Cullination Royalty: Solomon Grundy Part 2

WELCOME TO PART 2 OF SOLOMON GRUNDY'S CULLINATION ROYALTY

PART 2: WHY SHOULD YOU LOVE HIM?

Solomon Grundy is a half plant, half zombie...guy!   He is a beast!  Given super strength, super endurance, a healing factor, and to top it all off...he can regenerate limbs!  That's more than enough reasons as to why people should love him.  Solomon Grundy doesn't even need to eat, sleep, or breathe to survive!  You try doing that!  I dare you because you are certainly NO Solomon Grundy.

This Goliath of a super villain has been underrated since his creation in 1944.  The only reason writers still use him is because he has been around the DC Universe for so long.  That is a sad fact.  Solomon Grundy should be up there in the ranks of the Joker, Bane, Sinestro, maybe even Doomsday!  

It is truly sad to think that after all these years with Solomon Grundy he hasn't caught a decent break to get noticed.  There are several Batman villains that are very well know.  Names such as The Penguin, Riddler, Two-Face, Catwoman, Mr. Freeze, and of course The Joker come to mind.  But what do these characters all have in common that Solomon Grundy doesn't have?  If you think about it, all of those names above do not have much of a fight in them (one of them uses an umbrella that shoots bullets for crying out loud!)  Grundy has brute strength!  It should take a lot of fire power and more than three people to take him down.  Although Grundy is not too bright...that's okay.  This is because (I'm going to jump to Marvel for a second) The Hulk is very much like Solomon Grundy.  The difference is that The Hulk has to breath, and he cannot self-resurrect his limbs and his life!  In multiple occasions, it takes the entire Avengers or The Ultimates to take The Hulk down!  So my question is, why is it not taking the entire Justice League to take down Solomon Grundy?  If you read Part 1 of Solomon Grundy's Royalty, I mentioned how Solomon Grundy was defeated by getting sprayed in the eyes with mace in the Long Halloween story arc.  That's ridiculous!  Grundy is a monster and should be treated as such!  He should be able to take out teams, armies, even Leagues!  

Come back on Friday as Solomon Grundy's Cullination Royalty continues!

By: Shawn

REMEMBER: HERE AT CULLINATION, WE ARE ALWAYS TAKING SUGGESTIONS BOTH POSITIVELY AND NEGATIVELY.  HAVE A REQUEST ABOUT THE ROYALTY SERIES OR POKE-FOCUS OR ANYTHING ELSE? LET US KNOW! SOUND OFF IN THE COMMENT SECTION OR WRITE A LITTLE NOTE ON OUR FACEBOOK OR TWITTER PAGE.  LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!  WE ARE...CULLINATION!

Poke-Focus #5: Jolteon

Introduction
Eevee's evolutions have long been popular in some form or another, and Jolteon is among the most popular. Its biggest asset is a massive Speed stat; base 130 Speed will outrun almost any Pokemon, tie with several others, and can even outpace some Pokemon who have boosted their Speed. Add in a strong Special Attack stat and the excellent Volt Absorb ability, and throw in the ability to Baton Pass, and you have a Pokemon with a very useful niche on many teams.

It's biggest problem is that training it in-game is a pain, especially now as it hardly learns anything in the way of special attacks. Get a Thunderbolt TM from somewhere pronto to maximize its effectiveness.

Capture/Training
Eevee. It's practically handed to you as a gift, so take it.

Jolteon's key move, Baton Pass, is learned at Level 36 while still an Eevee. Evolve it with a Thunderstone then, and prepare to teach it some good Electric moves, as I doubt you'd want to wait until Discharge at Level 78 to have one...

Stats
65 HP, 65 Atk, 60 Def, 110 SpA, 95 SpD, 130 Spe

You'll see this come up again. With any Eeveelution, one stat will get a strong 130 base stat, one will get a nice 110, one will get a decent 95, two will get 65, and one will get 60. Any Eeveelution will likely be judged on which stats get the powerful stats, so keep that in mind.

With that in mind, Jolteon's forte is clearly Speed. Jolteon is tied for the sixth-fastest Pokemon out there, being outsped only by three Deoxys forms, Ninjask, and Electrode, and tying speed with Aerodactyl, Crobat, and Mewtwo. Its Speed is high enough to even outrun many Pokemon after they raise their own Speed a level or two. Not only that, but it also has the Special Attack to seriously wound opponents with its moves. Essentially, Jolteon hits fast, and it can hit hard. And if that weren't enough, it also has the ability to sneak into battle, throw up a Substitute, then Baton Pass out before the opponent can even touch it, at which point a teammate essentially got in for free... and if you switch well, that Sub, weak as it might be, might still be intact after your opponent's attack.  This in turn gives you a free turn to set up. This is Jolteon's most infamous role, and it is extremely difficult to stop.

Abilities
Volt Absorb is your only choice. In many ways, it's a great choice. Jolteon needs a good way to sneak into a battle, and Volt Absorb provides a handy immunity with which, if a teammate can draw the Electric attack, it can switch in and start wreaking havoc. The extra healing helps, too, especially with a Pokemon as frail as it is that likely needs as much health as it can get back to make Substitutes with.

Moves
Jolteon possesses one of the fastest and hardest-hitting Thunderbolts in the game. It is Jolteon's primary attack, plain and simple. The only reason you would ever use something else is if you want the paralysis chance of Discharge or are running a Rain team and thus using Thunder.

Jolteon doesn't have much in the way of secondary attacks, either: it gets Shadow Ball, Signal Beam, and if you can manage a good one, Hidden Power. And that's it, really. I mean, you could play with Hyper Beam in-game, where a KO with Shift rules allows you to switch out, or a single-use base-200-power Trump Card...

Jolteon has one other attack option, Charge Beam. While it's not bad at all for increasing Jolteon's Special Attack to ridiculous levels, it's even better as a Baton Pass move to power up special sweepers.

Speaking of cards, Jolteon's true ace in the hole is Baton Pass. It might not have much to pass, but it really needs to pass little more than Substitutes. Fast Sub-Passing will be covered in-depth later. It can also pass the aforementioned Charge Beams, and Agility boosts. In general, it can scout-pass, (called dry-passing), scouting the opposing team for a switch-in and sending in an appropriate counter.

(At this point, I should mention that since Eevee itself gets Baton Pass, so does every one of its evolutions, and is often times a key component in any Eeveelution.)

Jolteon can learn Thunder Wave to paralyze enemies. Jolteon himself might not need the Speed drop, but his teammates certainly might.

Roar is an option on Jolteon, albeit somewhat of an unappealing one due to being unreplenishable as a TM and pretty much negating its high Speed. Its main use would be to Roar away an opponent before they Roar your Subs and stat boosts out, or to screw up a Ninjask (one of the few Pokemon definitively faster than Jolteon in base speed).

Light Screen is situational, but can help against special attackers in keeping your Sub intact once it is passed.

Jolteon fits pretty well on Rain Dance teams thanks to an Electric immunity and access to Thunder. It can also start its own Rain Dance if you so choose.

A couple of options are available to all Eeveelutions, involving one Move Tutor move and several Egg Moves. (Hint: use Smeargle to breed Egg Moves onto Eevee more easily.) Wish is a good way to support the team (Jolteon is a bit frail to be using it himself). Charm, Tickle, Yawn, and Fake Tears all generally do the same thing: force the opponent to switch. Tickle is a bit less useful for Jolteon; as for the other three, if the opponent decides to stay in, Charm lowers Attack and allows Jolteon to take hits a little better, Yawn can put the opponent to sleep, and Fake Tears allows you to hit your opponent harder. Heal Bell is another team support option.

