Written by: zee
QC by: shiny finder, Lego, Max. Optimizer, Sephirona, Light Sanctity
GP by:
HTML by:
Intro
In Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, Pokemon Contests were introduced as an alternative to directly battling opponents. All moves within the games are given a contest type, one of Beauty, Cool, Cute, Smart, or Tough, which matches the corresponding contest categories. Additionally, there are four ranks of Pokemon Contests: Normal, Super, Hyper, and Master. In Ruby and Sapphire, these contest halls can be found in Verdanturf Town, Fallarbor Town, Slateport City, and Lilycove City, respectively. In Pokemon Emerald, all four contest ranks are located in the contest hall in Lilycove City. To enter a Pokemon Contest, you must first receive a contest pass, which you can receive upon your first time entering a Normal rank contest.
Pokemon Contests consist of two phases, being primary judging and secondary judging. Your Pokemon will be matched up against three NPCs' Pokemon and will compete for the first place ribbon. Ribbons exist for all 5 contest types and all 4 ranks, for a grand total of 20 possible ribbons earned.
A few notes before we get started: this article will assume you have access to the entire map of the Hoenn region, though beating the Champion is not necessary. Additionally, this guide will assume that you are only playing a single cartridge of the games, so Pokemon exclusively from Fire Red, Leaf Green, Colosseum, and XD will not be mentioned, nor will any Pokemon that are only obtainable by trading such as Alakazam and Kingdra.
Primary Judging
Condition and Sheen
Primary Judging consists of your Pokemon being judged by the audience on two factors: primarily its condition, but also its sheen. You can improve your Pokemon's condition by feeding it PokeBlocks. PokeBlocks can be created in the foyer of any contest hall with NPCs or with an additional player via a Link Cable. The types of berries you should use to make your PokeBlocks depend on which contest you're preparing for, which can be seen in the following table. You can check the color and flavor of a given Berry by viewing its tag in the Bag.
Additionally, Natures have an effect on the growth rate of a Pokemon's contest condition. A list of the positive and negative growth rates can be seen in the following table. Neutral natures do not speed up or slow down the growth rate of any contest condition, and won't be mentioned as such.
While the Pokemon's primary condition is the main factor when scoring Primary Judging, secondary condition and sheen also influence the score. A list of secondary conditions can be found in the following table. Sheen is a value that ranges from 0 to 255, and is entirely dependent on the PokeBlocks that it has eaten, equivalent to the value of the PokeBlock's smoothness or hardness. A Pokemon cannot be fed more PokeBlocks once it has a 255 Sheen stat, meaning it's best to feed a Pokemon smooth PokeBlocks if you plan on entering it in multiple contest categories to get as many ribbons as possible. Sheen is also permanent, so be mindful when it comes to finding your Pokemon the appropriate PokeBlocks!
A Pokemon's condition and sheen can be checked in the PokeNav. For condition, how far toward each of the 5 contest types it goes represents how close it is to a maxed out condition, where as sheen can be measured by the amount of stars the appear of your Pokemon's sprite, with one being the lowest and 10 being the highest possible sheen.
The player can also give their Pokemon colored scarves to boost their scores in the primary judging phase. To get these, show the Pokemon Fan Club President a Pokemon with at least a 200 value in the corresponding condition of the scarf (refer to the first table to see what color goes with what type of condition). They are obtainable in all of Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald.
The Berry Master and His Wife
On Route 123, the player can talk to the Berry Master daily to get two free berries, at random. The player can also talk to the Berry Master's Wife using special phrases to unlock rare berries, especially useful for making PokeBlocks. If you have access to the Emerald cloning glitch, it is very helpful to get multiple copies of these berries with ease. Some of the key words in these phrases can only be unlocked after certain in-game events have occurred.
Blend Master
Only in Pokemon Emerald after beating the Hall of Fame, the Blend Master will occasionally appear at the Lilycove Contest Hall. He uses very high quality berries and blends at a high RPM, resulting in efficient, high quality PokeBlocks, a great help for increasing a Pokemon's condition. His presence will be announced on TV, making it easier to know when he's arrived.
Secondary Judging
Basic Strategy
***************************************************
Secondary Judging consists of your Pokemon, and its three fellow competitors, making an appeal to the audience and the judge based on a particular move selection for five turns, making up the bulk of the competition. Pokemon earn hearts to fill their meter in this stage, with the said meter ranging from zero to 16 hearts. The audience also has a meter that goes up to five points and increases by one for each time a Pokemon uses a move with the same contest type as the designated competition variety; additionally, when a Pokemon maxes out the contest meter, it will gain an additional 5 hearts instead of just 1.
