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Part 2: Move Mechanics
With every passing generation, moves in Pokemon will receive revisions. RBY is the earliest generation, and as such, many moves have significant differences to the present day. Here, we will compile all the notable differences. Knowing these mechanics is pivotal to playing the game and teambuilding effectively.
As a general rule, moves that have the same stated accuracy as present generations will not be noted, despite the 1/256 uncertainty technically making them different. In addition, there are numerous moves that have only received Base Power, stated Accuracy, or PP changes, which will not be noted either. If a move has major mechanics changes, however, these differences will be noted for completion's sake.
Acid, Aurora Beam, Bubble, Bubble Beam, and Constrict
These moves all have a 33.2% chance of their effects occurring.
Bide
The Bide user is locked into charging for 2-3 turns before attacking, dealing double the total damage it received. This ignores accuracy checks and type immunity, and even hits when the foe is semi-invulnerable during Fly or Dig. Bide isn't entirely committal either; the user can switch out during the move if the situation becomes unfavorable. If confusion or paralysis interrupts Bide, the effect ends. Sleep, freeze, flinching, and partial trapping will pause—but don't stop—Bide.
There are ways that Bide's damage can be stacked. If the foe switches out, the last damage dealt to the user will be re-added to the total. Ergo, if a Pokemon attacks with Thunderbolt and switches to something else, it will be as if Thunderbolt hit the Bide user twice. Additionally, some moves will also compound Bide's damage due to not clearing the last damage dealt that turn. These include: Confuse Ray, Conversion, Focus Energy, Glare, Haze, Leech Seed, Light Screen, Mimic, Mist, Poison Gas, Poison Powder, Recover, Reflect, Rest, Soft-Boiled, Splash, Stun Spore, Substitute, Supersonic, Teleport, Thunder Wave, Toxic, and Transform.
If a foe is using Bide and your Pokemon faints before the user "unleashes energy," possible through residual damage such as Toxic poison or recoil, the damage stored by Bide is supposed to be cleared. However, specifically for the side that took residual damage, only the most significant byte of the Bide damage is cleared, which means that the Bide damage stored may still be any value up to 255. This disparity typically causes no PRNG differences, but if a Pokemon faints due to the damage difference from Bide, a desync will occur.
Bind
In addition to partial trapping mechanic differences, Bind has 74.6% accuracy.
Bite
The Dark-type does not exist, so Bite is Normal-type. It also only has a 10% chance to flinch, down from 30%.
Conversion
Conversion changes the user's type to match the foe's, both primary and secondary, making it effectively the same move as Reflect Type in later games. It doesn't clear the last damage dealt, so it will allow Bide damage to stack.
Counter
Counter is fairly notorious for its complicated mechanics, but it isn't as bad as it seems in context. If a Pokemon was last hit by a Normal- or Fighting-type move and the last move's Base Power is more than 0, Counter activates, dealing double the damage dealt last. Counter has a Base Power of 1, unlike in later generations where it's not specified. Counter also ignores type immunity, so it can hit Ghost-types like Gengar.
Counter does have some odd interactions due to how damage is stored in the game. Since damage isn't cleared upon a Pokemon switching out, Counter can work against Normal- and Fighting-type moves that dealt damage the previous turn. If Snorlax uses Body Slam on a faster Pokemon and immediately switches out, if the foe uses Counter, it will counter the Body Slam from the previous turn. This also applies to things like Hyper Beam, where a Pokemon can switch in, take the hit, and counter the move the following turn while the foe recharges. This is because recharging doesn't clear the last damage dealt. For an even more comical example, it is possible to counter an Explosion if a Pokemon switches out the turn after, dealing massive damage and often getting a free KO. This can even be applied to recoil or crash damage!
Dig and Fly
Both Dig and Fly are affected by the semi-invulnerability glitch, a quirk so powerful that the moves are banned in almost all competitive RBY formats. It causes users to be affected by semi-invulnerability if the moves are interrupted mid-use until Fly or Dig are used successfully; this means confusion and paralysis can inadvertently cause the glitch to occur. Only Swift and Bide can hit a Pokemon during semi-invulnerability in RBY, making these moves the only real counterplay.
Disable
Disable has a paltry 54.7% accuracy and disables a random move in the foe's moveset for 0-7 turns. If Disable misses a Pokemon under the effect of Rage, it will cause the opposing Rage user's Attack to increase.
Dizzy Punch
Dizzy Punch has no added effect.
Double-Edge
Double-Edge has 100 Base Power and only inflicts 1/4 of the damage dealt as recoil.
Earthquake
Earthquake does not hit Pokemon during Dig.
Explosion and Self-Destruct
Explosion has 170 Base Power and Self-Destruct has 130. They halve the foe's Defense during damage calculation, making their Base Powers effectively 340 and 260, respectively. Users of Explosion and Self-Destruct will not faint if using either against a Substitute. Due to the turn ending mechanics, these moves provide free switch-ins to your Pokemon after use, as the foe will not be able to move if they survived the attack.
Fire Blast
Fire Blast has a 30% chance to burn!
Fissure, Guillotine, (AC) and Horn Drill
These moves deal 65535 damage as fixed damage-type moves. In addition, they only work on foes slower than the user. Using a Speed-boosting move such as Agility will allow Pokemon like Seaking to be capable of OHKOing any Pokemon.
Glare
Glare has 74.6% accuracy and can affect Ghost-types, unlike in GSC and ADV.
Gust
Gust is Normal-type and does not connect against foes using Fly.
Haze
Haze is a very odd move. It will remove any and all volatile changes to both Pokemon; this includes setting stat changes to 0, removing stat reductions caused by status conditions, and secondary status. Essentially, it is a full reset to the conditions for both Pokemon. It will also turn bad poison inflicted by Toxic into normal poison and reset the Toxic counter.
A significant issue to note is that Haze will remove the major status condition for the foe only, even though it removes stat reductions from statuses for both. This means that it will remove paralysis, burn, poison, sleep, or freeze if the foe is inflicted with it. Due to this, it's possible to exploit Haze users by switching in a Pokemon crippled by status. This makes the move a rare sight in competitive play, though its distribution can also be considered a deciding factor.
If Haze is used against a Pokemon that has been put to sleep or frozen during Rage, Bide, thrashing about moves, or a move's charge turn, the victim will become permanently immobilized. This also happens to Hyper Beam users while recharging, but only if they're frozen.
Overall, Haze will remove:
All stat buffs and debuffs
Major status condition (foe only) and the stat reduction from burn and/or paralysis (both Pokemon)
Confusion
Leech Seed
Reflect
Light Screen
Mist
Disable
Bad poison (changes to normal poison)
High Jump Kick and Jump Kick
High Jump Kick and Jump Kick have 85 and 70 Base Power, respectively. Jump Kick also has 25 PP. Curiously, if the moves fail to connect, the user only takes 1 HP of crash damage. This residual damage can be countered by Counter.
Hyper Beam
Hyper Beam is extremely powerful, with the recharge turn being skipped if a Substitute or opposing Pokemon is KOed. This makes it a common sight.
Karate Chop
Karate Chop is Normal-type rather than Fighting-type.
Leech Seed
Leech Seed absorbs 6.25% of the foe's HP, rounded down but not less than 1. This can be increased through Toxic; refer to the status section for more information. Even if a Pokemon is KOed by other residual damage—such as confusion or recoil—the health draining from Leech Seed will still occur. However, if Leech Seed itself KOes the target, health will not be recovered due to turn ending mechanics. Additionally, damage dealt by Leech Seed is done after any other residual damage, such as Wrap, poison, and burn. If a Pokemon is hit by Leech Seed switching in, they will have their HP drained that turn, but only if their Speed is less than or equal to the Leech Seed user's.
Like later generations, Grass-types are not affected by Leech Seed and the seeded status is removed through switching out. However, Haze can also remove it.
Low Kick
Low Kick is a 50 Base Power move with 89.5% accuracy and a 30.1% chance to flinch.
Mimic
Mimic will randomly copy a foe's move with no restrictions attached. Even if your Pokemon already has the same move, Mimic can still potentially copy it. This copied move will have the same maximum and current PP of Mimic.
Minimize
Minimize raises evasion by one stage, making it virtually identical to Double Team. It also has 20 PP, which does make it a strict upgrade.
Mirror Move
Mirror Move interacts oddly with multi-turn moves, ignoring them as they charge. This means that if a Pokemon uses Body Slam and then Solar Beam, Mirror Move will copy Body Slam on the charge turn. Similar situations occur with paralysis, freezing, flinching, confusion, and recharging from Hyper Beam. If the foe switches out, Mirror Move will fail, which is part of what causes the desync mentioned in the partial trapping section.
Night Shade and Seismic Toss
Due to set damage mechanics, Night Shade and Seismic Toss will hit Normal- and Ghost-types, respectively.
Poison Sting
Poison Sting has a 19.9% chance to inflict poison.
Psychic
Psychic has a 33.2% chance to drop Special by one stage.
Psywave
Psywave is quite odd. Psywave deals damage between 1 and 1.5x the user's level, which at Level 100 will deal up to 150 damage. It also has a 79.7% chance to connect, unlike newer generations.
In a Link Battle, Psywave will have a lower bound of dealing 0 damage on one side, meaning that there is an inherent chance the game will desync, increasing as the level lowers. At Level 100, this is a 0.662% chance. The lowest possible level to use Psywave at is Level 3 with Jigglypuff, which has a 20% chance to desync the game. The game will also crash if Psywave is used by a Level 0, 1, or 171 Pokemon, though none of these can be achieved without hacking.
Here is a table featuring Psywave desync chances by level:
Level
Desync Chance
2
25.000%
3
20.000%
4
14.286%
5
12.500%
6
10.000%
7
9.091%
8
7.692%
9
7.143%
10
6.250%
11
5.882%
12
5.263%
13
5.000%
14
4.545%
15
4.348%
16
4.000%
17
3.846%
18
3.571%
19
3.448%
20
3.226%
21
3.125%
22
2.941%
23
2.857%
24
2.703%
25
2.632%
26
2.500%
27
2.439%
28
2.326%
29
2.273%
30
2.174%
31
2.128%
32
2.041%
33
2.000%
34
1.923%
35
1.887%
36
1.818%
37
1.786%
38
1.724%
39
1.695%
40
1.639%
41
1.613%
42
1.563%
43
1.538%
44
1.493%
45
1.471%
46
1.429%
47
1.408%
48
1.370%
49
1.351%
50
1.316%
51
1.299%
52
1.266%
53
1.250%
54
1.220%
55
1.205%
56
1.176%
57
1.163%
58
1.136%
59
1.124%
60
1.099%
61
1.087%
62
1.064%
63
1.053%
64
1.031%
65
1.020%
66
1.000%
67
0.990%
68
0.971%
69
0.962%
70
0.943%
71
0.935%
72
0.917%
73
0.909%
74
0.893%
75
0.885%
76
0.870%
77
0.862%
78
0.847%
79
0.840%
80
0.826%
81
0.820%
82
0.806%
83
0.800%
84
0.787%
85
0.781%
86
0.769%
87
0.763%
88
0.752%
89
0.746%
90
0.735%
91
0.730%
92
0.719%
93
0.714%
94
0.704%
95
0.699%
96
0.690%
97
0.685%
98
0.676%
99
0.671%
100
0.662%
Quick Attack
If a Pokemon is put to sleep or frozen on the turn Quick Attack is attempted to be used, its increased priority persists until the (start of the or end of the?) turn after the user wakes up, is defrosted, or switches out.
Rage, Petal Dance, (AC) and Thrash
Thrash is a 90 Base Power move with 20 PP and Petal Dance has 70 Base Power and 20 PP. "Thrashing about" will persist for 3-4 turns, and always confuses the user upon ending naturally, resetting confusion if it's already confused. If not ended naturally, such as through paralysis, confusion is not sustained. Sleep, freeze, flinching, and partial trapping will only pause Thrash, though. Confusion being sustained is not mentioned, and will only be discovered upon selecting a move.
Petal Dance and Thrash will recalculate accuracy values every turn using current accuracy, but not to more than 255/256 or less than 1/256. With accuracy debuffs or evasion buffs, this can lead to their accuracy progressively decreasing, even if the foe doesn't further alter accuracy or evasion during the move's duration. For example, if a Thrash user goes against a target that has increased its evasion, accuracy will be read as 168, or 65.8% considering the 1/256 uncertainty. However, the next turn, accuracy will scale to 112, or 43.9%. This can theoretically lead to it dropping to 1 accuracy, but due to the length of time thrashing about moves last, this is a very rare occurrence. For this same reason, in-context, this effect is almost unnoticeable.
Rage works a bit differently. If Rage misses while the "thrashing about" state is active as a result of lowered accuracy or foe evasion, its accuracy drops to 0.4%. If Disable misses during Rage, it will still raise Attack. Nothing will stop Rage once it starts: even being thawed from freezing will not change this. Rage will not increase Attack past +6 or the 999 stat cap.
Razor Wind, Sky Attack, Skull Bash, and Solar Beam
Razor Wind has 74.6% accuracy. Sky Attack has no additional effect upon use: no increased critical hit ratio or flinch chance. Skull Bash does not raise Defense upon use.
All of these moves will not count as the last move used until they actually execute, so if Mirror Move is used, it will fail if a move wasn't used prior; if a move was used, Mirror Move will copy that one. Partial trapping, sleep, freezing, and flinching will pause but not stop these moves.
Recover and Soft-Boiled
Recover notoriously has 20 PP, which, with a PP Max, becomes an eye-watering 32. Both moves are otherwise the same and are subject to the recovery failure glitch.
Reflect, Light Screen, Mist
Reflect and Light Screen are permanent upon use, acting sort of like Iron Defense or Amnesia. However, before you start chucking Light Screen on your Chansey, know that these effects only apply when receiving damage; Light Screen doesn't boost Special. Mist is also permanent, but it only stops moves that directly drop stats and not those with secondary effects. So, it'll block String Shot, but not Psychic Special drops.
Rest
Rest is subject to the recovery failure glitch. Rest will not remove stat drops inflicted by paralysis or burn, nor will it reset the Toxic counter. The Rest user will wake up after 1 turn of sleeping, which, due to the waking up mechanics, makes it effectively the same as later generations.
Rock Slide
Rock Slide has no additional effect; as such, the flinch chance does not exist.
Roar and Whirlwind
These moves have no in-battle effect: there is no phazing in RBY.
Sand Attack
Sand Attack is Normal-type.
Stomp
Stomp's damage is not doubled against Minimize.
Substitute
If your Pokemon has exactly 25% of its HP and uses Substitute, the user will self-KO. Substitutes don't block major status, Disable, or confusion. Substitute does, however, prevent flinching. Substitute blocks poison, so Poison Powder, Toxic, and Poison Gas will fail against it, and moves with added poison effects will never apply them. Substitutes can fade if exactly 255 damage is dealt, even if that is less than the usual 25%. Confusion damage is dealt to opposing Substitutes if one is available. If a multi-hit attack breaks a Substitute, the multi-hit attack will end. Pokemon that use Explosion or Self-Destruct will not faint against Substitute. Substitute does not make Counter fail while active, so if a Substitute is hit with a Normal- or Fighting-type move, Counter will still work and hit for the damage dealt.
Struggle
Struggle is considered Normal-type and will not affect Ghost-types, making infinite battles between Ghost-types possible. It will also deal 1/2 of the damage dealt as recoil and can critically hit. Struggle is subject to accuracy checks, so it can miss with accuracy drops and is affected by the 1/256 uncertainty.
Thunder
Thunder has 120 Base Power, has a 10% chance to inflict paralysis, and misses against foes using Fly.
Teleport
Teleport does nothing in-battle.
Toxic
Toxic has 84.4% accuracy and bad poison is treated as a kind of secondary status effect that is added to regular poison. (assuming you vibe w/ this phrasing/understanding) For more information, view the residual damage section.
Transform
Transform does not fail against any other Pokemon, causing Ditto vs Ditto to be an infinite battle. The foe's status condition isn't copied, though Reflect and Light Screen will have their boosts applied to the user's new stats when it is hit by an attack. Since base Speed isn't copied, the Transform user's critical hit rate remains the same.
Tri Attack
Tri Attack has no additional effect, so it can't freeze, burn, or paralyze foes.
The first generation of Pokemon is infamous for its glitches and weird mechanics. These largely define the way the game is played, and as such, it's crucial to understand them if one aims to succeed.
I feel like this intro could be fleshed out a little more. It's an article, so I'd look for something that grabs the reader more. I understand this is a WIP so you probably have something bigger and better in the works, but I'd suggest putting in info about which games the sim is actually emulating. Like we're not emulating the JPN games with 30% freeze chance Blizzard and all that, Stadium has its own mechanics, etc.
In RBY, Special Attack and Special Defense are merged into one, singular "Special" stat. Therefore, if Special is increased or decreased, it will improve your offensive and defensive capabilities using special attacks. This makes Amnesia act as two Calm Mind uses, making Pokemon like Slowbro scary foes to face.
I think this can also be expanded on since it's such a huge mechanical difference. Maybe talk about how scary Psychic-types are in general because of their generally high special and the 33.2% chance to Special drop by landing a Psychic. Or even give more examples of Amnesia users, like Mewtwo in Ubers, Snorlax in OU, etc.
It is possible to max every one of your Pokemon's stats. DVs and Stat Exp are RBY and GSC's equivalent to DVs and EVs, capping at 15 and 65535, respectively. There is very little effective difference between these and modern-day stat mechanics, except for the lack of natures. Overall, in high-level play, there is very little incentive to selectively invest in any given stat, though tanking Attack for reducing confusion damage is somewhat relevant.
