Character encoding (Generation IV): Difference between revisions

The Generation IV games use a proprietary character encoding to store text data. The Generation IV encoding uses a shared two-byte character set for all languages, rather than using multiple character sets depending on the language like in previous generations. The Nintendo DS games Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold, and SoulSilver store these values in little endian, while the Wii games Pokémon Battle Revolution and My Pokémon Ranch store these values in big endian.

Character set

Halfwidth and fullwidth forms of numbers, letters, and most symbols have distinct encodings, with the characters on a yellow background in the table below being the fullwidth forms used in Japanese text. Only the characters on a white or light yellow background below can be input in names; the specific characters available for input depend on the language of the game. Those on a light gray or dark yellow background may be used in other text strings (such as dialogue) depending on the language of the game.

Values displayed with a dark gray background are unused, and display as an invisible zero-width character. Values from 0x01FE onward display as a halfwidth question mark (?).

	-0	-1	-2	-3	-4	-5	-6	-7	-8	-9	-A	-B	-C	-D	-E	-F
000-	␀		ぁ	あ	ぃ	い	ぅ	う	ぇ	え	ぉ	お	か	が	き	ぎ
001-	く	ぐ	け	げ	こ	ご	さ	ざ	し	じ	す	ず	せ	ぜ	そ	ぞ
002-	た	だ	ち	ぢ	っ	つ	づ	て	で	と	ど	な	に	ぬ	ね	の
003-	は	ば	ぱ	ひ	び	ぴ	ふ	ぶ	ぷ	へ	べ	ぺ	ほ	ぼ	ぽ	ま
004-	み	む	め	も	ゃ	や	ゅ	ゆ	ょ	よ	ら	り	る	れ	ろ	わ
005-	を	ん	ァ	ア	ィ	イ	ゥ	ウ	ェ	エ	ォ	オ	カ	ガ	キ	ギ
006-	ク	グ	ケ	ゲ	コ	ゴ	サ	ザ	シ	ジ	ス	ズ	セ	ゼ	ソ	ゾ
007-	タ	ダ	チ	ヂ	ッ	ツ	ヅ	テ	デ	ト	ド	ナ	ニ	ヌ	ネ	ノ
008-	ハ	バ	パ	ヒ	ビ	ピ	フ	ブ	プ	ヘ	ベ	ペ	ホ	ボ	ポ	マ
009-	ミ	ム	メ	モ	ャ	ヤ	ュ	ユ	ョ	ヨ	ラ	リ	ル	レ	ロ	ワ
00A-	ヲ	ン	０	１	２	３	４	５	６	７	８	９	Ａ	Ｂ	Ｃ	Ｄ
00B-	Ｅ	Ｆ	Ｇ	Ｈ	Ｉ	Ｊ	Ｋ	Ｌ	Ｍ	Ｎ	Ｏ	Ｐ	Ｑ	Ｒ	Ｓ	Ｔ
00C-	Ｕ	Ｖ	Ｗ	Ｘ	Ｙ	Ｚ	ａ	ｂ	ｃ	ｄ	ｅ	ｆ	ｇ	ｈ	ｉ	ｊ
00D-	ｋ	ｌ	ｍ	ｎ	ｏ	ｐ	ｑ	ｒ	ｓ	ｔ	ｕ	ｖ	ｗ	ｘ	ｙ	ｚ
00E-		！	？	、	。	…	・	／	「	」	『	』	（	）	♂	♀
00F-	＋	ー	×	÷	＝	～	：	；	．	，	♠	♣	♥	♦	★	◎
010-	○	□	△	◇	＠	♪	％	☀	☁	☂	☃
011-			円									←	↑	↓	→	►
012-	＆	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	A	B	C	D	E
013-	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N	O	P	Q	R	S	T	U
014-	V	W	X	Y	Z	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h	i	j	k
015-	l	m	n	o	p	q	r	s	t	u	v	w	x	y	z	À
016-	Á	Â	Ã	Ä	Å	Æ	Ç	È	É	Ê	Ë	Ì	Í	Î	Ï	Ð
017-	Ñ	Ò	Ó	Ô	Õ	Ö	×	Ø	Ù	Ú	Û	Ü	Ý	Þ	ß	à
018-	á	â	ã	ä	å	æ	ç	è	é	ê	ë	ì	í	î	ï	ð
019-	ñ	ò	ó	ô	õ	ö	÷	ø	ù	ú	û	ü	ý	þ	ÿ	Œ
01A-	œ	Ş	ş	ª	º	er	re	r		¡	¿	!	?	,	.	…
01B-	･	/	‘	’	“	”	„	«	»	(	)	♂	♀	+	-	*
01C-	#	=	&	~	:	;	♠	♣	♥	♦	★	◎	○	□	△	◇
01D-	@	♪	%	☀	☁	☂	☃									e
01E-	PK	MN							°	_	＿	․	‥
01F-