Effective Movesets

1. Standard SubPasser
- Substitute
- Baton Pass
- Thunderbolt/Charge Beam
- Shadow Ball/Charge Beam

Note: Here's the theory behind SubPassing. You switch Jolteon in on an Electric attack. While it switches to something that can hurt you, you Sub. Next turn, you Pass out, preferably to something that resists whatever attack you think is coming your way. (For example, pass it to a Gyarados or Salamence, who dodge incoming Ground attacks.) Then, behind that sub, that Pokemon can set up safely and start dismantling the opposing team.

This strategy works well against human players; however, keep in mind that many computer players don't switch and will simply keep going with their current Pokemon. (Also, many computer players don't use Choice items that would force them to switch.) When using against a CPU trainer, you will have to judge whether your opponent's "backup attack" can break your Sub. If it can, you might be better off just striking with Thunderbolt/Shadow Ball. Or, you might predict a status attack... in which case, sub away. Careful planning should allow you to pull off a successful SubPass even against CPU foes. Charge Beam is available if you want to pass some Special Attack boosts before you pass on.

2. Choice Specs
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Signal Beam
- Baton Pass
Item: Choice Specs

Note: This Jolteon is obviously more offensive, and with base 130 Speed and base 110 Special Attack, it can be quite a fearsome threat. Or, at least, if you don't think so, Baton Pass out to scout.

3. Charge Beam Sweeper/Passer
- Charge Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Baton Pass/Signal Beam
Item: Life Orb

Note: Once you get the Charge Beam boost, this set can sweep nicely. Baton Pass allows you to throw those boosts to a teammate if you so choose.

4. Pure Baton Pass
- Baton Pass
- Charge Beam
- Agility
- Substitute

Note: This Jolteon is designed to fit on dedicated Baton Pass teams. Its goal is to simply pass as much as possible; as such, it won't pose an offensive threat on its own.

5. AgilityPass
- Baton Pass
- Agility
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball/Substitute

Note: Some sites say Zapdos does it better. Zapdos only gets Baton Pass from XD, which I have no access to at the moment. At any rate, Jolteon functions fine as an Agility-passer, and if you don't care about the whole "outclassing" thing, then here it is. Unlike other Jolteon, this one doesn't really need that much Speed, since Agility takes care of that, although Speed is still an option.

6. Wish Jolteon
- Thunderbolt/Discharge
- Wish
- Substitute
- Baton Pass
Note: This Jolteon is team support. As such, Discharge is an option for the higher paralysis chance.

7. Switch-Forcing SubPassing
- Charm/Yawn/Fake Tears
- Thunderbolt
- Substitute
- Baton Pass

Note: You can force a switch against human foes with your choice of the first three moves. Charm works well in-game, due to it reducing opponent attack power and increasing the chances that your Sub stays intact. Yawn is to be used strategically; in-game the opponent likely won't switch, so you may want to wait until after the opponent falls asleep before throwing up the Sub. Fake Tears offers a pseudo-offensive route: if the opponent doesn't switch, they're going to be facing some nasty Thunderbolts. Since the first three moves are not readily interchangeable, this set is really three different sets with a common goal.

8. Offensive Fake Tears
- Fake Tears
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Signal Beam

Note: This is best as an in-game team, to prey on opponents who don't switch out much. After a Fake Tears, your other attacks will hit hard. Against human foes, it will force switches, and is best when paired with a Pokemon that can abuse entry hazards.

9. Status
- Thunder Wave/Discharge
- Thunderbolt/Shadow Ball
- Yawn
- Shadow Ball/Signal Beam/Heal Bell

Note: Thunder Wave and Thunderbolt allows for more reliable paralysis and a more powerful primary attack, while Discharge combines the two to open up a moveslot for further options. This is the best moveset I can fit Heal Bell on; the set is mostly team support anyways, and Heal Bell can relieve Jolteon if it accidentally paralyzed a Synchronize Pokemon. Baton Pass is another option that can be thrown on there if Jolteon accidentally paralyzed the wrong Pokemon.

10. Rain Dance
- Rain Dance
- Thunder
- Shadow Ball
- Signal Beam

Note: Really, though, the last two slots are filler. They can be replaced by elements of any previous Jolteon set, such as Substitute/Baton Pass.

Overview

Despite a sparse movepool, Jolteon functions well as a team supporter and a fast offensive threat. Used well, it can definitely secure the victory for you.

Postscript: SubPassing in Action

Here's an example of how SubPassing might work.



- You have a Gyarados out. Opponent has a Magnezone out.
- Magnezone trys to slay Gyarados with a Thunderbolt. You switch out to Jolteon first. Jolteon absorbs the Thunderbolt.
- Magnezone has a Choice item, and thus is in no position to harm Jolteon, so it switches out to a Gliscor. During the switch, Jolteon throws up a Substitute.
- Jolteon Baton Passes back to Gyarados. Gliscor, thinking Jolteon will stay in, tries hitting it with an Earthquake, which Gyarados obviously dodges.
- Gliscor hits Gyarados with a Stone Edge to break the Sub, but it's too late: Gyarados got in a Dragon Dance safely, and now nothing is going to be in its way...

Here's an in-game example:

- You have a Gyarados out. Opponent has an Electrode out.
- Gyarados is switched for Jolteon, who absorbs the Electrode's Thunderbolt.
- Jolteon has been EV-trained, so it's faster than the Electrode. Having some knowledge of the Electrode's moveset, it knows the Electrode will either hit it with a weak attack or a status move, so it Subs. Electrode uses Screech... nope, that won't work.
- Jolteon passes back to Gyarados. Electrode tries a Rollout. No matter how super-effective the move is, it just isn't that powerful, and the Sub stays.
- Gyarados Dragon Dances. Game over.

Gyarados is a great example of a classic Jolteon teammate. Not only is Gyarados a veritable lightning rod for opponents' Electric attacks, but it also dodges the Ground-type attacks likely to be launched at Jolteon after it goes in. In general, any Pokemon that has a set-up move, or can resist/is immune to a Ground attack can pair up with Jolteon. Here are some examples of Pokemon to pair with Jolteon:

Salamence: Avoids Ground attacks. Can use the Sub to Dragon Dance.
Gengar: Avoids Ground attacks. Already likes Subs behind which to attack from.
Metagross: Resists many non-Ground/Fire attacks. Can use Sub to use Agility.
Infernape: Uses Sub to Nasty Plot.
Lucario: Uses Sub to Swords Dance.
Vaporeon: Draws Electric attacks. Can Baton Pass between each other.
Breloom: Resists Ground attacks, draws Flying attacks which Jolteon resists. Hides behind Sub to Focus Punch.
Latias: Avoids Ground attacks. Can Calm Mind behind Sub.
Aerodactyl: Draws Electric attacks, avoids Ground attacks.
Skarmory: Draws Electric attacks, avoids Ground attacks. Uses Spikes to take advantage of opponents switching around a lot.
Snorlax: Good defenses allow it to survive Ground attacks. Can Curse behind Sub.
Kingdra: Can Rain Dance or Dragon Dance behind Sub.
Ludicolo: Resists Ground attacks. Can use Rain Dance behind Sub.
Heracross: Resists Ground attacks, draws Flying attacks which Jolteon resists.

This is just a start. Jolteon has many potential partners in the game of SubPassing. The possibilities aren't endless, but sometimes it sure feels like it.

Cullination Royalty: Solomon Grundy

Solomon Grundy,
Born on a Monday,
Christened on Tuesday,
Married on Wednesday,
Took ill on Thursday,
Grew worse on Friday,
Died on Saturday,
Buried on Sunday,
That was the end
Of Solomon Grundy.


This week's Cullination Royalty goes to Solomon Grundy.  At first, a nursery rhyme in 1842.  Later, DC Comics made him into a strong zombie-like super villain.  First being used against the Green Lantern known as Alan Scott in 1944, but is now usually a villain against the always popular hero, Batman.

