An overview of BH concept changes
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Art by Swiffix.
Balanced Hackmons is an OM where anything hackable onto a set and usable in local battles is allowed. But what exactly does "anything hackable onto a set" mean? This article will go over the recent changes to BH that, thanks to Game Freak's questionable coding decisions, have allowed basically every Pokémon into BH, including cut formes like Mega Evolutions and Ultra Necrozma.
A little bit of background
All the way back in Generation 7, you could hack in any forme of any Pokémon in the game with basically no catches. This extended to in-battle forme changes existing out of battle, like Mega Evolutions and Ultra Necrozma, meaning you could use these with any ability and without the need to manually transform first. These were also legal in local battles, which was necessary to be BH legal, and so they were free in the tier. See this replay for an example.
At the start of Generation 8, this behavior was assumed to have carried over—that in-battle forme changes were hackable out of battle. As such, the generation started with Pokémon like Zacian-C, Zamazenta-C, and Galarian Darmanitan-Z being usable without any restrictions. However, Pokémon cut from SS were made unobtainable, even for hacked metas, so Pokémon like Arceus outright couldn't be used. Soon after the start of the generation, it was uncovered that Game Freak had implemented a check that would revert these out-of-battle formes to their base forme upon the game being loaded up; this essentially meant that a Zacian-C hacked in via save editing software would revert to the base Zacian when booting the game up. For about a month, these were then axed from BH (and by extension Pure Hackmons (PH), which uses all the same hacking logic but has no bans).
Shortly after this, however, this video showed up and gave evidence of these out-of-battle formes being used in a local battle. The logic and methods by which it happened were unclear, but it was enough to re-allow these out-of-battle formes in BH and PH without transformation. These would remain legal in both formats for the rest of the generation.
This isn't to say their legality was unchallenged. Around the middle of 2022, discussion opened up around the legality of these formes. More specifically, they could only be used in local battles with RAM hacks, and if RAM hacks were allowed, that would open the door for manual HP editing (setting your HP to over 65,000) and custom Metronome queues (setting the move order that Metronome calls). The end resolution was to fix up the old BH definition, which didn't properly account for situations like these, to still allow for the formes—"Anything that can be hacked in-game" became the "Anything hackable onto a set" that's used today.
So what changed?
The idea that in-battle forme changes like Zacian-C could be accessed out-of-battle was, once again, ported over from the previous generation. About 8 months later, it was once again proven that simple save editing wouldn't be sufficient, as the in-battle formes revert when booting the game up. However, this is where SV differs from SS, as SV will repeatedly check for these formes and revert them, including when starting a local battle; as such, it's impossible to get these in-battle formes like Zacian-C in a local battle even when editing the game's save while it's running; it will immediately revert to Zacian. In SS, these formes are only checked when booting the game up, so if you use edits to get the formes while already in-game (or store the formes where they aren't checked, like the Day Care), they persist and can thus be used in local battles.
This led to a policy discussion thread on the matter, with two options, at least initially. The first was to maintain cartridge accuracy and prevent these formes from being used without manually transforming first; this would prevent Zacian-C, Zamazenta-C, Palafin-H, Meloetta-P, and Eiscue-N from being accessed without their transformation methods. The other option was to keep the formes and break from cartridge accuracy, but potentially keep the spirit of "all formes, all moves, all abilities".
There was a third option that wasn't initially discussed but eventually did come up. Thanks to the Dex cuts, many Pokémon simply weren't in the game, and so were inaccessible even for hacked metagames. However, "weren't in the game" is a loose term here, as at least some data on the cut Pokémon exists. This was assumed to be of little use to SV BH, as back in SS, you could technically hack in any of the cut Pokémon with save editing software, but anything not "in the game" would have 0 in all base stats. This changed with Scarlet and Violet, as for some bizzare reason, Game Freak re-added all of the base stats, typings, and species-specific interactions of almost every cut Pokémon and forme. It's worth noting here that formes cut prior to XY (like Arceus-??? and Pokéstar Spirits) haven't been re-added and are still inaccessible.
How does this work on cartridge?
Getting these cut formes to work in a local battle is surprisingly easy; it's as simple as making the set you want, using a save file editor to move that into an SV save file, and then loading that save file in-game. These formes simply work in a local battle without any further player input; they aren't fully coded, however, as they don't have the correct visual behaviour. Here's how it works:
- If a Pokémon simply doesn't exist in the game (such as Beedrill), then in all formes, it will have all of the visuals of Pikachu. This includes its in-battle sprite and sprite in all menus like the box.
- If an alternate forme doesn't exist, but the base forme does (such as Mega Mewtwo X), the forme will have all of the visuals of the base. This means that Mega Mewtwo X will have the in-battle and menu sprites of Mewtwo.