In addition to their specific contest typing, moves in Pokemon Contests have two additional stat categories: appeal and jam. The appeal category is how many hearts the Pokemon earns directly from judging, while the jam category is how many hearts a move can remove from the Pokemon that appeal before it. For example, Bubble, which has an appeal of 2 and a jam of 2, would cause the user to earn 2 hearts, while also removing 2 hearts from any Pokemon that went before it on that round of appeals in which it was used. An important note: moves should not be repeated unless their description says they can repeat without tiring the audience, as doing so otherwise will cause your Pokemon to lose 2 hearts.
With all that being said, this leaves a very simple goal for secondary judging: getting as many hearts as possible while minimizing the hearts your foes earn. This is much easier said than done, however, as doing so effectively requires well thought out planning, and a little bit of luck. The easiest way to plan in advance is to include combos in your Pokemon's moveset, as they maximize the possibility of getting the chance to score a lot of hearts from the judge. We'll be going down the list of all 5 categories and covering some easy-to-use combos to teach your Pokemon.
Move Combinations and Moveset Strategy
***************************************************
Certain moves form combinations when used in Pokemon Contests. Effectively, a move used on turn 1 will double the hearts earned on turn 2, extra hearts notwithstanding, if the moves are recognized as a combination. The exception to this is if the Pokemon is startled by the move Flash in between turns 1 and 2, which resets the combination. Some good examples of useful and accessible combinations will be listed, by category, in the tables below. Do note that moves marked with an asterisk (*) denote a move that is not the same type as the designated contest type. A reminder that both moves need to be explicitly used by your Pokemon. For example, a foe's Torkoal using Sunny Day does not mean your Blaziken will get a combination bonus for using Blaze Kick in the same round of appeals. Your Blaziken would have to use both moves itself in succession to get the combination bonus.
Beauty
As shown by the table, Sunny Day lends itself to a whole host of "highly appealing" moves, meaning that they'll score a whopping eight hearts plus audience reaction when followed up with effectively. Sunny Day itself isn't even a bad base move, as it can score big points in the later rounds if the timing allows it to greet an excited audience. Overheat is the standout option, as it can score six hearts by itself, making it the highest possible point yield when paired with Sunny Day, though the user must be careful to avoid getting startled by its fellow competitors.
The great thing about this combination is that there are a variety of Pokemon that can make use of it thanks to the wide distribution of Sunny Day and the likes of Fire Blast, Fire Punch, and Flamethrower. This includes both Fire-types like Blaziken, Torkoal, and Camerupt, as well as non Fire-types such as Salamence and Flygon.
Hail has a similar setup to Sunny Day combinations, albeit with a slightly smaller distribution. Blizzard and Powder Snow are the highly appealing moves that offer general consistency, while Haze worsens the condition of the Pokemon that went before the user, and Ice Ball can momentarily stop the audience's meter from rising.
A nice benefit to the Hail setup is that, unlike Sunny Day, there are Pokemon available within the Hoenn Region that learn Hail as well as at least one combo move by level up, including Castform, Glalie, and Walrein. The gift Castform from the Weather Institute comes knowing both Hail and Powder Snow, for instance, making it available for contest use as soon as you acquire it.
The Ice Punch and Fire Punch combination is mainly a technique that Pokemon can take advantage of in Emerald version due to move tutors (though Medicham is available in Ruby and Sapphire and can legally learn both attacks). The two moves are both highly appealing, making them very safe to use with little risk involved. Of course, the overlap of Pokemon that learn Ice Punch and Fire Punch by tutor in Emerald is humongous, but some notable examples include Hariyama, Aggron, and Gardevoir.
Cool
The most common setup you're going to find with Cool combo moves is Leer + Tackle or Scratch, the former by Manectric, Gyarados, Heracross, and Mightyena, while the latter is learned by Absol, Zangoose, and Sableye. Leer + Horn Attack has the benefit of both moves being Cool type, but this is only learned by Heracross in Ruby and Sapphire (and Smeargle in Emerald).
Peck and Drill Peck is a great combination of two highly appealing moves for a select few Flying-types, those being Doduo, Dodrio, Natu, Xatu, and Skarmory. Unfortunately, that is the extent of the combination's distribution.
The Rage combo moves are also an option, being learned by Salamence, Sharpedo, their pre-evolutions, and Gyarados in both cases of Leer and Thrash. Leer stops the crowd from getting excited, while Thrash prevents the user from moving for a turn, making it most effective on the 5th round of judging.
