Bag

The Bag (Japanese: バッグ bag), referred to on the menu as Item (Japanese: どうぐ tool) in Generation I and Pack (Japanese: リュック ruck) in Generation II, is a vital tool in all core series Pokémon games. It holds all of the player's items, storing them for later use. By opening the Bag, players can use, arrange, and toss most items, and register Key Items for easy access.

In the Help System of the Generation V games, it is called the Bag function (Japanese: バッグの bag function).

Outside of battle
The Bag appears as part of the start menu in all core series games, as well as in and. In Generation I as well as in Colosseum and XD, it is accessed with the "ITEMS" command, while in Generation II, it is accessed with the "PACK" command.

All items that the player has on hand will be located in the Bag and, after Generation I, being placed in the appropriate pocket automatically. Prior to Generation IV, the items pocket had only 20 (42 in FireRed and LeafGreen, 30 in Emerald) spaces for items, while the other pockets had space for any and all items that would go there. If an item to be picked up would be placed into the items pocket, however, and the pocket was full, it could not be picked up until the player had deposited some items into the PC. This problem no longer exists in Generation IV and beyond, where all pockets have enough space for every item.

Inside of the Bag menu, the player will find a list of all their items, ordered by default from the first kind obtained to the most recently obtained. Players may rearrange these items with the select button, except in the Berries and TMs and HMs pockets, which are automatically ordered. Depending on the type of item, and sometimes on the item itself, options exist when it is selected that allow players to use the item, throw the item away, register it to the Select/Y button for use on the field, or have a Pokémon hold it.

In battle
The Bag is also one of the four menu selections during a Pokémon battle, and allows the player to use items that can be used in battle, such as Poké Balls, Potions, and items like. Prior to Generation IV, the Bag menu during battle was the same as that outside of battle, allowing inventory checking of items that are unrelated to battle during it. In Generation IV, however, it became a completely different menu on the touch screen, split into four categories of use:


 * HP/PP Restore
 * Status Restore
 * Poké Balls
 * Battle Items

Using an item while in battle uses up a turn. Prior to Generation VII, this only occurs if the item that the player tries to use has an effect during the battle (for example, in Generation II, attempting to use a NeverMeltIce will lead only to the player being scolded by Professor Oak). In Generation VII, attempting to use an item that would have no effect takes a turn, but does not consume the item. Items cannot be used in linked battles or in facilities such as the Battle Tower.

The item that was last used during battle, if there were multiple copies of it in the Bag, can be easily used again. The selection cursor will remain on it in Generation I-III and VII games, while a shortcut menu will exist at the lower left corner of the screen to the last used item in Generation IV-VI.

Differences between generations
While the Bag has remained a consistent part of the menu screen for all generations, significant changes have been made to its structure in each later generation, with most welcomed as improvements.

Generation I
In Generation I, the Bag is a list of up to 20 different kinds of items, with no separation into different pockets. The player cannot obtain new items if they do not have room in their Bag. The player can hold up to 99 of each item; if obtaining an item would result in the player having more than 99 of a single item, the excess items are placed in a new stack if the player has room for another item stack in their Bag (otherwise they cannot be obtained). (Some glitches, such as MissingNo.'s item duplication glitch, allow the player to hold up to 255 items in a single Bag slot.)

Due to the limited space in their Bag, additional items can be stored in the PC's. However, if the player's Bag is full, they cannot pick up new items, even if they have room in their Item Storage System, as the player can only move items between their Bag and Item Storage System by using a PC.

Despite the lack of pockets, there is still a distinction between Key Items and other items. Key Items have no quantity displayed next to them (since the player can only ever have one instance of each Key Item at a time) and cannot be sold or tossed.

Generation II
In Generation II, the Bag is now split into four different pockets. There are three specialized pockets for specific types of items, as well as the items pocket for all other items. While the specialized pockets now are each large enough to hold all items of their type, the items pocket still has a size limit, so additional items can be stored in the PC's.

Additionally, starting in Generation II each item has a description of its function.

