Part 14: Snag 'Em Holdouts

Part 14: Snag 'Em Holdouts



It's the postgame! I hope you're ready for emails, since we don't have an overall goal anymore, so we'll be getting directions from Nett and Secc. Might as well restock on balls too, we're not done with Shadow Pokemon just yet!



Hope you picked a good ringtone, it's what you'll be hearing forever.

Phenac City



We'll head to Pyrite in a moment, but there's a couple of things to go over first. Not much actually changes in the postgame, aside from every trainer gets a rematch with lots of high levelled Pokemon.



We're now able to trade with any Gen 3 game and move Pokemon and items between them as often as we like. Of course you can't trade over Shadow Pokemon, but once they're purified, you can send them over and get some sweet Johto Pokemon in your game you wouldn't originally. At least, until FRLG and Emerald came out, then it didn't matter as much. This means we can use any Pokemon we fancy and send over all kinds of items that can't be found in Orre, such as different Pokeballs and the like. I won't be doing any of that, I could go between this file and our Emerald file, but ehhhhh, tbh cba fam. We'll be sticking with our team for the rest of the game.



Oh yeah we have bunch of cool Shadow Pokemon we need to walk for hours in order to purify. I'll totally be doing that.




They've got some sweet loot we need, including the only Nugget in the game! We'll be selling it. Also a Metal Coat, since trade evolutions still occur between GC and GBA, though first we need FireRed to come out so we can catch a Scyther and/or Onix. And then use their Metal Coats anyway.



Oh yeah, did you notice Mawuh hasn't been holding an item the entire game? Whoops! I'll make Sludge Bomb slightly better...



We've seen quite a few Pokemon so far in this game, we're only 150 or so from seeing everything! We're not gonna see everything, it's just gonna be more Linoone.

Pyrite Town



Our prisoners broke out. Every last one of them. I reckon they realized that they make easier targets for their organization when they're caged.



Yes, I was sleeping like a baby, but I wish they would've at least told me they were making a run for it...



Everyone's escaped so we can fight them elsewhere and snag their Pokemon if you still need to. Reath and Ferma are at Miror B.'s hideout replacing Mirakle B. since I'm never going back there to show it. We'll see where the other two have gone later. As for the Chaser that was in here at the start of the game? After Trudly and Folly get arrested, we never see him again, which is a shame since he had a TM to give us that we now cannot get. When the gear gets stolen, we can come in here and pick up the Jail Key and release him, giving us TM46 Thief. But I forgot, but it wasn't a big deal, I knew we'd get the Jail Key later, which we did, though Folly was in the cell now, so I figured we'd get the TM in the postgame. Except there's nothing here, so no TM for us. Fine by me, it's a shitty move anyway, since every wild Pokemon either 100% has an item, or doesn't, so this move is completely useless, unless you want shitty Dark coverage.



There's this ROGUE called CAIL who hangs around PYRITE's entrance. It sounds like CAIL recently battled this creepy trainer. They say that this trainer used some weird POKEMON. I think you should have a talk with CAIL about this.



Sure thing, let's have the postgame ease us into things with a nice and easy rematch.



...why is he stronger than Nascour?



The postgame isn't exactly a cakewalk, but considering you can use any Pokemon you fancy and got some real NICE Pokemon from the endgame, you'll be fine. Our team will struggle to start with, but this is some real NICE exp we're getting.




We'll probably need some more healing supplies, you can never have enough Revival Herbs.




I hope you've got some good answers, or you're gonna get kinda wrecked.



Oh yeah, some postgame trainers will use items on both their Pokemon, like in the endgame, so things can get very scary!



Uh... I forgot! He did say something about the SNAGEM HIDEOUT, though.




Ooh, a new area to go to, if you thought the right side of the map was looking pretty damn empty. We'll stop off to get some supplies and to purify some cool new mons and then head off!

Snagem Hideout



Well, this place has seen better days. Admittedly a lot of this stuff was from before I blew it up, but, uh, details!



...we know, Secc.



This place is a bit of a maze and the zoomed in camera doesn't help, but there's a lot of helpful items. Also the one PC.



There's also a load of Cipher Peons. Six, in fact. Every time you change the floor, you can come back to this spot and battle another Cipher Peon so you can get another shot at their Shadow Pokemon. We first fought Nore in the Pyrite Building and snagged his Yanma.



