Sableye Only - Pokemon Emerald

Playthrough Rules:
1. Only my starter in battle
2. No items in battle*
3. No glitches or exploits*
4. No Double-Team TM before level 100*
Other rules:
-- *Pokeballs are allowed in battle when I need to catch an HM user
-- I play the game at 4x game speed (238 frames per second)
-- I allow myself to manipulate my starter (IVs, nature, HP type)
-- Using the bike for movement speed increases is banned (it can be used to obtain items)
-- Saving between league members is allowed
-- If the solo Pokemon faints and I choose to blackout it counts towards my reset counter
-- HM Mules cannot use Pickup (I want to ensure that the comparison between Pokemon is as accurate as possible, this RNG would skew things.)
*Double-Team:
-- Almost every Pokemon can learn Double-Team through TM
-- Using it would centralize the meta
-- Every Pokemon would use it to overcome tough battles at lower levels
-- It raises evasion
-- It triggers the badge boost
-- Banning the TM allows Pokemon who learn it through level up to use it
-- I believe evasion is part of Pokemon and shouldn't be banned entirely
-- I don't want the videos to all be double-team spam though, that's not fun or entertaining
Illustrations
Sarina Vail: / sarinavail
Support me on Patreon
/ scottsthoughts
~~Connect with me~~
Twitter
/ psychicflying
Email
[e-mail]

[@griifster99]

Fun fact: despite being categorized as special in gens 2/3, not a single dark move introduced in either gen became a special move in gen 4, all of them became physical

[@Mr.Tw1sty]

That's funny

[@areallytallguy]

I mean that makes sense. Bite, crunch, faint attack, pursuit all convey physicality.

[@KeitaroHirochi]

@@areallytallguy The baffling part is that dark was classified as a special type, really.

[@SaintoftheHonest]

@@KeitaroHirochi Ghost was already physical and the two types were too similar offensively, so they needed some difference

[@obambagaming1467]

@@KeitaroHirochi and it doesn't even make much sense. Dark was introduced as a counter to Psychic. Psychic pokemon tend to have low defense but higher special defense. Also most Dark types in Gen 2 and 3 were Physical attackers. And like mentioned here, basicly all Dark type moves before Gen 4 became Physical anyway. It would have made so much more sense to make Dark type a Physical type.

[@TheBozzee333]

Personally keeping night shade over astonish seems like a good idea for watson's magneton

[@alexcolon1640]

I was just going to comment the same thing. That definitely slowed down because he had to train for no reason

[@JCline-cu7sk]

i literally just came to comment this

[@whitekj03]

This is what I noticed as well lol thanks for the comment

[@KD8_NotTheShoes]

Def was gonna come comment this haha

[@philipg6432]

Was thinking the same thing during the Magneton.

[@kbowman772]

I love how you ask if Norman got moves to hit ghosts when poor Brawly was only given fighting moves when Sableye is catchable right outside his gym.

[@niksutliff]

Pretty sure he exists just to autowin brawly fights tbh

[@tordlindgren2123]

Foresight. I think it allows fighting to hit for neutral damage

[@kbowman772]

@@tordlindgren2123 It does. None of his team know it, though.

[@rc4780]

Impish is +DEF -ST ATK. You lowered your Dark Type moves power, not your Speed. You wanted Relaxed.

[@breadpope0358]

Scott needs to keep and randomly use Protect throughout the entire playthrough when he does the Pelipper playthrough Side note, its kinda funny that he didnt notice he had the wrong nature and was in fact not -speed

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

Mandatory first turn protect every battle. Just because Pelipper demands it.

[@nautgamingnautgaming9949]

@@ScottsThoughtsPokemon love pelipper my favorite Gen 3 pokemon n such a beast against Steven in ruby sapphire frankly everything except wattson it has a good matchup against

[@nautgamingnautgaming9949]

@@ScottsThoughtsPokemon nows time for MY FAMOUS PREDICTION Level 86 time around 5 hrs just barely edging out butterfree I see sabeleyes base stats holding it back massively

[@TJF588]

@@nautgamingnautgaming9949 I hadn't been expecting to keep a bird that didn't check my aesthetic boxes much, but it ended up in the Hall of Fame come end of Emerald, alongside Tropius, which checks a lotta those boxes, though I've come to be informed it's kinda mid otherwise.

