A Traveler's Guide to the World of Pokémon/Hoenn/Battle Frontier



The Battle Frontier is a region in the fictional Pokémon world, specifically in the Pokémon Emerald video game (where it is located in Hoenn) that specializes in variations of Pokémon battling. After defeating the Elite Four and obtaining the National Pokedex, the trainer needs to obtain the Frontier Pass to roam freely around the Battle Frontier.

After winning at each of the Battle Frontier locations a certain amount of times, the trainer can fight the location's Leader (collectively known as the "Frontier Brains") for a chance to win silver and gold Battle Frontier badges, known as Symbols. When the trainer defeats all of the leaders twice, the trainer receives an extra star added to the Trainer's Card. The Lansat Berry is awarded for a complete set of Silver Symbols, and the Starf Berry is given to those who obtain all seven Gold Symbols.

Location
The Battle Frontier is located in the ocean in the south-east of the Hoenn region. It was established by a man named Scott who is said to seek specially talented Trainers from across the Hoenn region. During the course of the game, the main character will come across Scott who is supposedly observing them as they defeat the various gym leaders around Hoenn. Once the player conquers the regional Pokémon League, then Scott will give them the Frontier Pass, a ferry ticket to the Battle Frontier which can be taken from Slateport City or Lilycove City. The Frontier Pass also replaces the Trainer's ID card, the original card instead being made part of the Frontier Pass.

Gameplay
Battling in the Frontier is done in seven main facilities. The rewards for completing challenges are Battle Points, which can be banked for prizes at an exchange center. If the player can win several consecutive challenges in a row without losing once in a facility, he/she will be challenged by a Frontier Brain, the "boss" of the facility, which is similar to a gym leader. If the player is victorious he/she will be rewarded with a silver symbol which goes onto the Frontier Pass. After winning more consecutive challenges the Frontier Brain will challenge them again for a gold symbol. There are 14 symbols to collect; one silver symbol and one gold symbol for each facility. Symbols can only be obtained in the Single Battle game style if there is more than one battle type for a facility.

Rules
In all facilities of the Frontier only three Pokémon can be entered into the events. None of them can be identical and no two of them can hold the same item, except by coincidence in the Battle Factory or in Multi Battles in the Battle Tower.

There are two different battling "modes" in the Frontier, Level 50 and Open Level. Level 50 enables Pokémon only up to Level 50 to participate in the events. The levels of all opponents are at Level 50. Open Level allows Pokémon of all levels to participate, however, all opponents' Pokémon are at a minimum of Level 60, and are adjusted to match the level of the highest-level Pokémon in the player's party.

Prohibited Pokémon
Certain Pokémon are classified as too powerful and are ineligible:
 * Mewtwo
 * Mew
 * Lugia
 * Ho-oh
 * Celebi
 * Groudon
 * Kyogre
 * Rayquaza
 * Deoxys
 * Jirachi

Eggs cannot participate in the Frontier. There has also been controversy about Wobbuffet participating. Due to its enormously high HP, it is almost impossible for a Pokémon of an equal level to make it faint in one hit. Its only moves are retaliation moves, meaning that if its trainer guesses right, Wobbuffet will deal double the amount of damage to the foe which attacked it. Wobbuffet also learns the move Destiny Bond, meaning that it can faint its opponent if it faints from the opponent's attack. A trainer can also restore its HP by the use of an item, enabling Wobbuffet to deal damage in this way to multiple opponents. While it is accepted into Frontier challenges, many players of the game consider trainers using it to be cheating.

Battle Arena
In the Battle Arena, players must defeat seven opposing trainers to win the challenge. However, players cannot switch Pokémon, and if neither Pokémon is knocked out after three rounds of fighting, the battle ends and the outcome is judged based on comparative attack frequency, attack effectiveness, and vitality. The Pokémon that receives fewer judging points is automatically knocked out.

The Frontier Brain of this facility is Arena Tycoon Greta, who awards the Guts Symbol.

