Screenshot Johto Teen A Hardcore Nuzlocke of Pokemon Crystal

[theoblivinator]

Hello all. My name is Joshua. I used to browse these forums way back in the day (Sometimes you have to do do things the hard way) but lost interest in nuzlockes. The site is updated and I guess I can start fresh. I used to have a few runs on here, some completed, but most of them were never finished. I often got bored and wanted to start a new run which caused me to abandon the run I was playing through. Probably not the best thing to do. Anyways I wanted to get back into sharing nuzlockes on this forum so I have one started and ready to go with you all.

I'm going to do a plain jane hardcore nuzlocke of Pokemon Crystal. Pokemon Crystal is my favorite Pokemon game (Platinum and Heart Gold/Soul Silver are a toss up between 2nd place). I figure playing a game I really enjoy will help with the motivation to complete it. Here is the kicker though; I will be playing through this nuzlocke on original hardware. I have a copy of Pokemon Crystal that I just soldered a new battery into, I have a GBA SP as well as a GB Player for the Nintendo Gamecube. I ALSO have a capture card and the ability to screenshot the game feed as it shows up on my computer. This is how I will be sharing the run with you. I hope you enjoy the little bit of hassle I have to go through to get this up here.

As a side note, I don't like randomizers, I don't like ROM hacks (I outgrew them as I aged), and I don't like excessive rules. I don't care if you like/prefer all that jazz, it's just not for me. Call me a boomer and purist if you want. :-P I'm sticking with one of the classics for now.

Anyways here is my rule set:
1.) I can only catch the 1st Pokemon I encounter on a route.
2.) Nickname your Pokemon
3.) If a Pokemon faints, it can not be used for the rest of the run and will be released.
4.) No items used in battle, with the exception of PokeBalls used to catch Pokemon. Held items are allowed as well.
5.) I will not train any member of my team to higher level than that of the next gym leader's ace Pokemon.

These are all pretty standard and common. Two things to notice though; I don't play with a dupes clause. If I run into five Ratattas in row, I'll show you how a real man wins the run with them. Secondly, I don't use the exception that encounters do not count until you have Pokeballs. For instance in Pokemon Crystal, you will travel through Route 29 and Route 30 in the beginning of the game before you acquire Pokeballs. The first Pokemon encountered on those two routes still count in my books and if I don't have Pokeballs, that sucks and I'll tough it out.

I don't think I have anything else to mention. Feel free to comment, ask any questions, or respond in any way below. Lastly, I hope you enjoy the run! :D

Spoiler: Table of Contents:

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 11.5
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Elite Four Preparation
Chapter 27
Johto Finale!
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37

Spoiler: Chapter 1

Like I said Pokemon Crystal is my favorite Pokemon game. I hope the screenshots look nice enough for here. If there is any way I can improve the quality, let me know and I will try my best.

These are my preferred settings. I'm all ready to go now.

I named my character JHawk, which was a nickname I had growing up. Anyways... Lets do this!

I love this little device. I remember being blow away by the features when I got Pokemon Gold when it came out.

Wrapping up stuff with Elm. I really like all three Johto starters, with Chikorita being my favorite. The sad thing is with me playing a hardcore nuzlocke variant, Chikorita can make a run completely impossible at Falkner if you have terrible catches and bad luck. Cyndaquil is easier, but Totodile is the absolutely (even objectively) the best choice here. Rage will completely destroy anything early game and hopefully I'll have some decent catches to round out the rest of the team. Heres hoping!

Always handy.

Whenever we find a berry tree, we have to greet them. When the game says "Hey! It's BERRY!" We all say "HELLO BERRY!" Everyone got that?

So I literally just typed a paragraph in my rules about how my 1st encounter on this route still counts even if I don't have Pokeballs. Then I get the GOD luck and don't get a single encounter. Crazy!

Such a nice man to upgrade our Pokegear for us.

Well there is our Route 30 catch done and over.

HELLO BERRY! See it's not that hard.

So I'm sure many of you folks know about the hidden Potion in front of Mr. Pokemon's house by now right?

