Pokestuff

[Pikachu]

Platinum is out in Japan. Lots of good stuff for it. Even a Wi-fi room you can enter for matchmaking online, so that's perfect for competition.

Changes? Move Tutors like mad. No Seismic Toss tutors, unfortunately, but they made an Outrage tutor, which means Salamence can now join the Outrage club at long last, meaning Dragonite's uniqueness as a DD/Outrager in OU is over... though he did get Superpower. We also have an easy way of getting Thunderpunch on Metagross again, which is nice.

Other significant movelist changes include Darkrai getting Nasty Plot, which is demented, and every single Dragon in the game getting Outrage. Actually, any Pokemon that looks like it can get angry (even Ampharos) learns Outrage.

[Pikachu]

Minor ressurrection of this thread since Platinum has been out a while now and some of us have it.

To catch up on what's good, what's not, and basically how to go head-to-head against people, check the following web magazine on competitive Pokemon Battling:

www.smogon.com/smog/

Not everything in there is technical information for hyper-competitive people. Some stuff in there is great for people starting up. What a lot of people don't understand is how vastly different Pokemon is when it's player vs. player instead of player vs. cpu, and the Smogon site is a good place to understand the change in experience.

In any case, judging from what I am seeing from recordings of matches online (you can actually view them from in-game, which is immensely cool), any knowledge you derive from Smogon is basically like getting information from Shoryuken.com and using it on XBL. You'll experience quite a bit of success.

[Pikachu]

Wow, a year since I've posted on this thread, about Platinum. Just a few random Poke-thoughts for HG/SS, since I've beaten it, and can reflect a lot on wtf has been going on.

HG/SS takes place in Johto, where there is an abundance of weak shit. Worse yet, your Normal/Flying type of 2nd generation is Hoothoot, while your alternative is Pidgeot. Both of these birds are utterly shamed by 4th Gen's Staraptor. Boo. Nonetheless, get something that flies so you don't spend time walking.

This game is not very long time-wise, but spans more levels than any other Pokemon game ever made, including the original 2nd generation Gold/Silver/Crystal. What this means is that you shouldn't rush to capture a full team of 6 early on so you can be sure to level them along the way. The wild Pokemon adjust very well accordingly, and there are a lot of trainer battles to help Pokemon catch up. If you want to get through the game to the good stuff (and there is a lot of it this time around), here's a list of Poke's that are well within reach:

Magikarp (or wait for your special Gyarados)
Abra (found in the wild early)
Machop (found fairly early, or you can trade to an NPC... forgot where)
Gastly (found very early)

Here's what I recommend for these Pokes, all of which are easily accessible:

Gyarados (Dragon Dance, Waterfall, Strength, Some Attack)
Machop (Cross Chop, Rock Smash, 2 Other attacks)
Gengar (Shadow Ball, Curse, Focus Blast, Thunderbolt)
Abra (Calm Mind, Psychic, Focus Blast, Something)

Some of the moves I put here are from TM's, but they are purchasable. All these should be able to last till the end of the game. Your starter will probably pale in comparison, and then you can leave a slot for your HM mule. Notice that these are all 1st generation Pokemon. It's no accident. Along the way, 2nd generation Pokemon are all very mediocre in stats and attacks. Any Pokemon that come from the G/S/C era that are competitively powerful are:

Skarmory, Blissey, Gliscor, Togekiss, Yanmega, Tyranitar

You will only see Skarmory in the wild, and he sucks for single player mode. Ttar doesn't get good till like, level 65, which is moot, because you should already have the game beat by then. All others, you will never see until you at least get the national dex (after you get access to the Kanto region). The main point is, don't bother looking too hard for something new and exciting to use. 2nd generation really isn't the place for it.

Random tangent: You can have a Pokemon who knows the headbutt move use it on a tree and hope to get a Heracross. I tried many times and never encountered one. Ghey. If you're lucky enough to get a Heracross, then that is the exception to the rule. Anything that hits hard and is somewhat speedy is perfect for single play.

You also have this strange option to let your Mother manage your cash. You can toggle this option at any time through your phone, but it is imperative to let her do so. She occasionally spends your money, but will have useful items delivered to you. This is also a way to obtain one Focus Sash and one Choice Scarf.

There are 16 Gyms to go through this game, with two iterations of the Elite Four, and a final battle with Red. I had to say that I enjoyed it a lot, aside from a set of choices that weren't to my taste. You actually get the National Dex halfway through the game (which is when you get access to Kanto, the second half and Red/Blue continent), which allows you to migrate your D/P/Pt Pokemon. I didn't take this option to beat the game, but if I did... well, Red would have been smashed to bits in 25 hours... or less.

You get to capture Mewtwo after you defeat the Elite Four for the second time (go to Cerulean Cave, as you did in R/B/Y), as well as the Legendary that doesn't appear on the cover of your game (Lugia for HG, Ho-oh for SS), which is amazing. There is supposed to be a way to access Azelf, Mesprit, Uxie, Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina as well, and a future Celebi event should be around. That is nothing short of buttfucking incredible.

Rumored to have Shaymin and Darkrai access, but I'm not sure how that works.

Battle Frontier is actually identical to Platinum as far as I know. I would have liked to see more, but simply getting access to tons of legit Legendaries is worth the money imo. They do make it much easier to attain competitive items this time around, and there's even a Leftovers that you cannot miss when you have to capture a Snorlax in your path... unless you kill this Snorlax, which will make you an idiot.

There's also a function where you can exchange data via your Pokewalker. Your own Pokewalker can record your most recent team, so when you exchange that data with someone else and then resync your Pokewalker with your own DS, you can get that other person to show up inside the Viridian training school and battle them with all Pokemon set to level 50. Kind of a ghetto way to test teams.

You can still view other matches online. Lots of children to bully. Garchomp is hilariously not banned on Nintendo Wifi.

EDIT - Rofl, They gave Scyther/Scizor Bug Bite in HG/SS. This means X-Scissor is obsolete because Bug Bite + Technician = 90 BP to X-Scissor's 80. Why the fuck did these two need an upgrade? Shit, they can potentially fuck up someone's held berry. Translation, this is like upgrading Sagat's Tiger Uppercut damage while draining someone's Ultra meter.