Battle Dome
In the Battle Dome, the trainer is placed in a tournament with 15 other people. He/she has to progress through four rounds of the tournament to become the Champion of that challenge. Between rounds, the trainer can see the opponents' Pokémon, as well as which move they used to win previous battles. Before each battle, the trainer selects two of his/her Pokémon to fight; the same is done by the opponent.

The Frontier Brain of this facility is Dome Ace Tucker. Tucker's team of Pokémon counterbalance each other's weaknesses, to take advantage of the two-Pokémon only rule. After defeat, he gives up the Tactics Symbol.

Battle Factory
In the Battle Factory, the trainer cannot use his/her own Pokémon; instead, the trainer chooses three out of six randomly generated rental Pokémon. If the trainer wins a battle, he/she can swap one of the current rental Pokémon for one of the Pokémon of the defeated trainer, but is unable to see the statistics of that Pokémon beforehand. The trainer must defeat seven opposing trainers, all sporting random Pokémon, to earn victory.

The Frontier Brain of this facility is Factory Head Noland. Like everyone else, Noland will have a team of random Pokémon. Upon victory, the trainer will earn a Knowledge Symbol.

Battle Palace
In the Battle Palace, the trainer can't decide which attacks his/her Pokémon use (or, in double battles, who they attack). Depending on their nature, Pokémon will like certain kinds of moves (offensive, defensive, or supporting). The attitude of the Pokémon may change if their health is low. Because of this dependency on natures, the Battle Palace is considered one of the most challenging Battle Frontier facilities. The player must defeat seven trainers to complete the challenge.

The Frontier Brain of this facility is Palace Maven Spenser. He will award the Spirits symbol upon defeat.

Battle Pike
The Battle Pike (known as the Battle Tube in Japanese versions) is an odd building shaped like a Seviper. The unique thing about the Battle Pike is that a trainer can get through the whole challenge without having to battle once. In each room, the trainer is presented with a choice of three curtains, similar to the 1960's American television gameshow Let's Make a Deal. Following suit, what the trainer finds in the room behind each curtain can vary drastically. This must be done a total of seven times in order for the challenge to be considered completed.

The possible situations are:


 * A winding path in which wild Pokémon will randomly appear.
 * A man who is having trouble taming a Kirlia or Dusclops. His Pokémon will either poison, paralyse, freeze, burn or put to sleep a random number of Pokémon in the player's party.
 * Two Trainers will appear to challenge the player to a 2-on-2 battle.
 * One Trainer will appear to challenge the player to a single battle.
 * One Trainer accompanied by a maid will challenge the player to a single battle. If the player wins the maid heals all his Pokémon.
 * Nothing happens. A person is standing on one side of the room.
 * A man will restore a random number of the player's Pokémon to full health.

In order to put the odds in the player's favor, there is a Battle Pike assistant in each odd-numbered room who will give enigmatic clues that reduce guesswork. She also warns the player of the arrival of Pike Queen Lucy. The trainer must successfully pass through fourteen rooms to complete the challenge.

The Frontier Brain of this facility is Pike Queen Lucy. If the trainer defeats her, she awards a Luck Symbol.

Battle Pyramid
The Battle Pyramid is an endurance-based challenge in which the player has to navigate through a 7-floored pyramid in darkness. Each floor contains items, trainers, wild Pokémon and a teleport to the floor above. The objective is simply to reach the peak of the pyramid.

The player is given a separate bag to store any items they collect in the pyramid. This bag and the items in it are stored by the staff every time the challenge is successfully completed and the Trainer can use the same bag with the same items in it on his/her next challenge. If a Trainer loses, however, he/she loses all the items in the bag. Some items can be held by Pokémon however they must be returned to the bag at the end of every challenge.

There is also a woman at the reception of the facility telling what type of problems will appear in the next Battle Pyramid challenge. Each try has its own problem

1. Wild Pokémon will paralyze you (generally electric and grass types)

2. Wild Pokémon will poison you (generally Poison types)

3. Wild Pokémon will burn you (generally Fire-types and Pokémon that know Will-O-Wisp)

4. Wild Pokémon will drain you of your power points (Pokémon with Pressure and Ghosts)

5. Wild Pokémon will render your ground attacks useless (Pokémon with Levitate, like Flygon, Solrock etc.)

6. You are unable to escape from wild Pokémon (Arena Trap, Shadow Tag, Wobbuffet)

7. Ice-type Pokémon (Cloyster, Piloswine etc.)

8. Round Pokémon (Golem, Claydol etc.)

9. Psychic-type Pokémon

10. Rock-type Pokémon

The Frontier Brain of this facility is Pyramid King Brandon. He awards the Brave Symbol.

