Highlights

  • A playerd discovered a "hidden" feature in Pokemon Platinum that reveals the team's HP bar by pressing Start in battle.
  • Pokemon Platinum, released in 2008, still surprises players with its polished gameplay and hidden mechanics.
  • The HP display feature is not new to Gen-3 and Gen-4 players, as it dates back to 1996 with Pokemon Red & Blue.

While playing Pokemon Platinum, a fan inadvertently pressed two buttons only to realize that they toggle on the Pokemon HP bar and numbers. The discovery might not be shocking to veteran players, as Pokemon Platinum is specifically known to be one of the better installments in the franchise in terms of quality-of-life features, yet many younger players seem to have been caught off guard by this hidden HP feature.

Pokemon Platinum remained a Japan-exclusive title for almost a year, making its debut in the US and Europe in 2009 despite its initial release in 2008. Despite being a 16-year-old installment, Pokemon Platinum still sticks out like a sore thumb thanks to its replayble and polished gameplay. The game is also regarded as a treasure trove of secrets, with players still uncovering new features and Easter Eggs to this day. One such discovery has recently been circulating among the franchise's nostalgia-loving fans on Reddit.

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A wholesome Reddit post by user MemesAreLegit2006 shared an overlooked gameplay mechanic that could come in handy in double battles. As per this fan's account, if the player simultaneously presses the Start and Select buttons, the team's HP bar and its numerical equivalent pop up on the screen. MemesAreLegit2006 claims that they were revisiting Pokemon Platinum on an old 3DS when they decided to casually press different button combinations. And to their surprise, one of the combos revealed this hidden Pokemon mechanic.

A New Discovery of an Old Mechanic

Although some fans were surprised by Pokemon Platinum’s HP display feature, the mechanic is not news to Gen-3 and Gen-4 players. In fact, the HP button was introduced to the franchise with PokemonRed & Blue back in 1996 and continued to be a part of the gameplay until 2002 in the Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald editions. Of course, with the drastic changes in combat mechanics of newer Pokemon titles, this small quality-of-life feature was cut from Pokemon, becoming a thing of ancient history.

It's worth noting that players don't actually need to press Start and Select simultaneously to see HP in all Gen-3 and Gen-4 games, as described in the Reddit post. In most titles from 1996 to 2002, they could toggle the team's HP on and off simply by pressing the Start button. Another forgotten detail is that in Red, Blue, and Emerald, pressing Select would rearrange a Pokemon’s moves, potentially altering the course of battle, though this feature is no longer available in recent games.