Proof of Affinity
Valentine's Day Challenge - 2022
General Rules:- This is an Event Challenge! It will run from Monday, February 14th to Monday, March 14th 2022.
- This Challenge can be completed on any main series Pokémon game. Additionally, any ROM hack or fan game completed through 8 gym badges and an Elite Four counts as well. Each gym (plus the League) marks the end point of a Segment and the start of a new one.
- Since Alola doesn't have Gyms, the following events are used to determine the end of a segment and the beginning of another: every Grand Trial, plus four specific Trials, being the Trial of Verdant Cavern, the Trial of Wela Volcano Park, the Trial of the Abandoned Supermarket, and the Trial of Vast Poni Canyon.
- The Challenge is completed once you beat the region's Elite Four and the credits fully roll, including battling AZ or catching Tapu Koko. This should account for 9 Segments in total.
- All of your Pokémon must be obtained legitimately inside your game of choice: trades are allowed only in order to evolve a Pokémon you already own, not to add new ones into your save file. Similarly, all of your items need to be obtained legitimately.
- Any question? Please feel free to message us, Eleanor and Janp, either on forums on Discord~
This challenge comes with its own thread on PokéCommunity's Discord! Look for it inside the #pokemon-gaming channel and meet us there! The thread doesn't work as a proper replacement for official challenge updates, which are best kept in this forum thread.
Challenge Rules:Picture this... you wake up late, scramble to the Professor's lab, are given a Pokémon and a few essentials, and finally get to begin your official journey as a Pokémon trainer, out of that absurdly tiny and uninteresting town you called home and into the unknown!
At the same time, in another small town of a different region, someone else is going through the same exact steps as you just when you do, sharing the same feelings as you, maybe even picking a similar Pokémon partner! Wouldn't it be lovely if you could be pen pals and share your adventures together? Or if you could talk strategies and team building, finding out what each of you likes in each Pokémon you catch? Wouldn't it be amazing if you could catch one of those same Pidove that every time would dispatch your letters, evolve them, and fly over on its back to meet your best friend? What if they were also coming over and you met at mid way, in the air? So romantic... right?
At the same time, in another small town of a different region, someone else is going through the same exact steps as you just when you do, sharing the same feelings as you, maybe even picking a similar Pokémon partner! Wouldn't it be lovely if you could be pen pals and share your adventures together? Or if you could talk strategies and team building, finding out what each of you likes in each Pokémon you catch? Wouldn't it be amazing if you could catch one of those same Pidove that every time would dispatch your letters, evolve them, and fly over on its back to meet your best friend? What if they were also coming over and you met at mid way, in the air? So romantic... right?
- Each player in a pair must play a game set in a different region than their partner's.
- Dupes Clause is in effect: throughout your run, you may only catch one Pokémon per evolution family. You may not Release a Pokémon in order to replace it with a different one of the same evolution family either. Choose wisely!
Trainers are not the only thing that will be paired, though...
Pokémon Pairs:
- At the end of each segment (so, during a Gym Leader battle, Champion Battle, specific Trial - see General Rules - or Grand Trial) the Pokémon in each player's team will be able to be paired if they have certain traits in common. This is not allowed for Pokémon that are in the box when this happens! These traits are 9, and are as follows:
💞 Pokémon with the same Gender
(Genderless Pokémon can always be paired with other Genderless Pokémon, of course)
💞 Pokémon with a Nature that boosts the same Stat,
(an example is Brave and Adamant natures, as they both favor Attack! Neutral Natures are a separate group and can be paired to each other instead.)
💞 Pokémon with the same height,
💞 Pokémon with the same types,
(if dual-type, both types need to match but their order doesn't matter: so, Noivern and Dragonite can be paired this way, but not Noivern and Hydreigon)
💞 Pokémon with the same color,
💞 Pokémon with the same ability,
💞 Pokémon who share their highest and lowest Base stat,
(in case of ties, you can choose what works best: for example, a pair could be Whimsicott (highest: Speed at 116, lowest: HP at 65) with Flygon (highest: Speed at 100, lowest: HP at 80). Yes, Flygon has the same Attack and Speed, and then every other stat is the same, but it's ok regardless.)
💞 Pokémon who share at least 2 moves (or just 1, if both of them know 3 moves or less),
💞 Pokémon who were obtained at the same level.
(Genderless Pokémon can always be paired with other Genderless Pokémon, of course)
💞 Pokémon with a Nature that boosts the same Stat,
(an example is Brave and Adamant natures, as they both favor Attack! Neutral Natures are a separate group and can be paired to each other instead.)
💞 Pokémon with the same height,
💞 Pokémon with the same types,
(if dual-type, both types need to match but their order doesn't matter: so, Noivern and Dragonite can be paired this way, but not Noivern and Hydreigon)
💞 Pokémon with the same color,
💞 Pokémon with the same ability,
💞 Pokémon who share their highest and lowest Base stat,
(in case of ties, you can choose what works best: for example, a pair could be Whimsicott (highest: Speed at 116, lowest: HP at 65) with Flygon (highest: Speed at 100, lowest: HP at 80). Yes, Flygon has the same Attack and Speed, and then every other stat is the same, but it's ok regardless.)
💞 Pokémon who share at least 2 moves (or just 1, if both of them know 3 moves or less),
💞 Pokémon who were obtained at the same level.
