Pokémon Stadium 2 (USA) Strategy Guide Version 1.85 Last Updated: 4/19/2001 Created: 04/11/2001 Created by: Magus747 (Mark)--paladin423@hotmail.com See Credits, Section X for contributors. ****AN IMPORTANT NOTE TO EVERYONE, LOOK IN MY DISCLAIMER. I CAN ONLY ACCEPT SUBMISSIONS ABOUT GAME SECRETS IF YOU EARNED THEM YOURSELF THROUGH HARD WORK AND GAME PLAY. I CAN NOT ACCEPT RIP OFFS FROM OTHER SITES OR MAGAZINES. ONLY SEND IN INFO FROM OTHER SITES IF YOU GOT PERMISSION FROM THEM, AND EMAIL ME THE PERMISSION. THIS IS FOR YOUR PROTECTION. THANK YOU.**** Table of Contents: I. Updates/Version History II. Introduction III. The guide to breeding a great pokémon IV. Some basic strategy V. Little Cup, Poké and Prime Cups, Challenge Cup, and Gym Leader Castle VI. The single types VII. Dual types VIII. The benefits of status attacks and status boosters, and other tricks IX. Secrets X. Credits XI. Disclaimer and other legal stuff ---------------------------------------------------------------- I. Updates/Version History 1.85--Thanks to toffee@alphalink.com.au for the secret of what you get for finishing Round 2. Finished Challenge Cup on round 2 (see notes on it), the rest of the Cups should fall tomorrow. Updated the secrets section and the strategy on the cups as I have now finished round 2. 1.80--Added about room decorations/mystery gifting items, pikachu 2 G/S items, and about the box trick still working. Added all kinds of rare and valuable items, how to get them, and what they do in the Secrets section. Added info about heal bell. 1.70--Added some more to the status attacks, status boosters, and tricks section. Worth checking out. 1.60--Added a few small bits to the secrets that I forgot to add earlier. Check it out. Added notes on attract and on genderless pokémon in the egg groups. 1.50--Worth a read now. Got alot of info about Stadium 2 on here. I will be working on the pokémon by pokémon analysis, expect to see it within at most two weeks. 1.00-The creation of my guide for Stadium 2. I plan to make this guide as comprehensive and helpful as the last one, and even better if possible. Some information from the old guide will be used as it is still valid, but there will be tons of new stuff too. ---------------------------------------------------------------- II. Introduction Well I'm back with a vengeance :-), and I didn't notice any major FAQs on Pokémon Stadium 2 on gameFAQs, so I decided to fulfill my duty as a previous FAQ author to do a guide for the sequel. I plan to do a very comprehensive guide covering pokémon by pokémon, recommending for all cups as the previous guide did, and to cover the secrets of Stadium 2. This guide will give you enough information to finish round 2 and be able to hold you own against your friends. ---------------------------------------------------------------- III. The guide to breeding a great pokémon Now making the ultimate pokémon with great stats and great movesets starts with breeding. To breed, you will need a male and female pokémon of a compatible group. For instance, a male Alakazam and a female Jynx can breed because they have human like features. Males in the breeding process can pass on TM moves and certain moves that can be only passed to the offspring through breeding. Females determine what type of pokémon will be in the egg they produce. Example, Alakazam can pass psychic, a TM move to the egg that he and Jynx produce. Jynx determines that the baby will be the lowest evolved form of the Jynx family, which in this case is Smoochum. If you had a male Hypno and a female Alakazam breeding, the egg produced would hold an Abra with passed moves from Hypno. All babies hatch at level 5. TM moves can always be passed from the male parent to the egg, but only TM moves from gold and silver, don't expect to pass such things as double edge (TM on red/blue/yellow) this way. If you are breeding a male and female of the same pokémon, example a female and male Venusaur, then you can pass moves that Bulbasaur can learn through level up onto the baby Bulbasaur. If both Venusaurs had synthesis and sleep powder, things that Bulbasaur can learn through level up in the future, he would be born with these attacks, which is a huge help when making pokémon for Little Cup. A thing to watch out for is that the baby you are producing has to be able to learn these moves by level up, if the evolved form of it can learn it through level up, it doesn't mean the baby can. In instance of Smoochum, Jynx can learn lovely kiss by level up, but Smoochum cannot, meaning that lovely kiss could not be passed to Smoochum (though there is no male Jynx to try to pass this on to Smoochum anyways). There are other moves that can be only learned through cross breeding, for example, breed a female Abra/Kadabra/Alakazam with a male Mr. Mime that knows barrier, encore, and light screen, and you will get an Abra that knows all these moves from an egg. Passed moves like this will replace moves that pokémon normally start with (such as Abra's teleport) with these better moves. Sometimes you may want to keep a move a pokémon starts with though, so consider this too. Here are the different egg groups, pokémon within the same egg groups can produce eggs with each other unless otherwise stated, some pokémon may be in more than one group, so that's how you pass moves between groups to get the desired bred move: group 1 Abra, Kadabra, Alakazam, Drowzee, Hypno, Machop, Machoke, Machamp, Mr. Mime, Magmar, Electabuzz, Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, Hitmontop, Jynx group 2 Doduo, Dodrio, Spearow, Fearow, Pidgey, Pidgeotto, Pidgeot, Farfetch'd, Zubat, Golbat, Crobat, Aerodactyl, Togetic, Skarmory, Natu, Xatu, Hoothoot, Noctowl, Murkrow group 3 Chikorita, Bayleef, Meganium, Hoppip, Skiploom, Jumpluff, Oddish, Gloom, Bellossom, Vileplume, Paras, Parasect, Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, Venusaur, Bellsprout, Weepinbell, Victreebel, Exeggcute, Exeggutor, Tangela, Sunkern, Sunflora group 4 Lapras, Dratini, Dragonair, Dragonite, Slowpoke, Slowking, Slowbro, Poliwag, Poliwhirl, Politoed, Poliwrath, Omanyte, Omastar, Kabuto, Kabutops, Seel, Dewgong, Remoraid, Octillery, Squirtle, Wartortle, Blastoise, Wooper, Quagsire, Psyduck, Golduck, Horsea, Seadra, Kingdra, Marill, Azumarill, Totodile, Croconaw, Feraligatr, Corsola, Delibird, Mantine group 5 Caterpie, Metapod, Butterfree, Weedle, Kakuna, Beedrill, Pinsir, Scyther, Scizor, Gligar, Shuckle, Yanma, Paras, Parasect, Spinarak, Ariados, Heracross, Pineco, Forretress, Venonat, Venomoth, Ledyba, Ledian group 6 Koffing, Weezing, Wobbuffet, Gastly, Haunter, Gengar, Slugma, Magcaro, Grimer, Muk, Misdreavus group 7 Goldeen, Seaking, Remoraid, Octillery, Qwilfish, Chinchou, Lanturn, Magikarp, Gyarados group 8 Sudowoodo, Geodude, Graveler, Golem, Onix, Steelix group 9 Mankey, Primeape, Rhyhorn, Rhydon, Girafarig, Ekans, Arbok, Cyndaquil, Quilava, Typhlosion, Sandshrew, Sandslash, Stantler, Mareep, Flaaffy, Ampharos, Seel, Dewgong, Eevee, Jolteon, Vaporeon, Flareon, Espeon, Umbreon, Teddiursa, Ursaring, Houndour, Houndoom, Pikachu, Raichu, Wooper, Quagsire, Vulpix, Ninetales, Ponyta, Rapidash, Sentret, Furret, Phanpy, Donphan, Dunsparce, Farfetch'd, Growlithe, Arcanine, Smeargle, Diglett, Dugtrio, Snubbul, Granbull, Nidoran male, Nidorino, Nidoking, Nidoran female, Meowth, Persian, Sneasel, Rattata, Raticate, Tauros, Swinub, Piloswine, Miltank, Aipom group 10 Hoppip, Skiploom, Jumpluff, Pikachu, Raichu, Clefairy, Clefable, Jigglypuff, Wigglytuff, Snubbull, Granbull, Marill, Azumarill, Chansey, Blissey group 11 (genderless but can mate with Ditto) Porygon, Porygon2, Voltorb, Electrode, Staryu, Starmie, Magnemite, Magneton group 12 Tentacool, Tentacruel, Omanyte, Omastar, Kabuto, Kabutops, Corsola, Shellder, Cloyster, Krabby, Kingler group 13 Larvitar, Pupitar, Tyranitar, Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, Venusaur, Nidoran male, Nidorino, Nidoking, Nidoran female, Cubone, Marowak, Chikorita, Bayleef, Meganium, Slowpoke, Slowking, Slowbro, Squirtle, Wartortle, Blastoise, Charmander, Charmeleon, Charizard, Lapras, Snorlax, Lickitung, Totodile, Croconaw, Feraligatr, Mareep, Flaaffy, Ampharos, Rhyhorn, Rhydon, Kangaskhan group 14 Horsea, Seadra, Kingdra, Charmander, Charmeleon, Charizard, Magikarp, Gyarados, Dratini, Dragonair, Dragonite, Ekans, Arbok group 15 (will not produce eggs if bred with all legendary dogs, birds, Mewtwo, Mew, and Celebi are genderless) Mewtwo, Mew, Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Entei, Raikou, Suicune, Celebi, Togepi, Smoochum, Tyrogue, Magby, Elekid, Pichu, Igglybuff, Cleffa, Nidorina, Nidoqueen, Ho-oh, Lugia, Unown Now that that's all listed, let's go over a few other things. Ditto is a great pokémon to breed with, as he will give you a level 5 form of just about whatever you breed him with. This is a way you can get a level 5 Tauros, since Tauros are male only and therefore couldn't be hatched from an egg any other way. Group 15 absolutely will give no eggs, even with Ditto. However, group 11 will produce level 5 lowest evolved form copies of theirselves with Ditto...example Porygon2 mates with Ditto, you get a level 5 Porygon. Pokémon that are always male are: Tyrogue, Hitmontop, Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, Tauros, Nidoran male, Nidorino, and Nidoking Tyrogue can't produce eggs, but any other of these will give you the lowest evolved form of himself at level 5 (Hitmons give you level 5 Tyrogue, Nidoran male/Nidorino/Nidoking may give you either a Nidoran male level 5 or a Nidoran female level 5). Pokémon that are always female are: Miltank, Kangaskhan, Nidoran female, Nidorina, Nidoqueen, Chansey, Blissey, Smoochum, and Jynx You can even pass on TM moves through Ditto to the egg, provided that you have a male pokémon mating with Ditto. You can't pass on moves through level up because you need two pokémon of the same kind for that, and you can't pass on moves learned only through breeding because it requires two