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Now I understand. Yes, we don't have samples nor replays of UU yet and the problem is that I'm super busy with real life stuff and my Gen 1 Side Formats thread (building samples is a lengthy process that takes like one week), still, I have an idea, if you see me here or on Pokémon Showdown, you can challenge me to a Gen 2 UU Item Clause match, that way we can explore this underrated meta and have fun :D
Does this format really hold up in OU? Nidoking in particular stands out to me as something which is largely checked by the presence of Leftovers and is an absolute terror otherwise. This problem is compounded by the lack of longevity on both Spikes users, which you probably don't want carrying your only Leftovers, meaning Spikes are going to be played even more aggressively than they are in OU, and will likely be up on both sides in most battles. As a result, every single switch is punished twice as hard as it should be, rendering common defensive strategies null and enhancing the already overbearing presence of mixed attackers and other fast, powerful Pokemon that don't require stat boosts to sweep. Stall is obviously trashed, but even offensive teams suffer.
Does this format really hold up in OU? Nidoking in particular stands out to me as something which is largely checked by the presence of Leftovers and is an absolute terror otherwise. This problem is compounded by the lack of longevity on both Spikes users, which you probably don't want carrying your only Leftovers, meaning Spikes are going to be played even more aggressively than they are in OU, and will likely be up on both sides in most battles. As a result, every single switch is punished twice as hard as it should be, rendering common defensive strategies null and enhancing the already overbearing presence of mixed attackers and other fast, powerful Pokemon that don't require stat boosts to sweep. Stall is obviously trashed, but even offensive teams suffer.
I've played this format a decent amount. It tends to be dominated by Pokemon with instant recovery (since the opponent no longer gains health back themself as you spam it), spikes and spinners, fast attackers, and exploders. "Stall" is not dead, but even games involving "stall" tend to end quicker since the teams they are facing get worn down very quickly. It is also much easier to get away with more "niche" Pokemon that are unviable in OU because they tend not to be walled as easily.
Paralysis is also merciless, I think paralysis is the second best status you can inflict on your opponent's pokémon on item clause. Being paralyzed for one or two turns in a row can stop you from setting up, killing an opposing pokémon and allowing it to attack again, fail to use rest, fail to use Heal Bell, etc.
Also, hyper offense seems to be viable since only one pokémon has Leftovers.
Definitely crucial. Consider that you don't have leftovers to recover health over time and that the chance of fully para'ing at least once in 3 turns is more than 50%.
During the previous weeks we hosted our first Double Elimination Tournament on Discord. The format was Overused and included common clauses like Species, Evasion and Sleep along with some new like Team Preview and Self KO, of course, Item Clause was also present.
The turnout was small but what it lacked in quantity it made up for in quality. Four top players and four former champions took place in this intense tournament where losers were sent to the Shadow Realm!
The contestants were the legendary players CherryB0ng, ReeceHughes, ThunderCebra, Uncle Eyeroll and the champions Beelzemon 2003, Earthworm, Friend of Mr. Golem 120 and Stealth Croc.
The matches
The tournament began on June 29 and ended on August 13. During 46 days the crowd enjoyed fantastic matches where explosions, freezes, crits and ultra violent moves flew left and right. Below you can find the replays of those matches:
The players fought with skill and passion; however, at the end, only one could win, below are the final results of the tournament:
Champion: Earthworm (aka the Pirate99)
Runner-up: Friend of Mr. Golem 120 (aka FOMG)
Third Place: Stealth Croc
Fourth Place: Uncle Eyeroll
Fifth Place: Beelzemon 2003, ThunderCebra
Seventh Place: CherryB0ng, ReeceHughes
Congratulations to Earthworm for his supreme victory! Also congrats to the other players for entertaining us with their outstanding performance. Finally, we want to thank CherryB0ng for organinzing this awesome event. Well, that’s it everyone, we’ll see you in the next tournament, Beelzemon 2003 out.
There were quite a few things I was surprised about in this tournament, partly due to my reduced experience with most underrated sets.
Among the things that stood out were:
-Porygon 2's viability. This pokemon actually has the ability to spam Recover without the drawback of letting the opponent recover HP passively via Lefties, which is huge. Also it's above average special bulk is highly reliable allowing you to essentially run a team with Blissey that's been buffed up offensively (double normals are strong).
-Venusaur's popularity in tournament. Nothing too crazy yet it was the select choice for many teams as a toxic-immune sleep inducer. Too bad it doesn't learn Stun Spore (or Sludge Bomb).
-How f*ing annoying Quick Claw is (Imagine getting lead zapdos crit and then outsped by a 218 speed pokemon Match 2)
-The popularity of no Electric teams and no spikes (occasionally both). This one beats me. Why not use the most valuable resource that Gamefreak has to offer? Somehow it looked like some players managed to make it work. No Spikes is viable in standard OU, so it should be a no brainer that a format with only 1 Leftovers per team can fare more than well without em as a strategy. The added benefit from them is still valuable but perhaps not nearly as polarising, which opened up slots for new teammates and cores. These new additions fit rather nicely in, if I do say so myself.
The "problem" with Spikes on Item Clause is that the user usually doesn't have Leftovers or a reliable recovery move, which makes super annoying for it to get hit hard while laying the Spikes only for them to be lifted some turns after that. Sometimes I simply prefer to give up a Spikes user and give its slot to a Rapid Spinner which has an easier time doing its job.
Spikes are better on Item Clause than in OU, but unfortunately they're not a guaranteed strategy.
Since Beelzemon and I were hosting (and I clearly wasn't wasting enough of my time last week), I filled in every cell with Items that I knew were being used. The items you will find there are very interesting and I wanted to at least give people a chance to see what these players chose and the strategies they adopted. Since I made this sheet only after the tournament ended, there are a lot of gaps. This is because I didn't want to make public any valid information on the tournament players item choices.
-I listed all bright powders where I saw 100% accuracy moves missing, and also in games where I was 90% sure that the item would reappear on the same pokemon (an educated guess that I often made for Stealth Croc, who would bring the same team). Having said that I wouldn't just list an item if I didn't have a valid reason to do so (eg. a slight chance that the pokemon may have used a healing item).
-I listed all berries only when being used. I may have listed some others but only based on valid assumptions of the meta (I would list Miracle Berry by default on Miltank or Blissey, unless both were present).
-I did not list attack boosting moves unless provided from my own teams.
-I automatically would list Thick Club and Light Ball on Marowak and Pikachu respectively.
-I would list Thief on the Pokemon which in team preview appeared itemless.
