Let's Play! Blitz fights his way through corruption in XG: NeXt Gen (A Pokémon XD hack)

[Blitz]

What's this?
​

Hello everyone! I'm Blitz from your residential OI Discord, and I will be doing my first documented Let's Play here!

The game I've chosen to play and showcase for you all is Pokémon XG: NeXt Gen. This is a hack of Pokémon XD, which I have already played in the past - a much earlier version of it. I lost the save file by Citadark Isle, so I never finished it. While I do know a lot about it, many things have changed and this will basically be like a new adventure. I will say nothing more, so dive in if you're interested!

I'm going to lay some rules and restrictions that I will be following as I play through this. For context, I have played all of the main games a variety of times and hundreds of romhacks with my own self-imposed restrictions. My goals are ultimately to engage in a difficult challenge and to have fun while doing so.

Rules

1. The protagonist loves Shadow Pokémon and will go out of his way to capture and utilize every single one of them.

2. The protagonist is a purist:
2a. He must purify Shadow Pokémon through the Relic Stone unless they cannot be purified through this mean.
2b. As soon as the Shadow Pokémon can be purified, the protagonist must purify it if he is able to do so.

3. The protagonist does not believe in external help:
3a. No items may be used in battle unless they are held by the Pokémon.
3b. The only items that can be accessed from the Bag during battle are Poke Balls to snag Shadow Pokémon.
3c. The "Call" function can only be used if the Pokémon is in Reverse Mode.

4. The protagonist will give nicknames to his Pokémon whenever possible in order to bond with them.

With that said, let's begin:

Part 1 - What are we in for?

The creator was nice enough to create a custom title screen, and that is the extent of new graphics this hack will have.

Because I am creative, the protagonist will use the generic name he's already been assigned. After all, this is Michael's adventure.

Or is it?

I expect most of you to know how this plot goes. The S.S. Libra is doing what usual cruise ships do when suddenly, helicopters.

Naturally, we must investigate. Cue Shadow Lugia.

I never understood why Shadow Lugia's Shadow Blast just doesn't rip through the ship. Does that not look like your typical death ray?

And these two somehow just survive falling off the S.S. Libra tons of feet below into what I presume are freezing waters without life vests and they don't even seem to be struggling. All they can do is look into the horizon as a giant-ass ship just gets carried away in the sky.

Now, we shift to the protagonist's world. My trusty Salamence shou-

Well hello there Metagross. I guess I get to use you instead. Let's see what we have to play with.

Oh.

Here comes the first surprise of this hack: This has Gen 7 mechanics. With the physical/special split, many moves and abilities are imported AND work properly in this game, which includes the likes of Bullet Punch and Power-Up Punch.

Gardevoir is also part Fairy, so 2 Bullet Punches are all it takes to take it down.

Right out of the gate, Michael is The Chosen One despite having accomplished a feat that anyone who spam presses A can do.

Krane continues to indulge us while our mother Lily worries we'll get spoiled - we're already being set up to not fail, what could go wrong?

In the version of the hack I played, the creator randomly decided to change names of all the NPCs, so Lily wasn't actually Lily and Jovi wasn't actually Jovi. I can't really remember them but it was ridiculously dumb and I'm glad he reverted that change.

Oh, and we have to find Jovi. Lovely.

Now that we advanced the plot, let's check out our party:

Well, this is disappointing.

In the early version I played, that Zigzagoon was a guaranteed shiny Beldum with good moves, and a Metagross is a highly desirable Pokémon to use.

The silver lining being that it has Pickup, so I could get some useful things before I inevitably box its useless ass.

Let's go retrieve Jovi. Dr. Kaminko's House is still justifiably creepy. The fountain foreshadows more than you think.

As quirky as Chobin is as a character, it is still very rude of him to ambush us without warning while he boasts about himself and Dr. Kaminko.

Our first real battle.

Chobin no longer has a Sunkern and we start off the bat with 90 BP STAB. Thankfully, his Charge Beam Magnemite is low level enough for Bite to dispatch it.

Third-person speak aside, he looks absolutely ridiculous

Hello, the single most annoying character in the game.

After visiting the good doctor who isn't even aware of our presence, the plot tells us to head back home so we do just that.

I'm ending this update after Jovi leaves. I consider this a milestone.

Krane gives us more info dump on what we're to do in our quest. We have not been told about Cipher or anything so arming The Chosen One preemptively seems like a wise choice.

I mean surely you don't expect me to have this without even knowing what's the threat? It's such a po-

Like clockwork.

Armed with the plot device, we have to save the professor.

I could use your help, Blissey.

No? Ok.

When Cipher was around in Colosseum, at least most members had decent clothes. Years later, they all wear that ridiculous outfit.

You can tell the yellow one is the important one.

In battle, Naps sends out a Shadow Taillow for us. YES! Note the level is quite high compared to the usual Teddiursa we receive.

We snag our first Shadow Pokémon and advance the plot.

I really dislike this character.

However, mom is great. The determination music that plays during this scene is very nice.

As stated in the rules, we will not be using the Purify Chamber. Michael wants to bond with his Pokémon- he does not need such primitive tools.

Let's look at our new buddy.

An Impish Nature. Not terrible but could be better.

Eevee is Gentle and Zigzagoon is Docile btw.

Oh, that's quite the ability.

It's coded like its Gen VI variant so it gets priority on Flying-type moves regardless of its HP. This is also its signature ability in this hack.

Surprise #2: Custom Shadow Moves.

There is a HOST of new Shadow Moves that AI will skillfully abuse and we can take advantage of later. This treatment also extends to abilities and items specifically created to aid or counter Shadow Pokémon. We will be seeing more of this as we go along.

Plot now wants us to fix the Purify Chamber. The game is just starting, so hop-

Just a bit more.

Gateon Port is a pretty cool location which has some areas to explore.

First, let's get th-

Can you not get in trouble for once in this damn adventure?

Michael thinks it was enough to have to listen to Chobin speak in third-person too.

I remember Zook's name in the earlier version - Zeke. It doesn't quite have the stupid charm that Zook does.

He still has his signature Zangoose too.

Unfortunately, my party cannot hope to handle it in its current state so, in reluctance, we seek outside help.

These characters do not look sinister at all, nope.

Ardos will help us. Let's see what he uses.

A Level 61 Manectric.

Not shown: It also has Intimidate. Here's a general rule of thumb: If the Pokémon has a Mega, it will very likely have the Mega's ability and increased stats that are akin to a mini Mega Evolution. In this case, Manectric's new stats are 65/90/60/110/60/125 - pretty nasty when held items exist.

A Level 40 Zangoose.

Pay attention to this, as this game's level curve is pretty punishing and goes high. Zangoose is the equivalent of Eevee when compared to many of the game's Shadow Pokémon.

And now we bid farewell to the dork and the 3 mysterious men we will never encounter again in our playthrough.

Anyways, we now get access to the shop and can go retrieve the Machine Part.

More importantly, however...

We can now evolve Eevee. While all the Eeveelutions retain their original stats, they have expanded movepools and some very nice abilities that excel in a Doubles setting. Storm Drain is fantastic and Vaporeon gets access to Water spread moves that should be very helpful.

