Article: Finding Feebas

One PokéCommunity member explores how frustratingly rare Feebas was in the earlier games.

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Cover image by Rivvon.

Neat information! :D

I wish someone streams on Twitch catching a Shiny Feebas! XD

Remember back in the day when I wanted to catch a Feebas. First got really lucky and found one pretty quickly, but eventually lost my save file. Shortly afterwards I decided to go for it again, but this one took me a loong time, and this bad boy ended up appearing instead...



Somehow, I ended up fishing this before the Feebas after a few days. Now, little cute Spin didn't know about the whole tile things, and I was pretty much fishing in the same spot over and over again. I don't remember when I eventually moved tiles though, because I actually eventually got my Feebas. (Using the only Luxury Ball in the game!)

Looking back, I actually was more bummed that I ended up losing the shiny Carvanha during the typical kid brother deleting your save data incidents. But fortunately with the release of ORAS, I made up with myself. :)

Ah yes, the infamous Feebas frustration. Thankfully 5th Gen was where it heavily improved, and still remained the only generation I have successfully caught a Feebas in, let alone evolved it into Milotic.

OR/AS reverted to the original method, but made it easier by having Feebas appear on any water tile (along with the guaranteed chances under the bridge) and Pokeblocks were simplified as well.

I'm one of the lucky few that managed to find a Feebas almost instantly on one of my playthroughs of Platinum. That was the only time that I've ever managed to find one, though, and I haven't found another since.

I actually didn't know it was so rare to find in Ruby until after I got one. I just remember spending quite some time trying to find one, surfing around in the river until I managed to fish one out.

It took me more time to realise that you had to max its beauty with PokéBlocks to make it evolve, and I'm glad I stopped training my Feebas at level 99. It would have remained an ugly Feebas forever if I did.

I actually caught a couple of Feebas in Ruby and I had no idea that it was a rare Pokemon. I didn't have a guide and I didn't know what to research so I just trained one to like level 60 and realized that it wasn't going to evolve that way. My other Feebas sat in my box for months before I finally learned through a friend how to evolve one.

My younger brother managed to find one in Emerald in only 45-ish minutes, which honestly doesn't sound too bad considering some of the stories I've heard. Personally, I never even bothered to try looking for them much, too much effort.

Implementations like the "Feebas mechanism of Generation 3" just make me wonder what would happen without the Internet, especially since the games themselves don't really hint the method of seeking out Feebas to you.. Like really, how would you figure out the Feebas method with no external help (aside from extreme/lucky trial-and-error)? Nowadays, I like progressing through games without a walkthrough (I feel like it's more fun to go in unaware sometimes. Also, imitation is way 'easier' than figuring things out for oneself, so I feel like just using a walkthrough would dilute one's accomplishments, since pretty much anyone can do that if they can manage it), but Generation3!Feebas is quite Guide Dang It, indeed (and I like how Pokemon has its own sub-page {XD}).

Generation 3 (Hoenn Route 119 ~ Fishing):
In retrospect, although it can be really jarring in practice, I kind of like how the implementation of Feebas is a nice variation and makes Feebas more unique in comparison to a lot of other "Pokemon that are very rare in certain places", such as the 1% regular chance of encountering a Lapras when Surfing in Four Island's/Floe Island's Icefall Cave, or the low chances of finding Tauros or Chansey in Kanto's Fuchsia City-based Safari Zone. The only thing that I would change is that the Feebas-containing tiles should guarantee a Feebas encounter; the fact that there is a 50% chance to not see Feebas (after a wild Pokemon encounter has been triggered via fishing rod) on a already-hard-to-locate Feebas tile is just cruel...! -_-{XD} Pity to whoever succumbs to that "1/64 (approximate)" chance of failing to encounter Feebas at all after fishing on every water tile on Hoenn Route 119..

I don't have any problems with Feebas's evolution method, other than that maybe it should be made more apparent in-game - my gripe is not with the Beauty evolution method itself, but more with the fact that you can't reverse/reset Sheen (or the amount of PokeBlocks consumed by a Pokemon) in the Generation 3 Hoenn-based games. If I recall correctly, if you don't optimize Feebas's Beauty properly (low-quality/poor-quality PokeBlocks or if you have a Feebas that dislikes "Blue/Dry/Beauty-enhancing" PokeBlocks), then you're in a bit of a pickle trying to get Feebas to evolve...

The dependence of Feebas's water tiles on the Trendy Phrase of Dewford Town was quirky yet neat in a way. I feel like more investigation should be done with the Trendy Phrase, such as if the same Trendy Phrase yields the same Feebas tile locations on 2 different game cartridges (I think this is false, if I'm remembering correctly) and how often does the Trendy Phrase "change" by itself/what triggers the change (such as by pseudo-random-number-generation, player's number of steps taken, amount of in-game play-time, or the game's internal clock?) (I mean, it would suck if the Trendy Phrase changed while you were on a "Feebas hunt" on Hoenn Route 119.. -.-).

Generation 4 (Sinnoh's Mountain Coronet, Floor B1F ~ Fishing):
Wow; I did not know the absurdity/difficulty of the Feebas mechanism in this generation until today. 0_o Seriously? At least Hoenn gave you a little leeway (if you can call it that); this mechanism requires you to set aside a good chunk of your day (possibly Generation-3-Chimecho levels of time) just to catch a Pokemon! And it retains the "50% chance of missing Feebas" thing? WTF? -_- And here I thought that Hoenn had it hard.. I guess the one consolation (if you can call it that) is that the chance of fishing on every water tile in the area without catching a Feebas is approximately 1/16, which is less than the approximately-1-in-64 chance of Hoenn...

