#Gen Silph

[macabrecabra]

Did art fight and saw so many pokemon OCs...and realized for how much I LOVE pokemon, never had any of my own really...so I made some. Then I wrote a story. Then I built a whole worldsetting.

So enjoy the "End of the Line" pokemon setting that is now born... starting with my favorite trio of ghost pokemon! The Silph bros are known more publicly in connection to the powerful Silph Corporation, but also operate a powerful black market mafia under the table.

More under the tab if you are interested in my character ramblings!

GEN SILPH (Gengar) He is all about image. In the public eye, he is a well liked, always smiling, corporate prodigy and the face of Silph Co. Well respected and always known for handling PR and all the social trappings of an elite status well. Behind closed doors though, he is also running an extensive mafia operation with his fingers on the pulse of Saffron-Lavender City. He may seem nice and upbeat, but when he is ticked, he can show a very cold, very calculative, and very sadistic side as he is not above getting his hands dirty if people are messing up on the perfect persona he controls. Not a pokemon to cross as he will smile and shake your hand while having a gun behind his back. There are very few whom he trusts, as he is known to let his paranoia sometimes get the best of him when it feels like the control he's carefully built into an empire seems threatened even a little bit. Every move is calculated. Every chaos a delicate pull of the strings. Just remember to always trust in Silph Co for your every need!

Design Note: All the Silph bros wear suits because they are classy, but each has a design. For Gen, I was all corporate. Sleek cut, formfitting, Dark colors, and of course, classy tie. The kind of guy without a hair out of place. Also glasses felt fitting for someone that probably has to squint at computers...also makes him look more smart. GHAST SILPH (Ghastly)

The youngest brother of the Silph brothers, Ghast is a bit goofy and doesn't really tend to take things too seriously, but also never one to disappoint his older brothers whom he adores. He really wants to live up to expectations and has since stepped up to being the main leader of the mafia, second only to Gen, but really he just does what Gen says and doesn't ask questions. He really just wants to make his brothers proud, and feels the pressure to live up to Hauts' legacy.

Ghast can come off as dismissive towards others at times, but it comes from his desire to appear just as strong as his brothers when it comes to the dealings of the world. They are super besties with their personal gang of "bad brats" as he calls them, sometimes to the point of trying to step in and keep them out of trouble.

Should be note that Ghast is transgender. What their deadname is, no one knows. They don't much care for being misgendered as there has, and always has been, three Silph brothers, and don't you forget it!

Design Note: I felt that Ghast was the flashy type with bright eyesore suits and sort of a lounge lizard, impractical sort of suit, hence no pockets to be found. The single button suit felt more like going to a party than corporate, which fit Ghast more in my head. Also had to give Ghast unruly hair to mimic the gas around Ghastly.... Ghast's wears a hat to try and control it.

HAUTS SILPH (Haunter) (Alsos one of the main characters of the story!)

There was no doubt that Hauts was how made the Nightshade Mafia a force to be reckoned with. He was smart like his older brother, but also wasn't afraid to be reckless and unrelenting when it came to his goals. He was the muscle that could get any job done, one way or another. Known as a wildcard, laid-back, unpredictable, yet suave, Hauts was a criminal prince and was an important part of keeping the Nightshade Mafia running well....most of the time. His recklessness and disregard for Gen's orders often put him at odds with his brothers.

Hauts felt it more a difference of opinion, but nothing too crazy as at the end of the day, he cared very deeply about his brothers and everything he did would never put everything in danger. Gen didn't see it that way and shot his brother with intent to murder and remove something that was starting to make him paranoid about his control of things.

By all accounts, Hauts should be dead, face blasted open and body dumped in the woods, but he was found by a local pikachu from a nearby village and managed to find his health again. He's hung up his old life though, not interested in revenge, not interested in going back into that world. His guns are hung up to live a peaceful life as a bartender in Veridian Village, at least, until life comes knocking and he might have to pick up his old life again... Design notes: He is very much looking to copy the style of a 1920's ganster, hence the older style to his suit and wears an open jacket to match his more laid-back attitude. Also was one to always make sure you knew he was armed when in company. His hat was fun as it is clear it is blown off and there history and sentiment to it. He's had that torn up hat a long time and is intent on keeping it that way.

[omgtatercat]

Silph Co. Takeover [16] Pokemon LeafGreen

[punkishtoxtricity]

a comprehensive list of problems with lily orchards pokemon video

there is a point to where my criticisms just repeats so they’ll get different down the post

generation 1

-she claims that blue is a friendly rival when the whole point of him is that he’s a dumb kid. he’s a cocky 11 year old who thinks he’s better than you and grows to realize it’s not all about strong pokemon

-complains about length of dungeons such as lavender tower and silph co but for some reason likes rock tunnel??

-complains about other youtubers strategies for gyms that are usually meant for nuzlockes and challenge runs when she’s playing casual

-acts like she is so much better than everyone else for her strategy when it’s been done to a more extreme degree before

-acts like having butterfree on her team is some feat of strength

generation 2

-thinks silver is the worse character ever and all around a jerk

-complains about the ai of the game beating her when in reality her team just kinda. sucks

-complains about having bad pokemon and then doesn’t catch the good ones that the game literally hands to you

-straight up does not do kanto. has me thinking she just didn’t wanna fight red

generation 3

-this is the start of her being very weird about gardevoir. she calls ralts her child and then throughout the video has art of her being romantic with it which is. eugh. apparently she has incest accusations so i’m not that suprised

-calling magma and aqua the best teams of the series because “they don’t impede on the story”

-complains about the legendaries

-complains about the water routes and proceeds to throw out ideas that don’t make sense for an ocean

generation 4

-this is the start of her hacking in ralts as her starter. it’s very funny because it’s legitimately obtainable in every game she plays besides gen 5

-complains about parts of the game being too hard when she’s using ralts. which dies if it gets touched by a slight breeze

-whines about there being too much dialogue and then genuinely does not understand the story. common theme around all the story driven pokemon games

