Funny / Pokémon Legends: Arceus

Moments pages are Spoilers Off.

Even the most stoic and no-nonsense captain is not above entomophobia^note fear of insects.

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Main Story

• The very beginning, which has a dramatic tone where you seemingly float around in a void lit up by a golden light as what's essentially God starts speaking to you... and then asks what you look like (which prompts a character selection screen) can be an unexpected bit of unintentional hilarity for some.
• The mere fact that Arceus communicates with you via a divinity-enhanced smartphone and took the trouble to make it resemble itself. One can only imagine what the player character is thinking about the shape, as the phone is now a bit troublesome to hold.
  • When the player character first picks up the Arc Phone, the game says that you found "something resembling a phone," and it's "probably" yours although it looks different. It comes off as even the narration poking fun at the new shape.
• Before Professor Laventon can introduce you to the starter trio, all three of them run off, much to his chagrin. You'll have to catch them yourself!
• Due to the rather questionable timing of you being summoned, you end up in Meiji-era Sinnoh region wearing light present-time casual clothes looking more like an Alolan tourist compared to everyone else. Whatever you were doing before getting summoned was probably not part of a Gym Challenge...
• The Oh, Crap! expression on the player character's face when they first see Jubilife Village and it truly sinks in that they are indeed stuck in the past.
• Akari/Rei's first reaction to Professor Laventon explaining the player's origins is to say "You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!" with an expression that shows that they're 100% finished with him.
  • Later, when the Professor suggests you deal with the Kleavor problem yourself, Akari/Rei gives him the most hilarious side glance, clearly thinking he's lost it. To be fair, nobody else volunteered to fight the frenzied noble!
  • When trying to come up with a name for what would be Balms to throw at Kleavor, Akari/Rei suggests calling them "Laventon Balls", which he immediately shoots down since it would sound like they're going to throw him at the walking deathmobile.
• Cyllene's disturbingly blunt statement that if you fail your first trial, you'll be banished and left at the mercy of wild Pokémon... specifically averting Never Say "Die" by outright telling you (a 15-year-old kid) that the Pokémon (or the elements) will probably kill you, something that both the Professor and Akari/Rei will helpfully remind you while you're doing said trial.
  • After you pass, she responds with "Looks like we won't have to leave you to die, after all." Given that she's a Perpetual Frowner, it's not hard to imagine that her tone was one of disappointment.
  • The mere fact that she tasks you with catching a Bidoof, Starly, and Shinx and acts as if there's even a single chance that you'll fail. And that everyone sans Professor Laventon is convinced you'll fail as well, because it's just that uncommon during this time. Managing to catch all three denotes you as highly talented by everyone in the village and the most impressive member of the Survey Corps in one fell swoop. Even funnier when you realize that in Diamond and Pearl, you'll end up encountering these same three right after leaving Sandgem Town and might consider catching them at the start of your adventure then.
  • When you go to speak with her about the Avalugg mission, Cyllene, otherwise a stoic, blunt woman, will scream in terror because... a Wurmple wandered into her office (pictured above). She hurriedly orders her Abra to just Teleport it out. With how quickly she returns to her usual stoic self seconds later, you can imagine her forcefully demanding that the player character never tell anyone about this off-screen.
• During the tutorial, you're taught that you can sneak up on Pokémon by hiding from them in tall grass. That's right: in Hisui, YOU jump out at the Pokémon from the tall grass.
• Commander Kamado introduces himself by challenging you to a fight. Not a Pokémon battle, mind you, but an actual fight. Cut to black and, unsurprisingly, he bodied you immediately and threw you across the room into the wall, regardless of whether you tried to throw him or did a full-body charge.
  • Not only are "try to throw him" and "full-body charge" the only options, but the player character shows no hesitation or fear one way or the other. It's a short scrawny teenager who just dropped in from the sky versus a tall burly military man who has years of combat training under his belt and is specifically noted to be able to toss Pokémon and boulders alike with ease — what did they think was going to happen? Of course, being brave enough to try was the whole point of Kamado's challenge.
• Your first trainer battle is with Volo, the character who looks just like a male Cynthia. So, what Pokémon, pray tell, does the ancestor of one of the most powerful trainers in the entire series send out? Togepi. A baby Pokémon. Needless to say, the first battle is pretty easy. It's also ironic since it's Fairy-type, which is especially good against Dragon-types. In subsequent fights he picks up a Gible.
  • Doubling as heartwarming, you can see a photo of Volo and his Togepi on the outside of the photo studio.
• Kricketune's famous cry has been written out by the fanbase as "Delelelelele-WOOOP!" ever since it first appeared in Diamond, Pearl and Platinum. Here it becomes a case of Ascended Meme, as Kricketune's cry is written as and said by an NPC to be "De-le-le wooooooooooop!" in this game.
