Let's Play: Touhoumon Purple: Part One!

Let's get this show on the road!

Anyone who has played Pokemon before knows that the games start by introducing a Pokemon professor, as this is an Emerald romhack, the professor is Birch:

He proceeds to ask you your gender. This is the first major change in this romhack. Instead of asking you your assigned birth gender, he asks for a much permanent and accurate piece of information: how you are feeling at the moment: :p

Finally, a game made for 2016. I'm liking Bold's hat, so I chose her,

I'm horrible with names; this is the best I could do.

Anyway, you start out the same as in Pokemon Emerald: You are moving to Littleroot Town. You had to ride in the back of the truck, which always struck me as unsafe.

You move into the new house and... wait a minute; what are those?

I'm going to address this now. Touhoumon Purple is a hack that maintains Emerald's story. In this world, Touhoumon exist side by side with Pokemon. While Pokemon exist, they are unobtainable. (with three exceptions, that I will not be showing off)

This differs from many other Touhoumon hacks, that create a brand new world to explore. THP maintains the same maps as Emerald, the same dialogue, and (excluding some small changes) the same characters. This is done intentionally, as the creator wanted to make a "pure" Touhoumon game - literally Pokemon but with Touhou. What does this mean for me? It means that I have knowledge of the maps and I know how to navigate the story.

What did the developer change? All the Pokemon are now characters, all new types, moves, and abilities, and they revamped Pokemon contestests to Puppet contest (Making it the only Touhoumon to have working contests!), and they did edit dialogue, just not significantly.

Anyway, I have to go set a clock...

After moving into my new Room, I have to go meet our new neighbors:

Fun fact: The rival change is one of two NPCS that has a different sprite (that I know of); we'll get to the second one in a bit.

Birch is outside of town, so let's leave:

Oh no, Birch is under attack!

Now we have to choose a starter, and based on the poll, you guys want me to choose Alice!

It turns out that it isn't a Zigzagoon, but rather Nazrin!

Fortunately a couple of pounds manage to make short work of her. Good thing we choose Alice.

But what if we didn't choose Alice? Let's also take a look at Reisen and Sanae's stats:

It seems as though they all would have been able to beat Nazirin easily. As you can see, Sanae is faith type while Reisen is Heart Type.

Professor Birch was thankful we rescued him, so he gave us the Alice as thanks. I decided against nicknaming it right away, so if you have any suggestions, let me know.

Anyway, let's take a closer look at Alice.

We got unlucky, as I know that Alice can have a different ability: Doll Wall, which works like rough skin, damaging Puppets that attack you physically. Her ability barrier, which prevents stat drops, might be more useful.

Speaking of physically, if you look at that last slot closer, notice that moves can be physical or special in this game, which is quite different from Emerald.

But enough talk, Route 101 awaits!

This route is pretty simple, and I'll get to the wild encounters soon.

Looks as though Pokemon centers are called healing centers in this romhack. I'm sure that's the only difference...

Without any wild battles, we made it to Oldale Town!

Let's talk to the man by the house for a free potion. He turns out to be advertising the Supply Center, which is completely different from a pokemart.

Right now, the supply center doesn't have much usefulness.

Moving north to route 103, we meet our rival again; her name is Maribel, which I don't believe was mentioned before.

Time for the first rival battle!

Reisen vs Alice, and I'm a level down: who will win?

Due to my Barrier ability preventing tail whip, as well as my equipped oran berry, I win fairly easily.

This is a point where this game stands out from other Touhoumon games, where you have to grind for 20 minutes to beat the first rival battle.

Alice hit level 6, and almost got to level 7.

Now we are off to Birch's lab for a quick present: the Tohodex and five toho orbs!

Toho orbs are this games Pokeballs. After recieving this prize, the supply center will also sell them.

The Tohodex is incredibly useful, as it tells you where you can catch certain things: for example, CReisen (and CAlice) can be caught in the safari zone! So if you're disappointed about my starter selection, don't worry.

Anyway, let's get on to catching some new Puppets -

But first, lets get interrupted by our mom and given some running shoes. I love Emerald for several reasons, and getting the running shoes right off the bat is one of them.

There are three puppets available to catch on route 101:

I probably won't use any of them, but it doesn't hurt to catch them. Nazrin and Chen are Beast type, while Tokiko is flying type. Tokiko also took forever to show up.

I also bought some more Toho orbs: if you buy at least 10 you get a free premier orb, which gives additional style points for capturing something with it. Now's also a good time to acknowledge that Toho orbs are Yin-Yang symbols. In additional, genders in this game are not male or female, but yin or yang.

Anyway, route 102 awaits. I'm not showing off dialogue with townspeople, as it is largely unchanged from Emerald. The man studying footprints was still studying footprints, in case you were wondering.