-I would list Quick Claw or Scope lens, only once if I had suspect to think that was the item and after I would confirm with the player.
Best Items of the OU Double Elimination Tournament
After the OU Double Elimination Tournament finished, CherryB0ng and I were curious to know which were the most used items. During some weeks we were watching the replays and analyzing their info, the results were interesting.
As we said before, the tournament had a good level of competition, four good players and four former champions fought between them to see which was the best Item Clause player. The event had a total of 14 sets, 34 fights and 68 teams which coupled with the players power level gave us quality info. Without further ado here is the list of the top ten items of the tournament:
Times used: 68 Usage Percentage: 100 % Results Analysis: No surprises here, Leftovers is the best item of Gen II, it is so good that all teams used it in the tournament, Snorlax was its most common user, followed by Forretress and then by Venusaur, below is the list of the pokémon that used this item:
I. Snorlax: 32 times II. Forretress: 10 times III. Venusaur: 5 times IV. Jolteon and Tyranitar: 4 times VI. Steelix: 3 times VII. Skarmory and Vaporeon: 2 times IX. Dragonite, Gengar, Heracross, Quagsire, Tentacruel and Zapdos: 1 time
Times used: 58 Usage Percentage: 85.29 % Results Analysis: A must of all formats of Item Clause, even on Little Cup and Little Cup Ubers. This item is valued by players because it cures Confusion and Non Volatile Status which can hinder a pokémon's performance or doom it.
Times used: 42 Usage Percentage: 61.77 % Results Analysis: I'm a bit surprised that this item made it to the top three, but it is understandable since it allows a pokémon to recover almost all its health in one turn without any penalty, it also protects the user from Sleep moves like Lovely Kiss which are common.
Times used: 41 Usage Percentage: 60.29 % Results Analysis: I combined the data of these items because both had the same effect. In the tournament Pink Bow and Polkadot Bow were regularly used to boost the power of Self-Destruct and Explosion, suicidal moves are one of the best ways to get rid of threats like Curselax or annoying pokémon like Rest Talk Zapdos. Just as I expected, some teams had both items because they had two or more exploding pokémon.
Times used: 38 Usage Percentage: 55.88 % Results Analysis: Another unnexpected result, Bright Powder was used in more than half of the teams. These item can be your best friend or your worst enemy, sometimes the accuracy drop doesn't prevent your pokémon from being killed, while others it allows it to evade deathly blows or explosions! In the tournament it was mostly used by bulky pokémon like Umbreon or Quagsire.
Times used: 25 Usage Percentage: 36.77 % Results Analysis: This item was used by heavy hitters like Machamp, Snorlax or Zapdos, which could endure a lot of punishment and recover energy with Rest-Talk. A pokémon that is hard to kill has more turns to fish for critical hits.
Times used: 24 Usage Percentage: 35.3 % Results Analysis: Almost as popular as Scope Lens which is saying a lot for a boosting item. In the tournament it was used by Gengar once and the other times by Raikou or Zapdos. The fact that Magnet made it to the top ten proofs that Raikou and Zapdos are two of the best pokémon of Gen II.
Times used: 19 Usage Percentage: 27.94 % Results Analysis: I expected this item to be in the top five because Paralysis is the best stat that you can inflict on Item Clause. Looks like players prefer to cure Paralysis via Heal Bell, Miracle Berry or Rest.
Times used: 17 Usage Percentage: 25 % Results Analysis: In my opinion this item is overrated, yes, it was used by one of every four teams but it never activated. Gengar used it once, Misdreavus twice, Cloyster four times and a Rest-Talk Zapdos ten times. Focus Band is so bad that I'd rather boost the power of my pokémon with items like Magnet, Never-Melt Ice or Pink Bow.
Times used: 13 Usage Percentage: 19.12 % Results Analysis: If you want to Hax your opponent, use this item instead of Focus Band. Quick Claw was used once by Cloyster, Snorlax and Tyranitar; twice by Golem; three times by Machamp and five times by Porygon2. In the tournament this item was responsible of eliminating CherryB0ng when he was about to win, killing my Meganium before it could use Synthesis and killing FOMG's Zapdos in the Grand Finals among other incidents. In my opinion this item should be banned from Gen II because it gives slow pokémon an unfair advantage while its "counterpart", King's Rock, is not as effective.
Other Items
Now I'll talk about other items that were also used:
Times used: 10 Usage Percentage: 14.71 % Results Analysis: I'm surprised that this item finished at 11th place, it even beat Charcoal which is more popular in regular OU. Nothing is inmune to Water, which makes it a popular attack type.
Times used: 10 Usage Percentage: 14.71 % Results Analysis: I thought that Team Preview would discourage players from using Thief, yet the move retained its popularity.
Times used: 6 Usage Percentage: 8.83 % Results Analysis: In theory, the lack of Leftovers in most pokémon should have increased Marowak's popularity; however, the results showed the contrary, only six teams had it. Marowak had a good peformance despite its low turnout, maybe players just wanted to be creative or they simply underrated the bone keeper pokémon.
Times used: 4 Usage Percentage: 5.88 % Results Analysis: Another interesting result and another slap in the face for Charcoal. ReeceHughes used it on his Golem and Nidoqueen to boost the power of their Earhtquakes.
Times used: 3 Usage Percentage: 4.41 % Results Analysis: And the surprises continue. Thunder Cebra used it on his Tyranitar to boost the power of its Dark Type moves. Black Glasses may be more useful than we may think since many Dark Type pokémon have two attacks of their type, the first is an offensive one like Crunch or Bite and the second is Pursuit, so adding extra power to those moves is a good idea.
Times used: 3 Usage Percentage: 4.41 % Results Analysis: Yes, Pikachu was used more than Moltres in the tournament, it appeared in three battles and won in one of them. Pikachu is like a cheap version of Gen I Tauros, it has to wait until its opponents are weakened so it can finish the job with its absurdly powerful Special Attacks.
Times used: 2 Usage Percentage: 2.94 % Results Analysis: The lack of Leftovers on many pokémon should have increased Charcoal Moltres's popularity, oh well, at least it won in one of the two battles where it appeared.
Times used: 2 Usage Percentage: 2.94 % Results Analysis: I think that this item is better for Poké Cup, Little Cup and Little Cup Ubers.
Times used: 2 Usage Percentage: 2.94 % Results Analysis: CherryB0ng used it on his Tyranitar in Winners Quarters, then, Earthworm, the champion, used it on his Rhydon in Grand Finals.
