I never thought I would see the day when a post would require me to use both the “Persona” and “Pokémon” tags. Well, that day has come. While browsing Pixiv I stumbled upon a user named Elle (エル), who is not only a prolific artist but happens to love Persona 4.  Amongst their work I found this collection of Persona 4 X Pokémon profile art.  Not only does each image perfectly capture the stylish menus of Persona 4, but the skills and elements of each pokémon are likewise translated into the world of Persona.

For instance, Gardevoir, pictured above, is weak to mudo or death skills, which we can relate to the dark element in Pokémon.  Her skills are a blend of healing (recarm, sama recarm), hama skills, and almighty (megido, etc.)  Stats-wise she is as much a glass cannon in the world of Persona as that of Pokémon — her agility and intelligence are off the charts while endurance is very low.  Finally, she is of the Temperance arcana generally associated with healing and angels.  Bravo to Elle for his/her artistic eye and creative, RPG-driven mind.  If any gifted individuals wish to continue the trend, I humbly request the following pokémon: Kecleon, Shedinja, Crustle, and Emolga.  Here are the remaining profiles with some bits translated. Enjoy!

Pokémon: Milotic
Arcana: Priestess
Elements: Strong against ice, normal, and fire.  Weak to electricity.
Skills: Bufudyne, Mediarahan, Boost Ice

Pokémon: Togetic
Arcana: Justice
Elements: Strong against light, weak to electricity…
Skills: Garudyne, Megidolaon, Brave Zapper

Pokémon: Hydreigon
Arcana: Death
Elements: Strong against normal, fire and electric.  Repel dark.  Weak to light and water.
Skills: Mudo Boost, Agidyne, Devil’s Smile

Pokémon: Chandelure
Arcana: Hermit
Elements: Immune to normal, absorb fire, strong against dark.  Weak to ice.
Skills: Mahamudon, Agidyne, Mudo Boost

Pokémon: Jolteon
Arcana: Star
Elements: Weak to normal attacks.  Absorb electric, strong against wind.
Skills: Ziodyne, Electric Boost, Maha Sukukaja

Pokémon Gym Leader: Flint
Arcana: World
Elements: Absorb normal, strong against fire. Repel light and dark. Weak to ice and electric.
Skills: Die for Me, Morning Star, Ragnarok

In my short time with the Pokémon Dream World I have found it to be less than user friendly. Yesterday’s rolling out of the Eeveelution distribution is no exception — scores of confused pokéfans are struggling to grasp where and how to get their pokés.  Today I managed to figure it out thanks in part to Reddit, and nabbed my very own Umbreon.

To help out, here is the main thing you need to know:

• Before you go into the Dream World, click on this:

From there it is pretty much a straight shot.  Your Eeveelution that was earned via the “Befriend a Pokémon” mini-game will appear on your friend board automatically the next time you visit the Dream World:

You can still go to the Island of Dreams if you wish, but I avoided it and decided to just water my friend’s gardens.  Frankly I am not sure what happens if you have multiple pokémon on your friend board, and I didn’t want to risk losing my Eeveelution so close to having it in a safely contained within a dream ball.  Here is the Umbreon’s stats if you are interested:

I am not thrilled with the fact that Synchronize has been replaced with Inner Focus, but I will live, I suppose.  If I have time, I may update this post to include the rest of its skills since I am curious, and I am sure some of you out there may also be wondering.

This event, although somewhat confusing, was an interesting way to bring new promotions to the player.  I hope the Dream World will have similar events in the near future.  In the meantime, I hope this post helps dispel any confusion fans may have when trying to get their Eeveelutions.

It says I can’t request anymore Dream Pals.  How can I manage them?

