Soft Lock Picking: It Could Take Over 179 Years to Escape With Chansey

[@jokebiscool1910]

I really love your newer, more sadistic take on this series. As fun as it is to see truly impossible scenarios, it's even more fun to see scenarios that aren't impossible, but just really, really, really inconvenient to get out of.

[@nsp6590]

@Something came down Nice comment history. I'm definitely extremely tempted to click on the link you have provided there. I have no doubt that it doesn't lead to any malware or anything.

[@rhymebeat1142]

Pikasprey is designing Saw traps for Pokemon.

[@Kurumisama]

The irony is that, since none of the rods are mandatory, it can be a true softlock if you don't pick it

[@Xesmuclana]

@@rhymebeat1142 I would like to play a game.... of Pokemon

[@Nepgdamn]

"you'll need to save one tile away from the lady at the counter" unbeatable, but way mot infuriating and sadistic :p

[@newtybot]

You hand the game to your friend, tell him he has to escape He comes back next week with all 8 badges, having beaten the elite 4 and champion You’re astounded, you ask him how he did it He tells you he deleted your save

[@cakeisyummy5755]

@𝘿!𝙘𝙠 Riding ǤƗяℓ Sophia Begone, bot.

[@RGC_animation]

"Hmm? What's that? A dead body next to me? I don't see it, wdym?"

[@Gamesmarts194]

I've always wondered if there was a way to mod the game to where it refuses to let you delete your save file unless you fulfil certain requirements. Like in this game, having an NPC unlock the ability to delete your save when you show him a Magikarp or Gyarados.

[@alkaupadhyay7650]

@@Gamesmarts194 Very likely. I recommend you to check the pokemon rom hacks sub for that. I mean the save can display any information on main menu with a bit of modifications.

[@IT-kone]

@@alkaupadhyay7650 It absolutely should display a textbox akin to HAL from Space Odyssey 2001 "I'm afraid I can't do that [trainer name]." if you try to delete the save. For the extra creeps. :P

[@trumpeterjen]

Pikasprey: "This woman at the counter is the NPC that handles the Pokemon Lottery corner." Me, already accustomed to his shenanigans: "OH NO"

[@AlexSmashX3]

She has become the bearer of your fate.

[@IMacSports75]

Me: "Who consciously saw him standing in front of her before he even went back to Pacifilog town" Pikasprey: "The Woman at the country is the NPC that handles the Pokemon Lottery corner" Me: Σ:0 (Surprised Pikachu Face)

[@solgaleo3533]

I actually won a master ball for the first time recently on Shield

[@logicalwren8061]

@@solgaleo3533 based

[@trumpeterjen]

@@solgaleo3533 I don't know how good the odds are in SwSh, but the lottery in Join Avenue in B2W2 has an absurdly high chance of giving you a Master Ball. I somehow got three of them, and I didn't even check every day.

[@chaosvolt]

If a softlock takes longer to escape than the time in which a physical cartridge is likely to remain function, Pikasprey wins.

[@Carnidoom]

Tbh start new game faster and you get to enjoy the adventure

[@asdasd-ty9se]

Cartridge, physical?

[@chaosvolt]

@@asdasd-ty9seYou know, those things these games used to be played on? :V

[@KopperNeoman]

​@@chaosvoltMy physical cartridge comes with an SD slot though, so I'll just replace it. 😂

[@MJD-lf2mb]

​@KopperNeoman that does not sound like a first party copy of the game but then again, what is Nintendo gonna do about it

[@chuckmorris5886]

Not only is this extremely diabolic by itself, but it also makes you waste a master ball on a random fishing pokémon. Truly evil. I like it.

[@novellamingtonvods8305]

You know it’s good when it all starts in Pacifidlog Town

[@b1acksteve]

We really need to destroy that town. It only brings pain.

[@butteredsalmonella]

@Thx ❤ With all due respect. Please stop and go outside. This is getting annoying.

[@Tuskin38]

@@butteredsalmonella it’s spam bot

[@butteredsalmonella]

@@Tuskin38 Yeah. This bot just wouldn't shut up about its links and whatnot.

[@zidenc8273]

@@butteredsalmonella mate it's not gonna read your response. its a bot.

[@nineflames2863]

Fun fact: It actually _is_ possible to soft reset for the lottery (and mirage island) in gen 3. As long as you haven't saved your game that day, each soft reset generates a new number, so at that point it would basically be like resetting for a shiny with 8 times worse odds. It's still a pretty bad softlock, sure, but it won't take decades or centuries to resolve; you could probably do it in a day or two if you hate yourself lol.

[@handman8941]

Estimating the each soft reset would take a minute because I don't want to test it out, it would take roughly 45 days. Using an actual number like 20s would bring it down.

[@ToaderTheToad]

By the way, if you didn't know about the soft reset feature, then the Game Boy Advance intro alone (Assuming you're on real hardware and it took 65535 tries) would culminate to about 262,140 seconds, or a little over _3 days._

[@deeplyshalllow8967]

I just wrote a long comment saying the same thing, though you explained this much better. I remember doing this all the time as a kid!

[@sonters]

Isn't the soft reset broken in Gen 3 tho? Or is that only for SR'ing for shiny starters?

[@chemicalchameleon3469]

@@sonters It's not necessarily the SR'ing that's broken, there's something about the three Hoenn games that calculates shinies differently. It's got something to do with you trainer ID so that's why hunters reset the whole game after a certain amount of soft resets. Something real weird like that

[@cytofusion6072]

I randomly won the Master Ball on my cartridge years ago without realizing it was the grand prize. And I was disappointed because I was hoping for a decoration for my secret base. I never traded so it’s crazy to learn this was the odds.

[@cytofusion6072]

@@camthesaxman3387 it checks the trainer ID of every Pokémon. Meaning if you never trade, they all have the same ID; yours.

[@solgaleo3533]

I just got it this summer. My PC is nearly full though…

[@MrBrendanRizzo]

If only you had set up the softlock before getting it...

[@tomtucker9426]

Lmfaoooo bro i forgot bout emeralds secret base, you had to use secret power on like a bush or a rock or somw shit right?

