Current Events > Is it ever possible to "Game Over" in mainline Pokemon?

(+) Yeah! (+)

In other words, getting booted back to the start screen without a chance to save your progress?

If you think about it, you can never "lose" in Pokmon because you just go back to a Pokmon Center and even come out stronger if you took down a Pokmon during the battle that wiped you out because you'd have some EXP and EV from it.

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nope

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pretty sure no pokemon games do this

you do lose potentially a lot of money though which can sorta suck

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Is it even really possible to lose battles? The toughest gyms and trainers still only have like 2 Pokmon and both are weaker than what you train up walking between a city once

kirbymuncher posted...

you do lose potentially a lot of money though which can sorta suck

pretty sure they even stopped doing this at a certain gen

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I think in red and blue it was possible to be unable to advance if you don't have enough money to buy a key item at one point in the game.

Wobbuffet vs. Wobbuffet in gen 2, both holding leftovers, GG softlock

PikaAsprey has some creative soft locks on his channel. The famous one that most people know is trading the Magikarp guy in DPPt. Theres another common one that can happen in Dewford Town, but PikaAsprey goes over some really creative and obscure softlocks

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Zikten posted...

I think in red and blue it was possible to be unable to advance if you don't have enough money to buy a key item at one point in the game.

Wild Meowth could know payday and you could get money that way. It didn't even cost money in the gba remake.

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You can absolutely soft-lock yourself and permanently ruin a save file. There is no "Game Over" screen though. They're literally games for children and childrens games don't do "game over" anymore.

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DoctorPiranha3 posted...

Wobbuffet vs. Wobbuffet in gen 2, both holding leftovers, GG softlock

was Struggle not a thing in gen 2?

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PatrickMahomes posted...

was Struggle not a thing in gen 2?

Leftovers heals the struggle damage

This was also a soft lock in Gen 3

gunplagirl posted...

Wild Meowth could know payday and you could get money that way. It didn't even cost money in the gba remake.

In the originals, the main issue is you have to remember to blow your money on pokeballs and somehow specifically remember to train until you can catch a Meowth to do Payday without losing it all first and being unable to catch one with zero pokeballs. And...wasn't he only in one of the two versions, anyway??? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Don't get me wrong, it's hard as fuck to pull that obscurity off, but still...

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DoctorPiranha3 posted...

Wobbuffet vs. Wobbuffet in gen 2, both holding leftovers, GG softlock

Gen 3 actually is where that's definitely a thing. Because that's when he gets Shadow Tag. It's probably true in Gen 2 too though assuming they're both the only pokemon left on both teams. A bunch of other pokemon could probably softlock the same way though in that case.

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Pogo_Marimo posted...

You can absolutely soft-lock yourself and permanently ruin a save file.

This one Youtuber's come up with a whole bunch of creative ways to do this

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-UR_8lpdcfepFOyC7AY-AVKN-S_rH0bM

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Pogo_Marimo posted...

You can absolutely soft-lock yourself and permanently ruin a save file. There is no "Game Over" screen though. They're literally games for children and childrens games don't do "game over" anymore.

Most games, especially AAA games, don't do game overs anymore. One could argue the rated M awardbait AAA games are for children though.
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GiftedACIII posted...

Most games, especially AAA games, don't do game overs anymore. One could argue the rated M awardbait AAA games are for children though.

Not true in the slightest

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If you lose to someone like Ghetsis, you'd think he would kill you or something, but he's just like "nah I'll let you go heal your Pokemon and come back to try and defeat me again"

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Only if you battle with a missingno

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Doe posted...

Not true in the slightest

Most games just boot you to the recently reached checkpoint.
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GiftedACIII posted...

Most games just boot you to the recently reached checkpoint.

That's a type of game over. The game ended and their is discontinuity in the play session

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Doe posted...

That's a type of game over. The game ended and their is discontinuity in the play session

Does that mean that losing a single life in traditional games is also a "type of game over"? Because the checkpoint thing is basically just that but with infinite lives.

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The player will black out (Japanese: lose hope, lit. plunge into darkness) when all the Pokmon on the player's team faint. This is comparable to a game over screen for the Pokmon games.

https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Black_out

Trumble posted...

Does that mean that losing a single life in traditional games is also a "type of game over"? Because the checkpoint thing is basically just that but with infinite lives.

If it boots you back to the start of the level instead of respawning you right there, yeah

I kinda assumed people wouldn't interpret this topic as being about the arcade type of Game Over where all progress disappears since they're handheld console games. Like when you die in Zelda like Ocarina of Time it's called a Game Over but it doesn't delete all your saves it just takes you to your last one.

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Doe posted...

That's a type of game over. The game ended and their is discontinuity in the play session

That means Pokemon has game over.
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GiftedACIII posted...

That means Pokemon has game over.

No, because the progress you made since losing has not changed. All that happens is your location changes to a Pokmon Center. You've still gathered up any items you got before the battle, and if you progressed plot events those don't get reset. In the context of Pokmon, it's even an in game explanation that you sprinted back to the Pokmon center.

Later Pokmon games even have values programmed in that are specifically affected by losing a Pokmon battle, like the Pokmon's happiness towards you (which affects Return and Frustration)

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WilliamPorygon posted...

This one Youtuber's come up with a whole bunch of creative ways to do this

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-UR_8lpdcfepFOyC7AY-AVKN-S_rH0bM

That channel came to mind when I read the OP actually lol.

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https://youtu.be/B8sTGne04ds

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Doe posted...

No, because the progress you made since losing has not changed. All that happens is your location changes to a Pokmon Center. You've still gathered up any items you got before the battle, and if you progressed plot events those don't get reset. In the context of Pokmon, it's even an in game explanation that you sprinted back to the Pokmon center.

Later Pokmon games even have values programmed in that are specifically affected by losing a Pokmon battle, like the Pokmon's happiness towards you (which affects Return and Frustration)

That's what Game Over'ing in Zelda OoT is like too, since you used it as an example. It doesn't take you back to your last save. You warp backward and keep everything you obtained. Like if you died in the Shadow Temple after getting the Hover Boots and a Heart Piece, you'd still have those when you continue from the Game Over.

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Kuuko posted...

That's what Game Over'ing in Zelda OoT is like too, since you used it as an example. It doesn't take you back to your last save. You warp backward and keep everything you obtained. Like if you died in the Shadow Temple after getting the Hover Boots and a Heart Piece, you'd still have those when you continue from the Game Over.

oh my bad, bad example then.

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Doe posted...

No, because the progress you made since losing has not changed. All that happens is your location changes to a Pokmon Center. You've still gathered up any items you got before the battle, and if you progressed plot events those don't get reset. In the context of Pokmon, it's even an in game explanation that you sprinted back to the Pokmon center.

Later Pokmon games even have values programmed in that are specifically affected by losing a Pokmon battle, like the Pokmon's happiness towards you (which affects Return and Frustration)

Losing a battle and being sent back to the last pokemon center isn't much different than losing battle and being sent to the latest checkpoint in the fight which makes it easier to get to the next checkpoint, often with your health fully restored. Same exact thing in practice. You listed being booted to the start screen without saving as your criteria in the OP which is something practically no AAA game does these days.

Also ftr, Pokemon actually acts like the fight never happened. You can see this for plot-important fights like fighting Eternatus in SWRSH where you go through the entire cutscene from the beginning again. It's basically the same as checkpoint deaths.
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