tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26336904114316197142024-02-20T02:02:38.521-08:00In Dragon's ShoesThe Dragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03273917873531063392noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2633690411431619714.post-45847606278614727502012-05-15T20:57:00.000-07:002012-05-18T19:35:36.202-07:00A Look at Pokemon: Generation 5<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Intro</span><br />
So yeah after what Generation 4 gave us could Generation 5 go beyond to be even better than before? Well not really, that isn't to say that the game is bad, but there are some things they took out that I would have really wanted to see continue in the games. But with what they have now I do hope for the best in future games where they bring the good elements of the Gen 5 games with the good elements they scrapped in Gen 5. As of now it plateaus on the scale, it's isn't too bad but at the same time it isn't as good either. Let's see what they did correctly and what should return permanently to the series.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Graphics</span><br />
A lot of time went into the overworld graphics. And those graphics look sweet. Plus I never felt that the sprites used were ever out of place in this world. Now there are many old Pokemon that have Gen 4 sprites being used here, but all Pokemon are in motion now so even the old sprites there are given some motion detail. Not only in motion throughout the whole battle but back sprites are full bodied and not just a part of their back.<br />
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If there is any complaint I have is one thing.... the hexagons. They're everywhere! Look that the map for the Unova region, it has a hexagon right on it! The C-Gear even has hexagons everywhere! It's a little much for me to see this shape be repeated for no reason.</div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Plot</span><br />
This time you are a trainer in the Unova region. Personally I like to pronounce the region as "You"-"Nova", I know that isn't how they call it that in the anime or the like but I think it just works better my way... I mean you're saying Nova that is always cool. Back on track the player this time is a bit older than the 10 year-olds that go on their journey. If I had to guess you are in your teens this time. Well spending a day with your childhood friends Cheren and Bianca, you get a gift from Professor Juniper, the first female Pokemon professor in the games, the regions three starters. So together with you and your friends you start your Pokemon quest together as you become rivals to get all 8 badges to become the Champion.<br />
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And sorry but I have to do this.... IN AMERICA! Yes Unova is based in the USA, or to be more exact New York City. A major location change since the last generations have been based in Japan. Even before it was revealed that it was New York I guessed it and I was right.<br />
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Like in Johto, Unova has a history to it but different and refreshing. The best part is that humans are involved. I don't mean groups of humans, but two brothers using a single dragon Pokemon brought peace to the land. Then they began to fight and the dragon having difficulty deciding which side to take split into two Pokemon, Zekrom and Reshiram, with each one siding with a brother they thought was right. Like the legendary beast trio of Johto I find it interesting with unknown Pokemon somehow becoming new Pokemon while their previous life is left unknown to the world. While the brothers don't have names it is interesting to see that there are individuals that have made their mark in Pokemon history.<br />
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The evil team this time is Team Plasma and they are my favorite of all the games villains. They have a mid-evil knight look to them and follow one king. This almost makes them look like a religious order more than anything. They bring up the ethical debate of if people are using Pokemon for their own ends and enslaving Pokemon. Some might call them hypocrites as they battle with and steal Pokemon, but for me I would defend that, to them it might be more of a necessary evil in order to free Pokemon. The king of Team Plasma, N, is a young man about your age and follows those beliefs strongly compared to the others, seeming to let Pokemon go after every battle you have with him. At N's Castle there is a grunt in a room trying to free their Patrat but it honestly doesn't want to leave them. Of course there are those in Team Plasma who are only using that kind nature for much darker means. The 7 sages, lead by N's father Ghetsis, are out to be the only ones in Unova that have Pokemon so that can.... that's right take over the world! OF COURSE! This falls to what Team Rocket was trying to do... but sadly Ghetsis has Giovanni beat, where Team Rocket just wants the world, Team Plasma as a plan to make it possible. Ghetsis raised N to be a pure boy by bringing Pokemon that have been abused by humans so that N can gain favor of one of the two legendary dragons of Unova. And with that heart and power people would give up their Pokemon so the sages can enslave the rest of the region with their own Pokemon. What makes Team Plasma more hardcore is that they are the final bosses of the game. When it came to the handheld games the evil team always loses before you face the Champion but here N beats the Champion having to fight N as the new Champion... kind of. After beating N, Ghetsis shows the truly evil mad man he is. He rants on how his own son is a failure and has the balls to face you. So yeah he doesn't give a rat's ass about his son (a sage suggests they might not be related but look at them, plus it would make it all the more meaningful in his evil if N is his son), and challenges you even though you beat the powerful dragon N had AND most likely have the other dragon of legend ready to kick ass. I mean he witnessed this, how can he not know about it, so that makes him the most badass villain of the games. Plus the best plan out of everyone, with no one with Pokemon who can stop him honestly?<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Gameplay</span><br />
Like I said the series plateaus from here. And it's because of the gameplay. They have taken out things that people might have wanted here, but added a few things that kept it from falling.<br />
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First thing to note, no Vs. Seeker. I fangasmed about this enough before, and for those who don't know, look at my "A Look at Pokemon: Gen 3" Blog. So yeah best item the series had that allowed you to rebattle any trainer at just about any time. Now there are Daily Battles in limited areas so you don't have to battle just the last 5 trainers over and over again like in Gen 1. Really though no game should be without the Seeker or a device of equal or better quality, but we don't get that here.
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For this generation there is nothing but all new Pokemon, until you beat Team Plasma. This is what was something no game after the first games did. In all games there was always some Pokemon from previous generations walking around in a new region. But this game doesn't give us that. This is straight new Pokemon found in Unova, and not giving us any familiar faces. One of the odd things to note is that Pikachu can be spotted in the game from billboards, to bushes, a balloon, and even one that a trainer has walking around. Really odd when Pikachu can't even be caught post game.<br />
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Triple Battle is the newest form of battle. Considering that in odd number generations the amount of Pokemon used in battles goes up I would guess by the 11th generation we'll get a full 6 vs 6 battle. Anyways triple battles are not only about adding one more Pokemon to the field, but also has the player focus on placement. Pokemon can be in the left, right, or middle, and those placements have an effect on the moves used. Take for example the move Earthquake, if the Pokemon using it is in the middle of the field then the attack will hit the 5 other Pokemon on the field. However if the Pokemon is to the left (or right) side then Earthquake will not hit the Pokemon placed on the right (or left) side. There are moves that target a Pokemon regardless of placement on the field, this includes most flying type moves (the only one that doesn't work here is Air Cutter) and moves with Pulse in their name (this includes Aura Sphere as its Japanese name has Pulse in it). The only problem is that this new kind of battle isn't used much in the game, not even the Battle Subway makes use of it only having up to double battles. The only way to go about triple battles is to fight multiplayer mode.<br />
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Rotation Battle is a mix of Triple and Single, if that makes any sense. You can call three Pokemon to the field but only one will be active. So here one will attack and take damage while the others wait. Rotating Pokemon isn't like switching as you which Pokemon will be in front and what move they will use, so nothing that works on switching will work on rotating, also rotating doesn't take away a turn. You see what Pokemon your opponent is using but you don't know which one they'll use for an attack. Another fun and refreshing style but battle but like triple battles it isn't used much and only can fully use it in multiplayer mode. What's sad about them is that double battles when they were done in the generation 3 games they were used a fair amount of times even were the Gym Leaders used double battles.<br />
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In multiplayer battles generation 5 gave us the Wonder Launcher. A new device that allows players to use items in battles against other people, but it doesn't work the same way as using items from the item bag. In battle the trainers can score points that go to using items the Launcher has with items costing 1 point to up to 14 points. A great way to add more of a challenge to all battles in multiplayer.<br />
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C-Gear is the newest device of the games taking the space on the bottom screen. The main menu is also in the bottom screen but the X button has to be pressed to use it. The C-Gear is used mostly for connecting to other people or the internet, with three sections, Infrared, Online, and Wireless. Infrared can allow the player to trade and battle with nearby people without having to go to the Pokemon Center. Players can also exchange friend codes this way too, and with a Feeling Check players can get Sweet Hearts from it. Online has Game Sync that puts Pokemon to sleep to send them in the Dream World which will be explained in the Global Link section. Wireless has two, Xtransceiver and Entralink. With DSs that have a camera players can talk and view each other with the Xtransceiver. As for the Entralink... we'll get to that.<br />
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Being based on New York City, Entralink is based on Central Park and looks like a pokeball. This place allows one to connect to another players game if they within the hexagon shape of the region. And by traveling to other people's game players can complete missions to unlock power-ups in their game. It is through Entralink that players can go to the Black City or White Forest of another game. And if that game is the opposite version of the one your using you can invite NPCs from their game to yours (like inviting NPCs from Black City to White Forest). At the northern end of Entralink is Entree Forest where Pokemon from the Dream world can be obtained. In Entree Forest trainers are given a special pokeball to use in case they don't have any, also all pokeballs have a 100% catch rate in Entree Forest. Pokemon appearing in the Entree Forest us the sprites used for following trainers from Heart Gold and Soul Silver. As pointless it was following you around was neat and you only needed to make them for the new Pokemon only.<br />
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The Battle Subway, move over Children Card Games on Motorcycles a new champion has appeared! Seriously you battle Pokemon with many destructive attacks on a MOVING subway train. I can't possibly imagine all the things that go terribly wrong here. On topic the Battle Subway is a replacement for the Battle Tower, while I do like the subway for it's insane design I think the Tower is much safer. So as replacing the Battle Tower it using all the same battle styles with facing 7 trainers in a row and getting points in return. Like noted before it doesn't use the new Triple and Rotation battles so kind of a missed chance by the developers. And no Battle Frontier, the Subway is it, this is just me talking but I think they could have the Subway as a start then have a train that goes to the Frontier in post game.<br />
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PokeTransfer............ *facepalm* While being able to connect to the last generation is fine and all but really? Can we stop with this "sending to new game and never returning" garage? I would think that Gen 4 could get away with it because it was two different systems and making a trade thing might have been hard to pull off, but both the Gen 4 and Gen 5 games are DS games. You're telling me you can't do what they did with Gen 2 connecting to Gen 1? Those were Gameboy game systems, the same thing. This is really the biggest disappointment to me beating out my disappointment of the lack of a Vs Seeker, but not by much. How PokeTransfer works is that you link up two DSs to send Pokemon from Gen 4 to Gen 5. Like before there is no HM moves that can be on a Pokemon. This rules makes me rage since I can't send my Surfing and Flying Pikachus, even though I would do it in a heartbeat if they didn't have that rule. A new rule in sending Pokemon over is that they can't hold items...... Really this needs so many facepalms. I believe this rule was set since of a change in TMs (which will be explained later), but really couldn't they have fixed that so that Pokemon wouldn't be holding TMs so that other items can go through, it really isn't that hard of an idea to come up with. Well unlike Pal Park where 6 Pokemon are sent in one day and all 6 have to be obtained, the PokeTransfer allows 6 at a time but you can catch which ones you want and leave the ones not obtained in the Gen 4 game. The goal of this one is to fire a pokeball at the Pokemon icon to catch them as they play hide and seek, again I did like Pal Park better with the goal of finding and catching Pokemon to get a prize at the end despite it's flaws. I do hope future games will stop this trend and do things right cause it's just getting worse and worse.<br />
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The main thing in versions that existed that made them different was that you can't catch all Pokemon in one game without trade, and Ruby and Sapphire had different teams to fight. In the Gen 5 games locations have their differences mostly in one area that is either Black City or White Forest. In Pokemon Black players can go to Black City with trainers to battle and rare items to buy. With Pokemon White, White Forest takes the place where Black City would be, and instead of battling trainers they are just there to talk and you can find level 5 Pokemon there and rare items can be found on the ground daily. Pokemon battled/found are in connection with the trainers, like a trainer named Jacques who battles with Nidoqueen in Black City but in White Forest allows you to get wild Nidoran (F). And not just Pokemon but items too have a connection for example Grace who would allow the Dawn Stone to be sold in Black City for found in White Forest. Not that not all items would be the same for both locations but it will be the same for evolution stones.<br />
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In the generation 5 games several places have been removed or changed. One would be the PokeMart, where the building itself has been removed but now shopping happens in the Pokemon Center. It's convenient but I liked going to a PokeMart and having a shop environment, here there isn't one. There is a big shopping building like in every game but here it's just not as impressive as it usually is. A big difference is the lack of a Game Corner that existed throughout all the games before, I think this has to do with the issues of gambling but really I never had problems myself. Another lose is the Safari Zone Yes, no area to be lucky and catch rare Pokemon. The lack of a Safari Zone doesn't bother me, since well... after losing a shiny in Heart Gold, I can't imagine anyone caring about it anymore.<br />
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Pokemon Musical is what has replaced the Pokemon Contests and the Pokeathlon, and I got to say missed opportunity here. The Musical has dressing up Pokemon and dancing like in the Super Contests but with no appeals round to add to the challenge. Sad that this could easily fit in there to give us a better contest but no. Plus there is nothing to be won from this, the game doesn't have ribbons, sure you can view them from Pokemon you have but they are either from past games or an event Pokemon. At best after the show fans might give you items for dressing up your Pokemon for the next one but that's it. There isn't even any big prizes to get like in the Pokeathlon. Maybe if there was something to gain for all this the Pokemon Musical would be a beloved mini-game like event like the Pokemon Contests and Pokeathlon but with no pay off it just isn't worth it unless your are really bored and want a slight change in pace.<br />
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So what did they do right and improve on from the last generation? One word, Trade. Battle may be a large part of the series but the ability to trade has always been just as large a part that people don't think as much. That's right, trading has been so complex before, like having a cable (Gen 1-3), always being in the Pokemon Center, and always having the traded Pokemon in your party. But now with the use of the C Gear (explained above) you can trade without a Center for those near by, and you can trade Pokemon from your boxes now too. Noted before like the PokeMart the GTS has become part of the Center which I kind of miss. But there GTS had an upgrade from before. Overall it's still flawed with how it works but there is now GTS Negotiation where you can trade with anyone anywhere and for the right price get the Pokemon you want without needing it on your Pokedex.<br />
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Again I must bring up the TMs. Last time it was how the gen 3 TMs made it to gen 4 but things are different. TMs now work almost like HMs, just without needing a Move Deletor to get rid of the move if you don't want that move. Yes, TMs are now unlimited usage, but because of this some ground rules have been set up. Back in the day TMs would fill your PP when the PP of one move was low so you get a new move that is full right away, so now that you can use them as much as you want in order to avoid cheating to get PP full all the time usage remains the same. If you have 5 PP left on a move and use a TM which the move has more the PP count will still be at 5. It's a good thing and this is a small price to pay.</div>
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The Relocator is a special device to transfer only 4 Pokemon over from the Gen 4 games much earlier than if you went to the PokeTransfer that happens after you beat the game. These Pokemon are the event Celebi and shiny Johto beast trio from the last events of the Gen 4 games. And only by the use of the Relocator can they be used to unlock events in Black and White. If you got them by PokeTransfer it will not work. There was also a locked device that could be transferred but it was never released.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Pokemon</span><br />
This generation has been the boldest when it came to new Pokemon, with 156 new ones with no connection to any Pokemon from previous generations. Also I wasn't sure about this generation originally because they made a God Pokemon in generation 4 so were could they go from there? Well they didn't seem to focus on the point that they made the creator of everything and had fun with it, and it didn't disappoint. The starters are good, though it is rough for Tepig who evolves into the 3rd Fire/Fighting type starter. It just barely slides since it has points that make it different from the last Fire/Fighting starters but come on.... there are other types you could make it.<br />
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Some of the new Pokemon have been made to mirror some of the first generation Pokemon like how the Pidove family is like the Pidgy family, the Roggenrola family is like the Geodude family, the Woobat family is like the Zubat family, the Timburr family is like the Machop family, Throh and Sawk is like Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan, or the Bouffalant family is like the Tauros family. While these are easy parallels to spot their designs are their own and not some cheap rip-off of the generation 1 cousins.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Global Link</span><br />
Considering the scale of Global Link this gets it's own section. If you have a computer hooked up to the internet and a DS that can go Wi-Fi (with a generation 5 game of course) then you have the possibilities that this has to offer. The Global Link is part of Pokemon.com and you need an account, and it's free to so no need to worry there. There are four main points of the Global Link, Promotions, Global Battle Union, the Dream World, and Customization.<br />
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Promotions are pretty much events for the most part. They allow you to get special Pokemon you can't get anywhere else. Some promotions not only include Pokemon but also stuff for the Dream world and stuff for the Customization section. Promotions have a time limit and you need a password in order to unlock it. And if you have trouble with a promotion then don't be shy to ask the tech workers by asking questions on Pokemon.com. I had trouble with a Promotion once and they were able to fit it right up for me.<br />
