Pokemon Variants

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon Fire Red Solo Jigglypuff: Jigglypuff Liberates Saffron City


Jigglypuff beat up most of the trainers on Routes 12 and 13 without too much trouble. She sent the 2nd Snorlax back to the mountains for good measure. It wouldn’t be a Herman Gigglethorpe solo without killing off as many unique Pokemon as possible! (Well, except for Pearl’s postgame, but Pearl had the worst single player mode in the series and I was sick of it by the time I beat Cynthia. . .)


All this training was necessary once it was time to save Saffron City from Team Rocket. Or put more accurately, save Silph Co. from Gary and Giovanni. Most of the Grunts and scientists were easy, but Magneton’s Steel type was annoying to punch through with Jigglypuff’s type coverage. I was so sick of Magnetons that I replaced Hyper Voice with the Brick Break TM. Too bad I had already killed off the magnets before I did that!


Silph Co. was a teleporter maze, and that was so awful I had to look up a map to get through it. The employees must spend half the day trying to warp to the right office. Gary had Pokemon in the mid 30s to 40 level range, and he had surprisingly good AI during this fight. His Pidgeot led with Featherdance to debuff Jigglypuff’s Attack by 2 stages. This was one of the worst things that could happen for a Pokemon reliant on physical moves.


Gyarados Intimidated Jigglypuff to lower her Attack even further, and then attacked with Dragon Rage. Dragon Rage always deals 40 damage regardless of stats, and that hurt. A few Psychics dealt with Gyarados, thanks to its random Special Defense debuff. Growlithe also had Intimidate, but was taken out with one Water Pulse. I was surprised Gary hadn’t evolved it this late in the game. Alakazam’s Defense must have been pathetic. Jigglypuff may have had reduced Attack, but Body Slam could still kill it in about 2 hits.


Venusaur was the worst opponent of all. It was faster than Jigglypuff and quickly sent it to the Kingdom of Lunesta with Sleep Powder. I couldn’t use Awakenings here because Gary would just do it again. The only option was to wait for Jigglypuff to wake up and hope it could survive Razor Leafs. One of those was a critical hit. It took a Hyper Potion and a Full Restore to do it, but Jigglypuff barely survived and knocked Gary’s starter out with two Psychics.


Giovanni was difficult only because I didn’t bother to buy more healing items like I should have. The regular trainer battle music played because the developers were too lazy to give him his own theme. Nidorino died to one Psychic, but Nidoqueen was tougher. Her higher Special Defense and HP meant Jigglypuff had to take a super effective Double Kick, since two uses of her Psychic powers were needed.


Kangaskhan’s Tail Whip and Mega Punch combo dealt significant damage. Jigglypuff endured long enough to Brick Break Kangaskhan twice and send her back to her Poke Ball. Rhyhorn was slow and took quadruple damage from Water Pulse. And so a solo Jigglypuff saved Silph Co. (Notice how none of the Team Rocket Grunts attacked Gary, and he was just standing there waiting for Jigglypuff? Maybe he was in on the plot. . .)



You can see Jigglypuff’s low stats are starting to catch up with her, and overleveling can’t solve everything. Chances are you’ll see a lot of healing potions and X item buffs in future updates.



Stats


Level 68 Jigglypuff


HP: 258
Attack: 90
Defense: 63
Special Attack: 75
Special Defense: 46
Speed: 57

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon Fire Red Solo Jigglypuff: You Better Have Burn Heal!


I had been thinking about a nickname for Jigglypuff. It felt wrong to fight Koga without picking the least tasteful name possible, so I biked back to Lavender Town and visited the Name Rater. Jigglypuff's new identity was now OG PUFF. Really, Jigglypuff was both one of the original 151 Pokemon and one of the 12 Super Smash Bros. 64 fighters. What more does she need to qualify as OG PUFF?


With her new name, OG PUFF Body Slammed, Water Pulsed, and Psychic'd her way through Koga's apprentices. They had surprisingly few Poison type Pokemon, and they seemed to prefer Drowzee (Psychic), Hypno (also Psychic), and Sandslash (Ground). What makes this really weird is that Kanto has a disproportionate amount of Poison types compared to other regions. Was Koga so cheap that he couldn't get a Tentacool from the ocean south of town for his underlings?


