Post-Game Shenanigans in Pokemon Black

By Emily

Once you finish the game’s main storyline, you are left to do pretty much anything you want in the game. But therein lies the problem – what do you do first? There are so many legendary Pokemon left to capture, an incredible number of Pokemon to catch and evolve to complete the Pokedex, and enough strong trainers to level up a team in no time.

First on the agenda should be a stop off at the Pokemon Transfer Center on Route 15. It’s easy to reach from Nimbasa City, and you won’t have to face any particularly strong trainers, which is helpful if your Pokemon aren’t at very high levels. Now that Pokemon from the fourth generation games can be transferred, you can load your game with rare and strong characters from the previous generation of games. Since a whopping 24 boxes are available in the game, using Black as a Poke-storage system is possible, especially if you have a large collection. Despite the usefulness of the Transfer Machine, it requires two DS’s, which some people do not have.

Afterwards a quick detour to the version-exclusive Black City should be in order. The city itself is quite big, but it is a bit sparse; using the C-Gear’s entralink feature to enter another person’s game world and moving over people from their Black City or White Forest will remedy that problem. Not only are the trainers an easy way to get money, the giant store right in the middle of the city sells rare items that are fairly rare. Even though the evolutionary stones cost a good chunk of money, you can always battle the trainers outside once per day to get some cash. As you defeat the people outside more, you can get the city’s mayor, who will give you a monetary reward for every ten trainers you beat.

Now that you have enough money to last a while, why not head to Undella Town. The best feature of this town is in its bay. Using Dive, you can get to the Abyssal Ruins. Within the Ruins’ mazes are several important items, namely the elemental Plates and the Relic Crown. All of the plates can be found on the first floor, but getting every single plate will require multiple attempts. Reaching the Relic Crown is a bit difficult since it is on the last floor and you have a limited amount of steps while in the Ruins. The crown and other relic items can be sold to the artifact collector in Undella Town for a high price.

With the plates and pricey items in your possession, next on the list is legendary Pokemon. Kyurem is the closest since the Giant Chasm is just north of Undella town. After Kyurem, going after the roaming legendary Tornadus may be worthwhile. After initially releasing it from route 7, it will appear in different routes during the morning and evening, and its appearance in a route will always be noticeable as a rainstorm will also appear. The trio of Cobalion, Terrakion, and Virizion are good targets to go after since they are stationary and at a manageable level 42.

Even though it is technically not a legendary, you can go after a Volcarona by heading into Relic Castle. With access to a new area in the Castle, you head through a maze of rooms, battling a Team Plasma member and encountering wild Pokemon from previous generations. If you correctly go through the maze, you’ll be at Volcarona’s chamber, where you can capture it. This is the only wild Volcarona in the game, though if you don’t want to catch it you can instead go through Route 18 to get the egg of Larvesta. Since Larvesta evolves at a very high level, it may be a good idea to catch Volcarona when you have the chance.

Even after all that there is still so much left to do. Other activities like completing the Pokedex or hunting for shiny Pokemon will take a very long time to complete, and rebattling the Elite Four again requires very high-leveled Pokemon, which means battling lots of trainers. Not to mention all of the global capabilities like the Trade Negotiation. No matter what you decide to do first, Pokemon Black has enough activities left in it for many hours of game play


Tags: Nintendo DS, Pokemon Black & White