I pulled every completed M-B tournament off Limitless (91 events, 6,830 teams) and scored each mega off real results instead of opinion. It’s dominance/results led, so the score is built from event wins, top cut volume, and usage, with win rate kept as a strong second factor. The actual weights are win rate 0.75, top cut volume 0.55, event wins 0.40, plus a stepped usage bonus.
A few things baked in: wins and top cuts are weighted by event size, so winning a 200 player major counts far more than an 8 player side event. Win rate and top cut rate get lightly smoothed toward the field average so a 2 game fluke can’t spike a tier. Usage mostly acts as a penalty for fringe picks (anything under 10 teams gets dropped hard) since the data shows usage is super consistent but barely predicts skill on its own, which is why I didn’t let it carry much. And the tier cutoffs aren’t hand picked, they come from where the actual gaps fall in the score spread.
The pairing list uses the same model but for duos, since around half of teams flex two mega stones. A pairing only gets ranked if at least 5 teams ran it. I tested that with a split half check and reliability falls off a cliff below 5 (about 0.39 at 5 teams vs 0.26 at 2), so under that you’re just ranking coincidences.
For what it’s worth Floette comes out as the number 1 mega (1,248 teams, 55.4% win rate, tied for the most event wins) and Charizard Y + Floette is the top pairing (372 teams).
EDIT: here are the top performing teams https://github.com/logdog2325/Pokemon\_Trainer\_Tournament\_Simulator/blob/claude/samurott-vgc-team-woglbi/champions-team-building/top-teams-deduped.md

I pulled every completed M-B tournament off Limitless (74 events, 4,977 teams) and scored each mega off real results instead of opinion. It’s dominance/results led, so the score is built from event wins, top cut volume, and usage, with win rate kept as a strong second factor. The actual weights are win rate 0.75, top cut volume 0.55, event wins 0.40, plus a stepped usage bonus.
A few things baked in: wins and top cuts are weighted by event size, so winning a 200 player major counts far more than an 8 player side event. Win rate and top cut rate get lightly smoothed toward the field average so a 2 game fluke can’t spike a tier. Usage mostly acts as a penalty for fringe picks (anything under 10 teams gets dropped hard) since the data shows usage is super consistent but barely predicts skill on its own, which is why I didn’t let it carry much. And the tier cutoffs aren’t hand picked, they come from where the actual gaps fall in the score spread.
The pairing list uses the same model but for duos, since around half of teams flex two mega stones. A pairing only gets ranked if at least 5 teams ran it. I tested that with a split half check and reliability falls off a cliff below 5 (about 0.39 at 5 teams vs 0.26 at 2), so under that you’re just ranking coincidences.
For what it’s worth Floette comes out as the number 1 mega (892 teams, 55.5% win rate, most event wins) and Charizard Y + Floette is the top pairing (248 teams).

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So my core of Sceptile, rotom heat, mamoswine and Talonflame have been working really well together but I’ve been having trouble filling the last two slots, at first I tried mega zard x sinistcha, then aegislash blastoise and now aegislash gyrados. Aegislash blastoise did win me a few games but was awkward. I am considering adding a mega metagross but haven’t had luck recruiting one. But I’d love to get other peoples input here on how I could improve the team.

Seeing how much play Sylveon was getting and recently playing around with Pokemon colloseum and xd got me motivated to build a team around Espeon, team has been very solid currently on a 8 win streak in masterball 4 with it. Espeon served as a really threatening lead that threatens sneasler and Charizard y with one hit kos. Additionally it can use trick to choice lock unsuspecting opponents.

I’ve had Meele on my Thor but haven’t touched it yet and man does it run smooth and the controls feel great. I have Meele on my modded GameCube I recently picked up but ngl I prefer playing it on the Thor with the exception of playing with my brother and friends. I also tried Brawl on here and it also runs fantastic.

Spent a few months turning pokeemerald-expansion 1.15.2 into a battle simulator. You boot straight into the Battle Theater lobby, pick two trainers from any generation, and watch the AI fight. Or take over either side via Pilot Mode.

This is the second of two projects I'm releasing today. The other is PokéBridge, a GameCube homebrew app for reading, editing, and exporting Pokemon Gen 3 saves (Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald/FireRed/LeafGreen + ROM hacks + XD + Colosseum) with a Pokemon Box style UI. Different project, sharing the moment.

