Post in the comments to request battles or share friend codes for Friend Safari or the Festival Plaza. Pokemon Showdown is a useful place to set up battles if you don't have a console around!

Also check out the /r/pokemon Discord channel for live chat and community.

Plese don't trade or buy/sell in this thread. Use /r/pokemontrades for trading, and /r/pokemonexchange for buying/selling!

Apologies for the long post, there's a TLDR at the bottom.

For reference, it'll be specifically the Pokemon XYZ & SM anime.

I know the joke that comes to mind about the anime battle is how absurd it is. (Pikachu zapping a rock ground type yadayada.) But I would take that absurdity any other day.

To use an example from Pokemon XYZ, I'll use episode 1, 67, 74

Ep 1: Ash & Pikachu VS Clemont & Bunnelby

-The battle goes like any standard battle. Bunnelby using Dig to hide, Pikachu runs around the field as ordered by Ash to confuse the enemy but fails, Pikachu retaliated with a Quick Attack which connects, Bunnelby fights back with Double Slap. So far, pretty standard Pokemon battle in terms of trading damage.

Then Ash tells Pikachu to use Iron Tail, Clemont responding quickly by ordering Bunnelby to block it, which it does with its ears. With its tail caught, it would seem that Pikachu would be countered and the match would be over.

But Ash simply smiles and tells Pikachu to use Electro Ball while its tail still caught, resulting in Bunnelby taking a point blank Electro Ball.

●What would be implemented into the game from this fight? Answer: Blocking and perhaps a chance to Block Break.

-While it sounds aburd, it isn't impossible. The Sun and Moon games had the evading mechanic from bonding with your pokemon and this Blocking mechanic is extremely similar to that and what's more, it makes moves like Protect slightly redundant.

But one differentiating factor about Block from the existing Evading mechanic would be that the pokemon would always have physical contact with the opponent, like Bunnelby catching Pikachu's tail. And now we introduce Block Breaking.

Block Breaking would also be part of the Pokemon Bond mechanic. Higher bond, higher chance to break the block. So battle dialogue would follow like this:

Pikachu used Iron Tail! Bunnelby blocked the attack due to its bond with Trainer!

And adding Block Break into the mix:

Pikachu used Electro Ball! Bunnelby blocked the attack due to bond with blah blah... Pikachu Block Breaks due to bond!

"So it's just a different Evade mechanic with a chance to get negated."

Yes. Moving onto the more exciting ones.

●Ep 67: Ash & Pikachu VS Clemont & Bunnelby (GYM Battle)

-The fight starts off with Pikachu's Thunderbolt, with its streak of lightning getting absolutely negated with Clemont's order of Bunnelby using its ears to stir up the sandy battlefield to create a cloud of sand to ground the electricity.

The battle quickly becomes like the first fight they had in Episode 1 until they can locked in a stalemate with Iron Tail. Clemont responds with Bunnelby's Wild Charge, tossing the yellow rat into the air and tackling him with a body of electricity.

Without giving a chance for Pikachu to recover, Bunnelby uses Dig while also recovering from Wild Charge's recoil. Dig connects and both trainers compliment each others performance.

Using Quick Attack to close the distance while Bunnelby uses Dig to hide, falling into Ash's trap.

Pikachu gets told to use Iron Tail...this time, on the ground. With the tail creating a shock wave and breaking the battlefield, throwing Bunnelby out into the air. With the advantage this time, Pikachu uses Iron Tail once more, knocking out Bunnelby.

●What would be implemented? Answer: Pokemon moves being interactable with environment/battlefield.

To interact with the enviroment your pokemon stands/swims or flys would absolutely give the player or npcs a whole set of different options to play with and create a unique playstyle given the right conditions.

Interacting with the environment already exists...sort of, through throwing out your pokemon and them breaking or ramming into rocks and trees.

What's more, Pokemon games has already given us the options of changing the environment through moves like Sunny Day and Rain Dance.

So why not expand this with attacking moves like Iron Tail for example.

Some criticism to this would be that it would break the gameplay by players spamming the move to interact with the battlefield.

Imagine using Dig and some guy spams Iron Tail or other moves to disrupt your move. It would also makes moves like Earthquake slightly less valuable in terms of utility.

One way to fix this could be setting a limit to how many times a pokemon can use a move on the environment.

I would also like to argue that with the limit, it also gives players a chance to 'gamble' in a fight. If I use my move on the ground, what are the chances my opponent does the same? Or what if it does not affect the pokemon at all and I take a hit?

Kinda a high risk, high reward, fuck around and find around mechanic.

Let's give an example:

A fight in a snowy region of the map, you have fight on an icy battlefield. Your opponent is using a rock type pokemon. You bring out a fire type and use Flamethrower on the ice, melting it to water, causing slight environmental damage to their pokemon. They switch their pokemon to a water type.

Now, not only are you at a disadvantage, you've also shot yourself in the foot by creating a water battlefield. Unless your fire type knows an electric move to finish the fight, you could switch out to a pokemon that is better suited to the field. For example, switching to an Ice type to freeze the water again. But your opponent might be thinking the same.

