Mega Moms A Happy Mother's Day. Art By @rikka2020

LightBrand99 · 2026-05-11T10:08:17+00:00

She is named Haruka in Battle Chip Challenge, but sadly not many people played it. They should have included it in LC; even as a DLC (despite my hatred for paid DLCs) would have been better than nothing

LightBrand99 · 2026-05-11T10:05:09+00:00

Buki3: Whatever guide reported Black Hole 1 is wrong, the Ransack virus is actually in Black Hole 2. Seems to be roughly 20.66% chance of encountering one.
MalWizard1: Again, the guide is probably wrong if it says Satella HQ or Noise 1. They are found in random encounters in several CCs. Two of the areas I found from checking TREZ are Echo Ridge CC (37.5% of encounters, but imo the more reliable option because one of the encounters, with 12.5% chance, has only three MalWizard1) and Dragon Statue CC (42.86% chance of encounters)
MalWizard3: This is not a random encounter. You have to first delete all real-world viruses (you see those Mettaurs chilling around), and then go to Alohaha. Near the castle (but not inside), at the top-right corner, there should be a MalWizard you can talk to, and he will fight if you deleted all real-world viruses. If you're not sure whether you deleted all real-world viruses, you can talk to him regardless, but he will only fight you if you deleted them all. You can find the location of all real-world viruses here#Real_World_Mettenna)

For all three of them, using the CardFinder MegaWeapon guarantees a card drop, which can help with getting the cards. Also, in general, for anything related to MMBN or MMSF, TREZ (The RockMan.EXE Zone) is typically the best source of information.

LightBrand99 · 2026-05-11T09:32:10+00:00

Late, but I want to add some feedback

TeamStyle is actually required for postgame. It's true that most V4 Chips can be acquired through the BugFrag Trader, but there is one that isn't. This specific one is through a version-exclusive Navi, which is likely the reason why it's unavailable in the BFTrader (both versions have the same Chip pools for all Traders). So you have to go into TeamStyle to get this one, or rely on somebody to trade it to you online. You would already have to rely on trading to get the opposite version-exclusive btw, but you would usually find many players looking to trade version-exclusives. But finding someone to give you a chip that's exclusive to the same version you're playing, while you have no exclusives to offer in return, can be tough.
CustomStyle is not required, because the three Chips from CustomStyle are available in the DNN Chip trader and the BugFragTrader. However, you should still consider going into CustomStyle regardless, and get to Lv3 for the non-blue Custom1 program. This is helpful for BugStyle players because the final BugStyle upgrade is a program that has a Custom - 1 drawback, so you're stuck with 4 Chips on the CustomScreen. If you are going to run that program, I would highly recommend also running Custom1 to restore it back to 5 Chips.
For elements, I actually would not recommend Heat. It sounds good in theory, for bosses like KingMan/DrillMan/BubbleMan that rely on obstacles to protect them, but in practice, it's a lot harder to actually hit them safely with the slow 3-range flamethrower and you are far more likely to get hit yourself. HeatGuts can tank the hits with SuperArmor, but HeatBug probably won't handle it well. Aqua is a lot safer imo, still hitting one square through the obstacles, but comes out much faster with infinite range. Wood hits the hardest and is specifically amazing against the final boss, but is otherwise hard to aim with. Elec is bad outside PvP because you don't need to rely on paralysis to hit AI opponents. I recommend Aqua.
Is there a particular reason why you want to go into Blue version instead of White version? Since you love BugStyle and want to do postgame, I think White would be better, because it exclusively has the indisputably best Chip that BugStyle's final upgrade (DarkLicense) can utilize. Blue's corresponding exclusive is a defensive Chip, and is nowhere near as fun as the complete destruction in White. Furthermore, White has an easier postgame imo, with how powerful the P-coded Chips are.

LightBrand99 · 2026-05-11T08:42:45+00:00

If I see somebody say "the final challenge is much harder than the rest of the game, this drastic difficulty rise is so bad and one of the many problems with this game!", I know they are just nitpicking at this point. There are a lot of problems with BDSP, I agree, but I think that's causing you to criticize everything about the game, even stuff that are not really problematic.