-she’s VERY annoying about the rivals. like they’re there for a reason

-the start of her acting like her calm mind strategy is the best thing ever. calls other youtubers stupid once again for their cynthia strategies. she can’t choose between gardevoir being the most broken pokemon and blaming ralts sucking on the game(the whole video is a big contrarian fest)

gen 5

oh boy. there’s a lot

-complains about there being too much story in the game and calls the game a peta reply. which is funny because peta is an american company and pokemon is japanese. (also the peta criticism of pokemon didn’t come around until AFTER black and white)

-compares a character who is a victim of abuse and has been indoctrinated by what is basically a cult to a podcast alpha male incel. looking at the allegations against her this also makes sense as to why she doesn’t like him

-whines more about there being too much reading. at this point i started believing she was straight up illiterate

-whines about the amount of rival fights and how it’s “impeding exploration” i don’t think she wants to play an actual video game she just want a pet sim

-misunderstands the whole moral of the game, being that not everything is black and white

generation 6

-complains about not being able to get gardevoirs megastone before the post game, so obviously she hacks it in.

-goes on a tangent about shiny pokemon and how their community is stupid, misunderstanding that people just do it FOR FUN

-also complains about something she calls “damage inflation” with the opponents being able to 1 shot ralts. this is all actually because ralts has god awful defenses, which she ignores.

-loses to what is one of the easiest gyms in the entire series. not really anything wrong with this i just honestly think she sucks at the game(skill issue)

-says x and y are the best games because there’s not much dialogue

gen 7

-once again spends the whole hour complaining about the amount of talking and then doesn’t analyze what the characters are actually saying. still believe she can’t read

-compares gladion to a hitler youth which is??? he’s hawaiian and light skinned but he’s still just an abused kid trying to find his way in lofe(doubt she actually read his dialogue)

-complains about team skill being “an unfunny joke” when the whole point of the team is that guzma was an abused kid who took in those in need and just formed a group of thugs

-still complains about “damage inflation” instead of actually changing her strategy or stepping out of her comfort zone pokemon wise because ralts sucks against the water trial

-goes on a tangent about how lillie should have been the main character while still choosing to mash through her dialogue

generation 8

-whines about dexit and calls dynamax the worst mechanic when it is in fact loved by vgc players

-calls milo a twunk (she doesn’t know what that means)

-a lot of the same problems of the previous gens, can’t read and doesn’t understand the story

-she’s also weird about gardevoir in this one. i think she just REALLY wants to fuck it

generation 9

-whines about dialogue some more

-literally all of the complaints at this point are the same. she can’t form an actual opinion of it bc she can’t FUCKING PAY ATTENTION TO WHAG THEYRE SAYING

overall

-she’s a racist creep to japanese folk outside of the video so hmmm

-has apparently assaulted someone so i see why she has no sympathy for the characters that are victims of abuse

-the weirdest about the pokemon and the characters. compares them to nazis a bunch

-is unfunny

anyway thanks for reading all the way through. the vid made me loose 200 brain cells and i will never stop hating

[purplepixel]

You said something in an earlier post about all the boys having a partner pokemon in TMNP. We've seen Leo's unicorn, and Mikey's bug baby, but what about the other two? (I have a bet with someone that it's a Porygon, 1. Because if you squint *really* hard it - At least Porygon Z - kinda looks like Shelldon and 2. Because it fits him so perfectly)

You would be correct! Fun fact about Porygon, it is man-made. In the 90s, scientists at Silph Co. first created this pokemon using computer code. It's way too perfect to NOT give Donnie.

Donnie doesn't catch a Porygon tho. Where would he get one and why would he? Instead, he makes his own. He creates his pokemon partner. He creates S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. For winning your bet, have some concept art of Shelldon.

I'm still working out the final design, but the idea is since Donnie created him, I think he'd totally program him to look more him. So purple Porygon that looks more turtle instead of duck. Think of it like a different form.

I will say that initially I wanted to give them just one pokemon each, but like splinter's no pokemon rule I just....caved and now they each have 5-6. Prince is actually technically not Leo's pokemon, he's just a pokemon that shares a bond with Leo. I don't even think he'd live in the lair, he is a neat and cleanliness freak. He'd prob make his home in central park. The pokeball situation is...interesting since they aren't legally trainers.

So raph and Leo's pokemon. Well you guessed Donnie's, maybe someone can figure out these two.

I'll give a hint. Both their partner pokemon are related to one of if not their biggest interests. Leo's pokemon is from Gen 9 (Paldea) while Raph's is from Gen 7 (Alola).

[kafus]

so my plan for this mew shiny hunt was to set up the shiny hunt in green with the early trainer fly glitch, and then play through jp red to do the old man glitch to dupe rare candies and also get a master ball for the fastest possible resets... and i did that. once i finished up the plot in pokemon tower i realized i could beeline for koga, then cinnabar, and then i could do the glitch... except i wasn't encountering any missingno on the shore. and then i googled it and found out that somehow i didn't know the old man glitch doesn't work in the original japanese versions!!

the missingno that give you a bazillion item dupes in slot 6 of your inventory still exist though, and it's possible to encounter any pokemon (including missingno) with the trainer fly glitch, so i checked and luckily i still had a viable long distance trainer to activate the glitch with. the plan was to do that and get a pokemon with the special stat i needed, have it copied by a wild ditto on route 14, and then bam, encounter the missingno. small issue: most of the missingno crash the game and the only stable ones i know about are the fossil looking ones, obtained with a special stat of 182/183. which is. a really high number

after a bit of brainstorming i went to the power plant for zapdos and caught it a few times until it had a high special stat, then spent pretty much all my life savings from being meticulous about fighting trainers on 10 calcium to boost its special further, and then i leveled it to level 55 with rare candies... level 56 wasn't enough, and level 57 overshot the 182-183 range i wanted, so i did have to grind a little bit of stat experience manually before candy-ing to level 56, but in the end it worked out (albeit consuming a lot more time than i expected)

doing this on hardware was very fun lol. after this i leveled my vaporeon with some of the rare candies and steamrolled through the few obligatory silph co fights to get the master ball too.

just realized i never explained how i was actually going to get the items into green. the only legitimate way to move items between gen 1 games is with the stadium games, which has extra item storage

i am ready for mew... but not now, i'm sleepy

[necromancy-enthusiast]

I picked my gen 3 Kanto bugs only pokemon run back up after a couple of weeks and you know where I last saved? The fucking Silph Co building, which is 11 floors of warp mazes. No I do not remember where any of the warp pads lead.