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The Battle Union section of the Global Link is a way to check stats of other trainers and your own stats as a trainer on online multiplayer battles. Aside from that it also allows you to sign up for any Global Link battle tournaments that will happen soon.<br />
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The Dream World is by far the most important thing the Global Link has to offer. Now you can put only one Pokemon to sleep once a day and you have only one hour to play. Now this is reasonable especially after what happened then the Dream World first launched in Japan, it's because of a massive amount of people going in the Dream World that they had to control it by having hour time limits. The world takes place on a floating island with a home to call your own. The island has a house; that you can decorate like the secret bases before it, a field; the only place where you can grow berries, a bridge; that takes you to different lands to find Pokemon, and a share shelf; that allows you to share items with anyone in the Dream World. Another thing to note is Dream Points, that unlock certain areas and Pokemon in the Dream World. These are obtained in many ways, playing games with Pokemon, picking a Pokemon to send to your game, watering your or other players berries, picking your fully grown berries, and sharing items. Now the main point is to go on the bridge to find Pokemon. All of them are from generation 1 to 4 and what makes them different from those that would be transferred from past games is that most of the Dream World Pokemon have a secret ability. That's right, certain Pokemon will have an ability that can only be obtained in the Dream World and no where else, also mothers can have a chance to pass on their Dream World ability to their child. Now to get those Pokemon you have to like noted in the points is to play a game with them, do well and they join you, do fantastic in the game and they could have a special move that is an egg move or a move exclusive to the Dream World. The hard choice being that you can only bring one Pokemon you found into your game so it better be the best one you can find and you have to give up one berry to send that Pokemon over. Also as you hunt for Pokemon in an area you can find items even berries that you can grow, share, or give to get a Pokemon. Now there is a downside to this, you have no choice on which place to go after you go on the bridge, making the odds 1 in (number of places available to go) getting lower each new place that you can go to, making it hard if you want a certain Pokemon or item. Now you can leave and try again hoping you get the right area but even that has a price. After going to areas so many times there will be a point where no Pokemon or items show up in the area for the rest of the time, this counts leaving right away and coming back. Those rules are okay, but paired together it just doesn't work... either let use pick the place we want to explore while having limited times, or let Pokemon and items be there all the time and the location be random. Seriously we have an hour limit already, what's the point in doing something like this that could ultimately waste that whole hour into less than a minute? But with some changes happening real soon as I'm writing this I hope this is something that will change for the better.<br />
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Customization is for downloading things to your game. This allows to you set up images for your Pokedex and C-Gear, along with giving you a new Pokemon Musical. While not much it helps to give off some personality to your stuff.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Replayability</span><br />
I don't think it has the lasting power the generation 4 games had, but for what it does it does well. More open trading and battles, and new styles of battle to compete against friends with. The Dream World is a refreshing new thing despite its problems. Grinding Pokemon to level 100 is far more easier in this game than any other in my opinion, I have so many Pokemon already at the max level. But with more on the way there could be more possibilities that have yet to be used.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Final Thoughts</span><br />
They are good and make some bold choices but with the reasons above that is the reason why I felt that this generation is more or less on even ground with the last generation. It has some good stuff that keeps it from dropping down in quality but also misses some good stuff that keeps it from raising. That is only for Black and White themselves as this generation is still young and has a ways to go.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Black 2, White 2, and the Future</span><br />
The third game or games are coming out sometime this fall, and there is some fair hype about them. Unlike other third games of a generation this one is not just offering some more stuff but a LOT of new stuff along with some new settings in Unova and some changes in routes and cities. These games are set two years after the first making them the second direct squeal games after Gold and Silver. So now is a new leading male and female trainer along with a new rival. There are some new Gym Leaders including the old rival Cheren, a new Poison gym leader, and a new Water gym leader. Now I like the Poison one but not the Water one, the main problem being we have had a lot of water Gym Leaders already and not many Poison ones. I think they really should have used that to reveal a Dark type Gym Leader. Team Plasma strikes again but this time with a look that could have come from the Metal Gear games. One of the things that I'm sure many have wanted is a way to battle past Gym Leaders and Champions, now it was revealed that there will be a location that has tournament battles with them. Unlike the first gen 5 game that was new Pokemon throughout the first part of the game, previous generation Pokemon make it to the Unova dex this time. These games will also include a way of making Pokemon movies, which I hope proves to have more fun and have pay off compared to the Pokemon Musical. For the 3DS there is the upcoming Pokemon Dream Radar than can catch Pokemon and send them to the new games. Final thing to note is the forms for the Pokemon. Kyurem the Ice/Dragon Pokemon of gen 5 takes a Black and White form (each one based on the game, Black Kyurem in Black 2 and White Kyurem in White 2) based on the other two dragons Zekrom and Reshiram. The last Pokemon to get some new forms is the trio of Tornadus, Thundurus, and Landorus and those forms can only be obtained through the Dream Radar I noted before. So far it looks pretty good for the next generation 5 games and may set a new standard for other third games.<br />
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As for future games well here is a list of things I would add:<br />
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1) Create your own gym. Story goes that you find a trainer who wanted to be a gym leader in an old building, he/she fights you and loses. After that they realize you can be a better gym leader than him/her and gives you the building and gives you information on how to make the gym the way you want it. It will start off as a single room, but as you spend money you can buy all kinds of things to add to your gym and even hire NPC trainers and find a place for them. You can even make your own badge. So using Wi-Fi friends can try out your gym. And as to be sure before finishing your gym you would have to make your way to the leader spot, so people don’t end up making gyms where they can mess with people by making it impossible to pass.<br />
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2) Connecting to older Generations in a style like Gen 1 and 2. If there is one thing that bugged me most in the newer generations is that you can’t send back pokemon and that they can’t have HM moves. It really needs to stop, since I have a Surf and Fly Pikachus in my HG game that I would like to sent to my White game. So I think it would be a good idea for them to connect like before and connect to generations 3 and 4 along with 5. And with items… well they spotted them with Gen 5 but they should have fixed it up so that ONLY TMs can’t be on a pokemon.<br />
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3) Pokeathlon. While contests should come up again I think the Pokeathlon should also be an ongoing thing in the games. They’re really the first mini-games where you control your pokemon, and almost like the Stadium games. Plus they are the best spots for getting stones.</div>
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4) Bring back some of the old TMs. What I liked about Gen 4 was that the same TMs were there but they added more. And there are some TMs I liked that they got rid of in Gen 5, like Dark Pulse and Dragon Pulse. And with now endless uses why not have some of the good TMs back again?</div>
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5) Improved GTS. Now the GTS Negotiations in Gen 5 was a big step up in trading, along with trading in what is in a box and trading with the C-Gear, but the GTS can use a touch of improvements. It has the same problems as before, you’re only able to see a few trades rather than as many as you can. You only see 7 (I think that’s the number) and only that. I think you should be able to go through as many as you can. And maybe with Global Link have a GTS on there (like the old GTS site before) that can let you look if you don’t have the game on and can give you a code you can enter when you do get to the game so you can enter the code and find the trade faster that way.</div>
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6) Custom Main Trainer. Something that I thought about Battle Revolutions for the Wii, it offered a LOT of new great stuff though sadly didn’t give the things it should have had already. One of the great new things was the custom trainer. It would be nice to start as anyone would but got things to give the trainer a look different than the others. Yeah something else to spend game money on… well now in White I have everything and Maxed out money, custom stuff like a Trainers looks and a gym would be a good use of making the money have meaning again.</div>
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7) Vs Seeker. The Seeker was fantastic in the Gen 1 remakes and made it to Gen 4 (not to the Gen 2 remakes… since the phone was for that). But I was sad that the Seeker was not added in Gen 5. There are a good number of battles but they are only once a day things, I want to battle a random trainer on a route again.<br />
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(I was lazy so I found the comment where I posted these and copied them, deal with it)<br />
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And to end the look at this generation we look at the best and worst of designs of Pokemon. Now a few things to note. Not all will be about appearance alone but how they are presented in the series. Also no Pokemon on the worst list can be explained through species of real life animals, take Beautifly for example, it is a butterfly like Butterfree but based on two different kinds. Also this list is hard to make, while some of my favorites are on the best list it goes by design. Last rule is that pokemon may be grouped in one spot by family, or if they are part of a group (Ex: legendary trio thing), and of unrelated pokemon might be together if they have something similar that bugs/fascinates me. Finally any Pokemon on my worst design list is not a Pokemon I hate.<br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Top 5 Worst and Best Pokemon Designs of Generation </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Worst</span><br />
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5 Braviary family and Mandibuzz family<br />
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Proof that looks isn't everything. I mean these are some awesome Pokemon, based on the eagle and vulture, but they have one major flawing that has annoyed me. The fact that the Braviary family is all male and Mandibuzz is all female. Now with Pokemon like Tauros and Miltank I understand why they would be their genders, along with other Pokemon that have this counterpart relationship. But why do eagles have to be male and vultures female? The idea as a whole doesn't work and such a thing gets this gender confusion on this list.<br />
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4 Vanillite, Vanillish, Vanilluxe<br />
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I didn't want to, since I do kind of like them but yeah. While the Pokemon themselves are not real ice cream they are based on ice cream and I can see how it can leave a few people scratching their heads at this. A strange creation but while on this list I cut them some slack since they are some of the first Pokemon to be created from a newcomer to Game Freak James Turner. And well it's not as bad as some from the Gen 1 worst list.<br />
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3 Basculin<br />
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While I do like the forms for it the design overall is kind of bland. Maybe because of the fact that it doesn't have an evolved form that keeps it from being too interesting. It is the only Pokemon to learn 4 abilities, and even then it doesn't help it with a stand out feature like that.<br />
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2 Alomomola<br />
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This one just bugs me. There is no Pokemon I've seen that has given me the same feeling of "why not?" as Alomomola. What does this look like to you, anyone who are Pokemon fans (since they would most likely know)? It looks like the kind of Pokemon that would be the evolved form of Luvdisc, but as all gen 5 Pokemon it isn't. There have been Pokemon guessed to have been connected to past Pokemon that have not been and later they really didn't need to be. But Alomomola is another story, if they wanted a fish Pokemon for that spot they should have changed it. Because since it isn't an evolved Pokemon yet looks so much like it should be it gets this spot on the list.<br />
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1 Ferroseed and Ferrothorn<br />
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I really don't know what these Pokemon are, a WTF if I ever saw one, still doesn't beat Wobbuffet though. Then after looking at their page on Bulbapedia I still can't believe what I'm looking at. I mean it seems to be based on a spiked plant and a mace or flail, plus they're found in a cave of all places. I just felt like I made that up but really it isn't.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Best</span> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
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5 Bouffalant<br />
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What else can I say? It's a buffalo with an afro, can't think of much cooler than that. Bouffalant is also the first and only Pokemon to have an afro as I recall. And even more is that it's signature move is called Afro Break, well that's only in Japan, in the states they instead called it Head Charge.... bad move translators at least call it Afro Charge, it didn't have to be Afro Break but as long as the word Afro is in there. Well regardless Bouffalant is bringing the cool in Pokemon.<br />
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4 Reuniclus<br />
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A Pokemon based on single celled organism and a homunculus. It's just those ideas seem to be in perfect harmony with each other. It has a very cell-like look, and the little creature inside it all fits with the Latin name of homunculus, little man. And considering that a homunculus is a creature made from alchemy I can't help but think that those red orbs might be Philosopher's Stones, but I do have Fullmetal Alchemist on the brain when thinking of that.<br />
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3 Cobalion, Terrakion, and Virizion<br />
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There have been Pokemon based on many things, plants, animals, fairy tales, items... the list goes on, but the most impressive base would have to be for these Pokemon. The trio of this game are based on the Three Musketeers, Athos, Porthos and Aramis respectively. While all three have that air of nobility about them as they should they each have a look designed on the character their based on, with Cobalion having the sharp build of a leader, Terrakion as the powerhouse of the group look, and Virizion appearing as slender and romantic. Now some might wonder, what about Keldeo? Well it is an unofficial member, like the character it's based on, so it isn't sharing this spot with them.<br />
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2 Litwick, Lampent, and Chandelure<br />
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Because I always wanted a candle Pokemon since the beginning. I even made my own. I don't know where that paper is anymore but from what I remember my design was terrible compared to this. Just because it was just so satisfying to see something I thought before and done better than me is why I love the design put into Litwick and it's evolutions.<br />
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1 Archen and Archeops<br />
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While a favorite like some of the others it's one that I always thought of when it came to fossil Pokemon. Unlike Litwick I had no sketches of this kind of Pokemon before, but now I don't need it. This was handled the way I always wanted and shows that they are not done with good idea yet.<br />
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<span style="color: #38761d;">Pokemon Art (c) Ken Sugimori</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">Information Source Bulbapedia</span><br />
<br />The Dragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03273917873531063392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2633690411431619714.post-28801199996866499222012-05-13T16:41:00.001-07:002012-05-18T12:29:27.794-07:00A Look at Pokemon: Generation 4<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Intro</span><br />
A new region, new Pokemon, new attacks, and new abilities, and for me this is the peak of the Pokemon series. That's not to say any generations after this one will take the series downhill, it's just that this generation took some of the biggest steps in the Pokemon history and won big time. And the importance of those steps haven't been repeated in Gen 5. What did they do right above all the other games? Well keep reading to find out.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Graphics</span><br />
The game continues to use sprites but I'm okay with that. The way they work with it seems to set it apart from other games and it's something I wouldn't change. The overworld is no longer sprites but a 3D world in the Pokemon style. One can see the dept of the land while all other characters are sprites is unusual, the sprites themselves don't look bad in a three dimensional land. And with it being the DS the bottom screen is used for other things that I'll get to, but also the commands in battles which has a fantastic layout style.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Plot</span><br />
The story starts out with the player and the player's best friend out on the lookout for the infamous Red Gyarados at the lake near their hometown in the Sinnoh region after hearing it appeared there in a news report. Recklessly going into the grass they are attacked by Pokemon and they use the ones that happen to be nearby. After that the region professor, Professor Rowan, allows you to keep the Pokemon the two start their quest. The quest like the other games has been get all 8 badges and all, though they do kind of mix it up with a female champion for once, Cynthia. Along the trip the player may run into another trainer that would join them for a short time, unlike Colosseum were the extra person did nothing the trainers here have their own Pokemon to use in battle.<br />
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The badies of this generation are called Team Galactic. Having a space theme to them, they are after the Pokemon that control space and time to recreate the world. A plus to them is that unlike the other games (not including the Gamecube games) instead of just the boss and grunts there are some high ranking officials in the team as well. In the Platinum version Team Galactic gets another member who, while you don't fight, acts as the leading scientist and the one who created all of Team Galactic's weapons and tech. Where they Team falls is it's leader Cyrus. Cyrus is really flat and not really emotional, don't get me wrong I understand that is what they meant to do... but, I would have liked to see some emotion from him. Like in the result of a battle he wanted to win but lost, direct setbacks like that should have unlocked the emotions he kept hidden, but that's just me.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Gameplay</span><br />
Perfect. This is the generation that perfected the gameplay of the series. With Gen 2's typing and Gen 3's nature and abilities, Gen 4 gave the final tweak the series needed. Physical and Special splits for moves. In the earlier generations a move was special or physical by the type alone. That was trashed and with this split people take a new look at Pokemon. Now Pokemon like Feraligatr that has higher attack than special attack can now make use of it's type and greater stats with physical water moves, giving moves like Waterfall a shine for this Pokemon aside from using Surf. It is no longer a laughing matter to give Hitmonchan the Thuder/Fire/Ice Punch moves. A trainer can easily take control of Omastar's high special attack power to use AncientPower.
