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Pokémon: Black and White and thread (all) over!
Xenogears of Bore
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
POKEMON BLACK AND WHITE
AND 
Yes the Black Version has the White one and vice versa. Michael Jackson would be proud.
RELEASE DATES:
Japan: September 18, 2010
North America: March 6, 2011
Australia: March 4, 2011
Europe: March 4, 2011
Yes, that is a first for Europe. Go Europe.
What is Pokémon?
A portmanteau of the worlds Pocket and Monster.
...
Yeah I know, its Pocket Monsters in Japan and some crazy made up Japanese word everywhere else. Deal with it.
Oh, you wanted a long ass Wiki style quote.
Pokémon is at its core an RPG in which you collect a party of cute and cuddly little monsters and beat up other children's party of cute and cuddly monsters, knock them out and steal their lunch money. That and furious inbreeding and cross species mating to create unstoppable battle thralls. If you're still in this thread you probably know all this. Oh sure there is usually some overarching plotline involving ten year olds, elemental gods, mad scientists, eco terrorists, PETA gone bad and so forth. But basically battle, trade, level, breed, only to battle more.
But I'm not from the future/can't read crazy moon speech!
Oh then you're probably interested in one of the many (16 released in North America and Europe) other versions of Pokémon. You've come to the right place. You probably have one or more of these games. If you own Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Crystal then you're probably old. The first three games in particular have not aged well. If you want that old timey Kanto experience go play Fire Red or Leaf Green. These games are no longer compatible with the current generation of games. You probably have a hard time finding anyone to battle or trade with considering you can't battle or trade online. But at least you are secure in the knowledge that you've got the original unbalanced 151/251 of your formative years. Good for you.
Those games are awesome but have been remade. The remakes torch them in every which way.
If you own any of the other ten games you're in luck. Well, Ruby, Sapphire, Fire Red, Leaf Green, and Emerald (Known collectively as Generation Three) can't trade online being GBA games and all but can move pokémon to the other five games via a Nintendo DS or DS Lite. These five games are the start of the modern Pokémon era and while not as refined as the five DS games are a step in the right direction. Natures, Abilities, Battle Frontier (Emerald) and a fixed EV/IV system.
Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Heart Gold and Soul Silver are the real deal right now and compose the fourth generation of the game. These games have online battling and trading, refined mechanics, 486 possible pokémon to catch, and slowdown! Platinum and HG/SS largely make Diamond and Pearl look shoddy. A great deal of this thread will deal with these five games so I won't talk too much about them here.
What is the deal with Black and White?
Taking place in a new region in a new part of the Pokémon world with over One Hundred and Fifty new monsters to catch and battle with. Yes, that is the most ever in a region. Also curious is the fact that no old version pokémon make an appearance before you beat the game, at which point you can trade over any Pokémon from any fourth generation game using another DS. Oh quit complaining and borrow another one. It will work perfectly fine with the upcoming 3DS that also comes out in March so there is a perfect solution right there. But yes, that means no Abra, Pikachu, Machop and most importantly no more Geodude or Zubat in every single cave.
What Features does it have?
Besides the new Pokémon you also have a faster interface, better graphics, and exclusive DSi/3DS only video chats and other presentation nonsense.
In the game itself you have two brand new forms of 3 on 3 battles, minigames, seasons, and the new improved online features cemented around the Global Link idea. Besides a revamped GTS (Post your unwanted pokémon for global trades) and some frankly fascinatingly weird co-operative modes you also have acess to the Dream World and the ability to catch Dream World pokémon with new and unusal in battle abilities. Some of which are broken, others which are hilarious. You get these pokémon by doing various dream world events and earning points which eventually unlock the ability to catch new monsters posted on the site.
It's gonna be fantastic.
Back to the 4th Generation?
Yeah, you got it.
Current State of Pokémon
Pretty good! There are five in store giveaways coming out in the next two months to lead up to the release of the new games.
Ash's Pikachu is coming to Toys R US on January 30th until the sixth of February. It comes with a light ball, a few anime inspired moves and unlocks...jack shit.
A shiny Raikou with interesting and unique moves is available at Gamestop...right now! It (or either of the other two shiny legendaries) will unlock an event and an exclusive pokémon in Black or White.
A shiny Entei with interesting and unique moves is available at Gamestop from January 17th until the 23rd. and a Suicune is available at Gamestop from January 31st until the 7th of February.
The real deal however is the Celebi coming to Gamestop from the 27th of February to the day after the release of Pokémon Black. This one unlocks events in Heart Gold, Soul Silver, Black and White.
I've beaten the game, I want to catch them all.
Trade with people. Feel free to ask for it and someone will probably get it to you. That being said one copy of Platinum and either Heart Gold or Soul Silver will give you access to almost every pokémon. Learn how to use the PokéRadar in Platinum and the Safari Zone/Pokéwalker in HG/SS.
I've beaten the game, I want to battle my friends online.
Good!
Oh, you want me to give you a not so brief rundown on how things work. Ok. Let's start with breeding.