I have a very special hatred for warp mazes. I played the gen 1 games A LOT as a kid but it's been so long that I thought the elevator was added in the remake. I double checked and the original games had them too. I'm actually kinda surprised because that honestly feels a bit too high of a quality of life feature for gen 1. Damn? Gen 1 gave you an eject button for the hellish skyscraper of warp mazes?? Sounds a lil too good to be true.

[lovelylovelyartist]

Lovelylocke LeafGreen Part 6

LT Surge, easy peasy lemon squeezy with my boy Zero on the scene! 3 badges down, 5 to go!

New Route, New...... >:( SPEAROW!! Welcome to the team, Bastard.

New Route, found a Ball! welcome, Vincent!

Rock tunnel.... and a Mankey! Welcome to the team, Kevin! (forgot to screencap him lol whoops)

Lavender town! Surely wont be a depressing sad time :)

...... yeah... I forgot how fuckin dark the first gen of pokemon was. cubone was such a sad storyline

Well since I can't do anything in Lavender town until I have the Silph Scope, onwards to Celadon in the meantime. no catch on route 8 because it's all duplicates, but it is a great place to train up because of all the trainers.

*uncomfortable laughing*

OK, in preparation for Erika, I should probably train up Bastard. it's good to have another flying type, especially since I'll need him for flying later.

Hooray! Bastard evolved!

Made it to Celadon! Met a new friend, welcome to the team Alex!

..... I Might have a small issue with the gaming corner

I did use my coins wisely though and bought a Dratini, because it evolves into my favorite pokemon :) Welcome to the team, Celeste!

OK. Erika battle. Almost went real bad. Arson held his own, but we almost ended in tragedy. but we did it! Badge 4 attained!

Rocket Hideout underneath the Game Corner.... tragedy struck.

While battling Giovanni and his Kangaskhan, Peach was felled. she was revived with a Moon Stone, but despite her new, powerful form, she is no longer able to fight. Enjoy a peaceful retirement, Princess Peach ;_;

Peach the Nidoqueen

Level 6 - Level 26

The next update will have Lavender town, all that fun stuff. buckle up yall

[epicspheal]

Given the Trace in Cactusverse ask, I could see Red getting involved in the Game Corner and Silph Co. being recontextualized into Red having a mini-freakout at Chase going in to take on Team Rocket all by himself, and so following him into the fray. I’ve long posited the theory that Chase got as far as Archer before Red saved him after losing to Giovanni, and if it weren’t for Masters clearly painting him as the junior Trainer to Red, then I’d say the personality they gave him neatly aligns with that theory.

Hi there @ether-gearhead! While that's certainly a nice theory that ties the old Kantrio together with the new Kantrio, that won't work specifically for cactusverse at the moment (if that's what your asking). The thing is if I were to place Let's Go in the cactusverse timeline it would have to be somewhere after the events of BW and Before BW2/XY to coincide with Mina (who appear in Kanto) being younger and then being shown as at least a teen by the time the SM events roll around. Which would mean (given that again cactusverse still starts at FRLG) that Team Rocket would've been long been dealt with probably before the new Kantrio is even born (I know there have been many a edit war on Bulbapedia about the gap between Gen 2/Gen 4 and Gen 5, I personally go for a decade between the events). This is what I meant in my previous by Trace being stuck in limbo because there literally isn't anything for him (or Chase/Elaine to do) and as I said cactusverse isn't really about creating brand new plots so much as dealing with the aftermath (or in the case of Jack's presence in Galar, explaining why so many of the cast have maladaptive behaviors, which is still aftermath but it's giving previous context). As it stands none of the New Kantrio (and Green also) have anything novel that allows me to explore an aftermath (bar Trace maybe taking over the Viridian Gym once Blue goes to Alola, which again is confounded by the fact he wouldn't even be able get a chance to play the role as rival let alone champion in the current set up) since by then everything is taken care of. Team Rocket is gone, Blue got over his ego, Red confronts society again, Blue and Red repair their friendship, Leaf gets a purpose that allows her to shine on her own (and yes for cactusverse parts of Green have been merged into Leaf's character like certain Team Members and some motives). This is once again where I lament Let's Go not being just proper Kanto Sequels with their own unique story set around BW1 to set up Alola which would come 4 years later. Then there really wouldn't be as much of an issue about whether the New Kantrio would be a part of cactusverse. Also in regards to Chase trying to take on TR, as cute as that is, for me part of what makes the cactusverse story of the Kanto events poignant is that Red does this all alone like in canon. It contributes to the fall out between him and Blue taking a turn for the worse since Blue really wasn't helpful at all at that time because up until then Red was mostly shrugging off Blue's ego-based rants, but being left to do take on Team Rocket in Silph Co by himself? That was a major blow to his perception of Blue. And this is a huge thing that has to be addressed once they finally get Red down from Mt. Silver. It takes a long while for them to regain their trust because while Blue is still Red's person, that lack of help was a huge betrayal and Blue has to own it and make that up. And I feel like adding extra parties to that just would complicate things a bit on my end, but I definitely see the potential of your theory being put to good use in other AUs.

[alicealcremiedelight]

I know that nowadays the Pokédex is just an app everyone with a Rotom phone has, but I've been looking into getting a vintage dedicated Pokédex device. I don't have a Rotom phone or a Poryphone, just a modified Xtransciever phone model some friends and I built for ourselves.

But, these prices people have them listed at are insane. ₽ 1,000,000 for a bricked Silph Co. Gen 1 model Pokédex. I think I'd have better luck digging through garage sales and scrap yards for one.

[pokeglitchden]

☎️ it’s me simon, the ps5 speaking to you inside your brain ( @roseberryboo )

What My Muse Has For Your Muse's Contact Info: Rose 🌹 💻🕷 (Roseberry Gambit contact) (Call About Silph Co operation) (Run these texts through Gen Z translator before responding)

What Their Ringtone Is: 90s Dewpider Man theme song.