Like every postgame trainer, his team is pretty tough and they usually have four Pokemon.




His Bug mons have Bug moves to be a pain, but we've got fire, so it's whatever.



The only working vending machine is in The Under, alas... I won't fight all six peons, but we'll be back to that spot later.



Alright, now we're getting the proper Shadow Pokemon list from Nett. This will come in chunks of six and while we recognize quite a few Pokemon on there... Smeargle is a new one. Wonder where that is.



There's a staircase at the bottom going up, but we'll head this way first.




Despite being high levelled, the game is still weirdly allergic to evolved Pokemon in some cases, so we'll get oddities like this.



Fine by me.



If you're wondering where all the good item boxes were, they were nicked.



Like hot damn, but that was a dead end, despite looking like an important room, so let's continue on.



Guess there's not that many Snagem members as we thought, there's just a bunch of bozos hanging around, not including the leftover Cipher bozos.



There are too many Linoone in this game.




If you don't know where we are, don't worry, this place is confusing for me still, even if I've gone through it plenty of times before.



Ah, fast Water moves. I know some weather that will help with this a lot.




Thnakfully, despite being terrifying, Starmie is pretty fragile.



Please, you haven't watched my GTA 1 LP.



Now doesn't this room look familiar? Did they really not move the stand after all this time?




What? Not gonna have a random trainer use a Salamence and Tyranitar? Wimps.



With the power of love, Carbuncle can oneshot a Carvanha. Beautiful.



Oh, guess we won't be encountering a new Shadow Pokemon just yet.




This will do just fine. Though it's yet another Linoone.



You're right, but I don't cheat in battles. Except for when I do.



We already have a Delibird, so you won't fake me out again!




If I said no to Light Screen, I'm saying no to Safeguard.



Well you're doing better than Cipher, if anything.



There's zero indication you pick those balls up, but you can. It's pretty nice and the only time in the game you can do that!



Imagine if this had been our companion instead.



Or did you come out to see me, BLUNO? Fufufu... if that's the case, I'd better not disappoint you.



Even though we saw Verde again before the end, we do get to fight both Rosso and Bluno and snag their starters, you don't get the choice of one like in other dumb games. However, they're still at the level we first encountered them, you don't gain exp as a Shadow Pokemon after all, so they really can't be used on your team and can be a bit tricky to catch. But hey, you can send all three Johto starters over to your main games without having to complete the Hoenn Dex in Emerald, which is a massive plus in my eyes!



Which of the three you face here depends on who you chose at the start of the game, so since we faced Verde, we're now facing Bluno, basically who our starter is strong against, so Rosso if we had faced Bluno at the start, etc.



Croconaw is easy enough, it'll spam Shadow Rush and lower its health, but the other two will have to be full health catches, I've never seen them go for Shadow Rush in the postgame. The real focus is on the rest of Bluno's team anyway.




Now in the postgame, the colour trio will have a new Pokemon for whatever type they're strong against, so Verde would have a Sharpedo. We'll see what Rosso has soon enough, since of course we're getting Quilava.



One more recipient of the Net Ball, so the Johto starters were, for quite a while, the only starters that could be obtained in different Pokeballs, since you could trade over any ball and catch them in the postgame, aside from the Safari Ball, obviously.



Enjoy Snagging my SHADOW CROCONAW while you can! There are still more SHADOW POKEMON trainers out there!



Oh hey we're just below the entrance. Why couldn't we just go straight to Bluno? Well, it's pretty sneaky actually, entering this area from the map or from the hideout entrance kicks us to the map before we can go low enough to reach the hideout's, uh, previously made exit. Exiting from there makes the map load further down, letting us travel between the two points until we make the map load line higher up again.




Anyway, since we don't have a goal, let's bounce between areas doing unrelated things until we do. The only new Pokemon in that list is Ursaring, hmm. Let's go down under.

The Under



There's a guy in front of the JUNK SHOP named GURKS. He apparently saw this SHADOW POKEMON in a battle. The quickest way to find out is to ask GURKS himself. THOMAS, can you check it out?



Hmm, I remember fighting this guy, but what Pokemon did he use? I think it was a good one...



Mmm, now this is why these games are the best in the franchise. B2W2? Sounds like a dumb stupid game for idiots with poopy butts.



