Written by: zee
QC by: shiny finder , Lego , Max. Optimizer, Sephirona , Light Sanctity
GP by: Band, Adeleine
HTML by:
Introduction
In Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, Pokemon Contests were introduced as an alternative to directly battling opponents. All moves within the games are given a contest type, one of Beauty, Cool, Cute, Smart, or Tough, which corresponds to contest categories. Additionally, there are four ranks of Pokemon Contests: Normal, Super, Hyper, and Master. In Ruby and Sapphire, these contest halls can be found in Verdanturf Town, Fallarbor Town, Slateport City, and Lilycove City, respectively. In Pokemon Emerald, all four contest ranks are located in the contest hall in Lilycove City. You must start with a Normal rank contest.
Pokemon Contests consist of two phases, those being primary judging and secondary judging. Your Pokemon will be matched up against three NPCs' Pokemon and will compete for the first place ribbon. While doing well in the first phase will give you a lot more leeway during the second phase, the second phase becomes more important as your rise through the contest ranks. How well your Pokemon performs in each phase can make or break your chances of winning, so it's important to do as best as you can in the two phases. Ribbons exist for all 5 contest types and all 4 ranks, for a grand total of 20 possible ribbons earned.
A few notes before we get started: this guide will assume you have access to the entire map of the Hoenn region, though beating the Champion is not necessary. Additionally, this guide will assume that you are only playing a single cartridge of the games, so Pokemon exclusively from Fire Red, Leaf Green, Colosseum, and XD will not be mentioned, nor will any Pokemon that are only obtainable by trading, such as Alakazam and Kingdra.
Primary Judging
Condition and Sheen
Primary Judging consists of your Pokemon being judged by the audience on two factors: primarily its condition, but also its sheen. You can improve your Pokemon's condition by feeding it PokeBlocks of the corresponding type/color. Each condition type maxes out at 255; however, while it is theoretically possible to max each condition in preparation for the contests, Pokemon cannot be fed any more Pokeblocks once it reaches max sheen.
PokeBlocks can be created with NPCs in the foyer of any contest hall or with an additional player via a Link Cable. The types of Berries you should use to make your PokeBlocks depend on which contest you're preparing for, which can be seen in the following table. You can check the color and flavor of a given Berry by viewing its tag in the Bag.
Additionally, natures have an effect on the growth rate of a Pokemon's contest condition, analogous to their effects on stats. A list of the positive and negative growth rates can be seen in the following table. Neutral natures do not speed up or slow down the growth rate of any contest condition, so they won't be mentioned.
While the Pokemon's primary condition is the main factor when scoring Primary Judging, secondary conditions and sheen also influence the score. A list of secondary conditions can be found in the following table. Sheen is a value that ranges from 0 to 255, and it is entirely dependent on the PokeBlocks that Pokemon has eaten, equivalent to the cumulative sum of the PokeBlocks' feel. A Pokemon cannot be fed more PokeBlocks once it has a 255 sheen stat, meaning it's best to feed a Pokemon PokeBlocks with a high level and low feel if you plan on entering it in multiple contest categories to get as many ribbons as possible. Sheen is also permanent, so be mindful when it comes to finding your Pokemon the appropriate PokeBlocks!
A Pokemon's condition and sheen can be checked in the PokeNav. Condition is shown in the radar chart with the 5 contest types (with the level corresponding to how far that branch extends), whereas sheen can be measured by the amount of stars that appear on your Pokemon's sprite, with 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest possible sheen.
The player can also give their Pokemon colored scarves to boost their scores in the primary judging phase. To get these, show the Pokemon Fan Club President a Pokemon with at least a 200 value in the condition corresponding to the scarf (refer to the first table's Berry colors to see what color goes with what type of condition). They are obtainable in all of Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald.
The Berry Master and His Wife
On Route 123, the player can talk to the Berry Master daily to get two random Berries for free. The player can also talk to the Berry Master's Wife using special phrases to unlock rare Berries, which are especially useful for making PokeBlocks. If you have access to the Emerald cloning glitch, it is very helpful, allowing you to get multiple copies of these Berries with ease. Some of the keywords in these phrases can only be unlocked after certain in-game events have occurred.
Blend Master
Only in Pokemon Emerald, after beating the Champion, the Blend Master will occasionally appear at the Lilycove Contest Hall. He uses very high quality Berries and blends at a high RPM (displayed during the blending process), which results in efficient, high-quality PokeBlocks, a great help for increasing a Pokemon's condition. His presence will be announced on TV, making it easier to know when he's arrived.