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A small touch was added to breeding, but it was for the better. In the games before all Pokemon hatched from eggs at level 5. Kind of makes little sense when you consider the Pokemon next to the starter town tend to be under level 5. This was corrected to now have Pokemon start off at level 1 and start from there. A good choice I say, and again a small thing that was added but for all the right reasons and made sense this time.<br />
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The Underground, is a playground for trainers. By digging in any location we can explore the land under the Sinnoh region, being able to travel from one side to the other... most of the time. In the underground tunnels trainers can dig up all kinds of treasure like, plates, shards, evolution stones, even fossils. With the Secret Bases of Gen 3, for Gen 4 the Secret Base is now part of the Underground. So like before you can get all kinds of things to make your base look nice. And one of the treasures, spheres, can be used to buy things for your base or by traps. In the Underground trainers can connect with each other and play Catch the Flag, with the goal being to take the flag of the other person's base and get it to yours without be caught. That is were traps come in, trainers can set up traps to catch people who steal a flag from their base. The only problem with the game would be if the trainers had their bases in other parts of the Underground, but I have never come across this problem personally but I'm sure someone has.<br />
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The idea of the Mystery Gift was in the other games but not as important as it is now. The function known as the Mystery Gift is now used to activate any events, be it in a local area or a Wi-Fi event. Events could be for items that unlock areas to catch rare Pokemon, like Darkrai and Shaymin. Other events can be to obtain special Pokemon like Mew or a Shiny Pichu. Unlike generations before it event Pokemon now come in a special pokeball, a Cherish Ball, that is all red and Pokemon come out in a flash of colors.<br />
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The Poketch is the new device for the Sinnoh region, and is more handy than the Pokegear and PokeNav. With time of day and night back from Gen 2 the Poketch keeps track of the time on the DS clock, both digital and analog. It even has a calendar that keeps track of the day, month, and year the same way as time. It even has its own map, a very useful thing as it even tracks any roaming Pokemon that are on the loose without you having to go all the way at the Pokedex to see where it is. You can even see the happiness of your Pokemon without having to visit one person in the whole game that has to tell you that. In games before there as always been a dowsing machine, this time one is part of the many functions of the Poketch. There are a few functions that can even help you with breeding, like the one that checks compatibility of two Pokemon, a daycare checker to see how the Pokemon you left at the daycare are doing and if they had an egg, and a pedometer that can help you keep track of the number of steps when hatching eggs. There is of course other functions that are not that useful in the game but they are fun to have like , a coin flip, calculator, memo pad, roulette, and so on.<br />
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Pokemon in generation 4 also have new evolution methods. One of which is gender evolution where if the Pokemon is a certain gender it will evolve into a certain Pokemon. Like Burmy where males become a Mothim and females become a Wormadam. Some Pokemon like Combee that evolve into Vespiquen need to be female, meaning that males never evolve. Other gender evolutions need a Dawn Stone to make that possible. Next method is items, unlike the trade with items this one is to hold the item. Once the Pokemon levels up with the right item it will evolve, also note that those evolutions require to be a certain time of day too. Pokemon can also evolve from a level up in a certain location. As long as they are on the right place it can evolve at any level. There are also evolutions based on attacks in these games, all you have to do is level them up with the attack and there you go. It is strange when you consider that some Pokemon that use that method have learned those attacks in previous generations. The last one is requiring you to have another Pokemon in your party to evolve. This rule only applies to Mantyke, who needs to have a Remoraid in the party, to evolve into Mantine.<br />
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Super Contest, yeah so for this one instead of just Contest it had to be Super because....... SUPER!!! There have been some changes to how the Conest work. Pokemon this time eat Poffins to gain stats in the returning contests of Cool, Cute, Beauty, Smart, and Tough. For the first round of contest it will be showing off your Pokemon like before but this time you get to dress up your Pokemon in whatever you find on your trip, from masks, feathers, and even rocks the list goes on. The second round is the dance off which is a new thing where you match the beat of the Pokemon before, while trying to create your own beat that will be difficult for the others to copy. And the last round is the appeals with using moves once more. This time there are three judges and your goal is to appeal to the one that would likely not be picked by the others to gain more points, or plan your actions to snag a lot of points when a judge's meter reaches a certain point. And while old moves are the same contest type before the effects on the appeals of this generation are different from before.<br />
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Wi-Fi. This is what the generations of the past painfully lacked. With the DS's ability to connect to other DS systems wirelessly and connect to the internet for a global scale the series has become. So since the DS doesn't need cables anymore this does win over the Gameboy and Gameboy Advance systems that required players to have paid for a link cable to trade and battle. With the help of friend codes people can trade with friends and people on the internet without be next to each other. Trading with people you don't know is also possible with the help of the Global Trade Station, or GTS for short. Trainers can deposit a Pokemon and ask what they want to trade it for. Or search for a Pokemon they want and see if the price for the trade is good with them. There are some limited actions on the GTS, first being you can only look or ask for Pokemon that you have seen on the Pokedex. Next is that when you narrow down what you are looking for, you only get 7 choices, with no way to scroll to find others that want to trade, sure you can narrow it down by so much but it would be nice to look at some then scroll through others. Final and biggest problem with the GTS is the impossible trades. When you look for certain Pokemon yet you find that all 7 spots are filled with Pokemon no one can touch because what they ask for is impossible and they know it. Now it wouldn't be that big of a problem if let's say you could scroll through them like noted before, but this works two problems against you messing up your chance to find someone who is willing to trade fairly.<br />
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With the use of the Gameboy Advance slot on the DS one can easily connect to the Gen 3 games with the Gen 4 games. The only downside to this is that Pokemon from the Gen 3 games are transferred and not traded. So you send Pokemon to Gen 4 but can't send any to Gen 3, of course this is bad considering that Gen 2 could trade with Gen 1 despite the changes in game design and just because it is two different systems still isn't a good excuse. Plus transferred Pokemon can have no HM moves so you have to delete the moves with the Move Deleter in one of those games. The Pokemon that are transferred over to the Gen 4 games go to Pal Park. It is an area that you can catch those Pokemon in different areas and the faster you do it and the rarer the Pokemon you can get some high scores. You are however limited in transferring 6 Pokemon a day and you would have to wait 24 hours if you change your DS clock. While Pokemon not having HM moves isn't that big of a problem the good thing is that a trainer can let a Pokemon carry over anything they want with them over to the game, even TMs that we'll get to.<br />
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I haven't talked about TMs before because they were pretty basic as they only gave Pokemon new moves and they changed from the first 3 generations with new moves and always being only 50 of them. Now however is something big regarding TMs. Like I noted before Pokemon from Gen 3 can even carry over TMs. This means that the Gen 4 games can use all of the Gen 3 games TMs and with more added with a total of 92 TMs. So have a TM in your Gen 3 game that you never used before but would like to use it on one in the Gen 4 games? Well put that TM on a Pokemon and send it over, it's as simple as that. And it makes it easy in some cases where rare TMs like Iron Tail is easy to get in games like Fire Red and Leaf Green.<br />
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The games of this generation have the Battle Tower, but not the Battle Frontier... but we'll get to those details. Unlike the last Tower where Pokemon can be set to the level, if you enter a level 50 challenge any Pokemon above that level will have their level dropped to 50 with stats fixed if they were that level. Also taken from the Frontier style is the leader of the Battle Tower, who happens to be the father of your rival. There is a multiplayer mode where you can join another person to battle in the tower's double battles. If you don't have someone to play with you can also pick one of the characters that joined you briefly on your journey.<br />
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Battle Frontier like in Emerald returns in this generation's 3rd game, Platinum. If anything this trend needs to stop and have the Frontier in every future game instead of a special thing for a 3rd game only. This one has only five areas of battle instead of the seven that the last gen had. So like before the Battle Tower returns here the same as it was in Diamond and Pearl. The Battle Factory works the same as it did last time, with using rented Pokemon to battle. The Battle Hall is a new one, where a trainer uses one Pokemon, or two in double battles, and pick a type starting at difficulty level of 1-10. So that means to battle 170 battles to complete the Hall. The Battle Arcade uses a roulette to decide what can happen in a battle. You can give your opponent or yourself a status aliment, create a weather effect, gain or loss extra levels, or anything else. The last one is the Battle Castle, unlike the Tower your Pokemon do not get healed after every battle. Here you gain points from battles that go to healing HP, PP, getting an item, or even learn what Pokemon your opponent will use in the next fight.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Pokemon</span><br />
Gen 4 has the second fewest Pokemon released for a generation at 107. Out of all those Pokemon 28 of them are Pre-evolved or Evolved forms of Pokemon of earlier generations that's about 25% of them. That is the most considering Gen 2 had 19 of them out of their 100. While some of them are alright there are Pokemon that didn't really need to be there, but we will love them anyways.<br />
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This also marks a first as all the starter Pokemon evolve into a dual-type evolution. Interesting combinations out of them and for a few make up for their starter weakness to another type, like Torterra has a bit of a fighting chance against Infernape with its ground type, and Infernape against Empoleon with its fighting type. But with the fire starters it marks the second time fire has been paired with fighting, and it can only last so long.<br />
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A change that happened to all Pokemon, well not all but many, is differences between male and females. Kind of like Nidoran back in gen 1 but it's for more Pokemon than just them. Pokemon like female Pikachu now have a V-shaped dent in their tail, female Wobbuffet wear lipstick, and male Milotic has shorter hair-like fins. There are others but this generation created them and have many for the gen 4 Pokemon. Like the Starly family which male and female differ from the spot on their forehead, the Shinx family in that females have smaller manes than the male, or even the Hippopotas family that differ in colors from male and female (not to confuse one for a shiny easily).<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Heart Gold and Soul Silver</span><br />
Like the Gen 1 remakes these games are better than the original, hell even better than Fire Red and Leaf Green. It takes the perfected gameplay style of Gen 4 and use it full swing. Plus the world is a lot more visually appealing than in the Gold and Silver games.<br />
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The biggest deal of Heart Gold and Soul Silver is now the leading Pokemon can follow you wherever you go. Yeah inspired by the Pikachu that follows you in Pokemon Yellow this returns with now all Pokemon in the generation 4 national dex following you. This leads to you being able to talk to your Pokemon, and interact with them outside of battle. Now some Pokemon are too big so when you go into a building the Pokemon will return to their pokeball. There isn't really any point to having your Pokemon free and following you around but it's just mindless fun and something that should be used more.<br />
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Places that were scrapped from the Gold and Silver games get a comeback here with the Safari Zone and Viridian Forest. Where the Safari Zone was in the first game is now the Pal Park and a new Safari Zone is in the far west of the Johto region. In that Zone you can give whatever fields you want and add objects there. It's good but I don't have fond memories of it, losing my chance for a shiny Riolu being the case. The Seafoam Islands return as they were before and not just the gym in Gen 2. The Battle Frontier comes into this this version as the remakes came out after the Platinum game, unlike the Gen 1 remakes that came before Emerald. The Battle Frontier is the same as Platinum even with the same Frontier Brains. Another area added is the Pokeathlon Dome, home of the Olymipic-like Pokemon events. The Dome's events are fun and require the right skills a Pokemon has to complete them, and the store offers many things trainers can't get easily, even evolution stones. Out of all places though Heart Gold and Soul Silver did not add the Sevii Islands from the Gen 1 remakes. Might be a bit repetitive considering how there isn't any new Pokemon to get there, but I feel that they could have done something to make the islands new and refreshing to us in a way we didn't see before.<br />
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Team Rocket gets major improvement with the heads of the team having their own looks and names so they don't have a generic look to them. While the Gold and Silver games gave them more to do, these ones gives them the character they needed so much. And with an event Celebi one can learn more about Team Rocket breaking up 3 years ago and what the scientist said back in Fire Red and Leaf Green.<br />
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The best touch to Heart Gold and Soul Silver is the.... well Touching. Instead of scrolling through a menu on the top screen the menu is on the touch screen and makes things a whole lot easier. Heck even you can set the Running Shoes to run all the time and not have to hold the "B" button all the time to run. Even using the Box fuction on the PC uses the touch screen making moving Pokemon around much less of a hassle than ever before.<br />
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A new add-on is the PokeWalker. A device that lets you transfer a Pokemon on the device and run with them, going towards leveling up Pokemon, finding new items, and catching Pokemon you don't normally get yet in the game. The best it has to offer is the Yellow Forest event area where there are nothing but Pikachu and some might have Fly, or even Surf in their movesets. In fact some other Pokemon can have moves that are normally not in their movesets.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Pokemon Battle Revolution</span><br />
Talk about a waste. PBR was a step back from the games that came before it on the Gamecube, heck even the N64 games had more. That's not to say the game is bad... it just leaves out so much that this could have easily been a big title game for the home console versions.<br />
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Battle Revolution takes a page out of Stadiums book but misses a few things. Back then you had rental Pokemon, now there are some but it's way too few requiring people who have a Wii, DS, and a Gen 4 Pokemon game to fully use it. If you have these things already and want more challenge from the games then go right ahead and get it, if not then don't bother.<br />
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The game has Colosseums but works more like the Battle Frontier with Colosseums having their own rules different than just normal battle. Some include a Tournament battle, Baby battle, and a Roulette battle where you could get the other's Pokemon and they could get yours. It makes the game a challenge, more so in the second round... again it's sad that a game like this had no more added to it. And depending on which version you used the final boss of the second round could use different Pokemon.<br />
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For what this game did right that I want to see in more games from now on is the ability to create your own trainer. Sadly limited, what it did have was good. From trainer type to skin color, and even the clothes. Limited but a good start. The other going was gifts in the form of mystery gifts. Most are TMs and other items but they are only once a game use. Though you do get a powerful Electivire, Magmortor, and Surfing Pikachu.<br />
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<br /></div>
<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Replayability</span><br />
Like every game before it more Pokemon are added to have the "got to catch them all" thing go longer but it's more than that. Much of it's replayability comes from the Wi-Fi, with trading and battling people anywhere. Know some people that have the right games on a forum you go to? You can battle and trade with them! Plus the Battle Frontier continues to give some of the most challenging battles in the game. And if you have everything but want more then Pokemon Battle Revolution is okay for that extra challenge.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Final Thoughts</span><br />
This.... this generation is the best of the series, but I said this is the peak so yeah. Generation 4 gives us what is the perfected style of Pokemon and any one of the main games would be perfect, even with the generation 2 remakes clearly surpassing their original games.<br />
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And to end the look at this generation we look at the best and worst of designs of Pokemon. Now a few things to note. Not all will be about appearance alone but how they are presented in the series. Also no Pokemon on the worst list can be explained through species of real life animals, take Beautifly for example, it is a butterfly like Butterfree but based on two different kinds. Also this list is hard to make, while some of my favorites are on the best list it goes by design. Last rule is that pokemon may be grouped in one spot by family, or if they are part of a group (Ex: legendary trio thing), and of unrelated pokemon might be together if they have something similar that bugs/fascinates me. Finally any Pokemon on my worst design list is not a Pokemon I hate.<br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Top 5 Worst and Best Pokemon Designs of Generation </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Worst</span><br />
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5 Finneon and Lumineon<br />
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<a href="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/4/45/456Finneon.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="183" src="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/4/45/456Finneon.png" width="200" /></a><a href="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/f/f0/457Lumineon.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/f/f0/457Lumineon.png" /></a></div>
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If only because I felt that these Pokemon never really broke any new ground as fish Pokemon, yeah they have a butterfly look to them but they just come off as kind of uninteresting to me.<br />
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4 Chingling<br />
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<a href="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/e/ed/433Chingling.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="174" src="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/e/ed/433Chingling.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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It's cute but not to the point where I think it was needed. Chimecho really didn't need a pre-evolved form. Just proof that cute isn't always a good thing.<br />
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3 Lickilicky<br />
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<a href="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/8/8e/463Lickilicky.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/8/8e/463Lickilicky.png" width="187" /></a></div>
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Much like Chingling, Lickilicky is also a Pokemon that wasn't needed. Oddly I do think it looks better than its pre-evolved form Lickitung, but I already did the worst design list for the first generation. It came down to mostly Pokemon connected to the previous generations. Maybe if Lickitung didn't exist and Lickilicky did then it might not be here.<br />
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2 Tangrowth<br />
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This is the last one following this pattern, trust me. Out of all the Pokemon connected to the previous games THIS one left the smallest impact... well no impact really. I just can't imagine who really wanted an evolved form of Tangela but here it is..... and boy is it boring.<br />
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1 Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf<br />
