Lurker > -hotdogturtle--

All I see here is a bunch of Pokemon that get better when they evolve.

Squid Sisters

...Guitar Hero 3?

I could never beat Raining Blood on Expert so I've never actually played The Devil Went Down To Georgia.

Nihilego my beautiful baby.

My Nintendo is such a worthless rewards program, with nothing to spend your points on, that I would argue that this is the best way to spend your Platinum Points that they've added in years.

And yet putting the icons on a monthly rotation completely kills the idea. Anyone who doesn't play Mario Odyssey or Animal Crossing is left out in the dirt. They show a bunch of different series in the preview pic and they probably won't be released for another half a year. Next month will probably be Breath of the Wild along with Animal Crossing April birthdays. Hell the Splatoon 2 icons probably won't be out until after Splatoon 3.

They should have made each rotation have 2-3 things from each series for variety, and made the rotations closer to 2 weeks.

Knuckle Joe

Are there any other characters for whom we could actually expect Allen to make the Geralt exception?

I always thought that Weavile was a significant downgrade from Sneasel.

Houndoom, then Liepard/Scrafty/Bisharp. Liepard gets the edge over the other 2 due to Prankster in the main games and prominent appearance in New Snap.

Murkrow

Also Sneasel, Hourdour, and Purrloin.

Cinccino is the best Pokemon ever (tied with Lilligant also being the best Pokemon ever).

Shoutouts to Lopunny, Ursaring, and Dubwool.

Lolo_Guru posted...

Magikarp 1*, please

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/0/1/AASP7CAAC93l.jpg

This shot surprisingly didn't leave Park Day until October when they came up with this. This is the beginning of Badlands Night where there are a bunch of Magikarp flopping around. One of them happens to be right next to your path, so you can time it to get it at the peak of its jump. This one lets you get better pose and size than the Park one.

Paratroopa1 posted...

Salandit 1*

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/8/5/AASP7CAAC93V.jpg

Another weird one, although less ambiguous. The 3 Salandit all get synergy from each other, but only when they're in their neutral pose (e.g. walking around or doing nothing). That makes it a rare case where getting a random idle pose will actually hurt your score, because you'll stop receiving synergy points even though your pose will be higher. You can use an orb to make the side Salandit pose for higher bonus, but don't hit your main one because once again that will cause it to do a different pose itself. (If it wasn't clear, the focus in this shot is the one on the right)

Hbthebattle posted...

Heracross 4*

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/8/0/AASP7CAAC93Q.jpg

Heracross is one of the elite Pokemon who is able to reach 6k without being a legendary or Illumina. This event has 3 Pokemon involved so plenty of bonus points. There are a few different record shots that are all taken from this event from different perspectives. It turns out that this is also a 2 person tied record.

HanOfTheNekos posted...

Oh, you know what? I think it's... Scorbunny 3?

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/7/2/AASP7CAAC93I.jpg

Sands has a lot of luring. Probably because the terrain is so flat and empty that a lot of Pokemon can easily traverse it, and there are multiple easily accessible backgrounds. Luckily there is a much easier alternative in Side Path Day.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/7/3/AASP7CAAC93J.jpg

andylt posted...

Nom Volcarona 4*, it's my highest scoring shot and I want to see how high the Illumina scores can get!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/5/3/AASP7CAAC921.jpg

As predicted, this is the highest scoring shot in the game. I don't actually know anything about it since this course is super confusing and I haven't done serious attempts at any of the Volcarona shots. You can see that it has everything going for it: high pose (Illuminas get a 1000 point bonus over standard Pokemon), huge synergy (since Other Pokemon is calculated from the side Pokemon's own score), and a background.

Also, apparently this record is tied between 2 people.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/5/4/AASP7CAAC922.jpg

Just goes to show the degree of variation that you can get even when people are going for the same strat.

Bane_Of_Despair posted...