Jolteon is also an good choice.

Flareon unfortunately keeps its stat distribution despite access to Guts and an actual moveset. That Speed coupled with many weaknesses to common spread moves is not too helpful in this environment.

Umbreon gets Filter which is a fantastic ability coupled with support moves like Helping Hand. The game also lampshades the use of the Stones rather than the useless game-exclusive shards.

And Espeon gets Magic Bounce.

While most of the Eeveelutions are enticing choices that work, I believe this is the best choice for this run for a few reasons. While Magic Bounce is a new ability in the game, even the expert AI is not very good at recognizing it. Couple that with the introduction of many status moves to this game and it means Magic Bounce gives free turns that Espeon can use to set up screens, heal, setup, and/or kill things. It also works with Shadow status moves!

I also start with Hyper Voice, which gives me a decent attack coming off Espeon's great Special Attack.

As the owner of the shop was not there, we go back to Kaminko's House to retrieve him. Chobin of course ambushes us once more.

He now has the Beldum we were preciously robbed of.

A few turns later and we can now continue.

The owner, Mitch, finally mentions Cipher by name. He then tells us we need to talk to his grandson Perr instead.

So we go do that and advance the story some more. However, I mentioned that Gateon Port has things to do.

This man who's quite a bit hidden has our next companion, and I intend to catch it.

Shadow Marill! It potentially having Huge Power could be a great asset for later in the game as Azumarill is Water/Fairy with access to its colorful movepool.

Of course I wasn't going to lose. I'm The Chosen One!!!

Kyle quickly catches on that we snagged his Marill.

No, sir, the years are just getting to you.

Let's check Marill out.

Oh that is quite unfortunate.

Shadow Slam has a 10% chance to flinch. It's a pretty mediocre move overall honestly.

Meanwhile Taillow is almost ready to be purified.

Our next detour is to the lighthouse.

I wonder what this Pokémon may be...

Ah, yes.

It does have Intimidate though.

Shadow Pokémon battling themselves is a bit droll since they mostly hit each other not very effectively. So cue a million turns of this before I snag the Poochyena.

It's a Poochyena, what do you expect?

Taillow can now be cleansed! That was fast, but this part of the story involves mostly walking back and forth with few battles.

Let's see what Poochyena has.

Jolly is a great nature to start with.

Keeps Intimidate which is great.

Shadow Fang has the same stats as Shadow Slam, but it has a 50% chance to lower the Atk of the opponent it hits. Tacked with Intimidate, Poochyena will be surviving physical hits pretty well.

Back to the story, we are finally done and get the Purify Chamber one step closer to completion (not that it matters).

More importantly, however, is that we can get rid of Jovi.

As the Purify Chamber isn't ready yet, our mother tells us there is another way we can purify our Shadow Pokémon to become the best damned Chosen One we can be.

Look strong, friends.

For our journey truly begins.

 

[Blitz]

This update is much bigger than the last, as we do quite a bit.

Part 2 - #SorryNotSorry

We finally make it to the non-desolate part of Orre: Agate Village. Our mission is to purify our corresponding party members.

You know, given this is where the Relic Stone is, you would think Cipher would have this place under lockdown.

Despite Cipher knowing about the Relic Stone years earlier, they still have this place completely unguarded. There is not a single Cipher member barring the player from just outright purifying the Shadow Pokémon they seek to propagate. Considering what ended their Shadow Pokémon plan in the first place, wouldn't they think to have measures against purification?

It is just terribly unprofessional for an organization such as theirs.

My roadblock is instead just an old man. Of course, I have to go see Eagun.

Wait I thought we weren't doing name changes anymore.

In hindsight, Beluh is a stupid name in a region where names assigned at birth are given by using a fake word generator.

Eagun then rushes in and tells us that the best way to purify Shadow Pokémon is through battles.

This isn't technically wrong, but I'll get to that in a bit.

Despite the fact that Shadow Pokémon can't be seen by mere mortals, the villagers are all familiar with Shadow Pokémon and outright give you tips on how to best use them and purify them. While them knowing everything about them from the previous invasion and Eagun makes sense, it's still a bit off.

The Cologne Case is a great way to hasten the process of purification, but we will not be using it in this run. It isn't even remotely needed.

I'm breezing through battles because it's the start of the game and they're honestly not terribly impressive. The Chosen One must be praised for his skill, however.

Here's a fun fact: I can already purify all of these Pokémon with those battles alone (5 battles). This game is pretty lenient overall to start with.

Yes, it breaks screens. I believe it also breaks the Shadow ones.

It has Intimidate and it's trying to be menacing all while being a cutesy thing - what's not to like?

The game decides to be rude and take me back to Eagun's house - I'm not done purifying damn it!

We continue the plot dump.

We are told Vander, an Area Leader of Mt. Battle, saw suspicious characters and we should go talk to him to investigate.

However, game, I wasn't done doing things. So, to pick back up where we left off...

Well that is certainly a move.

Gale Wings, Extreme Speed... I think the name explains itself.

It's unfortunate you have Sap Sipper.

Haha I'm creative.

Went to the Name Rater to finish up the party. This is literally "Cat Sun" in Italian. My friend wanted to name it that, don't ask.

A befitting name for something that has not only been useless in battle but has never given me an item from Pickup.

The mart unfortunately does not sell Poke Balls, so it is of little use to us. I believe the Scents are cheaper should the player want to use them.

Our next destination is the cave that houses the Move Tutor.

Unlike in XD, this Move Tutor has unlimited uses. Now, what good would this tutor be if we had unlimited uses of garbage like Nightmare?

Survey says...

Oh.

Oh my.

All of these moves are solid, providing coverage, utility, or raw power (in the case of Draco). We will be using this tutor a few times.

I take some Encore, Snarl, Icy Wind, and Protect for the road and continue.

Some trainers in the village offer battles - I take advantage of this for some exp.

Rawr! has slightly more utility while being evolved. It's a shame it's inferior to 99% of the game.

At Mt. Battle, we then meet the red mystery man once more.

FORESHADOWING!

Gee I don't know maybe look at what the whole point of your organization is?

I haven't been showing some of the chests, but they've contained some... interesting TM options.

Inside the facility, we get to see the Coupon Exchange. I want you guys to appreciate the vast amount of options at our disposal.

+ Water Stone, which is not worth taking an extra screenshot for.

This game ramps up the difficulty after we get out of the first stretch, so grinding out Mt. Battle to get some of these might be important later.

And finally, the Move Relearner. I believe the price is 5 Poké Coupons, but for this low price you get access to tons of egg moves and special moves. Examples I saw included Waterfall Marill, Shadow Ball Espeon, and the elemental fangs for Mightyena.

We get through some Ghost-type trainers and finally meet Vander.

Naturally, he tells us about the Shadow Pokémon Lab that was abandoned years ago. Obviously, he won't confront Cipher himself after Dakim punched the hell out of him during the Mt. Battle invasion back in Colosseum.

Aidan informs us that we can finally buy more Poké Balls! So we go do just that.

When we arrive at the lab, we can see the decrepit state it's in. Of course, the weird red hover truck thingie tips us off that this is where Krane is.