  • When you first agree to help Mai, she informs you that she is the warden of a noble and powerful Pokémon. The next thing you hear is the "Delelelelele-WOOOP!" sound, as a giant Kricketune arrives on the scene. After a beat, she informs you that Kricketune is not the Pokémon she is talking about.
• In most Pokémon games, when you reach a But Thou Must! situation, the NPC in question will simply repeat the request until you say yes. Here, if you say "no" to the Kleavor mission, Cyllene will just outright tell you that you don't have a choice and send you on the mission anyway. The same goes for many of your subsequent missions, actually, as both Cyllene and Kamado couldn't care less about whether or not you're up to a given task: you work for them, this is your job, so go do your stinkin' job.
• Iscan's fear of ghosts makes him so reluctant to deal with Dusclops that he ends up referring to it as "dust bops" when he asks you to go catch one, just so he doesn't have to say the name.
• After the Miss Fortunes do their clearly highly-rehearsed introduction routine à la anime Team Rocket, Palina can't find it in her to take them seriously.
  Palina: You want to take...my partner? If your aim is to pester us with bad jokes, those ridiculous introductions of yours were more than enough!
  Iscan: Y-yes! Exactly what she said!
  • Shortly after, comedy turns to tragedy as the sisters use Gengar to come from behind and kidnap...the wrong Growlithe. Iscan asks, "This is an emergency! R-right?" and admits he hasn't battled with Basculegion before.
• After the player defeats the first of the three Miss Fortune Bandits on Firespit Island, Clover seems completely shocked and throws a temper tantrum over her Abomasnow being defeated... when Abomasnow (an Ice and Grass type, meaning it takes 4x damage from Fire, mind you) was essentially standing mere feet away from a volcano. Clover even lampshades that the heat kept Abomasnow from battling properly and then blames you for putting her Pokémon through this. The accusation is ridiculous enough that Coin has to point out that Clover was the one who chose to send Abomasnow out.
  • After you beat Charm, Clover will announce that she has revived her and Coin's Pokémon and states that now they can keep fighting until they run out of potions, not unlike what the player character in many a Pokémon game may find themselves doing in difficult situations.
• While you're talking to Ingo about getting Sneasler to help you scale Mount Coronet, he makes a passing mention of Hidden Moves — or rather, their newfound (to him) absence. He brings up their inconvenience as an alternative to ride Pokémon, so it's a little bit of Self-Deprecation on Game Freak's part.
• Diamond Clan Warden Melli makes his appearance by shoving his way past the Security Corps and into Kamado's office. Kamado says he's going to put the guards through more training. Given what happened to the player earlier, those guards are going to be miserable by the time this is over.
  • Melli first challenges the player at the entrance of Wayward Cave as part of his continued attempts at preventing them from reaching Noble Electrode. While the player character is usually willing to accept any battle opportunity, this is the one time where both dialogue options are refusing to battle ("Absolutely not" and "Maybe another time"), suggesting that the player already doesn't want to put up with him.
  • Him bickering with Lian about their respective nobles during a world-ending apocalyptic crisis. Bonus points about him boasting that Lord Electrode would blast "that ugly bug" (Kleavor) "all the way back to your stupidly oversized tree" in the most pretentious way possible. The icing on the cake is that, if the two of them actually fought, Kleavor would actually have the type advantage.
• When Adaman challenges you to a battle to prove your worth to Melli, he asks Melli to "watch closely". Melli's response? To turn his head and close his eyes with a smug grin on his face.
• While Kamado is describing the Electrode mission to you, Melli indignantly claims that a "flimsy little noodle" like the player character could never quell Lord Electrode... even though he's quite noodly himself.
• How you're carried by Sneasler. Every game since the introduction of Ride Pokémon has at least one Mon that you ride in a goofy way, and Legends: Arceus is no exception. To ensure your safety as she ferries you up and down cliff faces, Sneasler... chucks you into a wooden box she wears on her back, with the player character only visible through a narrow slit By the Lights of Their Eyes. Even funnier is that because of this, wild Pokémon are less likely to act hostile on sight while doing this, since all they see is a Sneasler with what looks like a food delivery backpack. It also might or might not make Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba fans wonder if that's how Nezuko feels.
• Near the climax of the plot, Beni blocks the player from continuing to the Temple of Sinnoh. Before challenging the player, he points out that he invented the smoke bombs the player's been using and dramatically reveals, "Well, THIS is how you're meant to use them!" He then proceeds to throw one and reveal his ninja outfit, meaning according to the inventor of the smoke bombs, their intended purpose is... to obscure the user so he can change clothes.
• If you thank Cyllene for helping you out during your banishment, she'll immediately go into Tsundere mode, claiming that Abra "got away from her entirely of its own accord" and "inconvenienced her greatly". Recall that Abra brought a note from Captain Cyllene with it outright telling you that she's doing this for your benefit. Even better, it's arguably Justified by the fact that, at this point in time, Kamado wouldn't be happy Cyllene went out of her way to help you in such a significant way.
