#pokefreakguide

[pokefreakguide]

A list of major recurring themes in the Pokémon gaming franchise (updated)

[pokefreakguide]

Hey! I didn’t forget about posting here. I’ve actually been working on some hella good drawings I’m excited to post, but it’s slowed the process WAY down with SWSH. I also wanted to avoid spoilers, so I didn’t post this PSA right away.

Sorry for the inactivity, but I swear I’ll get right back to it.

What I think I might do is do my top 5 lists and do the drawings afterward so they don’t hold up the process too much. I’ll start again on Tuesday! Enjoy the weekend <3

[pokefreakguide]

A list of major recurring themes in the Pokémon gaming franchise (updated)

[pokefreakguide]

I was asked to put together a list of common themes in the Pokémon franchise that you’d wanna pay attention to for a Fan Game. This is opinion based, since everything’s so vaguely connected instead of outright.

Starter Pokémon

With any Pokémon game it’s essential to have a starter trio. I don’t pay a load of attention to fan-made game arcs, but, from what I’ve seen most starters that fans design are a little out of touch in the aspect that they’re not designed with actual appeal in mind. Game Freak consistently creates starters that are supposed to be cute, lovable mascots. So whatever you choose, it’s gotta be lovable and marketable (it can be cool and badass later, it’ll evolve) this will add to the believability of a fake game. Also, it’s best to pick some real life animal to base your starters off of. This makes them more familiar to the player.  

Professor

Of course, you’ll need a professor studying the region and you don’t wanna get too wild with creativity here. Rowan isn’t wearing a white jacket, Juniper is a girl, sure, but you don’t wanna go off the rails and make the professor too different from the others- stick with a tree name, keep to the idea rolling. 

Region

And, of course, the region. Every pokémon core installation has a (at least one) region tied to a real earth location, Most in Japan, but since Gen V, they’ve based them off of two locations in The US and one in France. All this means for your region is it will somehow resemble the area in climate and population. Sinnoh is a very snowy region due to it being based so high in the mountains in Japan, Unova has a massive city (NYC)- so on. This sometimes has massive effects on what pokémon your game should include. Generation VII has a lot of tropical pokémon to compliment the Hawaiian setting, for example.

Lore and Legend

The lore, however, does not have to match up with the region. Kalos’ legendary trio is based off of Nordic mythology, for example, despite Kalos being a reference to France. Sometimes, though they do match up. Most of Alola’s legends are based in real Hawaiian myth. Whatever allusions you make should be vague, though. You don’t want to rob a culture of it’s mythology, just make allusions to it. It’s important to remember you are making your own mythology, in a way. Generally speaking, the main legendary pokémon in your game should represent more broad values like 

life (Xerneas) & death (Yveltal)

light (Solgaleo) & dark (Lunala)

yin (Zekrom) & yang (Reshiram)

time (Dialga) & space (Palkia)

and your third should be some balance or between the option- 

order (Zygarde)

refraction (Necrozma)

wuji (Kyurem)

antimatter (Giratina)

however, the secondary set of legendary/mythical pokémon in the game should usually represent more specific values like 

fertility (Landorus)

disasters (Tornadus & Thundurus)

music & dance (Meloetta)

willpower (Azelf)

knowledge (Uxie)

emotion (Mesprit)

dreams (Cresselia)

nightmares (Darkrai)

wishes (Jirachi)

victory (Victini)

There’re always exceptions too- Mewtwo is a clone, Deoxys is an Alien, Genesect is a weapon, all of the ultra beasts are invasive species, Mew is the ancestor. All of this is made abundantly clear in each game, so you’ll want to make sure your pokémon are ascribed to an idea. Even Regigigas towed the continents. So the lore is directly connected to the legendary pokémon you choose and how the characters operate in the games.

Rival

You have to pick a rival, however, this is one criteria where you can use plenty of creativity. Sometimes the rival is a butthole and sometimes they’re more of an ally they are either always behind or in front of you in your journey. Sometimes you choose their name, sometimes they’re independent NPCs. Regardless, this is a facet that the game always has.

Challenges

Despite the fact that Alola has no gyms, there’re still waypoint trials to ensure you don’t use stronger pokémon earlier than you should and this is an important facet. There’s also always an elite four of some kind, so you’ll need to come up with a good roster for that. Nothing too wild. Sometimes town names are connected somehow, though not always (mostly an early game thing).

Callbacks

One thing that rings throughout every pokémon game are references to other games passed. Whether this is in characters that show up along the journey, or in names of places, it has to be there; it makes the games more of a cohesive whole. It’s also nice, but entirely optional to add new formes to old pokémon, or regional variants, mega evolutions, etc. This just adds to the cohesiveness as a whole. I’m personally against adding new types in fan-made games, because it gets confusing and slightly unrealistic. Nintendo doesn’t add types frequently. (Add an eeveelution or two!)

Title

Lastly, you’ll need a title for your game, and, again, it should generally be a marketable, likable thing that easy to say or abbreviate. There’s not really a rule to the naming other than it’s usually got a counterpart game that mirrors it in some fashion to promote sales and the lore. There was a good streak of precious metals/gems for a bit, but after Generation V they dropped that, so it can really be anything that has an easily identifiable counterpart.