It's good to have friends

This is an issue I had after the first couple of days in the Dream World. I had been sending a request to anyone with an existing set of pals and an active garden. Suddenly, I found that I could no longer send a request and was told to manage my Dream Pals in my profile. Instead of something helpful like “Hey, we noticed you wanted to add more pals. Follow these steps!”, it felt more like “Whoaaa there, Miss Needy Pants. Just…stop, okay? Having more Dream Pals isn’t going to fill the void you feel at night when you’ve realized your tub of whipped cream cheese has expired and you just don’t care anymore.”

Ahem.

Unfortunately, you can’t manage your Dream Pals within the Dream World. (No, of course not. Why should you be able to?) You have to go back to the main site and manage them through your profile. Then follow these steps:

1. On your profile page, click on the top purple tab that says Pokémon Dream World (duh).
2. Under Dream World Roster, click on the tab that says Display Pending Dream Pal requests.  This is where you will see all the losers users who, for some reason or another, haven’t accepted your request.
3. Delete them.  Depending on how many pending requests you have, this can be annoying as each deletion will take you back to the main tab.

Following the above steps will enable you to request more friends.  Sadly, there is currently a limit to ten friends total, but that should be more than enough to go on a gardening spree without having to head back home and reload your Dream Pal map.

Speaking of gardening…!

I want to up my berry game.  How do I add more rows to my garden?

While you journey with your pokemon in Dream World, furiously planting berries and “watering” other people’s gardens, you might come across some islands that are way more awesome than yours. That’s okay — the Dream World only just opened for us peasant Westerners, after all — but how do you get to be just as awesome? The answer, my greedy friend, is BERRIES.

Bitches don't know about my berries

As you already know, berries are the currency in Dream World, as opposed to the monetary system used in the actual game. I would like to think that this is because berries have a drug-like effect on pokemon and thus have way more trading value among them. (Kind of like prison!)

A garden upgrade can be achieved by earning enough points while playing the Dream World (you can view your Dream Points on your profile page). This means trading items, wrangling pokemon, and watering gardens. (Use up all your waters, kids! Each instance of watering earns 10 points. That means you can earn 200 points in one sitting, just by visiting your Dream Pal network.)

At 900 points, Diglett will show up (unannounced, of course, that bastard) and bludgeon his way through your garden. You gain a fourth row at 2,100 points, at which point you will probably be king of all the berries and on your way to a sweet, pimped out island.

I enjoy exploring the Dream Island, but the pokémon that I encountered suck! Do I really have to wait another day to find some good ones?

No

Not at all. I love the spontaneity of the random pokémon in the Dream Island (haaay there Sunkern), but sometimes your options force your hand into wishing for a pokémon that you’d rather not…look at. At all. (I’m looking at you, Nidoran♀.) But all is not lost! If you have traversed the Dream Isle and encountered pokémon that you feel is beneath you, you have the option to re-do your adventure.

After encountering the less-than-worthy pokémon, make your way up to the Dream Tree and give it a piece of your mind. Refuse to submit a berry, trek the fuck back to your home and start over. Your time is precious! I wouldn’t scoop ice cream with Combee or navigate Pelipper (bless his brave soul) through the treacherous skies for a pokémon that I didn’t think deserved the effort.

Traveling the Dream Island multiple times actually benefits you in that a.) you have a bigger range of random pokémon to choose from and b.) you earn more points with all the mini-games!

So there you have it: some tips to get yourself better situated with the Dream World. Hopefully this will help some of you who don’t have the time to putz around and figure all of this stuff on your own. And if you’ve already figured everything out by now, well…keep it to yourself In all seriousness, the Dream World has been pretty fun so far and a nice little feature of Pokémon Black and White. Hopefully they will expand some of the features, allow more friends and make the interface a little more intuitive. In the mean time, you can expect more helpful tips on the Dream World — and Pokémon in general — right here on Kotowari.org.

Image sources: TMZ, OVGuide, Bulbapedia

Yesterday I finally got around to exploring the Pokémon Dream World.  I put it off initially due to suffering a 100+ hour overdose of Pokémon White, but figured it would occupy my lunch break while at work.  In the morning I tucked Kooshtank, my Ferroseed, into bed and set off for work.  Once lunch rolled around it was time to get started.

