Pokémon Xenoverse is a Pokémon fan game created by Team WEEDle and made using RPG Maker XP. It stars a young Pokémon Trainer who begins their journey in the Eldiw Region in order to find their missing father, only to become intertwined in a much graver matter: the appearance of interdimensional faults within the region that connect to the Xenoverse, and the interdimensional X Pokémon that appeared alongside them. It's up to the protagonist to defeat both the X Pokémon and the mysterious Team Dimension, which seems to be seeking out the X Pokémon for their own nefarious goals...
The game can be downloaded from its official web site here
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There's also a Spin-Off for Android devices called Donarush, an endless runner featuring Donanas as the protagonist alongside a small handful of Eldiw's Fakemon. By unlocking certain achievements in Donarush, the player can unlock Mystery Gift codes for Xenoverse that can be redeemed for special Palette Swap forms of the eight Fakemonnote featured in the game. It can be downloaded here. There is also a Spiritual Successor: Lumentale.
There's a character page that desperately needs some work.
Tropes present in-game
- A Hero Is Born: The first scene of the game is Versil walking anxiously through a hospital hall for the birth of his first child. The classic question "are you a boy or a girl?" is given by a nurse asking Versil to guess the gender of the baby.
- The Artifact: Happens In-Universe with the Pokémon League. It's eventually shown that the League was disbanded years ago, with only seven of the eight gyms still in order; the remnants of the league seem to be mostly for the entertainment of trainers. The protagonist does get to fight the eighth Gym Leader, though, and the Cardinals of the region serve the same purpose as the Elite Four in other regions.
- Anti-Frustration Features: The move relearner is now found in every Pokémon Center, and provides his services for free.
- Canon Character All Along: Versil, the protagonist's father, is actually Silver, the rival from the Gen II Pokémon games, who had to change his name and move to Eldiw to escape from villainous groups that targeted him due to him being the son of Team Rocket's leader.
- It's also revealed in the post-game that Clover, your mother, is Green from Pokémon Adventures. The Reveal could be hinted by her appearance and Versil's comment that she also had to change her name when he did.
- The Cavalry Arrives Late: After the reveal of Versil being actually Silver and Clover being Green, one could wonder why no one of their old friends was informed of what was happening and came to Eldiw to help deal with the situation. They were informed, but they arrived too late for a reason of another; the Player Character finds it out when they talk to Gold on the top of Aurora Den.
- Character Blog: Wallace Daddy has an Instagram page that you can use to get through his gym.
- Chekhov's Gun: The Samuel Oak International Airport. If the developers went through the effort of putting an airport, you'll be using it to fly somewhere. And indeed, once you have seven badges, you take a plane to Vermillion City in order to fight the eight and last Gym Leader, Lt. Surge himself.
- Continuity Cavalcade: The protagonist eventually gets to travel to Vermilion City from the Kanto Region, which is sprinkled with references to the events and characters of the Gen I games and how things have progressed since then.
- Dark World: The Xenoverse, an alternate dimension where Dragalisk was banished to. Due to its Walking Wasteland nature, the Xenoverse is a glitchy, barren wasteland filled with bizarre variants of regular Pokémon.
- Disc-One Nuke:
- Shortly after the second gym, you have a boss fight with Sharpedo X, who you're able to catch. It has the exact same stats as its regular counterpart while being at a measly level 15, and comes with Aqua Jet (which is a STAB priority move) and Phantom Force (which is a 90 Base Power move at a point where moves are 60 BP at most). Even better is that while Phantom Force is a charge move, it's also a semi-invulnerability move, making it an A.I. Breaker. If that's not enough for you, then you can teach it freaking Head Smash, which has '150 Base Power, at the move relearner. The only downside is that it doesn't get Speed Boost as a Hidden Ability like its regular counterpart, though having Infiltrator is nice.
- And shortly after the Sharpedo X fight, one can catch a Sneasel in Zero Cave. Sneasel already has good stats for that point in the game, but what pushes it into Nuke territory is the fact that you can find a Razor Claw, the item needed to evolve it, in a den in that very same cave (assuming it isn't already holding one when you catch it). Once evolved, one can easily take it to the move relearner (which is free in this game) to give it better moves, most notably the powerful Icicle Crash. Watch as the trainers weep at your powerful cat-weasel thing (though maybe not the second gym leader, since he specializes in Fighting-types).