Battle Tower
The Battle Tower is the predominant facility in the Battle Frontier. It is the orginal Battle Tower which was also present in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire which gave players a peek of the Battle Frontier introduced in Emerald. The battles are simply the very basic style, no special rules or adjustments besides the overall Frontier regulations. There are four types of battles which can be held here:


 * Single Battle - A simple 1-on-1 battle challenge.
 * Double Battle - A 2-on-2 challenge.


 * Multi Battle - The player can only enter 2 Pokémon. He/she will be directed to a lobby in which he/she will be asked to pick a parter to battle with, who will also only have 2 Pokémon. The character and his/her partner will battle as a team in 2-2 battles against other teams. Each trainer only has control of his/her own Pokémon.


 * Link Multi Battle - The player links up with another human player over a GBA connection to do 2-on-2 battles similar to the Multi Battle style above.

Once the player has reached the 7th battle of the 5th consecutive challenge, he/she will be challenged by the Salon Maiden Anabel, the Frontier Brain of the Tower, for a silver symbol. She challenges the player again for the gold symbol in the 7th battle of the 10th consecutive tournament.

Other points of interest

 * A level 40 Sudowoodo is located in the southeast section of the Battle Frontier; like in Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, if it is watered with the Wailmer Pail, it will attack. This is one of the only two ways to catch Sudowoodo in the third generation (the other being in Pokémon Colosseum). When the Sudowoodo is forced out of the way, the player can surf down a waterfall to reach the entrance to the Artisan Cave.


 * The Artisan Cave is a long cave connecting one end of the Battle Frontier to the other. It can be entered from a hole underneath the surface, and an exit lies near the Battle Tower next to the Ranking Hall. This cave is unique in that it only contains wild Smeargle. Another strange thing is that Repel never works in that cave.


 * The Betting House is south of the Battle Pyramid. After the trainer gets 3 Silver Symbols from any of the facilities, there will be four people inside. One of those is a Hiker, and if the trainer talks to him and agrees to his request, he'll ask the trainer for Battle Points. If the player bets correctly, he/she will receive double the Battle Points back. The kind of competition changes every day and follows a regular pattern, but all involve competitions within the various facilities.


 * The Battle Frontier Exchange Service Corner sells various goods in exchange for Battle Points. The trainer can purchase goods for the secret base, items for raising the statistics of the trainer's Pokémon, and items that can be held by Pokémon.


 * There is a house next to the Battle Tower. Inside is a trainer who will trade a Skitty for a Meowth.


 * There are two Move Tutors in a house next to the Battle Dome. They will teach the trainer's Pokémon a selection of attacks for a price in Battle Points. The moves made available by the left tutor are also available in Pokémon Fire Red and Leaf Green.


 * The Record Hall contains all of the records the trainer has set for each of the Battle Frontier facilities. If the player mixes records with another Emerald game, he/she can also get the Battle Frontier records from the other game.


 * Scott, the owner of the Battle Frontier, lives in a house in a clearing near the Battle Pyramid. When spoken to, he gives a speech about the Frontier and, if the player visits him for the first time, he will award 2 Battle Points. Scott also awards various prizes if the player achieves many victories at the various facilities.

In the anime
In the anime, the Battle Frontier is set in Kanto, rather than Hoenn, with the individual facilities scattered all over the region. After the Hoenn league, Ash Ketchum meets Scott in Viridian City, who invites Ash to visit the Frontier after seeing his skill against Agatha, one of the Elite Four. The rules in each of the facilities are also different than those in the game - for one, Ash challenges the head of the facility immediately, without having to win a series of battles first. In the Japanese theme song of Battle Frontier, every time a Frontier Brain makes his or her anime debut, the Brain's silhouette will be revealed during the opening theme.

