Lord_Brand

I wouldn't cry over Normal being replaced by or split up into other types with more interesting dynamics like Beast and Light. Beast is a logical counterpart to Bug in that it represents a particular phylum of animals, in this case mostly mammals, especially carnivores, rodents, and ungulates. Beast also would handily group together moves that involve teeth, claws, horns, or animalistic sounds such as growling and roaring. There's a wide variety of Pokemon that could easily fit into the Beast type, including the Legendary Beasts. Light likewise represents concepts that don't really have an ideal candidate yet. Aside from the obvious phenomenon of light (which to be fair other types can represent as well), you have the philosophical concepts of purity, healing, protection, and justice. While some of those may be covered by one type or another, no type currently covers them all. Psychic doesn't work because it's weak to Dark and Ghost, two of the types Light should be super-effective against. Not only is Fairy weak to Poison, the third type Light should trump, but Fairies themselves are not necessarily benign or protective beings, as the likes of Hatterene and Grimmsnarl demonstrate. The Fighting-type may be the ethical counterpart to the Dark-type, but they aren't the moral counterpart. Keep in mind I'm not saying Light-types are inherently moral, just that morality is often a driving force behind their actions. No type currently in the game represents the concept of an angel, cleric, or paladin as well as Light could. Yeah, you can argue Flying, Fairy, and Steel come close, but then you could make them Light/Flying, Light/Fairy (or even just pure Light) and Light/Steel to represent the concepts even better.

Well, I was talking about how Poses would work in Triple Battles in the OP. And I'd be cool with them coming back for a game themed on superheroes. That said, it is handy that Poses work in all three formats, as at minimum you have something as good as Bulk Up, Calm Mind, and the like. Also, I wouldn't make the exact formation matter, it'd just be a matter of who's fastest. The fastest Pokemon on a given team will be the leader for posing.

The tradeoff is that you spend an entire turn just buffing your team and giving the opponent a chance to attack (not to mention your opponent could always use Poses too). That said, I could see the incremental effect being nixed in favor of just buffing the whole team by up to three stages if they all pose. Even just being able to spread the effect to the whole team is already quite a jump over what moves like Dragon Dance do. That said, I would of course intend for Poses to have less PP than other buff moves to compensate. Your solution is an interesting one, but unless Accuracy and/or Evasion are added in, that means the third Pokemon's Pose is always at least half-wasted. Not appealing enough if you ask me. The nerfed version I just suggested would still be exciting without being quite as over-the-top, as even jumping three stages in one turn is pretty powerful.

Moves that rely on Natures are certainly an interesting concept, one that the game hasn't really tapped into yet. And I did consider matching Poses to Natures, like "Bold Pose" "Naughty Pose", and so on, but I don't know if I like the idea of boosting the decreased stat. If anything, a Nature-derived Pose would raise the favored stat while lowering the least-favored one. A Timid Pose raising Attack doesn't really make sense, you know? But, what if the unfavored stat translated to lowering the opponent's stat instead? A Bold Pose would raise the user's Defense and lower the opponent's Attack, for instance. A Timid Pose raises the user's Speed and lowers the opponent's Attack. That way, it's helping make up for the deficiency by making your opponent more deficient, too. Worth noting, the neutral Natures each actually raise and lower the same stat. Hardy would raise your Attack and lower their Attack, Docile would raise your Defense and lower theirs, Serious raises your Speed and lowers theirs, Bashful would raise your S. Attack and lower theirs, and Quirky would raise your S. Defense and lower theirs.

You might want to read up on my topics about my proposed Beast-type, which I feel would fit a lot of current Normal-type Pokemon.