They are pretty nasty though, since they have Water Spout. Get their health down asap.



...uh, that doesn't help us. We know a guy like that is around, but do you have a location?

Shadow Pokemon Lab



Sometimes it is annoying having to go to a new area to get told to go to another area entirely, so let's just go to where we actually need to go.



Of course, we can't just head straight to where we need to go, oh no, this is one way after all. We gotta go the long way.



And this place ain't empty. So if you didn't catch a Shadow Pokemon here, now's a good time.




Mawuh is literally the worst team member for Garchump, I dunno why I let this happen.



Enough with the high level Pupitar!



And whatever the hell that was. It's alright, it's the postgame, you can use an Altaria against me!




Alright, fine, use a Rhyhorn against me, I won't be annoyed about it. We will have to fight every peon we fought before and that is annoying!



This postgame seems a little incomplete as Tanie doesn't even have a team for it! I mean, she kindadoes, her Pokemon are a few levels higher than last time and Delcatty is a Granbull replacement, but is her team accidentally 10 levels lower? It's just really confusing. There are other things, such as certain characters just not having updated postgame dialogue, but it's whatever really.



Exp is exp after all.



Wow, yeah, imagine if the alarm was still fucking going, wouldn't that just be awful?



I could give Espeon a sun boosting move, but we're nearly finished with the game and items will be just fine.



The trainers are getting a little tougher, least we're nearly done with this place.



Waah! How did you sneak up on me like that? Huh? Don't I know you from somewhere? Like at the MAYOR's home in PHENAC? You've been spoiling CIPHER's plans all over, haven't you? You're not going to mess my plan up!



So I was wondering why Cail was stronger than Nascour and now I'm wondering why Rosso is stronger than EVICE. This game is just too crazy for me.



Neat. We've also gotten the Mystic Water and Charcoal, though since we're late enough into the game, I'm not gonna bother selling the latter.



We just really like fighting Grumpig when they're way stronger than us, so they're really hard to take down. We're fighting the trio that's strong against our initial pick, so we'd fight Bluno if we had chosen Rosso to begin with, etc.



We are getting slightly wrecked, but that does help a lot.



Alright, we took down Muk with no reprecussions! Hey, uh, Mawuh, you okay?



Alright, we're done with this damn place, let's never come back here again.



...why are you introducing this mechanic NOW?



Okay, we're heading there next. Just as soon as I restock on healing items. More Revival Herbs!

Snagem Hideout



WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?



Okay. Man this email feature goes into overdrive in the postgame, it's actually pretty funny.



Because we're heading back into the Snagem Hideout we can face the second trainer by the stairs. It's another familiar face!




I can only say gg enough times before I start saying bg instead.



As we head towards where Bluno was again, there's some new trainers to stop us, from the Under Subway. Remember? Ah, I don't blame you if you don't.



With the amount of strong Pokemon we've been facing so far, standard postgame trainers aren't a big deal for us anymore.



The trainers that you'll need to fight you will stop you, so don't accidentally talk to a trainer you've fought before like an idiot, since as we left the area and came back, they WILL fight us again. It's really annoying.



Your unevolved Pokemon make me weep too.



FUCK, guess I'm fighting this guy again. I'm such a fucking idiot.



Oh hey, uh, do we know you?



Ah right, you remember Biden? We met him outside the Phenac Colosseum. He had one line of dialogue, don't you remember him? You call yourself a Pokemon fan, honestly.



Spore and Focus Punch? That's just cheeky, I love it. It also had Destiny Bond and Dream Eater. The first one we knocked out had Sweet Scent, Defense Curl, Ice Ball and Rollout.



Oh hey, our first proper postgame Shadow Pokemon. It's not very good, you can guess that much, but might as well talk about it.



The final Smeargle had Thrash, Outrage, Petal Dance and Teeter Dance. Because of course, doesn't your Smeargle have that?