Last Text from them- Hey Simon, if two guys were on the moon. And one guy hit the other guy with a rock. How fucked up would that be (Sent at 4 AM)

Image for their contact info:

[jaybug-jabbers]

Pokemon Infinite Fusion: A Review

Hey, folks. As you may recall, I've played a couple pokemon fan games by now that use pokemon fusions as their central premise. So when I heard of a new fusion game that boasted a whopping 176,400 possible fusion combinations, I obviously had to try it out. I've written a little review of my experiences below. (Contains mild spoilers about game mechanics and features, but I do not spoil any major plot points)

Introduction

Previous fan games, such as Pokemon Fusion Generation and Fusion Generation 2, have been very enjoyable forays into the world of pokemon fusion, and the number of fusions available from those games already felt incredible. It provided for so much entertainment and experimentation. And yet, the world of pokemon fusions has been expanded even further. Pokemon Infinite Fusion, while not quite infinite, is named very appropriately, since the number of possible combinations may as well be infinite. The game takes place in Kanto/Johto and contains all the original pokemon from those reigons, as well as an expanded Dex roster that also offers selections from gens 3 - 7. This means the total number of base pokemon ends up at 420. And the wild part? Is that you have complete freedom to fuse any two pokemon from this list. If you do the math, that means there are 176,400 possible total fusions. You may be wondering how on earth someone made a game where this is even possible.

The biggest catch here is that not every single fusion has hand-crafted sprites. Instead, it often draws from a sprite pool that has been generated by the popular Pokemon Fusion Generator website. You might remember back in the day when this website first rose to popularity and sort of kicked off the original pokefusion trend among fans. The site works by mashing the sprites together in a way that roughly makes sense. Here is an example:

As such, the sprites often look a bit awkward, but they give a general idea of a fusion. Many pokemon fusions rely on this database of sprites, since as you may imagine, hand-crafting 176,400 combinations is no small feat.

HOWEVER. There still are over 50,000 hand-crafted sprites in the game for fusions. The number is simply staggering, and this was accomplished because many, many different sprite artists contributed to the project. What's more, new hand-made sprites are still being made all the time by the community, and you can even make your own and easily add them into the game yourself. For example, if you wanted to make your own Caterpie/Gyarados combo to replace the auto-generated one above, you can! This game is truly a labor of love on a massive scale, and it's inspiring to see.

In my opinion, the system that Infinite Fusion has works well. When it comes to in-game trainers, they almost always have only pokemon with custom-made sprites, so it doesn't feel too jarring to play. Meanwhile, the auto-generated sprites allow for the total flexibility and freedom of combining literally any two pokes. Also, while some auto-generated sprites are extremely awkward, many of them are actually quite passable and some could even be confused as custom sprites. So don't let the fact that not every single sprite is custom-made put you off, because I promise this game is still such a joy.

The Fusions

The main draw of this game, of course, are the fusions. So let's address them for a bit. How exactly do they work in this game? The basic premise of the game is very simple, but effective: the Silph Co has invented a new product called DNA Splicers. These can be bought at any Pokemart. They are a single-use item that will allow you to fuse any two base pokemon together. (Lorewise, the DNA Splicers are based off the item in Pokemon Black/White 2 that is used to fuse Kyurem with Reshiram or Zekrom) And that's it! When you select the two pokemon, you have a choice of 2 different fusions. Just as with the original Pokemon Fusion website, you can combine a pokemon by choosing one species for the 'head' and colors and one species for the 'body.' This influences how the fusion looks, of course, and also impacts exactly how the stats are combined in the resulting pokemon, too. Later on there's also a nice product in the Marts that is a 'DNA Inverser' that lets you immediately create the inverse fusion, as well. It's quick and easy, no muss, no fuss. You also can unfuse pokemon at any time.

In this game, you will encounter trainers with pokemon fusions all the time, as well. Because the DNA Splicers are a hot new fad, pretty much everyone in Kanto wants to try them out. This means that fighting trainers in this game is guaranteed to be endlessly entertaining, because you are seeing new fusions literally all the time, throughout the entire game. The Gym Leaders and E4 (and your rival) boast some of the most exciting combinations, as they should. Also, you will see fused pokemon in the wild, too, in addition to the normal base species. This means that even just exploring or grinding is continually entertaining.

The fusions function in game pretty much as you would expect. Their movesets are a combination of the two base pokemon. Their stats are a combination of the two individuals. When you first fuse them, you get to choose which of the Abilities you'd like to have for the resulting fusion. The Types are generally combined so that the first typing of the Head pokemon is mixed with the second typing of the Body pokemon. As for evolutions, those exist independently. So, for example, if you have a Charmander/Caterpie fusion, it will evolve into a Charmander/Metapod fusion at level 7, and then a Charmander/Butterfree fusion at level 10, and a Charmeleon/Butterfree at level 16, etc.

A pretty reasonable question you might have is "how the heck does the game even handle this many fusions"? I'm gonna be honest, I have no idea how they fit this many pokemon slots into the game (including a Pokedex that has all of them!!) Obviously it would be impossible with a ROM hack, but of course this is a fan game and thus does not operate under the same constraints. (That said, the number of pokemon it handles is still incredibly impressive) I do know the game total filesize is understandably quite large if you choose to download the 'standard' version of the game, because it has a butt-ton of sprites. Fortunately, you can opt for the 'light' version of the game if you'd rather not download all those sprites at once, and the game can connect and download sprites as needed. This is the version I use and it works great.

As for the fusions themselves, I love the vast majority of the sprites. They run the gamit from pretty straightforward fusions to intensely creative and clever designs. Some look very cursed in a good way, and above all, they're sure to be entertaining, if nothing more.

