if you don't give a hoot about the test and just want to see results, skip to the last chapter at 11:00 Edit: missed opportunity to say this in the actual video, but some data scientists in the comments have made me aware that this is an experiment that could use more data. So if anyone watching is playing through FRLG & wants to add to the data pool by running the same test, let me know your results in the comments🤝
That's it I'm NEVER buying utlra anymore Dusk and quick are cheaper and better net ball too But if I have really a lot of money extra I still buy ultra though Accessibility and branding are worth that extra 200 sometimes if you are extra rich
Definitely lol. Your sample size is far too small to be considered legitimate evidence. It's like finding a 5 star product on amazon that only has 7 reviews, just because it's 5 star doesn't mean it's a good product due to how little it's actually been reviewed in the first place. I'd much rather trust a 4.7 star product with 10k reviews than a 5 star product with 7 reviews.
Thing is, this is too unreliable really. I was soft resetting for natures (and shinyness if lucky) and some SR would have me catch the birds in 3 balls or less while some others would have me run out of pokeballs/pokemon instead.
You would need several more trials to be consistent with this to call it strong evidence. After all it is rng. The pokeballs could've just been lucky this playthrough. You'd need to do this 10 or 20 times to really tell which is better. That's how experiments work.
@@mistercbodywas about to tell you the same thing. The way you viewed the experiment I could tell you were a finance guy, and I don’t mean it in a bad way.
@@mistercbody I enjoyed the video! It was cool too see how the pokeball could basicly do the job for less money hahah. I always thought the Ultra Ball was way overpriced for what it was. You confirmed that hahah
While we're on the subject of scams, Super Potions. They have the same healing properties as literal bottled water, but at 3.5 times the price. (Until Gen 7 at least)
Super Repels are also better than Max Repels, i think it’s 350£ to 700 for just 50 more steps, at certain point I feel like Super Repels are also MBFYB
Prior to Gen 7, Fresh Water was insane. It was better than Moomoo Milk (400 vs 500 for 100HP). Not even counting the nonzero chance of getting a free one from the machine!
i mean if we look at the math, the results show that you got quite lucky with the pokeballs. according to the catch rate calculator, the 50 % chance of catch for 1 legendary with pokeballs is at around 44 balls. You managed to get all 4 in 48 balls, or 12 balls per average. THis is possible but unlikely. The ultra balls on the other hand have this "break point" at 16 balls per pokemon, so 54 balls is an average of 13.5 balls. Therefore this one was just "slightly lucky". The formula tells you, that in terms of efficiency, the ultra ball beats out the pokeball by a factor of 3, but pricewise, the pokeball beats the ultraball by a factor of 6. Therefore, the pokeball should be economically advangeous by a factor of 2. However, this does not account for hidden costs like healing items (revives, potions), which may be necessary when using pokeballs. This should dampen the economic advantage of the pokeball. The real reason why ultra balls are "kinda scam" is that they are the most expensive available pokeball, while there are dozen of "conditional balls", which are all cheaper, but provide better efficiency when their conditions are met. So basically, the conclusion is imo still correct: "ultra balls are scam", but the data set is too thin and the approach to the problem did not fully consider every variable.
Yeah the amount of healing items you spend reviving because you use a weaker pokeball outweighs the lower cost. A single revive is more expensive then an ultra ball.
4:20 Technically, if you buy the pokeballs in bundles of 10, it would be 26 balls are equal to 4 ultra balls since you would get two premier balls as a bonus
A sample size of 1 catch of each of the chosen pokemon for each ball type is not nearly sufficient enough data, considering it's entirely RNG. You had insane luck.
I am a mere man of finance, not data analytics so take my findings with a grain of salt or give it a shot your next play through to add more attempts to the thesis
We serve mindless-timewasting entertainment here, sir. If you want the numbers just do what he said at the beginning of the video: look up the catchrate modifiers and compare the increase in it to the increase in price. Right away, it's pretty obvious that ultra balls are ripoffs
Excuse me but I went through 20 ultra balls trying to catch a sleeping, 1 hp zapdos and ran out before succeeding. I then came back with 120 ultra balls and tried again using paralysis instead of sleep. I failed 75 ultra balls and then you know what happened? It ran out of pp and struggled inself into fainting. I tried a third time with the same 120 ultras and paralysis and threw 8 of them, i finally caught it. Rng is too big of a factor to use 1 example per pokemon/ball type.
But that's exactly the point he's making. RNG is so rampant that using the better ball doesn't necessarily make it better. If you can luck out like he did with Mewtwo, you can save 10s of thousands of poke dollars in a playthrough, for a not much worse alternative.
You took a total of _four_ samples which is nowhere near enough to draw any statistical conclusions. The extreme variance we see in your experiment makes this apparent, since all the legendaries had the exact same chance of being caught, but took very different numbers of balls to catch. The catch chance is easy to calculate: For a legendary at 1 HP, asleep and Pokeball it is 6/255, for the Ultraball it is 12/255. Ultraballs give 2x the chance of capture as Pokeballs for 6x the price, I would still argue that Ultraballs are worth it since with the better odds you can avoid the 'Mon killing itself through struggle.
I think the best method would be to make a script that does it a bunch of times and then average it out. Especially important is finding the odds of catching a Pokemon within x attempts because some legendaries don't have much PP like Ho-Oh that has Fire Blast and Sunny Day which is only 10 PP besides its other 2 moves.
I noticed that you were throwing ultra balls when the pokemon weren't asleep (such as moltres) but were throwing pokeballs when they were asleep so you had rigged your own test by not using consistent catching conditions. ...Ignoring the luck component to all this
I don't remember the exact formula and multipliers, but I'm pretty sure that with everything else being equal, a sleeping Pokémon with a regular Pokéball has the same catch odds as a non-statused Pokémon with an Ultraball. 0:46
@@CottidaeSEA Which means he was wasting potential additional value from the ultraballs... which means he stuffed his calcs. But as he said, not a statistics professor. He's just cheap XD
I'll be honest, the fact that one single Mewtwo didn't take 57 Ultraballs, 32 Great Balls and 102 Pokéballs to catch a single time really makes me upset at the luck I used to have as a kid. But in all seriousness, I think if you did each catch like 5-10 times per Ball type, then took both the total and average, you'd get a much more definitive number
Hahaha I feel you because I actually remember these encounters being wayyyyy harder (probably cause I was a kid at the time, or didn’t have fast forward enabled and had to wait real time between throws, etc)
My first shiny was as a kid playing silver, a shiny unown "i". Took it's hp down as low as I could without ko, then emptied my entire bag of pokeballs. So many pokeballs, greatballs and ultraballs. It refused to stay in (and honestly, it hasn't changed at all over the years to where I legitimately though shinies had a worse catch rate. Every shiny I happen to encounter took nearly the entire bag to catch or even failed to catch after every ball thrown, over many different games. That's my luck!)