[@cytofusion6072]

@@tomtucker9426 yeah. I always made mine in the tree on the little island under the bike bridge.

[@GLASBE]

Next time: "My name is Pikasprey, and today we are catching two identical shiny Spinda to escape a softlock".

[@norasstories3268]

"But, we first need to create a time warp in this very tile on Cinnabar Island to confuse the game and...,"

[@spongefan155]

@@norasstories3268 "Then Fly To New Bark Town Because Of What We've Set Up We Can Now Use The Fishing Rods Through Windows"

[@norasstories3268]

@@spongefan155" And once we can do that, we'll have to fish for a Missingno. so that the game will completely break, but then, right as the Missingno. bites, we'll..."

[@spongefan155]

@@norasstories3268 "Press A For 0.5 Seconds So We Trick The Game Into Swapping Our Items Around Meaning The Shiny Charm Is In The 6th Slot"

[@renzofranco2210]

@@spongefan155 And after that the shiny odds are switched around now the chances of getting a non shiny pokemon is 1 in 8000 the softlock required you to get a perfect IVd missingno with a joyful nature that has pokerus and isnt shiny

[@ThePsh07]

“This file is pretty easy to set up. “…so anyway, here’s *Chansey.”*

[@E4439Qv5]

egg

[@swampy725]

Should of been holding an Oran berry

[@E4439Qv5]

Apparently the bots are stealing top comments now.

[@cakeisyummy5755]

@@swampy725 *Should've

[@s0vnds]

@@swampy725 new meta fan?

[@lvl5Vaporeon]

Older Man: Child. Come closer. I must give you something. Kid: What is it Gramps? Grandpa: The family copy of Pokemon Emerald. I spent most of my life to getting out; 70 years trying to get out. My father suffered the same fate trying to get out but his 70 year effort was in vain as well. You must take on this challenge and rid us of this curse. Kid: How much longer until the family curse is gone? Father: 39 years son. Then we can finally rest. Pikaspray will never haunt us ever again. Son: *Restarts game* Grandpa: *Oh...*

[@gregorymirabella1423]

or the kid just gets it first try.

[@onlysmiles4949]

*saves game in Pacifidlog*

[@LadyBrightcynder]

I laughed way too hard at this. XD

[@TheFireHawkDelta]

It's even worse than that. No matter how long you try to escape, you are never any closer. The master ball drop is always exactly as likely to happen, all of the time wasted failing to get it is irrelevant.

[@awnaur0no919]

I smell a creepypasta in tha makin! 😱😱😱

[@weebsquit347]

Imagine if Pacifidlog town is populated by other trainers that got stranded, and created the town for survival.

[@ChillDragon]

You'd think they would try and get a local shop up to help keep Poké Balls in stock. The way they could do this was by asking other trainers that enter with a Surf mon.

[@user-jn1wm3tb8v]

@@ChillDragon No, they wish to keep more people in the town for genetic diversity. Nobody leaves.

[@AlexanderRM1000]

Then they'd have created a Poke Mart.

[@nousukas]

@@AlexanderRM1000 A pokémart selling only PP up, Exp. share and Max revives.

[@NC-yf5qb]

Beyond the Aquila Pacifidlog Reef.

[@MandJTV]

I love this. Another thing that makes this extra sadistic is that you only have about a 63% chance for something to occur "at odds." That means you only have a 63% chance to even get the Master Ball before the 179 years have passed

[@WilliamJohnston]

Is this a known statistical thing? Is there an easy way to calculate how long for a given percentage, say 90%?

[@dakotashroom5401]

It's still higher than 50%.

[@vectorthehop3945]

*179 years after the initial softlock, the great-grandson of the initial gamer is playing *He realizes that 65,535 days have passed *Today is Day 65,536 *The gamer boots up Pokemon Emerald and talks to the lady *He wins nothing *The sound of a man screaming can be heard throughout the neighborhood

[@mjc0961]

@@vectorthehop3945 Wow, that's a long lasting battery!

[@Abcdef-rw9et]

​@@WilliamJohnston I just learned that this is a known statistical thing. It's because the probability that it takes ≤ k attempts for an event with probability 1/k to occur is 1 - (1 - 1/k)ᵏ, and as k increases, that probability quickly approaches 1 - 1/e ≈ 0.63. Very cool

[@solidzack]

Fun fact: The chance of getting atleast one Masterball within 179.4 years is only 63.2%. Adding another 100 years gives us a probability of about 78.9%. For comparison: "Focus Miss" has an accuracy of 70%.

[@microwave8931]

I would rather attempt to land focus miss 5 times in a row than that

[@usmanchughtai1751]

Oh well, guess I’ll die

[@TheLegendaryCazoo]

