Pokemon's top 5 Toughest Gym Leaders

Pokémon’s top 5 Toughest Gym Leaders

Pokémon Gym’s act as the boss levels to Pokémon games. They usually have an interesting design and puzzle inside and usually each gym leader has a unique and memorable design. There is a problem of course. Gym leaders are usually pretty weak. This is partly due to only using one type and partly due to and let’s be honest, being accessible to kids. The GameCube games were noticeably harder with some tough fights but the main series of handheld games are mostly filled with battles that are pretty easy with a team of properly levelled Pokémon. Occasionally however you stumble across a pretty difficult gym leader who poses a good challenge. I list what I think to be the five toughest below.

 

5. Misty, Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen

If you look at the tough battles from online lists Misty is barely ever mentioned yet I’d often have massive trouble with her. Staryu wasn’t much of an issue, Starmie on the other hand was a massive pain. Starmire is a fast Pokémon for a final evolution meaning it can out speed pretty much everything at this stage of the game.

 

Its main attack was water pulse which was not only a move with a decent damage output for that stage of the game but also has a chance to cause some really irritating confusion. The other move of note to be used by Starmie is recover, which instantly recovers half its hp. Take into account its high special attack, decent defensive stats and good typing for what you can throw at it at this stage of the game and you have one tough customer.

 

4. Whitney, Pokémon’s Generation 2

We all know this one and Whitney’s infamous Miltank needs no introduction. Countless internet memes have been created in this things honour and it’s perhaps this that makes her so satisfying to beat as afterwards she runs of crying. Yeah nothing quite makes us happy than making a little girl cry.

 

Whitney’s Clefairy isn’t really an issue. It goes down fairly easily and while it can occasionally do some annoying stuff with metronome but it doesn’t have the offense to pose a problem. The problem as everyone knows is Miltank.

 

Miltank has tank in its name for a reason. This dumb thing will sometimes just not die. Being a normal type means if you don’t have a fighting type of something with a fighting type move you cannot abuse any sort of type advantage which can after be key in gym battles. Then there’s its moveset. Attract will prevent you from attacking if you are using a male Pokémon. Defence curl boosts its already high defence and then rollout can do some serious damage. There’s nothing I can say that hasn’t already be said, that cow is a massive pain.

 

Why is she not higher up? Honestly I never had that much of a problem with her. Look at me, such a Pokémon master but while I can see the frustrations that are without a doubt possible with her and in later play trough’s with strange team ideas I did sometimes have an issue, in my first few journeys in generation 2 I took her down without being sent back to the Pokémon centre once.

 

3. Clair, Generation 2

This to me is the toughest gym leader in generation 2, not Whitney. Clair uses dragon types which are well known for being pretty over powered and notably in the time the generation 2 games were made only had 2 weaknesses, ice and other dragons, two typed Pokémon that are difficult to obtain.

 

Clair’s Gyarados could be a pain without an electric type on your team but a quick swift thunderbolt would take it down without issue. She also had Dragonairs, that being dragon type had some very useful resistances, including to what your starter Pokémon could throw at them.  They also like to paralyse and thus slow your Pokémon down.

 

Finally there’s a powerful Kingdra to contend with. It uses a powerful water and dragon attack that grants is a same type attack bonus as well as hyper beam, a very high damaging normal type move, meaning your Pokémon probably doesn’t resist all its moves. Water and dragon type also means its only weakness back then was dragons as dragon slaying fairy’s hadn’t been thought of yet. The only dragon type Pokémon in the game is the Dratini line that you find in the dragon shrine, a place you cannot enter yet and another Kingdra, something that evolves in a really awkward way involving trading a Seadra with a dragon scale.

 

This is all well and good but its Kindgra’s final move that really makes it insufferable. We all know the most annoying thing in a Pokémon battle is messing with accuracy. Naturally Kingdra uses smokescreen. Want to whittle down its health and be one hit away with your best and final Pokémon only to miss because you have smoke in your eyes? If yes then this is the battle for you.

 

2. Norman, Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire

Firstly it’s important to note that the Ruby and Sapphie version of Norman was more difficult for one reason that second Slaking. Terrible ability aside Slaking is a beast, its stats are absurd, surpassing those of many legendries. Its ability is atrocious, making it attack only once every other turn however at this stage of the game it’s naturally got enough defences to take some hits as well as its normal typing only having 1 weakness. You are also at a point in the game where moves are not that strong meaning taking down these guys is a real issue.

 

The first time I fought Norman his Slaking wiped my whole team. Since Slaking is surprisingly fast I decided to paralyze it, not realising what façade did. It didn’t go well. I beat Norman eventually and it was a fantastic victory for my 7 year old self but I never forgot how tough Norman was and all because of those damn Slaking’s. Oh yeah he had a Vigoroth too, it was decent enough I guess. Whitney may the well-known tough normal type gym leader but Norman was always the toughest in my eyes.

 

1. Fanitna, Pokémon Platinum

Seriously, how come no one ever mentions this battle and more specifically her Mismagius? That thing was ridiculous. I’ll discuss her other Pokémon first. They were decent but nothing special. She had a Duskull that could use will o wisp as well as take a hit with some decent defences. She also had a Haunter that was a little frail however could hit hard and fast as well as use hypnosis to put anything it fought to sleep.