• After meeting Cogita and choosing a Clan leader to aid you in your quest, you are given the option to seek out the Lake Trio in any order. If you visit Lake Verity last, you go from throwing balms at a teleporting pixie to no avail and answering a Pokémon anatomy trivia quiz to...talking about your feelings.
• At the very end of the main story, Adaman catches Kamado crying Manly Tears and can't help but engage in a bit of good-natured ribbing. The screen then cuts to black and, from the sounds of the scuffle and Adaman's ensuing remark, it's made quite apparent that the commander replied with a sumo throw.
• Mistress Cogita is always good for a laugh whenever the mood isn't dire. And sometimes when it is.
  • The player has arrived back at Jubilife to prepare for the upcoming battle against Origin Dialga/Palkia. Cogita shows up to encourage the player, but decides not to help and instead decides to go shopping. As everyone asks her why she wants to go shopping at the end of the world, she simply replies that she wouldn't be able to do much shopping after the end of the world. Adaman actually concedes the point.
• Once you learn the Red Chain is real, Adaman/Irida will wonder why Pokémon who have power over the human mind can help make an artifact that can "bind the world" and stop the crisis. Cogita asks if we'd even notice the world ending without our minds, adding that some people even say that the world itself only exists because our minds are there to perceive it. Adaman/Irida, naturally, is left even more confused, and Cogita brushes it off as a myth teaching us about the world and to think for ourselves in their own mysterious ways. Volo, naturally, interjects that myths and legends are fascinating to study before setting up this gem to end the conversation:
  Volo: In any case, all we have to do is complete two more trials and we will get the Red Chain!
  Cogita: (nodding her head "no") How nonchalant you sound. How confident of successes to which you contribute nothing. You tag along only for the chance to gawk at more ancient ruins.
• When channeling the thoughts of Dialga/Palkia, Adaman/Irida will outright say "try to catch me", only for the other to ask incredulously what they mean, thinking they are asking the protagonist to catch Adaman/Irida.
  • Likewise, after referring to Dialga/Palkia as "Almighty Sinnoh" a few times while relaying their messages, Adaman/Irida will stop and correct themselves to note the creature's actual name, suggesting that Dialga/Palkia actually interrupted them to point out that their name is not Almighty Sinnoh.
• Much later in the game, Mistress Cogita is aiding the player in locating all of the Origin Plates, making fun of how Volo is sitting idly by while you do all the work the whole time. Once the player has acquired sixteen out of eighteen Origin Plates, she seems prepared to offer more information and asks the player to bring her three pieces of wood. On returning with the wood, she thanks the player and informs them that the wood they've gathered is actually for a new cutting board. Volo reacts how everyone's thinking, complaining about going resource-gathering just so she could have some new kitchenware and was expecting this wood to have some sort of importance. Nevertheless, she gives you the Pixie Plate as a reward... only for it turn out she had no idea what it was until Volo identifies it as such. She's been using it as a cutting board and had been annoyed at how the engravings made using it for that purpose troublesome. Cogita does suggest that the mystical powers in it seemed to have made her food tastier upon this revelation, though.
  • Volo's stunned reaction is even funnier after The Reveal.
• Melli's opinion of Cresselia when the player is asked to catch the thing? He calls it a "flying croissant". Then he gets in a bit of his usual ego by claiming Cresselia can't be all bad if it recognizes how amazing the arena taken care of by "the great Melli" is.
• When Palina asks the player to deal with Heatran, she also asks Irida to come to Firespit Island. Instead of showing up to explain anything, she gets Iscan to accompany Irida in the unbearably hot interior of a hollowed volcano. Iscan, for his part, provides a rather flimsy excuse as to why Irida should have shown up in the first place. Looks like Palina got petty revenge on Irida for all the past pushy talk about training the current Lord Arcanine.
• There's something comical about the end to the Marathon Boss that was Volo and Giratina being heralded with the text box saying, "You finally beat Giratina", as if the game itself is acknowledging that the entire fight sequence was ridiculous.
  • There are lots of reaction videos out there with players feeling relieved when they beat Giratina-A, usually with only one or two Pokémon left along with trying to make a spectacular end with a Strong Style move, only to freak out when Giratina pulls a One-Winged Angel and ganks them in Origin Forme.
• The final battle against Arceus can come off as this, as you're essentially throwing an unlimited number of smartphones at what is basically God itself. In context, Arceus transforms the Arc Phone into a glowing golden balm to throw at it in battle, which is funnier when you remember that previous balms were the nobles' favorite food.
• At one point, Adaman has a serious conversation with you… while a Spheal rolls in and listens in. Depending on your response, it'll either roll away or clap its fins and then roll away. This is never acknowledged in-universe or out.