[pokefreakguide]

Competitive Battle Team ; Pt. I: Scolipede

Yeah, I know, Scolipede is a questionable competitive choice, but I’m a sucker for aesthetic and, in addition to Poison being my favorite type, centipedes are one of my favorite creatures. 

I’ve already hatched a shiny Scolipede, but as I wrote in the last article shininess won’t win battles and while Bug/Poison has a lot of weaknesses, I decided to accept the challenge. 

First, we know Scolipede has Decent Attack and Defense and great Speed, but lacks a little in Sp. Defense and lacks a lot in HP. The glaring issue with that is, being Bug/Poison type, Scolipede is weak to Fire and Psychic type moves, which are majorly based in Sp. Attack, emphasizing its weaknesses. 

In addition, Scolipede’s Attack is it’s second highest stat, which is good, because it’s offensive moveset leveling up is entirely Physical apart from Venoshock. It can learn a decent amount of Special TMs though.

This being the case, I decided to work towards breeding a Venipede with 5 perfect IVs in HP, Attack, Defense, Sp. Defense and Speed, forsaking Sp. Attack. I chose a Careful Nature because, like I said before, Scolipede needs to have the best chance in Sp. Defense that it can and Careful nature raises Sp. Defense by 10% at the expense of Sp. Attack. 

My Venipede was actually born with the ability Swarm, but I bought an Ability Capsule at the Battle Royal Dome because I like Poison Point as an ability better (I have thousands of BPs because I use the pokémon bank so often). I didn’t worry with trying to breed it with it’s hidden ability, because while Speed Boost would be cool, I didn’t see it necessary, and when weighing all three abilities I still like Poison Point the best. (I also don’t know how to do that yet, so I’d have to study up)

As far as EV training goes, I’m leaning towards working on raising Scolipede with maxed out Sp. Defense and HP and boost Attack by one point. I don’t want to raise a tank (... can’t with Scolipede anyway), but I’m going to rely on Scolipede’s already good Attack and focus more on it’s viability as a competitive choice.

I’m going to give every one of my party Nicknames because I’m one of those people, but I don’t have a name for Scolipede yet, so if you have any suggestions, I’ll listen. 

It’s on to the next party member for now >:)

[pokefreakguide]

Before reading this, you may want to check out this article explaining EVs and IVs

I spent a lot of time researching Pokémon genetics and training and I learned a lot, but I was missing one basic thing; how to train them. In order to make your pokémon competitively viable, you’ll need to make sure you give them proper training.

When considering a Pokémon for competition, even if playfully like me, the first thing to consider is a pokémon’s base stats. These stats indicate what that pokémon is already particularly good at. You can raise pokémon to be stronger in any of the six stats. So the main question when raising pokémon is which stats do you pick? There are limits to EVs, so you’ll want to be wise when spreading them out. 

EVs top off at 510 total, but top off at 252 per stat. You can’t collect more than that. It takes 4 EVs to raise a stat by 1 point, meaning you can only raise 2 stats by 63 points and 1 other stat by 1 point before maxing out. Of course, you can spread this out however you want to, but the question here is: Is it better to raise pokémon so their weaknesses are reinforced, or is better to raise them so their strengths are emphasized? 

Generally, in battle, you must do one of two things: out-speed your opponent, or out-live them. There are plenty of strategies, but most of them boil down to one of these two things. 

Pokémon who are naturally good at Speed + Sp. Attack or Attack are typically out-speeders. Their goal is not to defend against Attacks, but instead strike first and strike hard. If they’re lucky they’ll be able to stay in battle via one hit KOs.

Pokémon who are naturally talented in HP, Defense, and Sp. Defense will typically have lower Attack, Sp. Attack, and Speed (and of course there’re many exceptions). These pokémon are designed in such a fashion that they can not out-speed most attackers and therefore must defend against big hits. 

But what if you want to round your pokémon out? It seems logical, right? If your pokémon is already good at Attack, training it in Defense seems like the next step. That’s what I thought too, but this leaves your pokémon vulnerable to Attacks AND too weak to Defend itself. 

To help with an example, I’m going to use pokémon showdown screen caps. Let’s say your opponent is Gengar. This Gengar has a Timid nature, emphasizing its Speed and lessening its Attack. It’s been trained so that it adds those 63 point boosts to it’s Speed and Sp. Attack. 

Since Gengar’s Defenses are so low, we’ll need to have enough power and speed to strike the opponent first. Let’s say Scolipede is Gengar’s opponent; and let’s say that instead of train Scolipede in its strengths, we raise its defenses in hope of out-living our opponent. 

This was my original plan for my Scolipede, as laid out in my article found here. You’ll notice, in that article, I lean more towards rounding out your pokémon, however, given our situation with Gengar, this is an ill-advised strategy. In this scenario, Gengar out-speeds Scolipede, lands the first hit, and deals great damage. Scolipede has extremely low Sp. Defense, so even when we make an effort to raise Scolipede’s Defenses, they will never be good enough to stand up to offensive, out-speeders, like Gengar, because they’re too naturally low.

