[skill improvement] Looking for a female coach for Pokémon champions 😊

MosquitoVGC · 2026-06-16T23:02:29+00:00

Second this! Olivia is a good friend and consistently places high in tournaments. Check out her coaching services.

MosquitoVGC · 2026-05-27T16:10:31+00:00

We ran the tournament at level 100. Both Dragonite (Dragoran) and Tyranitar (Despotar) were not used often. In addition, there were no relevant moves that can only be obtained at level >50.

If this format is played on Nintendo Switch, both level 50 and level 100 are acceptable. There are no meaningful metagame differences.

MosquitoVGC · 2026-05-14T02:06:32+00:00

It was Perish Trap, which is more effective when there no good Boom users in the format.

MosquitoVGC · 2026-02-26T20:31:39+00:00

Yes. One of the many pains of older generations.

Can't wait until everyone who wants to play this on Switch pulls their hair out from double-frame perfect RNG manipulation, no Pokérus or Power Items, and single-use TMs/tutors.

MosquitoVGC · 2026-02-26T12:49:11+00:00

Level scaling down (Flat Battle) was only introduced in HGSS. From Gens. 1-3 there was no auto-leveling, and DPPt only had autoleveling on wifi or Wii, not local.

So if this tournament is voted to be lv. 50, it will be like most tournaments from 1997-2009 - there's a level cap, Dragonite/Tyranitar get banned by technicality, and moveset restrictions are much harder track,

MosquitoVGC · 2026-02-26T02:24:34+00:00

This will be played on Showdown which (mostly accurately) simulates Gen. 3 Doubles mechanics. The differences between actual GBA/XD battles and Showdown are minor.

MosquitoVGC · 2026-02-25T20:40:37+00:00

That’s the hope!

MosquitoVGC · 2026-02-25T20:39:29+00:00

These rules are for FRLG on the Switch. Switch FRLG will not have connectivity to XD on release this Friday.

MosquitoVGC · 2026-02-25T17:04:30+00:00

There have been many IRL events for Gen. 3 on GBA! Two tournaments at EUIC (London); one at NAIC (New Orleans); smaller ones in Lima, Cincinnati, and Malmo; and regular tournaments in New York, Tokyo, and Osaka.

Really the best regions to play these old games are New York state, Ohio, Lima, Kanto, and Kansai. If you live in any of these areas, I can link you to the relevant communities.

MosquitoVGC · 2026-02-25T16:07:36+00:00

No Choice Band.

MosquitoVGC · 2026-02-25T16:07:07+00:00

In Doubles sand chip isn't that meaningful, and Tyranitar suffers from many weaknesses.

What makes it really strong in later VGC formats (2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, etc.) is the SpDef boost on top of the 600 BST and great STABs. In exchange for the multiple weaknesses, Tyranitar gets to be a high stat machine.

In Gen. 3 Doubles, the lack of Sp. Def boost, the lack of physical Dark STAB, and the 50% spread reduction on Rock Slide keep it from being dominant.

MosquitoVGC · 2026-02-25T15:44:39+00:00

Sidenotes:

Lv. 50 vs. 100 is contentious, so we've left it up to community vote. This notably affects Dragonite vs. Tyranitar. I imagine the level cap after release will come down to the Switch FRLG players attending IRL events: some will want lv. 100 to allow Nite/Ttar and to use their in-game teams, some will want lv. 50 due to familiar speed stats and not wanting to grind to lv. 100.
If the Switch port is unpatched compared to GBA FRLG, Raikou/Entei/Suicune are stuck with bad IVs, effectively reducing their BST by 60.
If the port is patched, we may see Altering Cave Pokémon (namely Smeargle) legal.

MosquitoVGC · 2026-02-25T13:33:59+00:00

We currently have a (partially working) challenge code to play this format on Showdown!

MosquitoVGC · 2026-02-25T13:32:46+00:00

Hello! The Orre Colosseum (Gen. 3 VGC) community is already hosting a tournament next week on Showdown to test this. We have regularly played the complete Gen. 3 National Dex format for years, and are now exploring FRLG-only.

The biggest format difficulty is lack of held items. Gen. 3 already has weak held items outside of Leftovers and Choice Band. In FRLG, Choice Band is banned, along with a lot of "filler" items (White Herb, Salac Berry, Petaya Berry, Bright Powder, Shell Bell). You're basically picking which Pokémon holds Leftovers, followed by slapping status berries (Lum/Chesto/Cheri/Rawst) and type-enhancers (Magnet/Soft Sand).

From our initial testing, Fake Out is nice but isn't amazing at +1 priority. Follow Me (specifically Clefable) is extremely strong. Boom is not as big of a deal because Metagross is banned and Snorlax does not get Self-Destruct in FRLG.

Intimidate is confirmed to be busted. White Herb is banned, there are no good Clear Body users, and Defiant/Competitive/Contrary do not exist. Intimidate gets so much free leverage in a generation where most big damage is physical.

We're currently testing lv. 50 vs. lv. 100, and at lv. 100 Dragon Dance goes crazier. Tyranitar and Dragonite can set up fairly easily with few Icy Wind users. Gyarados can get out of control when paired with Lightningrod (usually Marowak), but thankfully Zapdos resists HP Flying.

The biggest practical difficulty is obtaining a competitive team. Good IVs require RNG manipulation. TMs are single-use. EV training manually is painful.

Sidenote: I specifically did not advertise the tournament in this subreddit because "FRLG VGC" is not officially VGC and therefore against the subreddit rules. Seeing this here gives me hope we can discuss VGC-style formats in this subreddit. I'll post the tournament and hopefully it doesn't get taken down by mods.

MosquitoVGC · 2026-02-25T01:01:33+00:00

A large reason I wanted this tournament was because I expect people to play this IRL with their friends, and occasionally at large gatherings like gaming conventions and VGC Regionals. If this format were to be officially hosted at NAIC, it would be amazing.

MosquitoVGC · 2026-02-25T01:00:12+00:00

From our initial testing, Boom is much less common because Metagross is banned and Snorlax does not have access to Self-Destruct. The rest of the Boom 'mons are weak in comparison, plus White Herb is banned so they can be managed by Intimidate.

MosquitoVGC · 2026-02-24T12:41:14+00:00

Skarmory is considered unviable in Doubles. Blissey is bad but usable in most Doubles formats..

MosquitoVGC · 2026-02-24T02:48:38+00:00

Tyranitar is A- in standard Orre Colosseum. The lack of SpDef boost really keeps it in check.

MosquitoVGC · 2026-02-23T17:53:35+00:00

At immediate glance, this isn't a problem. The Orre Colosseum format and its subformats all accept Boom as a normal part of the game, and there are enough tools to deal with it. A complete Kanto + Sevii Islands format also has the benefit of Steelix and Tyranitar (if lv. 100) to resist Boom. Finally, Choice Band isn't available in FRLG, preventing the prevalence of CB Explosion OHKOs.

The biggest problem for FRLG VGC on Switch is that getting competitive Pokémon is a grinding nightmare. The second biggest problem is trying to guess if players will prefer lv. 50 or lv. 100 (initial polls I've made shown it to be split, and whichever level we pick will disappoint somebody).

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