Abilities: Super Strength, Super Endurance, Healing Factor, and Self-Resurrection.

First Appearance: All-American Comics #61 (October 1944)

Despite his strength and endurance, Batman always seems to beat him pretty easily.  In the story arc, Long Halloween, Batman defeats Solomon Grundy by shooting some mace in his eyes.  This causes Solomon Grundy to run away.  That's not very "monster-like" to me.  In the story arc, Blackest Night, Solomon Grundy gets defeated once again by Bizarro.

In my opinion, Solomon Grundy is very underrated and deserves more than he gets.  He is a monster that is half plant and half zombie!  He doesn't even have a heart beat, which means he doesn't need to even breath! So that means he can be easily defeated by everyone?  Come on, DC!  No wonder most people like Marvel better!  Solomon Grundy needs to have a good story that will get him noticed because he deserves it!  But don't worry, Solomon Grundy.  We will still give you a week of Royalty on Cullination!

Come back on Tuesday as Solomon Grundy's Cullination Royalty continues!

By:Shawn

SUPER SMASH BROS BRAWL REVIEW

Does the date November 19, 1999 ring a bell? If you're a Nintendo fan, it certainly should. It's been nine years since the first Smash Bros game graced the N64 during its golden years, pitting Nintendo's iconic characters against one another in an all out battle that became an overnight cult classic. It's true, there are gamers out there who live and breathe Smash Bros, and rightfully so, the series features frantic, fast-paced, multiplayer bliss that truly can't be found on any other platform.


Nine years after its launch - seven after Melee's record-breaking GameCube debut - gamers have been treated with the long awaited Wii follow up, Super Smash Bros. Brawl. How does it fare?


Truthfully, Brawl isn't so much an evolution over Melee as it is a fine-tuning. Everything right down to the music, presentation and yes, even the bosses are identical to its earlier brothers. While that may put off a few gamers right off the bat, Brawl comes jam-packed with more play modes, characters and features than ever before, not to mention absolutely epic offline and online battles that span across the entire Nintendo universe, and even spill over into Konami and Sega territory.
While the original Smash Bros featured 12 characters, Brawl features a whopping 35 to choose from with more than 40 playable arenas, dozens upon dozens of items to use and the very cool final smashes - finishing moves that launch opponents across the screen in a blaze of particle effects and silky smooth animations.

Veterans will immediately feel right at home with classics like Link, Fox, Donkey Kong and Samus making their triumphant return, while newcomers like Sonic, Pit and yes, Solid Snake add a whole new level of strategy to the mix. The roster is robust, no doubt, but there are admittedly a few characters whose inclusion in Brawl had me scratching my head, most notably Captain Olimar from Pikmin, King Dedede from the Kirby series and the 'Pokemon Trainer' who seem awfully out of place. And while purists of the series will be thrilled with the inclusion of Sonic, I can't help but feel like this was a missed opportunity for other third party characters and I'm particularly distraught over the omission of a personal favourite of mine, Mega Man, who seemed like a shoe-in right from the get-go.


But moving on, the series has always been about multiplayer mayhem and this is where Brawl truly shines. This is a fighter that plays at break-neck speeds, is incredibly responsive and intuitive and for a game that essentially relies on two buttons, surprisingly deep with its move set, while sporting an almost ludicrous amount of customization for your battles. But best of all, Smash Bros finally ventures out from the confines of your living room and into the online world. Up to four players can duke out - three of which can play on one console - and it's here where you'll likely spend the majority of your time. The game also remains lag free - though if you or your opponents have a nasty connection, you may experience some hiccups - a feat in itself considering the intensity and fluidity of the battles.Unfortunately all isn't perfect in the online world, which shouldn't come as a surprise to Wii owners. The cumbersome friend codes remain an absolute chore and the lack of any sort of leader boards is unacceptable in this day-and-age of online, community gaming. Yet, the worst offender is the lack of any voice chat support. I could rant about Nintendo's stubborn, childish refusal to include voice chat in its games, but I'll save you from the lengthy exposition. Needless to say, Nintendo needs to join the 21st century, and fast. The included level creator is also pretty disappointing. Some players may find some enjoyment in creating their own battle arena, but it's too limited to be of any real value.

Now, if you're the type who's not interested in online gaming, fear not. Brawl has a little something for you, too. The Subspace Emissary is the new story-driven, single-player component to the game that features side-scrolling, platforming levels and had fans salivating at the possibilities when it was first announced way back when. How does it hold up? Well, not so good. On one hand, the Emissary is a nice compliment to an already robust package; on the other hand, it just isn't fun. During the eight or so hours it takes to complete, you'll wade your way through uninspiring levels, repetitious battles and awkward controls that make fighting neither enjoyable nor intuitive. Roughly half-way through the adventure, if that, you'll likely give up and return to the game's online mode and never look back. However, if you are dead-set on ploughing through the Emissary, you can link up with a friend to play cooperatively and at the very least, enjoy a barrage of some of the best CGI to ever grace a Nintendo console.

Though the Emissary may not be the most compelling reason to pick up and play Brawl, at least it looks nice. In fact, the entire game is pleasant on the eyes thanks to progressive scan and widescreen options. Brawl also happens to sport some of the best particle effects yet seen on the Wii, with flashy animations - especially when you trigger a final smash - that'll have your jaw-dropping. The same can be said for the highly-detailed, stunning new character models, which all animate fluidly in the game's 60 fps environments, each of which receives its own brilliantly orchestrated audio score. It's impossible not to admire the series' remarkable accessibility and engrossing multiplayer battles.

SCORING

GRAPHICS: 9.5  Sensational graphical work. Effects and explosions are amazingly realistic and satisfying. Top-tier for the Wii.

AUDIO: 9.5   Expansive and varied soundtrack. Several older songs have been reworked or remixed. Music for each stage can be controlled through options and even lesser known songs are offered as possibilities.

DIFFICULTY: 8.5   Fantastic variety and control over difficulty settings for computer players ranging from pathetically easy to making you look pathetic. For advanced players, the top level of 9 for computer battlers may not be challenging enough.

GAMEPLAY: 9.0   Multiplayer gameplay is nothing short of superb. Lack of interesting single player gameplay and Subspace plot is a minor setback.

MULTIPLAYER/ONLINE PLAY: 10   Unmatched multiplayer gameplay in every sense of the word. Entertainment value stays fresh for hours and never gets old. Sets the bar for multiplayer games on all consoles.


OVERALL: 9.3

Indeed, Smash Bros is as addicting as it's ever been, but it's certainly not perfect. Some of the character additions left me baffled (not to mention the removal of Mewtwo is simply a travesty), and the Subspace Emissary just doesn't live up to the polish seen in every other aspect of the game. Either way, with an epic online mode, dozens of unlockable characters and stages and hundreds of collectible trophies, Brawl deserves its place in every Wii-owner's collection.

SUPER WTF BROS

Everyone knows that Super Smash Bros Brawl is an amazing game. No secret there. If you're like us, you've spent countless hours knocking all of Nintendo's best character's off cliffs, buildings, and houses for your own personal amusement (there's nothing wrong with that). Every once in a while though, something absolutely ridiculous will happen, many times something that you couldn't recreate even with your best attempts. We live for these moments here at Cullination. Our love of these amazing Brawl moments has birthed a new video series on Youtube, called Super Wtf Bros.

We've captured the most headscratching, epic, awesome, crazy, and just plain ridiculous moments we could put together into one video for your (and our) personal enjoyment. And for the doubters, just try convincing yourself that there's something better than watching us get blown up by 7 bombs at once. Difficult task.