Unfortunately, we are not alone. The Power Rangers serve as mini-bosses and comedic relief to start this dungeon.

How many of them are there?

Their gag revolves around miscounting themselves and bickering when they screw it up. You can tell how competent they are.

Oh and their names are just the colors now. Probably for the best.

Red comes first. The starter should clue you in on wh-

MINE

In XG, the shiny check from the original game is removed, so Pokémon do have a chance to be shiny. The rate is also much higher, and we can expect to encounter a few in our playthrough.

The catch rates have been adjusted so we snag it in one ball.

I know I'm glossing over battles still, but the game is giving us all these ridiculous options for a reason.

We go heal inside and start inducting our new members slowly as we beat the rainbow dorks.

Blue has Mudkip.

And to make space for Mudkip we say goodbye to this thing. Maybe in a game where it's Singles and it has Belly Drum + Extreme Speed.

Brown.

Yellow.

Purple.

Green.

Our party is now a lovely shade of purple. Their levels are pretty decent and it's a large variety of Pokémon types.

As I mentioned in update 1, Pokémon with Megas tend to inherit things from their Mega. Swift Swim Swampert with an auto-setter should be excellent.

This is pretty lame.

Shadow Whip is 60 power, 90 accuracy with a 20% chance to Poison. It's ok.

This is not a balanced ability choice game.

Shadow Tease is a Taunt that hits both opponents.

Unlike Ardos' Manectric, I rolled Lightningrod instead.

20% to flinch. Eh.

Oh boy an ability that's done so much for me.

Inside, we face the annoying mascot and catch it.

Your security is composed of 6 idiots who don't know their own ass from a hole in the ground.

We learn the head of operations is called Lovrina. What kind of name is that?

We need the ID Card to get here aka beat the entire facility.

What's this?

Custom item for this hack - self-explanatory I hope. This is going to be very useful when facing off against hordes of Shadow Pokémon who hit you for SE damage.

Also Beedrill.

Since I didn't go over Pika, here it is: has Static, it comes with Light Ball, and Shadow Bolt I believe is just Zapdos' former Shadow sig move.

I've barely done battles and these things are already almost purified - pictured here is the first time they both enter Reverse Mode.

Let's revisit the point - WALKING has been by far the best way to purify Shadow Pokémon. I presume that will change as I hit the later Shadow Pokémon. Let's see how many Pokémon from the Lab I can purify after I leave it.

I also catch that Shadow Meditite.

Going back to Beedrill, it has Levitate and Shadow Rush is quite strong, reminiscent of its Colosseum variant.

Shadow Guard is just Protect.

Shadow Slap is Fake Out but stronger, can hit Super Effectively, and its only drawback is 85 accuracy. With Pure Power, Meditite can get quick kills.

Moving on...

#Plot #MasterPlan

#OC #GirlPower #EinGotNothingOnThis

The creator went out of his way to make Lovrina use insufferable hashtags and speak exactly like someone like her irl would speak.

Fret not, fellow reader, for we have a battle to detract from this dilemma!

Well that's another shiny.

We can now purify the Shadow Pokémon from the multi-colored circus. And we go do just that.

Here's all the nicknames. Only one I care to explain is Tyrone - Bagon just looks like a Tyrone to me.

Purified Moves:

15 Percent - False Swipe (but has Giga Drain, Sub, and Hidden Power Fire without touching it)
Tyrone - Fire Fang, Scary Face
Shill Rat - Helping Hand, Shock Wave
Meiling - Low Sweep
Bolt - Heat Wave, Charge Beam (but has Nuzzle and Hidden Power Ice without touching it)
Kipper - Aqua Jet

The game goes out of its way to not only give you incredible sets, but also tutors to give you a perfect blend of offense and support. Hopefully we can put these moves to good use eventually.

Let's look at our 2nd Shiny. Unlike what its description implies, Shadow Snooze is a Spore with 85 accuracy.

Isn't he cute?

I also snagged a Shadow Magnemite somewhere.

Ah, Greevil. This is when we first hear of this name. We also learned about XG001 earlier and how it's supposed to be the ultimate Shadow Pokémon. Just how does it all tie in?

We're getting some fun Shadows to play with honestly.

Beating that scientist gives us access to the ID Card that we can now use to go rescue Krane.

Well, yes. The trainers here are all weak as hell.

I think the chest had a TM.

Naps proves to be a bit more competent than all the fodder here and gains a Shadow Misdreavus.

Didn't I just catch Beedrill recently?

Shadow Spirit is Draining Kiss. Shadow Fear is an 85 accuracy Glare.

I don't know if Shadow Sky received any changes from the original XD but it still acts like Hail that doesn't hit Shadow Pokémon from my observations.

Despite all his Pokémon, this battle was still painfully easy.

After we beat Naps, we grab the professor and head out to escape. Unfortunately, we all know there's one more obstacle before we can actually get out, so this is the party we'll be using. I heal them up with some Potions to get ready.

Yes, Meditite and Shroomish are already purified. I wasn't lying when I said walking seems to be dangerously OP.

You thought I was going to spare you all from Lovrina?

Hehe, no.

You're going to sit through these chat lines.

As much pain as it causes you.

This is a plot point.

Are you sick of this yet?

If I say Yes...

Kidnapping princesses was overrated anyways.

The game forces you to say No, so...

Oh no I made her mad.

#SorryNotSorry

Yes, she nicknames her Pokémon. They are as ridiculous as you'd expect them to be.

Fortunately, they don't seem particularly threa-

Helping Hand boosted Play Rough from Huge Power Marill puts me down. It also does 70% to Beedrill with a resist.

This is the first time I drop Pokémon to a trainer.

Yes, bosses can also have signature shinies. No, this is not the Shadow Pokémon.

We are evenly matched here. And her Shadow mon is Clefairy rather than Delcatty, but I think we're in a good position.

SMASH and Magnemite collectively keel over Kiss this turn.

But Magnemite gets Shadow Snooze'd in the process. Here you can see Meditite's movepool and how it's incredibly potent for this particular boss.

At this point it's just a matter of capturing Clefairy.

I screenshotted this a bit late but I need to mention this busted move. Shadow Terrain reduces all non-Shadow move damage in half. Not only that, but it heals all Shadow Pokémon ala Grassy Terrain every turn. What's more, this terrain NEVER ended in the many turns I was facing Clefairy - I can only presume it goes away when it's out of the field.

That is not going to be the only ridiculous custom Shadow move we see, but in due time.

We DO successfully snag the Clefairy.

#Rekt #Owned #AbsolutelyDESTROYED

No doubt this won't the last time we see her, but as the first real boss battle, she was decent. Hopefully the game will start picking up soon.

The Chosen One!!!!!

Well, it HAS been 5 in-game hours and I already purified quite a few Shadows and stormed a Cipher facility.

Now, let's recap.

ASTUTE observation professor. It's not like the events of the game were set in motion by Cipher or anything.

Well, yes, isn't that the point of the Purify Chamber?

Now this is new and pertinent information. SURELY the Purify Chamber isn't being built for such an occasion now?

Which, coincidentally, is already finished!