Breeding in Brief
Basics
Breeding is honestly not as hard as it looks. When a male Pokémon and a female Pokémon love each other very much (don't hate each other) an egg mysteriously appears. We don't know how it got there but we wonder if you want to keep it.
Oh, you want to know how it works and why you would want to. Ok, fine.
Every pokémon in the game is divided into 15 egg groups. The fifteenth group is full of Pokémon that cannot breed whatsoever. This group includes legendaries that aren't Manaphy and Ditto. Each other pokémon can belong to up to two egg groups and can breed with any pokémon in those two groups...and Ditto.
Why would you want to breed? For egg moves and a chance at passing down favorable stats. Males give moves. Females determine which pokémon the egg becomes. If the pokémon to be hatched can learn the move then the move is in fact passed down. If all four moves are passed down then those are the ones you get. If only three are you'll get whatever pre level one moves the pokémon gets and so on.
How do you breed? Find the Pokémon Day Care. Put your two breedable pokémon in the day care. Wait for the old man to face out towards you, talk to him. If you have room in your party he'll give you an egg. Walk awhile with the egg in your party to hatch said egg.
EXAMPLE: I have a male Venusaur with Leech Seed and Earthquake and a female Meganium. They are both in the monster and plant breeding groups, so no problems there. Get the egg, keep it in the party until it hatches and presto, a new Chikorita with Leech Seed, Tackle, and Growl. Why no earthquake? Well, even though Meganium can learn Earthquake via TM Chikorita cannot. Tackle and Growl are the same moves any level one Chikoria would know.
Advanced
Ditto is a total slut. If a Pokémon can breed at all it can breed with ditto. Dittos always count as female so make sure you breed them with males if you want egg moves. Try to catch one of each nature to aid in breeding specific natures.
When you get more in depth with battling you'll frequently want to breed your pokémon for a specific nature to maximize your pokémons potential. Natures improve the base stat total of one stat by ten percent and decreases another stat by ten percent. Since most pokémon have at least one stat they don't need (Usually one of the attacks or speed) breeding for specific natures can only help out maximizing its potential. If you have a parent with the right nature you can make it hold an Everstone to give any egg it is the parent of a 50% chance to have that nature.
Why if you already have a parent of the right nature would you need to breed? Egg moves, better stats, better ability.
Example: The Chikorita from the last example was male but it didn't have a nature we wanted. If we breed it with a Timid Ditto holding an Everstone any egg hatched from that union will have a 50% (Plus the chance for it to be Timid anyways) to be Timid. This is a huge timesaver!
Stats breeding is a bit more complicated. Each individual pokémon has a number from 0 to 31 for each of its Stats: HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, Speed. This is called the individual value. Every wild pokémon has a random number between zero and thirty one in each of these values. The higher the number, the higher that stat is. To simplify the game for people these numbers are hidden.
When it comes to bred Pokémon they inherit anywhere from one to three stats from their parents. First the game picks one stat from one of the parents at random and gives it to the egg. Then it picks a non HP stat (including the one it already passed) and then a third in the same way, only this time ignoring HP and Defense. The other 3 to 5 are random.
Determining IVs of newly bred pokémon can be a bit of a pain. The best way is to have what we like to call an IV fight in which you challenge someone to an IV fight over the internet. Yell at someone on these forums to give you a fight, write down the values of each stat of the pokémon, and enter those values along with the nature and breed of pokémon into any IV calculator and presto. IVs. You can also use this to find out the hidden power of this pokémon.
In Heart Gold/Soul Silver and beyond you can also use the Power items (Power Bracer, Band, Anklet, Weight, Lens,Belt Which we will be talking about later!) to guarantee that the parent holding that item will pass down the stat automatically. This can be incredibly useful, especially if you get your hands on a ditto with really good stats.
Anklet passes Speed
Band passes Special Defense
Belt passes Defense
Bracer passes Attack
Lens passes Special Attack
Weight passes HP
Example: We finally have a male chikorita of the nature we wanted, but its stats suck. We have a ditto with an awesome special attack (31, the best it can be) so we throw our young chikorita into the day care with the super ditto, with the chikorita now holding the Everstone and the Super Ditto holding the Power Lens. Now all eggs hatched from these two give you a 50% of being Timid and a 100% of having a 31 Special Attack!
Abilities: Well, once we are in hip deep with Generation five this section will get something added to it, but right now it is basically a 50/50 proposition on those with more than one ability. Abilities can make a great deal of difference in a battle or they can be basically pointless. Just keep breeding until you get the one you want!
Breeding Tips:
Pokémon in the first slot in your party hatch slightly faster.
Pokémon with the ability Magma Armor and Flame Body hatch eggs in half the time. I like Magmortar because he looks like a Megaman boss.
Smeargle can pass any possible egg move in the ground breeding group. This is amazingly handy.
