Appeal: Difference between revisions

Appeal (Japanese: アピール Appeal) is a property that determines the amount of points a move earns when performed in front of a judge or panel of judges in a Pokémon Contest, Super Contest, or Contest Spectacular. It also refers to the act of performing a move. Across the three generations of games in which appealing has appeared, it varies greatly. In the anime, however, it is the same in all Contests seen so far.

In the games

In the Hoenn region Contests, there are five rounds of appealing, while in the Sinnoh region Super Contests, there are four. In both competitions, Coordinators have their Pokémon performing one move in each round in order to impress the Judges and the audience.

Every move that a Pokémon can learn is categorized under one of the five Contest categories and adds Appeal Points to a Pokémon's score in a Contest. The table on the right shows the Appeal Points and other Contest properties of the move Ice Beam.

Pokémon Contests

In Hoenn, Pokémon take turns appealing in the secondary judging. They are able to affect the performances of each other. Effects on other Pokémon include reducing their number of hearts, making them nervous, and so forth.

Move combinations score extra hearts. Moves that are of the same category as the Contest the user is competing in may excite the audience, and if the audience becomes extremely excited, the Pokémon scores extra hearts.

Internally, each heart is worth 10 points in the appeal score for a Pokémon.

Turn order

In the first round, the turn order is determined by how well each Pokémon did in the primary judging, with the Pokémon who did best in primary judging being placed first in order. In the rounds after the first, they are ordered from who won the most hearts to the least in the preceding round. The turn order can be changed by:

• Moves which make the user move first in the next round. Examples include Quick Attack and Shadow Sneak.
• Moves which make the user move last in the next round. Examples include Dragon Tail and Vital Throw.
• Moves which scramble the order on the next round. Examples include Trick Room and Wonder Room.

Secondary effects that affect appeal

Certain moves can impose statuses on the user or other Pokémon.

• If a move a Pokémon uses makes it "settle down just a bit" (indicated by a circle icon)^RSE, or "feeling pretty calm and collected now" (indicated by a teardrop icon)^ORAS, it prevents one jamming from another Pokémon's move; after a single jam occurs and is prevented or the round is over, the Pokémon loses this protection. Examples include Protect and Refresh.
• If a move a Pokémon uses makes it "become oblivious to others" (indicated by a circle icon)^RSE, or "completely oblivious to other Pokémon's moves" (indicated by a teardrop icon)^ORAS, it prevents the user from being jammed at all during the entire round. Examples include Detect and Mist.
• If a move a Pokémon uses tries to jam another Pokémon, the other Pokémon or the user (if the move backfires) are indicated with either a swirly spiral icon or an ear icon. In Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, the move cannot backfire on the user and all jammed Pokémon will be indicated with a swirly spiral icon. A move can only jam Pokémon who have already showed their appeal during the round.
• If a Pokémon becomes nervous due to another Pokémon's move, it is indicated by two tildes on top of each other (≈). A nervous Pokémon cannot move during the round. A move can only unnerve the remaining Pokémon who have not yet showed their appeal during the round. The move may fail to unnerve any of the remaining Pokémon, and Pokémon who are pumped up are less susceptible to nervousness. Examples of moves include Sing and Sweet Kiss.
• If a move a Pokémon used in the previous round renders it unable to appeal in the current round, it is indicated by an "X" icon or a non-moving sprite^RSE.
• Stars may be earned in an appeal as marks of "good condition", and may be received from the Judge as a result of an earlier-used move. They add one more heart to the appeal^RSE.
• If a move a Pokémon uses gets the Pokémon pumped up, successive moves for the remainder of the Contest will add one extra heart of appeal. The user will be indicated with a star icon. The Pokémon can continue to get pumped up to earn more stars (e.g. The user can use Dragon Dance twice and will be indicated with two star icons. Successive moves will earn two extra hearts of appeal.) Pokémon who are pumped up are less likely to become nervous. Examples of moves include Dragon Dance and Hone Claws^ORAS.