Secondary Judging
Basic Strategy
***************************************************
In Secondary Judging, your Pokemon and its three competitors make an appeals to the audience and judge by using particular moves for five turns, making up the bulk of the competition. Pokemon earn hearts to fill their heart meter in this stage, with said meter ranging from 0 to 16 hearts. These hearts are used for scoring. The audience also has their own meter, which goes up to 5 points and increases by 1 when a Pokemon's move shares its contest type with the given Contest; when a Pokemon maxes out the audience's meter, it will gain an additional 5 hearts instead of just 1.
In addition to their specific contest typing, moves in Pokemon Contests also have two stat categories: appeal and jam. The appeal stat is how many hearts the Pokemon earns directly from judging, while the jam stat is how many hearts a move can remove from the Pokemon that appealed before it. For example, Bubble, which has an appeal of 2 and a jam of 2, would cause the user to earn 2 hearts, as well as removing 2 hearts from any Pokemon that went before it in that round. An important note: moves should not be repeated unless their description says they can repeat without tiring the audience, as doing so otherwise will cause your Pokemon to lose 2 hearts.
With all that being said, there is a very simple goal for secondary judging: getting as many hearts as possible while minimizing the hearts your foes earn. This is much easier said than done, however, as it requires well-thought-out planning and a little bit of luck. The easiest way to plan in advance is to include specific move combinations in your Pokemon's moveset, as they maximize the possibility of scoring a lot of hearts from the judge. We'll be going down the list of all 5 categories and covering some easy-to-use combinations to teach your Pokemon.
Move Combinations and Moveset Strategy
***************************************************
Certain moves form combinations when used in Pokemon Contests. Effectively, a combination move used on turn 1 will double the hearts earned by its pair move the next turn. The exception to this is if the Pokemon is startled by Flash in between these turns, which resets the combination. Some good examples of useful and accessible combinations will be listed, by category, in the tables below. Do note that moves marked with an asterisk (*) are not the same type as the designated contest type; therefore, they won't raise the audience meter. Also, both moves need to be explicitly used by your Pokemon. For example, a foe's Torkoal using Sunny Day does not mean your Blaziken will get a combination bonus for using Blaze Kick in the same round of appeals. Your Blaziken would have to use both moves itself in succession to get the combination bonus.
Beauty
As shown by the table, Sunny Day lends itself to a whole host of "highly appealing" move combinations. Since all these follow-up moves have at least 4 appeal, they can score at least a whopping eight hearts plus raise the audience reaction meter. Sunny Day itself isn't even a bad base move, as it can score big points in the later rounds if the timing allows it to greet an excited audience. Overheat is the standout option, as it can score six hearts by itself, giving it the highest possible point yield when paired with Sunny Day, though the user must be careful to avoid getting startled by its fellow competitors.
The great thing about Sunny Day combination is that a variety of Pokemon that can make use of them thanks to the wide distribution of Sunny Day, Fire Blast, Fire Punch, and Flamethrower. This list includes Fire-types like Blaziken, Torkoal, and Camerupt, as well as non-Fire-types such as Salamence and Flygon.
Hail combinations have a similar setup to Sunny Day ones, albeit with a slightly narrower distribution. Blizzard and Powder Snow are the highly appealing moves that offer general consistency, while Haze worsens the condition of all Pokemon that went before the user–negating a boost from moves such as Dragon Dance –and Ice Ball can momentarily stop the audience's meter from rising.
A nice benefit to the Hail setup is that, unlike Sunny Day, there are Pokemon available in Hoenn that learn Hail and at least one pair move by level, including Castform, Glalie, and Walrein. The gift Castform from the Weather Institute comes knowing both Hail and Powder Snow, for instance, making it available for contest use as soon as you acquire it.
The Ice Punch and Fire Punch combination is one that Pokemon can take advantage of in Emerald due to its move tutors (though Medicham is available in Ruby and Sapphire and can legally learn both attacks). The two moves are both highly appealing, making them very safe to use with little risk involved. Of course, the overlap of Pokemon that learn Ice Punch and Fire Punch by tutor in Emerald is humongous, but some notable examples include Hariyama, Aggron, and Gardevoir.
Cool
The most common setup you're going to find in Cool contests is Leer + Tackle or Scratch, the former by Manectric, Gyarados, Heracross, and Mightyena, while the latter is learned by Absol, Zangoose, and Sableye. Leer + Horn Attack has the benefit of both moves having the Cool type, but this is only learned by Heracross in Ruby and Sapphire (and Smeargle in Emerald).
Peck and Drill Peck is a great combination of two highly appealing moves for a select few Flying-types, those being Doduo, Dodrio, Natu, Xatu, and Skarmory. Unfortunately, that is the extent of the combination's distribution.