I sat through a number of tutorials bringing me up to speed on the very simplistic mechanics of the game.  I had a home to decorate, a garden to grow berries in, and there was a crazy psychedelic rainbow bridge that brought me to a magical land where I would stack ice cream because a Bidoof wanted me to.  It was oddly cathartic how simple everything was.

Berries are very much the currency of the Dream World.  If you want to buy furnishings for your home, it’s gonna cost you some berries.  You want to stack ice cream for Bidoof? Oh yeah, that’s a berry.  You want to befriend a pokémon at the magical tree at the end of the rainbow bridge?  You better believe that costs a berry.  Naturally this emphasizes growing them and collecting them as there are numerous different varieties.  You can find them while exploring rainbow land, or trade other users for them (more on this later).

Visually, I enjoyed the backgrounds which have a kind of warm, 2D, hand-drawn feel.  It’s almost like Winnie the Pooh meets Pokémon.  The mini-games in contrast look rather lazily compiled, like flash games one may have played on Neopets in 5th grade.  The balancing in most of them is atrocious as well since skill and luck are nearly interchangeable. But they are a necessary evil as one of the main draws of the Dream World is finding and befriending pokémon via these games.  Said pokémon can then be transferred over to your game to be trained.

Interacting with other trainers is somewhat cumbersome.  First off, you must change your privacy settings if you want to be seen or see others which is an unnecessary hassle.  Then when you go to your pal map, random people are displayed from all over the world, the majority of which seem to be doing absolutely nothing with the Dream World.  Every once in a while you’ll stumble upon a Japanese trainer and hobble up to their magnificent shimmering castle like a starving pauper, taking as many berries as you can from their swap shelf.  The swap shelf is an awesome feature that allows you to place unwanted items out in the open, which can be traded by anyone who visits.  I imagine once the Dream World has been live a little longer it will be more robust.

The Dream World is being used to bring promotions to players without having to drive down to your nearest Game Stop.  Today, in fact, I played a mini game which allows you to meet an Eevee evolution in the Dream World.  If you can clear the 4th level in Play to Befriend a Pokemon!, then you will be awarded an Eevee evolution based on what elemental orb you gathered the most of.  I managed to get Umbreon, who is a nasty tank and my favorite Eeveelution:

I can definitely see the Dream World becoming a new lunch-time habit of mine.  My compulsion to gather all the berries and spruce up my poké-pad has already set in.  Plus, if Nintendo/Game Freaks keeps offering promotions via the game, I will be even more encouraged to keep playing.  So if you still haven’t ODed on Pokémon, the Dream World is definitely worth checking out.

How To Get to the Dream World Tutorial Below:

How To Get to the Dream World

1. You must have met Fennel in the game and acquired your C-Gear.
2. You must have created a Pokémon Trainer Club account.
3. Using your login credentials from your Pokémon Trainer Club account, log in to the Global Link and create a Global Link username.
4. Now load up your game (not your save file) and go to the main menu. From there select “Game Sync Settings” to receive your Game Sync ID. *NOTE* This can take a long time.
5. Enter your Game Sync ID into the registration portion of the Global Link page in the designated area for the game you have (Pokémon Black or Pokémon White).
6. Your Global Link profile is now synced with your game, so load up your save file and turn on your C-Gear.  Go to “Online” and select “Game Sync”.
7. You will be prompted to put a pokémon to bed. *NOTE* You can only select a pokémon from your box, NOT your party.  *NOTE 2* This can take a long time.
8. Go to the Global Link website and click on Dream World.
9. Start exploring!