Scolipede is not naturally defensive, so trying to make it so, limits it, and practically makes it useless in competition, but let’s take a look at what Scolipede might look like against Gengar if it’s trained in its strengths: 

Notice how now, Scolipede out-speeds Gengar, landing the first hit. Gengar’s Defense is dreadfully low, and Scolipede has been trained to hone attack. Of course, Scolipede’s defenses lack, but that’s okay, becuase its goal is to out-speed opponents. Its defenses can never be high enough to withstand Gengar. 

The same goes for pokémon whose natural inclination is to out-live opponents. Take Mandibuzz, for example. If we round it out so it’s modeled like an out-speeder we get this:

Mandibuzz’s speed is still too low to out-speed opponents, meaning the out-speed strategy doesn’t work here. Even though we focused Mandibuzz’s speed and attack, neither stat was naturally strong enough to be substantial. We must choose another option. When we train and breed Mandibuzz to emphasize strengths, we can see that its Sp. Defense is now good enough to withstand decent attacks from an out-speeder. If we train it as an out-speeder, its Sp. Defense isn’t strong enough. 

With a spread like this, our best strategy is to out-live opponents; something Gengar and Scolipede just can’t do. There’re plenty of pokémon whose only viable strategy is to out-live. Of course there are many subsets of these two categories, for example, some strategies are to out-live opponents while dealing okay damage, whereas some are to out-live opponents while inflicting status effects or performing clerical aid. 

The major thing to keep in mind is how many out-speeders vs out-livers you have. You don’t want a full team of either, because it has too many exploitable weaknesses, so, unlike individual pokémon, your team should aim to be well rounded. Your pokémon, however, should be focused. 

I didn’t know this beforehand, only after posting erroneous information did I realize I was going down the wrong path. If you train your pokémon to round out their stats and breed them with 6 perfect IVs, they may still impress you against friends and in-game opponents, but when it comes down to it, they will not be able to beat pokémon trained to emphasize their strengths. 

I hope this was helpful, up next I’m going to write about my Kitefight roster! 

[pokefreakguide]

Competitive Battle Team ; Pt. II: Toxicroak

Links: Pretext ; Pt.I

Look... I promise my choices will get better, but I needed to meet my poison quota.

My choices for Toxicroak follow very closely to my choices for Scolipede, because they’re both Attack oriented, poison pokémon. They also share very similar stats, good Attack, bad Defense. Toxicroak is not as bad with Sp. Defense, which is comforting because honestly one attack via Psychic by a Psychic type, IV bred, pokémon (4x effective because of Poison/Fighting typing) and Toxicroak is dead, no questions asked- hence my choice of Anticipation as his ability.

I wasn’t going for 6 perfect IVs on this one, but got lucky. For reference, I was going to forsake Toxicroak’s Sp. Attack, which is why I chose Careful nature again. Forsake Sp. Attack and uplift Sp. Defense.

Again, I didn’t go for the Hidden Ability on this one, but I did do some studying on how to do that and woo... it seriously adds an entire NEW layer of complication that’s hard to cut down on, so you really need to WANT that Hidden Ability, which, I think, certainly adds value to your pokémon when all’s said and done. 

As far as EV training goes, my current proposition is similar again to Scolipede, but this time I’m choosing to max out Speed and Sp. Defense, while boosting Attack.

Toxicroak was hatched with the ability Dry Skin, but I didn’t like the idea of having a pokémon low in the defense department AND weak to Fire Type, so I used another Ability Capsule to change it to Anticipation. Dry Skin, for those of you who don’t know, replenishes HP when hit with Water Type moves and replenishes HP by 1/8th total HP, every turn in rain. However, if it’s sunny, it works the opposite, depleting 1/8th total HP every turn, and weakening your pokémon to fire type moves.

I don’t have any names lined up for Toxicroak, but like I said, I wanna nickname all of this party. 

This next party member is going to take me a LOT longer, because my starting parent is very ... poor, competitively, and it takes TWICE as long to hatch as Toxicroak. So... might be a bit. We’ll see! I’m getting close. I’ll keep you posted! 

[pokefreakguide]

Competitive Battle Team ; Pt. IV: Porygon-Z

Links: Pretext ; Pt. I ; Pt. II ; Pt. III

I told you it was Attack heavy, and yes... Porygon-Z is one of my favorites, but I’m trying to reserve why until that article where I go awf about the reasons I love these pokémon so much. 

Let’s dive directly into my choices here: Upon discovering Smogon, most of this became vastly less “choosy” and more “here’re your best option(s)”. It’s still opinion, Smogon, but, it’s very educated opinion, and so I respect that. As they suggest, I bred it with a Timid nature, forsaking Porygon-Z’s unimportant Attack stat and boosting it’s already impressive Speed. For EV training I’m maxing out it’s aforementioned Speed with 225 EVs and its Sp. Attack with 225 EVs, then boosting HP with the remaining 4 EVs. 