[@jotarokujo3603]

@@TJF588 I had similar thoughts about pelipper when I played gen 3 but it put in so much work throughout the whole game and I ended up genuinely loving it as a Pokemon. Between Pelipper and Swampert I absolutely love rain teams lol.

[@aurochtamer]

I love Sableye. One of my favorite tricks with it in Emerald is giving it Focus Punch. Due to Sableye's many immunities, the AI can have a really hard time hitting you to interrupt it and the high base damage helps compensate for Sableye's low Attack. Pair it with Confuse Ray and it gets even harder to interrupt :)

[@braedenmclean5304]

Oh man, Sableye is one of my favourite Pokémon ever, I remember spending hours looking through that cave trying to find one, only to find out that I was on the wrong level the entire time.

[@RoninCatholic]

Paint Attack sounds like a direct damage move that Smeargle should learn on its levels ending in 5.

[@TheRealBlakers]

Scott is single handedly keeping me entertained the last 2-3 months with the content. The channel has higher quality content than 90% of streaming services. Keep it up, bro!

[@lyonnaismatt]

Bruh. Impish lowers special attack 😂 I was just thinking that I kinda miss the silly mistakes you used to make, the same sort of mistakes all of us make all the time. This was a good throwback 😂

[@jameswhite2308]

For Tate and Liza, any dark type can only be hit by the Claydol and Solrock. Xatu has Confuse Ray, but only Psychic for an attacking move.

[@nejinoniwa4804]

Actually, you CAN hit sableye for supereffective damage; you just need to set up a Fighting-type move with Foresight/Odor Sleuth first.

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

Ahhh yes, that makes sense

[@Run2127]

Night Shade might have been a good move to keep since it would do more damage than it’s current moveset against the magneton

[@RobKni76]

Scott: "Gamefreak, give me puzzles!" Gamefreak: "Best I can do is olives"

[@stevehuber1586]

I love how we are getting an advent calendar of Scott's videos through out December . I'm looking forward to the rest of month

[@skeetermania3202]

I’m curious why you got rid of Night Shade before Wattson. Maybe that would’ve been useful (certainly more than Scratch).

[@Salnax]

I think Pelipper might pleasantly surprise you. Good physical bulk, plenty of Special Attack, access to solid Water, Flying, Ice, and Normal moves, a decent collection of resistances, and, of course, Keen Eye. Watson will be hell. But after that, I think you’d be in for a fun ride.

[@Salnax]

Though now that I look at the numbers, a Level 33 Pelipper will KO Watson's Magneton with two Water Guns half the time at Level 33 while outspeeding it. Manectric would actually be the greater threat for a change, due to its higher level and Sitrius Berry. But even that could be a likely 2-shot at Level 35 with a Modest nature and a few EV's.

[@skeetermania3202]

@@Salnax How much Sp Atk investment is used in that calculation?

[@Salnax]

@@skeetermania3202 20

[@DanKeehner]

Isn't Impish nature +Def -SpAtk? Outside of that note seems pretty cool to see a Sableye run.

[@jeremywashington4889]

True, I was thinking Relaxed is +Def -Spe.

[@MrEnte3000]

That's correct. What he wanted was Relaxed nature.

[@mmburp]

Came to say this. Relaxed would be the right call

[@iantaakalla8180]

I wonder, were there any battles where speed mattered? The Sableye was generally tanky enough when it was battling certain gym leaders, and it seemed that damage ranges were the thing screwing the Sableye’s performance, between that and the missed Altaria OHKO with HP Ice.

[@DanKeehner]

@@iantaakalla8180 See I don't think so. The extra 10% SpAttk on the HP I've though might have gotten the okho.

[@Masterswordobjection]

Impish is +Defense/-Special Attack, not Speed. Relaxed is the defense nature that reduces speed.

[@ultlifeform]

You can clearly see it in the stat spread too. He points out at the beginning that Speed is Sableye's lowest stat, and he's going to lower it even further, but his speed and special attack are nearly or exactly equal for the entire play through.

[@Masterswordobjection]

Yeah, Scott, I'd highly recommend looking up a natures chart on a site like serebii, it'll help you a lot with future playthroughs! Love your content and want to see you succeed!