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<a href="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/4/40/481Mesprit.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/4/40/481Mesprit.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/d/d0/482Azelf.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/d/d0/482Azelf.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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The backstory of them is fine, yet... well they have a similar style to Mew and yeah the differences are nice but not good enough. And the worst crime of all is that out of the Trios before and after them they are only psychic types when they should have had a second type like many others. They're not bad but as far as designs go I feel that they really didn't get much love.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Best</span><br />
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5 Electivire<br />
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<a href="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/2/23/466Electivire.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="244" src="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/2/23/466Electivire.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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While there are other Pokemon with connections to the older generations that have good designs this one is the best of those. It's look and abilities makes it more than worthy of being Electabuzz's evolved form. And with the right moves this Pokemon can be a major powerhouse for anyone's team.<br />
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4 Rotom<br />
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References are fun, and this little guy knows it. Rotom is based on Pulseman, a character from a Sega game believe it or not. But the character of Pulseman was designed by none other than the Pokemon artist himself Ken Sugimori so it all works out. It's also the first Pokemon that does posses things, objects that would allow it to change it's form getting a new attack too. (and change it's ghost type but that's Gen 5 stuff)<br />
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3 Lucario<br />
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<a href="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/d/d7/448Lucario.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/d/d7/448Lucario.png" /></a></div>
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One of the first Pokemon of Generation 4 that we learned about, even starting in a movie before Gen 4. Lucario grabbed attention from people by its canine appearance. It seems Lucario is based on Anubis with it's jackal like head. What is amazing is how it does resemble Anubis yet not being related to anything involving death. Anubis would use a scale to judge peoples' hearts much like how Lucario uses aura to see peoples hearts. While its Steal type seems out of nowhere that is a fact that doesn't bother me or bring down how Lucario works.<br />
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2 Garchomp<br />
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<a href="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/f/fa/445Garchomp.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/f/fa/445Garchomp.png" width="304" /></a></div>
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This Pokemon is a Dragon/Ground type and is better than the Gen 3 Pokemon with the same type Flygon. The big thing Garchop has going for it is the land shark style it has and it is badass with the fin on top, hammerhead shark head, and spikes that come from it's legs and arms. And while having a shark look the Dragon type seems all too fitting. I could just imagine a Jaws movie just with a Garchomp swimming in the desert terrorizing people.<br />
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1 Darkrai<br />
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<a href="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/6/6d/491Darkrai.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/6/6d/491Darkrai.png" width="304" /></a></div>
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What can I say, it's Darkrai baby! The first Dark type legendary Pokemon, and the master of sleep, with its moves focusing mainly on sleep related moves, even with its own signature move Dark Void putting all to sleep. It's shape is also slick with it resembling an hourglass, and its coloring is great with mostly black with some white hair, red collar, and light blue eyes. Of course being a Pokemon that causes nightmares it has a very nightmare-ish appeal to it that makes it the best of this generation.<br />
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<span style="color: #38761d;">Pokemon Art (c) Ken Sugimori</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">Information Source Bulbapedia</span><br />
<br />The Dragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03273917873531063392noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2633690411431619714.post-83878680390711696862012-04-03T12:20:00.000-07:002012-06-17T15:51:32.326-07:00A Look at Pokemon: Generation 3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuTyUgmQGqBa2qnrIep2D_vaMCjHyz7YDYwCYHkQTW5d1WDA16YiwDUaOEcFLO1aQHhhq94L-ofTBcv4KvcC6URTWmetfOSU7_kAA3aEn74rnl8aOiepmCZNWJokZZiIrlwSVzs7VgR1Wj/s1600/Titlecard5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuTyUgmQGqBa2qnrIep2D_vaMCjHyz7YDYwCYHkQTW5d1WDA16YiwDUaOEcFLO1aQHhhq94L-ofTBcv4KvcC6URTWmetfOSU7_kAA3aEn74rnl8aOiepmCZNWJokZZiIrlwSVzs7VgR1Wj/s1600/Titlecard5.png" /></a></div>
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<br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Intro</span><br />
For me the series kept getting better and better, though some people believed that the series went down hill from this point. I think the main issue with this is that no one foresaw what was to come in this generation. There are some things that could have been handled better but I think the 3rd generation can stand on its own pretty well.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Graphics</span><br />
So being the Gameboy Advance series the graphics have gotten FAR better than ever before. The world is colorful and every town had their own style to it that wasn't seen in the last generations. Buildings like the Gym, Pokemon Center, and PokeMart all have their own look, and really... was it really that hard to pull off before?<br />
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It's from this point that Pokemon all have their own little icons for them, and not like in the last games where icons on the Pokemon team list had generic sprites for most of them. I would like to also note that the Pokemon have not had any more mistakes in their sprites. Also looking at the back sprites of Pokemon from gen 2 have been updated for these games.<br />
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And in Gen 3 is where Ken Sugimori did a new style for the official Pokemon artwork that he has continued using to Gen 5. A good move since his artwork back then had more white in them than needed.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Plot</span><br />
The same old tale but with a few differences to the earlier and later generations. Instead of growing up in the town your character just moved in with his/her mother. The player also has a FATHER, and not only that but he is the gym leader of a gym that is in another town than the one you live in as well as only challenging you after you have gained 4 other gym badges.<br />
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There is also the gender character. In the region you will battle the child of the Professor Birch. But that child will be the character you did not pick from the gender selection. It is an interesting way to add in a character that would have been not used in the region.<br />
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With there being two different version there is also two different teams of bad guys out to do what they want. The teams are both in a sense environmental terrorists out to fix the world the way they see fit. In Ruby the player goes against Team Magma who are after the legendary Pokemon Groudon in order to create more land. Grunts from Team Magma tend to use fire, ground and dark type Pokemon. Sapphire we are treated to Team Aqua who want Kyorge to cover the world in water. Grunts from Team Aqua use water and dark types. Personally I would side with Team Magma myself. They use my favorite color red, and use fire one of my favorite types, and Groudon is one of my favorite Pokemon. Plus I think more people would naturally take Team Magma's side than Team Aqua's, if only because the world itself is already covered in more water than land and humans are built to live on land and not water.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Gameplay</span><br />
One of the things of Pokemon is that no two Pokemon are the same, while Pokemon share base stats with their own they will not be the exactly the same. To continue the difference they added natures to add more to stat differences. Natures in the game are like personalities that a Pokemon can have 1 of 25 different ones that increase the growth of one stat while decreasing the growth of another stat. The stats that are affected by Natures are Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed. Out of the natures 5 of them are neutral that they don't increase or decrease certain stats. They can help you find the Pokemon that can benefit from a loss and gain while at other times the might hinder them. Natures also have an affect of special stats for the Pokemon Contests that will be explained later.<br />
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Next change to the series is Abilities. Now Pokemon have powers that can be activated right away or when certain conditions have been meet. Take for example the starter Pokemon, now they all have the ability to increase their water, fire, or grass type after they are down to 1/3rd of their HP. The legendary Pokemon Groudon and Kyorge have the ability to have it sunny or raining respectively. Not all abilities are useful though, Pokemon like Slaking cause them to attack once then do nothing the next turn then can attack again, rinse and repeat. Granted abilities like that are part of what the Pokemon is based off of. But there are moves that make use of one's ability to gain the upper hand.<br />
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With Gen 3 we are treated to a new form of battle, Double Battles. With this two Pokemon fight side by side, and many moves are fixed to fit the new battle style with moves like Razor Leaf attacking only the opponents or Earthquake hitting all Pokemon (that includes the partner Pokemon) and some moves hit only a single opponent. This ups the brain power needed for battles since now instead of keeping track of the two Pokemon fighting each other you have to watch four of them while considering the attacks, types, and abilities to give you the edge. Like if you use Earthquake it is best that the partner Pokemon is a flying type, knows the Levitate ability, or is using Protect.<br />
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PokeNav is alright but not the best of the Pokemon technology in the games. It has the map like the PokeGear but that is about it. There is time in these games but it doesn't show them like in Gold, Silver, and Crystal, and the time isn't displayed on the PokeNav, but shown in the cloak in the player's room. Trainers can be rebattled again and shown on the device to it is a hassle to check as you wouldn't know who would like to rebattle you. Though it is improved in the Emerald version having a call function like the PokeGear and even allows you to challenge gym leaders again. It also checks the condition and ribbons of the Pokemon you have gained in contests, though in later generations those things are in the summary of the Pokemon you look at and for the better too.<br />
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The biggest side quest of the Pokemon series is of course the Contests. Pokemon have one of five conditions that can be shown on the PokeNav; Cool, Tough, Beauty, Smart, and Cute. The conditions here are reflective of the stats of the Nature of a Pokemon. So Cool=Attack, Tough=Defense, Beauty=Special Attack, Smart=Special Defense, and Cute=Speed. These stats are increased not through leveling up but through Pokeblocks. Pokeblocks use berries to make a candy like treat that will help a Pokemon through the contest rounds. All Pokeblocks have certain flavors to them and each one works in favor of a different contest, Spicy for Cool Contests, Sour for Tough Contests, Dry for Beauty Contests, Bitter for Smart Contests, and Sweet for Cute Contests. So one with a nature that will boost a stat like Attack will naturally like Spicy flavored Pokeblocks while the decreased stat like Speed will have a Pokemon not like Sweet flavored ones. In fact one of the rare Pokemon, Feebas, evolves when it's Beauty stat is at max, making it and its evolution Milotic some of the most difficult Pokemon to obtain. The contests themselves are in two rounds, one where your Pokemon is judged by its condition and the appeals round where moves are used outside of normal battle to create new plans on winning to get the most points. Moves in contests now have one of the five types to them and using the right types will score or subtract points. Like using a Cool move in a Cool contest will score you extra points, or if a Beauty move in a Cool contest will be normal, and a Smart move will lose points. Spamming moves over and over will not go well as contests what to have Pokemon try to use all their moves to win, at least more than one move. But there are combinations that some are easy to figure out as they work the same in battle for the most part, with combos like Sunny Day on one turn and the next followed up with Solar Beam. Pokemon that win contests will get ribbons that can be seen in the PokeNav. And each of the contests have 5 levels to go through and if your Pokemon does well enough in the last contest level they can have a painting of them in the Lilycove Museum.<br />
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Gen 3 also has baby Pokemon from the last generations, so how does one get around the breeding thing when it was set in the 2nd gen? Incense! You know... thinking about it the idea sounds kind of strange, since.... well. You get them to breed and have a pleasant sent get them in the mood. But to get the new baby Pokemon now the Pokemon must be holding the right incense item so instead of getting the second stage Pokemon we get the new first stage baby Pokemon and this is method is used in the next generation too though it still makes me wonder if they could do that why not make their baby Kangaskhan already and get it over with.<br />
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While Trainers could put stuff in their own house in Gen 2, Gen 3 offers something even better, the Secret Base. With the help of the move Secret Power, trainers can make a base from a cave, really tall grass, or even a tree. By doing mix records with other people, the bases of your friends can show up that you can explore, and even battle a NPC representing your friend complete with the team of Pokemon they have when the records were mixed. Battle them takes place after beating the Elite Four.<br />
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The Battle Tower from Crystal also makes it to these games. But with a level 50 or level 100 challenge, and yes the Pokemon have to be 50 or under to be in the level 50 battles anything from 51 to 100 can't join those battles. Trainers can get ribbons for their Pokemon here to for competing in the tower. Trainers select 3 Pokemon to one on one and face off against a set of 7 trainers before the challenge is over. The more winning streaks you get the better the items you will be rewarded once you beat the seventh trainer.<br />
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So with the Battle Tower in Ruby and Sapphire, the Emerald version had to make something bigger, the Battle Frontier. The island that contained the Battle Tower is now larger and has several other areas including the Tower to give a new battle experience. So far the Battle Frontier has only been in two generations (with Gen 3 and Gen 4 being different), but is really something that should be in more of the games because of how battles are worked. Since I did the Tower the next one would be the Battle Palace, where Pokemon fight on their own without commands. This style puts one faith in their Pokemon as their nature and moves would decide what will be done and may change if health is low, a battle where there is a LOT of care placed on getting everything just right. Next is the Battle Factory, that uses rented Pokemon. Now using rented Pokemon isn't anything new as it goes back to the Stadium games, but you only get 3 Pokemon and can trade them with one of the Pokemon from the losing trainer. The Battle Pyramid is much like a dungeon which is perfect for the setting. Trainers are in a dark building and can only get light from beating trainers, also you can find items in the Pyramid that can only be used in the Pyramid, and to finish the dungeon quality you might even run into wild Pokemon which you can't catch... I think. Tournament battles are the main feature of the Battle Dome. With 16 trainers (including you), there will be 4 battles that need to be won for each visit. For the Battle Arena it isn't a matter of only K.O.ing your opponent but getting a better score. Depending on the actions you take after 3 rounds and both Pokemon still stand the one with the most points wins the match. The last one is the Battle Pike shaped like a Seviper. Here you can chose a room to enter that can have a verity things happen, single battles, double battles, your Pokemon get status ailments, battle a wild Pokemon, heal your Pokemon, and even nothing at all.<br />
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No Gen 2 connection. For better or worse all generations of Pokemon can connect in some way to the previous one, but not Gen 3. The 2nd gen had the power to use a time machine to trade, and with the other games... well we will get to that for another time. Connecting to an old generation system would have been a great thing, many people might have wanted this if they knew it or not. I believe it might have had something to do with how the coding in the game was for the 3rd gen but I think they should have tried some way to make this work, heck the Gameboy Advance could play Gameboy games. It was a missed chance to bring the games full circle if given the right possibilities.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Pokemon</span><br />
This generation has given us 135 Pokemon and oddly holds 3rd place for number of Pokemon released. The 3rd gen also has been kinder to the Dragon, Ghost, Steel, Dark, and Bug types compared to the last generation, with new Pokemon and moves to balance out the types more.<br />
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Of course one has become infamous with the meme, "So I herd u liek Mudkips". Which isn't bad as they are cute and it will never get old. At least for me anyways.<br />
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What also strikes me about the Pokemon of this generation is the Hebrew mythology. The Legendary Golem trio and the Weather Trio are both based on Hebrew stories. The Regis are Hebrew golems that also represent the three ages, Regirock=Stone Age, Regice=Ice Age, and Registeel=Iron Age. The Weather Trio is a bit more complex then the other trio. Groudon is based on the behemoth, Kyorge the leviathan, and Rayquaza the ziz. All of them taking their natural place in the Pokemon world based on those creatures.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Fire Red and Leaf Green</span><br />
The Vs Seeker, best item ever. End of story. What is the Vs Seeker those who haven't played this and the games later you ask? It is a device that can let you rebattle anyone you want on a route that you encountered in your journey. What... there was the Pokegear and after that the PokeNav? Junk compared to this baby, while people may not battle all the time you can battle them most of the time, unlike those other tools that only let you rechallenge a few people. This is something that would have greatly improved the first generation even if you kept all its faults. That is how good it is.<br />
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Aside from that a new region is in the game, the Sevii Islands. Which allow you to explore more of the world with this island chain. The main point of the islands is to really catch Pokemon that are outside of Gen 1, like the Gen 2 Pokemon. Though I think such a think would have been better handled if after the Elite Four and Champion battles that we got to go to the Johto region, kind of a reverse of the 2nd generation but it would have been awesome and people would have enjoyed it. But the islands do offer a few things, like their own little stories like how one is terrorized by a gang of bikers or a branch of Team Rocket that remain is carrying out experiments on how to force Pokemon to evolve, along with one scientist noting a possible back story to the gen 2 rival. One island even has their own Battle Tower that is different than the Ruby/Sapphire one, plus challengers there can have shiny Pokemon. There are a few secret islands that can be available through events allowing one to obtain Ho-oh, Lugia, and even Deoxys that can have an Attack or Defense form based on what version you have. Also an interesting note is that in Emerald while not all of the Sevii Islands are there the events one are with Deoxys having a Speed form from this one.<br />
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Gameplay for this one mainly consists of what was in the Ruby and Sapphire game. With the types updated and the dark and steel types, along with Pokemon having abilities. This time you can pick your gender which is interesting as there was meant to be a female character or the Gen 1 games but was pushed aside but came back for this game. Breeding also is in this one, with the daycare for that being on one of the Sevii Islands. So with everything these Gen 1 games are better than the originals giving us more than the first games. Heck even if they only added the Vs Seeker to the remakes it would still be better. But it isn't the best remake as we'll get to them soon. These remakes also introduced the starter type hyper beams, Frenzy Plant, Blast Burn, and Hydro Cannon, that became signature moves of all starter Pokemon. If there is one thing I think could have been done better, aside from Johto, is to have added some of the Pokemon Yellow plot in it... having Jessie and James might not have been bad and could have worked off the double battles for them.</div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Pokemon Colosseum</span><br />
