Pokémon The Pokémon Challenge Thread

[Midoriya]

Any suggestions? I'm open to them!

I don't remember what TMs are available in the Pokemart or which ones your team can learn to be honest... would just try to buy some that will help you out against Wattson (anything that's super effective against the Electric type like Bulldoze for example). I haven't played the Hoenn region games in ages, lmaoooo... best wishes with it though!

 

[ShinyDungeoneer]

I don't remember what TMs are available in the Pokemart or which ones your team can learn to be honest... would just try to buy some that will help you out against Wattson (anything that's super effective against the Electric type like Bulldoze for example). I haven't played the Hoenn region games in ages, lmaoooo... best wishes with it though!

According to a wiki, the tms in the mauville shop are as follows (in no particular order):
Venoshock
Aerial Ace
Dragon Tail
Facade
Low Sweep
Charge Beam
Power-Up Punch
Bulldoze

 

[outofwrlds]

There was an unfortunate tragedy with the nuzlocke I had begun. I was working on sapphire via emulator on my phone (I checked the legality of this, it's totally fine if I already have a legit version that is legally payed for, which I do). I played for a few hours, but only got as far as the second gym. Things were going well, good Pokemon, no losses, and then my phone got damaged. Like, unusably damaged. I had to get a new phone and everything transferred find except for the save file of the game I'd already started.

Naturally, I was devastated, despite having only a few hours in the game. I'd gotten super lucky with some of my Pokemon, and while they could have been better, they could also have been much much worse. I've gone through my period of grieving, and am ready to try again. I guess I'll talk about my previous game a little bit, just to be proud of my precious little team that's gone forever. I did write most of it up beforehand, with the intention of getting everything down of my journey between each gym to post online. I'll just add the bit I'm missing at the end, and then start my new game.

I saw that someone named their team after alcoholic beverages, thought that was hilarious, and decided to copy that theme. For my starter, I used a random number generator to pick, got Mudkip, and named him Mojito. My absolute favorite starter, in middle school I beat an entire playthrough in 7 hours using nothing but Swampert and a Lunatone (because you can't enter the psychic gym with less than two Pokemon, curse those double battles) but that's a completely different story.

He did great, fought my rival well, and ended up rising two levels before I got my pokeballs. I was a little nervous being so much stronger than everything around me and worried I'd KO my first encounter by accident, but everything was okay. I found a level 2 Zigzagoon and named her Negroni. When I was little, I used to always have a Zigzagoon/Linoone on my team named Mr. Niggles. Negroni is as close as I can get via mixed drink name to honor those little raccoons of my past.

Next up was a Wurmple. Was kinda hoping for, like, anything else, but I'll take it. Turned into Beautifly and, again, would have rather had Dustox, but I'll take it. I named him Daiquiri. A D name, because of the hope for Dustox.

I skipped route 103, because I vaguely recall that the route was split and I could get higher level Pokemon on the same route on the other side of the river. I decided to hold out for those.

I was using the duplicates clause, which meant that if the first Pokemon I found was something I already had, I could catch the second one instead. Knowing gen 3 was not evenly spread when it came to Poke distribution along the routes, I figured that the I would catch the second one anyway, even if it was another duplicate. I had no intentions of looking up Pokemon on every route, did not want to sit there fighting the same Pokemon over and over on the odd chance there was a Pokemon that was not a duplicate (which ruins the point of a nuzlocke), and resigned my self to eventually have a dozen Zigzagoon and Tentacool in my boxes. This decision worked in my favor, because the next route had another Zigzagoon pop up first, which I ignored, followed by a Wingull. Wingull is great, Pelliper is great. Didn't think I needed two water types on my team, but soo much better than a spare Zigzagoon. Bellini the Wingull joined the team.

Petalburg forest was next. I figured I was going to get Wurmple or one of its evolutions. I knew Shroomish was around, and I was really hoping for that. What I did get was Taillow, which was a surprise for me. Had no idea those could be found here, so that was really exciting for me. Named her Mai Tai and she became a staple to my team quickly.

I made it to the first gym without incident, but still had a few more places to catch Pokemon so I decided to go for those first. Hopefully for a Nincada, just because I like Shedinja, even though I'm sure that's the worst possible Pokemon in a nuzlocke. Got a Skitty. It was terrifying, because I got a critical hit on her and got her down to exactly 1 HP. Nearly stopped my heart. I caught her and named her French 75. Enjoyed having a funky name with a number in it because I couldn't find a better name to toast the good fortune of its survival.

Whismur cave was all that was left before the gym, and *surprise* I got a Whismur. Named him Tom Collins, chucked him in the PC in case of emergency. After this, it was a loooong but of leveling to get ready for the gym. I found a site that let me know the gym leader's max level Pokemon without spoiling their team, which was super nice. I wanted to go in blind, or at least woth distant, vague, and possibly incorrect memories. God, it took so long. I tried to get my whole team to the same level and wanted to cry. Zigzagoon had pickup and gave me multiple gold nuggets, and that was the only thing keeping me going during this hard time.

Gym time. Went in with a level 14 Mudkip. Slaughtered every trainer. Slaughtered Roxanne. One shot every Pokemon that didn't have sturdy. It was a bloodbath. Came out with a level 16 Marshtomp.

This is where I left off with writing, but I got a bit farther than this, so I'll do what I can from memory. I remember having no more issues with Team Aqua or other trainers and made my way to Dewford comfortably, just casually fighting wild Pokes as I went.

On the island, I decided to check out the cave. I knew from memory that this was the only place to get Aron aside from Victory Road, which would be nearly pointless to train by that point. I got some repels, wandered deeper into the cave to where it's pitch black, and found... Zubat. Which, I love Crobat, and getting a lower level Zubat means leveling up that friendship meter faster, but now I had Wingull, Taillow, Beautifly, and Zubat on a team. Four flying types, with an electric gym on the horizon. I remember being thankful that Marshtomp was ground type and put it on my team anyway. Named her Sangria, which I thought was fitting for a bloodthirsty bat.

The reason I went to the cave before getting Flash was because I wanted a higher level area to train, and using that old rod to fish up Magikarp wasn't going to cut it. At this point, I only needed a couple of levels to fight Brawly, so it wasn't going to take long at all. I saved my game, confident that my ridiculous number of birds could overpower a fighting game with ease, and then lost it all...

