LogFAQs > #939585664

borrowed from Wikipedia, so hopefully it clears some things up

The Pok Ball (, Monsutbru, "Monster Ball") is a spherical device used by Pokmon Trainers to catch wild Pokmon and store them in the player's inventory when not active. Upon contact, the balls draw a Pokmon inside and then close automatically. Wild Pokmon are able to resist and break free; however, weakened Pokmon and those with status conditions are less able to struggle and therefore more easily caught. Legendary Pokmon are much more capable of resisting being caught, and will often require many Pok Balls or more powerful Pok Balls to catch them. If the player attempts to catch a non-player character's Pokmon, the opponent will block the Ball to prevent its theft. Ultra beasts require a different pokeball altogether.

As depicted in the anime and manga series, the Pok Ball, when not in use, is the size of a golf ball and, with a press of the central button, enlarges to the size of a baseball. The Pokmon is released for battle by throwing the ball; when retrieving a Pokmon, a beam of red light converts the Pokmon into energy to reclaim it. Pok Balls are explained as being incredibly comfortable for Pokmon, so much that they would willingly enter one without any sort of encouragement.[17] The Pokmon Voltorb, Electrode, Foongus, and Amoonguss are often mistaken for Pok Balls, due to their shape and color schemes which highly resemble Pok Balls.

Various types of Pok Balls exist. Introduced in Pokmon Red and Blue are the Pok Ball, Great Ball (, Sp Bru, "Super Ball"), Ultra Ball (, Haip Bru, "Hyper Ball"), and Master Ball (, Masut Bru). The Master Ball always succeeds against any Pokmon that can be caught, and of which typically only one is available in the game. In Pokmon Gold, Silver, Crystal, HeartGold and SoulSilver, there are fruits called Apricorns, which, when given to Kurt in Azalea Town, make one of seven special types of Pok Balls, depending on the Apricorn's color. The seven kinds of Pok Balls Kurt can make (and the seven color Apricorns they are made out of) are Level (Red), Moon (Yellow), Lure (Blue), Friend (Green), Love (Pink), Fast (White), and Heavy (Black). Beginning in Pokmon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, other specialized balls appear, including the Timer Ball, which becomes more effective as the number of turns in the current battle rises, and the Net Ball, which has a better chance of catching Water and Bug-type Pokmon, among others. In addition, in several games there exists an area called the Safari Zone in which only Safari Balls can be used; these cannot be obtained or used elsewhere in the game. Pokmon Sun and Moon introduced the Beast Ball, which is designed for capturing Ultra Beasts and is much more effective at capturing them than standard Pok Balls. There is also a special kind of Pok Ball known as the Cherish Ball, which can only be obtained through special distribution events.

In the Nintendo GameCube RPGs, Pokmon Colosseum and Pokmon XD: Gale of Darkness, the player is able to catch non-player characters' Pokmon through the use of the Snag Machine, which turns Pok Balls into Snag Balls. Snag Balls are capable of catching any Pokmon, and are developed by the antagonists to steal Pokmon where they are not common in the wild. Snag Balls can also be used by the player to catch Shadow Pokmon who have been tainted by the antagonist group and that the player is required to purify for game completion.

Pok Balls have appeared in every installment of the Super Smash Bros. series, releasing a Pokmon to assist the player who grabbed it. Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U also introduces the Master Ball, which almost always releases a legendary Pokmon, with a small chance of releasing Goldeen instead.

UGO.com listed the Pok Ball eighteenth on their list of "Our 50 Favorite Video Game Power-ups" citing how everybody runs to get it in the Super Smash Bros. series.[18]


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