Glen-i

Oh right, I've not mentioned this, but how dreadful is the Pokémon Box? It's awful to navigate and find Pokémon in. Very little customisation in it. And I'm not sure, but couldn't you just use the Box to heal your Pokémon for free whenever you like? That might kinda remove any of semblance of challenge in any place where healing isn't readily available. (Silph Co. and the Elite 4) I'm not keen on it. Sun and Moon did the whole convenience thing better.

Not a bad list. Although...

You never played multiplayer Pokémon contests, did you?

Ah, so it's you who convinced Game Freak to ditch the Battle Frontier. Expect a strongly worded letter. Also, Pokestar studio is god-tier when it comes to side modes in Pokémon games. I mean, you don't even need to do these side modes, so why get rid of them? Options are nice.

Miitopia. @Hero-of-Time used my Mii in his third party. I gotta play that...

BTW, you just reminded me that this is the second time I've been "honoured" in another N-Europe peeps playthrough of a game. I'm so popular!

Pffft. Like I'd been seen dead with a Pikachu. I've looked up his team later on and it's the kind of stuff I would never use. Your research sucks!

It's kinda relevant to this, because it'll be interesting to see whether a competitive scene develops for this. (I mean, it is the internet, they probably will compete in it just because they can) But @Dcubed recently introduced me to a YouTube series of videos that looks at how good certain Pokémon were in these competitive battles throughout the series. It's also good for finding out how the metagame has developed over the games.

Gen 4 now. And like the previous gen, I want to start by bunching all the smaller titles together. Well, I say all, but there's only a couple. My Pokémon Ranch was a Wiiware title released in 2008 and developed by Ambrella. To be fair, it's more of an accessory than a game. Effectively, it's a kind of storage application for Pokémon Pearl and Diamond. Yes, that should sound familiar. Because it's similar to Pokémon Box. Unlike Box though, you could actually look at the Pokémon you deposited interact with each other and any of the Mii's you use. This also helped players to complete their Pokédex on the DS games, by giving you information on Pokémon they might be missing and opportunities to trade with the Ranch owner, Hayley. It's a nice take on the Pokémon storage app, and there was a bit of thought behind it, as certain Pokémon react to other Pokémon being nearby (Zangoose and Seviper hate each other) Anyway, that's all well and good, but this game(?) did something that in hindsight, I can't forgive. That Torchic has the right idea These simplistic WiiWare-friendly Pokémon models are referred to by the fanbase as "Pokémon toys" The name is based on an upcoming spin-off series, but that's not for now. I touched upon them in the PMD write-up at the top of this page, but this is the first time they showed up. To reiterate, Wiiware titles didn't have a lot of space available, they weren't made like that. So these models had basic animations, stuff like that. Which is fine. I totally get why Ambrella went with this at the time. It made sense. But if you actually think these look good, I have to question your artistic taste. Problem is, Ambrella decided "Yeah, this will do" and haven't used anything else since. BTW, this game was given a patch to be compatible with Pokémon Platinum. Only in Japan, mind. With this being a WiiWare title, there's no way I can tell how this did. So, you know... Anyway, enough about that. Pokémon Battrio is an arcade title that only released in Japan in 2007 and was developed by... Tomy!? The toy company? ...OK, sure. Why not? I guess the best way to describe this as the Pokémon Trading Card Game meets Pokémon Stadium. Although that's not a totally accurate statement. The game utilises real-life collectible disks that you used to insert Pokémon into 3-on-3 battles (Even before Gen 5 incorporated it) While it didn't work quite like the mainline titles, battling is the focus of the game. It focuses on positioning to determine how effective attacks will be as well as the usual type advantages and such. I can't really say much else about it, because obviously, I've not played it. But it must have done decently enough, because it got a sequel at the end of Gen 5. Sorry, can't find an image that would let me post it here. Just pretend it's here. Pokémon Tretta released in 2012. Once again developed by Tomy and once again being a Japan only Arcade title, it's quite similar to Battrio, except that this game allowed players to catch Pokémon in the arcade game which would result in the associated disc (Known as Tretta) getting dispensed to the player. Gotta admit, that is kinda cool. Once again, not much to actually say because I have little experience with it. But this and Battrio do utilise a cel-shading artstyle that was quite popular at the time. Anyway, that's enough games you probably never played for now. More well-known games tomorrow.

Do you want a Mew? That's the main selling point. It also works simlarly to the Pokéwalker that Heart Gold/Soul Silver came packaged with. You put a Pokémon in it, connect it to Pokémon GO and go for a walkabout. When you put it back in Pokemon Let's GO, it gets experience and might bring back items. So yeah, it's a not free Pokéwalker that lacks a screen but functions as a controller for the Switch. It also can't connect with other Poké Ball Plus like the Pokéwalker did.

I never even gave this thought... TPC: We're pleased to announce Pokémon: Let's GO Zorua and Let's GO Drilbur!

