Mechanic · combat · role-playing game
Instant win
A battle the game decides the party can't lose and awards without playing it out.
On this page
An instant win skips a battle the party is sure to win. EarthBound runs the check when a fight starts: unless the enemies struck first, it needs as many able party members as enemies, and either a slowest member who outruns every enemy and a weakest bash that kills each one, or, after a first strike, a played-out win with one bash each1.
- Guaranteed winEarthBound (1994). Skipped when the party's weakest bash would kill every enemy and its slowest member outruns them all, or the first strike plays out a win.1
Games
| Game | Year | How | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| EarthBound | 1994 | Guaranteed win | skipped when the party's weakest bash would kill every enemy and its slowest member outruns them all, or the first strike plays out a win |
Every claim about this mechanic, by game (1)
References
- ^ abIn EarthBound (US release), a battle the party can't lose is won without being fought. The check fails if the enemies struck first, or if there are more enemies than able party members among the four main characters (unconscious, diamondized, paralyzed, nauseous, poisoned, sunstroked, cold, mushroomized, and possessed ones don't count). In an even start, the four's lowest Speed must be at least every enemy's Speed, and twice their lowest Offense at least each enemy's HP plus Defense. When the party struck first, it sorts the able members by Offense and the enemies by HP, both highest first, and plays one round in that order: each member makes one attack of 2 × Offense − Defense on the current enemy, moving on to the next enemy only when one falls (any surplus damage is lost), and the party wins if every enemy falls.CodeHerringway/ebsrcrevised
How we know
17 LDA BATTLE_INITIATIVE 18 CMP #INITIATIVE::ENEMIES_FIRST 19 BNE @UNKNOWN0 20 LDA #0 21 JMP @UNKNOWN37
src/battle/instant_win_check.asm lines 17–21 at 68aec5c · upstream ↗ 46 CPX #1 47 BCCL @UNKNOWN6 48 CPX #4 49 BGTL @UNKNOWN6 ⋮ 55 LDA PARTY_CHARACTERS+char_struct::speed,X 56 AND #$00FF 57 CMP @VIRTUAL04 58 BCS @UNKNOWN4 59 STA @VIRTUAL04
src/battle/instant_win_check.asm lines 46–59 at 68aec5c · upstream ↗ 130 LDA ENEMIES_IN_BATTLE 131 CMP @LOCAL08 132 BLTEQ @UNKNOWN9 133 LDA #0 134 JMP @UNKNOWN37 135@UNKNOWN9: 136 LDA BATTLE_INITIATIVE 137 BNEL @UNKNOWN18
src/battle/instant_win_check.asm lines 130–137 at 68aec5c · upstream ↗ 183 ADC #enemy_data::defense ⋮ 188 STA @VIRTUAL02 ⋮ 191 ADC #enemy_data::hp ⋮ 198 ADC @VIRTUAL02 199 STA @VIRTUAL04 200 LDA @LOCAL07 201 STA @VIRTUAL02 202 ASL 203 CMP @VIRTUAL04 204 BCS @UNKNOWN16 205 LDA #0 206 JMP @UNKNOWN37
src/battle/instant_win_check.asm lines 183–206 at 68aec5c · upstream ↗ 383 LDA INSTANT_WIN_SORTED_OFFENSE,X 384 ASL 385 STA @VIRTUAL04 386 LDX @LOCAL09 ⋮ 388 ASL ⋮ 406 LDA @VIRTUAL04 407 CMP @VIRTUAL02 408 BCS @UNKNOWN34 409 LDA @VIRTUAL04 410 SEC 411 SBC @LOCAL05 ⋮ 414 SEC ⋮
src/battle/instant_win_check.asm lines 383–427 at 68aec5c · upstream ↗ 16 JSL INSTANT_WIN_CHECK 17 CMP #0 18 BEQ @UNKNOWN2 19 JSL INSTANT_WIN_HANDLER 20 STZ BATTLE_MODE 21 BRA @UNKNOWN5 22@UNKNOWN2: 23 JSL INIT_BATTLE_COMMON
src/battle/init_overworld.asm lines 16–23 at 68aec5c · upstream ↗ Checked against the evidence by its author, an AI model, 2026-10-21.
Revised after a check by a second AI model, 2026-10-21.
Sources
Code
- Herringway. 2026. “ebsrc: Source code recreation for the game Earthbound.” Commit 68aec5c. Herringway/ebsrc @ 68aec5c · licence, all uses