I'd emphasize more that it's possible to max every one of your Pokemon's stats, that's a huge difference that I would argue your wording of "very little effective difference" doesn't quite cover. This might be a good time to cover whether perfect DVs/EVs are possible, but maybe not, since that opens up a can of worms that might be confusing to a newer player. Also if you're going to mention not investing in Attack to lessen Confusion damage, I would also mention the tradeoff of losing Struggle wars, since that's relevant sometimes.
However, the chance for a critical hit will cap out at 99.6% due to a glitch in how the game determines whether a critical hit has landed, meaning that it is never guaranteed. Due to this formula, the fastest Pokemon of the generation, Electrode, gets a 27.3% critical hit rate.
I'd move the critical hit cap mention to the high critical hit move chance since that's when it actually comes into play. Also, the 99.6% critical hit rate thing is the same as the 1/256 glitch for 100% accurate moves so I might group that together into one section called "no true 100%" or something.
Critical hits will ignore any stat changes from either Pokemon during damage calculation; ergo, any Attack or Special boosts from your Pokemon will be ignored.
Could be good to mention that for this reason that specifically Swords Dance + Slash isn't all that helpful, a common mistake for newer players (at least it was for me haha).
Theoretically, it can be used to prevent critical hits from hampering your own stat boosts, but it isn't worth the move slot. Focus Energy is generally considered to be useless, with no competitive use.
I'd include a mention of Ice-types being immune to freeze. Obviously the most important example is Body Slam not being able to paralyze Normal-types, but I think Ice-types being immune to freeze is worth more of a mention than Electric types being immune to Thunderbolt/Thunder paralysis. Also the way it's worded now kind of makes me think that Electric-types would be immune to Thunder Wave, so I'd emphasize that they're immune to secondary effects if it's the same type.
To avoid this, using moves that boost Attack or Speed can allow a Pokemon to ignore their stat drops from status. For example, if Kingler is burned and uses Swords Dance, its Attack will increase, ignoring the halving effect from the burn while still sustaining damage.
I think the "using Agility to get rid of paralysis speed drop" would be the better example here since it's more common. But honestly, why not have both :shrug:
You may as well include Fire Punch in here since it's the only one missing. That or (more importantly, I'd argue) the fact that Fire Spin is the only Fire-type move that can't thaw an opponent, since there's no chance to burn with Fire Spin. I made that mistake when I started playing NU.
Sleep can last 0-6 turns. Each length of sleep is equally probable, meaning that there is a 1 in 7 chance a Pokemon will wake up immediately, and so on. This makes sleep a very powerful status, as it can definitely be a KO in some circumstances. Furthermore, it takes a turn to wake up, so it's possible to repeatedly put a Pokemon to sleep if the user is faster. As such, it isn't uncommon to see Pokemon like Chansey trying to land Sing for extended periods of time.
I feel like I know what you're trying to say here because I already know about RBY sleep mechanics, but if I were a new reader, I think this would confuse me. Since you say sleep can last 0-6 turns, explain what a "0 turn sleep" is. Actually I'm just going to reword some things to try and bounce some ideas off of you. Maybe try something like...
"Sleep can last up to 6 turns, including a '0 turn sleep' where the target Pokemon wakes up the same turn it was put to sleep. There is a 1 in 7 chance of this happening, as well as a 1 in 7 chance of it waking up on each subsequent turn up until turn 6. This makes sleep a very powerful status, as it can definitely be equivalent to KOing a Pokemon in some circumstances. Furthermore, a Pokemon cannot act on the turn it wakes up, so it's possible to repeatedly put a Pokemon to sleep if the user is faster. As such, it isn't uncommon to see Pokemon like (insert something faster than Chansey to make the point about speedy sleep users) trying to land (insert whatever sleep move of choice) for extended periods of time."
I'd throw in that this is because when a Pokemon is KO'd, the turn ends, meaning secondary effects like Hyper Beam recharge, chip damage, etc. don't apply. (later edit: I see you have a section for that, but I'd push the two together)
Chip damage dealt uses a counter that begins at T/16, where T is the number of turns that have passed since bad poison began, though it stays at 1 if it hasn't been put into effect. As such, all chip damage begins at 6.25% and will not change unless Toxic has connected with a Pokemon. If Toxic is in effect, the counter stacks with Leech Seed, effectively doubling the counter every time and KOing a Pokemon in just 5 turns. Rest and Haze will not reset the counter, and if a Pokemon is burned after these, this can cause a "badly burned" effect.
I think I would use a different term than "chip damage" here, as "chip damage" is what people also use to refer to partial trapping damage from stuff like Wrap. I also feel like the Toxic/Leech Seed stacking and doubling every time could use a lengthier explanation, though I don't really have any ideas like I did with Sleep (sorry lol). I'd also explain "badly burned" because I've literally never run into that situation before so it's new to me.
It is fairly close but some of the numbers are a tiny bit off. In addition, secondary effects such as Thunderbolt paralyzing or Psychic dropping the opponents special. Therefore, I would recommend combining the accuracy table with the secondary effect odds table to create a general probability table like the one below.
Stated Probability
True Probability
True Probability as a percent*
Examples:
100%
255/256
99.6%
Accuracy of Thunderbolt, Body Slam, and Psychic
95%
242/256
94.5%
Accuracy of Razor Leaf
90%
229/256
89.5%
Accuracy of Hyper Beam and Blizzard
85%
216/256
84.4%
Accuracy of Fire Blast, Wrap, and Toxic
80%
204/256
79.7%
Accuracy of Hydro Pump
75%
191/256
74.6%
Accuracy of Clamp, Lovely Kiss, and Stun Spore
70%
178/256
69.5%
Accuracy of Fire Spin
60%
153/256
59.8%
Accuracy of Hypnosis
55%
140/256
54.7%
Accuracy of Sing and Supersonic
40%
102/256
39.8%
Chance that Sludge poisons the target.
30%
76/256
29.7%
Accuracy of Fissure or Horn Drill. Chance that Psychic lowers the target’s special stat or Body Slam paralyzes its target.
20%
51/256
19.9%
Chance that Twinneedle or Poison Sting will poison the target.
10%
25/256
9.8%
Chance that Ice Beam freezes the target or Thunderbolt paralyzes the target.
*Rounded to the nearest tenth.
Edit to avoid double-posting:
Ok so after going through the Generation 1 disassembly to check if my table was correct, I figured out that if the stated chance a secondary effect takes place is the same as the accuracy of a move, eg: The secondary effect is Body Slam paralyzing which is supposed to occur 30% of the time and the move being used is Fissure which is supposed to hit 30% of the time, the secondary effect will occur more often than the move hits, so Body Slam will paralyze the opponent more often than Fissure will hit its target.
The reason this is the case is because of a discrepancy in the number used when handling random events. The game gets the accuracy of a move by multiplying the stated accuracy by 255 before dividing it by 100, rounded down. So in the case of Fissure, a move with a stated accuracy of 30%, the value stored when checking if it will hit is 76 (30 * 255 / 100 = 76.5, rounded down becomes 76). However for moves with secondary effects that it says occur 30% of the time, such as Body Slam paralyzing or Stomp flinching, it is hardcoded to use 77. So, in other words, Fissure will hit 76/256 times while Body Slam will paralyze its target 77/256 times. So, in this case, it is necessary that we have two tables, one for the accuracy of attacks and one for the probabilities of secondary effects, which I have created below.
Stated Accuracy
True Accuracy
True Accuracy as a percent*
Notable Move(s):
100%
255/256
99.6%
Many
95%
242/256
94.5%
Razor Leaf
90%
229/256
89.5%
Hyper Beam, Blizzard
85%
216/256
84.4%
Fire Blast, Wrap, Toxic
80%
204/256
79.7%
Hydro Pump
75%
191/256
74.6%
Clamp, Lovely Kiss, Stun Spore
70%
178/256
69.5%
Fire Spin, Thunder
60%
153/256
59.8%
Hypnosis
55%
140/256
54.7%
Sing, Supersonic
30%
76/256
29.7%
Fissure, Horn Drill
Stated Probability
True Probability
True Probability as a percent*
Examples:
40%
103/256
40.2%
Chance that Sludge poisons the target.
33%
85/256
33.2%
Chance that Psychic drops the targets special stat.
phoopesShellnuts thanks for the help, I've implemented your changes. I'm gonna see about working on the move mechanics, feel free to continue giving suggestions or pre-emptive ideas.
EDIT: Made a start on move mechanics. I forgot how stupid Bide is...
Filled in all the moves that I had noted down. I've likely missed a few differences (particularly in PP) so, by all means, scrutinize it. I think it may be worth keeping Crystal_'s videos in the guide, as quite frankly, putting this stuff into words can be very difficult. I have also added various helpful tables in spoilers; I would like these to be featured in the on-site guide in this format as well.
If people agree on omitting Stadium mechanics, I believe this is ready for QC.
I've made a hypothetical banner to use if this goes on site. Up to whoever if it gets used or not.
I think this is ready for QC now, so I've marked it as such.
EDIT: So there are a lot of Base Power, PP and Accuracy changes that I'm unaware of, and I have no clue whether there's a better way to record them. If all else fails, we can chuck them out and link to this Bulbapedia Page. Or, alternatively, we can make a chart or something. I don't know when (or even if) I'll get the motivation to record all of these.
Introduction
The first generation of Pokemon is infamous for its glitches and weird mechanics. These largely define the way the game is played, and as such, it's crucial to understand them if one aims to succeed. On Smogon, we usually simulate the international version of Pokemon Yellow on Showdown, but there are differences even in Stadium and Japanese versions of Generation 1. To keep things simple - and since they are the games simulated on Pokemon Showdown - Yellow and Stadium will be what we talk about here.
To make things easier to understand, we will divide things into two sections: Battle Mechanics and Move Mechanics.
Part 1: Battle Mechanics
To understand how everything works, it's important to first understand how the battle system works. There's no Mega Evolution, Z-Moves or Dynamax in RBY. In fact, there are no items or abilities full stop, making for a substantially different metagame on its own. Let's get into the actual mechanics, though. Since you're mentioning no items, i think is a good idea mentioning no Fairy- Steel- and Dark-types.
Special Stat
In RBY, Special Attack and Special Defense are merged into one, singular "Special" stat. Therefore, if Special is increased or decreased, it will improve your offensive and defensive capabilities using special attacks. This makes Amnesia act as two Calm Mind uses, making Pokemon like Slowbro scary foes to face. Psychic also becomes a particularly scary move, as it drops Special a third of the time, making it effectively a double-debuff.
DVs and Stat Exp
It is possible to max every one of your Pokemon's stats, which makes for a much bulkier metagame. Generally, Pokemon like Chansey and Snorlax become much tougher foes to KO, often requiring a concentrated effort from multiple Pokemon to pull it off. This is an extremely important thing to grasp, especially in a world where there are no items and many moves have low base power.
DVs and Stat Exp are RBY and GSC's equivalent to DVs and EVs, capping at 15 and 65535, respectively. In terms of stat totals, there is very little effective difference between these and modern-day stat mechanics, except for the lack of natures. Overall, in high-level play, there is no incentive to selectively invest in any given stat, though tanking Attack for reducing confusion damage at the cost of losing Struggle wars is somewhat relevant.
Critical Hits
Critical hits are based on a Pokemon's base Speed; the faster the Pokemon, the higher the chance. The following equation defines a Pokemon's regular critical hit rate: Base Speed * 100 / 512. Due to this formula, the fastest Pokemon of the generation, Electrode, gets a 27.3% critical hit rate. On the lower end of the spectrum, this gives Snorlax a 5.85% critical hit rate, similar to that of later generations.
The damage dealt by a critical hit is partially based on the Pokemon's level, and at Level 100, it rounds out to about twice the damage. Critical hits will ignore any stat changes from either Pokemon during damage calculation; ergo, any Attack or Special boosts from both Pokemon will be ignored. Consequently, a fast setup sweeper will have an inherent decrease in consistency, as a critical hit will end up lowering its damage output. This also means that Swords Dance will not boost Slash, and Amnesia will not boost Crabhammer, at least if they don't land a critical hit. With this rule in mind, critical hits will also ignore things like opposing Defense boosts, Reflect, and Light Screen as well, which is a good trade-off for Pokemon like Persian, and in this case largely defines its niche. Make no mistake: critical hits are very powerful.
Slash, Crabhammer, Razor Leaf and Karate Chop possess an effect that increases the user's critical hit rate by around 8x, making the formula Base Speed * 100 / 64. Many Pokemon - even those with somewhat average Speed - will end up achieving very high critical hit rates with this mechanic, making the moves sort of like Frost Breath in modern generations. However, the chance for a critical hit will cap out at 99.6% due to a glitch in how the game determines whether a critical hit has landed, meaning that it is never guaranteed.
Focus Energy, due to a glitch, ends up decreasing the user's critical hit rate by 4x, making the formula Base Speed * 100 / 2048. This was fixed in Stadium, but more on that later. Theoretically, it can be used to prevent critical hits from hampering your own stat boosts, but it isn't worth the move slot, so it doesn't see use in high-level play.
Make a mention about the fact that critical hits only deal 1,95x (I think) damage at Lv 100. This is the only gen that the critical damage is incressed exponential to your level. This is relevant to OM like Little Cup, Pika Cup, and Nintendo Cup 98.
Type chart differences and Type-based attack categories
Since RBY is a generation prior to the Physical-Special Split, attack categories are based on typing. For example, Normal-type moves like Hyper Beam are always physical, and Water-type moves like Clamp are always special. Ergo, Pokemon like Kabutops are hard-pressed to find good STAB, while others such as Golem act as they always do in later generations.
Here is a table showing the categories;
Physical
Special
Normal
Grass
Fighting
Fire
Rock
Water
Ground
Ice
Ghost
Electric
Flying
Psychic
Poison
Dragon*
Bug
* Dragon is considered Special, but due to having only the set damage move Dragon Rage, it doesn't actually see use.
On top of this, there are some type chart differences.
Poison is super-effective against Bug and vice versa.
Fire does not resist Ice
Ghost does not affect Psychic
The Dark, Steel and Fairy types are not present either. Magneton is mono-Electric as a result of this. I still think this is better located at battle mechs, this is a important change to just have a small coment here.
Same-type status immunity
An intended mechanic as shown in Pokemon Stadium 2, if a Pokemon has the same type as a move used on it, any major status effects are nullified. As a result of this mechanic, Electric-types cannot be paralyzed by Thunderbolt and Ice-types cannot be frozen by Ice Beam, for example. The only exception to this rule is Twineedle, which can still poison Bug-types. The big game-changer here, however, is that Normal-types cannot be paralyzed by Body Slam. This largely changed the RBY OU metagame after its discovery by Crystal_ in 2014, making Normal-types like Snorlax and Chansey rise in usage with Reflect sets, using their bulk to stave off the spread of paralysis. It should be noted that this specifically applies to secondary effects of offensive moves, so Thunder Wave will still hit a Pokemon like Jolteon, for example. Poison Gas, Poison Powder, Toxic, and Twineedle still can't poison Poison-types. The way you described it make me think is the opposite.
Stat Reapplication Glitch, Ignoring Stat Drops from Status and Stat Drop Overflow
The side-effects of burn and paralysis - halving Attack and quartering Speed, respectively - can be reapplied if a Pokemon's stats are changed. For example, if Slowbro paralyzes Alakazam and uses Amnesia, the Speed drop from paralysis will apply twice. Similarly, if Flareon burns a Pokemon and uses Tail Whip, their Defense will drop and their Attack will be halved twice.
To avoid this, using moves that boost Attack or Speed can allow a Pokemon to ignore their stat drops from status. For example, if Kingler is burned and uses Swords Dance, its Attack will increase, ignoring the halving effect from the burn while still sustaining damage. Or in the case of paralysis, Dragonite can use Agility to ignore the Speed drop from paralysis, while still having the chance to skip a turn.
It is possible for stats to overflow. While they technically cap at 999, if a Pokemon receives a stat drop while their stats would otherwise bypass the cap, the stat will overflow to a very small number. sum up this mess:
Freezing
If a Pokemon is frozen, it cannot be thawed without an item, Haze or being hit with a move that can burn. The latter means that Ember, Fire Punch, Flamethrower and Fire Blast are all valid moves to thaw an opponent. As a result, if you're frozen, it is completely on the opponent to thaw you, and most competitive teams don't use moves that can do this. This effectively makes the freeze status permanent, making it a pseudo-KO. It should be noted that Fire Spin, due to being the only Fire-type move that can't burn, cannot thaw the opponent.
However, in the case a Pokemon is thawed by a faster Pokemon and stayed in the previous turn, this can cause a desync. need to sum this up:
Sleep
Sleep can last up to 6 turns, including a '0 turn sleep' where the target Pokemon wakes up the same turn it was put to sleep. There is a 1 in 7 chance of this happening, as well as a 1 in 7 chance of it waking up on each subsequent turn up until turn 6. This makes sleep a very powerful status, as it can definitely be equivalent to KOing a Pokemon in some circumstances. Furthermore, a Pokemon cannot act on the turn it wakes up, so it's possible to repeatedly put a Pokemon to sleep if the user is faster. As such, it isn't uncommon to see Pokemon like Gengar trying to land their sleep moves for extended periods of time.
If a Pokemon has used Hyper Beam prior to a sleep move's use, the sleep move will not only skip accuracy checks but also ignore any status when putting the opposing Pokemon to sleep. As a result, this is the only circumstance in which it's possible to status an already-statused Pokemon.
Confusion
Confusion damage uses the Pokemon's Attack stat, dealing typeless, physical damage. Confusion lasts 1-4 turns and there is a 50% chance the Pokemon will attack itself. Considering the odds, there is a 76.6% chance the Pokemon will attack itself at least once. Confusion damage will ignore Reflect and has no damage variance. However, it will consider stat boosts; this means Swords Dance will increase the damage and Acid Armor would decrease it. Considering burns halving your Attack, this also means that being burned will reduce the damage you take.