A few more things worth noting:

• If you encounter and befriend a pokémon in the Dream World, or want to transfer over an item, you’ll need to warp to the Entralink to acquire them in game.  To do this, boot up your C-Gear and select “Wireless” and then “Entralink”.  Once in the Entralink you can visit the Entree forest directly north to find befriended pokémon or talk to the boy near the entrance of the forest to acquire your items.
• Befriended pokémon can be caught with a Dream Ball, an item which magically appears in your inventory and has a 100% catch chance.
• You can only play the Dream World for one hour a day.  Your next session can be no less than 24 hours later.  If you go to the Global Link page and click on Dream World before then, a prompt will alert you as to how much time is left before you can play again.

Hopefully this helps, I know I wish I had something like this when I was getting started.  If anyone is lost or requires further clarification feel free to leave a comment.

My history with Pokémon goes back nearly as far as my history with video games. I still fondly remember the glorious day in which I acquired Pokémon Red and the long summer spent mastering it.  Hell, that was over 10 years ago…  There is just something about Pokémon that makes it memorable — the interaction with friends, picking your starter, and other familiar elements that permeate each generation.

Does the newest addition to the franchise, Pokémon Black & White, promise to be the memory-maker I have come to expect from one of my most beloved series?

Story

The story for most Pokémon titles is simple.  You are a new trainer who is on a quest to earn their eight gym badges and beat the Elite Four, thus becoming the very best.  Sure, from time to time someone will say, “Wow, you really blahblah know how to blahblah love and understanding.”  But generally you feel rather ordinary and your journey only slightly extraordinary.

Black & White is different right off the bat.  First off, you have friends in this game, rather than rivals.  They each have their own personalities and (despite being somewhat underdeveloped) do help make a game with a silent protagonist feel more alive.  They pop up randomly to do battle with you, give you a tip or an item and vanish back on their own journey.  Likewise, the game’s gym leaders have much more of a role in the world of the game.  You help them take care of their respective cities and at times they help you along your journey.  You get to know the various gym leaders in this way. By the end of the game, they don’t feel so much like an obstacle that once blocked your path, but a true ally.

While we are on the topic of allies, I must mention the enemy of the game: Team Plasma.  Generally the enemies in Pokémon games feel flimsy.  They have a bunch of Zubats and Ratatas and somehow I am supposed to be afraid that they are going to take over the world?  Is that what they wanted to do; take over the world?  Hell, I don’t even know — their goals were always rather unclear.  Why did they want that Slowpoke tail again?  Well, the goals of Team Plasma are anything but flimsy: they want to drive a stake through the world of Unova, separating people and pokémon once and for all.

Team Plasma actually had me questioning the ethics of pokémon training.  Is it wrong to fight creatures against one another for personal gain and to seal them up in a computer when they aren’t needed?  Still, the thought of a world where no one could be a pokémon trainer just seems too much like… reality.  I had to prevent that!  My special world filled with awesome creatures felt threatened — for the first time.  As my motivation became clear, I was more inspired to finish the game.

Gameplay

Pokémon Black & White take a number of steps to prevent the player from feeling “RPG fatigue”.  You know that feeling where you just can’t put up with one more random battle let alone another dungeon (relevant)?  Thankfully, the game has very few maddeningly complex dungeons.  Also, nearly every dungeon or route will have an NPC which (if you beat them in a battle) will heal your team free of charge.  This not only saved a massive amount of time but allowed for speedy and efficient leveling.

Another improvement is the removal of a heavy emphasis on HMs such as Cut and Flash.  You still need them to pass certain points, but this happens far less frequently than in past titles.  TMs have also been massively improved: they are no longer single use items.  This allowed me to tailor my team for certain situations.  For instance, if I had a TM for a move that would be effective against a certain gym, I taught it to as many pokémon as I could.  This is in contrast to what I used to do with TMs: save them and never use them, ever.

