A Pokemon of a Different Color

May 23, 2009 | 5 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 | 2 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 

What’s New in Pokémon Platinum: Move Tutors

April 2, 2009 | 12 Comments

Probably the most anticipated change in Platinum is the return of move tutors. There are three move tutors in Sinnoh that will teach moves that are not TMs to pokémon capable of learning them. The move tutors will need colored shards in exchange for their services.

In Diamond and Pearl, the colored shard pieces were only found in the Underground and their only use were that 10 pieces of the same color could be exchanged for a weather TM at the house in rainy area west of Pastoria. Not only are the shard pieces still found in the Underground, but they are also scattered in pokéballs throughout Sinnoh in the Platinum version.

Platinum Move Tutor

Pastoria Swamp Move Tutor
The first move tutor you will come across is in the that same house west of Pastoria in the swamps. On the wall in the back of the house is a list of tutored moves and the number of shards that it takes to learn the move. Here are the moves taught by the first move tutor:

Dive - 4 Blue Shards, 2 Yellow Shards, 2 Red Shards
Fury Cutter - 8 Blue Shards
Icy Wind - 6 Blue Shards, 2 Green Shards
Thunderpunch - 6 Blue Shards, 2 Red Shards
Firepunch - 6 Blue Shards, 2 Red Shards
Ice Punch - 6 Blue Shards, 2 Red Shards
Ominous Wind - 6 Blue Shards, 2 Green Shards
Air Cutter - 4 Blue Shards, 2 Green Shards, 2 Red Shards
Zen Headbutt - 4 Blue Shards, 4 Yellow Shards
Vacuum Wave - 4 Blue Shards, 2 Green Shards, 2 Red Shards
Trick - 4 Blue Shards, 4 Yellow Shards
Knock Off - 4 Blue Shards, 4 Red Shards
Sucker Punch - 6 Blue Shards, 2 Yellow Shards

Platinum Move Tutor

Snowpoint City Move Tutor
The second move tutor is found in Snowpoint City. He resides in the house in the northeast corner where the man teaches you the trendy phrases. Here are the moves that he can tutor:

Uproar - 6 Yellow Shards, 2 Green Shards
Spite - 8 Yellow Shards
Last Resort - 8 Green Shards
Synthesis - 2 Yellow Shards, 6 Green Shards
Magnet Rise - 4 Yellow Shards, 2 Green Shards, 2 Blue Shards
Swift - 2 Yellow Shards, 4 Green Shards, 2 Blue Shards
Snore - 4 Yellow Shards, 2 Green Shards, 2 Red Shards
Helping Hand - 4 Yellow Shards, 2 Green Shards, 2 Red Shards

Platinum Move Tutor

Survival Area Move Tutor
The last move tutor is found up the rocky path just east of the pokécenter in the Survival Area. In Diamond and Pearl, the man apologizes for not having anything to offer you, but in Platinum he can teach you these moves:

Mud-Slap - 4 Red Shards, 4 Blue Shards
Twister - 6 Red Shards, 2 Green Shards
Superpower - 8 Red Shards
Seed Bomb - 4 Red Shards, 4 Green Shards
Iron Head - 6 Red Shards, 2 Yellow Shards
Aqua Tail - 6 Red Shards, 2 Green Shards
 Endeavor - 4 Red Shards, 4 Yellow Shards
Outrage - 6 Red Shards, 2 Yellow Shards
Ancient Power - 6 Red Shards, 2 Green Shards
Gastro Acid - 4 Red Shards, 2 Yellow Shards, 2 Green Shards
Signal Beam - 2 Red Shards, 2 Blue Shards, 2 Yellow Shards, 2 Green Shards
Earth Power - 6 Red Shards, 2 Green Shards
Gunk Shot - 4 Red Shards, 2 Blue Shards, 2 Green Shards
Rollout - 4 Red Shards, 2 Blue Shards, 2 Green Shards
Iron Defense - 4 Red Shards, 2 Blue Shards, 2 Yellow Shards
Bounce - 4 Red Shards, 2 Green Shards, 2 Yellow Shards
Heat Wave - 4 Red Shards, 2 Blue Shards, 2 Green Shards

Platinum Move Tutor

One more tip. If you use your dowsing application of your pokétech, you will come across star pieces hidden in the caves and they are more than just a tie-in to team Galaxy. In previous games, the only use for star pieces was to sell them, but once you are able to use Surf outside of battle, you can make your way to Fuego Ironworks and Mr. Fuego with exchange shard pieces for those star pieces.