@@apple-cv2xj yeah, that is scarcity for you. Combine it with milo murphy's law, the fact we remember negatives more easily than positives, and the event factor of finding a shiny in the first place and that "bad luck" starts to seem increasingly likely. Yet another reason to stick with pokeballs as the generic of choice: if you stick exclusively to them, you can easily have 500+ by the end of the campaign, and it matters very little when you make that purchase as long as it happens before the random shiny. XD
The ultimate cheapskate solution, yes...if you can stay sane trying to do it that way. XD But seriously, it's valid. I just hate having to reset a lot, so my strategy is somewhere in the middle. I will buy the ultra balls, try to get them down to red health bar levels of HP and sleep or para them, then toss an arbitrary maximum number of balls, based on how much money I am willing to waste at that point in the game before resetting for different luck.
Well numbers from a secondary source like a wiki can be wrong. Numbers from the primary source i.e. in game (assuming you accurately understand how those numbers are used) are obviously correct.
@@DadofWarReactions what I mean is: in programming, when you tell a = 2 and b=7 a+b will always result in 9. There is no other way, no open mind, no testing. Its what it is.
@@cheetahrunout well yes that is true but the programmers also program if/then to simulate “chance.” With statistical anomalies occurring all the time even though code is binary. At least that’s just being specific in terms of pokemon games lol
for those curious about the theoretics for a more precise number pokeballs cost 200 and have a 1x catch rate multiplier greatballs cost 600 and have a 1.5x catch rate multiplier, u have to divide which gives u 400 at an equivalent price to pokeballs making them half as efficient ultraballs cost 1200 and have a 2x catch rate multiplier, u have to divide which gives u 600 making them a third as efficient however thats not the full story and theres a full video on youtube that ends up concluding greatballs are the best in terms of efficiency once u consider the way it interacts with status and low hp. also who really wants to spend the time throwing 2x as many pokeballs when money is easy to come buy, so even ignoring that its still reasonable to spend on at least greatballs
What I learned throughout all my years of playing pokemon is that pokeballs in quantity are INFINITELY more important than pokeballs in quality. Having the highest catch rate (outside of the 100% of a master ball) means absolutely nothing compared to being able to throw another pokeball.
Using this method I have to reload 2.768 more times when trying to catch legendaries which takes much longer than generating the extra income from spamming payday from my lvl. 100 Persian. I'll stick to my ultra balls.
@@foivospk Echoing what the other guy said, a 50% increase to $1 would be $1.50, since you take half of the base value and simply add it to the original value. A 100% price increase would then essentially mean doubling the price, 200% means tripling, and so on…
I still think there is a use case for ultras. On my recent playthrough of Alpha Sappire, I had to use ultra balls in order to capture Cobalion, etc. As far as I know, there are no specialty balls that would have worked on that island instead. Unless you have a very durable and fast Pokémon with hypnosis to keep it under, it'll quickly max out its attack stat with swords dance, and you'll spend a fortune in hyper potions keeping your tankiest guy alive while you pelt him with balls. Ended up having to sacrifice a weak voltorb with static ability to paralyze it, and then mega evolve my Swampert and buff him with an x-defence to tank hits. Even then, I would easily be two-shotted by sacred sword, so I had to get the best catch chance out of every turn. I'm sure there are more scenarios like this that could make an ultra ball the best choice, not to mention roaming legendaries. TLDR Ultras are still best when you need to make a catch in as few turns as possible (assuming no specialty balls apply). They may even make economic sense if your team requires a lot of healing items to stay alive.
@@eric9095 That is accurate. But it's implied they're faster by the game's dialogue and the supposed increase in catch success. Never said it wasn't lying about how much better they were. Apologies for the confusion. Edit 1: their → they're
Most blatant pokemon cost to effect ratio is Repels. Super Repels cost 350 and Max Repels cost 700. Super Repels last for 200 steps, and Max Repels last for 250. Double cost for a 25% effect increase is not worth it at all
At 6 times the cost and only twice the effectiveness, ultra balls will on average cost you 3 times more per catch. But saving time is worth the extra cost, especially for Pokemon that might run away or struggle. Plus they look cooler.
> has the actual catch rate formula from the game "I dont trust numbers!" > collects a ridiculously small sample size "With these numbers I'll draw my conclusion" How is this even a video? You have the answer literally ripped from the source code of the game. You could talk about the catch rate formula and how it works and compare value that way. You don't need to collect data on catch rate.
@@mistercbody since these are your comfort games Mind check my theory on these games In the Casino above rocket hideout Those slot machines aren't for gambling It's actually a skill based game and with enough reflex you can pretty consistently lend 777 and easily make profit I'm good so 50 coin is enough for me to guarantee I will hit 777 before running out so that's always profit because it rewards you 300 coins But I truly believe EVERYONE with average reflex can comfortably use 100 coins which are on the floor or gifted to you by talking with NPC And before you run out of those initial 100 coins most people should have the reflex to pull 777 You need quick double tap to do 77 that is pretty easy And pay very close attention and get the last 7 Often you will miss it slightly but 50 coin each game cost 3 so within 16 attempts I can easily get 777
I only buy the regular monster balls for this reason. It's such a low percentage to catch the legendaries that you're generally gonna save money buying 99 monster balls instead of 16 ultra balls.
In newer games its evidently easier to catch pokemon with regular pokeballs but greats and ultras have always had a higher catch rate with rng. Now rng is still rng and you would have to play multiple runs with different scenarios to make a credible point. It IS a good starting theory though.
The catch % is so low that the overall results were kinda expected for me, every time you throw a ball you get a low chance of getting it, regardless if the Ultra Ball is 2x or 4x better, we're talking about low odds anyways.
This reminds me of the very first time I caught Mewtwo. It was Pokemon Yellow, and I didn't know it was coming, so I'd already used my Master Ball. I got Mewtwo down to red, and threw all of my Ultra Balls at him. None of them worked. I threw all of my Great Balls. None of them worked. Finally, I throw a single Pokeball, and I caught him
I haven't used anything but regular pokeballs and premier balls for the last 2 or 3 generations -- premier for legendaries and shinies, pokeballs for everything else. Especially in Violet, I was able to build up enough cash that I had _at least_ 500 of the dang things at any given time (usually 800-900) and was pretty much guaranteed to catch any regular mon that didn't run away or get KO'd before I won the war of attrition. It balanced out more with the rare mons, though, since I had just 1/10 of that stash to work with. The main downside of this approach is that version-exclusive mons are so much more of a pain if you want to build an all-pokeball living dex.
Ultra Balls have got less useful through time with the better balls available, Quick Ball saves time and then the battle can get long enough to use Timer Balls
There are a few math mistakes.. 11:08 for instance. But pretty cool video. My conclusion is Ultra Balls are worth it if you can afford them. First of all, I value my time. Cutting the time in half on average is pretty significant. Secondly, a prolonged fight can incur additional costs of healing, etc.