In loving memory, the team that could have made it,

Mojito the Mudkip
Negroni the Zigzagoon
Daiquiri the Beautifly
Bellini the Wingull
Mai Tai the Taillow
French 75 the Skitty
Tom Collins the Wismur
Sangria the Zubat

The end.

So yeah. There goes four hours of effort, which really isn't much, but I'm a mom, so every minute of spare time is paid for heavily and treasured like gold. It was like a week's worth of spare time (oof).

But it's okay. I'm starting again, and this time I'm going to have an even BETTER team! This time, the theme is candy. The wheel of fate has been spun, and my partner in crime is Torchic! I'm naming him Starburst, and we are ready for our new adventure! (We're going to die so fast)

 

[Midoriya]

- snip -

Geez, I'm really sorry to hear about your phone! That sucks. It sounds like you had a really amazing team from the looks of it. I hope your new run goes well. I can't tell you how many times I had to attempt OR/AS challenges before I beat one. The number was kind of embarrassing. But with every failed run you also gain some insight into what you can do better.

 

[outofwrlds]

Nuzlocke Candy League

Normally I'd prefer Mudkip as my starter. The water typing lets me breeze through the first gym, and the ground typing gets me through the electric gym later on. I hate electric gyms, in every game. Not enough weaknesses and they paralyze half your team, it's always a mess. Torchic is very cool though. There's not a lot of fire types at all and I think Blaziken is the strongest fire type in the game. Plus, my outfit is red in this version, so we match. Very stylish!

Right off the bat, my first Pokemon is a Wurmple. Not very thrilling, but nothing on the first route ever is. I named him Nerds Rope. He was level 3, which makes him better than a level 2, so I appreciated that. Later on he revealed himself to be a Silcoon, preventing me once again from getting that Dustox, and earning his less-than-impressive candy name. Then again, what IS an impressive candy name?

My next one was Zigzagoon, named Smarties. Made me mad by healing herself with an Oran berry and breaking free from a pokeball. Was hoping for a rare Ralts or Lotad, but disappointed for a second time. My team is kinda inverted this time, catching the same two Pokemon in reverse order.

Got Taillow right off the bat on the next route. Named it Twizzlers. Love this spunky little bird. I got Wingull here last time and Taillow in the woods, so maybe a Wingull will be found up ahead? I had a rough time on the beach near this spot. There's a trainer with a Seedot and a Taillow that I missed my first time through, and he nearly killed Smarties. Would have been devastating to lose a Pokemon this early.

Got to Petalburg forest and thank god I got Shroomish. I was so excited that I decided to use my premier ball on him. Duplicates clause came in clutch, because my first Pokemon was Wurmple again. Let me tell you, I was sweating over my team composition. Roxanne is generally a piece of cake, but my team is very crushable by rock/ground types and contained no type advantage moves. Named him JellyBelly, maxing out my character limit.

It was near 1am by this point, and I was dead exhausted, so I healed up in Rustboro and ran ahead to the next route to see what I could catch. Got Nincada and named him Take 5 in memory of French 75 the Skitty. Remembered 3 Musketeers exist afterward, but the name is good enough. Kinda winced at the idea of so many squishy bugs in my team, but I'll make it work. I do plan to get Shedinja when I can, even though it's probably the worst possible Pokemon for a nuzlocke. I don't really consider it a separate encounter, I think of it as more of a unique mechanic. But I will consider it to be the "ghost" of Ninjask, and only use it once his original "body" dies. Something depressing to look forward to

That's as far as I got for now. I'll go catch my free Whismur next time I get the chance to play, train up, and go take on Roxanne. It's the first gym, so it really can't be that bad at all, but something about Nuzlockes make things very unnerving. Until next time~

Oh, and if anyone wants to sacrifice recommend their favorite type of candy to name my future Whismur, let me know!

Starburst the quirky Torchic
Nerds Rope the docile Silcoon
Smarties the modest Zigzagoon
Twizzlers the naive Taillow
Jellybelly the relaxed Shroomish
Take 5 the sassy Nincada

 

[outofwrlds]

Nuzlocke Candy League

Starburst the quirky Torchic
Nerds Rope the docile Silcoon
Jawbreaker the modest Sableye
Twizzlers the naive Taillow
Jellybelly the relaxed Shroomish
Take 5 the sassy Nincada

Deceased
Smarties the modest Zigzagoon

Battling wild Pokes and a few trainers on my way to the Whismur cave, I realized that JellyBelly (Shroomish) has effect spore. Totally awesome in a battle. A little less awesome if I accidentally poison and kill a Pokemon I'm meant to catch. I'll have to be careful with that. On the other hand, it does have stun spore, so if I set that off first, we're all good.

The Whismur cave went well. Got a cute little thing and named her Ring Pop. I decided that I was tired of looking at Nerds Rope (Beautifly) and replaced him. She was the lowest level possible to find in the area, so I had to do a little extra grinding to catch up, but it's no big deal at these lower levels. I've never used Whismur much because I'm not a huge fan of the evolution line (Exploud looks icky) but a Nuzlocke is all about using Pokemon you normally wouldn't choose and working with what you have. Ring Pop is turning out to be a surprisingly aggressive little monster, and I'm pleased to have her on my team.

I got everything on my team up to level 14 except Take 5, because that thing is excruciatingly slow to level up. Roxanne tops off at 15, but I was so tired of leveling up and knew I'd be just fine taking her on. JellyBelly soloed the gym, though I let Take 5 jump in and swap out for that sweet bonus trainer experience. The only problem was Nosepass, and that's just because it was slow to kill. Leech Seed and Absorb let me end the fight with pretty much full health.

The Team Aqua grunt after that was a joke, and I moved onto Dewford pretty quickly. Just like the first time, I decided to hit up the cave before taking on Brawly. It's a better place to train, which meant I got to catch another member of the team. I used some repels to work my way deeper into the cave where the cooler Pokemon are (don't judge me) to see what I could find. Aron would have been awesome. Zubat like before would have been great. Deeaded running into an Abra that would escape immediately. Wasn't really feeling Makuhita. It's nice and tanky, but I feel like Blaziken works just fine as a fighting type and want more variety. Ended up with Sableye, which is a rarer spawn. Remembered that Fairy type doesn't exist yet, it has no weaknesses, Brawly's fighting types can't do anything to touch him, and laughed hysterically. Named him Jawbreaker, partially because he's made of rocks, partially because Brawly and Norman are going to have a hard time taking him down.