Side Quests

• The payoff to the Wurmple Can Evolve request is that you get to suggest a name for Beauregard's new Wurmple. What are the options? "Beautifred", "Beauticia", and "Beaugene" all in anticipation of the Beautifly evolution. Whichever one wins, that poor Wurmple loses.
  • When you talk to them later, Wurmple then evolves... into a Cascoon. He doesn't realize the problem. Professor Laventon will later speak to Beauregard offscreen about his Cascoon, but Beauregard will refuse to believe him unless and until the protagonist shows him an actual Silcoon... and even then, only when the protagonist explicitly points out the difference, which they can do kindly by hesitantly pointing the different eyes or incredulously yelling that they're different colors. Thankfully, he's accepting of the fact that he'll end up with a Dustox instead.
  • Also, since the first halves of the names are similar to his, it comes off as Beauregard unintentionally being a bit egotistical.
  • Beauregard also later admits that he might have to change his buddy's nickname. It serves as an excuse to tell the player that they can do so via the menu, but it's still an amusing case of Lampshade Hanging narratively.
• Watering with Care has you helping one of your fellow Team Galaxy members with a Sudowoodo problem. He's confused that it doesn't seem very energetic after eating, so he requests that we water it. You know, since it's clearly a Grass-type Pokémon. And the watering should be done through a Water Pulse to the face. You can respond in two ways: enthusiastically agree that this makes complete sense or try to explain why this is a really bad idea.^note In case you don't know, Sudowoodo is a Rock-type Pokémon that pretends to be a tree. And Rock-types are weak against Water. Players of Pokémon Gold and Silver or their remakes will remember that Sudowoodo in particular hates water and will become violent when wet. (Players of Pokémon Sun and Moon may instead recall Sudowoodo reacting to the idea of being soaked with absolute terror, though in that case, the poor thing was about to be hit with a Z-Move.) You can see where this is going. If you try the latter, you'll be brushed off and have to shoot the poor thing anyway, at which point you have the option to do so with oblivious excitement or a resigned "Guess we're doing this..." Further humor is found in that the man's concern for Sudoowodo's health is completely unneeded, it repeatedly dances about happily whenever he isn't looking at it, but then turns sad and solemn as soon as he does look at it.
  • Professor Laventon's Pokedex entry makes this even more funny. That the Professor writes "[Sudowoodo]'s extreme aversion to water merits special note." makes it so one can't help but wonder if the player relayed the quest's results to the Professor afterwards.
• Gone Astray... in the Mirelands has you look for a lost Security Corps member named Wanda on behalf of her brother Zeke. When you find her the first time and give her directions back home, she walks off in exactly the wrong direction, causing the protagonist to react in horror and remind her it's the other way.
  • If you couldn't tell from the trailing ellipses, this is actually a series of sidequests where you keep having to find and save Wanda for her brother. The second-last one is Gone Astray... in the Fieldlands; as Zeke points out, the Obsidian Fieldlands are basically Jubilife's front yard. Yes, she got cornered by a few Paras, but still.
  • When the player finds Wanda in the Coronet Highlands, she cheerfully states, "At last! Oh, I knew you'd come find me!" It comes off as her poking fun at the whole thing.
  • The final one — Gone Astray... in the Icelands — twists the formula: more worried than ever before, Zeke bravely puts aside his fear of Pokémon and the wilderness and runs off ahead of you to search for her himself. But as soon as he leaves... Wanda shows up to greet you, having been just upstairs. Turns out she made it back from the Icelands just fine on her own, but the both of you now have to go out to rescue Zeke instead. After you find him, the siblings have a heartwarming conversation and Wanda firmly states that she's grown enough as a Security Corps member to take Zeke back home herself... only to once again start walking in the wrong direction. Zeke kindly asks that you continue watching over her.
• Finding Yorrich has you finding Yorrich to help set up the camp for the Cobalt Coastlands. When you find him, he is being cornered by a Chatot who repeats every word he says. You can ask if he's alright or if he's having fun. You could imagine your character grinning while asking the latter.
  Player character: Having fun?
  Yorrich: No, the opposite! Help me!
  Chatot: Squawk! Halp me!
• Getting to Know Ghosts involves a father whose son wants to go ghost hunting. The father claims that he needs to know all about Gastly in order to keep his son from being scared but going by his behavior and his son's dialogue at the end of the quest, it is pretty clear that the father is the one who is terrified of Gastly.
• Which Is the Real Burmy? has three villagers at each other's throats because none of them can agree on what Burmy looks like, so they task you to show off the different types in order to prove that the Pokémon they're describing is the one, true Burmy and that the others are talking about some bizarre, imposter Pokémon that definitely isn't Burmy. It takes until you show them the complete Dex entry for them to concede and apologize for all the insults.
  • Three people arguing over which of something is the real one, with all three being right, and the player tasked with providing evidence for all three? That sounds familiar.
  • Said villagers' names are Lief, Duna, and Tarush. No prizes for guessing who's convinced which Burmy's the real one.
• Coming Up Roses has a guy on Ramanas Island asking you to bring him a Scyther. When you get one to him, you learn why he wants one: his wife told him she wanted to fill their garden with Ramanas Roses… so he wants a Scyther to help him gather every single one on the island. You can almost hear the exasperation in the player character's responses as they have to patiently explain to this grown man that he's going way too far and that his wife wanted him to simply plant some flowers.
• As you go through the various Shop Expansion quests, you learn that Tao Hua holds a grudge against Choy because the latter stole some "treasure". The final one reveals that the treasure in question is Tao Hua's granddaughter, Yui, who is now Choy's wife. Even though they're Happily Married, Tao Hua still refuses to accept Choy as family. Sick of all of this, a very angry Yui shows up to chew the old man out and threaten to never speak to him again unless he starts respecting her husband, causing Tao Hua to comically run off sulking. His reasoning for this? Apparently, when Yui was a little girl, she promised to never leave him, and he's expecting her to stick to this. Pettiness, thy name is Tao Hua.
• Rolling with Spheal tasks you with finding a Spheal that rolled down a hill. But what stands out about this sidequest is when the game decides to make it available. Picture this: you're in the midst of the endgame. You have everything you need to help quell whatever is about to come through the ever-expanding rift in the sky, but time is of the essence, as Commander Kamado has already run off with the Security Corps to foolishly try to face the threat himself. You prepare to run up the mountain to the Sinnoh Temple when… you realize that there's a new request from some random schmoe just a few yards behind you, who urges you to put saving the fabric of reality on pause to spend a few minutes looking for his Pokémon instead. Well, yes, you do have time to help, but still. Priorities.