And, yes, you read that right, I bred 3 perfect IV pokémon in one day, they share a birthday. It’s because the eggs for Toxicroak and Scolipede take no time to hatch and I already had close to perfect Venipede and perfect Croagunk, so I just put them in there and popped out perfect lovelies. The rest of the day was spent working on Porygon, because, unlike Toxicroak and Scolipede, Porygon is genderless, making the process a little more difficult. You can’t switch out both parent’s to strengthen the gene pool, only your Porygon.

I purchased my OG Porygon from the game corner in VC Red and named it ILOVEYOU after one of the most notorious computer viruses of all time of the same name. I used that Porgon to breed this one. However, as far as naming goes, I’m naming this Porygon-Z ZZDZZAZZ4ZZ after the ZZAZZ glitch in Pokemon Red and Blue.

I’m leaving this short and sweet, because heaven KNOWS I’mma ramble for ages over my love for Porygon-Z in the end piece, so, I’ll have mercy this time around. 

The next party member is a nostalgic one, I’ll be working on it when I wrote this (9/26) so we’ll see what I cook up!

[pokefreakguide]

Competitive Battle Team ; Pt. VI: Mandibuzz

Links: Pretext ; Pt. I ; Pt. II ; Pt. III ; Pt. IV ; Pt. V

Alright... I do not like this choice, but at this point I needed some defense on this team, and I had a good reason, seeing as vultures are one of my favorite animals of all time. As per usual, I’m saving my reasoning for its own article, but, for now, here’s Mandibuzz.

Mandibuzz has decent Defenses and with no pokémon on this team able to learn any entry hazards (kind of... Scolipede *cough*) I went with defog. I chose a careful nature (+Sp. Def, -Sp. Atk), again by Smogon’s great guidance™ and guys... gu.y.y.s guys. It took me so long to hatch Mandibuzz, and, little spoiler for the end piece to this “septilogy”, I hate... Mandibuzz. a lot. So I spent ALMOST A WHOLE MONTH...... trying to hatch a pokémon I DON’T LIKE. It was... not my best moment. Just for some insight into how horrible this experience was, here’s my Hydriegon redo... which I hatched in 15 minutes...

th..this took me literally 15 minutes and Mandibuzz took me 3 weeks. The reason Mandibuzz took me so long was some faulty breeding habits (not switching in Dittos that had stats I wanted passed down) and bad luck. Mind you, if you’re breeding a genderless pokémon, you can’t switch out both parents cause one has to stay Ditto to breed. Mandibuzz, while not being genderless, is only female, so I still couldn’t switch out both parents for better genes, only one. 

For Mandibuzz, as far as EVs are concerned, I also went with Smogon’s suggestion, which is a max out in HP (252), near max in Sp. Defense (244), and 12 point boost in Speed.

I chose Overcoat as the ability because it offers great defenses from weather and spores. 

It took me a long time to name this pokémon, but I went with Ulna, like the bone in your arm. 

And that wraps this up! For now... I’m actually going to do a few more articles in this little series. The next one is why I made these choices and why I named the pokémon what I did. 

[pokefreakguide]

So, I decided to put together a list of things I’d like to see in the next core installation of the pokémon games. This list is NOT a prediction, but instead a wishlist of sorts. 

First, obviously the game will be set in some region of this mirrored earth that pokémon takes place in. I’m not super tied to any specific region, but I think a mesoamerican region like Mexico would be A++

Obviously there will be plenty of new pokémon, and I have hopes of some of the things we’ll see:

Like the art implies, I REALLY WAnt something to happen with Dunsparce to improve its viability. It’s an awesome pokémon. It’s a freakING SNAKe with wings. I think an evolution or alternate forme/regional variant would be perfect.

I want to see a pokémon based on the Xoloitzcuintle (Mexican Hairless) dog. It would make a BADASS dark type pokémon or maybe even an eeveelution? Leading me to my next point

I want to see an eeveelution. I made a graph for recurring themes in the franchise and, if the pattern stays true, we’ll see a new eeveelution in Gen VIII. (Poison!! Poison!! Poison!!)

I really want to see some more deep sea pokémon. I know, Water is the largest type in the game, so the LAST thing the games need are more Water pokémon, buT THE OCEAN is massive and we know so little about it, so I think Water SHOULD be the largest group. We have Huntail, Gorebyss, Clamperl, Relecant, Anorith, Cradily, Kyogre and maybe Lanturn (+ more?) that could be considered deep sea pokémon, but out of those, really only Huntail and Gorebyss are intentionally “deep sea”. So I want to see some truly weird, water types.

Since Poison is my favorite type, I’d like to see some new poison type combos that can be used in competition/party. We had Nihilego (Poison/Rock) in Gen VII, but the Ultra Beasts are still technically pseudo-legendary, (right???) so it doesn’t count. Salandit was an awesome addition (not super competitively viable, but ok)! I’m pleased, but I want more, I want to see what other unique combos are thought up.

