View Full-size

After catching a Pokémon, you can give it a nickname if you desire.

Creating an unstoppable team of Pokémon is always a delight, but first you need to actually acquire some Pokémon. To start you off, you’ll be given one of three starter Pokémon from Professor Kukui; after that, you’ll have to catch your own Pokémon.

Now, every Pokémon trainer worth their salt knows how to catch a Pokémon, but for those of you who are new to the whole “Catch ’em All” thing or need a refresher, this is for you.

The Art of Capture¶

Catching Pokémon is simple in theory. When you encounter a wild Pokémon, you throw a Poke Ball item at it and there’s a chance the Pokémon will either remain in the ball (success, you’ve captured the Pokémon!) or it will break free from the Poké Ball (oh no!).

You can increase the chance of the Poké Ball working by reducing the wild Pokemon’s HP –the closer to 0, the better the odds. However you must not reduce the Pokémon’s HP to 0 or the Pokémon will faint and disappear, rendering it unable for capture. Oops.

Therefore, you’ll want to carefully monitor the wild Pokémon’s HP as the battle progresses. At the start, it’s OK to use your strongest or next strongest moves, assuming they’re not super-effective against the wild Pokémon. Once the Pokémon’s HP drops, start swapping to weaker or not-very-effective moves.

If you have them, there are certain moves like False Swipe or Hold Back that cannot drop a Pokémon’s HP to 0, instead leaving it at 1. Which is perfect if you’re worried about accidentally knocking out a wild Pokémon–even if your maths is perfect, critical hits can happen.

In addition, you can further improve the odds by inflicting a status ailment on the wild Pokémon–we recommend Paralyze or Sleep. Finally, you can try throwing better balls, such as Great Balls or Ultra Balls, or other balls that might be better suited for the task, like Dusk Balls during the night.

After Capture¶

Any Pokémon you capture is immediately ready for use in subsequent battles. Although if you just caught the Pokémon, you’ll probably want to heal it and train it before it becomes a viable party member.

At any one time, you can only have up to six Pokémon in your battle party. If you catch any more Pokémon, you can opt to send them to a Pokémon box , which can be accessed from the PC inside any Pokémon Centre.

You can also use the PC to move Pokémon from your party to your box(es) and vice versa–useful if you need to change your team.