Glen-i

I should probably clarify that when I call Gen 7 unambitious, I'm referring exclusively to new mechanics in the game. Of which there are very little. It's a game filled to the brim with old mechanics tweaked to be more useful or convenient (Well, OK, except playing online with friends) Which is fine, but Pokémon games have been doing that for ages, the difference is they tend to introduce something new alongside it. Sun/Moon gives us Z-Moves and Battle Royals, neither of which really impress me. Despite all that, I think Gen 7 are very good Pokémon games. I actually think it's only beaten by Gen 2 and 5. It doesn't do anything special with the mechanics, but what it does is solid. Sun and Moon's strengths instead come from the setting of Alola, which feels full of life. It's characters are quite interesting. Hau, Guzma and Lusamine in particular stand out as the rare well-written Pokémon character. So basically, it's the opposite of Gen 6, which had cool mechanics, but everything around it completely sucked.

Oh, I'm still using Minerva, and Iote's Shield is a pretty solid defensive skill. But I do prefer Trample as it lets me kill unmounted units quicker, which helps with the S ranks. I don't really have a problem with weaknesses when it comes to Wyvern Riders, I get someone else to fight archers and everyone who's strong against Dragons (Chrom, Lucina, Lyn, Marth) are all sword users, so Minerva and Camilla shouldn't really be fighting them in the first place. Camilla's Magic stat is better though. So those fiery combo finishers do more damage than Minerva's. You're right about her being Camilla though. That's definitely a minus point.

