287: Can't Catch 'em All
- Thread starter John Funk
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Brilliant read, made me feel all nostalgic. It's quite a depressing truth too. I was obsessed by it in my time and even brought newer version for the sake of nostalgia but I just can't enjoy them anymore because it's so damn difficult to feel you achieve anything by the end of it.
There are far too many pokemon now
There are far too many pokemon now
This is a great commentary! I've never completed a full pokedex without cheating; back in the Red/Blue days I did manage to get 150 and then we "duplicated" a Mew that a friend of mine had got at an event by doing some link cable voodoo. (In a sense this link cable voodoo was also a special kind of awesome.)
Kids everywhere were talking about a 3d pokemon adventure on the N64 and I'm sure if a decent one was released it would sell like crazy and probably shake the whole console market quite a bit. Sadly, all we got was Pokemon Stadium, in iself another of the games you could get pokemon from. All you'd get from completing the elite league was the opposite of the fossil you picked in that cave though, unless you disconnected your GBA connector thingie. I think it was possible to get the starter 3 in PS1. It was not a very great game though.
Then Gold/Silver came out and I got gold too. I don't remember how many pokemons were in the game, but I never had all of them. I did manage to voodoo myself a celebi though from another friend who had been to another event someplace. By this time the magic was still there, I still enjoyed playing Pokemon, and I think I made a sincere effort to get all of them, but I fell short by maybe 10-20 creatures...
Then Ruby/Sapphire came out and it just wasn't as fun anymore; I hastily jogged through the storyline, never really considering collecting all of the pokemon. Was it because I had grown up? Was it because the games had changed? Maybe both. After this I stopped playing Pokemon for a good while, but I recently picked up that Gold remake. I played it for some hours but I didn't even complete the storyline.
I kind of have a feeling this is related: http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice.html
Again, great(!) commentary.
Kids everywhere were talking about a 3d pokemon adventure on the N64 and I'm sure if a decent one was released it would sell like crazy and probably shake the whole console market quite a bit. Sadly, all we got was Pokemon Stadium, in iself another of the games you could get pokemon from. All you'd get from completing the elite league was the opposite of the fossil you picked in that cave though, unless you disconnected your GBA connector thingie. I think it was possible to get the starter 3 in PS1. It was not a very great game though.
Then Gold/Silver came out and I got gold too. I don't remember how many pokemons were in the game, but I never had all of them. I did manage to voodoo myself a celebi though from another friend who had been to another event someplace. By this time the magic was still there, I still enjoyed playing Pokemon, and I think I made a sincere effort to get all of them, but I fell short by maybe 10-20 creatures...
Then Ruby/Sapphire came out and it just wasn't as fun anymore; I hastily jogged through the storyline, never really considering collecting all of the pokemon. Was it because I had grown up? Was it because the games had changed? Maybe both. After this I stopped playing Pokemon for a good while, but I recently picked up that Gold remake. I played it for some hours but I didn't even complete the storyline.
I kind of have a feeling this is related: http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice.html
Again, great(!) commentary.
I can quite honestly say that i never cared much for the whole "Gotta Catch 'em All" catchphrase. I was born in northern norway so i was pretty much screwed over from the start since not a single event has EVER occured up here.
I didn't hack any other game than Diamond, but to be honest i only ever felt any joy in catching the pokemon i needed to take down a tough opponent.
I caught pokemon after pokemon in order to build a strong enough party to take down the Set 8 Stargazer Colosseum leader in Battle Revolution for the Wii and that's one of the greatest pleasures i've ever had with the franchise.
Now that they still keep the whole "Gotta Catch 'em All" up with well over 600 pokemons i think i'll just quote Metallica to show how i feel about the series.
"Die, die, die my darling
Don't utter a single word
Die, die, die my darling
Shut your pretty mouth
I'll be seeing you again
I'll be seeing you, in hell
Die-die-die
Die-die-die
Die-die-die
just Die ah..."
I didn't hack any other game than Diamond, but to be honest i only ever felt any joy in catching the pokemon i needed to take down a tough opponent.
I caught pokemon after pokemon in order to build a strong enough party to take down the Set 8 Stargazer Colosseum leader in Battle Revolution for the Wii and that's one of the greatest pleasures i've ever had with the franchise.
Now that they still keep the whole "Gotta Catch 'em All" up with well over 600 pokemons i think i'll just quote Metallica to show how i feel about the series.
"Die, die, die my darling
Don't utter a single word
Die, die, die my darling
Shut your pretty mouth
I'll be seeing you again
I'll be seeing you, in hell
Die-die-die
Die-die-die
Die-die-die
just Die ah..."