- Easily Forgiven: The protagonist's father was actually behind Team Dimension the entire time, and faked his disappearance for over ten years as part of a convoluted plan to destroy Dragalisk that involved putting his child and many others in danger. At the end his wife and child have completely forgiven him and welcomed him back home, and it seems there will be no real consequences for his actions or the actions of Team Dimension in general. At the end of DLC pass 5, however, this is subverted, as it is stated he went off to serve his sentence.
- Exact Words: All the promotional material for the game labels Shyleon, Trishout, and Shulong as "Starter Pokemon", like the Pokémon you obtain at the start of your journey in the official games. Turns out, they're not like the other "Starter" Pokémon- they're legendary Pokémon. They're called "Starter Pokémon" because they were the first Pokémon created by Luxflon. However, there are a set of more traditional starters in the form of Chiripe, Croakling, and Inflant, but they're not attainable until the post-game.
- Fusion Dance: Happens twice during the climax:
- First, Team Dimension's robotic Sergeants, A and B, willingly fuse into the single entity Sergeant S for their last battle with the protagonist. Interestingly, their two Bisharp seem to fuse together into a single X Pokémon as well.
- More seriously, Dragalisk forcefully fuses with Luxflon, transforming into the primordial entity Vakuum in one last-ditch attempt to destroy reality.
- Gold Tooth of Wealth: Wallace Daddy is a highly popular musician in addition to being the Hypelion City gym leader. His musical success makes him very well-off. All of his teeth seem to be made of gold.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Still pops up from time to time, even though the game is more willing to depict swears than official Pokémon games. Which, in other words, means it has some.
- Guest-Star Party Member: Abraham lends you his Scaleon if you have a empty Pokémon Slot during the battle with your Starter.
- Guide Dang It!: A minor case. Early on, you are told that Sound types are strong against Water, Flying, and Fairy, while being weak against Electric and Dragon. It is not mentioned that Sound-type attacks are not very effective against Psychic-type Pokémon.
- Gratuitous Spanish: People in Westar City often insert Spanish words into their speech (often incorrectly used), but Minta is especially bad about this.
- Just a Machine: Played for Laughs for the Team Dimension Grunts. Played for Drama for Trey, who was born as the human son of a Team Dimension's scientist, but got turned into a cyborg because of an accident in one of the laboratories. Team Dimension sees him as nothing more than a defective asset because he constantly disregards their orders, and even Trey sees himself as nothing more than a machine.
- Like Father, Like Son: Or daughter. Many people in the game notice that the player character is very similar to Versil in terms of appearance and personality.
- Love Interest: Somewhat notable in a series that usually doesn't do romance. The opposite-gender protagonist makes it pretty clear from their first meeting that they're attracted to the protagonist, and the feeling seems to be mutual judging by the little heart icons that pop up every time they talk to each other.
- Magic Is Rare, Health Is Cheap: Averted. You can buy Ethers, Max Ethers and even Elixirs at stores in the later part of the game.
- Magikarp Power: Chikaboo is quite a weak Pokemon, and its evolution Peckabone isn't much better. However, once you get a Dusk Stone and evolve it to Rexquiem, it will become a murder machine befitting of its Grim Reaper motif.
- Make Some Noise: The game introduces the Sound-type, a new type that is weak to Dragon- and Electric-types but strong against Fairy-, Water-, and Flying-types. Several Pokémon, such as Arbok and Jigglypuff, are reclassified as Sound-types as well.
- Mecha-Mooks: Most of the rank-and-file grunts in Team Dimension are robot drones, though they possess a surprising amount of autonomy.
- My Name Is ???:
- The fusion between Dragalisk and Luxflon. Oddly, it has a canonical name (Vakuum) that is mentioned earlier but not used in-game.
- In this game there is only one Gym guide, who never reveals his name to the player character. All the player knows about him is that "he roots for them", and that he lives in Hypelion City.
