How to identify a wild Ditto in Pokémon Scarlet and Purple

As with all RPGs in the series, breeding in Pokémon Scarlet / Pokémon Purple relies heavily on Ditto because it’s compatible with all egg groups: if you have a creature capable of breeding, put it with this pink mass at the picnic and they’ll have offspring in no time. That said, finding it in the wild has become difficult in Generation 9 because you can’t see this coveted monster in the overworld .

Game Freak has decided to change the mechanics a bit, so that now all Ditto are transformed into other wild Pokémon around them. Having adopted another appearance, identifying it at first sight is almost impossible: the most normal thing is that eventually you enter into combat against any creature and it turns out to be our impostor. But in reality, there are several methods to find it without spending hours of tedium.

Observe suspicious behavior

Clearly, this is the way the developers planned to hide Ditto: even though it “disguises” itself as another Pokémon, it’s still a textbook coward . If you think about the Tauros of Paldea, for example, you’ll see that they’re super aggressive creatures: as soon as they spot you, they charge at you. What happens if you find one that starts sweating and runs in the opposite direction? Well, don’t doubt it, it’s a little balloon pretending to be someone else.

Confirm your suspicions by pointing

Did you know that if you hold down the ZL button , you can zoom in? This is useful for locking onto wild Pokémon and making sure you throw your Poké Ball at the one you really want to battle, or for engaging one that flies out of reach. When you do this, the interface also shows you the name of the creature you’re aiming at… quite honestly. In other words, doing this will give you 100% confirmation of whether what you’re looking at is real or another transformed being.

Save the game and restart the game

Twitter user @Atrius97 discovered a neat trick for identifying Ditto: if you’re surrounded by wild Pokémon and don’t feel like checking them out one by one, simply save your game, close the program from the console’s Home menu, and reopen it. When you regain control of your trainer, any nearby disguises will be gone. This is because, unlike information about “real” creatures, they’re not saved to your save . If there was an impostor near you, you’ll now see it wandering around the stage as if nothing had happened.

Also works with Zorua and Zoroark!

In addition to Ditto, there are two other Pokémon that have the ability to hide their appearance among their “neighbors”: they are the dark-type foxes, Zorua and Zoroark. Programming-wise, the three creatures in question work in exactly the same way; that is, everything you’ve learned above also applies to them. And as with the previous one, they don’t let themselves be seen in any other way beyond disguises. Or Teraraids .