Baby pokémon cannot breed. This isn't actually all that many pokémon. Pichu, Igglybuff, Cleffa, Magby, Tyrogue, Togepi, Elekid, Smoochum, Wynaut, Azumarill, Budew, Chingling, Happiny, Bonsly, Mime Jr., Munchlax, Riolu, Mantyke. The one people usually forget is Riolu. Just raise them to their next form and breeding will continue.
I use Serebii's Pokédex for Egg moves, Bulbapedia's page on natures and Metalkid's IV Calculator for IV Calculating. Serebii's method of grouping egg moves in particular is fairly handy.
Raising Pokémon
Once you have the egg moves, stats, and abilities you like on your pokémon now it is time to get them into fighting form. IVs are not the only way to effect the stats of a pokémon, each stat also has an experience system. Everytime you gain experience from a fight you also gain points on certain stats from the effort of fighting that pokémon. Vitamins can also add to the total, but only to a certain point. The stats go from zero to 255, and each pokémon can have a total effort value of 510 or two fully maxed stats. Every four points of effort gives you a one point gain in that stat at level 100! That means you could get a 63 point shift on any neutral natured stat and 69 on the stat positively changed by the nature.
Example: A Timid Alakazam with 31 IVs in each Stat would have a level 100 stat line of:
251 HP, 122 Attack, 126 Defense, 306 Special Attack, 206 Special Defense, 303 Speed with zero EV investment. If you put 252 points into Speed and Special Attack each and 6 points into HP though the line shifts to:
252 HP, 122 Attack, 126 Defense, 369 Special Attack, 206 Special Defense, 372 Speed, quite the difference!
EV Training in Practice
Each pokémon you fight and win experience points from gives you anywhere from 1-3 effort points in either one or two stats, the maximum being three points. A pokémon infected by the pokérus has all effort points gained doubled and those handy Power items mentioned in stat breeding's primary job is to add four points to any effort values gained in the stats that it effects. Using certain spots with lots of pokémon that provide the stat you want is a good idea.
Example: Our Chikorita from the previous example wants to max its Special Attack. If we have it fight Golducks which provide +2 effort values to Special Attack it will gain two points for each fight it won. It does not need to gain the killing blow nor be alive the whole fight, it only has to be alive when the golduck dies i.e. be eligable for gaining exp. If the Chikorita has contracted the Pokérus by being in a party with another Pokémon that has the virus it will gain 4 effort values in Special Attack. If it is equipped with the Power Lens it will gain (2+4) or six effort values and if it has both the Pokérus and the Power Lens equipped it will gain (2+4)x2 or 12 points.
Psypoke's EV spot training is a good resource for tracking the point totals awarded for ease of use.
Vitamins while expensive can give a pokémon 10 effort values in the effected stat, up to a total of 100. You cannot go above the pokémon's total of 510 total points. Vitamins are not effected by the pokérus or the power items.
The Vitamins are as follows:
HP UP=HP
Protein=Attack
Iron=Defense
Calcium=Special Attack
Zinc=Special Defense
Carbos=Speed
Example: We battled 21 Golducks with our brave Chikorita (with the Power Lens and Pokérus) and earned an impressive 252 Special Attack! But now we want to add points to our HP. We go out and buy 10 HP Ups and give them to our Chikorita, giving it a total of 100 EVs in HP! We have 158 more points until max but we'd need to battle more to get any extra totals in HP! If we accidentily tried to feed the Chikoria a Calcium which boosts Special Attack it would not work, but we would also not lose the vitamin!
EV Tips
Focus on one pokémon and one stat at a time. It's much easier.
Use PP of your favorite killing move (assuming you killed the pokémon in one hit) to keep track of EVs. Just subtract the total you had from the amount remaining and multiply that by what the battle would give you.
The power items are post game only, but you could trade them over if you wanted. Note that they lower in battle speed by quite a bit when equipped, so be wary. You earn them in the Battle Frontier.
Use repels+higher level lead pokémon to get you into the spot where you ev training. Also use higher level pokémon to actually kill the thing for your level one guy.
Team Building
So now you know the how to get your team into fighting shape, but which pokémon to use? A good question. Team balance is an important idea. If all your pokémon are weak to one or two moves you could find yourself easily beaten and that's not fun. Try to keep these ideas in mind.
Have something that can stop sweeps: Some pokémon like to use stat boosting moves to raise one of their attack scores and then go wild against opposing teams. Having someone who can come in and get the kill on these monsters is absolutely vital. A strong, fast pokémon with a good move that goes first is invaluable.
Don't Have too many glass cannons. Remember those Strong Fast Pokémon I mentioned? Well, most of them are rather frail and they can't kill all pokémon designed to hang around taking hits. These walls are a vital part of any good team, able to switch in to hits and force the opponent to struggle while you heal off attacks they do or just simply kill them off.
Make your pokémon specialists when it comes to evs and natures, not attacks. Specilization is key in stat distrbution but remember that the more types of pokémon you can do super effective or neutral damage to the better. The ideal situation is being able to hit a few types for super effective and the rest for neutral, but on some pokémon designed for defense or stalling or other trickery sometimes the best you can do is one strong attack, so try for something that nothing is immune to. Ice and Dragon are good examples.