 

The big problem however was Mismagius. I had such trouble with this thing and unlike Nroman’s Slakings, this was a problem to me at an age where I was old enough to actually use half a brain cell and I still couldn’t take this thing down without more grinding than I’d like to admit. Was I really the only one to struggle with Fantina. Her Mismagius was very fast, hit like a truck with plenty of good coverage moves and good take a hit from an unevolved Pokémon that you were almost certainly using. Down to her tough Pokémon, difficult to counter ghost types and being in shcok that the French person didn’t immediately surrender, Fantina was definitely the toughest gym leader in the history of Pokémon.

 

 

Was Giovanni Really the Villain - All is Revealed

Was Giovanni Really the Villain – All is Revealed

Pokémon is not a franchise known for its complex story arcs and characters. However if you had to pick one character with an interesting story behind him then it would have to be Giovanni, the leader of team Rocket. He was part of that famous twist where he turned out to be the Viridian City gym leader and was the big bad from the first ever Pokémon games, or at least that’s what we thought. There are a lot of Pokémon fan theories from Gengar being Clefairy’s shadow to the great Pokémon war (Which I did about myself, check the January posts on this blog). But shameless self-promotion aside one theory people have speculated about is Giovanni being a good guy all along. Of course in the anime he was definitely a villain but the games could be a completely different story. It is speculated everything he did was to stop the violent Mewtwo from unleashing havoc on the Kanto region. Today I find out the truth behind Giovanni’s intentions.

 

I thought the best place to start would be a little back story behind Giovanni. Unfortunately very little is known about this mysterious man. We do not even know his age in fact, all we do know is he’s the Viridian City gym leader as well as leader of the notorious team Rocket. We know he has a son, Sliver the rival trainer in generation 2 and he is unique in that he is the boss of the only villainous team who’s overall plan does not involve a legendary Pokémon. In fact what even is his overall plan, his actions seem random and unrelated.

 

I thought it best to analyse each team Rocket evil action. We first see team Rocket in Mount Moon trying to steal some fossils. I’m not really sure what to say about this one. You could argue they just wanted the fossils like you and the scientists did I guess but there’s not really much to say about it. After this they steal the tm for dig. This does seem like a petty little crime but there could be more to it. Claiming Giovanni is a good guy all boils down to him wanting to stop Mewtwo. While the tm for dig doesn’t seem like something worth stealing for a ground type gym leader of all people we should remember Mewtwo lives deep in a cave, a place you may have to dig through to get to. This could be pushing things but it’s important to remember both these events do not involve Giovanni directly. It is perfectly possible that lower level members could’ve made these orders. The next few actions are what really start posing questions.

 

Most of what Giovanni does involves Silph Co. He tries to steal the Master Ball and the SIlph Scope. The theory goes that the Silph Scope is to catch a ghost type Pokémon to fight the psychic type Mewtwo and the Master Ball is to catch him. They also take Mr. Fuji, a supposed nice old man. This theory is nice but it does have flaws. None of this makes Giovanni a good guy, none of this is even proven to be related to Mewtwo. He also does sell Pokémon in his casino too. Maybe we should look into Mewtwo.

 

Mewtow as we all know is a clone of Mew. It is also well known that he was created in the Pokémon Mansion on Cinnabar Island. According to the journals in the Mansion scientists performed horrific gene splicing experiments which drove Mewtwo to great rage. According to the Pokédex he’s vicious, has a savage heart and only ever thinks of winning his battles.

 

While Mewtwo is a clone, Mew actually gave birth to Mewtwo. This is strange as Pokémon lay eggs. Mewtwo becomes so enraged he escapes, burns down Pokémon Mansion and presumably kills most of the scientists. It is pretty much confirmed that Mr. Fuji was part of the team that created Mewtwo along with the Cinnabar Gym Leader Blaine. Blaine still wears a lab coat to act as a reminder to his days as a scientist and in the fame checker a portrait of Blaine and Mr. Fuji is mentioned. In Pokémon Emerald there is an event in a place called Faraway Island where you find Mew. In the Japanese version there is a name smudged on a sign that says … ji. Subtle yeah but it does confirm Mewtwo’s origin however. Being engineered to be the ultimate in battle he left for Cerulean cave, a place full of high level Pokémon.

 

Mr. Fuji seems to be crucial in what happened and it is speculated he went to Lavender Town to look after abandoned Pokémon to cope with his own guilt. Lavender Town is also a long way from Cinnabar Island. Despite all this he obviously knows a lot more about Mewtwo than most do and this would surely make sense to Team Rocket’s interest in him. Giovanni is a gym leader, he could’ve heard things from Blaine and it does make sense.

 

I feel like I should dispel the selling Pokémon in the casino pure evil. In real life we sell animals as pets and you can win things like fish, especially considering this game came out nearly twenty years ago. I don’t think there’s much wrong with it, especially for the time period. I should mention it is never mentioned that team Rocket steal Pokémon in the games. This is a good explanation for team Rocket grunts possessing a very small variety of Pokémon, if they were stealing where’s the variety and why steal so many Koffing. The Anime is different but that’s an adaptation, it doesn’t follow the games as cannon and let’s face it the anime isn’t the smartest show you’ll ever watch.

 

My biggest issue with this theory is normally people like to paint Giovanni as the white knight and Red as the villain. Things aren’t this simple, Red isn’t a villain he’s a kid on a journey stopping what he thinks is an evil team. Giovanni is a complex character and not necessarily a villain. This doesn’t mean he’s a complete hero however. Giovanni’s intentions do appear to be less than noble but it is certainly possible he is trying to do the right thing.

