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Pokémon Community Thread 4: "Your Portal to What's Hip and Happening in Sinnoh!"

Gods, I hate going to Pokémon Leagues/Tournaments and people act like they have this exclusive insider info.
"Yeah Stars is going to be on the Switch and is going to have Alola but then Sinnoh falls out of the sky and becomes the big island of Hawaii. Also Masuda secretly hates Miyamoto because Miyamoto sat on his computer in 4 separate instances, my ~contact~ told me so."

Used to a friend who did shit like this. While his dad did actually work for Microsoft, all of those game alphas he claimed to have over the years were mysteriously shipped back the day before I got to his house.
 
To everyone who believed in Stars despite there being no evidence whatsoever:

giphy.gif
 

Busaiku

Member
As I said in the MC thread, while it isn't unusual for Gamefreak to develop for last gen hardware after the current gen is well underway, it is the first time in the franchise's history that the newest game is not playable on the latest hardware.
That's why many like myself thought that they would change their strategy.

But they didn't, and Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon will likely underperform, as evidenced by stuff releasing on 3DS now that continues to underperform, such as Shadows of Valentia, Monster Hunter XX, and Ever Oasis (well, we don't know how it'll do, but there's no hype around it).
 
Okay so seriously what the fuck at Heart Gold/Soul Silver game prices. You can get them pretty cheap if you just go for the cart, but wanting a boxed, new version of the game is like minimum £40 or more realistically £60. Just completed a playthrough of Fire Red recently and loved it so looking for another Pokemon fix. Played through Gold/Silver on the GBC back in the day and thought they were two of the best games of all-time so I'm thinking the next logical step from Fire Red would be HG/SS. Thinking of something relaxing and lovely to play in bed late at night, like I used to with my GBA SP.

So stupid question alert: do both HG/SS work on the new 3DS XL? Backwards compatible? Also are the games worth it for their astronomical price? Good remakes?
 

KJRS_1993

Member
Okay so seriously what the fuck at Heart Gold/Soul Silver game prices. You can get them pretty cheap if you just go for the cart, but wanting a boxed, new version of the game is like minimum £40 or more realistically £60.

I'd love to know where you're seeing those prices for UK copies. Those read like the regular asking price for a used, unboxed copy of the games, and anything lower is going to absolutely be a fake.

I've been looking for a reasonably priced copy of either game for an age.
 
All DS games play on the 3DS.

Thanks man! That's awesome. Totally justifies an upcoming purchase of a new 3DS XL I think. Especially since I can also play Diamond/Pearl.

Must be nice in the UK.
Sealed copies go for $200+.

I'd love to know where you're seeing those prices for UK copies. Those read like the regular asking price for a used, unboxed copy of the games, and anything lower is going to absolutely be a fake.

I've been looking for a reasonably priced copy of either game for an age.

Woah so the prices are that stratospheric in the US? I've heard they're excellent games so I feel for you. As for where I'm seeing these prices just quick searches on Ebay UK. Like this copy for example, used but good condition and boxed for £45. Seem to be legitimate sellers though thanks for the forewarning. I'll keep a look-out for fakes since obviously I'm after a genuine copy.

Are the prices seriously that high in the US?

EDIT: Or this one for £43. Also used but boxed and good condition. As for sealed copies yeah you guys are right, much rarer and higher prices. I think the most common price for a sealed copy is more like £70/£80. Must have been looking at used copies earlier.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
oh look another garbage pokemon thread in gaming

makes me wonder how positive pokemon threads like "your favorite pokemon" can come to exist in that board
 
I mean, the main reason why I thought the rumours had some validity was because the guy broke the news had good credibility. Though I do remember saying a while back that the next game could be on 3DS based on the Pokemon Go/Virtual Console logo placeholders in Sun/Moon.

The announcement didn't really make it clear what US/UM were, to be honest. It doesn't seem to be a sequel, but I wonder if it's a Gaiden-like game with a large number of changes, instead of being another Emerald/Platinum. Even if it doesn't have much of a focus at E3, we'll likely see a trailer which will make things a bit clearer. Corocoro is out soon too, but I doubt that will have anything new.
 
