Weird Catch Rates

[★ Lucario ★]

There are so many weird catch rates...

Why does Zekrom have the same catch rate as Oshawott?
Why does Dialga have the same catch rate as Murkrow?
Why does Arceus have the same catch rate as Beldum?

What do you think about this?

 

[Excitable Boy]

Plot legendaries nowadays have lower catch rates, probably because people dead-set on catching them for the Pokedex don't want to have to stop the storyline for five hours to catch them.

Pokemon like starters and Beldum weren't originally intended to be found in the wild, so their catch rates are weird.

 

[Ditto B1tch]

They're not "weird". They needed to receive a value on catch rate, and that was what they were given. Just that.

 

[Kian D]

I always wondered why Zekrom's catch rate was 45 and Kyurem's was 3!!!!

 

[Endolise]

I always wondered why Zekrom's catch rate was 45 and Kyurem's was 3!!!!

Because you have to catch Reshiram/Zekrom in order to advance the plot of BW and they don't want there to be an hour-long gap or more in between talking to the dragon and battling N. Also because Reshiram/Zekrom says that it wants to see you "make it your ally," meaning that it wants to join you.

 

[★ Lucario ★]

Plot legendaries nowadays have lower catch rates, probably because people dead-set on catching them for the Pokedex don't want to have to stop the storyline for five hours to catch them.

Pokemon like starters and Beldum weren't originally intended to be found in the wild, so their catch rates are weird.

Giratina is a plot Legendary in Pokémon Platinum, yet it has catch rate 3.

 

[ToeyJoey]

Giratina is a plot Legendary in Pokémon Platinum, yet it has catch rate 3.

Plot legendaries nowadays

Thi s.

 

[octoboy]

I always did find that odd, really. Why is it that there are some supposedly incredibly rare supposedly legendary pokémon that you are in fact many times more likely to encounter than certain non-legends to the point that while you are guaranteed to see an incredibly elusive quasi-deity that controls the oceans just by playing Sapphire at all, it takes much more luck to find a regular full grown whale or even a little wind chime with a face.

This kind of thing is why I sort of preferred the setup in Kanto of not having legendary encounters enforced before finishing the pokémon league. The bird trio may not be that difficult to find, but at least they stay out of the way and make a player work to get to them like true mythical beasts of lore.

 

[Moonrox]

Giratina is a plot Legendary in Pokémon Platinum, yet it has catch rate 3.

You aren't required to catch it, are you?

 

[Zenotwapal]

Giratina is a plot Legendary in Pokémon Platinum, yet it has catch rate 3.

Platinum came out after Diamond and Pearl, two games that allowed Giratina to be captured after the game's story events. They aren't going to change catch rates mid generation.

 

[Kutie Pie]

Giratina is a plot Legendary in Pokémon Platinum, yet it has catch rate 3.

Lugia, Ho-oh and Suicune are plot Legendaries for HG/SS, yet their catch rates have remained the same (unless it changed in Generation IV, I can't check at the moment, Bulbapedia is having issues). Same with Rayquaza in Emerald, but then again, you catch Rayquaza after it calms Kyogre and Groudon... so by then, the plot has nothing to do with it...

Anyway, it's not required to catch Giratina for plot purposes in Platinum. It's more-or-less testing your worth as a Trainer, whether you catch it or not. It's like with Dialga/Palkia. They're part of the plot, but you can still KO them and I suppose catch them later... I think you can still catch them later in the game.

 

[Zoruagible]

I was annoyed after I found out because I threw my masterball at Zekrom. I love the new catch rate though because it is easier to catch them.

 

[Excitable Boy]

Platinum came out after Diamond and Pearl, two games that allowed Giratina to be captured after the game's story events. They aren't going to change catch rates mid generation.

This is totally irrelevant but somewhat interesting; GameFreak has changed the catch rates of Pokemon exactly once, and it was mid-Generation when they did so.

Dragonair and Dragonite's catch rates, which were both 45 in RB, were changed to 27 and 9, respectively, in Yellow version, then changed back to 45 in GS and remained so for every following game. It's incredibly weird, especially considering that Dragonite isn't even found in the wild, but I dunno.

Lugia, Ho-oh and Suicune are plot Legendaries for HG/SS, yet their catch rates have remained the same (unless it changed in Generation IV, I can't check at the moment, Bulbapedia is having issues). Same with Rayquaza in Emerald, but then again, you catch Rayquaza after it calms Kyogre and Groudon... so by then, the plot has nothing to do with it...

GameFreak never changes pre-existing catch rates, except for the curious case outlined above. Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza all have catch rates of 3.

Anyway, it's not required to catch Giratina for plot purposes in Platinum. It's more-or-less testing your worth as a Trainer, whether you catch it or not. It's like with Dialga/Palkia. They're part of the plot, but you can still KO them and I suppose catch them later... I think you can still catch them later in the game.

Only games following DP let you KO a legend and have a rematch with it later. In DP, you could not rebattle Dialga and Palkia in the same way that you can rebattle Giratina in Platinum.

 

[Jdrawer]

I find it weird that a Wild Hariyama is easier to catch than a Wild Makuhita.