Rainbow Chara X
Impossible to gauge!
- 129
- Posts
- 9
- Years
- Shiny Hunting in Sinnoh
- Seen May 12, 2025
Man, Sailor Moon: Another Story got way more of a head-start compared to Pokemon Emerald... but that series is also ending soon.
There's gonna be a lot of Pokemon Emerald planned for 2019, just saying.
There's gonna be a lot of Pokemon Emerald planned for 2019, just saying.
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Chapter #2 - First Campaign[/font][font=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
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Spoiler:
[Current OST: Route 101]
Last time on Pokemon Emerald, we obtained our first two Pokemon and embarked on an adventure through the Hoenn region. Let's see how that goes, shall we?
This guy cracks me up because... well, essentially what Aurora said. Imagine what the consequences a full Dex run would be like in-universe, even if you don't keep every Pokemon or get legendaries.
One trainer can only do so much, you know.
[Current OST: Encounter! Youngster]
"You can't say no to my challenge!"
I'm pretty sure I've addressed this before, but trainer encounters in Pokemon are always so silly to me. You could be talking about plucking flowers and suddenly it turns into a cold-blooded brawl with Hyper Beams flying everywhere.
[Current OST: Trainer Battle]
Damn, I love the soundtrack in this game. The normal trainer battle theme is just made to get you pumped. (
But oh shit, our first trainer battle. I wonder what he has?
... Seems about right. I mean, the playable character always seems to have some ridiculously rare and powerful starter while the common NPCs just grab whatever's nearby.
Though something tells me that even if we didn't have a starter, we'd win handily.
Howl is a move that raises Attack, but is utterly useless no matter the situation. For example: Alexander tackles into them because they wasted a turn howling.
I love how he gets salty after we win despite him being the one who challenged us. Pretty sure the same thing happened in real life during one of PIMPNITE's sweep videos.
#270 - 272: Ludicolo Family
Type:
Ability: Rain Dish (Heals HP in rain) or Swift Swim (Doubles speed in rain)
Appearances:
- *bulbagarden.net image removed*
- *bulbagarden.net image removed* (Level 14)
- *bulbagarden.net image removed* (Water Stone)
Additional forms?: N/A
Lotad and its family has always been amusing to me, mostly because it's (still) the only Water/Grass type in the entire series... oh and it evolves into a kappa dressed up as a mariachi dancer. That big dumb duck beak is what kills me, alright?
Sad to say we don't quite grab one of our own because... you know, Alexander. (Plus, even if you evolve them into Lombre, they don't gain any water type moves barring Hydro Pump... at level 49. No, seriously.)
"The grass goes up my nose and... fwafwafwafwafwa... fwatchoo!"
Aurora and the youngster are beginners. I am not. Instead, I am the trans-dimensional disembodied voice that they can hear sometimes!
... Man, let's playing sure gets wacky after a while.
Alexander beats up another Zigzagoon and grows to level 8!
#276 - 277: Swellow Family
Type:
Ability: Guts (Increases Attack if affected by a status. Negates the halved damage from burns.)
Appearances:
- *bulbagarden.net image removed*
- *bulbagarden.net image removed* (Level 22)
Additional forms?: N/A
Swellow is one of the coolest bird Pokemon in terms of looks alone, and they're still ridiculously fast even tod--
Feh, you're no fun. Besides, it's not like I was gonna keep Empusa in to fight the Taillow... even in the best of times that'd be a dumb idea.
Nah, I'm spreading the experience out cause this is just what you did before Gen 6's Experience Share.
Anyway, Swellow is one of those cool birds that unfortunately doesn't have much in attack power. That, and I've already used one before in a previous LP.
I have different plans for Emerald, you see.
[Current OST: Victory! Trainer]
Yeah, this route is just full of brash young tweens ready to duke it out for some reason. Such is life.
Berries are a fun remix of a mechanic from Gen 2. This was the first gen where you could plant berries and water them to make them grow faster if I remember correctly.
Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire let you keep track of which berries you planted, which was nice, but even then it wasn't that useful.
Bug Catchers are one of the weirdest trainer classes to me, if only for one reason... they use actual bug-catching nets and Pokeballs. How does that work?
Either way, Alexander gets gooed on by another Wurmple... only to knock them unconscious with a tackle covered in string.
[Aurora does the bait and switch again, leaving Alexander to tackle down the enemy Wurmple]
Easy trainers aside, we got roughed up quite a bit so I'm going back to Oldale.
"But it turns out they were only my own footprints..."
...
Whatta dummy. I love how he had to block you for this too, to make it extra silly.
I catch a Zigzagoon for the inevitable HM slog, so have fun.
[A faint shout can be heard in the distance]
???: ("Where'd you go!? Brother!?")
#280 - 282: Gardevoir Family
Type:
Ability: Trace (copies the ability of the opponent) or Synchronize (if hit with status, apply same status on opponent)
Appearances:
- *bulbagarden.net image removed*
- *bulbagarden.net image removed* (Level 20)
- *bulbagarden.net image removed* (Level 30)
Additional forms?: N/A
[Not Pokemon Emerald music: Felis]
... A lot of fanfare for one little Ralts, huh? I mean, I spent a lot of time even looking for one, so why not right?
Something tells me she's going to be a great addition to the team... once she learns more moves than just Growl.
[Current OST: Encounter! Lass]
"Help me further my career!"
Not if I have anything to say about it, lass.
... By the way, this is arguably my favorite encounter theme in the entire series - it just sounds so sweet and happy that it gives me a severe case of 【ｆｅｅｌｉｎｇｓ】.
She's cute, I'll give her that... but we're even cuter.
#285 - 286: Breloom Family
Type:
Ability: Effect Spore (10% chance of applying either poison, sleep or paralysis upon contact)
Appearances:
- *bulbagarden.net image removed*
- *bulbagarden.net image removed* (Level 23)
Additional forms?: N/A
I've recently learned Breloom is actually a really good Pokemon competitive-wise, so my love of its unique mushroom reptilian design is even more justified.
... Also, they have Stretch Armstrong arms apparently. That will never stop being amusing to me.
Unfortunately, the first Shroomish we ever encounter is one that belongs to a trainer. Shame they had to go out like this.
Spoiler-y note: we will never rematch the trainers around the region because I hate getting bothered on the Pokenav. (Out of everything that got an upgrade in ORAS, the Pokenav was the bomb. Too bad they didn't keep the Dexnav for Gen 7.)
We save ourselves some money for a potion.
[Current OST: Petalburg City]
This one is catchy but not my favorite. Still really good though.
"... Depending on the types of Pokemon, a battle could be easy or hard. For example, your Mudkip is a Water type. It's strong against the Fire type but it's weak against Grass or Electric type Pokemon."
Man, it's gonna be... great if Aurora ever encounters something weird like Dark/Ghost. You know, the one type that had no weakness before Gen 6.
"Whoever made it must be some kind of scientific wizard!"
You're telling me... apparently it gets so advanced in modern games that you can just bring Pokemon with you via a portable PC in your bag.
Technology both terrifies and amuses me - it's like magic, alright?
"It's a shining grin full of hope... Or it could be a look of somber silence struggling with fear... What do you see reflected in your face?"
Holy shit this got deep really fast. At least let me face the first gym leader before you drop these philosophical things on me, game!
"How would I put it? I just got the feeling that he lives for Pokemon."
"It is automatically sent to a Storage Box over a PC connection."
Premier Balls are just for bragging rights, correct? They don't really have an added effect, they just look nice compared to the standard ball.
Either way, now I'm prepared if the dreaded Shiny Pokemon ever pops up.
"So it's useful if you're in a hurry."
I wish more games with random battles had Repel functionalities in them, because nothing ruins my mood more than the game interrupting me mid-walk with some common trash mob I have no trouble dealing with for the millionth time.