Yeah I have no idea where the anime is going with the blonde family
Lilly has icepix instead of nebby, and her brother has Lycanroc over type-null
 
Have Pokemon cards seen a surge in popularity? The Sainsbury's I work part-time at has just stocked booster boxes for the first time in the two years I've been there.
 
Have Pokemon cards seen a surge in popularity? The Sainsbury's I work part-time at has just stocked booster boxes for the first time in the two years I've been there.
Everything's seen a huge surge in popularity this past year or so.

Anecdotally, card sales in particular seem to have skyrocketed- kids are trading them on the playground again.
 
I have seen a lot more cards for sale in Blighty, the power of Decidueye cannot be denied.
Even Waterstones (bookshop chain) have that going on.
 
The most popular fan comic on pixiv has like, arcanine biting umbreon in the neck and its got puncture wounds and blood.
People reaaaally want pokemon to look like pit fights dont they.

I feel so detatched from humanity sometimes
 

Daemul

Member
Anyone see some of the rumours/leaks(whose validity is in question of course, so take them with a pinch of salt) from the same Chinese forum that the Riddler came from(though not from the Riddler himself) about the supposed USUM story setting?

I'll put them in spoiler tags ONLY because they come from the forum which Riddler resides in, and he and his people have been right about things in the past, so no point in taking a needless risk in case they're true.


The guy said he had played the full game.
He hinted two key words, U and Rainbow, before the USUM trailer was released.
1.The story will happen in an alternate universe. You moved to alola 1 year later than you did in SuMo.
2.League was built and the Champion is a mysterious guy.
3.There is a group of people called Rainbow, which is a renewed version of an old organization with some old characters.
4. Lillie will surprise you a lot.

Also

Rainbow group includes Red and Green.
Rainbow means the light(Faller) reflected by the prism(Necrozma).
Champion is Lillie or Gladion.
The pokemon on the cover of USUM are not Solgaleo and Lunala. They are only the projection of these two by Necrozma.

Again, take with a pinch of massive fucking salt.
 

Grexeno

Member
Anyone see some of the rumours/leaks(whose validity is in question of course, so take them with a pinch of salt) from the same Chinese forum that the Riddler came from(though not from the Riddler himself) about the supposed USUM story setting?

I'll put them in spoiler tags ONLY because they come from the forum which Riddler resides in, and he and his people have been right about things in the past, so no point in taking a needless risk in case they're true.


The guy said he had played the full game.
He hinted two key words, U and Rainbow, before the USUM trailer was released.
1.The story will happen in an alternate universe. You moved to alola 1 year later than you did in SuMo.
2.League was built and the Champion is a mysterious guy.
3.There is a group of people called Rainbow, which is a renewed version of an old organization with some old characters.
4. Lillie will surprise you a lot.

Also

Rainbow group includes Red and Green.
Rainbow means the light(Faller) reflected by the prism(Necrozma).
Champion is Lillie or Gladion.
The pokemon on the cover of USUM are not Solgaleo and Lunala. They are only the projection of these two by Necrozma.

Again, take with a pinch of massive fucking salt.
I'm going to fall on the "nah" side here.
 

Metroidvania

People called Romanes they go the house?
Anyone see some of the rumours/leaks(whose validity is in question of course, so take them with a pinch of salt) from the same Chinese forum that the Riddler came from(though not from the Riddler himself) about the supposed USUM story setting?

I'll put them in spoiler tags ONLY because they come from the forum which Riddler resides in, and he and his people have been right about things in the past, so no point in taking a needless risk in case they're true.


The guy said he had played the full game.
He hinted two key words, U and Rainbow, before the USUM trailer was released.
1.The story will happen in an alternate universe. You moved to alola 1 year later than you did in SuMo.
2.League was built and the Champion is a mysterious guy.
3.There is a group of people called Rainbow, which is a renewed version of an old organization with some old characters.
4. Lillie will surprise you a lot.

Also

Rainbow group includes Red and Green.
Rainbow means the light(Faller) reflected by the prism(Necrozma).
Champion is Lillie or Gladion.
The pokemon on the cover of USUM are not Solgaleo and Lunala. They are only the projection of these two by Necrozma.

Again, take with a pinch of massive fucking salt.

