Mass outbreak

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My Pokémon Ranch explains the general mechanics of a Mass Outbreak.

Mass Outbreaks (Japanese: 大量発生 mass outbreak), also known as swarms and, in Generation V, Pokémon outbreaks, are a feature introduced in Generation II that allows the player to catch Pokémon that are usually rare or otherwise unobtainable.

Generation II

Mass Outbreaks originated in Generation II. In that generation, if the player registered a certain Trainer in the Pokégear, that Trainer would occassionally call to tell the player that he saw or heard about a large number of Pokémon in a certain area; for the next 30 minutes after such a call (in real time, not play time), the swarming Pokémon would appear in the given area with much greater frequency than the usual 1%.

Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal

#		Pokémon	Location	Notifier
183		Marill	Mt. Mortar	Hiker Parry (Route 45)
193		Yanma	Route 35	Bug Catcher Arnie (Route 35)
206		Dunsparce	Dark Cave	Hiker Anthony (Route 33)
209		Snubbull	Route 38	Schoolboy Chad (Route 38)
211		Qwilfish	Route 32*	Fisher Ralph (Route 32)
223		Remoraid	Route 44*	Fisher Wilton (Route 44)

Generation III

In Generation III this method allows the player to catch Pokémon that cannot be caught normally and make rare Pokémon temporarily more common. This was possible due to the record mixing feature of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. The outbreaks are advised by televisions in houses, where the Pokémon and its location is told.

Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald

#		Pokémon	Location	Level	Game
270		Lotad	Route 114*	13	R		S		E
273		Seedot	Route 117*	13	R		S		E
274		Nuzleaf	Route 114	15	R		S		E
283		Surskit	Route 102Routes 102 and 114*	15	R		S		E
300		Skitty	Route 116	15	R		S		E

Generation IV

Mass Outbreaks were largely expanded in Generation IV. Once the player attains the National Pokédex, every day in a particular location, a "swarm of Pokémon" appears, which changes the probability of finding the given Pokémon from 0% to 40%. Outbreaks last only one day and are random events. Information about Mass Outbreaks can be found in Sandgem Town, by watching Sinnoh television, or by listening to Professor Oak's Pokémon Talk.

When players all join the same group, they will all experience the same outbreak on any given day.

The species of an outbreaks seems to be determined using a formula, because it is not chosen randomly when the player starts the game that day. It is also possible that the species is determined the day before, though there is no additional evidence to support this. If the DS clock is changed or a different DS is used, then the game will detect this and will not change the species swarming until 12:00 AM.

Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum

By also using the Poké Radar and dual-slot mode in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, players can get all Pokémon excluding Tangela, Tropius, the starter Pokémon, and legendary Pokémon of previous generations, while Tangela, Tropius and two Legendary Trios can be regularly acquired in Pokémon Platinum.

Many of the Pokémon obtained through Mass Outbreaks are outside of the Sinnoh Pokédex, and are usually exclusive to other regions. However, the player can obtain information about the current outbreak by talking to, depending on their own gender, Dawn's or Lucas's sister in Sandgem Town, or seeing the news report on a TV in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum.

Due to higher catching rates for Pokémon that appear during outbreaks, they make longer and better chains when using Poké Radar.

Pokémon		Location	Levels	Game
	Pidgey	Route 229	51	D		P		Pt
	Magnemite	Fuego Ironworks	28, 29	D		P		Pt
	Farfetch'd	Route 221	28	D		P		Pt
	Doduo	Route 201	2	D		P		Pt
	Drowzee	Route 215	20, 21	D		P		Pt
	Krabby	Route 226	49–52	D		P		Pt
	Voltorb	Route 218	28, 29	D		P		Pt
	Cubone	Route 203	4	D		P		Pt
		Route 202	3,4	D		P		Pt
	Lickitung	Lake Valor	34–36	D		P		Pt
	Pinsir	Route 229	48, 49	D		P		Pt
	Natu	Route 224	53	D		P		Pt
	Dunsparce	Route 208	18	D		P		Pt
	Snubbull	Route 209	16	D		P		Pt
	Swinub	Route 217	34	D		P		Pt
	Corsola	Route 230	50	D		P		Pt
	Delibird	Route 216	32	D		P		Pt
		Route 217	32, 33	D		P		Pt
	Phanpy	Route 207	5, 7	D		P		Pt
	Smoochum	Lake Acuity	35	D		P		Pt
	Larvitar	Route 206	14–16	D		P		Pt
	Zigzagoon	Route 202	3	D		P		Pt
		Route 201	3	D		P		Pt
	Surskit	Lake Verity	2	D		P		Pt
	Slakoth	Eterna Forest	10,11	D		P		Pt
	Makuhita	Route 225	48-51	D		P		Pt
	Nosepass	Route 206	14	D		P		Pt
	Skitty	Route 222	40	D		P		Pt
			36-40	D		P		Pt
	Electrike	Valley Windworks	7,9,10	D		P		Pt
	Spoink	Route 214	22, 23	D		P		Pt
	Spinda	Route 227	55	D		P		Pt
	Absol	Route 213	20	D		P		Pt
	Beldum	Route 228	51-54	D		P		Pt

Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver

The feature also appears in HeartGold and SoulSilver, where all the wild Pokémon available include all those that were available in Generation II, Ditto, Chansey, and Pokémon from Hoenn and Sinnoh. Information on swarms can now be found by listening to Professor Oak's Pokémon Talk on the Pokégear radio.

#		Pokémon	Location	Levels	Game
113		Chansey	Route 13	23	HG			SS
132		Ditto	Route 47	34	HG			SS
183		Marill	Mt. Mortar	15	HG			SS
193		Yanma	Route 35	12	HG			SS
206		Dunsparce	Dark Cave	2-3	HG			SS
209		Snubbull	Route 38	16	HG			SS
211		Qwilfish	Route 32	40	HG			SS
223		Remoraid	Route 44	20	HG			SS
261		Poochyena	Route 1	2	HG			SS
278		Wingull	Vermilion City*	35	HG			SS
280		Ralts	Route 34	10-11	HG			SS
302		Sableye	Route 9	13-15	HG			SS
303		Mawile	Route 9	13-15	HG			SS
316		Gulpin	Route 3	5	HG			SS
333		Swablu	Route 45	23	HG			SS
340		Whiscash	Violet City	40	HG			SS
343		Baltoy	Route 3	5	HG			SS
366		Clamperl	Route 19	35	HG			SS
369		Relicanth	Route 12*	40	HG			SS
370		Luvdisc	Route 27*	20	HG			SS
401		Kricketot	Viridian Forest	3	HG			SS
427		Buneary	Route 25	8-10	HG			SS

Generation V

Black and White

The gates in Unova have a monitor inside that will alert the player where an outbreak is taking place. During winter, the monitor may occasionally not report on outbreaks, which is due to parts of Route 8, where Croagunk can be found, becoming frozen during Winter and not allowing the Pokémon to be caught there. All have the level range of 15-55.

Unlike previous games, the Mass Outbreak can be manipulated by soft resetting the game: turning the console off without saving the game beforehand. When the game is restarted, there will be a different Pokémon swarming.

#		Pokémon	Location	Levels	Game
046		Paras	Route 11	15-55	B			W
056		Mankey	Route 15	15-55	B			W
083		Farfetch'd	Route 01Route 1	15-55	B			W
084		Doduo	Route 12	15-55	B			W
102		Exeggcute	Route 18	15-55	B			W
161		Sentret	Route 07Route 7	15-55	B			W
193		Yanma	Route 14	15-55	B			W
204		Pineco	Route 16	15-55	B			W
228		Houndour	Route 09Route 9	15-55	B			W
235		Smeargle	Route 05Route 5	15-55	B			W
236		Tyrogue	Route 10Route 10	15-55	B			W
261		Poochyena	Route 09Route 9	15-55	B			W
285		Shroomish	Route 11	15-55	B			W
311		Plusle	Route 06Route 6	15-55	B			W
312		Minun	Route 06Route 6	15-55	B			W
313		Volbeat	Route 03Route 3	15-55	B			W
314		Illumise	Route 03Route 3	15-55	B			W
353		Shuppet	Route 13	15-55	B			W
360		Wynaut	Route 02Route 2	15-55	B			W
449		Hippopotas	Route 04Route 4	15-55	B			W
453		Croagunk	Route 08Route 8	15-55	B			W

See also

• Dual-slot mode
• Poké Radar