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Despite the playground trick never working in the first place, Pokémon Legends: Arceus players are finding it hard to not spam buttons as they catch.
In a thread on the r/Pokemon subreddit, players from all over discussed the techniques they are using to catch Pokémon in the latest game in the franchise, Pokémon Legends: Arceus. However, they aren't discussing ways to sneak around, or the best items to distract the ball bound beasties, instead they are pondering the best buttons to press to ensure the perfect catch.
The original games, Pokémon Red and Blue, have long since had their data mined so thoroughly that there is no where left for game mechanics to hide. With speedrunners pretty much able to catch all 151 original Pokémon through the item menu, you would think if pressing buttons actually increased your catch rate, everyone would know by now. Facts don't seem to matter to these fans however, who picked up their creature-collecting 'Konami codes' during nostalgic playground days.
Lots of different combinations seem to have been popular. Holding B and then either up or down both seem to be common methods. Others tell tales of mashing A or B, or even both in a kind of rhythmic pattern. Many still have faith in the methods despite knowing definitively that they don't work.
One user cleverly points to the answer of this believable psuedo-science in what they cleverly called 'Skinner's Pidgey experiment'. In Skinner's experiment - which he tested on pigeons, due to fictional nature of Pokémon - he fed his test group of birds at random intervals. The pigeons were so desperate to see their part in this random feeding ritual that they would repeat the same actions, such as pecking certain spots, or spinning in a circle, to try and encourage the distribution of food. Essentially, it's nature to want to assume you can influence the Pokéball catch chance, but really it's just a string of mind boggling number puzzles.
If you are a fan of the monster pocketing franchise then see if you agree with our ranking of the best Pokémon games, or find out why players aren't always happy with Pokémon Legends: Arceus' new battle system.
