More like Relican't

So far, these past twelve days have mostly been devoted to fighting rematches against the various gym leaders. The results have been fairly positive; my lineup has been slowly but surely increasing in power, while I've managed to evolve other weaker Pokémon, getting closer and closer to filling out my Pokédex. I realize that my Pokémon would get stronger a lot more quickly if I didn't stick an EXP share on whichever weak Pokémon I was trying to evolve at the time, but hey, this way I'm multitasking. And since last post I've managed to evolve...

-my Gulpin, Kirby, into a Swalot
-my Wurmple, M'rrgla, first into a Silcoon and then a Beautifly
-my Dratini, Toothless, into a Dragonair
-Magmus, my Slugma, into a Magcargo
-my Snubbull, Throw Mama, into a Granbull
-my Teddiursa, Bear Jew, into an Ursaring
-Rocksteady, my Rhyhorn, into a Rhydon
-and finally Kim, my Chinchou, into a Lanturn



On top of that, I've unlocked the White Lake on my Pokéwalker, and was then able to catch a Chingling and Buizel. Two fairly useless Pokémon I no longer have to worry about.

I also managed to catch a level 40 Relicanth named Muddy via Pokémon Talk on the radio. Now, when I was told that “a wild group of Relicanth were spotted on route 12”, my first thought was “what the hell's a Relicanth?” This is particularly noteworthy since I had assumed I was familiar, at least on a face-recognition basis, with all 493 Pokémon. But I had completely forgot what a Relicanth was.

When I saw the Pokémon, though, I realized why.



I kinda feel bad for the Relicanth. It's obviously a Pokémon no one cares about, especially not the concept designers. Thankfully, it doesn't evolve into anything, which means I don't have to look at its stupid face ever again.

Finally, I can check another legendary Pokémon off my list. Yesterday, I caught a Zapdos, one of the three legendary birds from the original games. What's more, I did so on my first try, using maybe 5 Pokéballs, tops. The experience was... bittersweet.



A common complaint I've seen regarding the Pokémon franchise is their oversaturation of so-called “legendary” Pokémon as new titles are added. When the original games were released, there were only four legendary Pokémon, with a mysterious fifth super-rare. These were supposed to be the ultimate Pokémon – the ones who, according to the second Pokémon Movie, held the world together (or something). They hid in the deepest recesses of caves, in mountain peaks, etc. Catching them was a Big Deal.

Generation II, Gold and Silver, introduced 6 more legendary Pokémon. These were also very important entities, protectors of the world, majestic Pokégods walking among us mere mortals.

With Ruby and Sapphire, 10 more legendary Pokémon were introduced. They were... also kind of important? Somewhere along the storyline it's implied that one of them will bring about the end of the world. Or something.

Finally, we get Pearl and Diamond, which introduce 14 more Legendary Pokémon, bringing the total up to 35. I dunno, somewhere along the line the importance of these Pokémon got kind of lost on me. Kind of like the hatches in Lost; the first time you see one is pretty crazy, but by the time they introduce, like, the 17th one, you forgot why you cared in the first place.

Nowhere was this more evident to me than when I caught Zapdos. In SoulSilver, they seem to have more legendary Pokémon than they have locations in which they reside.

When I caught Ulysses (Lugia), he was waiting deep in the bowels of an island, summoned by mystical clerics. When I caught Gwaihir (Ho-oh), he had flown to the top of a sacred tower. When I caught Dr. Mabuse (Mewtwo), he had exiled himself to the lowest depths of a mysterious cave.

Zapdos, on the other hand, was just chilling outside of the Power Plant. Kind of like Jay and Silent Bob hanging outside the Quick Stop.



Not exactly my definition of Legendary.

Whatever. I'm not about to look a gift Rapidash in the mouth. Another Legendary caught.



Only... 30 more to go?


Pokémon Count at 78:24 hours of gameplay: Seen 327, caught 181
Professor Oak says: If you break rocks, some Pokémon that were hiding there might come jumping out!

You already said that, Professor!

Suicune is Painless

First there was Lugia. Then there was Mewtwo.

Well now you can add both Ho-oh and Suicune to the mix. Because I caught them. With my balls.

And to be quite honest, I'm not finding them to be all that challenging, at least not compared to that Lugia. Where Ulysses was concerned, I'd be constantly resetting my game because after lobbing ball after ball at the guy, he'd eventually run out of moves, use Struggle, and knock himself out. I'd have to give up after trying for a few hours each day because I'd be sick to my stomach with frustration.

Ho-oh and Suicune? Fucking easy. I probably wasted a combined 8 Pokéballs trying to catch them, which is nothing. Just goes to show that I truly am becoming a Pokémaster.

Yes, I realize I'm bragging about being “good” at a game geared towards children. Let me have this moment.