No, he's talking about the upcoming Generation 8 game next year. He expects that to have the bells and whistles. EDIT: Well, I got Greninja'd. Stupid speed stat...

I'm not convinced that the two will be kept as seperate as that. We'll have to see of course how Gen 8 does in comparison to Let's Go, but yeah, I'm pretty uncertain.

Trust me, when Gen 1 is involved. The Pokémon Company go completely all out. They will do their best to hype the hell out of it.

I too like the Black/White approach. I also would like pigs to fly. I just can't see a Pokémon game where the Gen 1 Pokémon don't steal the focus in some way ever happening again. Which is a massive shame.

Tell that to Ruby and Sapphire. A lot of people dropped off the series precisely because they couldn't transfer their old Pokémon. And while that's fine in theory, what happens when you get to X/Y? (Yes, long way off, I know) "Explore the Kalos region and catch all 71 Pokémon!" I can't imagine that would be received very well.

I mean, sooner or later, wouldn't that just cause the same issue where there's too many Pokémon to make catching them all unappealing?

Note: This is before recalculation and doesn't include the Random Task. Speaking of, it's time to reveal that particular aspect. So yeah, I kinda have to come clean about something. Yeah, not sorry. The secret task this week was called... That Darn Younger Generation Every time you beat SUPAMALI, you get 2 points, If he beats you, you lose 2 points. Yeah, I planned it all along. I asked him to gatecrash the night way back on Sunday when we were playing Smash. He took part in 8 races total, so there's 16 points to potentially win or lose. I never thought of using the Ninty voice chat app to tell him of the tracks to pick. Thanks to @BowserBasher for unwittingly helping me there. In order for the task to be considered completed, you must have a bonus score of 0 or higher. So here they are. @viceview51 there, getting owned by a 13 year old. What? You would have won more if the setup wasn't so awful? Stop making excuses! Oh snap! Less than a month to go and the top spot has been nicked. There's no player who made no bloody difference this week. @RedShell breaks into 20 2nd places this week. I'm gonna take this moment to let you all know that this year's league ends on the 13th of December. In order to get 50% attendance for your score to officially count for this half of the year, you need to take part in at least 36 GP's before the end of the year. Most people have that. The only person who needs to play more to reach that is @Dcubed. Taking part in 3 more nights will get you there. Next theme will be up soon.

Because I enjoy Mystery Dungeon. Don't ask stupid questions.

Gotta admit. Never really thought about how "catching 'em all" has been more of a side thing these days. I mean, I still pull it off every game, because I'm a massive nerd, but I get the hypothesis. The thing is, I don't actually agree with the suggestion that Game Freak were going for that. Strangely enough, it was because of that section in the video when he started talking about how the event-exclusive Pokémon restricted the ability to achieve that task. I was surprised to learn that video was made right before Let's Go came out. Because he's absolutely wrong about Mew. And it's a pretty massive slip-up, because we've known how Mew works for quite a while. Mew absolutely, positively cannot be transferred from Pokémon GO. It's locked behind the worst of event-exclusive methods. The separate purchase. You wanna catch 'em all? Cough up another 50 quid! Last time we saw that kind of brazenness was 12 years ago with Manaphy and Pokémon Ranger. And at least that almost 50 quid purchase gave you a pretty fun spin-off to play. I think the new found love for catching Pokémon was exploited to make more money, simple as. I don't know whether Game Freak, The Pokémon company or even Nintendo suggested the Pokè Ball plus Mew, but I know which one I'd put my money on.

Maybe you should listen to me more.

@Julius has a good point. It's all well and good if you like this approach, but there's no denying that this game excludes the kind of Pokémon fan who play the games for the deep gameplay that it brings. I mean, this is the first mainline Pokémon game I won't buy. That has to count for something. Let's Go is an absolutely terrible substitute for those people.

@RedShell will be amused to know that @S.C.G has now also run out of space in his item box. Although he hasn't got all the lab upgrades yet so that can be fixed. Anyway, synchronization doesn't make things better, I have the power gift people slapstick and Plesioth's hip check has reached all new levels of nonsense. So @Gadwin. I did some looking around and I found an armour set that should do you for now. At HR 10, the only reasonable set you can make that has Handicraft is the Ceanataur GX set (That GX part is really important, it's not the normal Shogun Ceanataur set). The key item for getting it to show up is called "Pristine Ore" You can get Pristine Ore from the little girl in the Hunter's Pub. You trade those Horns Coins you've been getting lately for that. Anyway, apart from the Pristine Ore, it's mostly Ceanataur stuff and a bit of Plesioth that you need. It gives +10 Handicraft, +14 Expert and +10 Chain Crit and has 3 slots. So you'll probably need a Talisman to get Sharpness +2. That should do you until your Hunter rank gets unlocked, where there's an absolutely amazing set that is astonishingly flexible. Yes, it's the one I wear, and @RedShell when he isn't catting it up.

You also can just get one for free like in Yellow. @EEVILMURRAY, no way to do that. Single joycon only in docked.

Go ahead and join the room I'm in!