[@ultlifeform]

@@Masterswordobjection I'm guessing he did look up a chart, but simply misread it. Possibly due to the fact that the order the stats are listed in is not consistent. Sometimes speed is listed as the last stat, and sometimes it's listed between Defense and Special Attack. Or he just got his lines crossed. But I can't imagine he just blind guesses, as unfamiliar as he is with gen 3 games.

[@Chronoflation]

Honestly, if you ever start doing 2 runs for Emerald playthroughs, it might be a good idea to do the first run with a neutral nature and then key in the best nature to use for your second playthrough once you know where your stats were lacking or excessive from playthrough number 1. I look forward to the day you're familiar enough with this gen and hopefully have enough time to be able to do that

[@mellysandshrew]

Sableye is such a cute little goblin, loved seeing it showcased! HM friend is a good term, too, I'm also pretty fond of HM butler myself

[@SourSensationZ]

So excited for tropius. The big goofy tree will be fun!

[@raulnatokapa]

One of my fav mons! Thanks for doing it Scotty ❤️

[@TB64967]

Love these videos thanks for all the work Scott the overlay is amazing

[@seankieffer1570]

love the videos, I've been watching you more than pchal since I don't like that his videos have moved towards appeasing the masses. thanks for being consistent!

[@rjthepoet500]

This was a still a great run Scott! I think Sableye has such a cool design. And those bloopers! 😂😂😂 i literally laughed out loud at my desk when i heard what you said 😂😂

[@destinysaiyan014]

The fact that sableeye is immune to Brawly is hilarious given that (in sapphire at least) It's available in the cave next to dewford🤣

[@slightlytoxic12]

Love that these have been a daily thing lately! Appreciate all the work you’re doing and great content you’re continuing to make Scott! Really would love to see a Espeon v Umbreon for Crystal if don’t already have it in the works!

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

It’s next week’s big release.

[@Speedrunner0218]

Hiddenjim did that in gold version on his channel

[@foodruct]

Love the bloopers Scott I was missing them in some of your previous videos

[@rodrigomontellano7370]

Scott I love your vids! Cheers from Mexico!

[@2013_Shox]

I'm so glad I found these videos, Pokémon lost its magic after diamond for me, i continue to play emerald on my phone every few months, my favourite by far.

[@GrandpaMaxGaming]

I'm starting to think this fiance may be real. Keep up the great videos Scott, been viewing since the beginning. I started the series with yellow so it holds a special place in my heart

[@peterrealar2.067]

Love the nod to your equal Squidgy, total respect.

[@Itachi-Uchiha]

sable eye was my favorite gen 3 pokemon.... aside from milotic of course haha. anyway happy to see you using this pokemon :)!

[@paulmann8570]

"It's definitely the discount version of the superior ghost." Prankster Sableye: *And I took that personally.*

[@OneMoreDesu]

I agree with your nature logic. People often forget this isn't competitive Pokemon and you can't just outspeed everything or wall bad matchups

[@skeetermania3202]

Competitive play actually operates similarly. If speed isn’t needed in favour of boosting defensive stats, and you can’t afford to lose power, it’s worth taking the -Speed nature.

[@daniel6678]

yes! I love sableye, probably my favorite dark type. I remember seeing it in granite cave as a kid and thinking it was so cool, and because I didn't know how type matchups worked and none of my moves were affecting it, I thought it must be the strongest mon ever. also, I"m just always down for more emerald playthroughs since it's my favorite game. I'd love to see you do runs with breloom (surprisingly strong!), torkoal (especially now that you've dissed it, lol), or spinda!

[@caldo_mc4226]

This guy don’t miss! Content god

[@toxicperson8936]

You are a monster bro! 7 videos in a week!

[@gamerdude491]

Scott: We now call them HM friends

[@Offbreed309]

Been waiting for this one!

[@TheCulturedMan34]

Maxie: "Behold, my ultimate strategy....sand attack!!!!" Hopkins: "Uhhhhh......keen eye" Maxie: "You sick bastard!"

[@seangalemusic]

My favorite Pokémon of all time. This is going to be a good one.