You just made me spend 4 hours learning statistics. the chance of you getting something that has an x probability in y chances is C = 1-(1-x)^y So lets say we want to get the Giant Mole pet, that has a probability of 1 in 3000 or 1/3000, so x = 1/3000. And to test our theory we want to kill the Mole 3000 times 1-x is 2999/3000 so the formula is: 1-(2999/3000)^3000 If we work this out the probability is 63.22% of getting the Giant Mole pet after 3000 kills. This is an example of a continuous probability distribution, namely the cumulative distribution function for the Weibull distribution. This contrasts the Bernoulli Distribution, which is a discrete probability distribution that takes the value 1 with probability P and the value 0 with probability Q = 1 - P Practically, this becomes a yes/no individual-odds situation (the discrete probability distribution), where a coin toss would be Q as heads = .5, P as a tails = .5. With Shiny Pokémon, this means a shiny Q = 1/8,192 and regular P = 8,191/8192. However, as a continuous probability distribution, the odds are actually lower in how long it will statistically take to get to the desired result of Q (shiny). In 8,192 attempts, the equations becomes 1-(1-1/8,192)^8,192 Which simplifies to C = 1 - (8,191/8,192)^8,192 = 1 - (0.9998779296875)^8,192 = 1 - 0.367856986450151 = ~0.632, or 63.2% = C after 8,192 attempts To work out when you'd have 99% odds, C = 0.99 = 1 - (0.9998779296875)^y .01 = 0.9998779296875^y Log0.9998779296875(0.9998779296875^y) = Log0.9998779296875(0.01) y x 1 = log0.9998779296875(0.01) y = ~37,723 attempts As C increases, so does y, however C cannot equal 1 as it results in an undefined infinite graph for the log(0) regardless of the odds (outside of 1/1). This makes sense as you're guaranteed success with infinite attempts. However, it also means that outside of that, you can reach exponential attempts without a guarantee (ie. 113,170 attempts with 1/8,192 odds results in a 99.999999% chance of success, but technically not a guarantee). These odds however do not in actuality change the discrete probability distribution, meaning even after 113,170 failed attempts, the odds aren't 99.999999%, but rather still 1/8,192 for each individual attempt, independent of previous continuous attempts. In practice, even the statistical analysis of future chance in a continuous distribution after several failed attempts essentially restarts, as the continuous probability distribution after 113,170 failed attempts would at that point still calculate a 63.2% chance of success after the next 8,192 attempts in the "new batch" of attempts. This essentially remains true for each attempt. In the case of 50/50's, set and sequence must be differentiated. Landing heads 10 times in a row has a 1/2^10 chance (or 1/1024 = 0.0009765625 = ~0.0977% chance) of occurring as a sequence, but so does landing heads then tails 5 times in a row. The set of will still gradually shift towards equilibrium at 50/50 heads and tails over time as the flips approaches infinity. Interestingly though, if the end point is 20 flips, 10 heads similarly doesn't affect the discrete probability distribution, and thus the continuous probability distribution, for the remaining 10 flips. So the set remaining would be likely to be 50/50, or 5 and 5 each for the remaining flips, but the overall continuous set of 20 would thus be most likely to end on 15 heads and 5 tails overall, which makes sense as 10:0 to 15:5 is approaching 1:1. In the case of roulettes, the odds are similarly going to be discrete with each attempt. With slots, the continuous probability distribution is semi-controlled by the house, with percentage payoffs being built into systems. Most all are set to over time give an ~80-90% return of overall wagered money, meaning that the House always wins. It also means that consistently playing one machine for far too long will over time net you the % loss built into the machine. The payoff of previous people may allow for you to win in the short term, but the odds are still technically against you, just like how you can find a shiny Pokémon in your first encounter despite the odds. Ultimately, knowledge of statistical probability, discrete probability distributions, and continuous probability distributions aids in not pushing the luck that you may have initially in gambling, as it will ultimately approach the intended payout of 80-90% returns over time, resulting in diminishing returns if you start off lucky and go too long. This is especially true with lower return slots, such as gas station slots that go in the low 70-80%'s, and the lowest being airport slots. Interestingly, the highest returns tend to be major casinos like in Las Vegas, and even then the highest ones there are the higher stakes slots. For example, penny slots in Vegas average around 88-91% returns, while dollar slots average 93-96%. This incentives higher spending, increasing the likelihood of individual "luck" in the short term, but still resulting in the same long term profits on the House's side.

[@solidzack]

@@TheLegendaryCazoo Wow! Appreciate your dedication

[@TheLegendaryCazoo]

@@solidzack thanks, I legit knew none of this before now

[@TheJunky228]

could you imagine handing this down through your family for generations and being the chosen one who finally breaks through the softlock?

[@FiveToedSloth]

I swear, Pacifidlog Town is the most dangerous place in Pokémon

[@Depressed_Spider]

"YOU ARE GOING TO PACIFIDLOG TOWN!" Fate worse than death.

[@tvboxmimic7887]

None of the NPCs there are there by choice, they all got stranded there one way or another.

[@jcrowley1985]

Just don't put your surf user in the daycare

[@kyutora1024]

@@jcrowley1985 It's not that easy. You can also get banished there by losing a shadow game.

[@jcrowley1985]

@@kyutora1024 it's extremely unlikely you'd be without surf though. Even if you don't have a pokemon with it, it's also very unlikely you went the whole game with only 1 Pokemon meaning you could just trade for one.

[@bugjams]

I hope this series never ends. I don't care if he runs out of Pokemon ideas and moves on to softlocking other games. I just love this concept of intentionally softlocking games.

[@scottpilgrimpwns]

In fact if he finds more games to do this to id watch it even more

[@aetherarcanist4819]

this this this, softlocking other games would be amazing too!

[@someidiotwithalamp]

I mean, he hasn't done anything on Gen 4's famous softlock. (Guy in the postgame area who trades a Magikarp for a Finneon on an island you need to Surf to, you can probably figure out the rest)

[@Laurenrdraws]

@David Jameson Yes

[@someidiotwithalamp]

@David Jameson You get the Magikarp after trading him the Finneon

[@SilentscufflE]

I'm surprised you didn't mention that it's even more painful to lottery your way out of the pits of hell only to have to use a Master Ball for relatively common Pokemon that'll save your skin.

[@E4439Qv5]

Magikarp. Level 10. Max Value Capture Rate (255), can't learn TM/HM until it evolves, ten levels later, after beating hundreds of other weak Magikarp, which had the lowest XP yield. The consolation? If you've committed that hard to the Lotto, you might have an XP share, meaning your... base 5 attack Chansey (😩) can help get it EXP using Egg Bomb. Bottom line? This is just awful.

[@kaitogirldraws]

But can't old rod also catch goldeen? I remember him saying that in another video, I think the bagon one

[@robertstaples3256]

I never knew you could get that message if you tried to release your last HM pokemon. "Was it worried about you?" That's actually flipping adorable, and a subtle message from the devs that maybe you shouldn't be doing what you're trying to do.

[@ohhellwhereami2574]

More like it's afraid that your incompetent ass can't proceed without his ability

[@Hyrulistic]

Alternative to Chansey: give the player a Mew Its moves are Waterfall, Dive, Strength, and Cut

[@FraserSouris]

Mew can learn surf and fly remember?