The characters from 0x01E0 onward were added as extensions to the original encoding used in the Japanese version of Diamond and Pearl:

• ^P_K, ^M_N, and the various-width spaces are present in the Western and Korean versions of Diamond and Pearl and all versions of Platinum, HeartGold, and SoulSilver;
• the degree symbol (°) is present in the European and Korean versions of Diamond and Pearl and all versions of Platinum, HeartGold, and SoulSilver;
• the underscores are present in all versions of Platinum, HeartGold, and SoulSilver; and
• the one- and two-dot leaders are present in the Korean and Western versions of HeartGold and SoulSilver.

These values display as invisible zero-width characters in games where they are not present.

Korean

The characters in the table below are only included in Korean language games, and display as halfwidth question marks (?) in other language games.

It includes all 2,350 Hangul syllables present in the KS X 1001 standard, as well as the 33 jamo present on a Korean keyboard and 5 additional syllables (뢔, 쌰, 쎼, 쓔, 쬬) necessary to input them. Values displayed with a dark gray background are unused, and display in Korean games as a space with the width of a Hangul syllable (　).

Control characters

• 0x25BC and 0x25BD both mark a prompt for the player to press a button to continue the dialogue. However, they will print the new line of dialogue differently: 0x25BC will clear the dialogue box entirely before printing the next line, while 0x25BD will scroll the previous dialogue up one line before printing it.
• 0xE000 is a line break.
• 0xF100 is an escape character that indicates that the string is compressed, using 9 bits per character instead of 16 bits per character.
• 0xFFFE is an escape character for functions and variables. It is followed by a 16-bit integer indicating the index of the function to call, a 16-bit integer indicating the number of arguments to the function, and lastly the specified number of arguments.
• 0xFFFF is a terminator, marking the ends of strings.

0xFFFE variables

The following values insert a string into the displayed text. They all take one argument, indicating the buffer to read from. Note that these buffers are populated by the calling script, so all of these values behave identically.

• 0x0100: prints the species name of a Pokémon
• 0x0101: prints the nickname of a Pokémon (or other player input)
• 0x0102: prints the gender of a Pokémon stored in the Pokémon Day Care
• 0x0103: prints the name of the player (or the name of another player or NPC)
• 0x0104: prints the name of a location
• 0x0105: prints the name of an Ability
• 0x0106: prints the name of a move
• 0x0107: prints the name of a nature
• 0x0108: prints the name of an item (or a Bag pocket)
• 0x0109: prints the name of a Poffin
• 0x010A: prints the name of a decoration or Seal
• 0x010B: prints the name of a box in the Pokémon Storage System
• 0x010C: unused
• 0x010D: prints the name of a stat
• 0x010E: prints the name of a Trainer class
• 0x010F: prints the name of a type
• 0x0110: prints the reaction of a Pokémon that dislikes a Berry that may cause confusion ("too spicy", "too dry", etc.)
• 0x0111: prints the name of a status condition
• 0x0112: prints the name of a Bag pocket
• 0x0113: prints the description of an item
• 0x0114-0x0117: unused
• 0x0118: prints the name of a Pokétch app
• 0x0119: prints the name of an item in the Underground
• 0x011A: prints the name of a rule variant ("STANDARD", "LIGHT", etc.)
• 0x011B: prints the icon and name of a Bag pocket
• 0x011C: prints a word from the easy chat system
• 0x011D: prints the question when asking another player a question in the Underground ("Favorite color", "Favorite sport", etc.)
• 0x011E: prints the answer when responding to another player's question in the Underground ("Red", "Baseball", etc.)
• 0x011F: prints the name of an Accessory (or the icon and name of a Bag pocket)
• 0x0120: prints the name of a Gym ("Oreburgh Gym", "Eterna Gym", etc.)
• 0x0121: prints the name of a time of day ("MORNING", "DAY", etc.)
• 0x0122: prints the category of a Pokémon Super Contest ("COOL CONTEST", "BEAUTY CONTEST", etc.)
• 0x0123: prints the rank of a Pokémon Super Contest ("NORMAL RANK", "GREAT RANK", etc.)
• 0x0124: prints the name of a country selected in Geonet
• 0x0125: prints the name of a region selected in Geonet
• 0x0126: unused
• 0x0127: prints the name of a Ribbon
• 0x0128: prints the selected GTS filter for gender ("EITHER", "♂", "♀")
• 0x0129: prints the selected GTS filter for level ("Lv. 9 and under", "Lv. 10 and up", etc.)
• 0x012A-0x0131: unused
• 0x0132: prints a one-digit number
• 0x0133: prints a two-digit number
• 0x0134: prints a three-digit number
• 0x0135: prints a four-digit number
• 0x0136: prints a five-digit number
• 0x0137: prints a six-digit number
• 0x0138: prints a seven-digit number
• 0x0139: prints a eight-digit number
• 0x013A: unused
• 0x013B: prints a ten-digit number
• 0x013C: prints the icon of a Bag pocket (only used in Western and Korean games)
• 0x013D: prints the name of a group (only used in Western and Korean games)
• 0x013E-0x0141: unused
• 0x0142: prints the name of an item (only used in Western games)
• 0x0143: prints the name of a player or another Pokémon Trainer (only used in Western games)
• 0x0144: prints the nickname of a Pokémon (only used in Western games)
• 0x0145: prints the species name of a Pokémon (only used in Western games)
• 0x0146-0x0149: prints the name of a location (only used in Western games)
• 0x014A: prints the name of a month (only used in Western games)
• 0x014B: prints the name of a player or another Pokémon Trainer (only used in Western games)
• 0x014C-0x01FF: unused