Koga was barely a challenge at all. Psychic killed his two Koffings and a Weezing easily. Muk's HP and Special Defense were high enough to survive one Psychic, and it managed to dodge one attack thanks to a Minimize evasion boost. It used Sludge and then died to Body Slam. (I didn't want to waste Psychic PP on misses.) Koga gave me his badge and permission to use Surf outside of combat. Now, OG PUFF could beat up the trainers in southwestern Kanto.


The trainers on the aquatic routes south of Fuchsia and south of Pallet Town had surprisingly low level Pokemon for this point in the game. Several of them had unevolved Pokemon in the low 30s. I wonder if the developers compensated for non-linearity by giving Kanto a flatter level curve than places like Unova or Alola.


One memorable moment is when Swimmer Matthew's level 30 Poliwag outsped my level 71 Jigglypuff. . .with Water Gun. No Swift Swim or any other factors could account for this, just OG PUFF's pathetic Speed stat. His Poliwhirl got the first move and used Hypnosis, which was annoying. Poliwhirl then used Doubleslap and fell in love with OG PUFF.


Body Slamming one other trainer's Seadra led to Poison Point activating. As much as I like Pokemon, mechanics like "contact" and "sound" moves are unwieldy at best. Yes, I'm saying this even though I've benefited from contact moves for much of this playthrough because of Cute Charm.


Fisherman Wade was the obligatory joke trainer with 6 Magikarps. I expected to see that earlier in the game.


Blaine was a jerk who locked his Gym on Cinnabar Island for no good reason, so OG PUFF had to slap around a few Burglars and Scientists. These often used Fire Pokemon such as Charmander, Ponyta, and Vulpix, or Electric types like Electrode and Magnemite. To get through the dungeon, I had to activate various switches to lock and unlock doors. The scattered notes were about the discovery of Mew in Guyana and Mewtwo's creation. (There are a lot of real world references in the first few generations compared to later games.)


Fighting Blaine's Fire-themed trainers leveled Jigglypuff to 76 and finally raised Attack to the three digit range. That was sad! Blaine led with Growlithe, whose Intimidate weakened Body Slam. I used Water Pulse instead. One of those knocked out Growlithe. Ponyta used one Fire Blast before dying to Water Pulse. Rapidash got not only a critical hit Fire Blast, but also inflicted burn status. OG PUFF survived with barely 10 HP. Next came Arcanine, one of the most dangerous Pokemon in this playthrough. I used a healing item, but its Fire Blast was too strong. Yet another burn from Fire Blast drained Jigglypuff's remaining HP and sent her to the hospital.


Death Count: 2


Round 2 wasn't much more successful. Arcanine's Fire Blast could 2HKO Jigglypuff. There was no way OG PUFF could compete without using items. I went back to Celadon's department store and looked for an X Special Defense, only to realize in horror that no such thing was available. Did it not exist in the 3rd generation? If so, that must have been a remnant of the original Special stat that was used for both attack and defense in the original games.


Death Count: 3



Round 3 was proof that Pokemon was always a Pay to Win game. Blaine used a Hyper Potion once on Rapidash when it was at yellow health, then once again at red health. When one Water Pulse confused it, Blaine wasted a turn using a Full Heal to cure it and gave me the chance to get the KO.


The tactic I used on Arcanine was to chug potions until Fire Blast either missed or ran out of PP. Arcanine whiffed one of its attacks, and a second Water Pulse got me another badge. This was such a shameful battle that both Blaine and OG PUFF should have been disqualified from the Pokemon League. Oh well. That's what happens when you play with a Pokemon that has base 45 attacking stats, Defense at base 20, Special Defense at base 25, and Speed at base 20.


As soon as I walked out of the Gym, Bill took me to the 3rd generation exclusive region, the Sevii Islands. I could only go to the first three islands before beating the game, but it was still neat to go here when I only had 4 badges. Bill and his friend Celio sent me on a fetch quest to deliver a meteorite to someone whose name I can't recall on Two Island. Does the Internet not exist in the Sevii Islands? Celio said he was having trouble linking the PCs or something like that until Bill helped him.