A Ghost pokémon that I actually like. I love Ghost type, sosososososo much, but very few Ghost pokémon are viable for competition, which can be overlooked, sometimes, but some of them aren’t as cool as I’d like. I want a real kickass ghost pokémon that has a nice, scary feel to it and ISN’T legendary. (I do like Mimikyu and Gengar, but I feel like they’re overused? Maybe I’m just awful, whatever + I understand they gotta appeal to kids too)

Okay, the idea of Alien pokémon was cool, (and already done? Deoxys *cough* Kyurem) and, unpopular opinion: I like the Ultra Beasts a lot! (yeah, even Assembly), but I hope we’re finished with the anomaly. It’s going to be very strained and old to have to keep up with two worlds, and Hawai’i + Aliens is a recurring trope, so I hope it stays over there. If not, though, I will learn to love it. 

I do like the subtraction of HM moves, I hope the future games keep that feature. I appreciate being able to put together whatever party you want. Some of my friends however, will be very displeased if they don’t reinstate HMs, they like the challenge. 

I’d love to see them reinstate pokémon followers like in HGSS I loved it so much, it added to the experience, and with new graphics woULD BE SO fun. 

If the next installation IS on the Nintendo Switch (it is, right?) then I want to see a massive map. We’ve seen what the switch is capable of with Breath of the Wild, and I’m not expecting a huge, open world, pokémon game, BUT, if the Switch can run something as massive as Breath of the Wild, then running a hefty pokémon game should be a piece of cake. 

Also, unrealistic request, but crossbred pokémon variants would just be so cool. In a perfect world maybe. 

I also think it would be neat if the Alolan variants of pokémon were not available in the new games, I mean, they’re Alolan, so, unless you’re in Alola, why would they be available? 

Regardless, I do have a few predictions: 

We will see a new eeveelution. The pattern seems to lean towards it. 

We will have more regional variants that are not Alolan in whatever region we get.

We will (probably) have some new Mega Evolutions.

We will receive some additions to old evolutionary lines. It’s been a while since this happened now, and I’m ready to see what they come up with! 

That’s all, reply or reblog with what you think will be added or what you hope will be added! 

[pokefreakguide]

Magikarp - #129

(This article was requested!)

Water... Water is the most common type in the game, so who is the most common of the “most common”???? The king itself, Magikarp. Magikarp is actually very cleverly designed, because it’s based off of a Red Herring. A Red Herring is not a fish, but is actually a “distraction from something important or relevant”. The idea behind Magikarp is to make you think it’s useless, when in fact, as we all know, it evolves into Gyarados. 

To drive home this point even more, Magikarp has a base stat total of 200 (only 3 other pokémon dip this low). However, when evolved at Level 20, Gyarados boasts a whopping 540. Of course, this means that Magikarp is an appalling competitive battler. Let’s look at the facts: 

Magikarp has a base HP of 20, meaning it freaking sucks in HP, but, redeemably, it has a Defense of 55, so it can actually take a .... little hit... Annoyingly, its Speed it its highest stat at 80 so it can move really fast to do absolutely nothing. Oh... wait... you didn’t know? Magikarp can learn only 3 moves by leveling up. Yes. Three. One of which, as I’m sure you all know, is Splash, which like I said, does nothing. Sure, with Normalium Z, Generation VII onward, it will raise attack 3 levels, but in Magikarp’s case this is hardly helpful. The other two moves Magikarp will learn are Tackle (Level 15) and Flail (Level 30 ; and please for the love of God do not let your Magikarp get to level 30, it evolves at Level 20, let it disappear)

As far as location, I’d be better off explaining the places and games where Magikarp can’t be found. Here’s the list:

...

...

...

Magikarp can be found in every game almost anywhere where water is present. Sure there’re exceptions, (Pokémon Black and White), but those exceptions are just that; exceptions. You can find Magikarp with ease. It’s literally a joke. One of my personal favorite locations for Magikarp is the Magikarp Salesman, in Pokémon Red and Blue, Pokémon Yellow, Pokémon Leaf Green and Fire Red, and Pokémon Black and White. He’ll up-sale Magikarp until he can no longer (for P500), claiming it’s the strongest, best, pokémon. Of course, it’s a Red Herring. 

Magikarp’s design actually takes most from the Asian Carp, hence the name Magikarp. It’s name is derived, clearly, from the words Magic and Carp, I suppose to promote the idea that it’s somehow special. It has very traditional Chinese artistic appearance, even taking from the Chinese Dragon when it evolves into Gyarados. It appears to be wearing a crown, which, again, makes sense given it’s Japanese name (コイキング literally Koiking - Koi+King, again promoting the false idea that it reigns supreme). The pokémon has hard, red scales, clearly good for swimming fast, and aiding the Red Herring analogy. Funnily enough Magikarp kinda keeps it’s gaping mouth when it evolves (except it gets awesome teeth), which is a typical “fishy” characteristic. 

Magikarp is in the Water2 and Dragon egg groups and its egg takes between 1285-1581 Steps to hatch. The Dragon egg group aids with the hint that it basically evolves into a dragon. Magikarp actually requires the fewest egg cycles to hatch (5), which... makes sense, since it’s so weak. 

