Mass outbreak

My Pokémon Ranch explaining the general mechanics of a Mass Outbreak

Pokémon outbreaks (Japanese: 大量発生 mass outbreak), also known as swarms, mass outbreaks or wild outbreaks, are a feature introduced in Generation II that allows the player to catch Pokémon that are usually rare or otherwise unobtainable. They appear in every generation after their introduction except Generation VI.

Generation II

Pokémon outbreaks originated in Generation II. In that generation, if the player registered a certain Trainer in the Pokégear, that Trainer would occasionally 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	Levels	Notifier	Game
128		Tauros	Route 38	13	Lass Dana (Route 38)	G	S	C
183		Marill	Mt. Mortar	15	Hiker Parry (Route 45)	G	S	C
193		Yanma	Route 35	12-14	Bug Catcher Arnie (Route 35)	G	S	C
206		Dunsparce	Dark Cave	2-4	Hiker Anthony (Route 33)	G	S	C
209		Snubbull	Route 38	13	Schoolboy Chad (Route 38)	G	S	C
211		Qwilfish	Route 32*	10, 20, 40	Fisher Ralph (Route 32)	G	S	C
223		Remoraid	Route 44*	10, 20	Fisher Wilton (Route 44)	G	S	C

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. The outbreaks are advised by televisions in houses as a random daily event, where the Pokémon and its location is told.

Once you launch the outbreak, the outbreak Pokemon will appear in the mentioned area with an appearance rate of 50% for a period of 24 hours. However, the television news can be kept forever, as long as you don't watch it.

The record mixing feature of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire allows players to give an outbreak they've seen to other players. The traded outbreaks will be announced on television in the following days after the record mixing.

A Lotad swarm is rumored to exist, but there is no trace of it in RSE internal data.

Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald

#	Pokémon		Location	Levels	Game
283		Surskit	Route 102*	3	R	S	E
283		Surskit	Route 114*	15	R	S	E
283		Surskit	Route 117*	15	R	S	E
283		Surskit	Route 119*	28	R	S	E
300		Skitty	Route 116	15	R	S	E
300		Skitty	Route 116	8	R	S	E
273		Seedot*	Route 102*	3	R	S	E
273		Seedot*	Route 117*	13	R	S	E
273		Seedot*	Route 119*	25	R	S	E
274		Nuzleaf*	Route 114*	15	R	S	E

Generation IV

Pokémon 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 Pokémon outbreaks can be found in Sandgem Town by talking to Lucas/Dawn's sister or by watching the Sinnoh television ^DPPt, or by listening to Professor Oak's Pokémon Talk ^HGSS.

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

Many of the Pokémon obtained through Pokémon outbreaks are outside of the Sinnoh Pokédex, and are usually exclusive to other regions.

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
016		Pidgey	Route 229	51	D	P	Pt
081		Magnemite	Fuego Ironworks	28-29	D	P	Pt
083		Farfetch'd	Route 221	28	D	P	Pt
				28-29	D	P	Pt
084		Doduo	Route 201	2	D	P	Pt
096		Drowzee	Route 215	20-21	D	P	Pt
				19-20	D	P	Pt
098		Krabby	Route 226	52	D	P	Pt
				48-49	D	P	Pt
100		Voltorb	Route 218	28	D	P	Pt
				28-29	D	P	Pt
104		Cubone	Route 203	4	D	P	Pt
108		Lickitung	Lake Valor	34, 36	D	P	Pt
127		Pinsir	Route 229	48-49	D	P	Pt
177		Natu	Route 224	53	D	P	Pt
				50	D	P	Pt
206		Dunsparce	Route 208	16	D	P	Pt
				18	D	P	Pt
209		Snubbull	Route 209	16	D	P	Pt
				18-19	D	P	Pt
220		Swinub	Route 217	34	D	P	Pt
222		Corsola	Route 230	50	D	P	Pt
				48	D	P	Pt
225		Delibird	Route 216	32	D	P	Pt
			Route 217	32-33	D	P	Pt
231		Phanpy	Route 207	5	D	P	Pt
				5, 7	D	P	Pt
238		Smoochum	Lake Acuity	35	D	P	Pt
246		Larvitar	Route 206	16	D	P	Pt
263		Zigzagoon	Route 202	3	D	P	Pt
283		Surskit	Lake Verity	2	D	P	Pt
287		Slakoth	Eterna Forest	10	D	P	Pt
				10-11	D	P	Pt
296		Makuhita	Route 225	50-51	D	P	Pt
				48-49	D	P	Pt
299		Nosepass	Route 206	14	D	P	Pt
300		Skitty	Route 222	40	D	P	Pt
				39-40	D	P	Pt
309		Electrike	Valley Windworks	7	D	P	Pt
				9-10	D	P	Pt
325		Spoink	Route 214	22-23	D	P	Pt
				21, 23	D	P	Pt
327		Spinda	Route 227	55	D	P	Pt
				53-54	D	P	Pt
359		Absol	Route 213	20	D	P	Pt
374		Beldum	Route 228	53	D	P	Pt
				51-52	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	10, 20, 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

The gates in Unova have a monitor inside that will alert the player where an outbreak is taking place.

Unlike previous games, the Pokémon outbreaks can be manipulated by soft resetting the game: turning the console off without saving the game beforehand, but only if the player has not saved their game at all that day. When the game is restarted, there will be a different Pokémon swarming.

Black and White

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.

#	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

Black 2 and White 2

All have the level range of 40-55 and encounter rate of 40%.

#	Pokémon		Location	Levels	Game
022		Fearow	Route 15	40-55	B2	W2
079		Slowpoke	Abundant Shrine	40-55	B2	W2
083		Farfetch'd	Route 1	40-55	B2	W2
084		Doduo	Route 12	40-55	B2	W2
097		Hypno	Dreamyard	40-55	B2	W2
122		Mr. Mime	Route 20	40-55	B2	W2
162		Furret	Route 7	40-55	B2	W2
166		Ledian	Route 22	40-55	B2	W2
168		Ariados	Route 22	40-55	B2	W2
177		Natu	Route 5	40-55	B2	W2
185		Sudowoodo	Route 20	40-55	B2	W2
187		Hoppip	Route 18	40-55	B2	W2
195		Quagsire	Route 8	40-55	B2	W2
204		Pineco	Route 16	40-55	B2	W2
277		Swellow	Route 13	40-55	B2	W2
284		Masquerain	Route 11	40-55	B2	W2
311		Plusle	Route 6	40-55	B2	W2
312		Minun	Route 6	40-55	B2	W2
313		Volbeat	Route 3	40-55	B2	W2
314		Illumise	Route 3	40-55	B2	W2
317		Swalot	Route 9	40-55	B2	W2
332		Cacturne	Reversal Mountain	40-55	B2	W2
450		Hippowdon	Desert Resort	40-55	B2	W2

See also

• Dual-slot mode
• Poké Radar

This game mechanic article is part of Project Games, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon games.