Pokémon

[PkmnTrainerJ]

Some Pokémon (see here) need a dongle of the GBA games to actually appear. Starters also need to be traded over and can't be caught, as well as certain legendaries (see here) but apart from that and Tangela & Tropius in Diamond & Pearl, you can catch everything else.

[Pink_blossom_water_lilly]

Some Pokémon (see here) need a dongle of the GBA games to actually appear. Starters also need to be traded over and can't be caught, as well as certain legendaries (see here) but apart from that and Tangela & Tropius in Diamond & Pearl, you can catch everything else.

Yay, I was wondering where would I be able to get the dongle of the GBA games? It sounds really interesting and it would be so uberly kool, to train my Lapras again.

[DoubleX]

Level 53 Sneasel beat level 100 Electivire and two other level 100 Pokemon. I don't buy it.

386 is nearly irrelevant these days, but fair enough, I missed that.

Also like I said, you would not be switching Houndoom into Metagross. Switching either into the other would be suicide, since even a Meteor Mash would dent the hell out of Houndoom. If, however, you decided to switch Metagross into Houndoom, you'd be met with a Nasty Plot on the switch, then a Flamethrower/Fire Blast/Overheat and Metagross would be fried.

Few Psychic types can switch into Houndoom safely when it can Nasty Plot, especially when it can also use Sucker Punch. Even without Sucker Punch, a NPed Dark Pulse would wreck 90% of the Psychic types in the game. Fun fact on Houndoom's attacking power: "After a boost, a Life Orb Fire Blast does 49–58% to a max HP/minimum Special Defense Blissey, or 54–63% if Houndoom is Modest natured." Think about that. The best special wall in the game eats a 2HKO from a NP Fire Blast without a super effective hit a majority of the time.

There are avenues of countering Houndoom, but I'd like to see if you can pick them as well. You appear to know at least somewhat what you're talking about here, so let's see what you think here.

Fighting, probably. The traditional Houndoom set is Fire Blast/Solarbeam/Sunny Day/Crunch or Ice Hidden Power (Leftovers attached), but its Defense is still godawful (base 50? 55?) so I'd take either Primeape or Blaziken. Blaziken is slower (80 to 95), but it resists Fire Blast, resists Solarbeam, benefits from Sunny Day as much as Houndoom, resists Crunch and is neutral to HP Ice - no matter what move Houndoom throws at it, it can take it and deal out a 112-power Brick Break running off it's brutal Attack stat (base 120). Primeape has the advantage of being equally as fast as Houndoom, itself has good Attack (base 105) and will one-hit KO Houndoom with Close Combat, but I'd take Blaziken in a pinch for killing Houndooms.

I was actually thinking in terms of DPPt, but first I'll talk about Advance Houndoom.

Sunnybeam Houndoom is actually an uncommon set since Sunnybeaming is usually left for things that can outspeed everything, like Exeggutor. For the standard set you'd be looking at Flamethrower/Crunch/Will-o-wisp/HP Grass or Ice. Blaziken can take the offensive moves but won't enjoy being Burned. Primeape would need to be hit with Crunch on the switch in to be able to take out Houndoom, any other move and Primeape's gone. It's got pretty bad defenses, so yeah. One of the best options for countering standard Advance Houndoom is Milotic, since if Houndoom burns it then that activates Marvel Scale, HP Grass isn't powerful enough even to 2HKO, it resists Flamethrower (obviously), and can take several Crunches. Any damage taken it can just Recover away.

Nasty Plot Houndoom? Again it's Milotic unless it has HP Grass, and that's not as common in DPPt than it was in Advance. If it's running Nasty Plot/Flamethrower/Dark Pulse/HP Fighting then Gallade has a decent shot at countering it as well, and can either attack it, or paralyse/sleep it. The latter is probably the best option since anyone who knows what they're doing in terms of competitive battling would switch out if they had a Gallade facing off against their Houndoom.

EDIT: Wait I just realised you mentioned Primeape having Close Combat. Are you talking about a Sunnybeam Houndoom in Advance or DPPt? Because if you're talking the latter that's a pretty failure set.

