User:Zappernapper/Poke ball

Varieties of Poké Balls
In the original games (Red, Blue, and Yellow) and in the first Kanto arc of the anime, there was the basic set of four Poké Balls. The only variance among them was in their effectivness at capturing Pokémon. Over time, specialized Poké Balls were created for various purposes (i.e. to facilitate capturing Pokémon of a species that the trainer already owned). The anime, becoming more in sync with the games, mirrored this and occasionally showcased trainers in possesion of these more unique balls.

Master Ball
The Master Ball itself has gained further notoriety beyond that of the other Poké Balls due to it constant focus as an exploitable item. Because it is so powerful in the gameplay, the original games only offered one Master Ball to trainers. In subsequent games various side-quests and random events were occasionally introduced to allow players a chance at getting additional Master Balls. Due to this restriction, several glitches that were useful for any variety of items came to be referred to as "The Master Ball Glitch" or "The Master Ball Duplication Trick."

The Johto games were the first to offer a history for Poké Balls, explaining that before the creation of synthetic materials people in the Pokémon universe used Apricorns. This history maintained its continuity with the cocurrent anime in which the main characters hear the same story from the same Poké Ball creator, Kurt.

Through the course of a few episodes, the trainers learn about the various Apricorn Balls available and are each given a Fast Ball in addition to one other type of their choosing. Fast Balls are used to catch Pokémon that try to escape quickly, and Brock uses his to catch a Pineco in Goin' Apricorn (#145). Ash and Misty each receive Lure Balls, a type of ball that makes catching Water-type Pokémon easier. They try to use theirs at the same time when capturing a Totodile in The Totodile Duel (#153) and since they cannot determine whose ball actually caught it, they have a battle, with Ash as the winner. Misty later uses the leftover Lure Ball in The Corsola Caper (#215) to capture the pink "coral Pokémon". These rare balls don't make an appearance again until the Advanced Generation series in episode #341, Gulpin it Down. In this episode both a Gulpin and Ash's Treecko become giant sized in a freak accident and stage a Godzilla-esque battle which the Treecko wins. While the Gulpin is recuperating, the scientist responsible for the accident uses a Heavy Ball to capture it. Heavy Balls work more effectively the heavier the Pokémon is, so in this case it was the perfect choice.

Park Ball
Besides the Apricorn Balls, a minor, single-use ball was introduced as the Park Ball. The Park Ball was used in the Bug Catching Contest of GSC and while the game was much more elaborate than the Safari Zone game, the ball itself, like the Safari Ball, was no more effective than using a regular Poké Ball. The Park Ball will be making a reappearance for use in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. They will be used in a capture game that allows players to acquire Pokémon they previously owned on the Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, FireRed, and LeafGreen game cartridges.

In the anime episode, The Bug Stops Here (#163), the Bug Catching Contest is played out according to the same rules in the GSC video games. Ash ultimately catches a Beedrill and wins the contest, but gives it to his friend Casey who happened to have entered the contest as well.

Hoenn's Poké Balls
When Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were released, it was revealed that they did not support the Apricorn feature of the previous games. Instead, many of the balls were either replaced with purchasable facsimilies, or completely removed (e.g. the Heavy Ball). Hoenn also introduced two completely new-concept Poké Balls, the Timer Ball and the Repeat Ball - capable of increasing in effectiveness depending on length of battle or whether the trainer has already caught that type of Pokémon, respectively. Instead of strict duplication like that seen with the Level Ball and its newer counterpart, the Nest Ball, developers expanded upon the Lure Ball and even created a second specialized version to capitalize on one of their new concepts (much like the Love Ball and Friend Ball from before). The new Net Ball was created to replace the Lure Ball, and expanded its capabilites by proving more effective not only when the player has caught a Pokémon by fishing, but when they encounter any Water-type, or even Bug-type Pokémon. The similar ball, the Dive Ball, exploited the new ability to dive underwater by making Pokémon found "on the ocean floor" more susceptible. Coincidentally, these currently only include Water-type Pokémon. Ruby and Sapphire also had intoduced the Premiere Ball. While not any more powerful than a regular Poké Ball, this is always given freely and is differently colored.