HEY PSNCUREBERRY!

Wrapping it up at Mr. Pokemon's house.

Time to boot scoot and bogey.

The rival has some of the most riveting dialogue in this game 100%.

I couldn't think of a good rival name so I went with the default option.

If you talk to Professor Elm from this position, he will fly down underneath the text box when you show him the Pokemon Egg.

Told you so.

This guy is very handy. Thanks man.

We say good bye to our Mother and tell her to keep her grubbing hands off of our hard earned cash.

This guy gets irritated that we already know how to catch Pokemon. Also shoutouts to year 2000/2001 Gamefreak for making the catching tutorial optional. Anyways time to get our Route 29 catch.

I'm reusing some nicknames from previous nuzlockes. Maybe someone will recognize me. Aerosmack is pretty much a go to nickname for any Pidgey line I catch. Time for the next Route.

Fingers crossed for a Geodude!

Spearow is okay. Kinda bummed that I got him instead of a Geodude though. It's nickname is a wordplay on "Spear". I'm going to call it here for now. In the next Chapter we will figure out who to train up, AEROSMACK or Javeline as well as continue to Violet City. Hope to see you there.

 

[Jackdaw991]

Interesting start. My brain instantly went "Geodude in dark cave" but I'm pretty sure Zubat is most common in there by a landslide. Personally, if you're doing hardcore nuzlocke rules, I'd train up both Aero and Javelin. Yes, you may eventually box one, but for the time being, all team members on deck.

 

[SailorVee]

Totodile is probably the best starter you could have picked for this challenge. Very solid movepool which can handle most of the Johto gym leaders and does well against the E4 as well. I'm not playing the game as a Nuzlocke, but my Feraligatr swept through most of Lance's team with just Surf and Ice Punch. I only needed my Ampharos for his Gyarados.

 

[RubyClaw]

That's a really cool system you have running there! Kudos for making the effort.

Interesting, I personally think Cyndaquil is the better starter (as Water types are so common and easy to get, and you are sure to get a Gyarados if you want which it totally OP) but no doubt Totodile is a very solid pokemon (and far better than poor Chikorita).

Whenever we find a berry tree, we have to greet them. When the game says "Hey! It's BERRY!" We all say "HELLO BERRY!" Everyone got that?

We say good bye to our Mother and tell her to keep her grubbing hands off of our hard earned cash.

Mom can actually get you access to some pretty sweet items, though it can take forever and without emulator shenanigans it could be a pain.

Damn, Geodude would have been great. Well, you still can get one in the Dark Cave.

Are you posting as your are playing btw or this is based on a finished run already? Either way looks like a fun run, best of luck!

 

[theoblivinator]

Thank you so much for the comments everyone. :D I'll respond below. I also wanted to add a few things I left out by mistake in my first post that can add a bit of context to my run.

I've completed around three or four regular nuzlockes of Crystal. This is my third attempt at a hardcore nuzlocke of crystal. The 1st wiped to Falkner because I underestimated how much of a handicap the level cap rule puts on yourself. I have not made that mistake since. :P The 2nd I started over because I forgot about the no healing items in battle rule and used a Bitter Berry to heal confusion from Fisher Ralph's Goldeen on the route 32. Since I wasn't very far in I just restarted and decided to share the run on here as well.

Also I'm a pretty slow player. In my opinion one of the best ways to play through GSC is to take your time, do the daily events like harvesting berries, finding the weekday siblings, going through the side areas for items etc... I'm not planning on doing daily updates, but something like every other day or every two days seems manageable for the time being.

Anyways...

Interesting start. My brain instantly went "Geodude in dark cave" but I'm pretty sure Zubat is most common in there by a landslide. Personally, if you're doing hardcore nuzlocke rules, I'd train up both Aero and Javelin. Yes, you may eventually box one, but for the time being, all team members on deck.

This was the reason why I wiped to Falkner in my 1st attempt. I didn't train up enough team members and thought my two Pidgeys with my Chikorita could handle the fight. I was mistaken unfortunately lol.