In the case of Pokemon trading, not every Friendly Trainer would necessarily be interested in a Pokemon Trade. Maybe one or two per area, if that. As for buying items, each Friendly Trainer has only so much inventory on a given refresh, and not every Friendly Trainer would necessarily be selling Potions. Really, it'd make sense if FTs sold mostly stuff they don't want or need; Potions are one of those things you want to hang on to until you can comfortably trade up for a better item. So, early on the kinds of items you can buy could be stuff like Berries or Pokeballs while Potion sellers only come along once you have access to Super Potions at the Mart. And once you gain access to Hyper Potions, you can find Trainers selling Super Potions. Inventories can also be smaller at first, like only one or two items, total. Another prospect to consider is that the game could be made more challenging to accomodate for the added convenience. For the gauntlet aspect, there could simply be more Hostile Trainers (highwaymen, low-rung Team Grunts, the like), or mandatory battles with wild Pokemon. Something I've been interested in exploring is the idea of "boss" Pokemon that you find midway through or at the end of a given area, usually a specimen of a species found in that area but stronger than average, possibly evolved. To use an example from my topic about Green, when you encounter her in Viridian Forest early on she's running from a Level 12 Beedrill that she asks you to battle. Bear in mind that the average level of Pokemon in Viridian Forest is 3-4, and none of them are fully evolved, which makes this Beedrill a much more formidable opponent. Another example would be, say, a Graveler encountered near the end of a cave where you've been finding Geodude. The Graveler would be somewhere in the 20s while the Geodude are only in the teens. Another angle to consider for Hostile Trainers to make them more intimidating is if there's a window of time where they notice you but haven't decided to challenge you just yet. Say you pass by a tough-looking thug on a route to a city. The camera zooms in on him a little as he leers at you, sizing you up. Eventually, he says "Yo, kid, c'mere", and begins to walk towards you menacingly. You can run from him, prompting him to chase after you, or you can face him head-on. If he gets too close to you, he'll force you to battle him, but if you can give him the slip, you can avoid fighting him...for now. Until you put the big bully in his place, he'll menace you every time you pass by him. Once you do give him a good whupping, he'll leave you alone, at least until his Pokemon get stronger. Team Grunts would work the same way, only they will give chase the moment they see you. However, if you are able to disguise yourself, they'll eye you suspiciously, and eventually question you about who you are and what you're up to. Depending on the answer you give, they may leave you alone, or they may realize you're trying to pull a fast one and chase you like normal. The idea of Trainers updating is a good one, only I'd make it so they update every time you beat a Gym as well as become Champion. That kid you met on Route 1, with the Pidgey and the Rattata? Try coming back to him with four Badges in your possession, and you'll find his Pidgey and Rattata are now a Pidgeot and Raticate, much stronger than when you first threw down. The kid might have added a new Pokemon or two to his team, as well. Once you become Champion, the kid will now have a full team of Pokemon appropriately leveled for the postgame. Though again, I think it would make some sense if other Trainers travel as you do. The kid I just mentioned could run into you down the line on future routes, allowing you to rechallenge him without having to trek all the way back to Route 1 every time you want to face him. Even the thug could decide to prowl different turf and be all "Hey, I remember you! You're that punk who beat me outside Gangslum City! Thanks to you, I'm the laughing stock of the criminal underworld! Even litterbugs make fun of me! LITTERBUGS! Time for a little payback!" But you know, a lot of these ideas might be ideal for a more open world kind of Pokemon game. I have a feeling Legends: Arceus is pioneering the concept, and if it proves successful (which I think it will), the Pokemon series as we know it may just be headed for a massive overhaul. That said, the gauntlet concept you mentioned might be rendered moot anyway, or adapted to areas designed to be more linear like the Gyms.

