catch pokemon safari zone yellow

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Safari Zone

Pokemon yellow version: special pikachu edition  — guide and walkthrough (gb).

Guide and Walkthrough (GB) by zerokid

Version: 2.8 | Updated: 03/21/2023

• Previous: Fuchsia Gym

Table of Contents

• Next: Power Plant
• Introduction
• Gameplay hints and tips

Walkthrough

• Pallet Town
• Viridian City
• Viridian Forest
• Pewter City
• Cerulean City
• Sea Cottage
• Cerulean Gym
• Underground Path (Routes 5–6)

Vermilion City

• Diglett's Cave
• Vermilion Gym
• Rock Tunnel
• Lavender Town
• Underground Path (Routes 7–8)

Celadon City

• Saffron City
• Celadon Game Corner
• Rocket Hideout
• Celadon Gym
• Pokémon Tower

Fuchsia City

• Fuchsia Gym
• Power Plant
• Fighting Dojo
• Saffron Gym
• Sea Route 19
• Sea Route 20
• Seafoam Islands
• Sea Route 21
• Cinnabar Island
• Pokémon Mansion
• Cinnabar Gym
• Viridian Gym
• Victory Road
• Indigo Plateau
• Cerulean Cave
• About the games
• Version differences
• Title screen
• Overworld menu
• Stat modifiers
• Status conditions
• Catching Pokémon
• Pikachu's Beach
• In-game trades
• Connectivity
• Pokémon evaluations
• General items
• TMs and HMs
• Battle items
• Pokémon list
• Pokémon #001–#010
• Pokémon #011–#020
• Pokémon #021–#030
• Pokémon #031–#040
• Pokémon #041–#050
• Pokémon #051–#060
• Pokémon #061–#070
• Pokémon #071–#080
• Pokémon #081–#090
• Pokémon #091–#100
• Pokémon #101–#110
• Pokémon #111–#120
• Pokémon #121–#130
• Pokémon #131–#140
• Pokémon #141–#151
• Stat determination
• Evade and accuracy
• Critical hits
• Damage calculation
• Encounter tables
• Catching mechanics
• Safari Zone mechanics
• Pikachu's friendship
• HP bar colour
• Dual-type effectiveness message
• Obedience mechanics
• Hidden items
• Bugs and glitches
• Cinnabar Island wild Pokémon glitch
• Old Man glitch
• Trainer-Fly glitch
• Experience underflow glitch
• Stat modification glitch
• Stoneless Evolution
• Revisit the S.S. Anne
• Battle Professor Oak
• Version history

Center Area

Center Area (east)

In the entrance gatehouse to the Safari Zone, pay the requisite ₽500 to enter and receive 30 Safari Balls before heading inside the Safari Zone proper.

In Yellow Version, if you bother the attendant here, he will allow you to enter the Safari Zone even if you don't have ₽500. Instead, he will take all your remaining money and give you a number of Safari Balls proportionate to the amount you paid, leaving you with a single Safari Ball if you have no money at all. It seems the developers did this to avoid an uncommon scenario that could prevent you from making any further progress in the game: if you have no money and no method of earning any more, you cannot enter the Safari Zone to obtain HM03 and the Gold Teeth, both necessary items to complete the game. No such check exists in Red and Blue, so it is quite possible, though extremely unlikely, to get yourself into this situation in those games.

Interestingly, there is an out-of-bounds hidden item inside the entry gatehouse. The Itemfinder will ping if you use it, but, unfortunately, there is no way to unearth the hidden Nugget in here.

Safari Zone mechanics You have a 500-step counter while inside the Safari Zone. Running out the counter will automatically return you to the entrance, as will running out of Safari Balls. Turning on the spot does not count as a step, but can still be used to trigger wild Pokémon battles. You are restricted to the 30 Safari Balls you bought when entering, and any unused Safari Balls are lost once the game is over. The Safari Zone also has different battling mechanics to the rest of the game. The Pokémon here do not attack you but have a nasty habit of running away from battle, and those with higher Speed stats are more likely to flee. Instead of sending out a Pokémon to fight, you're restricted to throwing rocks and bait, which affect the capture chance and fleeing chance of the target Pokémon. Each rock you throw at the wild Pokémon doubles the chance of catching it but also makes it angry for 1–5 turns, and an angry Pokémon is twice as likely to flee. Conversely, each thrown bait halves the chance of catching the Pokémon but also lulls it into an eating state for 1–5 turns, during which time it is four times less likely to flee. For all these unexplained mechanics, the strategy that gives you the best chance to capture a Pokémon on any given encounter is simply to throw Balls at it and ignore rocks and bait entirely. The only time you might ever want to consider rocks and bait is if you are running low on Balls, but you will be significantly reducing your capture chances if you do this. A little later on, Red and Blue players can take advantage of a glitch to bypass all these odd mechanics and catch Safari Zone Pokémon using standard battle mechanics. For a full breakdown of these mechanics, take a look at the Safari Zone mechanics section.

Center Area : Besides the tall grass, there isn't much of interest in the Center Area at the moment.

