Appendix:Diamond and Pearl walkthrough/Super Contest

The Super Contest Hall

Super Contests are an alternative form to battling in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. The Super Contests are slightly different from the original Pokémon Contests from Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. Super Contests are held in Hearthome City.

Contest General Information

Super Contests have five Contest types: Cool, Cute, Beauty, Tough, and Smart. Each Contest has four ranks: Normal, Great, Ultra, and Master. One Pokémon can be entered into a Contest, starting at the Normal rank. Pokémon that only know one move, and eggs cannot participate in Contests.

Pre-Contest Preparation

If you so desire, you can enter a Contest whenever you choose, but without good preparation, you probably won't do well. So, how do you prepare? First, choose a Pokémon. Any Pokémon can be used in a Contest. Second, choose what type of Contest they will master. Focus on that type of Contest. Now, you need to condition that Pokémon for the Contest. To condition them, you need Poffins. Feeding your Pokémon Poffins will raise its Contest status. Raise the condition to max and go to Pastoria City to get the corresponding scarf. With a maxed Contest status and holding the corresponding scarf, the Normal, Great, and Ultra Contests are easy. The maxed status and scarf are highly recommended for the Master rank.

Last, your Pokémon's moves. For each Contest class, certain moves will hurt your score. You want to use moves that fit that Contest. The table below shows which moves are good and bad for the Contest types.

Contest Type	Good Reactions	Bad Reactions
Cool Contest	Cool, Beauty, Tough	Cute, Smart
Beauty Contest	Beauty, Cute, Cool	Tough, Smart
Cute Contest	Cute, Beauty, Smart	Cool, Tough
Smart Contest	Smart, Cute, Tough	Cool, Beauty
Tough Contest	Tough, Cool, Smart	Cute, Beauty

Contest

The Super Contests are divided into three parts: the visual competition, the dance competition, and the acting competition.

Visual Competition

The Contest will start with the visual competition. Using your Contest Accessories, you will dress up your Pokémon within a time limit. Different Props give extra points depending on the dress-up theme. More points will be added to you overall visual score for higher Contest stats.

Dance Competition

The next part of the Contest is the dance competition. Competitors control their Pokémon with four buttons: Left, Right, Front, and Jump. The dancer in front chooses up to three steps in the Normal Rank and Great Rank and four in the Ultra Rank and Master Rank, matching the beat as closely as possible. Then the backup dancers try to match the lead dancer's moves. Each Pokémon will lead for two measures (a measure is the time it takes for the lead dancer to make its moves and the backup dancers to follow), and each measure will contain 16 beats for both halves in the Normal and Great Ranks and 24 beats in the other ranks. At the bottom of the top screen, a simple music staff shows the steps with a bouncing Jigglypuff on top of it keeping the beat. Pokémon will earn points depending on if the right direction was chosen and at the right time.

Acting Competition

The final part of the Contest is the acting competition. Like its counterpart from the Pokémon Contests of Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, you will have several rounds to show your moves. Each move is performed to one of three judges to earn points. Pokémon cannot use the same move twice in a row. More points are earned if no other Pokémon performs to the same judge.

Results

After the three parts of the Contest are complete, the points are added up and the Pokémon with the most points wins. The winner will receive a Ribbon, the Ability to compeat in the next rank of that type of Contest, and an Accessory.