It's an interesting thesis and certainly an intriguing experiment that I would love to see white-roomed. - S1: Controlled testing environment (set seed + set encounter frame) - S2: Partially controlled environment (either a set seed OR a set encounter frame) - S3: Uncontrolled environment (which is what you did, basically - but multiple times). All the above can be achieved by writing a simple TAS. S1 sets the seed and presses A on a set frame, while S2 has only one of the parameters set, whilst the other is randomized and S3 has a dynamic offset for each input from the moment the game starts to vary all values. Running all of those szenarios several times over (which can be parallelized as the GBA hardly eats into a PC's resources due to it's tiny footprint in memory and graphics rendering) each of those can be properly averaged - or rather, benchmarked. You would end up with S1 Pokeball and S1 Ultraball and alike with a very good average of the throws needed. The only issue is just getting the birds to stand still long enough. xD But at that point, it would be no problem to just temporarily lock their pokemon data moveset structure to just contain splash and start throwing immediately. x)
I accept that in this case and for this specific scenario that the evidence from 1 trial supported your hypothesis. Plenty of other scenarios where if it's pokeball vs ultra ball that I'd want the ultra, e.g. trying to catch a pokemon that can explode, roar or flee (especially if it's a shiny or low encounter odds)
The fact that you stayed under 20 pokeballs for even just 1 of the birds makes me wonder what i was doing as a kid. Throwing ALL my ultra balls, ALL my great balls, and then ALL my poke balls and then starting over
You know, there was one time where chuggaconroy really influenced me into catching every legendary with only pokeballs and it was from this exact game. He got frustrated with ultra balls and ended up catching his zapdos with a _single_ pokeball. This also got me thinking that what _if_ ultra ball's modifiers also have inverse values? Aka the rng spread being actually wider than advertised. Likewise with great balls. Let's say, what if there's a chance that my catch rate modifier is actually 0.25x at worst? It's unlikely to be true, but it's definitely a considerable consipacy theory.
This was such a fun watch! :D Also nicknaming your Venusaur Subscribe, huh? I see what you did there. I’d love to see you try this out in later generations with other kinds of Pokéballs. Because gen four introduced some pretty interesting ones like the Quick ball and Dusk ball.
By the time you get to catch legendaries, you have enough money to just spam ultraballs, and i normally don't go the false swipe sleep strat, so yeah... you also didn't include the premier ball into the cost, i think
I stock up on premier poke balls for legendaries and reset when I run out. Been doing this since premier balls were a thing, as is tradition. Same catch rate as a regular poke ball iirc. I got lucky and caught Zacian on the first try, which was kinda nice. We have to keep in mind that RNG is a very serious factor with catching pokemon in general, though.
I started to just use just pokeballs to catch every pokemon starting with sword and shield because I liked the thought of using the main type of pokeball only. Every time I do a play through I keep thinking how underrated pokeballs are for the price. Always surprises me how easy it is to catch with pokeballs.
5:50 Any evidence you could gather would be derived from the catch rates, meaning any difference between the evidence you gather and the formulas would be a matter of your own personal luck rather than actual probability rates
I don't know if the odds changed in other generations, but when I played Alpha saphire I caught ALL pokemon using only standard pokeballs, I recall catching one of the Regi's with just 1 pokeball.
It’s the best feeling. This run i actually caught both snorlax and my poliwhirl on my first pokeball so it was an omen that the legendary test would work out in the pokeball’s favor
I don't exactly remember but I am pretty sure Gamefreak increased the catch rates of most legendary Pokémons from Gen 6 onwards but don't quote me on it
For the most thorough analysis, the cost of healing should also be factored in. If the opposing pokemon can 2HKO your sleep user and RNG is unkind, that may skew costs in favor of Ultra Balls. Simply because you give them fewer turns to hit you.
Many moons ago on my red gba Firered I caught mewtwo on my first pokeball after exhausting all ultra and great balls. Fell asleep and erased the game file from the load screen in my hands. I have cried about that as an adult
0:17 The UltraBalls are actually a 500% mark-up while being 600% the price. The mark-up percentage is the difference in price from the base amount to the new, larger amount and not how much bigger the more expensive price is compared to the base price. 1200 is 600% of 200 while being a 500% increase. The mark-up is $1000 from a base of $200 and $1000 is 5 times bigger than $200, thus being a 500% mark-up. People often get the "X% mark-up" percentage confused with the "X% the price" $200 to $400 is a 100% mark-up and is 200% the price $200 to $600 is a 200% mark-up and is 300% the price $200 to $800 is a 300% mark-up and is 400% the price $200 to $1000 is a 400% mark-up and is 500% the price $200 to $1200 is a 500% mark-up and is 600% the price
A reminder for the contrary, this is numerical evidence of one experiment. If ran multiple times infinitely you would have catch rate of 100% successes for both sides. Just remember the gambler's fallacy. It occurs when an individual erroneously believes that a certain random event is less likely or more likely to happen based on the outcome of a previous event or series of events. Constructively if he did the experiment 2-5 times and accumulated the average between these runs and derived it possibly could have resulted in the probability of the Ultra balls being superior to catch rate or it could have resulted in the same outcome here where pokeballs seemingly had a higher catch rate/value-per-capture. Though the act of doing 5 runs of each minimum would be time consuming for content creation without save-states on an emulator, which not sure if his did. But if the results proved true after 5 i'd assume it wasnt all lucky captures and that it's a true difference. My theory as to this is Ultra balls have a higher catch rate, though considering returns a 2% vs 1% is abysmal and just as likely in terms of legendary pokemon. If he were to test this on regular pokemon the results true could vary, but would prove higher odds, as a 30% for a normal would become 60% in ultra. However i stand by one ideal. Value-to-capture rate goes to the pokeball. This video proved enough to me that "double the catch rate of a pokeball" is true... but since you can by 6 normal for 1 ultra the odds are in the favor of the pokeball. However since pokeballs are 1.5%, then ultra should be at 15%-20% as a natural catch rate. Makes it a near guarantee, sure, but in theory it makes the cost-to-catch ratio much more reasonable. $1200 = 20% catch rate vs. $200 = 1.5% catch rate Maybe it's just me, but that seems alot more reasonable as making it a late-game item as it is appropriate.
I like how I found this video while replaying Pokemon White Time to catch Kyurem in Pokeball! That being said however, with all the comments asking for multiple runs why not add more types of pokeballs in other games as well? I am a Quick-Timer runner so it would be fun to see how they hold up with the rest of the balls
i don’t remember the specifics of catching, even less for each gen, but there were circumstances when you can’t catch with a pokeball but can with an ultraball, or circumstances in which both are basically the same, your false swipe plus asleep problably doesn’t show the difference in catching power
I've done this where I only use basic pokeballs sense sun and moon. I've played every pokemon game sense then. The math will check out over the thousands of pokemon I've catch. Plus buy 10 pokeballs and get 1 free with the premier ball.