Pokémon evaluations Exeggcute ( evaluation ) — Rating: C . Though it will be underlevelled and belongs to the Slow experience group, Exeggcute has a nice Grass/Psychic typing and can evolve immediately into the powerful Exeggutor. It wants the Psychic TM to be truly effective, however. Rhyhorn ( evaluation ) — Rating: D . Another underlevelled Pokémon in the Slow experience group, Rhyhorn won't evolve until level 42. While its physical stats are incredible and its movepool is great, it requires a long grind to become powerful, and still has low Speed and Special. Chansey ( evaluation ) — Rating: D . Chansey isn't a bad Pokémon, but it is extremely difficult to catch. Its abysmally low Attack means it can't effectively use any STAB moves, but it does at least have a strong Special and a wide special movepool. Tangela ( evaluation ) — Rating: D . A rare Safari Zone encounter, Tangela has a terrible movepool consisting entirely of Grass- and Normal-type attacks. It lacks SolarBeam or even Petal Dance , and its Attack stat is too low to use Normal-type moves effectively. Dratini ( evaluation ) — Rating: D . Available for the first time in Yellow Version, though at the low level of 15, Dratini only evolves into its powerful final form at level 55. This is a long grind due to Dratini's low stats and Slow experience group.

In-game trade preparation To complete all in-game trades, Red and Blue players should catch a Nidorino to trade for a Nidorina on Route 11, while Yellow players should catch an extra Tangela to trade for a Parasect on Route 18. You'll be reminded shortly when to trade these in, although none of these trades is worth it for anything except completion purposes.

Head north-east and take the narrow eastern path into Center Area (east).

Center Area (east) : In this area, a few new Pokémon are available, though Kangaskhan is found in Area 2 in Yellow, while Tauros is found in Areas 2 and 3 in Red and Blue, being most common (though still very rare) in Area 3.

Pokémon evaluations Kangaskhan ( evaluation ) — Rating: D . Kangaskhan is a tough Normal-type Pokémon with good stats and an excellent movepool. However, it is also a rare Safari Zone-exclusive encounter that is likely to run away, making it extremely difficult to catch. Tauros ( evaluation ) — Rating: D . Tauros doesn't fair too well in-game largely because it's so rare and hard to catch, and then will be a little underlevelled. If you do get one, it's a strong Normal-type Pokémon with great Attack and Speed and a fantastic movepool.

Head east and climb the rocky plateau to the north. At the northern edge is a Carbos . Take the westernmost stairs down off this plateau and head north. A patch of land jutting into the central body of water has TM37 ( Egg Bomb ) on it.

TM37 can be bought infinitely at the Celadon Department Store and contains Egg Bomb, a mediocre Normal-type move with 100 power and 75% accuracy. It can only be learned by Exeggcute, Exeggutor, Chansey and Mew, which all have much better options.

To the north-west, you can pick up a Max Potion . Proceed east from there, using the small rocky plateau here to bypass the tree, and pick up the Full Restore on the other side. Finally, go up around the plateau to the west and take the western exit to Area 2.

Area 2 : Check if you have any new Pokémon available to you in Area 2 before continuing.

In-game trade preparation (Yellow) This is the only area in the game where Kangaskhan can be caught in Yellow Version, and you can catch a spare one to trade away for a Muk much later on. This isn't worth it for anything other than completion purposes.

Head west, ignoring the first staircase to the north and the path exiting south, and instead pass through the patch of tall grass to the north and take the set of stairs here. Come down off this rocky plateau using the stairs to the south-west, and then go as far north as you can. To the east from here is TM40 ( Skull Bash ).

TM40 is a one-time TM which teaches Skull Bash, a 130-power Normal-type move with the massive drawback of requiring a charge turn to execute. Pass.

Loop around the bushes to the north to find a Protein and continue west. Head all the way south and exit south into Area 3.

Area 3 : Pick up the Gold Teeth to the south, then head west and pick up TM32 ( Double Team ) in plain sight.

Using Double Team to ramp up your evade stat can be very useful if luck is on your side. After enough uses, it can feel almost impossible for your opponent to hit you, and with enough luck, it can be so good that it earned itself a ban from competitive matches. Still, it takes time to use it repeatedly over a few turns, and in-game you can often one-hit KO an opponent with supereffective hits. If you want game-breaking strategies, X Accuracy and one-hit KO moves are quicker and far superior. TM32 is also infinitely available to buy from the Celadon Department Store, so you can at least try it out without having to worry too much.

There is also a hidden Revive which is inside the nearby statue. Enter the Secret House by this statue and speak to the man inside to receive HM03 ( Surf ).

As well as being an HM move which allows you to travel over bodies of water on the overworld, Surf is an excellent Water-type move in its own right, being a little less powerful than its closest competition, Hydro Pump, in exchange for near-perfect accuracy and higher PP. It should be a staple move on any Water-type Pokémon for a strong and reliable STAB attack, though a handful of other Pokémon can learn it too. Its only downside is that once it is learned, it can't be forgotten short of trading the Pokémon to Gold, Silver or Crystal, so think carefully before teaching it.

If you have defeated the Fuchsia Gym Leader, you can now use Surf outside of battle after teaching it to a compatible Pokémon. Exit the Secret House and surf south over the small body of water here. Head south into the patch of tall grass and pick up the Max Potion a little to the east before climbing on to the rocky plateau. Head east and descend the other set of stairs here to pick up a Max Revive before exiting to the east.

Center Area : You'll emerge back into the west side of the Center Area. Head east and surf across the water to pick up the final item, a Nugget . That's all for the Safari Zone unless you want to catch any more Pokémon, so either exit to the south or, more likely, have the step counter run out to return to the entrance.

Link to area overview

Back in Fuchsia City, head for the Warden's house, which is the building directly east of the Pokémon Center. Now that you have the Gold Teeth, you can return them to the Warden to receive HM04 ( Strength ).