Well "Senshi" means "Warrior" in Japan, so it should be allowed on its own. "Sailor Senshi", on the other hand, is off-limits. It should be noted that not all Magical Girls (or "mahou shoujo" 魔法少女) are also senshi; characters like Sailor Moon are specifically mahou shoujo senshi (魔法少女戦士), or "Magical Girl Warrior", due to their increased proficiency in physical combat compared to standard Magical Girls who lean more towards the "squishy wizard" archetype. Also worth noting, series like Sailor Moon also incorporate the "Sentai" genre, due to the Sailor Scouts' dynamic as a team. That said, "Senshi Girl" would be a more accurate and descriptive term as "senshi" itself doesn't specify gender. I would also be cool with a separate Magical Girl trainer class that serves as a compliment to the Senshi Girl, playing up the aforementioned "squishy wizard" angle by favoring Pokemon with special attacks over physical, while the Senshi Girls favor a balance of the two. The transformation gimmick is a neat idea, as many superheroes have alter egos. Perhaps the transformation is initiated by using certain moves, such as Moonlight or Moonblast? Maybe Fairy-type moves in general? Or it could be a Hold Item that transforms the user, since the Sailor Scouts use crystals to transform. For other move ideas, I like the concept of some kind of "moon crescent" attack that functions like a Fairy-type equivalent of Razor Leaf. Maybe "Crescent Moon Cutter"? Now I'm tempted to write out a more thorough stat sheet.

Mostly humanoid Pokemon, including those themed on superheroes. Some examples: Machop/Machoke/Machamp Abra/Kadabra/Alakazam Combusken/Blaziken Ralts/Kirlia/Gardevoir/Gallade Chimchar/Monferno/Infernape Buneary/Lopunny Riolu/Lucario Froakie/Frogadier/Greninja Scorbunny/Raboot/Cinderace Though it could be fun if most any Pokemon with arms and legs are capable of learning Poses. Some Poses could be learned via learnset, while all could be tutored. I don't think I'd dedicate TM or TR space to Poses, considering how many there would be. I didn't originally intend to make Poses for every combination, I originally had six for Attack/Speed, Attack/Defense, Sp. Attack/Speed, Attack/Sp.Attack, Sp. Attack/Sp. Defense, and Defense/Sp. Defense, but I figured I might as well cover the other four as well. Also, in case anyone's wondering how I'd portray these, ideally each Pokemon able to learn poses would actually be able to strike the pose in game, but the more practical execution is that the Pokemon performs their usual status animation with a humanoid image overlaying them, indicating what the pose is supposed to look like. Action Pose - A sort of kneeling stance with the hands bladed as though one is about to run Backup Pose - Imitates the leader's pose and thus its graphic Combat Pose - One fist extended forward and the other pulled close to the body, like in boxing Confident Pose - One or both hands on hips Defiant Pose - Hands balled into fists, chest thrust out Elegant Pose - Standing on one leg with an arm outstretched Focus Pose - Hands clasped near the forehead Guard Pose - Forearms crossed in front of the torso Power Pose - One arm raised, or both arms flexed Regal Pose - Both arms resting at the sides in a posed yet confident gait Steady Pose - Arms and legs positioned for quick blocking or dodging Weird Pose - A sort of "M" shape formed by the legs with the hands forming a "V" at the forehead