Now we reach the Orre region, a desert devoid of wild Pokemon... strange that there are Pokemon that can live in a desert but moving on. The hero this time isn't a 10 year-old just starting their Pokemon journey but a darker and older character with his Espeon and Umbreon that was once part of the evil gang known as Team Snagem. For reasons to this day are unknown he rebelled against the Team by blowing up their HQ and stealing a machine they were working on. He later saves a kidnapped girl who has psychic powers telling him of a group of people changing Pokemon into mindless fighting machines called Shadow Pokemon. So this character along with the girl are off to save the Pokemon from this evil group known as Cipher. How does he save the Pokemon? Steal them of course... correction, Snag them!<br />
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So yeah this is the story in a nutshell and it's GREAT. The usual games focus half on the badge thing and the other have on the evil organization, but here it is full force against an evil group using Pokemon in the most twisted of ways. You do get the first human partner in the game but sadly she doesn't do much other than informing you on what Pokemon is a Shadow one, they could have done more. And while you don't pick your Pokemon, an evolved Pokemon like Espeon and Umbreon are nice to have. Also everyone has names in this game, and some of them are just strange... play the game yourself to find out why, those who have played it will get what I mean.<br />
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The graphics are fantastic, not only are there updates to the Pokemon and the newly added Gen 3 Pokemon but Trainers are given unique looks as do the places. A lot of the time the game comes off as having a Final Fantasy feel to it with the graphics but that could be just me. But because of this many places just pop with the right colors, my favorite place being the Under, a underground city full of neon lights. Character models are just as good from the hero, his partner, and the many people of the world including Team Snagem and Cipher.<br />
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Gameplay uses the same mechanics as the games at the time with a few changes. First off, no breeding is involved so no daycare that takes two Pokemon, there is a daycare but it's only one. The focus of the gameplay is the Shadow Pokemon. To obtain one the hero must snag it from another trainer. This is mostly the same as getting a wild Pokemon but since it is from a Trainer it is usually the last Pokemon in their party. Once you have a Shadow Pokemon you must open its heart, and that usually requires you to use them in battle, walking around, and other things if you look around to find out how to clear them. When you first have them you don't know their nature and they only have one move Shadow Rush a move that does recoil damage. As you open their heart they will get back 3 of their moves and you can even learn their nature, and once you open their heart Shadow Rush will be replaced and the Pokemon gets all the experience they would have obtained in battle to level up. Battles for Colosseum are all double battles, a reason you get two Pokemon to start with, meaning you have to deal with strategy a lot in the game and when dealing with catching Shadow Pokemon it's best you take out all other Pokemon and make sure you can gang up against the Shadow Pokemon the trainer uses. There is also Mt Battle, a volcano that has 100 trainers waiting to do battle and is a great place to train, and in Battle mode if you purified all the Shadow Pokemon and win Mt Battle with your story team you can get Ho-oh. This is a Gamecube game, and with a cable one can trade Pokemon from the Gameboy Advance games to the Gamecube games, once you clear the story mode of Colosseum that is.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness</span><br />
Back to the Orre region, after some years have passed the region is at peace.... OR IS IT!? As the story opens up a ship carrying many Pokemon is attacked by a strange Lugia. The hero this time is a young boy (never an option to be a girl in the Orre region is there?) and his trusted Eevee he got from his father is off to save the day. The hero lives in a lab that was created by my guess some time in-between the years that passed. The lab was started by the hero's father to help Pokemon from Cipher or anyone wishing to create Shadow Pokemon if such people ever showed up again. The father sadly passed away in that time but at least it's something instead of having the father be nonexistent. As it turns out Cipher as indeed rebuilt themselves and are ready to take the world. All with the help of XD 001, Shadow Lugia.<br />
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As before you have to steal Shadow Pokemon in order to free them but there has been some changes since last time they came along. First off there is no longer one Shadow Pokemon move but many now, and Pokemon can have up to 4 of those moves, with each move being different from powers, aims, and effects. Now while Shadow isn't a type it is fixed up so it does act like a type, with Shadow moves doing super effective damage to non Shadow Pokemon and not very effective damage to other Shadow Pokemon. One of the major ways to purify Pokemon now is the Purification Chamber, that by using a ring of other Pokemon and using the effectiveness of types can create energy that purifies many Pokemon even if you can't carry anymore. Also not all trainers have just one Shadow Pokemon but can have many with the final boss having SEVEN of of them! Purified Pokemon also obtain a move that they don't normally have, take for example Togepi, once purified it can get Tri Attack, and while not great in this generation it becomes a power house of a move in later generations. There is many more Shadow Pokemon to snag in this game but there is also wild Pokemon now. Yeah Pokemon have been appearing in the Orre region and in what is known as PokeSpots you can place bait and when you are signaled you can go back to the spot to catch the Pokemon there. And like the last Gamecube game you can only trade with the Gameboy Advance games once you beat the game.<br />
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Pokemon from Gen 4 gain some of the spotlight in this game, with the first game appearance of Munchlax, owned by the old lady who sells herbs, and Bonsly, the only Pokemon on the ship that was attacked by Lugia that did not get changed to a Shadow Pokemon. Munchlax goes around PokeSpots to eat the bait you placed there for wild Pokemon, and the old lady will repay you in more bait and some free herbs. After one saves Bonsly from the ship the player can use Bonsly in a special battle, but of course you do not keep it.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Replayability</span><br />
With Ruby and Sapphire you not only have the Pokemon League but also Contests to keep you busy in deciding what you want your Pokemon to do if it's battles or contests. And lets not forget the Battle Tower that is the most challenging parts of the game. With Emerald you have a whole Battle Frontier with all kinds of different battle styles aside from the Tower.<br />
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The Fire Red and Leaf Green versions were of course with it being better there is more things to do when compared to the original. And it is something for the people who like the series but felt like they didn't get enough out of Red, Blue, and Yellow.<br />
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Colosseum was a great way for people who couldn't get certain Pokemon in Ruby and Sapphire to get them here. There wasn't much Pokemon to catch but it offered some great stuff and with Mt Battle the perfect training ground for all your Pokemon from the Gameboy Advance games. XD gave the people more in battles and challenges. For the best in replay value of these games at the minimum all you need is one of the Gameboy Advance games and one of the Gamecube games for the best replay experience, though you could get more to give you a LOT to do.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Final Thoughts</span><br />
So did the series really start to fall here? No! One of the things that might have put people off was that you couldn't "catch them all" when Ruby and Sapphire came out. But the other games came out and gave use a different kind of experience that the games before didn't. Someone might say it might be because the number of games that came out for this generation but they all had their own design about them that not only made Gen 3 a whole but made each one important. Ruby and Sapphire shaped the basic gameplay that is still used with abilities, natures, and double battles, along with Contests. Emerald gave what Ruby and Sapphire had just with the added Battle Frontier. Fire Red and Leaf Green, brought back Gen 1 and showed us that the games from back then can be touched again and redone to make better. Both Gamecube games gave their own stories to the Pokemon world and their own kind of gameplay with Shadow Pokemon, which I hope to see in future games.<br />
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And to end the look at this generation we look at the best and worst of designs of Pokemon. Now a few things to note. Not all will be about appearance alone but how they are presented in the series. Also no Pokemon on the worst list can be explained through species of real life animals, take Beautifly for example, it is a butterfly like Butterfree but based on two different kinds. Also this list is hard to make, while some of my favorites are on the best list it goes by design. Last rule is that pokemon may be grouped in one spot by family, or if they are part of a group (Ex: legendary trio thing), and of unrelated pokemon might be together if they have something similar that bugs/fascinates me. Finally any Pokemon on my worst design list is not a Pokemon I hate.<br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Top 5 Worst and Best Pokemon Designs of Generation </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Worst</span><br />
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5 Castform<br />
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Mainly because of the debate that the bottom part of Castform looks like.... well look for yourself and you'll see. This Pokemon is based on a teru teru bozu, a Japanese doll to pray for good weather. While the forms it takes in the weather effects are fine it's the normal form that could have been fixed up so people wouldn't have to bring that up.<br />
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4 Azurill<br />
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If only because it's the oddest of any pre-evolved Pokemon to exist after its evolutions. It's a normal type yet having a look AND evolutions based around water. Plus for the biggest what the f**k in Pokemon one in every three female Azurill will become male. Yeah there are some animals that can change genders but this isn't the think of thing you would think could do that.<br />
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3 Trapinch<br />
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While not bug type which it is based from that isn't what gets me. The design flaw is the disconnect between it and it's evolution. There might be others that fit this but this one is personal for me. I been trying to get a Vibrava for some time in Ruby and well I didn't know how. Thanks to the internet I did find out Trapinch evolves into Vibrava but how could I possibly figure that out. It wouldn't have hurt the creators to color it the same as it's evolved forms.<br />
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2 Shelgon<br />
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The same reasons as Pupitar pretty much. A Pokemon that didn't have to be based on a cocoon at all. It says that in this stage it gets ready to evolve again, but I think that isn't a good excuse. There are Pokemon out there that start without wings yet gain them without a cocoon like form in the middle. There are things they could have done with this, but we are stuck with Shelgon as is.<br />
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1 Tropius<br />
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So it's is something like a Brachiosaurus, okay I get that. But how about the wings it has? Pokemon has played lose with how things work but this might be one of their worst ideas. I can't imagine leaves of its size to lift something that is 220.5 pounds into the air. So yeah Tropius gets the number 1 spot of generation 3 because that is where I draw the line at believing what Pokemon can do. And it does some strange stuff!<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Best</span> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
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5 Nosepass<br />
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What I love about Nosepass's design is that most people should know what it is based off of. Created from the Easter Island heads, and honestly I think Nosepass looks better than the heads it's based off of. It's nose is a compass that always points north from what we are told, though I think it might be a bit impossible with how it is in the games and anime. But if the Easter Island heads ever look exactly like this then I would so want to go. It's just something that looks better than the original.<br />
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4 Sharpedo<br />
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It's about time we had a shark Pokemon and boy did we get one. It's mean looking and looks like it could do what real world sharks would do and attack people, though that might be too much to think about. What is also nice it that while it is obviously based off a shark it does have some subtle design based off another sea creature that people might not think about giving it a first glance. That being is that its half body like shape is based on the Ocean Sunfish. It's nice to have a Pokemon with a bit of obviousness to it along with a touch of subtly.<br />
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3 Shedinja<br />
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So for one Pokemon to evolve you get TWO! This is one and a great design it has. The discarded skin of a Nincada is given life making it a unique Bug and Ghost type. Not only that but with that floating crescent on its head it is given something of an insect angel look that is both enchanting and kind of creepy. While having 1 HP it makes up for that by being immune to just about everything that isn't super effective against it. So if you know your opponent well this guy might even be a star player on a team.<br />
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2 Relicanth<br />
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Fossil Pokemon have always been part of the Pokemon world and each generation (not including Gen 2) has given us some kind of Fossil Pokemon and this is one of them. While not needing a fossil to revive it like all the others this one is a living fossil, based off the Coelacanth. The moment I saw it I knew I wanted one since it was one of the things I read about back in elementary school and it was my favorite thing I learned about. When you make something based off a real world creature and want someone like me to want one so much you know you did a good job designing it.<br />
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1 Sceptile<br />
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A Pokemon based on a gecko, not just any kind of gecko, but the leaf-tailed gecko. That is the thing with Pokemon, there are Pokemon based on creatures you never thought lived in the world. Geckos that have plant like parts to them and while there is this starters pre-evolved forms Sceptile shows this the best. It is even designed to illustrate it has an attitude, I mean look at it's "I'm cool and I know it" facial expression. <br />
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<span style="color: #38761d;">Pokemon Art (c) Ken Sugimori</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">Information Source Bulbapedia</span><br />
<br />The Dragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03273917873531063392noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2633690411431619714.post-92171403495576399452012-03-20T17:29:00.000-07:002012-03-20T19:31:27.030-07:00A Look at Pokemon: Generation 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Intro</span><br />
Now we get to the second generation of the Pokemon series. The games Gold, Silver, and Crystal continue from Gen 1 and gives us a new world to explore along with a revisit of an old world. People think this is the high point of the series and it went downhill from here. Is this really the case, is there nothing wrong with the games that I can't point out anything that might bug me... lets look.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Graphics</span><br />
For the overworld graphics much as been recycled for these versions. While there some new sprites like the old towers and the headbutting trees, it isn't enough they could have done.<br />
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Pokemon sprites do far better than the Gen 1 sprites but even some of them have their mistakes, like Raikou if you check those out.<br />
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Like Yellow before it Crystal has some better graphics done than in Gold and Silver. Plus the first time animation is used on Pokemon sprites, simple yet is expanded on in later generations.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Plot</span><br />
A squeal to the Gen 1 games set 3 years after the events of those games. Mainly the same as a boy in the same town as the Pokemon Lab is sent out on a quest to become a trainer at the age of ten. Though a bit more compelling than before. The rival has stolen a starter Pokemon on his own and is determined to become the strongest, even to have a grudge against Team Rocket though that plot doesn't go into dept until the Gen 1 remakes and leading to an event to the Gen 2 remakes. But this gives the rival a backstory as to why he is a jerk unlike the Gen 1 rival who was a prick for no real reason other than he's the rival so he has to be.<br />
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Team Rocket has rebuilt themselves and hold a better place than the last generation. While the fact that the leaders now are nameless and just a better looking grunts, it doesn't bug me that much. Team Rocket has gone through some get rich schemes by selling Slowpoke tails, devices to force Pokemon to evolve, and taking over a whole city to call back Giovanni. This ups the stakes but ends quickly in the game.<br />
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Another thing appealing about the Johto region is it's history. Ho-oh and Lugia are given much backstory to them and even the birth of the legendary beasts of the Johto region, Raikou, Entei, and Suicune. Better than Gen 1 since there isn't much history there with no tales of the legendary birds and Mewtwo is more of a modern legend in the games as to something in the far past as the Gen 2 Pokemon are.<br />
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For Pokemon Crystal the only thing added to the plot is the subplot with Suicune. Instead of it Roaming around like the other two beasts it can be spotted at certain points and is followed by the strange man named, Eusine. While not like the rival in the games he becomes your rival in obtaining the legendary Pokemon Suicune.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Gameplay</span><br />
Types have been fixed up for this generation. Along with how some moves affect other types two new types have been added to the battle, Dark and Steel, to balance out the Psychic types more. This resulted in Magnemite and Magneton being Steel and Electric. Ghost and Bug types have been given some new moves, Shadow Ball and Fury Cutter. There is also Megahorn but in this gen it's Heracross's signature move.<br />
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It is in this generation that there is now Special Attack and Special Defence for the special moves. Giving a defence for those kinds of moves is better than what was confusing in the first generation. And honestly I still don't what to know how that worked, it's not important anymore.<br />
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Now there is more possibilities with items as Pokemon can hold them and when held the items can have powers over the battle. Like the Quick Claw giving a Pokemon a chance to attack first, or items that can increase the power of certain move types. That also leads to the first of berries in the games though their names are pretty unoriginal, only named for what they heal instead of being interesting. There are also new kinds of pokeballs in Gen 2. The new pokeballs are made by Kurt of Azalea Town from apricorns. In Gold and Silver Kurt can only make one a day, while in Crystal he can make multiple of one color apricorns he his given.<br />
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Pokegear, the first in a line of devices that the main character can get on their journey to help them. One function of it is to tell time, a new thing to the games. Certain Pokemon can be found in the morning, day, or night, along with some Pokemon evolving during a certain time as well, along with some events happening too. A map that works like the Town Map item. Another is a phone that keeps a few numbers which people can call you or you call them. Some might tell you of swarms or even rebattle you. In Crystal some might give you items. Only downside of the phone is that it can only have 10 numbers. The last function of the Pokegear is the Radio. Which does exactly what you think, having different channels which has information about Pokemon, music, the pokeflute even, and on Crystal a password channel that you can get prizes from.<br />
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The big steps to this game is breeding. Certain Pokemon of certain groups called Egg Groups can breed to have a baby Pokemon. The baby is always the form of the mother, but if Ditto is involved it could become the father instead. Some Pokemon can only be obtained by breeding, like Magby and Elekid. Pokemon can even gain moves too, called egg moves that they get from the father. They also can get level up moves if both parents know the move. Now scientifically this just wouldn't happen, since a child gaining more from the mother isn't how DNA works but I've seen worse fictional ways it works. It isn't a bad thing it's just that ridiculous. Anyways once you breed a Pokemon you get an egg that you have to hatch by walking, and Pokemon all have different number of steps before that is possible. But with breeding comes gender, as this time most Pokemon are given genders to make it possible and some Pokemon only have one gender or even no gender at all.<br />
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For the most part trading remains the same as the last generations, with some new ways of evolution by trading a Pokemon with an item on them. For example an Onix traded while holding onto a Metal Coat will evolve into Steelix. Trading is possible even with the Gen 1 games. With a Time Machine one can trade to 3 years ago. An impressive feet to the series and while connections between the generations can happen they have yet to live up to the standards here. Since Gen 1 doesn't have certain Pokemon and certain moves no new Pokemon can be sent to the Gen 1 games, same with old Pokemon with new moves. That is where the move deleter comes in to get ride of moves that shouldn't be there for the player. But with this and breeding one can send Pokemon one can't get get normally through the Gen 1 games, like a level 5 Cubone.<br />
