Pokemon Variants

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Do you do your variants on a handheld, or do you use emulators?

I play all my Pokemon games on either my 2DS or DS Lite.  The DS Lite is for the GBA installments Sapphire and Fire Red.  Pokemon Crystal is sold digitally in the Eshop for about $10, so that's on my 2DS.


My Playstation 3 plays the PSX and PS3 RPGs.  Final Fantasy 6, Earthbound, Super Mario RPG, and Secret of Mana came with the mini Super Nintendo.


EDIT:  In case you're curious, the main Pokemon titles do NOT have the save state feature that other 3DS Virtual Console titles do.  Pokemon Trading Card Game GBC, however, does.


As for the Phantasy Star and Shining Force playthroughs, those came from Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for PS3.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon Crystal Solo Rattata Part 2:  HM MULES are Tougher Than Gym Leaders


TOPPERCENT slew the only Sudowoodo in Pokemon Crystal by Digging under it 3 times.  Its only remotely successful attempt at self-defense was a Flail that reduced Rattata's HP to 50/63.  Served Sudowoodo right for blocking paths to Violet City and Ecruteak City until the correct badge was won!


??? challenged our hero JOEY once more in the Burned Tower in Ecruteak City.  Dig burrowed under the Level 20 Haunter, since Crystal was before the 3rd generation retcon that gave its line Levitate immunity to Ground.  ???'s Level 18 Magnemite died the same way.  His Level 20 Zubat's DEFENSE was too weak to take a Return.  A Level 22 Croconaw was at least sturdy enough to survive one Return, then react with a Bite.  Rattata conquered at Level 29 with 51/65 HP.


TOPPERCENT defeated all the Kimono Girls' Eevee evolutions in one trip.  The only dangers were Vaporeon's Water Gun and Umbreon's Pursuit, since their stat loadout had better DEFENSE than Espeon, Jolteon, and Flareon.


None of the Ecruteak City Gym trainers had a pure Ghost type Misdreavus, so all the Gastly line opponents were weak to Dig.  Before fighting the 4th Gym Leader Morty, Rattata equipped the Quick Claw in case his star was faster in order to have a random chance of going first.  Morty's Level 21 Gastly and Haunter devolved into ectoplasm with one Dig.


The Level 25 Gengar was a top tier fully evolved Pokemon, and acted accordingly.  When Rattata rose to the surface after the first Dig, Gengar put her to sleep with Hypnosis and started Eating her Dreams.  Dream Eater stole 44 HP and restored a portion of Gengar's health too.  TOPPERCENT lived up to her name on the following turn and woke up early to tunnel under Gengar a 2nd time for the KO.  Morty's final Level 23 Haunter was only a formality, and TOPPERCENT got her 4th badge at Level 33 with 30/74 HP.  Her prizes were the Ghost element badge and a Shadow Ball TM which she could potentially use later. 


(For reasons known only to GameFreak, Ghost moves are physical in the first 3 generations, and Dark moves are special attacks.  Shadow Ball therefore runs on Rattata's ATTACK if used.)


Quick Attack was replaced with the "half damage to current HP" Super Fang, since there was no move relearner in Crystal and it was now or never.  While traveling west of Ecruteak near the ranch, JOEY plucked a MINT BERRY from the tree in case Rattata would have to automatically wake up from sleep later.  (If only I had used that in the Morty battle!)


With the help of a Krabby caught with Olivine City's Good Rod, JOEY Surfed across the ocean to Cianwood and picked up the SECRET POTION to cure Ampharos in the lighthouse and return Jasmine to her Gym.  Rattata was not prepared for a Steel Gym with a Level 35 Pokemon with 200 base DEFENSE and a same type attack bonus 100 power move.    


TOPPERCENT was still brave enough to try at Level 40 holding a PRZCUREBERRY.  The 1st Level 30 Magnemite tried to paralyze her with Thunder Wave, but the held item warded against it.  Rattata used this turn to buff her critical rate with Focus Energy, then started Digging.  Rattata's burrows demagnetized both Magnemites, but Steelix whipped her with Iron Tail after Super Fang and 2 Digs failed to KO him.  A rematch failed in the same way.  It was clear more level grinding with random trainers was in order.