If you have any clips of outrageous Smash moments and want us to feature it in our next installment of Super Wtf Bros, feel free to drop a comment or send us a message through Facebook or Youtube. We would love to see OTHER people getting destroyed for once!

SUPER WTF BROS: EPISODE 1



CULLINATION ROYALTY: LUIGI PART 3

WELCOME TO THE FINAL PART OF LUIGI'S CULLINATION ROYALTY!

PART 3: A SUGGESTED GAME/STORY THAT WOULD MAKE HIM MORE POPULAR.

FIRST THINGS FIRST:

If Nintendo wants to make Luigi a more popular character, the first thing they need to do is get rid of Mario!  I'm not saying get rid of him completely, just get rid of Mario in Luigi's game.  In the game Luigi's Mansion, Mario gets kidnapped and Luigi has to save him. Though, that is interesting because for once the shoe is on the other foot and Luigi has to save his brother instead of the other way around.  I think if they want to get Luigi noticed more they should completely scrap Mario from the game.  Having Mario there at all shows that Luigi will always just be a shadow of Mario and that he can only be successful if Mario is there.  

STORY LINE AND PLOT:

Luigi goes off to Sarasaland to visit Princess Daisy.  One evening while Luigi and Daisy's guard was down, the alien known as Tatanga returns (from Super Mario Land) and kidnaps Princess Daisy!  Tatanga threatens to enslave everyone in Sarasaland as well!  Seeing Luigi there as not much of a threat, the villainous alien throws Luigi out of the kingdom!  Luigi must return to Sarasaland to save the kingdom and Daisy!  Throughout Luigi's journey he travels to nearby villages and towns in Sarasaland and must accomplish small missions in order to gain trust from others.  Gaining their trust gives Luigi more power and allows him to accomplish his goal easier.  If Luigi fails to help others, it will cause the village or town to not like Luigi much.  Players will even be able to attack villagers freely, but this will cause the village to hate Luigi and may attack him with fury and may not give him any information regarding the Princess or the goal at hand.  

GAME PLAY:

This game will have a few RPG elements allowing Luigi to level up and gain new powers such as shooting fire balls or shooting lightning at enemies.  Luigi would also be able to make friends that would help him on his journey.  Once Luigi's trust with a village is completely full, Luigi will be able to command his friends into helping him with certain tasks.  An example of this is to command his friend or friends to stand on a button to open a door so Luigi can advance to the next room.  The game would also be a free roaming game until eventually gaining access to Daisy's castle, which is where Tatanga is holding Daisy captive!  

 Well...that's it for Luigi's Cullination Royalty for this week!  Come back on Sunday to see who is the next person to wear the crown and get Royalty for a week!  Here's a hint...he was born on a Monday and died on a Saturday, or so he says!

By: Shawn

REMEMBER: HERE AT CULLINATION, WE ARE ALWAYS TAKING SUGGESTIONS BOTH POSITIVELY AND NEGATIVELY.  HAVE A REQUEST ABOUT THE ROYALTY SERIES OR POKE-FOCUS OR ANYTHING ELSE? LET US KNOW! SOUND OFF IN THE COMMENT SECTION OR WRITE A LITTLE NOTE ON OUR FACEBOOK OR TWITTER PAGE.  LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!  WE ARE...CULLINATION!

Poke-Focus #4: Arcanine

Introduction

Arcanine is yet another Pokemon we have mostly ignored until the physical/special split allowed it some firepower *cough* from its high Attack stat. Now, this Chinese-fire-tiger-dog finally has its time to shine. It always had good stats; it's the Pokemon with the highest base stat total aside from legendaries and the 600-total pseudo-legendaries. And, its Special Attack is nothing to scoff at, so special and mixed movesets are still an option. It has two great abilities, too. Its moveset grew quite a bit, and it's still a great user of ExtremeSpeed, which it was the first Pokemon to get way back in Gold and Silver. Overall, it's a great Pokemon worth using.

Training

Once Growlithe evolves into Arcanine, there is no turning back, so make sure Growlithe has learned everything it needs to know before using the Fire Stone. Some possible markers include: Flamethrower at Lv. 34, Crunch at Lv. 42, Heat Wave at Lv. 45, and Flare Blitz at Lv. 48.

Stats

90 HP, 110 Atk, 80 Def, 100 SpA, 80 SpD, 95 Spe


These stats are great. Solid power and solid bulk allow Arcanine to function both as a straight-up sweeper and as a bulky sweeper.

Abilities

Arcanine has two great abilities to choose from. Flash Fire is always fun: it gives Arcanine a Fire immunity, and if you get the switch, you can then proceed to tear through the opponents with your attacks. It's great for sweeper variants.

On the other hand, Intimidate is one of the best abilities, period. Being able to drop the opponent's Attack power instantly is amazing, and works well with Arcanine's decent bulk; in particular, bulky variants of Arcanine will want this ability.

Moves

Starting with Arcanine's Fire attacks, its new Flare Blitz will be the strongest attack it has against foes. It does come with that 1/3-damage recoil, though, so watch out. Arcanine has decent enough Special Attack to make use of the standard Special options, Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Heat Wave, and Overheat.

For other physical options, let's start with Arcanine's previous signature move of old times, ExtremeSpeed. The move is still great as (tied for) the strongest priority move in the game, and easily picks off weakened foes. Other physical options for coverage are Thunder Fang, Iron Head, and Crunch.

Other Special options are typically limited to Dragon Pulse (which actually works well with Arcanine's fire attacks, only having trouble with Heatran) and Hidden Power. SolarBeam is a specific option open to Arcanine on Sunny Day teams. Arcanine has a fair amount of bulk as he is, which means the fact that he can heal himself with Morning Sun can make him even harder to take down.

Status is something else Arcanine can do, and he does it with Will-o-Wisp and Toxic. When looking to shuffle things around, Roar is readily available for Arcanine's use. Arcanine can either expect Sunny Day support, or set it up himself. Sunny Day also works in increasing the healing from Morning Sun.

Effective Movesets

1. Morning Glory

- Morning Sun

- Flare Blitz

- ExtremeSpeed

- Will-o-Wisp/Toxic/SolarBeam

Ability: Intimidate

Notes: This bulkier Arcanine dishes out damage and can take it, too. Use with sunlight support for maximum effect.

2. Physical Choice

- Flare Blitz

- ExtremeSpeed

- Thunder Fang

- Iron Head/Crunch

Item: Choice Band/Choice Scarf

3. Special Choice

- Flamethrower/Fire Blast

- Dragon Pulse

- Overheat

- ExtremeSpeed

Item: Choice Specs/Choice Scarf

4. Bulky Special Status Shuffler

- Flamethrower/Fire Blast

- Dragon Pulse

- Will-o-Wisp

- Roar

Ability: Intimidate

5. Sunny Day

- Sunny Day

- Flamethrower/Flare Blitz

- SolarBeam

- Morning Sun

Item: Heat Rock

Note: Arcanine can either abuse Sunny Day himself or provide it as support to teammates. If the latter, Heat Rock works well in tandem with Intimidate, which allows it to switch in more often to wreak its havoc. Flash Fire, on the other hand, gives a ridiculous x3.375 power boost to Fire-type moves with STAB, the Sunny Day boost, and the Flash Fire boost, making it a good option for a stand-alone Sunny Day abuser.

Closing Notes

With great all-around stats and (finally) access to powerful moves on both physical and special accounts, Arcanine is now quite a threat to deal with. Have fun with the canine of legend.

Cullination Royalty: Luigi Part 2

WELCOME TO PART 2 OF CULLINATION ROYALTY OF LUIGI!

Part 2: Why should you love him?

The real question here is why should people NOT love Luigi?  He is the taller and quirkier version of Mario.  