The possibility and outcome of the fight varies based on your actions on the field now.

But what if we take things one step further?

●Ep 74: Ash & Fletchinder/Hawlucha VS Valarie & Sylveon/Spritzee

A battle that only allows 2 Pokemon.

Charging into the field with Steel Wing is Fletchinder. The blow connects with Sylveon which is effective. Sylveon uses Disarming Voice which strikes the bird, who decides to take the blow and charge in with Peck. Sylveon dodges with ease and grabs Fletchinder with its ribbons, toying with it in the air before dealing damage with Fairy Wind.

Ash counters with Flame Charge, setting his pokemon ablaze along with the ribbons before crashing head on into the fairy pokemon. The fight ends with another steel wing.

A standard Ash Ketchum battle with a sprinkle of creativity, though the next fight proves to be a challenge.

Valarie summons her Spritzee, which compared to speedy Fletchinder, is slow...or so Ash thinks. Using the same method with Steel Wing, Fletchinder charges in, missing Spritzee as it dodges and revealing its trump card, summoning a large transparent box of psychic power.

Trick room. The tables have turned. The tortoise has become the rabbit and vice versa.

Ash uses Flame Charge, Fletchinder's remarkable speed turning into nothing but a snail's trail. Spritzee now has all the time in the world to avoid the bird's attack, attacking with Dazzling Gleam.

Stubborn to the core, Ash uses Flame Charge again, eating a Gyro Ball in the process. Spamming Flame Charge while enduring hits from Spritzee, Fletchinder continues to set ablaze until...

The room starts to flicker. Trick Room's time was up. With their endurance paying off straight away, Fletchinder's wings turn pure white, crashing into the flying fairy with Steel Wing. However, with another trick up its sleeve, Spritzee fires a Moon Blast, knocking out Fletchinder.

Both trainers down to one pokemon, Ash uses the least expected pokemon in his arsenal, Hawlucha. Intending to finish the fight, Trick Room is set up once again and Moon Blast flings Hawlucha back into a wall.

Hawlucha runs in the ring with X-Scissor which gets avoided and hits the Psychic room. Ash notes the effect it has and tells Hawlucha to grab hold of Spritzee, who used Gyro Ball. Using the momentum of the unusual speed of Gyro Ball, Hawlucha spins into another X-Scissor, clashing into a Dazzling Gleam and...Trick Room, breaking free of the Psychic restrains.

●What would be implem- Answer: Chemical Reaction between Pokemon Moves.

While this mechanic is really niche and also devalues the use of Status moves and those that can negate those status, you can't deny that it is an interesting mechanic. A mechanic that is unnecessary for most people who play the game but when involved in a play, it could definitely turn the tables on your opponent.

An example could be:

Opponent using Mist to prevent stat change. Normally, to remove this, Defog would be needed. But now, you could use a move like Gust to blow the mist away, rendering it useless.

Terrain Moves like Psychic or Misty Terrain could removed by attacking the environment with a super effective type move.

Closing thoughts: I guess what I'm trying to get across is that I wouldn't mind if a Pokemon game had a Breath of the Wild style not in terms of exploration or Open World but in terms of interacting with the world's environment and its consequence. If I cut a tree with an axe, it falls and gives wood. If I throw pepper into fire, it creates an updraft. If I use a electric sword on a jelly, it becomes electric jelly. That kind of thing.

Pokemon Arceus was a good step in the right direction in innovating the genre. I know suggesting something like this is talking about the impossible.

I just thought that if Ash could do all that in the anime, it would be really cool if people could do it in the game as well.

Thanks for reading. Again, sorry for the long post.

The reason I ask this is because I’m genuinely curious on what shoes would fit each protagonist. Plus it's for cosplay reasons, soooooooo yeah

By the way, I don’t mean the actual cosplay shoes taken from the source material, i’m talking about actual shoe brands like vans, Adidas, Nike, puma, etc.

The reason I ask this is because I’m genuinely curious on what shoes would fit each protagonist. Plus it's for cosplay reasons, soooooooo yeah

By the way, I don’t mean the actual cosplay shoes taken from the source material, i’m talking about actual shoe brands like vans, Adidas, Nike, puma, etc.

The games and the anime show too much propaganda about how he's on a far away island because he doesn't want to hurt people close to him. I think they just show it to kids to brainwash them. I'm pretty sure Darkrai spread that rumour himself! I think Cresselia is on it too. Cresselia isn't evil, and if Cress says Dark isn't evil, then Dark can't be evil right? This is all a cover so Darkrai can get energy from eating people dreams.

Darkrai has legs. can you trust something that looks that horrifying?

What's your favorite Pokemon Conspiracy Theory?

Garchomp is one of if not the best pseudo legendary. If only it did have such a bad shiny 😂😅 what’s your favorite pseudo legend?