DEATH COUNT:  3


When trying to unequip the PRZCUREBERRY to save it for later, I received the message "Item storage space full".  Isn't item management in old RPGs wonderful?  At least it isn't Earthbound where the key items and equipment fill up half your storage space.


A surprising source of Game Overs was the Red Gyarados in the Lake of Rage, normally a good Pokemon to manage the Strength, Waterfall, Whirlpool, and Surf HMs outside of combat.  On the first try, an Ultra Ball and 3 Great Balls failed to catch it even after Super Fang reduced it to half HP, and a Thrash exterminated the rat after a few Leer debuffs. 


DEATH COUNT:  4


On Take 2, Red Gyarados breathed Dragon Rage, a move always fixed at 40 damage.  This made me realize how terrible Rattata's defenses were, since she only had 91 HP at the time!  Dragon Rage is normally the terror of Pokemon Stadium Pika Cup monsters in the Level 15-20 range, but even into the 40s, Rattata had to fear it.  2 Super Fangs and an Ultra Ball were in vain, and a Bite put TOPPERCENT out of her misery.


DEATH COUNT:  5


Take 3 ended after Dragon Rage, Bite, and Dragon Rage.


DEATH COUNT:  6


Red Gyarados lashed out with Bite and Dragon Rage on Take 4, though the wild Pokemon failed to go for the jugular and instead tried Leer.  This gave Rattata just enough time to crunch with 2 Super Fangs, fail with an Ultra Ball, and succeed with a Great Ball at 34/91 HP.  It's sad when you lose 3 times to your designated HM MULE!  In honor of its valor, I named Red Gyarados DEATHCOUNT.


JOEY took a detour to a part of the Slowpoke Well accessible with Surf and Strength, and received the KING'S ROCK.  This hold item had a small chance of making an enemy flinch when attacking.  With that and Level 41, Rattata decided to try a slightly different tactic.  Remember when I referred to Steelix as "him"?  Well, Rattata could learn Attract, and decided to replace Super Fang with that as a test.  (Saving BEFORE using the TM, of course.)


Steelix gave Rattata a free turn after he became infatuated with her, but Focus Energy powered Digs were still not enough to keep this relationship from breaking up via Iron Tail.


DEATH COUNT:  7


I reloaded my save and decided against using Attract because Rattata couldn't afford defensive tactics like that. Instead, the best idea was to return to Mahogany Town and mug the Team Rocket gangsters in their own hideout.  Unfortunately they were weak even by "Pokemon crime syndicate" standards, and tended to have Pokemon in the low 20s at best, or sometimes even high teens.  And in a town that hosted the official 7th Gym!


One funny moment occurred when Scientist's Ross's Koffing Selfdestructed after Rattata used Dig.  Then TOPPERCENT rose and destroyed the 2nd Koffing.  It's not easy to kill 2 enemy Pokemon with one action in a game before Double Battles.  JOEY found a PROTEIN in the hideout and used it on Rattata to boost her ATTACK "stat experience".  (Note:  Pokemon games made before Ruby/Sapphire don't have a 510 "effort value limit", so "stat experience" can max out all stats instead of 2.)


TOPPERCENT confronted Pryce the Ice type Gym Leader at Level 44 with a KING'S ROCK.  She clubbed the Level 27 Seel with a Return, though it took 2 to beat down the Level 29 Dewgong, who zapped her with Aurora Beam once.  Pryce's star Level 31 Piloswine cast Blizzard, but even with 120 power and same type attack bonus, a base 60 SPCL. ATK wasn't going to take out an overleveled Rattata.  An enemy Hyper Potion only delayed a Return victory by a turn.  The final blow got an unnecessary critical, and TOPPERCENT won the Ice type badge, the Icy Wind TM, and a SPCL. ATK and SPCL. DEF badge boost at Level 45 with 35/100 HP.


