Pokémon Ball Guy

About

Pokémon Ball Guy is a character introduced in the 2019 video games Pokémon Sword and Shield for the Nintendo Switch. Inspired by Asian civic mascots like Kumamon, Ball Guy is the mascot for the Galar region and appears to be a human with a giant Pokéball for a head. While the character is friendly in the games, it has been the subject of fan art and memes emphasizing its creepiness.

Origin

"Ball Guy" debuted in Pokémon Sword and Shield, released for the Switch on November 15th, 2019. In the game, he is a mascot for the Galar region and the gym challenge. He is usually seen at Pokémon gyms and will give the player a reward if they speak to him.

Spread

After the game's release, critics and fans debated if Ball Guy was friendly or creepy. On release week, Polygon^[1] published an article arguing Ball Guy was just a friendly character and Kotaku^[2] published a piece arguing that he was unnervingly creepy. Fan art emphasizing both of these aspects also appeared quickly after release. On November 16th, 2019, Twitter user @cuckyuncle^[3] posted art of Ball Guy acting nice towards the player, gaining over 40 retweets and 140 likes in over three years (shown below, left). On November 18th, Tumblr user jazzy-j-wolf^[4] posted a Here's Johnny parody with Ball Guy, gaining over 300 notes on the site in a similar timeframe (shown below, right).

On YouTube, content creators parodied Ball Guy by posting videos imagining him as an extremely powerful trainer or creature. On November 16th, 2019, YouTuber MforMovesets modded Ball Guy into Soul Calibur VI, gaining over 6,600 views in three years (shown below, left). On January 5th, 2020, YouTuber ProsafiaGaming posted a video imagining Ball Guy as a Dynamax Pokémon, gaining over 1.5 million views in three years (shown below, right).

On March 21st, 2023, Ball Guy and the Pokémon Amoonguss were added to Pokémon Masters EX (shown below).^[5]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References