Part 62: The Battle Arcade (HGSS)

Update 47.5: The Battle Arcade (HGSS)



We're back at the Frontier for the second facility, so what have we got to contend with this time?

Battle Arcade



It's time to test our luck and also get this facility out of the way quick, so we can burn our luck and not have it in future facilities! That's how it works, right?



You need to use your own Pokemon in the other four facilities, so here's all the Pokemon people in the thread submitted! We'll be seeing all these Pokemon eventually and there's some real interesting stuff. But for now, what are we using in this facility?



First up is Joltik!? the Mawile by GodofDiscord. Hits hard, punishes Gyarados and then, uh, has Guard Swap? And Attract? I mean, sure, Attract is a pretty nasty status if you can get it to work and Guard Swap is useful on certain Pokemon that set up Defense boosts. We'll see how it works out.



Next up is Dashing the Ampharos by AlphaKretin. Has some great coverage in Thunderbolt, Focus Blast and HP Grass, but whether Focus Blast hits when we need it to is all down to luck. And then Subbing up when we get the opportunity to. Overall, should work out.



Finally, Chopper the Kabutops by MagnusofStars. Set up sweepers work really well in battle facilities, so this Pokemon is an excellent choice, able to Swords Dance and then either Stone Edge or Aqua Jet to victory. Priority is also really useful and being protected by crits as well is handy, meaning we'll only get knocked out in one shot by powerful Grass moves.



Let's head in.



: First, I'll need to hold on to any items held by your Pokémon. Game no. 1! Come on!



The main feature of this facility is the large game board. Before every single battle, we have the ability to choose one event that'll affect the battle, either good, bad or neutral. The cursor selects each event in turn at a pretty fast clip that you'll need to get used to and some events are absolutely game changing. We'll go over all the different effects in time, but for now, we want to event in the bottom left the most.



Uh, unfortunately I need to get used to the timing. It's been a few years since I last played the Arcade.



Blue events affect your Pokemon, while red events affect the opponent's Pokemon and then gray events affect neither side, or both sides, but are usually beneficial towards you. You can usually figure out what an event does by its image, but some of them can be a bit misleading.



Like with every facility, battles are a simple 3 vs 3 slugfest, though this facility has some caveats. As you noticed, we don't have items and you can only get them through events. Your opponent also don't have items, unless you accidentally give them some. So relying on a Pokemon's power is even more necessary in this facility.



But you may have also noticed that our opponents aren't exactly, uh, difficult. When I said we could take on the 1-3 streak with any Pokemon at all, I really meant it, our three Pokemon are not gonna face many challenges. In fact, it's gonna be a bit of a challenge to actually use the other two, as Chopper will just tear through everything no problem. Even while paralyzed.



So yeah, 1 battle down, 48 to go!



Okay, now we have some red events to make use of, but we still want the same event we were aiming for last round.



Ah, dammit. Well, at least it doesn't affect us.



But just because we landed on that event, doesn't mean that every opponent's Pokemon will be paralyzed. Status effects in this facility don't affect certain types or abilities, so Ground types or Pokemon with Limber will never be paralyzed.



Next round, still want the event at the bottom middle left. If that makes sense.



Wow I need to get better at timing, or this facility will be painful.



If you land on an item event, then you get those items for the rest of the streak. Your Pokemon each get a copy of that item and obviously some are a lot more helpful than others. Berries include all the status berries, as well as Sitrus.



Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, that's the opposite of what I wanted.



Three events affect the board speed: one increases it, one decreases it and one makes it random. Obviously you want to hit as many decrease speed ones as you can, the earlier the better. I just keep fucking up. Once the board is slow enough, which happens after two decreases, then you can basically pick whatever event you want, which is amazingly helpful.



I'm finally getting used to the timing, but since this counteracts the speed up from before, we're back to square one. I also haven't been showing off the battles because literally nothing interesting happens in them. You can see the Pokemon we're facing against on the right and it's the Chopper sweep show every single time. But don't worry, if something does happen, it will be shown off, we do have two other Pokemon in our team after all.



Okay, even just one speed down makes it a lot easier to pick and choose what event you want. Doing it a second time just makes it even easier. No need to do it a third time, cause then it'll take ages to actually get to the event you want. The board will stop automatically after 30 seconds, so you do need to choose eventually.



Oh hey Joltik!? gets time to shine, good work.



Well there's a Stone Miss.



