Pokémon Contest
- This article is about Pokémon Contests in Generation III. For the Contests in Generation IV, see Pokémon Super Contest.
Pokémon Contests (Japanese: ポケモンコンテスト) are a type of competition often contrasted with Pokémon battles and held in Contest Halls. Pokémon are judged on their condition and moves in two rounds, to determine which is the best of its category.
In the games
Pokémon Contests are in Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald only, and do not appear in FireRed and LeafGreen. A Coordinator enters Pokémon in one of five categories: Coolness, Beauty, Cuteness, Smartness, or Toughness and compete against three other Coordinators in two rounds. In Generation IV, these basic ideas were expanded upon with Pokémon Super Contests.
Preliminary judging
First, the audience preliminarily votes on which four competing Pokémon looks the coolest, most beautiful, cutest, smartest, or toughest, depending on what category the Contest is in. Attributes that the audience likes and the Pokémon's overall luster also beneficially influences the audience. To make a Pokémon look cooler, etc., a Coordinator prepares Pokéblocks of a specific color from certain Berries, depending which category he or she wants to augment, and feeds them to his or her Pokémon. How well a Pokémon does in this phase is shown by the number of hearts that appear over the audience members' heads.
Within the game itself, audience score is based on the sum of the following: the full value of the Pokémon in the contest's primary attribute, 50% of the value of the Pokémon in the contest's secondary attributes, and 50% of the value of the Pokémon's sheen. scarves held by the Pokémon raise the attribute by 20 points; thus, if the Pokémon is holding a scarf corresponding to the primary attribute, the Pokémon gains 20 points in the final total, while a Pokémon holding a scarf corresponding to the contest's secondary attribute gains 10 points to the final total.
The number of hearts shown is based on the following table:
| Rank | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Normal Rank | <10 | 11-20 | 21-30 | 31-40 | 41-50 | 51-60 | 61-70 | 71-80 | >81 |
| Super Rank | <90 | 91-110 | 111-130 | 131-150 | 151-170 | 171-190 | 191-210 | 211-230 | >231 |
| Hyper Rank | <170 | 171-200 | 201-230 | 231-260 | 261-290 | 291-320 | 321-350 | 351-380 | >381 |
| Master Rank | <320 | 321-360 | 361-400 | 401-440 | 441-480 | 481-520 | 521-560 | 561-600 | >601 |
| Link Contest | <100 | 101-200 | 201-300 | 301-400 | 401-450 | 451-500 | 501-550 | 551-600 | >601 |
Additionally, in final scoring (after the appeal round), the player receives one star for every 63 points from the voting score, rounded up.
Secondary judging: appeals
In the secondary phase, the four Pokémon take turns appealing, using certain moves in front of an appointed judge. In one contest, there are five rounds of Appealing, in which each Pokémon may make appeals once or not at all, depending on the moves it and the other Pokémon have used in the previous round. Every move that a Pokémon can learn is in one of the five contest categories and adds a certain amount of "red hearts" (how much the Judge likes the appealing Pokémon) or "black hearts" (a negative number of red hearts), and may have a certain effect on the user or the other appealing Pokémon. Effects on other Pokémon include Jamming or reducing other Pokémon's number of hearts, making other Pokémon more nervous, and so forth. Move combos (e.g. using Sunny Day one round, then SolarBeam the next) score extra hearts. Moves that are of the same contest category as the contest the user is competing in may excite the audience, and if the audience becomes extremely excited, the Pokémon scores extra hearts.
Internally, each heart is worth 10 points in the appeal score for a Pokémon.
Turn order
In the first round, the turn order is determined by how well each Pokémon did in the preliminary judging. In the rounds after the first, they are ordered from who won the most hearts to the least in the next round, unless one of the appealers' moves changes or randomizes the order.
Statuses induced by contest moves
If a move a Pokémon uses in an appeal makes the user "settle down just a bit", indicated by a circle icon, it prevents one jamming from another Pokémon's move; after a single jam occurs and is prevented or the round is over, the Pokémon loses this protection.
If a move a Pokémon uses in an appeal makes it "become oblivious to others", indicated by a circle icon, it prevents the user from being jammed at all during the entire round.
If a move a Pokémon uses in an appeal tries to jam another Pokémon, the user or the other Pokémon are indicated with either a swirly spiral icon or an ear.
If a Pokémon becomes nervous due to another Pokémon's attack, it is indicated by two tildes on top of each other, a bit like an "approximately equals" sign.
If a move a Pokémon used in the previous round renders the user unable to appeal in the current round, it is indicated by an "X" icon.