[@TwizZter777]

That negative Sp.Atk nature really hindered Sableye and kept it from one shotting at critical moments. A neutral nature would have probably been the the best for Sableye as most attacks do neutral damage to it, the early game would be the same, and calm mind would have worked more effectively in the late game. A second playthrough might be necessary to see its full potential.

[@MrSuperPauli]

Love the daily upload

[@wisconsibility]

You're output lately is SCARY good, nobody can touch you! (almost as if no one can hit you super effectively...)

[@Harry-mf6rq]

JRose is outputting a lot of content too but I find his stuff hard to watch these days now I'm used to the production quality of Scott

[@wisconsibility]

@@Harry-mf6rq honestly.... I know exactly what you mean though I feel almost bad to admit it lol

[@Gibstack]

@@wisconsibility Same; I know he (Scott) doesn't like talking bad about other creators in comments but it's hard not to talk about it.

[@tesladrew2608]

@@Harry-mf6rq I like Jose's voiceovers more

[@Harry-mf6rq]

@@Gibstack They all have their own strengths. JRose is a lot better at Pokémon than Scott from what I've seen. But the effort Scott goes into to make his videos is a cut above anyone else out there.

[@achturn5979]

I'm only in as far as the nickname and I'm already excited. I love Sableye and have been naming mine "Hopkins" for years! Excellent taste sir and I look forward to the rest of the vid

[@tysatt]

Happy to see you adopt 'HM friend', Squidgy's a cool guy with a very laid-back positive attitude

[@annag2305]

Finally my favourite Pokémon getting some recognition 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@TheSefidel8]

Was never a fan of using Sableye... probably because I always misused it... 😂 Great job Scott👍

[@ArchonZach]

I feel like once they added fairy sableye lost his main gimmick I hope he gets an evo eventually

[@ultlifeform]

It did get a new gimmick in gen 5, with Prankster, and a Mega evolution (if those ever see the light of day again). Both are quite good.

[@garryfischer3679]

As always. Great video.

[@seaweedstarfy]

Hiya Scott, been watching the videos for a good while and absolutely love the content! Maybe you should add a little pompom for the Magikarp cuz it's just cheering you on in every Emerald run!

[@GreenTense]

I’m a simple man, l see scott uploads, l hit that like button. (I find myself liking your 2nd and 3rd gen videos more idk why lol)

[@gidan1128]

Armaldo is bug/rock, neither of which resist dark. Feint attack would have dealt a lot more than HP ice with STAB and dark glasses. I don't think it was worth replacing for water pulse.

[@raygunner87]

That was my thought process however I’m not sure it would’ve held up to aggron. I was confused why he was spamming HP ice on almaldo instead of feint attack

[@gidan1128]

@@raygunner87 It's hard to tell what the best choice is from this footage seeing as he had a -sp atk nature, but it seems like it may have been better to drop hp ice considering that only hit Cradily, possibly his least threatening mon, a little bit harder.

[@raygunner87]

@@gidan1128 he had a negative speed nature.

[@gidan1128]

@@raygunner87 He messed up. Impish is +def -sp atk

[@raygunner87]

@@gidan1128 I assumed the overlay was set wrong. Either way both HP ice and Feint attack are special so whether he had a special dropping nature isn’t gonna change which one he should’ve used outta those two…

[@NoLimitSquad]

Never was a fan of Sableye. Spiritomb did it better imo. Great job Scott!

[@rjante2236]

Spiritomb did it better for me as well... Until Mega Sableye came around

[@NoLimitSquad]

@@rjante2236 i forgot about that mega lol

[@rjante2236]

@@NoLimitSquad Honestly it didn't look that different so I'm not surprised when people say that haha

[@ultlifeform]

Spiritomb did it better in gen 4, when it was introduced. But then in gen 5 they gave Sableye Prankster, which made it really good, but in a different way than Spiritomb. Now they're just both good at different things.

[@fireworks6468311]

A good place to get some levels and free heals is the concession stand on the beach, theres some decent exp in there, and after you beat all the trainers, you get six sodas, that heal 60 each (I think ive got the numbers right anyways.) Good luck on your future runs. Emerald is one of my favourite gba games.

[@Matt-Glover]

Thank god hes posting every day. I have an abscessed jaw that needs surgery and I'm on medical leave from working waiting for surgery. As I sit around the house in pain these playthroughs make it a little better.

