Mini-game Discussion Thread

[PokePoindexter]

This is a thread where you can discuss some of the other things in the Pokemon games besides collecting badges, battling evil teams, and facing the Elite Four. Some of the ones that might come to mind are:
*Battle Tower (C/Ru/Sa/D/P)
*Battle Frontier (E/Pl/HG/SS)
*Pokemon Jump/Dodrio Berry-Picking (FR/LG/E)
*Trainer Tower/Hill (FR/LG/E)
*Trick House (R/S/E)
*Pokemon Contests (R/S/E)
*Super Contests (D/P/Pl)
*Pokeathlon (HG/SS)
*Battle Subway (B/W)

...but I'm sure there are more. Feel free to discuss them.

[Reliability]

We have established that contests are not programmable, which (I'm sure) would also make anything like Pokeathlon also unlikely.

I really liked the RSE Trick House and the Battle Frontier, and I think that things along those veins would be a lot easier to program.

Right now, Colossus City is very underwhelming in terms of plotline usage, especially for the size of the city. Other potential locales for whatever it is might be Icthyes, Kalypso or along one of the routes in the Portwind/Enechestra/Icthyes/Cetacea/Laysan region. It really depends on what it ends up being and where in the game it ought to appear (if it doesn't need to be unlocked first).

[Tyrannigon64]

Reli, I don't think he's talking about putting them in Topaz, he just wants to talk about them (Note how this is in the General threads, not the Topaz Development threads). :P

Anyways, I'm going to be participating in each of the five Super Contests (Beauty, Smart, etc.) with some friends in a few days. I'll probably post about it here afterwards.

[PokePoindexter]

TGon is correct, this wasn't about putting them in Topaz. Although if we CAN program things like a Trick House or Battle Frontier, that would be neat. (But if we do a Trick House, let's make it more than just eight challenges.)

Anyway, my favorite by far is the Pokeathlon (especially Goal Roll and Ring Drop). The Contests always seem to get dull to me once you beat all 20 of them, and the Battle Subway just takes too darn long to rack up points.

[ImmunityBow]

I enjoyed Contests, but I didn't like how some traits were just blatantly better than others.

Beauty was by far the easiest to win and gain appeal with. Sunny Day, Flamethrower, Explosion. It was not even fair.
Tough and Cool were easy as well, but Smart and Cute lacked any actual haymaker combos (Smart I think had Destiny Bond as a finisher and little else, Cute was just hopeless) so you just had to pray to be lucky in the Master contests, or perhaps even just use Beauty moves (which sometimes just worked better)

[PokePoindexter]

My best Tough set is this:
Banette
*Curse
*Faint Attack (Smart)
*Spite
*Destiny Bond (Breed w/ male Wobbuffet)

Trick is this: Use Curse the first turn to get an easy four hearts (counting the Judge's support) and move to the back of the line for the next appeal. Now that you're at the back of the line, use Spite for six hearts (does better if you go last), and get two more for completing the appeal combo and getting a Tough move pulled off. This should be able to put you at the front of the line so you can use Faint Attack the next turn and get six free hearts. Use Curse again, and for the final turn, (provided you don't become nervous) use Destiny Bond for a free 16 hearts. Obviously, should you use Curse/Spite at a point when the Excitement meter is about to peak, you can tack on five extra hearts.

[Reliability]

TGon is correct, this wasn't about putting them in Topaz.

Reasons why I should read the forum the topic is under Part I.

[ImmunityBow]

Basically:
Beauty has insane super-combos and Eruption/Explosion. There are very few ways to lose if you know what you're doing.
Cool involves trying to go first (Agility and Quick Attack are helpful), then using something like Aerial Ace to score large bonus appeal.
Tough involves trying to go last, and has combo moves that reward that (such as Curse/Spite above).

Smart involves trying to mess others up, then finishing with Destiny Bond, to varying success.

Cute is terrible and frustrating.

[PokePoindexter]

One interesting point is that every Fire-type move in Generation III was a Beauty move.

I dominated a Master Rank Cute contest with a Golbat one time. I can't remember the set right off the bat, but I think it was something like Swagger, Rest, Snore/Sleep Talk, and Mean Look. You're right, it can be pretty hard to come up with good combos in the Cute contest round.

[Tyrannigon64]

Well, the opponents rarely use moves that make them go first, so what about a move that doubles the score next turn (as well as giving the Pokemon little to no score that turn, making it more likely to be first next turn), and then using a move that gives a bonus when first? For Cute you can have Nasty Plot and Return.

[Silver]

i just dominated the battle subway with my scrafty and excadrill,
grinding really does pay off

[NyteFyre]

I can never get particularly far in the Battle Subway. That's probably because I can't play competitive worth shit, and the Battle Towers of past games have given me bad experiences. Never could get into these post-game things.

I always do the tag-team match, if only because I do best at that, even though I always have a computer partner. I have no one who lives nearby that I can easily access for such things, making the experience in general much harder for me. I live out in the country, unfortunately, and all my friends live in subdivisions. whoo...

As for contests, Dear god they were the bane of my existence in Ruby. Didn't even bother in gen 4. My Blaziken in beauty was the only one I could ever get past the first level, and managed to actually make a Master win, I just could never do well enough to do so more than once though. I'm terrible at contests, and wasn't willing to change up my Blaziken, or try to breed special pokemon for something I hated. Simple. As. That.

[PokePoindexter]

I've beaten the Doubles and Multi trains, and have three times made it to the final boss on the Single train, and lost every time (that damn Crustle!).

[Silver]

that damn Crustle!

i felt the same way about lucy's milotic in emerald, and clair's kingdra in silver

[PokePoindexter]

Bump:
I finally beat Ingo on Pokemon Black. Ironically, it was with 3 Pokemon that were not on my original team: A Gigalith that I traded as a Boldore from Pokemon White, a Drapion I sent over from Platinum via PokeTransfer, and a Drought Ninetales from the Dream World.

[SilentSentinel]

Battle Subway is hax. I've managed to win a few times using a Hone Claws - Hustle Durant, a Flash Fire Chandelure, and a Bulky DD Gyarados.

[PokePoindexter]

I hope I'm not the only one who's found Sawk to be really good in Singles in the Battle Subway. Sturdy means it'll always survive one hit, and a Choice Banded Close Combat is gonna hurt things like you would never believe.