Stars may be earned in an appeal as marks of "good condition", and may be received from the judge as a result of an earlier-used move. They add one more heart to the appeal.
Judges' reactions
When the judge has a question mark "?" over his head, each Pokémon is indicated with the text "NEXT TURN: ?". When this happens, the turn order for the next appeal round is scrambled.
When the judge has a number 1 or 4 over his head while watching a Pokémon appeal, that Pokémon is indicated with the text "NEXT TURN: X", where X is the number over the judge's head. When this happens, that Pokémon will become first or last in the turn order in the next round, depending on the value of X. If another Pokémon uses a similar appeal and also moves to the beginning or ending, the Pokémon that appealed first will move to the next turn, and "NEXT TURN: X" will change accordingly.
When the judge has a swirly spiral over his head while watching a Pokémon appeal, that means the Pokémon has repeated a move it used last turn. The first time a move is repeated, the Pokémon loses two hearts. The second time, it loses three hearts, and so on. There are a few moves to which this rule doesn't apply, such as Hidden Power. To prevent this from happening accidentally, the name of the move used in the previous round is gray when selecting a move to appeal with.
When the judge has a single exclamation point "!" over his head while watching a Pokémon appeal, that means a combo is possible with the move just used, and the Pokémon is indicated by a flashing red dot. If the Pokémon knows a move it can perform a combo with, its name will be red when selecting a move to appeal with.
When the judge has a double exclamation point "!!" over his head while watching a Pokémon appeal, that means it has just performed a combo with the two previous moves it appealed with. Then, the Pokémon will receive double the amount of hearts it would in a basic appeal.
When the judge has a star over his head while watching a Pokémon appeal, the Pokémon receives a star.
Audience
In secondary judging, the crowd's excitement over a Pokémon's appeal influences the number of hearts it earns. This is shown by the excitement meter, a series of five ovals that may be filled or empty.
If a Pokémon uses a move whose contest category is the same as the category of the contest it is participating in and the excitement meter is below five, the meter increases by one, and the Pokémon receives one more heart during its appeal.
If a Pokémon uses a move whose contest category is disliked by the audience for the contest it is participating in, the excitement meter will decrease by one.
If a Pokémon uses a move, and the excitement meter then reaches five, the Pokémon receives six more hearts during its appeal, and the excitement meter returns to zero.
After judging
After five rounds of appealing has passed, the four Pokémon's results are shown. Here, stars represent how well the Pokémon did in the preliminary judging, and the hearts indicate how well the Pokémon did in the secondary judging; both fill up the four Pokémon's meters. The Pokémon whose meter becomes the highest is announced as the winner of the contest, and is awarded a Ribbon. In the Master Rank, if the Pokémon has already won the ribbon for that category, the player will be given a Luxury Ball. A small portrait of the winner is painted and placed in the Contest Hall. A painter will paint a large painting if the winner of a Master Rank contest wins with a high score. These larger paintings are displayed in the Lilycove Museum.
Contest ranks
There are four contest ranks: Normal Rank, Super Rank, Hyper Rank, and Master Rank. Every contest, as well as having one of the five categories, has one of these four ranks. For a Pokémon to enter a Super Rank Beauty contest, it has to have a Normal Rank Beauty Ribbon, and for a Hyper Rank Cool contest, it will need a Super Rank Cool Ribbon, and so on.
A Contest Pass is required to enter any contest.
In Ruby and Sapphire, Normal Ranked contests are held in the Verdanturf Town Contest Hall, Super in Fallarbor Town, Hyper in Slateport City, and Master in Lilycove City.
In Emerald, contests of all four ranks are held in the Lilycove City Contest Hall only. Also, the Contest Pass is not required.
In the anime
Pokémon Contests were first introduced early on in the Advanced Generation series. In them, Coordinators show how beautiful and skilled their Pokémon can be. A Contest is divided into two parts. In the first round the Coordinator uses their Pokémon's attacks to showcase it's beauty and talent. The appeal is awarded points by judges, usually Mr. Contesta, Mr. Sukizo and the resident Nurse Joy. The Coordinators with the highest scores proceed to the next round. The number of Coordinators is different for each Contest. The second round is the Battle Round, in which two Coordinators compete in a Pokémon battle while continuing to show off their Pokémon's beauty and grace. Each battle lasts five minutes and the object of the battle is to decrease the opponent's points. Points are lost when a Coordinator's Pokémon is hit by an attack, when an attack fails, when the opponent's Pokémon performs a particularly beautiful move or when the opponent's Pokémon uses the Coordinator's attack to its own advantage. A battle can also end when one of the Pokémon is unable to battle. In this case the Coordinator with the remaining Pokémon is the winner.
