History Videogame / PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness

* LooseCanon: This spin-off duology of ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'' and this game, developed by Creator/GeniusSonority instead of Creator/GameFreak, holds this status in the main series's canon. While the main series titles have progressively established that ''all'' of the games take place in a sort of [[TheMultiverse multiverse]] (the Hoenn region in ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' canonically exists in its own reality separate from the one in the 3DS remakes, ''Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire''), the Orre region is the only region not named anywhere in-text in any of the main games (Pokémon traded from Orre are labeled vaguely as arriving "from a distant land") and no other story elements of the duology (such as Shadow Pokémon) are ever mentioned. That certain big names in Game Freak have reportedly [[DisownedAdaptation spoken disfavorably]] of the games (claiming they don't match the "vision" of the series as a whole) seems to suggest that they're deliberately ignored.

** Subverted. Dr. Krane gives Naps, Lovrina's number two and brother, an earful about the misdeeds he's committing with Cipher. Naps acknowledges that it's evil, but still refuses to quit. Apparently, [[KickTheDog Poochyena soccer]] is the bare minimum to remain employed in his line of work. [[note]]Alternatively, given who his sister is and her [[BadBoss behavior toward her underlings]]... it's possible he's been abused by her too, and is too terrified/broken to try and defy her orders.]][[/note]]

* AerithAndBob: Just like in ''Colosseum'', there's the normal sounding "Michael" or "Lovrina" for trainers...and then there's these absolutely weird names like "Snattle", "Ardos" or "Greevil", to name a few.

* BagOfSpilling: While the player character is separate between the two games, a few returning [=NPCs=] have had their levels fall ''hard''. Miror B. in ''XD'' no longer possesses his trademark Ludicolo quartet and is nowhere near the level seen in his endgame appearance in Colosseum (at least until XD's postgame, where he's stronger than he was in Colosseum). The same is true for various other Trainers fought (as ''XD'' starts with Level 10 opponents instead of 25/26). Eagun's Pikachu takes the largest hit, as in ''Colosseum'' it was Lv. 50, but in ''XD'' it's only Lv. 12 (and it's actually implied to be the same Pikachu). Though Eagun states before battling you that it's his first time in five years, so the reduced level is probably supposed to represent Pikachu being out of shape.

* CeilingCling: Just like in ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'', Cipher Peons like to hang from the ceiling just out of sight while waiting to ambush you.

* ChekhovsGun: After beating Robo Groudon Chobin, a frustrated Kaminko decides to scrap the Robo Kyogre in production and demands that Makan get rid of it. Makan, seeing the potential in it, fixes it up and gets it working, and it turns out that it's the only way to get to Cipher's base on Citadark Isle.

** Wes and Rui from ''Colosseum'' only get vague mentions, and there is no indication of what happened to them after the end of their adventure.

* CuttingTheKnot: [[spoiler:Rather than challenge you to a battle for your Snag Machine, Team Snagem instead just knocks you out with Gloom's Sleep Powder and steals it from you while you're asleep.]]

* SaharanShipwreck: The ''SS Libra'' is discovered in the middle of Orre's deserts. [=XD001=] dropped it by accident on the way to Cipher Key Lair.

* ThirdPersonPerson: Jovi and Chobin both speak in the third person to highlight their immaturity.

** When [[spoiler:Ardos defeats Zook in Gateon Port at the beginning of the game, his uses an Alakazam at Level 44]]. When you battle him on Citadark Isle near the end of the game, his [[spoiler:Alakazam]] is the same level.

* ButThouMust: Miror B. will ask Michael if he wants to join his group. Answering "Yes" will have Miror B. exclaim how Michael doesn't ''really'' want to, looping back around to the option prompt (much to the annoyance of his fans...).

* GoldfishPoopGang: The Hexagon Brothers are a bunch of Cipher Peons with colorful outfits and very little competence. They show up occasionally to slightly inconvenience you.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Subverted. Dr. Krane gives Naps, Lovrina's number two and brother, an earful about the misdeeds he's committing with Cipher. Naps acknowledges that it's evil, but still refuses to quit. Apparently, [[KickTheDog Poochyena soccer]] is the bare minimum to remain employed in his line of work. [[note]]Alternatively, given who his sister is and her [[BadBoss behavior toward her underlings]]... it's possible he's been abused by her too, and is too terrified/broken to try and defy her orders.]]

