Pokéfest - Week 4

Day 26


Ok, so I am still in last place and I know what you're thinking but you can just stop right there alright! Put the thought away, stop pulling that face; I'm on it. It will be fine.

I currently have 3 badges but am close to my 4th having just arrived in Lavender Town - next stop Celadon City. I don't expect it to take long to get my 4th badge as I have spent most of my play time over the last week beating on Diglett's and Dugtrio's in the Diglett Cave which is a fantastic place for level grinding. I've added both species to my Pokédex so I am now showing 23 Pokémon caught. I predict a severe whooping for Erika at the Celadon gym - my current team is particularly handy at mowing (that's right I went there) down Grass type Pokémon.

Out in front this week is Ben with 8 badges collected, the Elite 4 beaten and 42 Pokémon caught. He's only added 9 Pokémon in the last week so I feel certain that he now has his team picked. Or at least has it down to 8 on rotation or something to this effect.

Jim and Dave are both right behind with 8 badges collected but the Elite 4 still waiting to be beaten. Jim I know is taking care to level up - Dave I believe is simply living a dream. Dave has so rapidly progressed to second place that he may well be on course to win the Championship!

The shock of the week is the stalled progress of the Pokéboss Richard. Apparently a boss no more. His stats remain 4 badges and 15 Pokémon. Now, it must be taken into account that he has sat and passed his driving test this week (congrats buddy) so I feel we can give him the benefit of the doubt - for now. His words are worryingly apathetic though; all we can do it hope for a return to form this coming week. With the progress of the top 3 his place as the number 1 seed is looking increasingly mis-judged.

And that is it statistically for this week. Movers and shakers all round as you can see - though being rooted to the bottom of the league I am definitely more shaker than mover.

Finally we come to our major announcement. There will be NO legendary birds used in the Pokéfest. The voting ran as 4 no's to 1 yes, Richard being the 1 in favour of them. In truth I was unmoved either way but the other 3 guys were adamant.

Incidentally, Poké-quote of the week goes to Spanish Dave. In response to whether he wanted the legendary birds to take part, he responded:

"I would not lower myself to using the birds or Mew Two, all of whom are essentially morally cheating."

Consider yourselves told morally cheating trainers of the world. Consider yourselves told.

Keep it Kanto! Keep it OMG!

Andy is confused.... Andy hurt himself in his confusion!

Pokéfest - Week 3

Day 18


Ok, so it looks as if people are starting to motor at this point in the Pokéfest with badges and Pokémon rolling in. All except me that is.

I'm currently hanging out back in last place with a paltry 2 badges and 21 Pokémon. The truth is that I have spent a good deal of the last week levelling up my Abra to a Kadabra and giggling at my mighty Jigglypuff taking on all comers; a little Jigglybeast if you will! At least I've now completed the SS Anne section and am ready to take on Lt Surge. I am getting there. However, the rest of the trainers are pulling away so I really must get a move on.

Out front we have Jim who currently has 6 badges and 50 Pokémon. Jim is what can only be described as a hardcore trainer. He recently relayed to me a story of how he gets so into playing the game that he shouts, jumps, and on one occasion ripped the power supply out of his Game Boy Colour, thus shutting it off by mistake and losing his unsaved progress. He lives on the Poké-edge! To such extremes has he taken his playing that whilst talking to Jim via a certain social media website chat function I realised that he had gone oddly quiet. Jim was not responding to my posts and questions. Where could Jim possibly be? Asleep, thats where! With his Game Boy on his face; still turned on. An extreme trainer if ever there was one.

In second we have Ben who also currently holds 6 badges but just 33 Pokémon. I have heard less from Ben but just judging by his figures I guess he has a pretty settled team at this point and is probably levelling up pre push for the Elite 4.

Talking of settled teams we have the quietly confident Pokéboss Richard. Currently with 4 badges and just 15 (!!!) Pokémon. That figure reeks of a trainer who is handpicking his catches and team as he goes. It also screams that he has some high level 'mon in his possession to make it through the gyms presumably whilst facing type disadvantages.

Finally we have our final late starter Spanish Dave. I would love to give you his figures but quite simply he hasn't told me them. I had a brief text message conversation with him over the weekend as I asked him if he had watched the rugby, and I quote his response - 'No - am stuck in Pokémon i cant escape!'

This seems to confirm our worst fear that he has in fact locked himself in his room and is living his life only in Kanto. It's a shame. He is a nice boy. We all liked him.

And so we just have one final announcement to make and that is that we are considering having a special prize for whoever catches the most Pokémon before the Tournament on June 4th. We are also currently debating whether to allow the use of the legendary birds. I think I am leaning to say no. Jim says no. Richard says yes. We will need to see what Ben and Spanish make of it. Hopefully in time to announce in the next update.

Also in the next update we will be bringing you a list of the starters that each trainer chose.

These are indeed exciting times!

Keep it Kanto! Keep it OMG!

Pokéfest - Week 2

Day 12

Ok, so here we are. Pokéfest 2012 enters it's second week and the competition is starting to heat up like a Charmander on curry night.