OG PUFF Stats

Level 77

HP: 291 (At least Jigglypuff has base 115 in that stat. . .)
Attack: 102
Defense: 71 (Chances are OG PUFF got a lot of EVs from Geodudes, Onixes, and such. . .)
Special Attack: 85
Special Defense: 51
Speed: 63

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon Fire Red Solo Jigglypuff: Sevii Island Hopping


Bill trapped me on the Sevii Island archipelago, and I couldn't escape until I delivered the Meteorite. But the Game Corner manager on Two Island refused to take it until I rescued his unfortunately named daughter Lostelle on Three Island.


Three Island was more populated than the first two. A biker gang from the Kanto mainland was terrorizing the town. Of course, Jigglypuff was the Original Gangster, and could mug these losers. I even deposited my HM Mules in the PC just to humiliate them further. They had the typical Biker Poison types like the Koffing and Grimer families. After Jigglypuff made them question taking up a life of crime, the bikers returned to Kanto.


Several other easy trainers gave Jigglypuff experience and cash on the way to Berry Forest where Lostelle was waiting. It turned out a level 30 Hypno was trapping there. She should have been terrified of OG PUFF instead. Jigglypuff killed Hypno with one Body Slam. Lostelle teleported me back to the Two Island Game Corner, and her father rewarded me with. . .a Moon Stone? That was the ultimate insult. OG PUFF did not NEED to evolve to bully Kanto's children, thank you very much!


The ferry took me to Cinnabar Island, and Bill informed me that I could return to the Sevii Islands via the Vermilion City port. I headed back through Diglett's Cave to get to Vermilion, then decided to beat up Lt. Surge. Like any Pokemon player, I wondered what war the Gym Leader had fought in.


Lt. Surge's highest level Pokemon was a level 24 Raichu. Do I really need to elaborate on what happened when he fought against a level 80 Jigglypuff? Anyway, now I could use Fly outside of combat, not that it was all that necessary. Kanto is a compact region. Lt. Surge's TM Shock Wave was a significant downgrade from Thunderbolt in the original games.


Next up was Saffron City and its two Gyms. (The Fighting Dojo might as well be a Gym, and was until Sabrina used her type advantage to demote them from official Pokemon League status.)


OG PUFF Stats

Level 80

HP: 302
Attack: 105
Defense: 73
Special Attack: 88
Special Defense: 53
Speed: 66

Moves

Water Pulse
Body Slam
Brick Break
Psychic

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon Fire Red Solo Jigglypuff: Enough Sequence Breaking. Let's Get Some Badges!


Sabrina’s Gym in Saffron City was a teleport maze, because old RPGs were a bit too fond of those. The trainers there talked about how brute force couldn’t win every time, but then again they never fought against a level 80 Jigglypuff before. Some mentioned how Sabrina defeated the Karate Master and stripped the Fighting Dojo of its official Gym status. This makes me wonder about Pokemon League infighting. Most of OG PUFF’s opponents used the Slowpoke, Abra, and Mr. Mime families, but there were a few Channelers who had Gastlys and Haunters instead. What were those Ghost/Poison types doing in a Psychic Gym?



Sabrina made a disingenuous comment about “disliking battles”, then began the fight. If she hated battles so much, why’d she become a Gym Leader? Her Pokemon were in the high 30s to low 40s level range and had low defenses, making them easy fodder for OG PUFF. Kadabra outsped me but wasted its turn using Calm Mind right before being Body Slammed to death. Her final Pokemon Alakazam did the same thing. OG PUFF at least managed to outspeed Mr. Mime and Venomoth, and KOd them with Body Slam and Psychic respectively. (Why did she have a Bug/Poison type? Did she steal it from Koga? It would make sense considering her fondness for bullying Gym Leaders she had a type advantage over. . .)



Sabrina’s TM was Calm Mind, an improvement over Psywave from the original games. Maybe I should have used this when I fought Blaine? *Checks TM compatibility*. No, Jigglypuff can’t learn that. OG PUFF learns every move, except the ones you’d expect her to. The only Pokemon in the Fighting Dojo that damaged Jigglypuff at all was a Primeape that outsped me and used Seismic Toss. None of the other trainers were noteworthy, and used mainly the Machop and Mankey lines. The leader Black Belt Koichi sent out level 37 Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan. Neither got in a move before being Psychic’d back into their Poke Balls. Koichi offered me a Pokemon, but Green simply walked out without taking Hitmonlee or Hitmonchan, knowing her Jigglypuff was superior.



