Fifty-Fifty - Hoenn Pokémon Trivia Quiz

Answer: Treecko

The third starter is Mudkip, which looks like a mudskipper and evolves into Swampert, a Water/Ground type. Torchic, the adorable chick, becomes Blaziken, a Fire/Fighting Pokémon designed to look like a half-humanoid cockfighting rooster. Treecko, the arboreal gecko, is a Grass type, and stays that way when he evolves into Sceptile.

When the Hoenn starters were given Mega Evolutions (an "extra" evolution that reverts after battle), I guess they felt sorry for Sceptile, because he was given an extra Dragon typing, making him one of the only starters whose "final" form is neutral towards the type it's normally weak to (i.e., Fire).

Answer: Wingull

Mr. Briney and his seagull pal Peeko recur throughout the main story of "Emerald." The pair live in a seaside hut on Route 104, where Mr. Briney owns a yacht. Early in the campaign, he begs you to rescue Peeko in Rusturf Tunnel from a low-level grunt.

As thanks, he will cart you to Dewford Town or Slateport City any time you like. Once you've beaten the game, Mr. Briney gets a promotion: he captains the S.S. Tidal, a large ferry that will take you to the Battle Frontier.

Answer: Azurill

Azurill, the Polka Dot Pokémon, was originally a Normal-type Pokémon and later became a Normal/Fairy Pokémon. This is a little odd, since it can only be bred using a Sea Incense, and it evolves into the Water/Fairy type Marill. 'Baby Pokémon' refers to a list of nineteen first-stage Pokémon that can evolve and can be obtained through breeding, but cannot breed themselves. Other examples include Pichu, Magby, Elekid and Munchlax. These have virtually no gameplay advantage, since you'll have to go out of your way to evolve them later, but at least they're cute!

Wynaut, which evolves into Wobbuffet, can only be hatched from an egg or found on Mirage Island, where it is the only Pokémon that can appear. Mirage Island has an approximately 1/10,923 chance of appearing in the middle of the ocean when the player boots up the game. It's much rarer than finding a shiny, and the chance for it to appear again only resets at midnight according to the in-game clock. On the other hand, there's a couple in Lavaridge Town who will give you a Wynaut egg for free.

Answer: Plusle

Plusle's red and Minun's blue. For whatever reason Hoenn really liked these dyads: you've got Volbeat and Illumise, Lunatone and Solrock, Zangoose and Seviper, plus the usual box legendaries and fossil Pokémon. Enough to fill up two fifty-fifty quizzes! Plusle and Minun are particularly similar to one another, even ignoring their similarity to Pikachu.

Their abilities Plus and Minus, which get stronger if paired with the opposite ability, were designed to teach players about double battles and team synergy - not that two Pokémon that are both weak to Earthquake have good synergy.

Answer: Absol

Absol, the Disaster Pokémon, has the ability to foretell when earthquakes, tsunamis, and other calamities will occur. Although it is beneficent towards humans, it is misunderstood as the bringer of disaster. It's based on the mythological Bai Ze of China, a kindly white beast that communicates with the Emperor about nefarious creatures.

Absol can be found in the dense grasses of Route 102. In later games it appears in a variety of remote and rugged locales (Mount Coronet's summit and the Giant Chasm to give two). Some fans think these are intentionally tied to the locations of bad events in the stories of each game.

Answer: Kecleon

"Pokémon" has used a variety of overworld monsters to block the player's progression, but this is a memorable one. Kecleon is clearly based on a chameleon, one with super-charged camouflage abilities. When the player approaches the gym in Fortree City, they'll be met with an impassable obstacle. Interacting with the block gives few clues. Later, they'll find a similar block on a bridge over a river, and the Champion Steven will give you a Devon Scope to perceive the monster. Unveiling an invisible Kecleon is the only way you can catch it in "Ruby", Sapphire", and "Emerald".

Castform is encountered shortly after you reveal your first Kecleon. You receive this Pokémon at the Weather Institute, and fittingly, it changes its form in sun, hail, and rain.

Answer: Banette

Banette and Dusclops, Hoenn's two main ghost types (the third, as we'll see, is a bit of an oddity), have a lot in common. They both evolve from level 37, they are version-exclusive, and they have a base stat total of 455. They did sort of lose their connection in later games, with Dusclops getting an additional evolution in Dusknoir and Banette receiving a mere Mega Evolution. Both ghosts have fittingly spooky Pokédex entries: Banette is a discarded doll that hurts itself with pins and seeks revenge on the children who rejected it. Dusclops, meanwhile, is a mummy exoskeleton with "only a spectral ball of fire burning inside," per the Pokédex. Apparently, it acts like a Grim Reaper and steals the souls of those who see this fire.

Answer: Feebas

Feebas is essentially a recapitulation of the Kanto Pokémon Magikarp. Like Magikarp, Feebas is one of the absolute weakest creatures in the game: it has pitiful stats, beaten by the likes of Pichu and Metapod. Of course, it evolves into a powerful water-type. Whereas Magikarp becomes the fearsome sea serpent Gyarados, Feebas becomes the graceful, eel-like Milotic.

