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Pokéstar Studios

Overview

Pokéstar Studios is a film studio north of Virbank City, found only in Black 2 and White 2. It can be entered after defeating Roxie at the Virbank Gym.

Here, the player can take part in special battles that are filmed as movies. Finished movies can be watched in the theater, where they play back like a Vs. Recorder replay of the battle but with backgrounds, special effects, and comic-book-style cut-ins added. The theater holds up to eight movies at once; if all eight screens are full, the player must remove an existing movie or choose not to release the new one.

The player must visit once during the story: after watching Roxie's father attempt the first Brycen-Man movie, the player has to film it themselves before they can board the ship to Castelia City. Every other movie is optional.

Making movies

The first time a player makes a movie, they will have to use specific rental Pokémon. The script is developed with these Pokémon in mind, and will indicate that certain moves should be used with them to drive the movie's story toward an expected, idealized outcome called the good ending. After a movie has been finished with a good ending using its rental Pokémon, it can be filmed again using (almost) any Pokémon from the player's party, except those with the Ability Imposter, or the moves Transform, Metronome, or Torment. Completing a movie rewards the player with items and popularity and gives them the chance to watch it in the theater. Completing all (except one) movies with their good ending is also required to upgrade the player's Trainer Card.

Although the rental Pokémon are designed to achieve the good ending, there are three kinds of endings in total:

• Good ending: Obtained by following the mission requirements, using the rental Pokémon or one with a similar build. Some movies have extra requirements that aren't listed, such as choosing a particular line at a line prompt. The first good ending on a movie unlocks the option to film it with party Pokémon, and unlocks the next movie in the series if there is one (although the first and third Brycen-Man movies have extra requirements). The story of the good endings continues across the movies in each series.
• Bad ending: This ending is usually obtained by losing the battle, though not always. Bad endings almost always lose money, some of the audience walks out, and the item rewards for completing the movie are generally worse. Each movie records whether its bad ending has been seen, but no medals are awarded for them.
• Strange ending: a hidden goal that isn't in the mission, which gives the story a twist. Strange endings earn more money and more star points than good endings, and the lobby rewards are generally better. Some are possible with the rental Pokémon, but obtaining the strange ending on the player's first attempt at a movie will not unlock the next movie in the series (if there is one) or the option to use party Pokémon.

Line prompts and opposing moves

Opponents in movies do not choose their attacks based on normal Trainer AI selection routines. Instead, one or more line prompts appear during filming, each offering two to four lines for the player to say in response to some event or dialogue. The chosen line decides which move the opponent uses next.

Each line is tied to a move slot from 1 to 4. From the moment a line is chosen until the next prompt or the end of the movie, the opponent always uses the move in that slot. If an opponent with several Pokémon has one knocked out or forced to switch, the next one keeps using its move in the same slot. If the movie does not start by giving the player a prompt, the opponent will choose its moves randomly until the line is selected. This may negatively impact the player's attempt to drive the script in a certain direction, and scripts can be retired and restarted as well to deal with this. It is usually the case that the opposing Pokémon have attacks that can defeat the player's rental Pokémon, which usually results in the bad ending. Using the player's own Pokémon gives opportunities to create alternative situations.

After each line, the director reacts with a good, neutral, or bad response (the exact wording depending on the director; see below), allowing the player to restart the script if the response isn't what was expected. When the movie is shown in the theater, the audience reacts to different line choices as well. Each 'good line' adds +5 to the movie's earnings score and each 'bad line' subtracts 5. 'Neutral' lines have no effect.

Directors

Impossible move selection glitch

Opponents follow the script so closely that they ignore normal move restrictions. If the move chosen by a line prompt can't be used, but the opponent has at least one other move it could legally choose, it will usually try the chosen move anyway. Only when none of its moves are usable is it forced to use Struggle.

Bonus cutscenes

When a movie is played back, text messages appear between turns on a set schedule. Some movies also have bonus cutscenes that only appear if the player's Pokémon uses a particular move. These are listed on each series page.