... It's even worse if you put sidequests where you have to backtrack through said areas, so there's that too.
This guy directs us to the Gym and prevents us from passing, so that's expected.
He tells Aurora that the first thing to do in every town with a gym is to go straight to the gym, and it's like... I dunno, let me do what I want? What if I don't want to fight right away, pal?
[Current OST: Gym]
(Great song, even if I'm not all that fond of the gym theme or its various remixes throughout the series)
Norman: "Well, if it isn't Aurora! So you're all finished moving in? I'm surprised you managed to get here by yourself."
Norman: "Oh, I see. You're with your Pokemon. Hm... then I guess you're going to become a trainer like me, Aurora. That's great news! I'll be looking forward to it!"
I love how you not only have a mother and a father in Emerald, but he's also a gym leader. That's a nice subversion of the Disappeared Dad trope.
[A meek boy comes in and walks up to Norman]
Norman: "Hm? You're... Uh... Oh right. You're Wally, right?"
Wally: "I'm going to go stay with my relatives in Verdanturf Town. I thought I would be lonely by myself, so I wanted to take a Pokemon along. But I've never caught a Pokemon before... I don't know how."
Enter
"Aurora, you heard that, right? Go with Wally and make sure he safely catches a Pokemon."
You did catch like three on your own, so...
Norman: "Wally, here, I'll loan you my Pokemon."
Wally: "Oh wow, a Pokemon!"
Norman: "Hm. I'll give you a Poke Ball too. Go for it!"
Yeah, that is kind of odd. Aurora didn't even want to become a trainer specifically, yet dad figured "nah, she doesn't really need a Pokemon to be alright'... in this world where you cannot even leave town if you don't have a 'Mon of your own.
[Current OST: Come Along]
Anyway, let's help Wally catch his first Pokemon. It can't be that hard, right? We were able to do it under pressure.
"Don't they? Please watch me and see if I can't catch one properly... Whoa!"
We've got a live one here, folks! Let's see what it is and see if Wally doesn't need our -
WHAT
The first Pokemon this Sour Apple Boy encounters on his journey and it's a friggin' Ralts of all things? The rarest Pokemon on this route that took me a half hour of grass sifting to even find?!
... Give me some of that luck, Wally, you clearly don't need it.
Side note, I don't think it's possible for Wally to wind up killing the Ralts - this entire scene is scripted. Though I am curious as to what happens if he was forced to land a critical...
Wally: "You... you throw a ball now, right? I'll... I'll do my best!"
I'm pretty sure the actual purpose of this scene is to demonstrate that Ralts even exist on this route, because a first-time player isn't going to run into them by accident due to their low encounter rate.
Sure, they start off weak, but then they evolve into a fantastic Pokemon. (
[Wally throws the Pokeball at the Ralts and...]
"Aurora, thank you! Let's go back to the gym!"
Wally: "Thank you, yes it did. Here's your Pokemon back. Aurora, thank you for coming with me. You two are why I was able to catch my Pokemon. I promise I'll take really good care of it. Oh! My mom's waiting for me, so I have to go. Bye, Aurora!"
[He leaves the gym]
"Aurora, if you want to become a strong Trainer, here's my advice. Head for Rustboro City past this town. There, you should challenge the Gym Leader, Roxanne. After her, go on to other Pokemon Gyms and defeat their Leaders. Collect badges from them, understood?"
"But that's only after you become stronger."
Very interesting! Norman is the first gym leader we meet, but he's too powerful for us right now. I like how they hype him up in addition to him being a dad that's actually present.
With that said, let's rush over to Rustboro and -
"Let me guess, from the way you're dressed, you're a Pokemon trainer?"
[The strange man turns around and ponders to himself]
Who the heck are you?
???: "Well, maybe not. Your clothes aren't all that dirty. You're either a rookie trainer or maybe you're just an ordinary kid."
"I'm sorry to have taken your time."
[The strange man walks off screen]
That, my friends, was an Emerald-exclusive character. He's the proprietor of one of the greatest additions in a third version game yet, but I'll have to save it for later.