- Then there is the unnamed Johto-based town the player character can casually stumble upon during their explorations.
- Mythology Gag: Screenshots of Pokémon Stadium and Pokémon Trading Card Game Online can be seen on screens in the Eldiw Casino. (Despite clearly being Pokémon Stadium, the person playing it claims it's "Rock Smash Bros.")
- The Nicknamer: Clover, your mother. In contrast to all the other trainers in the game, all her Pokémon have a nickname. This is also a clue about her true identity, as Green has the habit to give a nickname to her Pokémons in Pokémon Adventures.
- Nostalgia Level:
- The city of the eight Pokemon Gym? Vermillion City, which you need to reach via airport. Unsurprisingly, you aren't allowed to explore the rest of Kanto, since all paths have a NPC Roadblock.
- The post game allows you to capture legendaries from past games by accessing special shrines that transport you into alternate dimensions. When you do so, the sprite style automatically changes into the game of origin the legendary is from.
- Pokémon Speak:
- Gengar X may speak fluent English/Italian, but he still inserts "Genga" into his laughter.
- Ponyta and Rapidash X's dialog boxes depict traditional Pokémon Speak, as opposed to the anime depicting the line making actual horse sounds.
- Relationship Upgrade: The game follows the plotline of Pokémon Adventures establishing that Silver and Green knew each other ever since they were children. Here they are Happily Married with a child.
- Ridiculously Human Robots: Team Dimension Grunts and Sergeants A and B are all robots, but it is really easy to forget as they are really quirky and often get involved in various shenanigans, like trying to sunbath despite their lack of skin. It gets even lampshaded by one of the Team Dimension's scientists in the Headquarters, who tells the player character that somehow the Grunts' AI evolved with no external help.
- Shout-Out:
- This game is canonically set 30 years after the second generation games from the mainline series; what is the better way to show it if not using a hoverboard instead of a bicycle?
- Cowboys look suspiciously like Woody. And then you find one literally named Woody, who says "There's an Ekans in my boot!", and uses one in battle alongside an Elgyem to stand in for Buzz. And next to him there's a cowgirl named Jessie.
- Vroombug looks a lot like Motobug from Sonic the Hedgehog.
- If it wasn't obvious already that the G.E.I.S.T. is one to Ghostbusters, they're later called in after Wallace Daddy's concert to take down a giant Slurpuff.
- A song called "Master of Shuppet" is mentioned.
- The four members of "The Roggenrola" are named after famous musicians: Tina (Turner), Jimmy (Hendrix), Dave (Grohl), and Freddy (Mercury).
- Team Dimension's whole look is a pretty clear one for Daft Punk.
- Three Sentinels encountered next to each other in the Shyleon Temple are named after the Pillar Men.
- In Newtron City there is a corridor connecting the higher and the lower part of the campus where the only NPC present are a boy named Troy and a girl named Gabriella who like each other but are too shy to confess their feelings.
- In a house in Hypelion City, you can find Robin, Barney, Lily, and Marshall sitting at the table. Ted is in the room on the second floor, wondering if he will ever find his soulmate, and there's a Pinap Berry in the same room as him.
- In Dorado Village there are two Hikers named Tulio and Miguel who are so pleased by the hospitality of the locals that they think they mistook them for gods.
- Surge's Raichu X is essentially Robocop as a Pokémon.
- Adult Youngster Joey looks a lot like Wormtail from Harry Potter's film adaptations.
- The scientist duo who created the Dimensional Corridor (the online feature of the game) are named Luca and Paolo like the lead characters of the Italian version of Caméra Café, who also
share their names with the comedic duo who play them.
- Stealth Pun: Westar City, the location of the fifth Pokémon League Gym, is a run-down Wild-West town that also happens to be haunted. It's a literal Ghost Town.
- Stealth Sequel: Of Pokémon Gold and Silver, with some elements of Pokémon Adventures and the later generation games thrown in.
- Superpowered Evil Side: After defeating your Alter in the Xenoverse, it serves this role, taking over during stressful situations. During the climax, it finally makes peace with you, giving your starter Pokémon its 11th-Hour Superpower.
