Pokemon Showdown! (Version 1 Released!)

[Guested]

Have you ever wanted to re-battle boss fights from the evil organizations? Have you ever wanted to re-battle a Gym Leader without having to worry about calling them or meeting them on the right day, or whether or not they are in the Battleground Café? Have you ever wanted to battle a member of the Elite Four or a Champion without having to fight through the others first? Have you ever wanted to battle Gym Leaders from Hoenn in the 4th Generation battle mechanics? Have you ever wanted to battle these trainers on a balanced level 100 playing field?

If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, then take a look at Pokemon Showdown!

Showdown is a twist on the old Gym Leader Castle mode from the Pokemon Stadium games which features 104 trainers from 4 different regions in 99 different battles.

The goal: An HGSS ROM hack of the Battle Frontier, where key trainers hang around outside, waiting to be rebattled whenever you walk up to them. Most trainers will feature their rebattle teams from the Platinum Battleground or HGSS Dojo, but all will be at level 100. You use Pokesav/Pokegen/whatever to add your own level 100 team to challenge all of the trainers in any order at any time. There are no prizes for winning, it is just for the sake of battling.


Description/Mini-guide

Spoiler

Frontier Access – where you begin
Here is where you begin your battle adventure. After starting a new game, save, then insert your own pokemon using Pokesav, Pokegen, or whatever. When you leave your house and enter Frontier Access, you’ll see the partner trainers from Sinnoh walking around outside, a Pokemon Center, and a relocated Dojo.

Dojo
The Dojo has moved from Saffron City to be closer to the action! The Gym Leaders from Kanto have all gathered here.

Battle Frontier
In the main area of the Battle Frontier, you’ll encounter the Gym Leaders of the regions where this Battle Frontier has appeared (Johto and Sinnoh) as well as a few other familiar faces from those regions.

Hall
The Battle Hall is where you will find Gym Leaders from Hoenn, as well as a duo who now seems more interested in a rematch than an interview. As with their rematches in Emerald, these battles will all be double battles.

Factory
The evil organizations that you’ve encountered throughout the first four generations have taken over the factory! They will battle you in a variety of both single and double battles.

Arcade
Frontier Brains have taken up residence in the Battle Arcade. The top trainers from the Johto/Sinnoh Battle Frontier and the Hoenn Battle Frontier are all here!

Castle
Many “Elite” trainers are in the Battle Castle. You can battle Elite Four members from the Indigo League, Sinnoh League, Hoenn League, as well as a couple Indigo League alumni.

Tower
The best of the best trainers have all gathered in the Battle Tower. Here you’ll face Champions, legends, rivals, friends, and even a few surprises.

Included Trainers:

Spoiler

HGSS Johto Gym Leaders
Falkner
Bugsy
Whitney
Morty
Chuck
Jasmine
Pryce
Clair

HGSS Elite Four
Will
Koga
Bruno
Karen

Lance

HGSS Kanto Gym Leaders
Brock
Misty
Lt. Surge
Erika
Janine
Sabrina
Blaine
Blue

HGSS Team Rocket
Proton
Petrel
Ariana
Archer
Giovanni

Other HGSS Trainers
Red
Eusine
Joey
Clair/Lance Double Battle
Kimono Girls

Rival
Ethan
Lyra

Frontier Brains
Tower - Palmer
Factory - Thorton
Arcade - Dahlia
Castle - Darach/Caitlin
Hall - Argenta

Sinnoh Gym Leaders
Roark
Gardenia
Maylene
Crasher Wake
Fantina
Byron
Candice
Volkner

Sinnoh Elite Four
Aaron
Bertha
Flint
Lucian

Cynthia

Partner Trainers
Cheryl
Mira
Riley
Marley
Buck

Team Galactic
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Charon
Cyrus

Other Sinnoh Trainers
Barry
Lucas
Dawn
Looker

Hoenn Gym Leaders
Roxanne
Brawley
Wattson
Flannery
Norman
Winona
Tate and Liza
Wallace
Juan

Hoenn Elite Four
Sidney
Phoebe
Glacia
Drake
Steven

Hoenn Frontier Brains
Factory - Noland
Arena - Greta
Dome - Tucker
Pike - Lucy
Palace - Spenser
Pyramid - Brandon
Salon - Anabel

Team Aqua
Matt
Shelly
Archie

Team Magma
Courtney
Tabitha
Maxie

Other Hoenn Trainers
Wally
Brendan
May
Gabby & Ty

Other Trainers from FRLG
Leaf
Oak
Lorelei
Agatha

...plus a couple surprises

The majority of these trainers have been taken straight from their trainer data from their rematches on either Platinum (from the Battlegound) or HGSS (from the Dojo). Several teams were created from scratch with specific themes in mind, and most of the Generation III trainers' teams were based off of their respective rematch teams, but updated to fit better with Generation IV (physical/special split, weak moves replaced, etc).