This would be actually really, really interesting, but would be a huuuuuuuge changeup from Sun and Moon - Personally, I find at least some of it pretty doubtful.

Like who replaces Lillie as the 'companion' on your journey if she's already lost Nebby and is now Champion? Like....do you become the newbie that she helps, instead of the other way around? That'd be (potentially) really weird to have you need to get saved by Lillie, yet keep the MC as being a damn good trainer.

Also, did Sun and Moon's story already happen, and those two MCs are just gone now, a la Black/White?
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
I guess this means Gen VIII mon will be more complicated in design.

This is going to be the FFVIII of Pokemon (meaning the best but fans will not understand and thus shit on it)
 
I guess this means Gen VIII mon will be more complicated in design.

This is going to be the FFVIII of Pokemon (meaning the best but fans will not understand and thus shit on it)

Based on what?
And the new versions of the legendaries look godawful. Theyre already very busy designs that lag my 3ds the fuck out in Refresh, but they added all this extra shit on top of them.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Based on what?
And the new versions of the legendaries look godawful. Theyre already very busy designs that lag my 3ds the fuck out in Refresh, but they added all this extra shit on top of them.

"complicated" is a bit of a vague term to use

they tend to design mons based on the system's capabilities, and have influence even on certain mons
 
I finally saw the episode in Sun and Moon anime where Ash lost to team Rocket fairly. He was legit shook that he lost. Beware popping up at the last second is the most anime shit that could've happened at that moment.

What does Ash do when he heals his Pokémon?

Well let's go over what he doesn't do.

He doesn't

Train up his Rowlet and Pikachu to make sure he never loses to team Rocket again.

Says "Pikachu it's time to evolve. You lost to fucking Team Rocket!"

Goes out and catches some new Pokémon

Reavaluate everything he's done up to that point and why he hasn't won the league.

What he does is

Play fucking volleyball imidiately after losing to Team Rocket.

The episode after has him taking part of a Pancake race.

I'm not even mad. Can't be. Ash losing. It's to be expected.
 

Mr-Joker

Banned
So I was in town the other day and I got super excited when I saw Pokémon socks, slippers and T-shirt...naturally I ended up buying the whole lot.

Also I am having to correct people when they falsely state that Pokémon has come back as Pokémon never went away.

Anyone see some of the rumours/leaks(whose validity is in question of course, so take them with a pinch of salt) from the same Chinese forum that the Riddler came from(though not from the Riddler himself) about the supposed USUM story setting?

I'll put them in spoiler tags ONLY because they come from the forum which Riddler resides in, and he and his people have been right about things in the past, so no point in taking a needless risk in case they're true.


The guy said he had played the full game.
He hinted two key words, U and Rainbow, before the USUM trailer was released.
1.The story will happen in an alternate universe. You moved to alola 1 year later than you did in SuMo.
2.League was built and the Champion is a mysterious guy.
3.There is a group of people called Rainbow, which is a renewed version of an old organization with some old characters.
4. Lillie will surprise you a lot.

Also

Rainbow group includes Red and Green.
Rainbow means the light(Faller) reflected by the prism(Necrozma).
Champion is Lillie or Gladion.
The pokemon on the cover of USUM are not Solgaleo and Lunala. They are only the projection of these two by Necrozma.

Again, take with a pinch of massive fucking salt.


Whether or not the rumour is true is unknown but I am 100% confident on one thing,

I do not believe that Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon will be a straight up retelling of Sun and Moon but with Necrozma added in.

I honestly believe that while some part will be the same but quite a lot will play out differently to the point that it will be like a fusion of the traditional third version like Platinum, Yellow, Emerald and Crystal and a pseudo sequel akin to Black and White 2.

I also went back and watch the brief trailer and suspect that Gym aren't returning as Island Trial are still in Ultra Sun and Moon, only different is that I believe that Lycanroc will be the first Totem Pokémon and the form will be different depending on what version you are playing so midday form in Ultra Sun and Midnight form in Ultra Moon.

Based on what?
And the new versions of the legendaries look godawful. Theyre already very busy designs that lag my 3ds the fuck out in Refresh, but they added all this extra shit on top of them.

It's based on the increased hardware power which allows Game Freak to experiment with complex designs.