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Happiness is also added in the game. Originally from Yellow with interactions with Pikachu, Gen 2 really gives the idea of a Pokemon being happy much more care. Many Pokemon now relay on happiness to evolve or to use the full power of Return. There is also the move Frustration that relays on the opposite of happiness to use full power. But evolution is the main detail of happiness.<br />
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The biggest thing added in terms of gameplay in Crystal is the Battle Tower a staple of all the games to come. Though in order to go through you needed your Pokemon at the exact level, if it's over then it will not enter. Minor additions include the Mover Tutor and the ability to be either male for female. The ability to pick gender was to be in Gen 1 but got rid of the idea until Crystal and was in every game since then.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Pokemon</span><br />
The Pokemon of this Generation has been hinted at all the way back from the start of the anime with Ho-oh flying at the end of the first episode and Togepi coming along half way through the first region.<br />
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This has been the first time starters of a generation of Pokemon to have a pure type evolution sets, Gen 5 came close to that too... but we'll get to that down the line. Well seeing fully evolved starters as a single type was good and they are good Pokemon.<br />
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If there are any flaws it would be the number intruded and number of the new Pokemon types. This generation as yield the smallest number of new Pokemon at 100. Dark and Steel types both only had 6 Pokemon of that type during the generation. Technically 4 for the Steel types since Magnemite and Magneton were Gen 1 Pokemon and only Steel types after Gen 2 came out. Dragons and Ghost types also get the short end of the stick again with only one new Pokemon of those types added.<br />
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Since these games had more color than the last games they added the famous Red Gyarados and shiny Pokemon. Named for the sparkles and sound effects that happen when one appears. Gyarados is a given and while a Gen 1 Pokemon, Gen 2 made the Red Gyarados a mascot for all shiny Pokemon to future generations to come.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Pokemon Stadium 2</span><br />
The last of the Stadium games, it had the basics the last game had with some updates. Giving people who liked the first Stadium or any of the games out on the Game Boy at the time to get this game. It had its moments that out did even the original.<br />
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Things have returned like the GB Tower, Gym Leader Castle, and Mini Games. Nothing has changed much as far as the Tower is concerned, aside from playing Gen 1 and Gen 2 games. The Gym Leader Castle is like a castle version of the gyms in the game like the first, though you get Team Rocket to drop by to wreck up your good time. And the Mini Games.... big improvements with these, aside from playing as Pokemon you can use your own from the Game Boy games, and doing good pockets some coins for the game corner. A new addition to Stadium 2 is the Academy and Room locations. Modeled from Earl's Pokemon Academy in Violet City, trainers can learn a lot here and even have test both multiple choice and battle. The Academy even has a Library with all kinds of information that one can get on the internet nowadays, but I would really like to see this kind of thing in other games at some point. And the Room I noted is a 3D rendering of how the hero's room looks like in Gold, Silver, or Crystal. Stadium 2 also has a Mystery Gift section that lets you get an item once as day without the use of another game like normal.<br />
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In terms of prizes there isn't much. To start with a pro there is the Move Relearner that can teach a forgotten move to a Pokemon you MUST have on the team when facing the Johto Elite 4. So yes the first of the move relearner that returns for many games, great since Pokemon that you can ONLY get at higher levels learn moves at lower ones. The cons are only 2 prize Pokemon, a Farfetch'd with Baton Pass and a Gligar with Earthquake. Though one can guess that the prizes from the last Stadium game doesn't matter that much with breeding involved in the game.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Replayability</span><br />
Slightly better than Gen 1. Once you defeat the Elite 4 and Champion of Johto you are able to complete against the Kanto region Gym Leaders, and travel through the Kanto land. This is the main reason a lot of people regard Gen 2 as the best as it not only continues the story of Gen 1 but allows one to travel to the region as well. This is a feat that hasn't been repeated in any games later in the series (not counting the Gen 2 remakes). So with the inclusion of breeding, a few rematches, and the battle with Red at Mt Silver there is a good amount of extra stuff to keep you busy for a time.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Final Thoughts</span><br />
Regarded as the best of the series this offered many changes to the series and it lives up to a good amount of that. But it hasn't reached that point that I could honestly call it perfect for the reasons stated in the blog. If anything the remakes that I'll get into the Gen 4 blog are far better than the old games.<br />
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And to end the look at this generation we look at the best and worst of designs of Pokemon. Now a few things to note. Not all will be about appearance alone but how they are presented in the series. Also no Pokemon on the worst list can be explained through species of real life animals, take Beautifly for example, it is a butterfly like Butterfree but based on two different kinds. Also this list is hard to make, while some of my favorites are on the best list it goes by design. Last rule is that Pokemon may be grouped in one spot by family, or if they are part of a group (Ex: legendary trio thing), and of unrelated Pokemon might be together if they have something similar that bugs/fascinates me. Finally any Pokemon on my worst design list is not a Pokemon I hate.<br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Top 5 Worst and Best Pokemon Designs of Generation 2</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Worst</span><br />
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5 Pupitar<br />
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<a href="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/a/a1/247Pupitar.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/a/a1/247Pupitar.png" width="157" /></a></div>
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A cocoon stage between Larvitar and Tyranitar. My question is why? Sure Larvitar has "larva" in its name but it isn't a larva exactly. But does Pupitar have to be some new looking Metapod for this to work?<br />
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4 Remoraid and Octillery<br />
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<a href="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/c/cb/224Octillery.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/c/cb/224Octillery.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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Not themselves but the fact that Remoraid evolving into Octillery is a a big design flaw. A fish evolving into an octopus is all kinds of WTF and makes no sense. There is no connection to them. At least for Pokemon like Magikarp evolving into Gyarados made some logic since it relates to a tale of a carp becoming a dragon, not true in any way but it's something. These two... what got into the creators' heads to think that a fish becoming an octopus was at all a smart idea?<br />
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3 Shuckle<br />
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<a href="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/c/c7/213Shuckle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/c/c7/213Shuckle.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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One of the best when it comes to defense, sporting a 230 base stat for both defense and special defense. While usable in battle it isn't that great of a design. Heck it is called the Mold Pokemon, and why? It is most likely based off of mold, kind of a disgusting thought. It also has some style based off turtles as to why it behaves in a similar way. And if it does have that as a base as well it is kind of unappealing compared to the other turtle based Pokemon in the series.<br />
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2 Unown<br />
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<a href="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/7/77/201Unown.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/7/77/201Unown.png" width="176" /></a></div>
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To making the alphabet of the Pokemon world is one thing, but to make the letters alive for no real reason? And they only know one move? So not only does Unown not get a good source for their design but also given low stats and a poor move pool. If it had anything interesting for it in terms of moves maybe it wouldn't be so high on the list.<br />
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1 Wobbuffet<br />
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<a href="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/1/17/202Wobbuffet.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/1/17/202Wobbuffet.png" width="129" /></a></div>
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A cool Pokemon that I like even the design, but I will not deny that the design is terrible, possibly in a so bad it's good kind of way. Thinking about it, Wobbuffet could make the number 1 of all Pokemon in bad design. Researching on Bulbapedia, this Pokemon seems to be based on a Japanese comedian named Sapei Hayashiya who is known for putting his hand to his head, much like our friend here. Heck even it's Japanese name comes from the guy's trademark phrase, "That's the way it is." And it's ability to take hits might come from the other basis for Wobbuffet, a punching bag. So mixing a comedian with a punching bag yields a blueish blob with a black tail with eyes. Wow, imagine what would happen if they combine Abe Lincoln with a motorcycle! <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Best</span> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
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5 Girafarig<br />
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<a href="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/1/11/203Girafarig.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/1/11/203Girafarig.png" width="124" /></a></div>
Of course the main creature this is based off of is a giraffe. And I think it works better than I would have thought. You would think that something based off a giraffe would have a much longer neck but it pulls it off without the neck being very long yet still recognizable as a giraffe.<br />
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4 Heracross<br />
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<a href="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/4/47/214Heracross.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/4/47/214Heracross.png" /></a></div>
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Built to be tough though in its eyes make it kind of cute to me. Based on a rhinoceros beetle and the insect fights we get this one. Not a fan of the bug types Heracross comes off as a kind of Pokemon that is a badass with a heart of gold. Look into those eyes and tell me you don't feel the same.<br />
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3 Hoothoot and Noctowl<br />
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<a href="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/5/53/163Hoothoot.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/5/53/163Hoothoot.png" width="195" /></a><a href="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/f/fa/164Noctowl.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/f/fa/164Noctowl.png" width="180" /></a></div>
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I think it's how these two have a sense of dignity to them. Owls have usually been a sign of intelligence, and you can see it well in the two. With Hoothoot being the first stage it is given a cute appearance but has a look of a thinker. When evolving into Noctowl it is almost given an air of nobility even though it isn't based around anything like that. While not a psychic type themselves they can do psychic type moves and look brighter than many psychic type Pokemon. Dare I say that Noctowl looks smarter than Mewtwo.<br />
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2 Raikou, Entei, and Suicune<br />
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<a href="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/c/c1/243Raikou.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="162" src="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/c/c1/243Raikou.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/f/f9/244Entei.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/f/f9/244Entei.png" width="183" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/d/da/245Suicune.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/d/da/245Suicune.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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It's the history of the legendary beasts that gets them here. Once Pokemon died in a fire of the tower, and Ho-oh with its power gave them new life as the first roaming Pokemon in the series. This story of rebirth for them is simple and great. Plus the order of them on the Pokedex also tells the story of the day they died and was reborn with Raikou being the lightning that started the fire of the tower, Entei being the fire that burned the tower to the ground, and Suicune as the northern winds that carried the rain that stopped the fire.<br />
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1 Smeargle<br />
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<a href="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/9/92/235Smeargle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/9/92/235Smeargle.png" width="170" /></a></div>
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A beagle with an artist look to it, and it is the Jack of all Trades. And as someone who enjoys drawing and stuff, even make my own title cards the artist looks speaks to me. Yeah Mew can learn all TMs but Smeargle can learn all TMs and then some. While not having the best of stats anyone can work around that for a Pokemon that can pack a punch that you can't get with any other Pokemon. From being a One-Hit KO wonder to the perfect Pokemon to catch others this Pokemon is the one of the best. Also it can learn any move just by drawing it, so it can draw flames that become real or even draw up some wings to use fly.<br />
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<span style="color: #38761d;">Pokemon Art (c) Ken Sugimori</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">Information Source Bulbapedia</span><br />
<br />The Dragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03273917873531063392noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2633690411431619714.post-86235687097109211292012-03-12T21:03:00.000-07:002012-03-20T08:52:36.109-07:00A Look at Pokemon: Generation 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1EOoDn3J5EU3gz5FNTp-cYesFm-ow8qkB_OwYuEhF4yV3KhRP1SP4R8wduXvqB9zqYN9R5GBI4JVLMNCrvptP8yo1ou-Tb44YoD1_JO7aYNa18znlXm8PfVStBvIs4wiUzde126IhuAAP/s1600/Titlecard3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1EOoDn3J5EU3gz5FNTp-cYesFm-ow8qkB_OwYuEhF4yV3KhRP1SP4R8wduXvqB9zqYN9R5GBI4JVLMNCrvptP8yo1ou-Tb44YoD1_JO7aYNa18znlXm8PfVStBvIs4wiUzde126IhuAAP/s1600/Titlecard3.png" /></a></div>
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<br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Intro</span><br />
The start of it all, Generation 1 of Pokemon. It is from this that Pokemon has became as big as the other franchises of Nintendo. Originally to be called Capsule Monsters the series was started by Satoshi Tajiri who enjoyed catching bugs. So it moved to catching monsters. Now looking at things it took development 5-6 years to complete. So it took a long time for this series to start, even to the point where Game Freak almost went bankrupt. When you look at these beginnings it is very impressive that the series got to where it is today.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Graphics</span><br />
For the time it took to develop the game the graphics are below average. All the buildings are the same style and the only thing to tell the difference from a Gym, Pokemon Center, and a PokeMart is a tiny sign.<br />
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For the Pokemon sprites all of them look like little effort went into designing them. Look at the gen 1 artwork done by Ken Sugimori, that is professional work done that I would have liked to had seen on the sprites as well but it isn't until Pokemon Yellow that the Pokemon sprites turn out much better.<br />
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Now if the first games had little time to put in work I would understand but the time frame they had here, well they could have done better.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Plot</span><br />
At the age of 10 a young boy leaves to become a Pokemon Trainer. The Goal being to collect 8 badges, beat the Elite Four and become the Champion. Basic of the series but there is also the other plot line of the games. The bad guys. Team Rocket, a group of mafia like men determined to take other the world.<br />
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When you look at the Team Rocket plot here things fall apart. The last time you really ever battle them is the Silph Co. building. From there you don't really encounter them anywhere. Sure the boss of Team Rocket is the last gym leader, but that last gym is treated as nothing else, a gym. The final battle there should have had more on the line than just a badge, the gym should have been crawling with Rocket Grunts with a grand plan to stop. But no... it's a gym and nothing else.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Gameplay</span><br />
The bare elements of the game are all here. Not perfect, with only having 15 types and moves being set by type, but most things in the series started here.<br />
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Pokemon battle one on one with 4 moves, with certain stats being more favorable than others trainers pick the right move to defeat the opponent. Simple yes but it's a solid game style and for good reason that it has been used up to now.<br />
<br />
But now we get to the flaws of the gameplay. Moves like Gust and Karate Chop were Normal moves even though their true types existed at the time (so Bite was changed after the Dark type was created). The kind of damage done by types also remained unpolished with Bug being super effective against Poison and vise versa, unlike now were Bug does half damage and Poison does normal. Also Ice did normal damage to Fire types. But the biggest flaw of all is the typing of Psychic types, with Ghosts doing no damage though not having any good Ghost type attacks. Bug types did do super effective damage but they only had a few moves that were not worth anything. There is also a flaw with stats as there was no Special Attack or Special Defense, it was just Special. But what did Special mean? Was it both attack and defense, or did the Defense stat take both kinds of attacks? Before anyone says anything just think about it, without looking it up on the internet can anyone honestly look at this and figure this out? Final nail here is Dragon and Ghost types. I dealt with Ghost with the Psychic thing but for the first generation Ghosts and Dragons were not given much to work with only having one family line and no others. Plus the only Dragon move, Dragon Rage, that only does a small set damage.<br />
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There is also a reason that there are multiple versions with certain Pokemon you can/can't catch, Trading. It was a main point in the games and made to enforce the trading function to the point that some Pokemon have to be traded to evolve. That is a good marketing tool so that with friends you can trade with. But that is only if you know someone who can trade with you that is close by with a link cable. There is one problem with trading and that is regards to starters. You have one of three to pick and after that you can't get the other two. A minor problem as you might not find someone who would easily give up their starter in a trade.<br />
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The Yellow version doesn't have great changes like the third games after it but it does have its own twists. The main thing is that it somewhat follows the anime, with Pikachu being the starter and Jessie and James are there in Team Rocket. Pikachu can follow you around like Ash's Pikachu and has different expressions as its treated good or bad. It is the game I started with and I would pick this one over the others just for the relationship with Pikachu and better Pokemon sprites.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Pokemon</span><br />
For the longest time Gen 1 had the most Pokemon that came from a generation, only to be outdone by Gen 5 when it had a total of 156. But for its time it brought forth some of the most iconic Pokemon of the series, Pikachu, Mewtwo, Meowth, and Jigglypuff. There are some good and some bad, but well deal with that in the bonus part of this look back.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Pokemon Stadium</span><br />
Now the Stadium game we all know of is really the second game. The first one being only in Japan and for good reason. That many Pokemon where not added to the game so for the better we got this one. Pokemon Stadium, a game that brought our well trained Pokemon to a 3D glory.<br />
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It offered challenges to trainers of all kinds with Cup battles that focused on certain levels Pokemon can have. Also the challenge of the Gym Leader Castle. And for those without the game, don't worry, Rental Pokemon are there for you. The only downside to that is that they don't have moves that you would pick but it's better than nothing and have a large roster to chose from.<br />
