Ball Guy has now gone from haunting our nightmares to attacking us for real in Sword and Shield thanks to this terrifying new mod.
Despite Pokémon games having more or less the same premise ever since they were first released in the late 90s, fans of the franchise keep coming back for more. This is by no means a slight on Game Freak, the games' developer, or the people who play them. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, and the Pokémon franchise definitely ain't broke.
It's also not as if Game Freak hasn't added to and tweaked its tried and true system over time. Sword and Shield might follow the same basic template as Red and Blue, but the games feel very different from the ones that kicked off the franchise, as well they should. However, both sets of games and all the ones released in between have similarities such as gym leaders, starter Pokémon, and a helpful professor of some sort.
Something, or someone, else players of all Pokémon games will be familiar with are gym guides. NPCs that help trainers with tips on how to beat certain gym leaders. Gym guides feature in Sword and Shield but for some strange reason, Game Freak has turned them into terrifying mascots with Pokéballs for heads. Players have naturally been making fun of them ever since the games were released.
What we weren't expecting was for the aptly named Ball Guy to turn on us and take his revenge for making fun of him. The mascot has done so with the help of modder ProsafiaGaming, reports Polygon. The modder has made Ball Guy the focus of a Max Raid Battle in the games. That's right, players can now take on Ball Guy in a raid, if they dare.
Not just that, but like any other raid, should a trainer defeat Ball Guy, they will then be presented with a chance to catch him — possibly using one of the Pokéballs he might have handed you earlier on your journey. Ball Guy doesn't have unique animations and moves, however. He is merely a Machoke in a Ball Guy disguise, if you will. Still, that's more than enough to scare us away from ever making fun of them again.
Source: ProsafiaGaming, Polygon