A Link Between Worlds - A Guide to Pokémon Global Link

Introduction

Pokémon Global Link, or PGL for short, was Game Freak's scheme to promote the online elements in the Gen VI games and provide players with some new resources. It is an online website that met with mild success and contained some excellent features, as well as some not-so-excellent features. For example, PGL's PokéMileage Club deserves much acclaim for ending the need to farm Heart Scales from Luvdisc. On the other hand, the creators of PGL's online games deserve to be put to the guillotine for their cringe-worthy games. Unlike Bulbapedia or some other scholarly commentary, this article introduces PGL's essentials and explains how you, the competitive Pokémon player, can make use of them.

How to Access PGL

Before we move on and explore the various features of PGL, it's necessary to have an account to make use of these features. If you already have an account, then you should probably skip this section. Once you're on the PGL website, all you have to do is enter a username and password, and you're all set. However, a PGL account won't be of much use unless players sync their Pokémon game with their PGL account. To do so, select "Game Sync" in the PSS menu, and a short explanation of Game Sync should appear. On the next screen, select "Create your Game Sync ID." Once you have your Game Sync ID, log on to your PGL account online and enter your Game Sync ID on the "Register your Game Card" page. Your Pokémon game is now connected to your PGL account. If you are having trouble, check out the PGL support page. From now on, you can send and receive data and access all of the features explained in this article.

PokéMileage Club

When you trade with other players on your XY or ORAS game, you are rewarded with PokéMiles. In the PokéMileage Club, you have access to a wide range of items that can be exchanged for PokéMiles. However, only a select few of those items are helpful in competitive play, and they will be listed in this article. Additionally, playing PGL's games gives the player a chance to obtain an item from a predetermined selection, regardless of how well the player did in the game. On a side note, just to prove how bad PGL's games are, I loaded the Poké Doll Grabber game on PGL, clicked start, and did nothing. In three games, I reached the finish line twice. The games on PGL are dull enough to lull you to sleep, but some of the items that can be obtained through them might make it worth it.

In the PokéMileage Club shop, players have access to Heart Scales, Rare Candies, and PP Ups. While these items are not actually useful in battle, they can assist the player with breeding and training his/her Pokémon. In the Balloon Popping game, players can obtain evolutionary items and stones such as Reaper Cloth and Fire Stone, respectively. Once again, these items are not actually useful in battle, but they can assist the player with evolving his/her Pokémon. The items in the Graffiti Eraser game are similar to those in the PokéMileage Club shop. The obtainable items are PP Max, PP Up, Heart Scale, and Rare Candy. In Mine Cart Adventure, all of the prizes are Poké Balls, which won't be of much help to the competitive Pokémon player. Finally, in Poké Doll Grabber, players can obtain some cool Berries. There are type-resist Berries that reduce the damage taken from super effective hits (e.g. Chople Berry) and stat-boosting Berries that boost a Pokémon's stats when certain conditions are met (e.g. Salac Berry). Additionally, there are niche berries that have very unique effects and are rarely used in competitive play (e.g. Enigma Berry, which restores one quarter of a Pokémon's max HP when hit by a super effective move).

Rating Battles

PGL has ranked ladders for the Battle Spot metagames that players can participate in. When you link your ORAS or XY game to your PGL account, you become eligible for participation in Battle Spot rating battles. Once you register, you can battle trainers around the world in the various Battle Spot metagames. These metagames include Singles, Doubles, Triples, Rotation, and a Special metagame that changes when a new Battle Spot season begins. On the PGL website, you can see your rankings in the world, in your country, and in your group of friends. You can also look at Battle Spot statistics for the various metagames, which we will discuss in the next section.

Battle Spot Statistics

For those who play the Battle Spot metagames, the Battle Spot statistics are a true gem. It can also be of great use to VGC players when the Battle Spot Doubles rules coincide with the VGC rules, such as in VGC 2015. Information about the Pokémon that are used in Battle Spot are organized into neat charts and posted on the PGL website. The statistics provide information on the most commonly used Pokémon and their most common moves, abilities, natures, held items, and team members. This allows the astute player to gain valuable insight into the metagame, including common threats, common strategies, and future metagame trends.