 

Luigi starred in his own game in 2001 called Luigi's Mansion.  The game got high reviews from different critics including Game Informer giving it a 9 out of 10 and Nintendo Power giving it a score of 4 out of 5.  The success of Luigi's Mansion led to a soon to be released Luigi's Mansion 2.  In addition to that, the game has been a stage in others games such as Mario Kart: Double Dash, Mario Kart 7, Mario Power Tennis, Mario Kart DS, Mario Hoops 3-on-3, Mario Super Sluggers, Mario Sports Mix, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Luigi has been by his brother's side in a few games too like all three of the Mario & Luigi series for handheld consoles, all of which are very popular games and some of my personal favorites.  

Luigi isn't just popular with fans, but also with the ladies.  Luigi has a love interest with Princess Daisy, the princess of Sarasaland.

If you ask me, I like Daisy a lot better than I do Peach.  Peach seems like a whiny, rich, blonde girl that seeks attention.  Surely someone who gets kidnapped as much as she does seeks attention.  And, she must be so annoying to Mario that Peach wasn't even his first choice.  It was Pauline (from the original Donkey Kong games).  Peach probably (being the annoying girl she is) annoyed Mario so much, he finally caved.  Plus I really believe Mario just uses her for her looks.  If he didn't, why would he go to six other worlds to avoid her? Wouldn't he just go to the last world?  Daisy on the other hand, is kind-hearted.  Luigi, in my opinion, got the better end of the deal than his brother Mario, did.  

Therefore, why wouldn't anyone not love Luigi?  He is a lot more entertaining than his brother.  Though he gets scared easier than Mario does, it's all part of being entertaining because Mario is too boring of a character.  Mario can stomp all the Goombas he wants, collect all the 1 up's he can get, beat Bowser more times than he can count, but he will never be better than Luigi.

COME BACK ON FRIDAY AS LUIGI'S CULLINATION ROYALTY CONTINUES...

By: Shawn

Cullination Royalty: Luigi

That's right!  The very first character to be featured on Cullination Royalty is none other than the king of being underrated and underappreciated... Luigi!

               PART 1: QUICK OVERVIEW OF CHARACTER.




Name: Luigi
First Game: Mario Bros. (1983)

Luigi has always been just a shadow of his older brother, Mario.  While Mario is usually off trying to save Princess Peach from Bowser, Luigi is....some place else that no one knows.  He occasionally makes small appearances in games like Super Mario Galaxy and Paper Mario.  He also makes appearances in the sport and party franchises of the Mario series, but sadly it's not enough.

Whenever I play the Flash Mario Bros. game online, I always choose to play as Luigi.  Why? Because he's awesome.  Luigi is usually portrayed as a speedier version of Mario and sometimes even a higher jumper.  Though him being afraid of ghosts and a lot of other things doesn't exactly help his credit, I believe Luigi should be portrayed a lot more often than he is.

In 2001, Nintendo finally gave him his own game.  Luigi's Mansion was a fun game, in which Luigi had to save Mario for once!  The success of Luigi's Mansion lead to a near future sequel (though took ten years to even announce the sequel).  

Luigi is usually considered a "side kick" to his brother, Mario.  This must change!  He is a free man!

Free man...get it?....Any body?...No...okay

Come back Tuesday for Part 2 as Luigi's Cullination Royalty continues...

By: Shawn

POKEMON COLOSSEUM REVIEW

In 1998 it didn't matter what your gaming preference was because you just had to catch 'em all. Grown men with tattoos and a gaming collection of nothing but T and M-rated games were compelled to buy a Game Boy and go on a journey through Red or Blue. The hype is what got everyone's attention, but when it came time to sit down and play the game, people found that it was so much more than a kiddie quest. It was a real role-playing game with a massive quest. And, even though it was a bit easier than the other RPGs released at the time, it was anything but easy to catch all 151 Pokemon.Once the Pokemon craze hit the States (it was booming in Japan a couple years prior), Nintendo knew it was time to make the big push. Besides the Game Boy Color sequel (Gold and Silver), and the remixed game (Yellow), Pokemon landed on Nintendo 64 in two forms: photography and stadium battles.


Pokemon Snap was a crazy idea (the only goal is to take pictures of Pokemon in their natural habitat), but it turned out to be a really fun, unique game.

Pokemon Stadium wasn't quite what I had hoped for though. I wanted a full-fledged role-playing quest for N64, one that could compete with the best Playstation RPGs. But all I got was a 3D battle mode. Fun here and there, but it couldn't keep me playing late into the night like the other Pokemon games could.

Finally, the wait for that desired Pokemon game is over. Everything that Stadium didn't have can be found in Pokemon Colosseum: new worlds, new items, new adversaries, and an all-new journey for you to embark on.

This time you won't be playing as Ash. You can enter your own name just as before (I generally call the main character "RehAsh," but this time you're not playing as an Ash clone), or choose one of the three pre-sets. You won't be catching Pokemon either (SAY WHAT?!?!). Catching Pokemon is the old way to build your collection. In Pokemon Colosseum, you snag them. Snagging as in "stealing." In the Robin Hood sense -- take from those who are evil, and give to those who are not (like yourself). Also different: you begin the game with two powerful Pokemon, Espeon and Umbreon. These Pokemon will rip the first few enemies to shreds. They'll also crush other trainers' Pokemon. What do you do with all this strength? Enjoy it while it lasts, and prepare for the more difficult battles.

It's cool to see the Pokemon universe come to life for the first time. Each town is packed with a decent amount of polygons, and many of them have exquisite architecture. Being able to explore these worlds in full-3D...it took me back to the good old days (circa 1996), a time when RPGs were just beginning to enter the third dimension. Battles take place on a separate field in Colosseum. When you encounter someone who's evil, or get challenged by another trainer, the picture fades to black, transporting your characters to the battle arena. The arena is different depending on where you are in the game, just as it would be in any other RPG.

The Pokemon themselves have a fairly simplistic design, just as they did on Game Boy and on the cartoon. Animations are brief but impressive; each attack move is more elaborate and more extravagant on the 'Cube.  If it was represented in the previous games, it's represented here and in its most appealing form yet.

Controlling the main character through the game is about as simple as an RPG can be. The thumbstick moves him around, the X and Y buttons access your menu screen, and the A button is used to select Pokemon, choose an attack, initiate conversation, etc.

Colosseum's sound effects will instantly take you back to the first time you played Red or Blue. Have your Pokemon healed at the healing station for one of the game's most recognizable jingles.

Colosseum's soundtrack is a great surprise. Many of the songs are new and have more depth than any of the songs from the previous Pokemon games. Some of your old favorites have returned as well, making this soundtrack a complete package that's worth listening to.

SCORING


Gameplay: 8.5 Snag Pokemon, raise their stats, explore the world, search for secrets, and have loads of fun every step of the way. Pokemon Colosseum takes the gameplay of Stadium (in which you and a friend or a computer-controlled opponent battle) to a whole new level by adding an entirely new single-player quest. You can't deny yourself the urge to play it – if you loved Red/Blue, Gold/Silver, and/or Ruby/Sapphire, then you must buy this game. I have friends who purchased a Game Boy Advance SP primarily for Pokemon. I don't know that they'd buy a GameCube for Colosseum, but they should. It's worth it.


Graphics: 8.5 Pokemon Colosseum is one of the best-looking RPGs available for GameCube.


Audio: 9.2 Familiar sound effects and a collection of new songs make this game impossible to play with the sound off.

Difficulty: 8 The Pokemon series is still a little too easy...though the seemingly ridiculous catch rate for some of the shadow Pokemon in this game is enough to make you yell at the TV just a little.

Controls: 9.5 Very easy to handle and master. Little to no confusion, mostly as simple as the handheld games.


