PICODEX DUAL - BY ALANXOC3

alanxoc3 welcomes you to the world of pico-8 pokemon... again? thats right, picodex is back with a gen2 sequel. released on the 25th anniversary of pokemon gold and silver and silver!

this is a complete battle simulation game for pokemon gold/silver/crystal/stadium2 (GSC2) somehow crammed into just 32kb. for perspective:

• 152 kb is the size of this game's manual.
• 373 kb is the size of pokemon red/blue.
• 503 kb is the size of pokemon yellow.
• 710 kb is the size of pokemon gold/silver.
• 976 kb is the size of pokemon crystal.
• ~32 mb is the size of pokemon stadium 1.
• ~64 mb is the size of pokemon stadium 2.

picodex dual has minor changes from GSC2 to make the game more unique or help fit within the 32kb space limitation:

• all items you can give to a pokemon that have an effect in-battle are included.
• all pokemon base stats are rounded to multiples of 5, then given max IV/EVs for level 50.
• confusion is renamed to dizziness and now a major status condition.
• many moves are changed slightly to behave like gen1 games, later games, or unique to this game.
• pokemon cries have been altered from what they were in GSC2.
• names are shortened or renamed to fit within screen and storage size constraints.
• pokemon sprites are 16x16 pixels with 1 bit-per-pixel.
• the next pokemon in your party is automatically sent out if your active pokemon faints.
• you can have a pokemon in your team that knows 0 moves. in this case it will only use struggle.

the possible movesets for all pokemon in this game reflect what was officially possible in the 1990s/2000s. there are 4 methods to acquire a move:

• [e]mpty: this just represents an empty move slot.
• [l]earn: default/levelup/egg moves from rby/gsc.
• [t]each: tutor/tm/hm/sketch moves from rby/gsc.
• [c]heat: event/special/glitch moves that could officially be learned in the 1990s/2000s.
  • 1996: red/green glitch. lance dragonite with barrier.
  • 1997: mail-in event. pikachu with fly/surf
  • 1998: mail-in event. fearow/rapidash with payday
  • 1998: mail-in event. magikarp with dragon rage
  • 1999: stadium 1 prize. psyduck with amnesia.
  • 1999: stadium 1 glitch. juggler slowbro with metronome.
  • 1999: gold/silver glitch. lance aerodactyl with rock slide.
  • 2000: stadium 2 prize. gligar with earthquake.
  • 2000: stadium 2 prize. farfetch with baton pass.
  • 2000: stadium 2 odd egg. pichu/cleffa/igglybuff/tyrogue/smoochum/elekid/magby with dizzy punch.
  • 2001: mystery egg event. phanpy with encore.
  • 2001-2003: all other cheat moves in this game were available through weekly downloads from the pokecenter machine in new york city.

special thanks to my wife for supporting me and my esoteric hobbies, friends who provided feedback, and the internet:

• alanxoc3: hey thats me
• bulbapedia: general reference
• nintendo: my childhood
• pokehistorian: pcny reference
• pret: pokemon crystal disassembly
• serebii.net: general reference
• smogon.com: general reference
• thisismypassport: shrinko8
• upokecenter: battle logic
• zep: pico-8

picodex dual was originally released 2024-11-21 as a free fan game on itch, lexaloffle, and with a twitch plays stream.

for a full lookup/reference on all pokemon/moves/items and how they behave in the game, consult the manual here.

gotta catch em all - alanxoc3