different types of pokémon. Once you have the pokémon ready to breed, a few things determine how long the process will take. The breeding process goes quicker if both pokémon are the same kind (two Abras), or if they have different trainer ID numbers, about 250 steps. If they are the same kind AND have different trainer ID numbers, the breeding process only takes about 100 steps to complete, very quick (yes steps is how the game counts down the time, you can't leave for a day and hope pokémon will have bred if you start up the game the next day). If they are different pokémon with the same ID number, it may take 500-1000 steps for them to breed (it seems to be determined randomly). Once you have an egg, the egg will hatch in a certain number of steps depending on the rarity of the pokémon inside. Pichus hatch rather quickly (around 2000 steps), Vupix takes longer (around 4000 steps), and Dratini takes around a whopping 10,000 steps to hatch! But with Doduo and Dodrio speed, things go by a little quicker (see secrets section). The reason breeding is so important is because it gets your pokémon to their lowest level possible. Then you can use all the stat boosters they can take (10 of each), and either qualify them with awesome movesets you bred in for Little cup, or begin training them with movesets from breeding toward Poké or Prime Cup. The box trick to boost stats still works, thanks to efroriz@hotmail.com for pointing this out. It is still important to catch pokémon at the lowest possible level to save you from hours of box tricking, and it is most imporant for the Little Cup and Poké Cup so they will have better stats to never box trick for these. I will list what moves pokémon can learn only through breeding, but remember too they can learn moves they could learn with level up in their lowest evolved form, and then can learn TMs through breeding. I will also list who to breed them with to get certain moves learned only through breeding. Another key point is that the better the stats are of your parent pokémon, the better the stats of your hatched ones will be. It can be time consuming, but you can catch wild pokémon and compare stats until you find two great parents, and then breed. You will receive better stats and it will make your team a bit tougher, but all in all, movesets determine more of how your pokémon will fare than stats. Again, avoid boosted experience, day care, and rare candy like the plague. It is best to build your pokémon up the long way to ensure it will reach its full potential by level 100. Also avoid using the lucky egg until at least level 93, then you should use it to make level gaining quicker (doubles the amount of experience from battle). ---------------------------------------------------------------- IV. Some Basic Strategy --Your pokémon's strength and defense ratings effect how well it uses/resists the following type attacks (at least from what I could find in combat): normal rock ground bug fighting flying ghost poison steel These would be "physical". --Your pokémon's special attack/defense rating effects how well it uses/resists the following type attacks (again at least from what I could find in combat): electric grass ice psychic fire water dragon dark These would be "special". --Using attacks that are the same type as your pokémon does 1.5 times the damage the attack would in the hands of other types. Example: Raticate uses quick attack better than Pikachu because Raticate is a normal type using a normal type move. Pikachu would be an electric type using a normal type move. Compound this figure with the damage of an attack being super effective and it does 3x damage, and to some it would do 6x damage (like Articuno using blizzard on Dragonite). Factor this in when you calculate how much damage you are racking up. Defense-wise, if you were to use a Raticate's quick attack on an Onix, it would do slightly more damage than a Pikachu's quick attack. Instead of the usual 1/2 damage caused by an attack that a pokémon resists, if the pokémon using the attack is the same type as his attack he is using, then it will cause 3/4 damage. Or if the attack only does 1/4 damage it will do 3/8. Example: Zapdos (electric/flying types) uses thunder on Venusaur. Since Zapdos is one type electric, using an electric move will automatically do 1.5x normal damage. Venusaur being one type grass resists this attack to where it usually does just 1/2 damage. But since Zapdos is doing 1.5x the normal damage, it will do 3/4 of the normal damage to Venusaur. Charizard greatly resists bug attacks by being both a fire and flying type. But if Beedrill uses a bug attack (and since he is one type bug), he will do 3/8 the normal damage instead of 1/4. --Also when calculating damage, consider the new items and the weather changing moves. A magnet will add an extra 10% power to electric attacks. Sunny day will increase the power of fire attacks by 1.5x and reduce water attacks to 1/2x power. Rain dance will increase the power of water type attacks by 1.5x and reduce the power of fire attacks to 1/2x. The light ball will double the power of Pikachu's special attacks, and the thick club will double the power of all Cubone and Marowak's physical attacks. --Weather changes do the following as well: Sunny day will make solar beam a 1 round move (no charging), reduce thunder's accuracy to 50%, prevent freezing, and make synthesis, morning sun, and moonlight restore all HP. Rain dance makes thunder always hit, and makes synthesis, morning sun, and moonlight only restore 1/4 HP. Sandstorm does decent damage every round to those who are not rock, ground, or steel types, and reduces the power of morning sun, synthesis, and moonlight to restoring only 1/4 HP. Weather changes last five rounds and are canceled if another weather changing move is used (then it switches to that kind of weather). (Basic strategy continued below chart) ---------------------------------------------------------------- Pokémon attack chart Your attack will always have a type. Your opponent's defense may have one or two types. The following explains how your attack effects different types of opponents. Normal (your attack type, NOT defense type) strengths (attack type does 2x-3x damage to opponent if they are the following types): none resistances (1/2-3/4 damage to opponent of the following type(s)): rock, rock/ground, fire/rock, dark/rock, bug/rock, rock/flying, rock/water, steel/ground, bug/steel, steel/flying, electric/steel immunities (opponent takes no damage): ghost, ghost/poison *unless foresight is used* Water strengths: fire, ground, rock, fire/flying, poison/ground, rock/flying, bug/rock, dark/rock, steel/ground, ice/ground, flying/ground, dark/fire resistances: water, grass, dragon, dragon/flying, grass/poison, grass/psychic, grass/flying, bug/grass, water/flying, water/fighting, water/psychic, water/ice, water/poison, water/electric big strengths (4x-6x damage to opponent): rock/ground, fire/rock big resistances (1/4-3/8 damage to opponent): water/dragon Fire strengths: grass, bug, grass/psychic, grass/poison, grass/flying, ice/flying, ice/psychic, dark/ice, ice/ground, bug/poison, bug/fighting, bug/flying, steel/ground, electric/steel, steel/flying, resistances: fire, water, rock, dragon, water/flying, water/fighting, water/psychic, water/ground, water/poison, water/electric, dark/fire, dragon/flying, rock/ground, rock/dark, rock/flying, fire/flying big strengths: bug/grass, bug/steel big resistances: rock/water, fire/rock, water/dragon Electric strengths: water, water/ice, rock/water, water/psychic, water/poison, water/fighting, ice/flying, fire/flying, normal/flying, bug/flying, poison/flying, rock/flying, psychic/flying, steel/flying resistances: grass, electric, dragon, grass/poison, grass/psychic big strengths: water/flying big resistances: none immunities: ground, poison/ground, rock/ground, ice/ground, flying/ground, steel/ground, water/ground Ice strengths: grass, ground, dragon, grass/poison, grass/psychic, poison/ground, rock/ground, normal/flying, bug/flying, poison/flying, electric/flying, bug/grass, psychic/flying, dark/flying resistances: fire, dark/fire, ice/psychic, water, rock/water, fire/rock, water/psychic, water/poison, water/fighting, water/electric, bug/steel, electric/steel, dark/ice big strengths: dragon/flying, grass/flying, flying/ground big resistances: water/ice Fighting strengths: normal, rock, dark, water/ice, rock/ground, rock/water, flying/steel, electric/steel, steel/ground, dark/fire, fire/rock, ice/ground resistances: poison, psychic, bug, poison/ground, electric/flying, fire/flying, water/flying, dragon/flying, water/psychic, grass/flying, flying/ground, grass/psychic, bug/grass, bug/fighting big strengths: dark/rock, dark/ice big resistances: bug/poison, bug/flying, poison/flying, psychic/flying immunities: ghost, ghost/poison *unless foresight is used* Grass strengths: water, rock, ground, water/ice, water/psychic, water/fighting, ice/ground, rock/dark, water/electric resistances: fire, grass, poison, bug, dragon, grass/psychic, ghost/poison, normal/flying, ice/flying, electric/flying, dark/flying, psychic/flying, electric/steel, dark/fire, bug/fighting big strengths: rock/ground, water/ground, rock/water big resistances: fire/flying, grass/poison, poison/flying, bug/flying, dragon/flying, bug/poison, bug/grass, steel/flying, bug/steel, grass/flying Psychic strengths: fighting, poison, bug/fighting, water/fighting, bug/poison, poison/ground, grass/poison, water/poison, ghost/poison resistances: psychic, grass/psychic, ice/psychic, psychic/flying, normal/psychic, water/psychic, steel/flying, bug/steel, electric/steel, steel/ground big strengths: none big resistances: none immunities: dark, dark/ice, dark/flying, dark/fire, dark/rock Ground strengths: fire, electric, rock, poison, poison/ground, water/poison, ghost/poison, rock/ground, rock/water, steel/ground, water/electric resistances: grass, bug, bug/fighting, dark/fire, rock/dark, grass/psychic