Concept/Gameplay: 8 The next evolution of Pokemon. Everything you could have hoped for is here. The only thing missing is a Final Fantasy-style world map that connects each city (Colosseum uses a flat, point-and-click map for navigation).


Multiplayer/Miscellaneous: 7.3 Like all Pokemon games, the best part is catching (or snagging) the Pokemon. It's fun to battle with friends, but not for several hours at a time. (FYI: "several hours" is the amount of time you'll spend playing the single-player quest every time you sit in front of your TV.)


Overall: 8.5


Pokemon Colosseum is a true sequel to the Game Boy Advance games. It could be considered a side-story, but the gameplay is a continuation of Ruby and Sapphire. It's got almost everything I wanted a 3D Pokemon game to have – classic, addictive gameplay, good graphics, an excellent soundtrack, and decent length. It also has something you can't find in today's RPGs: replay value.

Poke-Focus #3: Tyranitar

Introduction
Tyranitar is the pseudo-legendary Pokemon of 2nd Gen, and it remains one of the game's most powerful non-legendary Pokemon. In fact, it arguably only got better in 4th Gen, thanks to having a new, powerful physical Rock move, Crunch going physical and now working off its high Attack, and Sandstorm giving the Rock-type a 1.5x boost to Special Defense. This Pokemon is simply a beast, and can easily become one of the most threatening Pokemon on a team.

Capture/Training
The only place to catch Larvitar in the original Gold/Silver was way into the late-game, in Mount Silver. The same is more or less true in HG/SS, though they also appear in the Safari Zone (although about as rare and likely more difficult to catch; a 45 catch rate isn't exactly easy to deal with). So yeah, don't expect to get a Tyranitar for a while... unless you trade one over from Diamond.

With a 5% appearance rate, they're not exactly common, either. Probably best to catch one and deal with the nature you have, since even if you get stuck with a Modest or Timid one, a special-attacking Tyranitar is plenty viable.

Larvitar evolves into Pupitar at Lv. 30, then to Tyranitar at Lv. 55; yeah, it evolves very late. Partially because of such late evolutions, delaying these evolutions is wholly unnecessary; Pupitar learns its last important move, Stone Edge, one level before it evolves.

Statistics
100 HP, 134 Atk, 110 Def, 95 Sp. Atk, 100 Sp. Def, 61 Spd

Yeah, absolutely monstrous stats. That 134 Attack is killer, and remember that that already-above-average 100 Special Defense only gets kicked up a notch by the Sandstorm Shield. 95 Special Attack is hardly a slouch, either, and makes Tyranitar capable of fighting on the Special end, as well. Speed is the only weak stat, and even that can be fixed thanks to Dragon Dance, if necessary.

Stat distribution can go any of many ways. Have a Tyranitar that just isn't up to snuff with its physical prowess? Make it a surprise Special Attacker. Have an unusually fast Tyranitar? Use Dragon Dance or a Choice Scarf and watch it outrun most of the competition. All things considered, there really isn't such a thing as a "bad" nature for Tyranitar. Along the same lines, there is no such thing as a single EV set for it, either.

Abilities

Sand Stream is Tyranitar's only ability. It creates a sandstorm of indefinite length. At this point, it's probably a good idea to note exactly how a Sandstorm works, what are its benefits, and what are its disadvantages.

Sandstorm inflicts 1/16 of total HP in damage to any non-Rock, Ground, Steel, Sand Veil, or Magic Guard Pokemon, including your teammates. This can really wear down your opponents, but on the flip side, it just as easily can wear down your own Pokemon. It should be noted that, with Leftovers, the Sandstorm damage will be canceled out, unless the Pokemon is on its last 1/16th of health, since the Sandstorm damage will hit first and knock it out. Building your own team around Sandstorm likely includes having a couple extra Sandstorm-immune Pokemon (perhaps another Rock-type), having Pokemon that can more or less weather the storm, or having Pokemon who can replace the weather with something else.

Sandstorm also increases the Special Defense of any Rock-type by 1.5x. This is both a blessing and a curse; while Tyranitar and your other Rock-types will enjoy the protection, enemy Rock-types will only become that much harder to take down.

Finally, Sandstorm cuts the power of Solarbeam in half, and makes Synthesis, Morning Sun, and Moonlight restore only 1/4 HP. If you have Pokemon who rely on these moves, it's best to have someone who can replace the weather with sunlight. That, or just don't rely on those moves.

Moves
Primary Physical attacks? Stone Edge and Crunch, of course. Both hit hard and will be among your primary ways of dealing damage. Payback is an alternative Dark option if you don't mind Tyranitar eating an attack first (and it likely won't mind). On the Special side, Dark Pulse is an option, and a plenty viable one as Tyranitar does have a passable Special Attack stat. If you really want a special Rock attack, you'll probably have to make do with Ancientpower.

Tyranitar has a number of other great physical attacks with which to assail enemies. Earthquake is a classic, and as a bonus, Tyranitar learns it leveling up. Through Move Tutors, Tyranitar has access to a number of other great moves. First, it can learn the full punch-trifecta of Fire Punch, Ice Punch, and ThunderPunch. Fire Punch is particularly good at smacking Steel-types around, while Ice Punch badly wounds a large number of Pokemon. That said, Tyranitar also has access to one particularly killer move for it: Aqua Tail. This move really hurts any Ground-types that run up against it, and also nicely disposes of Rock-types trying to take advantage of the Sand-shield. Superpower is another high-powered attack that can be used to take out a large number of Pokemon; it's not particularly suited to multiple attacks, though. Focus Punch is another Fighting option, and works best if you have a Substitute up (creating the famous TyraniBoah set). For some lesser options, Aerial Ace takes down Heracross and Breloom, while Brick Break can help if you're facing a screen-user.

Tyranitar has a great selection of special attacks at its disposal. It learns the trifecta of Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, and Flamethrower, all three of which are useful in different situations. Flamethrower can be replaced with Fire Blast for a harder-hitting Fire attack. And to make the trifecta a superfecta, there's also Surf. If you want a Ground-type attack not named Earthquake, there's Earth Power.

Pursuit is a more specialized and useful attack for Tyranitar switching in on Psychics and Ghosts: if they try to run, they'll get hit with a move of the same power as Crunch, essentially making it so they can't run. Watch out for Focus Blasters, though. Counter can give physical attackers a very nasty surprise.

Now for the various support options Tyranitar has. As a primarily offensive Pokemon, Tyranitar should focus on those support moves that directly support its offensive purposes. A great example of such a move is Dragon Dance, which simultaneously makes Tyranitar's attacks that much deadlier and helps remedy its low Speed problem. A fearful sight indeed. Curse goes the other way, by making Tyranitar's speed worse, but in exchange making it harder to take down while making it a more fearsome physical threat. If you just want to boost speed, Rock Polish works for that purpose.

As mentioned before, Substitute works well with Focus Punch. Then again, all things considered, Substitute works well in general. As a side note, giving Tyranitar max HP EVs with max-HP IVs will result in 404 HP, and hence 101 HP Substitutes that can't be broken by Seismic Toss. A Rest-Sleep Talk combo is viable, too. Stealth Rock has its use, too, especially if Tyranitar is your lead-off.

Moveset 1: TyraniBoah
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- Dark Pulse/Crunch
- (secondary special attack)

This moveset was apparently the bane of 3rd Gen battling, to the point where it got its own name. Apparently, the theory was that it would counter many of the bigger threats in the game, between Focus Punch, the Dark-type attack, and the chosen special attack. This is an example of an effective mixed-attacking Tyranitar, and for full effect requires a healthy amount of attention to its Special Attack stat, while not ignoring Attack, either. Max HP is really key, though, to creating those Substitutes.

