How to Enter a Contest

Learn how to enter and participate in Super Contest Shows in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. Discover categories, difficulties, and evaluation phases.

If you want to get a feel for the contest first, you can speak to the lady on the right to initiate a practice session. You can ask for more information or actually go ahead with a practice session. This acts as something of a tutorial on the contests and shows you how to execute moves, and what all of the terminology actually means.

How to Begin a Contest:

First, speak to the lady behind the front desk. Contests are divided into five categories: Coolness, Beauty, Coolness, Cleverness, and Toughness. The mechanics are the same for all categories, but you’ll have a better chance of winning if your chosen Pokémon has a high aptitude for that category and moves that match that category.

On top of that, there are multiple ranks that indicate the difficulty of the contest: Normal (easiest), Great, Ultra, and Master (hardest). Up to four performers can join the same contest, either other players or computer-controlled characters.

During a Super Contest Show:

When the show begins, you’ll take part in two distinctive parts. During each part, you’ll receive Hype Points for your evaluation. If the combined Hype Points from all four performers reaches the threshold, the show will be considered a success.

Visual Evaluation: Before you get right into the action, you’ll receive a score based on your Pokémon’s matching contest stat (e.g., Coolness) and effects from their Capsule Decorations. To improve your contest stats, you can feed your Pokémon Poffins before the contest.

Dance Evaluation: Next, you’ll advance to the main part of the contest: the rhythm/dance part. You need to follow the rhythm of notes that quickly move along the bottom of the screen. Do it right and you’ll build up Hype Points!

Move Evaluation: During the dance part, you can press the X button to use your Pokémon’s Contest Move, which is one of their battle moves, but tailored for contests. If you time it with Contest Moves used by other performers, you can create a Move Chain, improving your score.