big strengths: fire/rock, electric/steel big resistances: bug/grass immunities: normal/flying, bug/flying, electric/flying, ice/flying, fire/flying, poison/flying, water/flying, rock/flying, dragon/flying, grass/flying, dark/flying, ground/flying, psychic/flying, steel/flying Flying strengths: grass, fighting, bug, grass/poison, grass/psychic, water/fighting, bug/poison, bug/flying, grass/flying resistances: electric, rock, electric/flying, water/electric, rock/water, rock/ground, rock/flying, fire/rock, rock/dark, steel/flying, steel/ground big strengths: bug/grass, bug/fighting, electric/steel big resistances: none Poison strengths: grass, grass/psychic, grass/flying resistances: poison, ground, rock, ghost, poison/flying, water/poison, ground/flying, bug/rock, ice/ground, rock/water, fire/rock, dark/rock, water/ground big strengths: none big resistances: poison/ground, rock/ground, ghost/poison immunities: steel/ground, steel/flying, electric/steel, bug/steel Rock strengths: fire, bug, ice/psychic, water/ice, normal/flying, electric/flying, poison/flying, water/flying, rock/flying, dragon/flying, grass/flying, psychic/flying, bug/rock, dark/ice, dark/fire, fire/rock, dark/flying resistances: fighting, ground, water/fighting, rock/ground, poison/ground, water/ground, electric/steel big strengths: ice/flying, bug/flying, fire/flying big resistances: steel/ground Bug strengths: grass, psychic, dark, ice/psychic, water/psychic, normal/psychic, bug/grass, dark/ice, dark/rock resistances: fire, fighting, ghost, normal/flying, electric/flying, ice/flying, bug/flying, water/flying, rock/flying, dragon/flying, fire/rock, electric/steel, bug/steel, steel/ground big strengths: grass, grass/psychic big resistances: fire/flying, steel/flying Ghost strengths: ghost, ghost/poison, psychic, water/psychic, ice/psychic, psychic/flying, grass/psychic resistances: dark, dark/fire, dark/ice, dark/flying, dark/rock, steel/flying, bug/steel, steel/ground, electric/steel big strengths: none big resistances: none immunities: normal, normal/flying, normal/psychic Dragon strengths: dragon, water/dragon, dragon/flying resistances: electric/steel, steel/ground, steel/flying, bug/steel big strengths: none big resistances: none ---------------------------------------------------------------- (Basic Strategy Continued) --There are exceptions, some moves will always do a set amount of damage. Sonic boom will always do 20 HP damage--this move is generally too weak though. Seismic toss and night shade seem to do as much damage as your current level, ignoring resistances. *Seismic toss and night shade are a bit different now. Seismic toss will not effect ghost and ghost/poison and night shade will now not effect normal, normal/flying, and normal/psychic pokémon.* Psywave does random damage, up to 1.5 times your current level (thanks Alvaro for investigating this), but since the damage is random, it is not as useful as seismic toss or night shade. At high levels, even weaker pokémon could do heavy damage with these moves. Choose who you teach it to wisely though, teach these moves to a pokémon that will survive to use them enough to win. Some high level pokémon have near and over 500 HP, so even doing 100 HP damage each round would take a few rounds to win. Also, the use of power moves on opponents that have type weaknesses, or weaknesses to special or physical attack could cause more damage. Example: using ice beam on Dragonite (ice hurts dragon/flying badly) or headbutt on Chansey (Chansey has very low defense) may well cause over 100 HP damage to them. Golem may receive over 100 HP damage from a psybeam because he has a low special. *Dragon rage and sonic boom have no effect on Little Cup.* --There is a trick to be able to duplicate items on g/s. Just search the net to find out how to do it. Also, the net has info on the box trick for maxing out stats. --Amnesia, Swords' Dance, Growth, Meditate, etc. have a strange quirk I discovered. If you get a regular non-critical hit, they enhance the damage you do big time. But if you get a critical hit, the critical hit will do double the damage you would do if you had NOT amnesiaed or swords' danced. --On Stadium 2, you can not switch pokémon as your opponent is brining new ones out. It is therefore very vital to have a great lead pokémon to stay in until it faints, then to have two good pokémon to back it up. --Moves like takedown and double edge take life away from your pokémon in order to score a tough hit. The improved power of double edge now makes it one of the most formidable moves, though now you always receive recoil even if you knock the opponent out. Hyper beam is also a little better now, because if you miss, you don't have to recharge. --You will want to give lower level pokémon stat boosting medicines like carbos, etc. This can really pay off if you want to challenge a friend using Little, Prime, Poké cup rules, or the computer on round 2. --If you switch pokémon in the middle of battle, your opponent will get a free move. If your pokémon is defeated, your next pokémon will get first move provided it has more speed. --A weird thing happened on Stadium that confirmed my suspicions on Game Boy. If you hit a dual type that has one type that gets hurt from the attack badly, and one part the resists the attack, it will balance out and do regular damage. For instance if you use thunder on Zapdos, the flying part of him would take 2x-3x damage from the attack. The electric part would only take 1/2- 3/4 damage. On the Game Boy it had said these attacks were "super effective", but on Stadium it did not. --Wrap/bind/fire spin/clamp/whirlpool now only block your opponent from switching and do minor added damage each round. This can be useful if you trap in a pokémon that is weak to the attacks you are using. --Substitute is not as good as I originally thought it would be. In most cases it is destroyed in one round and you lose 1/4 of your HP to use it. --Remember though that substitute does prevent status ailments and one hit KOs on Stadium 2, but not on Game Boy. --Agility is a pretty good move because it does the following: it raises your accuracy, and gives you the chance to strike first. It is a great counter to moves like minimize. Thanks to Gyarados13O@cs.com for this tip. --Moves that have a high chance of critical hit are useful. Critical hits do near double damage that the attack regularly does, and defenses don't matter. Critical hits also cut through defenses like reflect, barrier, and amnesia, BUT unlike I thought before, resistances still apply and they are not as effective on those who resist your attacks. Another thing that reduces the damage of these hits are the defense and special stats of your opponent. Slash, crabhammer, razor leaf, karate chop, cross chop, and aeroblast all have good chances at critical hits. The move focus energy seems to bring up your chances for a critical hit, as does the scope lens (and lucky punch for Chansey). Think if you got a critical hit on a 6x damage hit, wow, nearly 12x the damage! --If your attack brings down an opponent's special, strength, etc. the move will not do as much damage that round as it normally would (but likely will give you an advantage the next if it scores a normal hit). --If you ever use all your moves up (all the PP for them), you will still be able to choose to fight. You will attack with struggle, which is a medium damage normal move. You receive 1/4 the damage you deal with struggle, and it isn't effective on rock types but I think now works on ghost types. --Accuracy with attacks, ability to evade attacks, and resistance to status attacks seem to go up with level up too. --PP ups give you more uses of certain moves. Moves that have a lot of uses gain a lot more PP, and moves that have few uses gain very few PP. If you gave the bonus to something like tackle, you would gain 7 extra uses, if you gave it to hyper beam, you would get 1 extra use. It is more important to use them on powerful offensive moves, but choose which pokémon you give the bonus to wisely. You only can find a few hidden PP ups in the game, they can not be purchased. They are usually found in suspicious looking spots, but some are hidden in the open. Use your itemfinder everywhere to find them. If you have two games, You can play through one game over and over and trade your pokémon to that game to use the PP ups then trade back, and you can also get extra TMs you would like to have. You can use three PP ups on a move before it reaches its max. --One hit KO moves like fissure and guillotine can have big payoffs, but since they often miss, they aren't worth it except in cases where you have no other option. Each time you miss, you give your opponent a free round. You also only get five uses of each. On Stadium 2 they seem to connect a little more often though. And on Stadium 2, the one hit KO moves WILL NOT work on a pokémon whose level is higher than the one using the move. --Some moves always work the same, regardless of the type pokémon who learns it. For instance, rest (HP and status restored, sleep two rounds) and dragon rage (causes 40 HP damage) would always work the same, but Thunder (different damage) would not. The type move the TM or HM teaches will be more effectively used if your pokémon is the same type and has high stats in either special attack or strength, whichever determines the strength of the attack. (Confusing huh?) Here's an example-Raichu would be better to learn Thunder because he is an electric type (thunder is an electric move therefore he does 1.5x the normal damage of Thunder for starters) and he has high special attack; Raticate would not because he is a normal type and he has very low special. --Know that some TM/HM moves are always ok to teach if you think it would help; just choose to whom you give the move wisely and make it part of a team strategy...give powerful special moves to pokémon with high special and moves that are powerful physical moves to pokémon with