Totodile is probably the best starter you could have picked for this challenge. Very solid movepool which can handle most of the Johto gym leaders and does well against the E4 as well. I'm not playing the game as a Nuzlocke, but my Feraligatr swept through most of Lance's team with just Surf and Ice Punch. I only needed my Ampharos for his Gyarados.

I'm in the camp that Totodile is hands down 100% the best starter for GSC objectively. I've also done speedruns of Crystal many years ago and the fact that just him and his evolutions can solo the game the fastest of the three was enough to set my mind. Now days speedrunners still start with Totodile for the early game since he is still the best, then they use RNG manipulation to catch Raikou (I believe that is the current strategy, I know folks were running with Entei for awhile too). It is pretty interesting!

That's a really cool system you have running there! Kudos for making the effort.

Interesting, I personally think Cyndaquil is the better starter (as Water types are so common and easy to get, and you are sure to get a Gyarados if you want which it totally OP) but no doubt Totodile is a very solid pokemon (and far better than poor Chikorita).





Mom can actually get you access to some pretty sweet items, though it can take forever and without emulator shenanigans it could be a pain.

Damn, Geodude would have been great. Well, you still can get one in the Dark Cave.

Are you posting as your are playing btw or this is based on a finished run already? Either way looks like a fun run, best of luck!

Cyndaquil is probably better if you hands down want a fire type on your team since your other options are few and far between. There are loads of good water types, this is absolutely true. I just want to give myself the best possible chance in the early game before I get more team options from the later routes.

I do like some of the gifts the mother can buy for you and they can be helpful. Normally though I end up spending a lot of money when I get to Goldenrod on TMs and vitamins for the inevitable Eevee gift so I like to have as much money as possible for that time.

I am posting as I am playing for now, but I do have quite a bit of lead over my posts. Right now I'm heading off to the 2nd gym with my save file, even though I'm posting the 2nd chapter today.

Again thanks for the comments everyone. Now here is Chapter 2, ENJOY! (or don't, I'm not your mother).

Spoiler: Chapter 2

So we left off wondering if we would train up AEROSMACK the Pidgey or Javelin the Spearow. I like them both. I think Spearow probably edges out Pidgey early game, but Pidgeot edges out Fearow late game. Both are still great and I can't decide on my own. So lets flip a coin.

Heads = Pidgey
Talis = Javelin

AEROSMACK it is! Welcome to the team. Lets get you caught up in levels a bit.

There we go.

In the early game, I skip as many battles as I can until I have my team that I would like to train up for Falkner. That way I don't really waste EXP. So I'll come back for you Joey. Mark my words.

Easy peasy.

Another skippable trainer.

New route, new catch. I'd appreciate a Bellsprout.

Not too impressed with Caterpie-Butterfree. I will consider it if I really have no better options.

Fingers crossed again for Geodude!

Instead we get sexy Vexy. I don't mind Zubat-Crobat, but I already have two flying types (three if you count Butterfree). Crobat is great even though its movepool is pretty garbage in GSC. I will consider you Vexy.

HELLO BITTER BERRY! I HOPE YOUR DAY IMPROVES!

Nabbing a free Poke Ball and skipping the trainer as well. On-wards to Violet City!

Spending just a little cash for some extra Poke Balls.

HELLO PRZCUREBERRY! HAS YOUR MOOD IMPROVED!?

New route, new catch. Grabbing something from the grass here locks you out of SudoWoodo later in the game. You could make an argument for waiting until the opportunity to catch SudoWoodo if you already have good catches, but I'm so flying type heavy I'd like a chance at something else.

Welcome Pudgey the pudgy Pidgey I guess.

Here is my team right now. I want four members to train up and fight Falkner with.

And here is what I went with. Time to go fight the trainers I skipped and start grinding them up.

We can't say its a true run of GSC without adding Joey's number. I hope he calls me daily. Love this guy.

So, I want to knock out the two required trainers before Falkner, that way I don't accidentally over-level later. The 1st one with a Spearow is pretty tough though, be careful.

Thankfully some held Berries help it out. Still pretty close in the end though.