What happened in Norway was that the Nintendo Magazine advertised that they would put Mew on your cartridge if you sent it to them. They also had a few events, but I don't think they ever had one where you couldn't send your cartridge to them. You might be too young for that though.Ulquiorra4sama said:
I never sent mine and I quite regret it.
It wasn't fair to bring Mew in as a case against catching them all in red and blue. Sure it was there, but it was never meant to matter in the slightest.
When the game was all but done, one of the creators put it in as a private joke, known only to pretty much himself.
It first appeared when someone got it using the missingno. glitch, instead of a kanghaskhan or an aerodactyl they got a mew. Word spread about it and people wanted it so eventually they just said "screw it, give them what they want" and made an event out of handing out mew since so many people wanted it and it was the only way to get it without the missingno. glitch. It didn't make a difference to catching them all since you got the certificate for catching them all if you catch 150, mew was just an Easter egg.
Celebi just followed that tradition on the 'just because' philosophy.
When the game was all but done, one of the creators put it in as a private joke, known only to pretty much himself.
It first appeared when someone got it using the missingno. glitch, instead of a kanghaskhan or an aerodactyl they got a mew. Word spread about it and people wanted it so eventually they just said "screw it, give them what they want" and made an event out of handing out mew since so many people wanted it and it was the only way to get it without the missingno. glitch. It didn't make a difference to catching them all since you got the certificate for catching them all if you catch 150, mew was just an Easter egg.
Celebi just followed that tradition on the 'just because' philosophy.
Fortunately, it was back when the third generation had come out when I realized how ridiculous this was getting and was like, 'fuck this shit'.
The most important part of being a completionist is knowing what's worth completing.
Now someone meet me online so I can finish getting my Saints' Row 2 achievements.
The most important part of being a completionist is knowing what's worth completing.
Now someone meet me online so I can finish getting my Saints' Row 2 achievements.
Eh. Yes. It is something of an impossible challenge.
The closest I ever got was, I think, 134? I'm not entirely sure. (It may have been as high as 148 at some point)
It was pokemon Yellow, which helps enormously out of the first-gen games, because you get all 3 starters by default.
I did abuse the fact that I had both a gameboy colour, game boy advance, pokemon crystal, AND pokemon Stadium for the N64.
Basically, I've played through all of pokemon yellow 3 times, while keeping all the pokemon along the way by transferring them to another game and then back again.
(Yay for disposable magicarps.)
It's funny having two pikachus in yellow, and evolving one, even though that shouldn't be possible...
In any event, I think where I left it, I'll never get mew, but I do have 2 mewtwos and 3 evees, and all of the pokemon except I think I'm missing an omanyte for some reason that I can't quite explain.
In any event, Pokemon yellow and crystal overlap perfectly for the first 150 pokemon, which is oddly convenient...
But the omanyte aside, I basically have all the pokemon I would need to get to 150, but haven't evolved them yet.
Still, I gave up ages ago...
The closest I ever got was, I think, 134? I'm not entirely sure. (It may have been as high as 148 at some point)
It was pokemon Yellow, which helps enormously out of the first-gen games, because you get all 3 starters by default.
I did abuse the fact that I had both a gameboy colour, game boy advance, pokemon crystal, AND pokemon Stadium for the N64.
Basically, I've played through all of pokemon yellow 3 times, while keeping all the pokemon along the way by transferring them to another game and then back again.
(Yay for disposable magicarps.)
It's funny having two pikachus in yellow, and evolving one, even though that shouldn't be possible...
In any event, I think where I left it, I'll never get mew, but I do have 2 mewtwos and 3 evees, and all of the pokemon except I think I'm missing an omanyte for some reason that I can't quite explain.
In any event, Pokemon yellow and crystal overlap perfectly for the first 150 pokemon, which is oddly convenient...
But the omanyte aside, I basically have all the pokemon I would need to get to 150, but haven't evolved them yet.
Still, I gave up ages ago...
Take into consideration the use of the WiFi system for the Nintendo DS and DSi. I know for a fact that there was a system imposed in Diamond and Pearl which allowed you to trade globablly, through the powers of the internet. Granted, most of the legendary "Japanese" event monsters are likely duplicated (like the 5 Arceuses inside of my brother's Diamond), but still it provides a legitimate way to "Catch 'em All".Optimystic said:
Time to piss off every one in this thread.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
-Nintendo DS
-WiFi connection that works with said DS
-Diamond, Platinum, Pearl, heartGold or SoulSilver cartridge
-in-game access to the GTS (Goldenrod in HGSS, don't remember for the others), and make sure you don't have anything up for trade at the GTS or it may disappear
1) Turn on the game normally and get to the point at which you have menu options (New Game, Continue, etc.)