The Rage combination moves are also an option, with both Rage finishers being learned by Salamence, Sharpedo, their pre-evolutions, and Gyarados. Leer stops the crowd from getting excited, while Thrash has tremendous appeal but prevents the user from moving for a turn, making it most effective on the 5th (last) round of judging.
Cute
Mud Sport + Mud-Slap are a widely accessible and useful combination of moves, with Mud Sport having high appeal and Mud-Slap startling the Pokemon in the lead to reduce the number of hearts they earned. However, if you're after more consistency alongside Mud Sport, Water Gun and Water Sport are also highly appealing. Mud Sport combinations are good for Pokemon like Golem, Armaldo, Sceptile, Milotic, Swampert, and Whiscash.
However, if you're after even more accessibility, then the combination of Rest and Sleep Talk is for you. Note that Sleep Talk is only available as an Emerald move tutor for everything but the Exploud line, but if that's an option for you, then you should have no trouble cruising through Cute contests. Rest makes the user immune to being startled, Sleep Talk can be used repeatedly without boring the judge, and the less common Snore is simply a highly appealing move.
Smart
Smart moves are often more about jamming your rivals than scoring big hearts, which is why effective pairings are so few. However, most Psychic-types can take advantage of this combination in some form, likely Calm Mind + Psychic if nothing else, though Psychic is geared more towards removing your opponent's hearts rather than winning big yourself. Calm Mind is a very useful move to temporarily avoid being startled.
Tough
Harden + Tackle is a very safe and common strategy, first protecting the user from being startled and then earning your share of hearts with a highly appealing move. Rollout can stop the audience's reaction meter from rising, which is good for manipulating it. Take Down and Double-Edge both can score lots of hearts but make the user very susceptible to being startled, making them best to use at the very end. Harden combinations are good for Pokemon like Aggron, Claydol, and Relicanth.
The Rain Dance + Waterfall or Thunder combination works very well for most Water- or Electric-types, with Thunder being great for startling those that made appeals prior. Clamp, Crabhammer, and Weather Ball are great but limited to the Clamperl line, the Corphish line, and Castform lines, respectively.
Jam Moves
While the objective during secondary judging is to earn as many hearts as possible, sometimes it can be useful to remove some of the hearts the opposing Pokemon have earned, which is especially useful if you're going last–potentially letting your punish all competitors in one swoop–or if you predict a specific opponent will have a very successful appeal round. This is where the jam stat of contest moves comes into play, as moves with 1 ore more jam will startle their targets and cause them to lose heart(s). A list of jam moves, as well as their contest type and effects, is provided in the table below.
There are moves that make your Pokemon immune to being startled. Teleport, Light Screen, Reflect, and Protect will keep your Pokemon safe from being startled for the duration of the entire round, while Double Team, Dive, Rest, Defense Curl, Calm Mind, Counter, Detect, Mirror Coat, Endure, Harden, and Stockpile offer one-time protection. Conversely, Double-Edge, Take Down, Overheat, Psycho Boost, Superpower, and Volt Tackle will make your Pokemon more susceptible to being startled, meaning they'll lose even more hearts.
Other Moves
Of course, the list of moves we've discussed thus far is not a catch-all. One potential strategy when it comes to designing for your Pokemon's moveset is including a move that isn't the same type as the designated contest, such as a Beauty move in a Cool competition. The usefulness in this lies in your ability to manipulate the audience meter to an extent, not always being forced to raise the counter by one, which may potentially leave an untimely foe maxing out the meter. However, not all moves can be ran efficiently in all contests. The table below covers which moves will work well in which contests.
Additionally, Dragon Dance, Growth, Swords Dance, Belly Drum, Refresh, Meditate, and Swallow will all increase your Pokemon's condition, meaning they'll earn an additional heart in each subsequent appeal round, and help prevent nervousness–an effect from moves like Sing that can prevent Pokemon from appealing successfully. Explosion, Self-Destruct, Memento, and Destiny Bond are interesting moves in that they have a huge payout at a whopping base eight hearts, but the user cannot make any appeals after using them, meaning they're best saved for the last round of appeals.
While there are countless possibilities when it comes to the Pokemon you enter in a Pokemon Contest, here are a few examples of some setups that you can use to get your feet wet. Spaces marked with a "-" mean that the moveslot is flexible.
Conclusion
Pokemon Contests can definitely be hard to pick up, as getting a successful Pokemon together takes a lot of planning and preparation in advance. However, once you get the hang of it and explore different Pokemon, movesets, and difficulties, they can be quite infectious. Whether you're entering a Pokemon Contest for a specific ribbon or just playing for the fun of it, I hope you found this guide useful.
