How to Pokemon 101: Welcome to the Endgame

I’ve had several friends talk to me about pokemon lately, all of whom had the same questions that I had before I got into “endgame” material, and with the recent resurgence in HeartGold and SoulSilver as well as the announcement of Black and White I thought it might be a good idea to write up a guide or series of guides on endgame training/battling.

So for those of you that haven’t beaten pokemon Diamond/ Pearl/ Platinum/ HeartGold/ SoulSilver, it may or may not come as a surprise that beating the Elite Four, in whatever incarnation they come in, is really only the beginning of the game, much in the same way that hitting level 85 is only the beginning of World of Warcraft. After that, the real depth of the game comes in the form of collecting, breeding, and training truly powerful pokemon and assembling a comprehensive six monster team from them. I mean, there are hundreds of moves and hundreds of theoretical type combinations, plus several other details that become important only when you’ve trounced the best of the best that the computer has to offer.

Here's what you need to know.