high strength, and only make exceptions if you think you could win against your opponent just by having a type attack they are weak against (rarely happens, you need stats to back it up). See the note directly above, also, about teaching TMs and take it into consideration. And remember, never replace an already good move unless it gives you more of an advantage. ---------------------------------------------------------------- V. Little Cup, Poké and Prime Cups, Challenge Cup, and Gym Leader Castle All cups have the restriction that no two pokémon can be asleep or frozen at a time, you can't have more than one of the same pokémon or items attached to them, and you won't be able to use perish song and destiny bond if both you and your opponent are down to the last pokémon. Explosion will still make you lose if you use it with your last pokémon on your opponents last pokémon. Little Cup Round 1--Only completely unevolved pokémon at level 5 who are capable of evolving are allowed in this tournament. This isn't too hard until the last battle. Use rental Abra (w/bitter berry), Rattata, Chinchou, Phanpy (w/berry), Wooper, and Charmander to have an easier time. In the last battle, be sure Chichou is in the mix to defeat Wagal, and then try to fend off Magbal and Chanseal with Abra and Phanpy. If you raise a team, be sure to have member with berry, berry juice, and gold berry (can't use the same item on more than one pokémon), and also include things like miracle berries, king's rock on those that know headbutt and are fast, and quick claws on slow pokémon. If you have trouble, look at my raised team for round 2 below. Little Cup Round 2--Finished this, and it does get a good bit harder. Your pokémon will need good stats, so breed good parents together and give them stat boosters. Make sure they have great movesets from breeding also. Here's a good raised team: Abra--psychic, thunderpunch, shadow ball, ice punch (berry) Scyther--wing attack, double edge, hyper beam, steel wing (gold berry) Chansey--psychic, counter, softboiled, surf (quick claw) Cubone--earthquake, rock slide, double edge, headbutt (thick club) Chinchou--thunder, surf, rain dance, confuse ray (berry juice) Rattata--double edge, headbutt, dig, sunny day (king's rock) Poké Cup Round 1--This isn't bad with a raised team, but alot of the rentals have very pitiful moves or stats. Restrictions are level 50-55, the total of the levels of the three you pick not exceeding 155. You can't use Lugia, Ho-oh, Mew, or Celebi. I used a raised team from Blue and did ok. If you have trouble and want to see my raised team for this, check the note on round 2 below. Poké Cup round 2--Finished this, and this does get very tricky, especially in master ball. My original team from blue will do well with a few modifications, so hear it is: Zapdos level 54--thunder, double edge, drill peck, thunder wave (miracle berry) Starmie level 50--psychic, surf, thunder, blizzard (gold berry) Nidoqueen level 50--earthquake, thunderbolt, blizzard, submission (soft sand) Slowbro level 51--psychic, surf, blizzard, amnesia (quick claw) Gengar level 51--psychic, giga drain, thunder, hypnosis (twisted spoon) Moltres level 50--fire blast, fly, double edge, reflect (charcoal) Prime Cup round 1--Ah yes, this is where the masters like to battle, where all your training finally pays off, where you whoop your opponent. All pokémon can participate. Prime Cup. It wasn't bad at all on round one with my team from blue, it will be listed below in the note on round 2 if you need help. Rentals again aren't great for this cup. Prime Cup round 2--I finished this, and my team will fare rather well in this ultimate test of level 100 pokémon. The last trainer has a tricky Celebi, so be careful. Here it is if you need it (all level 100): Mewtwo--psychic, barrier, amnesia, recover (leftovers) Starmie--blizzard, thunder, light screen, recover (mystery berry) Zapdos--thunder, drill peck, light screen, reflect (quick claw) Jolteon--thunder, thunderwave, pin missile, double kick (bright powder) Mew--double edge, swords' dance, explosion, psychic Hitmonlee--hi jump kick, mega kick, rolling kick, focus energy (polkadot bow) Challenge Cup round 1--This is where I get taken to school yet again, after a whole year of experience with pokémon. Round 1 isn't too bad, you just have to keep resetting until you get good teams to fare against your opponents (make sure you get good attached items too). Yes, the teams chosen for this cup are RANDOM pokémon with RANDOM moves that they can naturally/breeding/tm learn, and RANDOM attached items. Poké ball is level 30 pokémon, Great Ball-level 45, Ultra ball-level 60, Master ball-level 75. I actually think it gets easier as you get in the higher ball tournaments. Challenge Cup round 2--Wow is this tough! Poké ball starts out really bad, things cool off a bit until the Master ball tournament. I finally completed this challenging mode. Remember, the reset button is your very best friend in getting a good team. Look for good balanced teams with good attached items, lots of resistances, and some immunities. Magneton is good because of all his resistances for example. Gym Leader Castle round 1--Not really bad compared to the cups. Gym leader and underling trainers will use all level 50 pokémon unless you use a pokémon over 50, then theirs will match your highest leveled one. I recommend a good raised level 100 team for an easier time. You can use the team I recommended for Prime Cup round 2 with good results. Now let's go into the gym analysis. Falkner--Underlings are a breeze and he is just as easy. Keep heavy on the electric type attacks. Bugsy--Again easy underlings and an even easier gym leader than Falkner. Stay heavy on fire and psychic attacks. You might want a Motres for this gym. Whitney--Things get a little tougher against these normal types, but use Hitmonlee and Mewtwo and you should do very well. Morty--Mewtwo is a key asset hear against the ghosts. Hitmonlee and Mew should fare nicely against the dark types. Morty is tricky, but not bad. Chuck--The underlings and gym leader here aren't bad with Mewtwo, but beware getting confused from dynamic punch. Also watch out for rock slide if you pick Zapdos. Jasmine--The battle is only against the gym leader this time. Be tough with Moltres and Hitmonlee. Mewtwo is also an asset, but remember that steel type resist psychic attacks. Rockets--Great, these guys aren't even gym leaders but they show up to annoy you. These guys don't present a huge threat, but one of them has a rather tough Forretress. Stay strong with Hitmonlee, Mewtwo, and Moltres. Pryce--The underlings and gym leader have some good wily tactics here. Sunny day and Moltres paired with Jolteon and Mewtwo can help even the odds. Clair--Lance's little sister has a good gym, with good underlings. Mewtwo is a good pick, but a balanced team is the key. Keep your guard up. Elite four-- Will--Not too tough. Go in with Mewtwo and Hitmonlee and back them up with Zapdos. Psychic attacks can hurt, so be prepared. If you have an Umbreon, now is the time to use it and back it up with Hitmonlee and Mewtwo. Koga--He's an elite four member now? Well regardless, he does have some good tactics he uses to try to where you down, swagger, toxic, etc. His team still has weaknesses to Mewtwo. Back it up with Jolteon and Moltres. Bruno--He's still at it with fighting types. Use Mewtwo and beware one hit KO moves and dynamic punches. Back him up with Starmie and Jolteon and you should do well. Rock slide is something to watch out for, so stay away from Zapdos and Moltres. Karen--Although I disagree with her theory (there are strong and weak pokémon and using your favorites doesn't help), she does have a good team. Break out Hitmonlee and back him up with Zapdos and Moltres to attack her dark types. Metwo can be useful against her non-dark typed pokémon. She will use swaggers, confuse rays, hypnosis, etc. so stay on your toes. Champion-- Lance--He's got less dragon types, but he still uses quite a few. He's got a good team with good attacks, but he likes hyper beam a bit too much. Go with Mewtwo and back it up with Starmie and Hitmonlee in case Tyranitar shows up. Ah there's more to it, some familiar trainers from Kanto show up, now a bit older than they once were (3 years). Let's analyze their strategy (they have no underlings). Brock--Uses mainly rock pokémon with a few surprises. Use Mewtwo, Hitmonlee, and Starmie and you should win rather easily. Misty--Easier than Brock, just go heavy with electric types. Use Mewtwo and Umbreon if you have him for back up. Lt. Surge--I don't think he has a surfing Raichu this time around, the fight against him seemed to be quite easy. Use Nidoking and Mewtwo, and any other ground types. Erica--Mewtwo rocks against her poison types. For the grass, bring in Moltres. You should win easily. Janine--Koga's daughter, and uses similar tricky tactics. Use Mewtwo and Moltres and don't let her combination techniques get the best of you. Switch when needed. Sabrina--Still a tough cookie, but not as bad if you have a good Umbreon. Mewtwo and Zapdos should do well here too. Blaine--A good array of attacks on his pokémon, for sure. Be prepared with a balanced team. Starmie, Mewtwo, and Nidoking should fare well. Gary Oak--Since Giovanni left the scene, Gary has been making a name for himself at Viridian Gym. He has a very well balanced team and uses great tactics. Go with Mewtwo, Zapdos, and Starmie and pull out all the stops. Ultimate Champion-- Ash Ketchum--He has a good balanced team, similar to the one that you fight in Silver Cave on gold or silver. Use Mewtwo, Zapdos, and Umbreon if you have him and give it your best shot. Finished the cups and Gym Leader Castle on round one? Now get ready for one final showdown. Vs. Rival round 1--This guy uses a Lugia, Mewtwo, and Ho-oh. Needless to say, it will be a tough battle. Give it all you have with Zapdos, Jolteon, and Mewtwo or Mew. Swords' dance and explosion work wonders