493 Explained...?

[Darien Shields]

I was just talking to Lady Vulpix about stats, and she was wondering why Legendary Pokémon has 500 stats listed, for 493 pokémon.

After much head-scratching we realised that the extra stats belonged to form-changers. 3 for Deoxys' extra forms (Speed, Attack, Defense), and two-each for the extra forms of Minomucchi and Minomadamu (Castform-esque pokémon that can be Bug/Grass, Bug/Ground or Bug/Steel depending on where they are fighting (in the evolved state, the form is locked in)). Note that this only seems to go for pokémon that retain their extra forms out of battle. Castform and Cherimu only get one entry each.

Anyway, I was just wondering... since all the entries in-game add up to 500... could this be the reason we didn't get up to 500 pokémon altogether? They wanted 500, but the form-changers took up too much room, so they had to hold back at 493? I don't know much about how the game's coded, but to me it seems a big coincidence that the number of data entries is 500.

So... thoughts?

[mr_pikachu]

That wouldn't be it, methinks. In all likelihood, the Pokemon are identified to the game in binary. This means that the limits for how many could be given would be based upon an exponent of 2 - the nearest one would be 512, so 493 (or 500) doesn't approach the limit. And if we're counting Unown and other special forms, then it actually clears the threshhold anyway, so adding more would be irrelevant. In terms of coding, it just doesn't add up.

[Jeff]

What interests me is that adding the extra forms of Deoxys and Minomucchi only brings the total to 498, look again at that list, at entries 494 and 495, these are basically blank entries. Could these be place holder slots for new pokemon that may be added into the game later on (via a patch obtained via Nintendo-Wifi possibly)?

[Elekidkid]

Well, if I remember correctly, there was one that has different sprites depending on what part of the world you captured it. Maybe this one is part of the additionals?

[Jeff]

But pokemon that only have different sprites for different forms don't have extra entries in that list, think Unown and Minomadamu.

[Everoy]

But pokemon that only have different sprites for different forms don't have extra entries in that list, think Unown and Minomadamu.

Minomadamu's extra forms are on the list at 499 and 500.

[rinku]

Also, don't confuse the *stats* list with the *sprite* ones. Unown needs 28 battle sprites, but only one box sprite and one entry on the stats table. Likewise for the four battle forms of Castform.

The extracted stats list does seem to have two blank entries. It is, however, possible that these have been included as spacers to seperate the variable form stat lines from the main listing. I could imagine that the developers might have found it useful to mark off the data visually like that.

[Jeff]

Minomadamu's extra forms are on the list at 499 and 500.

Doh, I meant Minomucchi, I keep getting those two mixed up.

That's true about it possibly being a layout thing, didn't think about that.

Random observation: Woah, Kevvaelli has 493 posts! Weird.

[Blademaster]

Random observation: Woah, Kevvaelli has 493 posts! Weird.

Another random observation: You have 943 posts.

493
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943

...Coincidence? I don't think so...

[Everoy]

Outdated is your comment. I post too much.

Another random observation: WHOAMG PENGUINS ARE AWESOME.

[Number1ChanseyFan]

[color=magenta]Another possible, but unlikely thing to bring up: Karanakushi and Toritoidon come in two different colors, pink if they are caught on the west coast, and blue if they are caught on the east coast.