Pokemon Crystal Part #59 - Kanto Again (But Less Shit)(HGSS)

Part 59: Kanto Again (But Less Shit)(HGSS)

Update 45.5: Kanto Again (But Less Shit)(HGSS)

"attitude of a Champion, Kotone!"

: It's time for your Pokédex to match who you are. Let me see your Pokédex for a second. I'll upgrade your Pokédex with the National Mode.

Huh, these are actually pretty repetitive sentences going on here.

: Oh, time flies! I have a radio show to record at Goldenrod Radio Tower. You must be heading for Kanto. If you come near Pallet Town, do drop by my Pokémon Research Lab!

Welcome back to HGSS and to an update where I forget exactly where you meet certain NPCs in the postgame and hurriedly press record to make sure I don't miss anything. Kanto time!

I'll be skipping a lot since there aren't too many broad changes from the original games. However, levels have been balanced a bit more and there's even some Gen 3 and 4 Pokemon floating around. Not too many, but enough that you'll notice.

Vermillion City

Mmm, this place doesn't feel as disappointing as before. Maybe now there will be stuff to do??? Crazy to think.

Oh yeah, this is still happening.

Eusine's Theme

"ambushing it here..."

: But running on the water... is beyond me. Still, I am starting to see a pattern.

Oh, do tell

: That means... Sorry, Kotone! I've got to go!

The Suicune subplot has now extended to Kanto, instead of ending at the Tin Tower. But it'll still be a little while before it comes to its conclusion.

: Sorry to have kept you waiting! I thought of a new way to play! It's called Object Arrangement! I'll be giving you more details at the Safari Zone. See you there!

Call me while in the middle of shopping why don't you... Anyway, the second big thing about the Safari Zone has just been unlocked and if you thought there were plenty of Pokemon available before then BOY HOWDY you ain't seen nothing yet.

Saffron City

While we've got the Power Plant Problem (tm) to sort out, there are a couple of cool new things to do and we'll do them as they become available.

So if you just OH SO HAPPEN to have a Rotom traded over from the Sinnoh games, then we can enter into the lift of Silph Co. Otherwise, there's a guy standing in front of it.

While we can't explore the 10 floors above us, we can at least head to the Basement. Look familiar?

: Remarkably, ROTOM has the ability to enter and merge with special motors. It's now known that ROTOM can stay inside a motor indefinitely. However, it will emerge if it enters a Union Room or a Wi-Fi Club. ROTOM will also emerge from the motor if it is left at the Day Care. ROTOM may also forget certain moves when it leaves a motor. This Pokémon requires exhaustive observation and analysis. To ensure I get all the credit, my ROTOM research must be kept secret. They will come to revere me as the scientific genius Char...

While I don't know who this amazing short, balding genius called Char is, this area lets you change Rotom into one of its five formes introduced in Platinum, meaning that you no longer need the Secret Key event.

It can enter into any of the motors at any time, but remember that these formes were overhauled in Gen 5, as right now they're Ghost/Electric no matter what forme they are and they can't be used in competitive so it doesn't make too much of a difference anyway. They're still perfectly usable in single player and have slightly better stats than normal Rotom. Each forme also has slightly different Pokeathlon stats.

They will also try and learn a new move whenever they enter the forme and forget that specific move when they leave it. Frost Rotom learns Blizzard, Oven learns Overheat, Fan learns Air Slash (lol), Wash learns Hydro Pump and Mow learns Leaf Storm. Again, since they also don't get STAB from these moves, they're not too useful now, but give it a year or so and hoo boy, you'll see exactly one of these formes absolutely everywhere.

We'll keep Fridge Rotom since I haven't eaten in a long time. I wonder how long I can keep this joke up?

Vermillion City

Next up on the agenda is this silver haired beaut.

"The Champion from the Hoeen region."

: Have we met...before? That's not possible. All the Trainers I have battled seem to have the same look, anyway. Especially the ones who gave me tough battles...

: I am investigating why LATIOS, a Pokémon from Hoenn, decided to leave Hoenn to come here. LATIOS is a Pokémon that has a lot of do with Soul Dew, a gemlike Orb. Considering the fact that LATIOS is now in Kanto, it is possible to assume that this has to do with the Soul Dew. LATIOS is a Pokémon that travels a great distance. It'll be difficult to find without any machine to track it with. But any Trainer will be drawn to it, won't they? I must go. May our journeys cross again.