A good simple balanced team involves having a Special Wall, a Physical Wall, A Sweeper, a Lead, a Rapid Spinner or Spin Blocker (A ghost) and then a back up. Back ups can be clerics, annoyers (Status effects) and Revenge Killer (Assuming your sweeper can't do it. You can forgo the spinner if you know your opponent isn't using hazards for whatever reason.
Item choice matters, especially in the fourth and fifth generations. You can sometimes build the pokémon around the use of an item. If you can't think of anything better Leftovers is the default.
Entry Hazards need to be used and they need to be stopped. Same goes with weather. These effects can change the game dramatically. 5th gen will be rife with weather effect users and fourth gen was dominated by use of Stealth Rock. Having a rapid spinner was and still is a good idea.
Think outside the box. Everyone knows about various Smogon standards, and I'm not even suggesting you don't use them. However if you know their common moveset allotments you can come up with something custom designed to take them down.
All Pokémon are useful. Some are more useful than others. When fighting on P-A inevitably picks up again with the release of BW remember that we tend to have fairly open battling rules, basically no legendaries. Some places use Smogon tiers while others allow any number of legendaries or just two. Also learn about the item clause.
Battle, battle, battle. Practice until you know how the game works.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Black or White?
Oooh, ooh, yeah yeah now.
Black has items, lots and lots of items. White has more and better exclusive pokémon. Because of the online nature of the game it kinda makes Black better. White if you never intend to do serious trading.
DS doesn't cooperate with my router.
WEP or no encryption. You can get around it by either turning off the security for whenever you go online or use a Wi-Fi access point extender which you plug in only when you need it and set it to WEP. Either that or camp out at a McDonalds. Sometimes even if you have all that stuff together your router and DS won't get along. It happens between any wireless devices. Mine for example works great but if I can't connect I need to restart my router, at which point it works flawlessly afterwards.
How do I make money?
Marry someone rich. Oh, in game. Either versus seeker the really rich people in D/P/P over and over again (with an amulet coin equipped) or fight the E4 over and over again (with an amulet coin equipped.
What is the best pokémon for catching?
Smeargle with False Swipe, Spider Web, Foresight, Spore. Can catch literally anything in the game...given enough time. Other good choices include a Thick Club Marowak with False Swipe or a Spore/False Swipe Breloom.
Why no Underboob?
No offical artwork with underboob that I can remember.
How do you get the é?
On a US English keyboard holt the alt key and type 130.
AND Yes the Black Version has the White one and vice versa. Michael Jackson would be proud.
RELEASE DATES:
Japan: September 18, 2010
North America: March 6, 2011
Australia: March 4, 2011
Europe: March 4, 2011
Yes, that is a first for Europe. Go Europe.
What is Pokémon?
A portmanteau of the worlds Pocket and Monster.
...
Yeah I know, its Pocket Monsters in Japan and some crazy made up Japanese word everywhere else. Deal with it.
Oh, you wanted a long ass Wiki style quote.
Pokémon is at its core an RPG in which you collect a party of cute and cuddly little monsters and beat up other children's party of cute and cuddly monsters, knock them out and steal their lunch money. That and furious inbreeding and cross species mating to create unstoppable battle thralls. If you're still in this thread you probably know all this. Oh sure there is usually some overarching plotline involving ten year olds, elemental gods, mad scientists, eco terrorists, PETA gone bad and so forth. But basically battle, trade, level, breed, only to battle more.
But I'm not from the future/can't read crazy moon speech!
Oh then you're probably interested in one of the many (16 released in North America and Europe) other versions of Pokémon. You've come to the right place. You probably have one or more of these games. If you own Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Crystal then you're probably old. The first three games in particular have not aged well. If you want that old timey Kanto experience go play Fire Red or Leaf Green. These games are no longer compatible with the current generation of games. You probably have a hard time finding anyone to battle or trade with considering you can't battle or trade online. But at least you are secure in the knowledge that you've got the original unbalanced 151/251 of your formative years. Good for you.
Those games are awesome but have been remade. The remakes torch them in every which way.
If you own any of the other ten games you're in luck. Well, Ruby, Sapphire, Fire Red, Leaf Green, and Emerald (Known collectively as Generation Three) can't trade online being GBA games and all but can move pokémon to the other five games via a Nintendo DS or DS Lite. These five games are the start of the modern Pokémon era and while not as refined as the five DS games are a step in the right direction. Natures, Abilities, Battle Frontier (Emerald) and a fixed EV/IV system.
Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Heart Gold and Soul Silver are the real deal right now and compose the fourth generation of the game. These games have online battling and trading, refined mechanics, 486 possible pokémon to catch, and slowdown! Platinum and HG/SS largely make Diamond and Pearl look shoddy. A great deal of this thread will deal with these five games so I won't talk too much about them here.
What is the deal with Black and White?
