Black out: Difference between revisions

For the TCG theme deck, see Blackout (TCG).

The player will black out when all the Pokémon on the player's team faint; it is effectively the game over screen of the Pokémon games. This generally occurs in battle, but will occasionally happen out of battle due to poisoning in the first three generations. It was known as a white out in Generations II and III for unknown reasons, but returned to the original name in Generation IV. There is no known reason as to why the player blacks out and is not mentioned in the anime.

Effects

The player will lose a sum of money. In Trainer battles, the money will be paid to the winner, but in battles with wild Pokémon, the money will be dropped in panic. Before Generation IV, half of the money on hand was lost and this loss was not explicitly stated to the player. In FireRed and LeafGreen and the Generation IV games, however, the money lost depends on the level of the player's Pokémon and the number of badges he/she has earned. In these games, the player receives a message about how much was lost.

Furthermore, the player will rush back to the last visited Pokémon Center to restore their Pokémon's health. This will not occur in special occasions such as the player's initial battle as a Trainer in Red, Blue, Yellow, FireRed, LeafGreen, Platinum, or in facilities of the Battle Frontier. In FireRed, LeafGreen and Generation IV, a cutscene plays featuring a description of the player's rush back to the Pokémon Center and protecting the party from harm.

If a Pokémon Center has not been used at all before the party has fainted, the player's mother will revive the party and remark about stocking up on Potions.

Formula for money lost

Main article: Payout

In FireRed and LeafGreen and the Generation IV games, the money lost is calculated using the following formula:
File:Money lost formula.png

Where Level is the level of the player's highest-level Pokémon and Base Payout is looked up using the following table:

For example, if the player loses to another trainer with a Level 96 Venusaur in his or her party when he or she has seven badges, $9600 will be lost.

If the Trainer is currently holding less money than the amount calculated, (s)he will simply lose all his or her money and black out.

Previous games

• RBY Blackout.png

  Red and Blue

• GSC BlackOut.png

  Gold and Silver

• White Out - FRLG.png

  FireRed and LeafGreen

Trivia

• When using a GameShark to enter a battle with no Pokémon, the ?????????? that is sent out is incapable of attack and whites the player out once the fight button is clicked.
• A glitch in Generation I causes a black out to occur out of battle and without poisoned Pokémon by using a PC to store all Pokémon except ones that have fainted.
• In Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, due to a glitch, if the player manages to obtain an egg before any other Pokémon, they will repeatedly black out and be forced to restart the game. This was remedied in Generation III and later games by requiring the player to have two Pokémon with them in order to trade, rather than just one.

This game-related article is part of Project Games, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon games.