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

Sorry to hear that Matt. Glad the videos help a bit.

[@MatthewJemilo]

I have COVID (for the second time) so now I'm rewatching your whole series. This is the worst but pokemon content certainly helps!

[@briandavis2248]

Sableye was my first Shiny pokemon and loved it ever since.

[@n.henzler50]

I love Sableye. I was a fan of both Sableye and the Hopkinsville goblins long before I ever made the connection between the two. I guess you could say I've been in goblin mode my whole life.

[@Skipatronic]

You almost killed me because I was drinking coffee when you were talking about Surge and his trash puzzle and calling him trash. I choked for a good 3 minutes.

[@danielfrancis2627]

Scott'sThoughts thank you for the fun fact about Sableye I had no idea that was the inspiration for Sableye

[@apache3133]

Now that Sableye is done I can't wait to see the Shedinja run. Going from can't be hit by super effective moves to only being able to be hit by super effective moves.

[@spdnb]

"Wally gives me access to Juan's gym. Makes sense, doesn't it?" Oh my god, they were roomates!

[@forceoffriction]

aye Squidgy shoutout! I love the term "HM friends"

[@justsomejojo]

Man, I love Sableye. I remember during the pre-release period of RS I was buying magazines regularly and one of them had Sableye in its Pokemon coverage. The design got me really hyped for the game (alongside Lotad and Blaziken). Interestingly though, I didn't actually use Sableye in the game until a replay of Emerald 10 years or so later. It ended up being one of my coziest team members to use period. In a full team, its damage output isn't *as* necessary, so its biggest weakness isn't as big. Other than that, I could switch it into SO many pokemon because a surprising amount uses Normal moves. Keen Eye, as you alluded to, basically nulled the biggest frustration of Mightyena, while Fake Out, much as it is in competitive Pokemon, made many of the double battles an absolute breeze alongside a heavy hitter. They really buffed it up in Alpha Sapphire later as well. Sadly, you can't get it as early because its part of the cave is locked by the bike in that game, but it now gets Power-Up Punch via TM as well as having most of its early learnset changed to physical, so it's basically my go-to sweeper as soon as I hit Mauville City - backtracking for it after getting the bike is a bit annoying, but totally worth it. Not to mention Mega Sableye completely demolishes the endgame, because its stone appears after the climax with the legendaries. For such a low stat pokemon, it's just really nice to use.

[@AxDuncan2635]

Dammit Scott! You went right by the fossil tower! How can you do this to us? We need a fossil every video! 😂

[@boxytunic4143]

Hahahaha! He said “I was worried about my PP, but in the end it was big enough” 😂😂😂 great content.

[@Astraldragon0]

Fun Fact: Sableye was my favorite Pokemon for a good while, so much that I actually went as Sableye in a homemade costume for Halloween in the 6th grade.

[@handanyldzhan9232]

You might want to give Substitute a try in your future Gen 3 playthroughs. Archie, Maxie, Juan and the entire League just love throwing status moves and attacks with secondary effects at you. It also blocks Intimidate.

[@ThePryzedOne]

Scott you probably could have two shot the Magneton with Night Shade. Should have got rid of astonish instead. Regardless loving the video so far!!

[@iantaakalla8180]

Astonish is so weak that not even its flinch chance means anything. It needs to be a 100% flinch chance, like Nuzzle’s 100% paralysis chance.

[@anni321]

You've been pumping out vids lately Scott, omg... I'm wayy behind cause I've been working so much but I promise I will watch 'em all.

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

Don't worry about keeping up! Can always come back and watch later when it's convenient for you.

[@ronokplays]

Relationship goals Scott. You got a healthy one I strive for

[@cambutcooler_]

i remember putting a sableye on my sapphire team and keeping it till the end as a kid :] i had it keep night shade the whole way as well since it looked like it did a lot of damage and i had no idea how attacking moves worked

[@bensrandomshows1482]

Lets go Sir HOPKINS Edit: Also night shade for watson would be great

[@bredbug]

Man I hope to see sometime in the future a versus video of slugma vs. macargo in emerald like which is better higher stats and 4x weakness to a majority of major battles in emerald or the 2x weakness and lower stats

[@trevorparker6400]

Sableye is one of my favorite pokemon. I love using him on Showdown

[@NeoGodHand]

Lol, your description of Surge’s gym is almost like a Saw movie. Imagine: A dilapidated room, electric fence with smoking bodies piled in front of it, then countless trash cans with blood soaked clothes and pokeballs inside, only one having the switch. Meanwhile, Surge is at a desk behind the fence, leaning back on his chair while picking his nose!