Although Rattata was weak to Fighting moves, Cianwood's Gym did not resist Return and therefore made for the only convenient leveling method before Jasmine.  TOPPERCENT entered Chuck's ring at Level 46 wielding the KING'S ROCK.  A Level 27 Primeape was too slow to act before Return, and the star Level 30 Poliwrath wasted its turn setting up with Mind Reader's accuracy buff instead of taking a chance with the 50% accuracy Dynamicpunch.  An unevolved early route Pokemon somehow took out the Gym Leader she was supposed to be weak to without taking a single hit.    


Chuck surrendered the Fighting type badge and the useless Dynamicpunch TM.  The only place left to go was Jasmine's Gym, since the RAGECANDYBAR guy was blocking the east exit of Mahogany Town.  Curse you, painfully obvious roadblocks!  He must have been an ex-cop from Onett.


At Level 46, Rattata finally stood a chance against the Steel Gym Leader.  Though the first post-Chuck attempt failed after unlucky Iron Tails.


DEATH COUNT:  8


I considered more exotic options like Rock Smash DEFENSE debuffs and even Icy Wind, but it seemed better to stick with the current moveset.  Although the Pokemon games are similar, seemingly minor differences like the presence or absence of move relearners, single use vs. infinite TMs, and hold item and TM locations can affect solo variants.


The 2nd attempt was doomed when the 1st Magnemite cast Thunderbolt after my Focus Energy, shocking Rattata for a 43 HP loss.  Or so it seemed.  The PRZCUREBERRY prevented the paralysis side effect from succeeding.  Steelix whiffed his 1st 70% accuracy Iron Tail, and the 2nd got a damage roll low enough for Rattata to endure with 2 HP.  (!)  This gave TOPPERCENT enough time to Super Fang twice to get her opponent to 1/4 HP, then Dig to victory.  She won her Steel type badge, Iron Tail TM, and DEFENSE badge boost at Level 47 with 4/105 HP at last.   


The Team Rocket takeover of Goldenrod City's Radio Tower will be a relief in comparison, and free experience too!



TOPPERCENT the Rattata’s Stats and Moves:
 

Level 47 @ Nothing

HP:  105
ATTACK:  76
DEFENSE:  57
SPCL. ATK:  47
SPCL. DEF:  56
SPEED:  91
 
Return
Dig
Focus Energy
Super Fang

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon Crystal Solo Rattata Part 3:  Loose Ends Before Elite 4


Tuscany on Route 29 handed out the PINK BOW as a reward for visiting her on Tuesday.  This item boosted Rattata's Normal attacks by 10%, which was essential in a game where one hit KOs against enemies were the best defense.


The remnants of Team Rocket in the Goldenrod City Radio Tower were so weak, their Executives didn't have names until the Heart Gold/Soul Silver remake.  The only notable opponent was the rival ??? in the department store basement, and his Level 28-32 Golbat, Magnemite, Haunter, and Sneasel fell to one Return or Dig.  ???, unlike some later rivals in the Pokemon series, had the decency to fully evolve his starter into a Level 32 Feraligatr.  This reptile reduced Rattata's HP to 95/112 at Level 50 before 2 Returns forced it to retreat to its Poke Ball.


An IRON in the Ice Path between Mahogany and Blackthorn gave DEFENSE stat experience, but TOPPERCENT had already maxed out her ATTACK equivalent when she failed to eat a PROTEIN.  


In Blackthorn's Gym, a PINK BOW powered Return failed to KO Cooltrainer Fran's Seadra in one shot.  After clearing out the rest of the Dragon and Water type subordinates, it was best to mug the southern mountain route trainers for experience points before returning to fight Gym Leader Clair.  This extra leveling paid off.  All 3 of Clair's Level 37 Dragonairs collapsed instantly when TOPPERCENT smacked them with PINK BOW Returns at Level 56.  The only danger was the Level 40 Kingdra who swamped TOPPERCENT with one Surf before Clair attempted to heal it with a Hyper Potion.  TOPPERCENT collected her final Johto badge with 66/127 HP.