Took Take 5 off my team and replaced him with Jawbreaker. Decided it was time to get to grinding away in the cave. My team was mostly 14 and Brawly went up to 18, so figured it wouldn't take too long.

And then I got cocky and lost a teammate. Smarties the Zigzagoon is no more. I was working on getting her up a few levels, and I'd already done a few others, so I had a good idea of how the cave worked. The only real threat to her was Makuhita, being fighting type to her normal, but everything here ranged from levels 6-10. All they really had was tackle going for them. I didn't realize that they learned arm thrust at level 10. I'd seen so many at this point that I assumed they all had tackle as their only means of offense, and she was doing so good slaughtering them with headbutt. And then arm thrust. It managed to hit me all five times, and I would have survived if it was only four. Took her down from full health. I was 4 levels higher than it, and could have killed it in two hits.

(It's not really much of a surprise that Smarties died because I literally have it listed at the top of the page, but I thought it best to have a name guide at the top instead of the bottom.)

Losing a teammate this early really sucked. Smarties was definitely not a Pokemon to carry the team, but she definitely had a role just her own. She was going to be invaluable for carrying HMs so the real fighters could have better moves, and her Pickup was incredibly handy. She'd already dropped nuggets, PP up, and ultra balls. RIP Smarties, you will be missed.

I'm very close to getting my Pokemon to the levels they need to be at, so my battle with Brawly will be soon. Take 5 is back on the team, so that's slowing me down a little. Starburst evolved to Combusken, so that's good news. I guess that's the whole report for now. And I'm always open to someone picking a candy for my next Pokemon name! See ya~

 

[outofwrlds]

Nuzlocke Candy League

Starburst the quirky Combusken
Ring Pop the impish Loudred
Jawbreaker the modest Sableye
Pop Rocks the sassy Shedinja
Jellybelly the relaxed Breloom
Take 5 the sassy Ninjask

Standby
Nerds Rope the docile Beautifly
Babe Ruth the gentle Wingull
Twizzlers the Taillow


Deceased
Smarties the modest Zigzagoon

Brawly was pretty easy to take care of. I used Taillow and Sableye together to defeat him. Sableye was immune to damage in there, but didn't have a lot of damage he could deal out himself. Taillow had speed and attack on her side, but if she didn't kill things in one hit, she was in danger. Worked out very well.

I battled every trainer on the Slateport beach and in the snack shack, which got me some spare cash and a good amount of experience. All my Pokemon were 18 when I arrived and now most were at 19, I decided to catch my next Pokemon above the town, then head up the cycling road once my team was all at 20.

First, I'd like to welcome Babe Ruth the Wingull to my team. Dropped her in the box to be on standby, but with a fire type gym coming up soon, I'll be using her soon enough. Honestly, I can't believe I got this far before getting my first water type.

Second, I'd like to congratulate Whismur for evolving into Loudred. She's ready to kick some serious butt. I also need to congratulate Nincada in his evolution into Ninjask. His stats have exploded after this one level, and he's actually usable. What a speedy boy.

Third, I'd like to welcome Shedinja to the team. With his ability, I figured he'll be either godlike or dead quickly, so we'll see. I forgot to go to the name rater in Slateport before I started up the path, so I'll make a special effort to go back down after I take care of Wattson.

I had a quick battle with my rival halfway up the route, and he wasn't too hard to beat. I used Shedinja to take care of his Shroomish and Marshtomp, just to test him out. I was terrified the whole time. It's awful knowing that at any second your Pokemon can and will be killed in a single hit. Numel had to be dealt with separately, but that was no big deal.

I made it to Mauville without any further issues. Used Shedinja again to kick Wally's but with his cute little Ralts. I feel like I'm tempting fate every time I bring this thing out. But the only way to get this through the entire game without losing it would be to look up the moves of every single random trainer battle and all the Pokemon along every route and every gym battle... And I'm not doing that. This is a special extra Pokemon that I was lucky enough to have just because I got Nincada, and I don't want to go out of my way and ruin the fun and excitement of this journey for one (notably awesome) little bug. I'll just have to live with the crippling anxiety until it inevitably dies, and then live with the grief.

I took some me time and played around in the casino. I never really bothered with it in the past and decided to check it out. There's some very expensive TMs in there, but nothing else of much interest. And winning enough money to get anything will take hours.

 

[Midoriya]

Nuzlocke Candy League

Starburst the quirky Combusken
Ring Pop the impish Loudred
Jawbreaker the modest Sableye
Pop Rocks the sassy Shedinja
Jellybelly the relaxed Breloom
Take 5 the sassy Ninjask

Standby
Nerds Rope the docile Beautifly
Babe Ruth the gentle Wingull
Twizzlers the Taillow


Deceased
Smarties the modest Zigzagoon

Nice! Your team is starting to look really good to be honest. Hopefully you can defeat Wattson and keep going the distance.

 

[outofwrlds]

Nuzlocke Candy League

Starburst the quirky Combusken
Ring Pop the impish Loudred
Jawbreaker the modest Sableye
Babe Ruth the gentle Wingull
Jellybelly the relaxed Breloom
Take 5 the sassy Ninjask

Deceased
Smarties the modest Zigzagoon
Pop Rocks the sassy Shedinja

Lots more grinding. Trying to get my team all to 23. I did go to route 117 to level up and catch a new friend, Lemon Head the Roselia. Not a great name, but I couldn't think of anything else floral or fruity, and JollyRancher was way too long.

I've got good news and bad news. Good news is Shroomish became Breloom and Taillow became Swellow. Bad news is I lost Shedinja.

I had trained just about every Pokemon in the grass here, paying extra close attention to levels and moves, watching for anything that could slip past Wonder Guard. Everything seemed fine. Unfortunately, I hadn't taken into account abilities. Roselia's poison point got me. All I could do was sit and wait for the turn to end and die. Was kinda hoping to use it against Wattson, but alas, it was not meant to be.