Oh goody, another roamer. Like Entei and Raikou roaming Johto, Latios in SoulSilver, or Latias in HeartGold, will now start roaming Kanto. Yeah, we'll get to all these bloody roamers one of these updates... and I fear it's not that far away. As for the other Lati? Stick around and find out. (Also spoilers, you don't get to battle Steven in this game. Next gen!)

Underground Path

I wonder what's down here?

: They would eventually cause trouble... It makes me mad just thinking about it... Aha! That's a RageCandyBar! Can I have it? Please!

: How upsetting! But this is so good! Munch munch! Aargh! Makes me mad! Munch munch! Aargh... ..................Phew! I am feeling much better. Thank you for your candy! I want you to have this!

: tick- tock tick- tock tick- tock tick- tick... .................. ..................

Kanto is weirder than I remember.

Saffron City

Another good deed done. Gotta say, Copycat girl has some cool plushies, wouldn't mind some myself.

These would look right at home next to my Treecko doll.

: Aw! It moved! It's a real BANETTE!

Since we're nearby, might as well go for a ride.

Magnet Train

Eh, since we can just Fly to Indigo Plateau and then to any location in Kanto or Johto from there, the Magnet Train is kinda... pointless. Oh well.

Pewter City

It's been a few years, but the renovations are complete, excellent. But while I'm sure all this old crap is interesting, our favourite Champion calls for another event.

"a crowd."

: Wow! The thing you have... This stone is...so mysterious! Something seems to be shining inside... The stone is modest...yet hiding something wonderful! You should have it studied by experts.

: Thank you for your patience! It took me a little while, but I have confirmed it! This is an Orb that contains what is called Soul Dew.

: It has the power to bring out the true potential of LATIAS and LATIOS. The spirit of these Pokémon and Soul Dew are said to call out to each other... The only thing that puzzles me is the place Soul Dew was found. Why Kanto?

As an aside, unlike Gen 2, we can find fossils by rock smashing in certain places and have them brought to life here. However, what fossils you get are version exclusives, with Helix and Claw being HG and Dome and Root being SS. The Gen 1 fossils are found at the Ruins of Alph, while the Gen 3 fossils can be found at Cliff Cave. Old Amber can be found in either version at the Ruins of Alph, while the Sinnoh fossils can be traded over and revived here if need be.

: I would love to challenge it, but I will let you go for it! What? You are not scared, are you? Don't be reserved. Go for it.

Wild Pokemon Battle (Kanto)

Oh boy it's a Legendary. In HG, you'll be facing a Latios instead and these guys are a bit tricky to catch, not just because of their 3 catch rate, they also hit pretty hard too.

Hey that's my job. Anyway, the Enigma Stone event is completely unavailable now, do to being a limited time Wi-Fi event and we all know how well DS Wi-Fi lasted. So it means the other non-roaming Lati and Soul Dew are completely unavailable now. Unless you hack of course.

This Lati is gonna be a pain cause I just noticed it isn't night time, meaning Dusk Balls are useless. Even under the best conditions with an Ultra Ball, we only have a 4.3% chance of catching it. Nah mate.

At least if it's Asleep, it can't remove its status with Refresh. But even with these optimal conditions, it's only a 7% chance to catch. However, past 30 turns, a Timer Ball is the better choice, giving a 9.2% chance. It's good to keep those numbers in mind, since these games have a LOT of legendaries.

Eventually the bastard stays in.

Pewter City

: I don't think you had to give everything you've got, and that scares me... I've been away from the Hoenn Pokémon League for too long. I'll have to excuse myself. .................. Oh, I never got your name. ...But I won't ask for it this time. Our fun will have to wait for the right time.

We'll see you in a couple HGSS updates, probably.

Pokemon Gym

It's now Gym time. Unlike Gen 2, where it's best to take on the Gyms as you see them so you don't get too overlevelled, it's actually fine to take on the Gyms in the original order, since they've all had a level boost and are kinda tough now. So that's what we'll do, because why the hell not. Levels seem to be up all across the board, so nice bonus!

Like with a few Johto gyms, some Kanto ones also got a bit of a redesign for the better. But Brock has always been a straight shot to him.

: I'm an expert on Rock-type Pokémon. My Pokémon are impervious to most physical attacks. You'll have a hard time inflicting any damage. Come on!