As far as abilities go, Magikarp has Swift Swim as its only main ability. This means during rain, Magikarp’s speed is doubled this makes it really darned fast, but again, for what? It’s hidden ability, Rattled, however...... . . . . . does the same thing. Well, almost: if Magikarp is hit with a Dark, Ghost, or Bug type move, it’s speed increases (WHY DHCKLSksklj)

Overall, I don’t hate Magikarp, it’s still useful, though that usefulness is almost entirely just to get to Gyarados. 

I actually purchased the Magikarp Salesman’s Magikarp in my VC copy of Pokémon Red, because I thought it would be a cool party member as I transferred my pokémon to Sun and Moon (I also purchased my Porygon from the Game Corner) and it ended up being one of my strongest party members from Pokémon Red, so it just goes to show you, patience pays off. 

[pokefreakguide]

Competitive Battle Team ; Pt. V: Houndoom

Links: Pretext ; Pt. I ; Pt. II ; Pt. III ; Pt. IV

My next attacker is Houndoom. If I were going for a true attack oriented team, I’d probably save AT LEAST the last two spots in the roster for defense. I’m not, of course, so... yeah. 

Houndoom is awesome, (except for the fact it doesn’t have ears?) and due to nostalgic purposes, which I’ll elaborate more on later, had to have it on my team. I chose a hasty nature, because its speed is important given its spread. As far as EV distribution, I’m choosing to train it in Attack (100 EVs), Sp. Attack (184 EVs), and Speed (224 EVs). I’m wary again, like Hydreigon, because this leaves a glaring hole in defense, and Houndoom’s speed, is not high enough to properly prevent swift attackers. One thing I’ve learned throughout this whole endeavor is, if you’re attack oriented, you need high speed. Without high speed, unless you can take a hit, your attacker will strike first and take you out. 

I have pokérus, which I’m planning to spread to this team so that’ll make EV training exponentially easier. If you don’t know how pokérus works, it doubles the EVs gained in a pokémon battle. Couple that with an EV training item past Gen IV, and an SOS battle in Gen VII and the process takes about five minutes to max out a single stat. In pokémon like Houndoom, I’ll need to watch its EV consumption a little closer, since I’m not maxing anything. Pokérus is cured after 3-4 days, but still doubles EVs eternally. 

I chose the ability Flash Fire, because it’s a good immunity and better than other Houndoom abilities.

This Houndoom setup basically just follows Smogon’s suggestions again. So will my last pokémon setup. 

I’m naming this Houndoom Niko, and I’ll explain why in the last article. I actually hatched TWO females, both hasty nature, perfect IVs, before the male, but I had to have a male to fit my specific idea. 

I’m considering doing this again, with a team I've more smartly planned out (because like... I’ve really enjoyed this), but for now, it’s on to the next and final choice. I still haven’t hatched it- it’s taking me a long while. 

[pokefreakguide]

Competitive Battle Team ; Pt. III: Hydreigon

Links: Pretext ; Pt. I ; Pt. II

First: one of y'all pointed out that I was going about this entirely wrong. Which is exactly what I was hoping for, feedback- because I've never done this before and was hoping for some constructive criticism or, otherwise, confirmation.

That's all it took, I started digging deeper (discovered smogon u, so, cool) and now I feel much more equipped to raise stronger competitive Pokémon.

I decided to raise each with 6 IVs and beneficial natures, so I actually went back and rebred Scolipede and Toxicroak so that they are Jolly and Adamant, respectively. EV training will be in criteria that benefits their strengths instead of building their weaknesses.

My next endeavor? Hydreigon. Now, I know I literally just said I was making better choices, but strap in, because this team is dreadfully unbalanced in attack. As I said before, I chose pokémon which I felt more exactly exemplified myself/my personality instead of perfect competitive choices. Maybe one day in the future I’ll work on that! Here are updated info graphs of Scolipede and Toxicroak:

As you can see, I’m EV Training (yellow) in places where their nature is benefited. I went with Dry Skin for Toxicroak, because, as I said, I’m learning and it was pointed out to me that it’s better to leave Toxicroak’s weaknesses alone and just focus on strengths, one of which, can be it’s immunity to Water type.

Now, as far as Hydreigon’s wonky spread, I’m actually considering rebreeding it with either a Timid or Modest nature. Regardless, I’m questioning not maxing out it’s Sp. Attack and Speed. I’m not entirely sure what I’ll do with it, but I based it off of Serebii’s spread listed in the Hydreigon: Pokémon of the Week article, instead of Smogon’s suggestions. It suggests a spread of 100 Attack EVs, 216 Sp. Attack EVs, and 192 Speed EVs. The issues with this is Hydreigon’s Speed is not enough to warrant leaving it’s Defenses low, unless you’re focusing SOLELY on its Speed, and that’s what Smogon suggests. Regardless, I’m approaching this in more of a cross-that-bridge-when-you-get-to-it way. One qualm I have with Mild nature is, obviously Hydreigon’s Defense does NOT need to be any lower, if anything it’s its speed it’s not using, right? But, that’s the issue, it needs that Speed... The reason I wish I’d gone with either Timid or Modest instead of Mild, is I don’t really need Hydreigon’s Attack, it’s Sp. Attack is where it’s biggest strength lies. AND If you don’t think a nature matters much (because I was wary) then you are so wrong. I plugged them into an online battle simulator and holy crap, they matter a lot. 

