Pokemon’s AI is Weirder Than You Think

[@jacksaunders386]

Holy that’s such a bizarre AI. It’s super cool that you found this out.

[@cobracommander7]

I literally googled this for my nuzlocke this morning and found nothing and then this video released. I think I might be living in a simulation.

[@Drxxyt]

Haha perfect timing

[@Moxi]

Appreciate you and the boys theorycrafting this out. Will def be keeping this in my pocket when Platinum Kaizo drops

[@Drxxyt]

Thanks Mox!

[@johannessguten2527]

There is platinum pro which is platinum kaizo in nature

[@theSato]

It's not even theorycrafting, it was discovery by testing!

[@SkylarSnowsong]

as one of the plat kaizo devs, we're keeping this in our pocket too, don't worry

[@sheephonkhonk]

the doc singlehandedly taking me from babycore- to babycore+ with these 5head plays

[@thebestworst8002]

I feel like sinister hooded figure is taking a lot of notes

[@g_hyperstar3609]

This is really helpful! Good thing this also came before Platinum Kaizo since I wouldn't want to even imagine how much problematic it'd be if we couldn't predict switches like in Emerald Kaizo

[@Drxxyt]

Absolutely!

[@Buhrito1]

great video drew, keep growing for me

[@asdfsdfsdf5114]

Was literally in the process of doing this myself when this video dropped lmao. Excellent work, you have saved many people many hours.

[@Drxxyt]

Thanks!

[@Father_Bohawk]

Appreciate this video. Running Storm Silver myself and this actually likely saved one of my Mons because it helps me figure out what these crazy gym leaders be thinking

[@owry3144]

This is good to figure out ahead of platinum kaizo's release

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

Very helpful video. Thanks so much for making it. I've been trying to get better at Gen4 lately and understanding the AI really helps.

[@joshuavarughese6701]

really informative video, I recently tried hardcore nuzlocking pokemon storm silver, I reached till Bugsy on my attempt 1 and wiped to him because the switch in AI was weird and got crit on my only scyther counter.. this video helps to understand the weird AI and navigate through it so thanks

[@ixaVerse]

"maybe the ai will be dumb this turn"

[@bluskies3554]

I was seriously wondering about this for a while now, I've been hc nuzlocking sacred gold and it just seemed really odd the ways the AI switched in.

[@grunkleg.2934]

This is gonna be incredibly vital once Plat Kaizo comes out. Maybe test this in base Platinum just to see if this is a Ren Plat glitch or not?

[@Drxxyt]

100%. no clue if its just a renplat thing

[@Theozagem]

Glad you guys figured it out. Happy to be mentioned in your video Drxx! Big Fan.

[@clemsontigerfan2679]

Started watching your vids after flygonhg talked about you in his renegade platinum video. Glad I checked you out. Great content keep it up. Also whats the next video and/or nuzlocke vid coming up? Also quick question what software shows you what mon will switch in and where/how do you find it. Just downloaded pkhex today after watching your vid and pretty new to damage calcs and that stuff

[@Drxxyt]

Thanks! Go tigers and I’m working on my Blaze Black Deathless Nuzlocke video next. Should be out in a week or two. And funny enough there isn’t any software to show you what comes in next besides gen 3 there’s a tool made by the emerald kaizo community.

[@clemsontigerfan2679]

@@Drxxyt ayy are you a clemson fan too!? And preciate it man

[@shoto_9]

Yet another phenomenal informative video. Keep em coming my bro🙏🏼

[@Drxxyt]

Thanks Shoto!

[@catsuneniku]

Thank you SO much omg, can I reference this in my Renplat discussion video?

[@Drxxyt]

Absolutely!

[@catsuneniku]

@@Drxxyt thank you omgggg the switch in AI has fucking TORMENTED me for m o n t h s

[@wynought]

Yo Drew, you're starting to pop off! Congrats, man, keep it up!

[@llamason7044]

Currently doing my second nuzlocke being a hardcore nuzlocke of platinum, and I am soon going to be at Cyrus 3, and I asked some people if they thought I could do the entire run deathless up to that point. Now that may actually be a reality.

