One of the newest additions to the Pokémon formula is Super Training, accessible by pressing L or R and navigating through the Touch Screen. The lower-left icon, the soccer ball, lets you progress into the training. Throughout training and at regular intervals, you’ll also receive some punching bags, tucked away in the lower-right corner, which help boost stats.

The premise of Super Training is more in-depth than you might think. Doing Super Training doesn’t actually increase your stats, but your EVs , which in turn boost your stats. Confused? See “EVs Explained” further down this page for the full details.

When Super Training, your general goal is to shoot the white-colored goals you will see on the Pokémon Balloon, also on-screen. Doing so will earn you points (see the lower-right corner of the above screenshot). Most of these balloons will also fire HUGE soccer balls back at you. Getting hit, of course, makes you lose points: typically 50 - 400.

For the in-depth controls? Well, needless to say, you’re pretty screwed if you’re a leftie – sorry. Use the Circle Pad to maneuver your Pokémon - you can move him/her/it within a limited range up, down, left, and right, and you can do diagonally.

You can tap the Touch Screen to launch a ball with very little power. However, if you tap and hold the stylus on the Touch Screen, you build up power: additionally, a targeting cursor will appear on-screen to let you aim precisely! The more power you build, the more powerful your shots. If you need to block a soccer ball, use the L Button.

In-depth strategy? There isn’t much beyond practice: Just use your power shots a lot and try to predict the movement of the goals (or fire wildly). Hitting a lot of the white goals (they disappear after one hit) will also let you spawn a red one, which you can hit multiple times for lots of points - aim high above the Pokémon and touch rapidly!

Some Pokémon Balloons also create barriers that tend to block shots: a yellow cursor goes along these, which you can hit with a power shot to destroy the barrier.

Each Pokémon also has a different ball type. Some Pokémon shoot green balls, which aren’t special. Some shoot blue ones that are extra powerful. Others shoot yellow ones that are extra fast and basically allow rapid-fire. Finally, some shoot the strong, yet slow, orange ones. Look at the icon in the top-right of the Touch Screen to learn which.

EVs Explained¶

Before accessing Super Training, you’ll see a graph like that to the right. This graph represents two things: in green, the Pokémon’s base-level stats for it’s level and IVs. In yellow, you see its stats with the EVs in each stat applied.

But what are “EVs”? Well, first, the game lamely (and inaccurately) calls them base stats. (Trust me, it’d be ridiculous if 12 Special Attack was applied for one two-minute game or something.)

EVs, or Effort Values , are semi-hidden stats. (I say semi-hidden because they were completely hidden in previous games and are only shown by the little graph here with no numerical representation given unless you do some Super Training.) They are used to determine stat growth, and are earned through Super Training and Pokémon battles.

Each defeated Pokémon will give off a set amount of EVs to the battling Pokémon, which can actually be shared through the Exp. Share. EVs can also be boosted by several EV-Boosting Items, and also lowered by some Berries - similar effects can be emulated through the Lumiose Juice Shoppe.

So, with that in mind, it is extremely important to note that EVs can be maxed out. There are six stats - HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed - to which EVs are applied. In any lone stat, you can have as many 252 EVs.

Overall, you can have a total 510 EVs across all six stats - that means only two stats can be truly maxed at any given time. If you want a look at the total EV count, look at the bar to the right of the EV stat chart. Plus, you can get an Effort Ribbon with full EVs, and you unlock Secret Super Training at 510 EVs.

How are EVs calculated with regards to stat increases? Well, the mechanics seem to have remained the same as in previous games: the total of EVs, divided by four then truncated, multiplied by your level divided by 100 equals to the total gain over the basal value. Or, in other terms:

There are a number of hold items, also, that change the EV earnings beyond those already mentioned.

The Courses¶

Here, I will briefly detail each course. For the most part, there is no particular strategy, though, beyond aiming at the goals and going wild while blocking incoming shots. So I will simply give numerical data: EV increases and the like.

Courses are unlocked by levels. First you’ll play Level 1 courses, then Level 2, and so on. After meeting a special condition, you will unlock the slightly different Secret Super Training, detailed further down.

After having given a Pokémon 510 EVs - it doesn’t have to all be in Super Training, or any - you can also do some extra Super Secret Training courses. While they won’t provide any increases to your EVs (remember, max-EV Pokémon), they do provide items, especially if you do good!

Note that the “ Time to Beat “ stats here account for the occasional need to beat multiple balloons, and thusly the slight time boost given to you.

The Training Bags¶

After finishing Super Training sessions, as well as just at random in the field, you can gather Training Bags. These can be used via the lower-right icon in the Super Training menu before starting a session. There are multiple types: the effects vary, each can be used only once, and you can have twelve individual bags at once.

Once activated, the Bag appears next to the Pokémon on the Touch Screen - they will beat it up at one hit per minute, or you can tap it to make them hit it, whichever suits what you’re doing at the time. Below are the Training Bags and their effects.