on Mewtwo, and use your strong electrical attacks on Ho-oh and Lugia. Gym Leader Castle round 2--I have finished this using the team recommended above for round 2 Prime Cup. It really wasn't that hard, but I will mention where it does get a little tough. Falkner--The underlings aren't hard. Again Falkner is not too hard, but he has a Zapdos this go around. Bring in Mewtwo, barrier, amnesia, recover as needed, and blast him with psychic. Jolteon and Zapdos are good here too. Bugsy--He and his underlings are still easy if you use Mewtwo and Moltres. Bring Zapdos in also. I think he had a Forretress, so use Moltres if it comes out. Probably the easiest gym. Whitney--Trickier tactics from her underlings and her this time around. Mewtwo still handles the order along with Hitmonlee and Zapdos. Morty--The underlings will give a fight, and Morty will be the easier member of the gym. Use Mewtwo, Starmie, and Zapdos. Prepare to fight a Wobbuffet and other tricky pokémon. Chuck--He and his underlings are a good bit tougher than last time. Dynamic punch is a bigger threat since the computer seems more accurate on round 2. Be cautious for rock attacks as well. Mewtwo, Starmie, and Gengar are good picks. Rockets--Well needless to say they are quite better than last time. The last executive will have a tough Tyranitar, and the underlings use such annoyances as toxic and protect combos. Switch as needed, use Mewtwo, Hitmonlee, and Zapdos, and Starmie as needed. Pryce--You'll pay the price in this gym for sure. Tough tactics prevail from the underlings to Pryce himself. Keep warm with sunny day, and let him have it with Mewtwo, Jolteon, and Moltres. Clair--She really could teach Lance a thing or two this time around. Her underlings offer few breaks as well. Mewtwo, Zapdos, Moltres, Hitmonlee, Mew, Starmie, you may need them all this time around. Elite four-- Will--Much better than last time. Watch out for Chansey and Mantine, they can be a little tough. I recommend Umbreon, Mewtwo, Zapdos, Mew, Hitmonlee, and Starmie. Koga--Much trickier now. His Lapras is downright annoying! Take care with Mewtwo, Zapdos, Hitmonlee, and others as mentioned above. Switch as needed, don't let him double team too much or you might lose. Bruno--Man this guy has heart, I mean all those fighting and rock pokémon. He does a good job of raising them, but he is always the easiest member of the elite four. Mewtwo, Starmie, and Mew fit the bill on this one. Beware one hit KO moves and rock attacks. Also watch out for Exeggutor's explosion, barrier is a nice counter. Karen--I still disregard her theory, but she does have some great tactics for this team. Mewtwo, Hitmonlee, and Mew should do well...also throw in Starmie as needed. Beware her switching constantly and think ahead. Make switches when you need to. She likes paralyzing, confusing, and headbutting, so barriers and amnesias are key here. Hitmonlee is key against dark types, watch out for Umbreon's psychic. Champion-- Lance--For the fight to get here, you're expecting more. He is tough and uses good tactics, but I did manage to put him away easier than Karen. Mewtwo, Zapdos, Hitmonlee, and Starmie should do the job. Here go those Kanto people again, so get ready to rock the eastern division (Kanto means east and Johto means west I think). Brock--Tougher, slightly. Mewtwo, Hitmonlee, Starmie. That's going to bring him down in a hurry. Misty--About the same as last time, she just rain dances more. Zapdos should enjoy the rain, along with Mewtwo, and Jolteon. Lt. Surge--Still not too hard to overcome. Mewtwo, Nidoking, and Mew should win it for you. Erica--Tougher tactics, but still an easy trainer. Mewtwo, Moltres, and Zapdos just finish grass types easily. Janine--Like her father, her tactics get tougher this round. Switch as needed with Mewtwo, Moltres, and Mew. You shouldn't have too much trouble. Sabrina--Again, she's the toughest of the Kanto gym leaders. Use Umbreon, Mewtwo, and Starmie, and switch as needed to protect your pokémon from confusion and sleep. Blaine--Tougher attacks, more of a power team than last time, and with a lot better balance. Go with Mewtwo, Zapdos, and Starmie to cool his jets. Gary Oak--This guy never knows when to quit. Again, his great balanced team provides for fierce competition, and he switches with good timing. Mewtwo, Mew, and Starmie should fare well. Ultimate Champion-- Ash Ketchum--This wonder kid made a better legendary collection for round 2. Prepare to face all the legendary dogs and other great picks. Mewtwo, Mew, Zapdos, Starmie, Hitmonlee, and Jolteon should be good picks. Use your best tactics to bring him down, it will be a tough and memorable battle. So you finished all the cups and the Gym Leader Castle on round 2? Great job! Now prepare for the rival again. Vs. Rival round 2--Assuming that old habits die hard, you will face your rival again at the end of round 2. I haven't made it this far yet so I'm uncertain of what he has. Give it your best shot, using Mewtwo, Zapdos, Mew, Starmie, Moltres, and Jolteon. ---------------------------------------------------------------- VI. The single types Coming very soon!!! ---------------------------------------------------------------- VII. Dual types Coming very soon!!! ---------------------------------------------------------------- VIII. The benefits of status attacks and status boosters, and other tricks Status attacks can give your pokémon advantages against types it is normally weak against and pokémon with higher stats. I will discuss the different status ailments you can inflict, benefits you can use, and some strategies on using them so you can annoy your opponents into defeat. With all status attacks you should either have higher speed than your opponent to hit them before they can defeat you, or high enough special or defense to survive counter attacks. Haze is the only move which wipes away status ailments, but since it takes a turn for your opponent to use, you can reinflict them or take the opportunity to attack, switch, heal up, or boost your stats with a stat boosting move. The following status ailments can not be combined with each other: poison/severe poison--A basic attack that drains some energy from your opponent's pokémon each round. Not very useful, but if you use bind/wrap or fire spin/clamp with a strong (strength for bind/wrap, special for fire spin/clamp) pokémon that is faster than your opponent, you can rack up big damage in a few rounds, and leave your opponent uanble to switch. Poison and severe poison are ineffective on poison and steel types (including dual types with one type poison or steel). Severe poison from Toxic is awesome because the HP it takes is doubled with each round, so pairing it with bind/wrap or fire spin/clamp is ultra effective. Pair this with leech seed and the damage is nearly quadrupled every round and will bring down some of the toughest opponents quickly. The only problem is if your opponent does manage to switch, severe (toxic) poison will become regular poison, and leech seed will disappear. If your opponent is on their last pokémon, however, toxic/leech seed will be the ultimate way to finish them off. sleep--If it works, your opponent will not be able to attack you at all for at least one round, unless they wake up immediately (if so use it again) *or if they have snore, you can take a decent physical hit, and sleep talk is like metronome while they are asleep, beware these moves.* Sing, hypnosis, lovely kiss, sleep powder, and spore is the order of effectiveness of sleep moves, least to most. Once asleep, pound them if you have an attack they are weak against or switch to a pokémon that can do so. If they are weak against psychic attacks, switch to someone with dream eater as you will severely damage them and gain massive health in the process (unless they are psychic and resist dream eater). Sleep is a good move, because if it works your opponent is at your mercy. Nightmare is another good move to use while your opponent is sleeping. paralyze--When it hits your opponent, you will almost always have a speed advantage over them and get first attack (unless they use quick attack or their speed beats yours by a huge margin, and quick attack shouldn't be a big concern late in the game). Glare, stun spore, body slam, and thunder wave can all paralyze your opponent. Thunder wave will not work on ground types (or dual types with ground as one) though, and body slam won't work on ghost types. This move may also cause your opponent to be unable to attack at certain rounds or several rounds in a row, which is an added bonus, though you should still be prepared for a counter attack, the chance of them being fully paralyzed is always 25 percent. If your opponent's pokémon has more speed than the pokémon you would like to use against it, this is a good move. This is also used well with confusion and headbutt/king's rock. burn--This is like a speed down/poison plus. All fire moves except fire spin have a 10 percent chance of burning your opponent. You will gain a smaller speed advantage over the pokémon and sometimes get first attack, but it is not as effective as paralyzing your opponent. The added benefits are that your opponent's physical type attacks will be reduced in strength, and they will lose HP each round! This is one of my favorites, and it's only downfall is that it doesn't work on fire types (or dual types with fire as one). freeze--This move is a lot like sleep in that you have an open opportunity to pound your opponent, or to switch and then pound them. All ice moves except Aurora Beam have a 10 percent chance of freezing. Don't use fire against your opponent or you will thaw them out. Sacred fire and flame wheel can also thaw you out when you use them. Sunny day prevents freezing. Otherwise, they have no way out and will either have to switch or be pounded into submission. This move is great against those pokémon you know your opponent could stomp you with. This move will not work on ice types or dual types with ice as one. Also, it might be wise to not freeze water opponents....why? because if your last pokémon only has fire attacks, and your last opponent is a formerly frozen water type, you may lose. (thanks Alvaro) Be careful this situation doesn't come up. *Also I had an opponent defrost on me with no fire moves used! I am not sure if it is random, but I think it had to do with that it was their last pokémon, so it unfroze them. They had also switched the pokémon out but I don't think it had anything to do with it. If anyone knows for sure, email me.