Pokemon Diamond & Pearl player loses Master Ball due to Joy-Con drift

Brent Koepp
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl character next to Master Ball

A Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl player’s game was ruined after their Nintendo Switch controller caused them to lose their Master Ball. 

Every Pokemon generation, there are horror stories of players game’s being plagued by an unexpected failure, from Trainers accidentally running away from a rare Shiny to knocking out a Legendary ‘mon by mistake.

One Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl player found themselves in a frustrating situation when their playthrough was interrupted by the infamous Nintendo Switch Joy-Con drift. The hardware glitch left the fan using their Master Ball at the worst timing possible.

Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl protagonist next to Master Ball
A Pokemon BDSP lost their Master Ball due to Joy-Con drift.

Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl player loses Master Ball because of Joy-Con drift

Pokemon YouTuber ‘WeedleTwineedle‘ was playing through the Sinnoh remakes Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl when the infamous hardware glitch caused them to use their Master Ball by mistake.

The content creator uploaded a video of the tragic moment on Twitter and exclaimed “F**k joycon drift LOL.” In the clip the unlucky content creator can be seen trying to catch a Weezing when things suddenly go awry.

After clearly selecting a Luxury Ball, the Trainer’s controller then automatically switches to a Master Ball instead at the last second, causing the coveted item to be wasted on the Kanto Poison-type.

The tweet immediately went viral as fellow Pokemon players reacted in horror. Many fans empathized with the YouTuber and responded with their own horror stories.

“I know that feel, Joy-Con drift caused me to have a Pokemon die in a Nuzlocke by making me use the wrong move,” a user wrote. Another exclaimed, “This hurts me so much that I can’t explain it.”

One comment simply replied, “OMG. Hopefully you were able to reset without too much gameplay loss!”

Pokemon fans react to BDSP player losing Master Ball

Since the Nintendo Switch launched in 2017, players have reported issues with the console’s controllers having lag. Infamously named ‘Joy-Con drift’, the hardware issue had become so widespread that Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa apologized to consumers for the issue.

Incredibly this isn’t the first time a Pokemon fan has suffered as a result of the hardware failure either. In 2020, a Sword & Shield player also lost their Master Ball due to controller hiccup. Who knows, the glitch may strike once again when Pokemon Legends Arceus releases on January 28.

About The Author

Brent is a former writer at Dexerto based in the United States, who covered topics such as Pokemon, Gaming, and online Entertainment.