... Especially since I have a lot of ideas for that part of the game and if I say even one thing, I'll risk spoiling the whole plan.
(Whoops, did I just say that out loud?
"It will be easier to catch if it's been poisoned, burned or lulled to sleep."
... How do status effects modify the Pokeball catching algorithm? That entire system by itself intrigues me to no end due all the math that goes into it.
Meanwhile, youngster Billy challenges us to see who is the king of the sand.
#273 - 275: Shiftry Family
Type:
Ability: Chlorophyll (Doubles speed in strong sun) or Early Bird (Reduces amount of turns spent asleep)
Appearances:
- *bulbagarden.net image removed*
- *bulbagarden.net image removed* (Level 14)
- *bulbagarden.net image removed* (Leaf Stone)
Additional forms?: N/A
Shiftry and its ilk have always been an interesting set of Pokemon to me, mostly due to Shiftry's cool cry and the fact it's an evil kabuki tengu tree with tornado fans.
Like that's pretty rad, let's be real.
... I also find it funny how Nuzlocke was derived from a Nuzleaf being drawn as John Locke from LOST. That... that's pretty wacky, I can see why it caught on.
Oh shit, Alexander fainted!? What happened?
... That's right, this Seedot in particular has Bide. I didn't beat them in time, so Alexander took the brunt of the attack. Whooooooops.
... We would have been screwed if we didn't have Zigon. That's a bit of a harrowing thought.
[She squeezes the Mudkip]
... Hmm.
"He was once a mighty sailor who never feared the sea, however stormy."
He sounds cool, but I don't think he's quite as impressive as she makes him out to be.
... Peculiar introduction and pretty sprite aside, Lady Cindy here doesn't do anything interesting.
If I'm not mistaken, all the rich NPCs are carrying Full Restores which is kind of overkill on a level 7 Pokemon, don't you think? I wish I had that kind of money to throw around.
Excellent. Alexander's type match-up game is steadily improving... because we really do need a water type for one of the later gyms down the line.
[Aurora slides away into the forest]
[Current OST: Petalburg Woods]
A serviceable dungeon song, at the very least. I'm not too crazy about it.
"That's why I always check where I'm walking."
I might as well scour these maps for any hidden items, even if we don't ever get the Itemfinder. (Frankly, the best Itemfinder was in Gen 4 where you could just tap on the screen and not have to wait and guess.)
Mushy friend!
We've built a team of five Pokemon already and it's only chapter 2. I dread to think about the amount of main-stays we'll have in later chapters.
Oh no, he has a team of four Pokemon. This is gonna be a time-waster, isn't it?
That she does. She gets rid of at least one of them anyway, due to her being... well, not that strong.
Meanwhile, Amanita grows to level 7 and gains a semi-useful ability! It's not exactly the Spore that puts enemies to sleep, but it'll have to do for now.
They put a Paralyze Heal here because they knew you'd probably get hit with it after fighting some of the Shroomish here. Pretty smart warning there, Game Freak.
A small amount of grinding to get Empusa leveled up and...
I knew I made the right choice making her a snooty rich girl-type Pokemon, because if she evolved into Silcoon we would never hear the end of it.
I'm kind of surprised the "personality value" lined up with her actual personality, because whoof.
"Hello, have you seen any Pokemon called Shroomish around here? I really love that Pokemon."
[Pulls out Amanita and shows her to the man]
[A man dressed as a pirate walks in from the top of the screen]
[Current OST: Encounter! Team Aqua]
"You had to dawdle in Petalburg Woods forever, didn't you? I got sick of waiting, so here I am!"
(Aqua has such a badass encounter theme, the bass and piano in this song is sick.)
"Hand over those papers!"
[The researcher ducks behind Aurora]
Researcher: "Aiyeeh! You're a Pokemon Trainer, aren't you? You've got to help me, please!"
I love how a grown man cowers behind a teenager for help - that's just beautiful.