Cute
Mud Sport and Mud-Slap are a widely accessible and useful combination of moves, with Mud Sport acting as a highly appealing move and Mud-Slap startling the Pokemon in the lead to reduce the amount of hearts they earned. However, if you're after more consistency, Water Gun and Water Sport are both highly appealing moves. This is good for Pokemon like Golem, Armaldo, Sceptile, Milotic, Swampert, and Whiscash.
However, if you're after even more accessibility, then the combination of Rest and Sleep Talk is for you. Note that Sleep Talk is only available as an Emerald move tutor for everything but the Exploud Line, but if that's an option for you, then you should have no trouble cruising through cute contests. Rest itself makes the user immune to being startled, Sleep Talk can be used repeatedly without boring the judge, and the less common Snore is simply a highly appealing move, useful for scoring more hearts on the appeals.
Smart
Smart moves are often more about jamming your rivals than scoring big hearts, which is why effective combos are so few. However, most Psychic-types can take advantage of this combo in some form, likely Calm Mind + Psychic if nothing else, though Psychic is a move geared more towards taking away your opponent's hearts rather than winning big yourself. Calm Mind is a very useful move to temporarily avoid being startled.
Tough
Harden and Tackle is a very safe and common strategy, starting off by protecting the user from being startled and then earning your share of hearts with a highly appealing move. Rollout can stop the crowd from being excited, which is good for manipulating the audience's reaction meter. Take Down and Double-Edge both can score lots of hearts but make the user very susceptible to being startled, making it best to use at the very end. This is good for Pokemon like Aggron, Claydol, and Relicanth.
The Rain Dance + Waterfall or Thunder combo works very well for most Water- or Electric-types, with Thunder being great for startling those that made appeals prior. Clamp, Crabhammer, and Weather Ball are single-use cases for the Clamperl, Corphish, and Castform lines, respectively.
Jam Moves
While the objective during secondary judging is to earn as many hearts as possible during your appeal, sometimes it can be useful to reduce some of the hearts the opposing Pokemon have earned, which is especially useful if you're going last or you predict a specific opponent to have a successful appeal round. This is where the jam stat of contest moves comes into play, as these moves will startle their targets and cause them to lose hearts. A list of jam moves, as well as their contest type and effects, are listed in the table below.
There are moves that make your Pokemon immune to being startled. Teleport, Light Screen, Reflect, and Protect will keep your Pokemon safe from being startled for the duration of secondary judging, while Double Team, Dive, Rest, Defense Curl, Calm Mind, Counter, Detect, Mirror Coat, Endure, Harden, and Stockpile offer one-time protection. Conversely, Double-Edge, Take Down, Overheat, Psycho Boost, Superpower, and Volt Tackle will make your Pokemon more susceptible to being startled, meaning they'll lose even more hearts.
Other Moves
Of course, the list of moves we've discussed thus far is not a catch-all. One potential strategy when it comes to designing your Pokemon's moveset is including a move that isn't the same type as the designated contest, such as a Beauty move in a Cool competition. The usefulness in this lies in the fact that you have the ability to manipulate the audience meter to an extent, instead of always being forced to raise the counter by one, which may potentially leave an untimely foe maxing out the meter. However, not all moves can be ran efficiently in all contests. The table below covers which moves will work well in which contests.
Additionally, Dragon Dance, Growth, Swords Dance, Belly Drum, Refresh, Meditate, and Swallow will all increase your Pokemon's condition, meaning they'll earn an additional heart for each appeal round, and helps prevent nervousness, which means they'll be more likely to appeal successfully. Explosion, Self-Destruct, Memento, and Destiny Bond are interesting moves in that they have a huge payout at a whopping base eight hearts, but the user cannot make any appeals after using them, meaning they're best saved for the last round of appeals.
While there are countless possibilities when it comes to the Pokemon you enter in a Pokemon Contest, here are a few examples of some setups that you can use to get your feet wet. Spaces marked with a "-" mean that the moveslot is flexible
Conclusion
Pokemon Contests can definitely be hard to pick up, as getting a successful Pokemon together takes a lot of planning and preparation in advance. However, once you get the hang of it and explore different Pokemon, movesets, and difficulties, they can be quite infectious. Whether you're entering a Pokemon Contest for a specific ribbon or just playing for the fun of it, I hope you found this guide useful.