Beauty and the Beast is one of Disney's most notable Renaissance films, so yeah, it'd make sense if he were included. Since I've suggested having Mickey and co. draw from their Kingdom Hearts portrayals, sure, why not? Speaking of beauties, what if the Good Fairies gave Princess Aurora some magic of her own to use for a moveset? She could be the Zelda to Prince Phillip's Link. For that matter, I'd be keen on giving some of the other Princesses some moveset potential as well. Jasmine showed her action girl side in the Aladdin TV series, and she has some...interesting options for costume alts (namely, her peasant disguise, the slave girl outfit Jafar puts her in, and her Scourge of the Desert persona from the TV series). Aerial would be so tempting, but I'm not sure how to incorporate her mermaid form. Jumping to Marvel, what if Rogue were included as the "Kirby" of the game, allowing her to copy another fighter's power and thus use it herself? I'm wondering if my initial roster is being a bit too optimistic, looking at the starting roster sizes for NASB (20) and MultiVersus (13). However, I could see Disney looking to one-up the competition by including a larger base roster, among other perks. "MultiVersus has four DC fighters? Well our game has eight Marvel fighters! MultiVersus only has Bugs Bunny? Well our game has Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and more! Our game has more starting fighters than NASB and MultiVersus combined!" I mean, shoot, when you think about it, Disney Smash World could easily match SSBU itself pound-for-pound in content. Roster size, stage selection, music, even something akin to Spirits. We need to figure out what a good starting roster would be and how much can be added onto it over time. Way I see it, there are a few "pillars" Disney would want to represent: The core Mickey Mouse franchise of cartoons, films, video games, etc. The animated canon, ranging from classics like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty to Renaissance hits like Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin to modern day phenomenons like Tangled and Frozen. Disney TV series, again ranging from classics like Darkwing Duck and Gargoyles to modern hits like Gravity Falls and The Owl House. DuckTales fits in there somewhere too. Pixar, including Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., The Incredibles, and yes, Cars. The Marvel Comics franchise, most notably X-Men, The Avengers, Spider-Man, and The Incredible Hulk. Star Wars and possibly other Lucas Arts properties. The video game juggernaut known as Kingdom Hearts. That's seven categories to build around right there. Though the Disney Princesses could constitute their own "pillar" with how much they're grouped and merchandised together.

This is an idea I came up with in Jotari's topic about unrepresented Pokemon type pairs, while suggesting moves for a Fighting/Fairy type inspired by Magical Girl Warrior series like Sailor Moon. I'd suggested that the "senshi" Pokemon could raise stats using different poses, and before long I realized those would suit Pokemon with a superhero theme in general quite well, thus I decided to explore the concept in its own topic. The basic idea of Poses is that, by default, they raise two stats each, similar to Bulk Up, Calm Mind, and the like. There would be ten poses that raise two specific stats, as well as two extra poses with slightly different effects. Action Pose - Raises Attack and Speed Backup Pose - Emulates the leader's pose ("leader" in this case referring to the first Pokemon on your team to use a Pose that turn) Combat Pose - Raises Attack and Defense Confident Pose - Raises Attack and Sp. Defense Defiant Pose - Raises Speed and Sp. Defense Elegant Pose - Raises Speed and Sp. Attack Focus Pose - Raises Sp. Attack and Sp. Defense Guard Pose - Raises Defense and Sp. Defense Power Pose - Raises Attack and Sp. Attack Regal Pose - Raises Defense and Sp. Attack Steady Pose - Raises Defense and Speed Weird Pose - Raises two stats at random When used in Double and Triple Battles, Poses power up not only the user but also each of their teammates who also poses on the same turn. Any stat raised by more than one Pose will be raised first by one stage, then two stages, and finally three stages, meaning it's possible to raise a stat by the maximum of six levels in one turn in a Triple Battle. Poses can also be mixed, with the result that overlapping stats receive the stack bonus. Some examples: Action Pose × 3 = Six levels for Attack and Speed Action × 2 + Power = Six levels for attack, three for speed, one for Sp. Attack Action + Combat + Confident = Six levels for Attack and one for Speed, Defense, and Sp. Defense each Action + Elegant + Power = Three levels for Attack, Sp. Attack, and Speed each Action + Defiant + Guard = One level for Attack and Sp. Defense, two for Defense and Speed

I'd pictured either a rabbit like Lopunny (Sailor Moon is based on a rabbit, after all) or something abstractly humanoid like Kirlia, Gardevoir, or Meloetta. (Come to think of it, why wasn't Meloetta's Normal type switched out for Fairy in Gen VI? Then it would be Fairy/Fighting in its pirouette form.) What'd be really cute is if there was a trainer associated with the "senshi" Pokemon who herself dresses the part. "Sailor Moonstone" if you will. Now I want to see a Senshi Trainer class. Maybe two, split into Junior Senshi and Senior Senshi. In Japan, they'd probably be known as something like "Madou Shoujo Senshi" (translating to "Magical Girl Warrior"), with prefixes or suffixes to distinguish the two subclasses.