The only place left to go before revisiting Viridian City was the Celadon City Gym. An old pervert was waiting outside saying the Gym was “full of women!” Unfortunately, Jigglypuff couldn’t Body Slam him. Lass Kay said “Only real ladies are allowed in here!” Insert your own joke about sexism in Pokemon here. Beauty Tamia said Grass types were “easy to raise”. She wouldn’t have made that comment if she lived in Johto where they have a disadvantage against most of the Gyms!



The trainers tended to use Pokemon of the Bulbasaur, Bellsprout, and Oddish families. (Why did GameFreak make so many first generation Grass types Grass/Poison?) One opponent was an exception and used the Grass/Psychic Exeggcute. Not even Erika had one of those. Erika herself was easy. One Psychic beat her level 29 Victreebel and Vileplume before they could act, and Body Slam took out the pure Grass Tangela. Her badge gave me permission to push boulders with Strength. This was one reason I skipped the Seafoam Islands earlier. Her TM was Giga Drain, an upgrade to the original Mega Drain.



The mob-controlled Gym in Viridian City specialized in Ground Pokemon such as the Cubone, Rhyhorn, Nidoran, Geodude, and Sandshrew families. These were usually in the high 30s to low 40s level range and were beaten with Water Pulse and Psychic. A few trainers used other types. Tamer Cole threatened Jigglypuff with his whip and sent out Arbok and Tauros. Two Intimidates in a row were annoying, and so I used the special Psychic since OG PUFF’s Attack was at -2. There were a couple of Black Belts with the Machop family too.



Giovanni, the head of Team Rocket, was also the Gym Leader. His team ranged from the low 40s to level 50. Both the level 45 and level 50 Rhyhorns had a double weakness to Water Pulse and fainted in one hit. (Why not a Rhydon? This is the final Gym!) Nidoqueen couldn’t survive a Psychic. Nidoking and Dugtrio were fast enough to get in Earthquakes before being one-shotted by Psychic and Water Pulse. OG PUFF was at 217/321 HP after the battle. Losing to a level 85 Jigglypuff humiliated Giovanni so much that he disbanded Team Rocket and left Kanto. Right before doing that, he gave me the final badge and an Earthquake TM. Now that I had all 8 badges, it was a good time to take a break.



OG PUFF Stats


HP: 321
Attack: 112
Defense: 78
Special Attack: 93
Special Defense: 56
Speed: 70


Moves

Water Pulse
Body Slam
Psychic
Brick Break

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon Fire Red Solo Jigglypuff: The Road to Victory


Gary appeared once again on the route west of Viridian City. He never learned from the past 5 times a lone Jigglypuff maimed his team. Gary sent out Pidgeot first, and I was a bit worried about Featherdance debuffing Jigglypuff’s attack. It used Wing Attack instead and fell in love. OG PUFF responded to his flirting with a critical hit Body Slam. Rhyhorn died to Water Pulse like every other Rock/Ground type.


Gyarados was a threat. Its Intimidate lowered OG PUFF’s Attack by 1 stage, and it was sturdy enough to require 3 Psychics. It hit Jigglypuff with several Hydro Pumps, but Gyarados was hit hard by the separation of Special Attack and Special Defense in Johto, so each one didn’t deal much damage. Growlithe couldn’t take a Water Pulse, but an extra Intimidate caused problems.


Next came Alakazam, a Pokemon that both outsped Jigglypuff and could buff its Special Attack with Calm Mind. It set up with that move once, and then launched a delayed attack with Future Sight. Two Body Slams were enough for Alakazam even with -2 Attack. Venusaur was last. It could now use Growth to buff its Special Attack, and then hope for critical hits with Razor Leaf. I used Body Slam instead of Psychic hoping to paralyze it. What happened instead was OG PUFF finishing it off with a critical hit Body Slam after several attacks. One piece of game mechanic trivia: critical hits ignore attack debuffs and defensive buffs.


Victory Road is the traditional final dungeon of Pokemon games, and Kanto’s version earned that distinction. Jigglypuff had a difficult time against some trainers despite her extremely high level. Cool Trainer Rolando’s level 42 Charizard could deal quite a bit of damage with Flamethrower.