As someone who has done Pokeballs only challenge for gen 3-5 and even the gamecube games... DON'T DO IT! You either become insane, unless you're already insane... then you became sane... which is a convoluted way of saying "You CAN do it, but I don't recommend it..."
0:30 thats the great part about it, lil blud is using his hard work and earned knowledge for the things he enjoys! Delivering something made with genuine pasion behind it 🍷🗿
Ultra balls aren’t a scam if you don’t buy too much into it. I prefer to have a higher catch rate, but you’ll probably have a higher rate of catching a Pokémon with 12 poke balls than with one ultra ball. Ultra balls should be bought if you can afford them. Unlike heal items where better heal items are nonnegotiable, it wouldn’t hurt to stock up on a few ultra balls in case you wanna save time and not have to chuck over 20 pokeballs to catch that one legendary. On an unrelated note: there is also the button mash superstition to consider in catch rate as well as dex entry completion that increase critical catch rates. It’s all a numbers game. You never know which ball will do the job till you buy a hundred of them to force a Pokémon in 😅.
nice vid! i know that the results arent 100% accurate as you didnt do enough trials but im fairly certain that the pokeballs are higher value. although i will say that pokemons TRUE greatest scam are the regular and max repel. it just never makes sense to buy them whatsoever.
I go through all these games catching monsters in standard Pokeballs, random shinies end up in Premiers usually. If it were easy to get Luxury balls they would go in those. None of it is for economics, I would rather have the ball icons be the same because I can't just switch the monster into a different ball whenever I want.
I arrived at this same conclusion through basic math. An ultra ball is 6x more expensive, and has 2x the catch rate. Pokeballs will always be the better value if you can tolerate higher necessary attempts when catching. Which, notably, I can’t 😂
In Scarlet, I had an entei paralyzed at 1 hp and was using dusk balls at night. I ran out and reset. The next attempt I threw a single pokeball at full health and no status just as a joke and it caught it. It doesn't prove anything though. Small sample size.
The funny thing is you're talking about the gen 3 gen 1 remakes. If you don't know: Ultra Balls literally got a lower catchrate than superballs back in og Gen1 due to a bug
if you don't give a hoot about the test and just want to see results, skip to the last chapter at 11:00
Edit: missed opportunity to say this in the actual video, but some data scientists in the comments have made me aware that this is an experiment that could use more data.
So if anyone watching is playing through FRLG & wants to add to the data pool by running the same test, let me know your results in the comments🤝
That's it I'm NEVER buying utlra anymore
Dusk and quick are cheaper and better net ball too
But if I have really a lot of money extra I still buy ultra though
Accessibility and branding are worth that extra 200 sometimes if you are extra rich
i only ever really bought great balls because of this, maybe this video will convince my brother
Zapdos ultra ball cost is 4800, not 3600.
Definitely lol. Your sample size is far too small to be considered legitimate evidence. It's like finding a 5 star product on amazon that only has 7 reviews, just because it's 5 star doesn't mean it's a good product due to how little it's actually been reviewed in the first place. I'd much rather trust a 4.7 star product with 10k reviews than a 5 star product with 7 reviews.
Thing is, this is too unreliable really. I was soft resetting for natures (and shinyness if lucky) and some SR would have me catch the birds in 3 balls or less while some others would have me run out of pokeballs/pokemon instead.
I thought pokemon's biggest scam was selling two copies of the same game
But wait, what about a third?
@@TheSecondB-nn2vtthe third always came out later and was much better than the others lol yellow, crystal, emerald,
😭😂
@@TheSecondB-nn2vt with a slight gimmick
More or less. While they evolved later on there was always a story change depending on the version and then gym swaps.
You would need several more trials to be consistent with this to call it strong evidence. After all it is rng. The pokeballs could've just been lucky this playthrough. You'd need to do this 10 or 20 times to really tell which is better. That's how experiments work.
True, but this is why I am a finance man and not a man of science - good point though for sure
@@mistercbodywas about to tell you the same thing. The way you viewed the experiment I could tell you were a finance guy, and I don’t mean it in a bad way.
@@OneUnoEin haha, yeah definitely not a huge math / data guy but had a blast making this nonetheless
@@mistercbody I enjoyed the video! It was cool too see how the pokeball could basicly do the job for less money hahah. I always thought the Ultra Ball was way overpriced for what it was. You confirmed that hahah
realistically, just looking at the raw data would be way more accurate than doing this 20 times. Plus Ultra Balls are a SCAM
While we're on the subject of scams, Super Potions. They have the same healing properties as literal bottled water, but at 3.5 times the price. (Until Gen 7 at least)
I may have to extensively research this next
Super Repels are also better than Max Repels, i think it’s 350£ to 700 for just 50 more steps, at certain point I feel like Super Repels are also MBFYB
Prior to Gen 7, Fresh Water was insane. It was better than Moomoo Milk (400 vs 500 for 100HP).
Not even counting the nonzero chance of getting a free one from the machine!
That's why I always buy Soda Pop instead, it's cheaper and heals more HP(for a few generations anyway).
Nestlé-ahh scam 💀
i mean if we look at the math, the results show that you got quite lucky with the pokeballs. according to the catch rate calculator, the 50 % chance of catch for 1 legendary with pokeballs is at around 44 balls. You managed to get all 4 in 48 balls, or 12 balls per average. THis is possible but unlikely. The ultra balls on the other hand have this "break point" at 16 balls per pokemon, so 54 balls is an average of 13.5 balls. Therefore this one was just "slightly lucky". The formula tells you, that in terms of efficiency, the ultra ball beats out the pokeball by a factor of 3, but pricewise, the pokeball beats the ultraball by a factor of 6. Therefore, the pokeball should be economically advangeous by a factor of 2.
However, this does not account for hidden costs like healing items (revives, potions), which may be necessary when using pokeballs. This should dampen the economic advantage of the pokeball.
The real reason why ultra balls are "kinda scam" is that they are the most expensive available pokeball, while there are dozen of "conditional balls", which are all cheaper, but provide better efficiency when their conditions are met.
So basically, the conclusion is imo still correct: "ultra balls are scam", but the data set is too thin and the approach to the problem did not fully consider every variable.
Excellently put!
And ultra balls save you time, so you have to consider that too. It’s not a scam if you consider the time you spend with poke balls
Yeah the amount of healing items you spend reviving because you use a weaker pokeball outweighs the lower cost. A single revive is more expensive then an ultra ball.
Especially when in this sample there is a level 70 mewtwo spamming strong psychic moves in a generation with no dark or steel types
@@connorhancock2096gen 3 has steel/phychic types.
