Battles and Moves

Battles and Moves

Battle rules

• Physical/Special split: moves are individually Physical, Special, or Status. Their category is no longer decided by type.
• Separate Special Attack and Special Defense replace the original single Special stat.
• Modern critical-hit chances: about 1 in 24 normally, 1 in 8 at +1 stage, 1 in 2 at +2, and guaranteed at +3. High-critical moves add one stage; Focus Energy and Dire Hit add two.
• Sleep lasts 1–3 turns, and Pokémon can act on the turn they wake up.
• Burn, poison, and Leech Seed deal 1/8 of maximum HP each turn instead of 1/16.
• Enemy stat-lowering moves no longer have an extra, artificial 25% chance to fail.
• Ultra Balls now have their own catch modifier.
• Both sides' battle stats are capped at 1,023.

Updated type matchups:

• Bug against Poison: half damage, previously double.
• Poison against Bug: normal damage, previously double.
• Ghost against Psychic: double damage, previously no effect.
• Ice against Fire: half damage, previously normal.

These are selected updates from later games; Yellow++ does not use every rule from a single later generation.

Battle screen and controls

• Redesigned battle HUD, including HP bars, level display, status symbols, and Poké Ball graphics.
• Colored icons show each move's type and category.
• An effectiveness indicator helps judge the highlighted move against the opponent. Sand Attack's indicator accounts for its ability to ignore type immunity.
• Hold LEFT in the move menu for power and accuracy; hold RIGHT for the move's effect description.
• Press B in a wild battle to quickly select RUN.
• Faster HP bars and smoother move-menu loading.
• Larger trainer prize-money amounts fit in the reward display.

Updated move effects

• Tri Attack can burn, freeze, or paralyze, with about a 10% overall chance.
• Poison Sting and Sludge have about a 30% poisoning chance.
• Acid, Aurora Beam, BubbleBeam, Bubble, Constrict, and Psychic have about a 10% chance for their stat-lowering effect.
• Struggle is typeless, with recoil changed to a quarter of maximum HP instead of half the damage dealt. Opponent recoil currently uses your Pokémon's maximum HP.
• Pay Day generates money equal to five times the user's level, up from twice the level.
• Swift no longer hits Pokémon during the invulnerable turn of Dig or Fly.
• Focus Energy, accuracy, healing, and other battle fixes are listed under Bug fixes.

Every changed move value

Only changed fields are listed below. Power, accuracy, and PP can also be checked in game.

• Karate Chop: Normal → Fighting.
• Razor Wind: accuracy 75% → 100%.
• Swords Dance: PP 30 → 20.
• Gust: Normal → Flying.
• Wing Attack: power 35 → 60.
• Whirlwind: accuracy 85% → 100%.
• Fly: power 70 → 90.
• Bind: accuracy 75% → 85%.
• Vine Whip: power 35 → 45; PP 10 → 25.
• Jump Kick: power 70 → 100; PP 25 → 10.
• Sand Attack: Normal → Ground.
• Tackle: power 35 → 40; accuracy 95% → 100%.
• Wrap: accuracy 85% → 90%.
• Thrash: power 90 → 120; PP 20 → 10.
• Double Edge: power 100 → 120.
• Pin Missile: power 14 → 25; accuracy 85% → 95%.
• Disable: accuracy 55% → 100%.
• Flamethrower: power 95 → 90.
• Hydro Pump: power 120 → 110.
• Surf: power 95 → 90.
• Ice Beam: power 95 → 90.
• Blizzard: power 120 → 110; accuracy 90% → 70%.
• Submission: accuracy 80% → 100%; PP 25 → 20.
• Low Kick: accuracy 90% → 100%.
• Absorb: PP 20 → 25.
• Mega Drain: PP 10 → 15.
• Growth: PP 40 → 20.
• Petal Dance: power 70 → 120; PP 20 → 10.
• Fire Spin: power 15 → 35; accuracy 70% → 85%.
• Thunderbolt: power 95 → 90.
• Thunder Wave: accuracy 100% → 90%.
• Thunder: power 120 → 110.
• Rock Throw: accuracy 65% → 90%.
• Dig: power 100 → 80.
• Toxic: accuracy 85% → 90%.
• Recover: PP 20 → 5.
• Minimize: PP 20 → 10.
• Barrier: PP 30 → 20.
• Selfdestruct: power 130 → 200.
• Lick: power 20 → 30.
• Smog: power 20 → 30.
• Fire Blast: power 120 → 110.
• Clamp: accuracy 75% → 85%; PP 10 → 15.
• Skull Bash: power 100 → 130; PP 15 → 10.
• Softboiled: PP 10 → 5.
• Hi Jump Kick: power 85 → 130; PP 20 → 10.
• Glare: accuracy 75% → 100%.
• Poison Gas: accuracy 55% → 90%.
• Leech Life: power 20 → 80; PP 15 → 10.
• Bubble: power 20 → 40.
• Flash: accuracy 70% → 100%.
• Psywave: accuracy 80% → 100%.
• Acid Armor: PP 40 → 20.
• Crabhammer: power 90 → 100; accuracy 85% → 90%.
• Explosion: power 170 → 250.
• Rest: PP 10 → 5.
• Struggle: PP 10 → 1; Normal → typeless. For the full move reference, see Moves List.