Typhlosion 4*

So I want to take a minute to explain a key gameplay mechanic because it will help give context to some of this. We call it "synergy" (it doesn't have an official name) and it's probably the biggest mechanic that the game doesn't explain at all. This game has many scripted events where 2 or more Pokemon interact with each other or the environment. The game wants to incentivize you to get both of the Pokemon together in the frame to create an interesting scene. When these Pokemon are "linked", you get huge bonuses to your Other Pokemon score, something like 10x what you'd get for a random Pokemon that you lured into the pic with apples or whatever. Absol in Umbreon 4 is synergy for example, or Dodrio in Torterra 4, etc.

So anyway, there's an interaction where you summon Charizard and it flies into Typhlosion's room, then flies circles a few times before landing and having a standoff with Typhlosion involving lots of fire from both sides.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/4/6/AASP7CAAC92u.jpg

There's a lesser known interaction during this where you can bonk Charizard while it's circling, and it will get angry and fly away instead of landing. The Typhlosions go back to doing their regular stuff. Except now, 4* Typhlosion will get synergy from the second Typhlosion being in frame. This is so strange that people have questioned whether it's actually a bug in the game. There are no other known instances of "situational" synergy like this, and it doesn't even affect any other Typhlosion poses other than this 4*. You could take this same shot without doing the Charizard thing and it wouldn't be worth 5k.

Alcremie is my favorite of the bunch. Though I must note that the 3 pink variations as well as the brown one are the worst ones. The brighter ones such as green, blue, and yellow are better. My overall favorite combo is white with blueberry.

Togekiss has always been one that I've liked but not loved. It's good but not the best.

Clefable, Slurpuff, and Aromatisse all fall under "I don't really like the Pokemon itself but I like their in-battle utility". All three of them have solid niches in competitive formats.

Florges gained a Snap boost in my mind. Before, Floette was the only one in that family that I liked.

HanOfTheNekos posted...

Vaporeon 4

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/6/1/AASP7CAAC9E9.jpg

(Un)Fun fact: Vaporeon is one of the 3 remaining Pokemon who has no shots in the 5000 range. This is the worst one of all of them, due to the direction. The 1-star is in the same location and is able to sacrifice a little bit of placement to gain background by aiming to the right, and the 3-star is somehow able to get it while maintaining 1000 placement. There's just no leeway to add anything else into the shots, especially this one.

CassandraCain posted...

Umbreon 4*

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/4/9/AASP7CAAC9Ex.jpg

I've been neglecting a lot of the end-course Ruins shots. Absol, Umbreon, Chandelure, Jirachi, Beheeyem... I mentally associate them as all the same type of shots, and the course isn't even that long but for some reason everything in this area feels longer than it really is. I'm definitely missing 1000s of potential points just from low-effort improvements that I haven't bothered yet. This shot appears to be part of the scripted interaction between Umbreon and Absol, so it should be easier to set up than some of the others that I mentioned. Actually, looking it up, I do have 5339 on this, but I didn't know what the pose was and it's not even close to centered. That was probably my first and only attempt on this.

Really tough poll. I've always loves Delibird since the beginning, and Chatot is one of the best in its generation. Sigilyph, Tropius, Aerodactyl, and Cramorant are all very solid in various ways.

andylt posted...

Oh wow I didn't realise 3* Minior was a notorious one, I was just picking a shot that I've had trouble with lol.

Well, there's a reason why you had trouble with it!

Coincidentally, the record on this shot just got improved 4 times last night after I made that post (yes, after months of no one playing it). First a sheer optimization on the stats (4866), then getting a sliver of Flygon's wing into the shot (4882), and then two from the same person getting the whole Flygon (4888 -> 4893). This proves 4900+ possible.

https://cyberscore.me.uk/proofs/36146/1776846.jpg

mrduckbear posted...

spreading fake rumours after a Nintendo Direct presentation that happened not too long ago making outrageous predictions and just hoping some of them stick and bragging about it after..and gamefaqs is one of those sites they used to post supposed true rumours on what Nintendo was going to announce which end up not coming true...