Generation 7 - Sun/Moon/Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon Generation 7 started 2 years ago when Pokemon Sun and Moon came out nearly worldwide. Set in the Alola region, a Hawaii style place consisting of 4 Islands. 80 new Pokemon were introduced here, although that wasn't all that Gen 7 had to offer. A year later, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon came out. Despite having two diiferent versions, these were traditional Third Versions, but did give us 5 more new Pokemon, bringing the total to 807. Just like Gen 6, these games retain the full 3D visuals, but now allow for full 3D movement, they also had improved visuals. Because these games are quite recent, I'm gonna drop an UNMARKED SPOILERS WARNING! But apart from all that, here's what Sun and Moon gave us. Woah, wait... Hang on, not even the latest Gen was exempt from the dreaded mechanic cuts, and this game had some doozys. Triple Battles and Rotation Battles were dropped, slashing the available Battle Formats by half. While it's not completely clear why this happened, most people accept that it's probably due to the 3DS struggling to perform with that many high quality models on the screen. HM's also vanished, replaced by an alternative that I'll go into later. Some powerful ones like Surf and Fly stuck around as TM's. Possibly the most baffling cut was the removal of the National Pokedex. I haven't really mentioned what this was yet because, like every other Pokemon fan, no-one ever thought this would be dropped. So let me give a quick rundown. The Pokedex is an in-game record of what Pokemon you have seen and caught. "Catching 'em all" refers to filling this bad boy, it also provides some flavour text for each one you encounter. Ever since Gen 3, there have been 2 styles of Pokedex, the first Pokedex encompasses the Pokemon that are available in the region the game is set in (Gen 5 would have the Unova Pokedex, for example) and then there's the Pokedex that contains every Pokemon that exists. That's the National Pokedex. Gen 7 no longer has the National Pokedex, which means even if you have every single Pokemon in your copy of Sun/Moon, the game will not acknowledge it. The best you can get is to use Pokemon Bank which has a very simplified National Pokedex for people who have a current subscription, although this is pretty inconvenient. Enough about what isn't there, let's look at what Sun and Moon gave us. This game dropped the traditional Pokemon Gym... DAMMIT! I guess Gen 7 wasn't quite done with the cuts yet. I'm sure you know what a Pokemon Gym is, but I'll give a quick lowdown. Throughout each game, the player is tasked with conquering 8 of these Gyms, each one specializing in a different Pokemon, which generally involve battling a number of trainers, solving a puzzle and defeating the Gym Leader. Gen 7 replaced the Pokemon Gym with the Island Trials, a series of short challenges, based around 7 different Pokemon Types (8 in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon). The player had to perform a certain trial, which may involve puzzles and battling wild Pokemon. At the end, you have to defeat a Totem Pokemon, a sorta boss fight, involving a powered up Pokemon. Completing these would net you a Z-Crystal of the same type. There were also 4 Grand Trials, one at the end of each Island, that pitted the player against a particularly powerful trainer, not unlike a Gym Leader The most obvious addition to the battling mechanics were Z-Moves. (Oh, hey! Another suspiciously named thing that probably was planned for Pokemon Z) The previously mentioned Z-Crystals allowed a Pokemon that was holding it to use a Z-Move. A super powerful attack that can only be used once per battle. There were two basic types of Z-Move, an offensive one of huge strength, and one where it provides an extra effect on top of a status attack. While there is a Z-Crystal for every Pokemon type, there are some Z-Crystals which only a specific Pokemon that knows a specific move can use. I guess I would be remiss if I didn't mention Alolan Forms. Although quite frankly, this isn't a new mechanic, what with it being very similar to form changes. But one of the big selling points of the game before it released was that 18 Pokemon from Gen 1 had drastically different looks. As an example, here's Marowak. Original on the left, Alolan Form on the right The changes weren't all cosmetic. The typing of these Pokemon changes (Marowak went from Ground type to Ghost/Fire type) the moves they could learn differ, (Alolan Marowak can learn Shadow Bone, normal Marowak gets False Swipe) and the ability they have would be different. Unlike usual form changes, Alolan Pokemon could not change to the original look, meaning you couldn't get the old Pokemon without trading with a previous generation. Wild Pokemon could now call for backup when they're in trouble. These are known as S.O.S Battles. Some Pokemon could only be found by being called by another Pokemon. You could even get Pokemon with Hidden Abilities this way. Despite 2 battle formats getting dropped, a new one emerged called Battle Royals. A 4-player free-for-all where each player tries to gain points by knocking out other people's Pokemon. Person with the most points wins. Pretty simple. Super Training got a bit of a tweaking with Poke Pelago. This provided people with a number of useful services, from EV training Pokemon to growing berries. This all happened in the background over a period of time, leaving the player to do other stuff, in game or in real life while Poke Pelago did it's work. HM's were replaced by Ride Pokemon. Building on from Gen 6's Soaring, these functioned simlarly to HM's, except that you didn't need to keep a Pokemon with a certain move on your team, making it much more convenient. The online connectivity got another meddling with. Gen 6's PSS got replaced by the Festival Plaza. Players could have battles and trades online via this, take part in missions, as well as use various facilities to aid them in their adventure. Unlike the PSS, this didn't allow people to play through the single player adventure while seeing which of their friends were online. The Third Versions, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon gave us... Ummm... a couple of minigames? Hold up! There's the Battle Agency, a simplified version of Gen 3's Battle Factory, that gives you rental Pokemon to try and get through 3 Battles in a row. And that's that. Until today, I always struggled to pinpoint what bugs me about Gen 7, (Apart from the blatant Gen 1 favouritism) and I think I hit upon it by looking back at it in a more subjective look. The stuff that's supposed to be exciting and new is just the old stuff with a new lick of paint. Scratch beneath the service and Gen 7 is probably the most unambitious set of games in the mainline series. Mechanic wise, of course. This game does some new stuff in other aspects. The setting is interesting, and there's some cool concepts, even if they're not implemented as well as they could be. I'm not keen on Z-Moves, they just became an excuse for people to nuke Pokemon they don't want to deal with using actual strategy and Alolan Pokemon was another missed opportunity done for the sake of attracting the people who dropped the series long ago. Well, 7 long write-ups later, I'm at the end of my little retrospective on the mechanics of Pokemon. Maybe you learnt something through this? Because I did. And there's a big part of me that's keen to find out what Game Freak have in store for the jump to the Switch. Maybe Battle Frontier will finally come back? Maybe Triple and Rotation battles will make a spectacular return, or it could be a completely new format. It's impossible to tell, and I guess that's one of the many reasons Pokemon fans are so hungry for information.