So far the results that have rolled in have surprised me, completely back to front to what I imagined as they are. To give the statistics:

In the lead we have Jim 'the Brady' Sullivan who has picked himself up 6 badges as well as having 43 Pokémon entries in his Pokédex. Jim has been the real surprise of the first week and has made use of his profession as a 'government sponsored rock climber' (unemployed) to full effect, putting us more experienced (older), professional (employed) gamers to shame. There is still time to set this record straight though and I am personally unconcerned. For now.

I am currently languishing in 3rd place with 2 badges and 19 Pokémon in the Pokédex. Having made a rapid start to my journey I have since become distracted; mainly by trying to catch an Abra which took me two days. That's two days wandering around the same 5x2 patch of grass on Route 25! Still, I am mighty pleased with my catch. I feel he will be of some use later on...

In 2nd place is Ben 'the Fox in the Box' Jefferies. He's rocking 3 badges and 30 Pokémon caught. This high catch to badge ratio suggests to me that Ben may be a particularly thorough trainer, literally out to catch them all. Perhaps a wildly varied team may be unleashed come June.

In 4th place is the Pokéboss Richard. His game only arrived a week ago today (Day 4) and was initially not working but - as if to prove his boss skills - he swapped out the save battery and replaced it. Then, inexplicably, proceeded to put down his Pokémon Red cart onto his bedside table and instead booted up Soul Silver on his DS grinning to himself quite wildly. Jim is calling this a bluff, an attempt to create a false sense of security. I'm not so sure. I'm completely baffled by his actions in fact. But still, he remains my number 1 seed for the tournament. He is a boss after all.

And finally, bah bah bah baaah! Spanish Dave has joined the party. He has borrowed an old Game Boy Pocket from the Pokéboss and is probably completely immersed in his new copy of Blue (it arrived yesterday) as we speak. I say probably as he isn't responding to texts or calls so we can only assume that he is locked in his room trapped in an all too involved battle with Team Rocket. We aren't too worried yet, but if he doesn't re-emerge with some witty rugby related comment soon then we will. Lots. We really hope to have heard from him for next weeks post.

So, as you can see, we've made varying levels of progress through the first week but one thing has been a common point of discussion and that is that, quite simply, these games are brilliant. I thoroughly expected to be awash with nostalgia but I feel that more than that, the games are actually fantastic. Perhaps it is to be expected of me as I am a self proclaimed lover of the retro - but - we are all in unison on this. Pokémon Red/Blue are as fresh today as they were , what?, 14 years ago. Sure they look a bit rubbish and if I'm completely honest Butterfrees' pixelated head makes me feel a bit sick (he kicks ass though) but we don't care. We're all having an awesome time with these games - again - and so should you.

Looking forward to next weeks post! Poké-effing-awesome!

Pokéfest 2012 getting underway

Day 3

As mentioned on OMG last week, to celebrate the much anticipated return of the internets moodiest gaming blog we at OMG will be hosting a Pokémon tournament.

The basic premise is simple enough; start a new game of Red/Blue on Saturday 31st March then train for 2 months before coming together on the 4th June for a round robin tournament.

There were due to be 6 players but that has been whittled down to 4 due to 'hardware difficulties'. In fact I feel I should clarify that statement. What I mean to say is that two of the players - Vikolai and Spanish Dave - have lost their Game Boy Colours. Their Game Boys are probably in perfect working condition, veritable super bricks that they are, it's just that they're in perfect working condition under a ton of other consoles and peripherals, broken xbox 360's, or perhaps just in the attic.

So that leaves four of us to do battle. Other than myself - andyedessa - we have Ben 'the fox in the box' Jefferies. A past Pokémaster experienced in all generations of Pokémon, he is expected to do well here. Then we have Richard 'marsbar' Evans who has been dubbed a Pokéboss due to his previous Pokémon Blue exploits. Back in what we call 'the day' Richard caught, fought and traded for all 151 Pokébeasts. Finally we have Jim 'the Brady' Sullivan. A man of unknown Pokétential, a dark horse if you will, it is impossible to write him off. After all, this is a man who claims to be able to throw and catch a hail mary pass to himself thus winning Superbowl 46 for the Patriots; if only he had played. Who can argue with that?

Myself, I have previously caught all 151 Pokémon on my cherished copy of Pokémon Red but alas, this has been stolen (along with my teal Game Boy Colour) and so a new copy was snaffled on ebay (along with my new teal Game Boy Colour).

And so on Saturday, three of us set to work. Richard is still awaiting his new copy of Red, unwilling to delete his 'caught them all' Blue save file. At this point it is early days and we all seem to have made similar Poképrogress:

Andy: 1 badge and 13 Pokémon caught.

Ben: 1 badge and 12 Pokémon caught.

Jim: 0 badges and 5 Pokémon caught.

Richard will be a late starter but as we have said, he is a Pokéboss.

And so for now that is it. Expect another update next Sunday/Monday. Things are about to get Pokécrazy!