I did procrastinate at bit since I was at Verdanturf. The contest hall was there and I'm probably not going to make it back anytime soon. I had a bit of fun mixing pokeblocks and competing. I tried twice and got second place on my second try with Breloom before calling it for the night. I'd finished training at this point and all that was left was to suck it up and challenge the gym.

My team was all at 23 and ready to die fight. Swallow was 23 as well and chilling in the box in case I need her later. Beautifly and Roselia were untouched in my box, but I did get Wingull up to 20 to prepare it for the next step of the journey. Next update should be about my battle with Wattson. Yay!

 

[outofwrlds]

Nuzlocke Candy League

Starburst the quirky Combusken
Ring Pop the impish Loudred
Jawbreaker the modest Sableye
Jellybelly the relaxed Breloom
Take 5 the sassy Ninjask
Twizzlers the naive Swellow

Deceased
Smarties the modest Zigzagoon
Pop Rocks the sassy Shedinja
Babe Ruth the gentle Wingull

I can't believe myself, I feel so stupid. I decided to fight most of the gym with my Combusken, since Double Kick was great for handling the Magnemite. There was a Youngster with a Zigzagoon on there, which I thought was funny. It died quickly, but looking back, I assume it must have had an electric move. Which should have been obvious and I wish I'd considered that before battling the Battle Girl with her Meditite. I'd thought Combusken would kill it quickly, but it had Confusion, and I felt a little threatened by that. So I swapped in Wingull. Flying had type advantage and it was a higher level, so I figured it would be an easy fight. Except that I swapped right into a Thunder Punch. Like. Why. What a dumb mistake. Ugh.

Anyway, the rest of the gym was a piece of cake, but I am definitely grieving. I was looking forward to having a Pelliper on the team. I think I'll go fight the trainers on the cycling road, then move on with my journey.

 

[Giddy]

Pokemon Black 2 Eight Gym: Swimming in the jacuzzi is not allowed.

THE FINAL GYM

I gotta say, despite how long it took me to train, and take some time off the game; it definitely felt sad.

My Pokemon:

Serperior (Ubon) LV 52 - Holding Big Root
Amoonguss (Punchline) LV 51 - Holding Miracle Seed
Leavanny (Elfkin) LV 51 - Holding Miracle Seed
Stoutland (Jimmy) LV 52 - Holding Scope Lens
Swoobat (Woff) LV 51 - Holding Sharp Beak
Banette (Marron) LV 52 - Holding Lucky Egg

Marlon was waiting and ready for me.
I was actually more worried on fighting one of the gym trainer's Walrein; so I definitely felt a lot better about this match.

He started with Carracosta and I brought out Ubon. I had hoped he would bring that specific Pokemon out, since it was had the worse weakness to grass.
Ubon started out with leaf blade, and Carracosta only survived with their sturdy. They used something to up their defence but I really wasn't sure what? The moveset I saw for them didn't have anything like that. Strange. Unless I dunno how their moves work.
Marlon decided to use their only Hyper Potion. So Ubon leaf bladed again, and the sturdy saved them once again.
So we quickly giga drained and Carracosta finally fainted.

Wailord was going to come out, and I was debating on weather I should switch out. I had enough grassy Pokemon, but Wailord are pretty tanky and annoying, so Ubon stayed in.
Which was the best choice, as I got them in the red. Wailord only used amnesia, so I cut whaever move they planned to do into slices.

Now for Jellicent. :<
I was thinking how good it was that they haven't used scald yet, as I was seriously worried on how much damage could that do to my grass Pokemon - mainly Ubon.
...I need to stop jinxing myself.
I bring in Jimmy! This was so they wouldn't use their ghost move and I had a move that could be slightly effected on ghost Pokemon.

Jimmy bit hard, but Jellicent ate it's better in glee and bit even harder by using scald, and burning Jimmy. Again, Jimmy did it's best biting the jellyfish, but it recovered. Okay, fine.
I used a hyper potion on Jimmy, and Jellicent used brine. They then eventually decided to have their ability affect Jimmy, and disable Jimmy's only move that could be used on a ghost type :<
The burn was causing major problems as well, so I had to switch out because I didn't really have anything that could heal Jimmy; plus it would be pointless since Jimmy couldn't use its fangs.

Just had to find the best choice.
Again, I was worried with scald and didn't want to put my Ubon into any danger. Marron was a choice, but I felt their electric move wouldn't affect them that must, plus also being a ghost type.
So I went with Elfkin. *fingers crossed*
Elfkin had leaf storm, which I was wary on using, but they were able to hit Jellicent and fainted it instantly!!!

What a battle. Omg. I would have to look back on my gym battles and see which one was actually more scarier and worrisome.

So before everything with Team Plasma and the Pokemon League, the last areas I can catch a Pokemon are as followed:
Crater Forest (I think I can go here before the League)
Route 23 (double checking I haven't done so before)
And Victory Road.

In Route 23, I hope I can get a Metang, that would be so amazing.
Now with Victory Road, I kinda wanna be a lil cheeky and use the tactic I used when I accidentally got Yolo, all those years ago (RIP YOLO)
As in using repels to get to a specific floor so I could catch either a Druddigon or Zewluious (two of which I have never used in these games).
Now I do not plan on using this tactic again, I just thought it might be a bit more fun using other Pokemon.

After I do get one from each of those areas, I will come back with a full detail of all my Pokemon, and just get some ideas on who might be the best bet on using for the Pokemon League. I also expect to try and get all the TM's if I can at that time before the league so I am not losing any. (Honestly, your rival giving you Thunderbolt AFTER the water gym so stingy omg)
So yeah, after this, expect a full list of pokemon and i might make a note of the battles against team plasma, for fun of course. It looked long so thought might as well.

Just trying to gran Terrakion (this stuff is away fromthe Nuzlocke i jut wanna grab them with tier desires natures. I actually did get the jolly nature first time, but my ds bugged out and froze and I forgot to save AFTER catching :<)

But a huge big thank you for reading, can't wait to try the Pokemon league.

ABout the heartgold game, haven't tried it yet. Looking for a specific natured stater to try out playing on a game where the language is not my own, I won't go too far (just gonna grab an oddish for specific reasons) and I'll trade those over and start again to REALLY start the nuzlocke which I am super hyped for.

 

[Midoriya]

Love reading about all of your exploits!