4:20 Technically, if you buy the pokeballs in bundles of 10, it would be 26 balls are equal to 4 ultra balls since you would get two premier balls as a bonus
A sample size of 1 catch of each of the chosen pokemon for each ball type is not nearly sufficient enough data, considering it's entirely RNG. You had insane luck.
I am a mere man of finance, not data analytics so take my findings with a grain of salt or give it a shot your next play through to add more attempts to the thesis
they all have a catch rate of 1.598% for pokeball and 4.366% for ultra ball meaning he sampled 3 times and found a mean which is standard practice
Or did he
The birds all have the same catch rate, so, at least to me, they're all the same test. Not that three is that much better than one, but still.
We serve mindless-timewasting entertainment here, sir.
If you want the numbers just do what he said at the beginning of the video: look up the catchrate modifiers and compare the increase in it to the increase in price. Right away, it's pretty obvious that ultra balls are ripoffs
Excuse me but I went through 20 ultra balls trying to catch a sleeping, 1 hp zapdos and ran out before succeeding. I then came back with 120 ultra balls and tried again using paralysis instead of sleep. I failed 75 ultra balls and then you know what happened? It ran out of pp and struggled inself into fainting. I tried a third time with the same 120 ultras and paralysis and threw 8 of them, i finally caught it.
Rng is too big of a factor to use 1 example per pokemon/ball type.
To be fair paralysis is only a 1.5x modifier compared to your original plan of sleep which is 2.5
But that's exactly the point he's making. RNG is so rampant that using the better ball doesn't necessarily make it better. If you can luck out like he did with Mewtwo, you can save 10s of thousands of poke dollars in a playthrough, for a not much worse alternative.
@@alexanderelderhorst2107sleep is 2x, not 2.5x
Ain’t nobody got time for that.
You took a total of _four_ samples which is nowhere near enough to draw any statistical conclusions.
The extreme variance we see in your experiment makes this apparent, since all the legendaries had the exact same chance of being caught, but took very different numbers of balls to catch.
The catch chance is easy to calculate: For a legendary at 1 HP, asleep and Pokeball it is 6/255, for the Ultraball it is 12/255.
Ultraballs give 2x the chance of capture as Pokeballs for 6x the price, I would still argue that Ultraballs are worth it since with the better odds you can avoid the 'Mon killing itself through struggle.
I think the best method would be to make a script that does it a bunch of times and then average it out. Especially important is finding the odds of catching a Pokemon within x attempts because some legendaries don't have much PP like Ho-Oh that has Fire Blast and Sunny Day which is only 10 PP besides its other 2 moves.
One large factor to keep in mind is that the wild pokémon only has so much PP so its kind of a race against the clock
I noticed that you were throwing ultra balls when the pokemon weren't asleep (such as moltres) but were throwing pokeballs when they were asleep so you had rigged your own test by not using consistent catching conditions. ...Ignoring the luck component to all this
I don't remember the exact formula and multipliers, but I'm pretty sure that with everything else being equal, a sleeping Pokémon with a regular Pokéball has the same catch odds as a non-statused Pokémon with an Ultraball. 0:46
@@CottidaeSEA Which means he was wasting potential additional value from the ultraballs... which means he stuffed his calcs.
But as he said, not a statistics professor. He's just cheap XD
I always enjoy catching my pokemon in luxury balls, but I know that's a financial sink; I just like my pokemon to be more comfortable.
Economics is a field that famously only ever has one chance at anything, so I find it very funny that you did a single run for all of your tests here.
Time is money, so i keep using Ultra Balls
i agree, you should watch the breakdown at the end🤞
@@mistercbody i saw the end. But u just did 1 test round
More data must be collected
Ah, opportunity cost. Where it all goes to hell in a handbasket in a microeconomics course lol.
@@OmamonsOfficialYes, because games made for "adults" are soooo intrinsically better.
I'll be honest, the fact that one single Mewtwo didn't take 57 Ultraballs, 32 Great Balls and 102 Pokéballs to catch a single time really makes me upset at the luck I used to have as a kid.
But in all seriousness, I think if you did each catch like 5-10 times per Ball type, then took both the total and average, you'd get a much more definitive number
Hahaha I feel you because I actually remember these encounters being wayyyyy harder (probably cause I was a kid at the time, or didn’t have fast forward enabled and had to wait real time between throws, etc)
My first shiny was as a kid playing silver, a shiny unown "i". Took it's hp down as low as I could without ko, then emptied my entire bag of pokeballs. So many pokeballs, greatballs and ultraballs. It refused to stay in
(and honestly, it hasn't changed at all over the years to where I legitimately though shinies had a worse catch rate. Every shiny I happen to encounter took nearly the entire bag to catch or even failed to catch after every ball thrown, over many different games. That's my luck!)
@@apple-cv2xj yeah, that is scarcity for you. Combine it with milo murphy's law, the fact we remember negatives more easily than positives, and the event factor of finding a shiny in the first place and that "bad luck" starts to seem increasingly likely. Yet another reason to stick with pokeballs as the generic of choice: if you stick exclusively to them, you can easily have 500+ by the end of the campaign, and it matters very little when you make that purchase as long as it happens before the random shiny. XD
I feel this. 98 Ultraballs I think was the number it took me for Mewtwo. Don't remember the other balls
@@mistercbody I remember the same struggle even at a soodowoodo or snorlex 🤣
theoretically you can catch them all with $800 pokedollars, you just need to throw a pokeball and then reset the game.
that sounds like a crime, but in theory.. you could
I love your pfp, it made this comment 1000x better 😂 "um actually, theoretically..." i love it hahahah
And you're right in what you said lolll
@@lukashenrique4295 lol
The ultimate cheapskate solution, yes...if you can stay sane trying to do it that way. XD
But seriously, it's valid. I just hate having to reset a lot, so my strategy is somewhere in the middle. I will buy the ultra balls, try to get them down to red health bar levels of HP and sleep or para them, then toss an arbitrary maximum number of balls, based on how much money I am willing to waste at that point in the game before resetting for different luck.
The second someone says, "I dont trust numbers." I dont trust them.
Well numbers from a secondary source like a wiki can be wrong. Numbers from the primary source i.e. in game (assuming you accurately understand how those numbers are used) are obviously correct.
@06kellyjac absolutely true. But in that case you cant trust the source. Numbers are always correct. 1+1=2
Well, then you could be misled a lot then
@@DadofWarReactions what I mean is: in programming, when you tell a = 2 and b=7 a+b will always result in 9. There is no other way, no open mind, no testing. Its what it is.