Another pretty close battle. Thankfully Kappa and co. took them out with no losses. Now to finish training in Sprout Tower.

Silly me forgot to walk around here at night and have a chance to snag a Gastly. I am playing on real hardware so I do have access to trade evolutions! Hopefully I'm not kicking myself for missing that opportunity later. Anyways, welcome to the team Joey. You'll replace some of the duplicate flying types I have right now with more dupilcate Normal types.

Joey literally must've sensed us catching a Rattata and called us as we walked to the Poke Center to heal.

So all the Sages were battled and defeated with no losses. I actually messed up the timing of nabbing some of the screenshots so they aren't as consistent as some of the other trainers. I apologize and will work harder for those in the future!

More riveting dialogue from our Rival.

I don't think I could beat Elder Li without accidentally over leveling someone. I will finish off the rest of my grinding against wild Pokemon to bring everyone up to level 9 and come back for the HM later.

Also I will not be using this. Saving it for the Ruins of Alph.

Joey wants more blood on his hands.

Too bad he called when I literally got Javelin to level 9. Joey, you will have to wait for now. And with that, I'm going to end Chapter 2. Next time we will battle Falkner, and head out of Violet City. I hope you join me for the next Chapter and feel free to leave any comments below. Thanks all for reading! :)

 

[RubyClaw]

I see you want to defeat Falkner at his own game with all these flying pokemon :). Too bad about Geodude, still Crobat is a very solid pokemon.

 

[Jackdaw991]

I feel like I jinxed it a little :P

I'm curious now about Electric types, since I'm fairly certain Mareep line isn't in the Crystal games? Not that it's important now, but later on.

All of the birds, what are you team sky? I'm not a cop, you can tell me :P

My thinking is: Cyndaquil and Totodile are both equal footing in a regular nuzlocke, but I may be leaning to Totodile for hardcore, just cause it's access to ice punch by Goldenrod is more useful than anything Cyndaquil can give, which gives a lot more edge near the E4. I love Chikorita, but it's much more support than anything else and that may not cut it in Hardcore especially with flying then bug.

 

[theoblivinator]

I see you want to defeat Falkner at his own game with all these flying pokemon :). Too bad about Geodude, still Crobat is a very solid pokemon.

Haha it looks that way. I once did a flying monotype challenge run of Soul Silver. I ended up using Pidgeot, Scyther, Gyarados, Murkrow, Xatu, and Crobat! That was a fun run albeit kinda easy since there are many many good flying types in Johto.

I feel like I jinxed it a little :P

I'm curious now about Electric types, since I'm fairly certain Mareep line isn't in the Crystal games? Not that it's important now, but later on.

All of the birds, what are you team sky? I'm not a cop, you can tell me :P

My thinking is: Cyndaquil and Totodile are both equal footing in a regular nuzlocke, but I may be leaning to Totodile for hardcore, just cause it's access to ice punch by Goldenrod is more useful than anything Cyndaquil can give, which gives a lot more edge near the E4. I love Chikorita, but it's much more support than anything else and that may not cut it in Hardcore especially with flying then bug.

Chikorita's line is my absolute favorite and it is a same that it gets stomped with using hardcore nuzlocke rules. Without the hardcore part, you can still use it and just over-level.

Good electric types are also pretty un-common and you'll mostly have to rely on the Thunder TM from Goldenrod for any electric attacks since most don't really learn Thunderbolt. You can get Chinchou/Lanturn, Jolteon, Magemite/Magneton, and Voltorb/Electrode (Electrode is guaranteed in the Rocket Base) or you might hatch an Elekid or Pichu from the Odd egg. If there was a Thunderbolt TM or these Pokemon had better learn sets it would be so much better. Honestly, you can still get electric type coverage with the Thunderpunch TM from Goldenrod, some Pokemon surprisingly learn it like Nidoking and Hypno.

Anyways, lets keep the daily updates going for now while I have the motivation and a stockpile or screenshots shall we?!

Spoiler: Chapter 3

Our training is finished and it is time to fight Falkner!