I just received my new copy of Pokemon SoulSilver, and started a Nuzlocke challenge on it. I've currently won my last 2 or 3 Nuzlockes in a row (I don't remember the exact number), so if I lose this, it'll break my streak.

But it's going well so far! I chose Cyndaquil as my starter, and it happened to be female, so I nicknamed it Nezuko after Nezuko from Demon Slayer. Since then I've got my Pokedex and battled my rival. The initial rival battle was just a tad bit scary seeing as he spammed Leer with his Totodile, but thankfully I took it out before it could do any damage.

My first encounter on route 31 was a male Hoothoot, which I caught and nicknamed Tokito after the Mist Hashira from Demon Slayer (I skipped the initial two routes seeing as you can't catch anything on them until you get Pokeballs).

I then went into Dark Cave and caught a first encounter male Geodude, which I nicknamed Gyomei after the Stone Hashira from Demon Slayer. I have a feeling Gyomei will be very useful against Falkner.

Then I made it to Violet City and went south to route 32 to encounter and catch a female Wooper, which I nicknamed Aoi from Demon Slayer. Tokito's Hypnosis made sure that Aoi was caught with only one Pokeball, just like Tokito and Gyomei.

When I next play I'll be grinding levels for my team in preparation for Sprout Tower and the Violet City gym battle. Looking forward to it!

Pokemon SoulSilver Nuzlocke challenge

Trainer: Riley

Rival: Genya

Gym Badges: 0

Current team:

Nezuko the Cyndaquil (F), Lv. 12
Aoi the Wooper (F), Lv. 6
Tokito the Hoothoot (M), Lv. 5
Gyomei the Geodude (M), Lv. 3

Boxes: N/A

Deaths: N/A

 

[Midoriya]

Not too much has happened since last time, but I thought I'd update you guys.

I grinded levels for my team today, until everyone was level 12. Then I took on Sprout Tower, which was a breeze thanks to Nezuko. After Genya left, I left as well and challenged the Violet City gym. Gyomei was helpful in taking down the enemy Flying type Pokemon with Rock Throw. I did switch to Nezuko for Falkner's Pidgeotto, simply because Gyomei had been Sand-Attacked several times, and I didn't want to possibly lose him this early. Nezuko made quick work of his Pidgeotto and I earned the Zephyr Badge (oh, and Nezuko evolved into a Quilava during this time).

When I next play I'll be heading towards Azalea Town, site of the second gym badge. I'm hoping to catch a good Grass or Electric type for my rival, seeing as he will have Croconaw. Hopefully an Electric type since I know his Croconaw probably knows Ice Fang as well. We'll see what I get though!

Pokemon SoulSilver Nuzlocke challenge

Trainer: Riley

Rival: Genya

Gym Badges: 1

Current team:

Nezuko the Quilava (F), Lv. 16
Gyomei the Geodude (M), Lv. 13
Tokito the Hoothoot (M), Lv. 12
Aoi the Wooper (F), Lv. 12
Egg

Boxes: N/A

Deaths: N/A

 

[Giddy]

Okay, here we go~
I started this on 15/07/23.
Some things to note, due to it being a Japanese game; all pokemon will have a Japanese-y name, just because I found a site that showed me how to write their names, so it's easier.
I have also have some lessons recently to do with the Japanese alphabet so it's given me a lil more motivation. Let's see how far I can get XD
I made a lot of notes of the journey, so I'll make a spoiler if anyone want's to read that, didn't list everything, but more important stuff.

Spoiler: Journey so far

You know what's interesting? I think this game is the only game where the other player isn't faught either against you or helping you in a double battle. Like even in Black/White, you had Bianca and Cheren to fight. Maybe makes them most forgettable? Anyways~

After the rival literally throws me to avoid being found out, I went to the lab to get my Pokemon. I don't remember many fire types in Johto; so I had to go with getting Cyndaquil!! I named Cyndaquil, Anzu (Apricot).
After not really paying attention to the words, I allowed my mum to take my well earned money every so often to buy things she thinks I would like. Professor Elm gave me his number, this was the best time to turn and see a kid staring into his lab, but I don't think his glasses were working that day. And we were ready to head to Mr. Pokemon's house!

Route 29:
Since I can't really catch the pokemon, I decided not to attack any pokemon until after I get the Pokeballs; which was a new experience for me honestly, as I usually like levelling up my pokemon to LV6 before fighting the rival. Hopefully that's not too tricky.
After being out run by an old man, he gave us shoes and a map. Dunno about anyone else, but in Heartgold/Soulsilver games I also run everywhere once we get the shoes!
I grab the egg and run back to suddenly spot the rival walking our way. Didn't realise how insane that is, he just stole a Pokemon; and he's strutting up the route like nothing happened. He seemed to not like getting in the way, so our first battle begun!

Totodile is techinically the fastest out of the Jhoto trio, but that didn't stop Anzu leering first. Totodile did the same, and Anzu leered once more for good measure before Totodile scratches Anzu. Anzu tackles, and gets scratched.
I was tempted to use a potion as I was worried about the health, but I let Anzu tackle em down, and Tototdile only leered, allowing he next attack to finish him off!

After that, we went back to the crime scene and named the rival: Kazuya.
After giving the professor an egg in these trying times, I was able to get some Pokeballs and finally start the nuzlocke!!

Finally, and the first Pokemon that appeared in Route 29 was...Rattata.
Which wasn't the problem, I was playing at night so of course it would be a Rattata; what I was more worried about was that it was level 2, and it really didn't want to go in my pokeballs and I didn't want to accidentally kill it.
After trying to pokeballs, I tried attacking again, lightly and then threw a Pokeball. Finally caught it!

Route 29: Rattata named Minako

After that, I tried my luck with hopefully getting Hoothoot in Route 30 but...

Route 30: Spinarak named Noboro

Okay well...Just got a lil' spider, a rat and my pyromanic. Not the best, but I can work with it! I decided to stop playing for the night, and wait for tomorrow so I can find better pokemon in the day.
Next day came, and I realised I could go to Route 46 as I could either get a Geodude or a Spearow. I found a Spearow, I was extremely happy...until one of my pokemon killed it. OKAY moving on.

I decided to go train my Pokemon since they were less than Level 5, and all was going well. I was getting them ready to catch something in Route 31.
I encountered a Pidgey while training, and brought out Rattata. All was fine, until Pidgey killed my Rattata!!