Strength is used on the field to push large boulders around, which will be needed to solve a few puzzles later on. In battle, it's an unremarkable 80-power Normal-type move that's outclassed by moves such as Body Slam. However, because it is an HM move, it can be taught infinitely, so if the TM for Body Slam has already been used up on a Pokémon, Strength is a reasonable alternative.

You can put Strength to work immediately and push the nearby boulder to one side so you can claim the Rare Candy .

Surf round-up With Surf now available to use outside of battle, a large portion of the game opens up to you. There are also some areas you have previously visited where you can now pick up new items and Pokémon. This guide will first take care of some in-game trades before continuing to the surf round-up.

Red/Blue in-game trade 6/9 : Nidorino ↔ Nidorina Red and Blue players should withdraw their Nidorino for this in-game trade before flying to Vermilion City and heading east on to Route 11. Proceed all the way east into the gatehouse, then head upstairs and talk to the young man by the window to trade your Nidorino away for a Nidorina.

Yellow in-game trade 3/7 : Tangela ↔ Parasect Yellow players can instead withdraw their Tangela for another rather pointless in-game trade. From Fuchsia City, take the western exit into the Route 18 gatehouse, then head upstairs and talk to the man here to trade Tangela away for a Parasect.

Surf on to the water directly south of the Pokémon Center. You'll spot two houses to the south. Surf in between them and examine the west side of the eastern house, on the tile closest to land, to find a hidden Max Ether .

Yellow players should now head to Route 6, just north of Vermilion City.

Pokémon evaluations Psyduck ( evaluation ) — Rating: D . This is the only place that Yellow players can catch a Psyduck or, rarely, its evolved form, Golduck. It'll be very underlevelled compared to the rest of your team but is otherwise a decent, if somewhat bland, Water-type Pokémon.

In-game trade preparation (Yellow) Catch a spare Golduck here if you can, even if it is rather rare, to trade away for a Rhydon later on. If you don't want to hunt for the rare Golduck, then alternatively you can get one by evolving a Psyduck, though you will have to train it from level 15 to level 33 to get it to evolve.

Make your way west from the Pokémon Center to the small pond in the centre of the city. Surf across and talk to the elderly lady on the other side to receive TM41 ( Softboiled ).

Softboiled can only be taught to Chansey and Mew. If you're using one of these two Pokémon, Softboiled has some utility for its out-of-battle effect, which transfers 20% of the user's HP to a chosen party Pokémon. Given Chansey's gargantuan HP, this can save you a few trips to the Pokémon Center. In battle, it's also useful for simply healing the user for 50% of its maximum HP, though using items is still superior without taking up a moveslot. TM41 is unique, but this isn't much of an issue as there is hardly any demand for it.

Fly to Lavender Town so you can head south into Route 12. Continue south, passing through the gatehouse, until you come to the first Fisherman. Just south from him on a small isolated section of land sits TM16 ( Pay Day ), which you can reach with Surf.

Pay Day is a weak 40-power Normal-type move without much battling use and generates money equal to twice the user's level whenever it hits the opponent. This isn't much, so it is not worth using up a moveslot for this. TM16 is unique, so use it carefully.

Pokémon evaluations Slowpoke ( evaluation ) — Rating: C . This marks the first opportunity for Yellow players to catch a Slowpoke, though higher-level ones are available later on at the Seafoam Islands. Water/Psychic typing is fantastic, but Slowpoke takes a lot of hits due to its abysmal Speed.

Now that you have Surf and have tidied up any previous areas, you can take a detour to pick up Zapdos, a level 50 dual-type Electric/Flying Legendary Pokémon. It's an excellent Pokémon, particularly if you don't have an Electric-type Pokémon on your team and have saved the Thunderbolt TM for it.

Purchase a handful of Ultra Balls and bring along a Pokémon that can put opponents to sleep, because Zapdos has a very low catch chance if it isn't inflicted with any status conditions. Freeze is equally good but far harder to inflict, while poison, burn and paralysis aren't quite as good but are still better than using no status condition at all. Also, make sure you have enough room in your PC Box for Zapdos and a handful of other wild Pokémon that you might be interested in.

Fly to Cerulean City and withdraw Pokémon that can use Surf and Cut. Head toward the eastern exit of the city by passing through the burgled house and using Cut on the bush before Route 9. Head all the way east through Route 9 on to Route 10, recognisable by a large patch of tall grass bordered by water on the north and east sides.

It might be worth healing up at the Pokémon Center just to the south here, which is the nearest one to the Power Plant but also cannot be accessed via Fly. This means that using Dig or an Escape Rope to leave the Power Plant will return you to this Pokémon Center, saving you the trek through Route 9 from Cerulean City.

Surf on to the water to the north and follow it around to the east and south. As it banks around to the west, you'll spot a PokéManiac (F) above you.

PokéManiac (F) Pokémon Type Lv. Exp. Moves Rhyhorn Ground/Rock 30 867 Horn Attack , Stomp HP: 92 , Attack: 61 , Defense: 66 , Speed: 24 , Special: 27 Lickitung Normal 30 816 Supersonic , Stomp , Disable , Defense Curl HP: 98 , Attack: 43 , Defense: 54 , Speed: 27 , Special: 45 Reward ₽1500

Just to the north-west of him is the entrance to the Power Plant, so head inside.

