Pokémon Resources for Colin

Colin, heads up! You need to click the title of this blog update!!

a breeding guide from Smogon
Smogon is the modern authority on the Pokémon games' metagame. Their articles may be a bit too technical for you to understand since it's been a long time since you've played Pokémon, but I highly encourage you to give it a look after you've played the new game for 20, 30, 40 hours or so. They will save you a LOT of time spent raising good Pokémon poorly, bad Pokémon well, etc. Don't bother with them if you want to not get caught up in the metagame.

"The metagame" refers to the competitive level of play amongst Pokémon enthusiasts. Specifically, it refers to the ever-shifting balance of power between certain creatures because of shifting mentalities within the fan community as to which strategies should be implemented under which scenarios. Rely upon it too heavily, and the metagame can give you tunnel vision. Completely ignore it, and you open yourself to a world of pwnage at the hands of competitive players. Ideally, one strikes a middle ground between believing in the rules of the metagame and rejecting them.

MetalKid's Max Stat Calculator - invaluable resource to any competitive player

Info about Pokémon cloning - I neither encourage nor discourage this. I don't do it myself but only out of a fear of corrupting my gamepaks' save files. I don't think it's "unethical" to clone one's Pokémon or one's items, not at all. It's all about how one wishes to play the game. Some people want to use Game Genies, others don't. There's nothing intrinsically "unethical" about a Game Genie. The only unethical thing would be if you lied to people saying that your team was not made with a Game Genie when really it was.

Pokésav - a hacking program that you should be aware of in case somebody trades you a hacked Pokémon. Two things, Colin. First, with all due respect to the fan community, if I did purchase Platinum, I very very very probably would use this app on my (at that point old) Pokémon Pearl gamepak. I hate that it takes 100+ hours to get the perfect Pokémon. I feel like I should be allowed to have fun in the RPG and then, once I beat the game, just let me goddamn make my ultimate team, thanks. But I don't use this because I'm afraid of ruining my gamepak and Pearl's the only Gen-4 game I own right now. Also, I don't have a MicroSD card or R4 or any similar device, so this software's useless to me anyway.

Second, you need to be careful trading with strangers, buddy! Because unfortunately, Nintendo's official policy is NO HACKED CREATURES, and because of this, they (rather fascistly, imo) will ban you from trading on the GTS if they catch you with hacked Pokémon. Like the article explains, smart people who know what they're doing with the program can make hacked Pokémon that look legit to Nintendo, but a LOT of stupid kids will make retarded hacks (like a Level 99 Dialga with 255 in every base stat, or something) and if you eagerly trade with them to complete your PokéDex, you unfortunately risk being banned by Nintendo. :( It's really, REALLY dumb. But I'm just giving you a head's up. By all means, do trade with strangers -- IT'S FUN! :) -- but always, ALWAYS be on the lookout for the monsters' stats and moves. If you see an electric-type Chimchar or a Dragonite who knows Explosion, always ALWAYS turn around and walk the other way. Never trade for it, not even for novelty's sake. That's my advice, anyway.

UPNetwork - this is a small community of young adults and older teens who enjoy Pokémon. No little kids. Because it's a small community, you're 100% bound to get attention if you post polite, earnest questions in the Video Games forum about Platinum. DO NOT TELL THEM I SENT YOU! This is because I haven't been back in forever, I left on sort of bad terms, and I have a very bipolar reputation in the community (half of them love me, half of them hate me), so ... yeah. Just go there all on your own like a total newbie. Don't inherit any of the negative impressions I've left with certain members. Just be yourself. If you need help from somebody, I'm going to go ahead and nominate Blaise (sorry, Blaise! lol), who should still be going by the name PiccoloNamek (or something similar) on that forum. If you do choose to sign up, be sure to let Blaise (PiccoloNamek) know who you are so he doesn't think you're some random dweeb. Maybe say "Hi Namek, this is Colin, Ryan's friend." And that's it. Don't say anything else at first, wait for Namek to reply. Let him know privately with a PRIVATE MESSAGE! Don't post it publicly in a thread!

Oh, and Colin, please never call me "Ryan" on the forum if you do sign up there. But you can call me "Ryan" to Blaise in private, that's 100% okay.

Blaise, you may want to click the title, too, and scroll down to the very bottom. Please look after Colin for me if the members pick on him! Please don't hesitate to let us both know if you're unwilling or unable to do so, e.g. you also don't go to UPN anymore.