 

If Giovanni’s overall goal doesn’t involve Mewtwo then there are certainly a lot of coincidence in play here. If it does involve Mewtwo the question is why he wants to capture Mewtwo. If he has heard of Mewtwo’s power from Blaine then it does certainly seem possible at least he would want to stop him going on a rampage, especially considering the state of Pokémon mansion. However Giovanni wanting to use Mewtwo for his own gain could me more likely, like he did in the anime. According to Pokemon the Origins there are still good intentions in there, he does disband team Rocket just so Red will take the badge after experiencing the thrill of battle once again.

 

Here’s the thing, Giovanni is a smart man. He is already a powerful man, he is a successful businessman, a gym leader and head of a powerful criminal organisation. I said all is revealed in the title, I think it’s safe to say the ultimate goal of team Rocket involved Mewtwo. After all if there’s one thing we’ve learnt playing Pokémon it’s that all villains have their goals tied to Legends. Unfortunately after looking over everything this is all I can reveal. What was Giovanni’s intentions with the 150^th Pokémon? Maybe one day we’ll find out.

Jigglypuff vs Mega Satan - Who Would Win

Jigglypuff vs Mega Satan - Who Would Win

Ever since I started doing these who would win in a fight posts there’s one combatant I’ve wanted to use more than any other. However this combatant was so strong, so powerful I didn’t think I could ever find a suitably matched opponent. Today however everything changed. I bring you this battle today.

 

We have Jigglypuff, the world’s most powerful Pokémon vs Mega Satan, a more powerful version of the embodiment of evil and sin and perhaps the best named video game boss of all time. Today’s battle will perhaps be the most intense in the history of everything that ever has or will exist. I’ll start with Jigglypuff.

 

Standing at a menacing 0.5 metres tall Jigglypuff is the balloon Pokémon originally found in the Kanto region. It possess both the normal and the fairy typing’s giving it numerous useful resistances to types such as dark and fighting and total immunity to ghost and dragon. It has a decent number of hit points and while its other stats don’t look like much using base stats to judge Pokémon against things that aren’t Pokémon is very sketchy. For example its base speed would indicate it could move at hundreds of miles per hour if compared to the base speed of Dragonite, a Pokémon that can orbit the earth in 16 hours despite being about average in terms of a Pokémon speed stat.

 

Jigglypuff being a Pokémon is an extremely experienced fighter having experiences thousands of battles against hundreds of foes. it also has a unique advantage of being part of all four super smash bros games, meaning it has fought far more different types of powerful enemies, including gaming’s biggest mascot Mario, a multitude of master swordsmen, a legendary bounty hunter, a psychic and what you could easily argue to be the most powerful video game character of all in Kirby. Not only has Jigglypuff fought these might enemies but it has also defeated them all, even to a point of becoming one of the most powerful of all in melee, the one all the pros play.

 

However you could ignore smash bros and Jigglypuff is still a powerhouse. Jigglypuff’s most defining ability is its ability to put things to sleep when it sings. When it decides to use this ability it will first mesmerize it’s foe with its eyes. It will inflate its lungs with air and then let all the air out as a soothing lullaby. It will continue to sing its lullaby until its lungs run out of air and everything around it will be put to sleep. In fact the pokédex repeatedly mentions that it can adjust the wavelength of its voice to put anything to sleep and in Pokémon emerald the pokédex states that NOTHING can avoid this. However not only does its lullaby put enemies to sleep but it makes them feel drowsy and thus slower and more vulnerable when they eventually wake up.

 

The puff does have other moves outside of sing. The most notable are disable, a move that prevents an opponent using the move it last used for an extended period of time. It can hyper voice, a move that emits sound wave to damage an enemy, rollout where it rolls into a ball and slams the foe, increasing in power with each hit and double edge where Jigglypuff tackles an opponent causing immense damage to both the enemy and itself. It has wake up slap which does double damage to a sleeping enemy and then wakes them up. If we’re taking smash bros into account then it can use rest, which makes Jigglypuff fall asleep and somehow do a collosal amount of damage to anything that was too close. Finally we have mimic in which Jigglypuff can mimic any attack used against it.

 

On top of all this Jigglypuff only weighs 5.5 kg. It is also filled with air as being the balloon Pokémon would suggest and while it is a lot denser than air due to its rubbery, it can inflate itself futher to control how slowly it falls through the air. Also having only a diameter of 0.f meteres makes it a small target and difficult to hit with any kind of attack.

 

This is where I’d normally discuss any weaknesses. Moving on.

 

In all seriousness in a Pokémon battle in a game Jigglypuff is pretty weak. The key thing is it’s a Pokémon battle which is turn based. Outside of turn based combat where Jigglypuff. If it can sing straight away there is no reason why it couldn’t defeat every Pokémon in existence by putting them straight to sleep. Sure it’s not very agile but it doesn’t need to be if it can sing its lullaby. You can pretend Jigglypuff is just a weak Pokémon but you’re only kidding yourself.

 

Let’s move on to the opposition. Mega Satan is the final boss fight in The Binding of Isaac Rebirth. It is the hardest boss in the game and the most difficult to reach. Defeating Mega Satan unlocks the 16^th and final ending of the game and is Isaac’s final obstacle in his imaginary world.