QC by: shiny finder, Lego, Max. Optimizer, Sephirona, Light Sanctity
GP by:
HTML by:
Intro
In Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, Pokemon Contests were introduced as an alternative to directly battling opponents. All moves within the games are given a contest type, one of Beauty, Cool, Cute, Smart, or Tough, which matches the corresponding contest categories. Additionally, there are four ranks of Pokemon Contests: Normal, Super, Hyper, and Master. In Ruby and Sapphire, these contest halls can be found in Verdanturf Town, Fallarbor Town, Slateport City, and Lilycove City, respectively. In Pokemon Emerald, all four contest ranks are located in the contest hall in Lilycove City. To enter a Pokemon Contest, you must first receive a contest pass, which you can receive upon your first time entering a Normal rank contest.
Pokemon Contests consist of two phases, being primary judging and secondary judging. Your Pokemon will be matched up against three NPCs' Pokemon and will compete for the first place ribbon. Ribbons exist for all 5 contest types and all 4 ranks, for a grand total of 20 possible ribbons earned.
A few notes before we get started: this article will assume you have access to the entire map of the Hoenn region, though beating the Champion is not necessary. Additionally, this guide will assume that you are only playing a single cartridge of the games, so Pokemon exclusively from Fire Red, Leaf Green, Colosseum, and XD will not be mentioned, nor will any Pokemon that are only obtainable by trading such as Alakazam and Kingdra.
Primary Judging
Condition and Sheen
Primary Judging consists of your Pokemon being judged by the audience on two factors: primarily its condition, but also its sheen. You can improve your Pokemon's condition by feeding it PokeBlocks. PokeBlocks can be created in the foyer of any contest hall with NPCs or with an additional player via a Link Cable. The types of berries you should use to make your PokeBlocks depend on which contest you're preparing for, which can be seen in the following table. You can check the color and flavor of a given Berry by viewing its tag in the Bag.
| Contest Type | Berry Color | Berry Flavor |
|---|---|---|
| Beauty | Blue | Dry |
| Cool | Red | Spicy |
| Cute | Pink | Sweet |
| Smart | Green | Bitter |
| Tough | Yellow | Sour |
Additionally, Natures have an effect on the growth rate of a Pokemon's contest condition. A list of the positive and negative growth rates can be seen in the following table. Neutral natures do not speed up or slow down the growth rate of any contest condition, and won't be mentioned as such.
| Nature | Positive Condition | Negative Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Lonely | Cool | Tough |
| Brave | Cool | Cute |
| Adamant | Cool | Beauty |
| Naughty | Cool | Smart |
| Bold | Tough | Cool |
| Impish | Tough | Beauty |
| Relaxed | Tough | Cute |
| Lax | Tough | Smart |
| Timid | Cute | Cool |
| Hasty | Cute | Tough |
| Jolly | Cute | Beauty |
| Naive | Cute | Smart |
| Modest | Beauty | Cool |
| Mild | Beauty | Tough |
| Rash | Beauty | Smart |
| Quiet | Beauty | Cute |
| Calm | Smart | Cool |
| Gentle | Smart | Tough |
| Careful | Smart | Beauty |
| Sassy | Smart | Smart |
While the Pokemon's primary condition is the main factor when scoring Primary Judging, secondary condition and sheen also influence the score. A list of secondary conditions can be found in the following table. Sheen is a value that ranges from 0 to 255, and is entirely dependent on the PokeBlocks that it has eaten, equivalent to the value of the PokeBlock's smoothness or hardness. A Pokemon cannot be fed more PokeBlocks once it has a 255 Sheen stat, meaning it's best to feed a Pokemon smooth PokeBlocks if you plan on entering it in multiple contest categories to get as many ribbons as possible. Sheen is also permanent, so be mindful when it comes to finding your Pokemon the appropriate PokeBlocks!
| Contest Type | Primary Condition | Secondary Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Beauty | Beauty | Cool, Cute |
| Cool | Cool | Beauty, Tough |
| Cute | Cute | Beauty, Smart |
| Smart | Smart | Cute, Tough |
| Tough | Tough | Cool, Smart |
A Pokemon's condition and sheen can be checked in the PokeNav. For condition, how far toward each of the 5 contest types it goes represents how close it is to a maxed out condition, where as sheen can be measured by the amount of stars the appear of your Pokemon's sprite, with one being the lowest and 10 being the highest possible sheen.
The player can also give their Pokemon colored scarves to boost their scores in the primary judging phase. To get these, show the Pokemon Fan Club President a Pokemon with at least a 200 value in the corresponding condition of the scarf (refer to the first table to see what color goes with what type of condition). They are obtainable in all of Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald.