There are also a few changes which feel rather tacked on, such as triple battles.  After double battles, triple battles just feel like the obvious direction to go, and aside from having to take range into consideration, they bring very little new to the table.  Now, I bought Pokémon White — the Black version, in contrast, has rotation battles, which are really more interesting in my opinion as they actually feel like a new way to battle.  Both battle types, however, happen far less than standard one-on-one matches.  I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t a single gym which challenged the player to become familiar with one of the new styles of battle, making them feel that much more tacked on.

Multiplayer functionality feels polished yet confusing.  Having to register a friend via your pal pad (and have them do the same for you) and then enter a specific trade room to trade with someone via wi-fi is a chore the first time around.  Once you get it down, it isn’t bad.  Trading with someone locally is a breeze, and you can access your full roster including all your boxes from the trade menu which is a huge time saver.  Expect a slightly steeper learning curve than you should have to put up with, but once you know the lay of the land there is a lot that can be done with the game’s multiplayer features.

The post-game is always important to me for a Pokémon title.  I want to have tons to do after beating the game, and for the most part I wasn’t let down.  There are a number of new towns the player can visit after the credits roll, and along the way you’ll encounter some high level trainers who offer a decent challenge.  Pokémon from other generations will start to pop up in the wild and you can even trade them from past games as well.

However, I was disappointed to finally arrive at White Forest (an end-game area unique to Pokémon White) and find it totally empty and thus useless.  I was promised I could catch a number of low-level pokémon from past generations here, but may have actually arrived too soon.  The residents populate the town based on the number of days spent on your journey, and they are the deciding factor in what wild pokémon you can find.  White Forest aside, Pokémon Black & White has tons to offer players after the main story is bested.

Presentation

The graphics in Pokémon Black & White don’t stray too far from other Pokémon titles on the Nintendo DS.  In-battle sprites move, which is nice, and the cries of this generation of pokémon sound really great — almost like real animals.  The game also experiments with different angles, having the camera pan around or zoom in and out rather than only offering a static top-down perspective:

This is a first for the series and it did make the world feel more convincing.

After sending out your pokémon in battle, the screen zooms, bringing the defending pokémon into clear focus, but sadly pixelating your pokémon’s sprite:

This bothered me for the first few hundred battles, but was soon forgotten as an issue. Still, it felt like the developers couldn’t be bothered to either make separate back-sprites or find a workaround.

Conclusions

The Pokémon Black & White experience feels very user friendly.  I never felt as though I was trudging through the game, or that I needed to take a break out of frustration.  No, rather the story eased me along and kept me pleasantly engaged — more so than any other Pokémon game has.  Meanwhile, certain aspects from past games which had provided monotony in place of challenge were either eliminated or tweaked in the player’s favor.  All in all the game is a pleasure to play. I would recommend it to anyone from a hardcore RPG gamer to even those squeamish about the commitment that comes with RPGs.  I am confident that Pokémon Black & White will have a place in the hallowed walls of my fondest Pokémon memories.

Last night I beat Pokémon White — expect a review in the near future!  Upon doing so I acquired the national pokédex, meaning I can now find some old friends from past generations. The first one I stumbled upon was sold to me for 500 pokédollars by a shady dude on Marvelous Bridge.  That’s right: Magikarp.  For every generation, I have raised one of these dudes up and unleashed holy dragon rage hell on all who crossed my path — or splashed in their direction, depending on how far I was in the game.

Anyway, I got to thinking how I could breed an awesome Magikarp and I think I have figured it out:

