This is from the same cart whose battery I replaced. I bought this game when it came out in 2003 but quickly bounced off before even beating the final two gyms. I was well into high school and the Pokemania that dominated my middle school years had ebbed. Now I’ve dumped the ROM and save data and will try to finish the game.
Even though I have my original GBA in working order, my vision always made portable gaming ergonomically difficult, and I was always looking for ways to play games on the big screen, first with a super game boy and then a game boy player for the gamecube.
To that end, I want to compare my 'mons stats and see what I need to improve. Back in the day my rationale for team composition was “who looks cool?” without much thought to strategy other than the occasional type advantage for gym battles.
The problem is I have ADHD, and can’t easily compare more than two or three numbers at a time without purdy graphics to help me along. Ruby/Sapphire introduced a radar diagram for displaying stats, but there’s no in-game way to overlay one mon’s stats onto another to compare, let alone all 6.
Now that I’ve dumped the ROM, I can quickly tab between the emulator and a spreadsheet to jot things down, and that’s what I did.
Some observations:
I was an occasional nicknamer. I was taking Latin in HS at the time, so naturally I drank from that well when naming my pokemon. My character name is Nemo (nobody).
I’m aware now that hyenas (upon which Mightyena is presumably based) are feliforms, but I didn’t back in 2003.
Ferra should probably be “Ferrea” (iron-bearing), as that’s an actual Latin word. I just changed neuter ferrum (iron) to feminine because the Aron I caught was a female.
I lieked Mudkipz before it was cool. I know it’s more of an axolotl and not a fish, but eh.
I didn’t know anything about EVs or IVs and so on. I believe your starter is always given some extra oomph, so unless you abandon it in a PC or keep it benched it’s likely going to remain your strongest pokemon. Similarly, Canis was at the head of my team when I first booted the cart after 20 years, and if memory serves he was my go-to front runner back then, but since he’s a common mon that I probably caught outside the starting town he’s probably less performant.
And that’s one criticism I have of Pokemon, there’s a lot of poorly explained or outright hidden mechanics that are critical for strategic play. But Pokemon has become my latest ADHD hyperfixation, so play I shall.
To that end, I want to compare my 'mons stats and see what I need to improve. Back in the day my rationale for team composition was “who looks cool?” without much thought to strategy other than the occasional type advantage for gym battles.
IMO that’s still the best way to pick your team, unless you’re doing PVP. If you’re willing to grind levels to beat the last bosses, at least … I played at least one pokemon game until I had to fight four actually good trainers (varied teams, with the full 6 slots filled) in a row.
TBH that’s pretty much my main issue with Pokemon, most of the fights are piss-easy because the NPC trainers don’t use even the most basic strategies such as “have a full team” and “don’t do single-type teams”. Then (at least with the older titles), the elite 4 come in and kick your ass all the way to next week. I hate it when games are inconsistent like that …
I always ran Mightyena, never got into the meta enough to know if they sucked or not, but loved bite/crunch for the flinching effect and the eventual dark moves they got!
good luck! playing platinum on an emulator rn and i always need the typechart and pokedex app open
Mightyena’s pre-evolution is called Poochyena. They’re based on both a wolf and a hyena so your nickname works fine.
Picking pokemon based on vibes is still the best way to play imo! I either only use pokemon I think look neat or pokemon I don’t hate but haven’t used before. Of course I use some strategy, like I’m not going to make a party of 5 grass types and a steel type and then wonder why the fire gym is kicking my ass. But as long as I have some form of type coverage, I’m happy to pick whatever pokemon interests me.
As far as not giving you vital information, they do try via some vague hints occasionally, like someone telling you that a trainer’s pokemon are usually stronger than wild ones. But as a kid, I always assumed that just meant because they’re a higher level, so it wasn’t super helpful.