This article was written by Deneves, the Cobble Gym Leader on the forum.

Posted by Deneves | Filed Under Tips 

What’s New in Pokémon Platinum: Maid Battles

March 26, 2009 | 4 Comments

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As most of you know, Pokémon Platinum hit the stores in the U.S. on March 22 and while the basic gameplay is the same as Diamond and Pearl, there are some improvements.

One change that you will notice is when you reach Mr. Backlot’s Mansion on Route 212. The left wing of the mansion that was closed off in Diamond and Pearl is now guarded by a group of battling maids. They will challenge you to the “5-Maid Knockout Exact-Turn Attack Challenge”. Each will bring one Clefairy to battle you, with the first one starting at level 25 and each successive one being a higher level.

If you think that battling Clefairies is a piece of cake, think again. These ones will baffle you with moves that cause confusion and paralysis and immobilize you with their cute charms, not to mention their use of the moves Endure and Encore.

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Once you have defeated them in the exact number of target turns, your reward is that you get to battle Lady Celeste or Master Liam and their Blissey.

Their Blisseys are level 35 and have different move sets, but both like to Fling a rare candy at challengers. While battling with your Amulet coin will net you 11,200 in pokédollars, the real Trick is to switch in a pokémon that can swipe away that rare candy before the Blissey flings it at you.

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Don’t be discouraged if it takes a while to get through this, but the good news is that you can challenge the maids the next day for another shot at that rare treat.

This article was written by Deneves, the Cobble Gym Leader on the forum.

Posted by Deneves | Filed Under Tips 

Looking at Pokemon: Lileep

March 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Lileep

Lileep is a Rock/Grass Pokemon from the third generation of Pokemon games. Introduced in the Ruby and Sapphire games for the GBA Lileep sits at number 345 on the National Dex and is only available as a fossil that must be brought back to life by visiting a certain scientist. This Pokemon can be found in the Underground on Diamond, Pearl and Platinum in its Root Fossil form.

Lileep comes with the ability Suction Cups: Prevents moves that make you switch Pokemon from working. Increases catch rate while fishing.

Lileep can be acquired via game play by searching the Underground for a Root Fossil and bringing said fossil to the Oreburgh Mine Museum. Once revived this Pokemon will be at level 20.

Once you revive Lileep you can breed it or evolve it at level 40 into its final stage of Cradily. Its HP (66), Defense (77) and Special Defense (87) are very nice while its Speed (23) is quite low. Lileep’s high Sp Atk (61) and low Atk (41) put it securely in the role of a Special Attacker. Its Grass/Rock typing makes it weak (x2) against Ice, Fighting, Bug and Steel moves but it is not super weak (x4) against anything.

Lileep in Adventure Mode

A freshly hatched Lileep will come with the moves Astonish and Constrict. A freshly revived Lileep will be at level 20 and have the moves: Astonish, Constrict, Acid and Ingrain. For purposes of this discussion we will assume a level 1 freshly hatched Lileep.

Being part Rock Lileep is known for having good defensive numbers. While its Attack score suffers its Special Attack does not. Because of this we will focus on using Lileep’s Special Attack when leveling up. Lileep has five Special moves in its level up pool and only two Physical ones. These two are known at hatching.

A level one Lileep does not get any sort of STAB move. With Acid at level 8 we need to wait until Lileep reaches level 15 before the first Grass move is learned; Ingrain. Not a damaging move, Ingrain does help keep Lileep in the battle by restoring lost HP at the end of each turn. Ingrains built-in defense against being forced to switch out is clearly wasted on Lileep.

The first hard choice comes at level 22 when Confuse Ray becomes available. Take it. Astonish is not a very good move and Acid already does more damage AND can hit both enemy Pokemon in a Doubles Battle. Amnesia at level 29 is a bit of a mixed bag. It is a Status move that increases Special Defense. Since Lileep already has a good Sp. Def. you might not want to bother with this move.

At level 36 comes the Status move Gastro Acid. This move negates the ability of the enemy Pokemon is can be extremely useful. I can’t even count the number of times this move has saved my bacon in the game!