QC by: shiny finder , Lego , Max. Optimizer, Sephirona , Light Sanctity
GP by: Band, Adeleine
HTML by:
Introduction
In Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, Pokemon Contests were introduced as an alternative to directly battling opponents. All moves within the games are given a contest type, one of Beauty, Cool, Cute, Smart, or Tough, which corresponds to contest categories. Additionally, there are four ranks of Pokemon Contests: Normal, Super, Hyper, and Master. In Ruby and Sapphire, these contest halls can be found in Verdanturf Town, Fallarbor Town, Slateport City, and Lilycove City, respectively. In Pokemon Emerald, all four contest ranks are located in the contest hall in Lilycove City. You must start with a Normal rank contest.
Pokemon Contests consist of two phases, those being primary judging and secondary judging. Your Pokemon will be matched up against three NPCs' Pokemon and will compete for the first place ribbon. While doing well in the first phase will give you a lot more leeway during the second phase, the second phase becomes more important as your rise through the contest ranks. How well your Pokemon performs in each phase can make or break your chances of winning, so it's important to do as best as you can in the two phases. Ribbons exist for all 5 contest types and all 4 ranks, for a grand total of 20 possible ribbons earned.
A few notes before we get started: this guide will assume you have access to the entire map of the Hoenn region, though beating the Champion is not necessary. Additionally, this guide will assume that you are only playing a single cartridge of the games, so Pokemon exclusively from Fire Red, Leaf Green, Colosseum, and XD will not be mentioned, nor will any Pokemon that are only obtainable by trading, such as Alakazam and Kingdra.
Primary Judging
Condition and Sheen
Primary Judging consists of your Pokemon being judged by the audience on two factors: primarily its condition, but also its sheen. You can improve your Pokemon's condition by feeding it PokeBlocks of the corresponding type/color. Each condition type maxes out at 255; however, while it is theoretically possible to max each condition in preparation for the contests, Pokemon cannot be fed any more Pokeblocks once it reaches max sheen.
PokeBlocks can be created with NPCs in the foyer of any contest hall or with an additional player via a Link Cable. The types of Berries you should use to make your PokeBlocks depend on which contest you're preparing for, which can be seen in the following table. You can check the color and flavor of a given Berry by viewing its tag in the Bag.
| Contest Type | Berry Color | Berry Flavor |
|---|---|---|
| Beauty | Blue | Dry |
| Cool | Red | Spicy |
| Cute | Pink | Sweet |
| Smart | Green | Bitter |
| Tough | Yellow | Sour |
Additionally, natures have an effect on the growth rate of a Pokemon's contest condition, analogous to their effects on stats. A list of the positive and negative growth rates can be seen in the following table. Neutral natures do not speed up or slow down the growth rate of any contest condition, so they won't be mentioned.
| Nature | Positive Condition | Negative Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Lonely | Cool | Tough |
| Brave | Cool | Cute |
| Adamant | Cool | Beauty |
| Naughty | Cool | Smart |
| Bold | Tough | Cool |
| Impish | Tough | Beauty |
| Relaxed | Tough | Cute |
| Lax | Tough | Smart |
| Timid | Cute | Cool |
| Hasty | Cute | Tough |
| Jolly | Cute | Beauty |
| Naive | Cute | Smart |
| Modest | Beauty | Cool |
| Mild | Beauty | Tough |
| Rash | Beauty | Smart |
| Quiet | Beauty | Cute |
| Calm | Smart | Cool |
| Gentle | Smart | Tough |
| Careful | Smart | Beauty |
| Sassy | Smart | Smart |
While the Pokemon's primary condition is the main factor when scoring Primary Judging, secondary conditions and sheen also influence the score. A list of secondary conditions can be found in the following table. Sheen is a value that ranges from 0 to 255, and it is entirely dependent on the PokeBlocks that Pokemon has eaten, equivalent to the cumulative sum of the PokeBlocks' feel. A Pokemon cannot be fed more PokeBlocks once it has a 255 sheen stat, meaning it's best to feed a Pokemon PokeBlocks with a high level and low feel if you plan on entering it in multiple contest categories to get as many ribbons as possible. Sheen is also permanent, so be mindful when it comes to finding your Pokemon the appropriate PokeBlocks!
| Contest Type | Primary Condition | Secondary Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Beauty | Beauty | Cool, Cute |
| Cool | Cool | Beauty, Tough |
| Cute | Cute | Beauty, Smart |
| Smart | Smart | Cute, Tough |
| Tough | Tough | Cool, Smart |
A Pokemon's condition and sheen can be checked in the PokeNav. Condition is shown in the radar chart with the 5 contest types (with the level corresponding to how far that branch extends), whereas sheen can be measured by the amount of stars that appear on your Pokemon's sprite, with 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest possible sheen.