I put my lil rat to sleep in the PC boxes, and went off to train Spinarak in the grass too, being extremely careful. Spinarak encountered a Rattata; AND THAT LIL RAT KILLED MY SPINARAK.
WHAT WAS HAPPENING. It always happens when I train even though I keep a good focus, I dunno why DX

The best option was to go to Route 31 and grab a new Pokemon there. I only battled one trainer along the way, as I wanted to save them for training my other Pokemon; once I got them. Once I got to Route 31, I took a deep breath, and lunged into the grass.

Route 31: Caterpie (Naomi)
lol, I literally swapped my spider with a caterpillar. But not bad, the psychic moves once it becomes a butterfly are useful. I decided to go back and forth challenging trainers and healing my Pokemon, before Naomi evolved into Metapod. Decided to finally grab something in the cave.

Dark Cave: Zubat (Satoshi)

Zubat's moves are a pain in its early stage, so hopefully I can level it up alright. Took some time to heal from the awful day, and came back at night time to get better pokemon chances in Route 32. I ran out into the grass and was happily greeted with Wooper~!

Route 32: Wooper (Hiraku)

After that, I decided to just book it to the Bellsprout Tower since it was still night time, to go grab a Gastly; be right back:

Bellsprout Tower: Gastly (Kota)

This boy was a level 3 baby, so he wasn't going to go up against any of his ghost siblings til maybe later on. This was the best time to train my Pokemon before the Bellsprout Tower.
The very next day, I took my time and carefully trained them in some grass before the town we were in. Naomi evolved into Butterfree, and Anzu learnt it's fire move. He was ready for destruction. Since I got most of my team up to level 10/11, I went against the Bellsprout tower, confusing and starting fires in the wobbly tower.

The head Bellsprout guy was ready.
I used Butterfree to take out one of his bellsprouts; but he was already itching to bring out Hoothoot; so I let Woper take this one on. The battle went well for a bit, until Hoothoot hurt Wooper too hard, and I planned to switch out to Anzu.
This dude had the nerve to plan to also switch out to his last Bellsprout! I never had him switch a Pokeon out before when I played last time, he was literally hoping to kill wooper off!! But luckily I chose to bring out Anzu who took out both his Bellsprout and Hoothoot!!

After levelling the other Pokemon up to Level 10 at least, I went up against the bird trainers in the gym; so I can finally go up against the gym leader.

First Gym: No Nuzlocke shall clip my wings!!

My Pokemon:
Cyndaquil - (Anzu) Level 13
Butterfree - (Naomi) Level 12
Wooper - (Hiraku) Level 12
Gastly - (Kota) Level 11
Zubat - (Satoshi) Level 10

I decide to send out my Butterfree, and the gym leader brings out a Pigey.
I gulp, and have Butterfree use confusion. Pigey tackles, and I kill it the next round.
I thought he had another Pigey, as well as Pigetteo, but nope. So I decide to play it safe and have Anzu come out for this round.
Anzy uses ember, and gets tackled for it. Anzu uses ember, and I was wishing it would burn it, but it doesn't.
Pidgetto gets Anzu in the yellow, and I decide to give Anzu a potion.
Don't worry, Pidgetto uses roost to be extra annoying. We just start attacking each other, until both of our Pokemon are in the red. I didn't want to test anything, nor use another Potion, so I switch to Wooper.
Pidgetto tries to use gust, but Wooper ends its life with a water gun attack~!

I am feeling pretty good about the team so far. we may have lost two comrades but that won't stop us now!

 

[Midoriya]

I continued my journey towards Azalea Town, defeating trainers and capturing Pokemon alike. I then made it to the town and took on Team Rocket, who was relatively easy. Then I battled Bugsy's gym and won easily there as well. Nezuko burned his Scyther, and then I switched to Gyomei and went to town using Rock Throw after Rock Throw to faint his Scyther, Metapod, and Kakuna.

But that's when disaster struck... my rival, Genya, appeared and challenged me to battle. I took out his Gastly pretty easily with Tokito, but then he sent his monster of a Croconaw out. I tried using Aoi the Wooper against it and spammed Mud Shot to lower its speed. Unfortunately, Croconaw killed Aoi with a critical hit Bite!

I switched to Tokito and was able to put his Croconaw to sleep using Hypnosis. Thankfully, its speed being lower helped. Unfortunately, however, Peck wasn't doing enough damage, and his Croconaw woke up and killed Tokito.

I THEN switched to Gyomei and went for a no-holds barred Magnitude, which turned into a Magnitude 7. But it wasn't enough... Croconaw survived at 1 HP and used Water Gun, and since Gyomei had Rock Head and not Sturdy, it died...

I switched to my starter and used Quick Attack to take it out finally. Then I took his Zubat out as well with a few more Embers.

I won the battle, but in the end half my team died... thankfully, however, I still had my own Zubat in boxes. I also caught a first encounter Oddish in Ilex Forest, which I nicknamed Mitsuri, but it has an Adamant nature which isn't good. When I next play I'll be training the youngins up in an attempt to salvage this Nuzlocke and keep my winning streak alive. Will I be successful?

Pokemon SoulSilver Nuzlocke challenge

Trainer: Riley

Rival: Genya

Gym Badges: 2

Current team:

Nezuko the Quilava (F), Lv. 19
Giyu the Togepi (M), Lv. 9
Tanjiro the Slowpoke (M), Lv. 7
Sanemi the Zubat (M), Lv. 7
Mitsuri the Oddish (F), Lv. 6

Boxes: N/A

Deaths:

Gyomei the Geodude (M), Lv. 17
Tokito the Hoothoot (M), Lv. 15
Aoi the Wooper (F), Lv. 14

 

[Midoriya]

Pokemon SoulSilver Nuzlocke challenge update: When the going gets tough, you get more tough!

I continued my challenge despite the hard losses, and worked on training my low level Pokemon up in Ilex Forest. Then I continued onto the next route and caught a first encounter Exeggcute in the trees, which I nicknamed Iguro from Demon Slayer.

From there, I continued battling trainers and trained my Pokemon, until I made it to Goldenrod City. I didn't want to explore the city fully at first, but I did make sure to battle the underground trainers for more experience. Then I went on the route north of Goldenrod City and continued training.