While all of you go do that, I have one more thing to do.

BEEEEEEEEE gets Swords Dance and U-turn upon purification, HowDoIWork gets Water Pulse and Metal Sound. Oh, and it also has Levitate.

We'll close it out here. I think we have a solid team we can feasibly rotate, but the game has also been pretty easy.

Next time: We check out that big device everyone is so hyped about.

 

[Blitz]

Part 3 - ONBS: One Nosy Boy's Sabotage

That's it?

Come on guys, even Kaminko has a more impressive fountain...

Yet somehow you lack the security to protect it from just being sabotaged.

... On second thought, maybe that's just unnecessary: Cipher's incompetence shows itself.

Yea, no it won't.

I don't need a glorified toilet doing my work.

Blah blah blah technical details. We're gonna skip that explanation and dive right in.

Admittedly this looks pretty cool. Straight out of a PS2 menu.

To those unfamiliar, how the Purify Chamber works is that you place a Shadow Pokémon in the middle, and then surround it with a "Set" of up to 4 Pokémon whose types form a loop. In this example, it goes Poison -> Fairy -> Dark -> Psychic -> Poison again, creating a perfect loop, hence the highest possible Tempo. Deviate from this formula, and the Tempo will be less, meaning the Shadow Pokémon will be purified at a slower rate.

And yes, the Fairy-type works perfectly for this - the type chart in general is completely updated (which includes the loss of Steel's resistances) so the Purify Chamber works a bit differently from its predecessor.

Not like it matters because we will not be using this for the time being.

Anyways, I must go find Dex as he's decrypting the SD Card we found at the Shadow Pokémon Lab.

Jovi of course wants to be a little shit and jump to the occasion.

You are useless.

I find him skulking outside the Lab as he's failed to decrypt it.

Not a problem, however! It would be remiss of The Chosen One to not do fetch quests!

Trouble is afoot!

We just see a pair of people run out of Pyrite. What a great greeting to this dumpster.

We get to see Trudly and Folly from Colosseum here. Despite their bad history that even the officer acknowledges, they're not behind bars and continue to do whatever they want.

The shop nearby sells Great Balls and some rather nice items. I pick up some Poké Snacks.

Let me get this straight.

You guys are well known for being instrumental in stopping Cipher 5 years ago, yet have the entire place publicly available for anyone to stroll through?

On top of that, you're located in crummy Pyrite... in what used to be Miror B.'s hideout?

It's like you guys WANT things to go bad.

Ah, you're the manager.

I'd like to file a complaint about the lack of common sense in your organization.

Gee this lone healing machine doesn't foreshadow anything no sir.

You know, you could use this portion of the building as a VIP area, escape route, secret storage, whatever.

The item chest down there had the TM for Discharge, I think.

After meeting Nett, we give him the SD Card knowing this will not end well.

He needs time to sort this out, so we head out into our first foray with wild Pokémon. That should be fun.

One has to wonder how they were able to sneak something into Miror B.

Sure, you can hide it in his massive afro, but that dude basically dances in his sleep.

Case in point, you guys know Miror B. blows a fuse easily yet would risk something like that?

They run off, and we continue our quest.

Not only is ONBS lacking in common sense, but beauty standards seem to be non-existent.

At least you're nailing the fake-news media part well, Duking.

I place 10 Poké Snacks here as part of the tutorial. Orre is a barren landscape and doesn't have much of a selection anyways, so wh-

Wait a minute.

Aerodactyl, Chansey, and Dratini comprise 3 of 75 species of Wild Pokémon you can find in XG. You have a massive selection of Pokémon such as Kangaskhan, Tauros, Hitmontop, Larvitar, Metang, etc. to choose from. Teams can start getting pretty diverse by this point.

The Cave Poké Stop has where these two have run off to. They lament their pretty crummy life having no home and constantly hopping places, so I guess that is punishment enough.

Excuse me, Mirror B.?

Hell no.

Who are you and what have you done to best villain?

This is going to reflect badly on you.

Note I have not battled a single trainer since Lovrina. All the walking up to this point has purified Misdreavus and gotten Clefairy to one bar before purification.

Anyways, the Ludicolo have a type-resist berry (yes, those are in this hack)... for Shadow moves. The Dolan Berry will be seen in many Pokémon going forward, so it's something to keep in mind when mindlessly spamming these moves.

It's a shame it took a hack to make the logical conclusion of including a Shadow Ludicolo.

The battle was essentially Shadow Wave (an inaccurate Surf clone) spam and we're left in this state. I have to say, it's the closest I've been to wiping out. I have just one chance to catch this or else BEEEEEEEEE is going to have pineapple for lunch.

We succeed and keep our perfect catch streak. I wonder when it'll break.

Can I use it to admire myself?

As his goons previously stated, this Radar alerts us of the impostor whenever he's nearby. If we fail to snag a Shadow Pokémon, he'll have it ready to snag when we encounter him.

Hopefully we can minimize the amount of times it is used.

Cipher's been getting active for like 9 in-game hours. It was time to mobilize a while ago.

But first, I take a detour to purify Ms.DreaVus and coincidentally trigger the Spot Monitor. Let's see what awaits us!

Oh great, it's this awful thing.

Fortunately, The Chosen One has a special power known as "Reset"

We encounter Munchlax. He is adorable - I wish you could use him.

She sells Rare Candies at their usual price of 9800. Not worth it, but they're there in case we need a push or something.

Time to save the day. The lone line of defense was a pushover and a Shroomish the bad guys didn't even bother to take.

Red Rooney isn't courting a weakling like you.

My Ludicolo DID roll Swift Swim, so Pelipper should make a great partner if it gets...

Bingo.

We also evolved Red Rooney who has blue makeup in this game. Sadly, he has Poison Heal instead of Technician.

The grunts seem to be introducing weather teams then. Both of these do have Drought.

My team synergy is going to suck.

Shadow Burn is a very accurate WoW. However, Shadow Torkoal marks the first time we receive a Shadow Pokémon without an offensive move.

Not like it's a problem because we'll unlock the next move in like 2 seconds anyways.

In this badly timed screenshot, this Shadow Nosepass is summoning Sand Stream. The Baltoy before it also had Sand Stream.

Weather IS capped at 5 turns, so it's at least a bit balanced.

Since Shadow Wave hits everything, Staryu here recovers 3 times per turn which doesn't make it too shabby.

However, it also has Regenerator and the move Shadow Star (a Recover). Staryu really doesn't want to die.

The weather theme died pretty quickly and we're facing decent squads, but nothing we can't already handle.

Of note, Sneasel has Shadow Rush. I have to reiterate it is like its Colosseum variant, as it hits everything neutrally, so it hits my Pokémon pretty hard.

Shadow Analysis is a really strong move - 85 Power with 95 accuracy that disables the move last used by a Pokémon. It also works on Shadow moves.

With that done, it is time to face the boss of this dungeon. We were going to be using this team.

But then I remembered the protagonist loves his purification and Shadow Pokémon.

What do you mean we got "Mirror B" and Kyogre Jr. like 5 battles ago?

This guy is big - clearly means business.

Ah, ye olde switcheroo.

