Safari Zones

[Devalue]

What did you think of the Safari Zone? Appeared in Kanto, Johto (Heartgold/Soulsilver only), Hoenn, and Sinnoh with the Great Marsh. Did you have a favorite or least favorite? Is there anything you would change? Anything else?

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Thinks fondly about the Safari Zone, on the whole. Breaks up the usual Pokemon catching formula.

Favorites: Liked the Kanto version the most. Found a lot of different Pokemon there, not to mention several unique to it. Never played Heartgold/Soulsilver. Forgot about Hoenn's existing (postgame only). Expresses little enthusiasm for Sinnoh's. Locked most unique or interesting encounters behind random chance or the National Dex.

Changes: Felt a little frustrating to see a rare Pokemon, but only toss one ball before it fled. Would have liked an option to pursue. Follow the Pokemon sprite or shaking grass to re-encounter the Pokemon.

On anything else: Imagines a Safari Zone looking different in modern games. Envisions an on-rails minigame like Pokemon Snap. Chooses between a few types of bait and balls. Comes across wild Pokemon (with a few random spawn areas, to keep it fresh). Designates one rare Pokemon a day from a pool. Catches as many Pokemon as your ball count allows.

 

[Squirtkipfan01]

The only safari zone i liked was heartgold and soulsilvers
-No time limit so i can easily find what i want
-customizeable so i can choose what is where and not having to waste my steps going ALL the way to the back to find something
-Doing specific customs to get exclusive pokemon was cool

Every other version of it i hate

 

[Megan]

I have a lot of positive memories of the original Kanto one. It did its job, had relevance to the plot, actually had a nice little mystery going on with Dratini being only be caught with a Super Rod. All rods usually have only fixed encounters.

The Hoenn one in gen 3 was nice too, though not as iconic to me. It's nice that it makes use of the two different bikes.

I don't really care about the others. I remember reading that you can get Gible in the HGSS one and tried to get one for ages. Until I realized that you need to get the National Dex. I was very disappointed.

 

[TwilightBlade]

I enjoyed entering the Safari zones in Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn. It provided a neat detour mid-game to catch some rare Pokémon and re-shuffle the team. I could have sworn Hoenn's Safari zone was available prior to defeating the Elite Four.

The only Safari Zone that annoyed me was Sinnoh's. My character would often get stuck in the mud.

As far as changing anything, I would have removed the step limit / time limit. I almost got softlocked in Pokémon Blue because I could not find the end of the Safari Zone within 500 steps. I was only 5 or 6 years old so I didn't understand the step limit. My neighbor, an older kid, helped me progress the story with HM Surf.

 

[ReKoil]

Never really been that fond of any them, due to how easily stuff fled. Including a shiny Golduck in one of them. 🙄

If it were to get a complete overhaul and ditch the step-limit and be turned into more of a minigame I'd be down for it's return.

 

[Rock_Salazar]

My major complaint of the Safari Zone was pokemon being able to run away. Trying to get my hands on an Exeggcute in Leaf Green was harder than I remember it being, and like 4 ran away before I finally caught one. If I could I would make it so you can battle pokemon in the Safari Zone, but you don't gain any XP. That way it would make it much easier to catch the pokemon. Also my favorite Safari Zone has to go to HG/SS because of the customization options and unlimited timer.

 

[CoolKid575]

I agree that the Kanto one was best, it has a large amount of actually cool/useful Pokemon exclusive to it and it's the only one that has plot relevance. I don't particularly care for the others as they either have dumb gimmicks (HGSS), are annoying to navigate (DPPT) or feel pointless (RSE).

 

[Sheep]

Kanto and Hoenn had ones that I loved going into.. until things fled. But at the same time, especially in Kanto, it was so satisfying to finally catch that rare Pokémon. I remember being ecstatic as a kid lol. Nowadays I think the flee rate would frustrate me. :(

 

[Corveone]

I've allways been interested in the Safari Zone for the chance to get some rare Pokémon I couldn't find anywhere else in the region, but never liked the safari catching system itself. It was just a more luck based take on the normal catching mechanic.

And the concept was weird. The games allways explained that people shouldn't engage wild Pokémon alone without their own trained Pokémon to fight back because it's too dangerous, so how could trainers just casually annoy and throw rocks at wild Pokémon in the safari zone with no consequence? It made no sense.

 

[Devalue]

And the concept was weird. The games allways explained that people shouldn't engage wild Pokémon alone without their own trained Pokémon to fight back because it's too dangerous, so how could trainers just casually annoy and throw rocks at wild Pokémon in the safari zone with no consequence? It made no sense.

