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Pokemon Gen 1 Battle Engine

A comprehensive battle simulation engine for Generation 1 Pokemon (Red/Blue/Yellow), featuring authentic damage calculation, type effectiveness, and a full round-robin tournament system to determine the strongest Pokemon.

Tournament Preview

Features

  • Complete Gen 1 Pokedex: All 151 Pokemon with accurate base stats and moves
  • Authentic Gen 1 Mechanics:
    • Physical/Special split based on move type (not individual moves)
    • Single Special stat (before Special Attack/Defense split)
    • Original type chart (no Dark/Steel/Fairy types)
  • Strongest Move Priority: Each Pokemon uses their highest-power damaging move
  • Round-Robin Tournament: Simulates all 11,325 unique matchups
  • Live Battle Visualization: Real-time progress tracking with ANSI colors
  • Detailed Rankings: Win rates, scores, and performance metrics

Current Version (v1.0)

This release focuses on determining the strongest Pokemon through raw statistical comparison. Each Pokemon enters battle with their optimal moveset and uses their strongest attack every turn.

Battle Mechanism

Pokemon A (Attacker)          Pokemon B (Defender)
      ↓                                ↓
Select strongest damaging    Receive damage
move from moveset            (type effectiveness applied)
      ↓                                ↓
Deal damage                  Retaliate with strongest move
(STAB + type multiplier)     
      ↓                                ↓
Repeat until faint           Winner determined by stats

Key Points:

  • Each Pokemon gets their top 3 damaging moves + 1 status move from their learnset
  • In battle, Pokemon always use their strongest damaging move (highest base power)
  • No move switching or AI strategy - pure power comparison
  • Best for: Rankings, power analysis, type matchup research

v1.0 uses raw power ranking. Smart battle AI and status effects are being considered for future versions.

Gen 1 Battle Mechanics

Damage Formula

Damage = (((2 × Level / 5 + 2) × Power × (Attack / Defense)) / 50) + 2
  • Level 100 scaling factor: 42
  • Minimum damage floor: +2
  • STAB bonus: 1.5× for same-type moves
  • Type effectiveness: 2× (super effective), 0.5× (not very effective), 0× (immune)

Physical vs Special

Category Stats Used Move Types
Physical Attack vs Defense Normal, Fighting, Flying, Poison, Ground, Rock, Bug, Ghost
Special Special vs Special Fire, Water, Grass, Electric, Psychic, Ice, Dragon

Turn Order

  1. Compare Speed stats
  2. Higher Speed attacks first
  3. Speed ties resolved by coin flip (50/50)

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/pokemon-gen1-battle-engine.git
cd pokemon-gen1-battle-engine

# Setup (fetch data + calculate stats + create directories)
npm run setup

Or step by step:

# Fetch Pokemon data from PokeAPI
npm run fetch

# Calculate Level 100 stats
npm run calc-stats

Usage

Run Full Tournament

npm run tournament

Simulates all 11,325 battles between 151 Pokemon and generates rankings.

Output includes:

  • Live progress bar
  • Recent battle log
  • Final rankings with medals
  • JSON export to results/tournament-gen1.json

Run Single Battle

npm run battle

Edit battle.js to test specific matchups:

const pokemonA = pokemonDb.find(p => p.name === 'mewtwo');
const pokemonB = pokemonDb.find(p => p.name === 'dragonite');

Sample Results

Top 15 Pokemon (Tournament Rankings)

Rank Pokemon Wins Losses Win Rate Score
🥇 1 Mewtwo 149 1 99.3% 446
🥈 2 Alakazam 141 9 94.0% 414
🥉 3 Mew 141 9 94.0% 414
4 Moltres 139 11 92.7% 406
5 Vaporeon 138 12 92.0% 402

Score = (Wins × 3) - Losses

Project Structure

pokemon-gen1-battle-engine/
├── api/
│   └── fetch-data.js          # Fetches 151 Pokemon from PokeAPI
├── data/
│   ├── pokemon-gen1.json      # Pokemon data with stats and moves
│   └── type_effectiveness_gen1.json  # Gen 1 type chart
├── results/
│   └── tournament-gen1.json   # Tournament rankings export
├── battle.js                  # Turn-based battle simulator
├── damage_calculator.js       # Gen 1 damage formula implementation
├── lvl_100.js                 # Level 100 stat calculator
└── tournament_loop.js         # Round-robin tournament engine

Technical Implementation

Move Extraction

Each Pokemon fetches their learnset and filters for:

  • Level-up moves only (no TMs)
  • Learned by level 100 or below
  • Top 3 damaging moves sorted by power (highest first)
  • 1 status move filler if needed

In battle, Pokemon always use their first (strongest) damaging move.

Type Compatibility

Modern types not in Gen 1 are mapped:

  • Dark → Normal
  • Steel → Normal
  • Fairy → Normal

Battle Safety

100-turn limit prevents infinite loops from type immunity (e.g., Ground vs Flying).

Roadmap

  • v1.0 ✅ Complete Gen 1 tournament engine with damage calculation and rankings
  • v2.0 🔜 More features coming soon

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Submit issues for bugs and feature requests.

License

MIT License - Feel free to use for research, education, or fun!

Acknowledgments

  • Data sourced from PokeAPI
  • Inspired by Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow battle mechanics
  • Built for research and educational purposes

Not affiliated with Nintendo, Game Freak, or The Pokemon Company.