  • Of course, the sidequest itself is also pretty funny. Spheal deliberately rolls away from you whenever you catch up, hitting you with the realization that this is just a game to it. Once you've followed this Spheal all the way down Mt. Coronet, past the gauntlet of Graveler, Bronzong and an Alpha Golem^note if you do this when the game considers it night, add Misdreavus, Haunter, and an Alpha Mismagius to that list of obstacles to overcome, the guy who gave you the quest at least remarks it's all over now, after you all return to the top of the mountain. Guess what the Spheal does next. Go on. Guess.
• In Pesselle's Easy Errand, Pesselle asks the player if they can do her "a quick little favor". She emphasizes again that it's a simple request when you assure her that you're happy to help, before asking for a hundred Medicinal Leeks. There's a long Beat before the player is given the chance to respond incredulously at the ridiculous request.
  • This gets even funnier when you realize that this seemingly daunting request can be made laughably trivial. For $12,000, which you can make in a single expedition fairly comfortably, you can go to the Ginkgo Guild Merchant right outside the HQ and just buy 100 Medicinal Leeks, or at least enough to hit 100 on top of whatever you have. "Easy Errand" indeed.
• Back-Alley Mr. Mime requires the player to help a villager catch a Mr. Mime that's been hanging around the village. It appears to be a straightforward interaction quest, right up until the player is stopped in front of Mr. Mime by... nothing, as Mr. Mime is miming barriers to keep others away. As the quest goes on and the invisible mazes increase in complexity, the quest giver wonders why the player is taking such strange paths to reach the Mr. Mime. Unconvinced by your explanation, he then attempts to get to Mr. Mime and hits the barrier himself.
• Using Ursaluna, it's possible to find the Old Verses scattered about Hisui. Some talk (in maddeningly vague ways) about the region's past, or Dialga, Palkia, Giratina and Arceus, some talk about the plight of being the last of your kind, and one… is a recipe for how to make potato mochi.
  • Old Verse 17 details the author asking a god of spring and field (Enamorus) where it goes when it's not in Hisui. It didn't answer, but the author has a pretty good guess:
  "There is no great dark truth untold— it simply does not like the cold."
  • The implication that Enamorus can speak English and chose to stay silent.
• The Massive Mass Outbreak quests added in the "Daybreak" update have a lot of funny moments:
  • At the start, you must investigate Ramanas Island to find some misplaced Zorua. After reporting back to Mai, she discovers that two Munchlax are accompanying her instead of one. She says she's of course able to tell which one is hers… only to select the one that was actually a disguised Zorua. The slow zoom-in on her Munchlax's blank-but-telling stare and the accompanying wind sound effect really sell it, as does Mai going uncharacteristically wide-eyed in shock at her mistake before averting her eyes from Munchlax and proceeding to act like it didn't happen.
  • After the latest display of Melli's huge ego (his theory that the Massive Mass Outbreaks are to celebrate him), the player character, Mai, and Munchlax all silently shake their heads in a display of mutual exasperation.
  • Before giving you Aguav Berries, Lian notes that Melli boasted about when he gave you some earlier himself, claiming that you were so happy that you broke you into a huge grin. Lian jokes that it was more likely you gave him either a confused grimace or that you smiled out of pity.
  • Just the fact that Lian and Melli's earlier cat fighting has become a full-blown Thing thanks to the update. Mai comments on it, saying she can't tell if they hate each other or if they're having a good time.
  • Later, Mai tells you that she needs Mushroom Cakes to solve the mystery of the outbreaks, even though such an outbreak isn't happening at the time. She tells you to take them to this out-of-the-way cave in the Alabaster Icelands. Once you go there and give them to her, she gets weirdly giddy and tells you to go back to Jubilife. If you're wondering why cake would help solve this mystery or why you had to go to all the trouble of taking it to the cave, that's because it's actually a Zorua or Zoroark trying to con you out of some food. You have no choice but to oblige its request. The real Mai later notes that "Irida" made a similar weird request for Hearty Grains.
  • After investigating the Coronet Highlands, Mai's Munchlax will express its excitement to the player. You have the option to respond in Pokémon Speak.
  • At the end of this series of side quests, after being prompted about what they think the future holds, the player character casually reveals that trainers will one day battle in Pokémon Gyms and compete in Pokémon Contests, then has to explain just what those things are to the flabbergasted Adaman, Irida, and Mai.
• Battling the Security Corps' Secret Weapon has Zisu hype up that they have an insanely powerful member the player hasn't fought yet, with Bren also backing her up, saying this person is even capable of taking down Alphas. This "secret weapon" turns out to be Ress, the gatekeeper you talk to every time you leave the village. Since we already had one surprisingly powerful resident in Beni, you'd expect Ress to similarly come at you with a strong team. Turns out he only has a Bidoof, Starly, and a Shinx. Yes, all three of them have levels in the 60s, but that arguably makes it worse, as all three of those Pokémon could be fully-evolved by that level. That said, his team does seem to have maxed out their stats via the grit items and have strong moves, and thus hit a lot harder than the player may expect.
• A few of the Path of Solitude challenges set up ridiculous scenarios:
  • Abra's path sets it against a Mr. Mime, with the related quest mentioning to be wary of Mr. Mime's access to Mimic. Players who ignore the warning will likely attempt to use Shadow Ball (Abra's only super-effective tutor move) on it, only for it to get mimicked and launched right back at them. Thing is, Mr. Mime only has Mimic, and Abra has Teleport, which is useless in a one-on-one battle; it's possible to win with a freshly caught Abra just by using Teleport on the first turn, leaving Mr. Mime stuck attempting to teleport away for the rest of the fight.
  • Magikarp, a Pokémon with no way to attack in this game, still gets a path: surviving a Self-Destructing Hisuian Electrode.
  • Blissey's path sets up the wall of HP against a Snorlax with nothing but Double-Edge. While challenging to outheal at first, Double-Edge has so little PP that Snorlax will eventually burn through it all and Struggle itself to unconsciousness.
  • How you're presented these challenges to begin with. After the Path of Solitude is unlocked, an NPC named Gared gives you the various requests — but rather than offering them one at a time, all of them are given one after the other. The length of it is even compounded by Gared telling you a few times that there is more to come.
• As you fight with the faction representatives on the Path of Tenacity, their teams will grow in level and evolve with each successful attempt. The one very obvious exception is that Melli's Golbat, which evolves through friendship, never becomes a Crobat; his own Pokémon doesn't like him enough to evolve. Considering that even Cyrus from the Sinnoh games and Volo from this game were able to get their friendship evolutions, it says a lot about how intolerable Melli is.

