Why were Great Balls and Ultra balls never used in the show?

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Cybersai

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I find it mind blowing that something from back in the days of RBY, namely Great Balls and Ultra Balls, have STILL never been shown in the anime after 600 episodes.

The Master Ball didn't even get a debut until AG, when the fishing master used the Master Ball to capture Wishcash.

Why do you think something as ridiculously common in the franchise as Great Balls and Ultra balls are never shown?
 
Maybe they thought it's stupid to say a ball "has better chances to catch a Poké" and the other one "has even better chances"
But yeah I'd like to see them too
It's also sad the Hoenn balls didn't appear other than for a few seconds in the opening scene of movie 6 (Brendan had timer and luxury, if I remember correct)
Net Ball and Surskit could be perfect for Misty...
The Sinnoh balls probably won't appear either

Too bad, at least some of the Johto balls got proper showcasing (though even them weren't so regularly seen)
Oh and the Master Ball appeared at least as a playing ball during Johto
 
Simple enough - there's absolutely nothing noteworthy about them outside pure gameplay statistics. "A Pokeball that's very effective against Pokemon caught by fishing" can be used for a sorta-kinda interesting plot point. "A pokeball that has a slightly better chance of catching the opponent" doesn't. It's just a game-relevant upgrade.

Also, having to keep track of which pokemon is supposed to be in which ball when they're called out would be a massive pain for the animators. They had a hard enough time keeping track of it when there were only three.
 
Though if they could be bothered with that, it could be nice to see some variation rather than always the same old regular Pokéball
I understand Great and Ultra are ridiculous in the anime... but all the other special balls could be interesting (well, at least some of them)
 
I never actually thought about this before, but it is pretty weird that they've never used Great Balls and Ultra Balls in the show before. My guess would be that they figured the explanation of catch rate or whatever would require too much effort, but who really knows.
 
hmmmm. Maybe those pokéballs are to expensive for all the characters we see? And only rich kids can afford any kind of other pokéball other then regular? That sounds applyable to me. At least we got to see the master ball in that funny episode:

Old man: Fianlly, the whiscash, GO MASTERBALL!
Ash: You have a master ball?
Whiscash: Gulp *eats it*
Old man: NOOOO
Ash: At least you now have something to do for the rest of your life
Old man: Yeah you're right, I'm happy now!

Or something like that xD
 
I like to believe the "to expensive" theory myself...

But atleast a small cameo, be in the background, the form of another beachball ect. would had been nice for Great and Ultra balls.

I guess the reason they where never introduced is that explaning how they're effective is kind of hard. They don't specialize in any kind of Pokemon. Normal Pokeballs seem to be able to catch anything aslong as it's weakened enough, and the MasterBall..we all know about that.

Also like someone mentioned, keeping track of so many different pokeballs is probly annoying for the artists.
 
It doesn't actually make much of a difference. At least we got the Master Ball, which is more than one could hope for.
 
Piplup said:
Oh and the Master Ball appeared at least as a playing ball during Johto
Click to expand...

If playing ball means a regular ball that isn't a pokeball, Master ball actually made an appearance like that in the 18th episode "Beauty and the Beach" but if you don't count banned episodes then you're right.
 
It's easy enough to give Great Balls and Ultra Balls the attribute of 'not having to weaken a Pokemon as much'. One attack or two and -boom- toss a Great Ball or Ultra Ball.

And honestly, with the amount of Pokeballs the gang has, 1 Ultra/Great would be easy to keep track of.
 
It's way easier for the animators to color if all the balls were the same color. I'm surprised if/that they kept Totodile's and Corsola's balls different from all the others.

I honestly don't see them going through the trouble of coloring Pokéballs differently when there's absolutely no reason to. No one on the show seems to care about the Pokéballs themselves. So why make them stand out when there's no need to?
 
Let's see- we never really have seen them go to a Poke Mart to purchase any Great and Ultra Balls. Also, the special balls (i.e. Fast Ball and Lure Ball) were given to the main cast. Even the GS Ball (which is not really a capture ball) was given to the group. The only special case was that scientist and the giant Gulpin, where he had a Heavy Ball.
 
I agree with PDL, I think the big reason is the colouring issue in the Anime, and then keeping track of which ball is which Pokemon, etc.

Not only that, but I think, like Pikachu, the basic Pokeball has become a symbol representing the franchise--one that's easily recognizable. Like they say, when something's good, don't mess with the formula. :3 Changing the types of balls in the Anime wouldn't be an improvement, it'd just be a change.

Though, I think it'd be hilarious if one day Ash went into a Pokemart and bought an Ultra Ball, only to have it fail at catching a Pokemon. XD
 
It's just not significant enough to worry about. Usually the anime doesn't worry much about not weakening a Pokémon enough, because they basically KO Pokémon before catching them anyway. They mostly exist for gameplay purposes, and wouldn't be worth the trouble they would take to animate. Still, it'd be nice to see them in advertisements in shops in cities and whatnot, just as acknowledgment that they exist.
 
Beeli said:
Though, I think it'd be hilarious if one day Ash went into a Pokemart and bought an Ultra Ball, only to have it fail at catching a Pokemon. XD
Click to expand...

But pokéballs don't break in the anime (except for snorlax's one). They just fly back to the thrower, so it would be much of an issue. Maybe that's why they keep using regular balls, because you can just use it over and over again at the same pokemon (when you throw 100 times the pokemon must be captured right? Why need a good ball to do it?)
 
The anime doesn't really do much with Pokeballs anyway. Ash doesn't even capture more than enough Pokemon for a region, so capture doesn't even seem to be some kind of feature.

Additionally, didn't they screw up a few times with Totodile's Lure Ball or something? I imagine, as others have said, it'd get pretty difficult/annoying keeping up with who belongs to what balls, all for the sake of advertising that they have "slightly better capture rates" than the others.
 
mijzelffan said:
But pokéballs don't break in the anime (except for snorlax's one). They just fly back to the thrower, so it would be much of an issue. Maybe that's why they keep using regular balls, because you can just use it over and over again at the same pokemon (when you throw 100 times the pokemon must be captured right? Why need a good ball to do it?)
Click to expand...

I think Ask should lob an Ultra Ball at a Pokemon, only to have it bounce back and SHATTER INTO A GAZILLION PIECES. XD And they can have one of those Anime on-screen moments where everything is slow motion, and then it zooms up to every one of the main character's faces and they all gasp. Then Ash does that embarrassed thing where he reaches his arm around to his back and scratches while looking defeated.

Then he can whip out a Pokeball and do it the right way.

Booyah.
 
Trainer'sInsomnia said:
Additionally, didn't they screw up a few times with Totodile's Lure Ball or something? I imagine, as others have said, it'd get pretty difficult/annoying keeping up with who belongs to what balls, all for the sake of advertising that they have "slightly better capture rates" than the others.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think they gave Totodile a regular Poké Ball a few times, but for the most part it was done right.

Fact is, honestly, one of my biggest worries about HGSS before they were absolutely confirmed was that the apricorn balls weren't programmed into DPPt.
 
Great balls were dub only. Originally, they were called Super balls, like seen on V EToP 'Chu Shocks Back cover, you can see the "s." V

837738-pikachu_shocks_back__1_super.jpg
 
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