At level 43 we encounter our first STAB move, Ancient Power. Not only does this move provide us with a Rock STAB move it also has a slight chance of improving all of your scores when used. No Lileep should be without this move. Level 50 brings us our Grass STAB move, Energy Ball.

Upon making it to level 57 Lileep get the option to learn the triple move known as Stockpile/Spit Up/Swallow. The up side to this move set is that it allows you to increase charge up power and then either use it to attack or to heal. The downside is that it is three moves out of your four allowed.

The very last move that Lileep can learn by leveling up is Wring Out at level 64. The damage for this move is based on the foe’s remaining HP.

Adventure Mode Move Breakdown:

Move 1: Astonish -> Confuse Ray
Move 2: Constrict -> Gastro Acid
Move 3: Acid -> Ancient Power
Move 4: Ingrain -> Energy Ball

Competitive Battling Lileep

Lileep is the basic form of a two-stage Pokemon. As such it does not see much play in competitive battling. It does see use in the Little Battle Tier.

Long Lasting Lileep

EV: Sp Def:252 / HP: 252 / Sp Atk: 8
Nature: Calm (SpD+/Atk-)

Move 1: Giga Drain (Grass 60/100 TM19)
Move 2: Substitute (Normal/Status TM90)
Move 3: Ancient Power (Rock 60/100 Lvl 43)
Move 4: Recover (Normal/Status Egg)

With this Pokemon you start by using substitute and then follow it up with either Recover or one of your offensive moves. In subsequent turns you can use Giga Drain to cause damage and restore lost HP. Ancient Power performs admirably as a secondary STAB move for those Pokemon that resist Giga Drain.

Remember, this Pokemon will not be facing the power hitters of the competitive battling scene. Some might wonder why I have not placed Toxic on this Lileep. The simple answer is that because Lileep will be running in the level 1 - 5 range the effectiveness of Toxic will be lowered to the point where it is not as effective as it is at higher levels.

Other types of Lileep

I request that if you have any other ideas for a Lileep move pool to please leave them in the comments below. As good move pools are suggested I will update this article accordingly.

Posted by HMTKSteve | Filed Under Tips 

Looking at Pokemon: Elekid

February 14, 2009 | 2 Comments

Elekid

Elekid is an Electric-type Pokemon from the second generation Pokemon games. Introduced in the Crystal, Silver and Gold games Elekid sits at number 239 of the National Dex and falls into the Baby Pokemon group. This Pokemon can be captured in Pearl and Diamond by having a copy of Fire Red in the GBA slot while visiting Route 204-South Valley Windworks. If you are lucky the Elekid may even be holding an Electirizer!

Elekid comes with the ability Static: 30% chance of opponent becoming Paralyzed after using a direct attack.

Unless you have planned to use Elekid in your starting party you are not likely to get one in the early part of the game because the GBA trick only works after you defeat the Elite Four. The only way to get one prior to completing the single player portion of the game is through trading.

Because Elekid is a baby Pokemon you can not use it for breeding. It can evolve into an Electabuzz at level 30 and an Electivire at any point thereafter. Believe it or not its scores as actually quite good. Its base scores are even better than those of a Pikachu!

With Attack and Special Attack scores in the 60’s and a Speed of 95 Elekid can be a very good pick for your Pokemon team.

Elekid in Adventure Mode

Because Elekid is a baby Pokemon and the base stage for a third stage Pokemon a little bit of planning can go a long way in making this Pokemon a permanent addition to your battle roster.

A base Elekid will come with the moves Leer and Quick Attack. Even though you can’t catch one (and you are likely to breed better moves for it) for the purpose of this article we are going to assume you started with a base Elekid.

Because Elekid’s Attack and Special Attack are very close it pays to keep a mixture of attacks on this guy.

Thundershock (level 7) and Low Kick (level 10) will quickly become two of your main moves. Swift (level 19) is a very nice replacement for Quick Attack. With Elekid being one of the fastest Pokemon around at this point in the game it is more useful to have a move that can hit both opposing Pokemon in a double battle than having a weaker move that always strikes first but only hits one opposing Pokemon.

Shockwave (level 19) will replace Thundershock and Light Screen (level 25) can replace Leer. At level 28 we begin to enter the realm of hard choices.

