Soft resetting
SR redirects here. For the move commonly shortened to "SR", see Stealth Rock (move). For the Pokémon Trading Card Game rarity, see Ultra rare card (TCG).
Soft resetting (often shortened as SRing) is a feature found in the core series Pokémon games, as well as several other Pokémon games. It involves holding certain buttons on the game system at the same time, which causes the game to return to the startup screen. A "soft reset" contrasts to a "hard reset", which is restarting the game by rebooting the system itself.
A soft reset can be performed at any time during gameplay, except while the game is saving.
Purpose
This practice is widely considered useful, as rebooting the game (whether by soft resetting or hard resetting) will affect the values generated by the pseudorandom number generator. Commonly, it is used to attempt to generate an in-game event Pokémon that is Shiny, or has particular IVs or Nature. Soft resetting is faster than hard resetting because only the game and not the system needs to reboot, so it's often used due to the already time-consuming nature of attempting to generate a Pokémon with these specific qualities.
Soft resetting specifically for a Shiny Pokémon is often called Shiny resetting.
Games
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Soft resetting exists in all core series Pokémon games prior to games released on the Nintendo Switch, likely due to the system being able to close software much faster. It also exists in the following other games:
- Pokémon Trading Card Game
- Pokémon Puzzle Challenge
- Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire
- Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness
- Pokémon Channel
- Learn with Pokémon: Typing Adventure
Additionally, all games released on Wii or Wii U have a reset function built into the system firmware. Likewise, all Virtual Console titles have a reset function accessible from the Virtual Console menu (in addition to any built-in soft reset methods they may already have).
Button combinations
| Games | Button combination |
|---|---|
| GB/GBC/GBA games | Press and hold A, B, Start, and Select |
| Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness | Press and hold B, X, and Start |
| DS games | Press and hold L, R, Start, and Select |
| 3DS games | Press and hold L, R and Start or Select |
There is no way to soft reset on Nintendo Switch games. Instead, the fastest way to reset is to simply close the game from the Switch's Home Menu, then reopen it.
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