But by the time Chopper usually faints, it's torn through most of the opponent's team, so they only have one Pokemon left usually. Still, that's the first time all streak Stone Edge missed.




And that's 7 battles conquered. One streak down, six more to go.



So let's jump right back into it, with more exciting events! I try to show them all off at least once, but I still need to get used to the timing.



Another speed down missed.



All weather effects can be selected in the Arcade, but they only last for 5 turns. My opponent does have some Fire types to make use of it, but they still get oneshot by Aqua Jet regardless.



I promise I do get better at selecting the right event.



This is an interesting one.

"with the target!"

(This was also me trying to remember what the hell Guard Swap did.) The HP event lowers all Pokemon on that team's HP by 20%. It's nothing too amazing, but it could make the difference in later battles.



Heh, if Thunder Fang paralyzed a Pokemon, then Joltik!? could be a discount paraflincher. Never manage to get it to work though, alas.



The level event is pretty interesting, it sets the level of every Pokemon in that team to 53. This actually has some really important strategic uses later on.




Otherwise, a pretty simple streak. Still hardly any Stone Edge or Focus Blast misses, which I'm really surprised about.



The third streak starts off pretty well. You can see our opponent's Pokemon are getting a bit tougher, but not by much.



Clean up crew



Slowly but surely I'm getting better and better at timing the board.



Since this is the last streak we're using these guys, I figured I'll try out Attract once.



Cool, let's never try it again.



Burn doesn't affect Fire types or Pokemon with Water Veil. Like paralysis, it's a very useful status afflicter on the opponent.



And before you know it, we've reached the seventh battle of the third streak, which means...



: In recognition of your outstanding skill, our Frontier Brain is demanding a match with you. So, your next match is against the Arcade Star; no ifs or buts! Are you ready?



Let's meet a star.




: Like surprises from the game board, life goes through twists and turns. No need to worry. [musicalnote.jpg] Things will go as they will. But enough of that. I know one thing for certain. You have arrived here not merely because you were lucky. Let us not waste any time. I wish to test your skills myself!



Yep, even against the Frontier Brain we can use the game board. And since I got two speed downs, I can choose any event I want. Let's see...



: That's why I always keep a big smile and believe in my Pokémon when I battle.

VS Frontier Brain








We're facing our first Frontier Brain with a set team. No matter what happens in a facility, three Frontier Brains will use a set team no matter what, meaning you could counteract them if you wanted to. I prefer to vaguely knowing their team, but not looking in depth until I get to actually writing the update. As luck would have it, all of her Pokemon are burned and use purely physical moves! So this should be pretty easy.



There are some oddities in Dahlia's team, like with all facility Pokemon the ability and gender are random, so Ludicolo can have a different ability each time, but they're also programmed with items... despite no opponent having items unless you purposefully (or accidentally) give them some. Ludicolo could become a massive problem if it gets a Swords Dance up, but at least it doesn't have that kick the Muscle Band would give it.



Chip damage is enough to take down Chopper, so Joltik!? is up against Medicham. I wasn't really afraid of it, but if it happened to use a strong Fighting move, that just meant Dashing could finish up.



If it had a Salac Berry and no Burn, then yeah, it could outspeed my whole team and destroy me with Reversal. But it doesn't have a Salac Berry and Endure means it'll be knocked out regardless.



Dusknoir is by far the strangest case. It should be holding an Iron Ball, it's the crux of the whole set.



It'd be fast in Trick Room, then use Fling to get rid of its Iron Ball and deal massive damage. Instead, it could get outsped by a few things in Trick Room and has a dead move in Fling. I don't understand why they were programmed with items and then had sets that revolved around said items if you can't use items in the facility most of the time.




Maybe the next fight will be more difficult?

Battle Arcade



: Your love of Pokémon shone through and, in turn, your Pokémon believed in you. That is why you handled everything thrown your way splendidly. A most wonderful victory it was!



That's a stack of cash right there.




Three prints down, seven to go.



Are we done with this place? Hell no! We're not even halfway! So let's meet our next three challengers.



You saw correctly, TrueSelf the Ditto by rannum is first up and if you think that's crazy, then you might be right. Transform is very interesting and will make it feel like we're back in the Battle Factory, allowing our biggest problems become our greatest assets. Before it transforms, we have the most HP and Speed necessary to ensure it can actually survive, so we'll see how it goes.



