Welcome to the NEW Pokemon Platinum/HGSS Battle Frontier and Diamond/Pearl Battle Tower discussion thread! With the previous threads locked away in Greatest Hits, the purpose of this thread is to provide a new hub for people to discuss and declare records for the various facilities of the 4th Generation Pokemon games.
Want to chat about the Gen IV Battle Frontier? Visit the Battle Tree Discord Server: https://discord.gg/QrsE2ep (courtesy of turskain)
General Tips and Leaderboard Requirements
- All of the regular Smogon and Orange Islands rules apply.
- Feel free to discuss just about anything about the teams and strategies you use, the enemy Pokemon and move-sets you encounter, any interesting AI behaviours you have noted, and your streak successes and failures. Theorymoning is encouraged as well. Free form discussion is really helpful, so don't be shy, even if you're posting about a very early loss or a poorly optimized team.
- The following minimum win streak requirements have been set to qualify for inclusion of any NEW streaks:
- Battle Tower:
- Single and Double Battle modes of Battle Tower (all versions) - 100 wins
- Multi modes - 49 wins
- Battle Factory (all modes and levels) - 28 wins
- Battle Hall (all modes) - 170 wins
- Battle Castle (all modes) - 49 wins
- Battle Arcade (all modes) - 49 wins
- These are subject to change. I have not set minimum requirements for "dead"/niche formats at this time (Wi-Fi, Tower speed-runs, etc).
- Battle Tower:
- To submit a streak, please state the length of your streak (this will be the number of consecutive wins in most cases), the method of play (retail vs. emulator) and the facility/mode in which you achieved the streak. Also include details of your team. If possible, it would be useful to include a screenshot displaying your win streak and/or a recording of your losing battle. However, the best proof you can provide for a streak is simply to demonstrate your knowledge of the game and how your team works: discuss your team, including your team building process, general strategies, and known threats and how you play against them. War-stories are also a great thing to include in a write-up if you have any interesting battles and/or close calls from your streak you want to share.
- Records on emulators are eligible as well as any Pokemon obtained from an emulator. Records on emulator will be marked differently so that other interested parties wanting to replicate a leaderboard team can recognize the differences at which each team can be played. Due to how easy it is to cheat streaks on emulator, having concrete proof such as recorded videos or detailed write-ups is heavily encouraged. I reserve myself the right to ask for any additional recorded footage if I do not trust your streak enough in order to add it as leaderboard material.
- Streaks must be done on legitimate copies of the game. Emulator streaks must be done on unedited ROMs without any patches. Bootlegs, ROM-hacks or fan-translations will not be allowed.
- The various facility threads rely on a system of trust. As such, I ask that you don't give into any temptations you may have to cheat just to get on a leaderboard. It should go without saying that backing up your save files and the like to artificially extend your streak is not allowed. I reserve the right to exclude any streaks deemed to be suspicious.
- Update (Dec 2022) - most hacked and "illegitimate" Pokemon are now permitted as along as the sets themselves are perfectly legal and can be obtained legitimately on cart. Further details are below:
atsync said:Announcement: with these new streaks that have been posted since my last update, I have felt the need to reconsider some of the rules in place for streaks to be eligible for listing in the first post. I have tentatively decided to relax the rule banning streaks that utilize "legal" hacks. If the Pokemon you are using has a completely legal move set, it meets the criteria to be listed here - the origin of said Pokemon need no longer be a concern.
For the sake of clarity, things that are eligible include:
The ONLY exception I have to this at the moment is regarding the 3rd gen Wish Egg event that gave players access to Wish Chansey, Farfetch'd, Drowzee, Exeggcute, Lickitung and Kangaskhan. The main purpose of this rule change is to subvert the tediousness of obtaining things that are realistically obtainable within the games. The Wish Egg event was an obscure event that ran for a few weeks in 2005 - flawless and "optimally-natured" variants of these Pokemon don't exist as far as I know, so I don't think allowing hacked variants of these things is appropriate given that they are literally only obtainable through illegitimate means, even if they are technically "legal". This might seem a bit arbitrary but I don't think it's all that big of a deal since it only affect access to a small group of Pokemon that I doubt would be tearing up facility play anyway.
