Pokemon Diamond/Pearl Advanced Guide

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You've mastered the Pokemon League, but there's still plenty of adventure to be found in Sinnoh

So you’ve stuffed your Pokemon full of poffins and built up its attributes.

But wait! You’re still not quite ready yet. You need to get some accessories to dress up your pokemon with. There are several places you can obtain these items:

  1. Floaroma Town.
  2. Have your pokemon pick up items in Amity Square. (A pokemon will pick up a random item or accessory every 200 steps you take there.)
  3. Take your pokemon in for massages at Veilstone City once a day. The masseuse will give you an accessory after she%26rsquo;s finished.
  4. After you win a Super Contest of any rank for the first time, you%26rsquo;ll get a new accessory for use in further contests.

(Accessories can also be used in the dress-up room at Jubilife TV. You may want to stop there after you get new accessories just to see how they look on your pokemon.)

Once you’ve amassed some shiny sparklies for your pokemon, you’re just about ready to go. Head up to the front desk at the building where the Super Contests are held and register your pokemon for entry. (All first-time entry pokemon need to start at the Normal rank- you won’t be able to challenge other ranks until the pokemon has placed first in the rank one rung below them.) You will always be entry number 4.

The first part of Pokemon Super Contests is the Visual Competition. You have 60 seconds to dress up your pokemon with a limited number of accessories (the higher the contest rank, the more accessories you’re allowed). After you finish, your pokemon will be presented on stage with its competitors, where you will be judged based both on its appearance and how well the accessories you used fit the contest theme. The number of hearts that appear on the lower screen are a rough indication of how well your pokemon scored.

The second part of Super Contests are the Dance Competitions. Here, you must copy the rhythm and dance steps of the Pokemon on stage by using either the touch pad or the ABXY buttons. There’s a display on the top screen that shows what actions were done and when, which is a huge help in getting your timing down. After the three pokemon ahead of you finish, you’ll be thrust on stage and asked to do 3 or 4 dance steps for 2 turns. Press the buttons in whatever order you want. Try to mix up your moves and step at odd times to throw your opponents off. (You’ll want to keep in mind that the music in the Ultra and Master Rank has a different rhythm than in Normal and Great ranks.)

Finally, there’s the Performance competition. This is similar to the Super Contests in the GBA games, though things are a lot more dependant on luck this time around. In this stage of the competition, your pokemon will be performing its skills to try and impress the judges. The order in which pokemon perform is displayed on the top screen, while your skillset is shown on the bottom. Each skill you perform will give you a certain amount of hearts, which add onto your total Super Contest score. (Some moves yield extra hearts under certain conditions, such as performing first in a turn.) After you choose a skill to show off, you need to pick a judge you want to present it to. If you perform a skill that matches the contest theme, not only will you get hearts, but the judge’s Voltage score will increase by one level. When a pokemon’s performance causes a judge’s Voltage to hit level 5, they will receive a huge amount of extra hearts! Extra hearts are awarded at the end of a turn. However, if two or more Pokemon choose the same judge, the bonus they will receive is lowered. Performance competitions last for four turns, and final judging is completed after everything is said and done.

If you place first, congratulations! You’ll get a ribbon and a new accessory, and you’ll also be able to challenge the next Super Contest ranking in that category with the same pokemon. If you didn’t place first, well, just bake some more poffins and try again.

Normal and Great Ranks aren’t too tough- if you do well enough in the Visual competition, you can pretty much clinch a victory. Ultra Rank is considerably harder, and screwing up in the Dance or Performance competitions can cost you first place. Master Rank is extremely difficult, so much so that we’re convinced Fantina’s slipping the judges a couple thousand pokedollars under the table to vote you down. Even with a maxed-out stat, it’s tough to get a lot of approval in the Visual Competition, and your opponents will rarely ever mess up with their dance moves. It’s best to just cross your fingers and hope you manage to get lucky in the Performance competition.

But what’s the point in amassing all these ribbons, exactly?