[@sealette4888]

I was just planning on starting a hc nuzlocke of RenPlat without using super effective moves, this video is lowkey clutch. Thanks Dr Sex

[@sagacious03]

Great analysis video! Thanks for uploading & bringing this up to light! Also, hopefully the version you used doesn't mean the AI is different....

[@CCBat2201]

Pokemon Diamond Kaizo would be hell on earth if it's always random moves

[@Drxxyt]

Oh god lmao

[@pabloruizortega94]

Wow. This is insane. You guys are the GOATs.

[@Drxxyt]

Thanks!

[@Bryanfuel0]

The source code for a early version of gen 4 was leaked. I wonder if we can just look at the source and verify it in a concrete way

[@Drxxyt]

Ya interesting though

[@typhlosion7872]

can't wait to see the Beast Coast deathless race, except it's in White 2 Kaizo, one of the most notoriously terribly designed hacks of all time

[@niklouder9444]

Very interesting Video! Nicely explained :D Pls keep doing videos like this!

[@Drxxyt]

For sure!

[@neb6705]

If anyone's interested I've written some code and developed a very basic program that will rank the order that the AI will send out each Pokemon if it's assumed they all have SE moves. I've even incorporated the bug that affects 8x effective pokemon by assigning them a value between 1.5x and 2x which will rank them as the AI (incorrectly) would.

[@loganlaslo2098]

Just tested it out on Falkner and Bugsy for both Soul Silver and Storm Silver, the AI works as predicted. Though, the AI does awkward switches when put to sleep in both Soul Silver (utilizing HootHoot's hypnosis) and Storm Silver (using Butterfree's Sleep Powder). I'm assuming there is another modifier in there for like a conditional phase 3 when regarding status moves? Maybe it also includes more than status moves like accuracy checks, Screens, etc.?

[@empath3t1c]

another informative video from dr. Xx. Very cool

[@Drxxyt]

That’s what I’m here for

[@tabbender1232]

DP ai isn’t actually fully random, it just doesn’t take its attacking moves’ power into account, basically as if they were all OHKO moves. So its status move logic is normal and it won’t use moves you’re immune to, but if it decides to attack you it will hit you with any offensive move that can hit you, at random. This is due to a commented out piece of code that is present in the gigaleaks. Oddly enough the same commented out piece of code is also present in Platinum, despite Platinum not having this bug, so I’m not sure how they went about fixing it but they probably added this check elsewhere.

[@Epsilonsama]

Gen 4 aparently has a difficulty rating that goes from 0 to 255 with Gym Leaders having a 100+ difficulty.

[@danielvandam]

How cool is it that we already have people programming ai in ROM hacks to be able to perform like they do in these games, can only wonder what the possibilities will be in the future. With the right input - they could be nearly unbeatable and studied for Smogon tournaments as in chess. Thank you for the informative content sir👏🏻

[@Kaito_TV]

Can't wait to see how the AI will behave in platinum kaizo

[@spindash64]

Alright, so in theory, that means that using a Typhlosion against Red in HGSS, regardless of weather, will go Pikachu->Blastoise (Hydro Cannon, despite his AI being afraid to click it)->Lapras (Brine, only move remaining that scores SE on Typhlosion)->Snorlax (Giga Impact)->Venusaur (Sludge Bomb)->Charizard? If so, that should give Typhlosion a strangely good matchup against Red’s team, when considering he has 3 Pokémon resistant to Fire, and 2 with STAB Water attacks.

[@epicbrucey]

Awesome work by all of you

[@shampagen5666]

This is insane and really informative. The whole community is gonna really appreciate this theory crafting work. Thank you!

[@Drxxyt]

Absolutely! Couldn’t do it without the guys who helped me out

[@guedesbrawl]

I see a note about Levitate around the 4 minute mark. Was that the only type-affecting ability you guys tested? Cuz there's stuff like Water Absorb, Thick Fat, Heatproof... and Dry Skin (which apparently the AI doesn't recognize so probably wouldn't be factored) I did confirm just now out of curiosity that they factor Levitate indeed, on Lucas 3 I killed his Alakazam with Metagross, which brings Mamoswine, but Bronzong brings Grumbul (cuz Crunch).