[@harrisonzachar]

@@FraserSouris But the moves chosen are all HMs in Gen 3, so none can be forgotten without the Move Deleter. I'm thinking this is meant to be one of those "the whole ocean is full of water, and not a drop to drink" situations.

[@FraserSouris]

@@harrisonzachar Ah. I forgot that HMs can't be overridden. I saw Mew and thought "wait, that can learn Surf".

[@JinlongTheGoldenDragon]

plus if I was given this cartridge and it was just a stupid chansey, I'd reset the game bc it's not worth it. However a mew, one of the most sought after and rare pokemon to obtain, is a different story. That would at least be an incentive for someone to dedicate maybe a week of their life instead of resetting in one day lmao

[@johndoe-de1db]

Whoa there Satan

[@NotOnLand]

At what point did this series go from "escaping from game-breaking bugs" to "trap your friends in Pokemon Hell"

[@MrBrendanRizzo]

Probably around the Caterpie episode, but I would have to go back and check.

[@tokki03]

Pokemon Purgatory

[@MDLuffy1234YT]

@Mittens if you think about it, every single one of these softlocks in universe would be much more moronic, since the Trainer actually has to pass through several other pokemon centers and power swim to Pacifilogue (with no stated knowledge on how to swim, and with no pokemon to defend them) only to somehow forget how they got there in the first place (prob thru amnesia caused by simply passing out mid-swim due to lack of stamina and having the ocean current inadvertently take them to Pacifilogue).

[@MaxerV19]

​@@tokki03bah

[@jojoelle413]

I'm now convinced that every inhabitants of Pacifidlog town just settled there because they were stuck.

[@CherriNGT]

That would make for a rather sad theory tbh

[@airam1721]

But then who built those wooden houses?

[@misterzygarde6431]

I wonder if anyone in universe questioned the structure of Pacifidlog Town. I mean they don’t even have a docking area.

[@animeking1357]

Also if you're approaching the town in a boat and want to continue on you'd have to drag your boat into the town and drop it on the other side. Very inconvenient.

[@chopperbrosadvance9760]

They could have fixed it with a battle Cafe, an abra that warps you home, a shop, a ledge to the mainland, but no, and this isn't something that's very unclear, they could easily fix it

[@animeking1357]

@matt alen It is pretty out of the way.

[@animeking1357]

@matt alen It's funny. I still think the older Pokémon games are great but as time goes on I see more and more flaws in the games.

[@Gabe413]

@matt alen i think the town is there to excuse having a fly to point closer to mirage island

[@clover7359]

8:43 I love how you counted leap days on leap years, which there are enough to change the decimal point on the number of years something takes.

[@GLASBE]

I am torn between "this guy is a genius" and "it's because of people like him modern games are so linear and foolproof".

[@johnnysaurus04]

I'm sorry to inform you that the naughty bots have invaded your comment.

[@thenoseguy]

@@johnnysaurus04 The naughty bots have no longer invaded his comment.

[@johnnysaurus04]

@@thenoseguy The war was won, but peace is temporary.

[@briansilva3765]

Then there are the souls series and Metroid which half of the time doesn't give a crap if you play the game backwards.

[@iwannaseehowlongyoucanmakethis]

@@briansilva3765 yeah dark souls gives you a key to open almost any locked door as a starting item.

[@sirswagabadha4896]

"When this needs to be replaced in a Hoenn game, it can cause all sorts of issues for clock-based events. I can honestly make an entire video on this subject alone..." please do so, I'm curious now

[@666fb]

i agree with this guy

[@Araitik]

What a coincidence, I was just wondering what to do for the next 179 years !

[@Arrowdodger]

On the topic of odds, I have won the in-game lottery before, have gotten Pokerus I think twice, and have encountered shinies numerous times, but I've NEVER gotten Mirage Island, nor has anyone I know. What a strange, strange mechanic that was.

[@zobblewobble1770]

Same (except for the master ball). Mirage Island is one of those things I would not have thought was real if it weren’t for the Strategy guide I had back in the day

[@aidansherry17]

I got the second highest prize in the lottery. Can't remember which game it was tho. I've had pokerus twice too. Not too many shinies. Less than 10 I'd say. I've had mirage Island twice tho. The first time I got it, I had no idea it was such a rare thing. I thought it was pretty boring because there was only wynauts there. Would be cool if I'd known

[@redninjakoopa]

I legit came across mirage island my first time coming through that area. I told my friends about it, and they thought I made the island up cause they couldn't find it. I didn't know there was anything unusual about it, so I was so confused when they couldn't find it, and why it wasn't there the next day. Then when my friends learned it was real, the site must have said it would appear "once in a blue moon" which one took literally and tried to calculate when the next blue moon from when he started his game would be.... Ah, the minds of children.

[@jcl2435]

I actually found mirage island a week ago, although I was hunting for itnon 8 different gamesaves. It took me 3 weeks so I was very lucky.

[@Ace-ep7in]

I actually did encounter Mirage Island, Pokerus and 2 shinies on one save of Emerald. It was my first ever Pokemon game and I still have the save to this day. I played on there way too much after the game ended getting my Pokemon up to lvl 100.

[@MelkiorMonster]

I think this one is THE MOST sadistic of "technically pickable" savelocks. The battery dying replacement "playing catchup" just is soul sucking, good god.

[@OutbackCatgirl]

And easy to bypass. You just hook up a power supply to traces either side of the battery, set to the voltage of a battery, while you're desoldering and re-soldering in a new one.

[@dothog6450]

I remember accidentally doing a softlock in a japanese copy of pokemon green recently where if your bag items were full and talked to the man on the ss.anne and left it would result in the ship leaving and not being able to receive cut. It was a super simple softlock but still very confusing.

[@Plumjet09]

That sucks man

[@MilkEnjoyer2]

average gen 1 shenanigans

[@RedTotey]

This gave me a good idea; what if you made a bunch of save files where they seem like a softlock but has a quick and easy-to-do solution? It could be a like a puzzle game or an escape room, where the objective is to get out of the lock.

[@wids]

Hes played a ROM like that before I think.

[@shinydino]

I’d definitely play that!