Joey should be able to handle the Pidgey unless it uses Mud-Slap a bunch and reduces Joey's accuracy.

But things go well.

The next plan is to have Joey get some damage off on Pidgeotto until I have to switch him out.

Big plays here, I think we can survive one more attack and get just a bit more damage off. But it is risky.

Good job Joey! Now lets get you swapped otherwise it's RIP.

Same strategy. Do some damage until you have to be swapped out.

Oh dear. That sucks. So Pidgeotto did some damage, not enough to trigger Javelin's berry, so I figure he could take a hit, heal with the berry, take one more hit, then get swapped.

BUT NO, lets just CRITICAL HIT and completely bypass the held berry.

Again that sucks, but critical hits are apart of the game and honestly it is on me for not playing around them.

AEROSMACK does it on his own though, didn't even need to bring in Kappa. Nicely done AEROSMACK.

Well, one of eight Johto badges down, and one death as well. We can pray and hope that it is the only death in this run, but I get the feeling it wont be. Moving on.

Eventually this will hatch into a Togepi which will promptly be boxed lol.

F's in the comments folks. Good bye Javelin, didn't really know you that long so I wasn't attached yet, but you had potential. Thank you for your service.

We can sell off X-Items for extra cash since they are against the rules.

Time for some free items. Also I could catch an Unknown if I wanted, but I don't really want to.

That Escape Rope from Sprout Tower coming in clutch here.

Some free berries and some free healing items I can use outside of battle if needed. Worth it for one escape rope.

New route, new catch.

Unoriginal nick-name is unoriginal. I'm not too fond of Ekans. But I've never used one before, and it can get some okay moves. I'll take the type diversity over anything. Welcome to the team for now, but don't be surprised if you are boxed at some point.

Now it is time for the rematch of the century!

His team hasn't changed yet. I think the rematch teams change based off of the amount of badges you have. So later his Rattata will get stronger and eventually he will have a Raticate.

Well that settles that.

Anyways that is it for this update. A little shorter but still progress none the less. Next time we will fight Elder Li and move on towards Union Cave. Thanks for reading and have a great day everyone! :D

 

[RubyClaw]

I guess the best bird won, a painful price to pay but bottom line - you made it!

Ekans is not that bad in future generations with Intimidate. In gen 2 though... at least it has Glare which is pretty solid, and Poison is a pretty good defensive type.

 

[Jackdaw991]

Shame about Javelin. I've only ever used Ekans in Pokemon FR and he was useful there. Not sure about it in Gen 2, but Ruby said it best I suppose. Glare can be a useful asset.

 

[theoblivinator]

I guess the best bird won, a painful price to pay but bottom line - you made it!

Ekans is not that bad in future generations with Intimidate. In gen 2 though... at least it has Glare which is pretty solid, and Poison is a pretty good defensive type.

Shame about Javelin. I've only ever used Ekans in Pokemon FR and he was useful there. Not sure about it in Gen 2, but Ruby said it best I suppose. Glare can be a useful asset.

Ekans can learn some decent moves in GSC but really the only good one by level-up is Glare. Everything else will come from TMs and such (Headbutt, Return, Dig, Earthquake, Sludge Bomb are a few). I don't mind trying something new and Poison is my favorite type so I'm a bit partial to them. I will give her a shot and see if it works. If she is dragging the team down and I have something better to replace her with, I doubt I will hesitate to do so. It is too bad I don't have the Intimidate ability though for sure, that would definitely increase her usefulness.

Spoiler: Chapter 4

So we left off finishing up battling some trainers we skipped do to the level cap rule. Lets battle Li and acquire the Flash HM!

And he went down pretty easily. I just used some switching to make sure Medusa gained a bit of EXP from the battle.

So we continue down Route 32 for trainer battles and items to collect. Do you ever wonder what these trainers are staring at all the time. Some don't rotate and I don't suspect the view for this fella is too interesting. Maybe I'm wrong.

Well the 1st trainer is finished and....

I love Joey.

I'll bet 10 Poke Balls that Joey called her right after me.

