S.A.C.’s Pokémon Nostalgia

[S.A.C. Martin]

I - what - how did I get here

SHUCKLE

DOUBLE TEAM

like

I saw it coming

And somehow

I can’t even

 

[S.A.C. Martin]

So here we go, XD Gale of Darkness is complete, 20 years after I first completed it! This time around I managed to snag ‘em all and purify ‘em all. Dragonite was the last one, and I beat Greevil to get the “secret ending” with the removal of the snag machine.

So what’s next? Well…

In completely the wrong order, I am going to be playing my original Colosseum game, which is virtually mint in box, together with its original memory card (which I won’t be using).

But hang on…where did I leave it when I stopped playing the game back in 2004? Let’s have a look…

Ooof. Not a lot of the snagged ones purified. I suspect I know why - this game, unlike the second game, has no purifying machine and you basically have to do a mega amount of grinding to get the purification down.

All of the snagged Pokemon in the game were present and correct and in boxes 1 and 2. Espeon was there…but where was Umbreon?

This upset me for a little bit and I left it an hour. Now Umbreon is known as basically my signature Pokemon since school - I was the only one with a shiny Umbreon in Gen 2 in my area that I knew of, having got a shiny Eevee on my Pokemon Silver version. “Darkdude” is long gone of course, sadly to battery loss, but I thought that maybe, MAYBE, my Gen 3 Umbreon would have survived here, surely…?

Then it hit me. Pokemon home. Look up the Trainer/Number combination.

Guess what.

There he was! Safe and sound and now able to be put into Scarlet.

Wonders will never cease.

I’m glad there’s at least one reminder of my original play through I can turn to in the modern day.

Why “Umbrose” - Darren Ambrose, a favourite Charlton Athletic player. Go look him up.

 

[S.A.C. Martin]

So the XD Gale of Darkness run is over, and it’s time to go back one game and play Colosseum.

However my GameCubes yellowed front panel was saddening to look at. And since the battery was dead on it, I took the opportunity to do some fixes…

Soldered in battery replaced with a battery holder of the same type. A friend of mine asked me “aren’t you worried about voiding the warranty?”

I don’t have the heart to tell her I bought this new in 2001!

So now that it’s all cleaned up and working properly, time to begin again in Colosseum.

This remains the most badass introduction to a Pokémon game of all time. Explosions? Check. V8 engined hover bike? Check. Two of Pokémon’s most iconic Eevee evolution? Check!

And the music. OH THE MUSIC. I don’t know what it is about XD Gale of Darkness, but they cut out a lot of the truly epic themes from the first game.

So I’m two snagged Pokémon in and I’ve already made a change from my original play through - Croconaw over Quilava this time. I’ve played with a lot of Johto Pokémon the last year, I’ve had Totodile as a partner playing Pokémon Gold last summer.

It’s not as intuitive as XD, but I can live with the save function at the PCs. Just have to plan the play through more carefully!

Overall, enjoying it immensely.

 

[S.A.C. Martin]

Roaring start. I’ve decided to change my approach to the whole game.

Basically the plan is to check the natures of each Pokémon, then do what needs to be done for each Pokémon to reduce the shadow meter: but also rotate the shadow Pokémon on a team of six until they’re all ready to purify.

Currently I have the first five which are ready to open their hearts sat in the box and the next five on the team.

Espeon and Umbreon are boxed until I get them all purified. So far this approach seems to be working.

Oh and also just using great balls for the moment.

I’m enjoying myself immensely.

 

[S.A.C. Martin]

So in my original Colosseum play through I had purified only 14 Pokémon by the end of the main game.

Well this time around and with my new tactic of swapping out shadow Pokémon and rotating constantly, I’ve made it just past Venus in the Under and I have caught 21 and purified 19 total, an improvement of seven and well before the end of the game!

So the current team has the last two shadow Pokémon caught so far, the hapless and pretty much all round useless Ledian (truly, why Gamefreak? Great looking Pokémon with an horrendous moveset and stats) and the latest caught - second of the legendary dogs/beasts - Suicune, my favourite of the trio. Entei already purified and pummelling everything!

I feel like the new approach is probably the way the designers intended the main game to be played, sort of. It’s clear that they were thinking about how you would catch the remaining Pokémon - giving sing to Altaria is a good indication of this.

So far no dramas, only Ledian took more than one ball to catch.

Hopefully get a bit of a longer stint playing tomorrow morning!

 

[AztecCroc]

He does! Ribbon and all. It’s a shame it doesn’t confirm Orre region or more but it is definitely the Lugia from my original play through - same naming convention and the ribbon confirms it.

It does. The "a distant land" met location is Orre's tag. I've never been clear on why it doesn't just say Orre but it's only used for Orre. I assume because that was what it said for Orre Pokémon in the GBA games.

 

[S.A.C. Martin]

It does. The "a distant land" met location is Orre's tag. I've never been clear on why it doesn't just say Orre but it's only used for Orre. I assume because that was what it said for Orre Pokémon in the GBA games.

Oh that’s interesting! I thought it might be for a few of the lands (Hoen/Kanto from Gen 3 transferred to Gen 4 and beyond?) So it’s only for Colosseum and XD Pokes then.