Moveset 2: Choice Specs?
- Dark Pulse
- (secondary special attack)
- (secondary special attack)
- Superpower/(secondary special attack)

A Choice Specs Tyranitar is a special sort of gimmick Tyranitar that will surprise many that try to counter it. Flamethrower is a good special attack choice for taking down unsuspecting Steel-types, while Surf and Ice Beam work well against Ground-types. If a certain Blissey tries to ruin your fun... well, Superpower might give it a surprise. Oh, and why the question mark? Because you can try something really sneaky and use an Expert Belt instead. Bluff the Choice item, then when your opponent tries to send in a counter, surprise 'em with a different attack!

General Moveset
- Stone Edge
- (primary Dark attack)
- (secondary attack)
- (secondary attack)/(support move)

As usual, four attacks invites a Choice set. Mixing physical and special attacks is certainly an option here. Pick a good set of offensive moves and you're good to go.

Items

Leftovers and Life Orb remain classics. Choice Items are always good on the four-attack sets. Expert Belt can be used well, considering the nice type coverage offered by a good selection of attacks, and can be used to bluff a Choice item and surprise an enemy. A more specific option is the Babiri Berry, used to weaken a super-effective Steel attack, and used if you're worried about Scizor's Bullet Punch.

Effective Movesets

1. Choice

- Stone Edge

- Crunch

- Pursuit

- Earthquake

Item: Choice Scarf/Choice Band

Note: Say hello to the ultimate Psychic/Ghost destroyer. Pursuit essentially ensures they won't escape certain defeat. It works better in human battles where switch-outs are more common, though. If only used in-game, Aqua Tail is a fine replacement.

2. Dragon Dance

- Dragon Dance

- Stone Edge

- Crunch

- Earthquake/Fire Punch/Aqua Tail

3. TyraniBoah

- Substitute

- Focus Punch

- Dark Pulse

- Flamethrower/Ice Beam/Thunderbolt

4. CurseTar

- Curse

- Payback

- Stone Edge

- Rest

5. MixTar

- Stone Edge

- Crunch/Dark Pulse

- Flamethrower/Ice Beam

- Thunderbolt

Tyranitar is no lightweight in any sense of the word. Though it takes massive amounts of training to train him up, it's even more difficult to be disappointed with what he has to offer.

Who Will Be The First To Wear The Crown?

A NEW SERIES IS COMING RIGHT HERE ON CULLINATION! An article that describes a video game character that doesn't get as much "love" as they should.  We're talking not necessarily characters that are unknown (although some could be),  just characters that are underappreciated and underrated.  This series will be weekly with three parts each week.  After the week where we give that character "royalty" is over, we change to a new character.  The parts are as follows:

SUNDAY: A quick over view of the character.
TUESDAY: Why people should love them!
FRIDAY: Suggestions or a "wish list" describing how people could love them more.  For an example, I'll give an idea of a possible game they should be in or a story line/plot that would truly make people remember them.

SO, check back here on Cullination on Sunday to see who the first character is to get featured and "wear the crown".  I'll give you a hint...it's the king of being underrated!

By: Shawn

Every Starter From Kanto to Unova: How Good Are They?

When you start your journey on any Pokemon adventure what do you need? An annoying so called scientist or professor telling you how to play, though you've done it a hundred times? A rival or a few rivals? Pokeballs? No...what you need is a starter Pokemon.  For many people a starter Pokemon isn't just a virtual creature that you tell what to do.  It's more of a friend.  Everyone has a very special place for at least one starter Pokemon somewhere in their heart.  It could be because it was their first Pokemon ever or just because they are absolutely bad ass.  Whatever the case maybe, starter Pokemon for most are special and it changes lives (not really). Lets start from the beginning....the world of Kanto.

Everyone adores the starters from the Kanto region.  They are the very first starters ever created and all three of them are very good.

SQUIRTLE: The blue turtle on the left side of that picture above.  Squirtle evolves into Wartortle on Lv.16 and then Blastoise on Lv.36.  Squirtle is a pure water type throughout all three of his evolutions, which makes him weak against electric type attacks and also grass.  He is also resistant against Fire, Ice, Steel, and Water. His moveset (used from Black and White) are pretty good.  He learns mostly water based moves with a few others mixed in there like Bite, Skull Bash, and Rapid Spin.  Most of the water moves he learns are pretty powerful once you get towards the end of training him.  He learns moves like Water Pulse, Aqua Tail, and Hydro Pump.  In addition he learns quite a few of TM/HM's as well.  A few of those being like Ice Beam, Brick Break, Focus Blast, Earthquake, Strength, and all three of the water HM moves like Surf, Waterfall, and Dive.  His stats are also pretty balanced.  With high Special Defense and Defense have fun trying to defeat one.  His Attack and Special Attack are decent, nothing too bad.  But he lacks in Speed and HP.  Overall analysis: Squirtle is a very good choice for any trainer.

BULBASAUR: The green dog thing with a flower on its back and in the center of the picture above.  In my opinion, Bulbasaur is very underrated.  I really like Bulbasaur and most people are too scared to try him out and they end up falling for Blastoise's two cannons coming out of his shell or Charizard's badassery.  I really enjoy training a Bulbasaur and I believe he is one of the best starters.  He is a grass/poison type Pokemon.  Evolving into Ivysaur at Lv.16 and Venusaur at Lv.32.  He is weak against Fire, Flying, Ice, and Psychic.  He's resistant against electric, fighting, grass, and water types.  His moveset isn't the best until you evolve him into Venusaur.  He learns moves like Razor Leaf, Petal Dance, Solarbeam, and it's a good idea to teach him Synthesis as well because it heals him.  One combination I loved doing with him was teaching him leech seed and poison powder and use them both on an opponent.  Each turn that goes by, your opponent loses health from leech seed, which gives you some health as well, then they lose more health from poisonpowder.  I found this combo to be very effective most of the time. As far as his stats goes, just like Blastoise, they are actually pretty balanced.  His Speed is pretty low, but still better than Blastoise.  He has high Special Attack and Special Defense.

CHARMANDER: The orange creature on the far right in the picture above.  He evolves into Charmeleon at Lv.16 and then Charizard at Lv.36.  A pure fire type being weak against rock, ground, and water. And resistant against bug, fire, and grass.  However, when he evolves into Charizard, he becomes a fire/flying type making him weak against water, electric, and doubly against rock.  And is resistant against bug, fighting, fire, and grass, and steel.  He learns powerful fire attacks such as flamethrower, inferno, heat wave, and flare blitz.  Though he is sort of lacking in HP and Defense stats, his Special Attack is impressive.

Well that's it for the Kanto starters.  Now lets move on to Johto...

TOTODILE: The blue alligator on the far right in the picture above.  Totodile is a pure water type Pokemon being weak against electric and grass.  His resistances are fire, ice, steel, and water.  He evolves into Croconaw at Lv.18 and Feraligatr at Lv.30.  Totodile learns only a few water moves.  Those being water gun, aqua tail, and hydro pump.  In his final form, he can learn Superpower, a very powerful fighting type move.  Overall, his moveset pool is decent.  However, you could teach him quite a few TM/HM's such as blizzard, scald, dive, waterfall, earthquake, and even shadowclaw, just to name a few.  He has very high Attack and Defense.  His Special Attack and Speed however is lacking.

CHIKORITA: The green thing with a leaf coming out of its head on the far left in the picture above.  Chikorita is a pure grass type making him weak against bug, fire, flying, ice, and poison.  He is resistant against electric, grass, ground, and water.  He evolves into Bayleef at Lv.16 and Meganium at Lv.32.  The moves that Chikorita learns aren't very good at all.  The strongest grass move is Solarbeam and then the second strongest is Magical Leaf, which is kind of sad. If you evolve him into Meganium he also learns Petal Dance though, which is a strong grass move. However, he also learns Body Slam, which in term of power, is a decent move. Make sure he learns Aromatherapy, which heals all status problems in your party.  Even the TM/HM's that Chikorita learns aren't very good.  So if you want a starter with good moves, do not go with Chikorita.  Meganium's stats are pretty balanced with pretty good Defense and Special Defense.