[@Yvs8962]

Something like this exists, but I forgor what its called

[@gbm7690]

would also like to know what it's called

[@nightspawnson-of-luna4936]

@@Yvs8962 Is it Pokemon VR missions?

[@drewcummings2453]

Something deeply existential about this soft lock. Trapped forever in a toxic prison, with your only hope for release being astronomical good luck. I too am this trainer. Hopelessly playing the lotto trying to escape.

[@wids]

Lmao damn dude you okay?

[@DiscoDogPacmanFrog]

While I don't know you or your situation, at the very least real life generally has more options than a Gameboy game

[@aetherius6221]

Just install that Dream data pack into real life bro

[@sirswagabadha4896]

I swear she rigged the lotto against me :(

[@Rick_McDick]

@@DiscoDogPacmanFrog earth is a softlock

[@skimaskedabi]

To intensify the evil even further make the pokemon that you're stuck with a hard to get shiny (deoxys or a lati maybe?) so that the temptation to reset never outweighs the hope that you may just get lucky tomorrow

[@MrBrendanRizzo]

Latios and Latias wouldn't work, since they can learn Surf. But there should definitely be some shiny mythical or roaming legendary that can't learn the needed HMs. But surely after a couple years of fruitless resets one would realize it would now be faster to shiny hunt for a roaming legendary on a new file than continue...

[@TinNguyen-rl2xr]

@@MrBrendanRizzo Then just do it on the person's own save

[@Chronotopia]

at that point, i might as well just hack one lmao

[@TwoKhant]

Respect to the man who tried to escape chansey for 179 years. Truly a legend.

[@semibreve]

The second I realised Pikasprey made brute forcing the lottery system the only way to escape I cracked up. This man is truly a sadist.

[@thepersonwhocomentz]

RSE is really strange. The developers obviously knew that softlocks were a thing, so they were conscious of them, right? And yet, you'd think that in the course of trying to prevent them, they'd put in some way to get free pokeballs at every possible respawn point, considering there's *always* a way to get back to one, possible glitches aside, and that any softlock would therefore rely on you not being able to catch new pokemon. All you'd have to do is calculate the value of the player's salable inventory every time they enter a pokemon center and spawn an NPC who's like "why can't I hold all these pokeballs here player have 10" if they possess less than the amount required to buy 10 pokeballs (or, if they're in Pacifilog, just detect the number of balls in the player's inventory).

[@flameguy21]

I wouldn't call these kinds of situations design flaws, though. It takes so much conscious effort to put yourself in this scenario that you kinda deserve restarting the game.

[@aepstein824]

Or augment fly with mass transit

[@SpiderRiderKya]

Or even just do what they did for HG/SS and make an npc appear in Pacifilog that'll give you a water type for free, if the game detects that you have no surf knowing pokemon in box or party.

[@natnew32]

Gen 4 they finally did. The Sinnoh Underground is an infinite money generator key item & there are pokeballs at every respawn point. Except for the Victory Road warp. Still scratching my head there. Oh well.

[@onlysmiles4949]

I think the whole thing about "Surf" was meant to be their prevention mechanism, they just didn't see the flaw with regards to the daycare

[@josephstone2112]

As someone who plays Sonic 06, I've already wasted my life playing an unplayable nightmare. Thanks for the offer though.

[@FFKonoko]

Plays? Present tense...?

[@Someguyhere111]

What game is that, and what does it have to do with Sonic '06?

[@josephstone2112]

@@FFKonoko yes

[@josephstone2112]

@@Someguyhere111 also yes

[@kazumak.1542]

@@josephstone2112 bro do you someone to talk too

[@novellamingtonvods8305]

This is what falling into gacha hell looks like

[@remixtheidiot5771]

No, this is what it's like to try getting perfect artifacts for Genshin Impact.

[@plant7371]

@@remixtheidiot5771 That's literally just gacha hell, as far as I'm aware. I haven't played genshin

[@remixtheidiot5771]

@@plant7371 trust me it's worse. Artifacts are equipment used to make characters stronger, and the only way to get them is through rng bullcrap. You have better chances of getting 10 5 stars in a row than getting a SINGLE half decent artifact. Better chances drawing a royal straight flush in poker than getting that artifact. Better rng than Dream!!!

[@robbiirvine1038]

@@remixtheidiot5771 yeah that's... that's still gacha. Genshin Impact is like, a textbook example of a gacha game. It is the gacha game you use as an example of a gacha game.

[@jumpinjeff1709]

@@robbiirvine1038 while the game itself is gacha, he's trying to say the non-gacha part is worse, since the perfect artifact can only be earned through grinding and can't just be bought.

[@custardpup6385]

it blows my mind that you not only know the insanely elaborate ways to put yourself in these positions, but have also worked out even more batshit crazy ways to escape them. You're such a genius man, I am so in awe when I watch these videos. Good job! Defo deserve more subs

[@MetroAndroid]

It would be cool to start every stream by starting up this cart and seeing if today's your lucky day to escape.

[@bell.with.one.e]

Here's an idea: There's a burglar in Gen 1's Cinnabar Mansion basement who can trap you in a corner if you encounter him wrong. But you can get wild Pokemon encounters by changing directions while standing on the same tile. What if you had a party of Level 100 Venusaurs whose movesets were all self-healing attacks like Leech Seed, Mega Drain, Absorb, and Rest? How long would it take to kill yourself and escape?

[@sourlemon1002]

You just use all your pp, then struggle

[@Galethvia]

It'd maybe take a couple hours at most to run all their PP dry and struggle to death, even if PP was maxed on all their moves.

[@playaskirbyandwin267]

@@Galethvia he still has the right idea, though. Maybe with a little tweaking…

[@zobblewobble1770]

Ah this brings back memories of when twitch plays Pokémon encountered this bug by accident and got Stuck there for hours. Good times

[@FlaggedStar]

Can't the Cinnabar Mansion pokemon Poison and Burn?