I guess I've just always loved gameplay mechanics where you mix Item A with Item B and get Item C as a result, and this was an attempt at implementing that. Maybe if we were looking at a game with fewer basic elements, like Earth/Water/Air/Fire, then composite types could have worked. But with 18 types already present, it seems there are too many "basic" elements to mix and keep track of. Guess I'll chalk this one up as a failure, then.

The "honey bear" Pokemon could be a two-stager. The first stage being a smaller, cub-like Pokemon holding a beehive, the second stage being a larger bear with, perhaps, a beehive hat or "crown" and a honey dipper as its "scepter". Though now I'm thinking the first stage could also wear the "crown" but show it to be adorably oversized. For the Fighting/Electric type, how about an ability that modifies moves that match one of a Pokemon's two types so they're the other type as well? In this case, all Fighting-type moves are also Electric and all Electric-type moves are also Fighting. This could be one of a group of Pokemon with such an ability, including a Fighting/Fire type and a Fighting/Ice type. This gives me ideas for a whole series of (maybe legendary) Pokemon based on superheroes and villains. Speaking of, I think a Fighting/Fairy type based on characters like Sailor Moon would be perfect. Like most Fighting-types, said Pokemon would be humanoid in build, and most likely feminine if not universally female. In addition to obvious choices like Moonblast and Moonlight, one of its signature moves could be a pose that powers up its stats. Come to think of it, Poses would make a good theme for "superhero" Pokemon in general. I'll make a topic for that.

I can already see the player exploits. "Go, BUTTFACE!" Well, this topic is all about rethinking Trainers. I just figure the biggest incentive for battling trainers was always the money you get for defeating them. But if you implemented the "bounty hunting" mechanic I suggested, that would make a lot more sense when you defeat a Grunt or Admin and get paid by the law for capturing them. A reward on their heads, so to speak. The "item as reward for winning" alternative still has some fridge logic to it. "You kicked my butt, so here's a precious Pearl I found after hours of diving." Now, being rewarded for completing a sidequest? That makes a lot more sense. "You found my lost Clamperl! Here's a Pearl as thanks!" The series has long been (half-jokingly) accused of endorsing dogfighting/cockfighting due to the whole "win money by winning battles" thing, so shifting financial gains away from the more violent aspect and towards good samaritanism might be a smart idea. That said, since Pokemon battling is viewed like a sport akin to boxing or pro wrestling, it would make sense if certain kinds of battles yielded monetary prizes, such as the Gyms and Elite Four. At any rate, now the series has a lot more ways for the player to make money, such as treasure hunting, so I could see battle prize money becoming less prevalent. But wouldn't it be fun to see the various towns dec themselves out with jack-o-lanterns, christmas trees, and the like? Some Pokemon are already heavily influenced by holidays, like Pumpkaboo and Delibird. During holiday seasons, those Pokemon could appear in larger numbers than usual. Yeah, you tell them your birthday as part of registering your device if I recall. Like an Archeologist who sells Fossils, or a Card Collector who sells rare Pokemon cards, or a shady vendor who sells "medicine" or "stat boosters" at exorbitant prices.

Oh, the crab robot? Best advice I can offer on that is to practice sliding under its dash and jumping over its other attacks. Burst Man himself has a tactic that feels rather cheap until you learn the trick to overcoming it: he can trap you with his Danger Wrap bubbles which will carry you up towards the spikes on the ceiling in his room. To get out of the bubble, you're supposed to shoot like mad, but doing that proved almost impossible for me. I found sliding helps you get out faster, or perhaps helps you avoid the spikes as they pop the bubble. Overall though, Burst Man isn't as tough as Freeze Man, speaking from experience taking on the buster-only boss rush challenge. You could try Cloud Man first, as his stage doesn't have any minibosses in it. Ooh, then I recommend picking it up! Mega Man X makes a much better impression than Mega Man 7 as far as SNES games go, and it has both save states and password saving. I see. You might want to check out One Step From Eden then, as it plays very much like Battle Network.