Before we go, let's heal up at the pokemon center. The nurse there will heal up our Puppets for fre...

...

WHAT. IS. THAT.

Meet the only other sprite change that I know of: Nurse Joy got replaced with Yagakoro. At least, that's what the FAQ says. I'm not sure where Yagakoro is from, but I'm sure he's related to Touhou somehow...

Anyway, Route 102!

Let's meet the new puppets: Nazirin and Chen make a return, but there is new ones as well:

I was surprised to meet the one I wanted right off the bat:

Pound is not very effective, and Ellen has super effective moves against Alice.

Note the Premier ball for extra style. Ellen is extremely important due to it's only move: wanting. This has the effect of stealing items off other Puppets. In normal pokemon, this move is useless, while in this game it is almost required. Many wild pokemon have important items, but only at a 5% chance. Ellen is our ticket to get these items. While I was training it, it stole several berries. These will come in handy.

I couldn't find the other Puppet, so let's move on.

The first non-rival trainer battle in the game:

His Chen injured my Ellen, but Alice took him out.

I managed to run into the Puppet I was looking for:

I used Mystia on my partial playthrough and know shes quite good. Should I use her this time...?

Also, Ellen stole her item: Stewardress

No comment.

Other battles include Fairycatcher Nick, where Alice and Ellen learned new moves: Psyshot and Fake Out!

The remaining trainers use Puppets we've seen before, so I'm skipping them entirely. I found a potion on the bottom of the route.

Now then: Petalburg City!

When I went to put some Puppets in my PC, I noticed Nazrin had an item: An ultra orb! Pickup is gamebreaking!

This is the first time I'm seeing an ultra orb. It's quite ugly.

Anyway, we have to talk to our father, the gym leader Norman. he's going to tell us to help a kid named Wally catch a puppet. If you've played Emerald before, you know this.

Even with 64x fast forward, this part still takes forever. Now is a good time to mention the best part of text LP's, you cannot see how much I fast forward. :p

Anyway, our father tells us to go to Rustboro and challenge the gym there. Sounds like a good idea to me.

Before we can leave, we run into this guy. Calling us a rookie! How rude, even if it is true...

Route 104 Time!

New Puppets include Nature and Miasma Type Medicine:

I believe there is another Puppet that can appear, but I couldn't get it to show up. On a side note, pickup nets me an early super potion. Chen op.

A fisherman on the route is an interesting trainer. He has a new Puppet to show us: China!

Actually, it's just Hina, but it looks like China. Hina is this games version of Magikarp, but it learns moves. It could be found almost anywhere once we get an Old Rod.

Lady Cindy also has an interesting Puppet for me:

Shuizuha! We'll see a lot more of her later. Of interest is that she is holding a rare candy. Ellen's stealing ability is commendable!

Folks familiar with Emerald will know I'm skipping over Mr. Briney's hut. We'll see a ton more of him in the next part.

Route 104 is rather short, and I still can't find the remaining puppet. Oh well, she shows up later. Now it's time for Petalburg Woods! I also ran back to Oldale Town to get some more Toho Orbs.

There are tons of new Puppets in here!

Luna is a Wind type, Star is a water type, while Sunny is a Fire type. LillyWhite is a heart type, while LillyBlack is a dark type. Finally, Wriggle is a Nature type. Sunny took FOREVER to find. I think her encounter rate may be 1%.

As you may guess, with all the fairies in this woods, the trainers are predominantly fairycatchers.

Therefore, I'm not going to showcase many of them.

What is this Green Guy doing in the forest? He's looking for Sunny apparently. Good luck. But what is this?

Now we have our first fight against Team Aqua! Additionally, he is using the Puppet I couldn't find on Route 104.

It's a tough fight, but Alice is able to pull it off.

How nice of the grunt to let us go.

The green guy gives a great orb for our troubles, and then sprints off to Rustboro. I'm sure we'll never see him again.

The next trainer Battle puts us into a difficult situation: Ellen has 1 hp, and Alice is burned! Whatever shall we do? How about use that super potion Chen picked up? Even the puppets I'm not using are helping out.

That was quite fortunate. On the way out of the woods, I run into two Sunnys in a row. maybe their not that rare...

Route 104 Time?

Didn't we already do 104? This might just be the same route. I don't believe there are any new puppets,

but their are plenty of trainers.

The guy in that picture gives us TM 09: Bullet see- I mean Decision! This faith type move has 60 base power and never misses. I should give it to someone, but I'll hold onto it for now.

Above the flower shop there is a Toho orb, a potion, and a Super Potion. This is the first super potion you're intended to have.

