Game Design Issues: Cheating in Pokemon

How not to cheat in Pokémon

This next section covers how to manipulate the stat system to have optimal sets for competitive play without hacking the game.

• Controlling natures:

For common Pokémon, you can transfer a Pokémon’s nature to its child through breeding. You simply need to give the everstone item to the parent that has the nature you want. Keep in mind that some Pokémon aren’t compatible with certain other Pokémon when breeding, and that the baby that hatches will be the youngest evolution of the mother’s species. Your best bet is to have a father with the egg moves to transfer and the nature you want, and to be sure it has an everstone. When breeding with the Pokémon Ditto, (for male only or genderless Pokémon), you will want Ditto to have the Nature you want. This means you will need to catch up to 25 different Dittos, each with a different nature.

For legendary or one of a kind Pokémon, you will need to save immediately before catching it! Your best bet is to have a Pokémon with both the nature you want, and the ability synchronize. You may need to breed a bunch of Pokémon that can have this ability, such as Abra. This means you need around 25 of them. When this Pokémon is at the top of your party, any wild Pokémon has a 50% chance of having the same nature as the Pokémon with the ability synchronize. This is why you save beforehand, for if you find out the nature isn’t right, you will have to reset the game and try again. Also, Pokémon that are given as a gift to you by a character in the game will always have the same nature as the Pokémon with synchronize, as long as that Pokémon is at the top of your party.

• Controlling IVs:

This was made much easier starting in the Sun and Moon versions. These games introduced a feature called hyper training. Hyper training requires you to have an item called a bottle cap, the Pokémon you want to hyper train to be at level 100, and to talk to a specific character in the game, who does this for you. You need one bottle cap per stat and once done, those stats’ IVs will be set to 31.

The main concern here is getting to level 100, which requires a lot of experience points. Thankfully, there are shortcuts in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon versions, making it easier. Most notably through the festival plaza feature.

In festival plaza, you can have a variety of shops. The shop that helps out the most for quickly getting Pokémon to level 100 is called rare kitchen. This shop allows you to level up a Pokémon without battling by feeding it a meal. Each meal only works on Pokémon below a certain level. If you manage to get three 5 star rare kitchens in your festival plaza, you can get a Pokémon from level 17 to level 98 in about 15 minutes. The catch is that each purchase is only available once a day. Also, the total cost for this service is 1944 festival coins, assuming the Pokémon is at exactly level 17.

You can purchase 5 star rare kitchens from other players, but the first one will cost 1500 festival coins, the second 3000 festival coins, and the third costs 6000. It gets more expensive from here, in the odd chance you want six or seven 5 star rare kitchens. You can also purchase rare candies using battle points in late game shops to top off a Pokémon’s last two levels. Just be careful about when you let a Pokémon evolve.

You should gather festival coins as often as possible. When your game has visitors, you can get festival coins by answering a question or directing them to a facility. The guests have new requests every hour. If you have a fortune teller hut, you may get a bonus to earning festival coins this way, but it is not guaranteed, and only lasts one day. It is recommended that you replenish festival coins as often as you can.

The most reliable way to get bottle caps is also in festival plaza. If you set up a treasure hunt lottery worth 2 or more stars, the first drawing is always a bottle cap. You can order this facility from other players, and if it is just a 2 star treasure hunt lottery, it will cost 100 festival coins, assuming you don’t already have this facility. At most, it will cost 200 festival coins if you already have this facility, and replace the old one with the new one.

You can also trade 30 colored shards (red, blue, yellow, or green) for a bottle cap. You can gain them in the Poke Pelago’s Isle Aphun, by selecting the path for odd shard hunting. At best you get around 2-8 of each shard, and can do this up to twice a day, though you have to wait 12 hours between harvests, so you have to time your play sessions.