 

[AztecCroc]

Oh that’s interesting! I thought it might be for a few of the lands (Hoen/Kanto from Gen 3 transferred to Gen 4 and beyond?) So it’s only for Colosseum and XD Pokes then.

Yep, FRLG say Kanto, RSE/ORAS say Hoenn, DPPt/BDSP say Sinnoh, BW/BW2 say Unova, etc.

Pokémon from Scarlet and Violet will say distant land in BDSP/PLA, not in SwSh though. SwSh was actually future proofed and will say Pokémon from games released after it are from "the Faraway place" and reserves distant land for the Orre games.

 

[S.A.C. Martin]

Yep, FRLG say Kanto, RSE/ORAS say Hoenn, DPPt/BDSP say Sinnoh, BW/BW2 say Unova, etc.

Pokémon from Scarlet and Violet will say distant land in BDSP/PLA, not in SwSh though. SwSh was actually future proofed and will say Pokémon from games released after it are from "the Faraway place" and reserves distant land for the Orre games.

That’s such a cool little detail. Thanks for sharing that, really interesting.

The latest update - we are over the halfway point for catching, and 2/5ths of the total Pokemon (49 Pokemon I think with Ho-oh as the 50th not requiring purification) purified.

I am definitely enjoying this play through more than XD Gale of Darkness - it feels like, if you want to purify them all, to then go and get the Mt Battle Ho-oh, you absolutely have to swap Pokemon constantly. I note that every five or six Pokemon up, there’s a new rapid spinner, and a hypnosis, or a spore, or a sleep powder user: and that absolutely must have been deliberate, to make it easier to keep catching the shadow Pokemon by way of battling, and purifying, and battling, and purifying.

Now maybe my memory’s hazy, but I don’t remember this sort of play through being a thing at the time, but then I think I must have been one of the few “Gen Wunners” who was still playing in my friends group and I might have been the only one who had Colosseum.

When I first played the game, I remember I had Quilava, relied on it mostly throughout, together with Ampharos and then ditching Flygon (from Vibrava) for Salamence, and had Espeon/Umbreon doing most of the heavy lifting.

This time though I’ve used so far all 30 Shadow Pokemon I’ve caught until at least purification, and Espeon/Umbreon are at Lv 27 and have remained boxed throughout. The strategy feels more real. I have found myself using combinations of Pokemon and moves I’d never have considered before.

Colosseum, which I am playing after XD this time around, is suddenly feeling like the better game, purely because of this main aim which this time was firmly and definitively to “purify them all” as I went along. It doesn’t feel like a slog, it does feel like a fun game.

Yet in my original play through I did not have the advantage of the online strategy guides, forums and sheer bulk of information on the purification game mechanics (natures matched to different kinds of purifying methods) and it is in this context that I say Colosseum really needed more in game explanation of that mechanic, as it’s not obvious without the handy table of natures against purifying methods I have saved as an image on my phone.

 

[S.A.C. Martin]

So I’ve made a subtle change to my setup. Having procured a Power A Gamecube (for switch) controller, emblazoned with Umbreon on the front, I’ve since also got a wireless adaptor for the GameCube. Meaning I now have an Umbreon controller for the GameCube and an Espeon one for the Switch…!

It occasionally randomly disconnects over a long gameplay session but for the less than £20 I paid for the adaptor, it still feels worth it (especially given I haven’t as yet fixed the wavebird controller. More on that another day…!)

So I am now up to Realgam Tower, I have 3/4 ID passes and have 34 caught, 25 purified. Very much far ahead of my previous run in terms of purification but I am running out of big battles to get Pokemon purified in. Suicune has been the latest one and that has felt like an absolute age to purify him. 2/3 of the Legendary Dogs (yes I’m an old bugger) purified thus far.

And it has to be said, it very much feels like I want to use all three for the Mt Battle challenge that’ll be incoming once the main game is done. The question of what do I do to train them up is also looming and I have a few ideas…

 

[S.A.C. Martin]

I found my original binder of Pokémon cards, which confirms absolutely that I am THAT OLD.

Really brought a smile to my face to see so many of my favourite cards again, including the only first edition from the original sets I have, Machamp, my Charizard and my “pre release” Aerodactyl.

Ancient Mew though. DAMN. Look at that card!

 

[S.A.C. Martin]

Well, we are now into the postgame! 40 hours total, with 42 caught - yes, that is all of the shadows caught first time up to this point - and a whopping 35 purified!

So what’s next? Postgame to catch the last 6 and purify the final 11, before starting the REAL game for myself - Mount Battle.

Because the aim here is to do the thing I never managed to do - get the Mount Battle Ho-oh.

Watch this space…!

 

[S.A.C. Martin]

42 for 42 purified. You will notice the three dogs are absent. They are forming the team at the moment.

So, now the postgame begins in Pyrite Town. Watch this space…

 

[S.A.C. Martin]

Rainy Friday afternoon has seen the capture of the last of the GSC starters (Bayleaf) with Smeargle and Usaring following suit. I used my usual stantler/hitmontop combo to catch all three (hypnosis and rapid spin).

Now we’re off to the Deep to go and catch the Shuckle before the last few dregs of the game.

I am now starting to actively think about team building for this and have dug out my GBA games to see what else we have stored…!