Since the anime tends to follow the games to an extent, it is presumable that the Battle Frontier was moved to Kanto for the anime in order to take elements from Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen and Pokémon Emerald.

The first facility, the Battle Factory, was located near Cerulean City. Instead of random Pokémon, Noland had a large variety, and the challenger chose which Pokémon he would use. The Pokémon he used for battle was an Articuno that he befriended. Noland also had Venusaur, Machamp, Rhyhorn, Breloom, Rhydon, Lairon, Camerupt, Pinsir, Sandslash, Golduck, Manectric, and Trapinch.

The Battle Arena was located near Saffron City. Before the match began, a roulette determined whether the battle would be fought 1-on-1, 2-on-2, or 3-on-3. Ash ended up with a double battle. Greta used her Medicham and Hariyama against Ash's Grovyle and Snorlax.

The Battle Dome was located near Lavender Town. Tucker's Pokémon were Arcanine and Swampert, and Ash used Corphish and Swellow.

The Battle Pike was located near Fuchsia City. Lucy's Seviper and Milotic battled Ash's Pikachu and Donphan. Other Pokémon Lucy had in her possession are Snorlax, Makuhita, Abra, Swinub, Skitty and Cyndaquil. Also, Lucy seems to have a crush on Brock.

The Battle Palace was located between Cinnabar Island and the Seafoam Islands. Spenser used Venusaur, Shiftry, and Claydol the battle, and Ash used Sceptile, Heracross, and Swellow. Spencer also had a Chansey which did not battle.

The Battle Tower was located near Tohjo Falls. Ash challenged Anabel using Pikachu, Corphish and Tauros while Anabel used Metagross and Alakazam, and lost to her the first time. The second time Ash battled with Anabel, she also used Espeon. After he beat her she gave him the location of the Battle Pyramid. Anabel has a crush on Ash due to them sharing the love of the same things.

Finally, the last facility, the Battle Pyramid, led by Brandon, was located near Pewter City the first time Ash and his friends encountered it. The episode "Battle Pyramid! VS Regirock!" revealed that Regirock is somehow affiliated with the Battle Pyramid. This is similar to the events of the game, in which Brandon uses Regirock during his first battle with the player. The same episode revealed that the Battle Pyramid is mobile; it can be rendered airborne using turbines. This makes its location variable rather than fixed like the other Battle Frontier facilities.

The Battle Pyramid's second location was at the Ferrudan Ruins near Indigo Plateau. After Ash arrived at the new location, Ash encountered Brandon again, and battled against Registeel. Ash lost again, and fought a third and final encounter with Brandon against Regice. Ash finally received the Brave Symbol and then a plaque from Scott with all the Battle Frontier Symbols on it. Scott then offered a role to Ash as a Frontier Brain should one step down, but Ash declined the role. (This doesn't mean Ash will not take the offer at a later date, but being stuck in Kanto at a facility would prevent Ash from exploring the world of Sinnoh in the next anime series.) This concluded the Battle Frontier story arc.

In the trading card game
The card "Battle Frontier" from the EX: Emerald expansion is a particularly influential card to the Ruby/Sapphire and Hidden Legends-on formats, by shutting down such staples as "Pidgeot" from the EX: Fire Red/Leaf Green expansion. It was also the theme of the 2005-2006 league season for Pokemon Organized Play.

Frontier Spin-offs
The Battle Tower in the frontier comes from an original facility in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. The Battle Tower had exactly the same challenge types as the one in Emerald. There are no Symbol awards, however there are Battle Points which can be exchanged. Many people believe the Battle Frontier to be an enhancement of the Tower, however most believe that the Battle Tower in Ruby and Sapphire is a preview of the Battle Frontier in Emerald.

A new Battle Tower is featured in the Pokémon Diamond and Pearl games. That Battle Tower awards Battle Points for victories and is led by Tower Tycoon Palmer. The Battle Tower in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl features Single, Double, Multi(Link) and Wi-Fi battles. This new Battle Tower, along with the "Point Exchange Counter" are collectively called the "Battle Park".