Roster (~120 trainers)

• Kanto: LGPE Green / Blue / Red / Lorelei / Agatha / Lance / Bruno / Trace, FRLG Indigo E4, Blue starter variants
• Johto: HGSS Red, 3 Silvers, Johto/Kanto gyms, E4, Champion Lance
• Hoenn: Emerald 8 gyms + E4 + Steven + Wallace, ORAS Wally / Steven / May / Brendan + ORAS E4
• Sinnoh: Platinum Cynthia + E4 + gyms + Barry x3, BDSP Cynthia, Lucas / Dawn x3
• Unova: N (Zekrom + Reshiram), Cheren / Bianca / Hugh x3, E4, Ghetsis, Colress
• Kalos: Diantha (XY), Serena, Calem
• Alola: Trial Captains, Kahunas, E4, Champion + USUM additions (Faba / Dexio / Plumeria / Ryuki / Guzma / Lusamine / Tristan / Blue USUM / Red USUM / Anabel USUM), Rainbow Rocket bosses
• Galar: Leon x3, Hop x6, Mustard x2, Marnie / Bede, 9 gym leaders, Klara / Avery / Peony
• Hisui (Legends Arceus): Volo, Adaman, Irida, Ingo (full Hisuian-forms team), Akari, Kamado, Zisu, Beni, Rei
• PWT: ~40 trainers across the Kanto / Hoenn / Johto / Sinnoh / Unova brackets and a Champions Tournament
• Anime: Ash World Champion (Z-Move + Mega + Gigantamax all on one team)

Sim features

• Tournament mode. 8 trainer single-elim brackets per region (Kanto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, Alola, Galar, Hisui cups + a Champions cup) with a visual bracket screen between matches
• Best of N. 1, 3, or 5 round matches with adaptive picks. The AI scores the opponent's previous round picks and brings a counter team into round 2 and later
• VGC mode. Forced doubles, Lv 50 cap, 4 pick of 6
• Team preview AI. In VGC mode and multi battles where each side brings 6 but only 4 (or 3) actually fight, the AI scores each of its mons against the opponent's entire roster and picks the optimal lineup instead of just bringing the first N off the list. Pikachu doesn't get sent into a Ground type sweep, your Steel coverage gets picked against the Fairy core, type-matchup math runs both directions. This is one of the coolest things we built and it makes VGC matches feel like actual competitive Pokemon instead of just two random teams running at each other
• Multi battles. Pair two AIs against two AIs with a co-op partner slot
• Level cap. Off / 50 / 75 / 100 so Champion vs Champion matchups stay fair
• Pilot Mode. Toggle on the picker to make YOU the player AI. You get human battle controls (Fight/Bag/Pokemon/Run) instead of the AI playing your side, but you're piloting the trainer's full team. Finally take Cynthia's Garchomp, Volo's Spiritomb, or Ash's Pikachu into a fight. Loaner mons obey at any level (all 8 badges auto-granted) and gain 0 EXP per battle so the level cap holds across a best of
• Custom Trainer slots. 3 user-built trainers saved to your file, with a PKHeX style in-ROM editor:
  • Trainer name (uses the standard naming screen)
  • Sprite class picker (~150 sprite IDs, L/R fast-jump, class names shown)
  • Per-mon species / held item / ability / 4 moves / EVs / IVs / nature / gender / shiny / level
  • Held item picker filtered to battle held items only (no Pokeballs, TMs, or Key Items in the scroll)
  • Move picker filtered to each species' actual learnset (level-up + teachable + egg moves)
  • Species picker with form support (Hisuian / Alolan / Mega bases / etc.)
  • EV editor with per-stat +4 cycle and a 510 total tracker (green/red overflow indicator)
  • IV editor with per-stat 0-31 cycle, Max All, and Zero All buttons
• Z-Moves / Mega Evolution / Dynamax / Gigantamax. All enabled for AI with bias tuning so signature Z-Crystals like Pikashunium Z or Snorlium Z fire eagerly instead of getting wasted on resisted moves
• Custom Battle Theater background by LiYun (replaces the vanilla battle BG)
• Custom title screen and boot flow. Skips Game Freak intro, lands straight on the Battle Theater logo, then auto-opens the picker