Decreasing investment in Attack, naturally, will influence confusion damage. Optimally, an Attack DV of 1 and a Defense DV of 15 is effective; this makes the HP DV 15. Naturally, 0 Stat Exp in Attack and all other stats maxed out is also important. With this in mind, Alakazam can decrease the damage it takes from 37 (11.8%) to 21 (6.8%), almost halving what it would normally take.
Here is a table showing the regular damage a Pokemon will take from confusion;
Pokemon
Min Dmg
Max Dmg
Min %
Max %
Bulbasaur
20
35
6.8%
11.9%
Ivysaur
21
35
6.5%
10.8%
Venusaur
23
35
6.3%
9.6%
Charmander
22
38
7.8%
13.5%
Charmeleon
23
37
7.2%
11.6%
Charizard
25
37
7.0%
10.3%
Squirtle
17
30
5.8%
10.3%
Wartortle
19
31
5.9%
9.7%
Blastoise
21
31
5.8%
8.6%
Caterpie
15
33
5.1%
11.3%
Metapod
9
24
3.0%
7.9%
Butterfree
18
33
5.6%
10.2%
Weedle
18
37
6.4%
13.1%
Kakuna
11
27
3.8%
9.2%
Beedrill
33
50
9.9%
15.0%
Pidgey
20
37
7.1%
13.1%
Pidgeotto
22
37
6.7%
11.2%
Pidgeot
24
36
6.5%
9.8%
Rattata
25
44
9.5%
16.7%
Raticate
28
42
8.9%
13.4%
Spearow
29
48
10.2%
17.0%
Fearow
29
42
8.7%
12.6%
Ekans
24
41
8.8%
15.0%
Arbok
27
40
8.4%
12.4%
Pikachu
26
46
9.5%
16.8%
Raichu
32
46
9.9%
14.2%
Sandshrew
21
33
6.9%
10.9%
Sandslash
23
33
6.5%
9.3%
Nidoran-F
18
33
5.8%
10.5%
Nidorina
20
34
5.8%
9.9%
Nidoqueen
23
34
6.0%
8.9%
Nidoran-M
24
42
8.1%
14.2%
Nidorino
25
40
7.7%
12.3%
Nidoking
27
39
7.4%
10.7%
Clefairy
18
34
5.2%
9.9%
Clefable
22
34
5.6%
8.7%
Vulpix
18
35
6.5%
12.5%
Ninetales
23
35
6.6%
10.0%
Jigglypuff
25
47
5.8%
10.9%
Wigglytuff
28
44
5.8%
9.1%
Zubat
21
39
7.4%
13.8%
Golbat
25
38
7.1%
10.8%
Oddish
19
33
6.5%
11.3%
Gloom
21
34
6.5%
10.5%
Vileplume
22
34
6.2%
9.6%
Paras
25
40
9.2%
14.7%
Parasect
27
39
8.4%
12.1%
Venonat
21
37
6.5%
11.5%
Venomoth
23
37
6.7%
10.8%
Diglett
28
49
12.6%
22.0%
Dugtrio
30
45
11.0%
16.5%
Meowth
21
39
7.4%
13.8%
Persian
24
38
7.2%
11.4%
Psyduck
21
36
6.9%
11.9%
Golduck
24
36
6.6%
9.9%
Mankey
35
53
12.4%
18.7%
Primeape
35
49
10.5%
14.7%
Growlithe
28
44
8.9%
14.1%
Arcanine
31
43
8.1%
11.2%
Poliwag
22
39
7.8%
13.8%
Poliwhirl
22
35
6.6%
10.5%
Poliwrath
22
33
5.7%
8.6%
Abra
14
38
5.5%
15.0%
Kadabra
18
37
6.4%
13.1%
Alakazam
21
37
6.7%
11.8%
Machop
30
45
8.7%
13.1%
Machoke
31
44
8.5%
12.1%
Machamp
36
48
9.4%
12.5%
Bellsprout
33
51
10.9%
16.8%
Weepinbell
33
49
9.9%
14.7%
Victreebel
33
47
9.1%
12.9%
Tentacool
19
37
6.7%
13.1%
Tentacruel
23
37
6.3%
10.2%
Geodude
20
31
7.1%
11.0%
Graveler
22
31
7.0%
9.9%
Golem
23
31
6.3%
8.5%
Ponyta
30
45
9.9%
14.9%
Rapidash
31
44
9.3%
13.2%
Slowpoke
22
35
5.7%
9.1%
Slowbro
18
28
4.6%
7.1%
Magnemite
12
25
4.7%
9.9%
Magneton
16
27
5.3%
8.9%
Farfetch'd
24
38
7.8%
12.4%
Doduo
33
49
12.1%
17.9%
Dodrio
34
46
10.5%
14.2%
Seel
17
32
5.1%
9.6%
Dewgong
21
32
5.5%
8.4%
Grimer
30
45
8.3%
12.4%
Muk
31
43
7.5%
10.4%
Shellder
17
27
6.5%
10.3%
Cloyster
16
23
5.3%
7.6%
Gastly
18
37
6.8%
14.1%
Haunter
21
37
7.2%
12.6%
Gengar
23
37
7.1%
11.5%
Onix
9
17
3.3%
6.2%
Drowzee
20
36
6.2%
11.1%
Hypno
23
36
6.2%
9.7%
Krabby
28
39
10.6%
14.8%
Kingler
29
38
9.3%
12.1%
Voltorb
13
28
4.6%
9.9%
Electrode
17
29
5.3%
9.0%
Exeggcute
13
25
4.0%
7.7%
Exeggutor
26
38
6.6%
9.7%
Cubone
14
25
4.6%
8.3%
Marowak
19
29
5.9%
9.0%
Hitmonlee
42
57
13.9%
18.8%
Hitmonchan
30
42
9.9%
13.9%
Lickitung
17
30
4.4%
7.8%
Koffing
17
28
6.0%
9.9%
Weezing
20
29
6.0%
8.7%
Rhyhorn
22
33
6.1%
9.1%
Rhydon
28
37
6.8%
9.0%
Chansey
7
35
1.0%
5.0%
Tangela
13
23
3.9%
6.9%
Kangaskhan
27
39
6.5%
9.4%
Horsea
14
27
5.3%
10.3%
Seadra
17
28
5.4%
8.9%
Goldeen
23
37
7.8%
12.6%
Seaking
30
43
8.3%
11.8%
Staryu
17
32
6.5%
12.2%
Starmie
21
33
6.5%
10.2%
Mr. Mime
16
29
5.7%
10.2%
Scyther
31
43
9.0%
12.5%
Jynx
23
41
6.9%
12.3%
Electabuzz
29
43
8.7%
12.9%
Magmar
33
47
9.9%
14.1%
Pinsir
30
41
9.0%
12.3%
Tauros
26
36
7.4%
10.2%
Magikarp
6
21
2.5%
8.6%
Gyarados
35
47
8.9%
12.0%
Lapras
25
36
5.4%
7.8%
Ditto
19
35
6.4%
11.7%
Eevee
21
37
6.7%
11.8%
Vaporeon
23
37
5.0%
8.0%
Jolteon
23
37
6.9%
11.1%
Flareon
43
57
12.9%
17.1%
Porygon
19
32
5.7%
9.6%
Omanyte
11
22
4.0%
8.1%
Omastar
14
23
4.1%
6.7%
Kabuto
22
33
8.4%
12.5%
Kabutops
27
37
8.4%
11.5%
Aerodactyl
33
47
9.1%
12.9%
Snorlax
35
48
6.7%
9.2%
Articuno
21
32
5.5%
8.4%
Zapdos
25
36
6.5%
9.4%
Moltres
27
38
7.0%
9.9%
Dratini
26
42
9.1%
14.7%
Dragonair
27
41
8.3%
12.6%
Dragonite
34
44
8.8%
11.4%
Mewtwo
29
40
7.0%
9.6%
Mew
25
35
6.2%
8.7%
Paralysis, Burn and Poison
Unlike in later generations, paralysis quarters Speed and burns directly halve Attack. Bad poison inflicted by Toxic is a secondary status that gradually increases residual damage and will be removed if the afflicted switches out, replacing it with normal poison and resetting the counter. If the afflicted KOs a Pokemon, however, residual damage does not apply.
All status-based damage dealt uses a counter that begins at T/16, where T is the number of turns that have passed since bad poison began, though it stays at 1 if it hasn't been put into effect. As such, all residual damage begins at 6.25% and will not change unless Toxic has connected with a Pokemon. If Toxic is in effect, the counter stacks with Leech Seed, effectively doubling the counter every time and KOing a Pokemon in just 5 turns. Rest will not reset the counter, and if a Pokemon is burned after these, this can cause a "badly burned" effect. This causes the Toxic counter to compound burn damage as if it were poison.Make a mention that Leech Seed also shares this counter, as this isn't intuitive for a new RBYer.
Turn end mechanics
If a Pokemon faints, the turn ends there and then. As such, any end-of-turn effects, such as Hyper Beam forcing a recharge turn or poison damage is skipped.
Multi-hit damage calculation
All multi-hits will deal the same amount of damage, unaffected by any damage variance. This counts for typical multi-hits like Fury Attack, as well as partial trapping moves like Wrap. Thus, if a critical hit connects, all the multi-hits will effectively be treated as such. If a multi-hit move has a status effect, it will apply strictly on the last hit. Thus, Twineedle's last hit has a 20% chance to inflict poison, and only the last hit.
Partial Trapping
RBY partial trapping should be treated like a completely separate entity to modern-day partial trapping. Partial trapping moves - Wrap, Bind, Clamp and Fire Spin - will deal the same amount of damage every turn. Additionally, a target will be completely immobilized during the ordeal, leaving them unable to attack back. This also applies to Ghost-types, even if they do not sustain damage. Ghost-types receives 0 damage even from Fire Spin or Clamp? This is how I interpret this phrase.
The real kicker, however, is the switch mechanics involving partial trapping. Switching out while trapped will force the opposing trapper to "reuse" the move, forcing the move to be used again, giving a form of PP stall counterplay. If the move is forced to reset at 0 PP though, it will roll over to 63. If a trapper switches, the turn will automatically end, making moves like Wrap pseudo-pivot moves in some respects. The trapped Pokemon can also switch, creating an interesting gameplay dynamic.
If a Pokemon has used Hyper Beam and the opposing partial trapping user misses, the recharge turn is skipped. If it's used beforehand, though, the opposing Hyper Beam user will automatically use the move. If they have 0 PP at this point, it will also roll over to 63.
If a partial trapping move is copied by Mirror Move and succeeds, it works as normal. However, if the trapped Pokemon switches out in a Link Battle, due to Mirror Move forcing the move to fail on one side and the other having the user continue partial trapping, this will cause a desync. video reference point:
1/256 Accuracy and Effect Chance
No move in the chromatic generation is guaranteed to hit, except Bide and Swift, which skip accuracy checks, even against flying or underground foes. Every other move has an inherent 1/256 (~0.4%) chance to miss as a result of accuracy being checked between 0 and 256, with normal accuracy capped at 255.
Considering this uncertainty, it is possible to create a conversion table to show the true accuracy of a move.
Stated Accuracy
True Accuracy
True Accuracy as a percentage*
Notable Move(s):
100%
255/256
99.6%
Many!
95%
242/256
94.5%
Razor Leaf
90%
229/256
89.5%
Hyper Beam, Blizzard, Rock Slide
85%
216/256
84.4%
Fire Blast, Wrap, Toxic, Crabhammer, Pin Missile
80%
204/256
79.7%
Hydro Pump, Bind, Submission
75%
191/256
74.6%
Clamp, Lovely Kiss, Stun Spore
70%
178/256
69.5%
Fire Spin, Thunder
60%
153/256
59.8%
Hypnosis
55%
140/256
54.7%
Sing, Supersonic
30%
76/256
29.7%
Fissure, Horn Drill
*Rounded to the nearest tenth
Effect chance also suffers from a similar uncertainty, though the way it functions is different due to the way the probability is hardcoded. This can effectively increase the chance of a secondary effect occurring from an attack, despite the stated chance. For example, Fissure will connect 76/256 times, while Body Slam will paralyze a foe 77/256 times.
Stated Probability
True Probability
True Probability as a percentage*
Examples:
40%
103/256
40.2%
The chance that Sludge poisons the target.
33%
85/256
33.2%
The chance that Psychic drops the targets special stat.
30%
77/256
30.1%
The chance that Body Slam paralyzes its target
20%
52/256
19.9%
The chance that Twineedle will poison its target.
10%
26/256
10.2%
The chance that Ice Beam will freeze its target.
*Rounded to the nearest tenth
Recovery Move Failure
If a Pokemon's max HP and current HP have a difference of either 255 or 511, the move will fail due to only checking the second byte of the user's current HP.
Let's look at this in more detail. RBY makes recovery moves fail if Max HP - Current HP = 0, which also means that Rest cannot be used to cure status at full HP. This failure condition seems simple, but when you only check the second byte, this goes awry when your HP is over 255, as that is the maximum amount that can be stored in a byte. In the event of an overflow, a carry flag is set to take 1 when calculating whether the recovery move should fail...to detrimental effect, as this leaves the second byte with 0 if you have 255 or 511 less than max HP. Let's use this example with Chansey, a notorious user of a recovery move in Soft-Boiled. Due to only checking one byte, Chansey's max HP is 191. So when taking away the current HP and the 1 from the carry flag, if it's 192, in the game's eyes, Chansey's HP will be treated as if it were the maximum amount. Thus, the recovery move fails. Due to not having enough HP to even get above 255, Abra, Diglett, Magnemite, and Magikarp are unaffected by this glitch entirely.
Here is a table showing each Pokemon's "failure number". Chansey and Snorlax are the only Pokemon capable of reaching the HP required for the 511 number to be reached, and as such, have been omitted from the table itself.
511 for Chansey: 192 HP / 27.3%
511 for Snorlax: 12 HP / 2.3%
Pokemon
HP - 255
HP - 255 as %
Bulbasaur
38
13.0%
Ivysaur
68
21.1%
Venusaur
108
29.8%
Charmander
26
9.3%
Charmeleon
64
20.1%
Charizard
104
29.0%
Squirtle
36
12.4%
Wartortle
66
20.6%
Blastoise
106
29.4%
Caterpie
38
13.0%
Metapod
48
15.8%
Butterfree
68
21.1%
Weedle
28
9.9%
Kakuna
38
13.0%
Beedrill
78
23.4%
Pidgey
28
9.9%
Pidgeotto
74
22.5%
Pidgeot
114
30.9%
Rattata
8
3.0%
Raticate
58
18.5%
Spearow
28
9.9%
Fearow
78
23.4%
Ekans
18
6.6%
Arbok
68
21.1%
Pikachu
18
6.6%
Raichu
68
21.1%
Sandshrew
48
15.8%
Sandslash
98
27.8%
Nidoranf
58
18.5%
Nidorina
88
25.7%
Nidoqueen
128
33.4%
Nidoranm
40
13.6%
Nidorino
70
21.5%
Nidoking
110
30.1%
Clefairy
88
25.7%
Clefable
138
35.1%
Vulpix
24
8.6%
Ninetales
94
26.9%
Jigglypuff
178
41.1%
Wigglytuff
228
47.2%
Zubat
28
9.9%
Golbat
98
27.8%
Oddish
38
13.%
Gloom
68
21.1%
Vileplume
98
27.8%
Paras
18
6.6%
Parasect
68
21.1%
Venonat
68
21.1%
Venomoth
88
25.7%
Diglett
-32
Dugtrio
18
6.6%
Meowth
28
9.9%
Persian
78
23.4%
Psyduck
48
15.8%
Golduck
108
29.8%
Mankey
28
9.9%
Primeape
78
23.4%
Growlithe
58
18.5%
Arcanine
128
33.4%
Poliwag
28
9.9%
Poliwhirl
78
23.4%
Poliwrath
128
33.4%
Abra
-2
Kadabra
28
9.9%
Alakazam
58
18.5%
Machop
88
25.7%
Machoke
108
29.8%
Machamp
128
33.4%
Bellsprout
48
15.8%
Weepinbell
78
23.4%
Victreebel
108
29.8%
Tentacool
28
9.9%
Tentacruel
108
29.8%
Geodude
28
9.9%
Graveler
58
18.5%
Golem
108
29.8%
Ponyta
48
15.8%
Rapidash
78
23.4%
Slowpoke
128
33.4%
Slowbro
138
35.1%
Magnemite
-2
Magneton
48
15.8%
Farfetchd
52
16.9%
Doduo
18
6.6%
Dodrio
68
21.1%
Seel
78
23.4%
Dewgong
128
33.4%
Grimer
108
29.8%
Muk
158
38.3%
Shellder
8
3.0%
Cloyster
48
15.8%
Gastly
8
3.0%
Haunter
38
13.0%
Gengar
68
21.1%
Onix
18
6.6%
Drowzee
68
21.1%
Hypno
118
31.6%
Krabby
8
3.0%
Kingler
58
18.5%
Voltorb
28
9.9%
Electrode
68
21.1%
Exeggcute
68
21.1%
Exeggutor
138
35.1%
Cubone
48
15.8%
Marowak
68
21.1%
Hitmonlee
48
15.8%
Hitmonchan
48
15.8%
Lickitung
128
33.4%
Koffing
28
9.9%
Weezing
78
23.4%
Rhyhorn
108
29.8%
Rhydon
158
38.3%
Chansey
448
63.7%
Tangela
78
23.4%
Kangaskhan
158
38.3%
Horsea
8
3.0%
Seadra
58
18.5%
Goldeen
38
13.0%
Seaking
108
29.8%
Staryu
8
3.0%
Starmie
68
21.1%
Mrmime
28
9.9%
Scyther
88
25.7%
Jynx
78
23.4%
Electabuzz
78
23.4%
Magmar
78
23.4%
Pinsir
78
23.4%
Tauros
98
27.8%
Magikarp
-12
Gyarados
138
35.1%
Lapras
208
44.9%
Ditto
44
14.7%
Eevee
58
18.5%
Vaporeon
208
44.9%
Jolteon
78
23.4%
Flareon
78
23.4%
Porygon
78
23.4%
Omanyte
18
6.6%
Omastar
88
25.7%
Kabuto
8
3.0%
Kabutops
68
21.1%
Aerodactyl
108
29.8%
Snorlax
268
51.2%
Articuno
128
33.4%
Zapdos
128
33.4%
Moltres
128
33.4%
Dratini
30
10.5%
Dragonair
70
21.5%
Dragonite
130
33.8%
Mewtwo
160
38.6%
Mew
148
36.7%
Damage storing mechanics
RBY will store the last damage that was dished out by either Pokemon. This is for Bide and Counter's use, which they will cite when necessary.
