Pokemon Platinum Kaizo Hall of Fame Rules

Note: This document is also available in Google Docs format. The content below is the same, so you can download the Google Docs version if you prefer. Otherwise, you can read it here both versions are identical, so use whichever you feel comfortable with.

Also worth Checking:

• Pokemon Platinum Kaizo Download
• Pokemon Platinum Kaizo Full Documentation & Resources
• Pokemon Platinum Kaizo FAQ
• Pokemon Platinum Kaizo Pokedex

The Rules

The Genesis of the Challenge

• New attempts must start from a new game and generate a new Trainer ID.
  • Beginning any run* from a save state of any sort is not allowed.
• Any Hall of Fame viable attempt must be fully livestreamed to prevent foul play, ideally with VODs uploaded to YouTube.
  • Every stream for viable attempts must begin on the title screen.
  • Any runs* submitted with missing footage may be disqualified.
• All Hall of Fame eligible runs must be completed on HARD MODE.
  • Hard Mode is set by default when the player starts the game. Turning on Easy Mode at any point will result in your run becoming ineligible for Hall of Fame contention. 

Encounter Rules

• The player may only capture the first Pokémon they encounter in each named header location*, with the following stipulations:
  • NPC Trade Pokémon are valid encounters regardless of header location, so long as they were traded for a valid encounter. 
  • Trading a dead Pokémon is not allowed.
• Egg Pokémon are not free encounters; they must be treated as equivalent to a normal encounter on the route they are hatched.
  • Hatching an egg in a header location that a previous encounter was obtained in will result in the hatched Pokémon being declared invalid.
    • Hatching an Egg in an invalid encounter location, and clausing it because the player had the opportunity to hatch it in a legal location is not allowed.
• The Duplicate Clause* will be in effect.
  • Different Pokémon from branching evolutionary lines (ie, Mothim/Wormadam, Slowbro/Slowking) count as duplicates and must be rerolled.
  • The Duplicate Clause still applies to Pokémon that have been traded away.
  • The Duplicate Clause does NOT apply to unhatched gift eggs
    • If the player were to use a third-party tool such as the Platinum Kaizo Damage Calculator to view the contents of a gift egg, see that the Pokémon inside is a duplicate and then use that egg for a Link Trade, that is a legal action.
      • However, once the egg is hatched, the Duplicate Clause comes into effect and the hatched egg Pokémon is not a valid encounter.                                                                    
• Generating a limited-time encounter after failing to obtain it (for example, generating a traded Pokémon after failing to obtain it, or missing an encounter from an area the player no longer has access to) will result in an immediate disqualification.
• The use of Master Balls or any cheats that alter the capture rate is prohibited.
• All Pokémon the player obtains should be nicknamed.
  • This rule is not strictly enforced, but is integral to the spirit of the run and highly encouraged.

Battle Rules

• If a Pokémon faints in battle, it is considered ‘dead’ and may not be used again.
• If all Pokémon in a player’s party are killed in battle, this is considered a wipe.*
  • Once a player wipes for any reason, their run is over. Their standing in the Hall of Fame will be determined based on which fight they ultimately wiped to.
  • If the player receives the white-out message and is transported to the Pokémon Centre for any reason outside of battle, this is also considered a wipe and the furthest defeated battle will determine the player’s Hall of Fame standing.
  • The usage of items from the bag during battle is prohibited, and will result in an automatic wipe with the following stipulation:
    • The player can use items from the “Poké Balls” section of the bag against valid wild encounters ONLY
• You must adhere to each split’s level cap (equal to the highest level Pokémon of that “split’s” gym leader). (NOTE: A “split” is defined as a section of gameplay from one gym leader to the next, and the final gym leader to the Elite 4.) Pokémon must enter every fight in the split either at or under the current gym leader level cap. Pokémon may only overlevel DURING battle, and are allowed to finish the fight over the level cap. However, entering any other fight over the cap is a disqualification.
  • The player is not obligated to adhere to level caps of mid-split fights for the portion of the split before that fight. For example, Barry 3 has a level cap of level 42, but the player is allowed to have Pokémon over that level beforehand. They are only required to adhere to non-gym level caps for the fight they pertain to.
    • Overleveled Pokémon cannot be the lead of the party after the battle they overlevel in (outside of the context of a back-to-back).
      • They cannot be sent into battle outside of the context of a back-to-back (see stipulations below) or the battle that they overlevel in or else the run is considered over and will be treated as an automatic wipe. 
• In the case of back-to-back battles, Pokémon may overlevel for subsequent fights as long as they never enter the field of play.
  • If an overleveled Pokémon is in the lead slot at the start of the subsequent fight in a B2B, they must be switched out immediately on the first turn.
  • If an overleveled Pokémon is forced into the battle by any means (e.g Roar, Whirlwind, U-Turn, etc) then the run is considered over and will be treated as an automatic wipe. 
  • If they cannot be switched out for any reason (ie, Shadow Tag/Fainted Party), the run is considered over and will be treated as an automatic wipe.