--February 15 Update--
-Version 1 Release-
The first "final" version of Showdown is now ready. All trainers are in, all battle sprites work, and we've added an intro and title screen logo thanks to Poryhack.
The released patch is for HG only, but I'll have one ready for SS when I get it working.

Instructions:
- Download and apply patch to a US ROM of HeartGold
- Begin game, proceed to the point in-game where you receive a Pokemon from your mother.
- Save and quit.
- Edit your save file using Pokegen (or other software) to give yourself a team (you have no badges, so make sure your pokemon have your own OT/ID/SID so that they will obey you).
- Trying to exit to the south will cause you to meet an NPC that will give you the Running Shoes and the Bicycle.
- Speaking to almost any trainer will start a battle.
- Your Pokemon are healed automatically after every battle, but consumable items (berries, Power Herb, White Herb, Focus Sash) are not replaced, so be sure to bring extras.

Tips for a more enjoyable/challenging experience:
- Set the Battle style to SET (not Shift). None of this "Trainer is about to send out a (x)"... makes it too easy.
- Do NOT use items such as potions or revives. The Trainers in-game have none.
- Using an advantageous type against a Gym Leader (ie, Electric vs. Misty) may prove to be far too easy against their mostly mono-type teams, so try to avoid using such types.
- Try to see how many of the trainers you can beat using the same six Pokemon.
- Bond697 has suggested setting your own Pokemon levels lower (90 or so) for a more interesting challenge. You will gain experience after each battle, but as there is no progress in this mod there is no need so save, so you can just reset the game to return to your original level.

Things I'd like to include in a future update:
- Automatic restoration of consumable hold items
- Copying over battle music from Platinum
- Reassigning/scripting Battle music for different battles/trainer classes (don't know how to do this yet)
- Platinum trainers' "VS" battle introductions (don't know how to do this yet)
- Changing the area music in the Battle Tower and Dojo (don't know how to do this yet)
- Adding in in-battle text for Trainers from Plat who had such text (don't know how to do this yet)
(any help with research on the above would be greatly appreciated)

Special Thanks:
Alpha for getting this project started, doing the primary scripting, and teaching me everything I know about ROM hacking.
Poryhack for the header icon, intro screen, logo, and other image/design support.
Codr for helping me get the last, custom battle sprites inserted.
wraith89 and randomspot555 for suggestions on team design.
SCV for help and support with pokeDSpic and PPRE.
CuleX for putting up with me talking about this so much.
Bond697 for some beta testing and awesome positive feedback.

Archive/Original Post

Spoiler

The other day, I realized how tedious it was going to be in order to find and register and call the HGSS Gym Leaders in order to "schedule" a rematch. Since I work normal work hours, some Gym Leaders would basically be impossible for me to call at the correct time.
So, I thought to myself, "Self, I wonder if it's possible to create a ROM hack with all the Gym Leaders in one location so you could just battle them whenever you want. And if THAT"s possible, why not include other trainers like the Elite Four or their counterparts from Platinum and put them all in the same place?"
So, I asked Alpha about this... and he immediately began working on it.

And that's how Pokemon Showdown was born!


May 8th Update:
All of the trainer team data has been completed. We will most likely do an initial release where the trainers not native to HGSS will be fought simply as standard trainers. We would like to include the correct music and "VS" transition for the Platinum trainers at some point.
However, we would need the following data:
- Which part of the trainer data determines battle music and intro transition (mug shot before battle)
- How to copy the above data from Platinum into HGSS, and change the values to point to the correct place
- We also need to know where trainer class data is located in the ROM

--August 3rd update--
While Alpha's "beta" patch has been released, we are very close to releasing a complete (albeit basic) version. This version will contain all of the planned trainers with their appropriate teams, battle sprites, etc.