When Thunderpunch (level 28) becomes available we find ourselves at the first crossroads. Up to now all of our electric attacks have been Special Attacks. Thunderpunch is the first physical Electric move that becomes available. It is more powerful than Shockwave but Shockwave is an automatic hit move. Thunderpunch is also the only physical Electric move in Elekids level-up move pool. I usually hold on to Shockwave at this point.

Discharge (level 34) is another hard choice. More powerful than Shockwave and also has the added effect of hitting all other combatants on the field, that includes your other Pokemon! If you normally have Elekid partner up with a Volt Absorb or a Ground-type Pokemon then Discharge is a good choice. If you don’t take Discharge (or even if you do) Thunderbolt (level 37) soon becomes available. This is followed by Screech (level 43) and the ever powerful (but not always accurate) Thunder (level 46).

Adventure Mode Move Breakdown:

Move 1: Leer -> Light Screen -> Screech
Move 2: Quick Attack -> Swift
Move 3: Thundershock -> Shockwave -> Thunderbolt
Move 4: Low Kick

Competitive Battling Elekid

Elekid is legal for the Little Battle format.

It is highly unlikely that you will ever find yourself in a situation where you choose to field a Elekid in a competitive situation. The only time you will have one of these guys on your team is when a tournament restricts you in some manner. With that in mind I offer the following move set.

Punched-Up Elekid

EV: Atk:252 / Spd: 252 / Def: 8
Nature: Adamant (Atk+/SpA-)

Move Pool:

Move 1: ThunderPunch (Electric 75/100)
Move 2: Ice Punch (Ice 75/100)
Move 3: Fire Punch (Fire 75/100)
Move 4: Brick Break (Fighting 75/100)

All of the moves on this guy are Physical and they are all 100% accurate with a base damage of 75. Thunderpunch is the only one that gets STAB. Ice Punch is there to take out those pesky Ground-type Pokemon who can do Elekid in quite quickly.

Other types of Elekid

I request that if you have any other ideas for an Elekid move pool to please leave them in the comments below. As good move pools are suggested I will update this article accordingly.

Posted by HMTKSteve | Filed Under Tips 

Pokemon Battle Revolution: Little Battles

February 2, 2009 | 3 Comments

Pokemon Battle Revolution

Sunny Park Colosseum is a special place in Pokemon Battle Revolution. While it is a normal battle spot the first time through it becomes something far more interesting afterwards. Why do I say this? Because Sunny Park Colosseum becomes the place to battle with Little Pokemon.

Little Pokemon are defined as unevolved Pokemon that are level 5 or lower. This means those big basic Pokemon such as Skarmory and Heracross can not compete. Nor can any Pokemon that evolves with a stone such the evolved forms of Eevee.

Most competitive Pokemon Battlers never even look at the unevolved Pokemon. They only look at the Uber and Over Used tiers. Here at the farm we like to be different. One way we are different is that we encourage the use of Pokemon that many battlers would shy away from.

In the past we have held tournaments where participants could only use level 1 Pokemon. This sort of battle is very different from the high powered battles most players are familiar with. For one thing set damage moves are banned (they would be OHKO moves in this format) and their is less of an emphasis on EVs and IVs. In fact a Pokemon may have terrible IVs but if their starting scores are higher than a Pokemon with better IVs then they will see battle before their better does.

    Basic Rules

  • Any unevolved Pokemon that can evolve can be used in this format. This includes Pokemon that have gained an evolution in 4th gen.
  • Pokemon must be level 5 or lower. This is due to early generations hatching Pokemon at level 5.
  • No set damage moves allowed. Most set damage moves would be an instant kill in this format.

Creating a team for this format is not much different than building a team for the normal formats. The only big difference is that it is all about the breeding skills of the trainer. Though you could burn a ton of TMs on your low level Pokemon it is much better to breed the moves into your Pokemon. There are numerous articles on the site about breeding and you can also check out out the forum.

When choosing Pokemon to use in your Little Battle team it is important to note that most Pokemon that fit into this tier will not be dual-type. There are some dual-types but they are few and far between. Available move pools is also something that you need to take into consideration. Some Pokemon you might never think of using become very desirable in this format.