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The Cave of Dragonflies

Where the smallest bugs live alongside the strongest dragons

R/B/Y Safari Zone Mechanics

A staple of the Pokémon series since the originals is the Safari Zone: a special place with Pokémon that aren't found anywhere else (and some that are) where instead of getting to use your own Pokémon to weaken and capture them, you must employ more old-fashioned methods while the Pokémon may run at any moment. While they haven't been in every game, they shake up the usual routine of catching Pokémon and have had various interesting mechanics through the generations - however, the very most interesting has to be the original.

How It Works

In every Safari Zone, the player is unable to use their own Pokémon at all. Instead, when you encounter a Pokémon you have four options: throwing one of the limited number of Safari Balls you have; an aggressive action used to make the Pokémon easier to catch; an enticing action used to make it less likely to run away; or running away from the battle yourself.

In Red, Blue and Yellow, the aggressive action is called Rock , and the enticing action is called Bait . The basic idea is this: throwing a rock will double your chances of catching the Pokémon, but it will also make the Pokémon angry for 1-5 turns. Conversely, throwing bait will halve your chances of catching the Pokémon, but cause the Pokémon to be eating for 1-5 turns. While angry, a Pokémon is twice as likely to run on any given turn as if it were in its neutral state, while it is four times less likely to run while it is eating than in a neutral state.

However, there are several more interesting details and subtleties to how Safari Zone battles happen.

Throwing a Ball

Capturing in the Safari Zone follows the regular R/B/Y capture algorithm , though since neither the Pokémon's HP nor its status can be affected and the only balls available are Safari Balls (identical to Ultra Balls), a lot of things are abstracted out in the Safari Zone. Unfortunately, thanks to the game's flawed RNG , Safari Balls underperform against full-health Pokémon, making all capture chances in the Safari Zone lower than intended. The capture chance maxes out when the Pokémon has a catch rate of 150 or more, for which the chance will be about 27-30% depending on rounding errors; all other Pokémon are harder than that.

The catch rate C starts out being, as in regular captures, the intrinsic catch rate of the Pokémon species. However, unlike regular captures, your actions in the Safari Zone can directly modify C, as hinted above.

Throwing Rocks/Bait

Rocks and bait have two distinct effects. First, every time a rock is thrown, the catch rate C is doubled (though it is capped at 255, so if doubling would make the catch rate more than that, it is made 255 instead), and every time bait is thrown, C is halved and rounded down. This happens even if the Pokémon is already angry or eating, and it happens completely blindly - if the Pokémon has a catch rate of 235, and you throw a rock to give it a catch rate of 255, then throwing bait will take that catch rate down to 127, rather than "canceling out" to give it the same catch rate as before.

Since the capture chance maxes out when the catch rate is 150 as explained above, there is no point throwing rocks at any Pokémon with an intrinsic catch rate of 150 or more, or more than one rock at a Pokémon with a catch rate of 75 or more, or more than two rocks at one with a catch rate of 38 or more. As it happens that covers all Pokémon that can be found in the Safari Zone except for Chansey (catch rate 30) and Dragonair (catch rate 27 in Yellow), who would need three rocks to go over 150.

Secondly, while a battle in the Safari Zone is going on, the game also keeps track of two counters, the "angry counter" and the "eating counter", which stand for the number of angry or eating turns the Pokémon has left. They both start out at zero; however, when a rock or bait is thrown, a random number between 1 and 5 inclusive will be generated and added to the appropriate counter (i.e. the angry counter if it's a rock, or the eating counter if it's bait), while the other counter will be reset to zero regardless of its previous value. This means only one of the counters can be nonzero at any given time. Since the random number is added to whatever value the counter already has, throwing further rocks at a Pokémon that is already angry will prolong its angry state, and likewise with throwing bait at an eating Pokémon. The eating and angry counters are both capped at 255.

The Pokémon's Turn

You always get the first turn in the Safari Zone, but on the Pokémon's turn, two things happen.

First, the game will check if either of the angry and eating counters is nonzero. If so, then a message saying "Wild [Pokémon] is angry!" or "Wild [Pokémon] is eating!" as appropriate is shown and the counter is decreased by one. If the angry counter is decreased to zero this way, the Pokémon's catch rate will also be reset to its initial catch rate , regardless of how it has been modified in the battle before this point; note that this last bit does not happen when a Pokémon stops eating, nor when the angry counter is reset to zero because you threw a bait.

After this, the game will perform a calculation to determine whether the Pokémon will run away on this turn. The run chance depends only on which state the Pokémon is in - angry, eating or neutral - but not on how many times you've thrown rocks/bait in any way: a Pokémon that you've thrown five rocks at followed by one bait will be exactly as happy to stick around as one that you threw a bait at on the first turn. Note that the Pokémon's actual current state does not necessarily correspond to the state indicated by the message that was just shown, since the message indicates only that the counter in question was nonzero before it was subtracted from. This also means that if you throw a rock or bait and the random number generated is 1, you will see an angry/eating message, but the Pokémon will in fact be back in its neutral state before even the run check is performed.

The run calculation itself goes as follows:

• Make a variable X equal to the low byte (i.e. the remainder if you divide by 256) of the Pokémon's Speed ( not the base Speed of the species, but the individual's actual Speed).
• If the outcome is greater than 255 (i.e. if the Pokémon's Speed was 128 or more), the Pokémon automatically runs. Skip the rest of the procedure.
• If the Pokémon is angry, double X again (if it becomes greater than 255, make it 255 instead).
• If the Pokémon is eating, divide X by four.
• Generate a random number R between 0 and 255 inclusive.
• If R is less than X, the Pokémon runs away.