- Y-info (the information you get when pressing the Y button in a battle) allows you to see the Pokémon's type, which is always correct regardless of its visuals.
- Unless a Pokémon has no nickname, you're never actually told what the species you're facing is, meaning (especially against things that look like Pikachu) you can only make an educated guess based on typing and damage dealt/taken.
It's worth noting that, in every circumstance, the visuals don't have any impact on the Pokémon's typing or base stats; these are always accurate to what the Pokémon actually is. The cut Pokémon also appear to have maintained species-specific interactions, such as Shaymin-S reverting to Land forme when being frozen.
It's also worth mentioning that cut moves (like Pursuit) still aren't usable. While these can be hacked onto a set, these can't be used in battle; clicking on them displays a "You can't use this move!" pop-up. Bypassing this pop-up requires modifying the game's code, which is out of the scope of BH.
How did this influence the discussion?
This came as a shock to many people. These formes were known to exist in the code prior to this discussion but were not very well documented, and it was initially brushed off as an idea, as it was believed that this was setting custom stat spreads rather than using ones that existed in the code. However, after some more explanation and realizing that neither proposed change to BH (sticking to cartridge accuracy or allowing the in-battle formes) excluded these "invisible" cut Pokémon and formes, the discussion shifted pretty rapidly to whether or not these should be allowed in BH. The end consensus was that, in order to maintain cartridge accuracy, the cut Pokémon and formes would be allowed, and in-battle formes that reverted would be disallowed without manual transformation.
Another point of contention was how to go about the visual issues. There were concerns here both about the playability of BH if many Pokémon had the same visuals as on cartridge (which would be egregiously unbalanced) and of the implementation on Pokémon Showdown!, since the affected Pokémon and formes would effectively need to be implemented twice. In the end, a "Reveal Clause" was decided on to fix both of these issues, essentially being a gentleman's agreement to say what the Pokémon in front of you actually is. This uses a similar idea as the Deoxys Reveal Clause in ADV, where the Deoxys formes are exclusive to cartridges and their visuals match the cartridge you're on rather than what you're actually facing, so Pokémon Showdown! reveals the actual Deoxys forme.
To summarize: cut Pokémon are usable in BH, including cut formes like Mega Evolutions, Ultra Necrozma, and Ash-Greninja. Most in-battle forme changes that aren't triggered by an item (notably including Zygarde-C, Cramorant-Gorging, and for some reason Xerneas; complete list in this post) can't be used without prior transformation. Cut moves and items are still off the table.
What does BH look like after the changes?
The average BST of the tier has taken a pretty big shift upwards, with powerful new additions like Mega Mewtwo X and Primal Kyogre offering new options for offense and defense. Mechanical changes since many Pokémon's last appearance have caused a large shift in how many are played, with examples like Mega Mewtwo X using mixed attacking sets much more frequently thanks to Electro Drift and Lumina Crash, and some like Mega Gengar have already proved overbearing. There's overall a much greater presence of mixed attackers than the pre-Full Dex metagame, with options like Deoxys, Mega Diancie, Mega Mewtwo X, and Ash-Greninja leading the charge. The omnipresence of fast Psychic-types has also propelled Lumina Crash from a niche option to meta defining, often to the point of forcing Covert Cloak on almost every Ice Scales user.
Below are some sample sets for returning Pokémon:
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There's also a few things notably missing from comparable generations like SM. 8 PP recovery moves, the lack of Spectral Thief, and the banning of Poison Heal mean many defensive Pokémon have a much shorter timer to survive and can't challenge setup sweepers as easily. The absence of good trapping moves (Anchor Shot and Thousand Waves; Spirit Shackle is not good) means Imposter can be much more annoying for certain defensive Pokémon to deal with, although this is somewhat counteracted by the bevy of new utility options like Mortal Spin, Stone Axe, Salt Cure, and the like. The forme reversions extend to Pokémon like Xerneas and Zygarde-C, which can no longer be accessed with a custom ability, effectively axing one of the best entry hazard removal options and one of the best physical walls, respectively, from the tier. The absence of old items also has an impact, as things like Z-Moves can no longer be accessed, and Primal Groudon is completely inaccessible (it was banned in SM but could still be accessed with Groudon @ Red Orb). It's overall a very different climate that has distinctly different options to any other.
Closing thoughts
BH's recent concept changes have radically re-defined the tier, essentially meaning we have something completely new to work with. If you have any questions, feel free to swing by the main BH thread, play on BH's permanent ladder on Pokémon Showdown!, or swing by the OM Discord for live discussion. Thanks for reading!
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