Genies and Pokeball Simulation

[Wild Eep]

It has recently come to my attention that the genies and gen 4 mascots (this includes Ho-Oh and Lugia) you obtain via the Dream Radar only come in Dream Balls. Coupled with the fact these Pokemon are not catchable in Dream Balls otherwise, this means in wi-fi battles, a player can tell if the Tornadus/Thundurus/Landorus his or her opponent sends out came from the Dream Radar or not, and thus consequently whether it has its hidden ability or not (The gen 4 mascots are irrelevant since you know whether or not they have Pressure anyway).

The reason I bring this up is that in wi-fi, players can tell immediately after Landorus is sent out if it has Sheer Force (Dream Ball) or Sand Force (not Dream Ball), and this takes away a lot of the surprise factor present with Landorus in simulator battles.

I think that this may be the point at which it makes sense for the sim to implement Pokeball in some manner. I'm not sure what the best way would be, but it might be worthwhile to put a Pokeball icon to the left of the Pokemon's name (like what the game does with wild Pokemon when you've already caught the species).

I wonder what the community thinks is the best course of action.

 

[TheMantyke]

I'm actually very glad that this subject was brought up. Pokeball restraints have been an important factor for cartridge battles since the crown beasts were released and no simulator I'm aware of includes Pokeballs. If we're striving towards the most accurate simulator possible, implementing Pokeballs would be a good step forward (though I realize our showdown developers have a lot on their plates at the moment so this is hardly a priority).

 

[Style_Dota]

If we're going to do this, there should be something with Shiny Pokemon as well. For example, a non-Shiny Raikou in cartridge cannot be suspected of having Aura Sphere, since the Raikou released with Aura Sphere is strictly Shiny. This goes for E-Speed Entei as well. Not sure if there are any other notable Pokemon in the game that follow this.

 

[Wild Eep]

If we're going to do this, there should be something with Shiny Pokemon as well. For example, a non-Shiny Raikou in cartridge cannot be suspected of having Aura Sphere, since the Raikou released with Aura Sphere is strictly Shiny. This goes for E-Speed Entei as well. Not sure if there are any other notable Pokemon in the game that follow this.

On top of that, shiny legendary beasts can only have their special moves (and consequently the nature locks) when they're in a Cherish Ball. A shiny legendary beast in a non-Cherish ball can have any nature, but not the special moves.

The genies and the beasts are by far the two biggest deals in this situation.

Jirachi technically applies but isn't as important - Poke Ball Jirachi can have 3rd gen tutors like Body Slam, etc., while Cherish Ball Jirachi can have Draco Meteor (lol) but no Body Slam. Even less significant is Celebi (since everyone uses Cherish Ball Nasty Plot and no one uses 3rd gen tutor moves on it)

I thought Darkrai and Arceus would apply with their special moves (the dragon moves, and Shadow Force for Arceus) as well, but those events can do everything any event without the special moves can.

At some point, for the sake of thoroughness I'll look through all the godforsaken Pikachu events for ball inconsistencies too...

 

[mingot]

PS! often shows a "guessed ability" in addition to the possible abilities. Perhaps the rules could just be in place for the "guessed ability" to show for monsters when it can be determined based on ball/shiny/etc.

 

[obi]

The situation isn't that drastic for Raikou, since there is no reason not to use a Shiny Cherish Ball Raikou. Same goes for Basculin Blue (the possible Pokemon for Basculin Blue is everything Basculin Red has, plus one ability).

I guess I'm saying that Cherish Ball Shiny Raikou should probably be the default in the team builder.

 

[Great Sage]

Cherish Ball shiny Raikou is, as far as I know, restricted to having a Rash nature, so I don't think that works.