Strongest barcode

The theoretical maximum reachable with a retail JAN/EAN, and the strongest code per character

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Which barcode is the strongest?

Once the generation rules are fully known (page 1 through page 3), the strongest barcode stops being something you hunt for and becomes something you derive. Enumerate the 40-bit assignments strictly in descending order of total, and the first arrangement that satisfies the digit constraint (explained below) is the maximum. These two are the answer.

Both are valid EAN-13 numbers, check digit included, but neither is a code that appears as a product in the recorded data. They were constructed by working the rules backwards. The leading two digits have no effect on the outcome, so they need not be 49.

Why you cannot max everything

Taken one at a time, the ceilings are these. Adding them up gives 198000, but the three cannot hold simultaneously.

The reason is that every digit of a barcode is limited to 0–9. Viewing a digit as four bits (b3 b2 b1 b0), the patterns for 10–15 are unreachable, which means the moment b3 is set, b1 and b2 of that digit are pinned to 0. And because the bits feeding the stat calculation are spread across digits by the scatter, pushing one stat's table index to its maximum drags down bits belonging to another stat.

The clearest case is HP against DP, which compete over the bits of d9 (HP uses d9 b0, b1 and b2; DP uses d9 b3). When DP claims b3, HP loses b1 and b2. That tug of war is what settles the retail JAN/EAN ceiling at a total of 181000 with Lv.4, or 181500 if the move level is allowed to drop.

The strongest barcode for each character

The answer to "I want my favourite as strong as possible". For each character drawn in the base lottery (the sixty tickets on page 2), this is the code that maximises the total under that constraint. All of them carry a Lv.4 special move.

This is where promotion (page 2) bites. Build Goku, Gohan, Vegeta, Trunks or Piccolo at maximum strength and the thresholds are inevitably cleared, so there is no way to have them at their strongest in base form. They will always come out transformed. The same applies to Frieza and Cell, who run straight through to their final forms.

Raditz, Zarbon, Frieza and Cell sit 500 lower on BP because the eight draw bits needed to land on those characters are pinned to particular values, and that pinning drags in bits that feed BP.

Targeting an intermediate form: Cell at 2nd form

To stop short of the final form, you invert the problem and deliberately miss a threshold. Promotion to Cell's 3rd form requires HP 60000 / BP 30000 / DP 30000, so holding DP under 30000 keeps him at 2nd form while everything else runs as high as possible.

Frieza's 4th form is the final stage, so there is nothing to overshoot into. Giving up the move level pushes it to 4936786231320 (HP 99500 / BP 47750 / DP 33750, Lv.3, total 181000).

BP and DP alone belong to the special code

Everything above concerns characters produced by the calculation. One individual bypasses the calculation entirely: the special code Super Saiyan Goku built into the game (HP 59000 / BP 49990 / DP 49990, special move Lv.4). BP and DP of 49990 simply cannot be produced normally, so on those two stats no ordinary code can match it. Its total loses to the 181000-class builds, though. Which of the two is actually stronger in a fight depends on the battle formulas, which lie outside the generation rules this site recovered, so no judgement is offered here. More in the notes.

The strongest in the recorded data

All of the above are constructed codes. Barcodes that were actually scanned and written down with a product name are a different matter. Out of 160 such records, these were the strongest. The product names are as the original recorders wrote them; none of them has been verified against a physical item here.

Against a theoretical 181000, the best recorded item sits around 174000. That gap is telling: if you want a strong code, the manufacturer you pick matters. Which shelf to head for is covered in the notes.