Other NPC Interactions

• A Security Corps named Bagin teaches the player character how to increase their satchel capacity... by packing the items more closely together. He charges increasingly higher prices just to learn how to do this.
  • Just the idea in general is funny. In other games, expanding your inventory would require finding and adding another pouch or collecting enough items for someone else to perform a magic dance to increase your stock. Here, you just pay extortionate rates to become a more efficient packer. Those who've played Animal Crossing: New Horizons may be reminded of those fees to learn how to pack one's pockets more efficiently to increase inventory space, too.
• Anthe, the shopkeeper at the clothes store, is in awe of the player's initial wardrobe and gives you side quests that involve catching particular Pokémon for the sake of improving her own fashion prowess. Mind you, the spark that lit this desire to improve her craft was a modern mass-produced graphic tee shirt you probably got on a vacation to Alola.
• After purchasing the Rotom Appliances which are put in your quarters, if you don't yet have a Rotom, the protagonist will instead make comments regarding why they don't have a reason to use any of the appliances. As opposed to, you know, pointing out the lack of domestic electricity to use them with. The washing machine is too wasteful, the microwave is redundant as cooking is Beni's job, Jubilife isn't hot enough to need a fan, and the player does not have a lawn to mow. The refrigerator just gets a baffled "What era does this even come from?".
  • Once Rotom changes forms when the player allows it to possess the various appliances, Laventon will note that Rotom has become quite bothersome. With the washing machine, Rotom is unpleasantly splashing everyone. With the refrigerator, Rotom is freezing everything in sight. With the lawn mower, Rotom is supposedly mowing down all the grass and even the trees around town...
• After meeting them during the story a few times, the Miss Fortune Sisters start appearing randomly on the overworld, with one of them standing off the beaten path or a rock outcrop waiting to ambush unsuspecting travelers. Usually they'll see you from afar and insult you for being so unobservant before battling, but it is possible to sneak around and surprise them yourself, which gets you some alternate dialogue before the fight. Charm takes it in stride and is openly impressed that you pulled it off, musing that she needs to re-sharpen her skills. In contrast, Coin and Clover are far more annoyed that you managed to sneak up on them; Coin will scream at you and question who'd be so brazen to sneak up on someone to attack them, while Clover will try to convince you that she knew you were there the entire time and it was all part of her plan.
• A conversation with Sanqua after the game reveals Laventon, facing a rift in space-time with an angry god in it which had turned the skies red, decided... to take a photo of it. And apparently, it's a pretty good one, too. For her part, Sanqua made a painting based on her memory of the nasty rift, but concludes that the painting would be a bit too traumatic to show anyone other than the player character. Another member of the Construction Corps mentions the painting later, but alas, the player never gets to see it on-screen.
• Among the many items that the Ginkgo Guild merchant Ginter may offer to sell you are a pair of "Unusual Shoes". Unlike the other wares he finds, which run the gamut from various types of Poké Balls, lures, and evolutionary items, this is actually clothing for the player. So what exactly are these Unusual Shoes that Ginter thinks are a fashionable fit for your character? A pair of pink house slippers.

Pokédex and Research Tasks

• The evolution animation is a lot more intense in this game — twisters of dust and lightning surround the Pokémon in a dark void, and the evolution emerges from the cloud with glowing, menacing eyes before it's fully visible… and then everything turns bright and the congratulatory fanfare jingle is just as cheerful as ever.
  • Keep in mind, this applies to every Pokémon evolution. This means that the game will hype up any Pokémon's evolution like Cherubi or Mime Jr. and give their respective evolutions the same menacing build-up it would for more intimidating Pokémon evolutions like Kleavor or Gyarados.
• One of the research tasks for Magikarp is to observe it using Splash. For this task to be fully completed, this will need to be done 100 times. By comparison, it's rare for a Pokédex entry to require seeing a move used 70 times, with the task usually left for the strongest moves of a fully evolved Pokémon. Equally funny is the (arguably) best way to do this one efficiently: since Splash does nothing, you can catch your own Magikarp, make it battle a wild Magikarp, and watch them Splash for twenty minutes in the name of research.
  • The tradition of demeaning Magikarp Pokédex entries continues, as Laventon refers to them as "feeble, pitiful imbecile(s)".
• For Snorlax, one of the research tasks is feeding it. This isn't out of the norm, as many Pokémon have research tasks that require you to feed them. But what makes it funny is that while most feeding research tasks cap out at five or ten feedings max, completing that research task for Snorlax requires you to do so fifty times. That's as many as five tens. Hope you have a lot of berries.
• Apparently, Skuntank’s smell is so bad that sometimes it itself will avoid eating prey because it can’t handle its own scent.
  “Sprays a poisonous fluid to take down prey. Sometimes, unable to stomach the stench of its own fluid, it leaves the bested prey uneaten.”
• The Pokédex entries for the Porygon line feature Professor Laventon expressing extreme confusion about the biology of what's basically living computer code, as he has no frame of reference for what they are. This culminates in him expressing concern (and perhaps even fear) over Porygon-Z's erratic behavior.
  "This worries me."
• Sudowoodo's Pokédex entry states that even children aren't fooled by its Paper-Thin Disguise. In hindsight, given that Sudowoodo debuted in the series as a roadblock, you'd have to wonder just how unobservant people in the modern day are...
• The entry for Shaymin's Sky Forme mentions that Laventon tried smelling the Gracedia flower Shaymin uses to change formes to see what would happen.
  "I took a whiff of the flower myself, but alas, my body remained unchanged."