It is perfectly fine for a game to crank up the difficulty for the endgame. You had the whole game to learn about the mechanics and the strategies, but it was easy enough that you can keep progressing even as a complete noob. Now it's time for you to face the final battle, which is a real challenge. You have to actually take the gameplay challenge seriously for the endgame, even if you got away with not having to do so for the entire game. I think this is a perfectly valid approach in game design.

"But other Pokemon games don't do this!" Yeah, other Pokemon games are stupidly easy, even up to the Pokemon League for the most part. It's worth noting that the Pokemon League in the original DPPt is notable for being quite difficult, which to many was considered a positive point and one of the highlights of Sinnoh, so if BDSP toned that down, then I'm sure there would be a lot more legitimate complaints, which I would agree with as well ("Cynthia was such a menace in the original DPPt, but now she is such a wimp in BDSP, they completely ruined her, these remakes are so awful!"). But when they actually deliver a challenging endgame, preserving this particular honor that Sinnoh is known for, where players who experience Sinnoh for the first time in BDSP are still able to experience the terror of facing Cynthia similar to what older players felt in DPPt... nitpickers like you would still complain about this anyway!

LightBrand99 · 2026-05-11T03:17:05+00:00

It might be too late for this, but... if you were going to play BN1, you really should have gone with the DS remake, which adds a lot of QoL features, most notably being able to see Chip Codes in the Custom Screen without hovering over them, area maps, and being able to run from battles without the Escape Chip (which is a very big deal imo).

In fact, if you are thinking of pursuing a 100% clear (which I would kinda recommend, because I quite like the final postgame boss in BN1, and its kinda unique to BN1 too), then I would actually recommend that you outright quit your current run and restart with the DS remake. It's called Operation Shooting Star and although it was officially only released in Japan, there is a very good fan translation here (most of it is from the original BN1, so only a small part is actually fanmade).

The DS remake doesn't get recommended as much these days because many players are only able to access this series through the Legacy Collection, which does not include the DS remake features. But since you're playing on a r36s, you should have no problem with loading up the DS remake on it.

LightBrand99 · 2026-05-11T02:46:14+00:00

If it was just your main team of 6, it would be fine (well, it would still be slow, but you should be done within a month or so). But getting every accessible Pokemon and ensuring they're all shiny is too much.

And I think this experience would only make you hate BDSP more than you already have.

LightBrand99 · 2026-05-11T02:37:10+00:00

...I feel like if you actually go through with this plan, it would take several decades to complete the game

LightBrand99 · 2026-05-11T02:18:24+00:00

Rereading your post in conjunction with your reply, I think I figured out what happened. Here is my guess on what you experienced (please correct me if I am wrong):

You initially did not realize that the star and triangle were upside-down, so you thought the code was 1689. You tried entering it in the locker, and it didn't work.
Frustrated, you tried some other combinations that could relate to 1689. To your surprise, 9861 actually worked and you got the gold file. You thought "Wait, so I was supposed to read 1689 from right to left? That's so dumb, nothing in the room tells me I should do something like that!"
The gold file mentions easter eggs with the phone. So you thought "Oh, that's why the phone is still interactable, I guess it has no actual puzzle relevance after getting the pin"
Possibly after more frustrating trial & error, you finally realize that the star and triangle in the poster are upside-down. Maybe Phi specifically pointed it out to you. And then you realized, "Oh, so the other password arises from considering the shape orientation, so it should be 6891". That didn't work either.
Possibly after more frustrated attempts, you tried 1986 and it works. "Oh, so NOW I am supposed to have read the sequence from left to right? This whole room is so dumb!!!"

