Whenever I try to catch zapdos the ultraballs just miss. I get his hp to about 1 but it still misses. What should i do? B.T.W. when zapdos does a thundershock on my lapras it doesnt say it is super effective. WEIRD HUH?

Try to put it to sleep first. Yeah, the "You missed the pokemon!" thing is really annoying. I've caught them before though. You just have to keep throwing Ultraballs and make sure its asleep and has really low HP.

Yep, you have to just treat legendary pokemon like strong pokemon--it's what they are. You get their HP as low as possible, put them to sleep or paralyze them (you can poison or confuse them if you want, but it may KO them), make sure a strong/high level pokemon is battling (not necessary, but I've found it helps), and throw everything you've got at it.

That's inflicting status ailments, and doesn't affect their stats. Poison and Confusion do not help if I'm not wrong. Your best bet is still to make Zapdos sleep, or get it paralyzed.

:roll: Sorry, I've been really tired. I meant that...I edited the post (look above).

Legendaries - Pain in the butt to catch.
People think its complicated but it isnt.

1. Buy a lot of Ultra balls, as many as possible but save some money.
2. Get a strong pokemon that can get the enemy to sleep/paralyzed.
3. Find the pokemon you wish to catch (e.g Zapdos).
4. Battle it, get its HP down to 1 or anywhere near.
5. Put the damn thing to sleep.
6. (Hopefully you have 3 hours spare here.) Over the next 4763 turns pelt Ultra balls at it until it finally gives up and stays in the flipping ball.

Just be patient, im not, but you should be. Not likely to stay in the ball for the first few thousand turns.

TIP: Save somewhere near the pokemon you wish to catch, then if you get frutrated or if you run out of battery, when you restart/turn it back on, you'll be next to the pokemon ready to pelt it with attacks and Ultra Balls.
EDIT: TIP 2: Dont poison or confuse it, if you do it'll faint and you'll be like, Huh? Where'd it go? Like a complete idiot, then you realise what an idiot you've been and you shout, 'Hey! Im an idiot.'

Fini.

Thx guys! I finally caught zapdos and articuno! I caught zapdos in just one ultra ball... saved a lot of money there. I also caught articuno on my third throw and i didnt even put them to sleep or anything i just got they're hp down to about half way. B.T.W. this might be just an urban legend in the pokemon game but when i threw the ultra ball i pressed A+B and the up button exactly when the ultra ball opened and it worked both times.

That's lucky then. Pressing A and/or B has no effect whatsoever though. It's just coincidental.