Pokédex (Pinball)

The Pokédex or Poké Dex (Japanese: ポケモンズカン Pokémon Illustrated Encyclopedia) is available from the main menu in Pokémon Pinball and Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire.

Terminology

Main menu, including the "Poké Dex" text

Names used for the Pokédex in the main menu:

"Poké Dex" (title case with a space) in the American version of Pokémon Pinball.
"POKéDEX" (all caps except for "é", without a space) in all languages (English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish) of the European versions of both Pokémon Pinball and Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire.
"ポケモンズカン" (katakana) in the Japanese version of both games.

Names used for the Pokédex, in the Pokédex screen itself:

"POKé DEX" (all caps except for "é", with a space) in all languages of Pokémon Pinball (including Japanese), and in the Japanese version of Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire.
"POKéDEX" (all caps except for "é", without a space) in the American version, as well as all languages (English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish) of the European version, of Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire.

Available Pokémon

In Pokémon Pinball, all the 151 Generation I Pokémon are available, in the Kanto Pokédex order. At first, there are 150 unidentified Pokédex slots (from Bulbasaur to Mewtwo). Mew (the 151th Pokémon) only appears at the end of the list if it has been seen or caught, otherwise the 151th Pokédex slot is not shown at all.

In Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire, there are 205 available Pokémon. The first 201 are the Pokémon from the Generation III Hoenn Pokédex (from Treecko to Jirachi), except for Deoxys, which is not available in this game. Then there are 4 unnumbered Pokémon not found in the Hoenn Pokédex: Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Totodile, and Aerodactyl. At first, there are 200 unidentified Pokémon slots shown as numbered dashed lines, while Jirachi (the 201th Pokémon) and the other 4 Pokémon outside the Hoenn Pokédex don't have any visible slots in the Pokédex. The Pokédex is expanded with additional slots if any of these additional Pokémon is caught or seen.

Catching and seeing Pokémon

In both games, when the player starts the Catch 'Em Mode, the silhouette of the Pokémon appears; at this point, the Pokémon counts as "seen". If the player successfully catches that Pokémon, it counts as "caught".

In Pokémon Pinball, Mew is virtually impossible to catch by normal means as it requires hitting him 1,024 times (as opposed to only 3 times for other Pokémon), but a "seen" Mew automatically counts as "caught" in the Pokédex.

In Pokémon Pinball, when the player starts the Evolution Mode and chooses a Pokémon to evolve, the evolved form counts as "seen". (even though the evolved form does not visibly appear until the end of the evolution procedure) In Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire, it's not possible to count a Pokémon as "seen" via evolution. In either game, if the player successfully evolves a Pokémon, it counts as "caught".

In Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire, when the player hatches an Egg, the baby Pokémon starts moving through the pinball table; at this point, the Pokémon counts as "seen". If the player successfully catches that Pokémon, it counts as "caught".

Pokémon information

Pokémon entry

In both games, the caught and seen Pokémon appear as visible names on the Pokédex list, while other Pokémon are unidentified. A full Pokédex entry for a caught Pokémon displays a Pokémon's number, name, height, weight, category and description, together with an image of the Pokémon. If a Pokémon was only seen but not caught, then only the name and category are displayed, and there is a black silhouette instead of the complete image.

In the Japanese version of Pokémon Pinball, the Pokémon names are romanized in normal gameplay, but written in katakana in the Pokédex. For instance, Pidgey is written as "Poppo" in normal gameplay, but "ポッポ" in the Pokédex.

Pokémon description

In both Pokémon Pinball and Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire, each Pokédex entry takes two pages.

In Pokémon Pinball, the Japanese Pokédex entries are taken from Pokémon Yellow, except Yellow's entry for Rattata has an additional space, and there are minor wording changes in the entries about Pikachu, Sandslash, Meowth, Persian, Golbat, Oddish, and Dragonair.

Unlike the Japanese version, Pokémon Pinball in English uses entries from Pokémon Red and Blue, possibly because Pokémon Yellow had not been released in English yet.

In Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire, most Pokédex entries are taken from either Pokémon Ruby or Pokémon Sapphire, except the entries for Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Totodile, and Aerodactyl simply say "Bonus appearance on Ruby Field."

Pinball RS: Pokédex entries reused from Pokémon Ruby
Treecko	Grovyle	Sceptile	Torchic	Combusken	Blaziken	Poochyena	Mightyena	Zigzagoon	Linoone
Seedot	Nuzleaf	Shiftry	Taillow	Swellow	Wingull	Pelipper	Ralts	Kirlia	Gardevoir
Shroomish	Breloom	Nincada	Ninjask	Shedinja	Nosepass	Skitty	Delcatty	Tentacool	Tentacruel
Mawile	Machop	Machoke	Machamp	Electrike	Manectric	Plusle	Minun	Voltorb	Electrode
Illumise	Doduo	Dodrio	Carvanha	Sharpedo	Wailmer	Wailord	Numel	Camerupt	Slugma
Magcargo	Torkoal	Koffing	Weezing	Spoink	Grumpig	Spinda	Skarmory	Zangoose	Solrock
Lileep	Cradily	Staryu	Starmie	Shuppet	Banette	Vulpix	Ninetales	Pichu	Pikachu
Raichu	Psyduck	Golduck	Wynaut	Wobbuffet	Natu	Xatu	Girafarig	Pinsir	Heracross
Rhyhorn	Rhydon	Snorunt	Glalie	Spheal	Sealeo	Walrein	Relicanth	Luvdisc	Bagon
Shelgon	Salamence	Regirock	Registeel	Latios	Groudon	Jirachi

