An Outsider's Curiosity On Pokémon Dream Radar

bdt2002

Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs superfan
is a Pre-Contributor
"On an unrelated note, due to not being able to get them anymore, everything obtained specifically from Dream Radar should be banned from Gen 5 competitive now in my opinion (the idea being people who paid for DLC in advance having an unfair advantage over new players)" -Myself in another thread a few minutes ago

Hey there, everyone. This is my first time trying to make a thread on one of these Past Generations forums, so I apologize for anything that goes wrong in advance. Generation 5 was my first full generation of Pokémon I ever played, having technically started extremely late into Generation 4's lifespan in 2010. As a result, while I don't play BW formats as much as others, being more of a casual player these days, I was still around for when the generation was in its prime and when the various tiers were in active development.

I wanted to bring attention to the 3DS spin-off game Pokémon Dream Radar, released alongside Pokémon Black 2 & White 2 in 2012. As I'm sure most of you know, Pokémon Dream Radar can connect to those games, enabling players to access various Pokémon they otherwise couldn't, namely the Therian Forme Legendaries and the Hidden Ability variants of Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Ho-Oh, and Lugia. Up until recently, there haven't been any issues with this, but following the announcement of the Nintendo 3DS eShop's closure set for March 27th, 2023, I've come across an issue this may cause for new B2W2 players going forward.

Pretty much what's happening here is once the eShop closes down, players who would theoretically be playing Gen 5 formats using cartridge-accurate gameplay won't have access to these Pokémon anymore unless someone else traded with them. This is a problem because Pokémon Dream Radar had a $2.99 USD price tag on it, essentially turning those Pokémon I mentioned into inaccessible paid DLC once the eShop closes down. As someone who's been around to at least experience Generation 5 from the beginning, I wanted to do some opinion collecting on what, if anything, should be done to reflect this change in cartridge accessibility in Generation 5's various tiers. I know where I stand on the issue, but I wanted to know what the more experienced playerbase thought too, just in case any potential decisions could have unintentional side effects for, say, any major tournaments coming up.

So, uh... yeah, that's pretty much it. BW community moderators, feel free to do whatever you want with this thread in the case I wasn't allowed to post this or whatever. I just wanted to put this out there and see what happens. Thanks in advance :)

P.S. This has absolutely nothing to do with this thread, but for the five people that still play Super Smash Bros. on their 3DS or Wii U, I also think your DLC characters should be banned for these same exact reasons.

Important Edit: My opinion on outright banning everything has actually changed since I posted this thread, but I would still like to do some opinion collecting either way.
 
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bdt2002

Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs superfan
is a Pre-Contributor
Broh if u hate the concept of legal dreaworld mons,

just wait til u hear about gsc NYC pokemon center exclusives

(all bw mons will remain legal)
I've heard about these, too, and perfectly understand why all BW mons would remain legal. I don't hate the fact that they exist in multiplayer. If anything, this is an issue with single player content, as I would have no reason to make this thread in the first place if the Dream Radar exclusive content had another way of being obtained on the game cartridge itself. It took until Pokémon Sword & Shield's DLC in 2020 for Game Freak to release a method that unlocks access to Hidden Abilities (that being the Ability Patch), which I find hilarious because that actually is DLC compared to Dream Radar, which by definition is an add-on and not DLC.

To summarize my point: I think the Pokémon themselves are all fine and help Generation 5 far, far more than they hurt it, but would personally have rather had those Pokémon made available in a way that didn't involve a soon-to-be inaccessible paywall. Literally all they had to do was make the Ability Patch an item in Gen 5's games. It's not that hard.

Edit: Just in case anyone brings up other Pokémon like Shadow Tag Chandelure being made available if that happened, I have a counter-argument for that too: just don't give Chandelure Shadow Tag for its Hidden Ability slot like how it is in Gen 6. Boom, problem solved.
 

Lily

wouldn't that be fine, dear
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UU Leader
most pokemon that will realistically be obtained for competitive purposes will be generated anyway; these tools will still let you get therian mons and (legal) ha mons, so there's no reason you wouldn't be able to get one on cart if you really wanted - not ~legitimately~ but a very small amount of competitive players legitimately obtain their pokemon these days anyway, esp. with the gts being dead for years at this stage (there are also probably single digits people who have played a gen 5 ou battle on cart in the past 5 years)

if a pokemon passes the validation check it is allowed unless banned by ou for other reasons. that's the hard rule. if you are battling on cart and do not have a thundurus therian then you can still trade with someone who does have one or obtain it through other means. it sucks that there will be no way to get these mons legitimately anymore for single player but that's more of an OI topic than a BW forum one.
 

bdt2002

Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs superfan
is a Pre-Contributor
if a pokemon passes the validation check it is allowed unless banned by ou for other reasons. that's the hard rule. if you are battling on cart and do not have a thundurus therian then you can still trade with someone who does have one or obtain it through other means. it sucks that there will be no way to get these mons legitimately anymore for single player but that's more of an OI topic than a BW forum one.
In the off chance I ever decide to make a thread about this in OI, would it be okay if I used this as a sort of citation? Because I agree with this philosophy pretty much to a T.
 

Lily

wouldn't that be fine, dear
is a Tutoris a Site Content Manageris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Community Leaderis a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Smogon Media Contributoris a member of the Battle Simulator Staffis a Dedicated Tournament Hostis a Senior Staff Member Alumnus
UU Leader
i dunno OI well enough to say if the thread would even be allowed/up to their standards, but assuming they're ok with it, sure by all means go for it
 

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