--August 19 update--
The majority of the scripting is done. There are just a few more things to be straightened out, and we'll be ready for a release. I've added a "mini guide" to this post as well as some screenshots below.

--January 30 update--
-Beta 9 release-
I've finally decided to release the current version of Showdown as a beta (version 0.9).
The game is fully playable, but as stated before, trainers from the GBA games and the extra trainers I have added in do not have battle sprites when the battle begins. Their battles function just fine, but they have no sprite.

And we need the following creative help:
- A titlescreen/logo (Pory is handling this)
- A ROM header icon (done by Pory)
- Battle sprites for Charon and Looker made from their sprites in the Platinum intro sequence (and Oak, from his big sprite)
- HGSS compatible battle sprites for all Gen III listed trainers
- HGSS compatible overworld sprites for all Gen III listed trainers
Generation III sprites will just be at their native resolution, but need to be converted to a format to fit in HGSS. If anyone can help with battle sprites and overworld sprites, it'd really help out Alpha and I.

Completed:
Warps
Advanced Script Structure
All Trainers
Trainer Team Data

[Neo]

Unusual idea, but a very good one at that. Can't wait to see this when it's finished. Good job Guested.

[Guested]

I can't really take credit, cause I'm just planning.
Alpha's the genius tackling the coding and actual work.

[Scarface]

Well, i must say This is very impressive. Good luck with the planning Guested

[Poryhack]

I'm onboard for the titlescreen and header icon.

[Tbird]

Sounds really quite awesome . Are they going to be like as hard/easy as they usually would or are they going to be racked up to maximum difficulty ? Best of luck, nice idea!

[Guested]

I looked at the 3rd Gen trainers' movesets briefly last night and realized they WILL need a pretty big overhaul because of the special/physical split in Gen IV. Also, the gym leader rematches in Hoenn were double battles, so a decision needs to be made on whether to have them THAT way, or simply single battles.

[Oxnite]

I could help with the Trainers' Teams if you want. They should be quite 'competitive' and hard, right?

[Guested]

Anyone who wants to help with team ideas can just post them here as they complete them. We're not really dividing up tasks here, just post them if/when you make them.

But be warned: Any "standard" movesets or anything copied from places like smogon will be discarded immediately.

[Oxnite]

Anyone who wants to help with team ideas can just post them here as they complete them. We're not really dividing up tasks here, just post them if/when you make them.

But be warned: Any "standard" movesets or anything copied from places like smogon will be discarded immediately.

I'll edit this post later when I have time, to add the movesets.

I'll create the movesets from scratch and create some decent teams (like based on a certain move, Rain Dance for example). Any similarities with smogon are coincidence.

[KazoWAR]

It seems the trainer class is what determines the intro scene and music.

[WinCamXP]

Hmmm, maybe the logo could have the heroes on one side of the screen, and the most popular of the battle-able people on the other side with flame in the middle and on the layer above the flames put the game name. That would be awesome!

[Guested]

So Kazo...
Since the ONLY trainers that we really need to be present in the ROM are the ones that will appear in the Frontier... would it be possible to edit/replace other trainer classes to accommodate the trainers from Sinnoh if we can bring thier intros and music over?

[KazoWAR]

if you guys can make it play battle intro A and battle music B for trainer class C, then sure.

[wraith89]

I looked at the 3rd Gen trainers' movesets briefly last night and realized they WILL need a pretty big overhaul because of the special/physical split in Gen IV. Also, the gym leader rematches in Hoenn were double battles, so a decision needs to be made on whether to have them THAT way, or simply single battles.

I could help with movesets I guess. I know the difference between what works in game and what stays for competitive battling.
Also, will Giovanni's ultimate Pokemon STILL be a level 50 Rhyhorn? Because... that kinda fails...

For other people's references: if you give the AI a combination of Rest + Sleep Talk, they will not use Sleep Talk twice but THRICE before they realize they woke up in two turns... which really blows.

EDIT: I forgot. There should be a HUGE revamp on Phoebe and Glacia's teams.
Dusclops/Banette/Sableye/Banette/Dusclops and Glalie/Sealeo/Sealeo/Glalie/Walrein doesn't look like an E4 type of team.