Before advancing into the Kanto routes east of New Bark Town, there were a few errands.  JOEY collected every RARE CANDY he could in Johto to mitigate the pre-Red grind at the end of the playthrough.  And just for fun, there was the Hidden Power type test.  TOPPERCENT's version seemed to be Water because it dealt neutral damage to Sentret (i.e. not Fighting/Ghost), was "not very effective" on a Gyarados (Fire, Water, Bug, or Steel), and was "super effective" (Water) on a Donphan.  I reset afterwards without saving to avoid having to lose one of Rattata's established moves.


Rattata's first foray into Kanto was too easy to waste time writing about.  Even ???'s battle in Victory Road was a flawless victory when the Level 38 Feraligatr had the misfortune to be the target of a critical Return.  At Level 60, TOPPERCENT was ready to gnaw on the Four Heavenly Kings Elite 4 and Johto's Champion. . .



TOPPERCENT the Rattata Stats and Moves
 
Level 60 @ PINK BOW
 
HP:  137
ATTACK:  101
DEFENSE:  78
SPCL. ATK:  63
SPCL. DEF:  75
SPEED:  120
 
Return
Dig
Focus Energy
Super Fang

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon Crystal Solo Rattata Part 4: Pokemon League Woes


My computer crashed while I was typing up the turn-by-turn notes for the first Elite 4 member, so the first battle won't be covered in as much detail.


Will the Psychic Elite 4 master's Pokemon ranged from 40-42. To capitalize on their Ghost weakness, conserve Return PP, and for neutral coverage on one of Lance's Pokemon, the disappointing Focus Energy was replaced with Shadow Ball. This meant one hit KOs for the 2 Xatus and Jynx. Exeggutor's HP and DEFENSE were too high for a super effective Shadow Ball to kill, so Rattata tried a PINK BOW Return instead. This failed to cut down the coconut tree and allowed it to cast the 5 turn team DEFENSE buff Reflect. Slowbro required 2 Super Fangs and 2 Returns to kill while it increased its ATTACK and DEFENSE with Curse, and even then it was stalling until Reflect expired. A Psychic from Slowbro left TOPPERCENT at Level 61 and 78/139 HP.


Koga the Poison master with Level 40-44 monsters was next. Ariados and Venomoth were squashed with a single Return, and even the otherwise tough Muk thanks to a random critical. Crobat survived a Return thanks to its higher level and caused a second one to miss with a Double Team evasion buff. Koga healed his "flying mouse" with a Full Restore, but fortunately Toxic missed. Forretress was 3rd in the lineup, but the Bug/Steel type deserved to be covered last. 2 Super Fangs reduced the bagworm's HP to 1/4, followed by a Return finisher. All the enemy did was set up Spikes to injure my non-existent teammates upon switching in, and launching a weak Swift. TOPPERCENT won at Level 62 with 120/142 HP.


Bruno the Fighting master with Level 42-46 Pokemon was worse than Jasmine, and couldn't be delayed until later like the Steel Gym Leader. Sure, all 3 of his "Hitmon-" Pokemon were too fragile to survive a Return, but then came Machamp with a 120 power and 80% accuracy Cross Chop. An attempt to play "safe" by tricking Hitmonlee into committing suicide with Hi Jump Kick miss recoil damage using Dig failed. You can't use a move's more annoying properties to your benefit, it seems.


DEATH COUNT: 10


One try came close to victory when Machamp whiffed a Cross Chop, but earlier injuries from Hitmonchan's 40 power priority move Mach Punch and Onix 100 power Earthquakes that even Dig couldn't avoid assured defeat.