Additional Rules

• The generation of an unlimited quantity of any resource is allowed, so long as the player is theoretically able to do so through normal and legal gameplay.
  • For example, it is impossible to grow berries until the defeat of Team Galactic (after Cyrus 4). Until that point, the player may only generate an unlimited quantity of berries that NPCs replenish naturally.
  • Generating an impossible quantity of any resource or generating an illegal item results in instant disqualification.
    • GENERATION OF ITEMS THAT CAN BE FOUND AS OVERWORLD ITEMS, EVEN IF THE PLAYER THEORETICALLY ASSUMES NO RISK WHEN OBTAINING IT, IS PROHIBITED.   
• The use of third party tools to analyze the player’s gameplay and save are allowed. However, using third party tools (including the official “PlatKaizoHex”) to alter the stats, nature, or ability of the player Pokémon, Editing the Player Trainer, Flags, or otherwise breaking the intended nature of the game (such as using it as a pseudo PC) is prohibited and will result in the player run being disqualified.
  • However, the player can still change their system clocks or use RunAsDate for time manipulation purposes.
• Using the cheats menu in “DeSmuME” or the equivalent in any other emulator or hardware is prohibited.
• Clausing optional trainers is not allowed. The player must fight any optionals the player run into, even if it is by accident.
  • This applies to any overworld trap, not strictly trainer encounters.
• Playtesting* is heavily frowned upon and may result in the player’s run being disqualified.
• The player is allowed to take advantage of vanilla mechanics, such as having one Pokémon in the player’s party to skip overworld tag battles.
• The player may not utilize external tools, such as generative AI or third-party websites/applications, to automate the process of planning a battle.

Deadman Rule

• Deadman Rule: Using dead, or otherwise ineligible Pokémon solely for the purpose of HMs is prohibited, unless:
  • The player has no eligible Pokémon able to use an HM that is required to progress the story of the game 

OR

• A dead HM user has not been put into the box or released yet  

In cases where the player has no means of using an HM required to progress, including the above caveats, the player may then coin a deceased or otherwise ineligible Pokémon as their HM user (the “Deadman”). A “Deadman” appearing on the field of battle for any reason will be considered a wipe. A Deadman may never be used in Slot 1 of the player’s party.

NOTE: The player may only enact the Deadman Rule should ALL PATHS be impossible with the player’s current living roster. Coining a Deadman for the purpose of taking a preferred path when the player is capable of taking another legally is prohibited, and will not be considered a valid use of this exception. Coining a Deadman for optional areas is strictly prohibited. This includes, for example, sections where the player has no Pokémon able to learn the move “Fly” but has a legal Pokémon that can learn the move “Teleport”, in cases where both moves serve the required function for progress, even if it would require the usage of a Heart Scale. The player must exhaust all possible alternatives before enacting this rule; this includes searching for any potential unobtained encounters that are able to learn the required move. Please review the documentation thoroughly and assess all of your options before enacting the Deadman Rule.

Using deceased Pokémon for the purpose of increasing the odds of a specific outcome with an ability (for example, Intimidate, CompoundEyes, Magnet Pull, etc.) is strictly prohibited. However, Pokémon that were killed in a battle may be used for these purposes before being deposited into the PC or released. Once the dead Pokémon leaves the player’s party, for any reason, this usage becomes illegal.

Clausing

General Clausing Rules

A player illegitimately clausing an event may cause their run to be disqualified upon review.

• Clauses will be looked at on a case-by-case basis; however, there are a number of events that are not clausable. These include:
• Running into optional trainers/overworld traps.
  • Optionals must be fought if run into, even if it’s an accident.
• Misreading the documentation.
• Misreading calculations or erroneous calculator inputs.
• Failing to read the dialog and pick up on potential warnings or cues.
• Misunderstanding of the Platinum Kaizo Trainer AI and its battle mechanics, including Acid Rain and other known battle mechanic related glitches.
• Failing to obtain a limited-time Pokémon or item (ie, Sticky Barbs, Heart Scales) despite having the opportunity, and then generating said Pokémon or item.
• Clausing a fight due to a special event/holiday.
• Misinputs in the overworld or in battle, regardless of whether or not the player had a plan.
• Teaching a Pokémon a move or forgetting a move erroneously.
• Hatching an Egg in an invalid encounter location, and clausing it because the player had the opportunity to hatch it in a legal location.

The following is a brief, general list of events that could be clausable:

• Mistakes made due to incorrect/incomplete information in official documentation.
• Losses/No-Contests/Lost progress due to Power outages, or PC/emulator/OBS crashes & freezes.

When a clause is enacted for the above reasons, players are expected and allowed to restore the game to a state as close as possible to its last iteration before the clause came into effect, for better and for worse.

Precedent

Although it is difficult to predict the exact nature of every possible in-game mishap or real-world calamitous event that may interfere with one’s gameplay, the following descriptions and examples of potentially clausable events represent the ethos of Platinum Kaizo and this challenge. They may not entirely reflect how every case will be treated, but instead should be viewed as guidelines for what is and is not considered fair play.