[@dvldgz6306]

This is quality content. Now if only I'd nuzlock a game other than FRLG

[@Akiak7]

what a mess

[@gadgets__]

When catan trade ai video

[@Drxxyt]

CAPRISUNPAPI5HEADBUHRITWHOLSOMEDRXXCALC

[@Yetsboy]

So status moves as will-o-wisp still are seen as a super effective move against grass types, for instance?

[@Drxxyt]

Correct

[@crimsonflame533]

idk if you'll see this but just to confirm when you say it takes stab in to effect in phase 2 do you mean the dead pokemons stab or a different pokemons. for example in the cyrus fight in base platinum he starts with a houndoom if i kill this houndoom with a gastrodon would it count the houndooms stab for the honchcrows heat wave? (although even if it did the ai I believe would switch in gyarados as it has giga impact which deals more damage anyway this mainly just for future reference)

[@mitsu61]

Only those who quite loves pokemon will cost time to research AI Switch

[@hgblow9836]

Wtf why did they make it so complicated

[@Drxxyt]

No clue LMAO

[@MathieuGuimondMorganti]

I can't imagine how much effort it would take to test this through trial and error. I wonder if it would've been faster to use a debugger and set up some breakpoints, or maybe disassemble the ROM using Ghidra or something.

[@Bryanfuel0]

The source code for an early version of gen 4 was also leaked.

[@jtpilfered7391]

easyore-

[@codyromrell6897]

Bro this is fascinating.

[@ShinyTillDawn]

I thought the AI prefered Pokémon with worse type matchups like it did in gen 3.

[@noahmelt22]

Gamefreak weed went crazy in 2009

[@kylemckell]

That's so odd. What about double battles? Since the 12v12 is arguably the largest roadblock I'd imagine it'd be necessary, but really hard, to figure out

[@Drxxyt]

It’s mostly the same for doubles just chooses randomly between your 2 pokemon

[@kylemckell]

@@Drxxyt ah, that makes sense. Annoying.

[@K0DA._.]

What about AI for if the Pokemon can't hit you? Like, I switch in a Ghost type in place of a Flying type, after a Normal-type came in to attack with a Normal-type move. Since the Normal-Type move obviously missed the Ghost-type, would the Normal-Type be forced to recalculate and then switch?

[@randomname285]

Nice work

[@deluxequity8858]

This video is fantastic!! I do have a question though, in Phase 2 when the AI is calculating the highest damaging move, does it also incorporate STAB? And if it does, is the Pokemon being used to calculate the STAB the dead Pokemon or the Pokemon who owns that move?

[@andreee_obn6261]

Hey Drxx! I just came up with a question in a Discord yesterday and was wondering if I misunderstood something (which could very well be as I'm not a native speaker lol). The scenario: The guy who asked the question had a Phanpy as his lead against Roark's Nosepass in RenPlat and killed it. We thought that the order in which it brings out Pokémon would be: Geodude -> Onix -> Larvitar -> Bonsly -> Cranidos, because Geodude, Onix and Larvitar all had Resist + Neutral as offensive typings against Phanpy while Bonsly and Cranidos had Resist + Resist as their offensive typings. After killing the Nosepass, the AI did send out Cranidos first and Bonsly second, which does not make sense according to how we understand what you found out. Do you have any idea why the AI did this? e:/ I think i just found out why this was the case. Was it because the AI didn't see any more super effective move with Roark's entire team, so it basically calced Zen Headbutt from Cranidos as the most damaging move and after Cranidos died Brick Break from Bonsly as the most damaging move? So this entire type chart only works if there are super effective moves left in the AI's team and if there aren't any, the AI immediatly jumps to Phase 2?

[@bronze81]

great video 😄

[@nfpplay3518]

i have a question: i was playing Renegade Platinum and in the Barry fight in Pastoria i had my electivire out killed the snorlax and i thought that it would switch to arcanine seeing that outrage is the most damage with snorlax stats and because no other pokemon has super efective moves. But it switched to empoleon. how do you explain that? thank you in advance

[@Drxxyt]

if your stats dropped it couldve been random. phase 2 is also just whacky

[@nfpplay3518]

@@Drxxyt i think the ai only see the types of the move not if they do damage so it saw agility as a SE move on electivire and that's why it baited empoleon

[@dystopia4435]

Sick stuff

[@williamserrander3309]

Dude I would love to see you try Pokémon Reborn. I’m new to the channel so idk if you have got this request before

[@Drxxyt]

I’ll look into it!