Gym Leader Battle (Kanto)

Man, hear that music, see that flat 10 level increase, peep those usable movesets. Man, I love remakes sometimes, they need to do more shit like this, means I don't think everything's a pile of garbage like usual.

Hmm, we're still while away from Power Whip, huh?

But at the end of the day, they're still only Rock types, there's not tooooooo much to go over.

Dunno why this thing still hasn't evolved yet.

Okay now there's a Special Defense boost going on and I don't really like that. Thankfully I only have like two special atackers.

You should get some cream for that buddy.

This guy's a bit of dick.

I'm the one hurting here, asshole!

WHY DO YOU HAVE SO MANY

I think that's enough of that.

"rock-hard resistance..."

: You're stronger than I expected... Go ahead--take this Badge.

: I'll give you the move Rock Slide, too. It can sometimes cause your foe to flinch.

: Just wait and see. I'm going to become a lot stronger, too.

Unlike Gen 2, we can actually see what Kanto badges we've got. And also unlike Gen 2, every Kanto Gym Leader gives away TMs, instead of just the two. So let's move onwards!

: We've come up with new objects. With these, you should be able to meet lots of different Pokémon. Do your best!

Hey don't spoil the new stuff before we get to it, give it a few updates.

Route 3

One small change to Route 3 is the addition of these rocks.

Now if you just OH SO HAPPEN to have a Deoxys, then you can change its forme at any time using these meteors. Like with most event Pokemon, there's no way to get it on a Gen 4 game now. You could transfer it over from Ranger 3 IF you downloaded the event for it when it was available on Wi-Fi. Then you can get an unlimited amount of Deoxys, but you can only send one to every cart. And even if you have the event, you still need another player to even attempt the mission, because fuck you. Still, uh, at least you still have the very slim option, maybe? Wi-Fi events are garbage.

Pokemon Gym

Second Gym time, it's a large pool that's easy enough to navigate.

: You may have a lot of Johto Gym Badges, but you'd better not take me too lightly. My Water-type Pokémon are tough!

Gym Leader Battle (Kanto)

Misty can be a bit tough if you don't have too much to take on Water types, like me. Since it's her TM, she's replaced Surf with Water Pulse, which might not be the best idea.

Her Starmie is still a fuckin problem.

And also really annoying.

Thankfully, in basically every iteration it's in, it's highly allergic to Psychic STAB, so it's not too too much of a threat.

Gah, stop it.

Dunno why Quagsire also has Water Pulse, but at least it still has Earthquake, as well as Rain Dance to make its team members stronger. It's also best to go for physical moves when it boosts its Special Defense up too much.

Alright, cool

Lapras is also a bulky problem with good STAB and can even hit hard with Body Slam.

Case in point.

Stop iiiiiiiiiiit

: I admit that you are skilled... Here you go. It's the Cascade Badge.

: It can sometimes confuse your foe. You've managed to defeat Trainers all the way from Johto. I'm sure you have a good use for it. Does Johto have a lot of powerful Trainers? I will someday go on my journey to battle with powerful Trainers!

Two down, six to go. Easy peasy, right?

Pokemon Gym

Last on the agenda for today's update is Vermillion Gym.

: The traps at this Gym have been out of order for a while. But the traps are back up and running now! Why lucky, you may ask... Because you can train yourself better this way! Make up your mind and go for Lt. Surge!

An apt description. Indeed, if you wait until after solving the Power Plant Problem (tm) to take on this Gym, then the "puzzle" has been reactivated. Isn't that fun?

"Better press it."

It only took me like five minutes to do this piece of shit. Let's never do that again.

: It may not be very smart to challenge me, but it sure takes guts! When it comes to Electric-type Pokémon, I'm number one! I've never lost of the battlefield. I'll zap you just like I do all my enemies in battle!

Gym Leader Battle (Kanto)

Hey, do you like Double Team, Static and Shock Wave? Then this is the battle for you! I'm gonna try and quash any Double Team attempts, cause it can very quickly get out of hand.

Now out of the two Electrode, one is more of a supporter with Light Screen and the other one explodes.

Guess which one we're facing. Well, were facing.

Oh my god ain't this just a barrel of monkeys? Still, I've got the good matchup only through chance, since I didn't know what he'd send out after he exploded on me.