The Berry Master and His Wife
On Route 123, the player can talk to the Berry Master daily to get two free berries, at random. The player can also talk to the Berry Master's Wife using special phrases to unlock rare berries, especially useful for making PokeBlocks. If you have access to the Emerald cloning glitch, it is very helpful to get multiple copies of these berries with ease. Some of the key words in these phrases can only be unlocked after certain in-game events have occurred.
| Berry | Berry Color | Phrase | How to Unlock |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spelon Berry | Purple (+3 Red, +1 Blue) | GREAT BATTLE | No requesite |
| Pamtre Berry | Indigo (+3 Blue, +1 Pink) | CHALLENGE CONTEST | Enter the Hall of Fame |
| Watmel Berry | Gold (+3 Pink, +1 Green) | OVERWHELMING LATIAS | Encounter Latias |
| Durin Berry | LiteBlue (+3 Green, +1 Yellow) | COOL LATIOS | Encounter Latios |
| Belue Berry | Olive (+3 Yellow, +1 Red) | SUPER HUSTLE | Enter the Hall of Fame |
Blend Master
Only in Pokemon Emerald after beating the Hall of Fame, the Blend Master will occasionally appear at the Lilycove Contest Hall. He uses very high quality berries and blends at a high RPM, resulting in efficient, high quality PokeBlocks, a great help for increasing a Pokemon's condition. His presence will be announced on TV, making it easier to know when he's arrived.
Secondary Judging
Basic Strategy
***************************************************
Secondary Judging consists of your Pokemon, and its three fellow competitors, making an appeal to the audience and the judge based on a particular move selection for five turns, making up the bulk of the competition. Pokemon earn hearts to fill their meter in this stage, with the said meter ranging from zero to 16 hearts. The audience also has a meter that goes up to five points and increases by one for each time a Pokemon uses a move with the same contest type as the designated competition variety; additionally, when a Pokemon maxes out the contest meter, it will gain an additional 5 hearts instead of just 1.
In addition to their specific contest typing, moves in Pokemon Contests have two additional stat categories: appeal and jam. The appeal category is how many hearts the Pokemon earns directly from judging, while the jam category is how many hearts a move can remove from the Pokemon that appeal before it. For example, Bubble, which has an appeal of 2 and a jam of 2, would cause the user to earn 2 hearts, while also removing 2 hearts from any Pokemon that went before it on that round of appeals in which it was used. An important note: moves should not be repeated unless their description says they can repeat without tiring the audience, as doing so otherwise will cause your Pokemon to lose 2 hearts.
With all that being said, this leaves a very simple goal for secondary judging: getting as many hearts as possible while minimizing the hearts your foes earn. This is much easier said than done, however, as doing so effectively requires well thought out planning, and a little bit of luck. The easiest way to plan in advance is to include combos in your Pokemon's moveset, as they maximize the possibility of getting the chance to score a lot of hearts from the judge. We'll be going down the list of all 5 categories and covering some easy-to-use combos to teach your Pokemon.
Move Combinations and Moveset Strategy
***************************************************
Certain moves form combinations when used in Pokemon Contests. Effectively, a move used on turn 1 will double the hearts earned on turn 2, extra hearts notwithstanding, if the moves are recognized as a combination. The exception to this is if the Pokemon is startled by the move Flash in between turns 1 and 2, which resets the combination. Some good examples of useful and accessible combinations will be listed, by category, in the tables below. Do note that moves marked with an asterisk (*) denote a move that is not the same type as the designated contest type. A reminder that both moves need to be explicitly used by your Pokemon. For example, a foe's Torkoal using Sunny Day does not mean your Blaziken will get a combination bonus for using Blaze Kick in the same round of appeals. Your Blaziken would have to use both moves itself in succession to get the combination bonus.
Beauty
| Base Move | Useful Follow Up Moves |
|---|---|
| Sunny Day | Blaze Kick, Ember, Fire Blast, Fire Punch, Flame Wheel, Flamethrower, Heat Wave, Sacred Fire, Overheat |
| Hail | Blizzard, Haze, Ice Ball, Powder Snow |
| Ice Punch | Fire Punch |
As shown by the table, Sunny Day lends itself to a whole host of "highly appealing" moves, meaning that they'll score a whopping eight hearts plus audience reaction when followed up with effectively. Sunny Day itself isn't even a bad base move, as it can score big points in the later rounds if the timing allows it to greet an excited audience. Overheat is the standout option, as it can score six hearts by itself, making it the highest possible point yield when paired with Sunny Day, though the user must be careful to avoid getting startled by its fellow competitors.
