4th Gen The Legendary Dogs/Cats [Entei, Suicune and Raikou]

[curiousnathan]

These three critters have been roaming the lands of Johto over the span of our Gen II now Gen IV lives. All equally as sexy, each possess however and unique typing and physique that set them apart from one another.

In-game, finding them was one thing, catching them was another. Did you find it hard to snag yourself one of these beastly Pokemon, or were they just too quick for you to catch? Which is your favourite, which do you dislike the most? If you caught them, did they become a member of your party, or were they left to rot in the PC box. Perhaps you trained them for competitive battling puposes only? Discuss!

I remember originally in G/S/C I wasn't able to snag myself not one of these amazinfg beasts. As a child I would have loved to have one of these in my party, but I never could seem to get that pokeball to click. In HGSS however, in a mtter of my first couple of encounters with Entei and Raikou I caught them. Suicune the next I have to battle, but I haven't gotten around to doing.

 

[Rivvon]

Suicune will always hold a special place in my heart. I love the design and the ability to purify water that he possesses. He always struck me as majestic. Over time I grew to love Raikou more, but Suicune will always win out for me in the end. Yes, I'm biased (Crystal was my first video game), but what can I say?

As to their difficulty to catch, I must confess that I wasn't the sharpest star in the tool shed when I was younger, and I defeated Suicune in my Crystal version (preventing me from capturing Ho-oh). However, I remember being able to catch Entei in a regular Poke Ball after minimal battling. I also caught Raikou relatively easy.
In SoulSilver, I caught the dogs with relative ease. The battles are only difficult because I make them difficult: I don't use the "Shadow Tag method," but rather I land one hit, let him run, and give chase. The reason for this is because I never had a good Shadow Tag or Mean Look Pokemon to use! It does take longer but it does work.
Suicune wasn't too difficult to catch, but I was a bit surprised at how late it appeared.

 

[curiousnathan]

Aha, same here. I didn't have a Pokemon with a 'trapping' move like Mean Look or Spider Web, so I just chopped their health over time and many encounters until their HP was around 1 - 2. It took me several attempts though, even with them so weak.

 

[bobandbill]

Did you find it hard to snag yourself one of these beastly Pokemon, or were they just too quick for you to catch?

Now now, there's no such thing as 'too quick' with any roaming legendary. =p

Speaking of which, the first time I played HGSS I encountered Raikou early on (before 6th gym or something) and caught it with a great ball first time. I decided against using it though but it was neat to get early, haha.

Otherwise I resort to my Mean Look + Baton Pass Umbreon with a False-Swiping and Spore Breloom. :) However it is still a bit troublesome with the likes of Roar, but I don't mind encountering a few times to set up first than roughing it out with something like a Lileep.

 

[mikey]

My favorite has always been Raikou because of its design, but I really dont dislike any of them. The hardest to catch imo was Suicune in any game, not sure why but Suicune hates me.

 

[Guy]

Speaking of which, the first time I played HGSS I encountered Raikou early on (before 6th gym or something) and caught it with a great ball first time.

That's what happened to me when I first played SoulSilver. I managed to run into Raikou early on and it was actually an easy capture. It's an entirely different story with Entei though. I ran into it so many times during the day and never managed to capture him once. It was as though he was taunting me!

Since Suicune isn't the same case as the other two though, it was relatively easy to catch after a few quick restarts.

Out of the three beasts, however, Raikou has always been my favorite. Although, I think GameFreak ultimately struck gold with these three as I could never dislike any of them.

 

[Mr Cat Dog]

Although, I think GameFreak ultimately struck gold with these three as I could never dislike any of them.

See, I'm the complete opposite to this in that I never really cared about any of them, whether it was in Gen II or Gen IV. Because of that, whenever I encountered one of them, I tried to make them faint so that they'd stop bothering me so much! :P I get the sense of fun that comes with roaming Pokemon - I really liked searching for Lati@s, for example - but I just don't care about any of the Johto ones. If I had to pick a favourite, it'd probably be Suicune. At least that one has a good design and can walk on water and all that...

 

[Guy]

See, I'm the complete opposite to this in that I never really cared about any of them, whether it was in Gen II or Gen IV. Because of that, whenever I encountered one of them, I tried to make them faint so that they'd stop bothering me so much! :P I get the sense of fun that comes with roaming Pokemon - I really liked searching for Lati@s, for example - but I just don't care about any of the Johto ones. If I had to pick a favourite, it'd probably be Suicune. At least that one has a good design and can walk on water and all that...

Raikou can travel through the sky with flashes and beams of lightning!

No, I get where you're coming from. As much as I like the Legendary Beasts in Johto, I can see where it doesn't appeal to everyone, whether that's due to personal tastes or something else. Personally, if there was one beef I had with Entei, Raikou, and Suicune is that they never really got as much back story compared to other Legendary Trios in other generations. Which is something that I find makes some Pokémon more interesting than others. Then again, this is more part to blame on the game creators and writers than the Pokémon themselves.