Pinball RS: Pokédex entries reused from Pokémon Sapphire
Mudkip	Marshtomp	Swampert	Wurmple	Silcoon	Beautifly	Cascoon	Dustox	Lotad	Lombre
Ludicolo	Surskit	Masquerain	Slakoth	Vigoroth	Slaking	Abra	Kadabra	Alakazam	Whismur
Loudred	Exploud	Makuhita	Hariyama	Goldeen	Seaking	Magikarp	Gyarados	Azurill	Marill
Azumarill	Geodude	Graveler	Golem	Zubat	Golbat	Crobat	Sableye	Aron	Lairon
Aggron	Meditite	Medicham	Magnemite	Magneton	Volbeat	Oddish	Gloom	Vileplume	Bellossom
Roselia	Gulpin	Swalot	Grimer	Muk	Sandshrew	Sandslash	Trapinch	Vibrava	Flygon
Cacnea	Cacturne	Swablu	Altaria	Seviper	Lunatone	Barboach	Whiscash	Corphish	Crawdaunt
Baltoy	Claydol	Anorith	Armaldo	Igglybuff	Jigglypuff	Wigglytuff	Feebas	Milotic	Castform
Kecleon	Duskull	Dusclops	Tropius	Chimecho	Absol	Phanpy	Donphan	Clamperl	Huntail
Gorebyss	Corsola	Chinchou	Lanturn	Horsea	Seadra	Kingdra	Beldum	Metang	Metagross
Regice	Latias	Kyogre	Rayquaza

Connectivity

In Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire, it is possible for two players to share the Pokédex to some extent by connecting their games with the Game Link Cable and then pressing Start at the Pokédex screen. This brings up a confirmation screen to finish this procedure. Once this is done, if either player has a caught Pokémon that the other player does not have, the name, image, and text entry of that Pokémon become visible to the latter player. However, the image of shared Pokémon is darkened and other information (category, height, weight, and description) is still not enabled at this point, indicating that the Pokémon species was not caught yet. The category of that Pokémon is shown only if the Pokémon was seen by normal means, therefore the Pokédex may have some shared Pokémon with the category, and other shared Pokémon without the category.

If a Pokédex entry has never been completely unlocked (by catching the respective Pokémon species), it cannot be shared with other players. Therefore, Pokédex entries received from other players, as well as Pokémon that were only "seen" but not caught in normal gameplay, are ignored when sharing Pokédex entries.

The number of "seen" and "caught" Pokémon displayed in the Pokédex does not take into account any of the Pokédex entries received from other players.

It's possible to share the Pokédex normally between games of different languages, including the American, Japanese, and European versions. However, there's no indication that the Pokédex information came from another language, and the Pokédex text is displayed in the language of the current game, not the language of the original game. For instance, if a Mudkip is caught in a Japanese game and then its Pokédex entry is transferred to an American game, the American game shows the Pokédex entry about Mudkip in English like all other entries.

Number of caught and seen Pokémon

In Pokémon Pinball, pressing Select at the Pokédex screen displays numbers in the format "x/y" at the top of the screen, where x is the number of caught Pokémon and y is the number of seen Pokémon. (for instance, "015/023" means that there are 15 caught Pokémon, out of 23 seen Pokémon)

In Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire, the Pokédex just displays the number of caught and seen Pokémon like in the core series without having to press any button. All caught Pokémon also count as seen Pokémon, like in the core series games.

Animated sprite

In the Pokédex screen, the player may press Start (in Pokémon Pinball) or Select (in Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire) to see the Pokémon animated Pokémon sprite that would appear when a Pokémon is in the process of being caught or hatched. This is unavailable for other Pokémon that are acquired only via evolution or bonus stages and thus don't have an animation like these. The animated sprite is only available for Pokémon that are shown as caught in the Pokédex.

In Pokémon Pinball, there is no visible indication that pressing Start displays the animated sprite animation. In Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire, the text "Press Select" appears when the animated sprite is available for a given Pokémon.

Pokédex completion

In Pokémon Pinball, there is no reward for a complete Pokédex.

In Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire, a medal with the word "complete" appears if the first 201 Pokémon from the Hoenn Pokédex are caught (that is, all available Pokémon are required, except for Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Totodile, and Aerodactyl).

Deleting Pokédex data

In Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire, it is possible to delete the Pokédex data by pressing left while simultaneously pressing L + R three times. This brings up a prompt asking confirmation to delete the data.