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Pokémon/Scrappy Mechanic: Difference between revisions
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* Wild Pokémon requiring you to send a Pokémon out every single encounter, in situations where you're just going to run from them anyways. Wild Pokémon encounters are the most basic and trademark part of the game (other than trainer battles), but it can get irritating when you're in an area with pesky high-Speed Pokémon that don't let you run, making you wonder "Why did I have to send out my Pokémon in the first place?!"
* Roaming Pokémon. They're legendary, which makes them hard enough to catch on their own. They only show up randomly, and it's often hard to track which route they're on at all, not to mention they often switch randomly. They run at the first opportunity and the [[Standard Status Effects
** [[Awkward Zombie]] mocks this [http://awkwardzombie.com/index.php?page=0&comic=053110 here].
** [http://stephi-jk.deviantart.com/art/Can-t-Escape-Raikou-160600396 So] [http://stephi-jk.deviantart.com/art/Fast-Asleep-Entei-162032873 does this] [http://stephi-jk.deviantart.com/art/Still-Fleeing-Suicune-166275987 DA artist.]
** It's not bad in ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'' though. Right before your game's respective roamer is introduced into the game's plot, Professor Juniper gives you [[Chekhov's Gun]] in the form of a Master Ball. Wherever the roamer may be (be it Tornadus or Thundurus), the marquees at each rest stop will tell you that a storm is going on in that area which will save you the trouble of blindly searching for it.
* HMs: They're required to make it through the game, but they each take up a move slot and most of them are practically useless in battle. Each use comes with a time-wasting animation and the moves themselves cannot be forgotten until you meet the Move Deleter, who always appears fairly late in the game. In fact, in Generation I there wasn't a Move Deleter at all! If you clumsily taught your Charmander Cut, better be prepared to have your Charizard still have it during the Elite Four battles. [[The Angry Video Game Nerd
** This used to be justified to some extent, given that since HMs can (in Gen. I) be placed in storage like any other item, a Pokémon could be traded in knowing the move without the player having obtained the HM in the first place, and screen transitions cause [[Puzzle Reset|trees to regrow after being cut down, boulders to replace themselves after being moved or broken, and so on]]. A player could inadvertently render the game [[Unwinnable]] by overwriting a necessary HM move in the wild and leaving himself trapped. Of course, this whole train wreck could have been averted with some [[Gameplay and Story Segregation]].
** Many players use an HM Slave(s) to avoid wasting moveslots on their good Pokémon, but that means they don't have 6 good Pokémon with them in caves (where they are often needed most).
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* Many Gyms have gimmicks that are borderline [[Guide Dang It]] in case you want to get straight to the Leader while avoiding the other Trainers. While this is very hard to do, it is feasible (the Saffron Gym is an example) - but only, as mentioned, if you have a guide handy so you'll know where to go (again, the teleporters in the Saffron Gym are an example; another frustrating one is the Opelucid Gym in ''Black/White'' where you have to step on switches on the dragons' hands so they'll go up or down and, depending on the hands' position, the statue's head will go up or down, enabling you to go where you want - or not). Even if you don't intend to take on the Leader right away, you may find yourself running in circles so often to the point of being frustrating ([[Running Gag|once again]], the Saffron City Gym is guilty of this; first-timers may also have a hard time with the rollercoasters in the Nimbasa Gym).
* Pokémon and items which require a rare Pokémon to unlock. You want an Aerodactyl in Gold/Silver/Crystal without calling upon the first-generation games? You need to catch a Chansey and trade it to an NPC. The encounter rate for finding Chansey? 1%. And then you have to either breed it or catch another one if you want to add a Blissey to your Pokédex. Generation III made it necessary to catch a Relicanth to get the legendary golems, which - with its 5% encounter rate in a handful of very specific areas - has been known to require 101 consecutive uses of Sweet Scent to actually find. Oh, and if you want a Zorua in Black/White? You need a '''Celebi''. Full stop.