• As Platinum Kaizo uses vanilla mechanics for its foundation with only minor alterations/clauses due to undiscovered quirks/errors in Platinum’s AI will not be allowed, even if it is unprecedented.
  • Documentation for the vanilla AI has existed for many years, and is therefore not considered the responsibility of the creators under this ruleset.
• Mistaking the AI behavior of other Diamond/Pearl/Platinum/HeartGold/SoulSilver based games, such as Renegade Platinum, Sterling Silver, Azure Platinum, or Sacred Gold for that of Platinum Kaizo is not considered a clausable situation.
• Game knowledge is entirely the player’s responsibility. Please read through all of the edits to the Move List, Move Effects, and AI as these can affect the player’s gameplay.
  • Failure to read through the game’s documentation and understand its effect on the AI (For example, a move effect/move index number being changed) and committing an error because of it is not a clausable event.

Reasonable Probability

“Reasonable Probability” describes the judgment of whether or not a gamestate can be deemed salvageable once a clausable event has occurred. In the middle of a battle, two players’ power goes out due to a storm. This falls under the events that could be clauseable. However, the game states of these players were very different:

• The first player, (Player A) was in the middle of a difficult fight and had already suffered 2 casualties, one of which was unplanned. Player A still had several possible paths to victory, but was unable to complete the battle due to the power outage. Because of this, their victory is ostensible at best. Nonetheless, because they had a reasonable probability of victory (above 70%), a clause due to a power outage would be allowed. Player A would be allowed to retry the fight from the beginning, even with the deceased Pokémon. However, once the battle was over, Player A would have to forfeit any Pokémon/Items lost on the pre-clause attempt, regardless of whether or not they were consumed/lost on the claused attempt.

The second player, (Player B) was near the end of a difficult fight. They encountered some bad luck, and had suffered 5 casualties. Player B has only a single, improbable path to victory (less than a 5% chance). Suddenly, their power goes out. Although this falls under the category of events that could be claused, a clause would not be allowed in this case. Player B had, in all likelihood, lost beyond being able to fairly return the game to a previous state. As such, although the battle was not yet concluded, it would be considered a wipe (progress past this point would not be counted towards the Hall of Fame).

Forward Progress

•  “Forward Progress” is a rule that applies when judging whether or not a player will be allowed to redo a mistake due to a clausable event occurring. In this example, two players leave a fight with some unplanned deaths, but both notice some time later that there was a mistake in the documentation that prevented them from properly planning out a fight. However, both players took different actions before learning of this:
• The first player, (Player A) escaped a tricky fight with a single unplanned death. They move on quickly, but upon review they recognize a key difference between the documentation/calculator and the actual fight. This caused them to plan for something that would never have happened, and messed up their planning. However, they had already moved on and went exploring before realizing this. They had picked up some items, leveled up some of their Pokémon, and even acquired a Pokémon via an In-game Link Trade. Despite this, Player A would be allowed to restore their gamestate and try again. This is because none of their actions following the fight involved any probability. They used Repels when exploring to acquire the items, none of their Pokémon learned any new moves, and The Link Trade Pokémon’s stats and ability are static. The player may have completed several actions, but none of them would be counted as solid forward progress due to not involving any risk or battle. (However in this case, the player would not be allowed to choose a different Pokémon to trade in the Link Trade following the retry.)

Forward Progress (cont.)

• The second player, (Player B) escaped a similar fight with a single unplanned death. They begin to move on before realizing that their fight also contained some mistake in the documentation/calculator. They completed several actions between the fight and their realization. They battled another trainer in a fight that was riskless, captured an encounter on a different route, and even obtained a Pokémon Egg. This would not be a valid event to clause, despite there being a mistake in the documentation. All of the actions Player B took would each be considered “Forward Progress”. Generating the Egg is done the moment it is obtained, and is therefore a random event. Rolling/Capturing an encounter is a probabilistic event, in which the player also incurs some risk to their Pokémon and their resources. These would both be considered Forward Progress, and the player would not be allowed to return to a previous state for any reason. In addition, Trainer Battles are always considered Forward Progress, regardless of whether or not the player took any risk. Player B would unfortunately have to accept the loss and move forward.

If you have any questions regarding clausable events, or would like to know whether or not an event that occurred on your run may be clausable, please contact the owners of the sheet or ask in the SinisterHQ Discord server.

Level Caps

Gym Leader / Stage	Level Cap
Roark	Lv. 16
Gardenia	Lv. 28
Fantina	Lv. 38
Maylene	Lv. 47
Wake	Lv. 54
Byron	Lv. 65
Candice	Lv. 74
Volkner	Lv. 84
Coronet / E4	Lv. 100

Glossary

Duplicate Clause: A rule that states a player’s encounter for a header location cannot be a Pokémon they have previously caught or be part of the same evolutionary line as a Pokémon they have already caught. The player may re-roll for a different valid encounter if one is available.

Header Location: A distinct in-game location, distinguished by the “header” that briefly displays on-screen (see image below).

Playtesting: The act of simulating fights ahead of time using the player’s saved data, on either the modified ROM or a third-party software/website.

Run: An attempt at a Nuzlocke of Pokémon Platinum Kaizo.

Split: A section of gameplay from one gym leader to the next, and from the final gym leader to the Elite Four.

Wipe: A situation in which the player is unable to continue their run without being disqualified. They must restart and try again.