Additional Pairing Rules:
Now, to make things a bit more complicated and shuffle things up...
- You may not pair the same two Pokémon more than once, even if it's for different reasons.
- If a Pokémon is involved in a pair because of a certain trait, then it can no longer be paired with any other Pokémon because of that same trait.
Here's an example: let's say Player A is playing Emerald, and has just beat Flannery with a Marshtomp in their team. Their partner, Player B, is playing Platinum and has just beat Maylene with a Barboach in their team. They're both at the same segment, since this is the fourth badge for both games. In this case, they can pair Marshtomp and Barboach, because both are Water/Ground types. Keep in mind who's been paired, and why.
As they progress, they reach their respective fifth gym, Norman and Crasher Wake: Player A still has Marshtomp in their team, whereas Player B has now a Whiscash and a Quagsire.
- The first rule says that Marshtomp cannot be paired with Whiscash anymore, even if there's another trait they share from the list above. So even if their color is also the same (it is!) they cannot be paired.
- The second rule says that Marshtomp and Quagsire cannot be paired because they both share the Water/Ground type. Marshtomp has already been in a pair with Player B's Whiscash for this reason the segment before! These two Pokémon still have the potential to form a pair now, but the trait by which this happens has to be a different one - in this case, it could be their gender, or the moves they share, or better yet... their color! Turns out all of those three Pokémon are Blue, hehe...
As they progress, they reach their respective fifth gym, Norman and Crasher Wake: Player A still has Marshtomp in their team, whereas Player B has now a Whiscash and a Quagsire.
- The first rule says that Marshtomp cannot be paired with Whiscash anymore, even if there's another trait they share from the list above. So even if their color is also the same (it is!) they cannot be paired.
- The second rule says that Marshtomp and Quagsire cannot be paired because they both share the Water/Ground type. Marshtomp has already been in a pair with Player B's Whiscash for this reason the segment before! These two Pokémon still have the potential to form a pair now, but the trait by which this happens has to be a different one - in this case, it could be their gender, or the moves they share, or better yet... their color! Turns out all of those three Pokémon are Blue, hehe...
Challenge Goals and Prizes:
This should explain all you need to know about these pairs. Of course, with all this talk about them, they must be important, right? Well...
- Each trainer couple's goal is to create the highest number of Pokémon Pairs inside their games of choice! Please state these Pokémon pairs and the traits they share in your forum updates as you progress~
- Completing the challenge earns you a participation gift! If you head over to the VPP "Obtain your Pokémon" thread, and make a post there with a link to your final update (in this thread here), you can receive a Virtual Pokémon Pet of Pidove, Tranquill or Unfezant (your choice) for free! It won't be tradeable, though, as it's meant to be proof of your accomplishment. The winning pair gets their Pokémon to be guaranteed ✨ shiny ✨, too!
- Starting from this year, completing Event Challenges such as this one also counts towards a certain Forum Badge... more info about that in the future!
A note for older games:
Now... note that a few traits mentioned above, in particular Gender, Nature and Abilities, refer to features that were only added in Generation 3 games. If you're playing an older game, though, you may randomize these traits and assign them to the Pokémon you're utilizing.
- Gender can be randomized according to the species' Gender Ratio, available on most online Pokédex websites. By the way, Rookidee is clearly your favorite regional bird Pokémon, no arguing!
- Nature can be randomized by rolling any number between 0 and 24 and assigning said number to a Nature, according to the table available here on Bulbapedia.
- Abilities can be determined once again with the help of online Pokédex websites. If a Pokémon has two Standard Abilities, a coin toss can determine which one the Pokémon will "have" - Dream World abilities shouldn't be considered in this case.
Sign Ups:The challenge has started! You can still sign-up, however, if you have already contacted a partner. In that case, each of you will still need to make a separate sign-up and mention each other for confirmation, but when that's done, you can start playing!
🕊️ Forum name:
🕊️ In-game name, if different:
🕊️ Game of choice:
🕊️ Favorite Regional Bird Pokémon: (the answer is somewhere above this section...)
🕊️ Trainer Partner:
🕊️ Willingness to become a Backup trainer?:
Back-up trainers and Sign-up Procedures:
To explain what that last field means...
- sadly, unexpected issues can happen, and people may not be able to complete the challenge on time. If that's the case, we'd love to give people another chance, and let them either restart a new run with a different partner or continue back from the last savefile, if available for both games. This is where Backup trainers come in - of course, this can all be explained and arranged better through this thread or the one over on Discord.
guess this is why it took us this long to create a challenge you complete in pairs or teams...
- to clarify how points will work in case of back-up trainers being involved... points are specific for each pair of save files, and anyone who's been working on the winning pair of save files will be the winning trainer. There's no such thing as the best and worst member of each trainer pair... aren't you supposed to love and appreciate each other? ;)
Scoreboard:- Pikaboo (Sword) + Kostucha (White 2) - Champions! - 53
- Eleanor (Platinum) + Cubeth (Leaf Green) - 30
- Arcaneum (Emerald) + Alisaie (Y)
- Devalue (Sword) + StanTheSnoms (Heart Gold) - Champions! - 54
- _confused_piplup_ (Platinum) + Ettenmoor (Heart Gold)
- Janp (Fire Red) + Finneari (Ultra Moon)
Pidove art by きなこもち on Pixiv - Challenge by Eleanor and Janp - CSS by Eleanor
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