The standout fight was Cool Trainer George. He led with Exeggutor, a tough Grass/Psychic type that resisted everything I had but Body Slam. Body Slam paralyzed it and left it with a sliver of health. This was enough of an excuse for George to give it a Hyper Potion. Sleep Powder made OG PUFF snooze for a few rounds, and a secondary effect from Confusion made her confused too. When she finally woke up, OG PUFF knocked out Exeggutor with one Body Slam. Maybe the first time was an awful damage roll?


George’s Electrode set up a Light Screen and then used Sonicboom. I think Jigglypuff hit herself in confusion once. Hyper Potions were needed several times throughout the fight to keep OG PUFF alive. Sandslash made the worst possible move for a solo run and used Sand Attack to lower Jigglypuff’s accuracy. Cloyster used Spikes of all moves. A field effect that would damage grounded Pokemon upon switching in is useful for multiplayer, but would be useless against a single Jigglypuff. George’s last Pokemon was a level 41 Arcanine, which brought back bad memories of Blaine. Jigglypuff must have remembered too, because she reserved her critical hit Water Pulse specifically for Arcanines.


The other trainers had an eclectic mix of Pokemon, but not many that were threatening. One named Tyra said “You’ve taught me that power can be infinite in shape and form”. She knew how to fear the ‘Puff.


After leaving the cave, I walked to Indigo Plateau to trigger the Fly point, then returned to Celadon City to buy a TM and X item buffs. After that, I flew back to Indigo Plateau and deposited my HM Mules in the PC. Stocking up on Full Restores and Max Potions would help for the final battles of the main story.



OG PUFF Stats

Level 89

HP: 335
Attack: 117
Defense: 81
Special Attack: 97
Special Defense: 58
Speed: 73



Moves

Water Pulse
Brick Break
Body Slam
Psychic

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon Fire Red Solo Jigglypuff: The Last Temptation of Bird Jesus


There was no way OG PUFF was going to defeat the Elite Four as easily as random trainers and out-of-order Gym Leaders, so I made sure to buff with two X Attacks when Lorelei’s level 52 Dewgong appeared. It gave me enough time to set up because its first two moves were Safeguard and Hail. Hail was a rather smart move by Lorelei, since it would reduce Jigglypuff’s high HP by 1/16 per turn while leaving most of her Pokemon untouched. A +2 Brick Break shattered Dewgong in one shot.


In what is possibly one of the worst AI moves ever, Cloyster opened with Spikes. Against a solo Pokemon. A bad damage roll left Cloyster with just enough health for Lorelei to use a Full Restore, but a second Brick Break knocked it out from full health. Slowbro could be hurt by Hail since it was Water/Psychic instead of Ice. However, it didn’t make much of a difference. It took two Body Slams to KO it, and it chose to buff its Special Defense with Amnesia before dying.


Lapras used Surf before dying to Brick Break. Jynx was the biggest threat of all due to her sleep-inducing Lovely Kiss. Fortunately, Jigglypuff managed to dodge that, though she had to take an Ice Punch before Body Slamming Jynx back into her Poke Ball. Jigglypuff leveled to 90 by the end of the fight, and was left with 228/339 HP.



Bruno would be much more difficult. His lead Onix was perfect setup bait for X items, but I clearly didn’t use enough. Onix’s Earthquakes softened up Jigglypuff for Hitmonchan to finish her off with a Sky Uppercut and Mach Punch.


Death Count: 4


On Attempt 2, I was a bit more careful. I set up with 2 X Specials, 2 X Speeds, and several X Defends. The first Onix happened to know Rock Tomb, a move with a Speed debuff, so solo players should take note not to use X Speeds for this fight. Onix used Earthquake like before.



Hitmonchan hit with Sky Uppercut and Hitmonlee used its stubby arms for a Brick Break, but neither got a critical hit. Those X Defends were worth it! Machamp Bulked Up instead of attacking. All these Fighting types had their minds crushed with Psychic. Water Pulse drowned the two Onixes. (Why didn’t he have a Primeape or a Poliwrath? Those were first generation Fighting types. . .) Jigglypuff was at 147/339 HP by the end.



