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- The Use and Abuse of Continue Duel in Pokémon TCG games
- -------------------------------------------------------
- a writeup by stump (twitch.tv/stumpdotio)
- Last updated: 2015-11-29
- The Pokémon TCG games have a "Continue Duel" option in their initial
- menu, which restores the game state if the game was reset or powered
- off during a duel. This can be abused in many helpful ways.
- The most important thing to know is that the game checkpoints duel
- state just before the main duel menu is displayed. So resetting during
- an action cancels it, resetting during the opponent's turn brings you
- back to before you attacked or chose Done, and resetting while selecting
- an action accomplishes nothing.
- The next most important thing to know is that the current RNG state
- is included in the checkpointed duel state, the RNG does not advance
- during duels unless and until something needs randomness, and the new
- state depends in its entirety on the old state. This means if the same
- sequence of actions is performed after resetting to a particular state,
- no matter what buttons are pressed or what timing is used, the same
- results will occur. (This applies both to Continue Duel and to loading
- emulator savestates during duels.)
- Now we can get to the main point: ways in which Continue Duel can be abused.
- == Misplays ==
- Picked the wrong attack? As long as you haven't gotten the main duel
- menu again yet, reset and do the right thing this time!
- (Important note: if you want to take back a misattached energy, you have
- no choice but to hard reset. Even if you hold A from the misattachment
- then begin holding Start, Select, and B in that order, there is enough
- time before the soft reset occurs that the B will get you back to the
- main duel menu, thereby recheckpointing the duel state, first. Though
- you almost certainly mashed through your opportunity to reset anyway...)
- == Good coin flips for you ==
- Flipped tails when you *really* want heads? Reset, do something to
- advance the RNG (such as using a trainer card involving a coin flip or
- deck shuffle), and see what you get this time.
- If you still can't get heads even by exhausting all possible means of
- RNG advancement, consider whether it might be useful to skip the action
- and palm the tails off on the AI.
- == Bad coin flips for them ==
- If the AI gets heads on an important coin flip (for example, playing
- Poké Ball with an empty bench and their Active Pokémon one turn from
- death), similarly try resetting, advancing the RNG, and trying again to
- see if you can make it hit tails instead.
- If you are using an attack involving a coin flip and *you* hit tails
- on it just before such a coin flip, it may even be worth forgoing the
- attack to leave the tails for them.
- == Conserving healing cards ==
- Really want to keep that Potion or Defender for later? If the opponent's
- attack is affected by coin flips, don't play them yet - if you survive,
- awesome; if you don't, reset and play the card! Then you get to save
- that Potion or Defender for when you really *do* need it.
- == Confusion ==
- Flipped tails on your confusion check? Reset and choose Done instead
- to avoid the self-hit. (Given how fast resetting is, with good menuing
- this is actually faster than taking the hit!) However, if your opponent
- doesn't advance the RNG and you also don't have a way to advance the RNG,
- you're stuck taking it at some point.
- (Under some conditions the AI will use the RNG while deciding what to do;
- I have seen it happen, though only rarely. You may want to try again next
- turn even if it doesn't look like the RNG has advanced. The AI needs to
- be disassembled for more information about this to come to light.)
- In a *real* pinch, if you have your Active Pokémon's retreat cost in
- excess energy, you could use up the tails failing to retreat and see if
- this gives you heads on the attack.
- == Deck peeking ==
- If you have something that allows you to select a card from your deck
- (such as Energy Search or Computer Search), you can use it up to the
- point where you see your deck, then reset without selecting a card. If
- you think a critical card might be stuck as a prize, this will let you
- verify that. Maybe that card you need is near the top (and you can Bill
- or Oak or just wait for it and save the search card for later).
- == Prizes ==
- Critical card prized? Reset and choose a different prize if you don't
- get it.
- == Legendary Zapdos ==
- Legendary Zapdos blew away your only Diglett? Reset, add something to
- your bench (like a Mysterious Fossil or another Diglett), and see what
- takes the hit this time. Or retreat such that something expendable ends
- up in the same spot of the field, if you can't change your number of
- Benched Pokémon. Or use a Defender.
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