A Coordinator will need a Contest Pass for a region to enter contests in that region. Coordinators who win five Ribbons are able to enter that region's Grand Festival. A ribbon won from events such as the Wallace Cup can be used in any region. Also it seems that the ribbons used for the Grand Festival do not expire. Winners of the Grand Festival earn the Ribbon Cup and become Top Coordinators.
In most Hoenn contests, Coordinators can only enter the same Pokémon for both rounds - although there are exceptions - and the master of ceremonies is Vivian Meridian. When May first participated in the Hoenn Grand Festival, two other Nurse Joys from Hoenn came as guest judges for the event, which was held in Slateport City. It ran for three episodes.
In Kanto, Coordinators may enter different Pokémon for each round and the master of ceremonies for these Contests is Lilian Meridian. The Kanto Grand Festival was held in the Indigo Plateau during May's participation. For this competition, the Hoenn announcer, Vivian Meridian, joined the panel of judges while three other Nurse Joys gave scores. Besides Lilian, Jessie, as Jessadiah, also hosted the event. The event also ran for three episodes.
In Sinnoh, Coordinators enter one Pokémon for each round and generally dress up to compete. Ball Capsules and seals are also used by Coordinators in Sinnoh contests. The contests here include both single and double performances, with the Grand Festival featuring the double performance. The master of ceremonies is Marian. During Dawn's first participation in the event, Coordinator and Gym Leader Fantina joined the judges as a guest judge. The event lasted for four episodes.
Locations hosting Contests
Hoenn
| Location | Winner |
|---|---|
| Rustboro City | Janet |
| Slateport City | Robert |
| Fallarbor Town | May |
| Rubello Town | Drew |
| Verdanturf Town | May |
| Lilycove City | May |
| Izabe Island | May |
| Pacifidlog Town | May |
Kanto
| Location | Winner |
|---|---|
| Saffron City | May |
| Silver Town | May |
| Wisteria Town | Harley |
| Chrysanthemum Island | May |
| Gardenia Town | May |
| Mulberry Town | May |
| Terracotta Town | Ash/May |
Sinnoh
Trivia
- The contest Ranks are named after the original Kanto Poké Balls, although it seems the translation team did not catch this, as the Japanese Poké Ball names (Normal, Super, Hyper, Master) are used in English versions. This was rectified in Generation IV in the ranks of Super Contests (Normal, Great, Ultra, Master).
- However, the first three are names of three different types of potions: the regular Potion, the Super Potion and the Hyper Potion.
- For DP011 and DP012, Professor Oak's lectures are about Pokémon Contest Appeal Round and Battle Round respectively. He writes this Pokémon senryū about the Appeal Round: ポケモンが かれいにまわるよ コンテスト Pokémon, oh they spin beautifully; that is a contest. He writes this Pokémon senryū about the Battle Round: ごふんかん みせてしょうぶだ コンテストバトル A five-minute battle for show, that is a contest battle.
- Interestingly, the move Struggle has Contest stats, despite the fact that Struggle cannot be used in a contest, as it can only be used if the attacking Pokémon has no PP.
- This is most likely to prevent the game from crashing if it is hacked in since, through normal gameplay, it would be impossible to use Struggle within normal contest rounds. The contest stats seem to be the defaults.
- Contests are one of the few places in the Pokémon games one can find nicknamed Pokémon. All Pokémon used by NPC Trainers in Contests have nicknames.
- In the anime there have been the same amount of Pokémon Contests taking place in both the Advanced Generation series and the Diamond & Pearl series series, with 15 contests in each.
- However, in the Diamond & Pearl series, all contests take place in only one region.
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Pokémon Contests | 
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|---|---|---|---|
| Necessary Spoils Pokéblocks • Poffins Contest Categories Cool • Beautiful • Cute • Clever • Tough Rounds Appeal • Battle • Dance • Visual |
Participation Contest • Super Contest • Contest Show Coordinator • Contest Hall • Contest Pass The Grand Festival Kanto • Hoenn • Sinnoh Top Coordinator • Ribbon Cup | ||
| Others Combinations • Opponents (III • IV • VI • VIII) • Double Performance • Jamming Ribbons (list) • Stickers • Ball Capsules • Ranks • Judges • Announcers • Wallace Cup | |||
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This game-related article is part of Project Games, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon games. |
