Pokemon Legends: Arceus finally explains how the Poke Balls work

Pokémon Legends: Arceus is an innovative game for several reasons, even because it finally provides an explanation about the physics of catching Pokémon. Launched today, the new game is developed in the HISUI region, an earlier version of the area that fans know as the Sinnoh region. During the first minutes of the game, players are presented to Professor Lavanton, an investigator with Galaxy Expedition Team hat. As the first resident of the HISUI region is presented, Laventon briefly explains the purpose of the Galaxy Expedition Team before three Pokémon who imported from other regions escape suddenly. Laventon then asks the player to catch the Pokémon using Poke Balls to the old.

While the opening sequence serves as a way to present the players the mechanics of launching Poke Balls and trapping them, it also provides the most detailed explanation of how a Poke Ball works. Lavanton explains that the Pokémon have the ability to shrink themselves in tiny sizes, and that the Poke Ball can actually trigger this shrinkage reaction when it hits a Pokémon and then captures a Pokémon inside it. Since Pokémon means “Pocket Monster”, the revelation that all Pokémon can be spontaneously not surprising, but it is a great addition to Pokémon’s mythology as we know it. Since the modern Poke Balls apparently turn a Pokémon into energy, it may be only a more advanced representation of a Pokémon that is shrinking before engaging within a Poke Ball.

The revelation that Pokémon can shrink alone also explains why players can not always interact immediately with a Pokémon after they have escaped, or why they appear and disappear in nature. It also synchronizes with the way in which the Pokémon is represented in other media, since we usually see Pokémon fit perfectly into a Poke Ball in several sleeves instead of appearing as a form of energy or data.

While Lavanton does not explain why a Pokémon suddenly is interested in obeying a coach once caught, nor does it explain how a Poke Ball suddenly transports a pokémon safely to a grass (the HISUI equivalent of a PC box), we finally know the answers. One of the biggest unanswered questions of the Pokémon franchise. We will have more coverage of pokémon legends: arceous during the next few weeks.