h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I am -so sorry- that I've not been here.

I had to reformat my computer and it's taken a while to get back to normal.

I would say in cases of different trainers starting at different gyms, et cetera.. The leaders would have Pokémon of all different levels to cater for different trainers. I would assume they'd either have some sort of network with all the gyms to tell who's beaten who and with what level Pokémon, or something along those lines.

Mind you, one of the episodes in the Indigo League (the one where Jessie stole the badges from the Marowak trainer - "Bad to the Bone", I believe) implied that there are more than the standard eight gyms at least in that region, since the trainers had a lot of different looking badges and some trainers had ten badges or more.

And that's true, I guess. Although a child couldn't go out and officially start a journey or train a Pokémon until they got the go-ahead from an authority like Professor Oak, what is to stop someone giving them a Pokémon (like Jessie and James got given their Ekans and Koffing for Christmas/Birthdays) and them just taking it out with them?

As for my name? I still like Sailor Mercury and all. Katzii Yataki is indeed a new alias just derived from my character online of the same name.

Hey, I feel for you. I've been through my share of "oh man, I have to reinstall everything AGAIN?!?!?!"

Although I can see something along the lines of each trainers Pokedex including something along the lines of "these are the six Pokemon the trainer currently has, and their levels, and these are the badges the trainer has." You know, a way to customize the test given to everyone who walks in. You walk in and give your Pokedex to one of the assistants (hey, they gotta have a purpose, right?), and they look up your stats, then tell the Gym Leader, "Okay, you should use Team C on this guy."

Of course the major hole in this arguement is that all Gym Leaders (and Trainers for that matter) tend to have that one special personifying Pokemon that they're likely to use every single time.

Oh, a new alias. I guess it sounded a little too much like a real name, so I was confused. I mean, most webaliases I tend to see are clearly not real names. "PointyHairedJedi" comes to mind. Yes, that's a real alias. We usually just call him PHJ, though.

You know, the sad part about a Pokemon-themed conversation is that if neither of us are watching Pokemon, there isn't much to say. I mean, what with Pokemon (with the new voice cast-ugh) being banished to Cartoon Network along with Pokemon Chronicles, the only way I can satisfy my Pokemon cravings is with my small collection of the movies on tape. Even then, all I have is 2, 3, and Mewtwo Returns.

To turn the discussion in another direction, then, which "generation" do you like the best? I have to admit that despite some of the cooler Pokemon of the later years (Noctowl and Scizor come to mind), I still have to admit a soft spot for the original 150.

Still here. Still waiting for the day that I own Pokemon Emerald.

Well.. I'm living off of the Pokémon Chronicles DVDs and the Indigo League boxsets, haha. I cannot watch the newer episodes at all.

As for best gen? The original 151, by far. I loved a lot of the next 100.. I did not like the Ruby/Sapphire generation, save for a few. Will see what I think of Diamond and Pearl's offerings at the end of the month.

Also, apologies for my absence. Life is too too hectic at times!

How is Chronicles? Haven't seen any yet. Yet another case of "why oh why can't we see anything originally broadcast on cable on regular TV a year later?

I suppose the real reason why the original generation is the best is that basically every kind of Pokemon you can have is right there. Everything else is a rehash.

Chronicles isn't bad. It's nice for them to focus on the other characters, although they do screw around with the continuity a bit (one episode sees Brock's mother change the Gym into a garden-y area, for example, but Brock's mother had "passed away" in the episode where Ash fights in the Pewter City Gym).

I miss the days of the original, haha.

Yeah, I read about that. Well, I suppose the easiest way to resolve it is that "Brock's Dad lied about it." I'm gonna bet that they lampshaded the whole issue, though.

Uh huh.. Made no callback to it at all. It amuses me though that they forget their own continuity.. I could understand if it were the other people who do the newer episodes, but for a company who dubbed it for years? Not good.

In other news, I got my mitts on a copy of Pokémon Ranger yesterday! Seems quite good, something different, if a little simple. Although I do find myself finding problems with unclear direction on where to go.

I almost wonder how cool it'd be if they redubbed the episodes, fixing all of the messups they made regarding people and place names, missing sign writing, and so forth. With the classic voice cast, of course.

That would be neat.. They have to keep the original music in too. They did for the first few seasons, but after that they just put in their own score which took from scenes really bad. Especially when they took out the sad music and replaced it with happy music in the scene at the end of Master Quest.

I never saw Master Quest, from what I remember, but they had a clip on YouTube comparing the Japanese and the dub, and they changed the mood of the clip entirely.

Another thing that I'd like them to do is listen do Dogasu. He has some good ideas about what the dub should be like. Including moments of silence, for example.

I just this weekend got Diamond and Pearl sent to me.

Very, VERY awesome. I highly recommend them!

Well, I still gotta play Emerald, so it'll be awhile. Plus I'm VERY interested in what the third game counterpart to Pearl and Diamond would be.

I just played Sapphire. I've got Emerald, but I didn't really play very far.. It kinda lacks charm after Diamond.

And I'm curious too! We can only wait and see~ Although this generation shows a break in tradition with the non-coloured cartridges.

That's why I'm playing the games in order, even if they're years old by the time I get to them.

Any ideas what a third game counterpart to Pearl and Diamond could be?

Well, that's cool. I personally like going back to my old ones just for the retro factor, and the simplicity in comparison to the games now.

As for the third one? Not a clue. Some type of precious stone, undoubtedly.

Yeah, but I can't. My Yellow is glitched and you can only get Pokemon out of it to transfer to Pokemon Stadium. My Crystal is totally dead, those stupid internal batteries.

See, it's the Diamond and Pearl that bothers me. They're not in the same category like Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald are. I think a cool trilogy would be Pearl, Jade, and Opal. You see the difference? Not gemstones, but decorative minerals.

Perhaps try restarting your Yellow?

As for the Crystal.. You can find some pretty good guides about battery replacement online for it!

I don't mind so much the names/categories/whatever.. I just love the games anyway

Ugh. I don't even want to think about the problems inherent with prying open a game cartridge. I almost wish they could release a GBA cartridge that had the first six games on it, and you could choose which one you wanted to play at the start, using Pokemon Stadium to swap around the Pokemon between games.