Microgames on the Micro

Having a couple of hours to kill on a train without being able to use my DS led me to the resurrection of 2 things: my GBA flash cart and my Gameboy micro. I’d completely forgotten that the micro is so bright it should have a health warning plastered on it; my god the screen is exquisite. I got to play quite a lot of the original warioware, and it’s still the best fun on my GBA by miles. Everything just works so well, it’s so intuitive and funny, and it offers a challenge without being ridiculously hard or engaging.

I also tried out Jet grind radio on the GBA, and whilst being impressed with the presentation, the way that left is sometimes right due to the rotational way the controls worked really didn’t mesh well with what I was used to. That said, the first level is a perfect isometric copy of the original, which coloured me impressed. Thirdly, I played some GT: Advanced. This was the game I bought at launch on my GBA, and I had a ton of fun with it till Mario kart came along and kicked it in the teeth, it was a fun nostalgia trip, but hardly a stellar game.

Sunday went back to breeding Duskulls, after some irritating complications with the Pokemon day care erasing some moves put me back a couple of hours and 20 eggs. I’ve got a box of 15 duskulls with the right nature, I’m hoping that one will have a decent iv in HP and attack, else it’s back to the day care for me…

Winning and Losing – a Fine Line

Hot on the heels of my unfair loss in civ, in a sudden change of fortune i was incredibly lucky playing pokemon against LLcooljo last night. This luck allowed me to grasp victory from the jaws of defeat, and although i did feel bad that LL got so screwed over, it did feel nice to be on the giving end for a change!

The game decided that his Metagross should flinch 4 times in a row. The flinching chance on the move i was using on my Crobat was 20%, meaning it was a 0.16% chance of that happening (or 16/10000) That pretty unlucky, and i was really on the ropes until that happened. It was copounded by an earlier defeat after my Linoone had managed to cause a flinch when he was on almost no health after a bellydrum (Max attack, but loose half health). What a cruel world sinnoh is! :)

The lengths pokemon drives me to

The problem: Legendary pokemon that don’t like to be caught when on 1 hp
The Solution: A pokemon with sleep and Mean Look… That would be a level 50+ Jynx then

Luckily, i happen to have one sitting on fire red, but then do i want to move it. It’s a bit of a problem i have nowadays with pokemon, where they encourage you to move your old stuff over to the latest game. But then there’s nothing to attach me to the old game. Everything i worked for on that game is gone, the pokemon who i fought hand in hand with in that game end up in a dusty box somewhere on diamond with no more glory. This is especially true now i actually pay alot more attention to stats on pokemon, which has left many of my previously prized assets in old games lacking a bit of punch.

If you don’t know what an IV is, then i do envy your innocence. Knowing about these things has led me to spending days breeding for the right nature, and then for a decent set of IVs. Days i will never reclaim! It’s also a bit like knowing that santa isn’t real, but still going through christmas. It’s fun, but it’s not magical, it’s More hard work and less excitement. At the end of the day, Pokemon should be less about meta, more about collecting them all.