Challenge Gym Rotation Challenge

[Martin]

Hi, I've got a playthrough challenge that I'm currently in the planning stages for doing in Pokemon HeartGold version, so I thought I might as well post it because it seems like it could pose a unique challenge:

Mandatory rules:

• After each gym, you must dump your entire team into a box, never to be used again
• Any other Pokemon you use to reach that gym, including HM slaves (Fly included) or Pokemon which were otherwise removed from your party for any reason at all are also lost for the remainder of the run.
  • This includes starter Pokemon if you opt to fight the first gym without using them, Pokemon you trade away to gain access to other Pokemon, and HM users that were necessary for access to non-mandatory areas, such as Rock Smash to access items, Surf/Rock Smash/Strength to access an exploration-only area of a cave etc.
  • The exception is that you may hold onto one Pokemon until you can obtain a replacement; this Pokémon may not be used in battle versus any other Pokémon, and it must be boxed immediately upon obtaining its replacement.
• Duplicate Clause applies (you may not capture any Pokémon which is already listed as caught in your Pokédex)

Optional additional rules:

• Set Battle Style
• Evolutionary Duplicate Clause—Duplicate Clause is extended to cover a Pokémon's entire evolutionary line (e.g. if you defeat Bugsy and Geodude was one of the Pokémon you used to get to that point, the use of Geodude, Graveler, and Golem will be disallowed for the remainder of the run).
• Shiny Exception—shiny Pokémon may be caught without activating duplicate clause; however, they must be boxed immediately unless you intend to use them in the next gym, in which case duplicate clause will apply to regular variants of the Pokemon in question.
• Daycare Exception—allows you to catch a Pokémon at an earlier stage in the game than the point at which you will use it provided that you box it immediately and head to the daycare to deposit it there straight afterwards. This reduces need for grinding, particularly for early-game Pokemon which are useful late on in the run, but is still restricted due to both monetary reasons and the 2-Pokémon depositing limit.
• Legendary Clause—use of legendary Pokémon is prohibited
• Death Clause—if a Pokemon faints at any point, they are considered dead and must be boxed or released.
• Game Over Clause—If your entire party faints, the run is over.
• ID-Based Starter Clause—your choice of starter depends on the first or last character of your trainer ID.
• Itemless Clause—you may not use any potions, status healers, hold items etc. aside from those held by a Pokemon when they are obtained (e.g. Ratatta's Chilan Berry) and those which are obtained through Thief/Covet/Trick/Switcheroo/Bestow)
• Honourable—Play the game honourably

You can apply other rules if you want, but I think these are probably the most widely applicable optional rules.

The main draw of this challenge is that it is a deterrent to over-levelling and it allows a player to both use+evolve a wide range of Pokemon on their run that they may not consider using otherwise, which is useful if you want to go on and complete the dex post-run. It also forces the player to be as conservative as possible with their choices of Pokemon within each gym, meaning that they don't continuously have a large party for the entire run.

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If anyone's interested in what my run will likely look like, I've put the ruleset I'll be using+my WIP plan in hide brackets below.

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I'm going to be using the following additional rules:

• Set Battle Style
• Shiny Exception
• Daycare Exception
• Evolutionary Duplicate Clause
• Game Over Clause
• Honourable

I won't be using the Pokéwalker to obtain any Pokémon, and I will be using trade evolutions (I'll use an item conversion cheat code or something like that as opposed to a second cartridge to allow this on an emulator, as I lack a second DS to do it on cart). I might also use death clause, but as it's my first attempt at this type of run I probably won't.

Anyway, this is the planning that I have done so far:

Planning I've done so far

Gym challenge order:

1. Falkner
2. Bugsy
3. Whitney
4. Morty
5. Jasmine
6. Pryce
7. Chuck
8. Claire
9. Elite 4

Still need to decide on what order to play through the Kanto gyms, but I'm thinking it's probably best to cross that bridge when I get to it as there's probably going to be a lot of grinding involved. Also still need to decide when I'm going to handle different areas of optional exploration, as that will be a good way to minimise the need for grinding while dealing with the nonlinear middle section of the game