• Controlling EVs:

The fastest way to gain the EVs you want is to battle Pokémon that give the desired EVs. In Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon you can gather EVs in these locations quickly under these circumstances:

• For HP, you need to fight Grimer in an SOS battle at the Malie City Outer Cape. Be sure to give the Pokémon a Power Weight item to hold, and to have the Pokerus. You need to KO 7 Grimer to maximize the stat under these conditions.
• For Attack, you need to fight Pikipek or Yungoos in an SOS battle at Route 1. Be sure to give the Pokémon a Power Bracer item to hold, and to have the Pokerus. You need to KO 7 of these Pokémon to maximize the stat under these conditions.
• For Defense, you need to fight Roggenrola in an SOS battle at Ten Carat Hill. Be sure to give the Pokémon a Power Belt item to hold, and to have the Pokerus. You need to KO 7 Roggenrola to maximize the stat under these conditions.
• For Special Attack, you need to fight Magnemite in an SOS battle at the Route 1 Trainer School. Be sure to give the Pokémon a Power Lens item to hold, and to have the Pokerus. You need to KO 7 Magnemite to maximize the stat under these conditions.
• For Special Defense, you need to fight Tentacool in an SOS battle at Hano Beach. Be sure to give the Pokémon a Power Band item to hold, and to have the Pokerus. You need to KO 7 Tentacool to maximize the stat under these conditions.
• For Speed, you need to fight Zubat or Diglett in an SOS battle at Seaward Cave. Be sure to give the Pokémon a Power Anklet item to hold, and to have the Pokerus. You need to KO 7 of these Pokémon to maximize the stat under these conditions.

Keep in mind that this method is best for maxing out a stat. If you want to be more specific, you may want to gain a these stats in a slower manner, or to KO fewer Pokémon.

There is also the Poke Pelago’s Isle Evelup. If this feature is at level 3, you can feed up to 6 Pokémon a stat boosting drink for 4 EVs per session. Each session lasts 30 minutes each, though you can halve the time buy supplying poke beans. To max out a stat this way, it would require you to set this option to 63 sessions which lasts 31 hours and 30 mins, or 15 hours and 45 mins with poke beans. These sessions run even when the game is off, and is good if you don’t have much time to play each day. This method is also good if you want a specific number of EVs, as it is easy to calculate how many sessions you need, and the game will not go over the amount you set it for. You can also do this in bulk if multiple Pokémon require the same EVs in the same stat. You can have up to three groups of up to 6 Pokémon each training at once, which can give you a strong team in no time.

Lastly, you can reset EVs if you messed up or want to try something new. You have to use the following berries on a Pokémon:

• For HP, a Pomeg Berry reduces this EV by 10.
• For Attack, a Kelpsy Berry reduces this EV by 10.
• For Defense, a Qualot Berry reduces this EV by 10.
• For Special Attack, a Hondew Berry reduces this EV by 10.
• For Special Defense, a Grepa Berry reduces this EV by 10.
• For Speed, a Tomato Berry reduces this EV by 10.

And that is all you need to know about controlling EVs.

• A note about Hidden Power:

The move Hidden Power’s type varies based on the Pokémon’s IVs. Hyper Training does not alter this move’s typing, so you have to get it right before Hyper Training. If the Pokémon can produce offspring, simply gather multiple eggs (with the nature, egg moves, and ability you want) and check each baby’s Hidden Power type after they hatch. There is a character that checks this at the daycare where you can breed Pokémon.

For one of a kind legendary Pokémon, you need to save right before catching it. Then travel to the day care to check its Hidden Power type. If it doesn’t match what you are looking for, you have to reset the game and catch the Pokémon again. Keep in mind that all legendary Pokémon always have at least 3 IVs maxed out, which means that a fighting type Hidden Power is impossible for these Pokémon.

• Controlling abilities:

The last thing you need is to make sure the Pokémon has the ability you want. The Hidden Ability can be found in SOS battles in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. You can use the move Skill Swap to see if the Pokémon has the Ability you want.

You can then breed the Hidden Ability to the baby to get the Nature you want. To pass down the Hidden Ability, the mother needs to have the Hidden Ability. If a male or genderless Pokémon has this ability, you can breed with Ditto. In both cases, the Hidden Ability is not guaranteed to be passed down, so keep trying.

If you are looking for one of the Pokémon’s regular abilities, and the Pokémon with the nature you want has the wrong regular ability, you may use an ability capsule to change to the other regular ability. An ability capsule cannot change to a hidden ability, or change a hidden ability to a regular ability. Ability capsules cost 100 battle points at a particular shop.

Go to page 4 for how to detect cheating in Pokemon.