You shall not pass!

Roadblocks in Pokemon games. Always present, always have the same purpose: block the player from making any progress, as long as he hasn't beaten the next Gym Leader/evil team scheme. Some of the are highly creative, some of them just obnoxious or outright annoying.

What are some roadblocks in the games that you find rather creative/well done and which ones did you dislike the most?

Ah roadblocks. They've been a staple of the Pokemon games ever since that old man in Veridian city who hadn't had his coffee.

I always found the guards outside Saffron City creative. It was easy to figure out what you needed to do (get him a drink) without being too annoying or obnoxious.

On the other hand, I find it annoying when it's just a random NPC who stops you and says "Hey, you can't leave this city until you defeat the gym!" or something to that effect. Kinda obnoxious, and pretty lazy, from a game design perspective -_-

First of all, I hate the one in Pewter City where that kid is like "You're a rookie, you need to go to the Gym" and all that crap. How does he know what I'm doing? Maybe I'm just a passerby and I wanted to check out Mt. Moon. Get out of my way, stupid kid.

One I thought was interesting was the Psyducks blocking off Route 210, mostly because Cynthia uses a SecretPotion to cure them, which was probably a clue for HeartGold and SoulSilver coming out not too long after them. That was a very cool little Easter Egg if you ask me.

Remember, the boy blocks the path to mt.moon and because you don't win the gym battle in pewter city "Hey, you must be new, lemme show you the gym" it's quite annoying and the roadblocks on lumoise city was a strange roadblock because the blocker said the city was out of power, but I'm seeing there is power it's pretty odd one

Probably the most annoying game roadblocks for me are R/G/B/Y's preventing you from exiting Pewter City to the east with a Youngster redirecting you to the Gym, and a Rocket Grunt blocking the door to the Saffron Gym until you drive Team Rocket out of the Silph headquarters.
The most creative ones, IMO, are in G/S/C, where you couldn't exit Mahogany Town because of someone trying to sell you something, and also Rocket Grunts taking your money at the Lake of Rage's gate building.

Sudowoodo is probably my favorite because he is like a tree and you have to hit him with a water sprayer. However, I am not 100% that this is a roadblock.

If you're thinking of bizarre roadblocks, B2/W2 has some of the weirdest ones in the series such as the men blocking the entrance to Black City/White Forest on Route 14 because they will just keep dancing, only to finally leave when you defeat the Elite Four.

The Tubeline Bridge has those people bunching up together on the bridge to see how many people it can hold at once.

Like many others here, the kid in Pewter City. He was so annoying. How dare he criticize me without even knowing me.

Also the Snorlax roadblocks. I feel like the one in XY was too random though.

I'm with everyone here, someone saying you can't pass for no apparent reason is really lame. Just someone saying the road is under construction (road to Sunnyshore City) is slightly better, because it could make sense, as it's not someone randomly forcing every passerby to challenge the local Gym. Yet it's still lazy.
As the most creative ones I firstly wan to mention the sleeping Snorlax on the road for which you need a certain item to clear away the obstacle, but before that, there's still a battle. Secondly, Mr Briney. You can't go to Dewford Town, because the sea blocks the path, yet the solution isn't Surf, it's rescuing this captain after which he owes you one and gladly sails you around Southern Hoenn.

Achromatic said:

Thinking back, I always wanted to go past the fences next to Pallet town because there was tons of grass on the side.

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When I first started playing Yellow, I tried so doggone hard to get to that grass you're taking about (which run through the sides of Route 1 also), that I thought there were rare Pokémon residing there. Needless to say, a few years later when I tried accessing that area with a cheating device, the game froze.

Sopheria said:

On the other hand, I find it annoying when it's just a random NPC who stops you and says "Hey, you can't leave this city until you defeat the gym!" or something to that effect. Kinda obnoxious, and pretty lazy, from a game design perspective -_-

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omg this!! these are the most obnoxious road blocks, mainly because in a normal situation you would be like "wtf" and walk right past them. i think the ragecandybar man in mahogany town is the best yet worst example of this. no i don't want your shitty candy bar now if you'll excuse me...

Ayselipera said:

omg this!! these are the most obnoxious road blocks, mainly because in a normal situation you would be like "wtf" and walk right past them. i think the ragecandybar man in mahogany town is the best yet worst example of this. no i don't want your mukty candy bar now if you'll excuse me...

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Yes -_- I always imagine if someone did that in real life. I'd be like, "Uh, get out of my way or I'm calling the cops, you weirdo."

Hikamaru said:

If you're thinking of bizarre roadblocks, B2/W2 has some of the weirdest ones in the series such as the men blocking the entrance to Black City/White Forest on Route 14 because they will just keep dancing, only to finally leave when you defeat the Elite Four.

The Tubeline Bridge has those people bunching up together on the bridge to see how many people it can hold at once.

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"Today, we're dancing for no reason.
Someday, we'll disappear for no reason."

My favourites! It's like the developers just didn't care anymore. It's brilliant.

queeniewolf said:

"Today, we're dancing for no reason.
Someday, we'll disappear for no reason."

My favourites! It's like the developers just didn't care anymore. It's brilliant.

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It's true, when I first reacted to it I was like "Game Freak what the hell were you thinking this is fucking crazy" and I do agree, it gave off the impression they were being so badly lazy here. I think B2/W2 was probably one of the worst offenders as far as lazy roadblocks that people don't understand go.

The one in Viridian city was the worst lol

Old Man: "I WILL NOT LET YOU PASS ETC" Lady:"Sorry he didn't have his coffee yet"

wow. just wow.

Seth Rollins said:

The one in Viridian city was the worst lol

Old Man: "I WILL NOT LET YOU PASS ETC" Lady:"Sorry he didn't have his coffee yet"

wow. just wow.

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Pretty much just sums up the roadblock experience. And to make things worse he then teaches you how to catch a Weedle!

One roadblock that always annoys me was the guy in front of the sewers in BW2. It's like, I know where Team Plasma is. Why do I need Iris? And this guy is just like "Yup! Those are the sewers!" or something and doesn't move until Iris takes you down there.

There is a Hiker very early in B2W2 who stops you if you don't have the Basic Badge, and then he battles you once you do. When you beat him, he says "Why was I so conceited as to think I could teach you anything?" Yeah, good question - you wonder why he was even there to begin with. :P

And a similar thing with XY, since one of the earliest routes has access to the entrance to Victory Road, there's an Ace Trainer who pushes you off if you try to go to Victory Road early on. Hey, look out, as my team of Level 10s wants to fight the Pokémon League, funny guy!

I actually really liked the power outage thing in Kalos... or I WOULD have... if there weren't obviously TONS of lights on... INSIDE the blackout area! That aside, it was an interesting, fairly believable idea.

The worst, though... "We're dancing, and one day we'll stop." Something to that effect. It was just... so blatantly lazy, like they didn't even try to come up with something decent.