Too bad they also deleted the backup data Nett had done. Whoops!

Who are you calling "hunh"?

6v6 again. Heracross is a threat, but Croconaw? Bruh.

Those 2 go down without my rainy duo breaking a sweat.

Short-lived, however, as Granbull and Kangaskhan yeet Kyogre Jr. with Thunder Punches.

Even then, it's nothing in the face of rain boosted Water Pulses. Moreover, he DOES keep Shadow Mawile!

Pay no attention to Staryu's bar.

We snag Shadow Mawile and call it a day. Not a total pushover but still on the easy side.

Exol is a stupid name.

I called it a cruise ship in the beginning, oops.

Say it ain't so!

We are told Mary and her friend, the duo we saw earlier, ran to Phenac City to film something.

Nett, you're telling us to warn the mayor of a city who's previous mayor was the "head" of Cipher?

"The Ciphers are coming! The Ciphers are coming!"

Next: History repeats itself.

 

[Blitz]

Part 4 - Shake It Off

Paradise! We've arrived to another one of Orre's locations that doesn't look and isn't run by garbage.

Or so we think.

Lady, I'm Generation Z. I can smell your bullshit scam from a mile away.

I bet these CDs have viruses that infect my PC and delete all my Pokémon...

The mystery lady tells us we need to use them in Realgam Tower, so maybe we're safe.

The detour has us see these guys again. They too seem to be in possession of Battle CDs, how convenient.

Yep. Seems like a scam to me.

We head inside to explore and find a shop we cannot even buy 1/4th of with our current money.

In order, the TM list is: Sludge Wave, Ice Beam, Scald, Flamethrower, Iron Head, Thunderbolt, Energy Ball, Dragon Pulse, Earth Power, Heat Wave, Blizzard, Shadow Ball, Rock Slide, Thunder, Aerial Ace, Poison Jab, Psychic, Dark Pulse

It's really a shame Shadow Pokémon can't learn them, as most of these could be fantastic options. I won't buy any for now.

Now, onto more pressing matters.

Ah, so they're simulators. Are Trudly and Folly just stupid?

Actually, they're not.

Unfortunately, the creator has not completed the Battle CDs, and since they apparently broke with all the changes he's done, he just opted to disable them. However, he's said he plans to make complex ones for inclusion in a future version, so h-

WAIT IT WAS STILL A SCAM.

Unlike the Battle CDs, Battle Bingo does actually work and is fully edited.

Naturally, we're gonna give it a try.

I'll pick Nuzleaf. From the get-go, we're told it's deceptive.

So we end up with Mega Drain. I expected better, but it'll do.

Scald Lanturn doesn't stand a chance and we beat it.

Steelix? Hell yea. I love this Pokémon, so we're gonna take it.

I later learn it has Iron Head. This is... not good.

Pretty good beginning so far. We get our EP (which allows us to use our Pokémon for one Panel) and we can proceed.

No, both of my Pokémon did not change gender. Don't be silly.

I opt to get the final "bonus" panel and stumble upon Graveler along the way. All good so far.

To complete the column, I encounter Gyarados. It has Intimidate and Bounce, which is 5 PP and one turn (also pretty strong), so it's good.

I decide to take it, and go face the Electric Panel to the left...

...Which ended up being a bad idea, because Overheat Manectric just scorched Nuzleaf a new one.

I take the Ground panel to the right, and beat the Icicle Crash Piloswine by the skin of my teeth.

I had to take a gamble on the Electric slot and managed to get Thunderbolt Flaaffy. Could be worse.

I use it to beat the Giga Drain Lombre at the bottom right, and now I have one more Panel left before I can complete another column. I hope Nuzleaf can do this.

Score! Volt Tackle Pikachu just can't manage.

I absolutely NEED to beat that Manectric, so I'm going to give it a go with Gyarados.

Managed to do it with a Struggle war at the end, where I also learned that its recoil is still based on Gen 3's. Could lead to some ugly stalemates with Leftovers...

Gyarados should have a solid matchup vs most Ground-types, so let's see.

Well this is a problem. It's Rock Slide Pupitar...

I managed to cheese it by Bounce paralysis and it missing Rock Slide once. WE TAKE THOSE!

That Water Panel ends up being Ice Beam Spheal, which almost deleted Nuzleaf.

Let's see that final Electric Panel.

The worst possible Pokémon I could face. What are the chances it has Electric STAB?

None. It was Flash Cannon. All of my Pokémon lose the 1v1 vs it.

Battle Bingo is pretty fun, and I plan to return later and farm these for Coupons. Those Mt. Battle items will be excellent...

But for now, PLOT!

We can finally set foot in Phenac City. The scamming lady from before doesn't mind us now, but the music is ominous...

Nothing is surely wrong!

After all, the Pokémon Center is unstaffed and all. Poor receptionist is probably on break, they don't pay her enough for this!

See that PC to your right? It exists for a reason.

We keep exploring the place and wind up in the Prestige Precept Center.

You don't look like a generic NPC, so you must be important!

Ah ha!

Absolutely. The town's people have been all over the place, but I'm sure it's just how tense the situation is. Can you point me in the right direction?

Of course you're in on it too.

Fine, I'll find the Mayor myself.

Yes, in times of crisis the Mayor just conveniently disappears. And I'm supposed to take your word for it, Mrs. conveniently placed NPC?

I am not allowed up the Mayor's room because of music.

Of course.

I have no comment.

... Or maybe I do. The music that plays is a generic happy tune. WHEN WILL THE SCAMS END?

Going up to the Mayor's bedroom, I obtain the plot coupon.

This exists to remind the player of why they're there in the first place.

Yea that's gonna be a problem when lots of you look exactly the same. Generic NPCs, amirite?

I've been using that phrase a lot this update, huh.

Oh trust me, it's very noticeable. The sinister music and the scamming townspeople are enough signs.

You think that Double Team spamming prude has any ability?

Wait, isn't this supposed to be a letter?

DUNDUNDUN.

Oh, go shake it off.

The only thing of note in that battle was a Shadow Granbull.

Unfortunately, we are ambushed by a 2nd Cipher Peon when we go down the stairs.

Fortunately, my squad is good enough to be able to beat his team and snag his Shadow Magmar.

You know, if there's one thing Cipher looks for in their recruits, it's mastery in the art of disguising. Look at those identical Justy replicas!

Perhaps it's a metaphor on his Double Team spamming team.

Naturally, we proceed to ignore the hexagon dorks and go inside the gym to find out what's up.

There's a few battles with some Shadow Pokémon but nothing eventful.

Moreover, that Poké Ball in the back is an elevator.

Doesn't seem like a well-kept secret to me.

Sidebar: We are told that Phenac Stadium was abandoned in favor of Realgam Colosseum after it was built, yet the city still maintains the hologram, waterfall supply, and... why is there a computer here anyways?

Y'all stage this massive city takeover that is essentially successful yet you can only afford to have one lone grunt guarding the entrance?

Now ONBS's incompetency makes sense...

The 2nd grunt here has Solrock and Lunatone, which should tell you that Snattle abandons them for this hack.