DEATH COUNT: 11


This playthrough can now go one of two ways. Spending hours grinding levels to beat the Elite 4 without healing in battle is possible, but this would make Kanto even more of an anticlimax than it already is, and Red's 70s-81 team would still be too tough for even a "top percentage" Rattata without any recovery. Or I could use FULL RESTORES in combat in the Elite 4, fight the Kanto Gym Leaders normally, and then allow consumable items again in Mt. Silver. Hopefully, X items won't be needed, but we'll see about that when Rattata stares down Red's Pikachu.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon Crystal Solo Rattata Part 5:  If Lance Can Cheat, So Can Rattata!


Even when JOEY made the use of FULL RESTORES legal for this solo challenge, Bruno was still far more difficult than most RPG bosses.  Many attempts failed whenever Machamp connected with Cross Chop, and a critical in one battle would have have given TOPPERCENT a Lavender Town tombstone if I hadn't reset.  (But Lavender Town replaced its graveyard tower with a radio tower of all things in Pokemon Crystal.  Never mind!)


DEATH COUNT:  16


A critical Mach Punch from Hitmonchan that made Rattata punch-drunk with 42/142 HP was a good omen, as strange as it sounds.  That meant the RNG would play out differently.  And sure enough, TOPPERCENT dodged a Cross Chop.  It took 3 Returns to kill the martial artist with enough arms for a Hindu god, because Bruno healed it with an item after the first.  Rattata consumed the only FULL RESTORE of the battle as soon as Onix appeared. 


Onix may have had same type attack bonus, but its Earthquakes were unremarkable coming from Butterfree-grade 45 base ATTACK.  Shadow Ball was safer than Dig here, and 3 of the inappropriately physical attacks made the rock snake crash to the ground.  For some reason, Onix had cast Sandstorm earlier to cause 1/16 max HP damage to Rattata at the end of each turn.  Rattata conquered the 3rd Elite 4 member with 57/142 HP at Level 62.


Karen's Dark and Poison 42-47 teamcaused problems for earlier variants, but not TOPPERCENT.  Umbreon's Sand-Attack accuracy debuff missed, leaving it open for a 2 Return KO.  One Return each made Vileplume, Houndoom, and Murkrow faint.  The Gengar had only 60 base HP and DEFENSE and was weak to its own Ghost type, so a Shadow Ball put it to rest.  Rattata won at Level 63 without taking a single hit!


Pokemon players call Lance a cheater because he uses illegal movesets in the first generation and Dragonites below the level needed to evolve Dragonair in the 2nd.  No need to feel guilty about chugging FULL RESTORES when fighting an illegitimate Champion!


Lance's entire team consisted of Flying types from 44-50.  Gyarados was a free kill because it always used Rain Dance on the first turn no matter what the RNG was.  The first 2 Dragonites tended to use the move Hyper Beam, whose drawback for its 150 power was making its user lose the next turn.  They sometimes cast the 120 power Ice move Blizzard, or Thunder Wave to inflict paralysis.  To give you an idea of how frustrating Lance was, take a look at the next line:


DEATH COUNT:  22


If Rattata limped long enough to get to Charizard, its 100% accuracy 95 power Flamethrower was enough to take her out with 2 breaths.  Two attempts failed on the 2nd Dragonite after a Blizzard + Hyper Beam combo.  But the worst failure of all was on the last Level 50 Dragonite when the Hall of Fame was in sight.  Lance's last Dragonite cast Outrage, a 100% accuracy 90 power Dragon attack.  The catch was that after every 2-3 uses, the caster would become confused and have a 50% chance to damage itself instead of making a move.  Not only did Dragonite snap out of confusion in one Outrage, it got a critical hit too!  


TOPPERCENT's success started when Dragonite #2 missed with both Hyper Beam and Thunder Wave.  Then Shadow Ball got high damage rolls against Aerodactyl, so 2 were enough to kill.  Aerodactyl's Wing Attack left Rattata at high enough HP to survive one Flamethrower with 26 health, giving her enough time to strike with 2 Returns.


A total of 9 FULL RESTORES were necessary to survive Dragonite #3's Outrages and stall until it hit itself in confusion.  Lance used his own FULL RESTORE, but this left his last monster open to attack.  And a Safeguard meant to prevent confusion came too late in the battle to save Dragonite.  A lone Rattata became the Champion of the Johto/Kanto Pokemon, shaming most of Poke-Japan's trainers.    