Other effects which influence appeal include:

• Certain moves make the Pokémon more aware of the other Pokémon's moves. If a move which jams is used after that Pokémon for the rest of the round, double the amount of points are lost than normal. Examples of moves include Take Down and Draco Meteor.
• Certain moves prevent the user from appealing next round. Examples include Hyper Beam and Giga Impact.
• Certain moves prevent the user from appealing for the rest of the Contest. Destiny Bond, Self-Destruct and Explosion have this effect.
• Certain moves provide more hearts depending on when the Pokémon executes its move. Moves such as Grassy Terrain and Wish excite the audience a lot if used first and will give the user an extra two hearts. Similarly, moves such as Disarming Voice give six hearts if used first but only two otherwise.
• Certain moves provide a random number of hearts. Examples include Fury Swipes and Sleep Talk.

Judge's reactions

In Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, a Judge is present who will react in different circumstances. In Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, the Judge is not present, though the effects such as changing turn order and contest combinations effects are similar.

• When a Pokémon uses a move which make the user move first or last in the next round, the Judge will have the number 1 or 4 over his head while watching the Pokémon's appeal. The performing Pokémon will also be indicated with the text "NEXT TURN: X", where X is the same number over the Judge's head. If another Pokémon uses a similar appeal and also moves to the beginning or end, the Pokémon that appealed first will move to the next turn, and "NEXT TURN: X" will change accordingly.
• When a Pokémon uses a move which scrambles the order in the next round, the Judge will have a question mark over his head, and each Pokémon will be indicated with the text "NEXT TURN: ?".
• When a Pokémon uses a move twice in a row, the Judge will have a swirly spiral over his head while watching a Pokémon's appeal. The Pokémon will lose two hearts the first time a move is repeated, three hearts the second time, and so on^RSE, or only lose one heart every time a move is repeated^ORAS. There are a few moves to which this rule doesn't apply, such as Hidden Power. To prevent repeating moves accidentally, the name of the move used in the previous round is grayed out when selecting a move to appeal with.
• When the Judge has a single exclamation point over his head while watching a Pokémon's appeal, the performing Pokémon is indicated by a flashing red dot or a flashing panel, and a combo is possible with the move just used. When the Pokémon knows a move it can perform a combo with, its name will be red when selecting a move to appeal with.
• When the Judge has a double exclamation point over his head while watching a Pokémon's appeal, the performing Pokémon has just performed a combo with the two previous moves it appealed with. The Pokémon will then receive double the amount of hearts it would in a basic appeal^RSE, or receive three extra hearts^ORAS.
• When the Judge has a star over his head while watching a Pokémon's appeal, the performing Pokémon receives a star.

Audience

Gardevoir Mega Evolving during the Talent Round

The audience's excitement over a Pokémon's appeal influences the number of hearts it earns. This is shown by the excitement meter, a series of five ovals^RSE or stars^ORAS that may be filled or emptied.

Performing a move whose category is the same as the category of the Contest causes the excitement meter to go up by 1. Moves that are of the two related categories do not affect the excitement meter, while moves that are of the two opposing categories causes the excitement meter to go down by 1. In Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, filling this meter earns an additional heart, while emptying it deducts a heart from the Pokémon's score.

If a Pokémon uses a move and the excitement meter reaches five, the Pokémon receives six extra hearts during its appeal, and the excitement meter returns to zero. In Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, a special animation known as a Spectacular Talent (Japanese: ライブアピール Live Appeal) is displayed when this occurs, depending on the Pokémon's type and the category of the Contest Spectacular. If the Pokémon has two types, it is randomly selected between the two. For example, a Normal-type Pokémon's animation features the Pokémon running across the floor in zig-zags, and is called "Incredible Shining Road". If a Pokémon is able to Mega Evolve and is holding the correct Mega Stone, the Pokémon will Mega Evolve before performing its Spectacular Talent and gain eight hearts instead of six; it will remain Mega Evolved for the rest of the Talent Round. If a Pokémon's Mega Evolution changes its type, the Spectacular Talent chosen will be chosen from one of the Mega Evolved Pokémon's types.

