Pokemon wonderlocke challenge! Episode two

We left last time on the road which leads to Brawly, the fighting type specialist gym leader. Sadly, unlike last time, there was much more grief in this section than I would have liked.

The gym leader and his cronies did not actually present too much in the way of an issue; Zubat’s wing attack/ brave bird combo was enough to see off the gym with no casualties to report. Sadly, this was the last action that Zubat would see due to an unlucky critical hit inflicted by some two-bit trainer on the following route.

The journey to Mauville was similarly not incident free but did allow for two new encounters:

Route 109 Magikarp (sent) Bagon (received)

Route 110 Electrike (sent) Zigzagoon (received)

The Bagon from route 109 turned out to be an excellent replacement for the recently deceased Zubat. Its moveset included dragon dance, and its dragon typing provides a nice resistance to grass, fire, water, electricity etc.

A trainer battle with a trainer on route 117 saw the untimely death of my recently evolved Mightyena. In truth, this was entirely my own fault for risking the chance of not attacking through paralysis, and this is exactly what happened.

Route 117 Zigzagoon (sent) Honedge (received)

I was mightily please to receive Honedge, the eventual Aegislash would be an excellent addition to my team. Sadly, this was not to be. I immediately set about grinding to get it up to the same level as my other Pokemon, only for it to be wiped out to a pursuit from a Doduo. A DODUO for pity’s sake. Devil bird more like. I was switching out to Bagon to take the hit and it used literally the only move that could screw me. Frustrated just doesn’t quite cover it.

Current team:

Combusken

Quilava

Bagon

Shellos

Deceased:

Zubat

Mightyena

Honedge

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Top ten mega evolutions!

Sometimes you just need a good top ten and this is one of those times! Just to be clear, this is based purely on aesthetics rather than competitive viability, as some of these Pokemon really are not cut out for competitive play.

10. Aggron

Looking like a tank which decided to have a baby with a rhino, Aggron looks like one of those Pokemon which, if real, would be far too dangerous to be allowed to live. All blades, all edges and titanic size, this is somewhat reminiscent of a Dark Souls boss….to be feared.

9. Houndoom

Cujo much? Houndoom has a good design anyway and is only improved by becoming mega. The black, white and red colour scheme, coupled with the huge ram horns and pointy tail give more than a vague impression of devilishness. Way cooler than Mega Absol’s emo fringe look…

8. Steelix

There is something hypnotic about the tiny shards of metal orbiting Steelix’s face, endlessly moving and supported by seemingly nothing at all. That coupled with Steelix’s serpentine shape and vaguely unsettling grin combine to make this a pretty awesome visual spectacle.

7. Ampharos

Because you’re worth it too! Mega Ampharos really does look like an advert for Pantenne or Herbal Esseences with that wavy, majestic hair and ‘I’m so much more awesome than you look.’ Pretty cool, in other words.

6. Banette

This Pokemon could quite easily be something fished out of the Warren’s basement or straight out of the mind of Tim Burton. Childhood fear mixed with the everyday made terrifying doesn’t even come close to describing the horror that would be if this Pokemon were actually to exist.

5. Blastoise

Huge reptile with a howitzer sized cannon on its back? Enough said.

4. Altaria

IT’S SO FLUFFY I’M GOING TO DIE!

3. Beedrill

All menace, all pointy, all badass! I have always liked the design of this Pokemon, and going mega has only made me like it more edgy.

2. Charizard X

I love the colour scheme; the blue balefire streaming out of the mouth makes this design seem to be a little ethereal.

1. Gengar

Gengar is one of my most favourite Pokemon designs, so I really couldn’t see how it could be improved upon. The hellish underglow lighting up the Gengar as if it was emerging from the pits of the underworld managed to do it though.

Agree or disagree? Did I miss anything off my list? Let me know in the comments!

Wonderlocke Pokemon Challenge! Episode 1

In the absence of a new Pokemon fix to entertain myself, I have decided to embark on a Wonderlocke play through of Alpha Sapphire to keep things fresh.

For those who perhaps don’t know, the wonderlocke rules are as follows:

-Only one Pokemon can be caught on each route.

-The first Pokemon encountered on each route has to be caught, if it faints then you cannot take a Pokemon from this route.

-Each Pokemon caught must be immediately traded on wondertrade and the received Pokemon can be used.

As you can imagine this can lead to some interesting Pokemon being used in your party which might otherwise be overlooked and can introduce Pokemon not native to the region. To keep the difficulty up somewhat, a Pokemon cannot be used if it is received at a level ten above what you traded, and if it faints in battle it can no longer be used.

I am going to regularly post my progress throughout the game with updates on all Pokemon received and lost. Last night I created my character, Lucina the trainer, and made my way to the first gym to battle the leader Roxanne.

Caught and received Pokemon:

Route 101 – Zigzagoon (sent) Bunelby (received)

Route 102 – Wurmple (sent) Poochyena (received)

Route 103 – Zigzagoon (sent) Cyndaquil

Petalburg Woods – Pokemon knocked out

Route 116 – Wurmple (sent) Shellos (received)

The route to the gym leader was fairly uneventful, the only casualty being Bunnelby who I carelessly let faint to a Seedot using bide (embarrassing, but Bunnelby is up there on my most hated Pokemon of all time due to its hideous evolved form so no great loss there.)

The gym itself was rather trickier as I did not get Shellos until just before the leader. The gym was predominantly rock type, and my Cyndaquil and Torchic both suffer badly against rock types. My Poochyena’s defences are terrible and didn’t hold up well at all. Only the arrival of Shellos Waterpulsing the crap out of everything made the leader beatable without casualty (although it was a close run thing.

Next time…..The journey to badge number 2!

Current Party:

-Torchic

-Cyndaquil

-Poochyena

-Shellos

Deceased:

-Bunnelby