I took 2 pictures with my terrible cell phone, but the file size is too big for Realms Beyond apparently.  Maybe it can fit in the Smogon version of this post?  I'll post a link once it's there if possible.


EDIT:  Smogon doesn't take files that big either.


TOPPERCENT the Rattata Stats and Moves


Level 64 @ PINK BOW


HP:  146
ATTACK:  108
DEFENSE:  85
SPCL. ATK:  69
SPCL. DEF:  81
SPEED:  129


Return
Dig
Shadow Ball
Super Fang

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon Crystal Solo Rattata Part 6:  Kanto's Leaders Need to Hit the Gym


About 90% of Kanto barely counts as an update.  The trainers there probably would have lost to a solo Weedle's Poison Sting, let alone a solo Rattata's Return.  Kanto's Gym Leaders shouldn't be dignified as such, but here's a summary for most of them:


Lieutenant Surge:  40-46 Electrodes, Raichu, Magneton, Electabuzz, flawless victory at 66

Sabrina:  46-48 Espeon, Mr. Mime, Alakazam, flawless victory at 67

Erika:  41-46 Tangela, Jumpluff, Victreebel, Bellossom, flawless victory at 71

Janine:  33-39 Crobat, Weezings, Ariados, Venomoth, flawless victory (unknown level)

Misty:  42-47 Golduck, Quagsire, Lapras, Starmie, flawless victory at 76

Blaine:  45-50 Magcargo, Magmar, Rapidash, flawless victory at 79


It wasn't just the Gym Leaders either.  JOEY's doppelganger Cal in the Viridian City Trainer House had all 3 fully evolved Johto starters at Level 50, but Meganium, Typhlosion, and Feraligatr were bowled over with a single Return each before they could move at Level 79.  And ??? the rival's last stand in Mt. Moon fared no better with his 41-45 Sneasel, Golbat, Magneton, Gengar, Alakazam, and Feraligatr when Rattata was at Level 77.


Only 2 trainers posed a legitimate threat to TOPPERCENT:  Brock and Blue.  Brock specialized in 41-44 range Rock types that resisted Return, forcing Rattata to rely on the much weaker Shadow Ball or Dig.  Graveler Rolled Out once, Rhyhorn summoned an Earthquake while Rattata was underground, and Omastar Surfed.  Onix and Kabutops were ineffectual, however, and TOPPERCENT exited the arena at Level 78 with 55/183 HP.


Blue represented a significant rise in difficulty for the last 2 battles of the game.  Pokemon Crystal resembled Chrono Cross in that most of the challenge came from a few abnormally hard bosses.  The original Pokemon rival had this team in the 54-58 range:  Pidgeot, Alakazam, Rhydon, Gyarados, Exeggutor, and Arcanine.  Pidgeot had just enough HP and DEFENSE to prevent a guaranteed one-shot Return, and sometimes struck back with Wing Attack.  Alakazam as a "Black Mage" was free experience. 


Rhydon was as dangerous as before and could take advantage of instant Earthquake damage or continuous Sandstorm buffeting.  Exeggutor could drain 1/8 HP per round with Leech Seed status, and Arcanine cast Flamethrower or picked off a weakened Rattata with its signature priority move Extremespeed.


DEATH COUNT:  27


Yes, even Sandstorm got a kill once.  There was a viable if unorthodox solution without excessive grinding:  Hidden Power.  TOPPERCENT's test turned out to be useful after all when she realized she had a Hidden Power Water that could deal 4X damage to Rhydon's Rock/Ground typing.  Rattata took a loss rather than reset on the penultimate attempt because she got enough experience from Blue to level up to 80.  One RARE CANDY boosted her to 81, and this time TOPPERCENT lived up to her name. 