Taking place in a new region in a new part of the Pokémon world with over One Hundred and Fifty new monsters to catch and battle with. Yes, that is the most ever in a region. Also curious is the fact that no old version pokémon make an appearance before you beat the game, at which point you can trade over any Pokémon from any fourth generation game using another DS. Oh quit complaining and borrow another one. It will work perfectly fine with the upcoming 3DS that also comes out in March so there is a perfect solution right there. But yes, that means no Abra, Pikachu, Machop and most importantly no more Geodude or Zubat in every single cave.
What Features does it have?
Besides the new Pokémon you also have a faster interface, better graphics, and exclusive DSi/3DS only video chats and other presentation nonsense.
In the game itself you have two brand new forms of 3 on 3 battles, minigames, seasons, and the new improved online features cemented around the Global Link idea. Besides a revamped GTS (Post your unwanted pokémon for global trades) and some frankly fascinatingly weird co-operative modes you also have acess to the Dream World and the ability to catch Dream World pokémon with new and unusal in battle abilities. Some of which are broken, others which are hilarious. You get these pokémon by doing various dream world events and earning points which eventually unlock the ability to catch new monsters posted on the site.
It's gonna be fantastic.
Back to the 4th Generation?
Yeah, you got it.
Current State of Pokémon
Pretty good! There are five in store giveaways coming out in the next two months to lead up to the release of the new games.
Ash's Pikachu is coming to Toys R US on January 30th until the sixth of February. It comes with a light ball, a few anime inspired moves and unlocks...jack shit.
A shiny Raikou with interesting and unique moves is available at Gamestop...right now! It (or either of the other two shiny legendaries) will unlock an event and an exclusive pokémon in Black or White.
A shiny Entei with interesting and unique moves is available at Gamestop from January 17th until the 23rd. and a Suicune is available at Gamestop from January 31st until the 7th of February.
The real deal however is the Celebi coming to Gamestop from the 27th of February to the day after the release of Pokémon Black. This one unlocks events in Heart Gold, Soul Silver, Black and White.
I've beaten the game, I want to catch them all.
Trade with people. Feel free to ask for it and someone will probably get it to you. That being said one copy of Platinum and either Heart Gold or Soul Silver will give you access to almost every pokémon. Learn how to use the PokéRadar in Platinum and the Safari Zone/Pokéwalker in HG/SS.
I've beaten the game, I want to battle my friends online.
Good!
Oh, you want me to give you a not so brief rundown on how things work. Ok. Let's start with breeding.
Breeding in Brief
Basics
Breeding is honestly not as hard as it looks. When a male Pokémon and a female Pokémon love each other very much (don't hate each other) an egg mysteriously appears. We don't know how it got there but we wonder if you want to keep it.
Oh, you want to know how it works and why you would want to. Ok, fine.
Every pokémon in the game is divided into 15 egg groups. The fifteenth group is full of Pokémon that cannot breed whatsoever. This group includes legendaries that aren't Manaphy and Ditto. Each other pokémon can belong to up to two egg groups and can breed with any pokémon in those two groups...and Ditto.
Why would you want to breed? For egg moves and a chance at passing down favorable stats. Males give moves. Females determine which pokémon the egg becomes. If the pokémon to be hatched can learn the move then the move is in fact passed down. If all four moves are passed down then those are the ones you get. If only three are you'll get whatever pre level one moves the pokémon gets and so on.
How do you breed? Find the Pokémon Day Care. Put your two breedable pokémon in the day care. Wait for the old man to face out towards you, talk to him. If you have room in your party he'll give you an egg. Walk awhile with the egg in your party to hatch said egg.
EXAMPLE: I have a male Venusaur with Leech Seed and Earthquake and a female Meganium. They are both in the monster and plant breeding groups, so no problems there. Get the egg, keep it in the party until it hatches and presto, a new Chikorita with Leech Seed, Tackle, and Growl. Why no earthquake? Well, even though Meganium can learn Earthquake via TM Chikorita cannot. Tackle and Growl are the same moves any level one Chikoria would know.
Advanced
Ditto is a total slut. If a Pokémon can breed at all it can breed with ditto. Dittos always count as female so make sure you breed them with males if you want egg moves. Try to catch one of each nature to aid in breeding specific natures.
When you get more in depth with battling you'll frequently want to breed your pokémon for a specific nature to maximize your pokémons potential. Natures improve the base stat total of one stat by ten percent and decreases another stat by ten percent. Since most pokémon have at least one stat they don't need (Usually one of the attacks or speed) breeding for specific natures can only help out maximizing its potential. If you have a parent with the right nature you can make it hold an Everstone to give any egg it is the parent of a 50% chance to have that nature.
Why if you already have a parent of the right nature would you need to breed? Egg moves, better stats, better ability.
Example: The Chikorita from the last example was male but it didn't have a nature we wanted. If we breed it with a Timid Ditto holding an Everstone any egg hatched from that union will have a 50% (Plus the chance for it to be Timid anyways) to be Timid. This is a huge timesaver!
Stats breeding is a bit more complicated. Each individual pokémon has a number from 0 to 31 for each of its Stats: HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, Speed. This is called the individual value. Every wild pokémon has a random number between zero and thirty one in each of these values. The higher the number, the higher that stat is. To simplify the game for people these numbers are hidden.