[@supershirtgun8411]

8:20 this would be impossible as everyone that would be insane enough to try this would not be allowed to have a child

[@horricule451]

This is your best one yet imo. There's something both amusing and horrifying about the thought of it, about someone spending the entirety of their life booting up a game and relying on chance to escape a digital prison like some kind of modern day sisyphus and then passing the task onto someone else because they literally died before getting lucky enough

[@mickeyboy90]

Idk if you have a 6 pokemon max but if it alters your odds to just your party its like 6/65000 making it like 1/10833

[@soundaholixx]

Chansey's french name "Leveinard" literally translates to the lucky one

[@jewels936]

I like to think this morbid softlock is the only way Brendan can actually leave. Spending the rest of his days just praying he can get that damn masterball

[@shadow306k]

I'm deadly curious about this save battery issue now... Does that mean that replacing it doesn't just make daily events occur until what is going to be 10+ years after replacing it?

[@AuRelixRa]

I think so, but only for events that require a brand new day to roll over (the Lotto is the only thing I can think of that would be affected, but there may be more), and the cooldown would only be until whatever the last day the battery actually counted was. So the length of time it would take to catch up would depend on when the battery ran dry. Other clock-based events, like time-based encounters and evolutions, would presumably be fine when you replaced the battery. I think.

[@JosephHk743]

@@AuRelixRa shoal cave is another place that’s affected by the save battery.

[@EnigmaBarry]

Believe it or not, Game Freak programmed an unused e-reader mystery event that can fix the calendar. "An event of type 0E displays the message "The in-game clock adjustment function is now useable." After this event is received, pressing Left + Select + B on the title screen will lead to a screen which asks "Reset RTC? A: Confirm, B: Cancel". Pressing A brings up a second screen on which the in-game time and number of days elapsed can be changed. Despite what the message says, this only changes the timestamps stored in the save file, and not the RTC itself. After the time is adjusted, this function will be disabled, and can only be accessed by receiving the event again." ~From The Cutting Room Floor on Ruby and Sapphire. It's also possible to use PkHex to activate it, but as usual with the point of Pikasprey's videos, if you have to use outside hardware/software to fix a problem that's bad game design.

[@Kazmahu]

Adding to what others have said, the counter used for this is not saved with the rest of the save file (which is why the video wonders why it's programmed like this). The save file is in non-volatile memory, which doesn't require power to maintain the data stored there - so the cartridge is still mostly usable with no internal battery. On the other hand, the daily clock value is written to volatile memory, which requires at least a trickle of electricity to maintain any data, and this is what the internal battery is for. I'm just guessing here, but it this might have been done to avoid any save-file corruption if the battery ran out in the middle of writing a new day value to the save file. Related trivia, you remember how SNES/GBC and earlier games boasted a "battery-backed" save feature? Yup, the entire save file was written to volatile memory, and these carts lost the ability to hold saved games at all when the internal battery died. Non-volatile storage like flash memory chips might be the standard today but it was prohibitively expensive back in the early 90's.

[@Cyntaria]

I had a recent save that was a few months old, battery died, I replaced it and then a few months later my game caught up and I could do daily events again

[@chrisvb3526]

In my Pearl save file: -Got Pokérus: Check -Encountered a legit shiny: Double Check -Never won the Master Ball: Check

[@animeguy10000000]

Same but in Pokemon X.

[@chrisvb3526]

Btw, the shinies were a Ponyta and a Floatzel

[@solgaleo3533]

I’ve won a master ball in Shield, I got Pokérus in Moon, and a legit shiny on Ultra Sun. The latter was hunted with charm, though, and in the firsts case I had almost a full PC.

[@animeguy10000000]

@@solgaleo3533 I have never won the Masterball. I don't really trade much due to me not trusting things like Wonder Trade.

[@iateitguy903]

I was lucky enough in Platinum to get Pokerus on the first Buizel I encountered. I'm never deleting that file, it's my lucky cartridge.

[@onlysmiles4949]

I assume the reason they programmed the clock system in that way is probably because it's the most surefire way to prevent scumming time. The battery issue is just a really, really unfortunate side effect

[@renakunisaki]

I mean you already have to disassemble the cartridge to be able to exploit this...

[@Ald3r_]

I actually won the master ball in a playthrough of Soul Silver waaaaay back when it came out. I always just thought that it must have had modified odds that make it easier to win. I also got pokerus in platinum. both of those, yet I don't think I ever encountered a shiny.

[@Chance57]

Yeah and my entire Pokemon playing experience of just about 20 years, I've only gotten pokerus once, in Ruby version, and only ever seen two wild shiny. A shiny Mareep in Silver and a Murkrow Pearl. That said, I didn't know what shiny was until the Murkrow and I didn't know what pokerus was until just a few years ago so it was all wasted on me

[@billdewall6152]

This series has become a drop-everything-and-watch kind of thing for me whenever a new one comes out. Glad you're still doing them.

[@JosephHk743]

When I heard the department store bit, then I realized what’s going on. Not too hard to understand the fundamentals of this soft lock. Now, it’s all a matter of star alignments to get that master prize. I would like to see the save battery effects in a separate video! That would be interesting to see!

[@TheTintedHalo]

"We're once again going to take a fun video game and turn it into a nightmarish experience" - me, every single time I try to get good at a game.

[@johnnysaurus04]

R.I.P in peace.

[@scootinand]

I vote yes on the "clock based events" video Great work on this one, btw. It's deliciously evil

[@squidnugetgaming5180]

Fun fact: It actually is possible to soft reset for the lottery (and mirage island) in gen 3. As long as you haven't saved your game that day, each soft reset generates a new number, so at that point it would basically be like resetting for a shiny with 8 times worse odds. It's still a pretty bad softlock, sure, but it won't take decades or centuries to resolve; you could probably do it in a day or two if you hate yourself lol.

[@jblen]

In my opinion these ghoulish setups that are possible to get out of, but extremely tedious are much more enjoyable to learn about than straight softlocks. The idea of enticing the player to attempt breaking out (e.g. with a shiny, like the poliwhirl video) is far more evil than a true softlock, where they never stand a chance at breaking out and thus need to reset the save, shiny or not.

[@razorattano6036]

It would be even more evil if the chancy was shiny and had perfect Iv's.