 

Inducing the size of Mega Satan is difficult and my calculations are vague at best. However I do have a rough idea which I can use. Isaac is probably around 5 years old and the average height of a 5 year old is 40 inches which is 1.016 meters. Mega Satan’s head is roughly three times taller than Isaac so he is about 3 metres tall, give or take a few metres probably. This would make his head about 5 metres wide, from the tip of one horn to the other. While these calculations are vague what they show is Mega Satan is far bigger than Jigglypuff.

 

What makes Mega Satan so difficult is his barrage of powerful attacks and high base hit points. His 1^st phase has 3000 hit points while his 2^nd has 2000 and his hands 600. In his first phase he will attack with a variety of attacks. He will multiple barrages of directional blood shots or smash his head into the ground to scatter more blood shots. He can fire a downwards beam as well as use his hands to smash the ground to send waves of rocks at you.

 

After reaching enough damage he will summon the four horsemen of the apocalypse, starting with Famine and Pestilence and then followed by Death and War. After they are defeated and reaching a threshold of damage he will summon the seven super versions of the deadly sins. Super Envy is first, followed by Super Lust and Super Wrath and finally Super Gluttony, Super Sloth, Super Greed and Super Pride.

 

Then after another threshold of damage is reached he will summon Dark Uriel and then Dark Gabriel. It should also be noted that if you take too long then Mega Satan will summon the normal deadly sins. If that wasn’t enough after this he will sink into the darkness and emerge as his final form, a skull.

 

Mega Satan’s final form is even more dangerous. It will He will fire many different coloured shots in very difficult to dodge patterns as well and multi coloured fire. The skull will continue to crack as you damage it and eventually if you can reduce his heath to zero he will be defeated. So what are Mega Satan’s weaknesses? Again there aren’t really any. It’s powerful, can summon hosts of other powerful things to fight for him and he has a tonne of health. If nothing else, he’s a mega version of Satan. It’s clearly not to be messed with.

 

Now I know what you’re thinking (I can read your thoughts). Firstly you’re thinking that whoever writes this blog must be incredibly interesting and you’d love to meet them. Secondly you’re thinking that I’ll come up with some contrived reason to make Jigglypuff win for a not particularly funny joke. This is not true at all as you’re about to see.

 

I think it’s obvious that Jigglypuff can quickly put Mega Satan to sleep, the question is does the pink balloon have the means to put down Mega Satan before it can wake up. The answer? No. Jigglypuff does not have the attacks to kill Mega Satan. It can repeatedly put it to sleep but it would only be a matter of time before the mega anti-Christ could land a killing blow.

 

So is that it? Has Jigglypuff been defeated? Well while Jigglypuff’s attacks may not be powerful enough to kill Mega Satan quickly enough, it doesn’t need them to win. In fact, Mega Satan’s attacks are strong enough to kill Mega Satan. Jigglypuff as I discussed earlier can use the move mimic and mirror any attack used against it. This means anything from firing blood shots to summoning the four horsemen of the apocalypse is possible for Jigglypuff in this battle. Mega Satan may be able to take on Jigglypuff’s solo abilities (An impressive feat) but there’s no way it can also survive on onslaught of its own powers used against it. Yes even the anti-Christ cannot survive an encounter with the puff. The victory goes to Jigglypuff.

Charizard vs Toothless - Who Would Win

Charizard vs Toothless - Who Would Win

Continuing with epic dragon fights we have a battle between Tootless from How to Train Your Dragon and the iconic Pokémon Charizard … who isn’t actually a dragon at all. In a one on one battle with no outside assistance who would win? Let’s find out.

 

I’ll start with Toothless. Bought to prominence by the film How to Train Your Dragon, he actually first appeared in the book of the same name. They vastly change in appearance and abilities so I’ll be using the film version since Charizard could probably just step on the book version. Toothless is a Night Fury, a very rare species of dragon. He is black in colour and has his signature retractable teeth.

 

Toothless is 8.5 metres long. While I couldn’t find his exact height he is taller than Hiccup who I found to be 6 feet and 2 inches tall. Toothless also has a highly impressive wingspan of 48 feet. Despite being so big Toothless is extremely fast. The How to Train Your Dragon book says he can fly at over 100 mph however in the films we see him keep up with a free falling Hiccup. When free falling a human’s terminal velocity is closer to 150 mph so it’s likely Toothless can fly at speeds even faster than this.

 

Toothless is extremely fast and agile both on land and in the air. He can run and jump extremely well meaning he is not limited to air combat. On top of this he can take off vertically without any need for a running start making him one agile flyer. On top of this he has superb endurance and stamina as well as very high physical strength. He also has heightened senses including a high sensitive sense of hearing.

 

Anyone who has watched the film has seen Toothless shoot those purple blast things out of his mouth. Brace yourself because this is about to get very scientific. The purple blasts are plasma blasts. These blasts are created with Acetylene (, blue fire (Created with oxygen), a green gas and electricity. Therefore due to blue fire this is a fire attack. The acetylene (A simple hydro carbon) oxygen flame is ionized enough to become plasmoid, neither solid nor liquid. Toothless can fire his plasma blast in either fire balls or a continuous stream. He can also control the relative heat and strength of each blast, however acety;ene and oxygen can burn at 6500 degrees Fahrenheit. However he can only shoot 5 blasts before needing to recharge, although he does recharge remarkably quickly. He also cannot use his plasma blast at high altitude due to a lack of oxygen.