I will make one brief note of warning: there are many artists contributing to this game, so naturally the sprites will vary. Occasionally there is a sprite I find that I would personally consider to be . . . not matching the tone of Pokemon (Parasect/Ursaring for example has bloody stumps for its forearms, with dripping blood, which to me just feels a little too gory and out of place for Pokemon) or something that's bordering on inappropriate. The slightly 'inappropriate' ones are sprite fusions made for particular pokemon species that are known to be sexualized by fans (namely, Lopunny and Gardevoir). I have not encountered anything overtly inappropriate, mind you-- but some are clearly sexualized, and that understandably can make some people uncomfortable, myself included. Fortunately that's quite easy to avoid, as you merely need to avoid fusing pokemon of those particular species.

Other Features

So, the devs of this fan game are very frank about the fact this game does not focus much on plot. It is, in their words, essentially "Pokemon Red, but with fusions." That said, there is a basic plot to this game that is slightly altered from the usual Red plot. Team Rocket is up to no good, but their schemes now are strongly linked to the exciting new fusion technology. I won't spoil the storyline, but I do want to say the climax of the story is very satisfying and especially rewarding to hardcore pokemon fans.

Additionally, Infinite Fusion offers a lot of delightful QoL upgrades and bonus content. It boasts a ton of sidequests, mostly streamlined by offering a Hotel in towns where the sidequest NPCs are gathered (and a way of easily tracking your quests and rewards). The game also allows you to rematch trainers as much as you'd like, and trainers' pokemon grow stronger and will even evolve when you rematch them enough times. This is very convenient if you'd like to do some grinding. There are a lot of modern pokemon moves added to the game, Fairy typing, and plenty of other modern upgrades. The game also offers an integrated Randomizer mode, a speed-up button, a WonderTrade simulator to give you all kinds of random fusions, battle facilities and other goodies to maximize its replayability and its streamer/YouTuber-friendlyness.

Some of my favorite features include Pokeradar for finding rare pokemon and Hidden abilities, which includes a very handy display of all possible pokemon encounters in a given area once you've discovered them all. Another useful addition are in-game items that replace the need for HM moves, but are integrated in a very reasonable way. Basically, you start off needing to use HM moves, but eventually can earn special items that replace the need for HM moves. Usually you end up earning these items around the time you'd like to replace the HM move with a more useful moveset, so it works out very well.

I think my most favorite thing, though, are just all the NPCs with changed dialogue and fun jokes and nods that the game contains. You can tell a lot of love went into the game by fans who truly do love Pokemon. Some of these references include nods to Pokegod rumors, details from manga or anime, other pokemon games and other video games, and so forth.

There are a lot of little details, including an updated Safari Zone and even a Team Rocket black market, where you can purchase pokemon and unique items! As such, I want to emphasize that there's plenty to explore and see, despite the plot being largely the same. And with a full Kanto game + Johto & Sevii islands postgame, there is plenty of content.

My Run

Pokemon is a game largely defined by choice. While "catch them all" may be the catchphrase they introduced in the US, that has never truly captured the spirit of pokemon. Pokemon is more about the ones you choose. Pokemon Infinite Fusion expands that power of choice to the nth degree, so much so that you can very easily suffer from decision paralysis. In a game that gives you 176,400 pokemon to choose from, how can you possibly decide?

I handled this question by narrowing things down a little. I often do all-bug challenge runs of pokemon games, so I decided my run would be limited to bug types only. But even with that narrowing things down, the number of options were still quite dizzying. I definitely did a lot more team shuffling and changing than I normally do. I know I spent hours just fusing things to see what they'd look like. (There's a very handy website to speed this process up, allowing you to preview fusions.) It was overwhelming at times. But ultimately, I did settle on a final team.

Surprisingly, this team often didn't consist of my absolute top picks of fusions. For example, the Yanmega/Kabutops I have looks awesome, but I think I like the sprite of Butterfree/Kabutops a little bit more. However, my choices were constrained by things other than mere aesthetics. I did want a team with decent synergy and coverage, too. I think that's an interesting thing to think about. In life, you may not even need to be the Very Best to still be an excellent pokemon-- or to be chosen.

Sasspora - Parasect/Ninjask - Bug/Flying - Infiltrator - Silver Powder

Moveset: Screech/Aerial Ace/X-Scissor/Spore

Notes: Sass unfortunately suffers from never learning a really good Flying STAB in his learnset. Aerial Ace was the best I could do for him. Still, Spore abuse and his fantastic speed take him very far.

Zippy Zap - Beedrill/Jolteon - Bug/Electric - Volt Absorb - Amulet Coin

Moveset: Quick Attack/Dig/Thunderbolt/Thunder

Notes: This fusion emphasizes Beedrill's weaker stats when compared to the inverse fusion. Despite that fact, Zip Zap continued to be invaluable on my team all the way through to the very end, hitting above his weight. He offered vital Electric coverage and was a check to fellow Electric types.

Pomegranite - Butterfree/Rapidash - Bug/Fire - Compound Eyes - TwistedSpoon

Moveset: Tailwind/Flare Blitz/Fire Blast/Psychic

Notes: Compound Eyes + Fire Blast is pretty cool lol

Peekaboo - Yanmega/Kabutops - Bug/Water - Swift Swim - Rocky Helmet

Moveset: Night Slash/Air Slash/Surf/Aqua Jet

Notes: I knew I had to fuse the Horseshoe Crab/trilobite-inspired Kabutops with a bug type; he was just too cool to pass up. Night Slash was very useful coverage on Ghosts, which may not come up often but when it did, it saved us big time.

Purple Rain - Ledian/Flygon - Bug/Dragon - Levitate - Soft Sand

Moveset: Fly/Bug Buzz/Rock Slide/Earthquake

Notes: When I was playing around with fusions, and I un-fused my Ledyba, it suddenly turned into a shiny. My guess is the game re-rolls things when you un-fuse pokemon so each time you un-fuse a pokemon, there's the chance they become shiny. It was pretty cool, but the best part was the shiny in this game was purple. A million times better than the actual shiny. So I had to use it.

Flygon was the perfect chance for that. We all know Flygon should have been Bug/Dragon, as it's based on an Antlion, both the larva and adult. Finally, Flygon could fulfill its true destiny. EQ and Rock Slide may not have been STAB but they both were essential to the team. The wide range of resistances was very nice, too.

