Love Ball

The Love Ball (Japanese: ラブラブボール Lovey-Dovey Ball) is a type of Poké Ball introduced in Generation II. It can be used to catch a wild Pokémon, being more likely to succeed against a Pokémon of the opposite gender to the player's Pokémon.

Love Ball
ラブラブボール
Lovey-Dovey Ball
Bag Love Ball Sprite.png
Love Ball
Pokémon Global Link artwork
Introduced in Generation II
Pocket
Generation II Bag Poké Balls pocket icon.png Poké Balls
Generation IV Bag Poké Balls pocket icon.png Poké Balls (HGSS)
Generation V Bag Items pocket icon.png Items (Poké Balls)
Generation VI Bag Items pocket icon.png Items
Generation VII Bag Items pocket icon.png Items
Generation VIII Bag Poké Balls pocket icon.png Poké Balls

It is one of Kurt's signature Apricorn Poké Balls, and is made from Pink Apricorns.

In the core series games

Price

Games Cost Sell price
GSC
HGSS
BWB2W2
XYORAS
N/A $150
SMUSUM
SwShBDSP
N/A N/A

Effect

  This section is incomplete.
Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it.
Reason: If the user's Pokémon and/or the wild Pokémon used Transform, does the Love Ball check for the original species and gender, or the species and gender after transformation?

Manual activation

When used from the Bag in a wild encounter, it attempts to catch the wild Pokémon.

In Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, while it is intended to be more effective against Pokémon of the opposite gender, due to a glitch, it has an 8× catch rate modifier against Pokémon of both the same species and gender as the player's active Pokémon, having a 1× modifier otherwise.

Starting in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, if the wild Pokémon is the same species and of the opposite gender to the player's active Pokémon, it has an 8× catch rate modifier; otherwise, it has a 1× modifier. If used on an Ultra Beast, the catch rate modifier is instead always set to 410/4096× (~0.1×).

The Love 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, the opposing Trainer will bat the ball away, wasting the turn (as well as the ball prior to Generation IV).

Held item

Fling fails if the user is holding a Love Ball.

In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver only, Love Balls cannot be held. This is to prevent them being held by a Pokémon traded to Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, where the item does not exist.

Description

Games Description
GSC For catching the opposite gender.
HGSS
BWB2W2
Poké Ball for catching Pokémon that are the opposite gender of your Pokémon.
XYORAS
SMUSUMPE
SwShBDSP
A Poké Ball that works best when catching a Pokémon that is of the opposite gender of your Pokémon.
SV A somewhat different Poké Ball that is more effective when catching Pokémon of the opposite gender to your own Pokémon.

Acquisition

Games Finite methods Repeatable methods
GSC Azalea Town (Pnk Apricorn)
HGSS Azalea Town (Pnk Apricorn)
SMUSUM Heahea CityUSUM, Malie City
SwSh Ballonlea Stadium
Event
Wyndon Stadium
SwShIA Cram-o-matic (Pink Apricorn)
BDSP Event
SV Event Porto Marinada auction
Academy Ace Tournament
SVTM Reward for registering 120 Pokémon in the Kitakami Pokédex
SVID Item Printer (Poké Ball Lotto)

Distribution

Games Event Language/Region Distribution period
SM Global mission items All April 18 to May 31, 2017
SwSh Poké Times rare Poké Balls All December 20, 2019 to January 15, 2020
The Isle of Armor promotion packs All May 29 to June 4, 2020
Japanese Pokemon Scraps 2020 Japanese November 20, 2020 to April 30, 2021
Pokémon Adventure 25 items South Korea April 26 to September 30, 2021
BDSP Apricorn Poké Ball Set All November 19, 2021 to February 28, 2022
SV Poké Times Valentines Day Items All February 14 to March 14, 2023

Cameo appearances

 
A Love Ball in a display case at the Poké Ball Boutique

Pokémon X and Y

Despite being unobtainable as an item in Generation VI, a Love Ball appears in the Poké Ball Boutique in Lumiose City.

Gallery

Artwork

   
Artwork by
Ken Sugimori
Artwork from
Scarlet and Violet

Sprites

       
In-battle sprite in
Generation II
Summary sprite from
Generations IV and V
In-battle sprite in
Generation IV
In-battle sprite in
Generation V

Models

   
In-battle model from
X, Y, Omega Ruby,
Alpha Sapphire
, Sun, Moon,
Ultra Sun, and Ultra Moon
Model from
Generation VIII

In the anime

 
A Love Ball in the anime

In Going Apricorn!, a Love Ball appeared in a fantasy during Maizie's explanation about Apricorn Poké Balls.

In The Professors' New Adventure!, a chandelier stand based on a Love Ball was seen during Professor Kukui and Professor Burnet's wedding.

In the manga

Pokémon Adventures

Gold, Silver & Crystal arc

In Teddiursa's Picnic, a Love Ball appeared in a fantasy during Maizie's explanation about Apricorn Poké Balls.

In Slugging It Out with Slugma, a Love Ball was seen amongst Crystal's set of Apricorn Poké Balls.

Pokémon Gold & Silver: The Golden Boys

In For Pikachu's Sake!! The Search For The Missing Farfetch'd, Whitney was shown to have received a Love Ball from Kurt.

In the TCG

 
Love Ball
Main article: Love Ball (Crimson Haze 58)

The Love Ball was introduced as an Item card in the Pokémon Trading Card Game during the English Scarlet & Violet Series (the Japanese Scarlet & Violet Era). It was first released in the Japanese Crimson Haze subset, with artwork by Studio Bora Inc. The card allows the player to search their deck for a Pokémon that has the same name as 1 of their opponent's Pokémon in play and put it onto their hand. Afterwards, the player shuffles their deck.


Trivia

  • In Trouble's Brewing, it was shown that each of the Kimono Sisters kept their Pokémon in an Apricorn Poké Ball. Although Koume's Flareon's Poké Ball was not shown, the pattern on her kimono indicates that it would be a Love Ball.

In other languages

Language Title
Chinese Cantonese 甜蜜球 Tìhmmaht Kàuh
Mandarin 甜蜜球 Tiánmì Qiú
  French Love Ball
  German Sympaball
  Italian Love Ball
  Korean 러브러브볼 Love-Love Ball
  Polish Miły Ball
Portuguese   Brazil Bola Amor*
Bola de Amor
  Portugal Bola de Amor
Spanish   Latin America Bola de Amor
  Spain Amor Ball
  Vietnamese Bóng Love



  This item article is part of Project ItemDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on all items.