In Japanese Platinum and all versions of HeartGold and SoulSilver

• 0x0300: prints the name of a Plaza Game in the Wi-Fi Plaza
• 0x0301: prints the name of a Time Event in the Wi-Fi Plaza
• 0x0302: prints the name of a Tap Toy in the Wi-Fi Plaza
• 0x0303: prints a greeting in Japanese in the Wi-Fi Plaza ("おはよう！", "こんにちは！", "こんばんは！")
• 0x0304: prints a greeting in English in the Wi-Fi Plaza ("Good morning.", "Hello.", "Good evening.")
• 0x0305: prints a greeting in French in the Wi-Fi Plaza ("Bonjour.", "Bonsoir.")
• 0x0306: prints a greeting in German in the Wi-Fi Plaza ("Guten Morgen.", "Guten Tag.", "Guten Abend.")
• 0x0307: prints a greeting in Italian in the Wi-Fi Plaza ("Buongiorno.", "Buona sera.")
• 0x0308: prints a greeting in Spanish in the Wi-Fi Plaza ("Buenos días.", "Hola.", "Buenas noches.")
• 0x0309-0x03FF: unused

Only in Western/Korean Platinum

• 0x0600: prints the name of a Plaza Game in the Wi-Fi Plaza
• 0x0601: prints the name of a Time Event in the Wi-Fi Plaza
• 0x0602: prints the name of a Tap Toy in the Wi-Fi Plaza
• 0x0603: prints a greeting in Japanese/Korean in the Wi-Fi Plaza ("おはよう！", "こんにちは！", "こんばんは！" in Western games; "안녕!" in Korean games)
• 0x0604: prints a greeting in English in the Wi-Fi Plaza ("Good morning.", "Hello.", "Good evening.")
• 0x0605: prints a greeting in French in the Wi-Fi Plaza ("Bonjour.", "Bonsoir.")
• 0x0606: prints a greeting in German in the Wi-Fi Plaza ("Guten Morgen.", "Guten Tag.", "Guten Abend.")
• 0x0607: prints a greeting in Italian in the Wi-Fi Plaza ("Buongiorno.", "Buona sera.")
• 0x0608: prints a greeting in Spanish in the Wi-Fi Plaza ("Buenos días.", "Hola.", "Buenas noches.")
• 0x0609-0x06FF: unused

All versions of HeartGold and SoulSilver

• 0x0400: prints the name of a Pokéathlon event ("Hurdle Dash", "Ring Drop", etc.)
• 0x0401: prints the name of a Pokéathlon course ("Speed Course", "Power Course", etc.)
• 0x0402: unused
• 0x0403: prints the name of a Pokéathlon medal ("Speed Medal", "Power Medal", etc.)
• 0x0404-0x04FF: unused

Only in Western/Korean HeartGold and SoulSilver

• 0x3400-0x3402: unused
• 0x3403: prints the name of a group (only used in Western and Korean games)
• 0x3404-0x340F: unused
• 0x3410: prints the name of a month (only used in Western and Korean games)
• 0x3411: unused
• 0x3412: prints the secret password for Buena's Password (only used in Western and Korean games)
• 0x3413: prints the name of a Pokéwalker Route (only used in Western and Korean games)
• 0x3414-0x34FF: unused

0xFFFE functions

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