Welcome back! Today, let’s make some actual progress in the game. Last time, we created an affront to God in the middle of Route 1. Today, we’re gonna do more of that general thing.
This is the new Cybele, newly owlified.
As you can see, Cybele’s moveset is a combination of both Cybele’s original moves and Archimedes’s old moves. Fused Pokémon have the movesets of both constituent Pokémon, so Cybele is going to learn everything that the Bulbasaur and Hoothoot lines normally would. This opens up some interesting combinations later on in the game.
I’m going to spend quite a bit of time grinding against wild Pokémon here to level Cybele up a bit, heading back to Pallet Town to heal up every now and then. At Level 7 she learned Leech Seed, which is going to make both grinding and survivability so much easier.
When she hits Level 8 we start to move through the Route normally. It now actually has a trainer battle!
Oddly, this trainer doesn’t spot you and walk to you, she only chooses to battle you if you talk to her.
It’s a simple fight, the Rattata in this route are more dangerous.
Well guess what Mimi, she is!
This item is an Oran Berry, and that’s pretty much all there is to speak about in Route 1. On the way to Viridian City, Cybele hits Level 9 and learns both Peck and Vine Whip, giving her two bouts of STAB moves in one go!
The first thing we do is hit the Pokémon Centre to heal up. Infinite Fusion does a neat thing in that it has Autosaving at Pokémon Centres which is very useful, considering there can be a lot of bugs in this game.
Viridian City looks a little bit different from normal, but it’s mostly the same. The trainer house makes its return from Generation 2, but we can’t access it yet. We’ll explore there later on.
Of course, we cannot challenge the gym yet. That’s a long way off.
This is the infamous “coffee-needing old man” who would usually teach you how to catch Pokémon. In reality, he’s a raging drunk.
This is just a cute little touch that makes the game feel like a real Pokémon game.
Before carrying on, I pick up some Poké Balls and a DNA Splicer at the PokéMart. We’re going to be catching three new friends in this update, and fusing two of them. So let’s get on with that! First of all, we’ll head west to Route 22.
This item is a Potion, and that boy to the south is another new trainer battle!
The vast majority of trainers in this game have fusion Pokémon.
This combination of Spearow and Pidgey might be threatening, as it’ll have the move Peck, which is super-effective against Cybele. Leech Seed and our own Peck make short work of it though, despite it taking pretty mean chunks out of Cybele.
Pat explains after the battle that in this game, most every trainer is worth talking to once you beat them. Most of them will offer you a rematch which you can use to grind, though some will give you items and the rare few will give you Pokémon Eggs! I haven’t decided how I’m going to handle eggs just yet.
Time to find out who will be joining our team!
Well hey, I’m not mad about that!
Cool. Now, the fun thing is we can immediately head north of Viridian City to find Regina’s fusing buddy!
And Route 2 provides us with…
Well it was bound to happen sooner or later. Did you know that regardless of where you are in Kanto, you are always less than 10 feet away from a Rattata?
Many points for getting this reference.
Now let’s see what this pairing can give us. First of all we’ll look at the inferior option, which is Rattata’s head on Nidoran’s body.
Ratran is an adorable Pokémon but it has some key flaws, specifically that it is just awful when compared to it’s inverse form – the only stat that it’s stronger in is Defence and when fully evolved it will have two more weaknesses and less resistances than the alternative. Knowing these things in advance is very useful when deciding how to raise these crimes against humanity.
Let’s see the fusion that we’ll actually be going with.
Nidotata is such a cute name, and it has a more dynamic pose which I like. Look at its tiny red feet!
So the next step for me is to grind Hamnpork up to a respectable level to match up with Cybele. After a while, she hit level 9 and learned Double Kick, giving us some useful coverage for Normal type foes.
Next up, before we take on a little optional challenge to finish the update, we’re going to head up through Route 2 and take a little dip into Viridian Forest to see what our Pokémon will be for that area.
Route 2 is short and sweet, and yet a lot more interesting than the original version of Route 2 with a more complex layout.
Viridian Forest has this nice dark overlay which makes everything a little bit spooky. I’m just going to take a little dive into that long grass to the left to pick up a new pal.
Oh hot diggity. That’s quite nice.
Not wanting to knock the cutie out, I used Cybele to slowly drain its health with Leech Seed and put it to sleep with Hypnosis for a good chance of catching it.
The strategy works out, and now we have a teeny tiny thundermouse. Unfortunately, we won’t be catching any new Pokémon until after Pewter City so Peach will spend sometime as a totally normal Pokémon!
I take a little bit of time to grind Peach up to Level 7. She’s a very weak Pokémon but her Speed and Special Attack should hopefully be very beneficial to the next fusion we are forced to make.
Now to end the update, we head back to Route 22.
We have two more fights to tackle.
Route 22 is one of the last routes in the game, actually, as it leads to the Pokémon League, the final bosses of the adventure.
This Pidgey goes down handily to ThunderShock.
This Caterpie/Rattata hybrid goes down to a single Peck. An easy fight.
Talking to this dude after the battle will earn you 2 Potions.
The red berry bushes actually hold Berries for you to pick. I get two Oran Berries here, which I attach to Peach and Cybele. Onto the end!
Heading to the left earns you a fight with your rival. Rhys here taunts you a bit and then boom, a fight.
Let’s go.
First up is a Pidgey. More feathers for Peach to roast!
Squirtmander is up next, and after taking two ThunderShocks it hits Peach down to critical health, so I swap her out for Hamnpork.
A single Quick Attack brings down the abomination.
Ever the gracious loser. Beating Rhys gets me some more insults, some advice, and some DNA Splicers which is nice. They cost $500 which is a decent chunk at this point in the game.
To the left of Rhys we have the gatehouse to Victory Road. We’ll be returning here in many hours time. For now, we’re going to continue north from Viridian City. Next time, we’ll take on Viridian Forest and if we make good time, challenge our first Pokémon Gym!
Until next time!
Post-Update Summary
Our team is building up quite well. We have some nice offensive typings going on and I feel confident about taking on Brock. Cybele will remain our main catcher Pokémon thanks to having access to Sleep and Leech Seed for a persistent drain. Hamnpork might end up being decently bulky, too, which would be useful.
I’m thinking it may be time to start thinking of new nicknames that actually suit the fusions instead of just taking them from the constituent parts.
New Pokémon Caught
Route 22: Regina the Nidoran F
Route 2: Hamnpork the Rattata
Viridian Forest: Peach the Pichu
New Fusions
Nidoran F + Rattata = Nidotata
Curated Critiques 