All of Agatha’s Pokemon were weak to Psychic, since GameFreak decided to make a Ghost Elite Four member in a game with only 3 Ghost types. They had to make do by stuffing her team with Poison Pokemon instead. Her first Gengar led with Double Team and then used Confuse Ray. I knew I had no choice but to stop setting up with X Special and attack immediately. Gengar used Toxic right before dying, causing yet more problems. Though Toxic meant Hypnosis wouldn’t work. . .



Golbat also used Confuse Ray, much to my annoyance. Gengar 2 preferred Sludge Bomb. Arbok tried to use the Defense debuff Screech, but Jigglypuff must have had Soundproof for that turn because it missed. Haunter was oddly the hardest one of the whole lot. Its Ghost type Curse sacrificed half its HP to drain a quarter of OG PUFF’s health per turn. It also used the Hypnosis and Dream Eater combination. This was almost a loss, but Jigglypuff woke up just in time to finish it off with a Psychic. 73/339 HP? That was a close fight!



Lance the “Dragon” master was stuck in a game with only 3 Dragon Pokemon. He led with a level 56 Gyarados, and I set up with X Specials. It liked to use Dragon Rage a lot for some reason, which was one of the worst moves it could make against a Pokemon whose one good stat was HP. I tried to Body Slam it down so Ice Beam could finish it off, but Lance healed it at yellow health. Yes, Ice Beam was the TM I spent tens of thousands of Poke Dollars on in Celadon City!


Aerodactyl used Hyper Beam before being frozen to death. Dragonite only had time to ward off status ailments with Safeguard before dying. One Dragonair used Dragon Rage. The second was the most difficult Pokemon. Why did Jigglypuff have so much trouble with not fully evolved Pokemon?


Dragonair 2 opened with Thunder Wave and made Jigglypuff lose 2 turns to paralysis. Then it got a critical hit with Outrage and sent my solo character into critical health. It took a Full Restore to survive. Safeguard wore off right before Outrage ended and confused Dragonair. Dragonair hurt itself in confusion, then a final Ice Beam ended the battle with Lance.


Champion Gary’s Pidgeot led with Featherdance, then Aerial Ace and Sand Attack. This was a pain. I should have used Guard Spec to prevent this! A critical hit Ice Beam finished it off after a few turns of setting up with X items. Alakazam was a pain. Its Psychics could hit as hard as Blaine’s Arcanine, and it had Future Sight and Reflect too. Setting up on it was a mistake. Two Psychics sent OG PUFF into critical health, and then the Future Sight prediction was successful. Time to reload a save!


Death Count: 5


On Take 2, I had a plan. Guard Spec shrouded OG PUFF in Mist, preventing Pidgeot’s Featherdances and Sand Attacks from debuffing her. One other thing that helped: Pidgeot was male and susceptible to Cute Charm! While OG PUFF was chugging all sorts of X items, Pidgeot spent most of his turns immobilized by love. Jigglypuff’s X item habit let her outspeed Alakazam and Body Slam it to death. Rhydon fell to Ice Beam.


Gyarados was allowed to get a turn because Guard Spec wore off right after it blocked Intimidate. Guess what move it picked? Dragon Rage! The AI never fails to disappoint me. Both it and Arcanine fell to Body Slam. Venusaur dropped after OG PUFF used her last Psychic PP. Professor Oak scolded his grandson for not using the power of love, while I knew it was the power of items and overleveling that let me beat the game. Wait a minute. Gary’s lack of affection towards Pidgeot could explain the bird's lust for OG PUFF. . .


And so the main story is finished. Don’t worry. Jigglypuff isn’t done yet. She has plans for the Sevii Islands, legendary Pokemon, and Indigo Plateau Round 2. . .But first I have to catch 60 Pokemon to appease Professor Oak.


OG PUFF Stats

Level 92

HP: 346
Attack: 120
Defense: 84
Special Attack: 100
Special Defense: 60
Speed: 76


Moves

Ice Beam
Brick Break
Body Slam
Psychic

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon Fire Red Solo Jigglypuff: OG PUFF Kills the Pokemon Universe


Professor Oak has been the most obnoxious character in the game so far. He favored Green and gave her a Pokemon before his own grandson, whose name he couldn’t recall. Then he scolded me about using key items in the wrong places, and no, that wasn’t Green’s imagination. He really was talking to Green when I accidentally used the Super Rod instead of the Bicycle. The worst part of all was preventing me from playing the postgame until I caught 60 Pokemon. This wasn’t easy with fewer than 150 Pokemon available. Some of those were Leaf Green exclusives, and some such as Mewtwo couldn’t be found without completing postgame quests.