1. Beat the game and acquire the national pokédex.
2. Head to Marvelous Bridge and save before you purchase your Magikarp.  Now, purchase one and reset the game until you get a female that has an Adamant nature.  This could take a while — I believe I had to restart about 20 times before I got lucky!  Once you do get one: save!
3. Now we need a Papa for our awesome Magikarp — a fish who has been around the block.  One that kicks ass and takes names.  To do this, make sure you first have a Minccino in your party.  Now, head over to Driftveil City and find Kyle, who just so happens to be looking for a Minccino and wants to trade a Basculin for one.  Now you may not know this, but Kyle is a fucking idiot, because he is sitting on an awesome Basculin.  Not only is it also adamant, but it has perfect IVs for attack.  I mean a perfect 31.  Once you complete the trade, save again.
4. Now head to Nimbasa City and go to the Battle Subway.  If you haven’t already, fight some trainers until you earn 16 BP.  Speak to one of the attendants and exchange your points for a Power Bracer.
5. Now we need an Everstone.  The best way to get one of these is to capture wild Roggenrola or Boldore, as there is a 50% chance that they will be holding one.
6. Give the Everstone to your Mama Magikarp and the Power Bracer to your Papa Basculin.
7. Head to the day care on Route 3, hand both pokémon and a cassette of Barry White’s Greatest Hits to the daycare lady.  Ride your bike up and down Route 3 and try not to think of the epic, adamant fish sex that is happening.
8. Eventually the day care man will call you over and present you with an egg.  Odds are pretty good that the spawn within will have an Adamant nature (it will definitely have 31 attack IVs) meaning with proper EV training, you could end up with a level 100 Gyarados with 383 attack — the absolute ceiling for this stat.  If your fish baby doesn’t have an Adamant nature, just make a new egg until you get one which does.

I plan on making my own godly carp now that I have plotted all this out, so if you are too lazy to do all this, I may be willing to just trade babies to people.  If you are interested in trading, follow me on Twitter and I will announce when the babies are ready to go to good homes.  Otherwise, make your own and experience the joys of pokémon breeding.  Soon we will overturn some boats and shit with dragon rage, just as long as they only have 40 HP.

Related Entries:
So You Wanna Be a Pokémon Breeder?

Do you remember me saying that the Global Link for the Western release of Pokémon Black and White would be up March 30th?  Well, due to the earthquake in Japan it has been delayed with the promise of being launched sometime this spring.

Naturally I am bummed about this, but I also understand that Japan’s resources are strained with reconstruction efforts.  Although it may be difficult, I will patiently await the Global Link and hope Japan get’s back on its feet ASAP.

Each generation of Pokémon titles brings with it new features which either become a staple for the series, or simply prove to be a gimmick which is ultimately done away with.  During my numerous hours of playing Pokémon Black and White, I can’t help but think of some past features that I really miss:

Secret Base: I am a video game interior designer.  Always have been, always will be.  You should have seen my shit in Animal Crossing, I made Tom Nook cry with the beauty that was my ultimate three story pad.  The same goes for secret base in Pokémon; I took this feature to an extreme and ran with it.  Snorlax doll?  You know it!  Television, a Nintendo Wii — I had it all.  I actually borrowed a friend’s DS once he was done with Pokémon Diamond and Pearl just so I could mystery gift every day (like a boss).  But possibly my favorite aspect was picking a secluded hidey hole.  In Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire you could construct your base at the top of a tree or in a cave.  So even now, while playing Pokémon Black and White, when I stumble upon an especially awesome tree, I can’t help but wish I could set up shop there.

Walking Pokémon: This feature was a huge selling point to me for Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver.  It also is the reason why Pokémon Yellow stands out in my memory so strongly.  Being able to see and interact with your Pokémon outside of battle made it feel like I was in the world of pokémon, not simply a vehicle to walk from battle to battle.  With all the work put into the individual sprites, I am not sure why this feature was chopped from Pokémon Black and White.

Auto-Run: Being able to run in-doors has thankfully been adopted.  In Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver you could select your running shoes permanently so they would stay on, meaning you didn’t have to hold down B.  This was great for one-handed playing, while eating a snack or playing another copy of Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver.  Now, it’s back to giving that B button a workout.

Apricorns: Berry harvesting was simplified in Pokémon Black and White.  In addition to this, apricorns are gone along with pokéball smiths.  Instead you can just purchase a few of the balls formally made with apricorns.  As much as this feature provided another chore, I admit I enjoyed the feeling of preparing.  Having to wait for apricorns to grow and be turned into pokéballs also gave a reason to the cyclical day-night system.