* ---------------------------------------------------------------- The following status ailments, boosters, and tricks can be combined with the above list and with each other: bind/wrap/fire spin/clamp/whirlpool--Now keeps your opponent from switching and does small damage for several rounds. Try to trap in opponents that you have type advantage against. Safeguard--Protects against status ailments such as burns, paralysis, confusion, etc. for five rounds. Will stay in effect when a switch is made, so it is a team move. Roar/whirlwind--Forces your opponent to switch to another random pokémon out of his remaining forces. Great to change the tide of battle if they brought out a pokémon that you are at a big disadvantage against. Also a great counter to wrap/bind/fire spin/clamp/whirlpool or mean look/spider web. Also good to gain type advantage (say you had a Zapdos out and you know your opponent has a Tentacruel, you can try to force it out). The downside is that you opponent can still switch out again, but that allows you one free attack. Spikes--Does decent damage to your opponent every round, and is good in combo usage. What the bigger benefit is, is if they switch, the damage done by spikes increases by a big margin. Spikes doesn't affect flying types though. Those resitant against ground attacks don't take as much damage either. protect/detect/endure--Protect and detect protect you from a hit guaranteed the first time you use them (and always get first strike), and decrease in effectiveness the more you use them. Endure works very similarly, but doesn't allow you to fall below one HP. Endure is good if used in combination with reversal or flail, and will help turn the tide of the battle. Mimic--A bit better than last time. You will learn the move you opponent last used, which can be very useful if it is a recovery move or some move that would give you an edge. Foresight--If you are facing a double teaming or minimizing opponent, foresight will return their evasiveness to normal. This move also allows normal type and fighting type attacks to strike ghost types. Mind reader/lock-on--Moves that guarantee the next move will be a hit. Great in combination with dynamic punch and zap cannon that only have a 50% chance of striking, but auto-confuse or auto-paralyze the opponent respectively (if they are not immune to fighting or electric attacks). perish song/destiny bond--Nasty little moves, for sure. Perish song will knock out both your and your opponent in three rounds provided no switch is made. Use this when you have more than one pokémon and your opponent only has one left. Destiny bond ensures that if you are going down this round, your opponent is too. Anticipate when they will KO you, then take them out as well. Sandstorm--A weather change as mentioned in basic strategy but also a good combo builder. Use this on top of toxic and wrap/bind/fire spin/clamp/whirlpool to do good damange every round to your opponent. Nightmare/curse--Curse will normally reduce speed to increase your attack and defense. However, curse in the hands of a ghost type will take half their HP in order to take 1/4 of the opponent's HP every round, provided they don't switch. This is a risky strategy, but useful. Nightmare is similar in that it takes 1/4 your opponent's HP every round while they are asleep. So hope they don't wake up or switch, or better yet, use it on their last pokémon. Attract--The benefit to using this (besides the hilarious "hey, hey" that the announcer says) is that if your pokémon and your opponent's pokémon are opposite genders, they will only be able to attack around 50% of the time. If you throw this in with confusion, paralysis, and the headbutt/king's rock combo, your opponent will likely never hit you. The downside to this is the pokémon have to be opposite genders, so there has to be an ideal situation, and also genderless pokémon can not be effected by it. evasion down--Sweet scent lowers the opponent's ability to evade attacks. Useful if you are using powerful inaccurated moves like thunder. Also counters double team and minimize. blindness/evasion up--Using moves like sand attack, smoke screen, and kinesis lowers your opponent's accuracy. Mud slap works like sand attack, but does a little ground typed damage (won't work on flying types). If used over several rounds, your opponent may be almost totally unable to hit you. You take a gamble with this strategy, however, because you need several rounds for it to seriously lower their accuracy. Minimize and double team raise your pokémon's evade, so if you switch keep in mind your next pokémon will have no increase in evade, making blinding attacks better, since you can switch with the effects still on your opponent. With either you will need to use the moves a couple of rounds until there has been a great change in accuracy for it to make any difference. And a big disadvantage, some moves like stomp have a high accuracy (most simple moves like horn attack, tackle etc. do), and swift and faint attack (and thunder during rain dance) will always hit your pokémon no matter what. But if you know your opponent is packing power moves like rock slide, thunder, etc., this move will make it much tougher for them to hit you. *Beware minimize, go with double team, because stomp now does double damage to someone who used minimize.* Blinding moves wear off when your opponent switches his blinded pokémon out of battle. Pain split--An interesting move that can level the playing field. Say you were at 10 HP and your opponent was at 400 HP. Pain split will add those values to get 410, then divide the HP up equally between you and your opponent, giving you 205 HP each. Use this to come back from impossible situations. Mean look/spider web--These moves make your opponent unable to switch. Trap them in if they are at a disadvantage against your current pokémon. Encore--This move forces your opponent to repeat his last move 2-6 times unless he switches. Very useful against the last pokémon, because you can force him to use something like disable several times in a row while you continue your assault. Not good if they pick a move that hurts you though, so choose when you use it very carefully. confusion--Use this move to make your opponent less likely to hit you, and at the same time likely to hurt itself. Confuse ray is more powerful than supersonic. Swagger increases your opponents attack like swords' dance, which is great if they hit themselves. Screech is also good in conjunction with confusion. *A note on swagger, if you already are fully maxed out on attack, then swagger will always miss. A counter strategy is to try to use swords' dance and belly drum to stop the swaggers, if you can survive and not hit yourself.* You csn also ride out three swaggers with leftovers and barrier. So, confuse ray and screech may be the better combo. This move is good in combination with other moves because it reduces the chances of your opponent hitting you even more. If you wish to gamble for your opponent to mainly hurt itself, you may use this move alone, but be warned they still may hit you. Opponents with higher attack and lower defense will hurt themselves more. Very useful in combination with paralysis. Throw in a confusion with paralysis and headbutt with the king's rock and they might never hit you. Confusion wears off when a switch is made. Heal bell--Cures all status ailments on your entire party. A very useful move to counter being paralyzed, confused, etc. disable--This move is much improved now. It has a 55% chance of disabling the move your opponent used last. Tired of them changing the weather? You want a sunny day? You don't want them to use their best attacks or recovery moves? Disable it, and for several rounds you will have the upper hand. leech seed--This move gives you a little bit of energy at the opponent's expense every round, even if you switch pokémon. If your opponent switches though, the leech seed will go away. If combined with Toxic this move is very useful because all the damage done by poison and leech seed becomes your energy and it does 4x more damage each round! It is also useful to put your enemy to sleep and keep them asleep to get all their energy, or switch to a pokémon that really needs the energy. This move always seems to take a certain percentage of the opponent's HP, and that percentage goes up slightly with level up. (thanks Alvaro) Toxic/leech seed is not as useful if you opponent switches, because the toxic poison will just become regular poison and the leech seed effect will disappear. This is great to use on their last pokémon though. mirror coat/counter--Great moves for doing damage back. If you can survive the hit your opponent gives you, you will pay them back double the damage. You want to take a lot of damage from their hit, but not enough to knock you out. These moves always go second. Mirror coat does double damage back when you receive a special attack, and counter works for physical attacks. flinch--Some moves make your opponent flinch when you hit them. Bite, low kick, rolling kick, bone club, stomp, headbutt, (now) rock slide, and hyper fang all may have this effect--stomp, rock slide, and headbutt have a one in three chance of making them flinch, hyper fang has a one in ten chance, and most of the others seem to have a one in ten chance. If your pokémon gets the first hit and your opponent flinches they won't be able to attack you that round, and the bonus is these moves are generally very powerful (order of strength left to right). These moves don't work well against rock pokémon or at all on ghost pokémon (except for bone club, and rolling kick works on rock types). This strategy is a gamble, but it could have big payoffs. *Stomp now also does double damage to opponents who used minimize, but not double team.