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Root Fossil or Claw Fossil?

Wednesdayz

Meowth fanatic
In the desert at Route 111 in R/S/E, you'll find two fossils in the sand: The Claw Fossil and the Root Fossil. Which fossil do you remember picking up? Which Hoenn fossil Pokemon did you prefer? Please explain your choice(s) a little.

I loved Anorith's design (though I wish it had been a Water-type), so I always chose the Claw Fossil and got the Root Fossil via trade. :p
 

gamer_legend

Well-Known Member
Back then... I always chose the Claw Fossil almost for the exact reason I chose the Dome Fossil in Pokemon Blue and Yellow... because the Pokemon at the end looked like a badass and back then I thought Cradilly and Omastar looked nowhere near as cool, nowadays I realise how dumb I was back then because both of them are awesome. Armaldo is still my favourite primarily because his design is awesome and he has access to a lot of moves that can do a lot of Heavy Lifting in Hoenn... also... Mystery Dungeon he was pretty awesome.
 

Aquarelle

Well-Known Member
Staff member
On Ruby, I am pretty sure I picked the Root Fossil (I know I have a Cradily with that game's OT, and I don't think it came from an egg). The reason? I don't know...maybe it was the first one I clicked on lol. I knew absolutely nothing about the Hoenn fossil Pokemon when I found the fossils (the Steven fight was the first time I'd even heard of Cradily/Armaldo), so I had to pick blindly.

On my other games, I can't remember what I picked. Well, I got both during my Emerald playthroughs of course, but I don't know which one I got at the Mirage Tower vs the Desert Underpass.

It's hard to pick which line I like more. I'd say that I prefer using Armaldo in battle - I really liked using it on a Sapphire team once and would consider using it again. But I think I prefer the design of the Lileep/Cradily family.
 

Aduro

Mt.BtlMaster
When I first played I preferred claw fossil because it sounded cooler. Nowadays I guess root is preferable in-game because cradily is using for chain fishing. Although anorith is a fantastic rapid spinner in little cup.
 

Cat's Eye Draco

Well-Known Member
I think I usually picked the Claw Fossil. Mostly because I tended to go with Treecko for my starter and didn't really need another grass type, but also because for some reason when I first played through Sapphire I thought Armaldo was a partial water type instead of a partial bug. (I think it was the blue coloring and Anorith's learning water gun that threw me. xD)
 
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Kalosian

So long
I can't remember which fossil I picked, and on which game. I must have gotten both in Emerald, and I'm quite sure I must have picked both of them in the R/S days since I completed my Pokedex and had to get Fossils for that. I might have traded over one of the Pokemon from a friend's game, but I doubt it.

As for which one I prefer, I don't really know. I never thought much about them when I played R/S, and I'm not sure now either. Armaldo is kinda cool but I have never used it much. It has a cool type combination, but it is rather slow. Cradily on the other hand is the only Pokemon I have a love-hate relation towards. Two times, in different Battle facilities in different generations, I have been up against Cradily in extreme stall battles. The first time was in the Battle Tower on Diamond, the second time in the Battle Maison on X. It happened during Double battles both times. This has made me very careful every time I face a Cradily in a Battle facility if I can't defeat it with ease. I also tried using a Cradily myself on my post-game team for Black 2 (currently in my signature!) but it didn't really change my opinion on it. Anyway, after writing all of that, I think I prefer Cradily over Armaldo, for the reasons described above. That said, I never used it in Gen 3 other than evolving my Lileep for Pokedex purposes.
 

NovaBrunswick

Canada Connoisseur
On Ruby (the original), from what I remember, I chose the Root Fossil, thus getting Lileep. On Omega Ruby I selected the Claw Fossil for Anorith, but this was actually a mistake as I wanted to follow my choice in the original version. Luckily, I traded for a Lileep, and I now have both of the Hoenn Fossil Pokémon in my Pokédex. I might evolve them both at some point if I ever re-visit OR, though I'm mostly concentrating on filling the Alola Dex on Sun at the moment.
 

Mrs. Oreo

Banned
I usually picked the Root fossil cuz I like Lileep more than I like Anorith in general ha ha. I wish we could've picked up both fossils in the desert in R/S however, although thankfully Emerald rectified that issue with the Desert Underpass location.
 

NovaBrunswick

Canada Connoisseur
I usually picked the Root fossil cuz I like Lileep more than I like Anorith in general ha ha. I wish we could've picked up both fossils in the desert in R/S however, although thankfully Emerald rectified that issue with the Desert Underpass location.

I prefer Lileep over Anorith too. I think Lileep has more resistances than Anorith does, including to Fire, thanks to her half-Rock typing (which is good against Fire).
 

Shayuin

Banned
I always went for the Claw fossil since I prefer Armaldo. I didn't liked Lileep or Cradily at all, but I did like how Gen 3 reintroduced fossils again after Gen 2 skipped them.
 

M.P.

Retired
I picked Claw Fossil, because I prefer Armaldo over Cradily. I find it's design cooler.
 

KyogreThunder

Call of Fate
I usually pick Claw Fossil, since Anorith appears to be a bit easier to raise than Lileep, although I only evolved it to complete the Pokedex in Generation III.
 

Aquarelle

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I checked which fossils I picked on some of my other games (thank you, recent happenings threads):
-On my most recent Sapphire playthrough, I picked the Root Fossil
-On my most recent Emerald playthrough, I picked the Root Fossil at the Mirage Tower (so it was my #1 choice)

I'm surprised I've favoured the Root Fossil recently. I honestly thought I picked the Claw Fossil last time on Sapphire.
My reasoning might have been the fact that in addition to preferring Lileep/Cradily's designs, I really like their Rock/Grass typing (partly because of how it confused me a lot when I was younger - I had NO IDEA what type Cradily was at first, and then I couldn't remember what it was weak to for quite a while).
 
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