If a Pokémon uses a move twice in a row, the judge will be disappointed and the excitement meter will not go up, regardless of the move's Contest type. However, it can still lower the excitement meter.

Spectacular Talent

Gallery

The animation is the same regardless of the Contest category except for some unique background features, with Coolness Contest Spectacular Talents featuring red sparkles, Beauty with translucent circles, Cuteness with love hearts, Cleverness with numbers, and Toughness with orange streaks.

Normal	Fighting	Flying	Poison	Ground	Rock
Bug	Ghost	Steel	Fire	Water	Grass
Electric	Psychic	Ice	Dragon	Dark	Fairy

Pokémon Super Contests

In Sinnoh, Pokémon perform their moves in the Acting Competition (Japanese: 演技審査 Performance Examination). At the end of each round, the Judges award extra points to the Pokémon: 3 points if only one Pokémon performed to them, 2 points each if two Pokémon performed to them, 1 point apiece if three Pokémon performed to them, and none if all Pokémon performed to them.

Contrary to the Hoenn region Contests, the Pokémon get their position by their scoring in reverse: the best scorer goes last and the worst scorer goes first.

Performing a compatible move (i.e. a move that is of the same category as the Contest) to any Judge causes their Voltage to go up by 1, however, a move from the opposite side of the Contest category spectrum causes the Voltage to go down by 1. The Pokémon who fills the Voltage meter will receive a bonus from the Judge they performed to: Keira and Jordan give +5, while Dexter gives +8.

Unlike Generation III, a Pokémon cannot perform a move more than twice in a row for any reason. A Pokémon may not enter a Super Contest (including Visual and Dance practice sessions) if they only have one move; this makes it impossible for Ditto and Unown to legally obtain any Super Contest Ribbon.

The number of points earned from the Acting Competition is 10 times the number of hearts received.

In the anime

May's Skitty finishing her appeal in the Grand Festival

In the anime, Coordinators show off their Pokémon's moves in the Appeals Round (Japanese: アピールステージ Appeal Stage), an apparent combination of the rounds found in Generation III's Contests used to weed out less talented Coordinators before the second round. The object of the round is to demonstrate attacks in a unique and entertaining way. The appeals are awarded points by the competition jury, usually formed by Mr. Contesta, Mr. Sukizo and the resident Nurse Joy. The Coordinators with the highest scores proceed to the next round. The number of Coordinators that advance to the second round is different for each Contest. In Contests held under the Double Performance rule, Coordinators have to appeal with two Pokémon.

Trivia

• For Mounting a Coordinator Assault!, Professor Oak's Big Pokémon Encyclopedia is about the Appeals Round. He writes this Pokémon senryū about it: ポケモンが　かれいにまわるよ　コンテスト Pokémon spinning beautifully; that is a Contest.

In other languages

Language Title Finnish Esiintyminen French Charme German Ausdruck Italian Esibizione Korean 어필 Appeal Spanish Exhibición

	Pokémon Contests
	Necessary Spoils Pokéblocks • Poffins Contest Categories Cool • Beautiful • Cute • Clever • Tough Rounds Appeal • Battle • Dance • Visual	Participation Contest • Super Contest • Contest Show Coordinator • Contest Hall • Contest Pass The Grand Festival Kanto • Hoenn • Sinnoh Top Coordinator • Ribbon Cup
	Others Combinations • Opponents (III • IV • VI • VIII) • Double Performance • Jamming Ribbons (list) • Stickers • Ball Capsules • Ranks • Judges • Announcers • Wallace Cup

This game mechanic article is part of Project Games, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon games.