Hello! Welcome to the LP! This game is a very unique fangame for the franchise we all know and love so much. In this game, you can fuse Pokémon together into brand new abominations of nature. It’s probably easier to just show you this with the handy example given to us by the title screen:
As you can see, the Pokémon has fused. Some Pokémon have unique sprites that flawlessly incorporate both designs into one new Pokémon, but since this game contains every Pokémon from the first two generations and 169 Pokémon from the rest of the franchise, the vast majority of Pokémon sprites are automatically generated. There are 175,980 unique Pokémon in this game. Yes. You heard me.
Let’s go ahead and start a new game.
The game starts us off not with a Professor talk, but with an application form. We cannot change where we start and 17 is the oldest age available to us, which makes me feel old as shit. I chose the name Ryan, because that is my name.
This revolutionary new device extracts the DNA of two Pokémon and combines them to create an entirely new species!
And just watch the magic before your eyes!
Fused Pokémon can learn moves from both halves, which gives them an edge over regular Pokémon. And you can now try it on your very own Pokémon!
DNA Splicers: Now available for purchase at every PokéMart!
There are more mechanics to be dealt with when it comes to fusion, but we’ll go over them later. For now, we have a game to begin.
This totally normal Pidgeot flies south through Route 1 and drops a letter off at our mailbox. And then, we take control!
So yeah, this game is basically Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow but with fusions, an updated map design that is supposed to match the fifth gen games, and the addition of some other things like reusable TMs, trainer rematches, some story changes, and of course Pokémon fusion.
Heading downstairs has us immediately talked to by our mother.
Mother: We received a letter for you! It’s from the Pokémon League! Here! Open it!
Dear Ryan,
We are pleased to announce that your Pokémon League application has been accepted. You are hereby recognized as an official Pokémon trainer. You can now earn badges to take part in the Pokémon League Challenge. You will find your Trainer card attached to this letter. We wish you the best of luck!
- The Pokémon League admission board –
Neat!
I’m not going to transcribe each and every line of dialogue in this game, as it largely matches the originals and there is not much deviation from the classic script. Needless to say, mother says some generic encouraging things.
Mother: I overheard Professor Oak talking about it. Hmmm… What is that name you like to call him again?
This is the part where we can rename Blue to “Butts” or “Fuckface” or something, but I have something different in mind.
It’s like, a tradition of mine.
Mother: Well I’m sure that you and Rhys will have a ton of fun on your Pokémon journey together. Well, that’s it dear! I’m not holding you here any longer. Go have fun on your adventure!
Turns out that Leaf is your sister in this timeline. If you choose female as your gender I imagine Red becomes your brother instead. The box on the table just gives you instructions on how to use your running shoes.
Right, let’s leave.
It seems we can’t go a single map transition without encountering a scripted event. The gist of this conversation is that your rival is a bit of a dick (sorry Rhys) and that he’s going to the lab to wait for Professor Oak to give him a Pokémon.
So of course, we head north and get reprimanded by the man himself. He takes us to his lab, as always, except in this game we’re teleported right there instead of being led there by Oak.
And gives us the standard spiel that we’re used to, complete with Rhys complaining that we get to pick first. This game gives us the standard options: Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle. Now to give myself a fighting chance against the first two gyms, since this game is considerably harder than normal, I’m picking Bulbasaur. This is for reasons that will become clear shortly.
Meet Cybele! Bulbasaur is a bit more hardy than Charmander and Squirtle, with higher defensive stats and the ever useful Leech Seed, along with some handy status options such as sleep and paralyze. This should serve us well; this game requires some forward planning.
Rhys: So I guess I’ll take the other two and try it out on them!
Rhys proceeds to take the other two Pokéballs. A small animation plays out on his sprite and he has apparently fused the Charmander and Squirtle together. Hmm, how is that fair? Oak gives a very brief explanation of DNA Splicers that I’ll be able to do a better job of later. And now, as you try to leave…
We all saw this coming. So folks, are you ready to see your first in-game crime against nature?
Say hello to Squirtmander. You’ll notice that our Pokémon is facing the camera/screen – I think this is totally justified. Making front AND back sprites for all 175,000+ Pokémon would be a totally unfairly herculean task.
As always with this fight, the only real strategy is to use your one attacking move and hope that your foe wastes enough turns using non-offensive moves to let you beat it to death.
We were not lucky this time. We pay Rhys a measly 40 dollars (yes, regular dollars here for some reason) and get the hell out of the lab, but not before we hear that classic line:
Gotta love him. We decide to leave Pallet Town without so much as a toodle-oo to our mam.
And thus, our journey begins in earnest.
This guy is still here, and gives us a free Potion as advertising for the PokéMart. You may notice some differences in how the route is mapped out. This game has quite different designs for most locations. While the general arrangement of every area is pretty consistent with the originals, there are notable deviations in many places, often making routes a bit more compact or changing the areas of long grass to look a bit more natural etc. It works.
