Pokémon Super Contest
- This article is about the contests held in Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. For the contests in Generation III, VI, and the anime, see Pokémon Contest.
A Pokémon Super Contest (Japanese: ポケモンスーパーコンテスト Pokémon Super Contest) is an expanded format of the Pokémon Contests for the Generation IV games, specifically in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. In it, Pokémon are rated on their appearance and performance, rather than strength. They are different from the previous generation's competitions in that not only do they have more rounds, but rounds from the earlier games have been altered. They come in four rankings in the same five categories as Generation III: Cool, Beauty, Cute, Smart, and Tough.
All Super Contests are at the Contest Hall in Hearthome City.
Competitions
Visual Competition
- Main article: Visual Competition
The Visual Competition is where players dress up their Pokémon depending on a theme. The Visual Competition score consists of two parts: the condition portion and the dress-up portion. The score from the Visual Competition is the total number of hearts given from both portions.
Dance Competition
- Main article: Dance Competition
In the next round, all four Pokémon dance on the stage. Competitors control their Pokémon with four buttons: Left, Right, Front, and Jump. The dancer in front chooses up to three steps in the Normal Rank and Great RankDP, and four in the Great RankPt, Ultra Rank and Master Rank, matching the beat as closely as possible. Then the backup dancers try to match the lead dancer's moves. Each Pokémon will lead for two measures (a measure is the time it takes for the lead dancer to make its moves and the backup dancers to follow), and each measure will contain 16 beats for both halves in the Normal and Great Ranks and 24 beats in the other ranks.
At the bottom of the top screen, a simple music staff shows the steps with a bouncing Jigglypuff on top of it keeping the beat.
A Pokémon earns 1 point for each step judged as "Good", and 2 points for each step judged as "Excellent". A step judged as a "Miss" does not score. The maximum score for the Dance Competition is thus 48 points in Contests with 3 steps, and 64 points in Contests with 4 steps.
Acting Competition
- Main article: Appeal
This is the equivalent of the second round of Contests in Generation III. Pokémon perform moves for one of the three judges, Jordan, Dexter and Keira, to earn Appeal Points. At the end of each round, 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. This competition has four rounds, rather than the five rounds found in Generation III. The Pokémon, contrary to the regular Contests, get their position by their scoring in reverse. The best scorer goes last and the worst scorer goes first. Performing a Contest-specific move (i.e. a Tough move in a Tough Contest) to any judge causes their Voltage to go up by 1, however, an incompatible move (such as a Smart move in a Cool Contest) 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, Dexter (as the head judge) gives +8.
Unlike in Generation III, the most a Pokémon can use any move in succession is two times. Most moves can only be used once, while specific moves, such as Outrage or Arm Thrust, may be used twice in a row. If a Pokémon only has one move, it may not enter a Super Contest (including Visual and Dance practice sessions). This makes it impossible for Unown and Ditto to legitimately have any Super Contest Ribbons.
The number of points earned from the Acting Competition is 10 times the number of hearts received.
Results
To compute a Pokémon's final score, the scores from each competition are first scaled such that the Pokémon with the best score in the competition is given 33 points, and the other Pokémon are given scores proportional to this score. This score is then scaled again such that the best score is given 64 points, and the other Pokémon are given scores proportional to this score. The final score of a Pokémon is the sum of the Pokémon's scores from each of the competitions, and the Pokémon with the highest final score wins. If there is a tie for highest score, a winner among the tied players is randomly chosen.
Awards
The winning Pokémon will receive a Ribbon for the Contest condition and rank. They will also receive a special Accessory the first time the Contest is completed successfully.
Accessory prizes
Cool Contests
| Normal Rank | Great Rank | Ultra Rank | Master Rank |
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| Red Barrette | Red Balloons | Top Hat | Gold Pedestal |
Beauty Contests
| Normal Rank | Great Rank | Ultra Rank | Master Rank |
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| Blue Barrette | Blue Balloons | Silk Veil | Glass Stage |
Cute Contests
| Normal Rank | Great Rank | Ultra Rank | Master Rank |
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| Pink Barrette | Pink Balloon | Lace Headress | Flower Stage |
Smart Contests
| Normal Rank | Great Rank | Ultra Rank | Master Rank |
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| Green Barrette | Green Balloons | Professor Hat | Cube Stage |
Tough Contests
| Normal Rank | Great Rank | Ultra Rank | Master Rank |
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| Yellow Barrette | Yellow Balloon | Heroic Headband | Award Podium |
Notable contestants
There are several contestants that are also encountered throughout the storylines of the games. They are only encountered in the Master Rank after the player beats the Elite Four.
Fantina
Fantina is a Gym Leader, from Hearthome City. She competes with her Drifblim, named Loony.
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Johanna
Johanna is the player's mother. She competes with her Kangaskhan, named Jumpy. She also seems to be well acquainted with the judge Keira.
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Jasmine
Jasmine is a Gym Leader, from Olivine City, in Johto. She competes with her Steelix, named Rusty.
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Casey
Casey is a Pokémon Center Nurse (presumably Hearthome's). She competes with her Chansey, named Pinky.
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In the manga
Pokémon Super Contests have been featured in multiple manga series based on Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum.
In the Pokémon Adventures manga
During the Diamond & Pearl arc, Platinum accidentally entered a Super Contest in Hearthome City. After performing terribly at the Dance Competition, she vowed to win the next day's Contest in her family's name. She managed to win a Normal Rank Super Contest with her Prinplup, despite the sabotage on the part of other competitors.
The Super Contests follow the games closely, sharing the same competition formula with three segments. In addition, in this canon the Coordinators dance along with their Pokémon in the Dance Competition.
In the Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure! manga
Fairly early during their journey, Hareta, Mitsumi and Jun participated in Super Contests. Hareta and Jun took part in a Normal Rank Contest, while Mitsumi took part in Master Rank Contest.
The manga's Contests follows the formula established in the games closely, having the same three segments.
Trivia
- The Contest ranks are named after the original Kanto Poké Balls (Normal, Great, Ultra, and Master). They also were in Generation III, although it seems the translation team did not catch this, as back then the Japanese Poké Ball names (Normal, Super, Hyper, and Master) were used in the English versions.
- Pokémon that have Ribbons earned in Generation III Contests do not have any advantage when entering a Super Contest; they must go through all four ranks no matter what.
- Pokémon back sprites are often flipped in the Acting portion of the Contest, but there are exceptions for noticeably asymmetrical Pokémon, such as Togekiss and Budew.
- In spite of this, Weezing's sprite is flipped, despite its obviously asymmetrical appearance.
- There appears to be a formal or semi-formal dress code for Super Contest entrants—in the Generation IV games, the player character is given a tuxedo or dress (dependent on gender) by Johanna prior to their first Contest, and anime characters are also required to dress up for Sinnoh region Contests (though Ash didn't do so in his first Contest).
- In Pokémon Platinum, the Pokémon keep their sprite from Diamond and Pearl during the Visual and Dance Competitions.
- The main reason for this is to provide compatibility for multiplayer Super Contests, as the winner of the most recent Super Contest would have a photo of itself in its dressed-up state displayed in front of the reception desks in the Contest Hall.
In other languages
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Pokémon Contests | 
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| 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 | |||
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This game-related article is part of Project Games, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon games. |