Pokémon Behaviors

• The Guardian Ursaluna will roar in joy and do a little dance whenever you find something, as long as you aren't manipulating the controls. Yes, it can even dance after finding balls of mud.
• It would seem that Ponyta loves to sleep in trees.
• If a wild Pokémon spots you and is attempting to rush at you, it might be possible for the collision detection to cause it to become stuck in some weird places. If it gets stuck in a tree, you can't battle or catch it, as everything you throw bounces off the tree while that poor Toxicroak keeps trying to get to you.
• If a Pokémon is attacked by a move that they're immune to, they'll do a little animation and cry out, almost as if they're mocking their opponent for making such a foolish mistake.
• In battles against multiple wild Pokémon where one of the opponents happens to be particularly large, such as an Onix, and the terrain doesn't have a lot of room, the Pokémon may continuously circle around as it tries to find a spot where it can stand and attack you. This is best seen inside space-time distortions that pop up in mountainous areas, since it's common to get charged at by 3 or 4 Pokémon at a time. Other battles can also see the wild participants meander around trying to find the best spot to stand. Stand next to your Pokémon while this is happening, and it can come across like you're both awkwardly looking at each other while waiting for the opponent to get their act together.
  • In addition to this, Pokémon in battle will move to a different spot if the trainer cramps their space. Do it enough times, and the Pokémon will get fed up and motion for you to leave (with some seemingly looking like they're smacking you depending on the specific animation and from how you reel just a bit). It's funny seeing trained Pokémon do this to you, but it's even better seeing a wild Pokémon do this — especially diminutive Pokémon like Togepi or super-imposing ones like an alpha Hippowdon who seconds before may have been in the process of Hyper Beaming you to death, only to end up harmlessly telling you off in the middle of their fight at worst. If there's one thing all Pokémon seem to respect, whether wild or trained, it's that battles between them and other Pokémon should not be disturbed.
• Alpha Lopunny should be quite scary, being an eight foot tall bipedal rabbit capable of unleashing homing electric attacks that can drain your health in seconds. However, it's hard not to find amusing that in spite of its size and power, it still moves about by hopping!
• There's an alpha Gallade in the last stretch of Snowpoint Temple whose spawn radius apparently isn't tight enough to prevent him from spawning partially inside the walls. It's not terribly likely to happen, but there's a few entertaining parts about this when it does occur. Firstly: he can't move, and his projectiles collide with the wall around him. This is a Gallade, one of the most combat-capable Pokémon in Sinnoh, affected by the alpha phenomenon, which makes Pokémon much more powerful, and he can't hurt you. Secondly: the wall protects him. Poké Balls won't acknowledge him, Spoiled Apricorns and other projectiles can't hit him, and you can't even feed him berries. Frustrating at first, but also hilarious — he can't hurt you, but you can't touch him, either. And finally: If you decide you're comfortable fighting a Lv. 70 alpha Gallade to try and catch it anyways, you send out your Pokémon... and it appears inside the walls, too. Talk about your Good Bad Bugs!
• Unlike other games, you're free to move around during a battle with a Pokémon. Stand in the wrong spot, and you'll get knocked on your butt by attacks from either side. You can't shield your Pokémon from a powerful attack in a glorious heroic sacrifice, but by the same token, you fortunately can't black yourself out this way... unless you're fighting by a river and decide to walk in, since you're unable to call Basculegion to save you.
• After a long time of being vague about its ability to do so, this game finally confirms that, yes, Gyarados can indeed fly. This behavior can be observed at the Obsidian Falls, and it looks just as comical as you can imagine.
• Pokémon broadly react in one of three ways when they see you: acting friendly by approaching or briefly acknowledging your presence, fleeing in fear, or territorially attacking. For some, certain behavior is expected, like a violent Geodude or a skittish Kricketot. Then you have others that are more surprising in their actions:
  • While most baby Pokémon will flee, it is possible to black out from a Togepi attacking you, simply because the little one is among the list of Mons who will see you and decide you have to die.
  • Another of the 'mons that will always assault you on sight? Paras. Yep, the tiny little bug with the mushrooms on its back. Which, given it's the mushrooms controlling Paras, would suggest that is one aggressive mushroom. Unfortunately, it stops being funny when you begin to realize just how many there are and how frequently they'll gang up on you.
  • The parrot-like Chatot fly rapidly up to the player as if ready to attack — and then just make their cry, and then fly away.
  • Machop and Machoke, if not aggro'd, will walk or even run up towards you to flex and show off their impressive muscles.
• Some Pokémon will change their behavior depending on your actions, resulting in some amusing scenarios:
  • Stantler is usually skittish, but some may still attempt to charge violently at you in a rare act of courage — but if you dodge the attack, it will take a moment to reconsider its options, then drop aggro and run off.
  • Blissey is a skittish Pokémon that will run if you approach it in the wild (with the usual exception of Alphas). However, if you approach Blissey while injured, it'll stay right where it is out of concern, befitting its nature of healing other people and Pokémon. It will even run towards you and ward off any attacking Mons if you're actively being targeted. Almost makes you feel sorry if you use that as a ploy to get in close and throw a ball at it.