When it comes to bred Pokémon they inherit anywhere from one to three stats from their parents. First the game picks one stat from one of the parents at random and gives it to the egg. Then it picks a non HP stat (including the one it already passed) and then a third in the same way, only this time ignoring HP and Defense. The other 3 to 5 are random.
Determining IVs of newly bred pokémon can be a bit of a pain. The best way is to have what we like to call an IV fight in which you challenge someone to an IV fight over the internet. Yell at someone on these forums to give you a fight, write down the values of each stat of the pokémon, and enter those values along with the nature and breed of pokémon into any IV calculator and presto. IVs. You can also use this to find out the hidden power of this pokémon.
In Heart Gold/Soul Silver and beyond you can also use the Power items (Power Bracer, Band, Anklet, Weight, Lens,Belt Which we will be talking about later!) to guarantee that the parent holding that item will pass down the stat automatically. This can be incredibly useful, especially if you get your hands on a ditto with really good stats.
Anklet passes Speed
Band passes Special Defense
Belt passes Defense
Bracer passes Attack
Lens passes Special Attack
Weight passes HP
Example: We finally have a male chikorita of the nature we wanted, but its stats suck. We have a ditto with an awesome special attack (31, the best it can be) so we throw our young chikorita into the day care with the super ditto, with the chikorita now holding the Everstone and the Super Ditto holding the Power Lens. Now all eggs hatched from these two give you a 50% of being Timid and a 100% of having a 31 Special Attack!
Abilities: Well, once we are in hip deep with Generation five this section will get something added to it, but right now it is basically a 50/50 proposition on those with more than one ability. Abilities can make a great deal of difference in a battle or they can be basically pointless. Just keep breeding until you get the one you want!
Breeding Tips:
Pokémon in the first slot in your party hatch slightly faster.
Pokémon with the ability Magma Armor and Flame Body hatch eggs in half the time. I like Magmortar because he looks like a Megaman boss.
Smeargle can pass any possible egg move in the ground breeding group. This is amazingly handy.
Baby pokémon cannot breed. This isn't actually all that many pokémon. Pichu, Igglybuff, Cleffa, Magby, Tyrogue, Togepi, Elekid, Smoochum, Wynaut, Azumarill, Budew, Chingling, Happiny, Bonsly, Mime Jr., Munchlax, Riolu, Mantyke. The one people usually forget is Riolu. Just raise them to their next form and breeding will continue.
I use Serebii's Pokédex for Egg moves, Bulbapedia's page on natures and Metalkid's IV Calculator for IV Calculating. Serebii's method of grouping egg moves in particular is fairly handy.
Raising Pokémon
Once you have the egg moves, stats, and abilities you like on your pokémon now it is time to get them into fighting form. IVs are not the only way to effect the stats of a pokémon, each stat also has an experience system. Everytime you gain experience from a fight you also gain points on certain stats from the effort of fighting that pokémon. Vitamins can also add to the total, but only to a certain point. The stats go from zero to 255, and each pokémon can have a total effort value of 510 or two fully maxed stats. Every four points of effort gives you a one point gain in that stat at level 100! That means you could get a 63 point shift on any neutral natured stat and 69 on the stat positively changed by the nature.
Example: A Timid Alakazam with 31 IVs in each Stat would have a level 100 stat line of:
251 HP, 122 Attack, 126 Defense, 306 Special Attack, 206 Special Defense, 303 Speed with zero EV investment. If you put 252 points into Speed and Special Attack each and 6 points into HP though the line shifts to:
252 HP, 122 Attack, 126 Defense, 369 Special Attack, 206 Special Defense, 372 Speed, quite the difference!
EV Training in Practice
Each pokémon you fight and win experience points from gives you anywhere from 1-3 effort points in either one or two stats, the maximum being three points. A pokémon infected by the pokérus has all effort points gained doubled and those handy Power items mentioned in stat breeding's primary job is to add four points to any effort values gained in the stats that it effects. Using certain spots with lots of pokémon that provide the stat you want is a good idea.
Example: Our Chikorita from the previous example wants to max its Special Attack. If we have it fight Golducks which provide +2 effort values to Special Attack it will gain two points for each fight it won. It does not need to gain the killing blow nor be alive the whole fight, it only has to be alive when the golduck dies i.e. be eligable for gaining exp. If the Chikorita has contracted the Pokérus by being in a party with another Pokémon that has the virus it will gain 4 effort values in Special Attack. If it is equipped with the Power Lens it will gain (2+4) or six effort values and if it has both the Pokérus and the Power Lens equipped it will gain (2+4)x2 or 12 points.
Psypoke's EV spot training is a good resource for tracking the point totals awarded for ease of use.
Vitamins while expensive can give a pokémon 10 effort values in the effected stat, up to a total of 100. You cannot go above the pokémon's total of 510 total points. Vitamins are not effected by the pokérus or the power items.