 

What are some of his weaknesses? Well he can have a bit of a temper. He is also missing a plate on the end of his tail meaning he requires a synthetic substitute built by Hiccup in order to fly. The substitute is nowhere near as sturdy as the scales on Toothless and is also flammable. On top of this while Toothless can fly by himself he has relied on Hiccup for many of his greatest moments and manoeuvres. By himself his flight skills are merely adequate.

 

However if all else fails he has his alpha mode. Here he charges himself in some way. The spines on his black glow purple and he becomes more powerful. It not only boosts his strength but he now has an unlimited amount of plasma blasts of greater power. He can also control other dragons in this mode but since Charizard is technically not a dragon this will have no impact on the battle. However if Toothless wasn’t strong enough before then now he has become the most powerful thing in his own world and he is truly a force to be reckoned with.

 

Outside of Pikachu, the mighty flame Pokémon Charizard is probably Pokémon’s most recognisable and iconic figure. Despite being a Bulbasaur person myself no one can deny Charizard’s stature. However looking at Charizard’s Pokédex entry could make you question why. I’m sure we’ve all imagined what riding a Charizard would be like but Charizard is a mere 5 foot 7 inches tall and he weighs 90.5 kg. In comparison I’m 6 foot 1. It saddens me slightly knowing I’m taller than Charizard. The average male height in the UK is 5 foot and 9 inches meaning most of us are not going to be riding Charizard any time soon.

 

Perhaps more importantly Toothless is far bigger than Charizard. He’s taller despite walking on all fours and he is also far longer. On top of this the Pokédex quotes Charizard as capable of melting boulders and 10,000 tonnes glaciers with his fire. This would means his fire is in the region of 2000 degress Fahrenheit, around a third of the heat of Toothless’s plasma blasts. However his fire does burn hotter if the Charizard has experienced harsh battles (such as one with Toothless) but it still cannot reach anywhere near the heat of the plasma blast. It should be noted however that a a fire type, Charizard resists fire type attacks including a Plasma Blast.

 

What moves can Charizard use? I’m only taking into account moves Charizard can learn naturally. Despite this he can learn a variety of attacks ranging from obvious fire and flying attacks to normal, dragon, steel and even ghost. His standard flamethrower attack is a basic fire breath but he can also use fire spin to envelop his opponent in a vortex of fire with fire spin and he is capable of biting down on his enemy with fire fang. He can use dragon claw, wing attack, metal claw or shadow claw to fight at close range without the use of fire or air slash to hit from range. His most powerful naturally learned attack is flare blitz, a powerful fire attack that involves charging at full speed at the opponent. It does however inflict 33% recoil damage. Finally Charizard can envelop the battlefield in smoke with smoke screen.

 

It’s difficult to judge Charizards strength and speed. Using his base stats could draw comparison however this is difficult, His highest stat is his above average special attack. He is also the joint 43^rd fastest pokemon and has decent attack. His defensive stats are underwhelming however. How do these stats help? To judge his speed I thought to look to the Pokédex. Dragonite has a base speed of 80, less than the 100 of Charizard. However the Pokédex repeatedly mentions that Dragonite can fly around the earth in 16 hours. This is 24,091.55 miles meaning Dragonite can fly at 1506 mph. This is almost twice the speed of sound. This means in theory Charizard can fly even faster. In fact using base speeds this makes him 5/4 times faster meaning Charizard can theoretically fly at 1882.5 mph. On top of this by move tutor Charizard can learn a move called seismic toss meaning he can lift, fly up above the earth’s atmosphere and slam any Pokémon into the ground. The heaviest Pokémon is Groudon at 2094.4 pounds. So you can see how much Physical strength Charizard has.

 

Since Charizard is over 6 times faster than the fastest road car using base stats makes this an easy victory for Charizard. He is around 12 times faster than Toothless and has far more physical strength despite his smaller size. However without taking this into account I still think Charizard would win this battle. Toothless is fast but not fast enough nor skilled enough without Hiccup to avoid Charizards fire attacks. Thus his tail plate made by Toothless would be destroyed in the flames preventing Toothless from flying. Charizard can fly at altitudes of 4600 feet meaning he could easily avoid Tootless and his attacks. He can’t jump anywhere near this high meaning it would only be a matter of time before Toothless was taken down.

 

A Charizard is an extremely proud creature. It would not go down easily and has enough natural strength to not be overpowered by Toothless, even in alpha mode. Charizard can still fly after taking heavy amounts of damage so it could easily escape toothless. With only fire type plama blasts to hit Charizard from range a grounded Toothless would be easy pickings for a flying Charizard. Despite his imposing size and stature Toothless doesn’t stand a chance. The victory goes to Charizard.

 

 

Top 10 favourite Pokémon

Top 10 favourite Pokémon

This is a list that all people who write blogs like mine must do. I’m writing this and it feels like the next step towards greatness. It’s my top 10 favourite Pokémon.

 

 

It should be noted there are now over 700 Pokémon so picking 10 proved to be quite difficult. I went through the pokédex and had it narrowed down to 46 for 10 places. So it still wasn’t going well so I thought I’d give some honourable mentions. These are Venasaur for being my favourite of the original starters, Victreebell for being incredibly violent and also a plant (Plus it evolves from Bellsprout), Espeon for being my favourite evolution of Eevee, Floatzel for being my favourite shiny Pokémon I found, Hippowdon because I have one called Big Mama and Excadrill because it amuses me to call it the epic mole in a silly voice. Onto the list:

 

10. Heatran

Legendary Pokémon are epic monsters of destruction. I like many of them but my personal favourite is the rather obscure Heatran. I like that you travel through a dangerous volcano to reach Heatran. Compared to other legendry’s it seems rather underwhelming but look a little closer and you’ll see this thing can easily hold its own.

