Part 22: Across the Seafoam
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Oh yeah, here's an in depth look at our final team member. Those are some awesome DVs, let me tell you.
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So, let's head on to Route 19.
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And they'll be lots of Swimmers! They're even on the land! They're spreading!
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Oh great. Clamp (Kara de Hasamu: Clamp with Shell) is a Water type Wrap. It has pretty bad accuracy, but it's pretty strong. Well, as far as these moves go.
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I suppose going to the Pokemon Center and back would warm you up.
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Danger, danger. High voltage.
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I think I'll be alright on my Pokemon. You might have a harder time.
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So what's in this house? I dunno, was this here in RBG? Probably, I don't play old, bad games anymore.
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...dogs? DOGS? ...never heard of that Pokemon before.
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It's a Pikachu party though.
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Hmm, strange place overall. Let's see if there's something more to it.
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So, let's teach Ikue Surf, because why not. There are event Pikachu that also had this move, but I probably won't be able to get them at the moment.
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Sure. I mean, uh, cowabunga, dude!
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So in case you didn't watch the video, here's a quick rundown on this neat little minigame you probably won't have played. It is pretty simple, this is Gen 1 after all, but I like it.
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The only controls are the left and right buttons to make Pikachu flip as it leaps over waves. Your destination is a distant island and your HP is the timer to reach that island.
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Depending on how many flips you did and if you did different directions, depends on the points or "radness" you get. Successfully doing a flip also increases your speed, letting you reach the island earlier.
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However, if you don't land a trick and fall off, then you'll lose a few seconds, maybe miss out on some waves and go slower, so you reach the island later. You could get a real nice score on this minigame, but I suck, so I won't.
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Still, it's a neat little distraction. Try it out for yourself!
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If we had a Gameboy Printer (as you do), then I could show off this score to my friends. But for now...
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Cowabunga.
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We'll keep Surf on Ikue for now, since it has a unique sprite! We'll be rolling like this for one update.
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...two fucking steps.
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Doesn't matter since we can catch it. We could've caught this earlier when we went fishing, but it makes more sense to catch it here.
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Would you toss it back? ONLY 1% WILL, SHARE IF YOU WOULD!!!!111!!1
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That's about everything, so let's repel up.
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We'll be seeing a lot of these guys.
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I only utterly destroyed you, it was a battle to remember.
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Swimming, cool. Swimmers, not so much.
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There are a number of Pokedex entries that will prove you wrong.
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Orange Islands/Sevii/Hoenn, depends really.
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Great training for those strong against Water. Ikue can miss out for the moment.
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6 years too early mate.
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Good good.
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I'm pretty sure I've got them all and shit.
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Oh yeah, cool little tidbit: since there's no sprite for female Swimmers, they get to be fully dressed Beauty's instead! What a gen...
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Man, you know when you first meet a girl and she just HAS to mention she has a boyfriend...
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Are you the boyfriend?
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Hrm.
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COWABUNGA!
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Sure, I don't really need it.
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Eh, Strength is fine enough.
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Everyone's been shouting that, it's weird.
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Aye, matey. I've walked the plank once. And here's the boyfriend. I guess.
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Eh, might as well.
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COWWWWWWWWABUNNNNNNNNNGAAAAAAAAAA
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#073: Tentacruel
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That seems to be everything, so let's head onto Route 20.
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It's much of the same, really.
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Aurora Beam (Ōrora Bīmu) is a fairly good Ice move that unfortunately isn't Ice Beam. It has a chance to lower Attack (a 33% chance in Stadium for whatever reason), but yeah, this is what you get before Ice Beam. Or you don't have the TM.
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I can. I'm just lazy.
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Surfing is actually pretty darn difficult and I cannot do it at all.
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Thar she blows, cap'n!
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What island?
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Oh. That island.
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We'll head in in just a second.
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Wanna sleep with the fishes?
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I swear the translators do this on purpose.
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Anyway, Seafoam Islands is a pretty small dungeon that you could avoid completely by just surfing down from Pallet Town.
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This place has a number of floors, but there's not much too them aside from some Strength boulders.
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And then go around to the other side to push the other boulder.
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Then we head downstairs to push it further. It isn't a very exciting puzzle and it's not particularly difficult, but it gives us something to do, I guess.
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I'll also leave new wild encounters to the end. There's no trainers here.
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Push.
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Down again to one of three hidden items.
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This place isn't even a maze, it's just find where the boulder went.
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Next floor has a more interesting boulder puzzle. You might have to think about it for, I dunno, ten seconds?
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Oh yeah, the goal is to block the water flow so we can get across.
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Holy rock of stuff, give me thing.
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Okay, we'll push this here first.
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Then we push in the left and push in the right. This probably stumped me as a kid, but now I be smrt.
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Woo, puzzles.
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Uh, thanks repels.
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Now let's surf on over and claim our prize.
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For the love of god remember to save because you're about to get wrecked by...
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#144: Articuno
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Starting off with the usual tactics. This thing is pretty tough, so crippling it will be helpful.
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So how hard does this thing hit?
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Pretty hard, I'd say.
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But hey, let's just whittle it down, then catch it on the very first Ultra Ball. Easy, right?
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Let's heal up and move on.
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Up and up and up and here's where the other boulder ended up.
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Now we've stopped the water flow. Let's get out of here.
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And the final hidden item.
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If you surf on the water before the boulders are put down, they'll force you down to Articuno's area. But we can go the opposite way for a quick shortcut. I will say I'm not 100% confident in that, since this place isn't that memorable, so it's one of the few places I haven't memorised.
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Just before we leave, however, let's catch some Pokemon.
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#086: Seel
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Now there's one more left to get. And we'll get it through, uh, the usual means.
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Yup.
#124: Jynx
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So is this racist yet? Eh, somehow.
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You can only catch this Pokemon here in JP Blue. In international RB, you trade for it in Cerulean. And then in Yellow you can't find it at all.
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But yay, we're done. Now we've reached Cinnabar-
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oh
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Well, maybe we could have a small break. I've been thinking about something.
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We caught Articuno pretty easily and we have ways to get a good chance of capturing stuff. So I'm kinda wondering what to use my Master Ball on. It's really burning a hole in my pocket, er, BAG.
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Hmm, Tentacruel... I remember reading about a Tentacruel not too long ago... oh yeah, that's right!
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Alright. Thanks Professor Oak, you know so much about this world!
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With this hard to catch Pokemon obtained, let's move on.
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We can't go three steps without more trainers. But Ikue has Thunderbolt back, so we can use it again.
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But... it still is.
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Welcome to the Salty Sea, how tough are ya?
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I think pumping your body is the right choice, like what I do. Ladies.
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This isn't a legitimate flying location. I call shenanigans.
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...man, you really don't know how Fly works.
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Oh. Okay. They look, uh, very nice. Very spherical. And, uh, pearly.
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Please stop, my immature mind cannot handle in your endo.
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That means we still have a while to go.
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Oooh, new captures and free shit. Got that to look forward to.
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We will make it there eventually, but the blue wonder doth stretch to the horizon.
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What island?
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Oh, that island.
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COLOUR!
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Ah, it's good to reach dry land again. We'll explore next time.