Pokémon Ruby Version, Sapphire Version, and Emerald Version - Pokémon Contests
- This page is for general information about Pokémon Contests. For more detailed, in-depth information, see this page.
In addition to battling, you can also raise your Pokémon to compete in Pokémon Contests in the Hoenn region. This involves raising aspects of your Pokémon by feeding it a candy called a Pokéblock. There are many different colors and flavors of Pokéblock, and they help in augmenting the five aspects pertinent to Pokémon Contests, namely: Beauty, Cool, Cute, Smart, and Tough.
About the Contests
A Pokémon Contest involves four trainers and their Pokémon. A Pokémon Contest consists of two stages: primary and secondary.
In primary judging, the audience will vote on their favorite Pokémon of the four presented. The voting is affected by how much your Pokémon’s Contest attribute is by feeding it Pokéblocks, and by how often you feed Pokéblocks to it.
In secondary judging, each Pokémon will "appeal" to the audience by performing its moves. Each move has a type, and using moves of the right type will make the crowd more excited. Other types are incompatible with the Contest theme and reduce the crowd’s excitement. In addition, using one move after another one (called a contest combo) can earn extra appeal points. There are five appeal turns in this round, and each Pokémon will try to gain as much appeal as it can, or try to steal appeals away from other Pokémon.
The primary and secondary scores are tallied, and the Pokémon with the highest score is the winner, who receives a ribbon.
Contest Ranks
Pokémon Contests come in four ranks: Hyper, Master, Normal, and Super, in ascending order. Any Pokémon may enter a Normal Rank Contest. Pokémon that won a contest in a certain category may move up in rank in the same category. For example, a Super Rank Cool contest winner may enter a Hyper Rank contest in the Cool category.
The Normal Rank Contest Hall is in Verdanturf Town, where you’ll also get a Contest Pass needed to enter Contests. The Super Rank Contest Hall is in Fallarbor Town, the Hyper Rank Contest Hall is in Slateport City, and the Master Rank Contest Hall is in Lilycove City.
Pokémon Sketches
When your Pokémon wins a Pokémon Contest, its picture is drawn and hung on the Contest Hall’s wall.
If your Pokémon wins a Master Rank Pokémon Contest and it did very well, an artist will arrive after the contest and tell you that he has drawn a magnificent sketch of the Pokémon and intends to give it to the art museum. He gives your Pokémon a ribbon before he goes.
Pokéblocks
You can advance your Pokémon’s Contest status by feeding it Pokéblocks, which are like special candies for Pokémon. To start making them, you need a Pokéblock Case. Go to the Slateport Contest Hall to get one.
Pokéblocks are made using a Berry Blender. You can find Berry Blenders (the gray machines) in any Contest Hall. To start a Berry Blender, go to an unoccupied side of one of them.
When two or more people are on the Blender, the blending can begin. Choose a berry to put in the Berry Blender, and to make the Berry Blender run, press the A button when the spinning pointer reaches the marker on your side of the machine.
When the Berry Blender stops, you will get a Pokéblock. Its color, level and feel depend on the Berries in the Blender, and the maximum speed reached. To experiment with the Berry Blender, go to the Pokéblock Generator.
Pokéblocks contain a level and a feel rating. Level measures how much a Contest attribute will change when the Pokéblock is fed. Pokémon can eat more Pokéblocks with a low feel rating than other Pokéblocks. Pokéblocks also come in flavors that determine which Contest attribute to increase.
Condition
A Pokémon’s "condition" is the amount of cuteness, beauty, and so on. that a Pokémon has. Check your Pokémon’s condition by selecting "PokeNav" on the menu and then selecting "Condition".
For each Pokémon, you will see a screen showing a pentagon diagram. The ends of the pentagon name the five Pokémon Contest attributes. The green pentagon in the middle will expand as your Pokémon’s condition raises, with some points of the pentagon reaching the ends of the diagram. The stars around a Pokémon indicate the combined feel of the Pokéblocks the Pokémon has eaten.