@@cheetahrunout well yes that is true but the programmers also program if/then to simulate “chance.” With statistical anomalies occurring all the time even though code is binary. At least that’s just being specific in terms of pokemon games lol
for those curious about the theoretics for a more precise number
pokeballs cost 200 and have a 1x catch rate multiplier
greatballs cost 600 and have a 1.5x catch rate multiplier, u have to divide which gives u 400 at an equivalent price to pokeballs making them half as efficient
ultraballs cost 1200 and have a 2x catch rate multiplier, u have to divide which gives u 600 making them a third as efficient
however thats not the full story and theres a full video on youtube that ends up concluding greatballs are the best in terms of efficiency once u consider the way it interacts with status and low hp. also who really wants to spend the time throwing 2x as many pokeballs when money is easy to come buy, so even ignoring that its still reasonable to spend on at least greatballs
Also if this experiment had been done at full HP, ultra balls would have wiped the floor with pokeballs
Devon Corp bout to send a cease and desist
chillllllllllll i cannot go to bat with their lawyers
What I learned throughout all my years of playing pokemon is that pokeballs in quantity are INFINITELY more important than pokeballs in quality. Having the highest catch rate (outside of the 100% of a master ball) means absolutely nothing compared to being able to throw another pokeball.
So true!
Using this method I have to reload 2.768 more times when trying to catch legendaries which takes much longer than generating the extra income from spamming payday from my lvl. 100 Persian.
I'll stick to my ultra balls.
0:17 it's a 500% markup
How?
@@foivospk
200 $ = 0% Markup
400 $ = 100% Markup
600 $ = 200% Markup
800 $ = 300% Markup
1000 $ = 400% Markup
1200 $ = 500% Markup
@@foivospkthe markup is only the increase in price, otherwise selling something at cost would count as a 100% markup
@@foivospk
Echoing what the other guy said, a 50% increase to $1 would be $1.50, since you take half of the base value and simply add it to the original value.
A 100% price increase would then essentially mean doubling the price, 200% means tripling, and so on…
“Hard empirical evidence”
*proceeds to do a singular test clearly not knowing what empirical evidence is*
I still think there is a use case for ultras. On my recent playthrough of Alpha Sappire, I had to use ultra balls in order to capture Cobalion, etc. As far as I know, there are no specialty balls that would have worked on that island instead.
Unless you have a very durable and fast Pokémon with hypnosis to keep it under, it'll quickly max out its attack stat with swords dance, and you'll spend a fortune in hyper potions keeping your tankiest guy alive while you pelt him with balls. Ended up having to sacrifice a weak voltorb with static ability to paralyze it, and then mega evolve my Swampert and buff him with an x-defence to tank hits. Even then, I would easily be two-shotted by sacred sword, so I had to get the best catch chance out of every turn.
I'm sure there are more scenarios like this that could make an ultra ball the best choice, not to mention roaming legendaries.
TLDR
Ultras are still best when you need to make a catch in as few turns as possible (assuming no specialty balls apply). They may even make economic sense if your team requires a lot of healing items to stay alive.
There's also the argument of "time is money" - or in more expanded terms; you're paying to save time.
So in his test Pokeballs saved more time. And Money.
That's an illusion
😏
@@eric9095
That is accurate.
But it's implied they're faster by the game's dialogue and the supposed increase in catch success.
Never said it wasn't lying about how much better they were.
Apologies for the confusion.
Edit 1: their → they're
Time is money, but in a video game, seriously? Precisely to make waste time is why I' m playing lol
If $200 to $1200 is a 600% markup, is $200 to $200 a 100% markup?
yes
Yeah they got the term wrong, it’s a 300% markup
($1200-$200)/$200 = 500%
$1200 is 600% of $200, or an increase of 500%.
Depends if you're doing x100% or +100%
@@fresh_dooda markup is by definition added to the original price.
Most blatant pokemon cost to effect ratio is Repels. Super Repels cost 350 and Max Repels cost 700. Super Repels last for 200 steps, and Max Repels last for 250. Double cost for a 25% effect increase is not worth it at all
@@GreatBeanicus you’re not gonna believe the topic of the most recent video on my channel
@mistercbody Haha would you look at that! Well i was entertained here, so off to that video i go
At 6 times the cost and only twice the effectiveness, ultra balls will on average cost you 3 times more per catch. But saving time is worth the extra cost, especially for Pokemon that might run away or struggle. Plus they look cooler.
> has the actual catch rate formula from the game
"I dont trust numbers!"
> collects a ridiculously small sample size
"With these numbers I'll draw my conclusion"
How is this even a video? You have the answer literally ripped from the source code of the game. You could talk about the catch rate formula and how it works and compare value that way. You don't need to collect data on catch rate.
I can do whatever i want and there’s nothing you can do about it
One advantage may be in the case of Pokémon with insanely low catch rates and maxing out on Pokeballs might not be enough.
Maybe the real value in Ultra Balls is the time you save using less tries. They say time is the most valuable currency after all
This video is so funny to me, because it's the type of content that could actually exist in the pokémon universe.
Silph co hates this man
All these years later and my crowning moment is still catching Entei on attempt 1 with a pokeball at full health.
Only one single trial is absolutely not representative and you miss to count the potions and revives!😮
Great ball is the only one who is really worth.
there’s only 1 way to know for sure …
Really? With me, great balls are always the ones that pokemon break out of the quickest
@@oscarjaquez8130 its because you're not the very best.
@@hydracollector3588 🤣🤣🤣
@@mistercbody since these are your comfort games
Mind check my theory on these games
In the Casino above rocket hideout
Those slot machines aren't for gambling
It's actually a skill based game and with enough reflex you can pretty consistently lend 777 and easily make profit
I'm good so 50 coin is enough for me to guarantee I will hit 777 before running out so that's always profit because it rewards you 300 coins
But I truly believe EVERYONE with average reflex can comfortably use 100 coins which are on the floor or gifted to you by talking with NPC
And before you run out of those initial 100 coins most people should have the reflex to pull 777
You need quick double tap to do 77 that is pretty easy
And pay very close attention and get the last 7
Often you will miss it slightly but
50 coin each game cost 3 so within 16 attempts I can easily get 777
I only buy the regular monster balls for this reason. It's such a low percentage to catch the legendaries that you're generally gonna save money buying 99 monster balls instead of 16 ultra balls.
I only use regular pokeballs because I don’t like the way the others look in the Pokémon summary
Same 😆
Time has value as well and relative cost if pokeballs were free but ultras cost 1$ you would never use pokeballs despite being free.
I remeber catching mewtwo in pokemon y just by throwing a pokeball once and it shocked me.
Moments like that stay with someone for a lifetime
In newer games its evidently easier to catch pokemon with regular pokeballs but greats and ultras have always had a higher catch rate with rng. Now rng is still rng and you would have to play multiple runs with different scenarios to make a credible point. It IS a good starting theory though.
Capturing mewtwo with a regulsr pokeball is worrh it just for the absolute disrespect.
The Ultra Ball Math on Zapdos isnt mathing. 4x1200=4800.
