Part 91: Side Note #12: All About Hold Items

Side Notes 12: All About Hold Items

From Gen 1



Every Pokemon you send over from Gen 1 will have an item attached to it. This is determined by the Pokemon's catch rate AT POINT OF CAPTURE. Even if it evolves, it will still have the same listed catch rate, this is not updated when it evolves. The only way to have that evolved Pokemon with the right catch rate is to, well, catch it. So a lot of evolutionary families hold the same item since you can only get them at a certain stage and, indeed, a certain catch rate. It's listed in the Pokemon's data structure and since the catch rate can go from 1 to 255 and there's 255 spaces for items (256 if you count no item held), it made sense to have them share it.

But let's talk about the actual items themselves, cause there are a lot of unique ones. Such as the Light Ball, which doubles Pikachu Special Attack and can only be obtained by trading over the starter Pikachu from Yellow, as its catch rate was changed from 190 to 163 specifically for this. Pikachu traded from RBG have a Berry instead. The Light Ball doesn't do anything else until Emerald. So moving on!



I traded over a few more Pokemon to show off the Brick Piece and Gold Leaf, but couldn't be arsed trading over a Pokemon with a Silver Leaf over. Basically, they're useless items made for selling, for £1000, £500 and £700 respectively. Yeah, the one made of gold sells the least. Anyway, let's talk about even more items!



The majority of Pokemon you trade over will have a Berry or Bitter Berry. While there is a 1 to 1 match between catch rate and held items, some catch rates result in garbage items and such and many catch rates are not legitimately obtainable anyway. In certain cases, the game plans for it and changes it to an actual item, otherwise Pokemon with a catch rate of 255 will be holding the Cancel menu option and cause all sorts of fun things to happen. Wigglytuff, Dugtrio and Alakazam will hold a Gold Berry, while Clefairy holds a Mystery Berry. Just remember, this is only if you catch them at that stage, so only Dugtrio and Wigglytuff can legitimately hold a Gold Berry when traded over. If you remember, I caught an Alakazam in my Yellow LP so I wouldn't have to trade, meaning it would hold a Gold Berry if I trade it over. I totally planned that!



In even more unique cases, a Pokemon will be holding a TM, or a type boosting hold item. Abra is the only Pokemon holding TM09 Psych Up and the only way to obtain this TM in the game, though some Pokemon can learn Psych Up through level up. Funnily enough, this does not include the Abra family, but it can learn it through TM. Anyway, Psych Up (Jikoanji: Self-suggest) is a Normal status move with 10PP that copies the opponent's negative and positive stat changes. Other TMs that can be obtained are TM43 Detect from the base Nidorans (though you can find that TM normally in game) and TM33 Ice Punch from Krabby, Horsea, Goldeen and Staryu, so it's very useful if you're short on money and like the move. Detect (Mikiri: All-Seeing), meanwhile, is a Fighting status move with 5PP and +3 priority that protects the user from all effects of moves during its turn. Its success rate is halved each consecutive turn its used. It is simply Protect, but with a different distribution, typing and PP amount.

Finally, we have a number of other unique hold items. Jigglypuff will have a Polkadot Bow (and in essence Wigglytuff if they're evolved from Jigglypuff. Otherwise, they'll hold a Gold Berry), an item that is identical to the Pink Bow, which is weird. But they're both replaced by the Silk Scarf anyway, so it doesn't matter. A Kadabra caught in Yellow will hold the Twistedspoon, which boosts Psychic moves by 10% when held and is the only way to obtain this item. Note that it needs to be a caught Kadabra from Yellow as caught Abra evolved to Kadabra will have TM09. It also needs to be from Yellow as Kadabra had a different catch rate in RBG and would hold a Berry instead. This can also apply to Alakazam evolved from a caught Yellow Kadabra, so technically, Alakazam could hold four different items, depending where it was caught and how it evolved. Fancy.

Chansey will hold the Lucky Punch and boosts its critical hit ratio by two stages. This is the only way to obtain this item and its pretty useless, since when the hell are you gonna attack with Chansey? Ditto will be holding Metal Powder, which boosts Ditto's Defense by 50% but only when it's not transformed, which makes it pretty hilarious, as the only thing Ditto can do is Tranform. What were they thinking making this item? Again, trading over from Gen 1 is the only way to obtain this item. Both Clefable and Snorlax will be holding Leftovers, though that can be obtained in a couple places. It restores 1/16th of the Pokemon's max HP rounded down each turn when held. As Clefable cannot be caught in Gen 1, only Snorlax can legitimately obtain it. Finally, Pokemon with a Catch Rate of 3 will be holding the Bright Powder when traded over and raises the holder's evasion by 10%. Nasty. It's the only way to obtain this item.

And that's really about it. Everything else either hold a Berry, or one of the sellable items. Dragonair and Dragonite are the only ones left to note. Since their catch rate changed between RBG and Yellow, their items also differ. If traded in from RBG, they'll both hold a Bitter Berry, but a caught Yellow Dragonair will hold a Protein, while a caught Yellow Dragonite will hold an Antidote. Dragonair can be caught in the Safari Zone, so this is an easy(?) way to farm them. Obviously, Dragonite cannot be caught, so it either holds a Bitter Berry from Dratini, or a Protein from Dragonair.