Rich Boy Winston has a new Puppet for us: Mugetsu! It knows poison tears, a new move, so I'm guessing it's miasma type. Ellen will make short work of it. Fun fact: This boy is so rich he gives his Puppet a nugget to hold. Thanks Ellen!

The next battle, Lass Haley, is uneventful. She has a Nazrin and Mystia. The most important thing is that Allice learned Aurora Beam!

Now we have the first double battle of the game! Here is a fun fact not many people know about Emerald: These twins will not battle you if you only have one Pokemon in your party.

They have another Shizuha, but also a Minoriko. These are the games equivalent of Plusle and Minule.

They aren't very threatening, especially with Alice's super effective Aurora Beam.

Now we are finally in Rustboro City! There is a gym we can challenge here. We can also walk along the outside to find an X defend.

There is a trainer school here, which is where the quick claw is located.

There is also the HM for cut, given to us by a random man. The building is next to the Pokemon Center.

Finally, next to the Gym, there is a trade opportunity. If you regret taking Sanae, you can swap it for Reisen in the adjacent building. I took Alice though, so no trade.

Before we challenge the gym, let's explore route 116!

There are several new Puppets to catch:

Kyouko is Dream type, and Tewi is Beast Type. Tewi holds a lucky egg 5%, an item that increases experience growth by 50%. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to steal one while grinding.

Trainers here include a fairycatcher, with Star and LilyBlack, a school kid, with a Tokiko, and a Youngster with a Chen and Nazin. There's also a hiker taunting me with a Momiji. Ellen managed to learn Hypnosis in one of the battles:

As for unobtainable Puppets, a school Kid had a Yuugi:

The last trainer has a Momiji and a Kisume. What's a Kisume? This:

At the end of the route is an X special for our troubles. We also got an Ultra orb again, but from Nazrin.

I'm going to grind Ellen up to level 16, and then I'll attempt the gym battle.

Alice's Stats at 16:

Ellen's Stats at 16:

Rustboro gym is beast type! There are three trainer battles before Roxanne.

The first is a school kid - Ellen destroyed his level 12 Nazrin.

Next is another school kid, but with two puppets this time: two level 12 Chens. Again, Ellen had no problems. Ellen got up to Level 17 in this battle.

The final trainer is a hiker with two puppets: 2 level 12 Momijis. This time, Alice beat them both.

At this point, you may think I am overleveled. You'd be wrong. In Emerald, Roxanne has two level 12's and a level 15. This game takes it up a notch...

After saving, lets take on Roxanne!

As you can see, My levels are reasonable. The first Chen is annoying, as it knocks out Alice... Fury swipes is a strong move...

Ellen is able to put Nazrin to sleep, in order to take it out safely. I have to heal up, though. Thank god for Chen and Nazrin supplying me Super potions!

Unfortunately, it wakes up and gets a crit tackle before going down.

Finally, a Momiji, at level 17!

Hynosis hits, allowing me to steal it's sitrus berry! Unfortunately, Ellen does almost no damage.

http://i.imgur.com/0y717mQ.png

Momiji woke up, and did half my health in damage, Fortunately I had a sitrus berry to heal me back up.

I'm all out of super potions! It's all down to this: Let's hope hypnosis hits again!

4 hp and Hypnosis manages to hit

Fortunately, it had a 4-turn sleep, allowing Ellen to take it out!
Ellen got to level 18, and Roxanne is down!

We manage to get the stone badge and TM 39: Rock tomb!

Let's return to the healing center... But what is this?

Must not be important, lets go heal up. That's it for part one!

In game time: 4:30 (A result of fast forward and writing this as I go.)

_________________________________________________

Woo! Finally done with the first part. Please give me feedback on how much you liked it. Some specific points I'm wondering about: Too wordy? Not enough pictures? Too many pictures? Not enough pictures of routes?

Additionally, please let me know if you want to nickname any puppet anything. The name rater comes up in the next part, so I'll be able to change names soon.

Finally, I should leave you with a poll:

Which puppet should I add to the team?

Poll: New Puppet?

Water Type: Star (3)

43%

Wind Type: Luna (1)

14%

Nature Type: Wriggle (1)

14%

Dark Type: LillyBlack (1)

14%

Other! (1)

14%

Fire Type: Sunny (0)

0%

Have two heart types: LillyWhite! (0)

0%

7 total votes

Your vote: New Puppet?

(Vote): Water Type: Star
(Vote): Fire Type: Sunny
(Vote): Wind Type: Luna
(Vote): Nature Type: Wriggle
(Vote): Dark Type: LillyBlack
(Vote): Other!
(Vote): Have two heart types: LillyWhite!

Let's Play: Touhoumon Purple: Part One!

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