For more standard fare, we have Lati???s the Latios by MagnusofStars. Huh, I just realized they submitted 2 Pokemon for the Arcade. Oh well. It hits really hard and can heal itself back up or be immune to status. Dependable and deadly, just how I like it.



Finally, we have Skullkraken the Gyarados by Haifisch. Yeah, the nickname is 11 characters, but it's not a big deal as we'll see later. Anyway, an excellent set up sweeper that I've used before in other battle facilities. Dependable, destructive and ready to destroy everything in its path. Perfect. I love it.



Okay, immediately we have some new events as well as a pretty nasty team facing us. Let the challenge begin!



...let the REAL challenge begin! Seriously, you can get a number of items for your team with this event and one of them is the Iron Ball. And unless we hit this event again, we'll be using them for the rest of the streak, so let's try and replace it asap.

"Attack!"

See? Longer names are not a problem! Kinda! Gyarados is also amazing for a lead as it screws over physical attackers. Which there are a lot of lurking around. Also means it'll probably live a strong Rock move (which are mostly physical) and maybe a physical Electric move (of which there are, uh, two right now? I think?)




And now everything dies. Don't worry, it won't be the Skullkraken show, things are gonna get pretty tough. Eventually.



This weird spider web event is actually Trick Room. Honestly wouldn't have been surprised if it had literally been the move Spider Web. Shame Sticky Web didn't exist yet, that could've been an interesting event. Anyway, like the weather events, Trick Room only lasts 5 turns.



So just to refresh, Transform turns you into the opposing Pokemon and copies every stat, the ability, typing, nature, etc, except for HP. Every move is also at 5PP.



The slight problem, however, of not being able to bring a Choice Scarf is it means we will always Speed tie unless they have a Speed boosting move for us to take advantage of. So it's a coinflip who will go first. You say that's bad, I say it's perfect for the Arcade!



We still have our clean up crew and Lati???s is a very dependable one.



Yes, Fog is also an event and the only time in appears in HGSS, due to the lack of the Defog HM. Thank god, Fog suuuuuuuuuuucks. You can use Defog to get rid of it, but why the fuck do you have that move?



Thankfully if the weather changes at any point, it doesn't revert back to the event one, so the AI had some sense. As a refresher, Fog reduces accuracy of all moves by 60%, making all 100% accurate moves Hypnosis level, doubles the power of Weather Ball, but doesn't change its type, halves the power of Solarbeam and reduces the effect of Moonlight, Synthesis and Morning Sun by 25%. So yeah, it sucks.



The BP event, uh, gives you BP. Yeahhhhhh



Well that was fun, next streak!



Now this is when Sleep and Freeze events start appearing.



I miss one, cause the board has sped up by one stage, making it kinda tricky to pick the right event if you're not used to the timing. I was getting all the events I wanted previously, so I should adapt quickly. Hopefully.



Technically TrueSelf gets a kill here?



Ooh, there's the swap event just below the cursor. That makes you trade teams with the opponent. I wouldn't recommend it since you don't know what you're getting set wise, but if you're really confident then you can give it a shot. I wish I'd shown this off, but whenever it appeared the opponent's team was either shit, or I wanted a different event instead.



Well this seems pretty powerful, right?



Not exactly, Sleep and Freeze events only affect Pokemon in a team. It's still really powerful, but not as dependable as the Burn and Paralysis events (and Poison, I guess). Pokemon with the Insomnia and Vital Spirit abilities are unaffected by Sleep.



This is definitely a TrueSelf kill. Yay!



Ah, well I had to show this off eventually. Instead of the cursor going from left to right, top to bottom, it just goes for any event, so unless you have real good reactions, you won't be picking a good one.



Like so.



Oh phew, it was only TrueSelf, I think we'll be alright.



Oh hey, we're actually getting good cash for our streaks now. Time for number six!




The Skip event is rare, but oh my god is it useful. Best choice every time, just bam, next battle.



This is going to be very helpful.




Gallade is a fucking problem. It was my fault for sending out TrueSelf, but it was surprising me a lot with its high Speed and it would've definitely lived a Drain Punch had it pulled a Transform off. And the only way I survived that Thunderpunch was because of Intimidate, so this is why I love Gyarados in facilities.



Still, if Wailord defrosts, I lose. It's a 20% chance, so let's flip those coins!



Hot damn I am lucky tonight. It's not gonna last, is it?