Leonardo - Articuno/Armaldo - Ice/Bug - Battle Armor - Leftovers

Moveset: Brine/Freeze-Dry/Rock Blast/X-Scissor

Notes: My final 6th slot was kind of an uncertain one for a while, until I decided Bug/Fairy would be fun. For a long time I went with a Armaldo/Clefable fusion. I found it underwhelming and decided to change; an Ice type could still act as my designated dragon-killer. There wasn't any sprite done for Articuno/Armaldo at the time I was playing, so I did my best to make my own and added it into the game.

Conclusion

Play this game! Seriously, it is so good and you'll have so much fun. The replayability is practically infinite, and if you're especially passionate about pokemon fusions, you can submit your own sprite edits to be included in the sprite packs that everyone can download! The game has appeal for everyone, from super casual players, to streamers, to challenge runners and everyone in between.

Happy fusing!

[macabrecabra]

Now can't have the Silph Bros having a gang without the prominent members of it! Introducing the Nightshade Mafia members under the direct command of Ghast, formerly Hauts' underlings.

Exception is Hund. Hund is only ever with Gen 100% because he's the 100% competent good boy.

Read more for more info and some design notes on each!

Hund VonDoom (Hounddoom)

The ever loyal butler, bodyguard, and all around the one person Gen tells everything to, Hund is often regarded as a member of the family for how he is always with Gen. He is a silent sort, never speaks unless spoken to and follows orders faithfully without question. Probably the only person Gen trusts without a second thought.

The question most have is if Gen and Hund are actually a couple or not which is hard to say as Gen says nothing about it and Hund is a quiet judgmental look to all. However, it can't be understated that no one probably knows Gen best than Hund.

Design Notes: I just imagined this bodyguard of Gen who hides the lower half of their face in their collar, giving them a kind of stern and mysterious look as a minion. Hounddoom because they are good boys and Hund would def have that guard dog vibe!

Kofco & Whezle Smogbur (Wheezing)

With the strange evolution of pokemon without humans about, the Wheezing evolution has taken a turn! Usually the two parts of Wheezing are surgically removed, leaving the two as close brothers. Such an ascension is seen highly in the Koffing community, thus Kofco and Whezle command some level of respect among their fellows.

The two have a rough and tough street-wise attitude and like to think they are the big pokemon on the block, more than willing to get into a scrap and show people who get in the way of the mafia who's boss.... until things get sticky, then they are both looking for the door in a blast of gas attack.

Design Notes: When I started to design their outfits, I kept thinking of Jasper and Horace from 101 Dalmations and the style of clothing they wore and it just really stuck in my head! The tiny hats on their heads was just the icing on the cake <3

Arbel Jessic (Arbok)

Arbel is a classy snake who is in the criminal business to satisfy her lavish spending habits and get access to all the best fashion at a discount. She is not above getting her hands dirty or taking charge of her dumb co-workers is need be. Can be the voice of reason at times in the group, tampering down the chaotic leanings that can happen. She is looking for love and loves to date in her free time, looking for the one.

She can be a bit vain though and when someone makes a comment about her looks she doesn't like, she will be quick to anger and to lash out. She gets along best with Victor in the group, mostly because Victor doesn't know what she is saying half the time... Design Notes: I was channeling Jessie from Team Rocket when making Arbel, just wanting a strong lady in the gang and just really brought the design together in the end <3 the patterns she has is different than official Arbok art as I feel each Arbok has its own special markings!

Victor Belkavitch (Victreebel)

An immigrant from another region, Victor came to Kanto for a new start in life and to take care of his very large extended family of cousins, nephews, grandparents, aunts, and uncles that followed after him. He fell in with the Nightshade Mafia for his impressive work in a bar shootout and has been with them ever since as the pay is good and he does not have to talk much. He is still learning the local language of Kanto and struggles at times with things.

He is the largest one in the gang and can brute strength a lot of things. Loyal to his co-workers whom he treats as family, he is a dependable sort and not above sticking a fight out to keep others safe. Also he is of a pokemon kind that is not above swallowing things whole, including other pokemon when ordered.

Design Notes: As soon as he was named Victor, his design of leather jacket and dark jeans was set in stone as a nod to the dress of gangs/mafias that are found in Eastern Europe. A hat didn't really fit as he had that leaf to be his hat. I just like Victreebels....

Wolbert Buffet (Wobbuffet)

They have been the mafia since it was form as a best friend of Hauts. They actually have the other half of Hauts' hat so between them is the whole hat which means a lot to both of them. Wolbert can come across as rather energetic and a bit absentminded about things, more emotional than most, but more than willing to take the brunt of an attack without hesitation. They took news of Hauts' death hard but remained in the gang to keep an eye on Ghast and make sure he doesn't get into trouble.

They really want to help Ghast in leading the mafia, but they themselves aren't really good at leadership things as motivating people is hard. They just yell loudly and act like they have an idea of what they are doing most of the time. They really shine when it comes to being in a fight or having to get through doors with their sticky fingers.

Design Notes: Wolbert was, by far, the hardest one to design of the gang. Wobbuffet has a simple design that I had to translate into a more anthropomorphic style. Also it felt better with their body type that they probably favor dresses or skirts, so they got a blend of a suit and skirt! Also no shoes, but nice socks!

Gilliad Gligland (Gligar)

Gilliad is the new face on the block and the only one of the mafia who never knew Hauts. Ghast has adopted them as their best friend as a result, teaching them how to be a real ganster! Gilliad is a tad gullible as a result, believing everything they are told. still green about the gills, they get really scared by being in situations and stumble a lot. He's still learning!

Design Note: Given that Gligar has the webbing for gliding, it felt important that their outfit gave them access to their ability naturally and that clothing was designed around them. It is something I'm keeping in mind with designs to take in the pokemon's anatomy when humanizing them! Also having a goofy friend for Ghast was key, so they share similar fashion and being goofy little boys!

[the-hittite]

About this time last year I did a Nuzlocke run in Pokemon Red. For no apparent reason I've been thinking about it again so here's some highlights of what I remember from it.