Keep in mind the formula in the Gen 3 games is kinda wacky and nonsense... This was later on reworked in the new DS games
I remember how I was trying to catch moltres... first 10 ultra balls - fail, second 20 great balls - fail, 1 pokeball - CAUGHT
The catch % is so low that the overall results were kinda expected for me, every time you throw a ball you get a low chance of getting it, regardless if the Ultra Ball is 2x or 4x better, we're talking about low odds anyways.
Yeah, that's why just throwing a Quick Ball, and resetting if you miss is generally the most time efficient way to capture a Pokemon.
@@shytendeakatamanoir9740 Quick Balls don't exist in Gen 3
Speed over price is also an advantage or disadvantage depending on what you want.
This reminds me of the very first time I caught Mewtwo. It was Pokemon Yellow, and I didn't know it was coming, so I'd already used my Master Ball. I got Mewtwo down to red, and threw all of my Ultra Balls at him. None of them worked. I threw all of my Great Balls. None of them worked. Finally, I throw a single Pokeball, and I caught him
I haven't used anything but regular pokeballs and premier balls for the last 2 or 3 generations -- premier for legendaries and shinies, pokeballs for everything else. Especially in Violet, I was able to build up enough cash that I had _at least_ 500 of the dang things at any given time (usually 800-900) and was pretty much guaranteed to catch any regular mon that didn't run away or get KO'd before I won the war of attrition. It balanced out more with the rare mons, though, since I had just 1/10 of that stash to work with.
The main downside of this approach is that version-exclusive mons are so much more of a pain if you want to build an all-pokeball living dex.
You have some insane luck…
You could also simply look at the code and the catch rate formulas.
So basically all I learned is that you’re so much more lucky than I am 😢
Dude, I loved this video. Keep them going, Pokemon is life.
Ultra Balls have got less useful through time with the better balls available, Quick Ball saves time and then the battle can get long enough to use Timer Balls
There are a few math mistakes.. 11:08 for instance. But pretty cool video. My conclusion is Ultra Balls are worth it if you can afford them.
First of all, I value my time. Cutting the time in half on average is pretty significant. Secondly, a prolonged fight can incur additional costs of healing, etc.
It's an interesting thesis and certainly an intriguing experiment that I would love to see white-roomed.
- S1: Controlled testing environment (set seed + set encounter frame)
- S2: Partially controlled environment (either a set seed OR a set encounter frame)
- S3: Uncontrolled environment (which is what you did, basically - but multiple times).
All the above can be achieved by writing a simple TAS. S1 sets the seed and presses A on a set frame, while S2 has only one of the parameters set, whilst the other is randomized and S3 has a dynamic offset for each input from the moment the game starts to vary all values.
Running all of those szenarios several times over (which can be parallelized as the GBA hardly eats into a PC's resources due to it's tiny footprint in memory and graphics rendering) each of those can be properly averaged - or rather, benchmarked. You would end up with S1 Pokeball and S1 Ultraball and alike with a very good average of the throws needed.
The only issue is just getting the birds to stand still long enough. xD But at that point, it would be no problem to just temporarily lock their pokemon data moveset structure to just contain splash and start throwing immediately. x)
I accept that in this case and for this specific scenario that the evidence from 1 trial supported your hypothesis. Plenty of other scenarios where if it's pokeball vs ultra ball that I'd want the ultra, e.g. trying to catch a pokemon that can explode, roar or flee (especially if it's a shiny or low encounter odds)
The fact that you stayed under 20 pokeballs for even just 1 of the birds makes me wonder what i was doing as a kid. Throwing ALL my ultra balls, ALL my great balls, and then ALL my poke balls and then starting over
Law of diminished returns. You spend more for less and less gains
You would need to repeat that multiple times it was obvious that pokeballs where a bit more lucky in that play through then normally
pokeballs S TIER
Figured this out years ago great ball is the real poke ball, ultra ball is the real great ball and poke ball is the real ultra ball
Can't argue with that
You know, there was one time where chuggaconroy really influenced me into catching every legendary with only pokeballs and it was from this exact game. He got frustrated with ultra balls and ended up catching his zapdos with a _single_ pokeball.
This also got me thinking that what _if_ ultra ball's modifiers also have inverse values? Aka the rng spread being actually wider than advertised. Likewise with great balls. Let's say, what if there's a chance that my catch rate modifier is actually 0.25x at worst?
It's unlikely to be true, but it's definitely a considerable consipacy theory.
This is how I play all the games. Get pokeballs by the 10’s for the premier balls and then try and catch legendaries in the premier balls
This was such a fun watch! :D
Also nicknaming your Venusaur Subscribe, huh? I see what you did there.
I’d love to see you try this out in later generations with other kinds of Pokéballs. Because gen four introduced some pretty interesting ones like the Quick ball and Dusk ball.
Glad you enjoyed! I may just have to test them out down the line
By the time you get to catch legendaries, you have enough money to just spam ultraballs, and i normally don't go the false swipe sleep strat, so yeah... you also didn't include the premier ball into the cost, i think
I didn’t have that much money to be honest because i lost it all gambling at the game corner😪
And here i am catching every legendary pokemon with great balls ...
Through a lot of playing, I came to the same conclusion, same about repels, I mean, it's simple math even for a kid.
Good content.
I stock up on premier poke balls for legendaries and reset when I run out. Been doing this since premier balls were a thing, as is tradition. Same catch rate as a regular poke ball iirc. I got lucky and caught Zacian on the first try, which was kinda nice. We have to keep in mind that RNG is a very serious factor with catching pokemon in general, though.
You forgot to mention if you buy pokeballs in 10, you get one free premier ball.
It's feeling thing however pokeballs have worked out better than ultras in my opinion forreal
I started to just use just pokeballs to catch every pokemon starting with sword and shield because I liked the thought of using the main type of pokeball only. Every time I do a play through I keep thinking how underrated pokeballs are for the price. Always surprises me how easy it is to catch with pokeballs.
Lol, have in mind that the new gimmicks that were added past gen 6 makes every pokeball way stronger than what they were in the earlier generations.
5:50
Any evidence you could gather would be derived from the catch rates, meaning any difference between the evidence you gather and the formulas would be a matter of your own personal luck rather than actual probability rates
I don't know if the odds changed in other generations, but when I played Alpha saphire I caught ALL pokemon using only standard pokeballs, I recall catching one of the Regi's with just 1 pokeball.
It’s the best feeling. This run i actually caught both snorlax and my poliwhirl on my first pokeball so it was an omen that the legendary test would work out in the pokeball’s favor
I don't exactly remember but I am pretty sure Gamefreak increased the catch rates of most legendary Pokémons from Gen 6 onwards but don't quote me on it
For the most thorough analysis, the cost of healing should also be factored in.