Do you think that this trick would also work with making fake predictions about cancelled TV shows?

DreamEater12 posted...

Minior in shiny form is easily the best one of all of these.

https://i.imgur.com/GlNzqds.png

Hbthebattle posted...

Vivillon 3

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/0/7/AASP7CAAC80f.jpg

Currently the only Vivillon shot that's not doing the backflip pose, though now that the other three are the same, people are trying to find one to use for this as well. It's a pretty straightforward shot but still very pleasing to look at due to being (imo) one of the best patterns.

I actually got the WR on this shot in August when Reef Evening was the featured weekly course, and it lasted for several months until someone tied it and then someone else beat it. I still have the shot uploaded on my profile to this day where it remains my second highest Sweet Medal shot.

andylt posted...

Minior 3*

Another notorious one from the old days. The first known one was the one that falls after you light the 3 blooms in the beginning. It stays in one place and you can't get closer, so it's really hard to get more than 39xx, and only a few people actually got 4k from this. Then there was a new one where you lure a certain Minior to a Sandshrew and it does the 3* briefly before transitioning to the usual 2*. The problem was that it was really hard to set up, and also hard to get a good shot, so while it had a higher potential ceiling, you might not even beat your old record with it. Finally in late May a new interaction was discovered by orbing the bloom near Tyranitar multiple times and a Minior falls down. This one flies parallel to your path and you can play melody to make it spin. It's close enough to get 2000 size and you have several seconds to spam shots and choose the best combo of pose/direction on the submission screen.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/5/4/AASP7CAAC8zq.jpg

Fun fact: Before version 2.0, most of the RNG in the game was deterministic from the first time you load into a level from the map (certain things on attempt 1 would always be the same, or if you pause and retry once, it would be a different consistent sequence). So basically everyone who did this shot before August had an orange Minior. When I did mine in October, I purposely avoided orange (and red and yellow for being too similar to orange) and got my PB with a nice green one.

Crescent-Moon posted...

I've never even heard of the Sailor Moon game

That's why it's the best lesser-known one.

Paratroopa1 posted...

Primarina 1

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/9/0/AASP7CAAC8he.jpg

My favorite of the 4 Primarina pics and the only one that's in a different spot than the others. The main tricky part is angling yourself for a perfect side view as it jumps, but not too bad once you've done it a few times. By going slower as you come into this area you can let the traveling Drifblims come into frame (you need at least 1 to get over 5000).

Hbthebattle posted...

Noibat 2

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/8/8/AASP7CAAC8hc.jpg

It's a bonk in front of a background. That's about it. At least you can get a whole cluster of other Pokemon around it.

Lolo_Guru posted...

Lapras *2

Traditionally this was always done facing the sunset outwards because it's right in front of you as you enter the area. Several people have in the range of 5.0-5.1k doing this (example shown for the sake of timestamp).
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/7/3/AASP7CAAC8hN.jpg

Recently someone managed to lure Lapras inwards to take it towards the course:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/7/4/AASP7CAAC8hO.jpg

Luring on water can be awkward because the apples stay in place for a little bit and then sink. Plus, this particular Lapras is scripted to move to a set spot and do a pose if it finishes eating an apple, so you can't let it eat while you're luring it. Some of the backgrounds on Reef are (IMO) kind of ambiguous compared to other courses, so I'm not sure what the second background here is aside from the bloom.

Zebstrika
Heliolisk/Toxtricity
Manectric/Electrode
Infinite amount of space
Boltund

Favorite unevolved dual type Normal/Fighting Pokemon?

The Arceus cutscene in HGSS.

Paratroopa1 posted...

I'm just kinda picking something at random. Torterra 4*

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/1/4/AASP7CAAC8bm.jpg

A very boring picture despite the high numbers. People who haven't even played the game have probably seen this shot before. Side Path is very non-interactive, so this is just "a thing that they made for you to look at".

