metapod has a reasonably easy catch-rate, so I wouldn't have needed to do much, had I the Pokéballs... :/

Shiny Pokemon. Wow. What are the odds of that appearing? xD Needless to say, a Pikachu in Viridian Forest is pretty rare in its own right, but passing up the chance for a shiny Pokemon can make me cry.

I think that happen to me just in the first times i played pokemon; because now the first thing I buy are pokeballs, at the beginning of the adventure I buy 10 on 10 pokeballs, even near the end of the adventure i had have more pokeballs than other items like revives, paralize heals, hyper potions.

Some monster have escape from me but when they make explosion or use roar or some other nasty moves.

Yeah, that is pretty much how it works. Don't get me started on how many times Cressila slipped from my hands when I forgot to use the mean look. Arghh....

Argg, that's a really annoying thing to have happen. I can't recall any particular times it happened to me, but I know it has. And I was extremely frustrated. XD

Happened to only once. When I was trying to catch Regirock. Good thing that I saved before battling him :p

Lol, the golden rule of Pokemon: Thou shall save before battling legends or the E4... xD

I usually always buy ten Pokeballs upon arriving to a new city, along with five of each other kind available, so I don't have this problem.

That's the safe way to go, but I don't know about y'all, but going to the Pokemart is a drag for me. I usually get all my Pokeballs using the best way. Which is just picking up the Pokeballs and all my other items on the ground... ^^;
 

Firox

eepz, come help pwease!
2,585
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11
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Doesn't happen often to me, but I did run of out all kinds of Pokeballs when I first tried to catch Cobalion in Black 2. That time I had forgotten to save before the battle, and later on progressing through the story, I saved... missed out on catching. Learned my lesson after that (to have plenty of Pokeballs and save before battling them).

Forgot to mention: It was an embarrassing experience. I kept telling myself - "as soon as I get to the next town, I'll stock up on supplies" - I went through 2 towns and didn't restock on anything.
 
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22,730
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11
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  • Age 34
  • Online now
I don't even remember if such a thing happened to me. At least I never had any problems with Poke Balls when I was catching shinys. But one thing might have happen in the past (though it must have been way back, maybe in Gen 1): stocked up on lots of balls; got to a legendary; threw balls like stupid; not enough to catch them regardless...and that multiple times.
 

Bounsweet

Fruit Pokémon
2,103
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16
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  • Seen Sep 17, 2018
I remember in Crystal I ran into a shiny Nidorina on Route 15, near Fuchsia City. I was completely out of Poke Balls too so I just stared at my game for like 5 minutes in horror before I fled the battle.

It was traumatizing. :(

But now I'm like a little obsessive about keeping stocked on Poke Balls, I try to keep at least 50 on me when I can.
 
5,281
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14
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  • Age 29
  • Seen yesterday
Yup. Back when I had an event Regigigas in Platinum for the first time, I decided to use only Premier Balls on the trio. This was expensive and therefore limiting in that I could only get around 50 before I lost patience. Ran out multiple times on Regirock.

More recently, I scaled Sky Pillar, catching a couple of pokémon along the way, only to find I only had a Master Ball left, and I'd saved, so I didn't fancy re-doing it all over again. Now I've got the problem of trying to hunt Latios without it whilst hoping to get lucky on the lotto.
 
16
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10
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  • UK
  • Seen Jun 27, 2013
I must say that has happened to me a few times. I remember coming across a rare Pokémon in Soul Silver I think, and knocking it's HP down to quarter left and realising that I hadn't got any pokeballs to catch it with. So now I always make sure that I'm topped up with them.
 

Zorogami

WUB WUB
2,164
Posts
11
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This usually only happened when i first played pokemon as a 9-year old.
I would finally arrive at a legendary, let's say Zapdos, but didn't think of buying enough Pokeballs first...

Recently though, i was playing on a randomized version of Emerald, just for fun.
Shortly after receiving the Pokedex and some Pokeballs, i run into a wild pokemon...
Which turns out to be a Shiny Lv 3 Tyranitar...my FIRST SHINY EVER

Of course i miserably failed to catch him with just 3 Pokeballs, and Tyranitar was forever gone
I'm still pretty mad about that, so excuse me while i go punch a wall guys
 
32
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10
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  • Age 28
  • Seen Jan 18, 2023
Nope, this hasn't happened to me. I'm very glad haha. I only use Poke Balls to capture Pokemon, even Shinys (Unless of course I run out of Poke Balls and have Great Balls/Ultra Balls) And for legends I save infront of them before I enter the battle. I always stock up with 100 Poke Balls and I make sure I have Great Balls/Ultra Balls incase I run into a Shiny and all my Poke Balls were gone.

But, so far I have not needed to use Great Balls/Ultra Balls. Poke Balls work just fine. :)
 

WingedDragon

Competitive Trainer
1,288
Posts
11
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It was a difficulty in the early part of the current games but back in the day I understand, money wasnt as plentiful as it is today even with Amulet coin
 
8,571
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14
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I'm always prepared with plenty of Poke Balls from the beginning of the game just in case, and always make sure to save my Master Ball in the off chance I do find a shiny (which is why my Swanna lives in a Master Ball).

The only time I've ever been unprepared to face any Pokemon was a shiny Paras in the Safari Zone on FireRed. I had just one Safari Ball left after hunting Chansey, Dragonair, etc., and a Shiny Paras showed up. I'm guessing you can figure out how that turned out for me.
 

Aurora

seven years here and i finally figure out how to d
859
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10
Years
I recall losing an unusually strong Pikachu to my lack of Pokeballs in FireRed. Being the clueless 5 year old I was, Pikachu was one of my favourite Pokemon and I was determined to catch it. Upon weakening it to a sufficient degree at the expense of the majority of my party, I eagerly opened my bag only to discover that I lacked Pokeballs of any sort. I think I got so annoyed that I didn't touch my game for a week or two...
 
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