Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia

Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia
Also known as: Pokémon Ranger: Vatonage (JP), Pokémon Ranger: Nuit sur Almia (FR), Pokémon Ranger: Finsternis über Almia (DE), Pokémon Ranger: Schaduw van Almia (NL), Pokémon Ranger: Sombras de Almia (ES), Pokémon Ranger: Ombre su Almia (IT) Developer: Creatures Publishers: The Pokémon Company (JP), Nintendo (INT) Platform: Nintendo DS Released in JP: March 20, 2008 Released in US: November 10, 2008 Released in EU: November 21, 2008 Released in AU: November 13, 2008 This game has unused areas. This game has unused playable characters. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused abilities. This game has unused text. This game has a Data Crystal page

This page is rather stubbly and could use some expansion. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue this article?

To do: Backlog Unused text to cover. Cover the two unused maps, imakumi and test. Any previous game leftovers?

This game/console's online features are no longer supported. While this game/console's online features were once accessible, they are (as of May 20, 2014) no longer officially supported and online-exclusive features may be documented as now-unseen content.

Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia is the sequel to the previous game, now with new Partner Pokémon, slight expansion of field moves, more Ranger Net missions (if they were downloaded before the shutdown) and lots of shady antagonists.

Unused Pokémon

To do: Investigate: 0x39 Kangaskhan, 0xDD Toxicroak, 0x108 Bronzong, 0x10F Claydol, 0x110 Primeape, 0x196 Sharpedo; 0x12C to 0x136 are a lot of weird...Bidoof and Bibarel clones.

Unused Partners

Unused data suggests that Duskull and Riolu would have extended the available list of partner Pokémon. Their IDs are 0xEF and 0x12B, respectively.

Removed Pokémon

All Pokémon names, descriptions and cries are present in the game's files, but in the final game, only 270 out of 493 Pokémon can be caught. Interestingly, Bulbasaur's cry is listed as PV_000, while PV_001 is missing. However, there are indications that some more Pokémon were originally set to appear at some point in the game.

Treecko, Grovyle

The Hoenn starters were mostly ignored because Shadows of Almia focuses on Sinnoh Pokémon.

Torchic, Combusken

Blaziken can also be found very late in the game, but its prior evolutions do not appear at all.

Mudkip, Marshtomp, Swampert

Unfortunately, no Pokémon from the Mudkip line made it into the final game, although full sets of sprites exist in the files.

Plusle, Minun

Plusle and Minun were available as starter Pokémon in the first game. It is not known whether these two were going to reappear as partners or generic Pokémon.

Burmy, Wormadam

Sprites exist for all three forms of Burmy and Wormadam. The preview icons for the Pokédex were removed or not created yet.

Rotom

Unlike any other removed Pokémon, this one has proper parameters defined! Pokémon 0xEB is an Electric type without a field ability. It attempts to load several assets for Pokémon 479 (Rotom's National Dex number). The battle behavior has not been coded, though.

Uxie, Mesprit, Azelf, Giratina, Arceus

Their names and Pokédex descriptions have been replaced with Dummy strings, which is uncommon for removed Pokémon. It is very likely that these five Pokémon were originally planned to appear at some point in the game. Giratina and Arceus would later make their debuts in Guardian Signs.

Phione, Manaphy

Manaphy was presumably scrapped because it would seem odd to feature both the Manaphy Egg event and the Pokémon itself. Phione's graphics were later reused in Guardian Signs.

Removed Forms

East Sea Shellos/Gastrodon

Overcast Cherrim

Placeholders

Slots 0x137 to 0x190 and 0x1BB to 0x1F3 are not occupied by any Pokémon.

Unused Field Move

Field Move 0x14 is not assigned to any Pokémon or Target. The game calls it Aura Blast, suggesting it was originally intended for Riolu or Lucario. Another unused field move with a similar icon can be found in the data of Guardian Signs.

Unused Text

To do: Expand this section. Unused text is known to exist.

Oddities

Inaccessible Cargo Ship Part

After completing the Cargo Ship mission, part of the area inside the location is blocked off by rubble that cannot be interacted with. If the player uses a walk through walls cheat, they'll be able to visit the inaccessible areas.

Oddly, those areas are reverted back to their original layouts, Pokémon and all before the flood happens during the mission and can be interacted with normally. Also, the music used after the mission (shared with Marine Cave) stays the same as it was.

Missing Sprite Oversight

When the player rides the Doduo, they don't have any defined sprites for jumping off ledges and instead reuses the player facing frontward riding the Doduo. This applies to both genders.

European Language Oddity

Although the European version's language is determined based on the Nintendo DS system setting, it's set permanently. Once any data has been saved, the language can only be changed by cheating.