I walked into the tall grass here, and lo and behold, an Abra popped out! Truly one of the best lines in the game, I wasn't going to waste this opportunity. I quickly chucked an Ultra Ball at it, and caught it. I nicknamed it Zenitsu.

After this, I used Cut to skip to the next route, and caught a first encounter female Nidoran, which I nicknamed Kanao. I continued battling trainers and fighting wild Pokemon in an attempt to get my team ready to face the third gym leader, Whitney.

During this time, I boxed both Mitsuri and Sanemi seeing as they wouldn't be as useful as the others. I continued training until Zenitsu evolved into a Kadabra! Thanks to having two 3DS now, I whipped out my finished Platinum Nuzlocke and traded with myself to evolve Zenitsu into an Alakazam. He will be an important ally going forward as long as I can manage to keep him alive.

I continued training until Kanao evolved into a Nidorina, and Giyu, with the help of the Soothe Bell, finally evolved into a Togetic! I raised Iguro one more level, and was finally willing to take on the gym.

I had already cleared the initial trainers by this time, so the only real test left was Whitney. I started the battle against her Clefairy by sending out Iguro and using his Reflect. Then I switched to Kanao, and began spamming Double Kick, since it's super effective. Thankfully, Clefairy Double Slapped and got poisoned thanks to Kanao's ability, Poison Point.

After a few more Double Kicks, Whitney's Clefairy could take no more and fainted. As she was about to send out her Miltank, I switched to Iguro, hoping to put Reflect back up. Unfortunately, her Miltank used Attract, which made it impossible to get Reflect up. After taking a Stomp and being at half health, I switched to Nezuko.

I knew continuing this challenge was a good idea, as since Nezuko is a female Quilava and not male, Whitney's Miltank couldn't use Attract on it. Even though I didn't have Reflect's protection, I continued spamming Ember while she kept using Milk Drink to heal her Miltank, and finally I got a critical hit Ember to go through, which finished off her Miltank.

I have to say, after all the close calls I got while training my Pokemon and even against Whitney, I'm surprised I've had no more deaths in the challenge at this point. It just goes to show that not giving up goes a long way in Nuzlocke challenges. When I next play I'll be heading towards Ecruteak City, site of the fourth Johto gym badge!

Pokemon SoulSilver Nuzlocke challenge

Trainer: Riley

Rival: Genya

Gym Badges: 3

Current team:

Nezuko the Quilava (F), Lv. 26
Zenitsu the Alakazam (M), Lv. 16
Kanao the Nidorina (F), Lv. 16
Giyu the Togetic (M), Lv. 16
Iguro the Exeggcute (M), Lv. 15
Tanjiro the Slowpoke (M), Lv. 13

Boxes:

Mitsuri the Oddish (F), Lv. 13
Sanemi the Zubat (M), Lv. 12

Deaths:

Gyomei the Geodude (M), Lv. 17
Tokito the Hoothoot (M), Lv. 15
Aoi the Wooper (F), Lv. 14

 

[Midoriya]

Pokemon SoulSilver Nuzlocke challenge update: Preparing for Morty, the king of souls!

I resumed my challenge and continued heading towards Ecruteak City. On the way there I caught a first encounter Stantler, which I nicknamed Daki. Then I explored the route east of Ecruteak City briefly without going into Mt. Mortar, and then went west and explored the routes west of Ecruteak City.

On route 39 I caught a first encounter Meowth, which I nicknamed Urokodaki. I then made it to Olivine City and did everything I could there, including battling and defeating all the trainers in the lighthouse.

During all of this, I got a Leaf Stone from the Pokeathlon Dome, and Iguro evolved into an Exeggutor, which has made him an even more valuable ally. I also got a Moon Stone and Kanao evolved into a Nidoqueen. Not wanting to wait for post-game, I found a Shiny Stone in my finished Platinum Nuzlocke, and traded it so that I could evolve Giyu into a Togekiss. Lastly, I found a King's Rock in my finished Platinum Nuzlocke and traded it while attached to Tanjiro so he could become a Slowking.

With everyone fully evolved now besides my starter, I'm just about ready to take on Morty's gym. But before that! I had to go battle my rival, Genya, in the Burned Tower. This was a scary fight for me seeing as his Croconaw has three moves that are good against my team.

...and my rival was completely idiotic and spammed Scary Face three times instead, yay! I used Confusion with Zenitsu the Alakazam, then quickly used Reflect so I could tank a Bite attack, and then finished off his Croconaw with another Confusion. Battle won. That's right. My rival's only notable Pokemon is Croconaw (okay, I lied, but the rest of his team is kind of a pushover in comparison tbh).

I'm really glad that went better than I thought it would. Unlike last time, where half my team died and I thought my challenge was going to be over. When I next play I'll be grinding levels for my team in order to take on Morty, the king of souls!

Pokemon SoulSilver Nuzlocke challenge

Trainer: Riley

Rival: Genya

Gym Badges: 3

Current team:

Nezuko the Quilava (F), Lv. 28
Zenitsu the Alakazam (M), Lv. 20
Kanao the Nidoqueen (F), Lv. 20
Giyu the Togekiss (M), Lv. 20
Iguro the Exeggutor (M), Lv. 20
Tanjiro the Slowking (M), Lv. 20

Boxes:

Mitsuri the Oddish (F), Lv. 13
Sanemi the Zubat (M), Lv. 12
Daki the Stantler (F), Lv. 15
Urokodaki the Meowth (M), Lv. 16

Deaths:

Gyomei the Geodude (M), Lv. 17
Tokito the Hoothoot (M), Lv. 15
Aoi the Wooper (F), Lv. 14

 

[outofwrlds]

Nuzlocke Candy League

Starburst the quirky Combusken
Ring Pop the impish Loudred
Jawbreaker the modest Sableye
Jellybelly the relaxed Breloom
Tootsie the timid Gyarados
Twizzlers the naive Swellow

Standby
Nerds Rope the docile Beautifly
Tentacool the Tentacool
Take 5 the sassy Ninjask
Lemon Head the Roselia
Mounds the Numel
Dumdum the Geodude
M&M the Machop

Deceased
Smarties the modest Zigzagoon
Pop Rocks the sassy Shedinja
Babe Ruth the gentle Wingull

A lot going on since my last post, despite no notable fights or gyms yet. A good bit of backtracking and catching new teammates.