Neat, 10% boost to all physical attacks. Admittedly useless on Lati???s, but better than an Iron Ball, or a Toxic Orb.



Ooh baby that's the good stuff.



And with that, we're on the final streak. Man, this has been pretty easy so far, why do people say it's so hard???



While the board speed has increased again, we're off to a good start here.



Oh shit, this Froslass is fast.



Oh SHIT, this Froslass is strong!



...you wouldn't



Okay good. Unfortunately, there are some tanky motherfuckers out there with OHKO moves. Usually, those moves are pretty shit since it'll fail if used on an opponent with a higher level. But when everything's level 50? It has a 30% chance to hit every time. How lucky do you feel?



Ah geez this sped up board is kinda screwing me.



Oh this might be bad.



And I lost another Speed tie.



And this Latios doesn't have Focus Blast. Coooooooool. So it took me like an hour to get to this point, that's the big danger with battle facilities, if you lose once, you're starting all over again. From battle 1. I'm gonna say fuck that and reload my save state.



Hmm, okay. Lucario is also not something this team doesn't likes. In the higher streaks, nearly everything has some kind of Electric move or Rock move, or even an Ice move just for general coverage, so the Gyarados strat is hurting a bit.



Dagnabbit



Alright, my luck is definitely running low. All of these have been the first battle of the seventh streak.








OH COME ON



What's that, there's TWO of these sets in the Frontier pool? No fucking way??? Thankfully these Pokemon are neutered somewhat due to no items, otherwise this Walrein would have a Lax Incense! And the Dewgong would have a Salac Berry!!! OHKO moves are a real problem in the Battle Frontier, cause if you don't take out the problem Pokemon, you're rolling a 30% chance every turn.



Hate HATE HAAAAAAAAAAAAATE



This is just really upsetting. Still, there is a good way around these Pokemon. If you spot them in the team preview, you can use a level event to make your whole team immune to them. Failing that, uh... a Sturdy Pokemon? Well that's about it, but there are other outs in other facilities. Aside from the Tower and the Factory. Good luck!



Alright screw this, I'm skipping to the end.



Fuck YOOOOOOOOOOOOOU



Dahlia time!



: No need to worry. [musicalnote.jpg] Things will go as they will. But, enough of that. You are proving yourself incredible. Are you incredible because you are so lucky you shrug off back luck entirely?

No

: Or, are you so incredibly talented to not be swayed by luck, good or bad? I wish to see for myself what brought you to me today!



The last board. Are my reflexes good enough to land on the right event? What will I go for?



The perfect one, hell yeah!



I roll the dice and got OHKOed, such is life.

VS Frontier Brain








Well someone's starting off strong! Okay I can't really say that since I'm using a legendary myself. But still!



Being able to go first will always be great. But again, items are still programmed in and affect the sets they use. I'm glad this Zapdos no longer has a Brightpowder, but I feel kinda cheated, ya know? ...I say having paralyzed her whole team, but that's the crazy thing about the Battle Arcade. If you can time it right, you can completely cripple the opposing team and ride to victory. Some bullshit aside, this can be a very easy facility to beat. Though yeah, I say can.



Man, I'm feeling a bit hard pressed here, maybe I'll get some health back. It could've had a nice combo in Superpower + White Herb, but uh, nope!



I don't know the sets ahead of time, so I didn't know it had Night Slash. I also don't know why it didn't use it.



I also didn't know it had Thunderpunch. So, uh, lucky me? Since that was the turn I switched, I doubt it was going for it anyway, but still.



Now comes the real bullshit. Abilities are random, so it could have Hustle, which is good for us. Or it'll have Serene Grace, which isn't.



I'm sorry rannum, I tried to use it. Still, I'm really pleased I not only made it to the final fight with a Ditto, but it also did really well. Sometimes TrueSelf was the only Pokemon I had left and it pulled through! Good choice, I loved using it. The other selections were great, but you aren't surprised to hear that are you?



I'm glad I wasn't flinched to death at literally the last hurdle. You would've tasted the salt from here.



For these last matches luck was thankfully on my side.



: Bad luck, you cast aside, and good luck, you netted. That you did so is evidence of your abilities. By defeating me, Dahlia, you have proven your mastery brilliantly! I am sincerely happy for having this battle against you!



What a fuckin rollarcoaster.




I'm never coming back



Ah god we're still not halfway there.



But this next facility is gonna be a real doozy. HONEST