The # of Shadow Pokémon is now heavily increasing. Expect to start seeing full teams of these from now on.

We are introduced to Snattle. His goal is plain and simple: to become Orre's Governor.

Why anyone would want to lead this trash-heap of a region is beyond me.

Unfortunately for Snattle, the rude people we encountered in Pyrite just so happen to be recording what's happening. One fatal flaw in the Phenac takeover was having it actually recorded. Oh no, Snattle can't have that. He has to keep his reputation!

Barney?

Wow it's actually a normal name.

Essentially, Shadow Throw is Circle Throw, Shadow Strength is Vital Throw, and Shadow Max is Belly Drum.

The levels are picking up a little bit.

Barney is the first trainer with 2 Shadow Pokémon, and those are pretty good options.

We snag both and end the man's career.

And now, the main event!

I have been dreading this battle since before this run started. More on that in a bit.

No, this is not shiny. This is in fact an Alolan Marowak.

I'll give a little bit of context for this battle. In the version I played in the past, Porygon2 (and Slowking, another member of his team) came prepackaged with the Trickster ability.

This custom ability set Trick Room for 5 turns. Given his overall slow and hard hitting team, it presented an incredible challenge as there's very little you could do to prepare for it.

Now, note that I said in the past. This version seems to just give Porygon2 and Slowking their regular abilities...

...Which doesn't make this battle nearly as hard. That said, his team is still punishing in its own right and has me in a corner.

Sealeo's Blizzard on my No Guard Pidgeot kills it and takes a considerable chunk from Piloswine...

I ran out of Great Balls in the last battle, and Alolan Ninetales' Shadow Chill is doing a decent chuck as I keep trying to catch it. At this rate, I'm either going to have to kill it or wipe!

Mercifully, the final Poké Ball ends up catching Alolan Tales. My streak lives on!

That's The Chosen One for you.

We continue the trend of awful names with Gorigan and are clued in on what we can expect next.

Snattle then proceeds to run away in the most hilarious fashion.

I still don't like you. What if I walked out on you and left you to Snattle's whims?

You know, Cipher, the logical thing would be to hide the key and hold the city hostage for ransom or something.

Mr. Mayor, I didn't expect anything, and I was still disappointed. Now take everyone with you and get out.

Ah, the real Justy. FINALLY.

You know why you're no Gym Leader? You need actual skill that's not just spamming evasion. Look how much good that did you.

That said, I appreciate the new bit of information.

Our map is starting to look more colorful.

The Day Care opens up after this and not only does it not take Shadow Pokémon like in Colosseum, you also can't use it to breed. It's pretty damn useless.

The Exp. Share will allow me to bring those regular Pokémon up to par with the rest of my squad, which is definitely welcomed.

And that will do it for this update. I did purify a few Pokémon but they're honestly nothing notable to go through.

Next: Abandoned Ship!

 

[lucariomaster2]

This seems like a really interesting hack. Do the future-gen moves and custom shadow moves have their own animations?

 

[MellowBusiness]

This seems like a really interesting hack. Do the future-gen moves and custom shadow moves have their own animations?

They're not unique persay, but yes. Some of the Gen 4+ moves animations are just animations from other moves, such as Earth Power sharing Eruption's animation. The shadow moves, have a shadowy aura effect before the actual animation starts.

 

[Blitz]

Part 5 - The Walks of Shame

Now onto our next destin-

Unfortunately, the desert is too much for a mere scooter so we cannot advance.

There's gonna be lots of walking this update.

The Shadow Pokémon don't mind it though!

I get I'm the fabled protagonist, but just call Pokémon Protective Services or something.

Oh wait, this is Orre.

I should mention that I did farm the Battle Bingo minigame off-screen, which means my team can be equipped with goodies like Leftovers, Life Orb, Choice Scarf, Choice Specs, Choice Band, and Eviolite.

Speaking of that last one, it does work on Pokémon who have evolutions in later gens, so Piloswine will put it to good use.

Yes, I have seen footage of the events. Why am I the only one privy to this information?

Oh, right.

New species? Sinnoh officially debuted on Sept 2006, a mere 13 years ago.

Fellow reader, feeling old yet?

We still need to fix our scooter, so Bill sends us to Gateon Port.

Look ma! I'm on TV inside a TV!

Serious question: How does your grandfather get past Chobin?

Ah, the mysterious NPCs with unique models! I thought we weren't seeing you again for a while.

Verich congratulates me on stopping the Phenac takeover and promptly walks away. Must be seething.

Anyways, y'all know what happens when we go to Dr. Kaminko's house.

He just has a Magneton and a Metang, so we can gloss over h-

Oh we're not done.

Dr. Kaminko and Chobin don't recognize me despite being in front of their faces.

Wait what.

Well hello there.

I did say the fountain was foreshadowing this all the way in Part 1.

Well it can't be that b-

What the hell is that?

Robo Groudon is a custom Pokémon created for this hack, located after Celebi's slot. While I don't know its exact stats, they are very lopsided, having good stats everywhere except Speed, as it is slower than everything.

+6 Hariyama was doing 35%~ per hit with an effective 140 power move, a testament to its bulk.

Fortunately, it's not something we can't handle.

Seriously how does Perr's grandfather not get sent packing?

You call a colossal artificial Pokémon a failure? Nonsense.

For the first time, we are told to expect another battle with him.

While we didn't exploit it this battle, Robo Groudon has one massive weakness, which I'll expand upon later.

Stop making me fetch you, you crafty old man you.

Now, OUR NEXT DESTINATION.

Haha you think I'm going to visit the Pre Gym.

Ah, hello Gorigan.

Matt speaks weirdly and shouts nonsensical statistics left and right. I will spare you all the misery and just give you one screenshot.

Stop sending fodder to battle me then...

The yellow dude, aptly named Smarton, utilizes a stall team.

Unfortunately, doubles Stall in a game where I can hit everything super effectively with Choice items does not lend itself to any favors.

Shadow Switch is an inaccurate Volt Switch, and we snag the Sableye, of course.

This worker decided to make the S.S. Libra his own living quarters, though I question how he tends to his clothes... or a shower.

He's a scaredy-cat and tells us there's noises coming from the hull, so we must investigate.

Fun fact: Bonsly is indeed usable in this hack outside of the Battle Bingo. Unfortunately, this has to wait a bit longer.

Let's grab i-

This e-mail scares off Bonsly which makes it run off once again...

Narrator Note: I need to remind myself to actually go to Aya at a later update.

At least the ridiculous clothing is limited to Cipher.

Normally, I'd say "Don't expect me to.", but...

Wakin IS actually smart enough to recognize that I'm The Chosen One and, rather than battle me, simply puts me to sleep with his Gloom.

It's one of the few instances of competence in Orre, so I'll acknowledge it.

Of course, I won't stand for it. Let's go get the Snag Machine back!

Apologies, I seem to have uploaded a screenshot from Final Fantasy.

Finally, we get to face Zook properly.

His team is actually legitimately scary.

I can't snag Zangoose, which is a problem as its "Shadow Hunter" move is super effective again Shadow Pokémon.

Shadow Trip is just an inaccurate Foul Play.

