Part 72: The Third Piece of Cake Metaphor Thing (HGSS)

Update 56: The Third Piece of Cake Metaphor Thing

Viridian Forest



We're back with some hot remake content. Unlike the dead and empty Kanto of Gen 2, there's actually some dungeons in this game, so everything that was cut out is now back in. Kanto dungeons are still boring and straight-forward, but whatever.



Since this is technically a new dungeon, we'll be showing it off, though you might be surprised that it is the exact same as the Viridian Forest of old. None of the trainers are interesting, so fuck 'em.



Isn't it crazy how we're going through the forest, BUT IN REVERSE? Crazy content, I know.



These games have such a fucking weird level curve.



Another flute, this one cures Sleep. This is the only flute that cures a "real" status, since the other ones cure confusion or infatuation.



...a white Venonat?




Lot of mushrooms around, but here we are at the entrance. Ah, memories.



No hidden Antidote, but there's more shit.



Well that was fun.



Let's head towards Viridian, but make sure to visit the right side also.

"lab in Pallet Town."

: Also, I received this from him. He wants you to have this.



Well, uh, that's generous. There's only 2 in the entire game (ignoring Pokewalker item drops).

Viridian City



Well the Trainer House is still here, but Mystery Gift has changed, so what's changed to compensate?



: This is the Trainer House-- the place for trainers. The Pokéwalker will bring your friends here! You can challenge various Trainers once a day. You'll earn Battle Points when you win. Bring out your best!



Uh, hi. The Trainer House now uses the Pokewalker, which can connect to other Pokewalkers via IR. When you connect it back to this game, any Pokewalkers it connected with (up to 10), will add that trainer as they are when they sent a Pokemon to the Pokewalker. You get me? However, the battles here have adapted the rules of battle facilities, so every Pokemon is set to level 50 and you cannot get experience. You do get 1BP every time you win. But yeah, it's not that amazing.



CAL, I mean, uh, Cal, has remained unchanged, though now the Johto starters aren't added to your dex. Cheapskates...

Cinnabar Island



This place is still empty and depressing, but now we can climb on the volcano! Uh, later. No Rock Climb just yet.



Blue is still here, but we won't be able to challenge him just yet...

"you've got."

: ... 6... You're not ready to battle me...



Let's go get badge 7 then!

Seafoam Islands



Huh? Where's the Gym?

Pokemon Gym



Ah, here it is. Had me worried there for a second.



: It sure won't be easy to get to Blaine! But keep your cool and defeat the Trainers one by one, and you will surely find the path!



So Blaine's Gym is an actual Gym now! With Gym Trainers and a Gym Puzzle and Jim Gui! Neat!



However the puzzle isn't really one. When you beat the trainers, they step back one space in a certain direction no matter which way you talk to them. So only a couple of trainers are optional.



Well that was fun.



: But I will not give up! Take a look at this cave. We have turned it into a Gym, and I am still acting as a Gym Leader! I will give you the Gym Badge if you manage to defeat me! Are you ready? Here we go!

VS Gym Leader (Kanto)






Blaine: The Hotheaded Quiz Master!
(Blaine is a combination of blaze and flame, whereas Katsura is the name of the Japanese Judas tree. It is also the word for wig and from ka, fire)



Well don't you look all dapper, Mr Blaine. I love it! Also this guy can be pretty dangerous, but he's still got three Pokemon.



Productive.



Uh-oh, can we survive a Sunny Day boosted Overheat?



Wait, why do you still have SMOG?



Do you not want to use Overheat? Is my special wall really that intimidating?



Well might as well switch during the healing turn. It's not often SolidSnake outspeeds something!



Well now you can't use Overheat cause I x4 resist it. Too bad!



Ah, a nice clean 2HKO to avoid the Full Restore. Good good.



Hah, I still got past your tricks!



What?



Nooooooooooooooooooh well I'll just Rock Slide twice more.



Ah for crying out loud. Magmar's taking full advantage of this turns right?



K-Kinda? The sun is long gone, but all of Blaine's Pokemon hold a White Herb, letting them fire off constant sun boosted Overheats... if the AI could co-ordinate something like that. They try, bless 'em.



Stop doing that, Sizzle!



Well that was more annoying than it needed to be, who's next?



More of the same, good good.



This shouldn't be particularly difficult. But I feel like I'm walking into a trap, so let's heal.



Ahah! You can't beat me like that.



Though you can beat me like that. As well as put yourself into healing range.



FUCK



Okay, I think we'll be fine.



This, however, just prolongs the process.



Oh just die already.



A bit more of a hassle than it should've been, but still a really fun fight.

Pokemon Gym



: Take this Volcano Badge!



: It has a slight drawback, but it's powerful and well worth it!



: When I rebuild my Cinnabar Gym, we have to hold a rematch. My Fire-type Pokémon will be even stronger! Just you watch!

"challenge that Gym Leader..."

: I have witnessed a hot battle!



Only one badge left! Hot damn!



With all 7 Kanto badges, Blue will now deign to face us. Sure, we could do that right now, but might as well train as much as possible beforehand, we'll need it.

Seafoam Islands



Oh hey, there's an actual dungeon here. Let's see what we've got.



We've got strength puzzles and various items, good start. The Grip Claw makes binding moves always last for 5 turns. How not that great!



Uh, cool. We've got a few directions to go in, we could leave this dungeon right now and continue to Fuchsia, but where's the fun in that?



