tbh I kinda wish the interaction would work. It would either be really fun or complete and utter bullshit, I am open for both
It's actually a gimmicky at best mechanic.I do remember a very old video (as in, during the times of BW1) where, with the help of Worry Seed and Triple Battles, someone Skill Swapped Sturdy into Shedinja.
Well not so much surprise wincon since team preview exists but yes, it has had actual world cup vgc usage due to it pretty much demolishing kyogre. However that is mainly a niche case and it struggled a ton with the fact Incineroar exists.I do know that Shedinja can be used as a surprise win-con against big threats like Kyogre or Zacian since, unless they prepared for Shedinja with Ancient Power or Fire Fang, are walled completely by it.
I actually disagree calling it a “ gimmick “. I remember using this in the Moon series of VGC where I used Soak Tapu Fini alongside a Zekrom/Reshiram core. Essentially, Tapu Fini would Soak Ground Types allowing Zekrom to blast through Ground types. Fini also had support options for Zekrom, like Swagger for Attack Boosts and Misty Terrain for Zekrom’s Misty Seed, and halving Dragon type damage. Shedinja was an additional countermeasure against Xerneas, and Soak Fini could use it on Shedinja to ruin common answers like Incineroar and Yveltal by giving it only two weaknesses. I had a battle that lasted 50 turns because it came down to Soak Shedinja vs Xerneas and Incineroar, which I won.Another example of a funny WG related gimmick was also actually running Soak Tapu Fini + Shedinja in SwSh/SS. Similary, it was gimmicky at best, and like the above, still died to pretty much any sort of indirect damage on top of having to deal with ability ignoring signature moves and Shedinja itself not exactly being the pinnacle of damage.
Soak Fini per se wasn't a gimmick, I remind it was used, but Soak + Shedinja definitely was. I don't remind anyone basing their team around it, if anything it may have been an afterthought if you happened to run both for some reason.I actually disagree calling it a “ gimmick “. I remember using this in the Moon series of VGC where I used Soak Tapu Fini alongside a Zekrom/Reshiram core. Essentially, Tapu Fini would Soak Ground Types allowing Zekrom to blast through Ground types. Fini also had support options for Zekrom, like Swagger for Attack Boosts and Misty Terrain for Zekrom’s Misty Seed, and halving Dragon type damage. Shedinja was an additional countermeasure against Xerneas, and Soak Fini could use it on Shedinja to ruin common answers like Incineroar and Yveltal by giving it only two weaknesses. I had a battle that lasted 50 turns because it came down to Soak Shedinja vs Xerneas and Incineroar, which I won.
So I was curious about that last bit, because I know that ORAS actually altered a very large chunk of non-leader rosters, so I wanted to see "how many of these Pokemon, still don't show up in Trainer rosters?"Something I never see anyone talk about is how much Emerald improved Pokemon distribution compared to RS. I'm not talking about wild distribution, which for the most part is almost the same, but among NPCs.
Several games prior to DPP are notorious for having "invisible" members of their regional Pokedexes that will not be seen in a typical playthrough because they aren't used by any NPCs, and have such convoluted or difficult methods of obtaining them that the vast majority of players won't stumble across it by accident. In GSC, this was fully intended and kind of justified by the fact that some of the new evolutions are meant to be hidden - a Super Nerd in the basement of Slowpoke Well hints at how to get Slowking, for example, though this still needs another game to accomplish. RBY has a whopping 26/151 Pokemon not used by any trainer. Obviously in DPP, BW, and XY the Pokedex is completed by seeing every species in it, so NPCs tend to have teams with every Pokemon in it.
But Hoenn has SO many Pokemon not used by anyone, including those that are super-rare. Emerald, of course, did not expand the Pokedex like later games do, but it did tweak NPC Pokemon usage to fill in the gaps in the Pokedex that probably confused a lot of people (I imagine a few casual players were surprised to learn Chimecho existed at all).
Examples (there might be more, but these spring to mind):
There are still a few gaps - no-one uses Starmie, Weezing, Rhydon, Heracross, Huntail or Gorebyss as far as I can remember, but the other members of their lines are used so it's not a gaping loss.