* skip round--Moves like fly and dig allow you to skip a round and take no damage provided that your opponent is slower than your pokémon. However, swift will hit you even while you are in the sky or ground. If both players use dig or fly, the slower pokémon will avoid damage and get its attack in. *A new feature to this, gust, twister, and thunder will hit you while flying and do double damage. Earthquake and magnitude will hit you while digging and do double damage. So if your opponent has these attacks, avoid using these moves like the plague.* take no damage and attack--The move substitute will replace your pokémon with a poké doll which will take a certain amount of damage before breaking (I believe half of your pokémon's max HP). During this time you can attack without being injured! The poké doll will have the same resistances and weaknesses as the pokémon who used it. The drawback is that if your pokémon has low HP this move won't last, and that you sacrifice 1/4 of your max HP every time you use it, and eventually you won't have enough health to use it. It is good to give to a pokémon that can recover. Substitute prevents one hit KOs (so far that I've tested) and it prevents status changes and moves that reduce stats. You can also use rest after using substitute to avoid taking damage while you sleep. I do caution you though, using it with a pokémon that has high defenses is ok, but remember to lower your opponent's speed if you have less speed. Use moves that paralyze, burn, put your opponent to sleep, or freeze your opponent. Also remember that your substitute has the same type as you, and will be affected by attacks just the same, so many times it will only take one or two hits before breaking if powerful moves are used on it. Definitely beware if your pokémon has terrible speed, you will have to put the opponent to sleep or freeze it with another pokémon before switching to the pokémon you want to use substitute with. substitute/bide--A strange combination that lets your doll take the damage, then you dish it out in 2-3 rounds. All the damage done to you and your doll during this time is paid back double to your opponent, a good combination move. With bide it can be either special or physical damage. A simple counter to this strategy though is to use the rounds not to attack but to switch or build your stats, recover, etc. Substitute/counter and substitute/mirror coat also do rather well. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Stat boosts and weakeners defense up--Several moves boost your physical defense (a few attacks do so now too). The only ones worth keeping are Acid Armor and Barrier as they increase your defense greatly, though you should be ready to take a hit for using this move (unless you have a free round). In rare cases weaker moves may help a pokémon with a great defense to become even tougher. Reflect reduces physical attack damage by 50% and is useful in many situations, and moreso now that it protects even switched in pokémon for five rounds. attack up--Several moves boost your attack. The only two really worth keeping or teaching, though, are swords' dance, and belly drum. Belly drum is great because it maxes your attack stat to somewhere around 500, but it takes half your HP. You'll take a hit for using it, so be prepared (unless you have a free round). speed up--Generally not as useful as paralyzing or burning an opponent, but if you have a free round it may give you the speed advantage you need. Agility is the best speed building move. special attack up--Growth is all that brings this up anymore, and most of the pokémon that use it won't have time to seriously bolster their special attack before being knocked out. It is good to use if you have some free rounds. special defense up--Still a great thing to do, and amnesia is still a great move to bring this stat up. If you have a free round, use this to bolster your defense against all special attacks. Light screen is still good, and now it lasts for five rounds and works on pokémon that you switch in, so it is a team effort move, reducing special damage by 50%. *Baton pass allows you to switch in a pokémon and give it all the stat increasing moves you have used so far on your previous pokémon. Example: Girafarig uses Amnesia three times then baton passes to Scizor; Scizor now has three Amnesias on it. Then Scizor could swords' dance three times and baton pass to Marowak. Marowak would then have three amnesias and three swords' dances on it. Beware the move haze, because it can get rid of all your baton passing efforts. Each time you switch you have to take a hit also, so keep this in mind. *Psych up allows you to gain all the stat bonuses that your opponent has gained so far, whether it be double teams or swords' dances. *Mist defends against attacks that bring down your stats. *Ancient Power has a 10% chance to raise all your stats slightly, but I wouldn't count on it being a great move for that reason. Just think of it as a small bonus to a useful rock attack.* *Haze eliminates all stat changes, for the better or worse, and ignores mist. defense down--Several moves and attacks inflict this ailment. A few of those attacks may be good enough to use anyway, and this is an added benefit. However, screech is the best defense lowering move, just be ready to take a hit for using it. It is also harder to reduce the defense of opponents with a very high defense, as it takes several rounds and you can be attacked each round. (Thanks Alvaro for these reminders) attack down--Chram is great for bringing the attack down of powerhouses like Snorlax. Some attacks inflict this ailment. A few attacks may be worth keeping anyway, and this is an added bonus. However, this is usually not a useful strategy. It is also harder to reduce the attack of opponents with a very high attack, as it takes several rounds and you can be attacked each round. speed down--Some attacks like icy wind and one move (string shot) inflict this ailment. Paralyzing or burning the opponent is much more effective. Scary face can be a help to bring speed down, but like I said, paralysis is better. It is also harder to reduce the speed of opponents with very high speed, as it takes several rounds and you can be attacked each round. special defense down--Crunch and psychic can bring this down, though psychic doesn't do this as often as it used to. This can help against opponents such as Mew who have no way of building this defense back up. ---------------------------------------------------------------- IX. Secrets For the minigames, if you beat the computer on Champion mode on hard difficulty using 7 tokens or more to win, you will unlock the very hard difficulty to the mini games. You can decorate the "My Room" feature by getting decorations from mystery gifting. You can mystery gift with up to five people per day. You can only mystery gift with the same person once a day. You can mystery gift with the girl from the Goldenrod Department store on Stadium 2, it is in the main menu. These are the items you can decorate with (combination of what I got and what pokemasters.com has listed): Gengar Doll, Grimer Doll, Pikachu Doll, Surf Pikachu Doll, Clefairy Doll, Jigglypuff Doll, Geodude Doll, Diglett Doll, Magikarp Doll, Weedle Doll, Shellder Doll, Bulbasaur Doll, Charmander Doll, Squirtle Doll, Machop Doll, Poliwag Doll, Oddish Doll, Voltorb Doll, Gold Tropy, Silver Trophy, NES, Super NES, Virtual Boy, N64, Tropic Plant, Magna Plant, Jumbo Plant, Clefairy Poster, Jigglypuff Poster, Pikach Poster, Town Map, Pikachu Bed, Polkadot Bed, Pink Bed, Feathery Bed, Red Carpet, Green Carpet, Yellow Carpet, Blue Carpet, Big Lapras, Big Onix, Big Snorlax--rumor also says there is an Unown Doll but I am unsure. You can also get these items from mystery gifting: X accuracy, X attack, X special, X defend, guard spec., dire hit, elixir, max elixir, berry, bitter berry, mint berry, burnt berry, przcureberry, psncureberry, miracle berry, gold berry, ether, max ether, fire stone, leaf stone, water stone, thunder stone, repel, super repel, max repel, revive, max revive, great ball, HP up, PP up, music mail, eon mail, morph mail, bluesky mail, and scope lens. These are the items you can get from the Pikachu 2 G/S depending on watts you transfer: berry 100-199 bitter berry 200-299 great ball 300-399 max repel 400-499 ether 500-599 miracle berry 600-699 gold berry 700-799 elixir 800-899 revive 900-998 rare candy 999 Here's how to get some rare and valuable items from gold and silver (I have actually gotten all of these): Twisted Spoon--Trade a Kadabra from yellow that knows Kinesis (catch west of Lavender). Increases the power of psychic attacks by 10%. Dragon Fang--Find in the Dragon's Den north of Blackthorn City. Increases the power of Dragon attacks by 10%. Focus Band--Get from the Fighting Gym in Saffron City. Acts like Endure, in that it sometimes allows your pokémon to hang on with one HP after receiving a hit that would make it faint. Chance of it protecting you is 50% the first time only. Magnet--(Day of the week people only show up on listed day of the week) Sunny of Sunday will give it to you on Route 37. Increases power of electric attacks by 10%. Sharp Beak--Monica of Monday will give it to you on Route 40. Increases power of flying attacks by 10%. Pink Bow--Tuscany of Tuesday will give it to you on Route 29. Increases normal attacks by 10%. Black Belt--Wesley of Wednesday will give it to you near the Lake of Rage. Increases the power of fighting attacks by 10%. Hard Stone--Arthur of Thursday will give it to you on Route 36. Increases