The Underground:  I spent way too much time exploring this feature of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl.  It was basically a super addictive mining mini-game, which tied in with wireless gameplay.  That meant you could interact with other trainers and check out their secret base.  It was also a source of fossils and the stones required to evolve certain pokémon.  I always wondered where those came from!

Safari Zone: There has been a safari zone in every Pokémon title, except the most recent.  Honestly, I spend little time with this feature, so perhaps I miss it more for the nostalgic reasons.  The dynamically generated White Forest comes close to equaling the experience, but doesn’t really provide the same feeling.  Plus it is only available to those who purchased the White version (although you can visit the White Forest on another player’s game).

A Simple Bag: Just about every other game in the series (with the obvious exception of Gen 1) had a simple, easy to navigate backpack system.  The labyrinth that is the bag system in Pokémon Black and White is nowhere near as user friendly.  I generally just mash my way aimlessly through the mysteriously labeled bags of varying sizes until I find what I want.  I don’t feel like I have control and I generally want to get in and out as quickly as possible.

Pokéwalker: The Pokéwalker was a great little add-on for Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver.  Not only was it a creative way to allow the player to capture pokémon from previous generations, but it also reminded me of my days spent walking home from school with my Pocket Pikachu.  I have since run my Pokéwalker through the washing machine, rendering it useless, but if I did have a functioning one, I would certainly wish this generation made it relevant.  Come March 30th we’ll see if the Global Link makes up for it.

Those are the features I have been missing the most.  Here’s hoping at least some of them will appear in the third installment of generation 5.  Did I miss any? What features do you wish to see make a triumphant return?

It has been my mission with the release of Pokémon Black and White to give all of my friends a Tepig, sprung from the loins of my starter, Clementine.  In the process of birthing up a batch of piglets, it dawned on me that the breeding mechanics in Pokémon are surprisingly deep and complex.  I decided I would write up everything you need to know about breeding based on what it is you want to achieve.

I Just Want A Baby Mudkip!

If your goal is only to make a second, lower level Pokémon of one you already have, that is fairly simple.  First, (assuming you are playing Pokémon Black and White) you must make sure you have reached Nimbasa in the story. This would mean you have gotten the first three badges.  At a certain point in the story after reaching Nimbasa, the man who works at the daycare center located on Route 3 will return there, allowing you to leave two pokémon.  And as you hopefully know, uh, it takes two to make a thing go right. Ahem.

Now it’s time to look at your pokémon.  What gender is it?  If it’s a female, then you can have it make offspring of the same species.  If it’s male, you can’t.  If it’s genderless you can, but you need a Ditto.  So assuming you have the female of the pokémon you want to replicate, it’s time to pick a father.  If you have a male of the same species you are good to go — otherwise, read on.

You can’t just put any two random pokémon together and hope they’ll figure out the birds and the bees.  They must be in the same egg group to mate.

The best way to find out a certain Pokémon’s egg group is to Google them and check out either their Serebii page or their Bulbapedia page.  Here is where to find the egg group on both pages:

Now that you know what egg group your mommy is, find a daddy in the same one.  Put them both in the daycare and ride your bike up and down Route 3 like a wildman.  Eventually the old man outside will call out to you (awesome new feature by the way).  Talk to him to claim your egg.  To hatch the egg, just walk around, a LOT.

My Pokémon Don’t Seem To Like Each Other…

There are different rates at which compatible pokémon will produce an egg.  The factors that help the two critters do the deed include:

• Being the same species:  This means at the same evolutionary level. For example, a Charmander is more likely to produce an egg with another Charmander than with a Charizard.  The likelihood of an evolved version of a certain pokémon mating with an unevolved version is the same as if they were completely different species in the same egg group.
• Having different trainer ID numbers:  Getting a parent from a friend increases that foreign allure, I guess?