As an example, let's take a look at the Battle Spot Doubles statistics for the ORAS League. For the purpose of this article, we will be using the statistics from April 1st, 2015 (this is not a joke). We immediately observe that Kangaskhan is the #1 most used Pokémon in Battle Spot Doubles. Taking a look at the most common moves on Kangaskhan, we see that the two most popular moves are Fake Out and Sucker Punch, with 88.1% and 69.3% usage, respectively. This means that when you battle against a Kangaskhan, it is almost guaranteed to carry Fake Out. Sucker Punch has a not-as-high-as-expected 69% usage (this really is not a joke), but when we remove the odd Kangaskhan sets in the lower end of the ladder, this percentage tends to be higher in practice. As we proceed down the list, the statistics start to get muddled. We see that Double-Edge is used on an uncharacteristically low 62.8% of Kangaskhan, while Return is used on a meager 29.6% of Kangaskhan. However, Kangaskhan never have both Double-Edge and Return in their movesets, as they carry only one or the other as a STAB move. When we combine the percentages, it becomes an understandable 92.4%. Another thing that players should pull from these numbers is the fact that Double-Edge is used much more often than Return on Kangaskhan. This means that when you do damage calculations to see if your Pokémon can survive Kangaskhan's STAB attack, the calculations should be done with Double-Edge, not Return, because it is the more popular choice.

In a similar manner, we can gain information about abilities, natures, items, and team members. However, VGC players must be wary of the fact that the Battle Spot Doubles statistics are not a bona fide representation of the VGC metagame, even when they share the same rules. In Battle Spot Doubles, Sylveon is a dominant force and is the third most used Pokémon. However, if we take a look at the Pokémon usage statistics of from the VGC 2015 Winter Regionals, we see that Sylveon was much lower in usage, being tied for seventh place with Aegislash and Cresselia. Even when the Battle Spot Doubles rules are a copy of the VGC rules, the Battle Spot statistics, while helpful, cannot be fully relied upon.

Online Competitions

Similar to how rating battles work, you can register for online competitions on PGL. Each competition has a ranked ladder and a unique ruleset. These competitions are typically divided into two separate ladders: the junior and the masters division ladders. Additionally, some competitions might also include gifts as an incentive for participation. For example, in the recent Enter the Dragon Type online competition, each team had to have at least one Dragon-type Pokémon. After the competition ended, Snow Warning Amaura were given out to players who had participated as a reward. This is currently the only legal way to get Amaura with its hidden ability.

Events Calendar

PGL's events calendar provides a full schedule on upcoming events, online competitions, Pokémon Mystery Gift distributions, and so on. The calendar keeps players up-to-date and informed. If you want to know when the next Battle Spot Season begins or when the next Mystery Gift will be given away, simply consult the calendar.

PGL News

The news feed isn't that much different from the events calendar. Similarly, it will notify players of upcoming events, but it will also provide other information. For example, the news feed will allow players to know when and for how long PGL and other Pokémon online features will be under maintenance. PGL has recently crossed a new frontier and posted an analysis on the 2015 February International Challenge. This was the first official Pokémon analysis, and it was only accessible through the PGL news page. The article is not very in-depth and is meant to be approachable for players of all skill levels. Thus, advanced players might find it to be a boring read. However, with the release of this article, it is reasonable to expect future articles like it from PGL, some of which might be more detailed. Future articles will most likely also be accessible through only the PGL news page.

Conclusion

Pokémon Global Link is a neat feature that players might find useful. Whether you use it for the terrible games, the useful items, or to check your ranking, PGL has various things that could be of service to a Pokémon player. With all of that said, everything that you've read up to this point would be useless if you do not have or use a PGL account, so take 30 seconds out of your life to make an account and/or check out some of the features mentioned in this article. Make sure to tell me how much you enjoyed playing PGL's games.

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