[@mrdricy591]

Hey, do you know if ai's equipped items that buff the power of their super-effective moves influence priority of which pokemon is switched in? For example, in Renplat, I have a roselia that has just KO'd Roark's leading nosepass. Geodude (has fire punch with bp75) and Cranidos (has zen headbuttt with bp80) are the only ones with super-effective moves. I would've thought ai would switch into crandios due to zen headbutt's 5 extra bp over fire punch, but ai chooses to switch in geodude instead. In particular, geodude has an expert belt buffing the damage potential of fire punch on roselia. Is this why the ai chose to switch in geodude over cranidos?

[@snarbo1220]

They both have a super effective move and get the same type advantage points, so geodude is sent out due to it being in front of cranidos in the team order. The BP doesn't matter in this case, it would if the Pokémon didn't have super effective moves and the phase 2 selecting begins (referring to the video)

[@ilianplompen9975]

@Drxx So if in my Sacred Gold Nuzlocke I have my Gyarados out against Morty it then sees Misdreavus (ghost/ghost + Power Gem) in the same tier as Gengar (Ghost/Poison + Tbolt) and thus sends in Misdreavus first because of team order? This is at least how it happened, so I guess that is the reasoning behind it, right?

[@Drxxyt]

Yea if the type matchup is the same score, both have an SE move then it goes in order

[@ilianplompen9975]

​@@Drxxyt I still have a question on the second part: what if multiple "Assist" moves do not KO and do same damage? So with Spiritomb on Maylene, after KOing Medicham, it would be TPunch, Ice Punch or FPunch doing most damage. Is it then just in order (so Machamp) or Infernape, because it has stab and Life Orb on Fpunch damage?

[@willscheib6098]

This video is super old but if anyone comes across this comment I’d love some help. Does Rivalry affect the switch in AI? Here’s my situation: I killed Volkner’s Jolteon with Hippowdon EQ. Hippowdon is female and at 87% health. The only pokemon in Volkner’s party with a super effective move against solo ground is Luxray with Ice Fang. Luxray is male. But Raichu came out for some reason to use Focus Blast. Any thoughts on why this might have happened?

[@martsnack]

I know why. In your situation the AI actually assigns a score of 0 to all the pokemon in phase 1 because all of Volkner's pokemon are mono electric. This causes the AI to skip over the super effective check. I can explain why if you want but it is an oversight in the code. So instead volkner enters phase 2 and calculates that focus blast will do more damage than all other moves.

[@willscheib6098]

@@martsnack that’s super weird

[@KairosTho]

love the content, please get a pop filter for your plosives

[@nathaniellim6135]

very cool

[@croden6765]

Does the DiamondPearl move ai thing translate to platinum? Is it actually just random?

[@Drxxyt]

Not exactly sure I don’t think it’s random in platinum

[@tabbender1232]

It’s only the offensive moves that are picked at random, and it won’t use moves that can’t hit you. And no in Platinum they always use the highest damage output move

[@JoetadXD]

2:27 yo where can i get that rom editor

[@Puhdull]

DSPRE reloaded

[@loganlaslo2098]

Does this same AI work for different Gen 4 games like Heart Gold and Soul Silver with their respective romhacks?

[@Drxxyt]

@@loganlaslo2098 Yes the switch in ai in this video is the same for all gen 4 games. I’m unaware of any rom hack tools that could edit this nor any hacks that have edited how the switch in ai works

[@loganlaslo2098]

@@Drxxyt Currently doing Storm Silver hardcore nuzlocke so wanted to see if I could use this same AI system. Mannat recently made documentation on Move Selection AI for Gen 4 so hopefully, if this statement is true then that documentation would work as well since it was addressed to Renegade Platinum/Platinum. Which I believe is because Platinum Kaizo is coming soon.

[@MrPatrickbuit]

I just don’t understand why they coded it this way. It’s complex, but doesn’t actually help the AI much.

[@tabbender1232]

It’s game freak