** When you first meet Miror B and he asks you to join his gang, he won't accept a "yes" from you because he can tell your heart isn't in it, and he says that you need to think hard before taking on a life of crime.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: One of the citizens of Gateon Port notes that Mr. Verich has a lot of money as his name suggests. Not to mention his powerful bodyguards.

** Aside from being able to have rematches with several Trainers across Orre (the teams of which are all at Level 50) there is the [[HarderThanHard Orre Colosseum]], snaging any remaining Shadow Pokémon you did not obtain on the first try from Miror B before being able to battle him one final time to snag his Shadow Dragonite, purifying all the remaining Shadow Pokémon, and the [[https://www.serebii.net/xd/luckyegg.shtml Lucky Egg quest]].
** Other minor activities include the Colosseum battles in Pyrite and Realgam Tower[[note]]By the end-game, Pyrite Colosseum will be a cakewalk unless you have other Pokémon at around Level 20 that need some EXP.[[/note]], completing the Mt. Battle challenge, obtaining & completing all 50 Battle [=CDs=], and clearing all eleven Battle Bingo cards. Of course since the game does not show your progress towards HundredPercentCompletion, this is more for the sake of obtaining [[BraggingrightsReward bragging rights]].

''Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness'' is a spinoff of the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' series and the sequel to ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum''. It was developed by Creator/GeniusSonority and released for the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube in 2005. Similar to its predecessor, the gameplay revolves less around battling and capturing wild Pokémon, as you instead steal them from the bad guys in the Double Battle format.

Despite the DarkerAndEdgier look presented by the cover, ''XD'' scales things back a few notches by replacing the AntiHero main character with a KidHero named Michael, and cleaning up Orre so that it's not quite as gritty as before. The plot this time revolves around "[=XD001=]": a [[OlympusMons Lugia]] transformed by the reborn Cipher crime syndicate into a Shadow Pokémon supposedly immune to purification.

** In ''Colosseum'', Shadow Pokémon often [=KOed=] themselves using Shadow Rush, since it has recoil. Here, while some Shadow moves do hurt the user, they cannot cause the user to faint (Shadow Half and Shadow End reduce the user's HP by half its current value). Tracking down missed Shadow Pokémon is also easier, since they'll go straight to Miror B. for an immediate second chance rather than requiring you to wait until a postgame rematch.

* BonusBoss: Two characters can be battled in the postgame who's teams are more powerful than the final boss's:

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

%%* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Eldes after realizing his own father used him as a pawn for evil.

** Moreso than ''Colosseum'' - the game starts out much more lighthearted, and Orre's been cleaned up quite a bit. [[spoiler:Then the wreckage of the Libra is discovered, with its crew members' fates left unknown.]]

* WelcomeToCorneria: Averted. As you progress through the story, [=NPCs=] will have different remarks on what's been happening. For example, if you return back to Krane after [[spoiler:Snagem steals your Snag Machine]], both him and your mother will notice it, even though you're not required to talk to them during that part of the game.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Subverted. Dr. Krane gives Naps, Lovrina's number two, an earful about the misdeeds he's committing with Cipher. Naps acknowledges that it's evil, but nowhere near enough to quit his day job. Apparently, [[KickTheDog Poochyena soccer]] is the bare minimum to remain employed in his line of work.
** Played Straight later with [[MookFaceTurn Hordel]] who signed up for Cipher but was horrified when he actually saw the Cipher Key Lair. [[spoiler:And later with Eldes, who put up with a lot out of loyalty toward his father but drew the line at blowing up Citadark Isle to get rid of Michael.]]

* EyesAlwaysShut: Prof. Krane and Mr Verich's character models never open their eyes. [[spoiler: Eventually subverted with Verich or rather Greevil as just before the final battle, he opens them to reveal [[RedRightHand his huge, yellow eyes]]]].

* InfinityPlusOneElement: Shadow moves are not effective against other Shadow Pokémon, but super-effective against ''everything else''.

[[caption-width-right:257:Those letters stand for Xtra-Dimension; it wasn't intentionally made to resemble the {{Emoticon}}.]]

* BrickJoke: Some with the minor background characters of Colosseum, actually.
** First, and plot relevantly, the lady who lived with Es Cade during Colosseum [[spoiler:is revealed to be a Cipher Peon in XD, which makes sense Es Cade, or rather Evice, was Cipher's boss in Colosseum. In XD, you need to distract and then fight her.]]
** Second, and really minor unless you remembered every minor trainer's dialogue involves a cooltrainer in front of the Agate Village Pokémon Center. In Colosseum, it's a male named Dury (Takato in Japanese), who's a battle-able trainer. In XD, the cooltrainer is a female named Cida (Takami in Japanese, for maximum StealthPun) who explicitly mentions she's the younger sister of Dury and has come to the village to study like he did because she's jealous of how strong he became after studying here.
** Next is Makan, who did have a minor role in Colosseum as Perr's grandfather, is essential to defeating Cipher in this game.