Generation 5 (Unova Route 1 ~ Fishing, Rippling-water Fishing):
In my opinion, the Feebas rarity (in general/base chance) was kind of "tarnished/made less unique" due to not really being dependent on certain tiles, although if we're going to use this method, I do like how rippling water increases the chance of a Feebas encounter (rippling water should guarantee a Feebas encounter, in my opinion - if such a thing is possible.. Make a "rippling-water tile" variant that only contains Feebas (95% chance)/Milotic (5% chance)?). Reasonably-rare opportunities for catching wild Milotic are also nice.. STUPID MILOTIC OF POKEMON EMERALD'S HOENN BATTLE PIKE TAUNTING ME BY BEING UNCAPTURABLE FZOILJKSKJCGFDFJOIGOIJARRRRGH!!!! >:(

Also, it sucks that the original Beauty-evolution method was made "inaccessible/unusable" in Generation 5 (one of the many problems of Generation 5's execution, but whatever) since you couldn't directly modify Contest Condition, although yay for giving a Pokemon 2 legitimate evolution methods, I guess. (see, Espeon and Umbreon? It's not that hard! "Sun Stone/Moon Stone or day/night time dependence" is the way to go, via retcon!)

Generation 6 (Hoenn Route 119 ~ Fishing):
Hmm, not really sure what to say... The mechanism got "downgraded" to "rarity on any water tile". However, I feel like the pursuit of capturing Feebas should be difficult but not that difficult, so it's nice that the "daytime bridge/nighttime rock" mechanic was added (the daytime/nighttime thing kind of reminds me of the mechanic for legitimately reeling in the Hylian Loach fish in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess), although I feel like you should have to do a mini-quest to receive the "easier method(s)" (I would've like there to be some sort of rationale like there was for all of the random non-Unova Pokemon appearing in Unova due to PokeTransporter shenanigans, but if Mixing Records can suddenly induce the appearance of things like wild Surskit in games where they are normally absent like in Pokemon Emerald, then I guess that I'm not too concerned with rationalizing such a side-quest {XD}).

I'm glad that the original Beauty-evolution method returned, although it sucks that PokeBlock making and the concept of Berry Flavors got nerfed in Pokemon OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphire. Like, of all the things in Pokemon that needed nerfing, those things were not among them. -_- Also, it kind of sucks that the Dewford Town Trendy Phrase became less relevant in Generation 6, and I'm not sure if the removal/revamping of the Easy Chat System (props to Bulbapedia's Abcboy for actually compiling all of the available Generation 3 vocabulary words!) is better or worse than the original execution of Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald...

My ideal implementation for a Feebas encounter (Hoenn Route 119 ~ Fishing):
My compromise for a Feebas-encounter implementation in Pokemon OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphire would be to keep the original "6-of-436 tiles based off of Dewford Town's Trendy Phrase" Feebas mechanism from Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald, guarantee Feebas encounters on the 6 tiles that actually have a chance for Feebas (either 100% Feebas or 95% Feebas + 5% Milotic), and require mini-quest completion to add the "daytime bridge/nighttime rock" mechanic.

This way, the original Feebas mechanic is maintained (providing uniqueness in terms of how Pokemon-encounter rarity is executed and allowing a demonstration of the dedication that Pokemon Trainers have in terms of getting certain Pokemon in-game via a reasonable method), the process of actually getting a Feebas is made easier to alleviate players' frustration (because understandably, videogames shouldn't be causing stress), yay for rare wild Milotic, and the player won't be screwed over if they actually go hunting for Feebas on every water tile of Hoenn Route 119.

I was thinking of making Feebas exclusive to the Old Rod (because Feebas looks like a tattered old creature and is perceived as a Magikarp analogue) OR the Super Rod (because Feebas nicely contrasts Carvanha, and it makes sense that you would need the best of the Fishing Rods to catch the ugliest/prettiest Pokemon of all!), but maybe let's not making "Feebas hunting" harder than it already is.. :3c

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On a side note, in Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald, I always felt that the days that have thunderstorms (rain+lightning) on Hoenn Route 119 should be the days on when Feebas is more likely to appear - I envisioned the "plug prong"-looking fin on Feebas's back attracting lightning or something, consequently making Feebas more easy to encounter. {XD}

...I spent way more time on this post than I planned to; the amount of time spent was probably the same as the amount of time it takes to get a Feebas in Generation 3... XD

And this is why Feebas breeding is such a high paying job back in the day. :3

Omega good job with the article, Jubby. Glad to be your information broker on the topic of Feebas hunting.

Youmu said:

I'm one of the lucky few that managed to find a Feebas almost instantly on one of my playthroughs of Platinum. That was the only time that I've ever managed to find one, though, and I haven't found another since.

Click to expand...

I found one in Platinum as well but let me tell you it certainly wasn't instantly. Since they're much easier to find now I feel like a goof but still kinda proud I managed to get one back in the day.

Feebas. What's that?

'Feebas the fish Pokémon. Some in Hoenn believe this Pokémon is a myth.'

In all seriousness in Gen 3 I thought Milotic was uncatchable in game and was an event Pokémon of some sort.

I did not catch a Feebas until Gen 5 and White 2. Luckily I had two DS's and was able to evolve and take her to the Hall of Fame.

In ORAS with the chain fishing mechanic I set out to catch a Shiny Female Feebas. I caught two Shiny Males before finally getting a female. They are all now Shiny Milotic.

Somewhat ironically Feebas and Milotic has gone from the hardest Pokémon to obtain to arguably one of the easiest Shinys to get in the game.

I've been playing through Emerald again the last couple days, and I was on Route 119 and decided that, for the first time ever, I was going to use a Milotic. I was fully expecting the worst.

10 minutes later I had a Feebas.

And this is the same file that I'd already found a shiny Whismur on.