PAX Pokemon League

So, after witnessing some Pokemon battling on Saturday and having no clue what was going on, my girlfriend has decided that she would like to try and learn how to play. I plan on teaching her (I must live up to my Gym Leader persona) the ropes. She was looking up some stuff yesterday, but it was all about the TCG. Does anyone know of any good resources for someone just starting out to introduce them to the basics?

I'd say just going through the game is a fairly good introduction, but if you want an information site Serebii's probably your best bet.

[urlz8r]http://www.serebii.net/index2.shtml[/urlz8r]

Yeah, I think she was looking to just read some stuff while at work last night before diving into the game. The basic goal is to not overwhelm her with too much too soon. Serebii's definitely good. I should probably pick up one of the official Nintendo guides. I always remember those being very thorough in explaining the basics.

For general terminology and gameplay mechanics, I swear by [url=http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Main_Pagez4s]Bulbapedia[/urlz4s] more than anything. For every Pokemon, it gives you their weaknesses, their move sets, the locations you can find them in every game, their evolved forms and how to get them, and tons of other useful info for beginners and veterans alike, as well as plenty of in-game flavor text and information from the manga and anime too. There are also extensive pages on breeding, IVs and EVs, the Dream World, abilities, and pretty much anything else you can think of for once she starts getting into that deeper stuff. Like Wikipedia, it's good if you want a quick answer to something or if you just want to get lost in the vast ocean of information for a few hours. My biggest problem with Pokemon is that it doesn't do a very good job of explaining its own mechanics within the game itself. It either stuffs them away in cryptic messages from NPCs or hides them in books on shelves that no one ever checks, so an online encyclopedia is a pretty useful tool to have.

Beyond that, I know [url=http://www.smogon.com/z4s]Smogon.com[/urlz4s] has a reputation for being a tool used by the obsessed and advanced players, but I actually find it to be a very useful tool for building a team at any level and much better organized than Serebii, though I still use Serebii for its [url=http://www.serebii.net/games/iv-calcdp.shtmlz4s]IV calculator[/urlz4s] and [url=http://www.serebii.net/pokearth/z4s]Pokearth[/urlz4s]. If she ever gets interested in playing Pokemon at events with other people, I'd recommend she at least be aware that this site exists.

I like Bulbapedia a lot. And I use Smogon from time to time to get ideas too. I'm not sure she'll ever get to the point where she wants to play competitively. I think she just wants to understand enough about the game to get by and maybe figure out why I spend so much time on it.

[url=http://www.playr.org/play/pokemon_-_blue_version/417#play3gd]Best introduction ever.[/url3gd]

Pokemon Black and White are surprisingly good introductions. Or HeartGold/SoulSilver. I think just playing through one of the games is basically mandatory before getting into the real battling side of it. Otherwise things are going to be super confusing.

A few tools for people either playing casually or starting to look into competitive play.

[urlt71]http://www.marriland.com/[/urlt71] This is the site I swear by for one stop needs, detailed and detailed pokedex, Team builder that will help balance your team weaknesses, IV calculator, and they also have a decent Pokenews side bar that will let you know up upcoming Pokemon related events.

Here are a few damage calculators

[urlt71]http://kalashnikov.pokecenter.ru/damage/[/urlt71] This one is simple and easy to use and will let you get quick check on the fly when needed.

[urlt71]http://masara.byethost15.com/SilverlightDmgCalcTestPage.html[/urlt71] My damage calculator of choice, it is fully customizable to the last detail. Also at the bottom it has a coverage calculator that will let you see what pokemon will resist what move sets. Very Handy tool.