Times used: 2 Usage Percentage: 2.94 % Results Analysis: Another item that had a lower usage than the one that I expected. Thunder Cebra's Bissey and my Meganium used Mystery Berry on Losers Quarters. Thunder maybe wanted to restore Heal Bell's or SoftBoiled's PPs; in my case, I wanted to restore Syhthesis's PPs. Thuder Cebra won his match while I lost. Looks like this item is better in Ubers than in OU.
Times used: 2 Usage Percentage: 2.94 % Results Analysis: Another favorite of Thunder Cebra, he gave it to his Alakazam on Winners Quarters and on Losers Quarters, he lost the first match and won the second.
Times used: 1 Usage Percentage: 1.47 % Results Analysis: And we finally got to the items that only appeared once. Reece Hughes gave Miracle Seed to his Meganium on Winners Quarters and lost, I think that he should have given it Mystery Berry instead.
Times used: 1 Usage Percentage: 1.47 % Results Analysis: ReeceHughes gave it to his Cloyster on Losers Eighths and lost again, despite that, I think that this item is good on Cloyster if you already gave Pink Bow and Polkadot Bow to other pokémon.
Times used: 1 Usage Percentage: 1.47 % Results Analysis: Uncle Eyeroll gave it to his Skarmory on Winners Quarters and won.
Times used: 1 Usage Percentage: 1.47 % Results Analysis: ReeceHughes gave it to his Scizor on Losers Eighths and lost, still, this item is a good choice for the bug if you already gave Mint, Miracle or PRZ Cure Berry to other pokémon.
Some Items that were not used
And to finish I'll talk about some items that didn't have any usage in the tournament.
The fact that it confuses your pokémon for 255 turns is a big no-no for most players. The item can be used in a Batton Pass chain, e.g. a Bersek Gene Jolteon can pass the +2 Attack to a Bitter Berry Tyranitar, still, the strategy is risky due to the fact that Roar Raikou and Whirlwind Skarmory are common on many teams.
Confuse Ray and Swagger are rare in OU, which leaves Dynamic Punch as the only "viable" Confusing move. The problem with Dynamic Punch is that many pokémon learn it so it is impossible to know which one has it in the battle, it is easier to simply switch out or use Miracle Berry.
This item is only useful for teams that have two Heal Bell users.
It is only good for the Ubers format where Ho-Oh burns are everywhere.
Chansey is garbage in OU, so this item is only seen in Little Cup Ubers where the nurse pokémon reigns supreme.
Ditto is bad in OU and many tiers, that's the reason of why this item is rarely seen.
The only pokémon that makes good use of this item is Beedrill...
This item has a similar problem like that of Bitter Berry: Normal and Bad Poison are common and almost all pokémon learn Toxic, this makes hard to know which pokémon will attempt to Poison you so it is simply easier to use Miracle Berry, Rest or bring a Heal Bell user.
Despite the fact that I'm a fan of Farfetch'd, I have to admit that it is a bad pokémon so Stick is only seen in Never Used.
So that's it, what do you think of these results? Do you agree with the items that the players used? Would you have used others? Please let us know in the comments below.
Teams 6 to 27 were created by the Japanese Gen 2 Poké Cup Community, those teams were translated by Shellnuts and fixed by Beelzemon 2003 and Friend of Mr. Golem 120.
1. If Gligar doesn't have Hidden Power Rock, you can replace it with Wing Attack.
2. If you use this team in Pokémon Gold, Silver or Crystal replace Blissey's Thunder for Present. Present has a different formula in the Game Boy games which makes the move to deal high damage when it is used by Blissey.
Special Pokémon that are only available as Rentals
If you play Poké Cup in the Free Battle mode of Pokémon Stadium 2 there are two "special" pokémon that you can add to your team. These pokémon are special because they are underleveled.
Since these pokémon are Rentals you can't modify them in any way (this includes their levels, EVs, IVs and their moves); however, you can asign them any item. In our opinion, these pokémon should be allowed because they are given by the game itself.
Suggested Ruleset
This is the suggested ruleset that the Smogon and the Japanese Poké Cup communities built for international matches of the format. Please take into account that, as its name says, these rules are just a suggestion, if you disagree with them, you are free to make any changes that you want.
-Enter with six pokémon
-Species Clause
-Level restrictions: All of your pokemon must be between levels 50-55.
-Uber pokémon are banned
-You can't have pokémon that have the name of other species, e.g. a Snorlax called Electrode
-Item Clause
-Evasion Moves are banned
-One Hit KO Moves are banned
-It is banned to have one or more pokémon with these moves in the same set: Mean Look or Spider Web and Baton Pass.
-It is also banned to have one or more pokémon with these moves in the same set: Mean Look or Spider Web and a move that causes Sleep in the opponent.
-Event Moves from New York and Japan are banned, this includes those that are common in both regions like Sing Pikachu or Ancient Power Venusaur; however, Event Moves can be allowed if the players/TOs agree to it.
-All the moves that are not banned are allowed: This includes moves that were released in Pokémon Crystal like Spikes Cloyster and moves that were released in Pokémon Stadium 2 like Earthquake Gligar.
-Bright Powder is banned
-Team Preview is enforced, even if you play in cartridge
-In Team Preview you have to reveal the name of the species of your pokémon, their genders and the names of the pokemon that don't have items
-Choose three out of six pokémon: Battles are of 3 VS 3.
-The sum limit of the three chosen pokémon must be between 150 and 155
-Match time limit: The TO/players can enforce a time limit of up to 90 minutes. In the case of simulators, they can use a turn limit of up to 90 instead.
-Selection time limit: The TO/players can enforce a time limit for selecting actions of up to 1 minute and 30 seconds.
-Pokémon Stadium 2's Sleep Clause: Pokémon that use Rest activate Sleep Clause; however, players can use Rest even if they already have another pokémon sleeping.
-In Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal, Freeze Clause is not enforced; however, in Pokémon Stadium 2 it is always enforced.
-Self KO Clause for Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal: If your last pokémon uses Self-Destruct or Explosion, you lose; on the other hand, if your last pokémon uses Destiny Bond and it succeeds you lose; finally, if your last pokémon uses Perish Song and dies due to its effect, you lose too. Self KO Clause is always enforced, it doesn't matter if your last pokémon doesn't have PPs for other moves that don't break the clause.
-Self KO Clause for Pokémon Stadium 2: If your last pokémon uses Self-Destruct or Explosion, you lose; on the other hand, Destiny Bond and Perish Song always fail when they're used by your last pokémon.
