Pokemon Farming Johto Starters: Totodile

May 26, 2009 | 105 Comments

The Johto Starters series concludes with the Water-type starter, Totodile.
totodile
Totodile is another Pokémon who is hard to come by in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. The Water-type starter of the Johto region, this Big Jaw Pokémon can learn a variety of interesting level-up moves and is one of the earliest starters to reach its final evolution, Feraligatr, at Level 30.

The set I’ve used for these Totodile is very powerful and holds a lot of potential for sweeping in battle. If you can get in a turn or two to boost your stats with Dragon Dance or Substitute, you’ve got some great power at your disposal.

Each Totodile has a Jolly (+Speed, -SpAtk) nature. Their moveset is as follows:

Dragon Dance: Totodile performs a mystic dance that raises both its Attack and its Speed. If your evolved Feraligatr is holding a Liechi Berry in battle, just one Dragon Dance will allow it to outrun all Pokémon that are not holding Choice Scarf.
Substitute: If your Totodile’s worried about getting hit, lay down a Substitute and let a doll take the beatings. Substituting enough also allows the effects of Torrent, Totodile’s ability, take effect, boosting any STAB Water-type moves.
Waterfall: This is Totodile’s STAB Water-type move. Using this, especially at low health, can give quite the blow to an opponent.
Flail: Using the same tactic of reducing HP via Substitute creates a deadly attack in Flail. The Attack and Speed boosts from Dragon Dance and the low HP help Totodile to use a powerful attack while benefiting from high Speed and Attack.

Rules:
Please leave your name and FC; even if we traded before I will need it again.
Only 1 Pokémon per person.
There is a 9:1 ratio of boys to girls with all starters. I have a couple girls to give away, but they will be claimed on a first come/first served basis. Unless you are one of the first people I trade with, expect to get a boy.
Please do not trade me eggs.

Be in the Wi-Fi zone at 7:00 pm(EDT/GMT -5), on May 30th

Make yourself available to Trade (Invite–>Trade). I will come to you when I’m ready.
Items (Rare Candies, Heart Scales, Shards, Nuggets, or TMs) are very appreciated but not required.

If you are new to our site, your first comment will be moderated. Don’t worry if your post doesn’t show, we will get to it in time, and you will not miss out!

My Information:
Kurt/2020 5539 6065 (Note to previous traders that this is my Platinum FC.)

Posted by NikolaTesla | Filed Under Farming 

A Pokemon of a Different Color

May 23, 2009 | 11 Comments

Red Gyarados

Ever since we all saw that first red Gyarados in our adventures in Johto, different colored, or shiny, pokemon have been a rare find, and heavily sought after. The chances of randomly finding a shiny pokemon in the wild, through fishing, or normal encounters is a staggering 1 in 8192. This means that through the normal course of a game, you probably won’t come across one at all!

During the days of Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, but luckily the game developers felt that we, the players, deserved a couple different avenues to make shinies a little easier to come by.

The most common method today to get a shiny is though chaining, using the Poke-Radar. There is still skill involved, which I personally have had very limited luck with.

The other way to make things a bit easier is using what has been coined ‘The Masuda Method’. The Masuda method is a way to have a little better luck in obtaining a shiny under the right circumstances.

It was revealed through a blog post by Junichi Masuda, who is a director on the board of Game Freak inc, that it is advantageous to use the GTS. He pointed out several different benefits. You can read the full blog post here.

One line in particular is important here, “rare colored Pokemon’s Egg can be found little easier.” This meant that by utilizing the GTS, it would be easier to hatch a shiny egg. Well, this didn’t exactly give the entire picture, but it was intriguing news nonetheless! After months of research (by someone else, mind you) it was discovered that this meant there was an interesting interaction with pokemon from different languages. So those that were able to tear apart the game’s code and figure out what was going on, were able to determine that taking 2 compatible parents (for instance, one American male Charmander, and one Japanese female Charmander) and depositing them into the daycare had a dramatic impact on the chances of finding a shiny.

The odds went from 1 in 8192 to 1 in only 2050, that is almost four times easier than a normal encounter!