The player can also give their Pokemon colored scarves to boost their scores in the primary judging phase. To get these, show the Pokemon Fan Club President a Pokemon with at least a 200 value in the condition corresponding to the scarf (refer to the first table's Berry colors to see what color goes with what type of condition). They are obtainable in all of Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald.
The Berry Master and His Wife
On Route 123, the player can talk to the Berry Master daily to get two random Berries for free. The player can also talk to the Berry Master's Wife using special phrases to unlock rare Berries, which are especially useful for making PokeBlocks. If you have access to the Emerald cloning glitch, it is very helpful, allowing you to get multiple copies of these Berries with ease. Some of the keywords in these phrases can only be unlocked after certain in-game events have occurred.
| Berry | Berry Color | Phrase | How to Unlock |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spelon Berry | Purple (+3 Red / Cool, +1 Blue / Beauty) | GREAT BATTLE | No prerequisite |
| Pamtre Berry | Indigo (+3 Blue / Beauty, +1 Pink / Cute) | CHALLENGE CONTEST | Enter the Hall of Fame |
| Watmel Berry | Gold (+3 Pink/ Cute, +1 Green / Smart) | OVERWHELMING LATIAS | Encounter Latias |
| Durin Berry | LiteBlue (+3 Green / Smart, +1 Yellow / Tough) | COOL LATIOS | Encounter Latios |
| Belue Berry | Olive (+3 Yellow / Tough, +1 Red / Cool) | SUPER HUSTLE | Enter the Hall of Fame |
Blend Master
Only in Pokemon Emerald, after beating the Champion, the Blend Master will occasionally appear at the Lilycove Contest Hall. He uses very high quality Berries and blends at a high RPM (displayed during the blending process), which results in efficient, high-quality PokeBlocks, a great help for increasing a Pokemon's condition. His presence will be announced on TV, making it easier to know when he's arrived.
Secondary Judging
Basic Strategy
***************************************************
In Secondary Judging, your Pokemon and its three competitors make an appeals to the audience and judge by using particular moves for five turns, making up the bulk of the competition. Pokemon earn hearts to fill their heart meter in this stage, with said meter ranging from 0 to 16 hearts. These hearts are used for scoring. The audience also has their own meter, which goes up to 5 points and increases by 1 when a Pokemon's move shares its contest type with the given Contest; when a Pokemon maxes out the audience's meter, it will gain an additional 5 hearts instead of just 1.
In addition to their specific contest typing, moves in Pokemon Contests also have two stat categories: appeal and jam. The appeal stat is how many hearts the Pokemon earns directly from judging, while the jam stat is how many hearts a move can remove from the Pokemon that appealed before it. For example, Bubble, which has an appeal of 2 and a jam of 2, would cause the user to earn 2 hearts, as well as removing 2 hearts from any Pokemon that went before it in that round. An important note: moves should not be repeated unless their description says they can repeat without tiring the audience, as doing so otherwise will cause your Pokemon to lose 2 hearts.
With all that being said, there is a very simple goal for secondary judging: getting as many hearts as possible while minimizing the hearts your foes earn. This is much easier said than done, however, as it requires well-thought-out planning and a little bit of luck. The easiest way to plan in advance is to include specific move combinations in your Pokemon's moveset, as they maximize the possibility of scoring a lot of hearts from the judge. We'll be going down the list of all 5 categories and covering some easy-to-use combinations to teach your Pokemon.
Move Combinations and Moveset Strategy
***************************************************
Certain moves form combinations when used in Pokemon Contests. Effectively, a combination move used on turn 1 will double the hearts earned by its pair move the next turn. The exception to this is if the Pokemon is startled by Flash in between these turns, which resets the combination. Some good examples of useful and accessible combinations will be listed, by category, in the tables below. Do note that moves marked with an asterisk (*) are not the same type as the designated contest type; therefore, they won't raise the audience meter. Also, both moves need to be explicitly used by your Pokemon. For example, a foe's Torkoal using Sunny Day does not mean your Blaziken will get a combination bonus for using Blaze Kick in the same round of appeals. Your Blaziken would have to use both moves itself in succession to get the combination bonus.
Beauty
| Base Move | Useful Follow-Up Moves |
|---|---|
| Sunny Day | Blaze Kick, Ember, Fire Blast, Fire Punch, Flame Wheel, Flamethrower, Heat Wave, Sacred Fire, Overheat |
| Hail | Blizzard, Haze, Ice Ball, Powder Snow |
| Ice Punch | Fire Punch |
As shown by the table, Sunny Day lends itself to a whole host of "highly appealing" move combinations. Since all these follow-up moves have at least 4 appeal, they can score at least a whopping eight hearts plus raise the audience reaction meter. Sunny Day itself isn't even a bad base move, as it can score big points in the later rounds if the timing allows it to greet an excited audience. Overheat is the standout option, as it can score six hearts by itself, giving it the highest possible point yield when paired with Sunny Day, though the user must be careful to avoid getting startled by its fellow competitors.
