Pokémon Showdown

Pokémon Showdown
Original authorGuangcong "Zarel" Luo[1]
DevelopersMultiple contributors including "Zarel" and Chris "chaos" Monsanto[2]
Initial releaseOctober 2011[1]
Written innode.js, JavaScript[3]
Operating systemWindows, web browser
Available inEnglish, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Turkish, Hindi, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese
TypeSimulator
LicenseOpen source
Websiteplay.pokemonshowdown.com

Pokémon Showdown is a fan-made simulator created by Guangcong "Zarel" Luo, for the purpose of competitive Pokémon battling using customisable teams.[1][4][5] The site was adopted by Smogon University in 2012, and became the official simulator for the website and forums. All Smogon formats are available with individual competitive ladders on Showdown, which is accessible either as a downloadable program for Windows or within a web browser such as Google Chrome. Reception has been generally positive from gaming outlets and fans, though there have been concerns expressed regarding copyright infringement of the Pokémon franchise.

Development

Development

Development of Pokémon Showdown began in 2011 by Guangcong "Zarel" Luo. After playing an older simulator called Pokémon Online, Luo became bored of its basic user interface and decided to begin working on his own version.[1] Showdown is written in JavaScript, allowing the deployment of changes in real-time, without the disadvantage of having to stop the servers to add new features.[6] The primary goal for the simulator was to deliver a bug-free experience for the end user, whilst implementing all mechanics for all Pokémon generations up to that point in time.[7] The server that hosts Showdown is funded by Smogon founder Chris "chaos" Monsanto.[8]

Features

Battle simulator

The primary feature of Pokémon Showdown is the ability to simulate battles between players. Players can choose between different formats, such as those categorised by Smogon or others that are unique to Showdown.[9]

Teambuilder

The teambuilder is a feature on Showdown that can be used to create teams to battle against other players.[10] Pokémon can be selected alphabetically within an internal window, with specific restrictions dependent on the format that has been chosen. Items, abilities, moves, EVs[a] and IVs[b] are all selectable in the teambuilder, with illegal combinations, such as for Pokémon that have not yet been released officially, being blocked from use. Teams are stored using browser cookies and are able to be both imported and exported as a text file.[12] The teambuilder also gives the ability to name created teams and organising teams with the use of file folders, with folders automatically generated for different tiers.[13]

Ladder

Each format on Showdown with the exception of "random" formats, has a ladder system. The system is ranked, and is centered around several indicators. Elo is a value that changes after the conclusion of a battle, increasing per win and decreasing per loss. This directly affects matchmaking. The second value, known as "Glicko-1" (and later Glicko-2),[14] applies the Glicko rating system, changing at a slower interval, and also takes win to loss ratio into account. Glicko becomes more "confident" when more battles are played, allowing for a smarter representation of a specific players' skill level.[15] A third value, known as Glicko X-Act Estimate, and named after its developer "X-Act", builds on Glicko, and functions based on the individuals probability of winning against an opponent.[14] Twenty-four hours of no activity causes rank decay for players who have achieved a value of 1400 or over in a specific format.[15]

Chat rooms

Showdown hosts multiple chat rooms where users are able to converse about different topics. For example, the Smogon tiers, with each having a respective chat room, and language rooms where users can speak French or German among others.[16][17] Individual battles allow both participants to chat.[18]

Reception

Gaming outlets

The simulator has received mostly positive reception from online gaming outlets, increasingly in 2025 due to the announcement of Pokémon Champions by The Pokémon Company.[19][20] Writing for Kotaku in 2019, Ben Sledge argued that Pokémon Showdown is "even better than using the official games to battle", noting ease of use and faster customisation. Sledge also compared the short length of time it takes to wait for a match on Showdown, compared to the much longer wait time on Link Battles in the online feature of core series Pokémon video games.[1] Blake Johnson of Comic Book Resources noted the simulators teambuilder in a 2022 review, remarking that it is "one of the biggest draws to Pokémon Showdown", whilst highlighting that it only allows combinations that would be possible in the official videogames. Johnson concluded by saying that "almost every fan of the series can find something they'll enjoy within it".[21]