Smeargle, 45 catch rate (28%, low health, paralyzed, Luxury Ball, or 50% with Ultra Ball if you don't trade over fancy stuff), starting moves: Doubleslap, Iron Tail, Tail Whip, Shadow Rush/Sketch

There's some crazy choices for postgame Shadow Pokemon and this is one of them. You're not using Smeargle for battles, you using it as a suicide lead with some crazy moves, or to give Pokemon in the Field Egg group a LOT of options. This doesn't work well in a game with, uh, no breeding, as well as limited Sketch options, since you get it at a much higher level than usual. With the Sketch you get for purifying, you only get six chances to craft the perfect moveset to pass down Egg moves (if you roll male of course, unless you have a time machine and somehow have FRLG and Ditto), otherwise, give it Spore and Spikes and hope for the best with Focus Band. At least since these games are always doubles it makes it much easier Sketching moves if you have a mon faster than Smeargle with the move you want. Otherwise, yeah, that's about all you can do with it and it really ain't much!



But I ended up on the receiving end of the paint...



It was all an elaborate trap by Master GONZAP to sucker you into coming!



Now don't tell me you've forgotten about Agrev! He was outside Phenac Colosseum too, only had no dialogue and you only knew he had a different model to a generic grunt when he turned round for a second before walking offscreen. How could you forget such a memorable character?



Another Shadow Pokemon! These guys were definitely packing when we first saw them. The last unique Snagem Grunt, Wakin, isn't in the postgame, fighting him outside Phenac Colosseum is the only time we see him in this game, alas.



Ursaring, 60 catch rate (78%, low health, Ultra Ball), starting moves: Slash, Lick, Fake Tears, Shadow Rush/Faint Attack

Alright you've had your fun running with five team members until this point and refusing to use your Return, Brick Break or Earthquake TMs. Well here you go, the final good Shadow Pokemon. Everything else doesn't deserve those great moves, so stick it on this great mon and use it to finish up the postgame. It's a very slightly faster and stronger Granbull, so I guess it's an upgrade, but there's really no more good Shadow Pokemon. It's a strong Normal type, so it's got all the moves it can get, it can't use any special moves, despite learning a couple, and it'll do you fine. There's nothing else to say, it's too late in the game to talk about it. If it wanted a fair shake, then how about it shows up earlier in XD, huh? Like that'll ever happen.



Alright, another Shadow Pokemon plot foiled. Surely that must be the last of the damn things, right?



...Shuckle. Alright, where the hell is that?



Well we've still got one more member of Team Snagem to find, so I did use the PC to heal my mons, but it also meant I couldn't head to where Agrev was since the loading zone for the map has changed now that I entered through the, well, entrance. So we'll have to go through the hideout this way and trigger another trainer. Good job me.




That's half of the trainers in that spot, but I don't think we're gonna battle another one.



I got careless back at REALGAM TOWER, but this is the SNAGEM HIDEOUT. We might be shattered, but this is my home turf. This is where I make my stand. I can't lose!

VS Gonzap







Gonzap's team, like a fair few others, have changed a bit in the postgame, but the underlying strategy remains the same, in this case being ridiculous hyper offense.



Nearly all members of his team have changed, but they're still similar, such as Armaldo replacing Pinsir and Machamp replacing Hariyama. Now they sport Attack boosting moves, which can turn a battle very quickly, and Hyper Beam, which, while nasty, also puts them out of commission for a turn, which is quite nice. If you're able to respond.



Ah cool, Carbuncle switched in after Umbreon fainted to a Hyper Beam and got taken out by +2 Ancientpower. Good game, good mechanics.



Okay we should probably stop getting our arse kicked and actually do something.




These seem like two pretty nasty mons.




These seem like two pretty nasty mons.



Gyarados is real dangerous, but hey, we'll focus on it soon. Let's take out Granbull.



Okay, so Gyarados doesn't have any Water moves, I was being optimistic it had any STAB at all. Who cares, I got the Dragonbreath paralysis proc like the dirty little gremlin I am.



Nice Attack boost.



For a clown to have!



I like the weather I'm using, thanks.



But you remember this. So long as I breathe, TEAM SNAGEM will rise from the shadows again! And with it will come your downfall! Live in fear! Gwaahahah!



Oh phew, I was worried I didn't have a direction to go in for a second, that was close.



Ah shit, we could go back to where Biden and Agrev are, but face the other two trainers from the Under Subway... or we fight the fourth trainer by the entrance.



This was the Sunflora trainer. We thankfully won't be fighting Arton, who used Delibird, and Dioge, who used Heracross. These fucking names, man...



Next time, we'll be continuing the postgame by going under... The Under. Are we going to Hell?