Hbthebattle posted...

Pyukumuku 4

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/0/7/AASP7CAAC8bf.jpg

Pyukumuku in Pelipper's mouth, orb it to make it do a pose. Fun fact: The Pelippers at the end of this level save their status or either holding or not holding a Pyukumuku when you replay the level. You can orb an empty Pelipper to make it dive and grab a Pyukumuku, or bonk a carrying one to make it drop it, and they will stay like that permanently until you do the reverse action to them. Also, Pelipper is only lureable with apples when it doesn't have Pyukumuku, otherwise it only moves randomly. You could try luring one into position and then make it dive to attempt to set up the shot, or just try to get lucky with one that's already there.

Zyxyz0 posted...

hmm, let's start with Sawsbuck 3*!

This one has changed locations a few times. First it was a semi-scripted pose above the waterfall in summer. Then it was that same pose as a random idle in the sunny area. Now it's drinking with Deerling in autumn:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/0/4/AASP7CAAC8bc.jpg

There's some timing trickery that you do to delay Deerling so it does this pose while Sawsbuck is drinking. Normally Deerling gets there first and does the pose before Sawsbuck arrives.

Lolo_Guru posted...

Bidoof 1 star

This is one of those shots that could have its own 5-10 minute mini-documentary on Youtube. There's a very blatantly developer-intended shot that they carefully designed on purpose for people to discover. By the second week, it was maxed out at 5200, and quickly became the first tied record in the game. It looks like this:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/8/1/AASP7CAAC8bF.jpg

People set out to hunt for a new strat that could break the tie. At the end of May a player named Heathbar came up with an idea in a different spot and created a setup using visual cues to line it up. You needed a good shot of it, a subpar one wouldn't break 5200, but when done properly it looked like this:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/8/2/AASP7CAAC8bG.jpg

However, merely days later, the player kazami brought the record back to the original spot, but using a modified method:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/8/3/AASP7CAAC8bH.jpg

This was based on the principle that bonus Pokemon points were calculated as a fraction of what their score would be if they were the main subject. The non-main Bidoof is bonked with an apple, so instead of being a 500 pose, it's the equivalent of a 900+ pose. This equated to 77 more bonus points. Some people were able to match this, and at some point the strat became to bonk the left one instead, because you could get it closer to the camera to squeeze out more size, and the record rose to 5280.

More recently a long-theorized alternate strat was used, which is having the Bidoof do one of its idle poses in front of the dam for massive background points. This is the record now:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/8/4/AASP7CAAC8bI.jpg

Zyxyz0 posted...

incidentally, does the WR community have any sort of documentation available for known good ways to set up certain shots?

Excellent question. The best resource for learning high score strategies is this spreadsheet which was created for that purpose: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V85d5yFuvoWW00fGQtAhLA7DhX8cc20TYXftK-vnR_Y/edit#gid=580735098

The "Notes" column is still updated by people when new strats are developed. Of course, some of these strats may be overly difficult for the average player just looking for an easy 4k on a shot, and many Pokemon have multiple different interactions that you can use, which aren't listed here because their point ceiling isn't as high. But you can surely learn a lot by browsing this list.

You can post another one after I did yours.

Lolo_Guru posted...

The shot where you see hoothoot's feet

I believe that you were probably talking about a different thing but I will choose to interpret this as a post for Hoothoot 4.