• A bonus cutscene can't happen if the movie ends on the same turn the move is used, or if a line prompt is scheduled for the end of that turn. If a movie has a line prompt at the start of turn 1, using the move on turn 1 doesn't trigger the scene either. This can leave very little room: in Ghost Eraser 3, for example, turn 4 is the only one of its six turns that can get the bonus scene.
• Selecting the move is enough, even if it misses, has no effect, or the user hurts itself in confusion instead. If the move is Future Sight, the scene plays when the attack lands, not when it is chosen two turns earlier.
• The Giant Woman 3 is the only movie with three moves that trigger a bonus scene, each with slightly different dialogue. A Smeargle that knows more than one of them can see each version in the same movie.
• Bonus cutscenes don't affect the ending or the earnings, with one exception: in the first Everlasting Memories movie, the bonus scene adds an extra line prompt, which can earn a little more money. This is also the only movie whose rental Pokémon knows the move needed; all others require party Pokémon.

Stardom

Pokémon stardom

Party Pokémon (but not rentals) used in a movie have a hidden stardom value that changes depending on the ending. Stardom has a maximum value of 255.

A Pokémon with exactly 255 stardom gets a star animation, similar to the Shiny sparkle, whenever it is sent out in any battle in Black 2 and White 2. The quickest way to reach it is a single strange ending, for example by entering the first Brycen-Man movie and using Protect. The value is not kept if the Pokémon is transferred to a later game.

Stardom also affects how much money a movie earns. There are five stardom levels that affect earnings:

If the player retires partway through filming or chooses not to release the movie, stardom doesn't change. If the movie is released, stardom changes immediately, even before the movie has been watched in the theater.

Player star level

The player also earns star points for every movie, which add up across all movies and can never go down. Making the same movie again still earns points.

Getting a good ending on every movie except Brycen-Man Strikes Back Harder unlocks that movie and upgrades the player's Trainer Card. Getting a good ending on Brycen-Man Strikes Back Harder opens the dressing room and adds a bronze statue of the player outside.

Box office earnings

The money a movie earns is calculated by the following formula, using the variables shown below: P * A * (S + T + E + L), in units of 0.1B. A movie can't earn more than 999.9B or less than −999.8B.

• P is the movie's popularity rating, listed on each series page. Usually movies 1, 2, 3, and 4 in a series have popularity 2, 4, 6, and 8, except that all Love and Battles movies have popularity 2 and Ghost Eraser 2 has popularity 6.
• A is the number of audience members shown on the bottom screen while the movie plays. Audience members who walk out during a bad ending still count.
• S is the total stardom points (see above, up to 15 each) of the player's Pokémon that were sent out during the movie, not counting any changes to stardom made with the movie itself. Rental Pokémon are worth 0.
• T rewards finishing close to the movie's target turn: 5 points for finishing exactly on it, 4 for missing by one turn either way, and so on, down to 0 for missing by 5 or more. The target turn is always reachable for good endings, but not always for strange endings.
• E is the ending score: +75 for any strange ending, while good and bad endings have a score that depends on popularity (listed on each series page).
• L is the total of the +5s and -5s from line prompts. Prompts that never appear because the movie ended early count as 0.

Earning at least 500.0B on a single movie unlocks the Full Metal Cop series.

Items

After a movie is watched for the first time, some of the audience members stay in the lobby; the exact number depends on the player's star points. Some of them will give the player an item when spoken to, depending on the movie's popularity and ending. If several fans from the same row are present, each can be spoken to for another copy of the item.

Backers and purple-shirt boys only give a generic message. The ticket clerk, the Lass near the record board, and the Janitor near the left staircase are always present and don't give items.

Movies

There are 40 movies spread across 11 series. Each series page lists the movies' details, rental Pokémon, opponents, line prompts, and ending requirements.

Brycen-Man Strikes Back Harder is unlocked by getting good endings on all 39 other movies. Once unlocked, it appears at the end of the movie list, after Ghost Eraser 4.

Credits & sources

• SadisticMystic's Inundata Sheets (Pokéstar Studios data), for the filming, ending, line prompt, stardom, earnings, and lobby reward mechanics, the directors, and all movie data. Earlier information on bonus cutscenes was compiled by Bi0zilla, TheHellHamster, Sayse, and CountScarlioni.
• Bulbapedia, for the location, access requirement, theater capacity, and the rewards for completing every movie.