All in all, this means that so long as (the low byte of) the Pokémon's Speed is less than 128 (which it always will be in the actual game - the highest Speed any Pokémon actually found in the Safari Zone can have is 75), the chance that it will run is 2*Speed/256 if it's in a neutral state, min(255, 4*Speed)/256 if it's angry, or int(Speed/2)/256 if it's eating.

Crucially, since this is the actual individual Speed and not the base Speed of the species, lower-leveled individuals are less likely to run . While Scyther at level 25 or 28 have around or above a 50% chance of running every turn in a neutral state, for instance, Yellow's level 15 Scyther are considerably easier to catch, with only a 32% chance of running in a neutral state at the most. Thus, perhaps the best piece of strategic advice for the Safari Zone is to go for the lowest-leveled possible version of your desired Pokémon, given the lower-leveled version isn't unacceptably rare.

So, well, how should one go about trying to achieve success in the Safari Zone, other than trying to catch lower-leveled Pokémon? Four basic kinds of strategies come to mind:

• Balls only. This is the simplest way to go about the Safari Zone - just madly lob balls at everything you want to catch and pray that they don't run before you catch them.
• Rocks, then balls. Throw some sensible number of rocks, then lob balls and hope you catch it before it either runs or calms down and resets the catch rate. If you see it's not angry anymore, start again from scratch with the rocks.
• Bait, then balls. Throw some bait to put the Pokémon in the eating state and make it stick around, then throw balls and hope the reduced catch rate doesn't come back to bite you. Unlike with rocks, where once the Pokémon stops being angry you're back at square one, it's not quite as obvious here that you should throw more bait once the Pokémon stops eating - each bait you throw lowers the catch rate more, after all.
• Rocks to increase catch rate, then bait to get it to stay, then balls. Throw a rock or two (or three) and then immediately throw bait. Provided your first rock doesn't generate one as the number of angry turns (in which case the Pokémon will calm down immediately and reset the catch rate), you'll manage to increase the Pokémon's catch rate before the bait gets thrown, meaning you end up with a catch rate of the same, double or quadruple the original (depending on the number of rocks), but a 4x reduced chance of running and assurance that the catch rate won't reset when it returns to the neutral state.

There are other possible strategies, but they appear obviously flawed - if you were to throw bait and then a rock, for instance, you'd end up with a normal catch rate but a higher running chance after wasting two turns, which can't possibly be helpful. These are the main ones that at a glance appear to hold some kind of promise.

You may think, as I did when I was initially working this out, that the fourth strategy has the most potential. However, as it turns out, the R/B/Y Safari Zone is broken: the balls-only strategy nearly always wins by a considerable margin, at least in terms of your overall chance of catching the Pokémon per encounter. Wasting your time on bait and rocks is only worth it in a couple of very exceptional cases.

Wait, What?

Good question. If you don't care about getting an intuitive grasp on why this is true, feel free to skip to the Safari Zone calculator.

Here's the thing. The entire Safari Zone experience basically simplifies to a game where you and the Pokémon alternate turns, with each of you having a given chance of "winning" on each of your turns (you win if you catch the Pokémon, while the Pokémon wins if it runs). When you throw bait or a rock, however, you do that instead of throwing a ball on that turn, while the Pokémon will continue to have a chance of running on every single one of its turns; essentially, you are forgoing one of your turns (attempts to "win") in exchange for a later advantage.

What is that later advantage, then, and is it worth losing that turn? Well, in the case of a rock, you double your chances of winning (catching the Pokémon) for up to four subsequent turns - but you also double the Pokémon's chances of winning (running away), and because you used up your turn throwing the rock, it's the Pokémon that has the next move.

You can hopefully see how that's not really a recipe for success. However, it's not quite as bleak as it appears, thanks to the one place where the simplification breaks down: you have a limited number of Safari Balls. A rock, by doubling both yours and the Pokémon's chances of winning each turn, will shorten the average duration of the battle. Thus, if you have sufficiently few balls and the Pokémon has a sufficiently low catch rate and Speed, to the point that in an average battle against it you'd run out of balls before either catching it or it running, throwing a rock and shortening the battle so your balls will last can actually be worth it, even at the aforementioned cost. For instance, if you only have one Safari Ball left, then you can either throw that one ball with a regular catch rate or throw some rocks first, which will make your single ball much more likely to be effective once you do throw it; you'll only get one attempt to catch it either way. The risks will still outweigh the benefits if the Pokémon is pretty speedy, since then it will be likely to run before you can actually throw the ball at all, but for a sufficiently slow target (for a single Safari Ball, the highest Speed where a rock will be worth it is 25 or so), rocks can be a good idea when you don't have a lot of Safari Balls left.

Throwing multiple rocks can also help, at least in theory, since more rocks will continue to double your chances of catching the Pokémon without raising the running chance further. Primarily, in many of those situations where a lack of Safari Balls means one rock is a good idea, two (or possibly three) rocks improve your chances even further, though the range of situations where this works is even narrower than for one rock. Technically multiple rocks can also help in general for Pokémon with very low Speeds and low catch rates - however, that's low Speeds as in single digits, and no Pokémon that fit the bill are actually found in the Safari Zone, making that point kind of moot. Otherwise, if you have plenty of balls to spare, the free angry turns they usually get to run away before you even start trying to catch them just result in a disadvantage you can't make up for.

