Of course, I stayed up all night before the competition, finishing off Hitmonlee's training about a couple hours before I left, after training him hard all week. I'd spent the entire previous week training my new Snorlax and both were ready to go for the new competition.

Right before I left, I got a call from my friend Scrod saying he'd just woken up and he'd meet me at the mall. He wasn't going to play all day long (since he's not nuts), so this wasn't a big deal.

This time, the mall they picked was right down the street from my apartment, so at least I didn't have to deal with a long, frustrating drive on roads clogged by herds of daywalkers.

I got there an hour early, which turned out to be just on time, since it technically opened an hour sooner than advertised. The layout sucked this time, tho. At the last mall, everything was in a huge, open courtyard. You could hear the music from the gym everywhere you could play. An exciting atmosphere permeated the place. This time everything was spread out all over the place and the atmosphere was diluted.

The directions to an arena would say something like "In the Gordon's Jewellers Corridor", as if that has any meaning to me. Anyway, the upshot is that since there were no huge open spaces in the mall, the registration was WAY the Hell on one end of the mall and the Prime Cup competition was WAY the Hell on the other end. Scattered throughout the rest of the mall were the other Cup arenas and the Stadium with lots of teevees set up to show you how cool Pokemon Stadium for the N64 is.

Upon entering, I saw the Pika Beetle again and the chick in front of it was directing crowds to the right, so I followed them. When I got to the west end of the mall, I realized I was on the wrong side. So I had to walk all the way back to the other end to register. I had a little time, so I played with Stadium a little bit and played with a rental version of my team (they wouldn't let you play with your own Pokemon) to see how they looked.

The game is pretty cool and I'm sure I'll have to buy it as soon as it comes out. I miss the excitable Japanese announcer from the original version shouting out incomprehensible things, but the American announcer seems OK, tho not stellar.

Like I said, this was a while ago... -K

Then I got ready for my first competition, way back at the first place I'd walked to. I planned on trying a new strategy with Snorlax, to see if I liked playing a little defense, which I never do. Again, these accounts are all based on the best my recollection has to offer me, which is sometimes questionable. Luckily, knowing a good bit about the game sometimes help me realize at least what COULDN'T have happened.

Match #1:

The Nintendo guy told everyone to try and find someone in their approximate age range to fight, so my opponent was a weaselly looking guy probably about 18, with his hot girlfriend cheering him on.

Anyway, we looked at each other's Pokemon (which is a really inefficient way to see what the other guy has if all his Pokemon have nicknames) and picked our teams of three. I pretty much already had my team picked out, and it seems that just about everyone also knew who they were going to use beforehand. There's not really enough time to give clear thought to who you want to use anyway, so you'd have to make a few quick rules of thumb beforehand to base your decisions on. But it's a given that everyone always uses Mewtwo...and I knew who I was starting with...

The guy laughed when I sent Wigglytuff out first. I was expecting Mewtwo, but got Dragonite. He immediately Hyper Beamed Wiggly, and it was obvious he thought that'd be enough to do him in. But we all know better. Wiggly stomped his Dragonite into the ground and the guy started to sweat. (I relished his girlfriend's "Oh no!" when she saw Wiggly's Hyper Beam finish off his big orange lump...)

Mewtwo was next. Wiggly smacked him around for a little while, but finally succumbed. A job well done.

(Scrod showed up right around then, but couldn't get in close enough to talk to me, so I just yelled at him to go register at the other end of the mall and he left.)

Anyway, I called out Snorlax next (Lee wouldn't have a chance vs. Mewtwo) and immediately started using Amnesia. A couple Amnesias and it was time to Rest. But as soon as he woke up, it was time to Rest again. And then the same thing. He got a Body Slam off in the there somewhere, but it hardly mattered. Finally, on the third Rest, Mewtwo crit hit twice in a row and finished off Snorlax. Krap!

Hitmonlee was dead in one Psychic and that was that.

I asked him after the match who his third guy was and he said "Mewtwo!". What?? He argued with me over whether or not it was legal (even tho right before the match the Nintendo guy clearly explained that it was not), so he asked the guy and he told him it was against the rules.

But it would have been cheap to have taken the forfeit, since the second Mewtwo didn't even have to come out. He showed me them both, and they were suspiciously identical. So, not only did he cheat in the match, he cloned his Pokemon! I wonder if he Game Sharked them as well. Oh well, the point is moot, I guess.