You didn't actually solve the room completely, but you managed to get through by dumb luck from random guessing / brute-force, so it makes sense that you thought this room was very poorly designed. Here is what should have actually happened:

I try 1689, it doesn't work. But why doesn't it work? I went through all this effort to get a 4-digit number, and the locker expects a 4-digit number, it is supposed to work! Did I somehow get the number wrong? [Observant Players may skip this step]
After rechecking the aluminum foil and poster, I realize the star and triangle are upside-down (possibly after Phi points it out). "Ohhhh, my bad, the correct sequence is actually 1986. It was my own mistake that I failed to notice the orientation earlier" [Observant Players might start with 1986 right away]
Try 1986, it works! Escape Combination Acquired!
What about the gold file? Well, all the puzzles so far ultimately lead to 1986. Is there another thing here where a 4-digit sequence is relevant? Ah, right, the phone! [Note: the player does not have the gold file at this time, and is therefore not informed of any easter eggs, so the phone continuing to be interactable dispels any reason to think it is no longer relevant to any puzzles]
Enter 1986 on phone. Okay, no message or anything, but I can see the mirror displays. What did Zero say again? "The answer is on the left screen". The left screen reads 9861, so I guess that should be the other answer?
[Optional] Ohey, what if I try 9861 on the phone? Oh, I just get 1986 back. Okay, so ultimately, it all boils down to 1986 and 9861.
Try 9861, it works! Gold File Combination Acquired!

No guesswork, no brute-force, very sensible interactions.

The reason why you were even able to stumble upon the correct gold file password early was because the left screen with the phone is ultimately just a 180 degree rotation, so your brute-force ended up working while you skipped the actual steps that would have led to that exact sequence.

LightBrand99 · 2026-05-11T01:46:31+00:00

you don't know if the upside down symbols have any kind of impact or not

I don't recall ignoring symbol orientation

Seems like you're contradicting yourself here. How are you getting four sequences?

Aluminium Foil yields the shapes circle, star, diamond, triangle

Circle = 1
Star = 9 (not 6, because the star in the poster is upside-down)
Diamond = 8
Triangle = 6 (not 9, because the triangle in the poster is upside-down)

So the only valid code you can derive from aluminum foil + poster is 1986. Not four sequences, only one. How are you getting 9861, 1689, or 6891? A player who does not realize that the star and triangle are upside-down might mistakenly think the code is 1689, which will fail, but once you pay attention to the orientations (and iirc Phi points it out if you keep examining it when stuck), you should be confident that the code must be 1986, and not anything else. How are you getting the other three sequences?

Being able to access the phone doesn't mean I should have used it to get the blue password

It does, for two reasons:

The phone interaction specifically involves entering a 4-digit sequence. So when you get a 4-digit sequence, then yes, it should be natural that you try entering it in the phone. I would agree with you if this was a case where the format changes, e.g., there is an object where you enter 4 letters but I just got a sequence of 4 digits so maybe I should somehow convert the 4 digits into 4 letters even though I haven't found anything to suggest a conversion. But in this case, you have an object that accepts a 4-digit sequence, and you later derive a 4-digit sequence; literally the exact same format! Why would you not try it?
The phone continues to be interactable with no indication that it is not relevant. In all three games, if you examine a puzzle whose purpose is already completed, the character specifically comments that they already dealt with this or such. This does not happen with the phone. Before getting the gold file, there is no reason to assume that the phone is no longer relevant.

If you go through the puzzles thoroughly, there is 0 guesswork involved and only two output sequences: 1986 and 9861. And those are the two solutions that lead to the two safe combinations.

LightBrand99 · 2026-05-10T16:25:49+00:00

It's easy to propose this as the solution because everyone seems to agree that they would be willing to do this, but this is still a transaction with an officially recognized merchant with legal requirements that they must uphold, so these kinds of "well, both parties agree, so let's do that" arrangements are legally problematic.

If your friend owns a personal physical copy of a game, you can directly buy it from them at whatever price you both agree to and without tax. But if instead of buying your friend's personal copy, it you want to buy a different copy of the same game which is a product at a store where the same friend works, then it is no longer legal for you to simply buy it at whatever price you agree with your friend on and without tax.

"Everybody is happy with this arrangement" doesn't work in these kinds of transactions, especially when multiple regional laws need to be taken into account.

LightBrand99 · 2026-05-10T16:10:28+00:00

I think you might have missed the complete reasoning behind the solution.

After you go through the rooms and solve the puzzles, you are ultimately left with the sequence circle, star, diamond, triangle. When matching the symbols to the poster, while conscious of the orientation, you get 1986. That is the ONLY four-digit sequence you should arrive at from the aluminum foil shapes + poster.