Let’s take Munchlax for example. If you can get one with the Thick Fat ability you have already gained a huge advantage in that your Pokemon will only suffer 50% damage from Fire and Ice type moves.

Unlike the sleepier Snorlax Munchlax is a real hustler. He also has a wide variety of moves available (even more when Platinum comes out). Why not breed your Munchlax to have: Focus Punch (150 Fighting), Earthquake (100 Ground), Zen Headbutt (80 Psychic) and Rock Slide (75 Rock)? All of those moves are Physical due to Munchlax having a high base Attack score.

Why not give Little Battles a chance? It’s not that hard to make a team of Legendary Pokemon and kick butt in the competitive battle scene with them. It’s a lot harder to take a bunch of unevolved Pokemon and forge a competitive team out of them.

Posted by HMTKSteve | Filed Under Tips 

Looking at Pokemon: Bidoof

December 26, 2008 | 3 Comments

Bidoof is a Normal type Pokemon who evolves into the Normal/Water type Bibarel at Level 15. Bidoof is Pokemon number 399 in the national dex and is one of the most common Pokemon found in the early parts of Diamond, Pearl and Platinum. It is most often used as an HM slave by players and then tossed back into the box once the player reaches the Elite Four.

Bidoof comes with one of two possible abilities: Simple (The effectiveness of all stat modifications is doubled) and Unaware (Foe’s stat modifications are ignored).

Bidoof can be acquired in the 4th generation Pokemon games rather quickly. Soon after earning your starter Pokemon you will find yourself unable to take ten steps without one of these buck-toothed critters popping out of the tall grass to harass you.

Bidoof does not have any amazing base stats. Its best score is HP that clocks in at a whopping 59 points. Even though you will be hard pressed to field this little guy in a competitive environment it is not without some redeeming features. For one thing this Pokemon has only one real weakness; Fighting type moves. Bidoof suffers x2 damage from Fight moves but only x1 damage from the rest of the typings with the obvious exception for Ghost moves that can do no harm to a Normal type Pokemon.

Some might compare Bidoof to Rattata but it is important to note that while Rattata has high Speed and Attack scores (while everything else suffers) Bidoof has a very even spread of base scores with nothing really high and nothing really low

When used as an HM slave Bidoof will need to be evolved at the earliest possible moment. While Bidoof can only learn HM01 Cut and HM06 Rock Smash the evolved form can learn six out of the eight HM moves.

Bidoof in Adventure Mode

Let’s be honest for a minute here. Most players only use Bidoof because they can catch one early on and it serves admirably as a throw away HM slave. That does not mean this Pokemon has no other purpose.

When you find (or hatch) your Bidoof it will most likely come with the move Tackle and possibly Growl (level 5). Defense Curl comes along at level 9 and Rollout comes along at level 13. (Rollout is very important because Shinx does not learn an offensive Electric move until level 17.)

HM06 Rock Smash will soon be added to your Pokemon and because it is an HM move you will not be able to replace it with anything else until you find the Move Deleter.

At level 17 Headbutt becomes available and even though bidoof’s speed is not likely to allow it to attack first Headbutt does cause more damage than Tackle and is worth taking. This move will be replaced with Hyper Fang at level 21. Super Fang becomes available at level 37 but that move is best used as a first strike and then not used again due to its diminishing returns. It is also very likely that your Bidoof will have evolved long before Super Fang becomes available. It is also very likely that after evolving your pokemon will be sporting four HM moves.

Adventure Mode Move Breakdown:

Move 1: Tackle -> Headbutt -> Hyper Fang -> Super Fang
Move 2: Growl -> Rollout
Move 3: Defense Curl -> Cut
Move 4: Rock Smash

Most likely you will evolve your Bidoof at level 15 and Rollout will be the last move your Pokemon learns on leveling up.

Competitive Battling Bidoof

It is highly unlikely that you will ever find yourself in a situation where you choose to field a Bidoof in a competitive situation. The only time you will have one of these guys on your team is when a tournament restricts you in some manner. With that in mind I offer the following move set.

Annoying Bidoof

Bidoof’s top score is its HP of 59 followed by an Attack score of 45. Nothing to write home about but within its class it’s not so bad.