I finally saw the episode in Sun and Moon anime where Ash lost to team Rocket fairly. He was legit shook that he lost. Beware popping up at the last second is the most anime shit that could've happened at that moment.

What does Ash do when he heals his Pokémon?

Well let's go over what he doesn't do.

He doesn't

Train up his Rowlet and Pikachu to make sure he never loses to team Rocket again.

Says "Pikachu it's time to evolve. You lost to fucking Team Rocket!"

Goes out and catches some new Pokémon

Reavaluate everything he's done up to that point and why he hasn't won the league.

What he does is

Play fucking volleyball imidiately after losing to Team Rocket.

The episode after has him taking part of a Pancake race.

I'm not even mad. Can't be. Ash losing. It's to be expected.

Look at this way, that was the first time he lost to Team Rocket which is a blip compare to number of time he has defeated them.

Secondly, Pikachu doesn't want to evolve nor does Ash want to force him to, plus he no longer has the Thunderstone as Team Rocket took it and sold it for cash in Sinnoh.

Thirdly, Pokémon is about the journey not the destination.
 
Says "Pikachu it's time to evolve. You lost to fucking Team Rocket!"

we already covered that a looooong time ago
its not happening

Raichu fails as a mascot not only because it doesnt have that iconic voice, but because it doesnt even have fingers/hands to be expressive with.
If you like Raichu more, thats fine, but the anime would lose a main character forever.
 
I just had an awesome experience in Red Version. I need to tell somebody about it but it's so esoteric and dense that it's impossible to just casually explain to one of my uninitiated friends. I decided to post it here rather than the SuMo OT.

Here's the story: I wanted to transfer up a Zapdos from the VC version of Pokémon Red. This is because Zapdos is a great Pokémon, but needs Hidden Power Ice to maximize its usability. I decided to play through the game normally, up until Zapdos, and it took about four hours going as fast as I could. When I transferred my first Zapdos, it had Hidden Power Dark.

So I reset and tried again. I played through the game normally up through Lt Surge and thought how cumbersome it was going to be to play up through Fuschia City over and over again to get Surf to go get Zapdos.

I thought to myself that RBY are extremely exploitable games loaded with miraculous glitches that enable things virtually no other game is vulnerable enough to pull off. I did some research and found a complete-Dex speedrun of Blue Version from SGDQ 2015 by somebody named Shenanigans. It was amazing. He utilized in-game glitches and exploits to repeatedly and drastically rewrite the game code on the fly that let him do basically whatever he wanted. He turned trainers into item balls, he made signposts hand out Eevees, he warped in and out of the Safari Zone and the Power Plant and pulled items from the game memory so he always had what he needed. He walked through walls. He changed the game speed. It was entrancing.

A lot of what he did was too complex for me to truly grasp. Some stuff I understood, and I was able to find step by step instructions on a forum called Glitch City. But much of what he did required a deep understanding of how the game works, not just a series of step by step instructions. I knew that I wouldn't be able to do what he did, but if I could understand even a little part of it, I could maybe get to Zapdos more quickly.

I had already begun a new save file and played up until the SS Anne, obtaining the Cut TM. Even though this only took about an hour, I was tepid to restart from scratch and YOLO through the game with a pocket full of glitches. I decided I would do some light experimentation and see if I could somehow find the HM for Surf in the game memory early and not have to play all the way to Fuschia City. After all, I already had Cut, and the Power Plant is right next to Cerulean City. The only thing blocking me was a tree to be Cut and some water to Surf.

When you overflow the item memory, you're able to scroll through dozens of "items" that are actually the game memory itself. The values are represented by huge stacks of items, mostly in glitched amounts, because the game reads the hex values as items. Your Trainer ID, for example, is represented by an enormous stack of Master Balls. You can actually use these Master Balls from anywhere you can access the Item menu, including in battle, but doing so will change your Trainer ID and make the game think all your Pokémon are traded. Other item stacks represent more crucial values and changing them will break the game. Sometimes requiring a reset and sometimes even wiping your save. You have to be pretty careful down there.

But not TOO careful. Where's the fun in that?