the power of rock attacks by 10%. Poison Barb--Freida of Friday will give it to you on Route 32. Increases the power of poison attacks by 10%. Spell Tag--Santos of Saturady will give it to you in Blackthorn City. Increases the power of ghost type attacks by 10%. Polkadot Bow--Trade a Jigglypuff from red/blue/yellow, and it will have this attached. Increases the power of normal attacks by 10%. Black Glasses--Find in the Dark Cave from a man. Increases the power of dark attacks by 10%. Soft Sand--Get from girls by surfing to a hidden path south of Goldenrod City. Increases the power of ground attacks by 10%. Mystic Water--Get this from surfing to a man in Cherrygrove City. Increases the power of water attacks by 10%. Charcoal--Get from the house of the man who's Farfetch'd you had helped in the woods. Increases the power of fire attacks by 10%. Miracle Seed--Get from a man on Route 32. Increases the power of grass attacks by 10%. Metal Coat--Get from finishing the S.S. Aqua. Increases the power of steel attacks by 10%. Silver Powder--Steal with the the thief move rarely from wild Butterfree on g/s. Increases the power of bug attacks by 10%. Nevermelt Ice--Get from the Ice Path between Mahogany Town and Blackthorn City. Increases the power of ice attacks by 10%. Scope Lens--Get it by mystery gifting. Increases chance for critical hit on attacks by 10%. Lucky Punch--Trade a Chansey from red/blue/yellow and this will be attached. Increase Chansey's chance for critical hit by I think about 20%. King's Rock--Found in the depths of Slowpoke Well (you will need rock smash). Increases the chance of all attacks to cause flinch by 10%. Stick--Steal with the thief move rarely from wild Farfetch'd on g/s. Increases the chance of Farfetch'd getting a critical hit by I think 30%. Metal Powder--Get from a Ditto traded from r/b/y. It doubles Ditto's physical defense. Amulet Coin--Get in the Goldenrod Department Store basement after beating team rocket in the Underground. Doubles the amount of money you receive after trainer battles. Lucky Egg--Steal rarely with the thief move from wild Chansey on g/s. Doubles the amount of experience you receive after battle on the pokémon it is attached to. Quick Claw--Get from a lady in the National Park. Gives you pokémon a 30% chance to strike first if they are slower than the opponent. Leftovers--Restores 10% of your HP every round to attached pokémon. Mystery Berry--Get from the tree across the water north of Goldenrod City. Restores PP to moves if you lose all PP. Gold Berry--Get as a third prize in the bug catching contest, from the Pikachu 2 G/S, and by mystery gifting. Restores 40 HP to attached pokémon. Berry Juice--Get attached on the Shuckle you can agree to raise in Cianwood City. There is only one of these, so pull it and duplicate it while you can. Restores 20 HP to attached pokémon. Miracle Berry--Get from mystery gifting or the Pikachu 2 G/S. Cures any status ailment inflicted on attached pokémon. All other berries--Common on the many trees of Kanto/Johto. Bright Powder--Get from legandary birds, Mewtwo, or Mew traded from r/b/y. Increases evade by 10% at the beginning of the battle. Light Ball--Get from a starter Pikachu traded from yellow. Doubles the power of all Pikachu's special attacks. Thick Club--Get rarely from stealing with the thief move from wild Cubone in g/s. Doubles the power of Cubone and Marowak's physical attacks. Berserk Gene--Get from the water in front of Mewtwo's cave. Works as though you have been hit by swagger. Hopefully you will hit the opponent if you use it. ---------------------------------------------------------------- (Secrets Continued) For winning all the Cups or the Gym Leader Castle on round 1, you will win the Doduo Game Boy Tower and be able to play red/blue/yellow at double speed. For winning BOTH all the Cups AND the Gym Leader Castle on round 1, you will win the Dodrio Game Boy Tower and be able to play red/blue/yellow at 4 times speed. If you name your pokémon different names, they will have different coloring. Pookah on Pikachu is an example, or MoLtReS is another. Some pokémon are already different colored, such as red Gyarados and pink Butterfree if you have caught them. For winning on the Johto Castle on round 1, you will receive a chance to re-learn any move your pokémon ever forgot. This can be most useful if you ever regretted giving up a move. This only works once though. For winning against the rival on round 1, you will receive a Farfetch'd that can baton pass. Rather useful if you light screen and reflect before bringing him in. You can only win one Farfetch'd that knows baton pass, so don't lose him. For completing all of Earl's pokémon academy, you will open up additional information in the library on all g/s pokémon. On round 2, you can rent Celebi for use in the Prime Cup. If you hit right C on the main menu screen, you can change which round of Stadium you are in, and that also makes the battle now pokémon different. You will be able to choose from many different battle arenas for free battle once you have finished all of round 1. If you finish all the cups or the Gym Leader Castle on round 2, you will be able to play you gold and silver at double speed (though in a shade of brown, not color). If you finish BOTH all the cups and the Gym Leader Castle on round 2 that you will be able to play gold and silver at 3x speed. I have confirmed this. For winning on the Johto castle on round 2, you get to re-learn one move that any of your pokémon ever forgot. This only works if you don't use a registered team. You get a Gligar that knows earthquake for defeating the rival on round 2. Thanks to toffee@alphalink.com.au for this info. Gligar's stats are very poor, especially his attack, so it isn't the most helpful gift, but you might give electric types a surprise. ---------------------------------------------------------------- X. Credits Big thanks to Nintendo for making all the pokémon games and for the very useful features of Stadium 2. Thanks to jrgrey@integrity.com for some very interesting points of advice. He told me that you can still relearn any move that your pokémon ever forgot if you complete the Gym Leader Castle on round 2 (without a registered team I figured out). He also told me that the Dodrio Game Boy for g/s only plays g/s at 3x speed. He also contibuted that beating Earl's pokémon academy opens up info on all g/s pokémon. Thanks to Jeff-tora@japoness.com for all his insight to movesets, breeding, and the many other things he has helped me with. Thanks to The_Cat-soccercat37@hotmail.com for help with determining that breeding and egg hatching depended on steps. Thanks to Sophie-falsehead@aol.com for all her help with movesets, breeding, stats, etc. Thanks to Alvaro-robot_z50@hotmail.com for all the info on r/b/y that is still current that he gave me. Thanks to Laura 182-laurar182@hotmail.com for all the info she gave me on r/b/y tms/hms. Thanks to soccercat37@hotmail.com for pointing out that you can save right before getting Eevee, Mewtwo, your starter pokémon, etc. and keep receiving them until their stats are as good as you want them to be. Also thanks to her for insight on breeding and that it requires steps. Thanks to toffee@alphalink.com.au for the secret of what you get for finishing round 2. Thanks to Gyarados13O@cs.com for the tip on agility. Big thanks to white-cat--white_cat@white-cat.net for information on base stats of pokémon, and to his sources. Big thanks to Kevin--pokémaster_kevin@hotmail.com and his site, pokémasters.com and all his sources for info on the max stats of pokémon, and on what all you can get through mystery gifting. Thanks to him also for what items you can get through mystery gifting and through the Pikach 2 G/S. ---------------------------------------------------------------- XI. Disclaimer and other legal stuff This guide is copyright 2001 to Mark aka Magus747, who authored it. Game Boy is copyright and TM to Nintendo. The Transfer Pack is copyright and TM to Nintendo. Pokémon Red and Blue are copyright 1995-1998 to Nintendo/Creatures, inc./Gamefreak inc. and Pokémon Yellow is copyright 1995-1999 to Nintendo/Creatures, inc./Gamefreak, inc. The Pikachu 2 G/S is TM and copyright 2000 to Nintendo. Pokémon Gold and Silver are copyright to Nintendo/Creature,inc./Gamefreak,inc. 1995-2000. Pokémon Stadium and Pokémon Stadium 2 are copyright 1995-2001 to Nintendo/Creatures, inc./Gamefreak, inc. Information was taken only from my hard work and game play, and the people in the credits. Any similarity to other guides/information (besides my old guide) is coincidental. My sources in the credits agreed to get their information from gameplay and hard work, not by taking from any illegal sources. If the people stated above had sources, they agreed to verify that their sources--or the original source somewhere down the line--had acquired their information through hard work and game play, not by plagiarism. Information from this page, in part or in full, to be used in any magazine, FAQ, guide, sale and profit, webpage, or any other public use without my permission is illegal and prosecutable. You may print this guide out for personal use and share it with your friends provided that they don't misuse it in the ways stated above. Uses of the words "he" and "she" to describe pokémon are not meant to indicate a gender on the pokémon unless it is understood they already possess one, and those uses are not meant to offend anyone, just for convenience when I was bought for time. You are assumed to have read and understood this disclaimer, and know that it applies to you, if you have ever read, seen, or uploaded this guide, in part or in full, by web browser or other means. This guide is only to appear on the following in its original form: http://www.gameFAQs.com/ , and http://hometown.aol.com/falsehead. I have had a problem with receiving more junk mail since the publication of my guide. 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