Oof. Sorry to hear your first experience with MM7 was so poor. I could have sworn MLCP2 used save states as well. How far into the game did you get? Which Robot Masters did you try fighting first? I personally start with Burst Man, though as a kid I used to tackle Cloud Man first. Is X Legacy Collection Part 1 on sale? I know for sure that one has save states, and it has the majority of the good MMX titles to boot. If you intend to pick up the Zero/ZX Legacy collection, that one lets you use "save assists", basically mid-stage checkpoints where you respawn if you die, without losing lives or rank (the deaths won't count against your end-of-level score). And take it from someone who played through most of Zero 1 without save assists: use them.

My intuition says the system should work as would be most convenient. So, highlighting Bug would also highlight Insect, Crab, etc. and highlighting Insect would also highlight any other Pokemon that are both Bug and Flying-type, in the event they have a different composite type listed than Insect (say, a Bug/Storm type or something like that). I feel a composite type priority listing would be useful. The priority system would emphasize more similar types over less. Earth takes priority over Lava, for example, so a Ground/Rock/Fire type would be Earth/Fire rather than Ground/Lava. By the same token, Insect would probably be the dominant pair in a given Bug/Flying/X combination, the only possible exceptions I see being Normal/Flying or Bug/Grass. And I don't have a resonant name for those combos at this moment, so that right there suggests Insect/Grass is more likely. I dunno, I guess at the end of the day simple triple-type Pokemon are more likely. I just thought there might be potential for "metatypes" that ideally would allow them to convey more information in a smaller space and with fewer words. Bug/Flying/Poison just feels like a mouthful compared to Insect/Poison. Is there a better way to justify the existence of composite types? Something that would mitigate the complexity or make it worthwhile?

Hmm, perhaps you're right. It all depends on whether damage is doubled each time or the multiplier is increased incrementally. To help with the complexity, the game could calculate weaknesses and resistances, then let you know how effective an attack is going to be so you don't have to spend too much time thinking about it.

Normal/Poison: Feels like this is what the Nidoran family should be. My bro suggested some manner of poisonous rat, though in my opinion Dark/Poison would fit that better. Normal/Rock: Rockruff and its line seem like they'd be prime candidates (barring the introduction of my Beast-type). Normal/Bug: How about a mix of a bear and a honeycomb? Or maybe a bear holding a beehive? Could be a case of symbiosis, not unlike Slowbro. The "honey bear" Pokemon could have its own version of Softboiled and Milk Drink involving honey. Normal/Steel: Two words - armored horse. Even better, make it an armored unicorn, using its horn like a lance. Or have the armored horse evolve into an armored unicorn. Equivalier and Palacorn! Normal/Ice: Some kind of fluffy snow animal. A snow rabbit, perhaps? Or something based on a snowman. A yeti? Fighting/Ground: A sumo wrestler of some kind. Makuhita and Hariyama would be good candidates. Fighting/Electric: I'm gonna suggest something based on a superhero. A humanoid Pokemon with a mask a bit like Elec Man - heck, maybe make them an Elec Man homage outright. Ooh, or a Pulseman reference! Maybe they can even share Pikachu's Volt Tackle move? Fighting/Fairy: How about something based on Sailor Moon? Poison/Steel: Something to do with pollution, like a living factory that belches out smog or a walking drum of toxic waste. Could be a variant of Grimer and Muk with pieces of metal junk sticking out. Poison/Ice: The best I can think of is something to do with chemicals or vapors of some kind. Maybe a chilly version of Koffing and Wheezing? My bro suggested a cobra called Snowbra. Ground/Fairy: Easy - a gnome. According to Paracelsus, gnomes were one of the four elementals, representing earth (the other three being undines for water, sylphs for air, and salamanders for fire). A dwarf would also make a lot of sense. Maybe mix in a bit of mole for good measure. Rock/Ghost: How about an animate tombstone? Maybe with an evolution based on a crypt? Rock Tomb would of course be a mandatory part of its moveset. Bug/Dragon: How about a new Scyther evolution? Lancyr, perhaps? Bug/Dark: I'm thinking some kind of ninja spider. Shinobigumo? Or it could be based on the jorogumo, the spider lady yokai. Fire/Grass: I'd once thought of a living tiki torch, using the logic that fire burns grass. Its body would be made of wood, it would wear leaves as "clothing" and the top of its head would be a lit brazier. The jack-o-lantern idea is a good one, too. Fire/Fairy: My bro suggested Ninetales be made into a Fire/Fairy type to parallel its Alolan variant being Ice/Fairy. I could also see some kind of ifrit-like genie Pokemon fitting into this category. As mentioned above, a salamander-like Pokemon could fit into a quartet of "Elemental" fairies along with an undine (Water/Fairy), a sylph (Flying/Fairy), and the aforementioned gnome (Ground/Fairy).