The Vitamins are as follows:
HP UP=HP
Protein=Attack
Iron=Defense
Calcium=Special Attack
Zinc=Special Defense
Carbos=Speed
Example: We battled 21 Golducks with our brave Chikorita (with the Power Lens and Pokérus) and earned an impressive 252 Special Attack! But now we want to add points to our HP. We go out and buy 10 HP Ups and give them to our Chikorita, giving it a total of 100 EVs in HP! We have 158 more points until max but we'd need to battle more to get any extra totals in HP! If we accidentily tried to feed the Chikoria a Calcium which boosts Special Attack it would not work, but we would also not lose the vitamin!
EV Tips
Focus on one pokémon and one stat at a time. It's much easier.
Use PP of your favorite killing move (assuming you killed the pokémon in one hit) to keep track of EVs. Just subtract the total you had from the amount remaining and multiply that by what the battle would give you.
The power items are post game only, but you could trade them over if you wanted. Note that they lower in battle speed by quite a bit when equipped, so be wary. You earn them in the Battle Frontier.
Use repels+higher level lead pokémon to get you into the spot where you ev training. Also use higher level pokémon to actually kill the thing for your level one guy.
Team Building
So now you know the how to get your team into fighting shape, but which pokémon to use? A good question. Team balance is an important idea. If all your pokémon are weak to one or two moves you could find yourself easily beaten and that's not fun. Try to keep these ideas in mind.
Have something that can stop sweeps: Some pokémon like to use stat boosting moves to raise one of their attack scores and then go wild against opposing teams. Having someone who can come in and get the kill on these monsters is absolutely vital. A strong, fast pokémon with a good move that goes first is invaluable.
Don't Have too many glass cannons. Remember those Strong Fast Pokémon I mentioned? Well, most of them are rather frail and they can't kill all pokémon designed to hang around taking hits. These walls are a vital part of any good team, able to switch in to hits and force the opponent to struggle while you heal off attacks they do or just simply kill them off.
Make your pokémon specialists when it comes to evs and natures, not attacks. Specilization is key in stat distrbution but remember that the more types of pokémon you can do super effective or neutral damage to the better. The ideal situation is being able to hit a few types for super effective and the rest for neutral, but on some pokémon designed for defense or stalling or other trickery sometimes the best you can do is one strong attack, so try for something that nothing is immune to. Ice and Dragon are good examples.
A good simple balanced team involves having a Special Wall, a Physical Wall, A Sweeper, a Lead, a Rapid Spinner or Spin Blocker (A ghost) and then a back up. Back ups can be clerics, annoyers (Status effects) and Revenge Killer (Assuming your sweeper can't do it. You can forgo the spinner if you know your opponent isn't using hazards for whatever reason.
Item choice matters, especially in the fourth and fifth generations. You can sometimes build the pokémon around the use of an item. If you can't think of anything better Leftovers is the default.
Entry Hazards need to be used and they need to be stopped. Same goes with weather. These effects can change the game dramatically. 5th gen will be rife with weather effect users and fourth gen was dominated by use of Stealth Rock. Having a rapid spinner was and still is a good idea.
Think outside the box. Everyone knows about various Smogon standards, and I'm not even suggesting you don't use them. However if you know their common moveset allotments you can come up with something custom designed to take them down.
All Pokémon are useful. Some are more useful than others. When fighting on P-A inevitably picks up again with the release of BW remember that we tend to have fairly open battling rules, basically no legendaries. Some places use Smogon tiers while others allow any number of legendaries or just two. Also learn about the item clause.
Battle, battle, battle. Practice until you know how the game works.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Black or White?
Oooh, ooh, yeah yeah now.
Black has items, lots and lots of items. White has more and better exclusive pokémon. Because of the online nature of the game it kinda makes Black better. White if you never intend to do serious trading.
DS doesn't cooperate with my router.
WEP or no encryption. You can get around it by either turning off the security for whenever you go online or use a Wi-Fi access point extender which you plug in only when you need it and set it to WEP. Either that or camp out at a McDonalds. Sometimes even if you have all that stuff together your router and DS won't get along. It happens between any wireless devices. Mine for example works great but if I can't connect I need to restart my router, at which point it works flawlessly afterwards.
How do I make money?
Marry someone rich. Oh, in game. Either versus seeker the really rich people in D/P/P over and over again (with an amulet coin equipped) or fight the E4 over and over again (with an amulet coin equipped.
What is the best pokémon for catching?
Smeargle with False Swipe, Spider Web, Foresight, Spore. Can catch literally anything in the game...given enough time. Other good choices include a Thick Club Marowak with False Swipe or a Spore/False Swipe Breloom.
Why no Underboob?
No offical artwork with underboob that I can remember.
How do you get the é?
On a US English keyboard holt the alt key and type 130.
3DS CODE: 3093-7068-3576
Xenogears of Bore on
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Whoo early March? Well then gentlemen... And ladies... Here's to the games of 2011.
Due to the major differences, this will be the first of the series I'll be definitely buying both versions of.
