It only takes 2 years to become a god: Pokemon Platinum scientist achieves omniscience by beating 4 billion versions of the RPG at the same time with the power of math
Oct. 24, 2024Step aside, Arceus
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Somehow, it’s possible to beat all 4,294,967,296 permutations of Pokemon Platinum simultaneously using the same button presses, as long as you can simulate a full multiverse of timelines and account for their worst-case scenarios at all times.
But to play through over four billion timelines at the same time, you’ve got to consider the worst things that can happen. Not necessarily in adramaticsense, but for example, encountering a wild Pokemon in the tall grass will usually take you between six and 17 steps. However, because MartSnack’s seed-tracking simulator shows it can take up to 195 steps, they had to take that many steps every time they wanted to battle a wild Pokemon to keep all the games in sync.
Keeping things in sync is a constant battle in itself, though. As MartSnack explains, when it comes to level grinding, the fluctuating amount of EXP earned across the different timelines (thanks to encountering varying Pokemon) means that the alternate seeds gain level-ups at different rates, therefore making Pokemon attempt to learn moves and attempt to evolve at different speeds. Thankfully, these things could be used to MartSnack’s advantage with a technique the creator calls ‘stopping rules,’ to stop advanced seeds from progressing while the slower ones catch up.
One of the best examples of this came at the start of the run, as MartSnack was leveling up over four billion Chimchars. Since the Fire-type attempts to learn Taunt at level nine, MartSnack could configure their button presses to keep the seeds that hit this level stuck in a loop, constantly clicking between the options to learn or forget the move, while the other seeds carried on running around in the grass and fighting Pokemon. Eventually, when they all caught up, they could learn the move simultaneously and move on.
Similar techniques to keep certain seeds ‘occupied’ in menus were used throughout the challenge, sometimes to purposely throw things out of sync for a while. Attempting to use a healing item in a battle when it’s not required in one seed but is in another is a great example of this – while the healing seeds are busy getting healthy, MartSnack can freely navigate through the battle menus of the other games to land an attack without those button inputs doing more than the player wants them to. Things can be resynced after the battle is over by directing all the games to run into the same wall.
Those things only scratch the surface of the full depth of MartSnack’s winning strategy, which comes together to make something happen that I genuinely would have thought to be impossible had I not seen it with my own eyes – you should definitely watch the full video to see it all in action. Going into the final series of fights with the Elite Four and Champion after more than 50 billion simulations and nearly two years of work, the creator says, “I’m not worried, my victory was guaranteed the moment I started the game.” That might just be the coolest thing anyone has ever said about this beloved creature-collecting RPG series, which is very appropriate to describe one of the most ridiculously brilliant Pokemon achievements anyone has ever pulled off.
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Pokemon Platinum is one of thebest Pokemon games, so it definitely deserves to be played 4,294,967,296 times.
I’m one of GamesRadar+’s news writers, who works alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield’s student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming’s news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you’re sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.
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