CYNDAQUIL: The fire dog thing in the center of the picture above.  Cyndaquil is one of my favorite starters in all of the games!  He is a pure fire type being weak against rock, ground, and water.  Resistant against bug, fire, grass, ice, and steel.  He evolves into Quilava at Lv.14 and Typhlosion at Lv.36.  He learns a bunch of fire type moves, all of which are just decent on the power scale.  The strongest move being inferno.  However, he can learn TM's like fire blast and overheat. He has very high Special Attack and pretty high Speed stats.  However, his HP and Defense are kind of lacking.  

That's it for Johto...Now Hoenn starters.

  

MUDKIP: The blue thing on the far right in the picture above.  Mudkip is a pure water type making him weak against grass, and electric and resistant against fire, ice, steel, and water.  However, when he evolves into Marshtomp at Lv. 16, he turns into a water/ground type making him weak only against grass type, but it's doubly effective.  Marshtomp is resistant against fire, poison, rock, and steel.  He is immune against electric based attacks.  Marshtomp evolves into Swampert at Lv.36.  He learns more ground type moves than he does water moves.  The only water moves he learns is water gun and muddy water.  He does, however, learn earthquake and hammer arm, a powerful fighting type move.  He does learn all three water HM moves like surf, waterfall, and dive, and can learn ice moves as well.  His stats are very balanced and some of the best of the starters in all of the games.  The only bad stat he has is Speed, making him one of the slowest starters.

TREECKO:  The green lizard in the center in the picture above.  Treecko evolves into Grovyle at Lv.16 and then at Lv.36 evolves into Sceptile.  Treecko is a pure grass type throughout all of its evolutions.  He is weak against bug, fire, flying, ice, and poison types and is resistant against electric, grass, ground, and water.  Sceptile only learns three grass type moves including absorb, leaf blade, and leaf storm, which isn't too bad considering that only one of those three isn't powerful, being absorb.  He also learns x-scissor, which is a decent bug type move.  You can also teach him solarbeam with a TM.  He is extremely quick, making him the highest Speed stat out of all the starters.  His other stats are decent, however having poor HP and even lower Defense stats.

TORCHIC: The orange chicken on the far left in the picture above.  A pure fire type being weak against ground, rock, and water.  His resistances are bug, fire, grass, ice, and steel.  However, when he evolves into Combusken at Lv.16 he turns into a fire/fighting type.  That change makes him weak against flying, ground, psychic, and water and resistant against bug, dark, fire, grass, ice, and steel.  Blaziken learns only a few good fire type moves, which are blaze kick and flare blitz.  The strongest fighting type move he learns is sky uppercut.  He also learns brave bird, which is a very powerful flying type move but unfortunately does damage to itself as well.  He has very high Attack stats and is lacking in Defense and Special Defense.

More than half way there. Time for Sinnoh starters.

 

PIPLUP: The blue penguin on the far right in the picture above.  Piplup is a pure water type being weak against electric, and grass.  And is resistant against fire, ice, steel, and water.  Piplup evolves at Lv.16 into a Prinplup. However, upon evolving once more at Lv. 36, he becomes the water/steel type Empoleon. When this happens he is weak against electric, fighting, and ground.  He is resistant against bug, dark, dragon, flying, ghost, ice, normal, psychic, rock, steel, and water.  He is also immune to poison type moves.  He learns a pretty good amount of water moves, unfortunately the only one that is good is hydropump.  In addition to that, the only steel move he learns is metal claw, though flash cannon may be taught via TM.  So overall, is moves are not very good.  However, he can learn all three water HM moves, which includes surf, waterfall, and dive.  As far as his stats go, he is pretty balanced with his Special Attack being very high and his speed being very low.

TURTWIG: The turtle with the leaf on its head on the far left in the picture above.  Turtwig is a pure grass type until he evolves into Grotle at Lv.18, in which he becomes a ground type as well.  Grotle evolves into Torterra at Lv.32 and is weak against bug, fire, flying, ice, and poison.  He is resistant against ground and rock and is completely immune to electric.  He learns mostly all grass type moves, strongest being Leaf Storm.  He also learns earthquake by himself.  He has high Attack and Defense stats.  However, low Special Attack and very low speed.

CHIMCHAR: The red monkey in the center in the picture above.  Chimchar is a pure fire type being weak against ground, rock, and water.  When he evolves into Monferno at Lv.14 he turns into a fire/fighting type being weak against flying, water, ground, and psychic and resistant against bug, dark, fire, grass, ice, and steel.  Chimchar's final evolution, Infernape at Lv.36, only learns one good fire attack worth mentioning.  That being flare blitz.  If it wasn't for close combat, Infernape only would learn one good move.  Although, you could teach him TM/HM's like earthquake, stone edge, poison jab, strength, and rock climb.  At least what he lacks in moves, he makes up for in his stats.  Having high Attack, Special Attack, and Speed.  His other stats are average.

One more region to go...Unova.

 

OSHAWOTT:  The blue otter on the far right side of the picture above.  Oshawott is a pure water type throughout all of its evolutions.  This makes him weak against electric and grass and resistant against fire, ice, steel, and water types.  Oshawott evolves into Dewott at Lv.17 and Samurott at Lv.36.  He learns decent water moves along with Aqua Tail and Hydropump being strong water moves.  The only other moderately strong move he learns is slash.  However, he can learn quite a few of useful TM/Hm's move such as surf, waterfall, dive, and scald.  He has very high Special Attack and pretty high Attack stats.  Although, his Speed and Special Defense are not very good at all.

SNIVY: The green snake thing on the far left in the picture above.  Snivy is a pure grass type throughout all of its evolutions.  He is weak against bug, fire, flying, ice, and poison.  He is resistant against electric, grass, ground, and water.  Snivy evolves into Servine at Lv.17 and then at Lv.36 into Serperior.  Serperior learns decent grass type moves.  Like Leaf Blade and Giga Drain and he learns a powerful grass type move being Leaf Storm.  His stats are balanced for the most part.  Having high Speed stat but low HP and Attack stats.

TEPIG: The red pig in the center in the picture above.  A pure fire type until he evolves into Pignite at Lv.17.  That makes him weak against flying, ground, psychic, and water.  He is also resistant against bug, dark, fire, grass, ice, and steel.  In his final form, Emboar at Lv.36, He learns only two good fire attacks, which are Flamethrower and Flare Blitz.  And for being a fighting type, he only learns one and it's Arm Thrust, which isn't very good.  Though he could learn more with TM/HM's like Fire Blast and Overheat and he can even learn Wild Charge, a powerful electric attack.  His stats are not very spectacular either.  Having very low Defense, Special Defense, and Speed.  However, he makes up for it with having very high Attack and pretty high Hp and Special Attack.

Okay, now that I explained each starter Pokemon, lets rank them.  15 being the weakest and 1 being the strongest.  The ranking is based on their overall base stats and the moves they learn on their own.  DISCLAIMER:THE FOLLOWING ARE OPINION BASED ONLY.  DO NOT GO BY MY CHOICES IF YOU ARE BEING HELD AT GUN POINT.

15.  EMBOAR

14. VENUSAUR

13. MEGANIUM

12. TORTERRA

11. SERPERIOR

10. SAMUROTT

9. EMPOLEON

8. INFERNAPE

7. FERALIGATR

6. SCEPTILE

5. BLASTOISE

4. BLAZIKEN

3. SWAMPERT

2. TYPHLOSION

1. CHARIZARD

By: Shawn