Excel at the Pokéathlon!

The Pokéathlon is a super-new way to play with your Pokémon in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver Versions, but there’s a lot more to these action-packed events than just having fun! With the Pokéathlon, you can earn great items that will help you raise and evolve your Pokémon for use in battle. The Pokéathlon is not a walk in the park, however—playing well in its events requires timing and skill. But you can improve your chances of winning long before you head into the sports festival.

Naturally Gifted Pokémon

When you look at a Pokémon’s Performance info, you’ll see that each Pokémon is graded on five categories: Speed, Power, Skill, Stamina, and Jump. How your Pokémon does in the Pokéathlon is determined by these Performances. It’s Important to know that these Performances don’t stay the same every day. Each day your Pokémon Performance will change a little bit, so it’s important to check out each Pokémon’s Performance stats before moving on to the next step. You’ll be able to tell what kind of a day your Pokémon is having by looking at its Performance page: the stars for each category look a little bigger if they’re better than average or smaller if they’re worse that day.

Your Pokémon’s Nature has a great effect on their Performance, as well. A Pokémon with a Relaxed Nature will tend to have much better Stamina, but much lower Speed, for example. You can find out how Nature affects your Pokémon Performance with this chart.

Supplemental Details

Once you have a good picture of the current condition of your Pokémon team, build up their Performance with Aprijuice before entering them in the Pokéathlon. Each flavor of Aprijuice builds up a different Performance stat: Spicy Aprijuice boosts Power, Sour helps Stamina, Dry adds Skill, Bitter boosts Jump, and Sweet increases Speed.

There are limits to how much Aprijuice you can feed your Pokémon. Your Pokémon will only be able to get better at a particular stat if it has an empty star in that category. Once all the stars are filled up, that’s as far as your Pokémon’s Performance can grow. And while your Pokémon’s stats change every day, their potential (the total number of stars, including empty stars) doesn’t. If you’re looking for a well-rounded Pokémon, look for one that has high potential, such as Sunkern, who has a five-star potential in every category! Your Pokémon’s potential is yet another reason to check your Pokémon’s Performance stats before feeding them Aprijuice.

You can get Aprijuice from a variety of sources, including the Aprijuice stand near the Pokéathlon Dome. Three out of five vendors’ Aprijuice appears at the stand each day, and each vendor sells a different style of Aprijuice. Check out this chart to find out which vendors make which kinds of Aprijuice.

Of course, you can always make your own Aprijuice. It’s not hard at all. Just find Apricorn Trees all over Johto, pick the Apricorns from them, and then throw them into your Apriblender. Here’s a hint: the longer you walk around to mix up the Aprijuice in the Apriblender, the milder the outcome is, which will lead to better-quality Aprijuice that your Pokémon will enjoy more.

The Rest Is Up to You

Examining your Pokémon each day and feeding them the appropriate Aprijuice will only get you so far in the Pokéathlon events. Perhaps more than any other activity, you’ll need to practice plenty before you can win consistently.

Hard-earned Rewards

Doing well in the Pokéathlon has its benefits, particularly when it comes to the prizes you can earn by competing! You’ll earn Athlete Points after every event, which you can then exchange for these prizes. Each day of the week, a different set of items will be for sale at the Athlete Shop, so be sure to check back every day to view the entire inventory.

The items for sale include more Apricorns so you can keep a steady supply of Aprijuice ready for your Pokémon. Perhaps more valuable are the items that you can use to evolve certain Pokémon, such as the Moon Stone, Metal Coat, and King’s Rock. These items aren’t all that common, and the Athlete Shop is a pretty low-cost way of picking up more than one. Plus, you’ll find excellent items such as Rare Candy and PP Up in the Athlete Shop. These items require quite a few Athlete Points, but remember you’ll earn more points depending on how well you do. As long as you’ve followed the steps to maximize your Pokémon’s Performance before participating in the Pokéathlon, you’ll be earning loads of Athlete Points during every event!