 

Most of my affection from Heatran comes from my super cool times of competitive Pokémon battling. It was perhaps the most reliable Pokémon I used. It could handle a multitude of situations and take on multiple roles in a team. It never let me down and more importantly it helped me win even though I wasn’t very good. In fact it was so dependable I nicknamed my Heatran after my cat Izzy.

 

9. Scrafty

A gangster Pokémon. With a Mohawk. How cool is that? A lot of people dislike generation five but for me Scrafty carries it all on its own. It had also had a unique fighting/dark type combination and was a staple for me in the games in generation five.

 

Another benefit of Scrafty is when it evolves it finally learns how to wear its trousers. A real moment of pride. Scrafty reminded me of why I even play Pokémon games. I found a strange little creature, trained it and travelled with it and watched it grow, in this case into a full on gangster. It doesn’t get much better than that. Naturally after all this I named mine BITCH!!!!!! to mirror what I imagined it said to the opponents it defeated. Unfortunately this name was censored by the Pokémon games so now it’s just called Scrafty.

 

8. Greninja

Frogs are cool. Ninjas are cool. So what happens when you combine the two? You get Greninja. I wasn’t keen at first on X and Y’s starters but that changed when I saw this awesome thing. This was the only time I ever took the water starter but it was well worth the wait.

 

We’d had Pokémon sort of like ninjas bust nothing this authentic. Added to my love for the video game Frogger, this Pokémon was a perfect fit. Then we got to play it in smash brothers and a throw water shrunken at Mario’s head and everything I could want from a Pokémon was complete. Mine was called FreakinNinja because what else would it be?

 

7. Munchlax

This guy is here not because of standard Pokémon games but rather the mystery dungeon series. It was a tough game, Mystery dungeon explorers of darkness full of powerful enemies but they were no match for the mighty Munchlax.

 

I already liked Snorlax but when you’re playing as Munchlax and you punch Darkrai ((Practically a vessel of pure evil) in the face then it has to be on the list. In fact I couldn’t even bring myself to evolve Munchlax. We all like an underdog story and this was the best I had in a Pokémon game.

 

6. Sceptile

We all remember our first starter Pokémon. Being a massive childhood noob I didn’t get a Pokémon game until Ruby where I was immediately drawn to Treecko. Then it evolved into this strange lizard thing called Sceptile and my young mind was amazed.

 

Nostaligia plays a role in these lists and this one is perhaps the biggest example of that. Sceptile was with me for my first Pokemon league triump, my first capture of a legendary pokemon and it was my first level 100. My young child mind was forever linked with Sceptile and the nostalgia lives on. Now it can mega evolve and without it there’s no way I could win against my friend in the latest games. So thank you Sceptile for showing me that Pokémon are just as important as friends. I gave my Sceptile a name I only bestow on true greats … Geoff.

 

5. Pelliper

What else does nostalgia remind you of? The first Pokémon you caught. For me that was Wingull and before long it was Pelliper. For some reason I was the only person I knew to use Pelliper so I travelled on my epic journey with my pelican Pokémon by my side.

 

My real reason for having Pelliper is for how when I first played Ruby it killed Groudon in one hit before blitzing the elite four and champion. I never expected Pelliper to be such a powerhouse but it proved me and the whole world wrong. Sceptile was my first level 100 but Pelliper was the Pokémon I had that as a young child I used all the time and neglected most my team for it. Sceptile caught up but Pelliper was first. In Omega Ruby therefore I named my Pelliper Arceus after the God of Pokémon.

 

4. Mawile

I always wanted Mawile to be good. It looked amazing with its second Jaw but unfortunately it was terrible. It was too weak for my in game team so it sat in my PC hoping it would one day be powerful enough it fight.

 

Favourites often involve a fond memory and the first time I trashed my friend’s team with Mega Mawille was is a very fond memory indeed. He saw Mawile and laughed but he wasn’t laughing after it mega evolved and used the swords dance plus sucker punch combo. Mega Mawile is the highest attack Pokémon currently in the whole of Pokémon and I if nothing else find that very appealing. Mawile is like a great coming of age story. I liked it when it was bad, so now it’s firmly placed on this list. My Mawile was also named Geoff.

 

3. Jigglypuff

This is not here from the main series of games, rather super smash bros. This is my character, I played Jigglypuff when it was good in Melee and I played it in Brawl when I probably shouldn’t have. The Puff is a super fun character with his ability to float and the amazing rest attack, which still confuses me to this day.

 

I think of all the battles I’ve had with Jigglypuff and I could not possibly keep it off this list. So many memories of death, destruction, KO’s and all of them involving a small pink blob thing. If I use Jigglypuff in a game I think I’ll name it after the Godzilla monster; Destroyah.

 

2. Garchomp

Some of these picks I think were quite original. This one isn’t but who can blame me. We all play Pokémon to unleash our inner child and what does that better than a land shark that’s also a dragon. What makes Garchomp so high up on this list is because you can combine most of what I’ve written above and that sums up Garchomp.