If the opposing pokemon can 2HKO your sleep user and RNG is unkind, that may skew costs in favor of Ultra Balls. Simply because you give them fewer turns to hit you.
Many moons ago on my red gba Firered I caught mewtwo on my first pokeball after exhausting all ultra and great balls. Fell asleep and erased the game file from the load screen in my hands. I have cried about that as an adult
but how well do great balls hold up? i know in gen 1, they’re straight up better than ultra balls because of weird catch rate formulas.
As a kida I always thought Great Balls were the best deal... Even if I never understood why.
0:17 The UltraBalls are actually a 500% mark-up while being 600% the price. The mark-up percentage is the difference in price from the base amount to the new, larger amount and not how much bigger the more expensive price is compared to the base price. 1200 is 600% of 200 while being a 500% increase. The mark-up is $1000 from a base of $200 and $1000 is 5 times bigger than $200, thus being a 500% mark-up. People often get the "X% mark-up" percentage confused with the "X% the price"
$200 to $400 is a 100% mark-up and is 200% the price
$200 to $600 is a 200% mark-up and is 300% the price
$200 to $800 is a 300% mark-up and is 400% the price
$200 to $1000 is a 400% mark-up and is 500% the price
$200 to $1200 is a 500% mark-up and is 600% the price
I'm surprised you didn't mention Premier Balls, by buying 60 pokeballs (10 pokeballs 6 times) you get 6 free pokeballs to try.
This video brings up memories of when I caught the Tapus in beast balls legit. It took ages and was a bit rough but also fun.
Can confirm, I’m a pokéball believer. I’ve done this run myself now I have facts to back it up.
A reminder for the contrary, this is numerical evidence of one experiment. If ran multiple times infinitely you would have catch rate of 100% successes for both sides.
Just remember the gambler's fallacy. It occurs when an individual erroneously believes that a certain random event is less likely or more likely to happen based on the outcome of a previous event or series of events.
Constructively if he did the experiment 2-5 times and accumulated the average between these runs and derived it possibly could have resulted in the probability of the Ultra balls being superior to catch rate or it could have resulted in the same outcome here where pokeballs seemingly had a higher catch rate/value-per-capture. Though the act of doing 5 runs of each minimum would be time consuming for content creation without save-states on an emulator, which not sure if his did. But if the results proved true after 5 i'd assume it wasnt all lucky captures and that it's a true difference.
My theory as to this is Ultra balls have a higher catch rate, though considering returns a 2% vs 1% is abysmal and just as likely in terms of legendary pokemon. If he were to test this on regular pokemon the results true could vary, but would prove higher odds, as a 30% for a normal would become 60% in ultra. However i stand by one ideal. Value-to-capture rate goes to the pokeball. This video proved enough to me that "double the catch rate of a pokeball" is true... but since you can by 6 normal for 1 ultra the odds are in the favor of the pokeball.
However since pokeballs are 1.5%, then ultra should be at 15%-20% as a natural catch rate. Makes it a near guarantee, sure, but in theory it makes the cost-to-catch ratio much more reasonable.
$1200 = 20% catch rate
vs.
$200 = 1.5% catch rate
Maybe it's just me, but that seems alot more reasonable as making it a late-game item as it is appropriate.
I already know you picked Bulbasaur just based on the position of the 1 remaining Pokeball in Oak's lab
One thing you forgot to consider is the fact of a free premier call after 10 poke balls. Not sure the catch rate in those, but those add up
if I remember correctly, premier balls have same catch rate as an average pokeball, just a little fancier looking
I’ve only caught Zapdos and Palkia with pokeballs in my 2 1/2 decades of playing the games
I like how I found this video while replaying Pokemon White
Time to catch Kyurem in Pokeball!
That being said however,
with all the comments asking for multiple runs
why not add more types of pokeballs in other games as well?
I am a Quick-Timer runner so it would be fun to see how they hold up with the rest of the balls
i don’t remember the specifics of catching, even less for each gen, but there were circumstances when you can’t catch with a pokeball but can with an ultraball, or circumstances in which both are basically the same, your false swipe plus asleep problably doesn’t show the difference in catching power
I've done this where I only use basic pokeballs sense sun and moon. I've played every pokemon game sense then. The math will check out over the thousands of pokemon I've catch. Plus buy 10 pokeballs and get 1 free with the premier ball.
As someone who has done Pokeballs only challenge for gen 3-5 and even the gamecube games... DON'T DO IT! You either become insane, unless you're already insane... then you became sane... which is a convoluted way of saying "You CAN do it, but I don't recommend it..."
As a person who spent well over 1,000 ultraballs on trying to catch rayquaza this makes me feel so much worse
0:30 thats the great part about it, lil blud is using his hard work and earned knowledge for the things he enjoys! Delivering something made with genuine pasion behind it 🍷🗿
thank you for seeing the vision brother🙏
Ultra balls aren’t a scam if you don’t buy too much into it. I prefer to have a higher catch rate, but you’ll probably have a higher rate of catching a Pokémon with 12 poke balls than with one ultra ball. Ultra balls should be bought if you can afford them. Unlike heal items where better heal items are nonnegotiable, it wouldn’t hurt to stock up on a few ultra balls in case you wanna save time and not have to chuck over 20 pokeballs to catch that one legendary. On an unrelated note: there is also the button mash superstition to consider in catch rate as well as dex entry completion that increase critical catch rates. It’s all a numbers game. You never know which ball will do the job till you buy a hundred of them to force a Pokémon in 😅.
nice vid! i know that the results arent 100% accurate as you didnt do enough trials but im fairly certain that the pokeballs are higher value. although i will say that pokemons TRUE greatest scam are the regular and max repel. it just never makes sense to buy them whatsoever.
thanks! I will research this🤔
Amazing video keep them coming!
Thanks! I have no intention of stopping🤝
I go through all these games catching monsters in standard Pokeballs, random shinies end up in Premiers usually. If it were easy to get Luxury balls they would go in those. None of it is for economics, I would rather have the ball icons be the same because I can't just switch the monster into a different ball whenever I want.
I arrived at this same conclusion through basic math. An ultra ball is 6x more expensive, and has 2x the catch rate. Pokeballs will always be the better value if you can tolerate higher necessary attempts when catching. Which, notably, I can’t 😂
I once caught a Rayquaza with a pokeball. I only have a screenshot of it as proof :( idk how else will everyone believe this
In Scarlet, I had an entei paralyzed at 1 hp and was using dusk balls at night. I ran out and reset. The next attempt I threw a single pokeball at full health and no status just as a joke and it caught it. It doesn't prove anything though. Small sample size.
The funny thing is you're talking about the gen 3 gen 1 remakes.
If you don't know: Ultra Balls literally got a lower catchrate than superballs back in og Gen1 due to a bug
Tbf another issue is remembering is PP, some pokemon like Giritina have low PP so it's best to try to get the battle done as soon as possible