Doing this part of the game cost most of the money I had saved. Most of it went towards Ultra Balls, and the rest was for Game Corner purchases and Safari Zone fees. (Wait a minute. If Team Rocket runs the Game Corner, does that mean the prizes are stolen Pokemon?) As annoying as the Safari Zone mechanics can be, it was one of the most cost-efficient methods of filling the Pokedex. I finally had a use for those Moonstones: evolving Nidorina, Nidorino, and Clefairy. You didn’t think I’d evolve OG PUFF, would you? No! The integrity of the ‘Puff must be maintained, no matter what Professor Oak says!



For more gratuitous references to old memes, I evolved the gift Eevee into Flareon and resurrected the Helix Fossil. Aerodactyl came back to life too. To pay respects to Bruno’s Hitmonchan, I took the Hitmonchan Poke Ball from the Fighting Dojo. Ingame trades got me Mr. Mime, Tangela, and Lickitung. The final Pokemon required to reach 60 was a Drowzee east of Vermilion City.



Zapdos outsped Jigglypuff and paralyzed her with a Thunder Wave. OG PUFF responded with an Ice Beam that froze the legendary bird and sent it into critical health. Zapdos thawed itself out the next turn with a Drill Peck that reduced Jigglypuff’s HP to 284/346, and OG PUFF finished off her opponent with another Ice Beam.


Articuno was even easier. It used Mind Reader on the first turn, and then OG PUFF Body Slammed the ice bird so hard it became paralyzed. The Speed reduction from paralysis let Jigglypuff go first and finish it off with another Body Slam.


Moltres was similar to Articuno. It buffed itself with Agility on Turn 1. That was unnecessary considering OG PUFF’s abysmal Speed. Jigglypuff’s Body Slam paralyzed another bird, and sent it into red health. Agility made Moltres go first even with the Paralyze debuff, but it couldn’t move. Jigglypuff killed her third legendary Pokemon with a final Body Slam. One thing that surprised me was that Fire Red put Moltres in Mt. Ember on One Island. It lived in Victory Road in the original Kanto games.


Talking to Celio on One Island activated an event flag that opened up another part of Mt. Ember. Two Team Rocket Grunts dared to challenge the ‘Puff, and their Cubone and Rattata families were slaughtered. This made OG PUFF reach level 93. A Ruby was at the bottom of the cave along with some visual Braille messages I didn’t bother to translate into the Roman alphabet. Giving the Ruby to Celio unlocked Four through Seven Island, and he gave me a quest to look for the Sapphire. I set off for Four Island, only to find Gary there taunting me about how he got a Pokemon egg. The next update will involve exploring the remaining Sevii Islands.


OG PUFF Stats

Level 93

HP: 350
Attack: 122
Defense: 84
Special Attack: 101
Special Defense: 61
Speed: 76

Moves

Ice Beam
Brick Break
Body Slam
Psychic

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon Fire Red Solo Jigglypuff: Roid Rage


Four Island was nothing more than a town and a cave. The town was significant, however, because Lorelei lived there. She kept a variety of dolls in her house including a. . .Wigglytuff? She has no taste! Icefall Cave was where Jigglypuff encountered her first Johto Pokemon, Swinub. After that, I used Max Repels and navigated the ice sliding puzzles to get the Waterfall HM. My starter Squirtle now knows Strength, Surf, Rock Smash, and Waterfall. It’ll win the “Most Surprisingly Useful Character” award for being a good HM Mule.


Team Rocket was at the top of the waterfall, and Lorelei scolded them for being Pokemon poachers because they sold what they caught in the cave. One Grunt responded “Who says we can’t do what we want with the Pokemon we catch?” I have to admit he had a point! Several of Team Rocket’s activities weren’t illegal at all. There’s no law prohibiting fossil hunting or running a casino in this region, so why not selling Pokemon that they legally caught?


After a battle with Zubats and a Golbat in the high 30s, Lorelei threatened to attack them with her Lapras. The Grunts said the Pokemon were moved to a warehouse on Five Island.