-Recoil Moves Clause: If both players' last pokémon faints due to a Recoil move, then the win is given to the player whose pokémon used the move.
-If the time of the match ends during the attacking phase, the actions of that phase will still be taken into account to determine the match results
-If the time of the match ends during the selecting action phase, the players still will be able to decide their last action and the results of the next attacking phase will still be taken into account to decide the match results
-If the time of the match ends when a player is changing pokémon via Batton Pass, he will still be able to change his pokémon and the results of that action phase will still be taken into account to determine the match results
-Tiebraker criteria: If the match reaches its time/turn limit the winner will be decided using these criteria in the following order: number of remaining pokémon, sum of Hit Points percentages of the remaining pokémon. The player that has the highest number will win.
-What happens when there's a draw: If after applying the tiebraker criteria the draw persists, the TO/players will decide the action they consider more convenient, e.g.: keeping the draw, repeating the match or choosing the winner using a random game (tossing a coin, throwing dices, using a command, etc.).
Now we'll give a brief explanation of why we changed some rules of the original format:
-You can't have pokémon that have the name of other species: This is to prevent players from cheating in the Team Preview when the format is played with the Game Boy Color games (Gold, Silver and Crystal). A player could hide the true identity of his pokémon by giving them the name of other species, this would give him an unfair advantage and make his opponent to select bad his pokémon.
-Evasion Moves are banned: In the original tournament and in Pokémon Stadium 2 these moves were allowed; however, we decided to ban them for the same reason they're not allowed in formats like Overused: Evasion Moves make the game more luck based and give an unfair advantage to bulky pokémon and/or pokémon that have Bright Powder.
-One Hit KO Moves are banned: These moves were also allowed in the original event and in Pokémon Stadium 2; however, they're now banned in Japan and the rest of the World. These moves are banned for similar reasons than those of Evasion Moves: they reward more luck than skill. One Hit KO Moves make pokémon like Rest Talk Tauros with Fissure and Horn Drill dangerous and the only way to counter them is using a faster pokémon like Starmie or Alakazam with Substitute and Recover.
-It is banned to have one or more pokémon with Mean Look or Spider Web and Baton Pass in the same set: This combination was recently banned in Overused, a similar format, because it was considered broken.
Umbreon with Mean Look, Baton Pass and Confuse Ray is dangerous because it has high Hit Points, defenses and can recover health with Moon Light or Rest so it can trap almost any pokémon and leave it at the mercy of an appropriate counter even if the victim has Roar or Whirliwind.
Players that defend the strategy argue that it is bad because it has a success rate of 25 % against Phazers that switch in; however, since Umbreon is sturdy and Mean Look has eight Power Points, it means that Umbreon has eight opportunities to trap the opponent (and things get worse if Umbreon has Bright Powder).
-It is banned to have one or more pokémon with Mean Look or Spider Web and a move that causes Sleep in the opponent in the same set: This combination is considered broken because it gives an unfair advantage to pokémon like Gengar or Jynx which can use Mean Look to trap you, Hypnosis or Lovely Kiss to put you to Sleep and Perish Song to kill you and then repeat the process. Smeargle with Spider Web, Spore and Perish Song is also dangerous if this rule is not enforced.
-Pokémon Crystal and Pokémon Stadium 2 moves are allowed: These moves were only banned during the first part of the original tournament because both games had not been released yet; however, once Crystal and Stadium 2 were released, their exclusive moves were allowed, in fact, the Japanese players have allowed them for 21 years.
-Event Moves from New York and Japan are banned: This is to make matches between Japanese and International players more even because pokémon like Lovely Kiss Snorlax don't exist in Japan and pokémon like Pay Day Rapidash and Encore Donphan are impossible to get in the international Gen 2 games.
-Bright Powder is banned: This item is banned in all Smogon formats in all generations (the only exception is the Anything Goes format). Bright Powder reduces the accuracy of all of the opponent's moves by 7.8125 %.
In practical terms, Bright Powder is more powerful than using Double Team once because the user doesn't have to spend a turn to activate its effect. Bright Powder's effect is active as long as its user is on the battlefield; if the opponent switches out, the new Pokémon gets affected as soon as it arrives on the battlefield; same goes if the user switches out, each time that it returns to the battlefield, Bright Powder's effect activates.
Bright Powder is independent of Sand Attack, which means that its user can lower the accuracy of the opponent six more times, so an attack like Earthquake would end up with an accuracy of 30.421875 % (and if Evasion Moves were allowed and the user of Bright Powder used Double Team or Minimize six times, then Earthquake's accuracy would drop to 10.03921875 %!!!).
Feint Attack, Swift, Vital Throw, Thunder while raining and any move used after Lock on or Mind Reader connected are unnaffected by Bright Powder; however, all those moves or combinations are rare or situational; on the other hand, Haze is useless against Bright Powder; finally, stealing Bright Powder could create situations where one team had two of them, which would only worsen things.
When Bright Powder was allowed on Item Clause formats it turned the game into a luckfest where explosions missed and Thunder didn't hit five times in a row.
Bright Powder is broken because its effect is permanent and can't be denied and because it has no reliable counters, that's why it is banned in all Smogon formats and why we recommend you to ban it on Poké Cup and other Item Clause formats.