EV: HP:252 / Atk: 252 / Spd: 8
Nature: Adamant (Atk+/SpA-)
Ability: Unaware

Move Pool:

Move 1: Super Fang (Normal ??/90)
Move 2: Toxic (Poison –/85 TM06)
Move 3: Substitute (Normal –/– TM90)
Move 4: Rest (Normal –/– TM44)

This particular Bidoof is designed to annoy your opponent. A quick Super Fang will knock half of the HP off of the defending Pokemon. Follow this up with Toxic and the Substitute/Rest combo and this little beaver can go for a long time! A Steel or Poison Pokemon will put the breaks on this strategy.

Other Bidoof

Have some ideas for how to use a Bidoof in battle? Post them in the comments and if they look promising I’ll add them to the article.

Posted by HMTKSteve | Filed Under Tips 

“Keying” in on Rotom’s new forms!

September 30, 2008 | 31 Comments

“Its body is composed of plasma. It is known to infiltrate electronic devices and wreak havoc” – Pokédex

Pokémon Platinum, released in Japan on September 13th, gives new meaning to those faithful words that our pokédex’s once spoke. As many of you may already know Rotom will be getting a whole new bag of tricks when household appliances run aMUK in Shinnoh!

Starting on September 28, 2008 and lasting until November 4, 2008, Nintendo is giving away a secret key to all Pokemon Platinum owners with WIFI access. The secret key unlocks a hidden room in Team Galactic’s hideout in Eterna City and can be downloaded once you have unlocked the mystery gift function.

Obtaining the Secret Key…

To receive the secret key you first have to unlock the mystery gift option. Just like in Diamond & Pearl you simply go to the 3rd floor and tell the news reporter…Everyone / Happy…and then…WI-FI / Connection. This was a little difficult since it’s all in japanese, but I simply checked on my Pearl game to see where the words where located in english and then found them in japanese!

After you have unlocked the mystery gift function, select the Get Via Wireless button and TA-DA!!!

Obtaining Rotom…

Just like in Diamond & Pearl you can only find Rotom inside a TV in the Old Chateau at night. Once you have captured him in platinum or traded him over from Diamond or Pearl you can head to Team Galactic’s hideout.

Taking on new forms…

After you have beaten Team Galactic in Eterna City, go back to the first room. In the upper left hand corner of the room is a hidden entrance that leads to a new room containing 5 household appliances. Simply go up to the wall and press the A button and your secret key will open the hidden entranceway. With Rotom(s) in your party simply stand in front of the appliance that you want Rotom to posses and press the A button. If your Rotom already knows 4 moves then it will ask you if you want to learn a new move depending on which Appliance you pick.

Here is a chart of each of Rotoms’s new forms and the moves it can learn when it posses the appliances…

Additional Facts…

  • Rotom will change back to its original form if you select the spot where the appliance it possessing once sat or if you try and trade Rotom while it is possessing an appliance.
  • Rotom’s base stats get a boost when it posses the various appliances return to his old stats when it reverts back to its original form.

  • All of the Rotom’s transformations are still Electric and Ghost types.

  • If you missed out on the secret key event there is still hope!!! Ask a friend who does have the secret key to share the key with you. They can share the key up to 4 times! All they have to do is do is go to the wonder card share the key. All you have to do is go into your Mystery gift function and select the Get From A Friend option. The only draw back is that this is not over WIFI, you have to be close by.

Posted by Toys4life | Filed Under Tips 

Looking at Pokemon: Chimchar

September 24, 2008 | 3 Comments

Chimchar

Looking at Chimchar

Chimchar is a Fire Pokemon that is one of the three starter Pokemon from the Diamond and Pearl games. Chimchar sits at spot 390 in the National Pokedex and can evolve into Monferno (Lvl 14) and then Infernape (Lvl 36). Many compare Chimchar to Torchic from Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald. More specifically they refer to Infernape as the Pokemon Blaziken always wanted to be.

Chimchar (and his higher evolved forms) are unusual in that they can perform equally well as Physical Attackers or Special Attackers. Their base Attack (58/78/104) and Special Attack (58/78/104) scores are equal through each evolution. Similarly their Defense (44/52/71) and Special Defense (44/52/71) scores are also equal across evolutions. This allows Chimchar to work as either a Physical or Special Attack Pokemon.

Chimchar has the ability Blaze (Boosts power of Fire moves 50% when at 1/3 HP or less).