  • Sudowoodo, unlike most Pokémon, don't respond at all when you come near them, instead remaining entirely stock-still in their pretense that they're most definitely, without question, a humble tree. Even if you've just seen them move or escape from a Poké Ball you just threw at them. They're that committed to the bit.
  • Nosepass, true to their previous Pokédex entries, always face north when idle, making them comically easy to sneak up on and catch with a Heavy Ball.
  • Murkrow have a unique and funny behavior that can only be observed if there's a Honchkrow nearby. If you manage to capture or defeat the Honchkrow, the normally aggressive Murkrow will become fearful of the player for taking out their boss. The same goes for other Pokémon that crowd around their evolution, such as Goomy and Sliggoo.
• Alpha Pokémon are ordinarily fearsome and very dangerous, but the eastern rivers in the Obsidian Fieldlands have a fixed spawn for an Alpha Magikarp. Naturally, on the overworld, it will attack you just like any other Alpha, putting you at risk of blacking out. In battle, however? Unlike other Alpha Pokémon that have a range of powerful attacks that also compensate for type disadvantages, this Alpha Magikarp is just as infamously incompetent as its smaller friends, only knowing Splash. In Legends: Arceus, Magikarp can't even learn Tackle or Flail, making it by far the most harmless wild Alpha Pokémon in the game. Even better, in massive mass outbreaks, it's entirely possible to fight a horde of wild Alpha Magikarp, resulting in a pack of big angry fish trying to run you down until you send out a Pokémon, at which point they default to Splashing uselessly.
• Some of the Alpha variants can come across as this. While giant versions of already terrifying Pokémon ready to kill you is scary, when it comes to the giant versions of some of the cuter Mons such as Buneary, it can feel like you just randomly found a disgruntled theme park worker stuck in a mascot costume instead. However, it becomes somewhat less funny when it starts indiscriminately sweeping through your team...
  • One that can be encountered late in the Obsidian Fieldlands is Alpha Silcoon and Cascoon. There's something absolutely comical about seeing Alpha rage from what are basically giant wads of silk that can't even move besides hopping.
• Alpha Abra are as aggressive as any other Alpha Pokémon, but when you engage one in battle, it still has the same tendency to flee using Teleport as its regular counterparts, making it seem like Abra just realized that picking a fight with you might not have been a good idea.
• When battling over water, Pokémon that can fly will do so (including non-Flying types like Decidueye), and Water types will generally swim, but what do the various land-based Pokémon do? They get by with a somewhat small circular wooden flotation device that automatically appears under them and even moves with them when they do physical attacks. It's somehow a lot funnier than past games where the Pokémon would just inexplicably stand on the water or a patch of ground that suddenly appeared under them. It’s also pretty funny if you’re battling with a Pokémon that would be too heavy to be supported on such a small platform.
• If you happen to be standing in water when you have your Pokémon out, it’s possible that they can sit down and sleep. So it’s possible that they can sleep with their head under water somehow.
• The Unown you have to find for the Unown Notes are found all over the place in distinctive or seemingly random areas, with the Notes giving you hints as to where to find each of them. Then there's the ? form Unown, which is just casually hanging from the clothesline behind your house. Doubly funny given the perpetually half-lidded eyes the ? form has, making it look like Unown is either about to take a nap or giving you a disgruntled look that says "Don't tell anyone..."
• It's possible to stand on top of a tamed Bibarel that's floating on the water, thanks to their relatively flat body. Cue players using entire teams of Bibarel as makeshift bridges.
• Sending out Dialga or Palkia in their Origin Forms during the final battle with Arceus makes them taller than Arceus itself. Even funnier is Arceus's reaction: it just glances up at them, then turns around, casually walks away to be further, and then continues the battle.
  • Just the appearance of the Origin Forms is hilarious in a way. They're clearly meant to resemble Arceus, but Dialga ends up with huge forelimbs, tiny hindlimbs, and what many fans have joked looks like a Beldum stuck in its throat. Palkia, on the other hand, is literally a horse, made sillier by Palkia retaining its shoulder pads on its neck and looking like some kind of armless centaur.
• If you send out your Pokémon to interact with each other, they will sometimes fall asleep. It's even funnier with alpha Pokémon and Legendaries.

Promotional Material

• A few commercials for the game were released that parodied well-known television shows. Bonus points for the Pokémon in all the commercials being plush puppets, making it as if you're watching sketches by The Muppets.
  • One based off Hell's Kitchen has a Munchlax swipe all the Gordon Ramsay expy's ingredients while he isn't looking.
    • A second one has the Munchlax eat all the dishes the Gordon Ramsay expy considers terrible, with the two chefs laughing.
  • A parody of Antiques Roadshow has someone bring in a Pokéball like the ones in the game, having no idea what it really is. When the appraiser opens the Pokéball, it releases a Basculegion that smashes all the other antiques while trying to get to the ocean.
  • This Telenovela-based ad, where a woman dramatically expresses her feelings and asks someone to be her companion. Cut to a Hisuian Growlithe as she pets it.
    "I know what I want. Someone who will travel the world with me, to light the fire inside of me, to be... my... rock."
  • This one, based on reality shows where prospective couples go on a date to see if they are compatible, has the man bring a giant bouquet with a Budew hiding inside. The Budew showers the two in pollen that they're both allergic to and dances with joy after they bond over this and become a couple.

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