Regardless, I’m going to have to play around with options, but had to let everyone know, this team is going to be dreadfully Attack heavy, leaving gaping holes in Defense, (though I do have one defense pokémon planned) and that I’m totally okay with that; and then, of course, that I finally hatched my Hydreigon. 

As far as names go, I’m naming this Hydreigon Gwendolen after Queen Gwendolen of 11th Century BC Britain. She fought her husband for the monarchy and became the first Queen Regnant. Badass. Another name I considered for Hydreigon was Itzpapalotl, the Aztecan, Skeleton, Warrior, Goddess of the Paradise for infants dead in infancy. Her name, Itzpapalotl (EETS•PAY•PAH•LOT•L) means Obsidian Butterfly, which I thought was PERFECT for Hydreigon, but I just don’t like the way it sounds as well as I do Gwendolen. 

The next pokémon in my roster is probably my favorite pokémon concept of all time. I seriously can’t stress enough how much I love it. I am very excited to try it out. I’ll keep you posted. (no, it’s not Umbreon). Also: I will be posting an article when the team is complete of their names and the the reason I chose those pokémon and how it relates to me. 

[pokefreakguide]

Competitive Battle Team ; Pt. VII: Choices

Links: Pretext ; Pt. I ; Pt. II ; Pt. III ; Pt. IV ; Pt. V ; Pt. VI

This is the last article for my competitive team! And in this article I’m going to explain the pokémon I chose, why I chose them, and summarize their nicknames. I called this team the Kitelike team because the reason I chose all of these Pokémon is because I liked them and gave that precedence to the actual competitive viability (p.s. my name is kite, hence kitelike) First up:

Scolipede ; Atari 

I chose Scolipede because centipedes have always been one of my largest fears since childhood, and through my life, I’ve found the best way to conquer my fears has been to study them. So, one day I set out to learn everything I could about centipedes and became fixated. I adore them now, and though they certainly still freak me out a bit, I had to add Scolipede to my party. In addition to this, I love poison type pokémon. Centipedes are the harbingers of bad news and the symbols of death. I chose the name Atari as a deviation of the word Ataraxia because of the song Centipede by Wisen, in which the artist speaks of receiving ataraxy. Ataraxy is an extreme serenity, a peace. I thought this name would be cool because of Scolipede’s attack. It adds an almost sinister element. Calmly, cooly, killing you. 

Toxicroak ; Redlight 

Toxicroak was always one of my favorite designed pokémon, primarily because of its neat raptor-like claws. I have also, since childhood, loved frogs, and though my fixation has since faded, it’s a good ol’ call back to when I was 13. Generation IV is also one of my favorite generations, so had to pay homage. I chose the name Redlight for multiple reasons. First, Toxicroak looks very naughty at first glance and Redlight has connotations of naughtiness due to its association with the red light district. Second, it gives thoughts of a red traffic light, which is an indication to stop- like a directive to faint, a stop to your game. 

Hydreigon ; Gwendolen

It took some getting used to, but when I finally understood Hydreigon, it swiftly became one of my favorite pokémon. I wish it had better stats, because it’s seriously an awesome character. Its two auxiliary heads are actually arms, when I understood that, it changed my opinion on the pokémon, entirely. I also had a revelation that its covered head as Deino and Zweilous, peels back to form its mane as Hydreigon. It’s truly a disturbing design, and with Dark as one of its two types, I had to have it. Hydreigon reminds me of artist Nick Bantok, whose art has influenced me a lot throughout my life. Again, like centipedes, I started off being very afraid of Bantok’s artwork, but came to love it. Should my Hydreigon have been male, I would have named it Bantok. However, it wasn’t: I chose the name Gwendolen because of Queen Gwendolen of 11th Century BC Britain, who fought a battle against her husband, the king, and defeated him. She took his throne and became the first Queen Regnant (meaning she ruled alone). I chose this name because I really wanted a male Hydreigon, I had the name picked out and everything! But I landed on a female and decided I would roll with it. She took him down. Gwendolen is my second 6 IV Hydreigon, the first I named Itzpapalotl (meaning “obsidian butterfly”). I bred two because the first has a weird spread and questionable nature. 