Here is a video showing a hatching of a shiny charmander using this method on my platinum cartridge!

A few notes that may help answer some of your questions – thanks go to several members of the pokefarm public that helped to dig up this info!!

  1. This will work with any breedable pokemon.
  2. This will work using a foreign Ditto and another breedable pokemon from your own game.
  3. If you save after picking up the egg, you can soft reset for better IV’s.
  4. IV’s are the only properties of the egg that is set upon hatch, rather than on picking it up from the old man. (i.e. Nature, Ability)
  5. Natures will not pass from the parents when they are of different languages, so an Everstone will have no effect when held by the mother in this case.
  6. This method works in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum.
  7. In order to check it’s IV’s without saving you’ll have to either have many Rare Candies (about 30-40 to narrow it down very well) or to get a rougher idea, visit our PokeFarm forums for tools to help you on finding out more.

I believe that covers all the main questions that have been asked lately. If you have any questions that aren’t covered here, make sure to check the Diamond/Pearl/Platinum Question and Answer section and ask away!

See you on the Farm!

Whitdjinn

Whitdjinn is one of the original farmers from when we still used HMTK.com as the base site to distribute Pokemon.

Posted by HMTKSteve | Filed Under Tips 

What’s New in Pokémon Platinum: Pastoria City

May 11, 2009 | 3 Comments

At first glance, Pastoria City looks the same in Platinum as it does in Diamond and Pearl. If you look a little deeper you will find a few new surprises in the land of the Croagunk Festival.

Matchup Checker

The first new thing that you may see after the giant Croagunk billboard is before you enter the Pastoria Great Marsh a cowgirl will offer you a new Pokétech application if you catch five or more pokemon in the Safari Game. The new application is number 23, the matchup checker, that allows you to see how compatible the first two pokemon in your party will be at breeding. Press the heart between the two pokemon avatars and if they are compatible, then the hearts above will light up. One heart being the least likely to produce eggs, three hearts for the most likely. If the pokemon aren’t compatible, the Luvdiscs will turn away from each other and face the opposite direction.

The Safari Game

The Safari Game itself offers pokémon that were unavailable in Diamond and Pearl. Tropius and Tangela can be found commonly in the Great Marsh along with Yanma who was previously only available after you received your national dex. While Drapion and Toxicroak are no longer found in the Great Marsh until you have obtained your national dex, Skopuri and Croagunk are still found there.

Free Shards

As you enter the Great Marsh, to the east of the trams is a man that will offer you a colored shard. The shard color varies and he will offer you one every day and you can use them at any of the move tutors including the one just west of Pastoria City. Shard pieces can also be found in pokéballs throughout the marsh.

The graphics have improved in this area and bogs that were previously covered in swamp grass now have grass lining the outer rims of the bogs where wild pokémon reside and different shades are visible in the dark bogs to show the deeper areas that are hard to walk through.

The Toxic Plate

If you are searching for the Toxic plate that was hidden near the trees in Diamond and Pearl, you will have to get muddy to find it in Platinum. Use your dowsing application in the northeast section of the Great Marsh. While most objects on the dowsing application show as a big dot on your screen, the dot for the Toxic Plate is so small that if you are in the line with it, it will not be visible.

Macho Brace

To get the Macho Brace you won’t need to show the three forms of Burmy as you did in Diamond and Pearl. Instead the men in the house north of Pastoria City’s pokémon mart will ask to see a male and female Combee.

Coupoundeyes

If you like to collect items like I do, the Great Marsh gives you an opportunity to capture a pokémon with the ability of Compoundeyes. If the pokémon in the first position of your party has this ability, then wild pokemon are more likely to be holding items. This holds true even if that pokemon has fainted. Yanma not only can have that ability, but also can be holding a Wide Lens that boosts the holders accuracy by 10%.

Posted by Deneves | Filed Under Tips 

Johto Starters: Cyndaquil

May 11, 2009 | 134 Comments

With the April showers fading away it is time for the weather to warm up and here is the second of the Johto starters, Cyndaquil. I offer these because they represent to me what a friend and traveling companion should be. Cyndaquil is a Fire pokémon and is not found in the Diamond/Pearl or Platinum games. Although these Mild (+Attack, – Defense) natured Cyndaquils aren’t that powerful yet, they will soon evolve into a mighty Typhlosions. They all have the ability of Blaze, which means when their backs are against the wall and their HP is low, their red hot Fire power increases by 50%.