Engine tweaks

• All 8 Hoenn badges auto-granted in pilot battles so loaners always obey
• 0 EXP in pilot mode so the level cap holds the whole match
• Adaptive picks in best of N (the rematch reads what your opponent showed last round and brings a counter)
• AI bias tuning for signature Z-Moves so Pikachu actually uses Catastropika instead of just clicking Thunderbolt
• Affection and Terastallization disabled for cleaner sim semantics

Known bugs (cosmetic, fixed in v1.1)

These don't affect battles, just the UI:

• Player trainer name sometimes renders with glitched characters in battle dialogue
• Trainer picker menu occasionally shows funky text on certain entries when scrolling. Closing and reopening the picker normalizes it

Roadmap

• v1.1. Fix the trainer name and picker text glitches
• v1.2. Gen 9 (Paldea) trainers: Nemona, Geeta, Penny, Larry, Iono, Grusha, Brassius, etc.
• v1.3. Terastallization re-enabled with proper AI bias tuning. Currently disabled because pre-gen-9 trainers don't have Tera types declared, which made matchups chaotic

Download

v1.0 Release page. Patch is a .bps. Apply it to a clean USA Pokemon Emerald ROM.

Tools that apply .bps: Flips (recommended, Mac/Win/Linux), Lunar IPS, online patchers like rompatcher.js, all work.

Full source on GitHub. Fork of pokeemerald-expansion, all changes documented in commit history. Build instructions in the README.

FAQ

Where do I get a vanilla Pokemon Emerald ROM?
Not from me, I can't link or share it. You need the standard USA Pokemon Emerald cart dump. If Flips refuses to apply the patch, your ROM is a different region (Europe, Japan) and you'll need the USA version.

Which emulator?
mGBA on desktop is the gold standard. Also works on flashcarts (Everdrive, EZ-Flash 3 in 1+), Retroarch (mGBA core), and Android (mGBA app or Pizza Boy GBA).

Does it run on real hardware?
Yes. I've tested it on:

• Original GBA SP via Everdrive GBA flashcart
• GameCube via VBA-GX (homebrew GBA emulator running through Swiss)
• AYN Thor handheld

ROM is 32 MB so it fits any flashcart that handles full-size GBA.

Can I add my own trainers?
Yes, two ways:

1. In-game: use one of the 3 Custom Trainer slots. Full editor in the Battle Theater menu, no compiling.
2. In source: fork the repo, edit src/data/trainers.party, rebuild with make. Each trainer is a YAML style block with team / moves / items / EVs / IVs / nature.

How do I see Best of N or Tournament mode?
Open the picker, scroll past the trainer slots to the bottom. Toggles for Level Cap, VGC Mode, Best Of (1/3/5), and Tournament Cup are there. Tournament Cup cycles through 9 brackets (8 regional cups + a Champions cup).

Why is Terastallization disabled?
Tera is gen-9 only and creates wild type-matchup chaos in a sim where most trainers are pre-gen-9. Disabling it keeps every battle's type chart predictable. Z-Move / Mega / Dynamax / Gmax are all still enabled. Tera will come back in v1.3 with proper bias tuning.

Is the source open?
Yes, MIT licensed via pokeemerald-expansion's license. Fork it, modify it, ship your own variant. If you build something interesting on top, drop a link in the issues.

Found a bug?
Open an issue with the trainer matchup, gimmick settings, and the round number (if in best of). AI vs AI battles are deterministic given the same seed so reproducible repros help a lot.

Credits

• pokeemerald-expansion team for the engine
• LiYun for the Battle Theater background art
• Trainer team data from Bulbapedia, Smogon, and community competitive analyses
• Not affiliated with Nintendo / Game Freak / The Pokemon Company. Pokemon trademarks belong to their respective owners. This is a fan-made, non-commercial modification.

🙏 Idea credit: this feature exists because u/Healthy_Bug7977 and u/LordePachi suggested a Marvel Snap / Hearthstone–style deck-code import on this Reddit thread

Edit 4: Version 1.4 is out with more bug fixes and features https://github.com/logdog2325/pokemon-battle-theater/releases/tag/v1.4

After a few weeks of work I'm releasing PokéBridge, a GameCube homebrew app that reads, edits, and writes Pokémon saves end-to-end:

• Gen 3 GBA — Ruby / Sapphire / Emerald / FireRed / LeafGreen + pokeemerald-expansion ROM hacks (Seaglass, Lazarus, etc.)
• Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness — full encrypted read + write (GeniusCrypto port)
• Pokémon Colosseum — full encrypted read + write (SHA-1 chain XOR port)

The UI is a fully-graphical Pokémon Box: Ruby & Sapphire-inspired layout — pastel gradients, rounded translucent panels, all 1025 species sprites with shiny variants, and box-art previews for every mainstream Gen 3-era game.