CherryB0ng and I built a list of all the pokémon with special moves that were released in real life events like those that took place in the New York City Pokémon Center; we classified them by country and then by Tier. The list doesn't include pokémon that can learn their Event Moves by other means, e.g. Elekid with Dizzy Punch can also be obtained with the Odd Egg in Pokémon Crystal; finally, pokémon that can learn their Event Moves after leveling up are also not included, e.g. Jynx with Metronome is not included because she can also learn that move with the TM35 in Gen I. Without further ado, here is the list of all the pokémon with Event Moves:
These are the Event Moves that were exclusive of Japan:
-Donphan with Encore
-Fearow with Pay Day
-Raichu with Fly
-Rapidash with Pay Day
-Pikachu with Fly
-Magikarp with Dragon Rage
-Phanpy with Encore
These are the Event Moves that were exclusive of New York:
-Blissey with Sweet Scent
-Exeggutor with Sweet Scent
-Forretress with Substitute
-Golem with Rapid Spin
-Heracross with Seismic Toss
-Machamp with False Swipe
-Machamp with Thrash
-Marowak with Fury Cutter
-Miltank with Mega Kick
-Midreavus with Hypnosis
-Nidoking with Lovely Kiss
-Nidoking with Morning Sun
-Nidoking with Sweet Kiss
-Skarmory with Fury Cutter
-Snorlax with Lovely Kiss
-Snorlax with Splash
-Snorlax with Sweet Kiss
-Starmie with Twister
-Steelix with Sharpen
-Tyranitar with Rage
-Umbreon with Growth
-Vaporeon with Growth
-Aerodactyl with Rock Throw
-Aipom with Mimic
-Alakazam with Foresight
-Ariados with Growth
-Azumarill with Dizzy Punch
-Azumarill with Hydro Pump
-Azumarill with Scary Face
-Bellossom with Leech Seed
-Blastoise with Zap Cannon
-Clefable with Scary Face
-Crobat with Flail
-Delibird with Pay Day
-Delibird with Spikes
-Dewgong with Flail
-Dodrio with Low Kick
-Donphan with Absorb
-Dragonite with Hydro Pump
-Dunsparce with Fury Attack
-Dunsparce with Horn Drill
-Electabuzz with Pursuit
-Electrode with Agility
-Espeon with Growth
-Farfetch'd with Fury Cutter
-Fearow with Sonic Boom
-Flareon with Growth
-Granbull with Lovely Kiss
-Golduck with Tri Attack
-Gyarados with Bubble
-Gyarados with Reversal
-Hitmontop with Rage
-Hypno with Amnesia
-Jolteon with Growth
-Jumpluff with Agility
-Kabutops with Rock Throw
-Kangaskhan with Faint Attack
-Kingdra with Haze
-Kingler with Metal Claw
-Lanturn with Light Screen
-Lapras with Bite
-Lapras with Future Sight
-Ledian with Barrier
-Lickitung with Double Slap
-Magmar with Faint Attack
-Magneton with Agility
-Mantine with Gust
-Mr. Mime with Mind Reader
-Murkrow with Beat Up
-Nidoqueen with Lovely Kiss
-Nidoqueen with Moonlight
-Nidoqueen with Sweet Kiss
-Octillery with Amnesia
-Octillery with Mist
-Omastar with Rock Throw
-Parasect with Synthesis
-Piloswine with Whirlwind
-Pinsir with Rock Throw
-Politoed with Growth
-Politoed with Lovely Kiss
-Politoed with Sweet Kiss
-Poliwrath with Growth
-Poliwrath with Lovely Kiss
-Poliwrath with Sweet Kiss
-Porygon2 with Barrier
-Quagsire with Scary Face
-Qwilfish with Double Edge
-Raichu with Scary Face
-Rapidash with Low Kick
-Scizor with Sonic Boom
-Seaking with Swords Dance
-Sneasel with Moonlight
-Stantler with Safeguard
-Sudowoodo with Substitute
-Sunflora with Splash
-Tangela with Synthesis
-Tauros with Quick Attack
-Tentacruel with Confuse Ray
-Typhlosion with Double Edge
-Ursaring with Sweet Scent
-Victreebel with Lovely Kiss
-Victreebel with Sweet Kiss
-Vileplume with Leech Seed
-Wigglytuff with Scary Face
-Wobbuffet with Mimic
-Xatu with Safeguard
-Yanma with Steel Wing
-Yanma with Sweet Kiss
-Clefairy with Scary Face
-Dragonair with Hydro Pump
-Gloom with Leech Seed
-Golbat with Flail
-Graveler with Rapid Spin
-Jygglypuff with Scary Face
-Kadabra with Foresight
-Machoke with False Swipe
-Machoke with Thrash
-Nidorina with Lovely Kiss
-Nidorina with Moonlight
-Nidorina with Sweet Kiss
-Nidorino with Lovely Kiss
-Nidorino with Morning Sun
-Nidorino with Sweet Kiss
-Pikachu with Scary Face
-Poliwhirl with Growth
-Poliwhirl with Lovely Kiss
-Poliwhirl with Sweet Kiss
-Pupitar with Rage
-Quilava with Double Edge
-Seadra with Haze
-Skiploom with Agility
-Wartortle with Zap Cannon
-Weepinbell with Lovely Kiss
-Weepinbell with Sweet Kiss
-Chansey with Sweet Scent
-Scyther with Sonic Boom
-Abra with Foresight
-Bellsprout with Lovely Kiss
-Bellsprout with Sweet Kiss
-Chinchou with Light Screen
-Cleffa with Scary Face
-Cubone with Fury Cutter
-Cyndaquil with Double Edge
-Doduo with Low Kick
-Dratini with Hydro Pump
-Drowzee with Amnesia
-Eevee with Growth
-Elekid with Pursuit
-Exeggcute with Sweet Scent
-Geodude with Rapid Spin
-Goldeen with Swords Dance
-Hoppip with Agility
-Horsea with Haze
-Igglybuff with Mimic
-Igglybuff with Scary Face
-Kabuto with Rock Throw
-Krabby with Metal Claw
-Larvitar with Rage
-Ledyba with Barrier
-Machop with False Swipe
-Machop with Thrash
-Magby with Faint Attack
-Magikarp with Bubble
-Magikarp with Reversal
-Magnemite with Agility
-Marill with Dizzy Punch
-Marill with Hydro Pump
-Marill with Scary Face
-Natu with Safeguard
-Nidoran female with Lovely Kiss
-Nidoran female with Moonlight
-Nidoran female with Sweet Kiss
-Nidoran male with Lovely Kiss
-Nidoran male with Morning Sun
-Nidoran male with Sweet Kiss
-Oddish with Leech Seed
-Omanyte with Rock Throw
-Onix with Sharpen
-Paras with Synthesis
-Phanpy with Absorb
-Pichu with Scary Face
-Pineco with Substitute
-Poliwag with Growth
-Poliwag with Lovely Kiss
-Poliwag with Sweet Kiss
-Ponyta with Low Kick
-Porygon with Barrier
-Psyduck with Tri Attack
-Remoraid with Amnesia
-Remoraid with Mist
-Seel with Flail
-Snubbull with Lovely Kiss
-Spearow with Sonic Boom
-Spinarak with Growth
-Squirtle with Zap Cannon
-Staryu with Twister
-Sunkern with Splash
-Swinub with Whirlwind
-Teddiursa with Sweet Scent
-Tentacool with Confuse Ray
-Tyrogue with Rage
-Voltorb with Agility
-Wooper with Scary Face
-Zubat with Flail
These Event Moves were released in both Japan and New York:
-Jynx with Petal Dance
-Charizard with Crunch
-Clefable with Petal Dance
-Clefable with Swift
-Feraligatr with Submission
-Furret with Dizzy Punch
-Golduck with Petal Dance
-Meganium with Petal Dance
-Noctowl with Night Shade
-Quagsire with Belly Drum
-Raichu with Petal Dance
-Raichu with Sing
-Venusaur with Ancient Power
-Wigglytuff with Petal Dance
-Bayleef with Petal Dance
-Charmeleon with Crunch
-Clefairy with Petal Dance
-Clefairy with Swift
-Croconaw with Submission
-Ivysaur with Ancient Power
-Jigglypuff with Petal Dance
-Pikachu with Petal Dance
-Pikachu with Sing
-Bulbasaur with Ancient Power
-Charmander with Crunch
-Chikorita with Petal Dance
-Cleffa with Petal Dance
-Cleffa with Swift
-Hoothoot with Night Shade
-Igglybuff with Petal Dance
-Pichu with Petal Dance
-Pichu with Sing
-Psyduck with Petal Dance
-Sentret with Dizzy Punch
-Smoochum with Metronome
-Smoochum with Petal Dance
-Totodile with Submission
-Wooper with Belly Drum
I heard something interesting on Discord from Beelzemon, so I'm going to share it.