From Wild Gen 2 Pokemon

Let's now talk about hold items you can obtain from catching Pokemon in Gen 2. Certain Pokemon have a 5%, 50% or 100% chance of holding an item when you catch it. Let's go over them in dex order, cause boy does everyone like lists! First up, Butterfree has a 5% chance of holding Silver Powder, which boosts Bug moves by 10%. This is the only way to obtain this item, so good luck. Beedrill, meanwhile, has a 50% chance of holding a Poison Barb, but we've already got one. Fearow has a 5% chance of holding a Sharp Beak, but we can obtain one of those later easily enough. Pikachu and Raichu have a 5% chance of holding a Berry, the same as if you traded it over from RBG. Get used to seeing that. Note that you can't catch a Raichu in the wild, so having it listed is pointless. More often than not, the evolutions of the Pokemon listed here can also carry the item, but since they can't be found, there's no point listing them. There are some weird exceptions to this, however.

Clefairy has a 5% chance of holding a Moon Stone, or a 50% chance of holding a Mystery Berry, the same as its Gen 1 item. Vulpix has a 100% chance of holding an Ice Berry. Hah. Paras and Parasect have a 5% chance of holding a Big Mushroom and a 50% chance of holding a Tiny Mushroom. They should switch it on evolution as a dumb joke, but at least you can catch Parasect in Crystal compared to Gold and Silver. The Tiny Mushroom can be bought for a limited time later on, but the Big Mushroom can only be obtained in this way. All you can do is sell them, for £250 and £2500, respectively. Moving on.

Growlithe has a 100% chance of holding an Ice Berry, same as Vulpix. Poliwhirl has a 5% chance of holding a King's Rock, which is useful, since there's only 1 in the game and you need 2 to complete the Pokedex. Both Geodude and Graveler have a 5% chance of holding an Everstone, but you can get two during normal gameplay and you'll rack up a few if you keep getting 2nd at the Bug Catching Contest. Both Slowpoke and Slowbro also have a 5% chance of holding a King's Rock, so you'll get one eventually, surely. Magnemite has a 5% chance of holding a Metal Coat, but it's not necessary in Crystal, since you can obtain two normally and that's all you'll need. Farfetch'd has a 5% chance of holding a Stick, which boosts its critical hit ratio by two stages and allows it, adding in Slash and Dire Hit, to crit 50% of the time, the max chance. This is the only way to obtain this item.

Dodrio has a 5% chance of holding a Sharp Beak, but cannot be found in the wild. Doduo, for whatever reason, has no hold item data listed. Both Grimer and Muk have a 5% chance of holding a Nugget. Very funny. Shellder has a 5% chance of holding a Big Pearl and a 50% chance of holding a Pearl. Both of these can be found as hidden items, or bought in the Bargain Shop. They can be sold for £3750 and £700, respectively. Cubone and Marowak have a 5% chance of holding a Thick Club, which doubles their Attack. If it causes that stat to go over 1024, however, it will become mod 1024 (wraps around to a pathetically small number). This is the only way to obtain this item. Chansey have a 5% chance of holding a Lucky Egg, which boosts experience gained in battle by 150%. This works on all Pokemon and is the only way to obtain this item. Horsea and Seadra have a 5% chance of holding a Dragon Scale, but one can be obtained normally and only one is needed so it's like, whatever.

As you'd expect, Staryu has a 5% chance of holding a Star Piece and a 50% chance of holding Stardust. Star Pieces can be found as hidden items and at the Bargain Shop, but Stardust can only be found at the Bargain Shop or by wild Staryu. Mr. Mime has a 5% chance of holding a Mystery Berry, while Jynx and Magmar have a 100% chance of holding a Burnt Berry and an Ice Berry, respectively. Snorlax has a 100% chance of holding a Leftovers, as you already know, while Dratini and Dragonair have a 5% chance of holding a Dragon Scale. Mewtwo and Mew also have wild hold items, a 5% chance of holding a Berserk Gene and a Miracle Berry, respectively. But yeah, they can't be found in the wild and those items can be obtained otherwise, the latter through Mystery Gift, for better or for worse. Sentret has a 5% chance of holding a Berry, while Furret has a 5% chance of holding a Gold Berry and a 50% chance of holding a Berry.

Misdreavus has a 5% chance of holding a Spell Tag, but we can get one later, much, much earlier than Misdreavus itself. Steelix has a 5% chance of holding a Metal Coat, but you can't find it anywhere and wild Onix hold nothing. Shuckle has a 100% chance to hold a Berry and Sneasel has a 5% chance to hold a Quick Claw. Again, we already have one, so it's not necessary. Miltank has a 50% chance to hold Moomoo Milk, very nice, but Miltank is hard to catch, so not so nice. Larvitar has a 5% chance of holding a Hard Stone, but we already have one. Ho-oh has a 100% chance of holding a Sacred Ash as we'll see later. As we probably won't see later, Celebi has a 5% chance of holding a Miracle Berry, but come on, we all know there's no way of actually catching one, right?

Well anyway, that's all the hold items you might be finding on your Pokemon. This isn't every single hold item, there's still quite a few we've yet to see and some we may never find. Regardless, whether these probabilities are actually correct, I'm not 100% sure myself (heh), but I ain't waiting around for an answer to post this. Later y'all.