Generation III
In and Pokémon Colosseum and, there is one more pocket than in Generation II, the  pocket. In, there are three pockets, with the Berries and TMs & HMs pockets being replaced by the Key Items the Berry Pouch and TM Case respectively. While the specialized pockets are each large enough to hold all items of their type, the items pocket still has a size limit, so additional items can be stored in the PC's.

The items pocket can hold up to 30 different items. In Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, FireRed, and LeafGreen, the player cannot obtain more items if their Bag is full, even if there is room in their PC's Item Storage System. In Pokémon Colosseum and XD, if the player would obtain an item while their Bag is full, it will be sent to their PC instead.

The player can hold up to 999 of each item. If the player would obtain a number of an item that would cause them to have more than 999 of it in their Bag, they cannot obtain those items.

The Berries and TMs & HMs pockets, and their counterparts the Berry Pouch and TM Case, have a pre-defined order in which they are always sorted, unlike other pockets. The Berries pocket and Berry Pouch are sorted by Berry number. The TMs & HMs pocket and TM Case are sorted by TM and HM number; the TMs & HMs pocket sorts TMs above HMs, whereas the TM Case sorts HMs above TMs.

Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen introduced images of each item, which can be seen from the player's Bag. These images were retained in Pokémon Emerald as well as later generations, but were not used in Pokémon Colosseum and XD.

A visual of the Bag itself is visible while browsing its contents. Male and female player characters have different Bag designs. In, the Bags are yellow; in , they are green. No visual representation of the player's Bag appears in Pokémon Colosseum and XD.

Battle Pyramid
In Pokémon Emerald's, the player uses the exclusive Battle Bag to hold items for use in the battle facility. The color of the icon is purple for the Level 50 challenge, and red for the Open Level challenge.

Generation IV
The Bag was revamped once again in Generation IV, not only allowing for infinite space (and making the PC storage system for items obsolete) but also splitting the pockets up further than in Generation III. Three new pockets were split off from the Items pocket, making for a total of eight pockets. The Bags are yellow in Diamond and Pearl, but gray/silver in Platinum.

In, the Bag retained the list-like format from Generation III, with pocket-changing controls as well as a Poké Ball-shaped scrollwheel being present on the bottom screen. , by contrast, groups the items into six-cell pages. Additionally these games have Ethan/Lyra holding the bag with the pocket being highlighted, while other games just show pockets.

Generation V
In, the Bag was overhauled again, with eight pockets being condensed into five, much like in. The pockets are called Cases in these games, and are labeled Items, Medicine, TMs & HMs, Berries and Key Items, with Poké Balls, Mail, held items and other items all being placed in the Items pocket. Held items, Mail and Poké Balls are indicated as such by an icon displayed to the immediate left of the item that corresponds to what type of item it is.

In these games, recently acquired items (other than TMs) are added at the top of their respective item list (rather than the bottom, as in previous generations), and players can sort a pocket automatically by pressing Start, in addition to manual sorting with Select.

In, a Free Space section was added to the Bag, and the icon takes on the appearance of a smaller Bag. Players can select items they use most and add them to Free Space for easy access. Manual sorting cannot be performed in this section, and items are always placed in alphabetical order. However, the player can filter the kind of items they want to see with the sorting button.

Unlike in the first pairs, new items go at the bottom of the item list like in previous generations rather than the top, including TMs and HMs. More sorting options were also added.

Generation VI
Generation VI saw the least amount of changes to the Bag. Items may be picked up by pressing and holding with the stylus, which allows for manual sorting; Start and Select both open the automatic sorting menu. In addition, the Items slot no longer has icons indicating items' types, though they are still grouped together when automatically sorted. The Free Space slot from was removed, once again giving the Bag five slots, and each slot can be dragged to rearrange the order. A clock icon was also added at the bottom of the screen, which will show a list of the last twelve items used.

While the physical shape of the Bag did not change, it is now possible to customize the color and patterning of the bag due to it being an article of clothing as a part of Trainer customization.

