Bug-Catching Contest

Bug-Catching Contest judging in Generation IV

The Bug-Catching Contest (Japanese: むしとりたいかい Bug-Catching Contest) is a competition held every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday in Johto's National Park. The Bug-Catching Contest was introduced in Gold, Silver, and Crystal, and makes a return in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver.

In the games

Rules

There is no entry fee for the Bug-Catching Contest. Anyone may enter once per day, every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

To compete, Trainers must catch the single best Bug-type Pokémon they can find. To do this, Trainers are given twenty Sport Balls (similar to Safari Balls; called "Park Balls" in Generation II), and they are only allowed to use a single Pokémon from their party. The rest of a Trainer's Pokémon and all of their items remain with the contest officials until the competition is over.

Any Pokémon caught will be recorded in the Pokédex, but only one Pokémon can be kept to be judged. The Pokémon that is judged may be kept after the competition.

The competition ends when all the Sport Balls are used, the Trainer blacks out, the Trainer leaves the park, or 20 minutes have passed. After that, the judging will occur, in which Trainers are scored on their skills of capturing rare and powerful Pokémon.

Pokémon available

Generation II

Pokémon	Games						Location	Levels	Rate
Caterpie	G		S		C		Grass	7-18	20%
Metapod	G		S		C		Grass	9-18	10%
Butterfree	G		S		C		Grass	12-15	5%
Weedle	G		S		C		Grass	7-18	20%
Kakuna	G		S		C		Grass	9-18	10%
Beedrill	G		S		C		Grass	12-15	5%
Paras	G		S		C		Grass	10-17	10%
Venonat	G		S		C		Grass	10-16	10%
Scyther	G		S		C		Grass	13-14	5%
Pinsir	G		S		C		Grass	13-14	5%
A colored background means that the Pokémon can be found in this location in the specified game. A white background with a colored letter means that the Pokémon cannot be found here.

• Scyther, Pinsir, and one family of Bug-type Pokémon (Caterpie, Metapod and Butterfree in Silver, Weedle, Kakuna and Beedrill in Gold) can only be caught during the Bug-Catching Contest. All the others can be caught in the wild outside the contest.

Generation IV

Pre-National Pokédex

These Pokémon are available in Contests held every day pre-National Pokédex, and on Tuesdays post-National Pokédex (denoted by the levels indicated in the parentheses).

Pokémon	Games						Location	Levels	Rate
Caterpie	HG			SS			Grass	7-18 (24-36)	20%
Metapod	HG			SS			Grass	9-18 (26-36)	10%
Butterfree	HG			SS			Grass	12-15 (27-30)	5%
Weedle	HG			SS			Grass	7-18 (24-36)	20%
Kakuna	HG			SS			Grass	9-18 (26-36)	10%
Beedrill	HG			SS			Grass	12-15 (27-30)	5%
Paras	HG			SS			Grass	10-17 (27-34)	10%
Venonat	HG			SS			Grass	10-16 (25-32)	10%
Scyther	HG			SS			Grass	13-14 (27-28)	5%
Pinsir	HG			SS			Grass	13-14 (27-28)	5%
A colored background means that the Pokémon can be found in this location in the specified game. A white background with a colored letter means that the Pokémon cannot be found here.

Post-National Pokédex

These Pokémon are only available in Contests held on Thursday and Saturday post-National Pokédex.

Pokémon	Games						Location	Levels	Rate
Scyther	HG			SS			Grass	27-28	5%
Pinsir	HG			SS			Grass	27-28	5%
Wurmple	HG			SS			Grass	24-36	20%
Silcoon	HG			SS			Grass	24-36	10%Th
Beautifly	HG			SS			Grass	25-32	5%Sa
Cascoon	HG			SS			Grass	24-36	10%Sa
Dustox	HG			SS			Grass	25-32	5%Th
Volbeat	HG			SS			Grass	26-36	10%Th
Illumise	HG			SS			Grass	26-36	10%Sa
Kricketot	HG			SS			Grass	27-30	10%
Kricketune	HG			SS			Grass	27-30	10%
Combee	HG			SS			Grass	27-34	5%
Nincada	HG			SS			Grass	26-36	20%
A colored background means that the Pokémon can be found in this location in the specified game. A white background with a colored letter means that the Pokémon cannot be found here.