That's what you get for talking to my best friend behind my back.

So did anyone know about the hidden Super Potion by the water on this route? Anyways, TRAINER MONTAGE!

None of them put up much of a fight. Fisher Henry's Poliwags with Hypnosis were a bit annoying since I can't use Awakenings in battle to remove Sleep, but oh well.

Two free Great Balls. The second one is hidden on the same tile that Frieda of Friday will stand on to give you a Poison Barb. Did anyone know that?

I love how this dude is selling the SlowPoke Tails at a higher price than you can actually acquire in the game.

Some folks forget that in GSC you don't have infinite bag space yet. You have more than you did in RBY, but you still have to manage your inventory space. Make use of that PC item box.

Nothing really worthwhile to fish up yet unfortunately.

And that wraps up Route 32. Everyone battled and all items collected. Maybe now we can move on...

Well I guess I can head back and spank you once more before we go through Union Cave. Once we get through there it'll be harder to get back over to this area of Johto until we clear up Sudowoodo on Route 36.

Lets make this quick shall we?

Good good. Now on-wards to Union Cave!

Well all those extra steps hatched the egg earlier than I expected. *SIGH* You know what that means....

I.

GUESS.

The trip wasn't a complete waste of time thanks to this. I'm sure Joey will appreciate it the most for now.

He didn't run down under the text box again. Too bad.

Yep.

CAN WE FINALLY MOVE ON NOW?!

That's all for chapter four. Thanks for reading everyone and I hope you have a tasty lunch and/or dinner! :D

 

[RubyClaw]

I didn't even remember there was an item called Pink Bow.

 

[Jackdaw991]

I didn't even remember there was an item called Pink Bow.

You and me both? I assume it boosts....normal moves? I'd say fairy if in Gen 6+

 

[theoblivinator]

I didn't even remember there was an item called Pink Bow.

You and me both? I assume it boosts....normal moves? I'd say fairy if in Gen 6+

The Pink Bow as far as I know is a Generation 2 exclusive item. It does boost the power of normal type attack by 10%. In later generations it was replaced by the Silk Scarf. And even more obscure bit of knowledge, there is a related item that is also exclusive to Generation 2 called the PolkaDot Bow which has to same effect. It can only be obtained by trading Jigglypuffs from RBY using the time capsule. The more you know!

Spoiler: Chapter 5

So may I please get a Geodude in here? I also wouldn't mind Sandshrew.

I'm really scraping the barrel with some of these nick names.

More items to sell at the mart.

Thankfully Kappa was able to win just using a powered up Rage attack against three Geodudes. At level 13 he learned Water Gun which will make the other Rock types a breeze.

That makes three free Great Balls!

These two trainers did not pose much of a threat either.

This is Swift, and underrated TM in GSC. It is the 1st 60 base power attack that you can get at this point in the game without grinding something to a stupid high level. It never misses and many Pokemon can learn it. Don't sleep on it, give it to something that might be lacking a strong attack.

Some more free items.

He also didn't pose much of a threat.

ALRIGHT. THIS IS PRETTY MUCH THE LAST CHANCE FOR A GEODUDE UNTIL MUCH LATER IN THE GAME. BLESSRNG IN THE CHAT BOIS.

YES! YES! YES! EASY MODE ACTIVATE FOR THE NEXT HALF OF THE GAME!

Hello PSNCUREBERRY! How are you today?

On my way to grab Wilma from the PC Joey calls again.

Time to shine here!

Don't forget to manage your inventory. Something I will always preach about.

I skipped this guy on Route 33 and came back for him. He is pretty tough, be cautious fighting him.

You're not Berry.....

Adios you crazy old fart.

I wouldn't mind catching a Slowpoke here, they are excellent in Crystal nuzlockes. If I was playing with dupes clause it would be mine but I don't roll that way. The hard thing is that Slowpoke Well has a very low encounter rate compared to other caves so I'd be running around for ages trying to find one.

And once again I'm eating my own words because it only took two steps for me to encounter a Zubat. The irony.

