As of this weekend, Gamestop has a Pokemon event going, offering a shiny Pichu as a tie-in for the latest movie, and to encourage folks to preorder Heart Gold and Soul Silver. This shiny Pichu not only unlocks the Ilex Forest event in HG/SS, it also comes with two unique moves, Endure and Endeavor. Now, on the whole, Pichu isn’t a particularly useful little critter, so I thought we’d take a look at what can be done with its evolutions. This week, we’ll investigate Pikachu, the electric mouse everybody loves… Or would love to throw in a grain thresher. Continue reading ‘Strategy Session – Competitive Pokemon XXI: Pikachu’ »
According to a press release from the Pokemon Company, a new Pokemon series is in development and is expected to be released later this year in Japan. Few details have been given, though the series will be for the Nintendo DS, and it will feature new Pokemon.
The press release can be found on the company’s Japanese website. A US release has not been announced.
Starting February 1, players who preorder the upcoming Pokemon HeartGold or SoulSilver games will receive one of two limited edition figurines as a bonus. HeartGold players will receive a figurine of Ho-oh, while SoulSilver’s bonus is a figurine of Lugia. Catching them all, in this case, requires a preorder of both versions.
Source: Kotaku
Another day goes by without a La Pucelle Ragnarok English release announcement. I am sad. Continue reading ‘Mass Media 01/20/10’ »
As reported earlier, the upcoming Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver will feature a special pedometer which tracks your walking distance and translates that to experience and items for your Pokémon. A recent announcement has confirmed that the pedometer will be included with the US release, as it was for the Japanese launch back in September.
Heartgold/Soulsilver will hit stores March 14.
Continuing the trend of underappreciated Pokemon, this week we’re taking a look at Kingler. With a base attack score that’s through the roof and a workable, if unimpressive speed, Kingler is one of those Pokemon whose inclusion in Never Used came as something of a surprise to me. Kingler’s stats leave him sadly vulnerable in some places, but with some solid defense and an amazing attack, you’d think the giant crab would see more use. Continue reading ‘Strategy Session – Competitive Pokemon XX: Kingler’ »
A recent Nintendo press release confirmed several release dates for the first quarter of 2010. In particular, Shiren the Wanderer will be hitting the Wii on February 9. Ragnarok Online DS is due out a week later on the 16th. Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver touches down on March 14, with Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon coming out March 16. Lastly, Infinite Space was confirmed for a March release date, although a specific day was not listed.
When we talk about Eevees, Flareon is the one most often accompanied by curses towards the game developers. “Physical fire attacks introduced in Diamond and Pearl,” we say, “and no Flare Blitz for Flareon? Why does Game Freak hate life?” Flareon has some decent stats, but it suffers from poor stat distribution and the notorious Curse of the Eevee more than any other in its evolutionary line. Continue reading ‘Strategy Session – Competitive Pokemon XIX: Flareon’ »
With the release of Diamond and Pearl, the Psychic type got flooded with Levitating Pokemon. All four of the Legendary Psychic-type Pokemon introduced carry Levitate, making competition between them for the same spot very fierce. Uxie, being the most defensive of the three sprites, is a bit outclassed by Cresselia, unfortunately. He just can’t keep up with the instant recovery she gets through Moonlight. While Uxie does still have the Rest / Sleep Talk combo and ten points in Defense over its rival, Cresselia can Sleep Talk too, in some cases even better than Uxie, given her huge advantage in HP. To use Uxie properly, the best thing to do is to be creative; his defenses are by no means weak, and his support options are still rather impressive. Continue reading ‘Strategy Session – Competitive Pokemon XVIII: Uxie’ »
Phione has a rather unique status in the world of Pokemon, being the only critter to be bred from a legendary Pokemon, Manaphy. Phione, as one might expect, is a bit like Manaphy’s excitable little sister. She can’t do everything her big sister can – or indeed, even most things – but by god she’s gonna try anyway. Phione’s greatest strengths lie in its powerful ability and a movepool that, while disturbingly small, still manages enough type coverage to be effective. It doesn’t get Tail Glow, Heart Swap, or even most of the more mundane moves Manaphy gets, but Phione can still make a decent try of using the same tricks as the big jellyfish. Continue reading ‘Strategy Session – Competitive Pokemon XVII: Phione’ »
Just this past week, Pokemon players finally got a first-hand look at the last of this generation’s event creatures; the great and powerful Arceus. Although what the Arceus players have access to is saddled with some unfortunate restrictions — it’s only available at Lv. 100, which makes it impossible to EV train beyond the vitamin stage — today we’re going to be looking at the full strength of this impressive critter. Continue reading ‘Strategy Session – Competitive Pokemon XVI: Arceus’ »
With a monstrous appearance, stats on the physical side to match, and crippling issues against Water and Grass Pokemon, Rhyperior is a Ground Pokemon’s Ground Pokemon. For most of its short career, Rhyperior has had trouble finding a place to fit in most teams, despite one of the best abilities in the game and the highest attack stat of any Pokemon in the Over Used tier. The problem with Rhyperior is that, in order to really use it effectively, you need to be willing to support it. This makes the stone rhino very hard to just casually throw onto a team. Continue reading ‘Strategy Session – Competitive Pokemon XV: Rhyperior’ »
Nintendo has announced that Pokemon Mysterious Dungeon: Explorers of Sky will be out in Europe on October 20, which is roughly one week after the game will be released in North America.