"No one who crosses Team Aqua gets any mercy, not even a kid! Come on and battle me!"
I mean I'd be scared if a random man dressed as a pirate was going to assault me because I got dragged into a situation that wasn't my business to begin with.
[Current OST: Team Aqua/Magma Battle Theme]
The song is disproportionately badass compared to what we'll actually face, which is...
... A level 9 Poochyena. I'd be mildly threatened if Poochyena was mildly intimidating.
[Empusa gets put away to prevent her getting hurt again]
Comedy aside, Amanita and Alexander work together to paralyze and wash out this bad boy.
(... I'm gonna start a trend with names that start with A, aren't I? Because I'm not doing it on purpose!)
Good work, fellas.
[Current OST: Victory! Team Aqua and Magma]
I thought the regular trainer victory theme was alright, but this is something else. It's so uplifting that it's in its own league altogether!
"Come on and battle me again! I wish I could say that, but I'm out of Pokemon... And, hey, we of Team Aqua are also after something in Rustboro. I'll let you go today!"
[The Aqua Grunt runs off]
What a dork.
"Thanks to you, he didn't rob me of these important papers. I know, I'll give you a Great Ball as my thanks!"
Something we can't even buy yet! Nice.
Researcher: "Didn't that Team Aqua thug say they were after something in Rustboro, too? Uh-oh! It's a crisis! I can't be wasting time!"
[The Devon researcher runs off]
We prevented someone from getting robbed! Hooray.
This guy just tells us to stay out of the tall grass if our Pokemon are weak, which is pretty considerate but blatantly obvious.
Thankfully the layout here is well-designed so you don't really have to get in a fight if you just want to leave. I like the tall grass system from the Pokemon games, but caves are just straight up random battles and I don't like them as much.
Welcome to the Too Good to Use Club, how rare are you?
Is that how it works? Because I have to admit, if someone brought a bug that was bigger than a lunchbox I would have to run away screaming no matter how cute it actually is.
#290 - 292: Nincada Family
Type (Nincada):
Type (Ninjask):
Type (Shedinja):
Ability (Nincada): Compound Eyes (Increases accuracy of moves by 1.3x)
Ability (Ninjask): Speed Boost (Boosts speed by one stage per turn)
Ability (Shedinja): Wonder Guard (Pokemon cannot be harmed by attacks that isn't super-effective, weather or statuses notwithstanding)
Appearances:
- *bulbagarden.net image removed*
- *bulbagarden.net image removed* (Level 20)
- *bulbagarden.net image removed* (Nincada evolves while you have an empty team slot and a spare Pokeball)
Stats of Shedinja: 236 (1, 90, 45, 30, 30, 40)
Additional forms?: N/A
The Nincada line is an extremely fascinating set of bug Pokemon. They're all cicadas based off of ninjas, with Shedinja being a hollow, molted shell that gained its own sentience.
I also love the creativity behind their designs, with Shedinja's ability being especially notable. I love how its health is only one friggin point to prevent it from being broken. (Also, you may not want to stare at the back of a Shedinja for too long or it'll steal your soul. Fun for the kiddies.)
Harden doesn't help much when you have a super-effective Water move. If there's anything interesting I learned recently, it's that Speed Boost originated in Gen 3 and Ninjask was its primary user before the later gens happened.
It's already lightning fast with a base speed stat of 160, which is mind-bending in how fast that must be. Good thing this isn't an active time battle system or Ninjask would be extremely busted regardless of how low its other stats are.
Ooooh, and Junelle even learned a real attack to boot!
...
Now nothing can stand in my way!
Popularity is overrated, kid. Peace and quiet is where it's at.
A reminder to backtrack and a display of the playable character's inability to jump past anything.
Anyway, I feel that's enough for one chapter. Next time on Pokemon Emerald, we're going to tackle the first gym and see if we can't stop those Aqua grunts from doing any more damage.
See you guys then!
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Team setup:
Seen - 15 (+10)
Own - 6 (+4)
Badges - 0
