Recently HKim and I were having a conversation where he discovered that I was actually someone who remembered anime style battles in the URPG. Next thing I know, I'm tied to a chair in front of a really bright light and interrogated.
Ever been interrogated by a grass type Pokemon? It's not pleasant; Vine Whip hurts.
Anyhow, he asked that I post what I remember (which isn't much) here on the URPG Trainer's Court boards while he was away on vacation. I said it was redundant since the Park already has a very similar style in place, but he insisted. And let me tell you, that is one annoying and persistent Bulbasaur.
So here it is:
While my memory of this is very, very vague, I do remember participating in a few anime battles very early on in my URPG days. I do believe most of them were reffed by Flare, one of the URPG yahoo vets.
The only things I'm 100% sure about are that these battles followed Stadium rules* for sending out Pokemon (I'd assume to give the ref an idea of what mons might be used ahead of time so that they can devise some creativity in advance), and the environment of the battlefield was decided right off the bat so both trainers knew what surroundings they had to work with. Also moves had different effects than in standard play. You could use them more creatively, such as using Psychic to lift rocks and create a temporary shield, etc.
*(Note that I do not recall if Stadium rules applied to moves being called, but I don't think it did because, well, that would kind of ruin the whole anime feel. But again, my memory fails me on this one.)
Now, my battles weren't exactly that interesting - in fact I don't really recall the details - but I do remember knowing that I had some control over things that I would not have in typical URPG battling. For example, ordering my Pokemon to hide behind rocks to avoid a possibly incoming attack, or simply trying to dodge something.
To be fair, I don't think this system of battling ever lived up to the potential it was designed for, and I think the whole style of battling died out very early, popularity wise, but it was a part of the official rules back then.
If this was brought back into the URPG today, I'd imagine it would work with much more flare than the original had. I'm sorry, but the old refs really weren't that creative and didn't let these battles shine as much as they could have.
To be true to the old ways, yet make things more interesting and modern, I think the anime battle system should work something like this:
1.) The URPG ref formula is still king, but there are so many variables that can come into play for how damage is calculated. A ref would be more like a DM for D&D than a mathematician, and each ref would have a different style. Some might allow you to pull of crazy stuff, but others might be more strict to the laws of physics. That's one thing that's going to be tough to balance out because in this system ... well, refs have a lot of power, and depending on their views of things, could ultimately make or break things, just like a DM.
2.) Trainers can use their environment to come up with some amazing scenarios or to give their moves more power. Example: "Ivysaur, use Vine Whip to throw Pikachu into that tree!
In this example the ref would calculate Vine Whip damage, but would also do a hidden roll to see if Ivysaur hit his mark and Pikachu actually hit the tree causing more damage.
3.) As per common sense rules, refs should be very descriptive in what happens each turn. This is how Park Rangers have to do things now a days, but it's also how anime style refs should've acted back then as well. (Though to be fair ... Flare didn't. XD God love the old, lazy vets. We love you anyway.)
4.) Match ups aren't always guaranteed victory, as is often the case in standard URPG play. You send a Cubone out against a Blastoise and ... well, yeah, bye bye Cubone. But in this type of battle creativity reigns. While, as I said before, the ref formula is the absolute way to decide damage, it can take a back seat depending on how imaginative the trainers are.
At this point, lets use an example with the Pokemon above. Say the environment is a dingy dark swampland.
Blastoise attacks first due to its speed, but let's say Cubone doesn't get OHKO'd. Maybe he uses Endure, or maybe Blastoise's trainer didn't call for an offensive move right off the bat. Alright, now it's his turn to attack. Cubone uses Mud-Shot.
Wait, Mud-Shot? Ha! What's such a weak attack going to do to big bad Blastoise, right?
Well, the mud in the swamp is especially thick and perfect for ..."Cubone, aim Mud-Shot at Blastoise's cannons to clog them up!"
And you know, Blastoise is a pretty heavy Pokemon. It'd probably be hard for him to dodge or move well in the muddy ground. So depending on how the ref rolls, this could be a serious handicap to Blastoise. No longer able to use many of his water type abilities.
Granted, this would probably only be a minor set back and Blastoise would still win if he ever gets a good hit off, but the point is that the tides can turn based on creativity. Just like how Ash in the anime has won countless battles despite type advantage.
I'll wrap this up before it gets too long, as my goal of this post was not to declare all the rules that would go along with this system - that's for the URPG officials to work out if they decide to give it a shot. I'm just here to light the spark of an idea, and to shed some (very minimal) light on a mysterious form of battling that was lost years ago.
Thanks for your time.
(There! Are you happy now, Kim? /kick)
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Originally Posted by Buzzer
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