Launcher: Plugin Overview

Section 7.H.1

When the Wonder Launcher is enabled, all trainer's inventories are swapped out with a temporary Wonder Launcher inventory. Unlike the player's usual inventory, Wonder Launcher inventories only have two "pockets" - a Medicine pocket which include all basic Potions, Revives, Ether/Elixirs, and status cures; as well as a Battle pocket which include all X items, Dire Hit, Guard Spec., and a few exclusive Wonder Launcher items.

These items are all infinite in supply, however they may only be used by expending a number of points. Below, I'll go into detail about Wonder Launcher mechanics.

Item Limit

Note that unlike in Pokemon Black & White, you may only launch an item with the Wonder Launcher once per turn. This means that in double or triple battles, only one of your Pokemon's turns can be used to launch an item, and you'll be prevented from selecting another item that turn. This limitation has been set both for balance reasons due to certain Launcher items being buffed, and also to simplify the battle AI.


Enabling a Wonder Launcher Battle

To even enter a Wonder Launcher battle, you must first enable these types of battles to occur. Only trainer battles may be fought as Wonder Launcher battles, so wild battles will never be affected even if the feature is turned on.

By default, the Wonder Launcher feature will be disabled for all trainer battles. To enable it, this can be done in one of two ways.

Battle Rule

You may set the "wonderLauncher" Battle Rule prior to a trainer battle to enable the Wonder Launcher for that battle only. More on this is covered in the "Launcher: Battle Rules" subsection.

Game Switch

When enabled with a switch, you can enable the Wonder Launcher globally for all trainer battles by default. The switch number used for this can be found by going into this plugin's files and opening the Settings file.

Here, you will find a setting called WONDER_LAUNCHER_SWITCH. This is where the switch number used to toggle Wonder Launcher battles on or off is stored. By default, this switch number is set to 72, but please set this to whatever switch number you want if this overlaps with an existing switch that you are using elsewhere. While playing in debug mode, you can quickly toggle this switch by going to "Deluxe plugin settings..." in the debug menu, and using the "Toggle Wonder Launcher" setting.

Once your preferred switch number is set and you turn this switch on in-game, all trainer battles will use the Wonder Launcher.

If you ever want to turn this feature off and disable the Wonder Launcher mechanic for all trainer battles, you can do so by simply turning this game switch off again.


Launcher Points

Launcher Points, or "LP" for short, is the currency required to Launch items onto the battlefield during a Wonder Launcher battle. Each item in your Wonder Launcher inventory requires a certain number of points to use, relative to the quality of the item. Each trainer gains LP at the start of each turn. Deciding whether to stock up on LP for stronger items or to use LP immediately for a head start is part of the strategy of Wonder Launcher battles.

Accruing LP

LP Gains

Each trainer gains LP at the start of each turn. By default, this will only be 1 LP per turn, however you may change this to a different value if you wish by opening the plugin Settings and changing WONDER_LAUNCHER_POINTS_PER_TURN to a different amount.

If a trainer has less remaining Pokemon on the battlefield than the opponent, they will gain an additional +1 LP per turn. Obviously, this is only really relevant in double or triple battles. This gives the losing trainer a chance for a comeback by saving up for a Revive item faster.


Maximum LP

Each trainer can only hold a maximum of 14 LP by default. After which, any additional LP gains will go to waste. However, you may change this max LP cap if you wish by opening the plugin Settings and changing WONDER_LAUNCHER_MAX_POINTS to a different amount. Note however, that all UI displays related to the Wonder Launcher are designed with the default cap in mind, so you may have to manually adjusts some visuals if you decide to exceed this default limit.


Debug Options

Finally, while playing in debug mode, you can manually assign the current LP totals of any trainer during battle by opening the debug menu, selecting "Trainer options..." and selecting "Launcher Points" to assign the LP for each trainer.

If you select the "Wonder Launcher" option, you can completely disable the ability to accrue or spend any LP at all for each trainer.

Spending LP

To actually use the LP you gain to launch items, you have to select an item from your Wonder Launcher inventory. This can be done by selecting the LAUNCH command in the command menu, which replaces the normal BAG command option during Wonder Launcher battles.

When you open the Wonder Launcher inventory, you'll notice that there's some slight differences to the normal inventory screen. There are only two viewable "pockets" in this inventory - Medicine and Battle items. Both of these types of items function identically to their normal equivalents, though there are a few key differences.

Firstly, you'll notice that while scrolling through these item lists, there isn't a quantity listed for each item. This is because items in the Wonder Launcher inventory are infinite in supply. Instead, the LP cost required will be listed next to each item. In order to use a listed item in this inventory, you need to have enough accrued LP to spend on them.

On the left side of the screen, a unique window will be shown that displays the player's Current LP. This will be displayed as a gauge with several blue pips that indicate your total LP count thus far. While your cursor is hovered over an item, this meter will display red pips which indicate just how much of your LP the highlighted item would consume when used. This quickly gives you a visual indication of the cost of each item, and how many points you'd have remaining after its use.

Battle Visuals

During a Wonder Launcher battle, each trainer's LP will be tracked visually with a splash bar that will appear on screen whenever a trainer's LP totals change, such as when they Launch items. This helps indicate each trainer's current remaining LP total. These bars will display the name of the trainer, as well as a character icon (if one is available) to distinguish which trainer's LP you are viewing.