Therefore the ideal arrangements is two pokémon of the same species with different trainer IDs.  This will result in most frequent egg production.  For the nitty gritty math behind this, check out this page.

My Egg Wasn’t The Right Gender/Nature, Can I Re-Roll It?

The moment an egg is laid, everything about the little guy inside is decided.  That includes gender, stats, IVs, nature, etc.  There is no way to re-roll, so if you aren’t happy with the baby, then you need to make a new egg.

How Can My Baby Be Born With Different Moves?

This is getting more complex now.  The baby will learn any moves that both parents know.  If they are TM or HM moves, however, only the father needs to know them.  The same goes for existing egg moves — only the father needs to know them.

My Mudkip is Modest, How Can I Get More Modest Mudkips?

In the newest generation, natures can be passed on to children if the parent with the desired nature is holding an everstone at the time of conception.  This works for either the mother or the father in this generation only.  In older games you could trip over everstones, but they are a bit harder to find in Pokémon Black and White, presumably due to their boosted value to breeders.  The best way to find one is to catch a pokémon which has a chance of holding one, like Roggenrola.

My Mudkip Has Awesome Special Attack IVs, How Can He Give Them To the Baby?

Now we are talking about playing God, but let’s just roll with it.  If you don’t know what IVs are, read this and… maybe this too.  Take a day to digest before you continue your studies!

When mating, IVs are decided fairly randomly.  The IVs of three random stats of one of the parents (chosen at random of course) are bequeathed to the baby.  There is a way to force this however, by making the parent hold an EV item.  This way you can select a stat and have it trickle down.  Keep in mind that you cannot hold both an everstone and an EV item, meaning getting both the positive nature and IV can be tricky!  You can earn these items at the Battle Subway in Nimbasa.

And that, Poké-fans, is the long and short of breeding.  If you have any other questions, feel free to ask in the comments.  I may even update this post to include any good questions I forgot to include.  Now get out there and bring more pokémon into the world and share them with your friends!

Yesterday I caught a Tympole.  “What a weird face,” I thought as I nicknamed him “Gatsby” and slapped him in my roster. I decided to check Bulbapedia to see what the little guy evolves into, when something caught my eye. It wasn’t the fact that he turns into a water/ground type (which is an awesome combination). In the trivia section, it mentions that Tympole has become a phenomenon on Pixiv, a Japanese artist community akin to say, DeviantArt.

I decided to head over to the Japanese Internet and see what the fuss was all about. Wow, Japan is prolific with their memes!

Here is a collection of some of the greatest hits along with an explanation of the meme if possible:

No explanation needed, I’m sure

I believe this one has to do with a really bizarre McDonald’s commercial in Japan

This should explain this one

No clue, but it’s funny right?

Click here to view the embedded video.

The mysterious N wants to rare candy a Tympole, but not for the right reasons I fear.

“What is it?  Why don’t you see if you can hit me!”

No but for real, don’t hit the Tympole

My money is on the other guys.

That face…

Apparently Otamaro is perfect at “doya face”, which is roughly equivalent to “u mad?“

Well, I think you get the idea. This guy is everywhere and it’s hilarious. I hope Tympole’s brilliantly designed face helped brighten your day a little.

　　　　 　 ,　–─—　､
　　　　　　　　ｒ”, “´￣￣ ｀¨ヽ｀ヽ_　　　 ｒ´￣ i
　　　 　 　　ｒ’ /’ ＿ノ∋ ∈ﾐ＿ Y´　｀ヽ､ /　　 /　　
　　　　　　ｆ|　|　(●)　　　(●)　|　　r´　|　　/　　
　　　　　　ｔ|　|　人　　　人　 ｛　　!　　!_／
　　　　　　　ﾐヽ 　 ￣￣　　　人　 ヽノ
　　　　　　　　｀ﾐー――――´_ノ￣￣
　　　　　　　　　 ￣￣￣￣￣