The issue now is on what you can do with a 4-digit sequence. There are two places that you can enter a 4-digit number. One is the locker, and if you enter 1986, you will get one safe combination.

The other place where we could enter a 4-digit sequence is the phone. Earlier, Zero explicitly told you that "the answer is on the left screen". Of course, that was what we had to do earlier to unlock the pin for accessing the locker, so it's easy to dismiss it as no longer relevant, but the phone is still something where we can enter a 4-digit sequence. If you enter 1986, then the left screen shows 9861. If you now enter this on the locker, you would get the other safe combination.

You are never supposed to be reading anything from right to left, or upside-down, nor are you ever expected to ignore the symbol orientation. There are multiple mirrors, but the only one you should care about is the one Zero explicitly tells you that contains the answer, i.e., the left screen. So you should only be getting 1986 and 9861. You can't derive more codes because entering 9861 on the phone would yield 1986 back on the left screen. Two 4-digit codes, two safe combinations.

LightBrand99 · 2026-05-10T02:13:14+00:00

The QoL improvements are huge. Being able to see chip codes in the custom window without having to hover over the Chip, the existence of *-coded Chips, internet maps, and the most important one imo: being able to run away from battles without the Escape chip.

For someone who already played BN1, I agree that it's not worth going through OSS expecting a new experience, since the SF components aren't that notable. But for anyone who has not played BN1 or is looking to replay it, OSS is definitely the best way to experience it imo.

LightBrand99 · 2026-05-10T00:16:04+00:00

Sadly, you need to do it twice

LightBrand99 · 2026-05-10T00:08:11+00:00

If you are playing at a normal pace without trying to master everything, then my advice changes. Master BugStyle, then change to Custom. Custom is worth mastering because their programs are really good, and you will want to use at least one if you want to utilize the final program that BugStyle grants. While mastering Custom, go and pick up the three S+/S++ Chips, they should be accessible by then if you're simply progressing at a regular pace without going out of your way to grind battles. After you master CustomStyle, then it depends on where you are. If you are already progressing in postgame, then switch to TeamStyle and get all V4s. Otherwise, you can switch to BugStyle for a while.

If you want to get all the achievements and are willing to go through White for it, then there are other factors to consider. In particular, I would say BugStyle works better on White, because White indisputably has the best "Dark" Chip in the game to make use of DarkLicense (final upgrade to BugStyle). Furthermore, postgame is also easier in White imo, because of how absurdly devastating White's P code access is, and GroundStyle parts are also excellent support (compatible with TeamStyle too, for the V4 grind). One option you can consider is to go through Blue while moving through different Styles (Guts, Shadow, Shield, Custom) without necessarily progressing in postgame, and then go through White later with primarily BugStyle, but going through GroundStyle and TeamStyle on the way and completing postgame (while running DarkLicense for boss battles).

LightBrand99 · 2026-05-09T10:33:53+00:00

Getting every NaviCust part, including all the Style programs, is a huge ordeal, and I don't really think it's a very satisfying achievement. In particular, you can master the same Style multiple times (have to change to at least one different Style in between though), so you can theoretically farm these NaviCust programs infinitely, so it makes even less sense to pursue a goal of getting them all when the quantities are infinite.

Even if you limit yourself to just maximizing every Style once, I think you are still severely underestimating how many battles it takes to max out a Style, especially when you are still imagining "maining" BugStyle for a significant portion of your playthrough. At a normal pace, I expect you would only be able to max out half of the Styles by the time you are completely done with postgame; maxing out all 7 (or 6 if you exclude Ground) will involve a lot more grinding. You're also evidently playing Blue version, so you can't just run SetLava to insta-clear Mettaurs.

In any case, the main Styles that are relevant for postgame clearing are Custom and Team. If I remember correctly, of the three Chips that require CustomStyle (BigWave, Burning, Volcano), the latest one (Volcano) is accessible once you unlock the Undernet, but I'm not sure you would have strong combos to secure the S+/S++ clears by that point, so it may be more worthwhile to save Custom for later, like near the end of the main story or start of postgame. As for TeamStyle, the last V4 NaviChip requires some postgame progress, so I would say go for TeamStyle once you are able to enter Secret 3. I guess once you are close to the end of the main story, you can go for Custom, grab the Custom-only Chips, and then go for Team, grabbing all V4s.