In Mexico, Overused with Item Clause and Ubers with Item Clause are widely used as standard formats.
Also, Overused with Item Clause is spreading in Chile.
This is a video of the tournament in Chile.
Differences between Cartridge and Pokémon Stadium 2 mechanics
Hello all, the last tournaments and friendly matches of the Item Clause formats have been using the Pokémon Stadium 2 simulator, so, to avoid any kind of confusion I decided to make a list of the differences that exist between the mechanics that are used in Cartridge (Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal) and the ones that are used in Pokémon Stadium 2. Without further ado, here they are:
-Team Preview is always enforced.
-Dragon Scale is useless and doesn't boost the power of Dragon Type moves.
-Dragon Fang is fixed and finally boosts the power of Dragon Type moves by 10 %.
-Only items that have effect in battle can be equipped to the Pokémon. Items like Mails, the Sun Stone or the Ultra Ball can't be equipped at all (the only exception is the Dragon Scale despite the fact that it no longer boosts the power of Dragon Type moves).
-Item Clause is enforced in all Story Modes and Multiplayer battles of the game, except in Anything Goes and Edit Rules battles where players are free to decide if they want to enforce it or not.
-Players can see the actual number of Hit Points of the Pokémon that are fighting.
-Bersek Gene is buffed, the user only gets Confused for 2 to 5 turns instead of 255. If the Pokémon gets Confused for 4 turns, the status is lifted during its Attack phase on turn 5, just like it happens with normal Confusion.
-Metal Powder is nerfed and now it only raises the physical Defense and Special Defense of Ditto when it is not transformed.
-Belly Drum doesn't raise the Attack 2 stages when the Pokémon has less than half of its Hit Points, instead of that, the move fails.
-In Little Cup battles, the moves Dragon Rage and Sonic Boom do zero damage.
-Present uses a different damage formula: the move has a 40 % chance of having a Base Damage of 40; a 30 % chance of having a Base Damage of 80; a 10 % chance of having a Base Damage of 120 and a 20 % chance of healing a quarter of the opponent's Hit Points (unless it has full health, in which case, the move fails).
-In Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal, if Fissure or Horn Drill miss and the opponent uses Counter after that in the same turn, the user of the One Hit KO move faints even if it has full health (oddly, this doesn't happen when Guillotine misses). In Pokémon Stadium 2's mechanics the situation changes, if Fissure or Horn Drill miss, Counter fails and does zero damage.
-Rollovers never occur, e.g. if a max Attack Level 100 Marowak uses Swords Dance it gets a final Attack of 999, subsequent uses of Swords Dance don't do anything.
-If a Burned Pokémon uses a move that raises its Attack, the stat's reduction is ignored, e.g. if a Burned Snorlax uses Curse once, its Attack increases to +1 instead of -1.
-If a Burned Pokémon gets hit by a move that reduces its Attack one stage, the stat is increased, e.g. if a Burned Ursaring is hit with Growl, its Attack increases from -2 to -1.
-If a Burned Pokémon gets hit by a move that reduces its Attack two stages, the stat remains the same, e.g. if a Burned Tyranitar is hit with Charm, its Attack stays at -2.
-If a Paralyzed Pokémon uses a move that increases its Speed, the stat's reduction is ignored, e.g. if a Paralyzed Raichu uses Agility once, its Speed increases to +2 instead of -4.
-If a Paralyzed Pokémon gets hit by an attack that reduces its Speed, the stat is increased, e.g. if a Paralyzed Aerodactyl is hit with Icy Wind, its Speed increases from -6 to -1.
-The Sleep status is nerfed, it now lasts 2-4 turns like in Pokémon Crystal's Battle Tower. On turn 1 the Pokémon never wakes up; on turn 2 it has a 33.3 % chance of waking up; on turn 3 it has a 50 % chance of waking up; finally, on turn 4 it is always guaranteed to wake up.
-The Freeze Clause from Pokémon Stadium 1 returns, it is enforced in all game modes and can't be deactivated.
-Sleep Clause is always enforced (the game uses the clause invented by Nintendo, not the one that was introduced years later by the Smogon University where Rest is ignored).
-Self KO Clause also returns and is always enforced. If the last Pokémon of a player uses Self-Destruct or Explosion, he loses; on the other hand, Destiny Bond and Perish Song always fail when they're used by the last Pokémon (in the case of Perish Song, the count down doesn't even take place).
-Recoil Moves Clause is enforced, but a bit different: if both players have only one Pokémon left and one KOs the other with a Recoil move, the user of the move doesn't get Recoil damage.
During the last months Beelzemon 2003, Cherry B0ng, Chio and Shellnuts hosted a tournament of Poké Cup, the event was unique because it was the first time that the Japanese could compete against players from around the World.
The tournament began on March 24 and ended on June 6. During two months and 13 days the crowd enjoyed intense battles that were full of action and emotion. The Japanese faced a strong competition from the players of Asia, Europe, Oceania and the Americas; however, at the end they showed their dominance and held high the name of the land of the rising Sun.
Rules of the Tournament
Poké Cup is the standard format of Gen II in Japan, where it is known as the Nintendo Cup 2000. The format is unique because it has complex rules that test the players' skill to make choices, one has to choose well his pokémon, levels and items among other things if he hopes to have a chance to win. Below are the rules that were used in the tournament:
-Format: Double Elimination.
-Set lenght: Each set will be the best 2 of 3 fights, except for the Winners Final, Losers Final and Grand Finals which will be the best 3 of 5 fights.