Edited June 16, 2009 by DoubleX

[The Kraig]

Some Pokémon (see here) need a dongle of the GBA games to actually appear. Starters also need to be traded over and can't be caught, as well as certain legendaries (see here) but apart from that and Tangela & Tropius in Diamond & Pearl, you can catch everything else.

Yay, I was wondering where would I be able to get the dongle of the GBA games? It sounds really interesting and it would be so uberly kool, to train my Lapras again.

Dongle just means the GBA game is inserted into the GBA slot of your DS, while you're playing Diamond/Pearl/Platinum. For example LeafGreen can make Sandshrew appear in Wayward Cave in Sinnoh if it's in in the DS while playing, Emerald can make Pineco appear in certain areas and so on.

The whole list of the pokémon and where they appear is here: http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Dongle

Bulbapedia knows all.

[Plubby]

XX/Be - where do you guys go to get all this info on good battling teams? I figure it must be somewhere - Is it on Bulbapedia, or somewhere else?

[DoubleX]

XX/Be - where do you guys go to get all this info on good battling teams? I figure it must be somewhere - Is it on Bulbapedia, or somewhere else?

Smogon is where I get my movesets. I think I'm still a member on their forums but I haven't been to the forums in a few years now.

[Plubby]

Who am I best served using my master ball on in Pearl? I've heard Heatran and Giratina, is there a generally accepted opinion?

[NobBe Nobbs]

I was actually thinking in terms of DPPt, but first I'll talk about Advance Houndoom.

Sunnybeam Houndoom is actually an uncommon set since Sunnybeaming is usually left for things that can outspeed everything, like Exeggutor. For the standard set you'd be looking at Flamethrower/Crunch/Will-o-wisp/HP Grass or Ice. Blaziken can take the offensive moves but won't enjoy being Burned. Primeape would need to be hit with Crunch on the switch in to be able to take out Houndoom, any other move and Primeape's gone. It's got pretty bad defenses, so yeah. One of the best options for countering standard Advance Houndoom is Milotic, since if Houndoom burns it then that activates Marvel Scale, HP Grass isn't powerful enough even to 2HKO, it resists Flamethrower (obviously), and can take several Crunches. Any damage taken it can just Recover away.

Primeape is not much of an option, I admit - there's a reason it's underused - but even with the new set, Blaziken resists Flamethrower, resists Crunch, resists the Hidden Power and ignores WOW completely because Fire-types can't be burned. Milotic's a good counter, actually, I was just looking at Fighting-types.

EDIT: Wait I just realised you mentioned Primeape having Close Combat. Are you talking about a Sunnybeam Houndoom in Advance or DPPt? Because if you're talking the latter that's a pretty failure set.

I was talking 386. The only reason I brought up Close Combat was because I noticed Gen4 Primeape learns it.

XX/Be - where do you guys go to get all this info on good battling teams? I figure it must be somewhere - Is it on Bulbapedia, or somewhere else?

Movesets I come up with myself, mostly, but use Bulbapedia to find out what moves can be learned; there's a bunch of stuff on GameFAQs for the so-called "standard" movesets". Teams...I don't know, that you have to work out for yourself. I like to play UU more than I do everything else (not least because I detest the SkarmBliss combo, I used to flat refuse to play anybody who used either), but I'm up for either that or a mono-type battle or eight.

[Vendetta]

I'm too lazy to go searching through this topic, but if it hasn't been mentioned yet check this out....

http://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=137545

[DoubleX]

Haha my Gengar is wrecking the Battle Tower. This is hilarious. Everything is OHKOed or 2HKOed by it.

[BuddyAwesome]

So, I've been playing my GameCube again and found that my step brother had Pokemon Colosseum & XD. He said to play Colosseum first and I have, but now I'm stuck. First, I've never been a fan of trying to catch 'em all, so I just catch guys I like. Also, not ever playing games dating later that the Gold, Silver, and Crystal days, I'm really confused with a lot of new guys. Anyways, I'm stuck and need help.

Three of my Pokemon (Hariyama, Croconaw, and Misdreavus) all say their hearts are about to be open and that I need to do the final unlock... How do I do this?