What else would you expect from a WiiU port? Confusing is that console's middle name!

No, it's just a very roundabout way of saying there is a double pack for £50. The discount only applies to the second game you buy.

Here are the results of the Smart Steering Wario Banana Explosion Extravaganza. GP1 GP2 GP3 And here's the table. Last week, I forgot to document the 1st, 2nd and 3rd placings. I fixed that now. Go me! Way to fix dopey me's fudge up! A proper League welcome to @DazzeL, who makes a respectable entrance, plonking himself in the 0.7 point gap between @viceview51 and @Nintendo Fan. The averages are starting to stable for the Perfect Attendance 5 now, so barring any new entrants, the table shouldn't have drastic shifts in the future. It's the last Thursday of the month next week, so it'll be a Player's Choice night. Usual niceties with the track selection apply. Next League Night: 22nd Feburary 8pm Group 1: BowserBasher is host Glen-i BowserBasher viceview51 Sign Up Now!

Didn't stop them from pushing the game out before 2018 rolled around.

I'm still blaming you.

While I wait for the GP3 Results, here's some moments from @Dcubed (Left Screen) and me (Right Screen). Most of the funny happens on his screen, except for the last highlight.

New 2DS XL is what I would recommend as well, Clamshell design helps to prevent screen damage. Nice big screen but still pretty cheap. I have one, it's solid.

I can still tell. Sudden sideway shifts that would be completely impossible, (Especially in that setup) other weird movements, sudden slowing down when approaching the edge of a track, stuff like that. It involves a hell of a lot of watching the same race over and over. But trust me when I say I can tell. Go ahead and PM that results screen to me then, ta.

Well, that was... Something. Time to check MKTV. Also, I completely derped and deleted the GP3 results screen on my Switch. Did anyone else get it?

Other people's antennas don't show up in online gameplay. I can tell through MKTV though, So don't try it. I suddenly realise the reasoning behind the GP2 tracks. Damn you, yellow tracks!

Remember guys. Smart Steering is mandatory! Make sure it's on!

I played Perfect Dark XBox as well, still doesn't gel with me. I just can't get my head around it, so those controls would no doubt be a detriment to my enjoyment of Prime.

Next League Night: Tonight 8pm Group 1 @BowserBasher is host @Glen-i @BowserBasher @viceview51 @RedShell @martinist @S.C.G @DazzeL @Nintendo Fan Still time to Sign Up!

OK, after trying out the new characters more, Linde turned out unintentionally funny, the running animation looks like she stole a book from the Library. And whenever she makes up the second half of a dual special, she finishes by shouting "Starlight Explosion!" in an unfitting tone of voice. Which elicits giggles in me way too often. Helps that I really like her movesets, I think I prefer her to Robin. And I'm not keen on Leo and Elise's movesets. So more good magic users is nice. Navarre, despite being a clone, is a clone of best character, Lyn, so I can't be too upset. Helps that his dialogue tends to be pretty entertaining on account of him being very blunt and hateful, raises a smile quite often. Minerva, unfortunately, falls flat. She's a clone of Camilla and is just not very interesting, personality wise. As much as I groan at Camilla's blatant titillation, she does make more of an impression because of that. Minerva's just boring.

Yeah, Minerva's a clone of Camilla, that's disappointing, at least Linde has a unique moveset. Being able to turn off the Crest confirmation window is much appreciated though. And it's nice the game now shows you who can equip a staff.

Thanks for telling me, I won't bother implementing that GP score then. See ya tomorrow!

Yeah, I can totally understand that. I don't think anyone would complain if you did leave out those kind of GP's.

Nice touch with the last GP there!

I liked how the two reviews had completely polarising views on the characters and story aspect of the game. It really is a Marmite sort of plot, huh? Still, at least you both agree about the top-notch gameplay.