* Catching Beldum in ''Diamond/Pearl/Platinum'', which has the same catch rate as an average legendary, is around Level 52, shows up only on a certain day (it IS a swarm Pokémon after all) and the only move it knows is [[Taking You
* Safari Zones. They force you to catch rare and hard-to-catch Pokémon with just Safari Balls (which have the same catch rate as Great Balls), bait, and rocks (or mud). Shiny Pokémon in Safari Zones deserve special mention. They're already incredibly rare, and now they have a chance of running away... WONDERFUL. In Black/White, they didn't bother with one.
* The third generation introduced the split between the Regional Pokédex and National Pokédex. Basically, rather than allowing old and new Pokémon to be found wherever you go, a la Generation II, now you can only catch the newest ones (with a few old standards like the [[Sarcasm Mode|oh-so beloved]] [[Goddamn Bats|Zubat]]) until you unlock the National Dex which will finally allow you to encounter older Pokémon. The catch? The National Dex can't be obtained until you've pretty much finished the main game. True, you can trade regardless of what Pokédex you have, but it does seem like the developers were a little too keen to ensure you used the new Pokémon.
** Even worse yet<ref> (especially considering ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver]]'' included a method to transfer Pokémon from ''[[Pokémon Red and Blue]]'', a ''very'' [[And the Fandom Rejoiced|rejoice-inducing]] feature, all of this ''right'' before the third generation)</ref>, at the time of their release, ''[[
** In the Sinnoh-based games, you can't even access the National Dex until after you've seen every Pokémon in the Regional Dex. If you're not careful, you might miss some, but it's generally easy to do. The problem is that many don't appear until late in the main game.
** ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'' take this to its logical conclusion: the Regional Dex for Unova doesn't have ''any'' of the prior 493 Pokémon. This is a bit of a mixed blessing: no more [[Goddamn Bats|Goddamn Zubat]] but no more old favorites like Eevee, Skarmory, Blissey, or ''Pikachu''. That's right, even the ''[[Series Mascot]]'' is getting the boot until you get the National Dex.
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* The less said about Stealth Rock and evasion boosts, [[Internet Backdraft|the better.]]
** Losing battles that should have been easy wins through no fault of your own thanks to a critical hit is almost a rite of passage for competitive Pokémon battlers. Since switching is extremely commonplace in those matches, Pokémon will frequently switch onto a resisted hit or one that should deal a survivable amount of damage - only to see the dreaded "A critical hit!" message. If that was the only counter to the opponent's mon? Game over.
** Serene Grace Flinch is another thing that makes many competitive battlers' blood boil. There are three mons (Jirachi, Togekiss, and Shaymin-S) with access to a move that has a 30% chance of causing the opponent to "flinch", a.k.a. miss their action for that turn, and the ability Serene Grace, which doubles the chance of any added effects taking place - to 60% in this case. Togekiss frequently combines this with paralysis, which adds an additional 25% chance of skipping a turn. Jirachi frequently combines this with a Choice Scarf, making outspeeding it nigh-impossible outside of mons with normally overkill Speed such as Speed Forme Deoxys. And Shaymin-S has access to the move Seed Flare, which has a whopping 80% chance with Serene Grace factored in to double the damage of its flinching move. Any of these mons can easily flinch an opponent over and over and over until even should-be counters are dead. When Shaymin-S was nominated for banning by [[
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* Black City and White Forest. Both are cool places, but to keep them at their best, the player must regularly use Entralink and the C-Gear. Thus, these locations are fairly useless to anyone without a lot of ''local'' friends who play a lot of Pokémon.
** Not to mention that you also have to talk to all the people living in your respective city on a near-daily basis just to make sure they stay there. It doesn't sound so bad with White Forest at first since the population doesn't exceed 10 new people, but then there are those times where you just need to take a break from your Pokémon game or you misplace the cartridge for a while. Then you realize how much of a chore it is to make sure the people you invite to your game's city stay there.
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