-Players can change teams after each fight
-Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal Mechanics
-Species Clause
-Uber pokémon are banned
-Level restrictions: All of your pokémon must be between levels 50-55.
-Item Clause
-Evasion Moves are banned
-One Hit KO Moves are banned
-It is banned to have one or more pokémon with these moves in the same set: Mean Look or Spider Web and a move that causes Sleep in the opponent.
-Moves from Pokémon Crystal and Pokémon Stadium 2 are allowed (e.g. Batton Pass Farfetch'd, Peck Zapdos, Ice Beam Suicune, etc.)
-Event Moves from New York and Japan are banned
-Team Preview
-Choose three out of your six pokémon for the battle
-The sum limit of the three chosen pokémon must be between 150 and 155
-Pokémon Stadium 2's Sleep Clause
-Freeze Clause is not enforced
-Self KO Clause
-Recoil Moves Clause
-Each match has a limit of 90 turns
-Tiebraker criteria: If the match reaches its turn limit, the winner will be decided using these criteria in the following order: number of remaining pokémon and sum of Hit Points Percentages of the remaining pokémon. The player that has the highest number will win.
If after applying the tiebraker criteria there is a draw, then the TO will use a command to choose the winner randomly.
The contestants
The event had the presence of 20 players from different countries, their names are shown below sorted by their place of residence:
Since there was not a Pokémon Stadium 2 simulator when the tournament began, players had to use Gold, Silver and Crystal Mechanics; on the other hand, players had to do Team Preview via a dummy fight, thankfully, in the mid of the tournament Shellnuts and company developed a simulator that allowed the contestants to play their matches with more ease, this removed the necessity of doing manual Team Previews.
Tournament Matches
The tournament was full of exciting fights where explosions, freezes, crits and ultra violent moves flew left and right. Below you can find the replays of those fights:
I. Since Araigumatanuki 2 didn't have a Pokémon Showdown account, Beelzemon 2003 had to play for him, that is that Araigumatanuki 2 gave Beelzemon 2003 his team and the latter followed the former's orders during the match.
II. Melanie RBY refused to play the second match so she lost.
Note: Since the match reached its turn limit, the players had to use the tiebraker criteria. Since both players had the same number of remaining pokémon and Hit Points Percentages, Cherry B0ng, the TO, had to use a command to determine the winner randomly, the command gave the victory to Araigumatanuki 2.
9. Chio (Japan) 9. Friend of Mr. Golem 120 (Germany) 9. Shellnuts (Canada) 9. Siatam (United States of America) 13. Beelzemon 2003 (Mexico) 13. Cherry B0ng (Italy) 13. Your favorite acquaintance (unknown country) 16. Meiling (Saudi Arabia) 17. Arctic (United States of America)
The final of the tournament looked like an anime episode where the Japanese protagonist had to face off against the top player from another country. Congratulations to MissingNo. for winning the Poké Cup tournament!
We also want to congratulate Earthworm for his second place, Marshmallon 3 for his third place and the other players for entertaining us with their outstanding performance. Finally, we want to thank Beelzemon 2003, Cherry B0ng, Chio and Shellnuts for organizing this great event.
Well, that’s it everyone, we’ll see you in the next tournament!
Hello all, my friend Chio asked me to do a tier list for Poké Cup, so I decided to lend him a hand. To build the list I took into account the matches from the ladder, the results of recent tournaments, Smogon's tier lists for OU, UU, NU and PU as well as the most recent Japanese tier list of the format. Regarding the Pokémon, in most cases, I reviewed their stats, movepools and strategies to grade them as fair as possible.
The list only takes into account the international rules of the format where some moves and strategies are banned (Evasion Moves, Event Moves, Spider Web plus Sleep, etc.). Anyway, without further ado, here is the list:
Top Tier
These are the best Pokémon of the format, they have many stregths and few weaknesses. The metagame is built around these mons; however, despite their many advantages, they're not invincible and can be defeated by pokémon from the High, Middle and Low Tiers.
These Pokémon have more weaknesses than strengths; however, they can still win if they're played well and if they're paired with pokémon from the higher tiers.
These Pokémon have too many weaknesses and few strengths to the point that it is practically impossible to win with them. Bottom Tiers tend to be Pokémon that were bad designed or that were intended to be joke characters. Regarding the Little Cup and Middle Cup Pokémon, most of them are here because they were not intended to be as strong as the fully evolved pokémon and this is shown when a player tries to use them in a serious Poké Cup battle.
Pokémon that are banned in the Battle Tower of Pokémon Crystal
The Battle Tower is one of the funniest parts of Pokémon Crystal and can be seen as the ultimate challenge for those that have completed the game. The rules are simple, you bring three Pokémon with different items and all go into the battle; at the end, if you beat seven opponents, you get five vitamins as a reward.
As you may know, some Pokémon are not allowed on certain levels of the tower, e.g. in the level 10 division, Mew is banned because it is Uber, while Bayleef is banned because Chikorita evolves until level 16 and there are no underleveled Bayleef in the wild. Below is a list of the Pokémon that are banned on the different levels of the Battle Tower:
Note: The Pokémon are listed in the New Pokédex order.
Congratulations to Zalarye from Saudi Arabia for winning the tournament! Also congrats to mm for his second place and to Kyeol for his third place. Well, that's all for now chums, we'll see you in the next tournament.
Little Cup Suggested Ruleset for Pokémon Stadium 2
Hi chums, the following rules are based on the ones that are used in Pokémon Stadium 2, I simply added four rules to make the battles more fair and interesting. OK, without further ado, here they are:
-Pokémon Allowed: Only Pokémon that haven't evolved and can evolve in Gen II are allowed, this includes Chansey and Scyther. Below is the list of the 86 Pokémon allowed:
-Level restrictions: All your Pokémon must be at level 5.
-Gold Berry is allowed.
-Item Clause.
-Evasion Moves are banned.*
-One Hit KO Moves are banned.*
-It is banned to have these moves in the same set: A move that traps the opponent permanently (e.g. Mean Look) and a move that causes Sleep in the opponent (e.g. Hypnosis).*
-It is up to the TOs/players to decide if the Event Moves from the New York City Pokémon Center should be allowed.
-It is up to the TOs/players to decide if the Event Moves from the Japanese Pokémon Centers should be allowed.
-Bright Powder is banned*
-Team Preview.
-Choose three out of six Pokémon: Before the battle starts, you should bring six Pokémon, then, after Team Preview takes place, you should choose three Pokémon for the battle.
