Arrival of the Gemini Gym

June 9, 2008

Ever since the concept of two-on-two battles were brought into the franchise in the Gameboy Advance era the Doubles Battle has been fully supported part of the competitive battle experience. With the arrival of Diamond and Pearl we even have the ability to conduce WiFi battles in single or double mode. But somehow Double Battles always remained the redheaded stepchild of the competitive battling scene. The “real” battlers are all about singles matches. Read any strategy article or Pokémon move set and it doesn’t even bear mentioning that the advice is for the Singles Battle Environment.

I have long wondered why this is so. I think the reason ultimately boils down to the unpredictability of the doubles environment. When your opponent only has one Pokémon on the field you can make some guesses about it. You can guess what attacks it has and how well it will weather the attack your single Pokémon is about to unleash. You can decide if you need to attack or if you need to switch out your current Pokémon for another on your bench. When there are two Pokémon on the field everything suddenly gets more complicated. Is he going to launch an attack? If so which of my Pokémon is he going after? Or does he have a move that will hit both? Or is he going to do something crazy like boost his partner before his partner attacks me? There are more variables, and a lot of strange moves that are designed to work only in the Doubles environment. It is a whole new world.

The concept behind this gym is to bring the “other half” of Pokémon Battling to Pokefarm. This has long been a private wish of mine. When I was awarded the Forest Gym a few months ago one of the first things I did was ask about the possibility of transforming it into a Doubles Gym. At the time the Pokémon League judges thought that might be a bit too off the beaten path. A challenger working his way through the League needed a few things he could count on in his battles with the Gym Leaders and only facing one Poke at a time was deemed one of them.

Imagine my delight when the concept of “expansion gyms” was brought up in that seedy smoke-filled room we Gym Leaders meet in to plan the fate of the Pokémon League. It was decided that the time had come for a shakeup in the Gym system. It was time for two new Gyms. Buzz was awarded his Bug Gym in the culmination of his long running ambition. And then someone remembered that I had lobbied for a Doubles Forest Gym. That wasn’t the way they wanted to go, but maybe a doubles gym all by itself was a good idea. And so I was awarded what came to be known as the Gemini Gym.

Thus I am thrilled to announce the arrival of the latest new gym to Pokefarm! The Gemini gym is not a formal part of the Pokefarm League, and will live in the Battle Tower alongside the Chrysalis gym. Winners in the gym will receive a badge, but defeating the Gemini Gym will not be required to become a Pokefarm League champion. I also will not have any “types” associated with my gym like Grass is associated with the Forest Gym or Bug is associated with the Chrysalis gym. Gemini is all about doubles battling and it was decided that it doesn’t need any other theme than that. My goal is not to be invincible, but to be a challenge. A challenge that is different from what people have seen in the Gyms so far. So teach your Pokémon Discharge instead of Thunderbolt, or Heat wave instead of Flame Thrower, and enter a new arena. I look forward to seeing you.

(And because many will ask, I am not stepping down as Forest Gym Leader. After all, who better to lead the Doubles Gym than a leader with two gyms?)

The Gemini gym awaits.

Posted by jhamin | Filed Under News  559 views

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3 Comments »

Comment by NikolaTesla
2008-06-09 09:19:36

I thoroughly look forward to battling you!

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Comment by TribalDan
2008-06-09 09:54:20

With the addition of the two new gyms, I am greatly considering battling now. It looks like I will be breeding and training and tweaking a few things before I attempt any of the gyms yet.

Cool. :)

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Pingback by It’s Summer and these Solrocks are bringing you a Sunny Day | Poke Farm
2008-07-05 17:13:02

[...] of Levitate that makes them immune to Ground attacks. In honor of the arrival of summer and of the Gemini Gym, these hot rocks will have the following moves that affect both opponents in a 2 on 2 [...]

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