Pokemon Diamond/Pearl

[Fryguy64]

Well... Diamond and Pearl are due out this year in Japan, and hopefully not much later in the US and Europe (though I would expect them to become available next year).

So... let's talk about how awesome Pokemon is. Because it is.

I'll kick us off with a couple of questions:

1. Which of the starters do you expect to pick? I mean... I don't even remember what the grass starter is, so it'll probably be between the monkey and the penguin. HOW CAN I CHOOSE!?!

2. Do we really need an electric squirrel that looks like Pikachu? Haven't we had enough Pikalikes so far? Plusle and Minun anyone?

3. What about the pre-evos and evos of existing Pokemon. What do you think of them? Roselia, Electabuzz and Sneasel are just a handful who are evolving further... who else do you want to see evolve? (Answer... Marowak).

[Dances in Undergarments]

1) As I said, I always start with the Water starter, so that probably wont change, but if the penguin becomes something crap and the monkey keeps up his awesomeness then I'd probably reconsider.

2) Probably not necessary, but it does look cool. Hopefully its got a nice evolution chain, since its got Elekible to contend with.

3) A Marowak evo (Ground/Dark?) would be great. A Magmar evo is a necessity (no more Red bias, damn it - Scizor and Bellosom, I'm looking at you). A Farfetch'd evo (Grass/Flying, maybe) that uses his leak as a weapon would be cool. I'd also like to see something done with the Lickitung line, too (can't really see an evo happening, so maybe a super cute little baby Licki will do). And now is surely the time to make the Kanghaskan baby its own pokemon.


I now propose my own question - Super Contests. What do we think? Obviously without actually playing one I can't really say, but they look quite nice. I think the dance thing should be replaced with something for each specific contest, such as a button mashing mini game for the Tough and a puzzle for the Smart (maybe that is happening - I certainly hope so), but its definately a step in the right direction at least. The photo thing seems pretty cool too.

[Sqrt2]

1) Depends on what type of pokemon the initial 3 gym leaders have.

2) No, given that both Plusle and Minun are quite useless in the face of a ground pokemon - even Electabuzz can learn ice punch.

3) There should be an evolution for Shuckle - with a half-decent attack stat. Also I would like to see an evolution for Murkrow.

I also hope they discard the abilities system as I found it irritating and annoying and bring back some of the old TMs (or let move tutors teach their moves to more than one pokemon)

[TrustTheFungus]

1.I'll probably go with the grass starter. I've never went with a grass starter and I like turtles.

2.I thought Plusle and Minun were stupid, but now that they've added a new Pikachu in every game it'd be wierd to not do it in this one.

3. I'd like to see a grass type Eevee evolution. And a Misdreavus evolution would be cool. Maybe have the Unown evolve into numbers or something.

[Smashchu]

1)Fire Ape since there are more and unique water pokemon out there. I might have to buy both games as I want all of them
2)Hes OK. If hge evolves I'll catch him. Theres never a whole lot of electrics, let alone ones you can catch early on
3)I think a Magmar evolution would be great. I think we have enough for now though.

[Johans Nidorino]

1.

I'll pick Hikorazu (the monkey) in Pokémon Diamond. I almost always pick the Fire-type one, because Grass has too many weaknesses, and Water-types are too abundant. It was not the case in Pokémon R/S/E (where I picked Treecko), but it will be like this here. Then I plan to temporarily store my Pokémon in a Stadium- or Box-like game, and start the third version with Pochama, because it looks cool as well. The fact that Hikorazu is a plain monkey doesn't bother me, becuase it's actually one of the most monkey-like monkeys we've had so far (look back at Mankey and Aipom... They were not so monkey-like).


2.

It's not actually "needed". But it's just a tradition to have a Pika-like electric rodent that represents some peculiarity from the current generation. Raichu represented evolution, Pichu represented Eggs, and Plusle & Minun represented Double Battles (which is one of the reasons why I think they could make it to SSBB by mapping their partnership to an Ice Climbers-like tag team). Who knows? Maybe they're saving a hare, a hoppy cangaroo, or a hamster for 5th generation.


3.

I like the Roselia evolution. It just looks like the exact thing it could be if it evolved. It was logical to grow a flower in the head and more flowers in the hands.

Elekible will kick ass (althought I never expected an evolution for Electabuzz). As for how would Electabuzz evolve, I realized we may have gotten a new way to make Pokémon evolve, and it's WiFi-trading. I wonder if that's how we'll get Elekible.

Weavile seems okay, too. Sneasel's ability (Inner Focus) was not much useful in the past generation because Sneasel was already speedy. But Pressure seems better, and an evolution means better stats.