Kurt forever bound to a wheelchair from now on. That's too bad. But they do make some sick wheelchairs now days.

I love the Rocket dialogue in here.

Neato cheeto.

I forgot to nab a screenshot where the letter says "Love DAD". In the words of Chuggaaconroy: "THE SLOWPOKE IS YOUR FATHER!"

And that wraps up the Rockets for now.

Did you ever notice that when you teleport with Kurt back to his well it heals your entire party? Again I forgot to grab a screenshot of it, but check it out next time it happens to you.

This seems like a good place to end the chapter so thanks for reading. And I hope you sleep well next time!

 

[Jackdaw991]

Chuggaconroy mentions AND you get a Geodude? That's certainly a good update.

OOOOH BUGSY! SOMEONE GOING TO BE SMASHED!

 

[RubyClaw]

YES! YES! YES! EASY MODE ACTIVATE FOR THE NEXT HALF OF THE GAME!

Damn right :), do keep her safe though and you're pretty much gold up to Morty if luck doesn't betray you.

 

[theoblivinator]

Chuggaconroy mentions AND you get a Geodude? That's certainly a good update.

OOOOH BUGSY! SOMEONE GOING TO BE SMASHED!

Chuggaa's Crystal Let's Play is probably my favorite of his. I really enjoyed his Emerald one as well.

Damn right :), do keep her safe though and you're pretty much gold up to Morty if luck doesn't betray you.

Another great thing is that my Geodude is female, so even Whitney's Miltank won't be able to use Attract on it, assuming I get to that point.

Spoiler: Chapter 6

Today I bring you the first screenshot of this run where I played at night! We need to finish battling trainers in the gym then see how much more we need to grind after that.

Alright all done. Again I messed up some of the timings on the screenshots. You'd think by now I'd have a hang of it.

Well I am grinding, so any Pokemon I battle along the way to and from Joey is still technically EXP put to a good use.

Take a hint buddy. And that was all the grinding for that night. The next day I continued to grind on Route 32 since it had slightly better EXP yields. But....

This chapter is quickly becoming how many times can I rematch Joey.

We're just beating a dead horse at this point. Anyways.....

There we go. All done.

I'm not worried in the slightest for this battle.

Not even one HP of damage done to AEROSMACK.

And Scyther did 3 HP of damage to Wilma on her switch in. Piece of cake.

Like the TM for Swift, don't sleep on TM49 for Fury Cutter. It is essentially a Bug-type Rage that you don't need to take damage to power up. Very good against your Rival's Bayleef if you need something in a pinch to help out against it. Also we are back to playing at night again!

I'm not worried about this fella either.

HA! One critical hit Bite was enough for that Gastly.

Zubat had nothing either. So I am a little concerned about the Bayleef. Razor Leaf has a high critical hit chance which could be problematic if not accounted for.

See what I mean?

But Medusa managed to Poison the Bayleef in return.

That's the last of the Berries I collected.

HNNNNGGG. That's another critical hit right in a row.

But in the end. Medusa is victorious. Good job!

Alright, there is a reason why I waited to play at night here. Oddish would be a good addition to my team and there is a 50% chance to encounter one at night. Fingers crossed.

HEYO

This is probably Just Stop's only contribution to the run (unless my party gets rocked by something and I need to bring him out of the box). He did some damage to the Oddish to make it easier to catch.

I like the name Cosmo for a male Oddish. Hopefully he make's it to Vileplume. I'm considering replacing Medusa with him, but that will depend on what else I catch in the future routes.

So long sucker. Welcome to the team Cosmo. This is a good spot to stop for now. Next time we'll make it to Goldenrod, assess our team, and probably start grinding again for Whiteney. I'm not sure if I'll be able to continue daily updates now that I'm getting to the point where grinding will take much longer than it did in the beginning of the game, but we'll see what I can pull off. Thanks for reading and I hope you don't get into a car accident today!

 

[Jackdaw991]

I would say poor Just Stop but I don't think Crobat has a great movepool in Gen 2. Oddish can be a solid grass type, very decent type, despite being common in Gen 1. I know why I wouldn't go Bellossom, but why not for your opinion?

