Great Ball
- This article is about the modern incarnation of the Great Ball. For the Great Ball from Legends: Arceus, see Great Ball (Hisui).
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The Great Ball (Japanese: スーパーボール Super Ball) is a type of Poké Ball introduced in Generation I. It is an improved variant of the regular Poké Ball that can be used to catch wild Pokémon.
In the core series games
Price
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In Pokémon Crystal, a Great Ball costs $500 during the Goldenrod Department Store rooftop sale.
Effect
Manual activation
When used from the Bag in a wild encounter, it will attempt to catch the wild Pokémon with a catch rate modifier of 1.5×.
If used on an Ultra Beast, the catch rate modifier is instead always set to 410/4096× (~0.1×).
The Great Ball cannot be used in situations in which Poké Balls cannot be used, such as in wild battles with two or more opponents currently present or against a trial Pokémon. If used in a Trainer battle (except if used as a Snag Ball on a Shadow Pokémon), the opposing Trainer will deflect it, wasting the ball (in Generation III and earlier) or only the player's turn (from Generation IV onward). If used on the ghost Marowak, it will dodge it, wasting the ball.
Held item
Fling fails if the user is holding a Great Ball.
Description
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Acquisition
Distribution
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NPC usage
Pokémon Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, and Ultra Moon
The following Trainer classes keep their Pokémon in Great Balls:
- Youth Athlete
- Rising Star
- Dancer
- Golfer
- Aether Foundation Employee (excluding masked ones)
- Team Rainbow Rocket Grunt
Pokémon Sword and Shield
Bede keeps his Pokémon in Great Balls.
The following Trainer classes keep their Pokémon in Great Balls:
In the side series games
Pokémon Stadium 2
In Pokémon Stadium 2, Great Balls appear in the mini-game Furret's Frolic. They are worth two points each.
In the spin-off games
Pokémon Shuffle
In Pokémon Shuffle, whenever the player defeats an uncaught Pokémon that is not a Trainer's Mega Evolved Pokémon, they get a chance to catch that Pokémon with a regular Poké Ball provided automatically. If the Pokémon escapes that Poké Ball, the player is prompted to purchase a Great Ball. Great Balls cost 2500 Coins in the 3DS version of the game and 3500 Coins in Pokémon Shuffle Mobile. This Great Ball is immediately used against the Pokémon. If a Great Ball fails, the player can purchase another, unless they have already used four Great Balls on the current catch attempt. If the fourth Great Ball fails, or if the player chooses not to purchase a Great Ball at any point, the Pokémon runs away and the stage concludes. The Pokémon also has a chance to flee each time it escapes a Great Ball.
Using a Great Ball doubles the Pokémon's current catchability, increasing the chance of a capture succeeding. This is not repeated when the player purchases further Great Balls. On rare occasions, Super Catch Power will activate after the catchability doubling but before the prompt for the Great Ball. Super Catch Power boosts the player's odds of catching the Pokémon to 50% or more. This can only be taken advantage of by using a Great Ball, since the player is past the point they are allowed to throw a Poké Ball.
Catchability maxes out at 100%, which is displayed as "MAX". Therefore, the Great Ball will not fully double the catchability if the catchability is already at 51% or higher.
Pokémon GO
Great Balls can be used during wild Pokémon encounters to attempt to capture a wild Pokémon with a catch rate modifier of 1.5×.
Description
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Acquisition
The player is awarded Great Balls when they level up to any level from 12 to 19.
Great Balls can also be repeatably obtained by
- Spinning the Photo Disc of PokéStops or Gyms (Lv. 12+)
- Field Research
- Opening a Gift (Lv. 12+)
Pokémon Pinball series
In Pokémon Pinball and Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire, the Great Ball multiplies bonus points by ×2.
Gallery
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| Sprite from Pinball |
Sprite from Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire |
Pokémon Frienda
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This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Image |
In Pokémon Frienda, after a set number of moves have been used and at least one opposing Pokémon has fainted, the player can insert ¥100 for a chance to catch all of the opposing Pokémon. A spinning wheel determines what Poké Balls are used on the Pokémon, with one of the options being a Great Ball.
Gallery
Artwork
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| Artwork from Generation I |
Artwork by Ken Sugimori |
Artwork from Scarlet and Violet |
Sprites
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| In-battle sprite in Generation II |
Sprite from Furret Frolic's instruction screen in Stadium 2 |
In-battle and Summary sprite from Generation III |
Summary sprite from Colosseum |
Summary sprite from XD: Gale of Darkness |
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| Summary sprite from Generations IV and V |
In-battle sprite in Generation IV |
Summary sprite from Battle Revolution |
In-battle sprite in Generation V |
Models
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| Model from Furret Frolic in Stadium 2 |
In-battle model X, Y, Omega Ruby, Alpha Sapphire, Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, and Ultra Moon |
Model from Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! |
Model from Generation VIII |
In animation
Pokémon the Series
Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl
A Great Ball appeared in Which One ~ Is It?, a Japanese ending theme from Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl.
Pokémon the Series: XY
In A Frenzied Factory Fiasco!, multiple Great Balls were seen at the Poké Ball Factory.
Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon
A pair of Great Balls appeared in Team Rocket's boss fantasy in Let Sleeping Pokémon Lie!.
In Acting True to Form!, a Great Ball appeared as a part of James's Poké Ball collection.
Pokémon Journeys: The Series
In Mad About Blue!, Bluto was shown to keep his Seismitoad in a Great Ball.
Pokémon Origins
In File 4: Charizard, Red caught an Arbok using a Great Ball.
In the manga
Pokémon Adventures
In the Pokémon Adventures manga, Gym Leaders outside of Galar keep their Pokémon in Great Balls provided for them by the Pokémon Association.
Red, Green & Blue arc
In A Glimpse of the Glow, a Team Rocket Grunt was shown carrying Great Balls on his belt.
In the TCG
- Main article: Great Ball (EX FireRed & LeafGreen 92)
The Great Ball was introduced as a Trainer card in the Pokémon Trading Card Game during the English EX Series (the Japanese PCG Era). It was first released in the Japanese Flight of Legends expansion and the English EX FireRed & LeafGreen expansion, with artwork by Nakaoka. It originally allowed the player to search their deck for any Basic Pokémon (excluding Pokémon-ex), and put it onto their Bench. Then, they shuffle their deck. During the English Black & White Series (the Japanese BW Era) the card was reclassified as an Item card, and the card received errata to change the effect. Now, it lets the player search the top seven cards of the deck for any one Pokémon card, put it in their hand, and then shuffle the other cards back into their deck. Great Ball has been reprinted many times since.
Team Magma's Great Ball and Team Aqua's Great Ball are Team Magma and Team Aqua versions of Great Balls. They are Item cards, and were printed in the English Double Crisis expansion and Japanese Magma Gang VS Aqua Gang: Double Crisis expansion. Team Magma's Great Ball lets the player search their deck for a for a Basic Team Magma Pokémon and a Basic 
Energy and put them in their hand. Team Aqua's Great Ball lets the player search their deck for a for a Basic Team Aqua Pokémon and a Basic 
Energy and put them in their hand. For both cards, the deck is shuffled afterward.
Trivia
- In Generation I only, the Great Ball has a higher catch rate than the Ultra Ball in certain situations.
In other languages
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This item article is part of Project ItemDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on all items. |