I later ran into that guy and he said he just barely won his second match (with 1 Mewtwo), but that I gave him a much bigger scare since he didn't know anything about my Pokemon and was really surprised by how strong Wigglytuff was. (Good boy, Wiggly!)

Match #2:

So, I was kinda cheesed off after that. I went to the Loser's Circle and fought a kid who also had a cheering section. His dad (who knew a surprising amount about the game) and some other members of his family. I had switched batteries in my Gameboy in between matches and when I turned on the Gameboy, it didn't do anything. I had stupidly put one of the batteries in backwards. The dad said, "That's a good sign, son!"

The match started and out comes Mew. I was wondering where Mewtwo was again (since in nearly every match last time, he was first), but Wiggly was up for the challenge.

Mew and Wiggly traded blows. Mew alternately ripped off useless, then massive attacks with Metronome, but eventually fell to Wiggly. Wiggly was pretty beat up and Rested. He brought out a Snorlax and took the time to Amnesia. Wiggly woke up and started bashing Snorlax, knocking him around pretty good. Wiggly went for the death blow with Hyper Beam, but he missed and Snorlax finished him off. (So close!)

Snorlax Rested and out comes my Hitmonlee. One kick did great damage and the kid panicked and switched in Mewtwo with Snorlax still sleeping. I should have switched right to Snorlax, but I hate taking that free shot, PLUS another one immediately afterwards, because my Pokemon are generally slow. So I left Lee in to absorb the blast. He got off a Seismic Toss, I think, while Mewtwo did something, but he was dead in one Psychic after that. (A stupid move in retrospect. More of my inexperience, especially with regards to switching.)

Then my Snorlax came out and the Dad laughed. ("Another Snorlax! You're not alone, son!") I tried using the Amnesia thing again, but I really think it's more productive to just bash away. Anyway, Mewtwo Toxicked Snorlax, but that didn't stop him. He just kept Body Slamming, making the kid nervous. Mewtwo Recovered, but Snorlax was still gaining ground.

Finally, the Toxic was taking its toll and Snorlax had to Rest. Mewtwo took the time to Recover fully. The Slamming started again and FINALLY Mewtwo was paralyzed. They traded blows for a while, but it came time for Snorlax to Rest again. This time his Mewtwo stayed on offense and tried to wear down Snorlax. He waited until Snorlax woke up to try and Recover, but he was paralyzed!

One more Slam and Mewtwo was history!

Now it was Snorlax vs. Snorlax. Mine had 12 HP and his was wounded and asleep. I should have gone in for the kill, but I wanted to play it safe (this match was in the bag), so I tried to Rest.

It failed!

I didn't even notice what happened (because the father had started talking to me), but I was so shocked, I tried it again...and it failed again! (Snorlax was not paralyzed, by the way.) Now the other Snorlax was waking up and I panicked. I should have just Slammed him into oblivion, but I just could not believe Rest was failing. I should have really learned my lesson, but I was completely flustered. I was also getting kind of angry at Nintendo and a little pigheaded...the middle of a tourney match is not a time to try some research, but I was not in my right mind. I stupidly tried Resting again (failed, of course), then his Snorlax blasted me.

Damn, damn, damn!

What the Hell was that?!? We shook hands...it was a good game...even if I was screwed by Nintendo.

At least this horrible experience led to the discovery of how Rest fails, tho. –K

I remember holding my breath at a couple points during the match..."What would Metronome bring?", "Would Snorlax survive another hit to Rest safely?", etc. and bouncing my leg nervously. It really was a good fight.

I bitched to the Nintendo guys and one guy didn't seem to believe that Rest had failed and the other said, "Yeah, it does that sometimes." in a way that made me believe he was just tried to pretend he knew what he was talking about. When I told him it happened 3 times in a row, he seemed suspicious but didn't really have an answer.

Aw, Hell, I should have won that one...I would have, too, if I had been cooler. But I get a little nuts at these events, as you know.

I spent some more time talking to the kid and his dad, and calmed down a bit, but I was still rattled. I actually forgot my Gameboy on the table and was almost out of the arena before the kid's dad caught up with me. Whew!