Most status moves will reset the damage last dealt; however, some moves don't. These include; Confuse Ray, Conversion, Focus Energy, Glare, Haze, Leech Seed, Light Screen, Mimic, Mist, Poison Gas, Poison Powder, Recover, Reflect, Rest, Soft-Boiled, Splash, Stun Spore, Substitute, Supersonic, Teleport, Thunder Wave, Toxic, and Transform. This can lead to some unintended results, such as Bide stacking the damage that was dealt the previous turn.
Part 2: Move Mechanics
With every passing generation, moves in Pokemon will receive revisions. RBY is the earliest generation, and as such, many moves have significant differences to the present day. Here, we will compile all the differences, and knowing these is crucial to succeeding. As a general rule, moves that have the same stated accuracy as present generations will not be noted, despite the 1/256 glitch technically making it different. This is mainly for brevity.
Acid, Aurora Beam, Bubble, Bubblebeam, and Constrict
These moves all have a 33.2% chance of their effects occurring.
Bide
Bide functions a bit differently from how it does in later generations. The user is locked into charging for 2-3 turns before attacking, dealing double the damage it received. This ignores accuracy checks, hitting even when the opponent is semi-invulnerable during Fly or Dig. Bide isn't committal either; the user can switch out during the move if the situation becomes unfavourable.
There are ways that Bide's damage can be stacked. If the opponent switches out, the last damage dealt to the user will be added to the total. Ergo, if a Pokemon attacks with Thunderbolt and switches to something else, it will be as if Thunderbolt hit the Bide user twice. Additionally, some moves will also compound Bide's damage due to not clearing the last damage dealt that turn. This includes; Confuse Ray, Conversion, Focus Energy, Glare, Haze, Leech Seed, Light Screen, Mimic, Mist, Poison Gas, Poison Powder, Recover, Reflect, Rest, Soft-Boiled, Splash, Stun Spore, Substitute, Supersonic, Teleport, Thunder Wave, Toxic, and Transform.
Bite
The Dark-type does not exist, so Bite is Normal-type. It also only has a 10% chance to flinch, down from 30%.
Blizzard
Blizzard was almost completely different, having 120 Base Power and 89.5% accuracy. This makes it extremely powerful, often being used over Ice Beam. In the Japanese games, Blizzard even had a 30.1% chance to freeze, making it effectively an OHKO move that deals damage if it misses.
Conversion
Conversion changes the user's type to match the opponent's, both primary and secondary, making it effectively the same move as Reflect Type in later games. It doesn't clear the last damage dealt, so it will allow Bide damage to stack.
Counter
Counter is fairly notorious for its complicated mechanics, but it isn't as bad as it seems in-context. If a Pokemon was last hit by a Normal- or Fighting-type move and the last move's base power is more than 0, Counter activates, dealing double the damage dealt last. Counter has a Base Power of 1, unlike in later generations where it's not specified. Counter also ignores type immunity, so it can hit Ghost-types like Gengar.
Counter does have some odd interactions due to how damage is stored in the game. Since damage isn't cleared upon a Pokemon switching out, Counter can work against Normal- and Fighting-type moves that dealt damage the previous turn. For example, if Snorlax uses Body Slam on a faster Pokemon and immediately switches out, if said Pokemon uses Counter, it will counter Snorlax's Body Slam from the previous turn. This can be applied to things like Hyper Beam, where a Pokemon can switch in and counter the move. This is because recharging doesn't clear the last damage dealt. For an even more comical example, it is possible to counter an Explosion if a Pokemon switches out the turn after, dealing massive damage and often getting a free KO for it. This can even be applied to recoil or crash damage!
Dig and Fly
Dig had 100 Base Power in the first generation, making it a surprisingly decent option for Pokemon like Arcanine. However, both Dig and Fly are affected by the semi-invulnerability glitch, a quirk so powerful that the moves are banned in almost all competitive RBY formats. This causes users to be permanently affected by semi-invulnerability if the moves are interrupted; this means confusion and paralysis can inadvertently cause the glitch to occur. Only Swift and Bide can hit a Pokemon during semi-invulnerability in RBY, making these moves the only real counterplay.
Disable
Disable had a paltry 54.7% accuracy and would disable a random move in the opponent's moveset for 0-7 turns. Due to the horrific accuracy, the move rarely, if ever, sees competitive use. If Disable misses a Pokemon under the effect of Rage, it will cause the opposing Rage user's Attack to increase.
Dizzy Punch
Dizzy Punch had no added effect, making it strictly outclassed by moves like Body Slam.
Double-Edge
Double-Edge had 100 Base Power and only inflicted 1/4 of the damage as recoil.
Earthquake
Earthquake did not hit Pokemon during Dig.
Explosion and Self-Destruct
Explosion had 170 Base Power, and Self-Destruct had 130. Additionally, they halved the opponent's Defense during damage calculation, making their base power effectively 340 and 260, respectively. Due to the turn ending mechanics, these moves provide free switch-ins to your Pokemon after use, not giving the opponent a chance to do anything. User did not faint if those moves are used against a Substitute.
Fire Blast
Fire Blast had a 30% chance to burn!
Fissure, Guillotine and Horn Drill
These moves dealt 65535 damage, as fixed damage-type moves. In addition, they only worked on foes slower than the user. This makes Pokemon like Rhydon rely heavily on paralysis to make good use of the moves. Plus, Pokemon with Agility and an OHKO move, such as Seaking and Rapidash, would end up being capable of OHKOing any Pokemon in the game. However, they still had very shaky accuracy, so they weren't necessarily consistent.
Glare
Glare had 74.6% accuracy and could not affect Ghost-types.
Gust
Gust was Normal-type.
Haze
Haze is a very odd move. It will remove any and all volatile changes to both Pokemon; this includes setting stat changes to 0, removing secondary status, and more. Essentially, it is a full reset to the conditions for both Pokemon. It will also turn bad poison inflicted by Toxic into normal poison and reset the Toxic counter.
A significant issue to note is that Haze will remove the major status condition for the opponent, including any stat reductions caused by them. This means that it will remove paralysis, burn, poison, sleep or freeze if the opponent is inflicted with it. Due to this, it's possible to exploit Haze users by switching in a Pokemon crippled by status. This makes the move a rare sight in competitive play, though its distribution can also be considered problematic. The only user that could be considered decent is Vaporeon, and even this is debatable.
If Haze is used against a Pokemon that has been put to sleep or frozen during Rage, Bide, thrashing about moves or charging a move, the victim will become completely immobilized. This also happens to Hyper Beam users while recharging, but only if frozen.
Overall, Haze will remove;
All stat buffs and debuffs
The stat reduction from burn and/or paralysis
Major status condition (opponent only)
Confusion
Leech Seed
Reflect
Light Screen
Mist
Disable
Bad poison (changes to normal poison)
High Jump Kick and Jump Kick
High Jump Kick and Jump Kick had 85 and 70 Base Power, respectively. Curiously, if the moves fail to connect, the user only takes 1 HP of crash damage. This residual damage can be countered.
Hyper Beam
Hyper Beam is extremely powerful, with the recharge turn being skipped if a Substitute or opposing Pokemon is KOed. This makes it a common sight in Pokemon's movesets, forcing a 50:50 situation on the opponent where they switch in a Pokemon to take the hit, or stay in and risk it. Due to the potential for a switch, there will be times where Hyper Beam isn't used to scout for the potential switch-in.
Leech Seed
Leech Seed absorbs a paltry 6.25% of the foe's HP, rounded down but not less than 1. This can be increased through Toxic; refer to the status section for more information. Even if a Pokemon is KOed by other residual damage - such as confusion or recoil - the health draining from Leech Seed will still occur. However, if Leech Seed itself KOes the target, health will not be recovered due to turn ending mechanics. Additionally, damage dealt by Leech Seed is done after any other residual damage, such as Wrap, poison, and burn. If a Pokemon takes Leech Seed switching in, they will have their HP drained that turn, but only if their Speed is less than or equal to the Leech Seed user's.
Like later generations, Grass-types are not affected by Leech Seed. As is with later generations, Leech Seed is removed through switching out. However, Haze can also remove it in RBY.
Low Kick
Low Kick is completely different in RBY, being a 50 Base Power move with 89.5% accuracy and a 30.1% chance to flinch.
Mimic
Mimic will randomly copy an opponent's move with no restrictions attached. Even if you already have the same move, Mimic can still potentially copy it. This copied move will have the same Max and current PP of Mimic.
Minimize
Minimize only rose Evasion by one stage, making it virtually identical to Double Team. It also had 20 PP, which does make it a strict upgrade.
Mirror Move
Mirror Move interacts oddly with multi-turn moves, ignoring them as they charge. This means that if a Pokemon uses Body Slam and then Solar Beam, Mirror Move will copy Body Slam on the charge turn. Similar situations occur with paralysis, freezing, flinching, confusion, and recharging from Hyper Beam. If the foe switches out, Mirror Move will fail, which is part of what causes the desync mentioned in the partial trapping section.
Night Shade and Seismic Toss
Due to set damage mechanics, Night Shade and Seismic Toss will hit Normal- and Ghost-types, respectively.
Poison Sting
Poison Sting had a 19.9% chance to inflict poison.
Psychic
Psychic had a 30.1% chance to drop Special by one stage.
Psywave
Psywave was quite odd. Psywave deals damage between 1 and 1.5x the user's level, which at L100 will deal up to 150 damage. It also had a 79.7% chance to connect, unlike newer generations.
In a Link Battle, Psywave will have a lower bound of 0 damage on one end, meaning that there is an inherent chance the game will desync, increasing as the level lowers. At L100, this is a 0.662% chance. The lowest possible level to use Psywave is with an L3 Jigglypuff, which has a 20% chance to desync the game. The game will also crash if Psywave is used by an L0, L1 or L171 Pokemon, though none of these can be achieved without hacking.
Here is a table featuring Psywave desync chances by level;
Level
Desync Chance
1
50.000%
2
25.000%
3
20.000%
4
14.286%
5
12.500%
6
10.000%
7
9.091%
8
7.692%
9
7.143%
10
6.250%
11
5.882%
12
5.263%
13
5.000%
14
4.545%
15
4.348%
16
4.000%
17
3.846%
18
3.571%
19
3.448%
20
3.226%
21
3.125%
22
2.941%
23
2.857%
24
2.703%
25
2.632%
26
2.500%
27
2.439%
28
2.326%
29
2.273%
30
2.174%
31
2.128%
32
2.041%
33
2.000%
34
1.923%
35
1.887%
36
1.818%
37
1.786%
38
1.724%
39
1.695%
40
1.639%
41
1.613%
42
1.563%
43
1.538%
44
1.493%
45
1.471%
46
1.429%
47
1.408%
48
1.370%
49
1.351%
50
1.316%
51
1.299%
52
1.266%
53
1.250%
54
1.220%
55
1.205%
56
1.176%
57
1.163%
58
1.136%
59
1.124%
60
1.099%
61
1.087%
62
1.064%
63
1.053%
64
1.031%
65
1.020%
66
1.000%
67
0.990%
68
0.971%
69
0.962%
70
0.943%
71
0.935%
72
0.917%
73
0.909%
74
0.893%
75
0.885%
76
0.870%
77
0.862%
78
0.847%
79
0.840%
80
0.826%
81
0.820%
82
0.806%
83
0.800%
84
0.787%
85
0.781%
86
0.769%
87
0.763%
88
0.752%
89
0.746%
90
0.735%
91
0.730%
92
0.719%
93
0.714%
94
0.704%
95
0.699%
96
0.690%
97
0.685%
98
0.676%
99
0.671%
100
0.662%
Rage, Petal Dance and Thrash I've grouped these together to better explain why Rage works the way it does. Outside of this though, they're not really comparable, so they could be split.
Petal Dance and Thrash will recalculate accuracy values every turn, but not to more than 255/256 or less than 1/256. "Thrashing about" will persist for 3-4 turns, and always confuse upon ending naturally, resetting it if already confused. If not ended naturally, such as through paralysis, confusion is not sustained. Sleep, freeze, flinching and partial trapping will only pause Thrash, though. Confusion being sustained is not mentioned, and will only be discovered upon selecting a move.
Thrash is a 90 Base Power move with 20 PP, and Petal Dance has 70 Base Power and 20 PP.
Rage does not have the effect to recalculate accuracy like Petal Dance and Thrash. Partly due to this, if Rage misses while the "thrashing about" state is active as a result of accuracy being dropped or a foe's evasion being raised, its accuracy drops to 0.4%. If Disable misses during Rage, it will still raise Attack. Nothing will stop Rage once it starts: even being thawed from freezing will not change this. Rage will not increase Attack past +6 or 999.
Razor Wind, Sky Attack, Skull Bash and Solar Beam
Razor Wind had 74.6% accuracy. Sky Attack had no additional effect upon use; no increased critical hit ratio or flinch chance. Skull Bash does not raise Defense upon use.
All of these moves will not count as the last move used until they actually execute, so if Mirror Move is used, it will fail if a move wasn't used prior; if a move was used, Mirror Move will copy that one. Partial trapping, sleep, freezing and flinching will pause but not stop these moves.
Recover and Soft-Boiled
Recover notoriously had 20 PP, which with a PP Max becomes an eye-watering 32. Both moves are otherwise the same and are subject to the recovery failure glitch.
Rest
Rest is subject to the recovery failure glitch. Rest will not remove stat drops inflicted by paralysis or burn, nor will it reset the Toxic counter. The Rest user will wake up after 1 turn of sleeping, which due to the waking up mechanics, makes it effectively the same as later generations.
Rock Slide
Rock Slide had no additional effect; as such, the flinch chance does not exist.
Roar and Whirlwind
These moves have no in-battle effect.
Stomp
Stomp's damage is not doubled against Minimize.
Substitute
If your Pokemon has exactly 25% of its HP and uses Substitute, the user will self-KO. Substitutes don't block major status, Disable, Confusion or paralysis or confusion induced as a secondary effect. Substitute also prevents flinching. Substitutes can fade if exactly 255 damage is dealt, in addition to the usual 25%. Confusion damage is dealt to opposing Substitutes if one is available. If a multi-hit attack breaks a Substitute, the multi-hit attack will be cancelled thereafter.Substitute block poison status, so Toxic, Poison Powder, and Poison Gas will miss.
Struggle
Struggle is considered Normal-type, and will not affect Ghost-types. It will also deal 1/2 of the damage dealt as recoil, and can critically hit. Struggle is subject to accuracy checks, so it can miss with accuracy drops and is affected by the 1/256 uncertainty.
Thunder
Thunder had 120 Base Power, a 10% chance to inflict paralysis and misses against foes using Fly.
Teleport
Teleport does nothing.
Toxic
Toxic had 84.4% accuracy, and bad poison is treated as a kind of secondary status effect. For more information, view the residual damage section.
Transform
Transform does not fail against any other Pokemon, causing Ditto VS Ditto to be an infinite battle. The foe's status condition isn't copied, though Reflect and Light Screen will have their boosts applied to the user's new stats. Since Base Speed isn't copied, the Transform user's critical hit rate remains the same.
Tri Attack
Tri Attack had no additional effect, so it can't freeze, burn or paralyze foes.
Quick Attack
If a Pokemon is put to sleep or frozen on the turn Quick Attack is even attempted to be used, its increased priority persists until the turn after the user wakes up, is defrosted, or switched out. As a result, this can prevent the user from being put to sleep again.
Wing Attack
Wing Attack has 35 Base Power, making it a Peck clone.
Stadium Mechanics Not sure if I truly want to cover this, as it may be too much for a guide like this. Could be done as another guide instead, possibly? Up to QC discretion. View attachment 315199 funny recoil
I'm really not sure who to tag here, so gonna start with phoopes and Shellnuts to make sure they had nothing else to add. PvK if you know someone else or someone else sees this and has insight, by all means.
some of my thoughts; implement at your discretion. Nice work!
Intro
It feels a bit odd to say you're talking about Yellow and Stadium (side note, which'd need to be removed if you decide to skip stadium), then for the rest of the article refer to RBY in general. I'd suggest either commenting that the mechanics are largely the same even tho you're focusing on yellow, or eliminate the disclaimer and just point out any differences specific to yellow as they arise and keep the article to RBY in general.
vids
Under each you mention needing to sum them up. While generally we try not to link to outside sources, I'm willing to make exceptions here. That said, I think it would be helpful to provide some info in the guide, at the very least some context to the video, as to what the video is about. I don't mean a detailed description; the overflow vid text is fine, tho I suppose you could argue having some sort of intro sentence to it could work rather than just plopping it in. For example as to what I mean, you say that it can cause a "desync" but never say what a desync is. I think setting up the vids as additional, but not required, info would be helpful to the reader--the guide should stand on its own to be fully understood.
rage/petal dance stuff
grouping is fine imo.
stadium
Unless it could be summed up superficially, I don't think it's worth including here for the sake of brevity. The guide is detailed enough as is and making it too long makes it less approachable imo.