Chimchar can be acquired either as your starter Pokemon or via trading with a friend or over the GTS. Unlike in previous games there is a third trainer you encounter who takes the Pokemon neither you nor your rival took at the beginning of the game. Once you have seen a Chimchar you will be able to get one off of the GTS (provided you have made it far enough into the game to unlock the GTS).

Chimchar has a good mix of moves in its move pool that allow a trainer to easily mold it into the role of Physical or Special Attacker (though its complete move pool sets it up better as a Physical Attacker). Flame Wheel (Lvl 17) is the only Physical Fire move this Pokemon learns while leveling up but it does have access to the moves Fire Punch and Blaze Kick via its pool of Egg moves.

On the Special Attack side Chimchar can learn several Fire moves beginning with Ember (Lvl 7), Fire Spin (Lvl 33) and Flamethrower (Lvl 41). Its Egg move pool only contains Heat Wave for Special Attacks while it’s TM/HM pool contains Flamethrower, Fire Blast and Overheat.

Chimchar in Adventure Mode

Most players will find that Chimchar is a very rewarding Pokemon to pick as a starter. Among the starter selection Chimchar is the one who becomes dual type the fastest (Monferno, Lvl 14, Fire/Fighting). Fire Pokemon are also extremely rare in Sinnoh during the early part of the game. Ponyta is the Fire Pokemon you will first encounter in the wild and it only becomes available after you have defeated the Grass/Poison Gym in Eterna City.

A fresh Chimchar (with no special breeding) will know the moves Scratch and Leer. Not a Fire move on the list but that comes quickly with Ember at level 7.

I realize that most players will want to evolve their Chimchar at the first opportunity but there are those who like to keep their Pokemon from evolving and the rest of this article will be written with that idea in mind.

At Level 9 Chimchar will learn the move Taunt and (assuming you have not used any TMs/HMs on him) all further moves learned beyond this point will require replacing an existing move already known.

It is important to understand that Chimchar’s level up moves put him in a better position to be a Special Attacker than they do a Physical Attacker. I say this because the move Nasty Plot becomes available at level 23 while Swords Dance is only available via a TM. These moves do essentially the same thing though one applies to Attack and the other to Special Attack. If you choose not to learn Nasty Plot you can always regain it by going to the Move Maniacs house in Pastoria City but only as long as your Pokemon remains a Chimchar. Nasty Plot is not in the move pool of his later evolutions.

When it comes to Physical moves your first option is to replace Scratch with Fury Swipes at level 15. After that comes Flame Wheel at level 17 and Facade at level 31. Personally I would opt for Fury Swipes at level 15 and replace Ember with Flame Wheel at level 17. If I have not acquired a better Physical move by level 31 Facade will replace Fury Swipes.

When it comes to Special moves Fire Spin at level 33 and Flamethrower at level 41 are your only options. Fire Spin is low power (15) but it also prevents the opponent’s Pokemon from fleeing for 2-5 turns. Fire Spin is also only 70% accurate. Flamethrower is a power house at 95 with a 100% accuracy. It also has a 10% chance of inflicting a Burn condition on your opponent.

Taking a quick look at the Status moves in Chimchar’s move pool we find Nasty Plot (Lvl 23), Torment (Lvl 25) and Slack Off (Lvl 39). We have already discussed Nasty Plot above but what about these other two? Should we drop Taunt (Lvl 9) or Leer to learn these?

Taunt and Torment are similar moves. While Taunt forces the opponent’s Pokemon to only use Attack moves for the next 2-5 turns Torment prevents them from using the same move two turns in a row. Pulling these two off can really annoy an opponent but is it worth setting up? Slack Off is a healing move and restores up to ½ of your max HPs. If you want to go the annoying way then pick Taunt and Torment. If you want to go a little more all-purpose than stick with Nasty Plot and Slack Off.

Adventure Mode Move Breakdown:

Move 1: Scratch -> Fury Swipes -> Facade
Move 2: Leer -> Torment
Move 3: Ember -> Flame Wheel -> Flamethrower
Move 4: Taunt

You might be wondering why I have not bothered to learn Nasty Plot in the above breakdown of moves and why I have instead gone with the Taunt/Torment option. The simple reason is that Nasty Plot is not really useful until you learn Flamethrower. With the low power (15) of Fire Spin it’s simply not worth having Nasty Plot taking up a slot. You could keep Ember until you learn Flamethrower but Flame Wheel has 20 more points of power behind it before boosting with a Nasty Plot/Swords Dance.