As for other evolutions, many people are wondering if we'll get one for Jynx and Magmar (the remaining "elemental punchers"). But I think Magmar's is more probable because Electabuzz and Magmar are the only ones available in the wild, the only ones snaggable, and Jynx has been banned in the past.

IMO, Aipom and Murkrow should evolve (into a grape ape and into a vulture respectively).

[Saim]

Cool Pokemon overload!

serebii.net/diamondpearl/pokemon.shtml

I'm not sure about the starter. They all look cool. It depends on what they evolve to.

I don't really care about the Pikasquirrel.

I think Lapras should get an evolution.

[Smashchu]

nidorino said:

and Jynx has been banned in the past.

IMO, Aipom and Murkrow should evolve (into a grape ape and into a vulture respectively).

Fom the show but its still in the game. Plus an evolution for Aipom and Murkrow might not be bad. They need stronger Dark moves.

[Deleted]

A bum-load of new Pokémon have sprung up in this month's CoroCoro magazine, as well as several pictures of older 4G Pokémon who have only been shown in blurry screenshots. Amongst the lot are a prevolution and evolution for Roselia and a prevolution for Chansey. Source: serebii.net/index2.shtml

Personally, they look kind of...blah. I mean, I like the venus fly trap one and the one that looks like Lucario bonked a Yoshi, but that's about it.

[Johans Nidorino]

Same here, I like that flytrap more than Victreebel. Since it looks more like an actual flytrap than a bell-shaped flower, I guess it could have its signature Grass-type munching move that could be learned by Victreebel.

The dinosaurs look interesting, too.

[Fryguy64]

Everyone complains about the new Pokemon every time they're announced. Truth is, they always start by showing a bunch of cute ones, then some new pre-/post-evos of existing Pokemon, which are almost all invariably weak and will be unlikely to feature in any good teams when the game is released.

But there will be some in there that will become as familiar and beloved as Pokemon from the last generation, the generation before... etc.

The quality isn't going down - they're not running out of ideas - they're just new Pokemon, and not all of them are going to be important to producing a killer team.

And Bippa and Masukippa look absolutely awesome. I hope Bippa evolves into an uber-beaver of some kind ;D

[Johans Nidorino]

They should save a super beaver for a 2011's 5th generation Water-type Pokémon . Probably the starter? There are not water mammals as starters yet.

[Deleted]

admin said:

Everyone complains about the new Pokemon every time they're announced. Truth is, they always start by showing a bunch of cute ones, then some new pre-/post-evos of existing Pokemon, which are almost all invariably weak and will be unlikely to feature in any good teams when the game is released.

But there will be some in there that will become as familiar and beloved as Pokemon from the last generation, the generation before... etc.

The quality isn't going down - they're not running out of ideas - they're just new Pokemon, and not all of them are going to be important to producing a killer team.

And Bippa and Masukippa look absolutely awesome. I hope Bippa evolves into an uber-beaver of some kind ;D

No, I agree with you entirely--this has been the first time I've really been disappointed with the initial reveals of an oncoming generation of Pokémon, so I don't really view it as a drop in quality so much as they're just not showing the ones I'll really like yet. (Except for the flytrap, the steel-rock Yoshi, and Elekibble--those kick ass.)I had a similar attitude for the second generation, and now some of the GSC Monsters rank up there in my favorites. I'm tired of hearing people piss and moan about the whole "running out of ideas" thing, or saying that the first generation was the best--it popped up frequently on this message board that I went to until recently--and I've still got a positive outlook on what this generation can provide. Especially if they can lay something as badass as Doparion on us. Or whatever that accordian-scorpion thing is called.

But I have to say that I didn't like Roselia all that much and its evolutionary chain bugs me just by relation.

[Fryguy64]

That's because Roselia sucks, although the bud form does look quite cute. But what's the point of all these babies exactly? Are they going to learn anything regular breeding won't allow? Somehow I doubt it.

I hope these games let you trade with Generation 3 via the DS's GBA slot.

Oh, and just in case you weren't sure:

Wobbuffet > everything

[Dances in Undergarments]

You can transfer GBA Pokemon over. Whne you do they get sent to a park of some sort and you have to capture them.

Of the Pokemon now sitting on serebii's front page, I think the flytrap looks the best, with the big head steel fossil one, the rock dinosaur and the Chansey proevo looking laright too. The top blue/black thing looks terrible, and I absolutely hate the look of that mouse/beaver thing.

Also should say I'm damn disapointed with Parukia (which looks much better than Diagia or whatever it is) being water type. Should have been psychic/dragon or something.

Oh, and as a side note (since its on the same page), why give Ash a Naetle? He needs a good water type, damnit! Or even a good fire type that isn't Charizard.