Since LP is gained at the start of each turn, this means these bars will appear on screen at the start of each turn for each trainer as well. If you dislike this or find it annoying to display each turn, you may disable this by opening the plugin Settings and setting SHOW_LAUNCHER_SPLASH_EACH_TURN to false.

Note that LP bars will linger on screen for about 2 seconds each time they slide in. However, pressing the USE button while they linger will force them to hide immediately, so you can speed this animation up in this way.

If you happen to have the Enhanced Battle UI add-on plugin installed, you can view all trainer's current LP at any point during command selection by opening the battler selection menu with the JUMPUP (A) key. If so, each trainer's LP totals will appear parallel to their party ball icons.


Wonder Launcher Inventory

The stock of items available to each trainer in a Wonder Launcher battle is generally the same and have an infinite supply. These items will replace whatever inventory the trainer would normally have in a regular battle.

Note however that even while in a Wonder Launcher battle, all trainers will still retain any Key Items that would be in their normal inventories, they just won't be visible during the battle. So you can still give trainers items such as a Mega Ring and have them use Mega Evolution during a Wonder Launcher battle, even though their normal inventories are replaced with the Wonder Launcher inventory.

Below, I'll list all possible items that will appear in a trainer's Wonder Launcher inventory by default.

These are all of the items that will appear in the Medicine pocket of the Wonder Launcher inventory by default.

Item
LP Cost
Target
Effect

Potion

2

User Party

Heals 20 HP.

Super Potion

4

User Party

Heals 60 HP.

Hyper Potion

8

User Party

Heals 120 HP.

Max Potion

10

User Party

Heals all HP.

Full Restore

13

User Party

Heals all HP and status.

Awakening

4

User Party

Cures Sleep.

Antidote

4

User Party

Cures Poison.

Burn Heal

4

User Party

Cures Burn.

Paralyze Heal

4

User Party

Cures Paralysis.

Ice Heal

4

User Party

Cures Freeze.

Full Heal

5

User Party

Cures status and confusion.

Revive

11

User Party

Revives with half HP.

Max Revive

14

User Party

Revives with full HP.

Ether

4

User Party

Restores a move's PP by 10.

Max Ether

6

User Party

Fully restores a move's PP.

Elixir

8

User Party

Restores all move PP by 10.

Max Elixir

10

User Party

Fully restores all move PP.

PP Healing Items

In the original Wonder Launcher battles in Pokemon Black & White, PP healing items such as Ethers and Elixirs were not included as Wonder Launcher items, even though data for these are found in the code. For the purposes of this plugin, I chose to include them anyway and gave them LP costs that I thought would be appropriate based on the other items.


Item Details

Certain items used with the Wonder Launcher have specific mechanics that I'll outline below.

Item Urge

This item can target any battler on the field to force that target to consume its held item to immediately use its effects. However, this is only limited to certain items that do something when consumed. The following are all of the items that can be potentially triggered via an Item Urge:

  • Oran Berry

  • Sitrus Berry

  • Berry Juice

  • Enigma Berry

  • Aguav Berry

  • Figy Berry

  • Iapapa Berry

  • Mago Berry

  • Wiki Berry

  • Pecha Berry

  • Chesto Berry

  • Cheri Berry

  • Rawst Berry

  • Aspear Berry

  • Persim Berry

  • Lum Berry

  • Leppa Berry

  • Hopo Berry (Gen 9 Pack)

  • Liechi Berry

  • Ganlon Berry

  • Kee Berry

  • Petaya Berry

  • Apicot Berry

  • Maranga Berry

  • Salac Berry

  • Starf Berry

  • Lansat Berry

  • Micle Berry

  • White Herb

  • Mental Herb

Note that some of these items can only be feasibly triggered with an Item Urge in very specific scenarios.

Ability Urge

This item can target any battler on the field to force that target to retrigger its ability. However, this is only limited to certain abilities that trigger upon switch-in. The following are all of the abilities that can be potentially triggered via an Ability Urge:

  • Download

  • Intimidate

  • Intrepid Sword

  • Dauntless Shield

  • Pastel Veil

  • Screen Cleaner

  • Curious Medicine

  • Drizzle

  • Drought

  • Snow Warning

  • Sand Stream

  • Desolate Land

  • Primordial Sea

  • Delta Stream

  • Grassy Surge

  • Electric Surge

  • Psychic Surge

  • Misty Surge

  • Forewarn (player-side only)

  • Anticipation (player-side only)

  • Frisk (player-side only)

  • Costar (Gen 9 Pack)

  • Wind Rider (Gen 9 Pack)

  • Orichalcum Pulse (Gen 9 Pack)

  • Hadron Engine (Gen 9 Pack)

  • Supersweet Syrup (Gen 9 Pack)

  • Hospitality (Gen 9 Pack)

  • Embody Aspect (Gen 9 Pack)

  • Teraform Zero (Gen 9 Pack)

Note that some of these abilities can only be feasibly triggered with an Ability Urge in very specific scenarios. If the Gen 9 Pack is installed, some abilities may have a new once-per-battle or once-per-switch-in limitation that would prevent them from being triggered with an Ability Urge a second time.

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