The Undergound
Introduction
Getting Started
The Secret Base
Capture The Flag!
Traps
Excavation
The Spheres
Spiritomb
Introduction
The Underground is perhaps the newest feature added that takes advantage of the built in wireless capabilities of the Nintendo DS. Unlike the more traditional parts of Pokemon, this in no way requires two people to directly link, instead has one person essentially broadcasting a signal of their character’s activities. Anyone one else using this mode would receive the signal; when in range a few little things open up for the player to do; such as greeting, gift giving and flag stealing. It is surprisingly important to get some flags as it has a minor effect on your game. But the key factor here would be finding people to greet (or manipulating the game to make it think you really have).
Getting Started
Just like in Diamond and Pearl, this game has an introductory tutorial that one can complete at any time that is meant to get a player familiar with using the underground and have them be comfortable there.
Part 1:
This all begins in Eterna City. To the right of the Pokemon Center you will encounter the Underground Man inside his house. He will ask you to complete some tests to prepare you for the Underground itself. The first of which is to go to the Underground. This is very easy as all you need to do is be outside and open your Bag, go to Key Items and choose the Explorer Kit. This boots your wireless connection and prompts you to save. Once you have gone into the Underground, call up your menu as usual and choose to Surface. Your reward for completing this task will be: Move Trap, Bubble Trap, Leaf Trap
Part 2:
This is a very simple task again, asking you to go Underground and dig something out from the walls. The game explains the basics of it fairly well, but for completion, here is a synopsis:
The character is now on the Touch screen. By tapping it with your stylus you will emit a ping signal that will reveal nearby hidden items as small shining yellow lights. The top screen shows the overall map of the Underground. You will likely see pulsing yellow circles on this map. These are hidden items in the Underground that you can dig out/pick up.
The actual digging is a small game in its own right. Once you have found a shining dot on one of the walls, you can walk up to it and hit “A” to start the game. It is harder than one would expect at first, but it is easy to learn some tricks to it that increase your chances of successfully digging something out of it. Systematic searching will help yield results. Once you have found something in the wall, be it a sphere, shard, stone or item, return to the surface. You will be rewarded with a Sphere.
Part 3
This is a very easy one. All you need to do is go Underground and bury the Sphere you received (or any sphere you have) in the ground. All you need to do is this an open piece of ground in the Underground, which are quite plentiful, to put it in. By opening your menu, you will find the Sphere option. Simply choose the sphere you want to bury and your character will be giving the option to do so. It is important to note that over time your spheres will grow. This is important for some later things, after you have completed the training and really begin to explore the Underground. Your reward for burying something is a Digger Drill.
Part 4
Now it is time to build your own secret base. All you need to do is walk up to a wall, call up your menu and choose traps. You will find the Digger Drill in this menu. Choose to use it and you will plow into the wall and get your own Secret Base. Again, return to the surface to get your reward.
Part 5
The next step is also quite simple. You need to decorate your Secret Base. This is, of course, done in the Underground. Simply go back to your Secret Base and enter into it. You will be given the option to either leave the door open or to close it and redecorate.. Choose to enter into Decoration mode then go to your PC there and choose the Decorate option. Select the item you want to place and do so. Once more, you will be rewarded, this time with a doll of your Starter Pokemon.
The Secret Base:
This part actually requires other people with Pokemon, hence the game considers it optional. While you were in your base, you undoubtedly noticed all the boulders inside it. The only way to get those to clear out is to find other people (real players) in the Underground, then track down their base and steal their flag from inside. After that, run it back to your own base and put it away. As you explore the game world and the Underground, you will find people who will offer to trade items for the Spheres you can dig up from the walls of the Underground. You can also give and receive gifts from other visitors to the Underground you can put in your Base.
Capture the Flag!
As mentioned earlier, you can run into other Players and your friends in the Underground. By finding their base, grabbing their flag and returning to your own, you can clear away the boulders inside your base. This will also upgrade your own flag and allow you to have more decorations out inside your Base. In the beginning, when you have yet to collect any flags, you can have a maximum of 10 decorations out, but you cannot stow any boulders. When you collect a flag, you can have 2 additional decorations, stow 1 boulder and receive the Bronze Flag. At 3 flags, you can have a total of 15 decorations, remove 5 boulders, and receive the Silver Flag. Once you capture 10 flags, you will also unlock a new feature in your Underground PC, allowing you to use it to find your buried spheres as well as buried treasure and traps hidden on the Undergound Map. You can stow 5 more boulders as well as you receive the Gold Flag. The final upgrade comes at 50 captured flags. You can now stow away all boulders and you receive the Platinum Flag.