So I obviously know that with the internet features for the 3DS shut down that wonder trading is off the table. But is the any way to 100% the Pokedex in Untra Sun without it or am I just screwed. I'm asking because I recently dug my copy of the game back out and started a new game (only one was incomplete too) and saw that certain things in game can only be unlocked after 100% certain regions of the dex

hi. i’m trying to beat pokémon diamond (a copy i’ve had since i was a kid), and i’m a bit over 9 hours in trying to grind up my team to beat roark.

i have a budew i caught, but since apparently it needs friendship points to evolve (and i can’t get the friendship checker until after defeating roark.

but here’s my question:

is the friendship checker required to evolve budew, or do you just have to wait and win battles with it until it evolves?

I want to play Hoenn, and I keep hearing things like, “GameFreak needs to port Emerald to NSO for the BEST way to play Hoenn!” But I keep thinking about ORAS with its larger Pokedex, 3D graphics, Physical/Special split, superior character designs, revamped music, and especially the Megas. But is there some inherent flaw or two that nullifies all that and Emerald keeps its crown?

Whenever a new generation is on the horizon, Pokémon fans can't wait to see all the new and exciting Pokémon that are gonna join the fray. There are times though when some of the new designs are met with disbelief. This is especially true if the designs are leaked through unofficial sources.

Personal example: When Pokémon X and Y was in its pre-release phase, we often got infos about new Pokémon through CoroCoro scans. I vividly remember seeing the reveal of Helioptile in one of these scans floating around on Twitter. I was 100% sure that it had to be a fake scan at the time. It wasn't even that I thought it was ugly, something about its design just felt off.

Do you also have examples where you didn't believe a Pokémon was real until it was 100% confirmed through official sources?

I am the creator of these pokemon plushies! ^^

This is highly subjective and probably fueled by nostalgia but I feel like the original 151 pokemon are the best of all the pokemon. I’ve tried to be open about the new groups/sets as they release but I can’t help but feel like the originals are the best with the og starters and pikachu and mew ect.. anybody else share this sentiment?

I’ve seen posts about this on here a few times but I wanted to speak about it because a Legends game in the Hoenn region would, in my opinion, be the best choice for a 3rd legends game. The region in 3D on the switch would look so incredible and with the Titans, Super-ancient Pokémon, eon duo, and Jirachi and Deoxys I think expanding on all that lore would be great. I may just think this because I want a way to get Deoxys on switch as I never had pokemon bank but still I think it would be incredible however I think the unloved child of Alola with all the Ultra Beasts would be a very good game too.

Hi everyone, welcome/welcome back to this comp. If you don’t know how this works, people will comment a pokemon they HATE, and the top 15-25 upvoted comments’ Pokemon will get eliminated from the competition. This will keep going until there’s one Pokemon remaining. Anyway let’s get on to the results.

And the Pokemon eliminated are:

Rotom fan

Iron boulder

Slaking

Zen mode darmanitan

Kingambit

Nymble

Bunnelby

Alcremie

Espathra

Jellicant

Toedscool

Poltchageist

Wobuffett

Abra

Grapploct

Glastrier

Liepard

Florges

Hisuian decidueye

Politoad

Terapagos

Marshtomp

Heliolisk

And Spectrier

Comment a pokemon you HATE for round 25, but before you do that, please check here https://imgur.com/a/galupQ8 to see which pokemon are eliminated and which ones are still not, so that you don’t comment a pokemon that has already been eliminated.

Anyway, see you in round 25, and have a great day/night!

​

https://preview.redd.it/pebdykoaq1wc1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=11f1bcf1c5707d9626e3b1ac115cb741c7e95c10

Last month I set out to find which final evolution Starter Pokémon was the most popular (at least among my followers). Each day, I put 2 Pokémon up against each other in a March Madness-style voting bracket, and asked people to vote for which one they liked the most, ultimately culminating in a final showdown between (theoretically) the two most popular Pokémon, which ended up being Swampert and Skeledirge (where Skeledirge came out on top).

After a month of running daily voting polls on social media, I now have a decent* amount of data. As someone who loves numbers, spreadsheets, and charts, I wanted to take a bit of a deeper dive into everything my March Madness Voting Bracket tells us - if you want to check out the full bracket and some of the other results, you can find that all in my latest blog post here. And I'd love to hear who you think should've been voted the most popular!

*Disclaimer: the results of this voting bracket are not a wholly accurate representation of the Pokémon community’s opinions. I certainly don’t have a wide reach on social media, so take all of this data with an Eternatus-sized grain of salt.

The last version I played was Pokémon Platinum so I'm kind of out of touch with the last generations. I was wondering if for sxame a team made up of gen 1 only would be able to beat teams made up of gen 3 only, gen 5 only etc. I would cry seeing Charizard beaten by a chandelier.

Unown aren't the "thousand arms" of Arceus used to shape the universe (I've always held the believe that the form we see in game is one of its arms, which I think was sorta confirmed in PLA)

Instead, I've always believed that the Unown are the "code" to the universe. Arceus still used the Unown to shape the universe, but as code to write the universe into existence, or something like that.

It makes sense, as code is predominantly letter text. And it would also explain the "odd power" that emerges when they combine, as they become literal lines of code to the universe.

Edit: This could also explain all the Unown that fly around during the Sinjoh event when Arceus spawns an egg of the one of the creation trio, perhaps Arceus is using the Unown to code the egg into existence.