Well, the series already has human ghosts in it. Has ever since Gen IV, at least. See: Old Chateau, the old woman of Route 217, the ghost girl of Marvelous Bridge, Strange House, the ghost lady of Lumiose City, the ghost girl who watches you battle Phoebe, the Sun and Moon demo, the Seven School Mysteries, etc. Ghost Trainers who battle you are just an evolution of that concept into something more interactive.

Question is, what do you call the Bug/Poison composite? Type composites could cut down on steps once you have their own type interactions memorized. If you know that Water is ×4 damage against Lava, then you don't really need to constantly remind yourself that Lava is Rock + Fire combined. You just check the composite type against the type it's paired with; Water is ×6 damage against a Lava/Ground type. Same goes for an Earth/Fire type, another logical expression of Ground/Rock/Fire (and probably the preferred option). I guess we could try to come up with exactly one composite pair for each type? That would result in 9 pairs, ideally three physical, three special, and three mixed. Normal + Fighting = ??? Ground + Rock = Earth Flying + Bug = Insect Fire + Dragon = ??? Water + Ice = ??? Psychic + Fairy = Mystic Poison + Grass = Ivy Ghost + Dark = Shade Steel + Electric = Tech

Yeah, that's what I was basing it on. Trouble is, not every generation has PokeGear, so I opted for a more general purpose descriptor. The idea of their team changing after their trade is an interesting one, though in most cases players would probably just trade a Pokemon they freshly caught so they don't end up wasting any time or resources building it up beforehand. I think Trainers giving you money upon defeat is more of a gameplay convenience, something to incentivize battling them beyond gaining EXP which you can do anyway by battling wild Pokemon. There's also the possibility the Team members are paying you off in hopes you don't hurt them, too. Though now I've got a mental image of a Pokemon game where you're capturing the Team members and turning them in for a reward, bounty hunter-style. Maybe Interpol gives you a device with which to capture Team members upon defeating their Pokemon? Common Grunts obviously aren't worth as much as, say, Elites or Admins. I seem to recall the games have done something like that before, but yeah, I could see Trainers having a "daily schedule" that they follow, or even a "weekly" schedule. Now I want to see a yearly calendar implemented in Pokemon like what Animal Crossing has. Could be fun to see holiday events for, say, Easter, Halloween, and Christmas. Not to mention a birthday celebration where all the Trainers you've befriended show up with gifts to celebrate - including maybe the Gym Leaders, Elite Four, and Champion! A justification for the time, sure, but I think they could safely evolve that convention now to where only certain Trainers do that, generally those of a more forceful or sinister nature (again, barring Gym Trainers who are part of the challenge you're undertaking willingly). Yeah, I could see there being Trainers who alternate between Friendly and Hostile based on different criteria, including times of day. A more extreme example I can give is a Channeler who is relatively calm and thus Friendly during the day but at night acts possessed and thus Hostile thanks to increased ghost activity. Heck, what if there were actual ghost trainers, as in Pokemon Trainers who are literally spirits of the deceased, who appear only at night and challenge you to battle? For some of them, it may be necessary to help them move on, making it a one-time battle (unless they change their mind and come back the next night as a Friendly Trainer), while for others, it's simply a means of passing the time in the afterlife. Obviously such Trainers would prefer Ghost-type Pokemon; some might even be shown to turn into Pokemon for their battle (say, a ghost Gentleman who turns into a Gengar). If they were to