Second, I'm in Pyrite Town and I've cleared all the enemies in the building where you're supposed to claim your Shadow Pokemon, and now it's saying I need to rescue a Pokemon from inside a cave. Where do I find this cave to continue? Thanks in advance!

[Plubby]

I'm playing trying to use the upstairs room to trade with a friend whose DS is like..two feet from mine. As soon as both of us are in the room at the same time, the wireless communications crashes.

1 - Have we gone to the right trade room?

2 - Why might the comm. be crashing?

Edited July 8, 2009 by Plubby

[PkmnTrainerJ]

Three of my Pokemon (Hariyama, Croconaw, and Misdreavus) all say their hearts are about to be open and that I need to do the final unlock... How do I do this?

Second, I'm in Pyrite Town and I've cleared all the enemies in the building where you're supposed to claim your Shadow Pokemon, and now it's saying I need to rescue a Pokemon from inside a cave. Where do I find this cave to continue? Thanks in advance!

The final unlock is performed when you reach Agate Village, and you go to the Relic Stone, they get unlocked there (provided they have the 'final unlock' message) and are no longer shadow Pokémon. They'll gain all the EXP they've earned so far and their final move. Is the cave you're looking for in Duking's House maybe? Can't remember.

1 - Have we gone to the right trade room?

2 - Why might the comm. be crashing?

Upstairs on the left I think. Might be crashing if one of you has an unofficial copy, can't think of too many things that might be wrong with it.

[Plubby]

The non-me party is using an R4

[Liam]

If I'm not too fussed about the 'OMG Have to catch them all' aspect of the game, is there any real need to fork out the extra money to get Platinum, or for just a gaming experience, would Diamond or Pearl suffice?

[PkmnTrainerJ]

That would be it then. I've tried to play Mario Kart against people with R4's to no avail before.

I'd recommend getting Platinum, even if you're not bothered about the catching thing. The second iteration of the games are always better in story and longevity. There's the Battle Frontier too to keep things going.

[Katsuya]

So, yeah...more and more details about HeartGold and SoulSilver keep on coming out (I so, so hope those names get changed when they get released over here...). There's a new contest called the Pokethlon, where you have a series of "events" that your Pokemon can compete in. They each have different stats now for stamina/technique etc. much like the cool/smart stats; apricorns can be used to boost these stats as well as making different kinds of ball.

Kanto is in it, the Bug Catching contest is in it, there's also a new Safari Zone around Cianwood City that you can customise by moving the areas around. Kyogre, Groudon and Rayquaza are all also in the game, and there's a Battle Frontier near Olivine City. In other words, it looks AWESOME.

Edited August 9, 2009 by Katsuya

[Mike Widdows]

Need some help on Pokemon Silver. Was bored and got it out yesterday after seeing the FireRed thread and have become sadly addicted. Anyway I reached Mahogany and beat the gym leader, And apparently upon coming out of the gym I was supposed to recieve a call from Prof. Elm. Well that didn't happen, Now I figured I'd probably missed something out so I went and did all the obvious things(Like I'd forgot to cure the sick Miltank) and have been around everywhere trying to do things to trigger the call but to no avail. Anyone got any ideas why I'm not getting it?

[Mike Widdows]

EDIT-DOUBLE POST

Edited August 9, 2009 by Mike Widdows

[BuddyAwesome]

I need help again playing Coloseum. I beat everyone at the Realgam Tower (even caught the oh so awesome Houndoom!) and as far as I know I've looked at every inch of the blown up Team Snagem Hideout. I read online that I'm supposed to be getting an e-mail from Nett or Secc (I forget which) and that next I should be battling the guy with a Shadow Bayleef since I caught Croconaw and already beat the trainer with Shadow Quilava. But, no e-mail from the kids and I have no clue what to do next. I went and beat the Phenac, Pyrite, and Under coloseums four times each to get the TM's, still nothing.

Also, in The Under, at the disc station thing that brings you forward, right, up, etc; I still don't have the disc to go left where I can see a red box, and also I was told there's a D disc to bring me down to a really tough coloseum. Any help would be much appreciated!