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
PSN - Brainiac_8
Steam - http://steamcommunity.com/id/BRAINIAC8/
Add me!
Fuck yes.
I'm so pissed now that they're coming out that the forums everywhere are full of WHUT POKERMANS IZ DAT STILL ARUND THAT SHITZ GAY AND 4 KIDZ olololol
Sadly the case, but luckily it'll die out after a few months and you'll only hear from disgruntled customers or peers that it's eating up valuable shelf space for classic titles like... I dunno, Cooking Mama or something.
I'm a little bummed out I'll have to wait ages to get Slowbro. My dear, dear Slowbro.
Major differences? Please elaborate for those of us who haven't been following the Japanese info trickle.
White has the white forest area and black has the black extra city, and each of these areas don't appear in the other game.
Then there is the blah blah different pokemon blah blah. :P
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
PSN - Brainiac_8
Steam - http://steamcommunity.com/id/BRAINIAC8/
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You can just sit in your car outside.
I mean, but then I'm already there, I don't care about that. It's finding time to get over there.
Well, you do have until the 16th.
Wait... a legit one? If so... I am immensely jealous of you.
Yes! Yes, be jealous! Your misery sustains me! :rotate:
Do you still have it...? Because I kinda need it for my Dex...
Overstatement of the year
Then there are different pokemon and that sort that is in all the games. Not sure what else.
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
PSN - Brainiac_8
Steam - http://steamcommunity.com/id/BRAINIAC8/
Add me!
All of the differences that I can remember off the top of my head.
Some plot elements slightly geared toward the more urban advanced nature of the last gym leader town in Black while it is more rustic in White. The gym leader is also different in Black and White, but has the same pokémon.
Black City has many rare evolutionary and in battle items for sale that are not in White. Also lots of higher level trainers with out of region pokémon to fill up your seen part of the national dex. White has many of the same items but at a much rarer random appearance in the White forest. It does however have almost thirty low level pokémon from out of region to catch.
http://www.serebii.net/blackwhite/blackcitywhiteforest.shtml
and for version exclusives:
http://www.serebii.net/blackwhite/exclusives.shtml
PAX East is going to be my first experience at PAX. It makes me happy that it nearly coincides with a major Pokemon release.
In the mean time, I should really get around to finishing the mystery egg game on my HG cart before then.
SS: 0775 9129 1567 Black: 3267 4422 1986
Platinum FC: 2880 3245 5111
also i could not ever wait this out for grey
might buy both though
but this works
There's a Gamestop near my job, so it may not be too difficult for me to get these giveaways. I still won't bother getting Ash's Pikachu
NNID-InvisibleInk
I found the Bulbapedia and understand some were remade. This means I shouldn't start with the very first generation and pick up the remakes.
However.
It appears that the games come in pairs. (FireRed and LeafGreen -- Ruby and Sapphire -- HeartGold and SoulSilver) What's the difference. Do I need to get both games of each set? How do you play in order?
Pokemon isn't a game where you play all the different versions, you buy one and put just a few hundred hours into it over 1 or 2 years
So just pick up the latest version, either Platinum or Heart Gold/Soul Silver. Whichever one.
That should be a good introduction to the series and when you're done with it you'll likely be able to pick up Black or White
But you would only do that if you want to try and battle or trade with the rest of us.
NNID-InvisibleInk
Here's some general newbie information to hopefully get you started.
There are currently 4 generations of Pokemon games available, with the 5th Generation on its way in March.
Each generation (thus far) has followed relatively the same path as far as story progression goes. Without too many spoilers, the games largely focus on visiting various Pokemon "Gyms" and battling the Gym leaders found therein. There are always 8 gym leaders and when defeated, each awards a badge which yields different rewards.
Playing from generation 1 is not required. As previously stated, all games (thus far) have followed a very similar track. If you're wanting to jump into the franchise as a brand new player, you might as well just wait for Black or White at this point.
If you enjoy Black or White, it would be worth your while to go back and play the older games because they are all fun, but there isn't a continuing story or anything that you need to be concerned with.
Each game you play as a generic pokemon trainer who is trying to make a name for his/her self and work your way up to being good enough to challenge the "Elite 4" who have always traditionally been the end boss(es) of the game.
After defeating the Elite 4, you get a new pokedex called the "National Pokedex" which includes all possible pokemon. Additionally, new areas and options open up for you to catch a lot of the other pokemon which were not available during the main story.
Each game handles it slightly different. In HeartGold/SoulSilver, after you beat the Elite 4 in the Johto region, they actually relocate you to the Kanto Region which is the area from FireRed/LeafGreen.
Basically, after beating the game, the gameworld gets much bigger and you have the opportunity to catch many more pokemonz.
Platinum FC: 2880 3245 5111
If you can find a cheap copy of the FireRed or LeafGreen versions, you should start with one of those. They are remakes of the original game. Most people who are or were into Pokemon will be familiar with them, so it provides some good common ground as an entry point into the series.
Otherwise, all the games pretty much play the same.