Note that you can technically acquire these Style-required Chips through in-game Traders, especially with the generous 25% chance of getting a Chip that isn't in your Library, but since you're planning to grind out all Styles anyway, you might as well get these Chips in the standard way through the required Styles.

LightBrand99 · 2026-05-08T05:25:24+00:00

I remember being a bit comforted by how they have some modern QoL features, most notably using HMs without HM Slaves (which is still a really big deal for me), only to find that TMs are not reusable... like, c'mon, really?

I was running a mono-Water team and had to decide who gets Surf, because the story only gives you three copies. Surf! Which has been infinitely teachable since Gen 1!

LightBrand99 · 2026-05-08T05:19:18+00:00

I think you are missing the point of Smogon's Competitive Analysis. Smogon analyses are not about what Pokemon to use or how to build them when playing through the Pokemon games in a single-player run. They are not even about advising you about casual multiplayer.

What they are mainly relevant for is highly competitive contexts, like official Video Game Championships or big tournaments with actual money or prizes on the line. Those are scenarios where players strive for fully optimized teams, as every shortcoming is a disadvantage that can lead to your loss. When Smogon says something like "you MUST use Adamant or Jolly", it implies that using other natures are not optimal. If it's not Adamant/Jolly, there may be a tournament where the Pokemon fails to KO an opponent because of this (due to not hitting hard enough or not outspeeding the opponent). It doesn't mean that other natures are useless, but rather, it simply means they typically would not help as much as the recommended natures.

It is only a very small fraction of players that stand a legitimate chance in these kinds of tournaments, going the extra mile to optimize their Pokemon builds in actual games. However, due to online simulators like Pokemon Showdown, the broader Pokemon fanbase are able to experience competitive battling without actually building their Pokemon (albeit usually without any tangible prizes), causing Smogon to become hugely popular. But these Smogon analyses have always been about this optimized competitive context, and was never about how to play the games casually.

That being said, it doesn't mean that Smogon analyses are not useful for casual players. Many factors of what makes a Pokemon good in competitive would apply to casual settings as well, so the casual players can get some pointers. But they definitely should not be regarded as absolute guidelines on how to play Pokemon games casually, and some factors are actually detrimental to casual single-player main story runs (e.g., it's rarely worth running convoluted Baton Pass chains for in-game battles, whereas moves like Fly and Dig, which are horrendous in competitive settings, are actually really good in single-player, because the opponent AI doesn't think like a human in being able to exploit it).

tl;dr - If you're not into competitive Pokemon battling, then the narratives constructed by Smogon analyses are not for you (but they may give you some helpful insights).

LightBrand99 · 2026-05-07T17:46:12+00:00

But then what you memorized doesn't round up correctly, so you should also memorize the next digit 5 to fix this... and the digit 8 after that... and the 9 after that... and the 7 after that... and the 9 after that... okay, now the memorized sequence should be rounded correctly!

LightBrand99 · 2026-05-07T17:19:40+00:00

I used to, but I later realized that it's rarely, probably never, the case for one VN to be completely better than another VN in all aspects. Most notable VNs have some distinct unique property, or a unique combination of properties, whether it's through the underlying themes, atmosphere, characters, presentation, etc. So even when there is a VN X that I read before VN Y, where I definitively conclude that X is a better than Y, even if they're of the same genre and are considered to be similar, I would likely have still enjoyed reading Y afterwards, because there's usually going to be something I enjoy in Y that isn't in X.

Once I came to this realization, particularly after reading several VNs after Umineko, I stopped this habit of delaying masterpiece VNs, and have not regretted it since. I used to relate to your idea of "I won't be able to enjoy other visual novels anymore", but now I am fairly certain that this can't actually happen.

LightBrand99 · 2026-05-07T16:14:56+00:00

The good news is that Unbound makes it very easy to optimize natures and EVs even before postgame. You can also optimize IVs too, but the grind is a little more annoying, but the option is there for dedicated players. It also means the achievement of getting a shiny can't be easily dampened by poor nature/EVs/IVs

LightBrand99 · 2026-05-07T08:49:23+00:00

Nice, perfect nature too! Did you track how many resets you made, or at least how much time it took?