be so bold as to explore the possibility of the player becoming a criminal in a future game, Trainers who are normally Friendly towards you could become Hostile if you gain a reputation as a criminal, and certain criminals may become Friendly in turn. Trainer Shops would be much smaller, something like this: Fisherman John 3 × Potion, $150 each 3 × Bait $200 each 3 × Net Ball, $1500 each In this case, you could buy up to three each of Potion, Bait, and Net Ball from John per refresh cycle. The prices are a little higher than what you'd pay in a regular PokeMart in exchange for the convenience of getting to buy the items out in the middle of the wild. Conversely, different Trainers may pay different prices for a particular item, based on how relevant it is for them: Selling: Dive Ball Bug Catcher pays: $250 Swimmer pays: $1250 The Bug Catcher doesn't really have much use for a Dive Ball moreso than a regular Pokeball, while the Swimmer loves a Pokeball that can help them catch Pokemon they find while diving. A Net Ball in contrast would be worth a lot to both of them, since Net Balls have boosted efficiency against both Bug and Water-types. The boosted sale prices for Friendly Trainers means you could turn a profit by repeatedly buying items that are of interest to them in Poke Marts and selling them to the Trainers. Also, what if registering a Trainer allowed you to Fly or Teleport directly to them?

There's a reason I didn't bother coming up with names for every possible pair. ; ) Like in the case of Bug/Flying/Poison (which should be a fairly common trio by all rights), there's no need for a Bug/Poison or Flying/Poison composite when Bug/Flying works perfectly. I guess we'd need to run down a list of every possible type trio to determine which type pairs don't really need a composite? The fewer, the better. For what it's worth, I picture the composite type symbols using a horizontal color gradient to serve as a reminder of which two types they represent. I also aimed for names that clearly conveyed the constituent types (Insects are flying bugs, Lava is fiery molten rock, Mud is water mixed with dirt, etc). I also tried to establish a naming convention for each type, such as Ground-type composites mostly being named after types of terrain (like desert and tundra) and Fairy-type composites all being named after some kind of fantasy creature, preferably humanoid (Gnome, Undine, Imp, etc).

This is an idea I struck upon recently, the concept of "composite" types that represent a combination of two "basic" types mixed together. This is intended mainly for Pokemon that really want to be three or even four types, but are unable to because of the current dual-type limitations. A Pokemon that's only two basic types would just have those types listed separately. My proposed combos: I haven't bothered to come up with a "composite" type for every possible type pair as of yet because of my reasoning that, in a given trio, some type pairs just make more sense than others. For example, let's say Beedrill is Bug/Flying/Poison. Insect works perfectly here since Insects are the only bugs that fly. Thus, Insect/Poison would be the ideal type combination for Beedrill. Indeed, any Bug/Flying/X combination most likely equates to Insect/X. By the same token, Rock/Ground/X most often will end up as Earth/X, because Rock and Ground combine so readily. Pokemon with dual composite types might be another matter, but those would be quite rare and probably best handled on a case-by-case basis.

They can always be tweaked. The Mini and Mega Mushrooms in particular could get their own item slots so you actually have room for other items. Capsules can be replaced by regular items (though I did like how the Capsules were color-coded to indicate their purpose). 9 and 10's boards could retain the "everyone travels together" aspect as their own gimmick. While we're at it, I'd like to see Duel Mode from MP3 and Super Duel Mode from MP5 return and expanded.