In every Pokemon game, it's your goal to be the greatest of all time. That doesn't just mean catching every Pokemon, but becoming the best trainer as well. And if you want to be a good trainer, you're going to have to learn every style of battle there is in Pokemon.
What may surprise you is just how many battle formats there are. Across the eight generations of mainline Pokemon games, there are 14 different ways you can have your Pokemon fight each other. However, just because there are a lot, doesn't mean that they're all good. So grab your Pokeball, and turn you baseball cap around because it's time to battle!
14 Sky Battle 🍰
When you have Pokemon that can fly, it's a shame that they're limited to grounded battles. If you spent all that time training Pidgeot, you're going to want to watch it soar. Pokemon X & Y sought to solve this problem with Sky Battles — but they are terrible.
Sky Battles are single battles with limited Pokemon and limited moves. While that makes sense, it doesn't make for a fun battle. For example, if your only Pokemon that can fly is Gliscor, it wouldn't be able to use Earthquake, one of its most powerful moves. And if you have no other Pokemon that can fly, you'll be entering this battle with just that Gliscor. It's a cute idea, but really fails in execution.
13 Launcher Battles ⛄
Introduced in Pokemon's fifth generation, the Wonder Launcher is an item that looks like a Dual Disc from Yugioh and allows trainers to shoot items at their Pokemon in battle. You can boost their stats with X-items, restore Power Points, or heal them. However, these can't be used for free since they cost points that you earn throughout a Launcher Battle. And these battles are... fine.
Really, Launcher Battles felt like a nothing addition. Yes, the Wonder Launcher does add another level of strategy to a battle, but it only makes the battle take a little bit longer. If you really love that frustrating feeling when an in-game trainer uses a Potion to undo everything you've done, then you'll love Launcher Battles.
12 🔥 Pokem♓on Contests
It can be debated that 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Pokemon Contests aren't battles, and while the Sinnoh region's version is definitely a different gameplay experience, the Hoenn region features Contests that are much more similar to battling.
After the initial round, contestants are judged based on what moves they use. This requires a certai൩n amount of strategy since these moves can not only affect your opponents, but play 𒉰off of each other as well for extra points. It has a much more mellow tone than a standard battle, but it can still be a lot of fun.
11 ♌ Triple Battle ⛄
When Ruby and Sapphire introduced Double Battles, they were a huge hit. Having two Pokemon work as a team was a ton of fun, so it only made sense that at some point we were going to get Triple Battles. But they're not nearly as fun. They're not bad, but they feel more like a chore than a fun mechanic.
There are just too many variables to keep track of in a Triple Battle. While the center Pokemon can hit all opponents, the two on the sides can only hit the ones closest to tꦺhem. You can ♍also move the side Pokemon to the center or vice versa if you want a Pokemon to hit a specific opponent. Speaking of your opponent, they have all of these options as well. Triple Battles are just proof that there can be too much of a good thing.
10 🧸 Pokestar Studios ꧙
Pokestar Studios is probably one of the most hated things introduced in Black and White and, frankly, it doesn't deserve it. While most people focus on the boring forced tutorial when you first arrive, what their missing is a fun puzzle game solved through Pokemon battles.
At Pokestar Studios, there's a script to each battle, and it's up to the player to figure them out. Selecting the dialogue from the script chooses what move your opponent will use and you follow that with your own moves. Depending on what you choose, the film can result in a good or bad ending. But if you make some weird choices, you can get a strange ending that actually prompts a bigger box office result! It's a clever way to introduce Pokemon battles into movies without just having a Pokemon battle you have to win.
9 Inverse Battle ꦉ
Pokemon has been around for almost 30 years now, meaning a lot of people have memorized the type cha🍒rts. Everyone knows that Fire beats Grass which beats Water 🅘which beats Fire. So, what if all of that was flipped on its head?
Inverse battles only exist in the sixth generation of Pokemon, but it really messes with your head in the best way. In these battles, all type match ups are reversed. For example, the Steel type, which normally has 10 resistances and an immunity, now has 11 weaknesses. This is actually a lot of fun, with the only downside being that there's only one trainer, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Psychic Inver, who runs these battles, anꦫd you can only participate once a day.
8 ൲ Multi Battle
Multi Battles have all of the joys of a Double Battle, but with the addition of another player. Getting to play with a friend against other trainers is an interesting way to play the game. However, when you do these in the game, you're not playing with friends.
One of the most frustrating parts of Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum was being forced to play with NPCs as your partner. This is frustrating because you have no control over what they do. While you want to focus on a specific opponent, they'll attack the other one. If you want to keep a wild Pokemon alive to catch it, they'll take it out. Multi Battles with another human can be a blast, but it can be absolutely aggravating with a computer.
7 ꩵ SOS Battle
While it makes sense mechanically, running into only a single Pokemon in the wild doesn't make sense. Wouldn't it be better to run into more than one? Well, the SOS Battles from Sun and Moon have an interesting way of answering that.
If you're in a Totem Battle or run into certain Pokemon in the wild, they can call for help. More often than not, it will be the same Pokemon again. However, it can also be a Pokemon that would be an ally to the original Pokemon. But what makes this especially cool is the ability to chain encounters together to be more likely to find a Shiny Pokemon. This may be a pretty simple change to the battle structure, but it had a massive impact on world building and Shiny hunting.
6 Rotation Battle ♒
Triple Battles left a lot to be desired, so when Rotation Battles were✱ introduce🔴d at the same time it seemed like it would reach the same fate. However, Rotation Battles soon proved that they were a fun new way to look at battle strategy.
As opposed to having all three Pokemon battle at once, only the Pokemon at the front of the circle can attack. However, you can rotate to the other Pokemon at any time in order to switch without wasting a turn. This means that you're not only looking at the Pokemon in front of you, but the two behind it as well. It's a lot of fun and an underrated mechanic from Generation five.
5 Horde Encouꦦnter 🔴
SOS Battles were a great way to make finding Pokemon in the wild feel more realistic, but it was still a little bit disappointing. This wasn't because the mechanic itself was broken, but because Horde Encounters from the generation before were so much fun.
In a Horde Encounter, five Pokemon will show up at once. What makes this particularly interesting is that it doesn't have to all be the same Pokemon — it can be four Tauros and a Miltank, or a mixture of the male and female Nidoran. Also, different groups will interact differently with each other. A group of four Zangoose and one Seviper will have the Zangoose gang up on their sworn enemy. It truly makes the world feel more real and makes battling a lot more interesting.