** Lastly, is the story from an old man in The Under in Colosseum where he discusses that some guy got VERY RICH from mining in The Under, and left and hoped he did it for good. This is foreshadowing Mr. Verich [[spoiler:or rather Grand Master Greevil of Cipher, who most definitely did NOT use it for good.]]

* CueTheSun: In the final cutscene after you defeat the FinalBoss, the clouds dissipate and the sun breaks through, likely symbolizing the end of Shadow Pokémon.

* QuirkyMinibossSquad: The Hexagon Brothers are a group of Cipher {{mooks}} found outside of the Shadow Pokémon Lab that are ''barely'' competent at their jobs. They all have [[ThemeNaming names related to a specific color (with "six" at the end)]], wears different color uniforms related to their names, and use Shadow Pokémon whose types are related to said colors (e.g. Resix wears red and has the Fire-type Houndour).

* ATasteOfPower: Right after the introductory cutscene, you're treated to a battle where you control a Lv. 50 Salamence against an NPC's Lv. 50 Metagross. It's only a simulation, however -- your real starter Pokémon is a Lv. 10 Eevee. Incidentally, a Salamence is one of the Shadow Pokémon in the game.
* ThirdPersonPerson: Jovi and Chobin both speak in the third person.

** When [[spoiler:Ardos defeats Zook in Gateon Port at the beginning of the game, his uses an Alakazam at Level 44]]. When you battle him on Citadark Isle, his [[spoiler:Alakazam]] the same level.

''Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness'' is a spinoff of the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' series and the sequel to ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum''. It was developed by Creator/GeniusSonority and released for the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube in 2005. Similar to its predecessor, the gameplay revolves less around battling wild Pokémon and more around stealing them from the bad guys in the Double Battle format.

* KarmaHoudini: The main villains get off scot-free in the end, even being free for battle in the post game.

* LevelInReverse: The Cipher Lab is essentially played backwards from how it was played in ''Colosseum'' as the Shadow Pokémon Lab, with Ein's lab now being one of the first rooms visited.

* LuckBasedMission: To win Battle [=CD=] 8, you are required to get {{Critical Hit}}s to overpower the opponent's Cradily and its Defense boosts.

* MickeyMousing: Each time he's fought, Miror B. snaps his fingers in time with the first percussion pause. There are even stars coming out of his fingers as he does it.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Eldes after realizing his own father used him as a pawn for evil.

* DefeatMeansPlayable: Several Battle [=CDs=] are "double-sided" discs, which in practice means that winning Side A unlocks access to Side B, where the player uses the opposing team (though occasionally with differences, such as Latios and Latias getting Soul Dew when you're fighting against them on Side A, but not on Side B when you use them yourself)

* DummiedOut:
** Data exists for Battle [=CDs=] 51-60, though they can only be obtained by hacking. [=CDs=] 51-55 are incomplete, kicking you out of the challenge upon startup since you don't have a team (the game effectively treats this as a loss). [=CDs=] 56-60, meanwhile, are identical to some of the Battle Sim tutorials. Battle CD 00 is the Salamence vs. Metagross battle at the beginning of the game.
** The game contains many unused maps, most of them test maps and leftovers from ''Colosseum'', including The Under and Pyrite Cave (though without music, [=NPCs=], PCs or Healing Machines). Also, it was apparently once possible to enter Greevil's cruiser while it's docked on Citadark Isle.
** There's an unused item for "The key to the safe in the Parts Shop," and map descriptions for both The Under and Dark Colosseum, "A Colosseum built on Citadark Isle."
** Through Action Replay codes, the player can start the game with a Lv. 26 Jolteon and a Lv. 30 Vaporeon instead of a Lv. 5 Eevee. Like the starter Eevee, they are listed as "Obtained from [[HelloInsertNameHere Michael]]'s dad."

* StartMyOwn: Miror B. is no longer a Cipher admin, and has started his own evil organization. It consists of...him and his two minions.

** Next is Makan, who did appear in a minor role in Colosseum as Perr's grandfather, is essential to defeating Cipher in this game.