Base Power/PP/Accuracy edit above
I'd really rather not link to bulba here if we can help it. That said, I don't think these details add much to the point of the guide: an outline on the mechanics. BP/PP/Acc are largely self evident anyway, so it's not worth making a large investment to establishing the minutia imo.
Here, we will compile all the differences, and knowing these is crucial to succeeding.
It feels a bit odd to say you're talking about Yellow and Stadium (side note, which'd need to be removed if you decide to skip stadium), then for the rest of the article refer to RBY in general. I'd suggest either commenting that the mechanics are largely the same even tho you're focusing on yellow, or eliminate the disclaimer and just point out any differences specific to yellow as they arise and keep the article to RBY in general.
vids
Under each you mention needing to sum them up. While generally we try not to link to outside sources, I'm willing to make exceptions here. That said, I think it would be helpful to provide some info in the guide, at the very least some context to the video, as to what the video is about. I don't mean a detailed description; the overflow vid text is fine, tho I suppose you could argue having some sort of intro sentence to it could work rather than just plopping it in. For example as to what I mean, you say that it can cause a "desync" but never say what a desync is. I think setting up the vids as additional, but not required, info would be helpful to the reader--the guide should stand on its own to be fully understood.
rage/petal dance stuff
grouping is fine imo.
stadium
Unless it could be summed up superficially, I don't think it's worth including here for the sake of brevity. The guide is detailed enough as is and making it too long makes it less approachable imo.
Base Power/PP/Accuracy edit above
I'd really rather not link to bulba here if we can help it. That said, I don't think these details add much to the point of the guide: an outline on the mechanics. BP/PP/Acc are largely self evident anyway, so it's not worth making a large investment to establishing the minutia imo.
As a compromise to the above, could maybe say "we compile notable differences..." rather than "all".
Thanks for the feedback, some of this was some mistakes I made while changing the scope of the article, such as that Intro part. If you want, I can tag some people who could give quality checks. Not sure if that's considered unprofessional or something, though.
I've removed all but one of the videos, as I'm not looking to run contrary to policy and I probably should have removed them earlier after adding explanations. Explaining the thaw desync is really, really difficult on my end, so I'll keep that unless someone is able to explain it better than I can. The rest have been put into proper explanations that I think keep it in plain English. I've also added a desync explanation to the Introduction, as that is something I should have explained as well. I'd like to have Crystal_ credited somewhere in the article, as the videos are a big part of what allowed these explanations to be made.
Speaking as someone that has researched it, Pokemon Stadium has so many mechanic differences that it's simply not something that can be briefly discussed. There are some very large changes, such as the way stats work, recoil not applying on a KO, and much much more. I'm fully willing to make a second article for this once we have this all done and dusted.
So what I've done with BP/PP/Acc is remove all the "minor" ones, such as Wing Attack, and added this:
As a general rule, moves that have the same stated accuracy as present generations will not be noted, despite the 1/256 glitch technically making them different. In addition, there are numerous moves that have only received Base Power, Stated Accuracy, or PP changes, which will not be noted either, so to prevent this from getting too long. If a move has major mechanics changes, however, these differences will be noted for completion's sake.
I've also updated a few other sections of the article while responding to this. Particularly, my thrashing about mechanic explanation was missing a few beats.
We don't have a set QC team here like analyses/TFP so please feel free to tag people.
All this sounds great.
One last thing I forgot to mention in my original post was regarding the stat exp system. Another notable difference from the modern system, in addition to the natures, is how the Stat Exp is calc'd (function of foes' base stats rather than a fixed number) and iirc application once your mon levels up, rather than immediately like it is now.
There's no real list for this, and if there was it would be quite long. I did note Pinsir as an example and actively used it throughout. Not sure what else I could do honestly.
There's no real list for this, and if there was it would be quite long. I did note Pinsir as an example and actively used it throughout. Not sure what else I could do honestly.
You're right.
The Mewtwo overflow happens when it uses Amnesia 2 times and then suffer a spc drop via Psychic right? Maybe a in battle exmaple (i'm using Mewtwo since its the most common scenario) to a better visualization of the glitch?
You're right.
The Mewtwo overflow happens when it uses Amnesia 2 times and then suffer a spc drop via Psychic right? Maybe a in battle exmaple (i'm using Mewtwo since its the most common scenario) to a better visualization of the glitch?
I've edited the DV section to cover how the HP stat works and cleaned up some other sections. I've just barely reached the 65000 character limit too, it's been a bit of a pain...
From my conversations I've had with people in the RBY Discord, there isn't anything else to add. shiny finder thoughts?
The HP DV is determined by all the other stats, adding different amounts based on whether or not the number is odd. Specifically, you gain 8 HP DVs for Attack, 4 for Defense, 2 for Speed and 1 for Special, adding up to 15.
I'd suggest clarifying this a bit since the even/odd distinction isn't clear. Right now it sounds like each stat could give you different HP DVs from what you mention if the stat is odd; and not each stat gives you different numbers and they only grant those numbers if the stat is odd (which is what you meant). I had to look that up.
Once you address that, if you feel like enough eyes have looked at it, I'm fine with this moving forward to GP. Thanks!
I'd suggest clarifying this a bit since the even/odd distinction isn't clear. Right now it sounds like each stat could give you different HP DVs from what you mention if the stat is odd; and not each stat gives you different numbers and they only grant those numbers if the stat is odd (which is what you meant). I had to look that up.
Once you address that, if you feel like enough eyes have looked at it, I'm fine with this moving forward to GP. Thanks!
The HP DV is determined by all the other stats, adding different amounts based on whether or not the number is odd. Specifically, if the number is odd, you gain 8 HP DVs for Attack, 4 for Defense, 2 for Speed and 1 for Special, adding up to 15.
Is the purpose of this article primarily about the experience one would have when playing competitive RBY on showdown, or playing on cartridge, whether for fun or as a link battle?
There are quite a handful of cartridge glitches that I don't believe are replicated on Showdown, since they don't actually affect the outcomes of any battle interactions and just obscure what is really happening. One example is this one but I'm sure there may be some others on this page.
If you don't intend to fully explain someone's experience on cartridge, it may be worth a sentence or two acknowledging that purely informational glitches such as this one are already patched on Showdown, for user experience.
Is the purpose of this article primarily about the experience one would have when playing competitive RBY on showdown, or playing on cartridge, whether for fun or as a link battle?
It's primarily for Showdown, but I've showcased bugs not on PS as well, such as the desyncs, stat overflows and Bide. I omitted dual-type misinformation - which did cross my mind - but I wasn't sure how to fit it into the post, especially since it's currently reached the text limit hahaha. I didn't expect it to get so long...if more stuff comes up I'll make a post dedicated to extra stuff I couldn't fit that can be GPed separately.
If I were to add that bug you're mentioning, it would be in the type chart differences as an aside; "The game doesn't factor in both types when showing super effective text. For example, it will falsely claim Earthquake was super effective against Bulbasaur.". I may add the order of priority as well for posterity, but again, it's really hard to fit and most RBYers play on PS these days.
Introduction
The first generation of Pokemon is infamous for its glitches and weird mechanics. These largely define the way the game is played, and, (AC)as such therefore, it's crucial to understand them if one aims to succeed. On For Smogon, we usually simulate the international version of Pokemon Yellow on Pokémon Showdown!, but there are differences even in which matters because there are even glitches unique to the (I imagine this makes sense?) Stadium and Japanese versions of Generation 1. To keep things simple for this guide, we will strictly be going over Smogon-applicable RBY mechanics; i.e., those found in the international version of Yellow. (is this what you meant? is this accurate?)
To preface, there will be times where we discuss a concept known as a "desync". This is a term covering glitches in Link Battles that lead to them "desynchronizing", causing communication errors. This effectively causes players to engage in different battles different from each other, eventually leading to the appearance of glitch Pokemon, glitch moves, (AC) and more. On battle simulators, these generally aren't implemented. Should they not be ignored outright, workarounds are used to "prevent" them from occurring, such as the Desync Clause Mod on Pokemon Showdown, which changes desync situations to move failure.
To make things easier to understand, we will divide things into two sections: Battle Mechanics and Move Mechanics.
Part 1: Battle Mechanics
To understand how everything works, it's important to first understand how the battle system works. There's no Mega Evolution, Z-Moves, (AC) or Dynamax in RBY. Not only that, there aren't any Fairy-, Dark-, (AC) or Steel-types, nor are there any items or abilities, already making for a substantially different metagame on its own. Let's get into the actual mechanics, though.
Special Stat
In RBY, Special Attack and Special Defense are merged into one, singular "Special" stat. Therefore, if Special is increased or decreased, it this will improve your offensive and defensive capabilities using concerning special attacks. This makes Amnesia act as like two Calm Mind uses, making Pokemon like Slowbro scary foes to face. Psychic also becomes a particularly scary move, as it drops Special a third of the time, making it which is effectively a double debuff. (removed hyphen)
DVs and Stat Exp
It is possible to max every one of your Pokemon's stats, which makes for a much bulkier metagame. Generally, Pokemon like Chansey and Snorlax become much tougher foes to KO, often requiring a concentrated effort from multiple Pokemon to pull it off take down. This is a vital concept to grasp, especially in a world where there are no items and many moves have low Base Power.
DVs and Stat Exp are RBY and GSC's equivalent to IVs and EVs, capping at 15 and 65535, respectively. The HP DV is determined by all the other stats, adding different amounts based on whether or not the number is odd. Specifically, if the number is odd, you gain 8 with every instance of an odd DV increasing the HP DV as follows; +8 HP DVs for Attack having an odd DV, 4 for Defense, 2 for Speed, (AC) and 1 for Special, adding up to the maximum of 15. The other DVs are determined at random, thoughdue to the way it works with encounter rates, but because a Pokemon's encounter rate is one variable in DV randomization, not all Pokemon can get max DVs in every stat. Stat Exp is gained through the opponent's foe's raw base stats and is applied upon levelling leveling up rather than immediately, which can make training take a long time. There is no limit on how much can be invested into individual stats, so you can cap every single one.
In terms of stat totals For any individual raw stat, Stat Exp and DVs combined will amount to the same as a modern Pokemon's stat with full EVs and IVs but without a nature. In high-level play, there is little incentive to selectively invest in any given stat, though this isn't to say it's useless. Tanking Attack to 1 DV and 0 Stat Exp for reducing confusion damage is somewhat relevant; you need 1 Attack DV to ensure the HP DV reaches 15 in this situation, as otherwise (RC) it drops to 7. Tanking the Attack stat will cause the Pokemon to lose Struggle wars more frequently, though, so for Pokemon like Chansey, this lowering Attack can be problematic. Reducing stats to prevent stat debuff overflows is relevant for powerhouses like Mewtwo as well: (comma -> colon) more on this later.
Critical Hits
Critical hit rates are based on a Pokemon's base Speed: (semicolon -> colon) the faster the Pokemon, the higher the chance. The following equation defines a Pokemon's regular critical hit rate: Base Speed * 100 / 512. Due to this formula, the fastest Pokemon of the generation, Electrode, gets a 27.3% critical hit rate. On the lower end of the spectrum, this it gives Snorlax a 5.85% critical hit rate, similar to that of later generations. For a list containing each Pokemon's regular critical hit rate, go here.
The damage dealt by a critical hit is partially based on the Pokemon's level, and, (AC) at Level 100, it rounds out to about twice the damage; the multiplier is around 1.95x. Critical hits will ignore any stat changes from either Pokemon during damage calculation; ergo, any Attack or Special boosts from both Pokemon will be ignored. Consequently, a fast setup sweeper will have an inherent decrease in consistency, as a critical hit will end up lowering its damage output. This also means that Swords Dance will not boost Slash, and Amnesia will not boost Crabhammer, at least if they don't land a critical hit. With this rule in mind, critical hits will also ignore things like opposing Defense boosts, Reflect, and Light Screen as well, which is a good trade-off for Pokemon like Persian, and in this case largely defines its niche. Make no mistake: critical hits are very powerful.
Slash, Crabhammer, Razor Leaf, (AC) and Karate Chop possess an effect that increases the user's critical hit rate by 8x, making the formula Base Speed * 100 / 64. Many Pokemon—even those with somewhat average base (might as well make this impossible for readers screw up) Speed—will end up achieving very high critical hit rates with this mechanic, making the moves sort of like Frost Breath in modern generations. However, the chance for a critical hit will cap out at 99.6% due to a glitch in how the game determines whether a critical hit has landed, meaning that it these moves landing a critical hit is never guaranteed.
Focus Energy, due to a glitch, ends up decreasing the user's critical hit rate by 4x, making the formula Base Speed * 100 / 2048. Theoretically, it can be used to prevent critical hits from occurring, but it isn't worth the move slot, so it doesn't see use in high-level play.
Type Chart Differences and Type-based Attack Categories
Since RBY is a generation prior to the Physical-Special physical / special split, attack categories are based on typing. For example, Normal-type moves like Hyper Beam are always physical, and Water-type moves like Clamp are always special. Ergo, Pokemon like Kabutops are hard-pressed to find good STAB moves, while others such as Golem act as they always do in later generations.
Here is a table showing the categories;
Physical
Special
Normal
Grass
Fighting
Fire
Rock
Water
Ground
Ice
Ghost
Electric
Flying
Psychic
Poison
Dragon*
Bug
* Dragon is considered Special, but, (AC) due to it only having Dragon Rage, it doesn't actually see use.
On top of this, there are some type chart differences.
Poison is super effective (removed hyphen) against Bug and vice versa.
Fire does not resist Ice. (added period)
Ghost does not affect Psychic. (added period)
The Dark, Steel, (AC) and Fairy types are not present either. Magneton is mono-Electric as a result of this.
Same-type Status Immunity
An intended mechanic, (AC) as shown in Pokemon Stadium 2; (comma -> semicolon) if a Pokemon has the same type as a move used on it, any major statuses from movesecondary(think this is useful to make clear out of the gate)effects are nullified. As a result of this mechanic, Electric-types cannot be paralyzed by Thunderbolt and Ice-types cannot be frozen by Ice Beam, for example. The only exception to this rule is Twineedle, which can still poison Bug-types. To add on to this, Poison-types cannot be poisoned full stop, not even by manually inducing it poison with Toxic or Poison Powder, so Twineedle cannot poison Poison-types either. The big game-changer here, however, is that Normal-types cannot be paralyzed by Body Slam. This specific application largely changed the RBY OU metagame after its discovery by Crystal_ in 2014, making Normal-types like Snorlax and Chansey rise in usage with Reflect sets, using their bulk to stave off the spread of paralysis. It should be noted Remember that this specifically applies to secondary effects of offensive moves, so Thunder Wave will still hit a Pokemon like Jolteon, for example.
Stat Reapplication Glitch, Ignoring Stat Drops from Status, Stat Cap, and Stat Drop Overflow
The side effects (removed hyphen) of burn and paralysis—halving Attack and quartering Speed—can be reapplied if a Pokemon's stats are changed. For example, if Slowbro paralyzes Alakazam and uses Amnesia, the Speed drop from paralysis will apply twice. Similarly, if Flareon burns a Pokemon and uses Tail Whip, their Defense will drop and their Attack will be halved twice.
To avoid this Conversely, using moves that boost Attack or Speed can allow a Pokemon to ignore their stat drops from status burn and paralysis, respectively. For example, if Kingler is burned and uses Swords Dance, its Attack will increase, ignoring the halving effect from the burn while still taking damage. Or, (AC) in the case of paralysis, Dragonite can use Agility to ignore the Speed drop (RC) while still having the chance to skip a turn.
All stats in RBY will cap at 999. In the case a move would boost past this, the game will set the stat to 999 if it was below 999, or make the move fail otherwise. For example, if a Venusaur with 298 Special were to use Growth to +5, it would cap the stat at 999 instead of reaching letting it reach 1043. Because of the 999 stat cap, all further uses will fail, applying a "-1 deduction" to on top of the move's existing stat stage changes.
For moves that boost by one stage, like Meditate, the -1 deduction cancels out the move's boost as intended. In the case of moves that boost moves twice, such as Swords Dance, the -1 deduction will still apply. However, due to an oversight, it went unnoticed that (teeechnically this behavior isn't "caused" by oversight, the mechanic is working as intended, just oversight gave it this wrong context. If you want something like "However, the oversight is that", that's fine) this gives a net gain of +1, allowing stat stages to continue rising "rise" once more, albeit still capped. Ergo, if a Pinsir were to raise its Attack to +4 using Swords Dance, which has the stat cap at 999, it can still technically go to +5 with no visible changes. It cannot, however, reach +6, as Swords Dance can only increase by +1, in which from +5, so the -1 deduction actually works. This, in most cases, is irrelevant to gameplay.
It is possible for stats that "rose" beyond the 999 stat cap to overflow if a debuff is sustained. The 999 stat cap doesn't actually get applied when debuffs occur, and since the damage calculation is incapable of handling stats beyond 1023, it debuffs will lead to an overflow. Let's say Mewtwo reaches +5 Special, or 1421 without the stat cap. If it sustains a debuff from something like Psychic, this Special will overflow into an extremely low number, and if you consider the Special stat serving as an offensive and defensive stat, you can imagine how comical it is to watch even Absorb OHKO it.
Freeze
If a Pokemon is frozen, it cannot be thawed without an item, being hit by Haze, or being hit with a move that can burn. The latter means that Ember, Fire Punch, Flamethrower, (AC) and Fire Blast are all valid moves to thaw an opponent foe. As a result, if you're frozen, it is completely on the opponent to thaw you, and most competitive teams don't use moves that can do this. This makes the freeze status a pseudo-KO. It should be noted that Fire Spin, due to not having a burn chance, cannot thaw opponents foes.
However, in the case a Pokemon is thawed by a faster Pokemon and tries to use a move, this can cause a desync. On one side, the Pokemon will use the move they chose in the previous turn, while on the other, a glitch move will be used due to the game skipping the "FIGHT" menu.