Porygon-z ; ZZDZZAZZ4ZZ

Ah, here we are. Porygon-z says more about me on this list, than any other. It’s my star. I can’t get enough of it. When I was younger, I used to love Porygon. I used to think it was really cool, but as it evolved I never really paid attention and didn’t have the knowledge, nor attention span to appreciate what was going on. I didn’t know what “dubious” meant, I didn’t know anything about computers or graphics, and though I loved Generation IV, I mostly loved it because it took place in a snowier region, Sinnoh. However, as I grew older, some naivety faded. I got massively into Glitch art culture as I grew older. I became an avid fan of Alva Noto, a glitch/minimalist musician. I love glitch digital sounds and artwork more than I can even describe, it shaped me into who I am more than any other type of music/artwork. I dowloaded VC Red about a year ago. I played through it, purchased my Porygon at the Game Corner, and had a good time. But when I transferred my Porygon up to Pokémon Sun and Moon and evolved it into Porygon-z, it all hit me. I had no idea that Porygon-z’s design was to be based off of a glitch/virus, until I saw the frantic manor in which it moved in Sun and Moon. The Dubious Disc now made sense. A bootlegged up-grade gone awry. If you pay attention, it could even be argued that Porygon-z’s head is simply Porygon2′s head, detached and flipped upside-down. The pokémon is literally a whacked out version of it’s preevolution and that. That. Is RIGHT up my alley. Everything from its cry to its physicality is exceptional thinking. Of course, I had to give it a proper name, so I named it after the harrowing ZZAZZ glitch in Pokémon Red and Blue. I didn’t name it “ZZAZZ” because in the glitch, when in battle, your opponents name contains the characters ZZDZZAZZ4ZZIZZ9 and so on. I shortened it to ZZDZZAZZ4ZZ so I could justify calling it “zaz” verbally. Regardless, I mainly chose the name because this glitch corrupts your save file, destroying your progress, again, making an allusion to destruction. 

Houndoom ; Niko

Back when I was younger, I used to play Monster Rancher 4 on the PS2. It’s ... such a good game, it’s fun, makes collecting species fun, and includes battling and training, much like pokémon. I used to have a Tiger/Zan mix (Nightfang) that I named Niko, after my grandparent’s Samoyed dog. Niko was a staple in their house when I was a child, but died when I was still young. SO this nickname is a massive homage to several bits of myself in a more nostalgic sense. I’ve always liked Houndour/Houndoom and have definitely raised them before, but never with the intent of being a party member, and with all of the increased interaction we’re seeing with pokémon via Pokémon Refresh, I HAD to have a Houndoom. I want to pet it and love it <3. 

Mandibuzz ; Ulna

If I could be reincarnated as any animal I would want to be a vulture. I love them so much, but, fun fact: I do not like Mandibuzz. I chose several other pokémon beforehand. Alolan Marowak, Dragalge, I tried a bunch of options, but kept coming back to Mandibuzz. I just... do not like it’s design as much as I could. Vultures are so neat, badass, would make an AWESOME pokémon, but instead they made Mandibuzz. As is the norm for me, through my dislike blossomed amiability and I actually grew to accept Mandibuzz as an option for my team, ultimately feeling like the team was missing something when I removed it. And so here we are. One of my massive qualms is its cry, I know, it’s not a real vulture, but vultures don’t make vocal calls because they lack vocal organs, so instead they make raking, guttural, hisses that sound SO FREAKING BADASS I CANNOT TELL YOU ENOUGH. Instead they made it a squawky mess. I also love bones, but the idea of giving this awesome-ass bird a bone .... apron.. . . ? ? //? /? /  because? ? ?it’s a woman?? ? I have no idea, regardless, it found its way onto my team and I appreciate it enough to allow it to stay. Before anyone starts on me, it’s named “Mandibuzz”, implying it might be meant to be a “buzzard”, right?? But my kind fellow, No. It’s named that because here in the good ol’ US of A we call vultures “buzzards” and actual buzzards are unknown to most the good folk ‘round here because they have no clue what they’re talking about. A true buzzard is more like a hawk, but Mandibuzz is clearly meant to be a vulture, much to my chagrin. Another reason for choosing it was all of my childhood reminiscing and glitchy folly, lead me to offensive team member after offensive team member and I needed a good defense option. Instead, I chose Mandibuzz, an okay defense, but a powerhouse if played correctly. I’m really hoping that this pokémon grows on me, and I think... it could. I named it Ulna after the bone in your arm, conterpart to the radius. It took me a while to name this one, but I’m happy with what I landed on. 

I learned a lot through this experience and I’m actually going on to create a more viable team. I’ll do an article on that team, but I won’t draw it out over 7 parts. For now, thanks for reading all this jargon and going on this journey with me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go raise and EV train 6 pokémon. 

[pokefreakguide]

colonelbaryl24 mentioned you on a post “A list of major recurring themes in the Pokémon gaming franchise...”

@pokefreakguide gen 2's bugs are ledyba and spinarak? And gen 4's is kricketot

That line in the graph is actually Bug Pokémon that go through a pupa and larva stage (IE: Metapod, Kakuna, Cascoon, Silcoon, Swadloon, Whirlipede, Spewpa, and Charjabug), something Gen II and IV lack.

[pokefreakguide]

I’m going to start reblogging pokémon content on this blog; artwork, other things like that, just to keep it more active when I’m not around. If that doesn’t appeal to you, you can blacklist the tag “qu” :)))