[DISCUSSION] All Our Favorite Shadow Pokémon!

[0kamii]

 

Hey, everybody! It's 0kamii, and this is a topic I am personally VERY excited to cover!

Shadow Pokémon are probably some of the least discussed features in the entire franchise. Mostly because they are relatively unknown unless you played the Orre games, Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness. Well, I certainly did, and they are still to this day some of my favorite Pokémon games in the entire series. The world was big, the story was engaging, and the difficulty curve really challenged me as an aspiring trainer. Of course the games weren't without their flaws, but forcing you to snag pokémon from other trainers really put a different spin on the games that still lives with me today. I would personally love a third Orre game, and even though I know that it's extremely unlikely to happen, a Kahuna can always dream. As such, today I'd love to talk about my personal favorite Shadow Pokémon, as well as the individual reasons why they resonanted with me so much. That said, my personal favorite Shadow Pokémon is:

 

Shadow Mantine

 

Yeah, I'm surprised too. Given the very long, very diverse list of snaggable Shadow Pokémon, I'm shocked that I remember Shadow Mantine the most fondly. But the strange thing is, I think I know why. Before that Pokémon Colosseum playthrough, I never used a Mantine. I always used either Feraligatr, or Suicune, the other two snaggable Water-Types in the game. Both for obvious reasons. However, this one particular playthrough I was feeling exceedingly paranoid about my battle with Cipher Admin Dakim, whose signature pokémon is a Shadow Entei. Not only that, but he also used a Golem, a Metang, a Camerupt, and a Marshtomp. Mantine was a hard counter to just about all of these, and I really needed to face Dakim prepared. Thus, I snagged Mantine and decided to add it to the team. As expected, Mantine wiped the floor with Dakim. After that, Mantine stayed on the team, even after I snagged Suicune. I still prefer to use Feraligatr or Suicune, but I'll never forget how much Mantine surprised me. And that's why Shadow Mantine is my favorite Shadow Pokémon.

For those of you that don't know, Shadow Pokémon have fixed movesets when you catch them. So I can't exactly do a moveset for Shadow Mantine. If anyone has a fun Mantine set they use, feel free to share it! I know I love to troll my friends with an Eviolite Mantyke in recs.

Other Shadow Pokémon I adore are:

 

Shadow Spheal

 

Not much to say about Spheal, only that of all the Shadow Pokémon I've used, Spheal solidified my feelings on an already fun pokémon, being Walrein. I needed a reliable Water-Type for my XD playthrough, and Spheal was the earliest available Water-Type. I loved Walrein for a long time because of it, that is until Gen 5 when Team Plasma used one with Blizzard, Toxic, Protect, and Hail. Ugh...

 

Shadow Togetic

 

The thing I loved the most about Shadow Togetic was the difficulty catching it. If you played Pokémon Colosseum, then you'll know that the level of all Shadow Pokémon is scaled depending on where you are in the game. Early game, they're about 30, and by the end they're all around 50 - 55. But no, Cipher Peon Fein decided to throw that advantage out the window and come at you with a level 20 Togetic. This makes catching it a nightmare because you are guaranteed to knock out the poor thing in one hit, forcing you to get creative with how you handle the snag. Provided you didn't hurl your Master Ball already, you're in for one tricky catch, and I loved it!

 

Shadow Lugia

 

I couldn't not mention the king of all Shadow Pokémon! Easily the coolest looking Shadow Pokémon ever, catching Shadow Lugia is generally underwhelming because the game encourages you to throw your Master Ball the second you see it, but that doesn't make Lugia any less awesome. Also, a purified Shadow Lugia gains Deoxys' signature move, Psycho Boost. So note to self, if you battle me and I use a Lugia with Psycho Boost, I'm not cheating. It's transferred from Gen 3! Also, the fanart is strong with this one.

Well, that's all for Wednesday's post. I'm going to leave the outro short here, because I really want to get into the discussions. As always, thank you all so much for reading and make sure you check down below to see if you're one of my tags for today's post!

Read you all soon, everyone! Battle onwards, friends!

- 0kamii

[0kamii]

Hey, everyone! I'm still 0kamii, and for today's post, I've decided that I want to tag: @Pyroke, @Sorianwarrior, mod @Justin, and @wartty would probably be heartbroken if I didn't tag them. Your question of the day is:

What is your favorite Shadow Pokémon, and why (provided you played the Orre games)?

I look forward to the discussion with all of you. Thanks for reading, everyone!

- 0kamii

[Reis]

the only reason I know this game exists is because I requested Miror B. battle theme in a Rebounders and holy crap that place got a lot better.

Also, what system can run Gale of Darkness? They always sounded interesting to me.

[0kamii]

@Reis

Far as I know, you can only run Colosseum and XD on the Nintendo GameCube. Therefore, unless you have one lying around from the early 2000s, I'd suggest finding an emulator and downloading the game online. Just beware of proxys, don't want to get a virus.

- 0kamii

[Kris]

I only know Shadow Lugia so that's my favorite

[Sorianwarrior]

this is funny becasue i just finished a lets play of collesseum earlier this year.  My fav has to be absol...as its my favorite mon.  lol

[0kamii]

@"Anabel"

Shadow Lugia is the one most people know. And Shadow Mewtwo from Pokken Tournament. Though I'm not entirely sure Shadow Mewtwo counts...

In regards to your question earlier, I'm feeling just fine. Been doing good work. And 41 reps too!

@Sorianwarrior

Ain't nothing wrong with choosing your favorite. If there was a Shadow Piplup, that'd probably be my favorite too.

- 0kamii

[stephenWITNESS]

I never played the gamecube games so I only really knew of shadow Lugia. Might have to play through the to get that shadow Spheal...can't believe that's a thing haha

[Kris]

Although if there's a Shadow Houndour or Houndoom that'd be my favorite

[wartty]

@0kamii Mine kinda shares the same reasoning as Spheal for you :p When I was a kid I only had Sapphire and didnt have access to a copy of Ruby but one of my all time favorite Pokemon is Shiftry D': so when I saw you could get a shadow Seedot in Pokemon XD I was beyond excited lol plus Shiftry is really only viable on an in-game team xP got some good memory's conquering Mt. Battle with that Shiftry ~