For a far more detailed analysis, look here:
Sleep
Sleep can last up to 6 turns, including a '0 turn sleep' where the target Pokemon wakes up the same turn it was put to sleep. Sleep turns are determined upon the status being inflicted; as such, therefore, there is, effectively, a 1/7 chance of it waking up on each turn up until turn 6. This makes sleep a very powerful status, as it can definitely be equivalent to KOing a Pokemon in some circumstances. Furthermore, a Pokemon cannot act on the turn it wakes up, so it's possible to repeatedly put a Pokemon to sleep if the user is faster. As such, it isn't uncommon to see Pokemon like Gengar trying to land their sleep moves for extended periods of time.
If a Pokemon has used Hyper Beam the same turn as or one turn (Id imagine this to be the case? Unless you used hyper beam 2+ turns ago without switching out and the accuracy skip still applies, in which case ignore this) prior to a sleep move's use, the sleep move will not only skip accuracy checks but also ignore any status when putting the opposing Pokemon to sleep. As a result, this is the only circumstance in which it's possible to status an already-statused Pokemon.
Confusion
Confusion damage uses the Pokemon's raw Attack stat, dealing typeless, physical damage. Confusion lasts 1-4 turns and there is a 50% chance the Pokemon will attack itself. Considering the odds, there is a 76.6% chance the Pokemon will attack itself at least once. Confusion damage will ignore Reflect and has no damage variance. However, it will consider stat boosts; this means Swords Dance will increase the damage and Acid Armor will decrease it. Considering burns halve your Attack, this means that being burned will reduce the damage you take.
Decreasing investment in Attack will influence confusion damage, (AC)as it uses the raw stat. (optional) With the Attack tanking concept from the stat section in mind, Alakazam can decrease the damage it takes from 37 (11.8%) to 21 (6.8%), almost halving it.
Here is a table showing the regular damage a Pokemon will take from confusion;
Pokemon
1 Atk DV + 0 Stat Exp Dmg
Max Stat Dmg
Min %
Max %
Bulbasaur
20
35
6.8%
11.9%
Ivysaur
21
35
6.5%
10.8%
Venusaur
23
35
6.3%
9.6%
Charmander
22
38
7.8%
13.5%
Charmeleon
23
37
7.2%
11.6%
Charizard
25
37
7.0%
10.3%
Squirtle
17
30
5.8%
10.3%
Wartortle
19
31
5.9%
9.7%
Blastoise
21
31
5.8%
8.6%
Caterpie
15
33
5.1%
11.3%
Metapod
9
24
3.0%
7.9%
Butterfree
18
33
5.6%
10.2%
Weedle
18
37
6.4%
13.1%
Kakuna
11
27
3.8%
9.2%
Beedrill
33
50
9.9%
15.0%
Pidgey
20
37
7.1%
13.1%
Pidgeotto
22
37
6.7%
11.2%
Pidgeot
24
36
6.5%
9.8%
Rattata
25
44
9.5%
16.7%
Raticate
28
42
8.9%
13.4%
Spearow
29
48
10.2%
17.0%
Fearow
29
42
8.7%
12.6%
Ekans
24
41
8.8%
15.0%
Arbok
27
40
8.4%
12.4%
Pikachu
26
46
9.5%
16.8%
Raichu
32
46
9.9%
14.2%
Sandshrew
21
33
6.9%
10.9%
Sandslash
23
33
6.5%
9.3%
Nidoran-F
18
33
5.8%
10.5%
Nidorina
20
34
5.8%
9.9%
Nidoqueen
23
34
6.0%
8.9%
Nidoran-M
24
42
8.1%
14.2%
Nidorino
25
40
7.7%
12.3%
Nidoking
27
39
7.4%
10.7%
Clefairy
18
34
5.2%
9.9%
Clefable
22
34
5.6%
8.7%
Vulpix
18
35
6.5%
12.5%
Ninetales
23
35
6.6%
10.0%
Jigglypuff
25
47
5.8%
10.9%
Wigglytuff
28
44
5.8%
9.1%
Zubat
21
39
7.4%
13.8%
Golbat
25
38
7.1%
10.8%
Oddish
19
33
6.5%
11.3%
Gloom
21
34
6.5%
10.5%
Vileplume
22
34
6.2%
9.6%
Paras
25
40
9.2%
14.7%
Parasect
27
39
8.4%
12.1%
Venonat
21
37
6.5%
11.5%
Venomoth
23
37
6.7%
10.8%
Diglett
28
49
12.6%
22.0%
Dugtrio
30
45
11.0%
16.5%
Meowth
21
39
7.4%
13.8%
Persian
24
38
7.2%
11.4%
Psyduck
21
36
6.9%
11.9%
Golduck
24
36
6.6%
9.9%
Mankey
35
53
12.4%
18.7%
Primeape
35
49
10.5%
14.7%
Growlithe
28
44
8.9%
14.1%
Arcanine
31
43
8.1%
11.2%
Poliwag
22
39
7.8%
13.8%
Poliwhirl
22
35
6.6%
10.5%
Poliwrath
22
33
5.7%
8.6%
Abra
14
38
5.5%
15.0%
Kadabra
18
37
6.4%
13.1%
Alakazam
21
37
6.7%
11.8%
Machop
30
45
8.7%
13.1%
Machoke
31
44
8.5%
12.1%
Machamp
36
48
9.4%
12.5%
Bellsprout
33
51
10.9%
16.8%
Weepinbell
33
49
9.9%
14.7%
Victreebel
33
47
9.1%
12.9%
Tentacool
19
37
6.7%
13.1%
Tentacruel
23
37
6.3%
10.2%
Geodude
20
31
7.1%
11.0%
Graveler
22
31
7.0%
9.9%
Golem
23
31
6.3%
8.5%
Ponyta
30
45
9.9%
14.9%
Rapidash
31
44
9.3%
13.2%
Slowpoke
22
35
5.7%
9.1%
Slowbro
18
28
4.6%
7.1%
Magnemite
12
25
4.7%
9.9%
Magneton
16
27
5.3%
8.9%
Farfetch'd
24
38
7.8%
12.4%
Doduo
33
49
12.1%
17.9%
Dodrio
34
46
10.5%
14.2%
Seel
17
32
5.1%
9.6%
Dewgong
21
32
5.5%
8.4%
Grimer
30
45
8.3%
12.4%
Muk
31
43
7.5%
10.4%
Shellder
17
27
6.5%
10.3%
Cloyster
16
23
5.3%
7.6%
Gastly
18
37
6.8%
14.1%
Haunter
21
37
7.2%
12.6%
Gengar
23
37
7.1%
11.5%
Onix
9
17
3.3%
6.2%
Drowzee
20
36
6.2%
11.1%
Hypno
23
36
6.2%
9.7%
Krabby
28
39
10.6%
14.8%
Kingler
29
38
9.3%
12.1%
Voltorb
13
28
4.6%
9.9%
Electrode
17
29
5.3%
9.0%
Exeggcute
13
25
4.0%
7.7%
Exeggutor
26
38
6.6%
9.7%
Cubone
14
25
4.6%
8.3%
Marowak
19
29
5.9%
9.0%
Hitmonlee
42
57
13.9%
18.8%
Hitmonchan
30
42
9.9%
13.9%
Lickitung
17
30
4.4%
7.8%
Koffing
17
28
6.0%
9.9%
Weezing
20
29
6.0%
8.7%
Rhyhorn
22
33
6.1%
9.1%
Rhydon
28
37
6.8%
9.0%
Chansey
7
35
1.0%
5.0%
Tangela
13
23
3.9%
6.9%
Kangaskhan
27
39
6.5%
9.4%
Horsea
14
27
5.3%
10.3%
Seadra
17
28
5.4%
8.9%
Goldeen
23
37
7.8%
12.6%
Seaking
30
43
8.3%
11.8%
Staryu
17
32
6.5%
12.2%
Starmie
21
33
6.5%
10.2%
Mr. Mime
16
29
5.7%
10.2%
Scyther
31
43
9.0%
12.5%
Jynx
23
41
6.9%
12.3%
Electabuzz
29
43
8.7%
12.9%
Magmar
33
47
9.9%
14.1%
Pinsir
30
41
9.0%
12.3%
Tauros
26
36
7.4%
10.2%
Magikarp
6
21
2.5%
8.6%
Gyarados
35
47
8.9%
12.0%
Lapras
25
36
5.4%
7.8%
Ditto
19
35
6.4%
11.7%
Eevee
21
37
6.7%
11.8%
Vaporeon
23
37
5.0%
8.0%
Jolteon
23
37
6.9%
11.1%
Flareon
43
57
12.9%
17.1%
Porygon
19
32
5.7%
9.6%
Omanyte
11
22
4.0%
8.1%
Omastar
14
23
4.1%
6.7%
Kabuto
22
33
8.4%
12.5%
Kabutops
27
37
8.4%
11.5%
Aerodactyl
33
47
9.1%
12.9%
Snorlax
35
48
6.7%
9.2%
Articuno
21
32
5.5%
8.4%
Zapdos
25
36
6.5%
9.4%
Moltres
27
38
7.0%
9.9%
Dratini
26
42
9.1%
14.7%
Dragonair
27
41
8.3%
12.6%
Dragonite
34
44
8.8%
11.4%
Mewtwo
29
40
7.0%
9.6%
Mew
25
35
6.2%
8.7%
Paralysis, Burn, (AC) and Poison
Unlike in later generations, paralysis lowers Speed by 75% and burns directly halve Attack. Bad poison inflicted by Toxic is a secondary status that gradually increases residual damage and will be removed if the afflicted switches out, replacing it with normal poison and resetting the counter. If the afflicted KOes a Pokemon, however, residual damage does not apply.
All status-based damage—poison, burns and Leech Seed—uses a counter that begins at T/16, where T is the number of turns that have passed since bad poison began. From here on out, we will call this the "Toxic counter". This counter stays at 1 if it hasn't been put into effect. As such, Therefore, all status-based residual damage begins at 6.25% and will not change unless Toxic has connected with a Pokemon. If Toxic is in effect, T will increase every turn. However, due to Leech Seed sharing the Toxic counter, it being afflicted with both Leech Seed and Toxic will effectively double the counter every turn and KO a Pokemon in just 5 turns. Rest will not reset the counter, and if a Pokemon is burned after it has ended Rest removes bad poison, this will cause a "badly burned" effect, causing the Toxic counter to compound burn damage as if it were poison. Haze will reset the Toxic counter upon use.
Turn End Mechanics
If a Pokemon faints, the turn ends there and then. As such Therefore, any end-of-turn effects—such as Hyper Beam forcing a recharge turn or a Pokemon sustaining residual damage - is damage—are skipped.
Multi-hit Damage Calculation
All "multi-hits" will deal the same amount of damage, unaffected by any damage variance. This counts for the hits of typical multi-hit moves like Fury Attack (RC) as well as the hits of partial trapping moves like Wrap—which are "attacks" that depend on the user's stats and not set percentage damage like in later generations. Thus, if a critical hit connects, all the multi-hits will effectively be treated as such critically hit. If a multi-hit move has a status effect, it will apply strictly on the last hit. Ergo, only Twineedle's last hit has a chance to inflict poison.
Partial Trapping
RBY partial trapping should be treated like a completely separate entity to modern-day partial trapping. Partial trapping moves—Wrap, Bind, Clamp, (AC) and Fire Spin—will deal the same amount of damage every turn, similar to multi-hit moves. Additionally, a user will be locked into the move for 2-5 turns, and a target will be completely immobilized during the ordeal, unable to strike back. In the event of a Pokemon with an immunity, such as Ghost-types against Wrap or Bind, they will be immobilized (RC) but will not take damage.
If the trapper switches and is faster, the trapped Pokemon will not be able to move, making moves like Wrap pseudo-pivot moves in some respects. On the flip side, a faster trapped Pokemon will get to punish the switch-in. The trapped Pokemon can also switch out, regardless of Speed. Switching out while trapped will force the opposing trapper to "reuse" the move, forcing the move to be used again restarting the 2-5 turn lock and subtracting one PP, giving a form of PP stall counterplay. If the move is forced to be reused at 0 PP though, it will roll over to 63. With these factors considered, there is quite a bit of depth to partial trapping situations.
If a Pokemon has used Hyper Beam and the opposing partial trapping user misses, the recharge turn is skipped. If it's used beforehand the partial-trapping move is used and misses before the erstwhile recharging, though, the opposing Hyper Beam user will automatically use the move reuse Hyper Beam. If they have 0 Hyper Beam PP at this point, it the move's PP will also roll over to 63. For example, if Tauros uses its last Hyper Beam and fails to KO an unboosted a normal Speed Dragonite, then Dragonite uses Wrap and misses, Tauros can immediately move again next turn. If Dragonite uses Agility right after the final Hyper Beam and then uses Wrap next turn and misses, however, Tauros will immediately use Hyper Beam and get 63 more uses.
If a partial trapping move is copied by Mirror Move and succeeds, it works as normal. However, if the trapped Pokemon switches out in a Link Battle, due to Mirror Move forcing the move to fail on one side and the other having the user continue partial trapping on the other, this will cause a desync.
1/256 Accuracy and Effect Chance
No move in the chromatic generation is guaranteed to hit, except Bide and Swift, which skip accuracy checks, even against flying or underground foes. Every other move has an inherent 1/256 (~0.4%) chance to miss as a result of accuracy being checked between 0 and 256, with normal accuracy capped at 255. Only moves that target the opponent are subject to this.
Considering this uncertainty, it is possible to create a conversion table to show the true accuracy of a move.
Stated Accuracy
True Accuracy
True Accuracy as a Percentage*
Notable Move(s):
100%
255/256
99.6%
Many!
95%
242/256
94.5%
Razor Leaf
90%
229/256
89.5%
Hyper Beam, Blizzard, Rock Slide
85%
216/256
84.4%
Fire Blast, Wrap, Toxic, Crabhammer, Pin Missile
80%
204/256
79.7%
Hydro Pump, Submission
75%
191/256
74.6%
Clamp, Lovely Kiss, Stun Spore, Bind
70%
178/256
69.5%
Fire Spin, Thunder
60%
153/256
59.8%
Hypnosis
55%
140/256
54.7%
Sing, Supersonic
30%
76/256
29.7%
Fissure, Horn Drill
*Rounded to the nearest tenth
Effect chance also suffers from a similar but inverted uncertainty; (comma -> semicolon)though the way it functions is different this inversion is due to the way the probability is hardcoded. This uncertainty can effectively increase the chance of a secondary effect occurring from an attack (RC) despite beyond the stated one chance. For example, Fissure will connect 76/256 times, while whereas Body Slam will paralyze a foe 77/256 times.
Stated Probability
True Probability
True Probability as a Percentage*
Examples:
40%
103/256
40.2%
The chance that Sludge poisons the target.
33%
85/256
33.2%
The chance that Psychic drops the targets special stat.
30%
77/256
30.1%
The chance that Body Slam paralyzes its target
20%
52/256
20.3%
The chance that Twineedle will poison its target.
10%
26/256
10.2%
The chance that Ice Beam will freeze its target.
*Rounded to the nearest tenth
Recovery Move Failure
If a Pokemon's max HP and current HP have a difference of either 255 or 511, the recovery moves will fail due to only checking the second byte of the user's current HP.
Let's look at this in more detail. RBY logically makes recovery moves fail if the Pokemon is already at full HP, or specifically if Max HP - Current HP = 0, which also means that Rest cannot be used to cure status at full HP. This failure condition seems simple, but when you only check because the game only the second byte, this goesof current HP, things go awry when your HP is over 255, as that 255 is the maximum amount that can be stored in a byte. In the event of an overflow, a carry flag is set to take 1 when calculating whether the recovery move should fail...to detrimental effect, as this leaves the second byte with 0 if you have 255 or 511 less than max HP. Let's use this example with Chansey, a notorious user of a recovery move in Soft-Boiled, after losing 511 HP. Due to only checking one byte in this scenario, Chansey's max HP in the game's eyes is 191. So when taking away the current HP and the 1 from the carry flag, if it's 192, in the game's eyes, Chansey's HP will be treated as if it were the maximum amount. Thus, the recovery move fails. Due to not having enough HP to even get above 255, Abra, Diglett, Magnemite, and Magikarp are unaffected by this glitch entirely.
Here is a table showing each Pokemon's "failure number". Chansey and Snorlax are the only Pokemon capable of reaching the HP required for the 511 number to be reached and have been omitted from the table itself.
