11/25/2022 0 Comments Pokemon star sapphireWhether you played the games to practise the hidden EV arts on a lowly Luvdisc, tackle the Elite Four with a fearsome Flygon, put a Skitty out to stud or simply groom a Linoone, hordes of Pokémon cute and cuddly, rare and common, docile and scary applied the spark to Ruby and Sapphire’s powder keg. There were now 135 brand new reasons to play again, to go on an adventure, battle friends over and over, or trade for that elusive Pokémon. The stars of the show were the Pokémon themselves. Nothing, however, quite resembled the grandness of competition and it’s fitting to end our feature here, the melting pot in which all these new or improved features quietly bubbled. In the game it’s rotated clockwise by 90° to give the impression of adventure, an epic journey from left to right. Chimney, has an active volcano sat at its heart. The world itself was based on Kyushu, the mountainous third largest island of Japan which, like Hoenn’s Mt. It gave each route character, even danger – a Magmar fought in searing sunshine is a much more powerful adversary. Areas such as Route 119’s Weather Institute were perpetually pounded by torrents that powered up water moves, while the Desert Ruins and Mirage Tower were lashed with accuracy-decreasing sandstorms. But weather had an important application as a presence outside battle. Hail joined three existing conditions – sunlight, rain, and sandstorm – damaging non-ice types for five rounds. A busier alternative to one-on-ones, turning sessions from simple diversions to full-blown social events, multi-Poké matches were so successful Black and White piled on extra for three-on-threes. Then there were tag-team battles in which, for the first time, up to four players could link up and throw down. The collecting of more than 40 differently flavoured berries for these contests was a quest in itself, with budding fruit-hunters planting seeds and regrowing the items which, as well as being ripe for blenders, cured status ailments, boosted stats and even raised friendship – crucial for Pokémon like Chansey and Igglybuff who only evolve when you’ve built a bond. It was a brand new way of both rewarding and interacting with Pokémon who previously, when they weren’t fighting, sat stuffed in a ball. Why do it? Because in another Ruby/Sapphire first, Pokémon contests were judged in five categories: coolness, cuteness, toughness, smartness and beauty with winners receiving ribbons (these adorned your Pokénav for the ultimate bragging rights). With this in mind, fix your lonely Poochyena a spicy Pokéblock and you’ll buff its coolness. Because lonely natures boost the attack stat, it stands to reason that lonely Pokémon love spicy food. Each stat is associated with a flavour (attack is paired with spicy, for instance). Nature also determined what flavour the Pokémon liked, an important factor in the making of Pokéblocks, mixed in a blender from berries you’ve picked. Your Baltoy, say, could be bashful, quirky, serious or lax, and each of the 25 affected growth rates of two select stats, increasing one by 10% and decreasing another by the same. Natures characterised them further, for the first time feeling more than an animated sketch with a digital roar. Each Pokémon also adopted a new vitality. The introduction of 77 different abilities gave Pokémon new powers: those with Arena Trap could prevent most opponents switching out in battle, Pokémon with Immunity couldn’t be poisoned, Illuminate doubled the rate of wild battles and Insomnia made Pokémon immune to sleep. While infected, Pokémon are said to grow exceptionally well.” Thanks, nurse. Little is known about the Pokérus except that they are microscopic life forms that attach to Pokémon. Nurse Joy was a tad more illuminating than Professor Elm’s vague Gen II description, offering the more helpful line, “Your Pokémon may be infected with Pokérus. Even if you did find a Pokérus-infected critter in the wild there was no way of knowing, seeing as Generation III was the first to signify the virus with a menu icon.
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