- In RS no-one uses Pinsir or Absol; Emerald adds a double battle with a pair who do, as well as another trainer in Victory Road with an Absol
- In RS no-one uses Spoink, but in Emerald a trainer in Mossdeep Gym has one
- The Jigglypuff line isn't used by anyone in RS, but in Emerald a trainer in Norman's gym has a Wigglytuff
- Chimecho is utterly invisible in RS but Emerald adds a trainer in the Trick House who has one
- Wobbuffet isn't used by any trainer in RS but Emerald adds two trainers who use it: one in Trick House, one in Mossdeep Gym
But the addition of species like Chimecho to enemy rosters is much welcomed. It makes the game world actually feel more lived-in for me; Chimecho is ultra-rare in RSE, but it feels really stupid if the player is the only one to ever find it. To me it's a great bit of world-building to imagine that some earnest Psychic or Hex Maniac stumbled across one as well.
Even if it remains frustratingly rare, giving you the "seen" entry tips you off that it exists and it gives you motivation to go after it. And the trainer who uses it is herself off the beaten path, so it's still not a sure thing you'll see it - but the fact that it's there is cool. I guess my point is - exploration should always be rewarded.
Too bad ORAS stamped pretty much all of Emerald's better changes out. Which is why, much like Crystal, Emerald outflanks the remakes and is the best Hoenn experience overall.
Guess Hoenn lacks pure evil Trainers.Wobbuffet (& Wynaut) don't appear on any teams, however. Overly skiddish, perhaps?
So I was curious about that last bit, because I know that ORAS actually altered a very large chunk of non-leader rosters, so I wanted to see "how many of these Pokemon, still don't show up in Trainer rosters?"
Pinsir
-Is now used by a Bug Maniac's 3 rematch teams on Route 120 (2 pre-post game, 1 post game)
-Is now used by an Ace Trainer's default team on 127
Starmie
-Used by a new underwater trainer
Huntail
-Used by a new underwater trainer's rematch team (she also uses Gorebyss)
-Used by a trainer in the sootopolis gym
Gorebyss
-Used by a new underwater trainer's rematch team
-Used by a (different) trainer in the sootopolis gym
Chimecho
-Used by a trainer in the Mossdeep gym
-Also used in a Sea Mauville trainer's rematch team
Spoink
-Used by a trainer on 111
Rhyhorn
-Used by a Pokemaniac's rematch team on Route 114
-Used by an Ace Trainer on Route 123
Jigglypuff
-Used by a trainer at the Food Court
-Used by a trainer in Mt Pyre (it evolves into Wigglytuff in rematches)
-Used by a trainer in Jagged Pass
Weezing
-Used by a Ninja Boy's (final) rematch team on Route 113
-Used by Maxie, and assorted Magma Grunts in their hideout, in Omega Ruby (Archie & Aqua use Muk instead)
Absol still only appears on Sidney's team, however.
Wobbuffet (& Wynaut) don't appear on any teams, however. Overly skiddish, perhaps?
The de-specialization of the Dragon type was the absolute best thing to happen to Dragon designs. Not to say they were bad prior to Gen 6, far from it (Dragonite my beloved), it's just that now we get all these funky and dope "middle class" Dragon designs at a way higher clip. The Applin line, Tyrantrum, Alolan Exeggutor, Cyclizar and of course Turtonator and my beloved Drampa are all premium, accessible kino.
Altaria has an active haterbase?Altaria gets so much hate and yet it walked so that others could run
Altaria has an active haterbase?
my houseWhere have you been living?!
people have been clowning on the bird since gen 3my house
(nah but seriously this is news to me, i thought most people liked or at least were neutral towards the cloud bird)
i like that bug is a typing in this series at all, even if insects and other arthropods are common enemies in rpgs
And the award for funniest merchandise goes to...
Intended or not, that is exactly what happens in Gen 3 when two Wobbuffet meet, and players do indeed need to beware.
Watchog should have been a hedgehog or a literal hog. Many more opportunities with the Pokémon design.
smogon is a little thing i like about pokemon
Game Freak, take notes.
With that said though it's interesting that while absent fathers are a frequent thing in Pokemon, the mothers never seem to do any work or be that busy. The mother in Sinnoh iirc is the only one who actually goes out and does things.