Of course, when it comes to getting a Milotic... let's just say if your buddy had one, he probably hacked it in. Feebas appears 50% of the time on just six randomly selected tiles on Route 109 - out of about 400 tiles. Then, once you catch the thing, evolving it is no simpler. The best way is to obtain at least eight of some rare berries (the Cornn Berry works for this). Once you have those, you have to complete a Pokéblock minigame eight times, which you can then use to max its "Beauty" condition (used in Contests, a side-mission to getting gym badges). While not exactly difficult, it's an absolute time sink. It's probably the single rarest Pokémon in all of Hoenn that you don't need a real-life event to obtain. It's no mystery why they made Milotic obtainable through a trade evolution starting in Generation V.

Luvdisc, on the other hand, has never gotten an evolution - despite Alomomola from Unova being another heart-themed, pink, flat, oceanic fish.

Answer: Sableye

Sableye is a Ghost/Dark type. Along with Spiritomb, this gave it the unique trait of having no natural weaknesses - a very unique trait for this goblin-like creature, which otherwise has few competitive advantages. Ghost and Dark actually have similar defensive profiles. Ghost is only weak to Dark and Ghost types. Dark, being strong against Ghost, resists itself and Ghost attacks. Of Dark's two weaknesses, Fighting and Bug, Ghosts are completely immune to Fighting (you can't punch a ghost!) and resistant to Bug (creepiness loves company, I guess). Put them together and you have a monster with no weaknesses - until they ruined it with the Fairy type, which hits Dark for super-effective damage.

Answer: Aggron

Aggron, a hulking Steel/Rock beast that looks like a prehistoric Mechagodzilla, unfortunately has one of the worst defensive typings in the game. Steel and Rock together have a quadruple weakness to both Fighting and Ground, two of the most common attacking types. Fortunately, Mega Aggron loses its Rock type to become near-indestructible. It's in a three-way tie for the highest defense stat of all Pokémon, with fellow Steel-type Mega Steelix and the unassuming Shuckle.

Only one other Pokémon loses a type without gaining another upon evolving: Belossom.

Answer: Deoxys-Attack

Slaking may not be a legendary, but this contest is much closer than you might expect. Slaking's enormous 160 attack is still in the top percentage of all Pokémon, legendaries included. Deoxys-Attack's 180 Attack and Special Attack stats make it a glass cannon on seismic steroids: ONLY Igglybuff has a lower combined Defense and Special Defense stat. On the other hand, with 670 base stat points spread across its stats fairly evenly, Slaking is a physical tank who can often afford to sit around doing nothing. That's good, because you have to: Slaking's huge stats are balanced by the worst ability in the game, Truant, which forces your Pokémon to do nothing every other turn.

Answer: Metagross

"Pokémon Ruby" and "Sapphire" are still the only games to break from the tradition of having a pseudo-legendary in each game. Pseudo-legendaries have a three-stage evolution line, a base stat total of 600, and gain experience at the "Slow" rate. In other words, evolving them is a monumental undertaking that rewards you with some of the most powerful creatures in the games. Both Salamence and Metagross are staples of the competitive R/S/E metagame, thanks to their balanced stats, power output, and varied movepools.

While Salamence does learn the move Draco Meteor, Meteor Mash is apparently a "meteor-like punch." Until Generation VIII, only one other line could learn it: Clefairy.

Answer: Rayquaza

Rayquaza is a box legendary in "Pokémon Emerald", and like all box legendaries, you do eventually have a chance to catch it. Sky Pillar is a tall tower on an island in Route 131. While you do awaken Rayquaza in Emerald's main story to quell Groudon and Kyogre, you don't have a chance to catch it until after you beat the Elite Four. Doing so requires navigating several floors of challenging Mach Bike courses. Deoxys, on the other hand, has only ever been available via an event - that is, by going to an in-person, Nintendo-sanctioned Pokémon event and having a Deoxys transferred to your game. To date there has been one exception to this: in "Omega Ruby" and "Alpha Sapphire", the remakes of the Generation III games, you fly into space after capturing Rayquaza and fight Deoxys there.

Answer: Groudon

For a long time, Groudon, the Continent Pokemon, was the heaviest Pokémon ever. Its special form Primal Groudon piled on an extra hundred-and-change pounds. Two of Generation VII's Pokémon eventually overtook it by a fraction of a pound: Celesteela, based on a rocket, and Cosmoem, based on an ultra-dense neutron star, both of which max out the scale at 999.9 kilograms. (Kyogre, meanwhile, is based on a whale. Obviously, in real life, the heaviest animals are whales, which really breaches the strict realism I expect from "Pokémon".)

Answer: Wynaut

Called my bluff, did you? Generation III has actually banned several pre-evolved Pokémon due to their abilities (among them Loudred and Cacnea), but Wynaut is surely the funniest. The poor little guy's Shadow Tag ability is broken - albeit Wynaut is about as bad a user of it as there could be. It totally prevents the enemy from switching out. However, Dugtrio and Trapinch also have a similar ability, and both are legal in OU. Why was Wynaut's banned specifically? Wynaut's only ways of dealing damage are with the movies Counter and Mirror Coat, which reflect back double Physical or Special-type damage respectively, but do absolutely nothing if the damage taken is 0. If, say, two Wynauts were to lock each other with Shadow Tag, you can use this to force an endless battle - even if you aren't intending to. The same exploit can be done (more plausibly) with its evolution, Wobbuffet, too.

While Jirachi is a mythical Pokémon and one of the stronger Pokémon in OverUsed, it's not so overwhelmingly powerful, nor literally game-breaking, that it's been banned.