3 Things For 5th Gen - Why we need an Ability tutor

To the shock of absolutely nobody, word leaked out from Nintendo's financial statements that a new Pokemon RPG is being developed by Game Freak, and they announced the game will have new Pokemon. Knowing that GameFreak only develops main series Pokemon RPGs (and Drill Dozer/Pulseman), and there isn't new Pokemon unless it's a new generation... we're probably going to get the 5th gen started this year.

With that in mind, this weekend I'm going to try and post full entries regarding three things I want from the 5th generation.


A couple of years ago, I was breeding Staryu for a Battle Tower run (this was Diamond, so no Battle Frontier) and finally got into a breeding groove. After about the 50th Staryu, I finally got one with the IVs I was looking for - Timid, max Speed/Special Attack/HP, high Defense and Special Defense. Due to Pokemon's rules about incest meaning I couldn't use it as a parent, I had to soft-reset to get rid of it. Why would I do that?

Two words - Ability: Illuminate.

Yep, a perfectly good Pokemon lost because it happened to lose a 50/50 coin flip.

After taking my frustrations out by punching out a Cthulhu doll, I thought that since we have Move Tutors, why not an Ability tutor?

They managed to reinvent the Shards in Platinum for the Move tutors, so let's take one of the otherwise useless MacGuffins - the Pearls - and have an NPC in the 8th badge city request them in trade for changing the Pokemon's ability.

In the game's data, abilities are noted by the Pokemon's "class", and Pokemon that have one ability have the same one in both class slots. For a Pearl, our tutor will switch the existing Pokemon's class so that it goes to the other ability. For example, my Illuminate Staryu from above would switch to Natural Cure. If I bring him a Big Pearl, however, he would activate a 3rd class (or both at once) which would unlock a 3rd ability.

Some potential 3rd abilities - I wanted to turn this into a full post, but got writer's block around Lapras (final forms only):

Sandslash - Rough Skin
Wigglytuff - Huge Power (giggity)
Slowbro - Unaware (It doesn't notice that something is BITING ITS FRAKKING TAIL)
Farfetch'd - Speed Boost
Starmie - Clear Body

And if starters can take advantage of it, Blastoise can finally get Intimidate (I'm sorry, but if you've got two giant cannons pointed at my head, I'm intimidated).

The point is, if they can keep people from whipping their DSi across the room - especially considering I'm going to end up with an XL, which if I chose to whip it across the room I'd probably decapitate someone - it's better for all involved.