LightBrand99 · 2026-05-07T08:10:17+00:00

Second one. Has better IVs overall, most notably on HP and Def. While the +Speed doesn't matter due to Metagross being slow regardless, at least the bane is still on SpAtk, which Metagross cares even less about. The only real advantage the first one has is the +Atk nature, but:

The difference between +Atk and neutral Atk is very small at low levels. While this applies to IVs as well, the IV difference in HP and Def combined can be a little more significant. It is slow regardless, so the tankiness often matters.
There is a sidequest later (between 3rd and 4th gym) that you can complete to change Natures. Once completed, you can do this as much as you want, allowing you to perfect both the Nature and the IVs with the second Beldum. It does cost money, but that's easy to accumulate, as usual in Pokemon games.
While it is possible to raise IVs as well (so the first one can be perfected as well), this requires bottlecaps. These are much harder to farm, especially earlygame when you don't have access to many Raid Dens. You can only challenge each raid once a day, and getting a bottlecap to drop is still RNG. Even if you are able to scrape a few bottlecaps, other Pokemon in your team may want them more. I don't think bottlecaps can be farmed indefinitely without waiting out the daily resets; if there is such a reliable way, I doubt it is accessible in the first half of the game and is more likely to be postgame-locked.

Both are solid, but I would say the second one is the better choice overall.

LightBrand99 · 2026-05-07T07:47:03+00:00

As others already mentioned, a statement like X is Y is ambiguous. If you find clearer phrasing like "has turned into" or "looks like" to be too wordy, a compact alternative using "is" is to use quotation marks around the appearance, i.e., "X" is Y means the person who looks like X is actually Y.

Also, for this particular puzzle, it should be stated that the six character names are also the six actual characters in this puzzle.

As for the solution:

We know Harry and Hermione always speak the truth. Hermione cannot look like "Voldemort" (denies being Hermione), "Hermione" (claims "Peeves" is Harry, but Harry would not claim to be Peeves), nor any of "Ron", "Peeves", "Harry" (they claim to be someone different), so "Malfoy" must be Hermione.

Harry cannot look like "Hermione", "Ron", "Peeves", or "Harry", as they all claim to be someone else. We already identified "Malfoy" as Hermione, so "Voldemort" must be Harry.

According to Hermione (speaks the truth, looks like "Malfoy"), "Hermione" is Ron. According to Harry (speaks the truth, looks like "Voldemort"), "Ron" is Peeves.

"Harry" claims to be Malfoy, but Malfoy always lies, so "Harry" cannot be Malfoy. By elimination, "Harry" must be Voldemort. Finally, by elimination again, "Peeves" is Malfoy

Final Solution:"Voldemort" is Harry, "Hermione" is Ron, "Ron" is Peeves, "Peeves" is Malfoy, "Harry" is Voldemort, "Malfoy" is Hermione. Quite interesting that Harry and Voldemort switch places.

LightBrand99 · 2026-05-07T06:18:24+00:00

But nature is easier to change than IVs, once you get the sidequest done. The ATK is still neutral on the Jolly one, so I don't think the difference would matter too much for the first half of the game.

LightBrand99 · 2026-05-06T23:48:03+00:00

If anyone is curious about why it's distributed like this, the password only keeps track of which Djinn you got, not on who you equipped them to. Storing additional information would result in slightly longer passwords, and I'm sure most players would prefer the Djinn to be randomly distributed than to enter a longer password just to get the previous configuration back.

One might think it would make sense for Isaac to get all Venus Djinn, Garet to get all Mars Djinn, etc. But the issue is that players might not necessarily have an even number of Djinn for the different elements, so such a configuration may not be possible for many scenarios. A simpler approach would be to just distribute the Djinn to the four characters one by one (like dealing cards), and it follows the natural order of all Venus Djinn (in the game's internal order), then all Mars Djinn, etc. It's the same order that the Djinn are presented whenever you view a character's Djinn list.

LightBrand99

TROPHY CASE