The great thing about this combination is that there are a variety of Pokemon that can make use of it thanks to the wide distribution of Sunny Day and the likes of Fire Blast, Fire Punch, and Flamethrower. This includes both Fire-types like Blaziken, Torkoal, and Camerupt, as well as non Fire-types such as Salamence and Flygon.
Hail has a similar setup to Sunny Day combinations, albeit with a slightly smaller distribution. Blizzard and Powder Snow are the highly appealing moves that offer general consistency, while Haze worsens the condition of the Pokemon that went before the user, and Ice Ball can momentarily stop the audience's meter from rising.
A nice benefit to the Hail setup is that, unlike Sunny Day, there are Pokemon available within the Hoenn Region that learn Hail as well as at least one combo move by level up, including Castform, Glalie, and Walrein. The gift Castform from the Weather Institute comes knowing both Hail and Powder Snow, for instance, making it available for contest use as soon as you acquire it.
The Ice Punch and Fire Punch combination is mainly a technique that Pokemon can take advantage of in Emerald version due to move tutors (though Medicham is available in Ruby and Sapphire and can legally learn both attacks). The two moves are both highly appealing, making them very safe to use with little risk involved. Of course, the overlap of Pokemon that learn Ice Punch and Fire Punch by tutor in Emerald is humongous, but some notable examples include Hariyama, Aggron, and Gardevoir.
Cool
| Base Move | Useful Follow Up Moves |
|---|---|
| Leer | Horn Attack, Tackle*, Scratch* |
| Peck | Drill Peck |
| Rage | Leer, Thrash* |
The most common setup you're going to find with Cool combo moves is Leer + Tackle or Scratch, the former by Manectric, Gyarados, Heracross, and Mightyena, while the latter is learned by Absol, Zangoose, and Sableye. Leer + Horn Attack has the benefit of both moves being Cool type, but this is only learned by Heracross in Ruby and Sapphire (and Smeargle in Emerald).
Peck and Drill Peck is a great combination of two highly appealing moves for a select few Flying-types, those being Doduo, Dodrio, Natu, Xatu, and Skarmory. Unfortunately, that is the extent of the combination's distribution.
The Rage combo moves are also an option, being learned by Salamence, Sharpedo, their pre-evolutions, and Gyarados in both cases of Leer and Thrash. Leer stops the crowd from getting excited, while Thrash prevents the user from moving for a turn, making it most effective on the 5th round of judging.
Cute
| Base Move | Useful Follow Up Moves |
|---|---|
| Mud Sport | Mud-Slap, Water Sport, Water Gun |
| Rest | Sleep Talk, Snore |
Mud Sport and Mud-Slap are a widely accessible and useful combination of moves, with Mud Sport acting as a highly appealing move and Mud-Slap startling the Pokemon in the lead to reduce the amount of hearts they earned. However, if you're after more consistency, Water Gun and Water Sport are both highly appealing moves. This is good for Pokemon like Golem, Armaldo, Sceptile, Milotic, Swampert, and Whiscash.
However, if you're after even more accessibility, then the combination of Rest and Sleep Talk is for you. Note that Sleep Talk is only available as an Emerald move tutor for everything but the Exploud Line, but if that's an option for you, then you should have no trouble cruising through cute contests. Rest itself makes the user immune to being startled, Sleep Talk can be used repeatedly without boring the judge, and the less common Snore is simply a highly appealing move, useful for scoring more hearts on the appeals.
Smart
| Base Move | Useful Follow Up Moves |
|---|---|
| Calm Mind | Confusion, Dream Eater, Future Sight, Psychic |
Smart moves are often more about jamming your rivals than scoring big hearts, which is why effective combos are so few. However, most Psychic-types can take advantage of this combo in some form, likely Calm Mind + Psychic if nothing else, though Psychic is a move geared more towards taking away your opponent's hearts rather than winning big yourself. Calm Mind is a very useful move to temporarily avoid being startled.
Tough
| Base Move | Useful Follow Up Moves |
|---|---|
| Harden | Double-Edge, Rollout, Tackle, Take Down |
| Rain Dance | Clamp, Crabhammer, Thunder, Waterfall, Weather Ball |
Harden and Tackle is a very safe and common strategy, starting off by protecting the user from being startled and then earning your share of hearts with a highly appealing move. Rollout can stop the crowd from being excited, which is good for manipulating the audience's reaction meter. Take Down and Double-Edge both can score lots of hearts but make the user very susceptible to being startled, making it best to use at the very end. This is good for Pokemon like Aggron, Claydol, and Relicanth.