Generation 6 - X/Y/Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire Gen 6 was introduced worldwide in 2013 with Pokemon X and Y on the 3DS. Featuring 71 new Pokemon, the lowest amount of new Pokemon to date. That makes the total 721. Although that is arguable if you take into account a new mechanic. Set in Kalos, a region heavily inspired by France, these games marked the jump from Sprite based visuals to full 3D models, although the game still had mostly grid-based movement. The Gen 3 remakes, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, were released almost worldwide a year later in 2014, bringing the GBA games to similar full 3D as well. Time for the mechanic removals. Apart from the multiple mechanics that were introduced and immediately dropped from Gen 5, there was... This generation decided again to not do a Third Version, but also didn't go with a sequel. Hopefully, you don't mind if I go on a bit of a tangent. You see, I am strangely fascinated about what happened with the much expected Pokemon Z. Anyone who actually played X and Y will tell you about the many things in both Gen 6 and 7 that point towards this at least planned along the way (The main one being blatant cover Pokemon, Zygarde, getting a new form that ended up getting relegated to random free giveaway in Gen 7). For some reason though, Game Freak decided not to bother. Who knows how it would have played out? Anyway, this Gen also does away with any Battle Facility that isn't the Battle Tower. Which is bizarre, considering the remakes are of games that started it off. The Battle Frontier got nothing but a tiny passing mention in OR/AS. So apart from the new Pokemon, what did Gen 6 give us? Well, let's start with X and Y. I previously mentioned the jump to full 3D models. Now, X/Y weren't the first mainline Pokemon games to have 3D models, but they were the first to have pretty much everything in 3D. Areas, Pokemon, everything. It didn't offer full 3D movement yet, that'd be Gen 7 that gave us that. Anyway, the big new thing this generation was Mega Evolution. 30 (22 more were added in OR/AS) Pokemon were now available to utilise this mechanic to temporarily change form and get a large power boost, and possibly change it's type and ability. There's a couple of caveats, however. The Pokemon had to be holding a specific item, which means they couldn't hold anything else (Unless your name is Rayquaza, in which case you had to have a specific move) and only one Pokemon on your team could Mega Evolve. This helped some weaker Pokemon become more viable in battles... mostly. More on that at the end of this post. These games also introduced a new typing called Fairy Type. Designed to be a hard counter to Dragon, Fighting and Dark Pokemon while also giving more of a reason for Poison and Steel type moves to exist. Some old moves and Pokemon had their typing changed to accommodate this new type, such as Clefable, Granbull and Whimsicott. While I'm on the subject of type changes, it's worth noting that Steel Pokemon are no longer resistant to Dark and Ghost moves. Instead, they take normal damage. Super Training marked the first time a player was given a tool to freely influence the Effort Values of a Pokemon. Remember those? I talked about them in the Gen 3 post. By playing a minigame, you were able to give your Pokemon whatever EV's you liked without much thought. This simplified the intimidating, mathematical world of EV Training. Backwards Compatibility changed it's methodology with the accompanying application, Pokemon Bank. For 5 quid a year, players could store up to 3,000 Pokemon in cloud storage. They could also use this to quickly transfer large amounts of Pokemon between different 3DS Pokemon games, including any future games that might come out. Another application, called Pokemon Transporter allows you to transfer Pokemon from Gen 5 to the 3DS games, as well as any Pokemon from the Virtual Console versions of the Gen 1 and 2 games. Some new battle formats showed up here, Sky Battles were limited to Pokemon that could fly, through being flying type, or having the ability Levitate. Horde Encounters pitted your Pokemon against 5 wild Pokemon at the same time and Inverse Battles, which reversed type matchups. So Water Pokemon would be weak to Fire and strong against Electric. These could not be played with other players and were all dropped in Gen 7. Well, except for a bizarre case where Inverse Battles was implemented in the Battle Spot for a month in Sun and Moon. Online communications saw a big Quality of Life improvement with the Player Search System. Building upon Gen 5's C-Gear, you were able to constantly be online throughout the adventure, being able to see whenever people on your friends list were online and quickly invite them to a battle or a trade. You could