• Falkner:
  • Cyndaquil (--> Quilava)—solos Sprout Tower, non-losing matchup vs. Falkner's gym, meaning that no additional Pokemon need to be caught to take on either dungeon; efficient use of EXP from trainers); main drawback though is it gives Silver Totodile
• Bugsy:
  • Geodude—solos Bugsy, great vs Team Rocket, good vs 2/3 of Silver's Pokemon, access to Rock Smash allows it to access blocked items)
  • Oddish (--> Gloom maybe)—shuts down Silver's Croconaw
• Whitney:
  • Paras—throwaway Cut user
  • Drowzee—trades for Machop in Goldenrod Mall
  • Machop—solos Whitney
• Morty:
  • Wooper --> Quagsire—requires heavy grinding, but has a good matchup vs Sudowoodo, bones Silver's Croconaw, and doesn't lose to the various mandatory Nido fights before Girafarig can be caught; it's not like Quagsire does anything else in this game anyway.
  • Sudowoodo—good matchup vs the forced double battle against Beauty Callie and Beauty Kassandra, no opportunities to use it meaningfully in Kanto.
  • Girafarig—solos Morty (<-- there's not much you can say that about) and solos Silver barring Croconaw; learns Strength+Rock Smash+Flash for easy exploration of Dark Cave and Mt. Mortar's ground floor, although I'll likely offload at least one of those onto Quagsire or Sudowoodo.
• Jasmine:
  • Magnemite --> Magneton—good matchup vs Olivine Tower and swimmers
  • Krabby, prevent evolution—learns Surf, basically useless in the game beyond that (burns shitty Surf slaves), can be traded for Voltorb immediately after Jasmine fight
  • Magmar—solos Jasmine, can be helped by Krabby vs Steelix if desparate.
• Pryce:
  • Voltorb --> Electrode: good matchup vs Pryce and the red Gyarados, decent matchup vs. Team Rocket
  • Goldeen: useless Surf Pokemon to obtain the good Surf Pokémon
  • Lake of Rage Gyarados: access to Surf, which is useful for exploring+grinding in Union Cave, good matchup vs Pryce's Piloswine if Electrode's Self Destruct isn't enough to secure the KO.
  • I'll probably need another Pokémon to help vs the Team Rocket admins; not sure what else to bring though.
• Chuck:
  • Gastly --> Haunter --> Gengar—solos Chuck
  • Sentret --> Furret—throwaway Surf user that doesn't need Surf to be caught; access to Strength/Cut/Rock Smash too in case there are still leftover caves that I need to explore.
  • Fearow—backup vs. Black Belts in Cianwood gym
  • I need something that'll let me win a double battle en route to catching Fearow; depending on what I settle on this may end up invalidating it.
• Claire:
  • I've not planned this far yet.

 

[Champion Leon]

I want to give you credit! Great idea and great job! I know people don’t always get a positive feedback (no replies), but just wanted to give you an official Thumbs Up! Challenge Runners put so much time into it and I want to give you credit!
*High-5!*

 

[adman2]

Will you apply these rules to Kanto, or are you allowed to use your Elite Four team for the rest of the game? I imagine Red might be a problem if you have to train a new team in Kanto.

 

[Martin]

Will you apply these rules to Kanto, or are you allowed to use your Elite Four team for the rest of the game? I imagine Red might be a problem if you have to train a new team in Kanto.

I'm going to be continuing this into Kanto; it's going to be something that will require a lot of time, effort, grinding, and planning, but it'd be interesting to see if I am actually able to feasibly beat Red while retaining the restriction (I'll probably end up using Mewtwo and Lugia against him due to their high base levels, making it feasible to level them up enough in a reasonable time span, and I can level up low level 'mons semi-quickly using trainer rematches and gym leader rematches as well as the daycare if completely necessary).

My range of options is shrinking rapidly though so I'm very likely going to have to revamp how exactly I plan out the gyms I've already planned for at least in part (maybe Onix>Geodude for Bugsy so that I can bring Golem vs Lt. Surge? IDK though—that'll make the Silver fight that much harder, so I might just catch Onix somewhere and evolve it into Steelix (or catch Steelix in the cave en route to the Safari Zone) for use against Lt. Surge instead of Golem, or maybe even Rhyhorn although that'd lock me out of Rhyperior vs Red which'd SUCK). As you can tell, it's pretty hard before even starting the game LMAO.