 

The nostalgia factor is there, it was very reliable and fun to use in game, I trained it from a tiny Gible, it was so reliable and dependable in competitive battling and my friends to this day complain about my overpowered Garchomps that I always use. I’ve used this guy in every game he’s available and traded a Gible onto games he’s not. Garchomp is just a boss. A legend in my eyes it all started when my team needed upgrading to battle my friends and their scary Dragonites and Salamences. Enter Garchomp and victory was mine. I still don’t have a good nickname for it though, I normally again just go for Geoff. Geoff is a name that signifies power and Garchomp has it in abundance.

 

1. Shuckle

 

That’s all that needs to be said.

 

The Great Pokémon War - All is Revealed

The Great Pokémon War - All is Revealed

The Pokémon series has spawned many fan theories over the years. From Cubone’s mother to the death of your rivals Raticate. However I always though the most interesting of these theories was the Great Pokémon War. Many of you may be thinking that this is an absurd possibility. Pokémon is a kids game, they won’t lace it’s backstory with war. Well random reader prepare to have your mind blown.

 

Yes it is possible that all this is just coincidence. Maybe all this can be disproved and maybe we will never know the true story behind the great Pokémon War. But a lot of what I found does seem to fall together quite neatly.

 

We start with Pokémon Red and Blue. As our protagonist Red journeys across the world of Kanto he reaches a place called Vermillion city. Eager to obtain his third gym badge Red enters the Vermillion city gym. After getting through the annoying puzzle with the bins and the double locked door you reach the Gym leader. His name is Lt. Surge. What’s most interesting is some of his dialogue. He says as follows:

“Hey kid what do you think you’re doing here? You won’t last long in combat! That’s for sure! I tell you what kid, electric Pokémon saved me during the war

 

The war. There instant proof! Okay this just seems like a random piece of dialogue with no real meaning like what seems to be all abundant in every Pokémon game. Pokémon aren’t well known for carefully chosen dialogue with great meaning and significance (Need I mention the shorts kid). This could easily be passed off as nothing until you really start to think about it.

 

Your character, Red, where is his Father. Your Mother never mentions him or even the remote possibility he exists. She accepts you as the man of the house, free to make your own decisions when you’re just a child. Red is only 11 years old when he heads out on his Pokémon journey. There’s more. Your rival, Blue, where are his parents. He lives with his older sister and other than her his known family is his grandfather Professor Oak. Coincidence? Is it still coincidence how many other children you encounter on your journey, children that out by themselves in a world inhabited by dangerous creatures?

 

Come to think of it, how many adult males are in the original Pokémon games? A suspiciously small number. In fact the only time you see a consistent number of Adult males is when you’re fighting Team Rocket. Outside of organised crime there are barley any adult males at all, instead all male characters are either children or elderly. You may not think this is definite proof but surely this should at least arouse suspicion. Why would a game avoid using male characters? Unless Game Freak and Nintendo were infiltrated by hard core feminists something seems off here.

 

Kanto is filled with specialized hospitals and gyms for training. But there aren’t any entertainment facilities, cinemas, skating rinks etc. This would make a lot of sense if there was a recent war, there would be far more pressing matters at hand than entertainment. In fact the only building I could find that had entertainment as their primary purpose was the Casino in Celadon City, a building being used as a cover for the operations of Team Rocket.

 

Let’s go back to professor Oak. Wasn’t he supposed to be a Pokémon trainer himself and then didn’t he dedicate a huge part of his life to Pokémon research? But all he has to show for it are three level 5 Pokémon and an empty Pokédex. What could have happened to all his research and findings? Where are his Pokémon? It makes you think doesn’t it? It also seems worth mentioning that Kanto, the region of the first generation of Pokémon games has the smallest number of different species found in the wild.

 

Okay so there may have been a Pokémon war involving the Kanto region of Pokémon which wiped out huge amounts of the population of people and Pokémon alike. So what you may be asking. While interesting there doesn’t seem to be much else to say. It’s not like we know why this war was fought or who with. There are so many unanswered questions. Or are there? I have a theory. A theory that takes us to Pokémon X and Y.

 

There is a war that takes place 3000 years before the events of Pokémon X and Y, the one that you learn about in the main plot of the game. This while interesting in its own right is completely unrelated to my theory. North of route 6 in Kalos in a huge palace called Parfum Palace. This palace was built after a war with neighbouring regions. How does this help us the war was 3000 years ago. Correction: there was a war 3000 years ago, however Parfum palace was built 300 years ago. There was a completely separate war 300 years ago. A war with neighbouring regions. Regions such as Kanto perhaps?

Parfum Palace

 

I admit that is a big jump to make so I have more. The biggest problem here is that the war takes place 300 years ago. If this is the same war that L.t Surge speaks of then he would have to be over 300 years old … If Pokémon Red and Blue take place at the same time as Pokémon X and Y. However there is nothing to say that they do. However is it possible that X and Y could possibly be 300 years into the future? It doesn’t seem advanced enough to be 300 years in the future at first glance. While this could appear to be a bit of a stretch there are some factors to consider.

 

Firstly is the population of both regions. Kanto has a population of 391 people.  To put this in perspective Lumiose city in Kalos has a population of 416 by itself. Overall Kalos’s population is 868, over twice that of Kanto. This is strange as Kanto is named after the Kanto region of Japan while Kalos is based off France. In the game Kalos and Kanto have a similar landmass and thus since Japan has a far greater population than France, Kanto should have the higher population. After a war however, as we discussed earlier the population of adult males would have been depleted. Population grows over time naturally too as birth rate exceeds death rate with people living longer.

