Rather than strictly adhere to the flawed tournament rules of the time, today we play with modified rules, with Best of 3, Team Preview or even Open Team Sheet.
Battle Rules
- Double Battles
- Level 50 (or under)
- Species Clause, Item Clause, Self-KO Clause
- Soul Dew item is banned
- Bring 6 Choose 4, Best of 3
- All teams have an item list, any item can be switched between games (for example Game 1 Metagross can hold Lum Berry, then Game 2 Metagross can switch to Choice Scarf)
Pokemon Restrictions
- 2009: Mewtwo, Mew, Tyranitar, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Celebi, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Jirachi, Deoxys, Rotom, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Phione, Manaphy, Darkrai, Shaymin and Arceus are not eligible
- 2010: Mew, Celebi, Jirachi, Deoxys, Phione, Manaphy, Darkrai, Shaymin and Arceus are not eligible
- Mewtwo, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina limited to up to 4 per team and up to 2 per game
- Steel resists Ghost and Dark
- Explosion and Self-destruct cut the targets' Defence stats by half
- Grass types are affected by powders, Electric types can be paralyzed
- Protect has a ½ then ¼, ⅛ etc chance of working in succession
- Critical Hits do 2x Damage and occur 1/16 times
- Move order is determined at the beginning of the turn and Speed is not updated until the end of the turn
- Damage is calculated one target at a time, so Spread Damage moves like Rock Slide or Earthquake can do single target damage if they KO the faster target(s). Additionally, Explosion and Self-destruct deal single target damage for the last two targets. (NB: This mechanic is currently a bug on showdown so at time of writing this is only applicable to cartridge play)
- Sleep Status lasts 1-5 turns
- Fake Out has lower priority (+1) than Follow Me (+3)
- Weather summoned by Abilities is permanent
- Feint has higher BP (50) but only attacks if the target uses Protect/Detect
- Mental Herb does not cure the holder of Disable, Encore, Heal Block, Taunt, or Torment, only Infatuation
- Tailwind lasts 3, not 4, turns
- Taunt lasts 3-5 turns, Disable has 80% accuracy and lasts 4-7 turns, Encore lasts 4-8 turns and has random targeting (like Outrage)
- A Pokemon holding Life Orb does not take recoil if its attack hits a Substitute
- Various moves have different BP
- Hydro Pump, Blizzard, Fire Blast and Thunder have 120, not 110, BP
- Draco Meteor, Overheat and Leaf Storm, have 140, not 130, BP
- Flamethrower, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt and Muddy Water have 95, not 90, BP
- Dark Void has 80%, not 50%, Accuracy and can be sketched by Smeargle
- Hidden Power has a maximum of 70, not 60, BP
- Knock Off has 20, not 65, BP
- Heat Wave has 100, not 95, BP
- Dragon Pulse has 90, not 85, BP
- Aura Sphere has 90, not 80 BP
- Energy Ball has 80, not 90, BP
- Meteor Mash has 100 BP and 85% Accuracy, not 90 BP and 90% Accuracy
- Will-O-Wisp has 75%, not 85%, Accuracy
- In DP & PBR only, Hypnosis has 70%, not 60%, Accuracy
History
The origins of the modern Pokemon Video Game Championship circuit reside in the 4th generation of games. Using rules that would be mostly recognisable to modern VGC players, World Championships took place in ‘08, ‘09 and ‘10 for the first time for the Video Game since 2000.
The story of the 2008 World Championships begins in 2007, with a series of 6 Regional Championships held in Japan on the new Diamond/Pearl games, the winners of which attended a National Championship where Izuru “MOLF” Yoshimura was crowned victor seen here, using his distinctive strategy of L1
Trick Room Hypnosis 
lead and Belly Drum 
paired with Psych Up 
in the back.
In 2008, two regionals were held in the US, with the most successful players taking a great deal of inspiration from the mature Japanese metagame. In Orlando, 32 American and 32 Japanese players faced off in the Video Game Showdown, with now famous names such as Aaron Zheng and Ray Rizzo in attendance. In the Seniors division Japan dominated, MOLF repeated his victory undefeated with the same team. In the Juniors division Knight Silvayne managed to win with unusual picks like
.
After the success of this first trial year, TPC decided to expand the World Championship to Europe and increased the quantity of events in both America and Japan. Japan had an astonishing 47 regionals, at least one in each Prefecture, with the top performers attending a National championship once again. This year Takahiro Akai won with an unusual Rain team.
