The Pokémon Company cites three Japanese patents, No. 7545191, No. 7493117, and No. 7528390. From the translation of the claims, they appear to describe Pokémon-style activities, with ‘191 focused on the act of throwing a ball at characters in a field,

A patent expert analyzes Nintendo's recent lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair, concluding that it's 'a clear case of bullying.'

Nintendo is suing Pocketpair, makers of Palworld, for some sort of unknown patent infringement. Now those patents are known.