 

How about the field of Sience. Kalos isn’t far enough advanced to be 300 years ahead. Or is it? In Red and Blue, 3 types of Pokémon haven’t been identified yet, steel, dark and fairy, despite that 2 of these types are in Kanto native Pokémon (Those being the steel types magnemite and magneton and the various fairy types). How about the fact that the Kanto Pokédex had 151 entry’s, the Kalos Dex has 718 Pokémon in X and Y. How about the evolutions of kanto native pokemon such as Magmar and Scyther that haven’t been discovered in Kanto as well as baby versions of Kanto Pokémon such as Mime Jr and Smoochum. There are many moves that Kanto trainers do not know exist that are known in X and Y.

 

Lumiose City

There’s more. I mentioned earlier Kanto has no entertainment designated buildings. Kalos has cafés, clothes shops, expensive restaurants, a museum, hotels the list goes on. There are many more TM’s now, more types of Pokéballs, far more items to use in battle. Even something as simple as the number of cars and taxis in Kalos compared to the small number of vehicles in Kanto. Even saying something as simple as there are more buildings in X and Y than in Red and Blue suggests that X and Y take place long after the events of Red and Blue. X and Y also has the the largest city revealed so far in the Pokémon world, Lumiose City.

 

While it is all well and good highlighting the possible time difference between the two games there’s one question about the Great Pokémon War that has always been a mystery. Why was there a war in the first place, what is being fought for? I think I may have an answer to this question too.

 

We go back to Parfum Palace. It is a grand place, far more extravagant than most places in your typical Pokémon games. It has statues of Pokémon and knights made of gold, it is full of what I’m sure are very expensive paintings. The gates are finely crafted and also gold, the building itself is gigantic, the Garden is bigger than an average town, even the walls are laced with gold. Remember this place was built just after a war by the king of Kalos. Can you imagine the time and money it would take to build such a place? Can you also imagine the resources it would take to win a war against another Pokémon region? Families would have been torn apart, many would have died and the king of Kalos at the time decided to build himself a luxurious palace. Some noble and selfless leader we have here. But think about it, is it really that unlikely a man like this, clearly very interested in showing off his power and wealth would wage war, risking thousands of lives for more power?

 

But what could Kanto possibly have that could interest a power hungry tyrant. What is one of the main themes in Pokémon X and Y. Mega evolution. The people in Kanto are unaware that mega evolution even exists at all but in Kalos they are very aware. Was the King of Kalos aware of or even capable of harnessing the power of mega evolution 300 years ago? It’s certainly possible. In X and Y guess which region has the most Pokémon capable of mega evolution. The Kanto region, the one you play in during Red and Blue. Just a coincidence? I’ll let you make up your own mind.

 

Parfum Palace's Golden statues

Some of you will be thinking about Omega Ruby and Alpha Saphire and how in those games there are far more mega evolutions. Yes it’s true, in the newest pokemon games there are in total 20 Hoenn Pokémon capable of mega evolution (Not even including Groudon and Kyorgre) while there are only 13 from Kanto. So where does Hoenn fit in here. Why wouldn’t the king of Kalos wage war with Hoenn not Kanto? Mauville City had changed a lot from the original Ruby and Sapphire. Its gym leader, Watson remodelled the city after another city. Lumiose from the Kalos region. Interesting. In the central plaza of Mauville there is a monument called the Square Tower. Obviously based off Lumiose City’s Prism Tower, the sign accompanying it decribes it as a celebration of the friendship between Mauville City and Lumiose City, the two biggest and most influential citys in Hoenn and Kalos respectively. The King of Kalos does not sound like the type to build friendships. I think back to the old phrase, if you can’t beat them, join them. Would you attack Hoenn, knowing at any moment one of Groudon or Kyogre could either flood or completely level your entire region? I certainly wouldn’t. Is it possible the King of Kalos created an alliance with the powerful Hoenn region? Interestingly as you enter Parfum Palace a large gold statue lies in front of you. It is a Miolotic, the world’s most beautiful Pokémon, a Pokémon that originates from the Hoenn region. Did anyone else ever woner why Ruby and Sapphire actively distanced themselves from any previous Pokémon games?

Square Tower in Mauville City

 

There is one more piece of evidence. How would a war be fought in the Pokémon world? With Pokémon, obviously. There is a large number of Kanto Pokémon in the Kalos region including the 3 legendary bird Pokémon. How did they get there? Through the war? What would Kanto’s best weapon in a war be? Mewtwo. Where is Mewtwo? In a cave in the difficult to find Pokémon village in the Kalos region. Come to think of it, could Mewtwo have been the mega evolving Pokémon the King of Kalos really wanted. Mewtwo is certainly difficult to get to in X and Y and his mega evolutions are two of the most powerful Pokémon in existence, in fact only one other pokemon reaches the same base stat level as the two mega versions of Mewtwo, Mega Rayquaza of the Hoenn region. What an odd coincidence.

 

It seems appropriate to finish this theory with where it began, L.t Surge. If he fought in this war, the one 300 years before the events of X and Y, the one we saw the aftermath of all those years ago in Red and Blue, then where is their proof of Surge ever being in Kalos. In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver you can find him at the powerplant. If you have a Pikachu following you and if you then defeat him in the fighting dojo you can meet him at the magnet train station. You can trade him a Pikachu. In return you receive a French Pikachu called Volty. A French Pikachu. Does something sound familiar? It should as need I remind you what Kalos, the region I’m proposing was at war with Kanto in the Great Pokémon War was based off.