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Wednesday, April 8, 2026
Legendary Pokémon can be frustrating to catch due to their extremely low catch rate. Every Pokémon in the game has a hidden value between 0 and 255 that is called the catch rate. Pokémon found early in the game like Starly and Bidoof have a catch rate of 255, the highest possible value, making them a piece of cake to catch. Even at full health, they still have a 43.9% chance to be caught in a regular Poké Ball. On the other hand, legendary Pokémon such as Mesprit and Heatran have a catch rate of 3, which translates to only a 0.4% chance (about one in 240) of being caught at full health. Even in the ideal conditions, at one hit point, paralyzed, and in a cave, a Dusk Ball has only a 5.525% chance to successfully catch it, and you will still need, on average, 13 Dusk Balls to catch the Pokémon, so you will still need some patience or luck. And you still have a 5% chance to go over 53 without catching it.
What if I told you that there was a way to bypass this altogether and NEVER have to deal with the struggle of catching legendary Pokémon? Because there is. And I know what you’re thinking. Yes, you do get only one Master Ball per save file. However, this is where a spare copy of the game comes into play.
- 1) Buy a second DS/3DS and a second copy of Diamond, Pearl, or Platinum.
- 2) Start a new save file on the spare copy.
- 3) Play the game up to the point in the story when Cyrus gives you the Master Ball. You will have to play a significant chunk of the story for this, as this happens quite late in the story, after the 6th or 7th Gym Badge. But when you reach this point, Cyrus gives you the Master Ball as a reward for defeating him.
- 4) Give the Master Ball as a held item to a Pokémon.
- 5) Get your main copy of Platinum and your main DS/3DS.
- 6) On your spare copy, go to a Pokémon Center, and trade the Pokémon holding the Master Ball to your main copy of Platinum.
- 7) Delete the save file on your spare copy and start a new adventure.
- 8) Repeat steps 2-7 thirty times each or until you have enough Master Balls to catch ALL legendary Pokémon available in Platinum.
The roaming legends (Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Mesprit, and Cresselia) are perhaps the most annoying of them, but with 30 Master Balls, you can just throw a Master Ball at each legendary, thus eliminating the ordeal of throwing Ultra Ball after Ultra Ball and crossing your fingers, praying to the Random Number Gods that the legendary will “just stay in the ball already.”
- [ ] — e.g. December 31, 1999
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