Pidgeot and Alakazam died before they could act, a Hidden Power critical prevented Rhydon from attacking, and Gyarados wasted all its turns consuming Full Restores or summoning Rain Dance.  Exeggutor managed to launch Leech Seed just before a Return and Shadow Ball KO, but Rattata was at high enough HP to survive an Arcanine Flamethrower.  Blue's AI was too stupid to follow it up with Extremespeed, so a 2nd Return won the final Kanto badge.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon Crystal Solo Rattata Finale:  The Rattata That Roared


The only obstacle keeping TOPPERCENT the Rattata from seeing the credits screen for the last time was Red, the player character from the original Pokemon games.  His monster levels of 73-81 were far above any Kanto trainer, and were stronger than any AI trainer until Barry in the 4th generation game Pokemon Platinum.  All Pokemon Crystal solos were effectively grinding for this particular battle.  Red's team of Pikachu, Espeon, Snorlax, Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise was well-balanced, but had no Normal resistance.


If Charizard's Flamethrower didn't bake Rattata, Snorlax's critical Body Slam crushed her, Blastoise's Surf drowned her, and Venusaur cast an environmentally friendly Solarbeam after changing the weather with Sunny Day to prevent the charge turn.


FINAL DEATH COUNT:  32


Finding a moveset that could beat Red without having to resort to silly Full Restore and X item steroids took a bit of creativity.  The only attacking move needed was Return, and Sleep Talk + Rest could provide healing, and status recovery.  So the plan at first was to use only 3 moves to force Sleep Talk to either pick Rest to recover, or Return to attack.  That didn't work when Surf and Flamethrower were 2 hit kills.  But if those moves missed. . .


That's where Double Team came in.  This evasion increasing move is widely hated in multiplayer Pokemon for making battles luck-based, but Red the AI trainer wouldn't complain.  The Double Team tactic failed once when one too many Solarbeams seared Rattata.  Then one battle summary looked like this:


Pikachu:  4 Double Teams, 4 Thunder misses, 1 Return KO

Espeon:  1 Return KO

Snorlax:  Return critical, enemy Amnesia SPCL. DEF +2, Return KO


Venusaur:  Return, Sunny Day, 3 Double Teams to waste turns, all Solarbeams miss, enemy Synthesis healing, 2 more Returns KO

Charizard:  Return, Flamethrower, Return KO

Blastoise:  Rest, Surf miss, Sleep Talk Return, Surf, Sleep Talk Rest, Surf, Sleep Talk wasted Double Team, Surf miss, Sleep Talk Return KO


Unfortunately, I can't post the victory picture here.  If you want to see it, go to Smogon and look at the avatar for the user adman2.  The image of Red speaking in ellipses when he realizes a sleeping Rattata has beaten his team is too good to pass up.    



TOPPERCENT the Rattata Final Stats and Moves

 
Level 89 @ PINK BOW
 
HP:  210
ATTACK:  158
DEFENSE:  126
SPCL. ATK:  104
SPCL. DEF:  122
SPEED:  187
 
Return
Rest
Sleep Talk
Double Team


This was a fun variant, though the pre-Move Relearner and consumable TMs prevented me from experimenting as much with the moveset as I would have liked.  These restrictions made the game more strategic than tactical, however, and some readers may prefer long-term planning to the short-term moveset swapping of the later Pokemon installments.



Rattata is in the Medium Fast experience group, which takes 1,000,000 points to reach Level 100.  For comparison, OG PUFF the Jigglypuff only needed 800,000 with Fast, JITTERBUG the Volbeat could reach max level with 600,000 due to being Erratic, but poor TOADETTE the Breloom would have needed 1,640,000 to do it.

[superdeath]

Do you have another solo queued up? If not... i have a couple ideas.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Do you have another solo queued up? If not... i have a couple ideas.

What do you have in mind?  I was thinking about playing something other than Pokemon next, but if you have any funny solo run options, tell me!

[superdeath]

Ive seen a REALLY long solo Magikarp run, but thats for people that hate themselves.

What all have you done pokemon wise, and what games do you own? That would make it easier to help give you an idea.