 

[PlatinumDude]

I really like Raikou. Its battle theme remix is the best among the legendary beasts IMO. That, and I like its design.

 

[GardevoirxGalladeForever]

I'd have to say Raikou. It looks like one of the majestic big cats - The Tiger. Tigers are one of my favorite animals, and he is the ruler of the storms. And he can learn a really special move, Thunder, just by leveling up!

 

[T!M]

I prefer Entei, cool design and better music. However, I caught Raikou first. After several attempts after lowering his HP to less then a inch and put him to sleep. The GREAT BALL finally did it.

 

[Mentalii]

By far my favourite trio ! I prefer Suicune in this trio, but I love the two others too. I prefer it notably because of its type, and also because of its role in the manga Pokémon Adventures. It's also the only one out of the three that I used in my "official" team.

 

[Cid]

That poll! To be quite honest I'm split between Suicune and Raikou. I love them both for different reasons, the first one grew on me after a few years of using it in competitive battling and just hearing about it from people. Raikou was the legendary dog I liked from the start. Although I can't say I like it any less now, it's just that I didn't have enough reasons to like it more than that. So I suppose I prefer Suicune the most. Typical, a Water-type gets my vote, but it's majestic and aesthetically pleasing so I don't care.

Onto the beasts in general. I loved the concept of roaming legendaries when I found out that was the case for them back in Gold. I don't know why but I've never had trouble getting that first encounter with the three, so I always find myself just giving chase and enjoying the thrill. Sure I hate it when they flee in battle and from areas but I like these legendaries too much to blame them for it. I mean, their unique characteristics are awesome, along with their back stories. As for my least favourite legendary beast, I could say I was least impressed of Entei, but really I like Entei a lot more than other legendaries so I believe that doesn't count.

I use them solely for competitive battling, never within the in-game campaign because I always convince myself to not use overpowered Pokémon. I rarely get any sliver of emotional attachment towards them anyway, so I don't feel like getting a Hall of Fame team with a legendary, as cool as the beasts are.

 

[Altairis]

I love the designs of all three, I would always try and hunt for them in both generation of games but I could never catch them in GSC. In HGSS it was almost too easy once you found them, but it was still fun trying to find the roaming ones. I haven't caught Suicune yet in HGSS because I want to try and get one with a good nature, and I haven't gotten around to doing that yet.

As I said before I really like all of them, but if I had to pick one it would probably be Raikou. I don't even know why myself, I'm just drawn to him and he just looks cool, plus the electric typing and I used one in DWOU before everyone made the switch to Wifi :c

 

[Sakura Rain]

This is definitely my favorite trio. I know I'm incredibly original, but Suicune is my favorite. I loved it when I was a kid, and it still has a special place in my heart.

That being said: In Crystal, when I was wandering along some random route, this started playing and scared the crap out of meeeeee. It was Raikou, if you're curious.

Roaming Legendaries in general, though, are brilliant. Lots of people (mainly hardcore Gen I fans) say "BACK IN MY DAY WE DIDN'T HAVE YOUR FANCY ROAMING LEGENDARIES" but I think it adds a bit of extra challenge, tbh. Plus, Cresselia was a roaming legendary in D/P/Pt, and I LOVE CRESSELIA OKAY

 

[Mystical Mermaid]

Suicune shall always hold a special place in my heart. I absolutely adore the design, and it was the only one I was ever able to catch as a kid without cheating, obviously in Crystal (laugh if you want). In generation four, however, I'm starting to develop a bias toward Raikou due to its solid stats and moves. While I'm less keen on the thunder beast's design, I'm finding more uses for it in battle than I am with Suicune.

As for catching them, the Pokemon I've found most useful for this is oddly enough the Gastly line. They're fast, allowing them to get the first strike, and can put them to sleep before the beasts have a chance to flee. After that's done Night Shade can be used to lower their HP safely, as its damage is always consistant and never gets a critical. Mean Look also helps if the roaming Pokemon wakes up early. Once the Pokemon's HP is in the red zone, switch over to a Pokemon with False Swipe to finish the job. Another nice contender is Breloom, which can learn False Swipe via TM and its Spore move has 100% accuracy for inflicting sleep. Parasect can do this as well, but its low Speed will mean your target will probably run before you can get the first hit.

 

[XtinaIsMeLuvinWWE]

Suicune is my absolute favourite and always will be :) Raikou would probably be second but that's maybe cause I've never caught Entei lol :)

 

[Pheonix Down]

Raikou, just because he looks badass.

 

[Danny Leo]

Entei, simply for being the most badass in design >:3

 

[Rubix33]

Raikou, even though my first dog I encountered was Entei and, Entei was a pure beast. I really like Electric Types,and Raikou just look god damn nice. After Raikou come Suicune, because Suicune design is also very nice.