That's one profitable direction.



Going deeper finds us some ice puzzles. I've missed these.



And some skiers. Haven't seen them since the Mahogany Gym. Like the Bug Catchers of Viridian, they're nothing special.



There's also only the three. Let's continue on.



Hmm, again we've got a few different ways to go. Let's head down the ladder first.



Ooh, very nice. Though this does come a bit late in the game... and no one on our team can actually use this. Hmm.



We haven't seen a strength and ice puzzle together since the Ice Path.



More items. The stairs to the water don't lead anywhere, weirdly enough. That leaves one more way to go.



I don't think strength boulders, ice blocks and ice sliding is ever incorporated into one puzzle.



It's surfing time.



Hmm, nothing interesting so far, let's keep exploring.



Ladders!



Bridges!



LADDERS!



Oh hey, it's a legendary bird. What are the chances?

Wild Pokemon Battle (Kanto)



You can catch all three legendary birds in this game... after just being able to catch them in Platinum, but whatever, it's a cool little prize at the end of this dungeon. But we do have to catch the damn thing first.



Standard legendary catching applies and a 4x weakness to Rock is very helpful.



Having my prime Pokemon catcher being weak to Ice, however, is not that great.



That doesn't help either.



Let's start rolling those 7.2% chances. Oh yeah!



Hmm, fun.



We eventually bag it and tag it.

Seafoam Islands



It was even standing on a Zinc, cool.



Back up we go.




A few items left to get and we're back where we started. This revamped dungeon is actually a lot of fun, there's places to explore, a secret in the basement and some nifty puzzles. I like it a lot!



We'll continue to Fuchsia for the last few normal trainers and finally head to...



The last Kanto Gym.

Pokemon Gym



: The floor is unstable, so you should put away your Pokémon ...now! The Gym Leader is a guy who battled the Champion three years ago. He's no pushover. Give it everything you've got!



No longer do we have weird lego thingies, now it's a massive tile puzzle. And gym trainers!



They're kinda tough and employ the Trick Room strategy, but nothing else to note.



It definitely makes me pause and figure out where I should be going next. We've been doing a lot of thinking this past update, I'm not used to it.



Getting dizzy.



We need to wrap around to face this guy. Then we need to battle the double duo in the middle there.




Definitely some tough cookies that have been baked here.



It's Blue time!



: I wasn't in the mood at Cinnabar, but now I'm ready to battle you. ... You're telling me you conquered all the Gyms in Johto? Hahaha! Heh! Johto's Gyms are that pathetic? Hey, don't worry about it. I'll know it if you are good or not by battling you right now.

VS Gym Leader (Kanto)








Blue is a pretty nasty battle, his Pokemon are high levelled and have pretty snazzy movesets that you need to work around.



The main strategy of this Gym is Trick Room, but thankfully only Exeggutor knows it, or the slower members of Blue's team can deal some real damage.



Wol has no problem, but next up is Rhydon. It's got some pretty crazy coverage, so it'll probably be able to hit you for super effective damage. Still, let's see how SolidSnake does.




Iron Tail is horseshit and has missed so many times over this LP.



Oh yeah, whoops.



Alright, Arcanine is next. It's not got the crazy coverage Rhydon had, but it can still do a lot of damage, especially with Extremespeed.



After Intimidate, Rock Slide does noooooooothing. Fine then, just finish me.



...huh?



No Guard is definitely a problem, Dynamicpunch can be pretty dangerous if you get unlucky.



They always seem to have a good move for my Pokemon.



You tried, Toto.



Oh? You wanna do this?



I don't fuckin' think so.



So you're back. Is Wol up to the task?



Eh, not really.



Now this might be crazy, but I think it'll work.



That's a lot of defense on this snake!



We're getting towards the end of this fight, but this is one big obstacle.



That's scary! VeggieWrap ain't doing all that much damage!



...why do you keep doing that??? You had Ice Fang! I'm so confused.



Well let's try something else then.




Hah! Proc'd your berry.



I did not expect to see that today.



At least it's not on a dangerous Pokemon. It's cool that Pidgeot is Blue's ace, but it's not much of a battle presence. Oh well.



Uh, okay then.



I'll use this opportunity to heal up some peeps.




Okay, we finally dealt with this damn thing.



Oh yeah, this is still around.



Oh shit, this is still around!



Good damage.



But much too frail to take advantage of that.



Yeesh this thing is strong.



I mean, that might not seem much, but remember that this is my premier physical tank that isn't SolidSnake. That's pretty crazy damage.



I've got crazier, though.

Pokemon Gym




: ... Tch, all right... Here, take this. It's the Earth Badge.



: Here! Take this as well!



: It allows slower Pokémon to move before faster Pokémon for a while. It's a tricky move, isn't it? Hence the name! ... All right, I was wrong. You're the real deal. You are a good trainer. But I'm going to beat you someday. Don't you forget it!



Wheeeeeeeeeeeee




That's all the badges in the game! Whew, I've definitely had enough of badge collecting for a while.



Oh?



: I know better than anyone else how hard you're working! I thought I should get you a present or something in appreciation... Well, I picked something up, but I completely forgot to give it you! Ha ha ha! Oh, you don't have to wonder about it at all. I know it's something that will be very helpful to you. You should just come here and pick it up!



Sounds intriguing. But what could it possibly be???



We'll be finding out next time. Later!