My Shadow Snorlax Ribbon Master Journey
Table of Contents:
Introduction
One of my original goals when I got into Pokémon video games from the beginning was to develop a Ribbon Master that originated as a Shadow Pokémon. Ribbons were introduced in generation three and serve as permanent markers that are affixed to your Pokémon for accomplishing certain tasks, and these markers persist as you trade between games and migrate to new generations. A Ribbon Master, therefore, is completed when a particular Pokémon has earned every ribbon possible based on which games it can visit and which tasks it is eligible to accomplish. Shadow Pokémon purified in Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD are the ultimate ribbon masters since there is a special ribbon earned for the purification process.
At first, I was thinking that I would do a whole party of six Shadow Pokémon, taking them up through the generations together, but I have now settled on just doing one since I think it is quite a lot of work. I want to take my Ribbon Master into as many games as possible, which at the time of this writing means that I'm quite limited (see this Reddit post for compatibility with Switch games). Only 18 of the original Shadow Pokémon may visit every game to earn every ribbon, and only one of these is able to additionally acquire a Gigantamax mark: Shadow Snorlax. I therefore have selected this as my first Ribbon Master, and I think it will also be fun since I have never used Snorlax in any of my playthroughs.
Generation Three
January 31, 2025
Today I finally managed to bring down Team Cipher, the criminal syndicate that had been terrorizing the Orre region by stealing the emotions of Pokémon, forcing them each into a shadow state. While using my Snag Machine, I was able rescue many Pokémon from the Cipher admins, including a Snorlax who seems like a promising ally. I’m afraid I have to leave the Orre region at this time, but I promise to return and purify all of the Pokémon that I was able to rescue. For now they are being kept in the HQ lab in a comatose state where they will not feel pain. I need to take some time to think about what name would be fitting for the poor Snorlax.
August 22, 2026
Today I was finally able to return to the Pokémon HQ Lab in the Orre region to purify the Pokémon that I rescued from Team Cipher last year. The HQ Lab staff were able to help me achieve this with their special purifying chamber. I decided to give a name to the Snorlax I mentioned in an earlier entry: Snow. He earned his first ribbon, the National Ribbon, after working hard to free his mind from the shadows. I brought him with me to the Hoenn region, where we will train together in preparation for the region’s battle tower and contest hall. He appears to be in good spirits.
August 29, 2026
The coolest thing happened today! I went through my second time challenging the Hoenn Elite Four and becoming the champion, and afterward I saw a television broadcast showing that Latios was roaming the region. I decided to take Snow out to visit the berry master and water some of our berries we already had planted, and Snow's first encounter (and mine after seeing the television broadcast) was with the Latios on Route 119! We threw a Master Ball at him and nicknamed him Latimer. I think he will be a good battle partner for Snow as we train and get ready for battles!
September 1, 2026
For the last two days, Snow and I have been working our way through the Hoenn Battle Tower, and we were finally able to defeat our eighth set of seven trainers (56 total victories) and earned the Level 50 Winning Ribbon! Since my last entry, we had taken Latimer along with Bert, my Swampert friend who was given to me by Professor Birch when I first arrived in Hoenn a couple of years ago, to Mt. Battle in the Orre region to do some training while we earned coupons for special berries. We followed that up with some effort value training in Hoenn until all three team members were level 50. I got a little cocky during the first four sets of seven trainers (the first 28 challengers), since Latimer was able to steamroll most of them, but it was noticeably more difficult in the second half, with all three team members coming in to protect and work together with the others. I think I will definitely have to consider changing up our moves a bit when we come back in the future to take on the Level 100 Battle Tower challenge. I had been trying not to use too many TMs since I will end up switching them for the contest ribbons later, but I think it would make things a lot smoother if I did.
Latimer the Latios
Lv. 50, Male, Mild, Soul Dew
HP 152, Atk 102, Def 79, SpA 176, SpD 137, Spe 121
Dragon Claw, Refresh, Psychic, Recover
Snow the Snorlax
Lv. 50, Male, Lonely, Leftovers
HP 242, Att 157, Def 70, SpA 77, SpD 121, Spe 55
Body Slam, Shadow Ball, Curse, Refresh
Bert the Swampert
Lv. 50, Female, Lax, Soft Sand
HP 185, Atk 131, Def 121, SpA 106, SpD 99, Spe 85
Dig, Ice Beam, Waterfall, Dive
September 4, 2026
The day after my last entry, Latimer and Snow and Bert and I all went out and finished training effort values. We need to grow some more berrites for Bert to eat some to reduce some of the effort points we don't want, since she pulled a lot of weight while we fought our way to Hoenn champion status last year. We just raised the effort points we could and then visited Slateport City and received effort ribbons from the lady in the market there. We brought along three other of my Pokémon friends who, along with Bert, became Hoenn champions last year (Manectric, Breloom, and Altaria), so that all six could get effort ribbons before making the trip to Orre to take on the Mt. Battle challenge.
The nice bonus to taking on that challenge was that by the time we got to the top of the mountain, the four remaining Pokémon whom I rescued from Team Cipher last year were able to break out of their shadow states. I wasn't sure if we would actually be able to make it all the way through Mt. Battle on the first try since Latimer, Snow, and Bert were all between levels 51-53 when we started, and I knew that the highest Pokémon in the last ten battles are level 70.
Thankfully, we gained levels pretty fast, and all six of my Pokémon friends were in the mid to late 60s by the time we got to the top. I had to use a couple revives during the last ten challenges, but we managed to finish on that first try! I started with Snow and Latimer and then just brought in whoever had a type advantage if they fainted (there were a lot of explosions!). All now have their earth badges, and we just need to earn enough coupons to get the last berry we need for Hoenn contests.