An idea that Foster had a while back intrigued me and got me thinking. For all the information we have on rare monsters, we really know very little about them. With that in mind, I plunged into the dex drive save file and began snooping around. Many thanks to Nevistar, Dark Phoenix, Richard Ryley, Xianiax, Corkasus (Sonnorat), and anybody else I forgot for helping me take the hacking plunge. He some information from my first foray:

Ok, well it wasn't immediately obvious but I think I'm figuring it out. I've got a Kokushi Muso as my active monster, so in 1A8C and 1A8E I've got values of F4 and F4. This was stumping me since F4 = 244 which made no sense, but I forgot I had to tack on a one to the value to convert to game shark values. Either that or the values of the next byte over (1A8D and 1A8F) need to be tacked on to the front of the register. Either way 1F4 = 500. So, the Kokushi Muso of the Mulan soundtrack has the same lifespan as a regular Durahan, i.e. 500 weeks.

I can't find the stat gain registers yet, they are not two bytes over from the form register in the dex save as they are in the game shark environment. For instance 1A9C, whoops, I take it back, there they are. The Kokushi Muso has values of 02,01,02,03,00,04. Translated to Pow 3, Int 2, Lif 3, Ski 4, Spd 1, Def 5. Lif/Pow/Int/Ski/Spd/Def is the standard format so the Kokushi Muso is 3,3,2,4,1,5. Looking over at the stat acquisition rates, a pure durahan has 3,4,3,3,1,5. So, the KM doesn't have quite the same power or intelligence, but is has better ski. There are other differences between the two. KM starts off with both guard and hurry battle specials. It does retain the +1 gain on domino just like a regular Durahan.

Whew, obviously I need: more practice (My hex reading, math, and conversion skills are a little rusty), a complete table of registers for all the freezer slots, more time, more rare cds. I've only got six rares right now (seven if you count the sucky suezo). I guess it's off to the used CD store for me!

Poison from the Matrix soundtrack
2,2,5,4,3,1 - Poison
1,2,5,4,4,1 - Pixie/Pixie

400 weeks lifespan for each. The poison has other differences though, aside from the extra attack "Heel Raid". It has battle specials grit and real. It gets a +1int on the mediate drill, but I think all pixie's get that.

Bronze Suezo from Tool’s Anemia
2,3,3,4,2,2 – Bronze Suezo
2,3,5,4,2,2 – Suezo/Suezo

Ummm, what a waste of a rare! Not only that, it only lives 430 weeks compared to a pure suezo’s 450 week lifespan. It gets no +1’s on any drills or errantries, and has only the ease battle special.

Unless you like Tool, or want to try for the Gold Suezo, save your money.

You wan't a work out? I just went through my cd's and I have 9 rares. That's six more to go. You want them one by one or all at once?

Ragae Plant, Express worm, Chef, Skeleton, Ultrajarl, and the worm you get off The Offsring's Americana, in that order.

Oh and thanks to Pesmerga who I forgot to mention earlier.

Raggae Plant from Bob Marley’s Legend
3,1,4,3,3,1 – Raggae Plant
5,1,3,3,2,1 – Plant/Plant

510 week lifespan for the raggae, 550 for the pure. Starts of with life steal attack, +1 int on meditate, +1 ski on Torble Sea errantry, and no battle specials.

Don't know if I'll be able to do them all tonight, but I'll try. Can you see that pattern that Pesmerga has picked up on?

Express Worm from Beastie Boy’s License to Ill.
5,2,3,3,1,2 – Express Worm
5,3,3,3,1,2 – Worm/Worm

480 weeks lifespan for the Express Worm, 400 for the pure. +1 pow on pull drill, no battle specials.

Getting a little faster at this.

Chef from Blink 182’s Enema of the State
1,1,4,4,4,1 – Chef
1,1,4,4,4,1 – Ghost/Ghost

420 weeks lifespan for Chef versus 400 for the pure. +1 on dodge (just like the pure), and no battle specials.

I’ll be back with the next in about a half an hour (gotta give my eye’s a rest).

Skeleton from Marilyn Manson’s Mechanical Animals
2,4,4,4,3,2 – Skeleton
2,4,3,4,4,2 – Henger/Henger

400 weeks lifespan for both. +1 ski on shoot (just like the pure), but you also start with the arm cannon attack and the vigor battle special.

Ultrajarl from The X-Files Songs in the Key of X
3,4,2,4,3,2 – Ultrajarl
3,4,2,4,3,2 – Bajarl

470 weeks lifespan for the Ultrajarl, 450 for the pure. Vigor battle special and bajarl beam attack.

Pesmerga just figured something else out about these rares. It's kinda based on his first discovery though, so, I'll tell you later if you can't figure it out. ;)

Worm/Worm from The Offspring’s Americana
5,3,3,3,1,2 – Worm/Worm (???)
5,3,3,3,1,2 – Worm/Worm

420 weeks lifespan for the “rare”, 400 for the pure. I haven’t really looked into battle specials on this one or +1’s. It does have the extra attack roll assault. Anyway, goodnight! That’s enough screen time for a while.

Thanks goes to the aforementioned trainers, and a second round of applause for Pesmerga.

excellent work, farmer jimbo [and all the people he thanked]! now if only they would start putting rares on schnittke cds, i'd be set...

Hey, good job! I never knew the Worm from
Americana was special. What's up with that?
What's the difference (other than the ones you
mentioned). And who figured this out?
Pesmerga?

Sorry if I sound like a moron, but I just didn't
know. Unfortunatly, the only rare I've got is the
GabooSoldier off Metel Gear Solid...

The Offspring cd has been kicked around for a while. I can't remember who mentioned it first. Basically is just a pure worm with an extra 20 weeks lifespan and the roll assault tech.

Pesmerga figured out a pattern here while I was posting these. So, there's the first hint: all these rares have an extra 20 weeks lifespan, exactly 20 weeks...

Don't the battle specials and stat gains for the poison look familiar?

Poison has the stat gains and battle specials of a Joker!?..Joker blood doesn't add an extra 20 weeks, though, FJ. What are you getting at with the lifespan?

What if Poison was really just a Lilim with an extra 20 weeks lifespan and heel raid?

You could easily test that one out by running a test on how long the fourth stage becomes. As our very own Kurasu discovered, all Joker sub-types have that extremely long fourth stage. Still, it definitely looks like that. Does this mean that ALL "rares" are nothing more than a sub-type with an extra starting technique and some extra lifespan?

Looks that way, I'm gonna do some more snoopin in the hex table tuesday night. I'll be looking at guts recovery rates and stage shifts for confirmation of Pesmerga's theory.

But, lets just assume that his theory is correct. What worm type do think the express worm is?

Hmmm...It would have to be an intelligence type that ISN'T good at speed or defense as a primary stat...Suezo, perhaps?