For a long time this was a very consistent shot. You melody Hoothoot at the tree, and 2 other ones fly in and circle around the tree. You simply position yourself to be in the position where the front one is facing you as it passes. Example: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/5/8/AASP7CAAC8ZK.jpg

This was unchanged for basically the entire span of the game. However, someone strange happened in December. A player was doing the strat and inexplicably got 950 pose instead of 750. This beat the WR by nearly 100 points even on an otherwise unoptimized shot, just because of extra pose points. He didn't know what he did, and nobody was able to replicate it. A month later, another player also happened to get the 950 pose, pictured here (current WR, beating the previous one):
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/5/9/AASP7CAAC8ZL.jpg

As of right now only those 2 people have ever gotten the mysterious 950 pose. If we figure out how to get it consistently then there's more room to improve the record, because as you can see even this one is imperfect in places.

Kenri posted...

Vespiquen 3*

An infamous shot from the first few weeks of the game where people literally didn't even know how to trigger it, resulting in people mostly getting it by accident, and the earliest records being taken entirely from the back. It took nearly a month for people to figure out that you needed Vespiquen to be doing the pose while also having the specific trigger Combee in the frame (we now know that there are several shots where a secondary Pokemon being in frame changes the star level). It was another few weeks before we got the setup for the high score, which was a complicated strategy to lure Combee across the path while you summon Vespiquen, so Combee moves back in front of you as she enters, then you stunlock him with scans so he stays in place while she does the pose. Very satisfying looking after knowing where we started with this shot. A good one looks like this:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/2/0/AASP7CAAC8Yk.jpg

The summer update granted mercy with a new Vespiqueen 3 in Side Path Night, which was an entirely scripted interaction (as is nearly everything in Side Path) so people could get it easily. This is actually one of my favorite poses in the entire game, where "angry mom" Vespiquen scolds her 2 Combees. If you slow down during this interaction (to prevent getting too close by the time it ends) you can get an easy 5k on this, sparing you from having to do the harder strat if you're not pushing for top scores.

Overall this is one of my favorite shots because both versions of it are awesome. Great choice.

Pick any Pokemon in the game (by name) and a star level (1/2/3/4) and I will say something about it. Probably something about the world record, the history, or my personal experience with it. Don't know how much there will be to say (some more than others for sure) but I'll try to make it informative for people who are interested in the game but don't actually follow it. One per person please.

Tough one because none of them are that great.

Helioptile is pretty gross, only gets cool when it evolves.
Yamper is bad but evolves into one of the ugliest things in the entire game, so gets points for not being that (and has a novelty ability).
Electrike is meh, gets better when it evolves, but at least isn't actively bad.
Blitzle is decent and gets way better when it evolves, but still pretty good as is.
Voltorb actually has the smallest gap between first form and evolved form (in my mental informal rankings), so by this standard it's one of the best options for the "unevolved" poll, even though it has a lower ceiling than the rest.

I guess Blitzle wins.

Poipole makes this poll unfair for the rest of them.

That was likely the only game that I ever bought purely due to internet hype when I wasn't really interested in it myself. It was so popular in all my circles that I wanted to join in and play it. I don't play FPSes so it was really hard for me and I never really improved my skill in the several months that I played it. However, what I recognized was a really good multiplayer mode, even if I didn't personally enjoy it. I remember there being a lot of settings, good character selection, and a decent amount of maps. The game really would have flourished if it were on a proper console. As far as I know none of the other Metroid Primes had multiplayer that was anything like this one.

I don't mind Dratini but I'm not attached to it either. Same goes for Larvitar.

I'm going with the green one.

Lilligant

rwlh posted...

What happened to all the love for this soundtrack? I never see anyone talk about it anymore.

They're too busy posting "sounds like Cuphead music" on every possible jazz and/or big band song from other video games.

Tag

Vengaboys - Superfly Slick Dick (5:20)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4-9kDOgy3Q

Jay Tholen - Colder Than the Rest (7:25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5Pht28LqQ8
(Jay Tholen is the composer, Hypnospace Outlaw is the game, Fre3zer is the fictional artist within the game)

BT - Suddenly (8:06)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR38z2Eb3hM

Yelle - Safari Disco Club (11 songs, 42:24)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR2ATVrSGTX91hJXNoWIHovzSIqVNBM8u