Starting with Squirtle maybe wasn't the best choice all things considered but I wanted high defense and a guaranteed surfer (completely forgetting about Lapras at the time) and it worked out pretty well. If I get another chance to do it again I may try with Charmander just to see how it goes.

I got a Weedle I named Barry early on and I thought I'd get rid of him pretty early but he turned out to be a strong contender the whole game through. Turns out in Gen 1 Bug moves are super effective against Poison types which means that every Grass type except Paras, Parasect, and Tangela take quad damage. Add in Beedrill's good speed, attack, and STAB, and Twinneedle will one shot even higher level mons. Barry soloed Erika's entire gym.

I stretched the rules a bit to get two chances at an Abra early on. Technically routes 24 and 25 are separate zones even though there's no barrier between them and they have the same encounter pool. It's up to interpretation whether that invalidates the run but I was just doing it for fun so I did what I wanted. It was still extremely lucky of me to encounter one and catch it in one throw. Greatball coming in clutch. Once I trained him up, Mob was an incredibly heavy hitter.

Insane luck can be a curse too. I hadn't caught a nido before getting to Fuchsia and I had some moon stones so I went into the Safari Zone to look for one. First step I took into the grass: Chansey. Threw one ball. Caught. Since I'd already stretched the rules earlier I had decided going in that I could only take one pokemon from the whole zone. Chansey is an autoinclude in any competitive team but I'm not interested in competitive play even if it was possible for me so it just sat in my box being useless the rest of the run. Never did get a use for those moon stones.

I chose to get the Eevee from Celadon Tower instead of getting something from the Game Corner. I can't remember what I evolved it into but I don't think I used it much.

Lapras was a welcome addition to the team after Silph. Doubling up on Water types didn't do all that much for me (especially since Gyarados was also an ever present option) but STAB Ice Beam was super helpful against some stronger birds and especially Lance.

It turns out Lapras is actually a really poor choice in Blaine's gym. Gym trainers in Gen 1 are just smart enough to recognize type effectiveness and will spam whatever attack they think will be super effective. (This is why if you bring a fighting type to fight Lorelei you can soft lock the game as it'll spam Recovery every turn.) In this case Lapras is Water/Ice so gym trainers will spam fire moves constantly even though they don't do much damage. And the only Fire move Ponyta and Rapidash know is Fire Spin. With their high speed that's a one way ticket to stunlock town.

[singekyo]

My end game team for Pokemon Anil. The game takes place in an altered Kanto region that's just different enough to feel new. It has a ton of pokemon to choose from gen 1-9 that are thankfully spaced out a bit so as to not give the same capture fatigue as some other games do, or at least not as early on. It's definitely a bit harder with a soft level cap in place as well as being designed so that enemy trainers and gym leaders have a strong battle ai. There's an interesting stat upgrade mechanic where you give your pokemon special reward items to increase their stat potential, giving you he ability to make plenty of pokemon better than they normally would be. You can get these items from completing quests, defeating alpha pokemon, and beating gym leaders as well as optional battles with gym leaders visiting from other regions. Mega evolutions make a return. There's a greatly expanded team rocket storyline. Though it can get a little silly when Giovanni rips off his shirt to show that he's totally ripped. And the silph co. building is even bigger and more confusing to navigate than ever before. There's also a post game involving a set of completely original islands off the coast of Kanto with it's own storyline involving the galar variants of the legendary birds. And for those that are interested the game does give the option to play with randomized encounters or even do a built in nuzlocke.

[legendtraineremily]

So…it’s been over a year since I last played this Nuzlocke. A lot has happened since last August but you don’t need to know all that. Let’s just get back into Pokémon! An important note: Days 10-13 were written in late July to August 2nd and do not reference the sudden hiatus and the effects thereof.

Day 10

Today should be pretty good for me to sit down and work out some progress here in Kanto.

I’ve taken out the trainers outside the Rock Tunnel and healed at the Pokémon Center in Lavender Town. Zippy has finally learned Thunderbolt and we’ve gotten a few more levels in preparation for our next steps.

Lavender Town…the music always seems more mysterious and eerie in 8-bit versus the newer versions. If you haven’t heard this haunting tune, please look it up. It’s quite the creepy song.

But we’re not staying here long! We need to get a move on toward Celadon City where we can get the drink for the dumb gate guards into Saffron City and the Silph Scope which will allow us to see through the “disguises” that the Ghastly and Haunter in Pokémon Tower put on. This particular path will put us through Route 8, another Underground Path, and then Route 7. There’s plenty of trainers here on Route 8 as well as another encounter. But apparently Mike had other plans and evolved into Hypno just to make sure we know he will not be eclipsed by any newbie.

Route 8 Encounter—Kadabra/Al

Lv. 20

Hp: 52

Attack: 20

Defense: 21

Speed: 47

Special: 55

Well that’s the Pokémon I was kinda hoping for but only for the reason that Kadabra is kinda cool and is an okay back-up for Mike. However, for the moment, Mike has the higher end BST as I won’t be able to evolve Al up to an Alakazam. Sorry, dude!

So Mike continues his reign as my mighty Psychic-type for the run. And how! Most of the trainers here have Poison-type Pokémon and thus are but playthings for Mike’s mighty Comfusion attack (and Headbutt finisher if necessary)! I should probably give PlowBoy some attention too as he can just as easily wipe these Poison-types out and definitely needs the EXP too. I also think there’s a trainer here with Electric-types so maybe I’ll send my little mole out against them too.

Yeah, that did really well, I’d say. Although PlowBoy is still not quite to evolving yet. Soon, soon. In the meantime, I’ve got this route cleared and I’m ready to head underground and over to Route 7 and Celadon City. I also checked with Zippy and apparently we are the best of friends now. If only that meant something gameplay wise like it does now. A well timed dodge or crit would be pretty handy.

Route 7 Encounter—Pidgey

Result—Whirlwind-ed away.