even do this with random strangers if you so wished. It had a number of other features, such as Pass Powers (Now called O-Powers) and a customisable profile page. Wonder Trade was a new method of trading Pokemon which involved the player sending a Pokemon of their own choice to a random player who did the same. You wouldn't know what Pokemon you were receiving until the trade was done. This Generation also saw the Battle Competition, official online tournaments that provided special rules for competitive players to test their strategies against each other. Participating would earn you special prizes. Outside of battling and trading, this game introduced Trainer Customisation. At the beginning of the game, you are given a choice of default trainer looks, mostly different skin colours. Throughout the game, you were able to obtain a multitude of different clothes to help personalise your look, as well as different hairstyles. And finally, there was Pokemon Amie. Think Pokemon meets Nintendogs, and you'd be pretty much spot on. Here, you could care for your Pokemon. Feed them, pet them, play games with them, stuff like that. Pokemon that were cared for a lot in this method would develop advantages in single player battles, such as healing themselves of a status ailment sometimes. Bloody hell, that was a lot! And there's still the Gen 3 remakes to talk about. Soaring refers to a way to travel around the Hoenn region. After getting a certain item, you could ride a Latios or Latias around Hoenn to quickly get to places you've been before. Unlike the HM move Fly, you didn't need to have the Lati on your team to use it, making it more convenient. It was kinda dropped in Gen 7. Secret Bases naturally returned for these games only. It was the same concept as the original, but had a number of improvements, such as Streetpass compatibility, recruiting other people to your base to provide helpful services and the Capture the Flag game from Gen 4. Pokemon Contests also made a temporary return here. These worked pretty much exactly like the originals, with some minor changes. Finally, we have DexNav, a OR/AS exclusive feature, that allows players to search for a specific Pokemon. Using this can even get you some Pokemon with hidden abilities, special moves and high IV's. And that about does it for Gen 6. Personally, while I rank this Gen as probably my least favourite, it's not on account of the mechanics. The games were just below standards. I want to talk about Mega Evolution and the Fairy Type a bit now. I remained impartial before, but I can't finish this post without mentioning my biggest beef with these mechanics. I like the idea of these changes. In theory, Fairy Pokemon should help balance the competitive game while Mega Evolution provides a chance for weaker Pokemon to have more of a presence in the same scene. Great concepts aside, they were both handled pretty poorly. The Fairy type did help to make Fighting, Dark and Dragon Pokemon not so overpowered, but had the unfortunate side effect of making Fairy Pokemon themselves overpowered. They were effective against some powerful types while only being weak to two types that didn't see a lot of usage at all. It just moved the problem. I think having another new type alongside Fairy would have diminished this power shift. Mega Evolutions were the biggest blunder though. I love Mega Evolutions, it's a really cool concept, and it was a great opportunity to get less used Pokemon up in the rankings, and it worked in part. Forgotten Pokemon like Kangaskhan, Mawile and Beedrill suddenly became not a bunch of laughing stocks. However, Game Freak totally ballsed it up and decided to give a bunch of Megas to a bunch of Pokemon that were already powerful and popular. I like Groudon, but come on... It didn't need it. And don't get me started on Mewtwo getting two. Such a missed opportunity. Anyway, this weekend, I'll try and get Gen 7 up.

Sorry for the wait, here's the table after last week. I know @DazzeL joined in during the last GP, but I don't know if he was present for all 4 races, if someone could clarify that for me, that'd be great. And here's the theme for tomorrows night, courtesy of @RedShell Next League Night: 15th February 8pm Group 1 @BowserBasher is host Glen-i BowserBasher viceview51 This week's theme sees the return of Mandatory Smart Steering. You do not have a choice in the matter. Anyone who isn't using Smart Steering will be penalised. Just as a reminder, you can turn on Smart Steering on the vehicle selection screen by pressing + or - and then pressing L. Sign up Now!

Shadow Dragon DLC pack drops tomorrow. I'm digging Marth's outfit, looks like something I'd expect Itsuki from Tokyo Mirage Sessions to wear. Here's hoping Minerva and Linde aren't clones (Navarre's totally a clone of Lyn though. I can tell)