The Rain Dance + Waterfall or Thunder combo works very well for most Water- or Electric-types, with Thunder being great for startling those that made appeals prior. Clamp, Crabhammer, and Weather Ball are single-use cases for the Clamperl, Corphish, and Castform lines, respectively.
Jam Moves
While the objective during secondary judging is to earn as many hearts as possible during your appeal, sometimes it can be useful to reduce some of the hearts the opposing Pokemon have earned, which is especially useful if you're going last or you predict a specific opponent to have a successful appeal round. This is where the jam stat of contest moves comes into play, as these moves will startle their targets and cause them to lose hearts. A list of jam moves, as well as their contest type and effects, are listed in the table below.
| Move(s) | Contest Type | Jam | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Petal Dance, Blast Burn, Hydro Cannon | Beauty | 4 | Jams the others, and misses one turn of appeals. |
| Hail, Icy Wind, Bubblebeam, Lovely Kiss, Spore | Beauty | 3 | Badly startles those that have made appeals. |
| Aurora Beam, Ice Beam, Icicle Spear | Beauty | 1 | Startles Pokemon that made a same-type appeal. |
| Sheer Cold, Perish Song | Beauty | 1 | Badly startles all Pokemon that made good appeals. |
| Will-O-Wisp | Beauty | 4 | Badly startles the Pokemon in front. |
| Tri-Attack | Beauty | 2 | Startles all Pokemon that have done their appeals. |
| Cotton Spore | Beauty | 1 | Startles the Pokemon that has the Judge's attention. |
| Air Cutter, Dragon Claw, Sky Uppercut | Cool | 1 | Startles Pokemon that made a same-type appeal. |
| Brick Break, Crush Claw, Dizzy Punch, Extrasensory, Hyper Fang, Iron Tail, Spark | Cool | 4 | Badly startles the Pokemon in front. |
| Bullet Seed, Cut, Guillotine, Horn Drill, Stun Spore, Thunder Wave | Cool | 1 | Badly startles all Pokemon that made good appeals. |
| DragonBreath, False Swipe, Rolling Kick | Cool | 3 | Badly startles those that have made appeals. |
| DynamicPunch, Fury Attack, Spike Cannon, Pin Missile | Cool | 1 | Startles the Pokemon that has the Judge's attention. |
| Focus Energy | Cool | 3 | Badly startles those that have made appeals earlier in the same turn. |
| Frenzy Plant, Hyper Beam, Outrage | Cool | 4 | Jams the others, and misses one turn of appeals. |
| Thunder | Cool | 2 | Startles all Pokemon that have done their appeals. |
| Twineedle | Cool | 3 | Startles the Pokemon that appealed before the user. |
| Bubble | Cute | 2 | Startles all Pokemon that have done their appeals. |
| Charm, Fake Out | Cute | 1 | Startles Pokemon that made a same-type appeal. |
| Mud Shot, Sweet Scent | Cute | 3 | Badly startles those that have made appeals. |
| Sand-Attack | Cute | 1 | Startles the Pokemon that has the Judge's attention. |
| Teeter Dance | Cute | 4 | Jams the others, and misses one turn of appeals. |
| Absorb, Astonish, Confusion, Leech Life, Luster Purge, Poison Sting, SmellingSalt, String Shot | Smart | 3 | Startles the Pokemon that appealed before the user. |
| Acid, Knock Off, Mega Drain, Mist Ball, Needle Arm, Pain Split | Smart | 4 | Badly startles the Pokemon in front. |
| Beat Up, Psywave, Pursuit, Snatch, | Smart | 1 | Badly startles all Pokemon that made good appeals. |
| Dream Eater, Leech Seed | Smart | 2 | Startles all Pokemon that have done their appeals. |
| Giga Drain | Smart | 1 | Startles the Pokemon that has the Judge's attention. |
| GrassWhistle, Hypnosis, Metal Sound, Nightmare, Psychic, Screech, Sleep Powder | Smart | 3 | Badly startles those that have made appeals. |
| Night Shade, Recover | Smart | 1 | Startles Pokemon that made a same-type appeal. |
| Arm Thrust, Bone Club, DoubleSlap, Fury Swipes, Scary Face, Muddy Water, Octazooka, Sludge Bomb | Tough | 1 | Startles the Pokemon that has the Judge's attention. |
| Bite, Smog | Tough | 3 | Badly startles those that have made appeals. |
| Body Slam, Crunch, Lick, Low Kick, Skull Bash, Sludge, Stomp | Tough | 4 | Badly startles the Pokemon in front. |
| Constrict, Headbutt | Tough | 3 | Startles the Pokemon that appealed before the user. |
| Earthquake, Glare, Rock Slide | Tough | 3 | Badly startles those that have made appeals. |
| Fissure, Super Fang | Tough | 1 | Badly startles all Pokemon that made good appeals. |
| Seismic Toss, Slam, Strength | Tough | 1 | Startles Pokemon that made a same-type appeal. |
| Thrash | Tough | 4 | Jams the others, and misses one turn of appeals. |
There are moves that make your Pokemon immune to being startled. Teleport, Light Screen, Reflect, and Protect will keep your Pokemon safe from being startled for the duration of secondary judging, while Double Team, Dive, Rest, Defense Curl, Calm Mind, Counter, Detect, Mirror Coat, Endure, Harden, and Stockpile offer one-time protection. Conversely, Double-Edge, Take Down, Overheat, Psycho Boost, Superpower, and Volt Tackle will make your Pokemon more susceptible to being startled, meaning they'll lose even more hearts.
