In Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, a Snag Machine enables a regular Poké Ball to capture a Shadow-type Pokémon in the game. The Snag Machine appears to only contain one arm, but it is stated that there is a larger version of the Snag Machine.

In Pokémon Colosseum, it is mentioned that the Snag Machine can be used to capture any type of Pokémon, however, the player's partner stops them from using the machine on non-Shadow-type Pokémon. In the beginning of the game, the player character blows Team Snagems' Base apart and steals one. Team Snagem, however, were the only known one to have such a device.

In Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, the Snag Machine only works on Shadow-type Pokémon. In this game, the player's Snag Machine is built by Professor Krane, who is in turn captured by Cipher, and questioned by Lovrina.

It later appeared as a Sinnoh TCG card.