I was pretty bummed after two cheez-ball losses like that...I went back to register (way the Hell at the other side of the mall) and on the way back, I met Pikachu, who was huge and scaring the poop out of all the little kids. He assured me that he will, indeed, be my friend forever (as he wrote on my autographed poster a while ago) and I got my picture taken with him.

(Another guy I spoke to later said that this is an even smaller Pikachu and is about the fifth version they've had. (This was the REAL Pikachu, of course.) The one that could move his ears and tail was over seven feet tall and was not at all popular. They had another with flashing cheeks that also spooked the children. This one was about the size you'd expect and didn't do anything special, but was still way too large for most kids' tastes.)

I went to the next arena and watched a Prime Cup match between a L76 Zapdos and a L54 Pikachu...where the Hell are these people when I'm playing?? (The Zapdos won, by the way.)

Scrod had called my cell phone (which I couldn't hear in the mall), so I called him back (which he couldn't hear), but eventually I caught up with him after his match.

He had done no training whatsover...his Pokemon were all in the middle range between the Pika and Poke Cups, so he couldn't use any of his real team.

He threw together a Pika team of Meowth, Geodude, and Onix, purely because they were the only guys he had that were of a low enough level. Actually, when you added the levels together, they were 2 Levels over the limit, but he lied (!) to the kid who tried to call him on it and he played anyway. (He justifies this by claiming he's part of Team Rocket.)

The first kid he fought was confused and couldn't figure out how to start a link battle, so the Nintendo guy gave him HIS Gameboy with well-trained Pokemon. He used one Butterfree to wipe out Scrod's whole team.

The next match he fought was with the kid he lied to. Their Pokemon slugged it out back and forth until it was down to Scrod's Onix and I-dunno-who-the-kid-had. The kid was doing no damage to Onix with Tackle attacks and Scrod was slowly killing the opponent with Bind.

The kid pleaded with Scrod "Please let me win...", but Scrod isn't that kinda guy and Onix was victorious.

That rat bastard who never trains, used Pokemon he found along the side of the road, and cheated had a Boulder Badge and I had DICK!

Son of a bitch.

Well, now it was time for me to fight again...this time while Scrod watched.

Coming soon...Matches #3 and #4...

I read those stories and got kinda woozy... there really is no way you should lose to that kind of crap...

As we now know, that was quite a piece of "luck" on the Rest.

Think the Jp sites have that?

Actually, when I went into the first match, I had two Mewtwos in my lineup. I had brought one in instead of my Sandslash (Chronic), and was expecting my opponent to have three of them. Why? Because the rules they posted said nothing about it, and when I incredulously emailed Nintendo, they sent back an email saying that it was OK! I even used the Mewtwo example! I was happy to find that it wasn't the case, but not when Jolteon stomped me...

Of course, my own Jolts didn't have Thunderwave, but it wasn't really mine...

"You were robbed" doesn't even BEGIN to describe the second match...

------------------
-cfalcon

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AIM: MewtwoSama
It's cold, glowing eyes strike fear into it's enemies.

quote:

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Originally posted by cfalcon:
I read those stories and got kinda woozy...

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I sent my report to Wintermute shortly after the tourney and he read it, then took a few days to respond to it.

When he got to the non-Resting Snorlax part, he said: "Oh no, I can't read this part again."

quote:

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As we now know, that was quite a piece of "luck" on the Rest.

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Yes, I'm pretty good at that.

The first time I ever saw Sludge miss an un DTed Pokemon was during my previous tourney where it would have put away a Zapdos for good, and probably won me the battle.

Well, at least I finally believed 255 out of 256, I just wish I'd get to learn my lessons a little less viciously.

quote:

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Think the Jp sites have that?

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Wel, rumor has it they're light years ahead of us... (I would use a smiley at this point if I did such things.)

quote:

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"You were robbed" doesn't even BEGIN to describe the second match...

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That was such a painful way to lose such a good match. Still, the kid was very happy and I was only mad at Nintendo, not him...

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Slowbro used Amnesia
Slowbro used Amnesia
Slowbro used Amnesia
Slowbro used Surf Critical Hit

quote:

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Originally posted by Iyse:
Rest fails??? I hope it doesn't do that on Stadium!

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Yeah, check out the Rest page on the main site to see when it happens.

Rest does affect Paralysis differently in Stadium, so the bug might be fixed...or it might not...haven't tested it yet.