[@Alex-mq6qi]

You can tell this man is incredibly evil because he doesn't even increase the text speed

[@johnnysaurus04]

I hope KZbin could get rid of these bots soon. Also, yeah. Not changing the text speed is rather evil.

[@johnnysaurus04]

Hey, they got rid of em'! Rejoice!

[@boerhae]

I love this series.

[@Rainbowmon]

I know, right?

[@sethfraser5841]

It amazes me this is one of the most consistent series he's made I didn't think there would be an episode two when he posted the first

[@Shiny_Plume]

It’s pretty funny how far you can go with this kind of stuff. What else I find interesting is the rng manipulation of old Pokemon games. For example, it is possible for the player to manipulate their id number in order to win the master ball on the first try. At least in Gen 4. It’s used in the HeartGold speedrun to manipulate so that you win the Master Ball so you can catch Raikou before the fourth gym. I’m not sure if the same thing can be pulled off in Gen 3, but I would like to see it. Someone doing this exact setup for this but preparing in advance so that they win the master ball on the first go. I know that defeats the purpose of the softlock, but it would be interesting to see.

[@psychonerd93]

Manipulating the RNG is pretty trivial in Emerald, as the mechanism for setting the seed is bugged and the RNG will always start from 0 when you turn the game on. Perhaps you could increase your chances of winning dramatically just by turning the game on at a specific time before the day rolls over, depends on how the new number is selected.

[@elliotgale]

i only discovered this channel/series 3 days ago and ive been watching at least one video a day. the setup of "creating problems on purpose" is perfect

[@SomeGuy712x]

Actually, if you haven't saved the game yet on the current day, then you can load up the game, check the lottery number, and if it isn't a match, reset the game without saving. Then, when you load it up again, the winning number will be different. So, it would take only maybe half a minute per chance, instead of having to wait a whole day for each new try. (I've done this many times myself just to try and win more PP Ups while only having a handful of different ID numbers available to me.) EDIT: Oh, Nineflames already mentioned this fact in the comments below. (8:43) Whoops, that's a typo. The word "equal" was misspelled as "eqaul".

[@zenkichihitoyoshi9513]

179 years with chansey. Well, at least I have a soft pillow with me...

[@DrFoggyPants]

Me, on my deathbed, speaking with my grandchild: This is my life's work, I want you to finish it. Can you do that for me? _Proceeds to handover a game with this setup_

[@kirbyman1kanden7pf]

"slaps on a GameShark out in 2 minutes"

[@chopperbrosadvance9760]

This isn't even about escaping soft locks any more, just making elaborate traps

[@blazi2293]

You could create a whole mythology with Pokemon softlocks The department store, a purgatory-like place where you are judged The holy woman of the counter, goddess of fate Chansey, the false saviour who tricks you into Pacifidlog, the end of the journey, where sinners spend an eternity of torture The Ferryman who trades you a horsea for a bagon if you happen to be softlocked with one. The Horsea will help you cross the river Styx and escape Pacifidlog

[@nightspawnson-of-luna4936]

I mean hey, it worked for TPP

[@tenidiotaodpizzy4603]

wake up babe new religion just dropped

[@Magmafrost13]

I think it'd be interesting to see what softlock situations you could come up with if we pretend that the two pokemon to trade restriction didnt exist. It was implemented to prevent softlocks, but so many of these scenarios rely on it to _cause_ them. It'd be interesting to see how much worse, if at all, the game would be if that restriction wasnt there.

[@PrismariLaura]

Due to how probabilites are calculated, after 65'536 days, there's actually only a 63% chance you'll have gotten a master ball. You'll reach 80% at 105'476 days, or 288 years and 11 months, and 95% at 196'327 days, or *537 years and 10 months*. It'll take a while.

[@hi-i-am-atan]

i actually wonder if probability is even a factor. considering you'll get the same result on the same day no matter how many times you reload, it kinda feels like there's no actual rng call - rather, it seems more like something along the lines of taking the current date and maybe your trainer and / or secret id, salting it with a lot of bitwise nonsense, and then spitting out the result granted, that's not mutually exclusive with _using_ the rng algorithm ( it could finagle the inputs into a seed and then put it through the rng, for example ), but it would still mean that there's zero probability involved with the lotto itself - after the game does whatever it does ( if anything ) to make sure two games on the same day aren't likely to get the same results, it's all predetermined from there

[@Scarabola]

may you elaborate on why it's 63% after 65k days?

[@er4110]

@@Scarabola It is how probabilities are calculated First we take the chances of losing so it would be (65535/65536)= around 0.99998 Then we raise that to the power of chances it would be so 65536 in this case (0.99998)^(65536)= around 0.36788 Then subtract from 1 so 1- 0.36788 = 0.63212 Then multiply by 100 to get it in percent so 63.212% Basically what we did was what was our chances of not obtaining a masterball from all those days for the 0.36788 When we subtracted that number from 1 it was the chance that we would have won the masterball at least once Hope this helps explain things.

[@Linkzcap]

And the "unlucky point" where your chances go from 50% happens after 45,426 days, or about 124 years

[@Buglin_Burger7878]

@@hi-i-am-atan More or less you're right, when a game uses RNG typically there is ways to create variance, if you can not create variance then it is often considered seeded or predetermined RNG. Depending on how this game calculates the lottery number it MIGHT be possible to get it twice a day simply by checking today's number and/or doing something in a menu then keeping the game on till it tomorrow, if tomorrow fails reload the save and check again.

[@NeviTheLettyFan]

This is freakin genius, I laughed really hard when I saw you stand next to the lottery girl

[@SSBBPOKEFAN]

Okay, two things. First: How are you this EVIL?! Second: I'd love to see a video on all the clock battery-based screwery in these games. I have a copy of Emerald with a dead battery (and both a shiny Pelipper and Camerupt), so it'd be interesting to see what could go wrong if I ever get the know-how/will to change it.

[@brunop.8745]

Pikasprey's monotone voice and unassuming demeanor only serve to hide that his entire existence is fueled by nothing but spite. And the occasional moomin hug

[@michaelbuckers]

11:40 and it's english name is literally CHANCE-ey.