The great thing about Sunny Day combination is that a variety of Pokemon that can make use of them thanks to the wide distribution of Sunny Day, Fire Blast, Fire Punch, and Flamethrower. This list includes Fire-types like Blaziken, Torkoal, and Camerupt, as well as non-Fire-types such as Salamence and Flygon.
Hail combinations have a similar setup to Sunny Day ones, albeit with a slightly narrower distribution. Blizzard and Powder Snow are the highly appealing moves that offer general consistency, while Haze worsens the condition of all Pokemon that went before the user–negating a boost from moves such as Dragon Dance –and Ice Ball can momentarily stop the audience's meter from rising.
A nice benefit to the Hail setup is that, unlike Sunny Day, there are Pokemon available in Hoenn that learn Hail and at least one pair move by level, including Castform, Glalie, and Walrein. The gift Castform from the Weather Institute comes knowing both Hail and Powder Snow, for instance, making it available for contest use as soon as you acquire it.
The Ice Punch and Fire Punch combination is one that Pokemon can take advantage of in Emerald due to its move tutors (though Medicham is available in Ruby and Sapphire and can legally learn both attacks). The two moves are both highly appealing, making them very safe to use with little risk involved. Of course, the overlap of Pokemon that learn Ice Punch and Fire Punch by tutor in Emerald is humongous, but some notable examples include Hariyama, Aggron, and Gardevoir.
Cool
| Base Move | Useful Follow-Up Moves |
|---|---|
| Leer | Horn Attack, Tackle*, Scratch* |
| Peck | Drill Peck |
| Rage | Leer, Thrash* |
The most common setup you're going to find in Cool contests is Leer + Tackle or Scratch, the former by Manectric, Gyarados, Heracross, and Mightyena, while the latter is learned by Absol, Zangoose, and Sableye. Leer + Horn Attack has the benefit of both moves having the Cool type, but this is only learned by Heracross in Ruby and Sapphire (and Smeargle in Emerald).
Peck and Drill Peck is a great combination of two highly appealing moves for a select few Flying-types, those being Doduo, Dodrio, Natu, Xatu, and Skarmory. Unfortunately, that is the extent of the combination's distribution.
The Rage combination moves are also an option, with both Rage finishers being learned by Salamence, Sharpedo, their pre-evolutions, and Gyarados. Leer stops the crowd from getting excited, while Thrash has tremendous appeal but prevents the user from moving for a turn, making it most effective on the 5th (last) round of judging.
Cute
| Base Move | Useful Follow-Up Moves |
|---|---|
| Mud Sport | Mud-Slap, Water Sport, Water Gun |
| Rest | Sleep Talk, Snore |
Mud Sport + Mud-Slap are a widely accessible and useful combination of moves, with Mud Sport having high appeal and Mud-Slap startling the Pokemon in the lead to reduce the number of hearts they earned. However, if you're after more consistency alongside Mud Sport, Water Gun and Water Sport are also highly appealing. Mud Sport combinations are good for Pokemon like Golem, Armaldo, Sceptile, Milotic, Swampert, and Whiscash.
However, if you're after even more accessibility, then the combination of Rest and Sleep Talk is for you. Note that Sleep Talk is only available as an Emerald move tutor for everything but the Exploud line, but if that's an option for you, then you should have no trouble cruising through Cute contests. Rest makes the user immune to being startled, Sleep Talk can be used repeatedly without boring the judge, and the less common Snore is simply a highly appealing move.
Smart
| Base Move | Useful Follow-Up Moves |
|---|---|
| Calm Mind | Confusion, Dream Eater, Future Sight, Psychic |
Smart moves are often more about jamming your rivals than scoring big hearts, which is why effective pairings are so few. However, most Psychic-types can take advantage of this combination in some form, likely Calm Mind + Psychic if nothing else, though Psychic is geared more towards removing your opponent's hearts rather than winning big yourself. Calm Mind is a very useful move to temporarily avoid being startled.
Tough
| Base Move | Useful Follow-Up Moves |
|---|---|
| Harden | Double-Edge, Rollout, Tackle, Take Down |
| Rain Dance | Clamp, Crabhammer, Thunder, Waterfall, Weather Ball |
Harden + Tackle is a very safe and common strategy, first protecting the user from being startled and then earning your share of hearts with a highly appealing move. Rollout can stop the audience's reaction meter from rising, which is good for manipulating it. Take Down and Double-Edge both can score lots of hearts but make the user very susceptible to being startled, making them best to use at the very end. Harden combinations are good for Pokemon like Aggron, Claydol, and Relicanth.