Contrary to how it looks in the last screenie, I will note that Zook is the first trainer to make me wipe. It took me a few tries to scout out his team and not get haxed in the process. Despite that, I reiterate that he is a legitimate threat.

The Chosen One resumes his duties.

Yay, more walking.

I ended up purifying like 6 Pokémon in this update.

The radar's icon has always looked like an old, wise bird with glasses to me.

We all know how this goes so let's get straight to it.

Snow Warning disrupts the Rain Dance + Surf spam quite nicely which makes his team an non-issue.

Shadow Politoed used to be my first Shiny on my last run, and I have fond memories.

Snagging this will have to wait until later. I'm technically still on a catch streak, though.

Why the game pans to this to point out the obvious at every turn is wild to me.

Toby has a Shadow Togepi inside for us. It's actually pretty solid, as it comes at Level 40 with Shadow versions of Tri Attack, Recover, and Protect, as well as the infamous Shadow Half (when used, everything on the field gets their HP halved).

We'll give it an Eviolite and be on our way.

Hopefully I can finally go retrieve the Snag M-

Of course.

Rather than the Ziggy line, his team is just the Eeveelutions.

Since the AI's Jolteon kept spamming Volt Switch on Lightning Rod Marowak, he was painfully easy to beat.

Or is it?

That's enough walking. Let's go to Snagem Hideout on my sweet, new ride!

Next: Taking what's ours back.

 

[Blitz]

Life's a bit hectic so getting to update this run takes me a bit, so sorry about that. Truthfully, however, we're starting the endgame.

Part 6 - The G stands for Gengar

Our hero's next adventure takes place in Snagem Hideout. And our mission is clear: Recover the Snag Machine.

Not even 2 seconds in, we are told that Realgam Colosseum is now opened. From a story perspective, it just means we can challenge afro dude here now.

You bet your sweet ass I am.

Most names and references in the hideout will have nonsensical names like these. Of course, it keeps with vanilla Orre's naming scheme!

So the Togepi we got like 5 screenshots ago didn't last more than 2 battles. Let's go give it back to Hordel an-

Hold up, WHAT?

Give it back? Shell Smash + Dazzling Gleam Togekiss is incredibly hard to pass up. How can I say no?

You are from Phenac City. This is a scam.

breathes in

I'm going to regret this aren't I?

This is how you get Bonsly in the game. It's fully usable and I believe does evolve into Sudowoodo. It has some nifty moves too.

Give me my device back you fool.

I wonder what the logistics behind this decision were in the first place. Did his grunts really go "Ok, boss man will be happy with this. He should be able to use it!"?

Face to face with the villain that actually beats us by an underhanded method. He could just put me back to sleep right now and that would be the end of this little adventure.

I can't say yes even if I wanted to. Why does the game give me this option constantly?

Unfortunately, the game has picked up that we mean business, and so the squads from here on out will absolutely be a hurdle to go through.

Note the level curve between this screenshot and the end of the update.

The battle is honestly not looking good, and in part because I discovered Choice items started glitching on me.

Ampharos' attacks were doing <5% to anything it hit super effectively, making it a dead slot and robbing me of a clean lead in the beginning.

I did head here immediately upon entering, so we're gonna put this battle on hold for now.

Yep these don't get better.

I did a few battles around the hideout, purified everyone, and gave them better movesets.

I hope you enjoy the nicknames. This is also the last time you'll see me wield a full party of purified Pokémon... maybe.

Back to Gonzap, here's his Shadow Absol which we cannot get. The battle is a bit easier when you're not held back by faulty items and mediocre movesets.

One lone Pokémon and a dream. Can he do it?

(With a sliver of HP left from Skarmory's Rocky Helmet, yes, he can.)

Ah HA!

Naturally, our next step is to recover those Shadow Pokémon we've been denied of.

...Pyrite Colosseum has an incredibly low level curve and conducts battles in Singles.

Realgam IS a bit more competitive, but is anyone complaining?

Mirror B has also been hit by this nerf hammer which makes snagging this Toed a cinch.

It is time.

Despite the level progression, our squad just barely outclasses what I consider the litmus test of the game.

The slight advantage should wear off soon.

Or will it?

This is where Zook's chapter closes. It's a shame he couldn't give Jovi a good one-two.

Gonzap has joined The Disciples of The Chosen One™ (Patent Pending)

Does Gonzap look funny to you guys?

He looks pretty badass to me.

In an exclusive feature in this hack, you do team up with Gonzap to take down the mooks.

Still, 12 versus 8 is a pretty unfair advantage and I do override their weather with Politoed.

No Shadow Pokémon? Thanks for wasting my time.

Wakin remembers why he had the upper hand in the first place and puts those goons to sleep.

His Gloom in battle had Spore, by the way. Pretty fitting!

The Cipher Key Lair takeover begins with more meme references. This guy acts as a PC, so we can swap out members as we get them.

In the basement, we find our first Shadow Machine. Every non-Shadow Pokémon can learn this, but Shadow Rush isn't particularly useful bc it hits nothing super effectively.

If only we could get a disc-one nuke like Shadow Snooze...

The Shadow Pokémon now start to respectfully pick up.

In this screenshot, you can spot one of the best Pokémon in the game. Can you guess who it is?

What do you mean I have Absol already?

Here we grab some more Shadow Pokémon items. This is an Eviolite for any Shadow Pokémon, which, for lack of a better phrase, is busted.

Aura Stabiliser (sic) here is a better Wide Lens for Shadow moves. This one goes directly with our broken Pokémon, which I'll detail further down in a bit.

Did I clue you in on who it is yet?

We have a perfect catch streak so far, but since trainers are averaging 3-4 Shadow Pokémon, it's getting a bit dicey.

Meet Gengar.

Equipped with Aura Stabiliser, Gengar has access to a Giga Drain, Spore, Super Fang, and a weather resetting move.

He's gonna be staring down a lot of these fights and then some.

I was too busy gushing over Gengar that I steamrolled that Ice dude.

Another PC. The lady above serves as a healing point.

I never understood what the importance of these women in the factory were. They don't battle, they're not scientists, why are you here?

At this point I'm just screenshotting random Shadow Pokémon.

The sheer volume of them is gonna make me reevaluate my strat for purification, but fret not!

Even though the levels keep picking up, Gengar doesn't care.

Oh yea, Matt.

This geek is Jovi and Lovrina levels of annoying.

Like everyone else at this point, though, he's fairly competent in battle.

Unfortunately, I have Gengar.

Here's some more Shadow Pokémon.

And here's some more Gengar.

Also, level curve.

STEP AWAY FROM THE MACHINE.

I mean, do I even want this? Shadow Pokémon are super fun to use.

Decisions, decisions...

Well? Dude didn't have a single Shadow Pokémon, like come on.

What a fitting name.

Yep.

The battles boil down to who has Shadow Slayer / Hunter / any Shadow move that heavily damages opposing Shadow mons at this point, which makes most Shadow Pokémon a non-threat for my team.

I mean, I'm missing you, aren't I?

Make more Shadow Pokémon like Gengar. You wouldn't have an issue.

As if you had any to be had?