4 Legendaries caught. Who's next?

In terms of progress, I went back to Cerulean Cave the day after catching Dr. Mabuse and found an Electrizer, which I gave to Electro. I traded both him and a Reaper Cloth'd Ryuk to my sister Rachel, which means they both evolved into badass Pokémon, and Electivire and a Dusknoir, respectively. I later found a Magmarizer on Cinnibar Island, which I used to evolve Hallyne into a Magmortar.

I also caught a sweet Beldum on my Pokéwalker. I named him Hogarth. He'll unfortunately be the last Pokémon I catch on the 'Walker for a while, at least until I cover those half a million steps and start unlocking new routes again. So far I'm at 140,000.

While in Mt. Silver I caught a male Teddiursa and named him Bear Jew, and a male Sneasel named Scrat. I then got my ass handed to me by Trainer Red and decided to return to the Safari Zone, where I caught a female Misdreavus named Morticia. I also later caught a male Snubbull, whom I named Throw Mama.

Finally, I caught a level 70 Ho-oh and named it Gwaihir, and just a few hours ago caught a Suicune named Grey Wind.

Oh, and somewhere in the process, Hybird the Doduo evolved into a Dodrio, and I evolved Hogarth into a Metang.

Bel Kanto

So, last week saw a few milestones on my SoulSilver cartridge. Not only did I catch my first legendary Pokémon, I also opened up a can of “it's super effective” on the Elite Four. Well just when you thought it was over, Aaron hits you up with another milestone.

I just hit the 100 Pokémon mark.

Now, this isn't a particularly hard thing to do when there are 493 of the little fuckers around, but I think it's still a reassuring marker to hit. The fact is, I've now caught over 20% of 'em all, and I don't feel like slowing down in the least.

Progress-wise, I've found that the adventure sort of loses its thrust after beating the Elite Four. I always thought it was a cool idea to have it revealed that after you think the game's over, a whole new continent is added. That being said, there's not much to do now that I'm here. I now have two more badges under my belt (Lt. Surge's and Sabrina's), but it's not quite the same. Whereas in the Johto region, I'd have to right wrongs, help the helpless, and defeat marginally evil villains, in Kanto (the second continent) it feels like I'm just here to sightsee. I've really just been going from one town to the next, getting gym badges just cause I can.



But goddamnit, I didn't come here to sightsee. I came here to catch some Pokémon.

Interestingly, even though I've added about 23 entries to my Pokédex since I last blogged, only 1 of them was from a Pokémon caught through traditional means. That Pokémon is Cubone. I named him Norm Bates, because his Pokédex entry reads like this:

It always wears the skull of its dead mother, so no one has any idea what its hidden face looks like.

I think that that entry makes Cubone officially the most fucked-up Pokémon I own thus far.



All the other Pokémon I've added have been either evolutions or caught via the Pokéwalker. As I mentioned before, beating the Elite Four unlocked new routes on the 'walker, which means I'm now the proud owner of a Wurmple, Illumise, Skitty, Horsea, Azurill, Houndour, Meditite, Castform, and Zigzagoon (phew!).

Oh, also, Nintendo has unleashed a new route for trainers to download: the Winner's Path (in lieu of the Pikachu-laden Yellow Forest). If you have Wi-Fi, download it now! If not, walk up and down your street like a creepy stalker until you find a signal! I did the latter, and have so far found a Bronzor, Duskull (which is probably my favourite Pokémon to come out of Ruby/Sapphire), and Munchlax.



And on top of those Pokémon, I've had a few others evolve: Terra evolved into Graveler, Poppet into a Skiploom and then a Jumpluff, Gobias into a Flaafy and then an Ampharos, and finally ChickenBoo evolved into a Pidgeot. I proceeded to trade Terra, Maraxus, Psycho Fox, and Swayze to my sister Rachel, where they evolved into a Golem, Machamp, Alakazam, and Gengar, respectively.

So yeah, another productive few days. Well, I mean, if you don't count Pokémon, they were horribly unproductive days. But I mean, in the world of Pokémon? Productive!

Day 27 Pokédex count: Seen 211, caught 109
Professor Oak says: Don't forget, some Pokémon only appear at certain times of the day!

I won't, Professor!

Lugia

Just a brief update to let you know that I am now one Legendary Pokémon closer to catching 'em all.

As of about ten minutes ago, I am the proud owner of a level 45 Lugia.



Motherfucker took me about three and a half hours total, over a span of two days. I don't even want to think about how many Poké/Great/Ultra/Net/Dusk balls I've lobbed at this guy. All I can tell you is that I am physically out of breath.

To say that shit got real would be an understatement. Shit gained a sort of hyperrealism wherein we are all just shadows reflected on a wall in a cave in Shit's subconscious.



Whenever I wonder if I've outgrown Pokémon, if maybe my loyalty to the game is more out of nostalgia than anything else, if I even get anything out of the game anymore, I need only think back to the muted klik! of my Ultraball as it locked itself around the target, cementing my victory. That's what being a Pokémaster is all about.

And for the record? My Lugia (Ulysses) looks simply majestic following me around. I have a feeling that this might be the start of a beautiful friendship.



A more in-depth post later on. I need to go recover.