What about bait? Bait is immediately somewhat more promising than rocks, since it halves your chance of "winning" but quarters the Pokémon's. However, bait also differs from rocks in that the catch rate doesn't go back to normal after the Pokémon stops eating, and just like rocks shorten the duration of the battle, bait prolongs the battle - it makes both parties less likely to win on subsequent turns. And the longer the battle goes on, the more the up-to-four turns (remember, the counter is decreased before the run check) that the Pokémon is actually less likely to run diminish in significance compared to all the turns after the Pokémon stops eating, when it will still have a lowered catch rate but a regular chance of running. That's besides the fact that again you must forgo a turn to throw the bait in the first place. In fact, as it turns out this makes bait wholly useless: there is not even in theory a Speed/catch rate combination for which bait will do you any good.

Where does this leave that especially promising-looking "rocks, then bait" strategy? Ultimately, it's stuck in the same rut rocks are: it's normally only useful for Pokémon with such ludicrously low Speed that they don't actually exist in the Safari Zone, and unfortunately, while rocks at least have a niche when you're running low on balls, you're always going to be better off just throwing however many rocks you're going to throw and then throwing your ball than throwing the rocks and then wasting your time on bait if you only have a couple of balls left. This strategy requires wasting several turns without throwing any balls, during some of which the Pokémon will have an increased chance of running, and to make matters worse, if the number of angry turns generated is one, you're going to lose even the rock's advantage and end up with the bait's lowered catch rate after all that preparation. It just kills it.

So, again, in nearly every case the best strategy is to just throw balls and hope you get lucky. That is, however, assuming that what you want to maximize is your chance of success per encounter: since rocks shorten the battle and make for fewer Safari Balls required, rocks may actually save you time and money.

The Safari Zone calculator below includes a variety of strategies, despite their mostly limited usefulness; play around with it if you think you might go with a different one.

Safari Zone Calculator

Use this tool to calculate your chances of capturing a given Pokémon.

As it is, it only includes Pokémon that are actually found in the Safari Zone in either Red, Blue, Yellow, or the Japanese-exclusive Blue version. If there is demand for adding other Pokémon just for the hell of it, I can do that too, but in the meantime, I feel this makes more sense.

In addition to your chances of capturing the Pokémon with any or all of the provided strategies, the calculator will also provide you with the basic capture rate and run chance per turn. When you select a Pokémon and game, additionally, it will give you the locations, levels and rarities at which the Pokémon is found in the Safari Zone in that game, so that you can perhaps attempt to find your Pokémon at a lower level or in an area where it's more common.

The base percentages the calculator gives may not match exactly up with those given by my R/B/Y catch rate calculator , since this calculator makes the simplifying assumption that the Pokémon's HP and Speed are equal to the average HP/Speed a wild Pokémon of the given species/level would have, while the catch rate calculator does the entire calculation for each possible HP IV and takes the average of the actual outcomes. I chose not to do the more accurate calculation here because this calculation is both already relatively slow and involves two different stats - trying every possibility would mean doing that whole relatively slow calculation up to 256 times, which just seems like way more trouble than it's worth.

Pokémon: Chansey Cubone Doduo Dragonair Dratini Exeggcute Goldeen Kangaskhan Krabby Lickitung Magikarp Marowak Nidoran (f) Nidoran (m) Nidorina Nidorino Paras Parasect Pinsir Poliwag Psyduck Rhyhorn Scyther Slowpoke Tangela Tauros Venomoth Venonat

Game: Red Blue/JP Green JP Blue Yellow

Safari Balls remaining:

Strategy: Show all Balls only One rock Two rocks Three rocks Bait repeatedly One bait Two bait Three bait Rock, then bait Two rocks, then bait Three rocks, then bait

Page last modified August 9 2021 at 02:53 UTC

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How to Catch Pokémon in Safari Zone

Last Updated: May 21, 2023 References

This article was reviewed by Ishrak . Ishrak is a Gaming & Video Expert specializing in sharing Pokémon and Minecraft videos. With over seven years of gaming and streaming experience, Ishrak has a follower base of over 30,000 YouTube subscribers and over 8 million views. He is also a Pokémon ROM-Hacker and some of his most popular videos highlight tips and advice for people learning how to play Pokémon games. This article has been viewed 113,089 times.

In the Pokémon series of games, Safari Zones are special unique areas in each game where rare Pokémon that don't appear anywhere else in the game can be caught. Safari Zones always operate with different rules than the rest of the game world - instead of battling Pokémon in the wild like you normally would, you'll need to carefully use baits and deterrents to get Pokémon to let down their guards so you can catch them. This can be quite challenging, so knowing the ins and outs of Safari Zone mechanics in each game is vital for success.

Navigating the Safari Zone

Fighting and capturing pokémon.

• Note that the "run away" option functions as normal, so we won't be discussing it.

• However, using bait will also make the Pokémon more difficult to catch in a safari ball. Thus, striking a balance here can be difficult — the longer you get the Pokémon to stick around for, the harder it will be to actually capture it.

• However, there's an important downside: using rocks will also make the Pokémon more likely to run away. In fact, after taking more than a few rocks, a Pokémon is virtually guaranteed to run away — some will exit the battle sooner. Thus, once again, using rocks means striking a delicate balance as you try to capture your Pokémon.

• Note that you only have a limited supply of safari balls (depending on the game, usually 30), so save them for Pokémon you want to catch. It's generally the best use of your time to use your safari balls for Pokémon that are only found in the safari zone.