- Hacked Pokemon with completely legal move sets (Pkhex, etc.)
- Note that this includes legal PID/IV combinations. For those unaware, due to the way that the RNG works in 3rd and 4th gen, there are certain combinations of natures/genders/abilities/etc. and IVs that can never be generated in-game on wild Pokemon. This is irrelevant for breed-able Pokemon, but for Pokemon that can only be caught in the wild (e.g. legendaries), there are certain PID/IV combinations that they are unable to use. It is ultimately your responsibility to ensure that your Pokemon have legal PID/IV combos when submitting streaks.
- Pokemon sourced from emulators and transferred to your cartridge
- Pokemon historically sourced from the now defunct Pokecheck
- Pokemon sourced from Wi-Fi events that are "officially" closed but are now re-accessible from Alt Wi-Fi, etc. (e.g. shiny roamers, Eruption Heatran)
- Pokemon obtained with glitches, or with move sets constructed with glitches (e.g. 4th gen Rage glitch, Glitzer Popping)
In terms of legality, I only really care about battle-based things - I'm not going to scrutinize dumb stuff like place of capture or whatever. Otherwise, it is your responsibility to ensure that the Pokemon you use have completely legal move sets, and I reserve the right to reject streaks on this basis.
Finally, I want to make it clear that this should not be taken as an invitation to ask for help with hacking. Under no circumstances should you be using this thread for asking for links to hacking tools, ROMs, emulators, etc.
Useful Resources
Archived Battle Tower / Frontier Discussion and Records
The original Diamond & Pearl Battle Tower Records Topic
Platinum/HGSS Battle Tower/Castle/Arcade/Factory Pokemon Sets
Platinum/HGSS Battle Hall Pokemon Sets (sorted by typing and ranking)
Platinum/HGSS Battle Hall IV Information
Platinum/HGSS Battle Tower/Castle/Arcade Trainer Archetypes
Platinum/HGSS Battle Tower/Castle/Arcade/Factory Post-Battle 49 Speed Tiers
Platinum/HGSS Battle Hall Speed Tiers
Platinum/HGSS Battle Castle CP Mechanics
Platinum/HGSS Battle Factory Trainer Tiers (includes which Pokemon sets they use and their IVs)
Platinum/HGSS Battle Factory Open Level Swapping Mechanics
Additional Platinum/HGSS Battle Factory Mechanics
HeadsILoseTailsYouWin's Battle Factory Level 50 Strategy Guide (part 1 and part 2)
magpie ai's Battle Factory Guide (part 1, part 2 and part 3)
QuentinQuonce's guide to Battle Tower Multis with in-game partners
Level 51's Gen IV Frontier Informant - use this during battles in the Tower to determine possible sets used by trainers in real time, also includes a list of all Pokemon sets used by trainers after 49 wins.
Turskain's Frontier Resources - basically includes most of the information in the links above in one place
Diamond/Pearl Battle Tower Pokemon Sets (NOTE: NATURES ARE RANDOM)
Diamond/Pearl Battle Tower Trainer Archetypes
Diamond/Pearl Battle Tower Speed Tiers
On-Site guide to the Diamond/Pearl Battle Tower
Damage calculator (with all facility sets from generations 3-7 pre-loaded)
(Note: the calculator's pre-loaded sets default to level 50 and 31 IVs, but there is a way to override both of these to avoid having to manually change level/IVs every time you select a new set. To override level, type the desired level into the box above the Singles/Doubles toggle at the top of the field section. To override IVs, type the desired IV value into the IV Tier box located under the Type/Gender/Level section of the Pokemon. These overrides are most useful for the Battle Hall where the levels and IVs of opponents are usually different from other facilities.)
Discussion Threads for Other Generations
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl Battle Tower Discussion & Records
Pokemon Sword/Shield Battle Tower Discussion & Records
Battle Tree Discussion and Records
Battle Maison Discussion and Records
Battle Subway Discussion and Records
Gen III Battle Frontier Discussion and Records
Crystal Battle Tower Discussion
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