In the states there were 6 regionals, which suffered from massive amounts of oversubscription and limited venue sizes, leading to a lottery system of entry which at some events denied the majority of prospective competitors who went to the effort of showing up. Nonetheless these regionals were followed by a US national championship, where Mike Suleski was crowned the first US National Champion, defeating his friend and travel buddy seen here. In Europe there were three National Championships in the UK, Germany and France to the great disappointment of the sizable Spanish competitive community, who had to settle with a chaotically organised regional with bizarre rules (3v3 Doubles).
After the National Championships had concluded, the top performers in each region were invited to attend the 2009 Pokemon World Championships in San Diego. At this event Kazuyuki Tsuji piloted a creative team composed of
to an undefeated run, winning in a finals that featured such opposing pokemon as 
and 
which have been seldom seen before or since, seen here.
For the 2010 circuit, TPC decided to keep things mostly the same, except they made a major change to the rules, allowing up to 2 ‘Restricted’ Legendary Pokemon to be used per game. In Japan Ryo Tajiri came out on top with a team utilising the brand new
event which learns the moves Sheer Cold and Extreme Speed. In America, Wesley Morioka brought a 
to victory 4 years early in an event that experienced a surge of unique defensive teams, featuring high 
usage. Europe saw an additional Spanish National, where Mario Diaz de Cerio Beltran won with 
on his team, although it was never used in the tournament.
At Worlds 2010 in Hawaii, Ray Rizzo won his first of three World Championships in a thrilling run that is well documented by his worlds war story against tough competition, with a top cut featuring Huy Ha bringing
, the 2004 Japan National Champion and a fierce finals opponent who came very close to bringing the World title to Japan for a third consecutive year.
The story of the 2008 World Championships begins in 2007, with a series of 6 Regional Championships held in Japan on the new Diamond/Pearl games, the winners of which attended a National Championship where Izuru “MOLF” Yoshimura was crowned victor seen here, using his distinctive strategy of L1
Trick Room Hypnosis lead and Belly Drum paired with Psych Up in the back.In 2008, two regionals were held in the US, with the most successful players taking a great deal of inspiration from the mature Japanese metagame. In Orlando, 32 American and 32 Japanese players faced off in the Video Game Showdown, with now famous names such as Aaron Zheng and Ray Rizzo in attendance. In the Seniors division Japan dominated, MOLF repeated his victory undefeated with the same team. In the Juniors division Knight Silvayne managed to win with unusual picks like
.After the success of this first trial year, TPC decided to expand the World Championship to Europe and increased the quantity of events in both America and Japan. Japan had an astonishing 47 regionals, at least one in each Prefecture, with the top performers attending a National championship once again. This year Takahiro Akai won with an unusual Rain team.
In the states there were 6 regionals, which suffered from massive amounts of oversubscription and limited venue sizes, leading to a lottery system of entry which at some events denied the majority of prospective competitors who went to the effort of showing up. Nonetheless these regionals were followed by a US national championship, where Mike Suleski was crowned the first US National Champion, defeating his friend and travel buddy seen here. In Europe there were three National Championships in the UK, Germany and France to the great disappointment of the sizable Spanish competitive community, who had to settle with a chaotically organised regional with bizarre rules (3v3 Doubles).
After the National Championships had concluded, the top performers in each region were invited to attend the 2009 Pokemon World Championships in San Diego. At this event Kazuyuki Tsuji piloted a creative team composed of
to an undefeated run, winning in a finals that featured such opposing pokemon as and which have been seldom seen before or since, seen here.For the 2010 circuit, TPC decided to keep things mostly the same, except they made a major change to the rules, allowing up to 2 ‘Restricted’ Legendary Pokemon to be used per game. In Japan Ryo Tajiri came out on top with a team utilising the brand new
event which learns the moves Sheer Cold and Extreme Speed. In America, Wesley Morioka brought a to victory 4 years early in an event that experienced a surge of unique defensive teams, featuring high usage. Europe saw an additional Spanish National, where Mario Diaz de Cerio Beltran won with on his team, although it was never used in the tournament.At Worlds 2010 in Hawaii, Ray Rizzo won his first of three World Championships in a thrilling run that is well documented by his worlds war story against tough competition, with a top cut featuring Huy Ha bringing
, the 2004 Japan National Champion and a fierce finals opponent who came very close to bringing the World title to Japan for a third consecutive year.Resources
- Gen 4/5 VGC Discord: https://discord.gg/bvj553yAdJ
- Gen 3 VGC (Orre): https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/orre-colosseum-now-playable.3698894/
- Poké Classic Network DNS for online cartridge battles: 178.62.43.212
Last edited:
Gyarados
Swampert
Heatran
Rhyperior
Scizor
Clefable
Heracross
Giratina
Giratina-O
Ho-Oh
Rayquaza
Lugia
Tyranitar
Latias
Rotom-A