Remember, the above breakdown assumes no TM/HM usage during game play.

Competitive Battling Chimchar

As an un-evolved Pokemon Chimchar is not a major player in the competitive battling scene. His fully evolved form Infernape is a major player and it sits in the OU (Over Used) tier. It is at this point that you are likely wondering why anyone would want to field a Chimchar in competitive play.

There are occasions where you will find yourself in a tournament or league with special rules in place. That is where you will find yourself battling with a Chimchar. The un-evolved three stage Pokemon tournament is where you will find Chimchar in use. If the tournament rules allow for non-evolving Pokemon don’t use Chimchar. Pokemon who do not evolve are almost always stronger than un-evolved three stage Pokemon.

All-Purpose Chimchar

This Chimchar does a little bit of everything. It makes good use of its Blaze ability and has a few tricks up its sleeves.

IV: Atk: 252 / SpA: 252 / Spd: 8
Nature: Lonely (Atk+/Def-), Naughty (Atk+/SpD-), Mild (SpA+/Def-), Rash (SpA+/SpD-), Hasty (Spd+/Def-), Naive (Spd+/SpD-)

Move Pool:

Move 1: Heat Wave (Fire 100/90 Egg move)
Move 2: Fire Punch (Fire 75/100 Egg move)
Move 3: Hidden Power (Ice TM10)
Move 4: Thunder Punch (Electric 75/100 Egg move)

Yes, this variant requires proper breading to create but it covers all but one of Chimchar’s weaknesses, Rock. You can swap Brick Break (TM31) in place of Hidden Power (TM10) but then you will still find yourself weak against Ground types and you will no longer have the 50/50 split among Special and Physical moves.

Even though Chimchar has access to Grass Knot (TM86) most Pokemon in his class will be light, thus negating the effectiveness of Grass Knot.

Special Attack Chimchar

This Chimchar focuses entirely on Special Attack and Speed. He hits hard and he hits fast!

IV: HP: 8 / SpA: 252 / Spd: 252
Nature: Modest (SpA+/Atk-), Timid (Spd+/Atk-)

Move Pool:

Move 1: Nasty Plot (Dark Status Lvl 23)
Move 2: Fire Blast (Fire 120/85 TM 3 / Flamethrower (Fire 95/100 Lvl 41/TM 35)
Move 3: Hidden Power (Ice TM 10)
Move 4: Torment (Dark Status Lvl 25)

The option to use Fire Blast or Flamethrower is based on personal preference and risk taking. While Fire Blast is more powerful it is also less accurate. If you have a hold item that increases your Pokemon’s accuracy than feel free to go with Fire Blast. If you find yourself getting “burned” by attacks that miss you can go with flamethrower.

Hidden Power Ice should help take out those pesky Ground types while Torment lets you annoy those Pokemon who only have one attack that can hurt you.

Attack Chimchar

This Chimchar focuses entirely on Attack and Speed. He hits hard and he hits fast!

IV: HP: 8 / Atk: 252 / Spd: 252
Nature: Adamant (Atk+/SpA-), Jolly (Spd+/SpA-)

Move Pool:

Move 1: Swords Dance (Normal Status TM 75)
Move 2: Fire Punch (Fire 75/100 Egg move)
Move 3: Thunder Punch (Electric 75/100 Egg move)
Move 4: Focus Punch (Fighting 150/100 TM 1)

This Chimchar is very similar to the Special Attack Chimchar except he is a little bit better. By starting off with a Swords Dance you set in motion a nearly unbeatable Chimchar. With his high speed Focus Punch is practically guaranteed to result in a series of OHKOs in battle. The only thing this Chimchar can not defend against is a Ground type who is faster than he is.

Other Chimchar:

There are many options for Chimchar and being in the un-evolved tier most competitive battlers are not familiar with it. Some may consider him to be a smaller version of Infernape but that would be a mistake. Many of the power moves associated with Infernape are not in Chimchar’s move pool.

Posted by HMTKSteve | Filed Under Tips 

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