So there I was, in Cerulean, with Cut but no Surf. If I could find Surf, I could reach Zapdos early and catch it instantly in a Master Ball. I just had to yank them from the game memory.

You can overflow the item bag from anywhere your items are visible. I liked to do it from the PC where I could "deposit" items directly from the game memory into the PC for later retrieval. This meant I could still take Master Balls or Rare Candies from the PC after I stabilized the Item Bag and ended the glitch.

As I scrolled through the memory, powering through the graphical mayhem and sticky cursors, I saw lots of items that made me feel close. I found the HM for Strength, Safari Balls, and Gold Teeth, all related to the Safari Zone in Fuschia City. But nothing for Surf. Eventually, the memory started looping back to the beginning and I realized I'd seen everything there was to see. Surf wasn't in there. But then I realized something else: even if I did find the HM for Surf, I couldn't use it without the badge from Koga in Fuschia City. It wouldn't even be helpful if I found it.

Determined, I started thinking about other ways I could get to Zapdos quickly. I remembered something I read about on The Cutting Room Floor once, about a beta item that's still in the game called "?????". This item is referred to affectionately as the Surfboard because it allows Red to Surf without the use of a a Pokémon. It also doesn't require a badge to use. I reasoned that if I could find the Surfboard, I could use it to Surf to Zapdos right away.

But I hadn't seen ????? while I was depositing items in the PC. What I did notice, though, was that certain glitched items that appeared in the game memory seemed to pull data from the area I was currently in. Standing at the PC in the Poké Center had items called PCNIDOKING and TRADECENTER. Maybe, I thought, the items you can find in the memory are partially informed by where you currently are. I remembered back in Shenanigan's speed run where he seemingly entered and exited Diglett's Cave for no reason. Maybe that was why?

So I thought, if I was a Surfboard, maybe I would appear somewhere that Surfing was possible. I left the Pokémon Center and went one door to the right to the closest body of water: Misty's gym. I overflowed the memory and started digging.

Sure enough, only a few units down, there was ?????. I tried it and it worked! Red started Surfing.

So I ran all the way to the shoreline where one accesses the Power Plant path, checked the memory again, but there was no Surfboard. I was so defeated. I tried few different spots but it wouldn't appear for use anywhere that would actually enable me to get to Zapdos. Since it only appeared in Misty's gym, and I couldn't find it once I left the gym, it seemed the dream was dead.

But I decided to test one more thing.

When you overflow the item bag, the first twenty slots are actually "blank" placeholders for items you could conceivably pick up and add to your bag. If you picked up a Poké Ball, for example, one of these blank slots would become occupied by a Poké Ball and display it in the Items. But until then, that slot is kept out of view and occupied by a placeholder item called "j".

These j slots are always there, the first twenty items in the list, because their function is ubiquitous. This is memory that exists in the item bag itself, not just loaded into the item bag by force. I thought: what would happen if I went in Misty's gym, clicked on the Surfboard, and resorted the bag order so it was up at the top of the list with the lowercase js instead of down in the volatile memory below?

I didn't know what would happen, honestly. But in a perfect scenario, I would actually be physically changing where the Surfboard was located and placing it foremost in the RAM. I don't know if that's how it actually worked. I know precious little about code. But not only did it let me move the Surfboard higher up on the list and remove the j slot, the Surfboard stayed in place when I left the gym.

I freaking flipped, my good dudes. I can't tell you how exhilarating it felt to theorize a path through something you barely understand and achieve the desired result. I thought that this must be how scientists feel when they invent a new medicine or something. Like, something you can barely control suddenly bends to your will.

I strolled over to Zapdos, surfed on my trusty ?????, and nabbed Zapdos with a Master Ball. It was incredible.

I transferred it up and got Hidden Power Ice. What a thrill.

Now I'm obsessed with the fastest route to Zapdos. Now that I can bypass Surf, I am trying to find out how to bypass Cut. That damn tree is all that stands between me and Zapdos in, like, a ten minute process.

But it's all just for fun. I know Shenanigans could mess with warp points and appear right next to Zapdos as soon as he got to Saffron. But this was amazing for me because this isn't something I intimately understand. But I made it work for me anyway!

Definitely one of the coolest things I've ever done. I'm still reeling in satisfaction.
 
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