511 for Chansey: 192 HP / 27.3%
511 for Snorlax: 12 HP / 2.3%
Pokemon
HP - 255
HP - 255 as %
Bulbasaur
38
13.0%
Ivysaur
68
21.1%
Venusaur
108
29.8%
Charmander
26
9.3%
Charmeleon
64
20.1%
Charizard
104
29.0%
Squirtle
36
12.4%
Wartortle
66
20.6%
Blastoise
106
29.4%
Caterpie
38
13.0%
Metapod
48
15.8%
Butterfree
68
21.1%
Weedle
28
9.9%
Kakuna
38
13.0%
Beedrill
78
23.4%
Pidgey
28
9.9%
Pidgeotto
74
22.5%
Pidgeot
114
30.9%
Rattata
8
3.0%
Raticate
58
18.5%
Spearow
28
9.9%
Fearow
78
23.4%
Ekans
18
6.6%
Arbok
68
21.1%
Pikachu
18
6.6%
Raichu
68
21.1%
Sandshrew
48
15.8%
Sandslash
98
27.8%
Nidoranf formatting
58
18.5%
Nidorina
88
25.7%
Nidoqueen
128
33.4%
Nidoranm formatting
40
13.6%
Nidorino
70
21.5%
Nidoking
110
30.1%
Clefairy
88
25.7%
Clefable
138
35.1%
Vulpix
24
8.6%
Ninetales
94
26.9%
Jigglypuff
178
41.1%
Wigglytuff
228
47.2%
Zubat
28
9.9%
Golbat
98
27.8%
Oddish
38
13.%
Gloom
68
21.1%
Vileplume
98
27.8%
Paras
18
6.6%
Parasect
68
21.1%
Venonat
68
21.1%
Venomoth
88
25.7%
Diglett
-32
Dugtrio
18
6.6%
Meowth
28
9.9%
Persian
78
23.4%
Psyduck
48
15.8%
Golduck
108
29.8%
Mankey
28
9.9%
Primeape
78
23.4%
Growlithe
58
18.5%
Arcanine
128
33.4%
Poliwag
28
9.9%
Poliwhirl
78
23.4%
Poliwrath
128
33.4%
Abra
-2
Kadabra
28
9.9%
Alakazam
58
18.5%
Machop
88
25.7%
Machoke
108
29.8%
Machamp
128
33.4%
Bellsprout
48
15.8%
Weepinbell
78
23.4%
Victreebel
108
29.8%
Tentacool
28
9.9%
Tentacruel
108
29.8%
Geodude
28
9.9%
Graveler
58
18.5%
Golem
108
29.8%
Ponyta
48
15.8%
Rapidash
78
23.4%
Slowpoke
128
33.4%
Slowbro
138
35.1%
Magnemite
-2
Magneton
48
15.8%
Farfetchd
52
16.9%
Doduo
18
6.6%
Dodrio
68
21.1%
Seel
78
23.4%
Dewgong
128
33.4%
Grimer
108
29.8%
Muk
158
38.3%
Shellder
8
3.0%
Cloyster
48
15.8%
Gastly
8
3.0%
Haunter
38
13.0%
Gengar
68
21.1%
Onix
18
6.6%
Drowzee
68
21.1%
Hypno
118
31.6%
Krabby
8
3.0%
Kingler
58
18.5%
Voltorb
28
9.9%
Electrode
68
21.1%
Exeggcute
68
21.1%
Exeggutor
138
35.1%
Cubone
48
15.8%
Marowak
68
21.1%
Hitmonlee
48
15.8%
Hitmonchan
48
15.8%
Lickitung
128
33.4%
Koffing
28
9.9%
Weezing
78
23.4%
Rhyhorn
108
29.8%
Rhydon
158
38.3%
Chansey
448
63.7%
Tangela
78
23.4%
Kangaskhan
158
38.3%
Horsea
8
3.0%
Seadra
58
18.5%
Goldeen
38
13.0%
Seaking
108
29.8%
Staryu
8
3.0%
Starmie
68
21.1%
Mrmime formatting
28
9.9%
Scyther
88
25.7%
Jynx
78
23.4%
Electabuzz
78
23.4%
Magmar
78
23.4%
Pinsir
78
23.4%
Tauros
98
27.8%
Magikarp
-12
Gyarados
138
35.1%
Lapras
208
44.9%
Ditto
44
14.7%
Eevee
58
18.5%
Vaporeon
208
44.9%
Jolteon
78
23.4%
Flareon
78
23.4%
Porygon
78
23.4%
Omanyte
18
6.6%
Omastar
88
25.7%
Kabuto
8
3.0%
Kabutops
68
21.1%
Aerodactyl
108
29.8%
Snorlax
268
51.2%
Articuno
128
33.4%
Zapdos
128
33.4%
Moltres
128
33.4%
Dratini
30
10.5%
Dragonair
70
21.5%
Dragonite
130
33.8%
Mewtwo
160
38.6%
Mew
148
36.7%
Damage storing mechanics
RBY will stores the last damage that was dished out by either Pokemon. This is for Bide and Counter's use, which they will cite it (I imagine?) when necessary.
Most status moves will reset the damage last dealt; however, some moves don't. These Moves that don't include: (semicolon -> colon) Confuse Ray, Conversion, Focus Energy, Glare, Haze, Leech Seed, Light Screen, Mimic, Mist, Poison Gas, Poison Powder, Recover, Reflect, Rest, Soft-Boiled, Splash, Stun Spore, Substitute, Supersonic, Teleport, Thunder Wave, Toxic, and Transform. This can lead to some unintended results, such as Bide stacking the damage that was dealt the previous turn.
Introduction
The first generation of Pokemon is infamous for its glitches and weird mechanics. These largely define the way the game is played, and, therefore, it's crucial to understand them if one aims to succeed. For Smogon, we usually simulate the international version of Pokemon Yellow on Pokémon Showdown!, which matters because there are even glitches unique to the Stadium and Japanese versions of Generation 1. To keep things simple for this guide, we will strictly be going over Smogon-applicable RBY mechanics; i.e., those found in the international version of Yellow.
To preface, there will be times where we discuss a concept known as a "desync." This is a term covering glitches in Link Battles that lead to them "desynchronizing," causing communication errors. This effectively causes players to engage in different battles from each other, eventually leading to the appearance of glitch Pokemon, glitch moves, and more. On battle simulators, these generally aren't implemented. Should they not be ignored outright, workarounds are used to "prevent" them from occurring, such as the Desync Clause Mod on Pokemon Showdown, which changes desync situations to result in move failure.
To make things easier to understand, we will divide things into two sections: Battle Mechanics and Move Mechanics.
Part 1: Battle Mechanics
To understand how everything works, it's important to first understand how the battle system works. There's no Mega Evolution, Z-Moves, Dynamax, etc in RBY. Not only that, there aren't any Fairy-, Dark-, or Steel-types, nor are there any items or abilities, already making for a substantially different metagame. Let's get into the actual mechanics, though.
Special Stat
In RBY, Special Attack and Special Defense are merged into one, singular "Special" stat. Therefore, if Special is increased or decreased, this will improve your offensive and defensive capabilities concerning special attacks. This makes Amnesia act like two Calm Mind uses, making Pokemon like Slowbro scary foes to face. Psychic also becomes a particularly scary move, as it drops Special a third of the time, which is effectively a double debuff.
DVs and Stat Exp
It is possible to max every one of your Pokemon's stats, which makes for a much bulkier metagame. Generally, Pokemon like Chansey and Snorlax become much tougher foes to KO, often requiring a concentrated effort from multiple Pokemon to take down. This is a vital concept to grasp, especially in a world where there are no items and many moves have low Base Power.
DVs and Stat Exp are RBY and GSC's equivalent to IVs and EVs, capping at 15 and 65535, respectively. The HP DV is determined by all the other stats, with every instance of an odd DV increasing the HP DV as follows; +8 HP DVs for Attack having an odd DV, 4 for Defense, 2 for Speed, and 1 for Special, adding up to the maximum of 15. The other DVs are determined at random, but because a Pokemon's encounter rate is one variable in DV randomization, not all Pokemon can get max DVs in every stat. Stat Exp is gained through the foe's raw base stats and is applied upon leveling up rather than immediately, which can make training take a long time. There is no limit on how much can be invested into individual stats, so you can cap every single one.
For any individual raw stat, Stat Exp and DVs combined will amount to the same as a modern Pokemon's stat with full EVs and IVs but without a nature. In high-level play, there is little incentive to selectively invest in any given stat, though this isn't to say it's useless. Tanking Attack to 1 DV and 0 Stat Exp for reducing confusion damage is somewhat relevant; you need 1 Attack DV to ensure the HP DV reaches 15 in this situation, as otherwise, it drops to 7. Tanking the Attack stat will cause the Pokemon to lose Struggle wars more frequently, though, so for Pokemon like Chansey, lowering Attack can be problematic. Reducing stats to prevent stat debuff overflows is relevant for powerhouses like Mewtwo as well: more on this later.
Critical Hits
Critical hit rates are based on a Pokemon's base Speed: the faster the Pokemon, the higher the chance. The following equation defines a Pokemon's regular critical hit rate: Base Speed * 100 / 512. Due to this formula, the fastest Pokemon of the generation, Electrode, gets a 27.3% critical hit rate. On the lower end of the spectrum, it gives Snorlax a 5.85% critical hit rate, similar to that of later generations. For a list containing each Pokemon's regular critical hit rate, go here.
The damage dealt by a critical hit is partially based on the Pokemon's level, and, at Level 100, it rounds out to about twice the damage; the multiplier is around 1.95x. Critical hits will ignore any stat changes from either Pokemon during damage calculation; ergo, any Attack or Special boosts from both Pokemon will be ignored. Consequently, a fast setup sweeper will have an inherent decrease in consistency, as a critical hit will end up lowering its damage output. This also means that Swords Dance will not boost Slash, and Amnesia will not boost Crabhammer, at least if they don't land a critical hit. With this rule in mind, critical hits will also ignore things like opposing Defense boosts, Reflect, and Light Screen, which is a good trade-off for Pokemon like Persian, and in this case, largely defines its niche. Make no mistake: critical hits are very powerful.
Slash, Crabhammer, Razor Leaf, and Karate Chop possess an effect that increases the user's critical hit rate by 8x, making the formula Base Speed * 100 / 64. Many Pokemon—even those with somewhat average base Speed—will end up achieving very high critical hit rates with this mechanic, making the moves sort of like Frost Breath in modern generations. However, the chance for a critical hit will cap out at 99.6% due to a glitch in how the game determines whether a critical hit has landed, meaning that these moves landing a critical hit is never guaranteed.
Focus Energy, due to a glitch, ends up decreasing the user's critical hit rate by 4x, making the formula Base Speed * 100 / 2048. Theoretically, it can be used to prevent critical hits from occurring, but it isn't worth the moveslot, so it doesn't see use in high-level play.
Type Chart Differences and Type-based Attack Categories
Since RBY is a generation prior to the physical / special split, attack categories are based on typing. For example, Normal-type moves like Hyper Beam are always physical, and Water-type moves like Clamp are always special. Ergo, Pokemon like Kabutops are hard-pressed to find good STAB moves, while others such as Golem act as they always do in later generations.
Here is a table showing the categories:
Physical
Special
Normal
Grass
Fighting
Fire
Rock
Water
Ground
Ice
Ghost
Electric
Flying
Psychic
Poison
Dragon*
Bug
* Dragon is considered Special, but, due to it only having Dragon Rage, it doesn't actually see use.
On top of this, there are some type chart differences.
Poison is super effective against Bug and vice versa.
Fire does not resist Ice.
Ghost does not affect Psychic.
The Dark, Steel, and Fairy types are not present either. As a result of this, Magneton is mono-Electric, Clefable and Wigglytuff are mono-Normal along with their pre-evolutions, and Mr. Mime is mono-Psychic.
Same-type Status Immunity
An intended mechanic, as shown in Pokemon Stadium 2; if a Pokemon has the same type as a move used on it, any major statuses from move secondary effects are nullified. As a result of this mechanic, Electric-types cannot be paralyzed by Thunderbolt and Ice-types cannot be frozen by Ice Beam, for example. The only exception to this rule is Twineedle, which can still poison Bug-types. To add on to this, Poison-types cannot be poisoned full stop, not even by manually inducing poison with Toxic or Poison Powder, so Twineedle cannot poison Poison-types either. The big game-changer here, however, is that Normal-types cannot be paralyzed by Body Slam.
Stat Reapplication Glitch, Ignoring Stat Drops from Status, Stat Cap, and Stat Drop Overflow
The side effects of burn and paralysis—halving Attack and quartering Speed—can be reapplied if a Pokemon's stats are changed. For example, if Slowbro paralyzes Alakazam with Thunder Wave and then uses Amnesia, the Speed drop from paralysis will apply twice. Similarly, if Flareon burns a Pokemon and uses Tail Whip, their Defense will drop and their Attack will be halved twice.
Conversely, using moves that boost Attack or Speed can allow a Pokemon to ignore their stat drops from burn and paralysis, respectively. For example, if Kingler is burned and uses Swords Dance, its Attack will increase, ignoring the halving effect from the burn while still taking damage. Or, in the case of paralysis, Dragonite can use Agility to ignore the Speed drop while still having the chance to skip a turn.
All stats in RBY will cap at 999. In the case a move would boost past this, the game will set the stat to 999 if it was below 999, or make the move fail otherwise. For example, if a Venusaur with 298 Special were to use Growth to +5, it would cap the stat at 999 instead of letting it reach 1043. Because of the 999 stat cap, all further uses will fail, applying a "-1 deduction" on top of the move's existing stat stage change.
For moves that boost by one stage, like Meditate, the -1 deduction cancels out the move's boost as intended. In the case of moves that boost twice, such as Swords Dance, the -1 deduction will still apply. However, it went unnoticed that this gives a net gain of +1, allowing stat stages to "rise" once more, albeit still capped. Ergo, if a Pinsir were to raise its Attack to +4 using Swords Dance, which has the stat cap at 999, it can still technically go to +5 with no visible changes. It cannot, however, reach +6, as Swords Dance can only increase by +1 from +5, so the -1 deduction actually works. This, in most cases, is irrelevant to gameplay.
It is possible for stats that "rose" beyond the 999 stat cap to overflow if a debuff is sustained. The cap doesn't actually get applied when debuffs occur, and since the damage calculation is incapable of handling stats beyond 1023, debuffs will lead to an overflow. Let's say Mewtwo reaches +5 Special, or 1421 without the stat cap. If it sustains a debuff from something like Psychic, this Special will overflow into an extremely low number, and if you consider the Special stat serving as an offensive and defensive stat, you can imagine how comical it is to watch even Absorb OHKO it.
Freeze
If a Pokemon is frozen, it cannot be thawed without an item, being hit by Haze, or being hit with a move that can burn. The latter means that Ember, Fire Punch, Flamethrower, and Fire Blast are all valid moves to thaw a foe. As a result, if you're frozen, it is completely on the opponent to thaw you, and most competitive teams don't use moves that can do this. This makes the freeze status a pseudo-KO. It should be noted that Fire Spin, due to not having a burn chance, cannot thaw foes.
However, in the case a Pokemon is thawed by a faster Pokemon and tries to use a move, this can cause a desync. On one side, the Pokemon will use the move they chose in the previous turn, while on the other, a glitch move will be used due to the game skipping the "FIGHT" menu.
For a far more detailed analysis, look here:
Sleep
Sleep can last up to 6 turns, including a '0 turn sleep' where the target Pokemon wakes up the same turn it was put to sleep. Sleep turns are determined upon the status being inflicted; therefore, there is, effectively, a 1/7 chance of it waking up on each turn up until turn 6. This makes sleep a very powerful status, as it can definitely be equivalent to KOing a Pokemon in some circumstances. Furthermore, a Pokemon cannot act on the turn it wakes up, so it's possible to repeatedly put a Pokemon to sleep if the user is faster. As such, it isn't uncommon to see Pokemon like Gengar trying to land their sleep moves for extended periods of time.
If a Pokemon has used Hyper Beam the same turn prior to a sleep move's use, the sleep move will not only skip accuracy checks but also ignore any status when putting the opposing Pokemon to sleep. As a result, this is the only circumstance in which it's possible to status an already-statused Pokemon.
Confusion
Confusion damage uses the Pokemon's raw Attack stat, dealing typeless, physical damage. Confusion lasts 1-4 turns and there is a 50% chance the Pokemon will attack itself. Considering the odds, there is a 76.6% chance the Pokemon will attack itself at least once. Confusion damage will ignore Reflect and has no damage variance. However, it will consider stat boosts; this means Swords Dance will increase the damage and Acid Armor will decrease it. Considering burns halve your Pokemon's Attack, being burned will reduce the damage it takes.
Decreasing investment in Attack will influence confusion damage, as it uses the raw stat. With the Attack tanking concept from the stat section in mind, Alakazam can decrease the damage it takes from 37 (11.8%) to 21 (6.8%), almost halving it.