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Stadium also offers a mini game section where you can play different games with different Pokemon. They were amusing and there are easy to hard modes to up the challenge. But best thing of the game was the GB Tower. A device that allowed a Pokemon Game Boy to be played on the N64 console. I without a Game Boy used this to play my Pokemon Yellow game.<br />
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For beating the Elite 4 and Rival at the Gym Leader Castle you are reward with either a starter, hitmon, fossil, or Eevee. And removes the trade problem that I noted before. And for beating the Prime Cup: Masterball Round 2 you can get Pikachu from your game to learn Surf. Granted that you had it as one of the three Pokemon on your team.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Replayability</span><br />
So aside from catching and training them all, what else is there. You could get Stadium if you have the means for that extra challenge but what else is there in the game? All you really have left is battling the Elite 4 over and over again. Best that you have a friend with a game and link cable to battle with.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Final Thoughts</span><br />
A good start but there is so much more that can be done with the series and in later generations they have with so much better things. The first games get a remake in Gen 3 that we'll get to but for now as it is the games are good. It doesn't hit any high standards at all but it's the heart of the game that kept people coming back for more and how the Pokemon series evolved to what it is today.<br />
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And to end the look at this generation we look at the best and worst of designs of Pokemon. Now a few things to note. Not all will be about appearance alone but how they are presented in the series. Also no Pokemon on the worst list can be explained through species of real life animals, take Beautifly for example, it is a butterfly like Butterfree but based on two different kinds. Also this list is hard to make, while some of my favorites are on the best list it goes by design. Last rule is that pokemon may be grouped in one spot by family, or if they are part of a group (Ex: legendary trio thing), and of unrelated pokemon might be together if they have something similar that bugs/fascinates me. Finally any Pokemon on my worst design list is not a Pokemon I hate.<br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Top 5 Worst and Best Pokemon Designs of Generation 1</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Worst</span><br />
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5 Kangaskhan<br />
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<a href="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/4/4e/115Kangaskhan.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/4/4e/115Kangaskhan.png" width="194" /></a></div>
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Once my sister asked me if there are a kangaroo Pokemon yet and I said no. When it comes to Kangaskhan I don't see it as a kangaroo and it's design doesn't help much. If it wasn't for the baby it always has would anyone think of a Kangaroo? Plus it's strange that for being one of the first Pokemon they have yet to give the baby it's own Pokemon form and name.<br />
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4 Voltorb and Electrode<br />
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<a href="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/d/da/100Voltorb.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/d/da/100Voltorb.png" width="200" /></a><a href="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/8/84/101Electrode.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/8/84/101Electrode.png" width="197" /></a></div>
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Simple yet so many things just shouldn't work with it. For one is that they can be mistaken as items/pokeballs, while they share a look they don't have the black band in the middle that pokeballs have AND they might not be the same size. Now looking up origin of them is that they could be based on the enemies called mimics (monsters that look like chests), now while they can be confused for items, who can look at them and say that they would honestly fall for that. Especially Electrode who is far bigger yet you might run into one thinking it is an item in the game. Also with their moves they might be based on bombs. I don't know about you but explosive creatures might might good enemies but I don't have mush taste to have a bomb in my team.<br />
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3 Grimer and Muk<br />
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For this family it comes down to one thing, I have dealt with sludge before. It isn't pretty, it isn't fun, and a lot of stuff had to be thrown out just from touching the sludge. It's from that experience I wonder from than on why make something like that?<br />
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2 Koffing and Weezing<br />
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First thing, Beta versions of the game had them named Ny and La respectively, meaning New York and Los Angeles. That isn't offensive now is it? Somehow being a mutant life form that lives off pollution and they are not exactly a great looking example it if.<br />
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1 Magneton and Dugtrio<br />
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I don't hate them in any way but they are more than deserving of this spot. While they are copy and paste of their pre-evolved forms the fact that they both are from one generation kind of kills the "losing creativity" idea people have when it comes to newer games. With Dugtrio it's based off the Wack-A-Mole game which is odd and Magneton is well... MAGNETS! To the credit of the creators Magneton does get more of a 1.5 since it got an awesome evolution in the 4th gen. But really when it comes down to it designs like this doesn't prove the point old Pokemon fans claim.<br />
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5 Rhydon<br />
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This one is credited as being the first Pokemon created. And for the one that holds that spot it is kind of surprising that Rhydon doesn't get the kind of fame other Pokemon of this generation has gotten. Even before it got an evolved form it was already a powerhouse of a Pokemon. When looking at Rhydon, I can really feel the soul of the start of Pokemon. That's more than enough of a reason to give it at least this spot.<br />
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4 Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar<br />
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A perfect example of simplicity done right. The only ghost of the generation they may not have much during the first gen but they have a look to them that ghost fans would love. As Gastly evolves its eyes get more menacing and a smile that could easily compete with the Joker's. And as the evolution continues the ghostly Pokemon grows many spikes making it look more threatening as it becomes Gengar. Out of the concept of the game Gengar is one of the originals, much like number 5.<br />
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3 Meowth<br />
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A Pokemon that had to be on here. With on as the talkative member of Team Rocket Meowth is a simple design yet wonderful at the same time. The base for Meowth seems to be the beckoning cat, an item used in Japan to draw in customers. Considering how popular Meowth is in the series, they seem to work the same way.<br />
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2 Pikachu and Raichu<br />
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Yeah these guys. But who can blame me. A well balance between mouse and electricity make for the perfect design. And like Meowth if the design didn't work Pikachu would certainly not be as popular as it is now. Plus given moves like Fly and Surf, who wouldn't want one? Though the means of getting one of them that knows those moves is MUCH harder now more than ever.<br />
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1 Eevee and all it's evolutions<br />
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Yes it's cheating since some of it's evolutions are from other generations but screw that. Eevee started here and because of that all the others came to be because of Eevee. What makes it the best is how Eevee is simple yet complex. There are 7 evolutions of Eevee and all of them are styled to fit their element all while keeping a design that clicks into players minds to say "that's an Eevee evolution!"<br />
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<span style="color: #38761d;">Pokemon Art (c) Ken Sugimori</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">Information Source Bulbapedia</span>The Dragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03273917873531063392noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2633690411431619714.post-89630603229535696762012-03-01T20:09:00.005-08:002012-03-13T08:35:32.195-07:00Reasons why the First Fullmetal Alchemist Anime Sucked!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My first big Blog, ready for a rant of a lifetime?</div>
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Fullmetal Alchemist is my favorite series in anime and manga. But when it was first given an anime it well... it went terribly. While the Dub and Animation was great the rest of the anime sucked big time. There are many reasons why it failed that might be too much to count. So instead of just overviews of each episode, this will be looking at certain details of the first anime and why they just didn't work. Also these will be points that are in the anime itself, so no notes on things like the Tringham brothers since that plot was from the FMA light novel and was not from the manga or the anime creators. After all for it to stand on its own one must look that the changes they went with. WARNING: There will be spoilers.</div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><u>THE DIRECTION</u></span></div>
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Kind of cheating for this being the first one but it is to sum up how the flaws of the first anime came to be. The manga started in 2001 and ended in 2010, so at the time the first anime came out the original series was still ongoing. The mangaka herself, Hiromu Arakawa, wanted the first series to be different so as to not end the way her manga does as she wanted the true end to come for when the manga ended. An okay reason to make it different, but the direction it went in was horrible and left so many plot holes and then gave the middle finger to the people twice, once for the anime ending and second for the movie... but I'll get into the movie later. If they wanted to make their own thing fine but the path they went in was the wrong one and the things that will be listed below are the result of it.</div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><u>THE STATE ALCHEMY EXAM</u></span></div>
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One of the first things I take note of is the State Alchemy Exam. For the brothers to take it they had to save a general on a train to get permission to take the exam. Worthless as the State wouldn't mind as long as they had the talent for it, and if the government really felt that they are not of age then the test would have shown it. Plus you have Bradley running it and wants them in so why have that when he would fix it for them to enter anyways? In the first anime both Ed and Al take it, dumb considering this should have been something they would have discussed before taking it, and of course Al drops out. The biggest problem I have with the exam would be the "only one can be a state alchemist" rule. I understand them wanting the best of the best but since alchemists are the core fighting force of the military wouldn't make more sense to take ALL who have passed to be their alchemists than just the one?</div>
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<u><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">THE START OF LOOKING FOR THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE</span></u></div>
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The Elric brothers try to think of a way to get their bodies back, after learning of the power of the philosopher's stones Ed joins the military to find clues to get the item of myth. That is simple and doesn't make any confusing points. But the first anime had King Bradley tell the brothers about the stone and the power it had. I ask, why? I know the bad guys want them to make a stone but I'll explain later as to why that is stupid. And considering how the stone is a legend among alchemists it is a strange detail that Bradley has to give Ed a motivational speech to go look for it.</div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><u>SHOU TUCKER</u></span></div>
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Tucker was a one note character for his part in the story. But for some reason they brought him back as a chimera with an upside down face... wait Tucker, upside down face, damn it's a Family Guy reference isn't it. In his brief time in the story he was the first to show Ed and Al the kind of world they are in when it comes to alchemy and the military. He placed his title higher than anything else in his life, even using his own daughter, Nina, in an experiment so he can keep being a State Alchemist. When he returns at Lab 5 it is rather pointless as he doesn't give Ed any real information that he couldn't get himself or from the Slicer brothers. But what does he do this work for? He is doing it so he can bring back his daughter. This is stupid because by this point he does not deserve any pity from anyone. After the stuff he is done there really is no point for him being tragic in any way.</div>
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<u><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">WINRY</span></u></div>
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Why was Winry pushed to the side? That's what this anime did to her. She is the person who is always there waiting for the Elric brothers to come home and worries about them, but here they really screwed her over. One of the major events of the story is the birth of a child that Winry delivers with the help of the other people in the room. It showed that she can do more than just automail. In the first anime the birth was given to Elicia Hughes and Winry is nowhere to be found, how Ed, Al, and Nina got the job done is confusing to me and missed out on some great moments if she was there. Then there is the watch, Winry finds out what is in Ed's State Alchemist watch and they completely ignore it. Sure she cries for a bit but afterward it means nothing, but in the original story Winry found this out at Rush Valley and decided to stay so she can make better automail for Ed and that she can't just sit there and wait. Again it ignores that and pushes her away to the point here she almost doesn't mean anything, sure she is a childhood friend, but I felt that the first anime didn't really go anywhere with it. And there is her parents that I'll get to, her reaction to it in the original story is heart warming and sad, while this anime is like... meh. The first anime doesn't do much with her and in any telling in FMA that shouldn't be the case.</div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><u>DEATH OF MAES HUGHES</u></span></div>
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Yeah he sadly dies in the real story and this anime but the reasons for killing him off are so far stupid. When he is looking through records he discovers that a name has been used a few times, a dead soldier, the name of the person who shot the child that started the Ishbal Civil war, and the name of Bradley's secretary. Now Hughes thinks something is wrong right off the bat, but at no point does he think of the possibility that there are in fact some people in the military that DO have the same name? Odd as it can be the military is one of the biggest organisations in the country, the fact that some might in fact have the same name is indeed possible. Now for the original story Hughes discovers the transmutation circle around the country and knows for a fact that this can't be a coincidence, while the other reason... it can be labeled that way and can be easy to fake. When Hughes made that discovery it remained a mystery till it's reveal and it was a pretty big one and showed that one of the most loved characters died before letting anyone know of this evil plot. They sadly screwed up here with having him killed off for something that is weak and can be worked so as the name thing really is a coincidence.</div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><u>THE ISHBAL CIVIL WAR</u></span></div>
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The start of it anyways. The idea for the civil war was brilliant. A child dying by the hands of a soldier, not the most greatest of events but illustrates how something of a small event leads to war and how humans can go to war over an event like that. In any telling of FMA you don't need anything else because it is simple and nothing can top it, it's not something you needed to change. But in the first anime they had to change it anyways. The "truth" of that matter is the child being shot was a lie and the real start of the war was some black ops mission to kill some Ishbalian leaders in the dead of night. Now I got to ask, how do you cover a kill leaders mission with shot a child by mistake? For the real story the child being shot by mistake was only false in the sense that Envy became a soldier who was against the military at Ishbal that shot the child to start the work. It really killed off the kind of impact that the civil war had in the first anime.</div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><u>SCAR AND HIS BROTHER</u></span></div>
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The two are left unnamed by the time the series is done but in the story their relationship as brothers was perfect. Scar was a more traditional Ishbalian and his brother studied alchemy against his own religious codes to help advance his people in this day and age. So how do you screw that kind of thing up? Love Triangle! They are both in love with an Ishbalain woman who down the line "becomes" Lust. Yeah the brother who studied alchemy to save his people is now doing it to bring back his dead girlfriend. And it is revealed that Scar had feelings for her too. Was this ever needed and did it do good for the plot? The answer to both is, NO!</div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><u>DEATH OF WINRY'S PARENTS</u></span></div>
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Mustang killed Winry's parents. Now that alone should show how moronic that twist was. Why did they have to use Mustang, they could have had Kimblee do it, heck in the manga Kimblee was informed about Mr. and Mrs. Rockbell with the idea of having him be the one to kill them. And to add to that it would have been that some Ishbalains killed them to be a cover-up story. Now it was Scar that ended up doing the deed and it worked out for the military in some ways since there didn't need to be a cover-up story. I bring up a cover-up story since Mustang not only did it but people KNEW about it. I can't understand why they don't use it for a cover-up story to push their war plans on Ishbal. When Winry discovered that it was Scar that killed her parents she was crying about it as she was face to face with him, and the fact Scar was one of their patients as well. She even grabbed a gun since she was that broken up about it. That was meaningful and the kind of stress people go through when confronted with something like that. In the anime while she isn't happy that it was Roy she doesn't seem to break down like a normal person would. This also screws up Roy as apparently killing them was what sparked Mustang into be the leader of the country, while his character aimed for the top without something like that hanging over his head.</div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><u>ROSE</u></span></div>
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I'm going to say it, the first anime RAPES the FMA series. Think I have no right to say it, well just keep reading then tell me if I went too far. So Rose appears first thing as a follower believing her dead boyfriend will come back to life, the Elric bothers come along and show her, and the town the truth and leaves them to continue to walk on their own feet. In the manga she appears again but is the same as she was then, a supporting character. The people who worked on the anime for some reason thought it would work to make her a main character by making her the love interest... though it was meant to be Winry. So how do they pull this off? Well after the first arc battles start in town and Rose gets raped. That's right... she gets raped.... do I even have to go in detail of how sick and wrong it is? Sure it happens and it can be done well in a story but here it is used as a tool to get Rose into a love interest role with Ed, oh and she gets pregnant from the rape. Classy... And after that unsettling plot device, Rose gives birth becomes a holy mother of her own cult. This completely contradicts the whole move forward on your own that Ed told her. To force her into the love interest role even more she is kidnapped by Dante and is planned to use to attract Ed over to Dante's side. It's because of the first anime that people show hate towards Rose, and the anime never shown kindness to Rose. Heck even the far better Brotherhood they had her point a gun at Ed, why don't they like her?</div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><u>HOHENHEIM</u></span></div>
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In the original story Hohenheim had a reason to leave home. While Ed hated him for it thinking he just walked out on them, fact was that it wasn't the reality of what happened creating a reasonable misunderstanding between them. Here? He just walks out on them. For anyone who says that it was because he was rotting I call bull. In the original story Trisha was alright with who Hohenheim was, and knew why he had to leave. I doubt that Trisha wouldn't have been alright with his problem in this anime. When he tells Ed of his reason on leaving it really did sound like an excuse rather than a reason he had to but didn't want to. Also before Trisha he had another wife, Dante. Stuff like this makes me hate the man, even more when talks to Maria Ross like being a playboy to her. Yeah he really left because it was too much for his "family" to see him rot. For the rotting thing turns out Hohenheim has lived a long time by taking other people's bodies. This isn't against his own will or anything, for this he MUST have taken the bodies of others to live. So he was evil? How long did he work with Dante? Why did he leave her? We never know. Also he had a kid with Dante that he tried to bring back that resulted in Envy and... well I'll get that bag of worms soon enough. Another thing, there are too many people who have done human transmutations. Before it was just the Elric brothers and their teacher, but now Scar's brother and Hohenheim are added to the list. When Hohenheim did open the gate it was against is own will and it was to create the stone, not bringing anyone back to life.</div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><u>NO ROY VS ENVY</u></span></div>