Other Moves
Of course, the list of moves we've discussed thus far is not a catch-all. One potential strategy when it comes to designing your Pokemon's moveset is including a move that isn't the same type as the designated contest, such as a Beauty move in a Cool competition. The usefulness in this lies in the fact that you have the ability to manipulate the audience meter to an extent, instead of always being forced to raise the counter by one, which may potentially leave an untimely foe maxing out the meter. However, not all moves can be ran efficiently in all contests. The table below covers which moves will work well in which contests.
| Contest Type | Primary Type (+1 Heart) | Secondary Type (+-0 Hearts) | Negative Type (-1 Heart) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beauty | Beauty | Cool, Cute | Smart, Tough |
| Cool | Cool | Beauty, Tough | Cute, Smart |
| Cute | Cute | Beauty, Smart | Cool, Tough |
| Smart | Smart | Cute, Tough | Beauty, Cool |
| Tough | Tough | Cool, Smart | Beauty, Cute |
Additionally, Dragon Dance, Growth, Swords Dance, Belly Drum, Refresh, Meditate, and Swallow will all increase your Pokemon's condition, meaning they'll earn an additional heart for each appeal round, and helps prevent nervousness, which means they'll be more likely to appeal successfully. Explosion, Self-Destruct, Memento, and Destiny Bond are interesting moves in that they have a huge payout at a whopping base eight hearts, but the user cannot make any appeals after using them, meaning they're best saved for the last round of appeals.
While there are countless possibilities when it comes to the Pokemon you enter in a Pokemon Contest, here are a few examples of some setups that you can use to get your feet wet. Spaces marked with a "-" mean that the moveslot is flexible
| Pokemon | Sprite | Contest Type | Move 1 | Move 2 | Move 3 | Move 4 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smeargle |  | Any | Any | Any | Any | Any | As Smeargle can learn any move via sketch, it's naturally the optimal pick for Pokemon Contests. |
| Torkoal |  | Beauty | Sunny Day | Flamethrower | Overheat | - | Use Sunny Day + Flamethrower for appeals 1-4 almost always, Overheat to score big hearts on appeal 5. |
| Dodrio |  | Cool | Peck | Drill Peck | Rage | - | Peck + Drill Peck for a simple combo of highly appealing moves. Rage can be used repeatedly without boring the judge. |
| Barboach |  | Cute | Mud Sport | Water Gun | Water Sport | Mud-Slap | Can get by on Mud Sport + Water Sport or Water Gun, Mud-Slap if startling foes is needed but it does combo with Mud Sport as well. |
| Gardevoir |  | Smart | Calm Mind | Future Sight | Confusion | - | Smart category has no highly appealing moves, but Calm Mind is nice to avoid startling. Future Sight brings in the most hearts and is useful for controlling the audience. |
| Aggron |  | Tough | Harden | Tackle | Double-Edge | - | Harden + Tackle is a simple combo that can be used throughout appeals 1-4. Use Double-Edge to grab 6 base hearts on appeal 5. |
Conclusion
Pokemon Contests can definitely be hard to pick up, as getting a successful Pokemon together takes a lot of planning and preparation in advance. However, once you get the hang of it and explore different Pokemon, movesets, and difficulties, they can be quite infectious. Whether you're entering a Pokemon Contest for a specific ribbon or just playing for the fun of it, I hope you found this guide useful.
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Everything else looks awesome, good work :)