2) Go down to Nintendo WFC settings.
3) Enter the settings for the wifi network you will be using and turn off the "Automatically find DNS) option.
4) Enter one of the following two codes under the "Primary DNS" category:
65.184.251.130
70.238.173.170
5) Exit the WFC options and start your game normally, then enter the GTS. Once you have done this, you will either blue-screen (relax, just turn the DS off and try again once or twice) or more likely receive an incoming Pokemon that you most definitely did not put up for trade. Congratulations, you have just received at random a fully legit Pokemon from a past event. Use the 65. code to access recent American event Pokemon and the 70. code to access Japanese event Pokemon. In particular, there's an American Aerodactyl and a Japanese shiny Entei worth checking out. Additionally, you don't have to power off or reenter the code to snag another one, just exit and reenter the GTS and you'll get another (probably different) one at random.
6) Make a crapload of money by doing what post #13 did. And you'll get moar 'dex data.
I have just successfully broken your gaming childhood. Bring on the flaming.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
-Nintendo DS
-WiFi connection that works with said DS
-Diamond, Platinum, Pearl, heartGold or SoulSilver cartridge
-in-game access to the GTS (Goldenrod in HGSS, don't remember for the others), and make sure you don't have anything up for trade at the GTS or it may disappear
1) Turn on the game normally and get to the point at which you have menu options (New Game, Continue, etc.)
2) Go down to Nintendo WFC settings.
3) Enter the settings for the wifi network you will be using and turn off the "Automatically find DNS) option.
4) Enter one of the following two codes under the "Primary DNS" category:
65.184.251.130
70.238.173.170
5) Exit the WFC options and start your game normally, then enter the GTS. Once you have done this, you will either blue-screen (relax, just turn the DS off and try again once or twice) or more likely receive an incoming Pokemon that you most definitely did not put up for trade. Congratulations, you have just received at random a fully legit Pokemon from a past event. Use the 65. code to access recent American event Pokemon and the 70. code to access Japanese event Pokemon. In particular, there's an American Aerodactyl and a Japanese shiny Entei worth checking out. Additionally, you don't have to power off or reenter the code to snag another one, just exit and reenter the GTS and you'll get another (probably different) one at random.
6) Make a crapload of money by doing what post #13 did. And you'll get moar 'dex data.
I have just successfully broken your gaming childhood. Bring on the flaming.
Finally, someone who understands why hacking Pokemon is wrong. Don't get me wrong, I understand why you did it, some of us can't get to Nintendo's US only events. I do not, however, condone it.
The game's objective is to catch them all, but that's not where the enjoyment comes from. It's the journey on the way to catching them all that makes the game fun. That moment of relief after whipping various balls (sometimes for days) at a legendary that just won't give it up is why people play in the first place.
The game's objective is to catch them all, but that's not where the enjoyment comes from. It's the journey on the way to catching them all that makes the game fun. That moment of relief after whipping various balls (sometimes for days) at a legendary that just won't give it up is why people play in the first place.
That was a glitch though. I wouldn't call abusing a glitch legitimate..DelphiSantano said:
I'm from Australia.
We hardly ever have Nintendo events.
Do you know how bummed I am that American Gamestops are offereing Shiny Enteis, Suicunes and Raikous? Which will unlock Zorora if transfered to Black/White? And a Celebi? All this month!
I only have a Jirachi and Mew (Which, don't get me wrong, is awesome. I just miss out on ALL the others which is a bummer)
We hardly ever have Nintendo events.
Do you know how bummed I am that American Gamestops are offereing Shiny Enteis, Suicunes and Raikous? Which will unlock Zorora if transfered to Black/White? And a Celebi? All this month!
I only have a Jirachi and Mew (Which, don't get me wrong, is awesome. I just miss out on ALL the others which is a bummer)
Lemme bring up another point. When I "completed" Painkiller - that is to say, found every secret, obtained every tarot card, and killed every single enemy - I felt "empty". (As I described it on this forum.) I think part of the reason for it was that, because I had to use the Internet to do it, it didn't feel like a "proper" victory.
And yet some of those secrets are literally impossible to find without the Internet - "City on the Water", for example, requires you to jump out over a deadly drop, AROUND a wall that meets the edge of that drop, and double back into an alcove on the other side of the wall. Unless you actually try it, there is absolutely no clue to tell you that the alcove's there; and you can't look for it without, yes, jumping out over the deadly drop. If the alcove wasn't there, you'd die, instantly and unavoidably. And there is no way to know that the alcove is there without making a leap of faith.