Academic projects

Since the adoption of Showdown by the website Smogon University in July 2012,[21] the simulator has used the tiers from that website for its various battle formats, incorporating this into its proprietary ladder system.[22][23] A project named "Future Sight AI", developed by computer scientist Albert III in 2021, as reported by Jay Costello of The Verge, was able to progress up to the top five percent of players on the Pokémon Showdown ladder. It achieved this by extrapolating all possibilities for future turns in a given battle, and then using predictive learning to surmise how the turns will progress, finally settling on choices that offer the highest chance of winning.[24] A similar project using a software agent that applies the Monte Carlo tree search algorithm, conducted in 2024 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was also able to achieve a ladder ranking, reaching 1693 elo on the fourth generation "Random Battle" format.[25] Random battles being considered one of the most popular formats on the simulator alongside "OverUsed".[26] Other projects involving artificial intelligence use on Pokémon Showdown have been conducted, including two by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in both 2017 and 2019.[27][28]

Despite receiving praise for its implementation of Pokémon customisation, ladder system and use in competitive battling, Pokémon Showdown has been the subject of concern regarding copyright infringement of the Pokémon franchise. Sports Illustrated reporter Cale Michael commented on this writing that "TPC[c] could have shut down Showdown at any time", but "has never made a move to do so that we know of", suggesting that because of the announcement of Pokémon Champions, the future of such a simulator "is less certain than ever before."[29] Ben Sledge writing for Kotaku in 2019, remarked that "Showdown uses trademarked names and copyrighted artwork, which could be an issue if Nintendo ever decides to come knocking." Creator Guangcong "Zarel" Luo opted not to make any comment on potential legal issues when questioned by Sledge.[1] Reporting for TheGamer in 2025, Sledge again made a personal comment on Showdown's legal standing, saying, "it’s always amazed me that Pokemon Showdown has lasted this long without a DMCA from the Pokemon Company, but the game persists."[30] Justin Groot, writing for Kill Screen publication The Meta magazine, also labelled copyright infringement as a "major obstacle" in the way of "Smogon’s brand of Pokémon competition becoming a full-fledged esport". Groot noted however that if popularity were to increase on the simulator, TPC could take measures similar to Nintendo and the Super Smash Bros. Brawl mod "Project M".[31]

Showdown on Love Is Blind

In 2023, Love Is Blind contestant James Milton Johnson claimed on an episode of the show that he was a nationally ranked player on the simulator, and that he had previously been banned for the use of profanity. It was later proven that whilst he did have ladder rankings, they were not ranked high.[32]