- Variable Mix: Every Gym has its own remix of the usual Pokémon Gym theme. Wallace Daddy has different remixes for each floor of his Gym, and the old Vermillion Gym seems to not have any Gym music, but listen closely to the water dripping and it sounds like the Gym theme.
- Warm-Up Boss: Elekid X, who you fight before the first gym, is the first X Pokémon you encounter and, despite having high HP, isn't particularly strong otherwise. Bonus points for literally being warm by virtue of its Fire typing.
- We Can Rebuild Him: By the end of the game it becomes clear that Team Dimension is pretty fond of this trope. Trey was turned into a Cyborg to save his life after an accident. They also turned Surge's Raichu into a Cyborg and gave his trainer a robotic arm after they got injured during a fierce battle. And they used genetic engineering to turn Mewtwo into Mewtwo X after it was grievously injured during Giovanni and Dragalisk's fight.
- Wham Shot:
- During the events of the Quasar Express, Victor sends out a Tyranitar when confronted... the same Tyranitar that attacked the protagonist's father, Versil, during the prologue, confirming that Victor is responsible.
- The whole eighth gym's quest is a series of wham shots one after another. From finding out that the gym is located in Vermillion City and the gym leader is an elderly and jaded Lt. Surge. And then the fighting artwork shows that Surge's right arm is a prosthesis. And then it becomes clear that now Surge is a steel-type gym leader. At this point the player knows who his Pokémon X is going to be, and it is not weird as its supposed pre-evolution already appeared in game... but then the Pokémon X appears and the player knows that Surge's Raichu can't be the evolution of Pikachu X. Surge's Raichu looks like a fully robotized version of a Raichu with only part of his original muzzle still intact. And when the gym leader finally tells his story the player is confirmed that "RoboRaichu" is really what remains of Lt. Surge's Raichu. Surge was secretly a Team Rocket member, and he got depressed after it disbanded. To fill the void he enrolled for another war. Surge and Raichu ended up involved in a gruesome battle that ended with an unnamed human soldier dead, Surge in a coma and his right arm gone, and Raichu grievously injured. They were saved by Team Dimension, that gave Surge a prosthetic arm and turned Raichu into a cyborg so he could survive. Surge was not happy with that development, as he felt like he and Raichu should have died with honor during that battle instead of live on as shadows of their former selves. Luckily, his experience allowed him to find out where Team Dimension's HQ is, and he reveals its location to the player character while acknowledging them as Silver's child.
- After defeating Victor in Team Dimension's Rocket Headquarters, he takes you to the room where Versil is... and he's not in a prison, but behind a control panel.
- During the game's climax, after defeating Dragalisk, it looks like the day is saved... and then Luxflon becomes outlined in the same Blue Energy that surrounded Versil when Dragalisk possessed him...
- At the end of the third Furious Battles event, the Player Character has to fight against a Fury-controlled Dahlia and her team of six Fury Pokémon. When it appears that Dahlia is defeated, the Fury Sigil fails to subside her and it breaks. The Fury uses Dahlia to convey one last message to the Player Character before disappearing. But then, while Victor, who was the original target of the Fury's possession, wakes up with a woozy memory and placated, Dahlia doesn't wake up.
- The final act of the fourth Furious Battles event is insane. It turns out that The Fury is actually Vakuum, the embodiment of chaos and the original form of both Luxflon and Dragalisk. The final battle in the Xenoverse caused Vakuum to be brought back to life and plotting to return to its full power; Vakuum wants to control the body of the Player Character to obtain their connection to the higher plane of existence. In order to do so, they engage in an epic battle with the Player Character, which culminates with the evocation of a Brought Down to Badass Dragalisk; thankfully, the Fury Ball created by Taraxo manages to catch the legendary Pokémon X, foiling Vakuum's plan. Cue Closing Credits. The Player Character wakes up in their room, and they find Clover and their Rival downstairs, who inform them that Dahlia woke up from her vegetative state and "those three can finally be a family", implying that Trey too is somehow Back from the Dead. And as to prove it true, Trey can now be found as a challenger in the Apollo Tournament.
