How to catch Victini

Victini is a legendary Psychic/Fire rodent-like Pokémon in Pokémon White/Black. It’s also a pain in the 8-bit butt to catch. Here’s a little step-by-step guide to getting victory on your side.

STEP ONE – DOWNLOADING the Liberty Pass

Select MYSTERY GIFT from the main menu screen. Then select RECEIVE GIFT and tap YES. Select GET VIA NINTENDO WFC and tap YES. If your settings are in order, a connection will be made, and a new screen should declare that you can pick up the Liberty Pass at your local Pokémart.

STEP TWO – RECEIVING THE LIBERTY PASS

Head to the closet Pokémart and speak to the deliveryman in blue. He’ll hand over the Liberty Pass to you, and now would be an excellent time to save your progress.

STEP THREE – GO TO THE LIBERTY GARDEN

After earning two gym badges, you’ll be able to cross a huge bridge and reach Castelia City. Once in the city, head all the way to the left without going down any streets or alleys, and you’ll hit Liberty Pier. Take the boat here to the very not-garden-like-at-all garden and get ready to fight some Team Plasma grunts; they have Victini cornered in tower’s basement. Once you’ve defeated all three grunts, you can challenge Victini to a battle.

STEP FOUR – CATCH VICTINI

Not as easy as it sounds. Speak to Victini to begin a battle with it. The legendary Pokémon is level 15, knows some good fire moves, and can be a little tough to wear down to a teeny, tiny fraction of health. Once you have it there, be prepared to throw a lot of Pokéballs. A lot. I went through at least twenty-plus: Heal Balls, normal Pokéballs, Great Balls, and several Nest Balls. Just keep throwing them and it’ll eventually happen, I promise. Or you can try to put Victini to sleep or paralyze it, which my Pokémon team could not do.

If Victini faints, exit the room and re-enter to try again. And don’t forget that the officer at the top of the steps can heal your Pokémon for you.

Best of luck, Trainers!

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The adorable artwork headlining this post comes from DeviantArt user Aonik.

Meet the three Pokemon Black/White starters

Earlier in the week, Pokemon fans got teased with the following silhouettes, which represent the three new starters from the forthcoming Pokemon Black/White games:

Many guessed that, seeing as there’s been little innovation in this aspect, the three Pokemon would fall under the usual category of being fire-based, grass-based, and water-based. Sure, some hoped for new elemental types to start out their next adventure. Personally, a baby dragon-based Pokemon would be killer to train from the get-go, but alas, it’s been revealed what they look like, knocking down all theoretical walls and solidifying that they are what they are, which is adorable/freaky and just more of the same:

We have a fire-based pig, a rather stoned-looking grass Pokemon (inside joke?), and some kind of…demented beaver? Really, your guess is as good as mine. Their Japanese names are reportedly Tsutaja, Pokabu, and Mijumaru, but I’m sure they’ll swiftly be made into something more punny for us silly Americans. Either way, I’m not overly excited for Pokemon Black/White. See, HeartGold will definitely be keeping me busy for a long, long time, and if there’s a severe lack of innovation in this next iteration of the series and just, oh, a hundred more Pokemon to ultimately collect then there’s no reason to jump on it. Chances are I won’t even have half of HeartGold‘s Pokedex filled by the time this comes out. And I really do think the series needs more than a graphic overhaul to spice things up.

If I had to pick one though, I’d go with the fire-based pig. Naturally, his nickname would be Bacon.