Here is a table showing the regular damage a Pokemon will take from confusion:
Pokemon
1 Atk DV + 0 Stat Exp Dmg
Max Stat Dmg
Min %
Max %
Bulbasaur
20
35
6.8%
11.9%
Ivysaur
21
35
6.5%
10.8%
Venusaur
23
35
6.3%
9.6%
Charmander
22
38
7.8%
13.5%
Charmeleon
23
37
7.2%
11.6%
Charizard
25
37
7.0%
10.3%
Squirtle
17
30
5.8%
10.3%
Wartortle
19
31
5.9%
9.7%
Blastoise
21
31
5.8%
8.6%
Caterpie
15
33
5.1%
11.3%
Metapod
9
24
3.0%
7.9%
Butterfree
18
33
5.6%
10.2%
Weedle
18
37
6.4%
13.1%
Kakuna
11
27
3.8%
9.2%
Beedrill
33
50
9.9%
15.0%
Pidgey
20
37
7.1%
13.1%
Pidgeotto
22
37
6.7%
11.2%
Pidgeot
24
36
6.5%
9.8%
Rattata
25
44
9.5%
16.7%
Raticate
28
42
8.9%
13.4%
Spearow
29
48
10.2%
17.0%
Fearow
29
42
8.7%
12.6%
Ekans
24
41
8.8%
15.0%
Arbok
27
40
8.4%
12.4%
Pikachu
26
46
9.5%
16.8%
Raichu
32
46
9.9%
14.2%
Sandshrew
21
33
6.9%
10.9%
Sandslash
23
33
6.5%
9.3%
Nidoran-F
18
33
5.8%
10.5%
Nidorina
20
34
5.8%
9.9%
Nidoqueen
23
34
6.0%
8.9%
Nidoran-M
24
42
8.1%
14.2%
Nidorino
25
40
7.7%
12.3%
Nidoking
27
39
7.4%
10.7%
Clefairy
18
34
5.2%
9.9%
Clefable
22
34
5.6%
8.7%
Vulpix
18
35
6.5%
12.5%
Ninetales
23
35
6.6%
10.0%
Jigglypuff
25
47
5.8%
10.9%
Wigglytuff
28
44
5.8%
9.1%
Zubat
21
39
7.4%
13.8%
Golbat
25
38
7.1%
10.8%
Oddish
19
33
6.5%
11.3%
Gloom
21
34
6.5%
10.5%
Vileplume
22
34
6.2%
9.6%
Paras
25
40
9.2%
14.7%
Parasect
27
39
8.4%
12.1%
Venonat
21
37
6.5%
11.5%
Venomoth
23
37
6.7%
10.8%
Diglett
28
49
12.6%
22.0%
Dugtrio
30
45
11.0%
16.5%
Meowth
21
39
7.4%
13.8%
Persian
24
38
7.2%
11.4%
Psyduck
21
36
6.9%
11.9%
Golduck
24
36
6.6%
9.9%
Mankey
35
53
12.4%
18.7%
Primeape
35
49
10.5%
14.7%
Growlithe
28
44
8.9%
14.1%
Arcanine
31
43
8.1%
11.2%
Poliwag
22
39
7.8%
13.8%
Poliwhirl
22
35
6.6%
10.5%
Poliwrath
22
33
5.7%
8.6%
Abra
14
38
5.5%
15.0%
Kadabra
18
37
6.4%
13.1%
Alakazam
21
37
6.7%
11.8%
Machop
30
45
8.7%
13.1%
Machoke
31
44
8.5%
12.1%
Machamp
36
48
9.4%
12.5%
Bellsprout
33
51
10.9%
16.8%
Weepinbell
33
49
9.9%
14.7%
Victreebel
33
47
9.1%
12.9%
Tentacool
19
37
6.7%
13.1%
Tentacruel
23
37
6.3%
10.2%
Geodude
20
31
7.1%
11.0%
Graveler
22
31
7.0%
9.9%
Golem
23
31
6.3%
8.5%
Ponyta
30
45
9.9%
14.9%
Rapidash
31
44
9.3%
13.2%
Slowpoke
22
35
5.7%
9.1%
Slowbro
18
28
4.6%
7.1%
Magnemite
12
25
4.7%
9.9%
Magneton
16
27
5.3%
8.9%
Farfetch'd
24
38
7.8%
12.4%
Doduo
33
49
12.1%
17.9%
Dodrio
34
46
10.5%
14.2%
Seel
17
32
5.1%
9.6%
Dewgong
21
32
5.5%
8.4%
Grimer
30
45
8.3%
12.4%
Muk
31
43
7.5%
10.4%
Shellder
17
27
6.5%
10.3%
Cloyster
16
23
5.3%
7.6%
Gastly
18
37
6.8%
14.1%
Haunter
21
37
7.2%
12.6%
Gengar
23
37
7.1%
11.5%
Onix
9
17
3.3%
6.2%
Drowzee
20
36
6.2%
11.1%
Hypno
23
36
6.2%
9.7%
Krabby
28
39
10.6%
14.8%
Kingler
29
38
9.3%
12.1%
Voltorb
13
28
4.6%
9.9%
Electrode
17
29
5.3%
9.0%
Exeggcute
13
25
4.0%
7.7%
Exeggutor
26
38
6.6%
9.7%
Cubone
14
25
4.6%
8.3%
Marowak
19
29
5.9%
9.0%
Hitmonlee
42
57
13.9%
18.8%
Hitmonchan
30
42
9.9%
13.9%
Lickitung
17
30
4.4%
7.8%
Koffing
17
28
6.0%
9.9%
Weezing
20
29
6.0%
8.7%
Rhyhorn
22
33
6.1%
9.1%
Rhydon
28
37
6.8%
9.0%
Chansey
7
35
1.0%
5.0%
Tangela
13
23
3.9%
6.9%
Kangaskhan
27
39
6.5%
9.4%
Horsea
14
27
5.3%
10.3%
Seadra
17
28
5.4%
8.9%
Goldeen
23
37
7.8%
12.6%
Seaking
30
43
8.3%
11.8%
Staryu
17
32
6.5%
12.2%
Starmie
21
33
6.5%
10.2%
Mr. Mime
16
29
5.7%
10.2%
Scyther
31
43
9.0%
12.5%
Jynx
23
41
6.9%
12.3%
Electabuzz
29
43
8.7%
12.9%
Magmar
33
47
9.9%
14.1%
Pinsir
30
41
9.0%
12.3%
Tauros
26
36
7.4%
10.2%
Magikarp
6
21
2.5%
8.6%
Gyarados
35
47
8.9%
12.0%
Lapras
25
36
5.4%
7.8%
Ditto
19
35
6.4%
11.7%
Eevee
21
37
6.7%
11.8%
Vaporeon
23
37
5.0%
8.0%
Jolteon
23
37
6.9%
11.1%
Flareon
43
57
12.9%
17.1%
Porygon
19
32
5.7%
9.6%
Omanyte
11
22
4.0%
8.1%
Omastar
14
23
4.1%
6.7%
Kabuto
22
33
8.4%
12.5%
Kabutops
27
37
8.4%
11.5%
Aerodactyl
33
47
9.1%
12.9%
Snorlax
35
48
6.7%
9.2%
Articuno
21
32
5.5%
8.4%
Zapdos
25
36
6.5%
9.4%
Moltres
27
38
7.0%
9.9%
Dratini
26
42
9.1%
14.7%
Dragonair
27
41
8.3%
12.6%
Dragonite
34
44
8.8%
11.4%
Mewtwo
29
40
7.0%
9.6%
Mew
25
35
6.2%
8.7%
Paralysis, Burn, and Poison
Unlike in later generations, paralysis lowers Speed by 75% and burns directly halve Attack. Bad poison inflicted by Toxic is a secondary status that gradually increases residual damage and will be removed if the afflicted switches out, replacing it with normal poison and resetting the counter. If the afflicted KOes a Pokemon, however, residual damage does not apply.
All status-based damage—poison, burns, and Leech Seed—uses a counter that begins at T/16, where T is the number of turns that have passed since bad poison began. From here on out, we will call this the "Toxic counter." This counter stays at 1 if it hasn't been put into effect. Therefore, all status-based residual damage begins at 6.25% and will not change unless Toxic has connected with a Pokemon. If Toxic is in effect, T will increase every turn. However, due to Leech Seed sharing the Toxic counter, being afflicted with both Leech Seed and Toxic will effectively double the counter every turn and KO a Pokemon in just 5 turns. Rest will not reset the counter, and if a Pokemon is burned after Rest removes bad poison, this will cause a "badly burned" effect, causing the Toxic counter to compound burn damage as if it were poison. Haze will reset the Toxic counter upon use.
Turn End Mechanics
If a Pokemon faints, the turn ends there and then. Therefore, any end-of-turn effects—such as Hyper Beam forcing a recharge turn or a Pokemon sustaining residual damage—are skipped.
Multi-hit Damage Calculation
All "multi-hits" will deal the same amount of damage, unaffected by any damage variance. This counts for the hits of typical multi-hit moves like Fury Attack as well as the hits of partial trapping moves like Wrap—which are "attacks" that depend on the user's stats and not set percentage damage like in later generations. Thus, if a critical hit connects, all the multi-hits will effectively critically hit. If a multi-hit move has a status effect, it will apply strictly on the last hit. Ergo, only Twineedle's last hit has a chance to inflict poison.
Partial Trapping
RBY partial trapping should be treated like a completely separate entity to modern-day partial trapping. Partial trapping moves—Wrap, Bind, Clamp, and Fire Spin—will deal the same amount of damage every turn, similar to multi-hit moves. Additionally, a user will be locked into the move for 2-5 turns, and a target will be completely immobilized during the ordeal, unable to strike back. In the event of a Pokemon with an immunity, such as Ghost-types against Wrap or Bind, they will be immobilized but will not take damage.
If the trapper switches, the trapped Pokemon will not be able to move, making moves like Wrap pseudo-pivot moves. On the flip side, a faster trapped Pokemon will get to punish the switch-in, as it will be freed the following turn. The trapped Pokemon can also switch out, regardless of Speed. Switching out while trapped will force the opposing trapper to "reuse" the move, restarting the 2-5 turn lock and subtracting one PP, giving a form of PP stall counterplay. If the move is forced to be reused through switching at 0 PP though, it will roll over to 63 (this will not occur if the opponent tries to use the move at 0 PP). With these factors considered, there is quite a bit of depth to partial trapping situations.
If a Pokemon has used Hyper Beam and the opposing partial trapping user misses, the recharge turn is skipped. If the partial trapping move is used and misses before the erstwhile recharging, though, the opposing Hyper Beam user will automatically reuse Hyper Beam. If they have 0 Hyper Beam PP at this point, the move's PP will also roll over to 63. For example, if Tauros uses its last Hyper Beam and fails to KO a normal Speed Dragonite, then Dragonite uses Wrap and misses, Tauros can immediately move again next turn. If Dragonite uses Agility right after the final Hyper Beam and then uses Wrap next turn and misses, however, Tauros will immediately use Hyper Beam and get 63 more uses.
If a partial trapping move is copied by Mirror Move and succeeds, it works as normal. However, if the trapped Pokemon switches out in a Link Battle, due to Mirror Move forcing the move to fail on one side and having the user continue partial trapping on the other, this will cause a desync.
1/256 Accuracy and Effect Chance
No move in the chromatic generation is guaranteed to hit, except Bide and Swift, which skip accuracy checks, even against flying or underground foes. Every other move has an inherent 1/256 (~0.4%) chance to miss as a result of accuracy being checked between 0 and 256, with normal accuracy capped at 255. Only moves that target the opponent are subject to this.
Considering this uncertainty, it is possible to create a conversion table to show the true accuracy of a move.
Stated Accuracy
True Accuracy
True Accuracy as a Percentage*
Notable Move(s):
100%
255/256
99.6%
Many!
95%
242/256
94.5%
Razor Leaf
90%
229/256
89.5%
Hyper Beam, Blizzard, Rock Slide
85%
216/256
84.4%
Fire Blast, Wrap, Toxic, Crabhammer, Pin Missile
80%
204/256
79.7%
Hydro Pump, Submission
75%
191/256
74.6%
Clamp, Lovely Kiss, Stun Spore, Bind
70%
178/256
69.5%
Fire Spin, Thunder
60%
153/256
59.8%
Hypnosis
55%
140/256
54.7%
Sing, Supersonic
30%
76/256
29.7%
Fissure, Horn Drill
*Rounded to the nearest tenth
Effect chance also suffers from a similar but inverted uncertainty; this inversion is due to the way the probability is hardcoded. This uncertainty can effectively increase the chance of a secondary effect occurring from an attack beyond the stated chance. For example, Fissure will connect 76/256 times, whereas Body Slam will paralyze a foe 77/256 times.
Stated Probability
True Probability
True Probability as a Percentage*
Examples:
40%
103/256
40.2%
The chance that Sludge poisons the target.
33%
85/256
33.2%
The chance that Psychic drops the targets Special stat.
30%
77/256
30.1%
The chance that Body Slam paralyzes its target
20%
52/256
20.3%
The chance that Twineedle will poison its target.
10%
26/256
10.2%
The chance that Ice Beam will freeze its target.
*Rounded to the nearest tenth
Recovery Move Failure
If a Pokemon's max HP and current HP have a difference of either 255 or 511, recovery moves will fail due to only checking the second byte of the user's current HP.
Let's look at this in more detail. RBY logically makes recovery moves fail if the Pokemon is already at full HP, or specifically if Max HP - Current HP = 0, which also means that Rest cannot be used to cure status at full HP. This failure condition seems simple, but because the game only sees the second byte of current HP, things go awry when your HP is over 255, as 255 is the maximum amount that can be stored in a byte. In the event of an overflow, a carry flag is set to take 1 when calculating whether the recovery move should fail...to detrimental effect, as this leaves the second byte with 0 if you have 255 or 511 less than max HP. Let's use this example with Chansey, a notorious user of a recovery move in Soft-Boiled, after losing 511 HP. Due to only checking one byte in this scenario, Chansey's max HP in the game's eyes is 191. So when taking away the current HP and the 1 from the carry flag, if it's 192, in the game's eyes, Chansey's HP will be treated as if it were the maximum amount. Thus, the recovery move fails. Due to not having enough HP to even get above 255, Abra, Diglett, Magnemite, and Magikarp are unaffected by this glitch entirely.
Here is a table showing each Pokemon's "failure number." Chansey and Snorlax are the only Pokemon capable of reaching the HP required for the 511 number to be reached and have been omitted from the table itself.
511 for Chansey: 192 HP / 27.3%
511 for Snorlax: 12 HP / 2.3%
Pokemon
HP - 255
HP - 255 as %
Bulbasaur
38
13.0%
Ivysaur
68
21.1%
Venusaur
108
29.8%
Charmander
26
9.3%
Charmeleon
64
20.1%
Charizard
104
29.0%
Squirtle
36
12.4%
Wartortle
66
20.6%
Blastoise
106
29.4%
Caterpie
38
13.0%
Metapod
48
15.8%
Butterfree
68
21.1%
Weedle
28
9.9%
Kakuna
38
13.0%
Beedrill
78
23.4%
Pidgey
28
9.9%
Pidgeotto
74
22.5%
Pidgeot
114
30.9%
Rattata
8
3.0%
Raticate
58
18.5%
Spearow
28
9.9%
Fearow
78
23.4%
Ekans
18
6.6%
Arbok
68
21.1%
Pikachu
18
6.6%
Raichu
68
21.1%
Sandshrew
48
15.8%
Sandslash
98
27.8%
Nidoran-F
58
18.5%
Nidorina
88
25.7%
Nidoqueen
128
33.4%
Nidoran-M
40
13.6%
Nidorino
70
21.5%
Nidoking
110
30.1%
Clefairy
88
25.7%
Clefable
138
35.1%
Vulpix
24
8.6%
Ninetales
94
26.9%
Jigglypuff
178
41.1%
Wigglytuff
228
47.2%
Zubat
28
9.9%
Golbat
98
27.8%
Oddish
38
13.%
Gloom
68
21.1%
Vileplume
98
27.8%
Paras
18
6.6%
Parasect
68
21.1%
Venonat
68
21.1%
Venomoth
88
25.7%
Diglett
-32
Dugtrio
18
6.6%
Meowth
28
9.9%
Persian
78
23.4%
Psyduck
48
15.8%
Golduck
108
29.8%
Mankey
28
9.9%
Primeape
78
23.4%
Growlithe
58
18.5%
Arcanine
128
33.4%
Poliwag
28
9.9%
Poliwhirl
78
23.4%
Poliwrath
128
33.4%
Abra
-2
Kadabra
28
9.9%
Alakazam
58
18.5%
Machop
88
25.7%
Machoke
108
29.8%
Machamp
128
33.4%
Bellsprout
48
15.8%
Weepinbell
78
23.4%
Victreebel
108
29.8%
Tentacool
28
9.9%
Tentacruel
108
29.8%
Geodude
28
9.9%
Graveler
58
18.5%
Golem
108
29.8%
Ponyta
48
15.8%
Rapidash
78
23.4%
Slowpoke
128
33.4%
Slowbro
138
35.1%
Magnemite
-2
Magneton
48
15.8%
Farfetch'd
52
16.9%
Doduo
18
6.6%
Dodrio
68
21.1%
Seel
78
23.4%
Dewgong
128
33.4%
Grimer
108
29.8%
Muk
158
38.3%
Shellder
8
3.0%
Cloyster
48
15.8%
Gastly
8
3.0%
Haunter
38
13.0%
Gengar
68
21.1%
Onix
18
6.6%
Drowzee
68
21.1%
Hypno
118
31.6%
Krabby
8
3.0%
Kingler
58
18.5%
Voltorb
28
9.9%
Electrode
68
21.1%
Exeggcute
68
21.1%
Exeggutor
138
35.1%
Cubone
48
15.8%
Marowak
68
21.1%
Hitmonlee
48
15.8%
Hitmonchan
48
15.8%
Lickitung
128
33.4%
Koffing
28
9.9%
Weezing
78
23.4%
Rhyhorn
108
29.8%
Rhydon
158
38.3%
Chansey
448
63.7%
Tangela
78
23.4%
Kangaskhan
158
38.3%
Horsea
8
3.0%
Seadra
58
18.5%
Goldeen
38
13.0%
Seaking
108
29.8%
Staryu
8
3.0%
Starmie
68
21.1%
Mr. Mime
28
9.9%
Scyther
88
25.7%
Jynx
78
23.4%
Electabuzz
78
23.4%
Magmar
78
23.4%
Pinsir
78
23.4%
Tauros
98
27.8%
Magikarp
-12
Gyarados
138
35.1%
Lapras
208
44.9%
Ditto
44
14.7%
Eevee
58
18.5%
Vaporeon
208
44.9%
Jolteon
78
23.4%
Flareon
78
23.4%
Porygon
78
23.4%
Omanyte
18
6.6%
Omastar
88
25.7%
Kabuto
8
3.0%
Kabutops
68
21.1%
Aerodactyl
108
29.8%
Snorlax
268
51.2%
Articuno
128
33.4%
Zapdos
128
33.4%
Moltres
128
33.4%
Dratini
30
10.5%
Dragonair
70
21.5%
Dragonite
130
33.8%
Mewtwo
160
38.6%
Mew
148
36.7%
Damage storing mechanics
RBY stores the last damage that was dished out by either Pokemon. This is for Bide and Counter's use, which will cite it when necessary.
Most status moves will reset the damage last dealt; however, some moves don't. Moves that don't include: Confuse Ray, Conversion, Focus Energy, Glare, Haze, Leech Seed, Light Screen, Mimic, Mist, Poison Gas, Poison Powder, Recover, Reflect, Rest, Soft-Boiled, Splash, Stun Spore, Substitute, Supersonic, Teleport, Thunder Wave, Toxic, and Transform. This can lead to some unintended results, such as Bide stacking the damage that was dealt the previous turn.
