I legit drew up a rough playfield sketch for a game like this. As much as I'd love to build one, I know that Nintendo can be very possessive of their stuff and it tends to be rather hit-and-miss as to whether various fangames get C&D'd. Otherwise this would probably be my next homebrew pin.

(I already built the Undertale homebrew..... change my mind?)

As long as somebody is already airing an idea I had on my drawing, I might as well also bring up my concept of adding a "physical" Pokemon battle by way of two catapult mechanisms facing each other diagonally.

Wild Pokemon jumps out and you can either shoot the front catapult to fight back, or shoot the Pokeball lock to attempt a capture. 3 captures for multiball, I suppose.

To avoid excessive game delay, how about selecting with a plunger skill shot?

Granted, maybe plunger skill shot is a bad idea (e.g. leaving the decision of a starter up to the somewhat random chance induced by the plunger spring). But it could probably be configured so that the easiest/novice option is the hard plunge.

Also IMHO extra balls should be awarded at a PokeCenter saucer.