It strikes me that that kind of game design is something of a flaw in Painkiller itself - why put in a "secret" that is impossible to find without using the Internet? But then this kind of thing has been happening since Doom and before that. (Anybody else remember how to get the rocket launcher on level 1 of "Doom 2"?) Why do you put something like that in your game? Just to make the people who actually know about it feel more "elite"?
And yet some of those secrets are literally impossible to find without the Internet - "City on the Water", for example, requires you to jump out over a deadly drop, AROUND a wall that meets the edge of that drop, and double back into an alcove on the other side of the wall. Unless you actually try it, there is absolutely no clue to tell you that the alcove's there; and you can't look for it without, yes, jumping out over the deadly drop. If the alcove wasn't there, you'd die, instantly and unavoidably. And there is no way to know that the alcove is there without making a leap of faith.
It strikes me that that kind of game design is something of a flaw in Painkiller itself - why put in a "secret" that is impossible to find without using the Internet? But then this kind of thing has been happening since Doom and before that. (Anybody else remember how to get the rocket launcher on level 1 of "Doom 2"?) Why do you put something like that in your game? Just to make the people who actually know about it feel more "elite"?
That's one of the few grievances I have with the Pokemon series:
1. Having japan get the games a full year or so before the US. Why? don't the Japanese versions have an English language setting anyways? Translating does not take that long, even if it does not.
2. Having event Pokemon be only in X country or location, self explanatory.
3. Not letting us import our save from the previous game all the damn time.
We beat the elite four and became the champion, again.
I'm tired of it, at least give us the excuse that you can't have Pokemon go between regions, and have use be the SAME guy as the last game!
You know what would solve these in one fell swoop? an MMO.
It'd solve every damned problem, the series already has MMO like gameplay and world setup, so why not?
It'd be PERFECT!
1. Having japan get the games a full year or so before the US. Why? don't the Japanese versions have an English language setting anyways? Translating does not take that long, even if it does not.
2. Having event Pokemon be only in X country or location, self explanatory.
3. Not letting us import our save from the previous game all the damn time.
We beat the elite four and became the champion, again.
I'm tired of it, at least give us the excuse that you can't have Pokemon go between regions, and have use be the SAME guy as the last game!
You know what would solve these in one fell swoop? an MMO.
It'd solve every damned problem, the series already has MMO like gameplay and world setup, so why not?
It'd be PERFECT!
You know, Mew was catchable. Among all the ridiculous "omg get the Gold and Silver Pokemon out of a Red and Blue cartridge by doing this massive list of stupid things" fake cheats found online was one gem. Next to the weird runaround you could do to find Missingno was another complicated cheat that would actually get you Mew. It involved something to do with a Gambler on a certain path and dodging the battle system by using Fly, I think.
You just had to stumble on the right combination of moves, and you could get Mew without an event or a GameShark.
Also, the "why can't I complete the stupid game" answer is this: because Nintendo wanted you to be social. They wanted people to trade with each other. They wanted friends to play Pokemon together and swap critters. It's not that Nintendo hates you; it's that they were doing everything they could to make Pokemon a social phenomenon.
It's a great strategy if you ask me, and it gives a big finger to the completionists who want to finish the game All Alone.
You just had to stumble on the right combination of moves, and you could get Mew without an event or a GameShark.
Also, the "why can't I complete the stupid game" answer is this: because Nintendo wanted you to be social. They wanted people to trade with each other. They wanted friends to play Pokemon together and swap critters. It's not that Nintendo hates you; it's that they were doing everything they could to make Pokemon a social phenomenon.
It's a great strategy if you ask me, and it gives a big finger to the completionists who want to finish the game All Alone.
They should make real pokemon so we could catch em all by running around and jumping on them!
The only acheivement of pokemon games for me was that I had the only level 100 in the class on red
It was a Charizard named "Charmy" and I loved him to peices
The only acheivement of pokemon games for me was that I had the only level 100 in the class on red
It was a Charizard named "Charmy" and I loved him to peices
That's all well and good, John, but at least you didn't have to pass through Herculean obstacle courses in order to get all the stars in Mario or all the Jiggies in Banjo.
The amount of effort one would have to put into the game in order to catch them all now (Especially with Black and White here, and their own new event Pokémon, Victini, which non-Japanese gamers probably won't have the best chances of getting.), I hardly think it'd be worth it just for a few completion points in a game that will undoubtedly become outdated in due time.
The amount of effort one would have to put into the game in order to catch them all now (Especially with Black and White here, and their own new event Pokémon, Victini, which non-Japanese gamers probably won't have the best chances of getting.), I hardly think it'd be worth it just for a few completion points in a game that will undoubtedly become outdated in due time.