The Rain Dance + Waterfall or Thunder combination works very well for most Water- or Electric-types, with Thunder being great for startling those that made appeals prior. Clamp, Crabhammer, and Weather Ball are great but limited to the Clamperl line, the Corphish line, and Castform lines, respectively.
Jam Moves
While the objective during secondary judging is to earn as many hearts as possible, sometimes it can be useful to remove some of the hearts the opposing Pokemon have earned, which is especially useful if you're going last–potentially letting your punish all competitors in one swoop–or if you predict a specific opponent will have a very successful appeal round. This is where the jam stat of contest moves comes into play, as moves with 1 ore more jam will startle their targets and cause them to lose heart(s). A list of jam moves, as well as their contest type and effects, is provided in the table below.
| Move(s) | Contest Type | Jam | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Petal Dance, Blast Burn, Hydro Cannon | Beauty | 4 | Jams the others, and misses one turn of appeals. |
| Hail, Icy Wind, Bubblebeam, Lovely Kiss, Spore | Beauty | 3 | Badly startles those that have made appeals. |
| Aurora Beam, Ice Beam, Icicle Spear | Beauty | 1 | Startles Pokemon that made a same contest type appeal. |
| Sheer Cold, Perish Song | Beauty | 1 | Badly startles all Pokemon that made good appeals. |
| Will-O-Wisp | Beauty | 4 | Badly startles the Pokemon in front. |
| Tri Attack | Beauty | 2 | Startles all Pokemon that have done their appeals. |
| Cotton Spore | Beauty | 1 | Startles the Pokemon that has the Judge's attention. |
| Air Cutter, Dragon Claw, Sky Uppercut | Cool | 1 | Startles Pokemon that made a same-type appeal. |
| Brick Break, Crush Claw, Dizzy Punch, Extrasensory, Hyper Fang, Iron Tail, Spark | Cool | 4 | Badly startles the Pokemon in front. |
| Bullet Seed, Cut, Guillotine, Horn Drill, Stun Spore, Thunder Wave | Cool | 1 | Badly startles all Pokemon that made good appeals. |
| DragonBreath, False Swipe, Rolling Kick | Cool | 3 | Badly startles those that have made appeals. |
| DynamicPunch, Fury Attack, Spike Cannon, Pin Missile | Cool | 1 | Startles the Pokemon that has the Judge's attention. |
| Focus Energy | Cool | 3 | Badly startles those that have made appeals earlier in the same turn. |
| Frenzy Plant, Hyper Beam, Outrage | Cool | 4 | Jams the others, and misses one turn of appeals. |
| Thunder | Cool | 2 | Startles all Pokemon that have done their appeals. |
| Twineedle | Cool | 3 | Startles the Pokemon that appealed before the user. |
| Bubble | Cute | 2 | Startles all Pokemon that have done their appeals. |
| Charm, Fake Out | Cute | 1 | Startles Pokemon that made a same-type appeal. |
| Mud Shot, Sweet Scent | Cute | 3 | Badly startles those that have made appeals. |
| Sand-Attack | Cute | 1 | Startles the Pokemon that has the Judge's attention. |
| Teeter Dance | Cute | 4 | Jams the others, and misses one turn of appeals. |
| Absorb, Astonish, Confusion, Leech Life, Luster Purge, Poison Sting, SmellingSalt, String Shot | Smart | 3 | Startles the Pokemon that appealed before the user. |
| Acid, Knock Off, Mega Drain, Mist Ball, Needle Arm, Pain Split | Smart | 4 | Badly startles the Pokemon in front. |
| Beat Up, Psywave, Pursuit, Snatch | Smart | 1 | Badly startles all Pokemon that made good appeals. |
| Dream Eater, Leech Seed | Smart | 2 | Startles all Pokemon that have done their appeals. |
| Giga Drain | Smart | 1 | Startles the Pokemon that has the Judge's attention. |
| GrassWhistle, Hypnosis, Metal Sound, Nightmare, Psychic, Screech, Sleep Powder | Smart | 3 | Badly startles those that have made appeals. |
| Night Shade, Recover | Smart | 1 | Startles Pokemon that made a same contest type appeal. |
| Arm Thrust, Bone Club, DoubleSlap, Fury Swipes, Scary Face, Muddy Water, Octazooka, Sludge Bomb | Tough | 1 | Startles the Pokemon that has the Judge's attention. |
| Bite, Smog | Tough | 3 | Badly startles those that have made appeals. |
| Body Slam, Crunch, Lick, Low Kick, Skull Bash, Sludge, Stomp | Tough | 4 | Badly startles the Pokemon in front. |
| Constrict, Headbutt | Tough | 3 | Startles the Pokemon that appealed before the user. |
| Earthquake, Glare, Rock Slide | Tough | 3 | Badly startles those that have made appeals. |
| Fissure, Super Fang | Tough | 1 | Badly startles all Pokemon that made good appeals. |
| Seismic Toss, Slam, Strength | Tough | 1 | Startles Pokemon that made a same-type appeal. |
| Thrash | Tough | 4 | Jams the others, and misses one turn of appeals. |
There are moves that make your Pokemon immune to being startled. Teleport, Light Screen, Reflect, and Protect will keep your Pokemon safe from being startled for the duration of the entire round, while Double Team, Dive, Rest, Defense Curl, Calm Mind, Counter, Detect, Mirror Coat, Endure, Harden, and Stockpile offer one-time protection. Conversely, Double-Edge, Take Down, Overheat, Psycho Boost, Superpower, and Volt Tackle will make your Pokemon more susceptible to being startled, meaning they'll lose even more hearts.