• Note that safari balls are weak compared to the pokéballs you can use in the rest of the game. In addition to this, especially rare Safari Zone Pokémon are extra-difficult to catch. [2] X Research source This can lead to some very frustrating situations — for instance, it can easily take 20 or more tries to catch an exceptionally rare Pokémon like Clefairy.

General Tips

• Bulbapedia, an online user-supported Pokémon encyclopedia, has extensive information about each game's Safari Zone, including maps and guides covering where to look for the Pokémon in each zone. See the Bulbapedia Safari Zone article to get started. [3] X Research source
• Note that there is no step limit in the Safari Zone in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver. [4] X Research source

• Across all of the games in the series, the entrance fee has stayed the same: 500 P . This includes the Great Marsh in Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum, which is not technically a Safari Zone but behaves very similarly.
• One smart strategy is to save your game before you enter the Safari Zone. This way, if you don't catch any Pokémon you want, you can re-load to avoid paying the entrance fee again.

• As an example of the sort of equation used in the games to determine whether certain Pokémon are captured, consider the equation from the Generation games (Gold and Silver): a = max((3 × HP max - 2 × HP current ) × rate modified / (3 × HP max ), 1) + bonus status where HP max is the Pokémon's maximum HP, HP current is the Pokémon's current HP, rate modified is the catch rate of the Pokémon modified by the ball used (every Pokémon and every ball modifies this in a certain way, and bonus status is the modifier for any status condition (sleep and freeze are 10, all others are 0). [5] X Research source When you throw a ball, a random number between 0 and 255 is generated. If this number is less than or equal to a, the Pokémon is caught.

Catching Pokémon in the Kanto Safari Zone

In the following sections, we'll highlight the rare Pokémon in each Safari zone and give specific advice where applicable. To keep these tables to a reasonable size, we've included only the rarest Pokémon in each area — for exhaustive information, consult the Safari Zone guides at Serebii.net and Bulbapedia.

Catching Pokémon in the Hoenn Safari Zone

Note that the Generation 4 Hoenn Safari Zone (Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire) won't be covered here as the player is allowed to engage in ordinary battles in this zone.

Catching Pokémon in the Sinnoh Great Marsh

Though Sinnoh's Pokémon preserve has a different name, it functions virtually identically to Safari Zones in other regions.

Catching Pokémon in the Johto Safari Zone

Note that the Safari Zone is not available in Generation 2 (Gold/Silver) but is available in the Generation IV games that visit Johto (HeartGold/SoulSilver). Note also that in this Safari Zone the player can arrange the six different areas in any arrangement desired. Finally, many of the areas in the Johto Safari Zones have Pokémon appearance rates that are not yet known — only data for the known areas has been included. See Bulbapedia for more information. [6] X Research source

Expert Q&A

• Once again, the data in the tables above only deals with the most noteworthy Pokémon in each area. In fact, many more Pokémon appear in each Safari Zone. Thanks Helpful 3 Not Helpful 2
• Remember — you have a limited number of steps inside the Safari Zone, not a limited amount of time. Thus, you can take as long as you like if you control your movement carefully. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 3

You Might Also Like

• ↑ http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Kanto_Safari_Zone
• ↑ https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Red_and_Blue/Safari_Zone
• ↑ https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Safari_Zone
• ↑ https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Johto_Safari_Zone#Areas
• ↑ https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Catch_rate#Capture_method_.28Generation_II.29

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Safari Zone

A Safari Zone (Japanese: サファリゾーン Safari Zone ) is a special Pokémon preserve where Trainers can enter and participate in the Safari Game (Japanese: サファリゲーム Safari Game ) to catch rare wild Pokémon .

Safari Zones can be found in the following regions :

• The Safari Zone in Kanto , located north of Fuchsia City .
• The Safari Zone in Johto , located north of Route 48 beyond the Safari Zone Gate in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver .
• The Safari Zone in Hoenn , located north of Route 121 .
• The Great Marsh in Sinnoh , located north of Pastoria City .
• 1.1 Differences between games
• 1.2 Similar examples
• 3 In other languages

In the games

The mechanics of the Safari Zones are similar to each other. Most have a $ 500 entry fee, a step limit, a series of distinct areas with different wild Pokémon in each, and 30 Safari Balls , with which players may catch the Pokémon they come upon. The most important of their specific mechanics, however, is that Trainers do not initiate Pokémon battles with the wild Pokémon, but instead must catch them without battling them. The wild Pokémon within Safari Zones are capable of fleeing at any given time.

Differences between games

• The Johto Safari Zone has no step limit.
• In Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire , the Hoenn Safari Zone does not use typical Safari Zone mechanics, instead functioning like normal routes .
• Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! effectively do not have a Safari Zone; the area that used to be the Safari Zone is replaced with GO Park , while the zoo area in front is referred to as the "Safari Zone" instead.

Similar examples

• Johto 's National Park is somewhat similar to a Safari Zone, being a nature preserve for Pokémon and having a thrice-weekly Bug-Catching Contest which shares several aspects with a Safari Game.
• Kalos 's Friend Safari area, located in Kiloude City , also bears some similarities with Safari Zones, differing in the available wild Pokémon (which are dependent on the Nintendo 3DS Friend Codes of other players) as well as allowing Poké Balls of any variety as opposed to solely Safari Balls.
• The Pal Park in all Generation IV games bears some superficial similarities to a Safari Zone, being a special area where only a specific type of Poké Ball can be used, featuring possible Pokémon species that otherwise cannot be found, and where the player cannot battle the Pokémon found there. Additionally, in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver , the Pal Park is placed in Fuchsia City where it replaces the Safari Zone.
• In Hisui , the Safari Zone was not yet established, but the main gameplay of Pokémon Legends: Arceus is similar to the Safari Zone.