[@garrettblaylock8297]

awesome video Scott I remember when I first encountered sableye in pokemon sapphire for the first time I was like wow this thing is creepy but caught it and seen the type and iw as like wait a minute it has no weakness and I tried to use it but then found aron and used it instead 🤣

[@kode-man23]

Me after one play through of Pokemon Ruby as a 14 year old: "Wow, you sure don't want to ever pick a nature that lowers a Pokemon's speed." Scott, professional pokemon player in his 30's: "Okay, so hear me out..." 😅

[@leonjost7467]

I think Flannery's Gym is supposed to be a hot spring and the "elevators" are just geysers, just like the rest of the town has this vulcanic SPA theme

[@titouanrobin874]

Hyped for Mawile, my favorite mon! Sadly she'll prob lose to mister 3 immunities no weaknesses over here. I'll cheer anyway.

[@TJF588]

"The Gym Leader is trash, too." I'm sure Flannery has a BRNHEAL for that sudden veer.

[@weebrahim]

Speaking of sci-fi horror, I just watched event horizon, awesome movie 🍿

[@grinbrothers]

Intended for Halloween and instead Sableye is bringing the Christmas spirit... which is kind of ghostly so it works out. My brother used a Sableye before, whereas I went with it's version counterpart; Mawile. Still, interested to see the results of this. 0:35 - I had no idea about the origins of Sableye; lovely to learn that bit of trivia about hopkinsville goblin. I'm also surprised to learn that Sableye is very meh in terms of speed. I always thought it was a Pokémon who had a unique type + speed and nothing else. Instead, it looks like it will be able to take advantage of all Ghost attacks being physical with it's 75 Attack. 5:03 - A clear example of overthinking an easy-to-win battle. Still, you got the win and that is what matters. 8:05 - Love the quirky little animation going on here; Electrike and Sableye dancing together, Magnetric knocking Electrike out of the way and Voltorb getting paler. I don't if this hints to anything but it's an amusing little touch. An yeah, I too keep thinking Magnemite/Magneton have levitate. It's sprite has never been shown on the floor/ground before. I assume simply levelling up Sableye was considered more optimal than teaching him Rock Smash, because I figured that would be the solution for dealing with Magneton (oh wait; just remembered that Rock Smash had only 20 Power back then). 15:52 - I recall Flannery being a challenge as a kid. I had terrible luck against her Attract using Pokémon, so I ended up having to rely upon my only female Pokémon; Swellow. Marshstomp in particular was consistently stopped by Attract (what rotten luck that my Water/Ground type had a thing for Fire types). 21:09 - Love the little observations you make during these playthroughs and the environment of Hoenn is quite beautiful. That said, my favourite Hoenn location is the ash covered Route 113. It's where I set up my secret base. 30:45 - With both Keen Eye and Faint Attack, Hopkins the Sableye was well set-up to not miss his opponent. No need to worry about Sand Attack or Double Team. 41:49 - Ah yes, Armaldo; the distant cousin of Venomoth. 44:16 - Love the early teasing and build-up to Castform's Mystic Water revelation. Wonderfully presented. Super looking forward to the (unfortunately painful) Mawile video!

[@Deez-Master]

Oh dope new scotts thouts vid dropped hell yea Sableye is my guy

[@handanyldzhan9232]

Sableye's Prankster ability came really handy in Radical Red. Gotta love the tricky troll. I'd use Will-o-Wisp to lower the opponent's attack and put it on a timer and Recover to gain my HP back (Ha, Grimmsnarl could NEVER). You'll never be forgotten, Eris.

[@octosage2861]

on the part where you discuss about nature choice in favour of reducing speed, maintaining or increasing speed becomes much more important from generation 4 onwards as speedcreep and ai trainer pokemon quality ramp up considerably for several generations to the point where outspeeding can become borderline mandatory for some encounters.