Other Moves
Of course, the list of moves we've discussed thus far is not a catch-all. One potential strategy when it comes to designing for your Pokemon's moveset is including a move that isn't the same type as the designated contest, such as a Beauty move in a Cool competition. The usefulness in this lies in your ability to manipulate the audience meter to an extent, not always being forced to raise the counter by one, which may potentially leave an untimely foe maxing out the meter. However, not all moves can be ran efficiently in all contests. The table below covers which moves will work well in which contests.
| Contest Type | Primary Type (+1 Heart) | Secondary Type (+-0 Hearts) | Negative Type (-1 Heart) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beauty | Beauty | Cool, Cute | Smart, Tough |
| Cool | Cool | Beauty, Tough | Cute, Smart |
| Cute | Cute | Beauty, Smart | Cool, Tough |
| Smart | Smart | Cute, Tough | Beauty, Cool |
| Tough | Tough | Cool, Smart | Beauty, Cute |
Additionally, Dragon Dance, Growth, Swords Dance, Belly Drum, Refresh, Meditate, and Swallow will all increase your Pokemon's condition, meaning they'll earn an additional heart in each subsequent appeal round, and help prevent nervousness–an effect from moves like Sing that can prevent Pokemon from appealing successfully. Explosion, Self-Destruct, Memento, and Destiny Bond are interesting moves in that they have a huge payout at a whopping base eight hearts, but the user cannot make any appeals after using them, meaning they're best saved for the last round of appeals.
While there are countless possibilities when it comes to the Pokemon you enter in a Pokemon Contest, here are a few examples of some setups that you can use to get your feet wet. Spaces marked with a "-" mean that the moveslot is flexible.
| Pokemon | Sprite | Contest Type | Move 1 | Move 2 | Move 3 | Move 4 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smeargle |  | Any | Any | Any | Any | Any | As Smeargle can learn any move via Sketch, it's naturally the optimal pick for Pokemon Contests. |
| Torkoal |  | Beauty | Sunny Day | Flamethrower | Overheat | - | Use Sunny Day + Flamethrower for appeals 1-4 almost always, and use Overheat to score big hearts on appeal 5. |
| Dodrio |  | Cool | Peck | Drill Peck | Rage | - | Peck + Drill Peck is for a simple combination of highly appealing moves. Rage can be used repeatedly without boring the judge. |
| Barboach |  | Cute | Mud Sport | Water Gun | Water Sport | Mud-Slap | Barboach can get by on Mud Sport + Water Sport or Water Gun. Primarily use Mud-Slap if startling foes is needed, but it does pair with Mud Sport as well. |
| Gardevoir |  | Smart | Calm Mind | Future Sight | Confusion | - | The Smart category has no highly appealing moves, but Calm Mind is nice to avoid startling. Future Sight brings in the most hearts and is useful for controlling the audience. |
| Aggron |  | Tough | Harden | Tackle | Double-Edge | - | Harden + Tackle is a simple combination that can be used throughout appeals 1-4. Use Double-Edge to grab 6 base hearts on appeal 5. |
Conclusion
Pokemon Contests can definitely be hard to pick up, as getting a successful Pokemon together takes a lot of planning and preparation in advance. However, once you get the hang of it and explore different Pokemon, movesets, and difficulties, they can be quite infectious. Whether you're entering a Pokemon Contest for a specific ribbon or just playing for the fun of it, I hope you found this guide useful.
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Everything else looks awesome, good work :)