Traps:
You will find numerous traps from wandering around, collecting them and bartering for them from the Traders. Each of these can be used to defend your Base and Spheres from other Players in the Underground by burying them. These are more an annoyance then a full deterrent but they will alert you to someone's approach on your Base. Getting out of a Trap will either use the touch screen to clear away an obstruction or using the microphone to clear away something obscuring your view. The Traps add a nice element of strategy to finding and getting into someone else's Base.
Excavation:
The way you will find more than just traps is by digging into the walls where there are bulges. On the top of the screen, you will see the fissure meter. When it reaches the far side of the screen the wall crumbles and everything not found is lost. You are given two tools: A Pick Axe and a Hammer. The Pick Axe is good for fine work, and is your default tool, clearing the final bits of dirt away from the items, wearing the wall down slowly. The Hammer, which wears down the wall faster, clears a large area. Using the tools effectively takes practice. In the end though, it will be fairly easy to clear and find just select items in the Underground.
While you will mostly find Spheres, there are other goods that can be found in the Underground. They will go into your Treasure Bag, which can then be sent to your Backpack in Sinnoh.
Items:
Max Revive
Revive
Sellable Items:
Rare Bone
Star Piece
Heart Scale
Trade Item:
Heart Scale
Evolution Stones:
Fire Stone
Leaf Stone
Moon Stone
Oval Stone
Sun Stone
Thunderstone
Water Stone
Fossils:
Armor Fossil (If Trainer ID is even)
Skull Fossil (If Trainer ID is odd)
Fossils after Nation Pokedex:
Claw Fossil
Dome Fossil
Hexil Fossil
Old Amber
Root Fossil
Unlock Item:
Odd Keystone
Hold Items:
Damp Rock
Everstone
Hard Stone
Heat Rock
Icy Rock
Iron Ball
Light Clay
Oval Stone
Smooth Rock
Plates:
Draco Plate
Dread Plate
Earth Plate
Fist Plate
Flame Plate
Icicle Plate
Insect Plate
Iron Plate
Meadow Plate
Mind Plate
Sky Plate
Splash Plate
Spooky Plate
Stone Plate
Toxic Plate
Zap Plate
Shards:
Blue Shard
Green Shard
Red Shard
Yellow Shard
The Spheres:
The most common things you will find in the Underground are the Spheres. These can be used to trade with the numerous Traders that can be found around the Underground. From them you can get goods, traps and treasure. It is important to note that your bag can only carry a maximum of 40 spheres, making burying them periodically important. By burying the spheres you can cause them to grow. This growth comes from the passage of time but also by what spheres are buried nearby. If you bury several spheres next to each other that are the same color, they will combine into a bigger sphere.
The Spheres:
*Small are worth 1 - 10, while Large are worth 11 - 21.
Small Blue Sphere
Large Blue Sphere
Small Green Sphere
Large Green Sphere
Small Red Sphere
Large Red Sphere
Small Pale Sphere
Large Pale Sphere
Small Prism Sphere
Large Prism Sphere
Increases based on Sphere Size:
1 - 4 = +1
5 - 9 = +2
10 - 14= +3
15 - 19= +4
20 - 24= +5
25 - 29= +6
30 - 34= +7
35+ = +10
Spiritomb:
This Pokemon can only be acquired by greeting 32 people in the Underground and then visiting the Broken Tower. Talking with the Traders found in the Underground does not count toward this total. While 32 seems like a lot of people, you only need one other person with Pokemon in the Underground to do this. Simply greet them, then leave the Underground, and return, to talk with them again and have it count toward the total. If they talk to you, it does not count toward your total. While tedious, it is a lot easier than finding 32 unique people. After meeting this requisite, Spiritomb can be found at the Broken Tower, south of the Lost Tower, on Route 209, using the Odd Keystone. This can be repeated as long as you have more Odd Keystones.
* Pokemon and Pokemon character names are trademark and copyright of Nintendo.