Welcome to how many Joey calls will we get this run?

I think Bugsy could have had Scyther and Heracross and been fine...Maybe...

 

[RubyClaw]

Vileplume is a great pokemon but getting a Leaf Stone in this game is a pain.

 

[theoblivinator]

I would say poor Just Stop but I don't think Crobat has a great movepool in Gen 2. Oddish can be a solid grass type, very decent type, despite being common in Gen 1. I know why I wouldn't go Bellossom, but why not for your opinion?

Welcome to how many Joey calls will we get this run?

I think Bugsy could have had Scyther and Heracross and been fine...Maybe...

Crobat is great utility Pokemon in GSC. You can have it be your Flyer, and it will probably be the fastest Pokemon in a battle, so can use it for status moves like Confuse Ray and Toxic. If you want it to deal good damage, it is better in the later generations for that.

I don't want to use Bellossom because it is EXTREMELY unlikely I'll get a Sun Stone. You can only get it by getting 1st place in the Bug Catching Contest, which is unlikely to happen with the nuzlocke rules.

Bugsy with a lower leveled Heracross would probably be fine, I agree. He could probably even get away with having a Butterfree or Beedrill to be completely honest. I think him having a Pineco would be cool too.

Vileplume is a great pokemon but getting a Leaf Stone in this game is a pain.

Thankfully, you have the chance to even get a Leaf Stone in Crystal. In Gold/Silver the evolution stone are locked to the post game and you might not even have caught the right Pokemon to show them to Bill's father to get them in the first place. There is a trick though to help with the process in Crystal. If you talk to your mother and toggle Daylight's Savings Time on and off, it changes the clock an hour which is useful for triggering phone calls. Some might find it kinda cheesy though.

ALSO QUICK EDIT: I ADDED A TABLE OF CONTENTS TO THE FIRST POST TO HELP ORGANIZE THE THREAD! THAT'S ALL!

Spoiler: Chapter 7

Time to move forward and help this poor lad out.

This little puzzle kinda stumped me when I was a little kid, not going to lie.

I screwed up the screenshot here lol. But it was a free Revive which in Nuzlockes is just free money.

To me, "Kwaa" sounds more like something a Spearow would say.

Nice! Now we can move forward. But first we need to wrap up a few things in Azalea before heading out.

One Fast Ball, and two more next time we are in town.

And a Charcoal to store in the PC until we maybe get a fire-type.

MANAGE YOUR INVENTORY!

Another reason for bringing Cosmo to the team. He'll be my Cut Slave.

FINALLY.

Who knew about the hidden Full Heal here? Also I forgot to screenshot it but there is a hidden Full Heal back by the entrance to Slowpoke Well.

Some more free items. The Super Potion is a hidden item.

AWESOME! Headbutt is amazing in GSC for this point in the game. 70 base power and a chance to flinch the opponent! I'll take like six of these please.

I can already feel the improvement. Also I know we said we were done in Azalea but there is one more thing we can do now.

Which is not being called by Joey.

Hm. That's odd.

For real?!

I couldn't think of a better nick name. I don't really feel like swapping this fella for AEROSMACK, since AEROSMACK is close to evolving at this point.

Right on.

Easy peasy.

This is the last hidden item in the forest.

Sell this TM for cash imo.

Alright, again I'm playing at night to maximize my chance at catching a Drowzee.

Instead I get the rare 5% encounter Jigglypuff, which I'm not a fan of.

Nothing to challenging here.

Call me maybe?

Pit stop at the day care to deposit Joey so I can walk the Odd Egg.

And nab this hidden Super Potion.

Another perk of doing this route at night. One more trainer battle for EXP and cash.

If you want, you can register Camper Todd's number and he will call you when the Goldenrod City Dept. Store is having a sale. If you are into that sort of thing. The prices aren't that much cheaper, but it is a sale none the less.

We made it!

Time to call it for now. Next time we'll cruise around Goldenrod and try and get everything done that it has to offer. Thanks for reading and I hope your skin doesn't fall off today!