As soon as the postgame began, Norman showed up, gave May the SS Ticket, and then left home again. She’s the only player character who has a dad in the whole Pokemon series, and he never stays home. Even May’s mom comments on it! The SS Ticket grants entrance to the Battle Tower, a facility where level 50 and level 100 Pokemon can try for winning streaks against powerful AI trainers. Unlike later games in the series, there’s no temporary level scaling, so NOWEAKNESS couldn’t participate unless I decided to level him to 100. I’m not going to do that, since it took the entire playthrough plus Rare Candies to get to the late 70s.
There remained four non-roaming legendaries for NOWEAKNESS to kill, so May took her Wailord and Relicanth out of the PC for the first and last time. A Dive point concealing a mysterious cave was west of Pacifidlog Town. This cave had inscriptions written in Braille, and fulfilling their very specific instructions unlocked the Hoenn legendary trio. The first required placing Relicanth and Wailord in the first and last positions of the party. Other instructions told May to wait in place for two minutes, use Fly in the middle of a room, or move in a certain direction and use Strength. The buildup to fighting Regirock, Regice, and Registeel was more difficult than the battles. All three were only level 40. Regirock and Registeel had high Defense, requiring two Brick Breaks. Regice specialized in Special Defense instead, and only needed one Brick Break.
Pokemon Sapphire’s postgame final boss was Rayquaza at the top of the Sky Pillar east of Pacifidlog Town. Sky Pillar is the most annoying dungeon of the game because you have to steer the Mach Bike through cracked floors, and it’s easy to fall to a lower floor if you don’t have perfect reflexes.
Rayquaza itself was the only legendary to pose a threat because it was level 70. Its first attack Fly made NOWEAKNESS lose over half his health, making May use a Hyper Potion. A critical hit from Fly could have easily ended the battle. Instead, the wild Pokemon AI kicked in and Rayquaza tried useless Normal type Extremespeeds on NOWEAKNESS. When Rayquaza was low on health, it used Rest to fall asleep and recover all its health. Rest has a specific sleep counter unlike enemy-induced sleep moves such as Spore. That meant enough free turns to hit Rayquaza with Shadow Balls to kill it for good.
What’s left for May and NOWEAKNESS? Being the Pokemon League Champion isn’t enough for her. Pokemon Contests are a minigame unique to the Hoenn games that’s sort of like a dog show or a talent contest. First, 4 Pokemon are shown to the judges, and receive points based on the stat relevant to the contest type (e.g. Beauty, Smart). Pokemon gain these stats based on Pokeblocks made from blended berries. The second round involves the contestants taking turns using moves to appeal to the judges and receive “hearts”. Turn order is important here, because it’s possible to intimidate the other Pokemon into losing hearts or their next turn. If the audience is excited enough, a move will gain extra hearts.
NOWEAKNESS has a Mild nature most suited to Beauty contests, but its Ghost and Dark moves fall into the Smart category. So May stuffed her Sableye with Bitter Pokeblocks to increase his Smart stat and headed off to Verdanturf to dazzle the judges. . .
There remained four non-roaming legendaries for NOWEAKNESS to kill, so May took her Wailord and Relicanth out of the PC for the first and last time. A Dive point concealing a mysterious cave was west of Pacifidlog Town. This cave had inscriptions written in Braille, and fulfilling their very specific instructions unlocked the Hoenn legendary trio. The first required placing Relicanth and Wailord in the first and last positions of the party. Other instructions told May to wait in place for two minutes, use Fly in the middle of a room, or move in a certain direction and use Strength. The buildup to fighting Regirock, Regice, and Registeel was more difficult than the battles. All three were only level 40. Regirock and Registeel had high Defense, requiring two Brick Breaks. Regice specialized in Special Defense instead, and only needed one Brick Break.
Pokemon Sapphire’s postgame final boss was Rayquaza at the top of the Sky Pillar east of Pacifidlog Town. Sky Pillar is the most annoying dungeon of the game because you have to steer the Mach Bike through cracked floors, and it’s easy to fall to a lower floor if you don’t have perfect reflexes.
Rayquaza itself was the only legendary to pose a threat because it was level 70. Its first attack Fly made NOWEAKNESS lose over half his health, making May use a Hyper Potion. A critical hit from Fly could have easily ended the battle. Instead, the wild Pokemon AI kicked in and Rayquaza tried useless Normal type Extremespeeds on NOWEAKNESS. When Rayquaza was low on health, it used Rest to fall asleep and recover all its health. Rest has a specific sleep counter unlike enemy-induced sleep moves such as Spore. That meant enough free turns to hit Rayquaza with Shadow Balls to kill it for good.
What’s left for May and NOWEAKNESS? Being the Pokemon League Champion isn’t enough for her. Pokemon Contests are a minigame unique to the Hoenn games that’s sort of like a dog show or a talent contest. First, 4 Pokemon are shown to the judges, and receive points based on the stat relevant to the contest type (e.g. Beauty, Smart). Pokemon gain these stats based on Pokeblocks made from blended berries. The second round involves the contestants taking turns using moves to appeal to the judges and receive “hearts”. Turn order is important here, because it’s possible to intimidate the other Pokemon into losing hearts or their next turn. If the audience is excited enough, a move will gain extra hearts.
NOWEAKNESS has a Mild nature most suited to Beauty contests, but its Ghost and Dark moves fall into the Smart category. So May stuffed her Sableye with Bitter Pokeblocks to increase his Smart stat and headed off to Verdanturf to dazzle the judges. . .