-Dragon Rage and Sonic Boom do zero damage.
-Pokémon Stadium 2's Sleep Clause.
-Freeze Clause.
-Pokémon Stadium 2's Self KO Clause: If your last Pokémon uses Self-Destruct or Explosion, you lose; on the other hand, the moves Destiny Bond and Perish Song fail when they're used by your last Pokémon.
*Rules marked with an asterisk were added to make the fights more fair and interesting.
About the rules we changed
Now we'll give a brief explanation of why we changed some rules of the original format:
-Evasion Moves are banned: In Pokémon Stadium 2 these moves were originally allowed; however, we decided to ban them for the same reason they're not allowed in formats like Overused: Evasion Moves make the game more luck based and can give an unfair advantage to some Pokémon, e.g. a Chansey with Double Team, Curse, Softboiled and Rollout or another attack is hard to stop.
-One Hit KO Moves are banned: These moves were also allowed in Pokémon Stadium 2; however, we banned them for similar reasons than those of Evasion Moves: they reward more luck than skill.
-It is banned to have a move that traps the opponent permanently and a move that causes Sleep in the opponent in the same set: This combination is considered broken in formats like Overused and Ubers; also, we've seen that the combination is still broken in Nintendo formats like the Poké Cup where Pokémon like Smeargle or Gengar can use it to KO two opponents which leaves the opposing team in a losing situation.
-Bright Powder is banned: This item is banned in all Smogon formats in all generations (the only exception is the Anything Goes format). Bright Powder reduces the accuracy of all of the opponent's moves by 7.8125 %.
In practical terms, Bright Powder is more powerful than using Double Team once because the user doesn't have to spend a turn to activate its effect. Bright Powder's effect is active as long as its user is on the battlefield; if the opponent switches out, the new Pokémon gets affected as soon as it arrives on the battlefield; same goes if the user switches out, each time that it returns to the battlefield, Bright Powder's effect activates.
Bright Powder is independent of Sand Attack, which means that its user can lower the accuracy of the opponent six more times, so an attack like Earthquake would end up with an accuracy of 30.421875 % (and if Evasion Moves were allowed and the user of Bright Powder used Double Team or Minimize six times, then Earthquake's accuracy would drop to 10.03921875 %!!!).
Feint Attack, Swift, Vital Throw, Thunder while raining and any move used after Lock on or Mind Reader connected are unnaffected by Bright Powder; however, all those moves or combinations are rare or situational; on the other hand, Haze is useless against Bright Powder; finally, stealing Bright Powder could create situations where one team had two of them, which would only worsen things.
When Bright Powder was allowed on Item Clause formats it turned the game into a luckfest where Explosion missed and Thunder didn't hit five times in a row.
Bright Powder is broken because its effect is permanent and can't be denied and because it has no reliable counters, that's why it is banned in all Smogon formats and why we recommend you to ban it on Little Cup and other Item Clause formats.
About the rules we didn't change
Now we'll explain why we kept some rules:
Why are Scyther and Chansey not banned?
Our philosophy is to only ban items, moves and strategies that are broken, but not Pokémon, that's a line we'll never cross. Banning Pokémon in official tournaments would be more controversial than banning items or moves. If we banned Scyther and Chansey, we'd also have to ban Pokémon in other formats like Snorlax and Zapdos in the Poké Cup, the Ubers in the Prime Cup, Slowbro in the Nintendo Cup '99, etc. Those measures would divide the player base and strip the formats of their unique qualities.
Why is Gold Berry still allowed?
Item Clause limits its use, also, we've tested the item in many serious matches and tournaments and came to the conclusion that the item is not broken when only one Pokémon can use it.
Hi chums, during February and March we hosted a small tournament of Little Cup in the official Discord channel of Gen II. The event was unique because it allowed players from Japan and the rest of the World to compete between them for the first time. Below is the info, the replays and the results of the event:
Start: Thursday, February 17th, 2022.
Finish: Wednesday, March 16th, 2022.
Tournament Organizers: Beelzemon 2003 and CherryB0ng.
-Format: Round Robin.
-Set length: The best three of five fights.
-Mechanics: Pokémon Stadium 2.
-Pokémon Allowed: Only pokémon that haven't evolved and can evolve in Gen II are allowed (this includes Chansey and Scyther).
-Species Clause.
-Level restrictions: All of your pokémon must be at level 5.
-Gold Berry is allowed.
-Item Clause.
-Dragon Rage and Sonic Boom are banned because the simulator is flawed and those moves are not programmed to do zero damage in Little Cup battles.
-Evasion Moves Clause.
-One Hit KO Moves Clause.
-Sleep trapping Clause.
-Event Moves from the New York City Pokémon Center are allowed.
-Event Moves that are exclusive of the Japanese Pokémon Centers are banned.
-Team Preview.
-Choose three out of six Pokémon.
-Pokémon Stadium 2's Sleep Clause.
-Freeze Clause.
-Pokémon Stadium 2's Self KO Clause.
-Each battle will have a limit of 90 turns.
-Tiebraker criteria: Number of remaining Pokémon > Sum of Hit Points percentages > A command that chooses the winner randomly
The players fought with skill and passion; however, at the end, only one could win, below are the final results of the tournament:
Champion: MissingNo.
Runner-up: MarceloDK
Third Place: Marshmallon3
Fourth Place: Beelzemon 2003
Fifth Place: Sevi 7
Congratulations to MissingNo. from Japan for having won the tournament, he didn't lose a single set! Also congrats to MarceloDK for his second place and to Marshmallon3 for his third place. Well, that's all for now, maybe next time we'll host a Middle Cup or an Ubers tournament, until then, keep playing.
Pokémon that are banned in the Battle Tower of Pokémon Crystal
The Battle Tower is one of the funniest parts of Pokémon Crystal and can be seen as the ultimate challenge for those that have completed the game. The rules are simple, you bring three Pokémon with different items and all go into the battle; at the end, if you beat seven opponents, you get five vitamins as a reward.
As you may now, some Pokémon are not allowed on certain levels of the tower, e.g. in the level 10 division, Mew is banned because it is Uber, while Bayleef is banned because Chikorita evolves until level 16 and there are no underleveled Bayleef in the wild. Below is a list of the Pokémon that are banned on the different levels of the Battle Tower:
Note: The Pokémon are listed in the New Pokédex order.
The non Uber Pokémon would be allowed in the level 10-50 divisions if you used glitches or cheat devices to get them, e.g. Charizard would be allowed in the level 10 division, while Lugia would still be banned.