Features

• Per-Pokémon editor: IVs, EVs, moves (354-move picker), nature, shiny toggle with live sprite swap, friendship, held item
• PID-aware re-rolling: shiny toggle preserves nature, nature edit preserves shiny
• Legalizer that exports HOME-eligible .pk3 files (ROM-hack species/moves remapped to nearest Gen 3 analogue)
• Box browser for all four save formats
• Reads cart saves over the GameCube-GBA link cable via FIX94's multiboot protocol (untested without a cable in hand; code is faithfully ported)

Tech

Built on devkitPPC + libogc + SDL2. GPL-3.0, ~5000 lines of C. Sprites pulled from pokeemerald-expansion, save algorithms ported from PKHeX, the link cable from FIX94's gba-link-cable-dumper. Full credits in the repo.

Links

• Repo: https://github.com/logdog2325/pokebridge
• Release (pre-built .dol): https://github.com/logdog2325/pokebridge/releases/tag/v0.4

Install: drop boot.dol at sd:/apps/pokebridge/boot.dol, your saves at sd:/pokebridge/saves/, launch via Swiss.

Happy to answer questions about the SHA-1/Colosseum chain, the multiboot port, or how to bake a ROM hack save into the demo build.

After a few weeks of work I'm releasing PokéBridge, a GameCube homebrew app that reads, edits, and writes Pokémon saves end-to-end:

• Gen 3 GBA — Ruby / Sapphire / Emerald / FireRed / LeafGreen + pokeemerald-expansion ROM hacks (Seaglass, Lazarus, etc.)
• Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness — full encrypted read + write (GeniusCrypto port)
• Pokémon Colosseum — full encrypted read + write (SHA-1 chain XOR port)

The UI is a fully-graphical Pokémon Box: Ruby & Sapphire-inspired layout — pastel gradients, rounded translucent panels, all 1025 species sprites with shiny variants, and box-art previews for every mainstream Gen 3-era game.

Features

• Per-Pokémon editor: IVs, EVs, moves (354-move picker), nature, shiny toggle with live sprite swap, friendship, held item
• PID-aware re-rolling: shiny toggle preserves nature, nature edit preserves shiny
• Legalizer that exports HOME-eligible .pk3 files (ROM-hack species/moves remapped to nearest Gen 3 analogue)
• Box browser for all four save formats
• Reads cart saves over the GameCube-GBA link cable via FIX94's multiboot protocol (untested without a cable in hand; code is faithfully ported)

Tech

Built on devkitPPC + libogc + SDL2. GPL-3.0, ~5000 lines of C. Sprites pulled from pokeemerald-expansion, save algorithms ported from PKHeX, the link cable from FIX94's gba-link-cable-dumper. Full credits in the repo.

Links

• Repo: https://github.com/logdog2325/pokebridge
• Release (pre-built .dol): https://github.com/logdog2325/pokebridge/releases/tag/v0.4

Install: drop boot.dol at sd:/apps/pokebridge/boot.dol, your saves at sd:/pokebridge/saves/, launch via Swiss.

Happy to answer questions about the SHA-1/Colosseum chain, the multiboot port, or how to bake a ROM hack save into the demo build.

EDIT: Version 0.6.1 is out with a host of new features and bug fixes!! check it out https://github.com/logdog2325/pokebridge/releases/tag/v0.6.1

On Pokémon Day I picked up every Switch-era Pokémon game and have been playing through them in release order. Going into BDSP I was skeptical given its reputation as the worst game/remake, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much there is to love. I’ll be honest, it’s weaker than LGPE and Sword/Shield, but as someone who grew up on Pearl and Platinum it was a really fun nostalgia trip. That final battle with Cynthia was quite hard and took my 3 attempts to get through. I wish they’d expanded the dex a bit more and pulled in more features from Platinum, but overall these were solid games.

In my opinion they’re flawed like every Pokémon game and probably the weakest of the Switch era, but they’re by no means bad or awful. Next up: Legends Arceus.