[@skeetermania3202]

I’d say Gen 6 is the only real exception.

[@ultlifeform]

Until Gen 7, where everything is suuuuper slow. Should have called it A-slow-la. The slowest gen 8 starter is faster than the fastest gen 7 starter. lol Also, his whole speech about proving speed to not be that important ended up pretty moot, since Impish lowers Special Attack, not Speed. He picked the wrong ability.

[@iantaakalla8180]

And as extensively covered, him choosing Impish nature was not good because he used a mixed set, which mattered during Wattson and Steven Stone and for some reason, did not OHKO that Altaria.

[@chrisdaignault9845]

Scott your best bet for natures will basically always be brave or quiet for Pokémon too slow to outspeed the league, and adamant or modest for mons that can. Boost whichever attack stat you’ll need more for the league; the difference is the largest then. Brave or adamant for physical, quiet or modest for special. Also, you should keep in mind that skipping early training is more punishing in EV games than it was in stat exp games. This is because stat exp stat gains are the square root of your stat exp, while EV stat gain is just linear. For example, when a Pokémon in crystal has 1/4 of its max stat exp in a stat, it gets a full 50% of the possible stat gain. In gen 3, with 1/4 EVs it only has 25% of the possible stat gain. Additionally weak Pokémon give only 1 EV when they would have given a bunch of stat exp. Combined with the previous means you need to do a lot more fighting to get the first half or so of your stat gains from EVs. Vitamins cap out at 100 (about 40%) And finally, greetings from cowtown!

[@salamense6791]

impish lowers sp attack. so its not usually the best nature if you are going to use special attacks.

[@imalltheragex2000]

14:48 WAHOOOO!!!! KEEN EYE! KEEN EYE!... ok sorry for commenting so much, secondly I am happy see someone appreciate keen eye cuz it's pretty good, people sleep on that ability too much

[@chefgrizz6284]

I don’t think I’m alone in this, I’d LOVE to see a Pelipper run!!!

[@Terrivian_Vess]

Definitely a favorite of mine during Emerald

[@Colin1Moriarty]

Oh boy I've been looking forward to this one! Snacks have been acquired haha. Also Scott if yourself and fiancé are sci fi horror fans I highly recommend event horizon if you haven't seen it already! It's genuinely terrifying but in space haha! I'll edit my comment once I've finished the video but wanted to comment that as it was fresh in my mind. Update: Sableye performed worse than I expected which is disappointing! But suppose it makes sense I've always just been blinded by how cool it is that it cant take super effective damage haha. Another great vid Scott looking forward to the rest of December uploads :D

[@TheWispGuy]

Alright! Time for a run with Experiment 626! Yeah, Sableye always reminded me of Stitch. 8:38 You're not the only one. I also keep thinking Magnemite line has Levitate for the exact same reasons as you described.

[@bradyrogers780]

I love the videos. And how about a hitmonchan only run of platinum? Seems like it would make a great video with elemental punches available

[@goldeneyekiller101]

Actually Sableye DOES have a weakness. If you use odor sleuth or foresight, Sableye becomes weak to fighting moves because they can hit it now

[@AlexS_983]

I think a pre and post Steven time would be worth recording for Emerald runs

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

Already doing this

[@lamiaprincess6371]

Definitely feel like Night Shade was better than Fake Out versus Wattson. Probably would have saved a lot of heartache. Also as a more general thing, something I commented on with Ludicolo as well, is that Magneton is so annoying it may be worth considering taking Rock Smash on the moveset just for it. It won't be good for every Pokemon, Sableye definitely didn't need it, but I do wonder if this is a bias that maybe should be reexamined in later playthroughs. I also wonder if being Impish hurt against Steven too. Most of his Pokemon aren't particularly fast so I think the nature might have caused a number of Pokemon to be harder than before. Definitely a good video though. Emerald is definitely more complex than previous games but it does seem like you're getting the hang of this. If you do go back and optimize, it might actually makes sense on the first playthrough to go with a Hardy nature and plan around what you think you might need in a more optimized playthrough. It gives you a neutral slate to work with after all.

[@melindamuller4466]

Night Shade would have been a three hit at level 30 at worst, and an exact 2 hit if that Magneton has 31 IVs in HP and 0 EVs.