I’ll just zip through Route 1 and run from all the battles for reasons that will become clear soon.
We arrive at Viridian City and immediately dart to the PokéMart to get the initial fetch quest over with.
Shopkeeper: A parcel for Professor Oak? Yes of course, I’ve got it right here!
Obtained Oak’s Parcel!
Shopkeeper: And as part of a special promotion, we’re giving out free DNA Splicers with every parcel delivery. So here you go!
Obtained DNA Splicers!
Now that’s convenient. Anyway, a hop, skip and a jump later and we’re back at Pallet Town.
Oak gives his usual spiel and gives us a Pokédex and some Poké Balls. In this game however he does mention that it is a futile quest to try and complete it. Consiering there are over 175,000 Pokémon in this game, that’s very good advice.
So here’s where things really start, and I’m going to stand here for a while to let the in-game clock run for a bit, as I want to hit nighttime. There’s a good reason for this, as there’s something I want to have a chance at in Route 1, and I only get one chance.
Because this is a Nuzlocke.
NUZLOCKE RULES FOR THE UNINITIATED
- I can only catch the first Pokémon I encounter or am gifted in a given area. For example, Pallet Town’s Pokémon is Cybele the Bulbasaur. If I accidentally KO the Pokémon, I don’t get a Pokémon for that route. If the Pokémon I encounter is a Pokémon I have already caught and registered in the Pokédex, I can run away from it. Variety is key.
- All Pokémon must be nicknamed. We want attachments to these critters.
- If a Pokémon is knocked out, it dies. It must be put into a PC Box and retired from the run. This rule may get relaxed as this game can be, to put it frankly, a bit bullshit with its difficulty curve.
- Here’s the big one. I must immediately fuse every Pokémon I get with the next one I acquire. Cybele is getting fused with whatever catch I encounter in Route 1. The next two Pokémon I capture must be fused, and so on. This will lead to some shitty Pokémon, but that’s the fun of it, right?
This game makes it so that Route 1 has Hoothoot at nighttime. I want one. Noctowl is my favourite Pokémon and I just think a Bulbasaur/Hoothoot fusion will look janky as fuck. So I’m just sitting outside this patch of grass waiting for night to roll over. Ho hum.
Okay now it’s late enough for the nighttime Pokémon to appear. This isn’t a certain thing though, I have a chance of encountering a Rattata or a slim chance of encountering a Tangela too. The Tangela wouldn’t be too bad, but the Rattata would be very depressing.
I missed getting a screenshot, but sure enough the first encounter I get is with a Hoothoot.
WONDERFUL. This went about as well as it possibly could, though I did have to waste a Potion bringing Cybele back up to full health to stop her dying before we could catch the owl.
And now we have to fuse Cybele and Archimedes! So let’s go over some fusion basics. The first Pokémon selected in fusion becomes the body, and the second becomes the head, so we have the opportunity to make two different fusions here.
The resulting Pokémon will take on the first typing of the first choice, and the second typing of the second choice, with quite a few exceptions. For example, Bulbasaur will always pass on the Grass type, not the Poison type. Likewise, all of the Normal/Flying types will only pass on Flying type. The exceptions serve to reinforce some part of the source Pokémon that is sufficiently important to its identity.
Now, the stats of the fusion are also based on the order in which you fuse the component parts. The fusion’s stats are averaged with different weightings depending on whether the source is the body or the head. For example, the fusion gets a bonus to its Attack stat based on the body’s Attack stat, and a bonus to HP for the head.
Basically, it’s a whole lot of confusion, but we’ll muddle on through. I have a calculator which will let me preview the stats exactly so I can play a little bit strategically, but regardless of this fusions are reversible so I’ll never be stuck with a truly inferior Pokémon if I make a mistake.
So let’s have a look at the two choices we have here! First, we’ll look at what happens if we give the body of Hoothoot the head of Bulbasaur.
And that is uh… that. Now, this looks pretty cool but its stats are quite a bit worse than if we reversed the combination.
So the choice was between Bulbahoot and Hootsaur, and we chose the latter. While the former has higher Special Attack and Special Defence, the latter has better numbers in every other stat, and its fully evolved form will be pretty bulky. I have some ideas on how to use this Pokémon – Leech Seed and Sleep Powder will feature quite heavily, I think.
Isn’t it cute?
Right. Well. Thank you for joining me in this little mad experiment. Next time, we’ll properly begin this adventure in earnest and make at least one new abomination! See you then.
Post-Update Summary
There’s really not much to talk about yet. But here is where I’ll keep track of the new Pokémon acquired and new fusions made.
New Pokémon Caught
Pallet Town: Cybele the Bulbasaur
Route 1: Archimedes the Hoothoot
New Fusions
Bulbasaur + Hoothoot = Hootsaur
Curated Critiques 