[@hemarisam]

Hey! I just found one in BDSP :( What I did is I was in the ice gym, and walked into the battle area, without breaking the snowballs by glitching in with diagonal movement. Hope this is useful!

[@TaijituTaikyokuzu]

I take it you found this by accident?

[@GezondDenker]

That is a softlock because the game devs added spaghetti code in their files.

[@superkillerrobo]

I learned about the clock glitch about a month or two ago when I replaced the battery in my Emerald cartridge. I was actually able to use a DS flashcart to use a homebrew app to manually change the date on the clock, restoring clock-based events. Also, I've won the Master Ball from the Loto ID in Pokémon Sun back around 2016 or 2017. That probably used up my entire life's worth of luck

[@sparky6757]

My favorite thing about these scenarios is that they always require you to have very few pokémon in order to “accidentally” stumble into this, so you’re losing nothing by just resetting unless that Chansey just happens to be shiny.

[@twonilooni]

This series is Pokémon saw, and I'm up for it.

[@limm_ee]

Love this series so much! I love that it's not necessarily a soft lock that would occurr during normal gameplay, but rather something that's simply POSSIBLE if all the right (or wrong) things lined up to create these nightmare scenarios. Also, I've been saying "Pacifilog Town" all this time up until now. But apparently it's "Pacifidlog Town"?? I had to take a moment to process that.

[@LeesPizza]

Pikasprey: "here. Try to escape." Me: "okay." *clicks new game* Pikasprey: "give me that!"

[@Mister_Clean]

Absolutely diabolical It truly takes a psychopath to ruin a game cartridge like this

[@Im49th]

Cool series. I remember getting stuck in a 40 minute battle against a Muk, where I think it was immune to all of my attacks and I was immune to Muk's attacks. Something like that. I think both Pokemon ended up only being able to use struggle, but some kind of healing thing may have been involved too. I guess I don't really remember the details but it reminded me of this series, I'd like to see more infinite battle kind of scenarios.

[@dudono1744]

endless battle is a thing with slowbro (item : leppa berry moves : heal pulse recover block and recycle)

[@rjante2236]

@@dudono1744 They call it FunBro. I faced it once, was not fun :(

[@SillySyrup]

Imagine this save becomes a family heirloom, and there will be one lucky enough to get it. "Now now, Timmy, before bed, make sure to brush your teeth and check the Pokemon Emerald save!"

[@swagmoneybuge]

I can't believe you're still making videos! I loved your vids in 2013/14 and binged your channel a shit ton! Hope you're doing well brah

[@Kalaphant]

5:25 NO WAY. You're *LITERALLY* Waiting until you WIN THE LOTTERY xD

[@GuranPurin]

The fact that you went through the extra effort to trap us with the Luck Pokemon makes the level of sadism in this off the charts.

[@evillecaston]

This is basically what happens when you try to play a shady gacha game without paying. At least with this, you can give up and surrender to a life of floating logs with your favorite Pokemon...

[@rordongamsay8478]

My god, do I hate gacha mechanics. I usually end up very pissed because of them, so I try to avoid them now. Also... (sees Nekopara Maple pfp) someone cultured I see.

[@UnuUO]

Interestingly, a 1/65,000 chance is similar to the odds of getting a shiny with the rare type of sparkle for that encounter in SwSh. (For example, when I hunted for a shiny Dracovish I ended up getting a 1/65,000 Square shiny)

[@themasterofw4295]

Yes imagine if you did one encounter a day :) .

[@Tuxfanturnip]

This series reminds me of the article where someone calculated the largest finite damage you can deal on turn 1 of a MtG game. Not an infinite combo, just a very, very, very big finite combo.

[@Overdragoon]

This is the most messed up thing I’ve ever seen LOL kudos to you for coming up with it. I am a shiny hunter so I’m often playing with really low odds but this is on a whole new level

[@TheMonk3613]

Softlock Picking: Or what diving into insanity looks like in real time.

[@loulou3676]

Idk, spending the rest of my life on a remote island just vibing with Chansey doesn't sound that bad

[@datboi5906]

Nice softlock, but I’d make the Chansey shiny. Really get that lotto feel!

[@GoddamnAxl]

At year 100, somebody’s grand kid invents a time machine. They go back and kill pikasprey before he finished the setup.

[@cameronharding6055]

Why not try a trap involving Take Down or some other recoil based attack? I’d imagine you could come up with something really sadistic with it. Like leaving a Pokémon just below the level necessary to learn a new attacking move, but gaining that level would ultimately lead it to faint and send you to an inescapable town. Just realized you could probably do this to make the larvitar softlock worse by just adding in Oran Berries to what needs to be grown.

[@TheItalianoAssassino]

Still most 2009 feeling series in 2021 and I love it for it.

[@foxxbaker]

Me when I hear lottery: dear god, that’s beyond evil, that’s just sadistic. And you have to waste actual time

[@Someguyhere111]

Chansey: *represents luck* Also Chansey: *is the one who decides if your Pokémon lives or dies*

[@jadayaindigo7696]

If there is one thing Gamefreak can learn from this channel it would be to put a free transport NPC in Pacifidlog town

[@rozasupreme]

7:38 to put this in perspective, my Emerald as a kid had the in game clock maxed out so at LEAST 1000 hours in game. I never ONCE saw a Shiny or caught Pokerus.

[@ElliorDalmire]

I love that Chansey is basically used as a troll, it makes the thing even more sadistic.

[@paitynnicolosi8907]

Now make her shiny.

[@Porygonal64]

yknow a lot of this coudlve been solved if instead of the last pokemon center you visited, they sent you back to the last _town_ you visited instead

[@zap3231]

I'm fuckin addicted to Christian just carefully articulating the most sadistic and torturous scenarios possible in Pokemon

[@VocalVex]

Man, I love these pokemon soft lock videos. Every time I see a new one come out, I immediately click on it.

[@theequitableprose]

"You could pass it on to your child and even they would go their lives without success " yes, such is parenthood.