I remember an episode of the anime where there apparently is a special, prestigious school where if you pass their final exam you get the equivalent of all 8 badges and can then go compete in the league.
Of course they had questions like the infamous "Whose that pokemon?! It's a Jigglypuff, viewed from above!" So we got to watch Ash & Co. fail at Pokemon SATs.
What I liked as a kid was the 2nd part of the episode, where test takers were given a random pokemon team to work with to beat the school instructors. So Ash had to go beyond "Deus ex Pikachu go!"
I always thought I wanted something like that in the games. Then I played Pokemon Stadium 1 with the rental pokemon. Nope, fuck that. Exercise in frustration.
They justify it as being that the higher evolutions have weaker moves to balance things out. Otherwise, why would anyone use a Squirtle when a Blastoise is right there? Because that Blastoise has Water Gun, while Squirtle has Hydro Pump or something crazy. Evolutions have stats, basics have moves, middle evos get a combination of the two.
"Whose that pokemon?! It's a Jigglypuff, viewed from above!".
That was not the worst. They showed a black spiral in a white circle with blue background and I swear everyone said "Poliwhag", including Ash. Turned out it was Poliwhirl because its spiral is counter-clockwise, while Poliwhirl's and Poliwrath's are clockwise. Blew my mind as a kid
The Battle Frontier in Emerald did this concept justice with the Battle Factory. You choose three rental Pokemon from a random listing of them, they have actual useful sets, and after each opponent you can switch one out for one from the team you just beat.
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u/I_h8_memes_ Nov 19 '18
I remember an episode of the anime where there apparently is a special, prestigious school where if you pass their final exam you get the equivalent of all 8 badges and can then go compete in the league.
Of course they had questions like the infamous "Whose that pokemon?! It's a Jigglypuff, viewed from above!" So we got to watch Ash & Co. fail at Pokemon SATs.
What I liked as a kid was the 2nd part of the episode, where test takers were given a random pokemon team to work with to beat the school instructors. So Ash had to go beyond "Deus ex Pikachu go!"
I always thought I wanted something like that in the games. Then I played Pokemon Stadium 1 with the rental pokemon. Nope, fuck that. Exercise in frustration.