Legendary and Mythical Pokémon Encounters
As I mentioned much earlier in the post, the fact that the Pokémon of Hisui will try to attack the player really adds another dimension to some of the Legendary and Mythical Pokémon in the game, though not every single one. The encounters with Regigigas, Giratina, and either Dialga or Palkia (depending on a choice made in the game’s story) are more or less like Legendary Pokémon encounters in the main games. You interact with it, battle it and capture it. That’s all. The instances where the Legendary or Mythical Pokémon in question attacks the player trying to capture it though are definitely the most memorable. So I thought I’d use this section of the post to share the stories of my own most memorable Legendary and Mythical Pokémon encounters in this game (except for Arceus though, because I already talked about that encounter in a previous section).
Prince Manaphy and His Dancing Phione
In the area of Hisui known as the Cobalt Coastlands, there’s a cave where a Manaphy and three Phione can be found and captured. The method to unlock this cave is actually found in modern day Sinnoh’s Canalave Library in Brilliant Diamond and Shinning Pearl. I unlocked the cave without any significant difficulty, and when I entered the cave I was greeted with a cutscene where a Manaphy and a trio of Phione greeted me. They soon began to dance around the cave. It was actually kind of a cute scene…until they tried to kill me.
The cute little devils would ram into me and shoot bubble-like projectiles at me. They also had shields up that I had to first knock out by throwing items at them before I could attempt to battle or capture them. Once I finally did manage to initiate a battle with Manaphy, my entire team ended up getting wiped out, because admittedly a lot of the Pokémon I had brought with me were a little under leveled. At one point when I was about to die, I quickly opened my menu and used Revives on each of my Pokémon and started the battle anew. In the end, I managed to catch Manaphy and all three Phione. If memory serves, I immediately added that Manaphy to my team. In fact I’m pretty sure I used him in the final battle against Volo.
Oh Crap! It’s Darkrai!
This next encounter happened on a day when my brain wasn’t firing on all cylinders. In the postgame, if the player has a save file of Brilliant Diamond or Shining Pearl (I had both), they can take on an optional side quest to encounter and capture Darkrai. I had somehow forgotten this side quest had existed though, so when I read its description in the game In decided to take it on because it sounded interesting. From the description I thought I’d be investing some sort of Ghost-Type Pokémon. So I accepted the quest, I went to the area indicated as the objective at night (in-game), and was greeted by Darkrai. By this point my brain was going, “Oh! …Right.”
A pretty nasty battle began, and it was a battle that I was woefully unprepared for. Like with Prince Manaphy and his Dancing Phione, Darkrai had a shield up that I had to knock out. My initial attempt to battle Darkrai did not go well. As I recall, all of my Pokémon got knocked out, and I had to take cover behind a large rock and heal them while Darkrai continued firing attacks at me. In the end though, I somehow managed to capture Darkrai. It’s occurring to me now that my luck in parts of that game was crazy good.
The Kami Quartet
Most of my most challenging Legendary Pokémon battles in this game were against the four members of the Kami Quartet. The battles all took place over the course of two or three days. The first member of the Quartet I went after was Thundurus, as he was my favorite member of the original trio. Thundurus was kind of difficult to reach because he was rampaging out in the middle of the ocean in the Cobalt Coastlands, and I found his attacks a bit difficult to dodge. I ended up getting killed at least two or three times.
Eventually I did manage to take down the shield Thundurus had up though. Once his shield was down, I managed to hit him in the back with the Poké Ball I threw, causing him to be in a dazed state when the battle began. This allowed me to easily weaken Thundurus with the Giratina I caught in the game, and capture him with an empty ball. I immediately added Thundurus to my team and decided to take some time before challenging the other three members of the Quartet. For the remainder of that afternoon playing the game, I simply explored the Cobalt Coastlands and tested my new catch in battle.
The next member of the Quartet I went after was Landorus. I went after him next because he was in a more easily accessible area. As I recall, I didn’t have quite as much difficulty with Landorus. Of course I did have to deal with the obstacle of being attacked by other Pokémon while trying to take down his shield. That was a hazard with all four members of the Quartet, and they were all placed in areas were there was one guaranteed Alpha Pokémon. It took some time, but I did finally catch Landorus.
At least a day later I went after Tornadus, who could only be found in a rather nasty area of the Alabaster Icelands during a snowstorm. It actually happened on a night I had driven home from work though a rather nasty snowstorm happening in the real world. Making it home safely through that storm emboldened me to go after Tornadus. It took a few tires, but I managed to knock out the shield Tornadus had up and started a battle with him. My initial attack almost completely knocked out all his HP, which really caused my heart to stop because I really didn’t want to have to reset and go through the process of knocking out his shield all over again.
I managed to catch Tornadus without having to reset though, and I believe it was the next morning when I decided to go after the final member of the Quartet, Enamorus. Enamorus was found in the Scarlet Bog, one of the worst locations in the area of the Crimson Mirelands. It was the same process as before with the other three. I really had to be careful about dodging the tornados Enamorus fired because they also caused a confusion state were the game’s directional controls would be inverted for at least a few seconds. As I recall the actual battle, I didn’t take out that much of Enamorus’s HP. I think I was a little too worried about accidentally knocking her out. In the end, Enamorus was captured with I think about half her HP remaining.
The quest to capture the Kami Trio was definitely one of the biggest challenges in the game, and it was a satisfying challenge to beat. It also made me fonder of all four Pokémon than I was in the beginning. Thundurus and Enamorus were the two members of the Quartet that I used most in Legends: Arceus. Incidentally, I’ve since transferred all four members of the Kami Quartet to my save file in Pokémon Violet. I also intend to transfer them to any future Pokémon that they’re compatible with.
The Fighting Cresselia
My final memorable encounter in this game was with Darkrai’s opposite, Cresselia. Remember the days when Cresselia would simply run away from you? Well the Cresselia of Hisui was way more aggressive. As soon as I approached Cresselia, she put out this psychic field that caused my directional controls to become inverted, which was a little tricky to figure out at the time. I also had to knock out the shield Cresselia had put up before I could battle her. The battle itself wasn’t all that memorable, but I hadn’t expected Cresselia to put out that initial attack, which is why my encounter with her made it into this section.