Following up on our coverage of new Pokemon moves, this week we’ll be taking a look at the move tutors of Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver. Though the new moves Pokemon learn by level up and breeding in HG/SS are undoubtedly significant, they pale in comparison to the move tutors this remake throws our way. HG/SS has no fewer than 52 tutors available for use, but only 14 are new, the others being repeats taught by the move tutors of Pokemon Platinum. The new tutors are Super Fang, Pain Split, String Shot, Tail Wind, Gravity, Worry Seed, Role Play, Magic Coat, Heal Bell, Low Kick, Sky Attack, Block, Bug Bite, and Headbutt. We’ll be taking a look at the most useful of these in this week’s Strategy Session. Continue reading ‘Strategy Session – Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver, Part 2’ »
With the land of the rising sun having seen Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver release just this last week, the world of Pokemon is alight with the changes that have been made to the movepools of various critters. So for this week and next, we’ll be taking an in-depth look at exactly what HG/SS is changing, and who benefits the most. We begin with Pokemon who learn new moves by level up and breeding! Continue reading ‘Strategy Session – Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver’ »
One of the more unexpected evolutions introduced in Diamond and Pearl, Dusknoir is an even more dangerous version of Dusclops, a Pokemon with some already impressive defenses. What Dusknoir offers over Dusclops is primarily a much improved offense, an undeniable blessing given that Dusclops’ offense was roughly equal to that of a wet noodle. On the whole, Dusknoir fills much the same role that Dusclops did in R/S/E, blocking Rapid Spin and offering team support in the form of status effects. The creepy cyclops’s increased offense gives it a bit of a new lease on life, though, alongside its more unusual options, in the form of strange support moves like Gravity and Trick Room. Continue reading ‘Strategy Session – Competitive Pokemon XIV: Dusknoir’ »
Today’s Pokemon reminds me of one of my favorite things about Pokemon games – the sheer weirdness of it all. In what other game could you find a psychic coconut tree? Or for that matter, a steel penguin? And not just one, but two animate blobs of poisonous slime? I never get tired of the knowledge that, should the desire strike, I could pit a small blue lungfish against a pink bulldog in a dress in a battle for domination. And so in the spirit of the bizarre, we look at the ambulatory egg-sprouting coconut tree that is Exeggutor. Continue reading ‘Strategy Session – Competitive Pokemon XIII: Exeggutor’ »
This week, we have another reader request. Rather than looking at another absurdly powerful or abundantly useful Pokemon, we’re going to be taking a look at a critter whose usefulness ranks somewhere between a baking sheet made of chocolate and a glass hammer. This is a Pokemon unafraid to stand up and boldly proclaim, “No, I really can’t.” A critter of such stunning uselessness, of such unabashed failure, that it only just beats out Kricketune. Ladies and gentlemen… I give you Ledian. Continue reading ‘Strategy Session – Competitive Pokemon XII: Ledian’ »
Nintendo announced via the official Pokémon website that Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver will be released in North America and Europe this coming spring.
This week, we’ll be taking a look at one of the big legendaries of the first generation, part of the elemental trio that forms R/B/Y’s big triumverate, and one of my favorite stall critters ever. This birdie is surprisingly flexible, able to play defensive roles while still packing quite a punch. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Zapdos. Continue reading ‘Strategy Session – Competitive Pokemon XI: Zapdos’ »
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