Well, that’s the way it goes sometimes. Not every encounter will result in a capture, especially when the game makes it tough. Fun fact I learned while reading up more fully on the many quirks of Generation 1 games—Whirlwind and Roar are both moves that send an opponent out of battle, either ending a wild encounter or forcing a random switch out instead, but here they only work in wild battles and thus have no real use for players in-game. This is especially true since there’s this handy option you get in every wild encounter: THE “RUN” OPTION!! So in Gen 1 these moves end up being an annoyance in wild battles and nothing more. This is all just to say I actually didn’t want another Pidgey. So to heck with ya’, ya’ little pathetic bird!

And now I reach the Pokémon Center in Celadon City. My next day of play will be focused on all those errands I mentioned earlier and bringing the fight directly into Team Rocket’s evil lair.

Until then: Love ya’!-Emily

[rks-systems]

Quickly pointing out that just because it is on Bulbapedia doesn't make it canon. If you look into why they say pokeballs were invented in 1925, you'll see that the source of this out of print media and not in the actual games themselves. There is nothing in the games that say Poke Balls were invented in 1925.

The first and shortest source to address is a Pokemon Daisuki Club page. Bulbapedia doesn't actually report WHAT this source says though, so this is a secondary source at best, possibly tertiary source since it is in translation from Japanese.

The second source to address is "An Illustrated Book of POCKET MONSTERS", published by Famitsu for Gen I. I saw for Gen I because it was never republished after 1997, and Gen II came out in 1999. It is a stronger source since there is an external link to view this book. However, the information provided in this supplementary material; the information is cool but it is ultimately extra material. It is only canon if you want it to be. Guidebooks like this are unlike game manuals, which were the primary way for game devs to do storytelling back in the 1990s and earlier. Even those can be largely ignored too, tbh. On top of that, some of the info from this book is contradicted by modern, in game canon.

The third source listed on Bulbapedia is "Tamamushi University Pocket Book". This one had an even stranger distribution method, being part of a magazine campaign that ran in the late 1990s, before Gen II once again. It's a fictionalized handbook for students at Celadon University.

What's the point for all this? It's to address that looking at the actual sources for the 1925 date on Bulbapedia shows that it comes from out of print and out of date information sources, not actual in-game canon lore. It is honestly up to the individual whether this 1925 date is canon or not. It's like saying the Book of Jubilees is canon because it exists.

(Personal headcanon is that apricorn balls were the norm for a very long time. The kind of Poke Ball invented around 1925 was more similar to the modern design but not exactly it; what set it apart from the apricorn ball of yore is that it did not require them at all. Think Sammy's Pokeball in the fourth movie. Silph Corp later invented the actual true modern Poke Ball which incorporated the Trainer ID tag, not unlike how you microchip a dog or cat in the real world much, much later than 1925. So Drayden and Rowan can still say that they didn't have (modern) Poke Balls back in their day. I also have a lot of thoughts about the Pokemon Wielder class, and what wielding a Pokemon means.)

I just woke up and went " okay what's the history of Poké Balls and how old his Drayden", so here we go! Please note that a lot of this is based on my own headcanons for the specific dates when certain events happen.

Let's get the general basics down. The invention of Poké Balls as we know it came from Johto with the use of apricorns, which is shown in pla with some extra ingredients.

The modern PokeBall, the one that trainers use in modern day, was invented in 1925( this isn't a headcanon, it's there in Bulbapedia). The modern PokeBall and the ones made in pla are not the same. I mean, clearly, but it's best to make this distinction now.

Now that we got that out of the way, let's move into Drayden. He had mentioned during his childhood ( key word: childhood) pokeballs didn't exist during. Now this kinda supports my theory that different regions were introduced to pokeballs at a different time. We know that Kanto and Johto had already got it locked down due to their natural access to apricorns to make the pla version of PokeBalls, and Hisui, by the start of PLA, have only recently started to use it more. We don't know much about Hoenn's history, sadly. Unova, as far as we know, didn't have access to apricorns back then. So maybe they were introduced to pla pokeballs later.

This might apply to both versions of the pokeballs, cause when you really think about it, Kanto kinda holds the monopoly on that, next to Hoenn with Devon Corp. 1925 , when the modern PokeBall was created, could have capped the fastest production and selling of PokeBalls ever. I say this because, in another hc, pokeballs would have had to exist before 1970, since that's when Opal and Mustard battled. And with Silph Co, I'm honestly inclined to believe that.

And this is where the math comes in! Some hc( and non hc) dates you need to know:

PLA takes place from 1868-1872. The pla pokeball was most likely invented before then, in Johto ( maybe a different variant due to different resources in Johto but I digress).

The modern PokeBall was invented in 1925 ( not hc)

The conversation between Iris and Drayden when he mentions pokeballs, at most, happens right after bw. This is because Iris is already champion here in that convo. So, nearing the end of 2012, since that's what I hc that's when bw takes place, or at least 2013. I'm not sure if these dates will be brought up but juuuuust in case it does, here.

The time between the beginning of pla and the time of the creation of the modern PokeBall is 57 years. Given how PLA pokeballs might have been created before then, we'll say 57+( not a big plus. Laventon did say that pokeballs are a recent creation in pla). If Drayden is purely talking about the pla pokeball ( as by 1925 and onward the modern PokeBall would be mass produced and sold everywhere), then it would probably be somewhere between those years where he was born. I don't think Drayden is that old, so I'm not gonna say he was born around pla. No. I am going to say he could have been born around the early 1900s, which, and I kid you not, make him about 112 years old by 2012( hey look 2012 did come in for something!). What. Opal is 88 by 2020, and Drayden over here being 112, the buffest man alive, in 2012. What the hell. I guess this kinda feeds the headcanon that Drayden, at the least, has some longevity to him. Like damn.

No could I be wrong about all of this? Absolutely! I didn't mention Kalos' PokeBall factory, or the fact that the Isle of Armor had a natural supply of apricorns. So what about them? How do they fit here? And honestly I don't know. Even with the information given to us plainly, there're still so many variables to take into account that can flip this entire theory on its head. But I guess that's part of the fun haha. I hope I was able to get my ideas across well, and sorry if it turned out to be a complete mess. But I hope you guys had a good read as much as I enjoyed writing it!