True. Takes some real guts (and foolishness) to look at a Tauros and decide to throw a rock at it.

 

[Drayton]

HG/SS safari only ones catches my attention and other safari is downright bad.

- Hoen back to basics it same for Kanto
- Sinnoh is just too muddy and getting stuck is little fun for me.

Despite all safari zone it's always luck than battling. Doesn't matter give a treat to make them stay and even throwing rocks the pokemon will try to run away or eventually you trying to catch said pokemon failing often and have few pokeballs to catch, you going back to square one again and hope for the best

 

[PageEmp]

Chiming in on the consensus that the HGSS safari zone was the one good one because of the interesting concept and lack of time limit.

 

[jojobear13]

Gen 1 Safari Zone has only three things that really drag it down. The first is that the way rock and bait work are bugged to the extent that the mathematically best strategy is to ignore them and throw balls. The second is that the Safari Balls are bugged too; they are supposed to have the ball factor that was accidentally given to Great Balls that allows for better catching when a pokemon is at full health. The third is that fleeing works off of speed, whereas a slight hack to make it run off level makes things much more reasonable.

 

[Curt_09]

The original safari zone was so cool and it felt like something that you could find in the real world. A nature preserve that relies on tourist money to fund conservation is something that exists here on Earth, so why wouldn't it exist in the Pokemon world? In a world where technology is advancing rapidly, it showcases how mankind has conquered nature to the point that it can be commercialized. And apparently not many have the skill to hit a moving animal with a baseball (or those new-fangled pokeballs), so what's the harm in letting the guests try to catch a few Pokemon? Of course, we can't risk the animals being injured so it's forbidden to battle them. Conceptually, it feels real and doesn't break immersion.
As for the in-game mechanics, well... all I can say is that just like the Rocket Casino, if the luck were on your side they wouldn't be in business for long. I know the Japanese have a long history with gashapon (ostensibly the inspiration for keeping monsters in capsules), so it's not surprising to find a system where you pay for a chance to get something cool. Would I like it to be more favorable to me, the player? Not really. In a system with predictability, getting what you want becomes routine and mundane. Go in, get your Scyther or Tauros, get out. With there being a.) a limit on how long each excursion lasts and b.) no guarantee of getting what you want, coming away with a rare capture feels way more special. I know that the extra time required to get what you want feels like work nowadays, with every bit of media competing for your time, but when it was made people were mostly just doing things because they were fun. And staring at a 2.5" screen with no backlighting pressing buttons for several hours as you explored a virtual world while laying on the couch on a school night was the epitome of fun for some kids.
Would the safari zone be fun in the newer games? No, no it would not. It would just feel frustrating because the game already intentionally wastes your time to extend that hours played ticker. Even when I went back to 151 the Pokedex on virtual console, I used the encounter glitch to Masterball everything while surfing in Cinnabar. If you're objective focused, there's no room in your game for random chance. But if you're experience focused, random chance can enhance the experience of exploration. That's why I can look back on it with nostalgia while acknowledging that it does kinda suck to play. Your enjoyment of it is entirely dependent on your state of mind.

 

[Sweet Serenity]

I always hated the Safari Zone. I never enjoyed its system of catching Pokémon. I always thought the Safari Zone was a feature that made catching Pokémon much harder than necessary. This is especially true when coming across a Pokémon with a low catch rate. Combine that with the likelihood of Pokémon being able to flee and overall low encounter rates, and you are likely to keep wasting your money on handhelds that you broke after slamming them on the floor in anger.

 

[Gruffin]

I didn't care much for any of the safari zones and didn't spend much time in them.

Hilarious that it's possible to softlock yourself in RBY's though.

 

[Lysander]

I will forever hold a grudge against the Safari Zone after I missed out on a shiny Rattata when it fled from me at the first opportunity. Also trying to stay within the step limit while getting the HM for Surf in the Kanto Safari Zone is a real pain.

 

[NipahRika]

I'll be honest and say I've never used it much at all. I just don't think much about it.

 

[Zeostar]

They often appear later in the game than I would prefer. Also my fear of encountering a shiny and having it flee is high.

...The wild area in Gen 8 felt like it's own safari zone without the annoying mechanics.

 

[miragespot]

I miss the Safari Zone in post-HGSS games. (Haven't played BD/SP and probably won't for a while).

My favorite one was the one in Emerald. I hated how OR/AS handled the Safari Zone - I don't mind that it was free to enter and the step limit was removed (which HG/SS also did), but I hate that we didn't get Safari Balls to use.