Not only do you peace out of any situation that directly involves you, you couldn't even properly get rid of me knowing the threat I was to Cipher.

I'm going to prove why you're no Cipher Admin, in spite of your Sand team.

Legendary? I don't care.

Gengar's just gonna take your team and eat it for lunch.

Goodbye Gorigan.

Now do you intend to something about me?

Ah that's more like it.

Wait what.

N-nani?

Man, I could have sworn that blue dude was the boss.

What do you mean? Gengar is with me.

You realize you don't have to reveal who or where you are, right? I wouldn't be able to thwart your plans and you'd be able to take over the world with Shadow Pokémon as you damn pleased.

My dude, this is a game with magical monsters that can create waves and hurricanes. That means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Gorigan hightails it out of there and we receive the full list of Shadow Pokémon.

Of course, I won't spoil any. I need screenshot material after all!

We went through a nearly 15 level spike in this update alone, and despite that, the squad held its own. I mean, we all know it was a team effort, right???

We have 68 Shadow Pokémon in total, and 28 are from this update and need to be purified. I'll probably do some side stuff to lessen the load.

Next time: 100 Battles?

 

[Champion Leon]

This game looks cool. But the play throughlooks even cooler. Just seeing the matchup of Heracross and Hitmonlee in a circle facing a surrounding arena of enemies, especially as fighting types, looks like an epic 2000’s rpg cutscene just before a fight.

Man, well put together thread. It’s about the creativity, the picture scene by scene, and the narrative that makes this solid.

Games don’t make playthroughs, players don’t make playthroughs, its the storytellers that make playthroughs, and you told a story well.

I cant wait to see the next “chapter” ;)

*Bronsly is so cute!

 

[Blitz]

Part 7 - Training?

Following Gorigan's defeat, we attempt to leave and are given a text box that depicts sound.

Your stomach?

...Oh. That was my next guess.

Fellow reader, I can now introduce another new feature introduced in this hack: Legendary encounters.

It should be no surprise that all Legendaries and Mythicals from the first three gens exist in this souped-up Orre, and no, not all of them are Shadow Pokémon!

Some, like the Legendary Beasts, are actual stationary encounters. In previous versions of the hack, they used to be 1% PokeSpot encounters before the creator changed it.

However, we will put this sidequest on hold for now. We need to lessen the load of 28 Shadow Pokémon we currently have!

What better way to do this than in Mt. Battle?

The game actually allows you to select any of the 10 Areas without repercussions, so naturally...

We're going to Area 10!

I mean, how strong can they b-

Oh...

Well...

It was a valiant effort.

We have to prepare for the big leagues, so as alluded to in my previous post, we'll be going through all of Mt. Battle starting with the beginning.

Enjoy the following series of witty one-liners:

Excuse me, my Snag Machine is MORE than just a baseball mitt!

You're just above 2 trainers. What was your training? Rehearsing this line?

No

What's that supposed to mean? Not used to getting your ass beaten by young whippersnappers like me?

Still no.

Hey! Trekking these steps up is more than a light warm-up exercise.

...Wait you were talking about the trainers were you?

Getting all your Pokémon OHKOed is a strategy in losing money, I guess?

Manage? Watch me walk past you.

See?

Anyways, here's Vander. His "training" consists of:

Doing absolutely nothing to my Pokémon while they take turns going into Reverse Mode.

With that session done, this group is ready to be purified.

RIP my fallen hero. Your legacy shall not be forgotten.

Here's the next group we're going to purify. Banette has Prankster, Cloyster gets Bulletproof, Dusclops can use Eviolite, Gardevoir has Pixilate, and Armaldo can Swift Swim.

Cue more one-liners:

Are you in cahoots with that other guy? I am not a baseball player!!!

That being said, it looks like you just



Struck out.

How's that advice working out for you?

But this is Mt. Battle not Pokémon Tower.

Not yet. With my current team, Mt. Battle starts on like Area 5.

Is that what you tell yourself in the mirror every morning?

So do I!

Well, at least you got the cute part down.

Go, your self-confidence!

Watch me.

If I was stuck with level 25 Pokémon at your age, I'd be proud of how much of a failure I am.

Finally someone that says something that makes sense!

The few screenshots I've given of battles should clue you in on the type themes these tend to have.

God I hope so. I'm already fal-

I'VE BEEN LIED TO.

What's that? The closed hearts of my Pokémon couldn't hear you.

Nope.

Yes!

Can we substitute "training partner" for punching bag?

It was so irrelevant, I don't even remember.

I'm pretty sure I encountered you in Area 2.

Yes.

Michael appealed with skill and style!

Michael's coolness went over great!

Next.

And here's the next group to purify. Walrein has Snow Warning, Charizard has Drought, Exploud can Boomburst.

Oh boy I can't wait.

The levels here are enough to no longer be OHKOed by my moves, at least.

We are not at that point yet, game.

Darn! I was counting on it!

Get your glasses checked, granny.

I think she just has a MonoGrass Sun team and no one team is alike here so this falls apart.

Tentacruel and Ludicolo.

You be the judge.

Slow, defensive Grass-types are the furthest things from ninjas.

Like your grandmother down below, you're in the wrong location.

(It was not.)

If you haven't noticed by now, every other trainer in this Area was female.

Yea I was too bored to notice either.

Had to repeat Area 4 once more, but I purified those 6 and got a new set. With 18 of the 28 purified, I think we can advance with the plot.

Here we have Chobin talking to himself...

So he says.

Well, that is quite the level.

Fortunately for me Shadow Freeze lands and I just pummel it before it thaws out.

I mean, that'll win you... points in creativity... I guess?

Perr tells us the Robo-Kyogre is ready thanks to his grandpa.

DUNDUNDUN!

The game needs to establish that we're about to enter the climax, so we are summoned once more.

Neat. We'll probably be saving it for XG001.

And this is even more neat. Shade Balls are a new type of Poké Balls in this hack. In a similar vein to Beast Balls, Krane made them with the intent to make Shadows easier to catch. I don't know where to get more, so we must be frugal with them.

... I do like my detours, huh? The Beasts actually show up around this point so I will be hunting them down.

There's really no other place in Orre that makes sense for Suicune, given the emphasis of w a t e r.

Pretty straightforward catch, all things considered.

The Shadow Lugia theme plays when you face these, by the way.

How dare you turn your back to me.

The Entei in the S.S. Libra was a bit more cumbersome to get because it kept scorching my Pokémon with Sacred Fire.

Finally, Raikou comes back to the Cipher Key Lair just like the worker said it would!

One ball catch!

Ok, NOW it is time!

We're not the only people here, of course! And that sailor near the stairs has something to say about it.

Wailord can Drizzle in this game.

He also has this.

Now that I think about it, it's been a long while since I've seen a Shiny Pokémon. Did I really just get super lucky in the early game?

This is where Greevil and the 2 color-coded men went up. I guess we have to take the long way!

The massive onslaught of Shadow Pokémon begins here!

Can I please meet more OP Shadows like Gengar?

 

[Shwig]

Did you ever finish/post this play-through?

 

[Blitz]

Nope! I got a job a week after the last update and that's kept me busy / I forgot. I'll probably finish it soon lol