Scoring

Generation II

The score earned for a given Pokémon in Generation II is the sum of the following:

• 4 times the max HP of the Pokémon
• The stats of the Pokémon:
  • 16 points if the Defense IV is odd, 0 otherwise
  • 8 points if the Attack IV is odd, 0 otherwise
  • 4 points if the Special IV is odd, 0 otherwise
  • 1 point if the Speed IV is odd, 0 otherwise
• 1/8 of the current HP of the Pokémon, rounded down
• 1 point if the Pokémon is holding an item, 0 otherwise

Other factors, such as Shininess, do not affect the outcome.

Generation IV

The score earned for a given Pokémon in Generation IV is the sum of the following:

• The level of the Pokémon relative to the maximum that can be found in the contest (e.g. before the National Pokédex, the maximum value for Paras would be 17, but after the National Pokédex, this would be 34), as a percentage
• The Pokémon's IVs relative to the maximum (186), as a percentage
• The Pokémon's HP relative to its maximum, as a percentage
• A rarity factor, either 60 (Caterpie, Metapod, Weedle, Kakuna, Wurmple, Silcoon, Cascoon, or Kricketot), 80 (all Pokémon not mentioned), or 100 (Scyther or Pinsir)

Other factors, such as Shininess, do not affect the outcome.

Competitors

These are the competitors found in the Contest.

• Cooltrainer Nick^GSC/Ace Trainer Abby^HGSS
• Pokéfan William
• Youngster Samuel
• Camper Barry
• Bug Catcher Ed
• Bug Catcher Benny
• Bug Catcher Josh
• Bug Catcher Don
• Schoolboy^GSC/School Kid^HGSS Kipp
• Picnicker Cindy

Prizes

Place	Version
	Gold	Silver	Crystal	HeartGold	SoulSilver
1st	Sun Stone			Sun Stone (pre-National Pokédex)
				Random Evolutionary stone (post-National Pokédex)
2nd	Everstone			Everstone
3rd	Gold Berry			Sitrus Berry
Consolation Prize	Berry			Shed Shell

In the anime

The Bug-Catching Contest audience in the anime

In The Bug Stops Here, Ash and Casey competed in the Bug-Catching Contest. During the competition, Casey caught a Weedle, and her Chikorita evolved into a Bayleef. Ash won the competition with a Beedrill, earning himself a Sun Stone. After the competition, he gave the Beedrill to Casey since she loves Pokémon with yellow and black stripes.

In the anime, the Contest can be followed from a giant screen outside of the park. It also has several other notable differences from the games.

• Only the winner is allowed to keep the Pokémon they caught.
• No consolation prize is available, neither are there any sort of rewards for anybody other than the champion, whereas such prizes can be earned in the games.
• The contest implements strict age-limits: only children under 16 are allowed to participate.

Trivia

• The music used during the contest is a remix of the Kanto-based games' Bicycle music.
• It is possible to catch the otherwise version-exclusive Pokémon Caterpie, Metapod, and Butterfree in Pokémon Silver and Pokémon SoulSilver, and Weedle, Kakuna and Beedrill in Pokémon Gold and Pokémon HeartGold through the Bug-Catching Contest.
• After the player obtains the National Pokédex and enters the contest on Thursdays and Saturdays, some of the other competitors may be announced as having caught a Pokémon in the Caterpie or Weedle lines, despite those Pokémon not being available to the player on those days.
• In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, If at the end of the contest the player has a full party and their newly captured Pokémon is sent to the PC, it is referred to as "Bill's PC" (instead of "Someone's PC") even if the player has not yet met Bill.

In other languages

Language Title Chinese Cantonese 捕蟲大賽 Bouhchùhng Daaihchoi Mandarin 捕蟲大賽 / 捕虫大赛 Bǔchóng Dàsài Finnish Ötökkä-Pokémonien pyydystyskilpailu French Concours de Capture d'insecte German Käferturnier Italian Gara Pigliamosche Korean 곤충채집 대회 Gonchungchaejip Daehoe Polish Konkurs Łapanie Pokémonów Robaków Spanish Concurso de Captura de Bichos Swedish Fånga Kryp-Pokémontävlingen Vietnamese Đại hội bắt côn trùng

References

• Psypoke - Pokémon Catch Rates