/cracks knuckles

IT'S MY TIME TO SHINE

so, i'm someone who misses the battle frontier dearly. each and every subsequent generation, i crave for some sort of post-game challenge or battle facility or even something that can compare to what the frontier had, and i've... not really been that impressed? aside from gen 5's PWT, i don't think any main series' pokemon game's postgame has ever really drawn me in like battle frontier has. but let's get to the actual point: i can't speak for anyone else, but why does battle frontier matter to me in particular?

well, to give a more complete picture, we're going to have to take some steps back and ask a different question: why do people like challenge runs? it can be for multiple reasons. for example, the most obvious is that, well.. it's for the challenge. some people do them for the added difficulty factor that the games don't really provide. some people just do it for fun, but i think most can agree that there's creativity involved in challenge runs. take nuzlockes, for example. there's so many variations of how to nuzlocke a pokemon game and i bet anyone who has ever watched a challenge streamer has even witnessed some people adding their own custom rules to it. it may very well add to the difficulty, but to the individual, that's what makes it fun. nuzlockes aren't even the only challenges out there. there's solo runs, monotype runs... you get the picture. there's varied ways ones can self-restrict themselves on progressing pokemon games for the challenge and entertainment factor.

i'm sure by mentioning this, you can follow my train of thought on how this relates to the battle frontier of old.

let's start with emerald, as it's where, iirc the frontier made its first appearance (and i think it best illustrates why i have such a soft spot for the frontier). now i'm going to preface this before i say anything else: the battle frontier is obviously not everyone's cup of tea. it's fine to dislike it, i know some people don't see the point in it and aren't big battlers like that, but it's in a similar vein to challenge runs. not everyone does them, not everyone cares. that's fine. but i digress.

hoenn's battle frontier has seven facilities, each with its own little "restrictions", as it were, is the best way i can word it. i think to make things clear, i'd have to go into exactly what they are and what those restrictions consist of. i'm not going to go into every single facility, but for some examples:

• battle factory: you battle only with rented pokemon, not your own. this adds an interesting element of strategy because you're likely given pokemon that you may not be comfortable with, with movesets you're also not familiar on how to use. the general gist is that you make do with what you're given, but you are given opportunities to swap out your rental pokemon for any one of the pokemon of the trainer you just defeated if you're not a fan of one. this also adds a layer of teambuilding of sorts if a trainer has a pokemon that you think would be overall beneficial to your team.

• battle arena: admittedly, i don't think i've touched the battle arena all that much, but to my recollection, two pokemon are set against each other for a specific number of rounds, and whichever pokemon "performs" the best, wins the battle overall. it's rather weird in how it functions, but i think a better way to think about this is facility rewards offensive strategy and not much else. the general gist of this is that performance is based on a couple of factors:
  • - whether a pokemon initiates an offensive move
  • - whether a pokemon hits the opposing pokemon super-effectively
  • - whether a pokemon misses their move or not (this deducts points)
  • - whether a pokemon hits another for not very effective damage (i think this deducts points as well?)
  • - remaining HP

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so basically, as long as you're not super reckless and consider your moves carefully, you're likely to be fine here.

• battle palace: i think battle palace is rather unique and one of my favourites, because in this facility, you don't give your pokemon commands. at all. what moves your pokemon chooses is entirely based on their nature, and each nature has a specific percentage of how likely they are to use a certain move. it... sounds confusing when explained that way, but i think going over this page would give a better idea. it's one of my favourites because it's such a unique way of battling that hasn't ever really been re-introduced in any subsequent pokemon games. i think it's really interesting to have a battle mode where pokemon react completely of theri own volition and see how things play out.

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what i'm trying to get across with these examples is that the battle frontier itches a similar scratch that challenge runs do: because each and every single one of them impose some sort of different restriction on the player, and it's that very "restriction", that makes the frontier enjoyable and fun. it adds a layer of difficulty and strategy that hasn't really been emulated much in any of the games where the frontier isn't in (PWT is a slight exception but i'm not going into that rn). i respect that it's not everyone's taste because not everyone cares or is interested, but i think for me, the creative battle restrictions introduced in battle frontier will always be one of the best memories i've had in pokemon gaming, because there's nothing really quite like it. every other game has battle tower or battle tower esque rules where it's essentially 3-on-3 and i think that's fine, but to me it's not as... interesting or fun or anywhere near as entertaining as the conditions imposed on the player on the different battle facilities.

hopefully i've gotten this across in a way that's understandable and whew this was long but i think it kinda had to be to get the details across.