When you encounter a Pokemon in the wild, there’s more to catching it than just throwing a Pokeball at its head. In fact, there are a few variables you need to pay attention to in order to ensure a successful capture.
The green, yellow, orange, or red circle you see surrounding the Pokemon will indicate two things:
- What level of difficulty is the Pokemon is compared to you (the color).
- How likely you are to keep the Pokemon once its in the ball (the size of the circle).
If you click and hold the Pokeball during an encounter, the colored circle around the Pokemon will shrink. At its smallest size, if you throw the Pokeball and hit within the circle, you have a higher likelihood of catching and keeping the Pokeman.
When tossing the Pokeball, if you land within the colored circle when it is small, you can get a better rating for the catch and earn more bonus XP. “Nice” is the lowest bonus rating, “great” is the next highest, and “excellent” is the best you can earn.
So, when encountering a Pokemon, remember: toss the Pokeball into the colored circle, especially if the Pokemon is a high level, you want to ensure a capture, or if you want to earn bonus points!