Notes

  1. ^ Effort values[11]
  2. ^ Individual values[11]
  3. ^ The Pokémon Company

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Sledge, Ben (7 October 2019). "A Fan-Made Browser Game Is Pro Pokémon Players' Secret Weapon". Kotaku. Retrieved 29 October 2025.
  2. ^ "Credits". Pokémon Showdown. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  3. ^ "Pokémon Showdown". GitHub. Archived from the original on 2 December 2019. Retrieved 29 October 2025.
  4. ^ "MN Poké Con Newsletter 09/27/15". MNPokécon. 27 September 2015. Retrieved 30 October 2025.
  5. ^ Taguiam, Rhenn (8 September 2021). "Everything You Need To Know About Pokemon Showdown". Game Rant. Retrieved 29 October 2025.
  6. ^ Oglemi (27 December 2012). "Interview with Zarel". Smogon. The Smog (Issue 23). Retrieved 29 October 2025.
  7. ^ Flora (17 January 2014). "Interview with Joim". Smogon. The Smog (Issue 32). Retrieved 29 October 2025.
  8. ^ Shaymin (28 September 2014). "Ask the Admins". Smogon. The Player (Issue 3). Retrieved 29 October 2025.
  9. ^ Arnold, Nathan; Fluty, Nicholas; Flores, Ryan D; Goldsmith, Judy; Harrison, Brent (19 November 2024). Evaluating the Stability of the Smogon Tier List for Competitive Pokémon Battling (PDF). CEUR Workshop Proceedings (Thesis). pp. 1–6. ISSN 1613-0073.
  10. ^ Arthurs, Sam (18 January 2023). "What is Pokémon Showdown? How to play the free browser-based Pokémon game". Destructoid. Archived from the original on 17 April 2024. Retrieved 29 October 2025.
  11. ^ a b Reflect Suicune. "Effort Values and Individual Values". Smogon. Retrieved 1 November 2025.
  12. ^ unfixable (2 December 2014). "The Teambuilder". Smogon. The Player (Issue 5). Retrieved 1 November 2025.
  13. ^ Fairfax, Zackerie (13 March 2024). "How To Play Pokemon Showdown: Best Formats & How To Build a Team". The Escapist. Retrieved 29 October 2025.
  14. ^ a b scalarmotion (8 June 2015). "Elo Hell-o: Rating Systems on Showdown and You". Smogon. The Smog (Issue 43). Retrieved 1 November 2025.
  15. ^ a b "How the ladder works". Pokémon Showdown. Retrieved 1 November 2025.
  16. ^ Goddess Briyella (25 November 2013). "Showdown Lowdown: Public Rooms on PS!". Smogon. The Smog (Issue 31). Retrieved 1 November 2025.
  17. ^ Alter. "The Beginner's Guide to Pokémon Showdown". Smogon. Retrieved 29 October 2025.
  18. ^ Traylor, Aaron. "What is Pokemon Showdown and How to Use it". VGC Guide. Retrieved 29 October 2025.
  19. ^ Carpenter, Nicole (27 February 2025). "Pokémon Champions, a cross-platform battle sim, announced during Pokémon Presents". Polygon. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  20. ^ Warnock-Estrada, Amber (4 March 2025). "Pokemon Champions May Finally Be an Official Take on a Great Fan Project". GameRant. Retrieved 29 October 2025.
  21. ^ a b Johnson, Blake (11 April 2022). "Why Pokémon Showdown Is a Great Tool for Competitive Play". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 29 October 2025.
  22. ^ "Introduction to Competitive Pokémon". Pokémon Showdown. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  23. ^ Traylor, Aaron. "What is a "Good" Ladder Rating?". VGC Guide. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  24. ^ Castello, Jay (2 December 2021). "The quest to make an AI that can play competitive Pokémon". The Verge. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  25. ^ Wang, Jett (February 2024). Winning at Pokémon Random Battles Using Reinforcement Learning (PDF) (Thesis). MIT. pp. 1–46. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  26. ^ Grigsby, Jake; Xie, Yuqi; Sasek, Justin; Zheng, Steven; Zhu, Yuke (April 2025). Human-Level Competitive Pokémon via Scalable Offline Reinforcement Learning with Transformers (PDF). Reinforcement Learning Journal (Thesis). pp. 1–35. arXiv:2504.04395.
  27. ^ Lee, Scott; Togelius, Julian (22–25 August 2017). "Showdown AI competition". 2017 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. pp. 191–198. doi:10.1109/CIG.2017.8080435. ISBN 978-1-5386-3234-5. ISSN 2325-4289.
  28. ^ Huang, Dan; Lee, Scott (20–23 August 2019). "A Self-Play Policy Optimization Approach to Battling Pokémon". 2019 IEEE Conference on Games (CoG). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. pp. 1–4. doi:10.1109/CIG.2019.8848014. ISBN 978-1-7281-1884-0. ISSN 2325-4289.
  29. ^ Michael, Cale (27 February 2025). "The Future of Pokémon VGC is Mobile - What We Know About Pokémon Champions". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on 4 March 2025. Retrieved 30 October 2025.
  30. ^ Sledge, Ben (27 February 2025). "Has Nintendo Announced An Official Pokemon Showdown?". TheGamer. Retrieved 29 October 2025.
  31. ^ Groot, Justin (19 August 2016). "Inside the battle for the soul of competitive Pokémon". The Meta. Kill Screen. Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  32. ^ Gularte, Alejandra (4 October 2023). "Pokémon Showdown Uses Truth on Love Is Blind's Milton". Vulture. Retrieved 6 November 2025.
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