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One of the major points of the FMA story was the death of Hughes that drove Roy to find the one who killed him, namely Envy. In the original story Roy had his conflict with Envy and it ended on a moving note. In the first anime, while Envy killed Hughes but Roy didn't seem to give a damn. I know the first anime was meant to be different but with Envy killing Hughes there HAS to be a time were Roy fights Envy with the battle being different than the original one.</div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><u>THE HOMUNCULI</u></span></div>
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The story behind them in the first anime is that they are created from fail transmutation. Odd considering that would mean that it was successful and not a failure. But the problem comes that if they were revived humans than who were they and why THEY were revived? Only some are explained but it doesn't work as you would need to tell the tale for all of them. Greed, Gluttony, and "Pride" are the only ones to not have a story behind them. Plus in this story it makes no sense to give them names of the Seven Deadly Sins. In the original story they were parts of Father that came from the every sin in which they were named. Here though, it's only because of the villain is called Dante. As Film Brain would put it, "SYMBOLISM!" Admittedly the idea is interesting but the execution of the homunculi here is dull and lame. Oh in the manga a homunculus can die if one kills them enough, and the weakness of the homunculi in the first anime... the remains of the person that the alchemist tried to bring back. A very lame weakness. But that is the homunculi in general as some have problems of their own.</div>
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<u><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">KING BRADLEY</span></u></div>
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Head of the government and one of the toughest of the homunculi, but even he gets downgraded in the first anime. First thing, he is Wrath, not Pride. This was a confusing thing with having to call him Pride when he already had the name Wrath to him. He worked as Wrath. While appearing calm and collective, he is ready to unleash all of his rage on anyone who makes him mad. Heck at Hughe's funeral his hands are shaking in rage at want to cut up the crying Elicia. As Pride though, there is not point to it. Also Bradley has an important back story in the original story, he was human at first but was used to create a new Homunculus that was able to age and lead the country the way Father wanted. For the first anime, it is never explained how he ages, how he was created, or even what his purpose was. </div>
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<u><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">LUST</span></u></div>
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While her character may not show her identity as well as the other homunculi she does have a way with seducing people as shown with Havoc when she tries to get information from him. The first anime however, changes her from a badass woman who is proud of who she is to a whiny jerk who wants to be human. Also to be included in her character is like noted before is that she has a connection to Scar. I can't help but wonder why do this when it isn't a good idea to begin with?</div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><u>WRATH</u></span></div>
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I already talked about the real Wrath, but this is the first anime one. And he's.... a whiny kid. You know Pride is a child but he wasn't like this, while wanting a real family he was loyal to Father and was a real frighting villain. Wrath though seems to have mommy issues and isn't at all intimating. And thinks of Sloth as his mother I guess... I really don't know why. He also had Ed's arm and leg, confused? Well since this is human transmutations he was born when Izumi tried to bring back her child and sending the thing that came to be through the gate. Made more sense before as it just died... don't know why that happened. So it grew... somehow, and somehow came through the gate... again makes no sense. And after all that was said and done he lived in the end, until the movie that he died. I can't follow that at all.</div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><u>SLOTH</u></span></div>
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So the thing Ed and Al created was alive and is their enemy. Interesting but a problem, how the heck did they not notice it was gone! The real story had Pinako burying the thing in the back yard, yet at no point do I recall them wondering where it was. And Dante was right outside of their house when it happened, HOW did she know!? So plot holes as far as the eye can see. Then there are the problems with her powers. She can become ALL water, now equivalent exchange means that shouldn't be possible. Take Greed for example, he had the power to change the carbon in his body into a powerful armor that covered his body and not change his full body to a carbon stone. Humans are made of 75% water, so she shouldn't be able to become 100% water. Then comes the name, again it is all the Dante's Inferno symbolism of it all so how did she get the name... by taking a bit more time to be ready like the other homunculi.</div>
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<u><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">ENVY</span></u></div>
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So yeah the child of Dante and Hohenheim, and the first of the homunculi. I'm still lost as to why Hohenheim left them (my theory is that he is just a bastard), but his causes Envy to feel.... well envy at the Elric brothers for "having his blood in their veins", thought that can't be true in the fact that it isn't really his body... and I'll be quiet about that. Envy was really envious of humans and took out that anger he had about it by making them suffer going so far to shoot the child that caused the civil war and taking pleasure from that. While in the manga Envy worked since he was envious as his nature and how Mustang referred that envy is an ugly sin which all his actions are meaningful. The first anime however... if you had not guessed already Envy's problems are well, daddy issues, you know like Wrath and his mommy ones it was just as stupid there as it was here.</div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><u>DANTE</u></span></div>
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And the award for worst anime villain of all time goes to... DANTE! Dante, Dante, Dante... this woman has so many things wrong about her that it is unholy. Most of the topic will be focused on her because she is that big of a flaw. First of all her plans just stink and a failure of how it gets the story moving. In the manga Father makes a whole country to create a big transmutation circle so he could make an all powerful philosopher's stone and gain the powers of god. The way he does this requires many people, a long time, and a lot of work. Dante just wants the stone to live longer and get other people to make despite the fact that she can use alchemy herself to make it herself, yeah it is just head scratching. Dante keeps the Elric brothers alive to do this, though again she has more knowledge than them on the subject, plus even if you look beyond that bit of stupidity then why kill Marcoh? Not only does it not make sense for them to do what you can do, but you go so far to contradict yourself shows us how much of a moron you are. And the stupid of Dante goes even farther than just that, with Greed who rebelled against her, she imprisoned him in Lab 5... though she had what she needed to kill him off herself, she even used Greed's weakness so that Ed can kill him, why not do that yourself a LONG time ago? So for her to live longer like Hohenheim is to use the stone to take someone else's body, a strange thing since she was Izumi's teacher, so way not take her body? Then comes the problem with taking over another body, like I noted before the new body rots away, going faster every time she transfers to a new body. How does she plan to avoid the death that is coming towards her though she doesn't want to die? NEVER EXPLAINED! Also why does she need control of the government? Again in the original story, Father created the country itself along with the government to create the stone, and had battles fought in order to make the circle. Dante though doesn't take that route, and in fact the wars that break out in the first anime is more or less pointless now as here they have no meaning as they did in the manga, so she had war for no reason whatsoever. It really stinks in the end that all she aimed for was a stone made out of a city when Father aimed for SO much bigger. By the end like above she takes Rose to be her next body to be in love with Ed to get back at Hohenheim. One why not Winry, she's the childhood friend who has a much closer tie to Edward than Rose. Two trying to hook up with your Ex's son... there is no creeped out face in the world that can match how gross that is. Finally how does the worst villain die out, well in the lamest written way that's how! She made Gluttony into a completely mindless eating machine but somehow had no control over him so Gluttony ate her in the end. A pathetic end to a pathetic villain.</div>
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<u><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">AL'S BODY</span></u></div>
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One of the great things about Fullmetal Alchemist is it's explanations of the plot, people, and alchemy. As the Elric brothers try to find a way to get their bodies back to normal it dawns on Al as to what is happening to his body, and it is explain what is happening to it. Again the first anime fails to give us anything that explains what happened to Al's body. Sure it was taken, but where to, who had it? I give this anime a little credit with it's excuse of what happened to Ed's arm and leg.</div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><u>THE GATE</u></span></div>
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In the series it was the door way to the Truth, or to God in some ways. Here however, Truth isn't there and the gate doesn't work like it should. It is a doorway to "our" world, *face palm* of all the badly written plot details. And it goes on to state that the powers of alchemy come from the lives of the people in that other world. Now the problems with that, one that just makes the philosopher's stone pointless. Think about it, if the power you use already is the equal to the power you are looking for than why look for it? The stone was meant to to increase the powers of alchemy, because it used a different power from what alchemist tend to use. Second point is that how does no one know where the power of alchemy comes from? In dept to the story alchemy comes from the power of the moving plates of the planet, but it's not all true since Father uses the stone to control the alchemy of the land. But there it worked because Father had control of all the knowledge of alchemy in the country. In the first anime, well Dante didn't use any such control for anything. So how does no one know? Like so many things, never explained! Heck anything else could have been passed the gate and it would make as much sense as the first one. Look even I can do it, what is beyond the gate? KINGDOM HEARTS! Strange, confusing, devoid of logic you say? Well it's just as good as what the first anime gave us.</div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><u>THE ENDING</u></span></div>
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And the end, where everything wrong comes together and gives us all the middle finger. There's the reveal of Dante's plans that I already explained, what Envy is that I also explained, and the truth of the gate from the last problem. How does one add on the mountain of stupid we already have. Al uses the stone to get his brother back and only his brother making Al a dumbass. A point of note is that during their journey is that when they found the stone they decided not to use it as it is using the lives of other people, but here they don't care. Another point being that with the amount of stone he had he could have easily get Ed and his own body back and HAPPY ENDING! So by not doing that they avoided an easy way to end on a good end just so they have a bad one. I don't mind ends that don't have a happy final note but don't do it in a way that is forced and when the BEST choices are there. Then there is when Ed looks stupid as well. After Al needlessly gives himself to bring back Ed, Ed does the same for Al, making Al's sacrifice useless. In the real end of FMA Ed thinks of a way to bring back Al's body but not to pay with the stone or his own body, knowing it would be a bad thing to leave Al without his only family giving him the idea to give up his gate for it, and it was genius! However the end here doesn't give us the same feeling of heart and emotion that the manga had. Lets not forget the stupid way the villain died, classy.</div>
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<u><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">THE MOVIE</span></u></div>
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So after one middle finger what do the fans get with this movie that continues the story one last time, a SECOND middle finger! First off I must stress the thing from this movie that pisses me off more than anything that is in this, they made Hughes into a Nazi... I repeat, they made Maes Hughes into a Nazi. If that isn't a reason to completely rage out on this movie I don't know what is. So yeah Ed is in "our" world where there are people that look like the people in his world. And we see him with a guy that looks like Al, so he needed to find someone to that looks like him and stay with him.... this is how yaoi is created people. And he tells Not Al of how the nuclear bomb isn't from our world... no no no no, Ed and Al battled a mad scientist in their world and it got transported to ours. Yeah that didn't sound stupid and forced in the slightest. Oh and lets add a NEW love interest that resembles Rose... that's SO Mary Sueing this on so many levels. And the movie ends with Ed AND Al in "our" world. So to add to all the terrible ideas the series brought forth this one ends it all with the downright dumbest of ideas, Ed and Al in some other world, when they should be in their own world.</div>
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I listed several comparisons to the original story, but in more ways than just to compare them, I did it illustrate how to write in a good way, while the choices made for the first one was well terrible. Even if you look at these plot points by themselves they are still bad and lowers the quality of the series. If it did anything right it was what they got out of the manga, and even a light novel. That maybe that is why it did well, but when you take a good long look at it, it really shouldn't have. Honestly I started with a game for the PS2, The Broken Angel, it was okay and was it's own thing but that got me into the anime. I watched the first anime before anything else... and I'm ashamed of it. By the end I was just left feeling confused by the whole thing. If it wasn't for the manga and even Brotherhood I would have let the series and forgot about it. There are other things but I'll leave it with these since this is more than enough.</div>
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I've been typing this up for a while to draft all the points I listed. And while doing this blog I watched JesuOtaku's review of the anime. I disagree on many things, and at times what she said sounded more like how Brotherhood is in it's quality. Yeah I know it's her favorite anime but I still feel that there is so much more wrong with it than she really gives it credit for. She seemed to think that the plot point with Tucker was interesting for a twist and plot points when really the whole deal was like noted before, forced and unneeded.</div>
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Now at Youmacon of 2011 I was able to see Vic Mignogna and Caitlin Glass and from what I heard they did say they liked the first series. Now for me I personally believe that they have feelings towards it because of the work they did. Their voices were fantastic though it didn't help the final product that much. But they did say they thought Brotherhood was the better anime, and for the right reasons too.</div>
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As for Brotherhood, it has it's problems but it doesn't drag the anime down as much as the first anime. The plot is presented in an orderly fashion and sticks with the core of what the story is, great. Problems being that at times there is a lot of Brotherhood going fast forward to catch up to the end of the manga which Brotherhood ended just about the same time. This could have been longer so that problem doesn't exist but it's a problem that can be looked over.</div>The Dragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03273917873531063392noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2633690411431619714.post-9527613653142538182012-02-14T14:45:00.000-08:002012-03-12T21:41:01.452-07:00Dr. Eggman Or Dr. Robotnik<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1samvK4c8sPxlOnVptWrCONAGlvtX9T6Rq4x2divSeXboN_dFDeCx_bkIX7zwDEYba2uIQkOmIdu7TD-6m4f-dcfTVYaMNgGod1HoPviQTgIWFGEVx1XHjDR9AwLjMJeBjtKP5WcwgkP0/s1600/Titlecard.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1samvK4c8sPxlOnVptWrCONAGlvtX9T6Rq4x2divSeXboN_dFDeCx_bkIX7zwDEYba2uIQkOmIdu7TD-6m4f-dcfTVYaMNgGod1HoPviQTgIWFGEVx1XHjDR9AwLjMJeBjtKP5WcwgkP0/s1600/Titlecard.png" /></a></div>
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Before diving into the topic at hand, let's talk about why I'm doing this. This debate has no reason to exist. When it comes down to things like reviews, debates, persuasive papers what do they all have to support them? Facts. Because things are one way or another is what builds our thoughts on something. If the facts don't match up with your reasons, your opinion falls apart. I don't mind someone having a different opinion than me, but I do mind when an opinion (be it alike or different) has no facts to support their claim. So then... let's see how this turns out.<br />
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Dr. Robotnik or Dr. Eggman, this seems to spark fans into complaining about it but what do they really know of the topic? There are fans like myself who are just fine with calling him Dr. Eggman, and there are fans that seem to be disgusted with the Eggman name. But why are some hating on the Eggman name? People believe that when the Adventure series of the Sonic games started that the Doctor's name was changed from Robotnik to Eggman. This is not truth or opinion but a straight out lie. This is what I hope to correct in the thoughts of Sonic Fans and the public alike.<br />
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Now for a history lesson. Back in Japan they were developing the first Sonic game, and the name they gave to Sonic's enemy? It was Dr. Eggman. Don't believe me, well take a good look at the Sonic 2 game for the Genesis. Haven't any of you wondered why the final stage of the game was called the Death Egg? Or how about something that could easily be missed, in the Wing Fortress Zone there is a large 29 on the ship, and right below that is says as clear as day, Eggman. Through the ship one can see the letters "EG" in a hexagon shape. So while Japan has always called him Dr Eggman, beyond them people got used to calling him Dr. Robotnik.<br />
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Why did they change his name to Robotnik outside of Japan, I don't know and I don't care because it doesn't have much effect of how the name thing works now. But with the release of Sonic Adventure for the Dreamcast you know they couldn't do much since it was created in Japan and had the Japanese voices added. So in the end he was given BOTH names. Dr. Ivo Robotnik being his "real" name, while the Eggman thing was made into something of a super villain like name. So while being called Eggman he is still the same Robotnik from before.<br />
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With this blog I'm not saying you have to start calling him Eggman, far from it. I myself grew up with the Robotnik name but got used to calling him Dr. Eggman now. But there are some out there who got used to calling him Dr. Robotnik and reject the Eggman name out of some kind of spite. Most of which are the "classic" Sonic fans. Sorry fans of the Genesis games but he was Eggman then too and you have to respect that, don't act like how he is now has anything to do with him being called Dr. Eggman because it doesn't. Showing disrespect for the name is no different than insulting the Genesis games such fans claim to love. If you want to continue to call him Dr. Robotnik that is fine, just remember that Robotnik and Eggman are in fact the same person.<br />
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This issue bugged me so much since in a world where information like this is very easy to look up there are STILL people who seem ignorant of facts like these. While how the Doctor was then and now is up for debate, there is no room for debate when it comes to the name.<br />
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Sing it with me, "I AM THE EGGMAN! THAT'S WHAT I AM! I AM THE EGGMAN. I GOT THE MASTER PLAN!"The Dragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03273917873531063392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2633690411431619714.post-78481989016380934212012-02-04T22:26:00.000-08:002012-02-04T22:26:03.801-08:00Welcome to the world of DragonI've had too much time on my hands an so I thought it was finally time to share my thoughts to whoever was interested in listening. I tried to do video reviews before but... well I felt that I didn't have the voice for it. I "might" do a Let's Play some time in the future but now will not be the time.<br />
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I hope to discuss anything from video games, anime/manga, movies, and so on. I'm up for anything as long as I have the ability to view/play it.<br />
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As for the first topic I dare to discuss, I'm going to tackle one of the biggest things that has bugged me in the Sonic the Hedgehog series.... the Dr. Eggman Vs. Dr Robotnik Name War!The Dragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03273917873531063392noreply@blogger.com0