The move-set represents how good of a traveling buddy they can be:

Flamethrower (Fire, STAB Power 95, Acc 100)
Strong and reliable, just like these little guys

Covet (Normal, Power 40, Acc 100)
Isn’t it nice to get presents for no reason? With this move Cyndaquil can take items and berries that are held by wild pokémon and give them to you. It also carries a whopping 40 PP which makes him a great companion if you like to chain as he can learns Quick Attack at level 13 (30 PP) and Cut (30 PP) as an HM move allowing you to stay out longer in the grassy patches.

Sunny Day (Fire, Makes the sun shine for 5 rounds)
If you are feeling gloomy these little guys can turn your gray skies blue. The bright sunshine raises the power of Fire moves by 50% and lessens the damage of Water moves by 50%.

Dig (Ground, Power 80, Acc 100)
If you find yourself in a jam, these Cyndaquil can often dig you out of it. Dig can be used in caves and temples to take you back to their opening which can be helpful if your team is running low on energy or if you can’t wait to check out your new legendary. Dig gives you a super-effective attack against rock and electric types as well as other fire types, but don’t use this move against pokémon that know Earthquake or Magnitude as it will double the power of that attack if you are underground.

  • To receive one of these fiery friends, be in the wifi room on Saturday at 5:00 PM Pacific (8:00 PM Eastern) on the May 16, 2009
  • Comment with your Name and Friend Code
  • Get a pokémon to trade, I’m not looking for anything particular just something you don’t want.
  • Make yourself available to Trade (invite->Trade) I will come to you when I’m ready.

My info for this event is:
Diamond
FC: 5327-6683-4353

If you are new to our site, your first comment will be moderated. Don’t worry if your post doesn’t show, we will get to it in time, and you will not miss out!

Posted by Deneves | Filed Under Farming 

Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver Confirmed

May 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Pokemon Heart Gold and Pokemon Soul Silver

This weekend the truth behind the Pokemon game rumors were revealed. All Pokemon fans can now rejoice in the knowledge that the Gold and Silver games are being remade for the Nintendo DS!

Fans have long speculated on when these two games would be remade. When Fire Red and Leaf Green were remade for the GBA speculation ramped up that they wold soon follow. When early news of Diamond and Pearl was crossing the Internet many speculated that the new DS versions would be Gold and Silver remakes. Now we know.

Will a fall release date in Japan (expect 6 months later for the rest of the world) these new Pokemon games will likely set the Pokemon world on fire when they are released.

We don’t have much information on added features for the games but we do expect to know more soon.

Discuss this in our Heart Gold and Soul Silver thread on the forum.

Posted by HMTKSteve | Filed Under News 

Face Off: Which Game Had the Best Starter Pokemon?

May 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Pokemon

Face Off is a new feature here on Pokefarm. There are no right or wrong answers, instead we are looking to the membership to pick a side and defend it!

We encourage you to put your best argument forward and defend it from the other side. For our first installment of this feature we ask the question: which game had the best starter Pokemon? Let’s take a moment to review.

Red/Blue/Yellow – The original Pokemon games (including their GBA remakes) introduced the franchise with the Pokemon Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle. You could technically call Pikachu a starter because of Yellow version but he’s really more of an exception and will not used in this discussion.

Gold/Silver/Crystal – The second Pokemon series was on the GBC and featured Chikorita, Cyndaquil and Totodile.

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald – When Pokemon moved to the GBA we got Treeko, Mudkip and Torchic.

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum – With the latest series moving onto the DS we got Turtwig, Piplup and Chimchar.

We will not be discussing the Pokemon games that appeared on the GameCube.

So, I invite you to put your best argument forward as to why you think a particular set of Pokemon are the best. Have at it and please, keep it civil.

Discuss – comments are not active here. you must be a member of the forum to take part in the Face Off.

Posted by HMTKSteve | Filed Under News