Past Gen Ladders

Introduction

Have you ever noticed that section of formats in the bottom right-hand corner of the format tab? That section is home to past-gen tiers that were once all the rage! In this article, I'll give you a brief introduction to the ladders of five older generations on the PS! simulator.

The Gen V Ladders

Two things set the Black and White 2 ladders from its older brothers and sisters. One of those things is that there is a ladder for every official tier, Ubers through NU, as well as LC. The second is the fact that it was never put in beta stages like its relatives, so the mechanics are pretty much 100% accurate. If you want to look at the individual tiers, OU is by far the most played of those metagames, and you can usually get a match without waiting more than 4-5 minutes. The rest of the ladders, however, are a lot more inactive and it could take you anywhere from 10 minutes to 10 days to find a game on them. Going back to the OU ladder, a misconception that a lot of higher-level players have is that every player that you find on the BW ladder is going to either forfeit, have a terrible team, or play terribly. Contrary to that belief, most of the players on the ladder are decent or above average, but it really just depends on who's playing on the ladder right then, as well as on your Elo ranking.

The Gen IV Ladders

The Gen IV ladders are quite an interesting place to be on PS! In about the last six months, the four Gen IV tiers that are programmed into the simulator were finally taken out of beta mode, meaning that the mechanics are perfectly functional and you'll most likely be able to play your game without a bug to be found. Before this time, the Gen IV LC ladder was added to the roster of Gen IV tiers, after OU and UU. A few players were quite annoyed by the fact that an LC ladder was made, yet still no Ubers ladder has been created. Taking this into account, about a week later, The Immortal added the final touch to the Gen IV section of tiers, Gen IV Ubers. A neat thing to note about the DPP Ubers ladder is that the players on said ladder are usually more active and better at the tier than the players on the BW2 Ubers ladder. Now looking at Gen IV OU, it's a little less active than its 5th gen counterpart, but it is still alive and well, and it won't take you long to find a game there. The UU and LC ladders are known to some people as the least active ladders on the simulator, and that's really not an exaggeration.

The Gen III Ladder

The first thing that you'll notice when you go to look for a Gen III game is that there are no ladders other than the OU one. This is mainly because the playerbase for the other tiers is so small, it'd make the Gen IV UU and LC ladders look like they were overcrowded. You'll also notice that the Gen III OU ladder has the (beta) tag next to its name. This is because the mod that is used for Gen III mechanics is not a 100% complete and you may find a bug if you play enough on the ladder. Back when Gen III OU was first implemented, it was home to one of the worst glitches you'd ever find on PS! Basically, after Sandstorm had been activated, the Special Defense of all Pokémon was reduced to 0. This meant that you could take a Ninjask with Giga Drain and sweep the entire opposing team away. Back to the modern OU ladder, laddering in this tier is pretty fun and the players on the ladder are the best out of any of the five old OU ladders. Something to note when teambuilding in Gens I-III is that moves that are special in these gens are that are physical in later gens (i.e. elemental punches) are recognized as physical moves in the teambuilder. It's also incorporated into the recommend EV spread, so just double check your EVs to make sure that you don't end up with a max Attack Jolly Alakazam.

The Gen II Ladder

Ever imagined waiting up to 2 hours for an OU game? That's what the Gen II OU ladder is like. However, of the three past gen ladders that are still in the beta stage, Gen II's is the most advanced. It has very few bugs, and of those bugs, they're pretty minor. Still, everyone thinks that playing on these types of ladders will make you the worst player possible. There really isn't much to say about the Gen II ladder. It's kind of like the awkward older middle child of 4 kids. It's there, it's dead inside, and no one cares about it. One thing to note is that if you're using Marowak on this ladder, set its Attack IVs to 27. This goes into a lot of DV and Gen II mechanics that I'd rather not get into, but basically 27 IVs is equal to 13 DVs, and if you have a DV anywhere above 13 and you use Swords Dance with a Thick Club Marowak, your Attack rolls over to 1 and starts from there. Also, for this ladder and the Gen I OU ladder, you can leave your Pokémon's ability slot open to whatever ability you want, and when you go to battle it will automatically delete that ability (although it will still show up in the teambuilder). Two other things to note about building teams in the Gen I and II ladders are that you may see a move that you know is legal for a Pokémon in that generation show up as "Illegal". Don't worry, just select the move and everything will be fine in the battle. You also don't have to max out your Pokémon's EVs, as Showdown already does this for you.

The Gen I Ladder

Ever wanted to relive the competitive side of your Gen I games? Check out the Gen I OU Ladder! There are quite a few new mechanics you'll need to learn for this ladder, such as Hyper Beam not needing another turn to recharge if it takes down the opposing Pokémon. Another thing that Gen I competitive has is the Freeze Clause. It works similarly to Sleep Clause, as if you are about to get frozen, the simulator takes over and nullifies the freeze. This is because in Gen I, you can only thaw out if a Fire-type attack hits you. As for activity, this ladder is about as active as Gen III's, but the quality of the players on the ladder is a lot worse. This is mainly because half of the people on the ladder are using either Red's team, Gary's team, or their own in-game teams. I would like to note that the Gen I ladder is pretty much bug-free now, but at the time of rough drafting this article, it had quite the amount of glitches and incorrect mechanics.

Conclusion

Overall, the past gen ladders are pretty fun, active, and worth the wait. The players aren't as bad as some people think they are (barring Gen I's). If you're looking to play an older gen, grab a team and head over to Showdown!'s ladder.

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