Generation VII
In Generation VII, the Bag retained most of its functions found in Generation VI except for the removal of the clock function. While the five sections from Generation VI remain, two new sections were added.

The Free Space section, previously seen in, makes a return and allows the player to store any items they want from other sections for convenience. A new section called Z-Crystals is also added, which stores all Z-Crystals found in the game. The Z-Crystals section will only be available once the player has obtained a Z-Crystal and the Z-Ring. Due to the removal of HMs from the games, the TMs & HMs section has been renamed to TMs only.

Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon added a new section called Rotom Powers, which stores Rotom Powers received from befriending the Rotom Pokédex. The Rotom Powers works similarly to Pass Powers and O-Powers.

In Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, with far fewer kinds of obtainable items, the bag is overhauled into being essentially a list of items, similar to that of Generation I. At the top of the list are eight pockets that are programmed as items that contain other items, like the TM Case from FireRed and LeafGreen. Many items do not belong in any category, such as Key Items, valuable items and Repels, and are instead listed in the same level as pockets.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series
In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team, items are stored in the Toolbox. It has a capacity of 16.

In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time, Darkness, and Sky, items are stored in the Treasure Bag. It initially has a capacity of 16, being expanded incrementally throughout the story, up to a capacity of 48.

Pokémon GO
In Pokémon GO, the player's Bag initially has a capacity of 350. Bag Upgrades can be purchased in the, which expand the capacity by 50. The maximum upgradeable capacity is 1,500 items. Prior to an update on June 22, 2017, this maximum was 1,000 items.

The player can hold more items than the Bag's capacity if they acquire multiple items at once that put them over the capacity, but if they start out over capacity, they will not be able to acquire more, such as from PokéStops.

The Bag was also available, prior to an update on February 17, 2017, on the encounter screen to select the camera, Berries, and other Poké Balls, but has since been replaced by separate buttons for these items.

In the anime
All of the main characters in the own a Bag to store their supplies like a sleeping bag or tent, outfits, and Poké Balls. Generally, the main characters' Bags have little to do with their counterparts, with  and  taking a backpack rather than the actual Bags used by their game counterparts, and Ash's other companions having no Bags in the games.

Unlike other main characters, carries his Poké Balls on his belt. Ash's Bag in the is based on 's, but colored green. During the, tends to rest inside Ash's Bag.

used her pull string style Bag to carry her Poké Balls, sleeping bag, Fishing Rod, and a case full of lures. also preferred to travel and sleep inside Misty's Bag. Misty's later appearances during the show her owning a  Bag.

The seemingly endless capacity of the characters' Bags can be only be described as the result of anime physics. By far, 's Bag was been shown to be the most spacious, having a full tea-set and table inside in The School of Hard Knocks, as well as containing, presumably, everything he needed to cook meals on the road for his friends. Brock also carried the group's medicinal supplies and maps while they traveled through the Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh regions. His Bag was blue, with only the bedroll being removed during the.

As a Pokémon watcher, carried around numerous sketchbooks, pencils, and a set of binoculars in his orange Bag.

Both of 's Bags were based on the ones worn by in Generation III. Throughout the Advanced Generation series, she wore a that stayed on her waist like a belt. It was used to hold her Poke Balls, Pokédex, Contest Pass, and Ribbons. During her brief return from Our Cup Runneth Over! to Strategy with a Smile!, May was shown to have two Bags, one a green ket Bag and the other a yellow Bag.

Max carried around a yellow Bag that held his PokéNav.

It was shown in Following A Maiden's Voyage! that Dawn had planned to take a large suitcase full of various clothing and accessories with her. However, Johanna made her leave it at home and gave her a small Bag instead, containing only the items that she would need on her.

wore a pink Bag.

owned a brown Bag, and like Brock, he carried the group's supplies around.

stored her belongings in a pink Bag with a Poké Ball design on it.

stored many of his "Clemontic gear" inventions inside his black and white Bag. His younger sister wore a yellow satchel-style Bag around her shoulder, which  and later Squishy rest in.

Both of 's Bags were based on the ones worn by her game counterpart.