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
Cameo appearances
Pokémon Stadium 2
In Pokémon Stadium 2, Great Balls appear in the mini-game Furret's Frolic. They are worth two points each.
Pokémon Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, and Ultra Moon
In Pokémon Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, and Ultra Moon, the following Trainer classes keep their Pokémon in Great Balls:
Pokémon Sword and Shield
In Pokémon Sword and Shield, the following Trainer classes keep their Pokémon in Great Balls:
Additionally, Bede keeps his Pokémon in Great Balls.
Appearance
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 spin-off games
Pokémon Shuffle
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This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Image |
Whenever the player defeats an uncaught Pokémon, they get a chance to catch that Pokémon, with a regular Poké Ball provided automatically. If the player fails to catch a Pokémon with that Poké Ball, they can use a Great Ball at a cost of 2500 Coins (Pokémon Shuffle) or 3500 Coins (Pokémon Shuffle Mobile); if any Great Ball fails, the player can purchase another one. The Great Ball is twice as effective as a regular Poké Ball.
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 |
In the anime

Main series
A Great Ball appeared in Which One ~ Is It?, a Japanese ending theme from Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl.
In A Frenzied Factory Fiasco!, multiple Great Balls were seen at the Poké Ball Factory.
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.
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 its effect was changed completely. Now, it let 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.
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. |