- HINTS AND TIPS

Save your game often. Unlike Pokémon Colosseum, you can save your progress anywhere in Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness. If you lose a battle, reloading your last save allows you to recover your money.

Heal your Pokémon frequently at a Pokémon Center or Healing Machine. Before entering a dungeon, buy healing items like Revives, Super Potions, and Full Heals.

Carry 20-30 Poké Balls when entering a dungeon with Shadow Pokémon to maximize your chances of catching them. You can leave to get more if you run low.

To catch a Pokémon, weaken it first. Avoid using super-effective or strong moves to prevent accidentally knocking it out. While status effects like Burn/Poison or weather like Hail/Sandstorm can weaken Pokémon, they might cause fainting before a successful catch. Use weak or not very effective moves to lower HP to the red/yellow zone, then inflict status conditions with moves like Thunder Wave or Sleep Powder. If unsuccessful, continue throwing Poké Balls. Catching a Pokémon with full HP and no status condition is possible.

Consider using powerful moves like Hydro Pump, Fire Blast, Thunder, and Blizzard, keeping in mind their 70-85% accuracy and low PP. Thunder's accuracy becomes 100% during Rain Dance. Fire Blast, Thunder, and Blizzard can be purchased as TMs at Realgam Tower.

Hidden Power can be useful depending on its type and power. It can be bought as a TM at Realgam Tower.

Train your Pokémon at locations like Mt. Battle and Pyrite Colosseum, or challenge Re-Match Trainers repeatedly to level up your party for easier future battles.

Build a balanced party with a variety of types, such as Houndour, Mareep, and Spheal. Dual-type Pokémon can cover (press the cover button to crouch behind walls or objects) more types, allowing up to 12 types on your team instead of six. A secondary type can sometimes counter super-effective moves; for example, an Electric-type attack is neutralized by Altaria's primary Dragon type.

Give a slow Pokémon, like Ampharos, a Quick Claw to potentially allow it to attack first.

A purified Shadow Pokémon might not know certain moves from its original learnset. You can ask the Move Relearner at Mt. Battle to teach them.

Shadow Moves are super effective against regular Pokémon. However, Shadow Moves are not very effective when used by your Shadow Pokémon against an opponent's Shadow Pokémon. Your Shadow Pokémon have an advantage when using non-Shadow Moves against other Shadow Pokémon.

When progressing, try to Snag all encountered Shadow Pokémon. While most can be obtained from Wanderer Miror B. (who has 1-2 random Shadow Pokémon at a time), it takes a long time to acquire all 83 if you wait until the end. If you accidentally knock out a Shadow Pokémon, reload your last save for another chance to Snag it without waiting for Miror B.

Towards the end of the game, Trainers may have more than one Shadow Pokémon. To manage this, leave one of your opponent's regular Pokémon out to avoid facing two Shadow Pokémon simultaneously.

Shadow Arbok, Hitmonlee, Electabuzz, and Swellow know Shadow Half, a move that halves the HP of all Pokémon in battle. This is useful for weakening Shadow Pokémon for easier Snagging. Be cautious, as attacks after using Shadow Half might faint them. False Swipe is a good alternative.

In addition to type advantages, physical moves are effective against Pokémon with low Defense, and special moves against those with low Special Defense. For instance, Alakazam has low Defense, making it vulnerable to attacks like Body Slam and Earthquake.

Awakenings are not necessary in Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, as you can simply Call your Pokémon back from sleep.

To earn money, battle Re-Match Trainers or participate in Pyrite/Realgam Colosseum repeatedly. Holding an Amulet Coin can also increase earnings.

Reflect and Light Screen are beneficial for reducing physical and special damage, respectively. Espeon (Reflect) and Ampharos (Light Screen) can form a good team.

Helping Hand can slightly boost an ally's move, which can be crucial in some battles.

Houndoom is effective with Sunny Day for handling Water dual types that resist Electric attacks, such as Quagsire and Lanturn.

Protect can be useful, especially when combined with Earthquake.

A Leftovers item is best given to a bulky Pokémon like Walrein or Vaporeon.

Never-miss attacks like Aerial Ace and Shock Wave are helpful against Pokémon that frequently use Double Team.