There are NO water Pokemon between Mauville and the fire gym. But there ARE water Pokemon in Petalburg, Dewford, Slateport, and routes 105, 106, and 109 that I can catch with a fishing rod. I've always felt weird using a fishing rod in a Nuzlocke, but I decided to just suck it up and use it. I got myself a Tentacool that I forgot to name and Tootsie (roll) the Magikarp. I decided to go with Tootsie on the team, since Tentacool has a weakness to ground and there's lots of Numel with magnitude in the gym. Plus Gyarados is just plain cooler. Plus plus I feel uncomfortable using an unnamed poke in my Nuzlocke and don't want to go all the way back to Slateport again.

I battled all the cycling road trainers and the Winstrate family for a good exp boost for my new fishy. The Winstrate family was more challenging than expected. I didn't take a lot of damage, but half my team was paralyzed or burned by the end.

I caught three more Pokemon while heading up the trail. Dumdum the Geodude.(route 111), Mounds the Camerupt (route 112), and M&M the Machop (fiery path). Machop and Geodude are both useless to me because I have no one to trade with to reach their final evolutions, which kinda sucks.

Out of curiosity, can someone tell me if the desert is a separate anchor than route 111? Because I was so looking forward to getting some cool Pokemon in the desert once I got my goggles, and I'm just mildly devastated that I got a Pokemon I can't even effectively use instead. It was just awful luck. There's only a 1/9 chance of getting a Geodude to pop out, and that number is decreased further if you're riding a bike. If that's all I get here, I guess I'll have to live with it.

On a similar note, once I get the fossil, is that a free to use Pokemon or is that considered a Pokemon from this route/area? How do fossils work in Nuzlockes?

Anyway, I decided to take a break at the old lady's rest house. I love that place and it's a blessing on this run, because I forgot to stock up on more potions before leaving Mauville. There's really not a lot of grass in this area and the places with wild Pokemon aren't really close to any pokecenters or the rest house, so I'm just speeding past these trainers and plan to do some proper grinding once I reach Fallarbor.

I got lucky on route 113 and found myself a Sandshrew. Made me super happy to make up for the loss of the desert area (still grieving my non-existent Trapinch). It's no Skarmory, but I'm completely shocked at avoiding a Spinda. I named him Twix. He might get a spot on my team one day. To be fair, he would be great against the fire gym, but I already have to get myself a Magikarp up to speed, and have a few more Pokemon to catch before the next gym.

After I caught Twix, I sprinted through the rest of the route until I made it to town, heed up and bought supplies, and went back to 113 to trash some trainers. (I kinda wish I had spent the time to get first place in the Verdanturf contest so I could waste time and do more contests here, but it's too much effort to go back now.)

Trainers trashed, I grinded up my Tootsie to Gyarados moving forward to catch my Pokemon on route 114. It was funny, but I decided to see how much damage a level 17 Magikarp could do to a level 14 Spinda. I barely touched it and it nearly wiped me in one hit. This is NOT the game to experiment with such things. Anyway, route 114. I kinda wanted Swablu and it's pretty common here, but I ended up with Lombre, with the name of Skittles. Ludicolo is pretty good, but it'll be a loooong time before I get my hands on a water stone, so I'm not very impressed. Better than Lotad I guess?

The cap for the gym is 28, and I still have a bit of storyline with confronting Team Aqua at Meteor Falls. I have no idea what their Pokemon levels are in there, but I'm pretty sure I fight a higher ranking member. I decided that I should get my team to level 25 before I go in. At this point, my team is all over level 20, so it won't be long before I'm ready to move on from here!

 

[Midoriya]

Out of curiosity, can someone tell me if the desert is a separate anchor than route 111? Because I was so looking forward to getting some cool Pokemon in the desert once I got my goggles, and I'm just mildly devastated that I got a Pokemon I can't even effectively use instead. It was just awful luck. There's only a 1/9 chance of getting a Geodude to pop out, and that number is decreased further if you're riding a bike. If that's all I get here, I guess I'll have to live with it.

On a similar note, once I get the fossil, is that a free to use Pokemon or is that considered a Pokemon from this route/area? How do fossils work in Nuzlockes?

I can answer these questions for you!

For your first question, the desert unfortunately counts as part of route 111, so whatever you encountered first on that route is your encounter for the route. It sucks, but it happens.

For your second question, fossils are usually considered a first encounter for an area, so if you already encountered something before that, you wouldn't be able to use that, either.

Some people bend the rules a bit and would say no to both of what I said, but if you're going by pure Nuzlocke rules, my answers are what most people follow.

 

[Midoriya]

Pokemon SoulSilver Nuzlocke challenge update: Morty defeated! Rick Sanchez really is a better Pokemon trainer than Morty!

This is going to be a much shorter update since there's not much to talk about, but I grinded levels for my team and defeated Morty. In fact, I ended up sweeping the entire Ecruteak City gym and earning my Fog badge using only Giyu and the move Extrasensory. Because Normal is immune to Ghost type moves, I used that to my advantage and spammed a super effective move. The result was a mass devastation of Gastlys, Haunters, and Morty's Gengar. You're welcome, Morty.

Now that I have Surf and can use it thanks to Tanjiro, I'll be revisiting some areas and then heading onto the sea to battle more trainers. My next final stop though will be Cianwood City, site of the fifth Johto gym badge!

Pokemon SoulSilver Nuzlocke challenge

Trainer: Riley

Rival: Genya

Gym Badges: 4

Current team:

Nezuko the Quilava (F), Lv. 30
Giyu the Togekiss (M), Lv. 27
Zenitsu the Alakazam (M), Lv. 22
Kanao the Nidoqueen (F), Lv. 22
Iguro the Exeggutor (M), Lv. 22
Tanjiro the Slowking (M), Lv. 22

Boxes:

Mitsuri the Oddish (F), Lv. 13
Sanemi the Zubat (M), Lv. 12
Daki the Stantler (F), Lv. 15
Urokodaki the Meowth (M), Lv. 16

Deaths:

Gyomei the Geodude (M), Lv. 17
Tokito the Hoothoot (M), Lv. 15
Aoi the Wooper (F), Lv. 14