Unova , Alola , Galar , Paldea , and Kitakami have neither a Safari Zone nor anything similar to or resembling a Safari Zone.

• In the Generation II games, there is some data for a beta Safari Zone in Fuchsia City , but it was ultimately unused.

In other languages

• Articles needing more information
• Safari Zones
• Pokémon world
• Locations by type
• Game mechanics
• Methods of obtaining Pokémon

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Pokémon Sword and Shield: How to catch and evolve Eevee

Adorable Eevee and all of its Eeveelutions are available to catch in Sword and Shield.

What you'll need

• Is there a new Eeveelution?
• Where to find Eevee
• How to catch Eevee
• How to evolve Eevee
• Where to find stones
• How to check and quickly increase friendship
• How to catch Eeveelutions

Eevee is one of the most popular Pokémon throughout the series, and there's always a bit of mystery surrounding how to acquire its many different evolutions. There are eight different Eeveelutions in Pokémon Sword and Shield that can be caught or evolved differently. Here is how to catch Eevee, followed by how to evolve Eevee in Pokémon Sword and Shield, which is one of the best Nintendo Switch games available, to fill out your collection.

Pokémon Sword $56 at Amazon

Want to catch Zacian? Pokémon Sword is a fantastic mainline Pokémon game set in the Galar region which is loosely based on the United Kingdom.

Pokémon Shield $50 at Amazon

Maybe you prefer Zamazenta? Shield can often be found for slightly cheaper than Sword, so for those on a budget, this is the game for you.

Nintendo Switch Lite $189 at Amazon

A lighter console that is perfect for smaller hands. If you're only looking for a handheld Pokémon experience for that nostalgic feel then the Lite is a better bang for your buck.

Is there a new Eeveelution in Sword and Shield?

Unfortunately, there aren't any new Eeveelutions in Gen 8. However, you can catch Eevee and all eight of its pre-existing Eeveelutions in Sword and Shield .

While there are 18 different Pokémon types , only half of them have received an affiliating Eevee-related evolution. Of the ones that we haven't seen, I'd especially love to see a Dragon-type, Ghost-type, and Flying-type Eeveelution. Maybe we'll see one of these in the next core Pokémon game.

Where to find Eevee in Pokémon Sword and Shield

Eevee can be found in the grass on Route 4 at any time during the day or night. You'll arrive at Route 4 after taking the train from Wedgehurst.

Eevee is very elusive, so it's going to take a while for it to appear. Keep wandering around in the tall yellow grass and keep an eye out for those adorable tell-tale ears sticking out.

How to catch Eevee in Pokémon Sword and Shield

• Enter into a Pokémon battle with Eevee.
• Weaken it with one of your Pokémon until its HP is in the 'red' zone.
• Throw a Poké Ball and hope for the best!

How to evolve Eevee in Pokémon Sword and Shield

The pursuit of collecting and evolving every Pokémon is one of the reasons why this is one of the best Nintendo Switch games out there. Eevee has eight Eeveelutions, but each one has a different way of evolving:

Where to find stones in Pokémon Sword and Shield

An easy place to find these stones is on the narrow strip of land on the other side of the Lake of Outrage. However, you'll need to be far enough in the game to be able to ride your bike over the water. On this strip of land, you'll find a tall ring of stones. Each one has an element stone next to it.

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How to check and quickly increase friendship in Pokémon Sword and Shield

A great way to increase your Pokémon's friendliness in a hurry is by having it hold the Soothe Bell . This is a special item that you get from a blonde-haired woman inside a house in Hammerlocke. The house is immediately on the right once you enter the city. Additionally, another person in the same home can tell you your Pokémon's current friendship level.

Catching Eeveelutions in Pokémon Sword and Shield

You'll find one of Eevee's evolutions if you go to the Lake of Outrage section of the Wild Area and head across the water to the ring of stones surrounding a den. A new Eeveelution appears each day, and the one you'll see depends on the weather.

Weather conditions for specific Eeveelutions

Evolve them all.

Now you know all there is to know about how to catch and evolve Eevee in Pokémon Sword and Shield. Good luck on your journey to becoming the very best trainer. I hope you can capture all of the Pokémon you set your mind to in Sword and Shield. And be sure to check out some of the other best Pokémon games available on Switch — there are too many to count!

Pokémon Sword and Shield

Legendary Pokémon like Zacian and Zamazenta are waiting for you to catch them along with all of the Galarian variants in these fun stories.

Buy Sword from: Amazon | Best Buy | Walmart

Buy Shield from: Amazon | Best Buy | Walmart

Gaming aficionado Rebecca Spear is iMore's dedicated gaming editor with a focus on Nintendo Switch and iOS gaming. You’ll never catch her without her Switch or her iPad Air handy. If you’ve got a question about Pokémon, The Legend of Zelda, or just about any other Nintendo series check out her guides to help you out. Rebecca has written thousands of articles in the last six years including hundreds of extensive gaming guides, previews, and reviews for both Switch and Apple Arcade. She also loves checking out new gaming accessories like iPhone controllers and has her ear to the ground when it comes to covering the next big trend. 

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Pokémon Sword and Shield: How to catch Zacian and Zamazenta

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