Five Island’s meadow was full of Team Rocket Grunts, which Jigglypuff beat into submission. But I couldn’t enter their warehouse yet because I didn’t have the second password. The correct answer should have been “Body Slam”, but even OG PUFF didn’t have the power to defeat event flags. The only option left was to beat up the remaining trainers and go to another island. The Ladies provided a lot of money when defeated. I’ll need some of that to buy X items for the final battles.


Six Island’s gimmick was the Dotted Hole ruins. Many Hikers and other mountain trainers were there to fight Jigglypuff. A battle against one Juggler leveled her to 95, so I used all of my Rare Candies to max out OG PUFF’s stats. From now on, battles could only provide personal satisfaction and cash.


Swimmer Samir said “Don’t be hatin’” when he thought I was sick of seeing Swimmers. Jigglypuff was nothing if not a “hater”, so she Body Slammed his Gyarados to death. After the battle, he said “I couldn’t lift the stigma of being a Swimmer. . .”. That’s what he deserves for being in a stingy trainer class!


Seven Island had a Trainer Tower, which Jigglypuff felt obligated to enter. It didn’t go well. She lost on the first fight to a level 100 Feraligatr, but at least she managed to paralyze it and send it into yellow health with a few Body Slams first!


Death Count: 6


Jigglypuff beat the last remnants of Team Rocket in the warehouse on Five Island, mostly with Psychics and the occasional Brick Break. Why must Team Rocket build conveyor belts to nowhere? It must be hard for them to get around. Then OG PUFF beat up the scientist who stole the Sapphire from Green, and could finally upgrade Celio’s computer. This allowed me to challenge an upgraded Elite Four.



Lorelei’s Dewgong was now level 64, and set up with the dreaded Double Team when I started using X Attacks. One Brick Break managed to get through and kill it. I used another X Attack while Cloyster was out, but paid for it when its Ice Beam froze the ‘Puff. Several powerful Ice Beams and Surfs later, OG PUFF smashed its shell with a Brick Break. Piloswine got in an Earthquake when I had to heal with a Max Potion, but even OG PUFF could outspeed it and finish it off with Brick Break. I got a very bad roll with a Jynx Psychic, and OG PUFF had her Special Defense lowered. This was enough to put her in 2HKO range, and there wasn’t much I could do.



Death Count: 7


Dewgong used Double Teams like before, but Jigglypuff saw through the illusions and hit with her first Brick Break. The trick to winning Lorelei Round 2 was to set up X Speeds on Cloyster. It could still hit hard with its Water and Ice attacks, but Jigglypuff was safe (as long as there weren’t any criticals). I didn’t use enough X Attacks for Jigglypuff to finish it off in one hit, so 2 Body Slams did the job. Piloswine didn’t get to attack at all, and Jynx died to a single Body Slam. OG PUFF’s steroids allowed her to outspeed Lapras and karate chop it with Brick Break.



Bruno evolved his Onixes for Round 2 instead of getting more Fighting types for some reason. Still no Poliwrath, Hitmontop, or even a Heracross? Steelix wasn’t good setup fodder for X Speed because it still knew Rock Tomb. It was good for other X items, though. Steelix used Rock Tomb, missed an Iron Tail, and fell in love after using Crunch. A critical Brick Break destroyed it with one blow. Hitmonchan went last despite my Speed debuffs and fell to Psychic. Did it use a negative priority move? I didn’t use enough X Specials to get through Machamp’s bulky defenses, so it got a few turns to use Cross Chop. Machamp fell in love, but that resulted in OG PUFF being KOd by a critical hit.



Death Count: 8 (Random critical hits are why permadeath solo runs are stupid, kids!)



Right before Take 2, I realized “Wait a minute. I have Guard Spec!” Guard Spec prevented Rock Tomb from lowering the ‘Puff’s Speed, so I could set up all I wanted. The Steelixes were the only difficult part of the fight because of their lopsided Defense stat. All the Fighting types from Hitmonchan to Machamp collapsed under the mental strain of Psychic.



Agatha was less difficult than the first two Elite Four members. She led with a level 66 Gengar that used Hypnosis and then Psychic. Jigglypuff took several X Speeds and an X Special or two and responded with her own Psychics. Level 70 Gengar died in one Psychic too. I healed with a Max Potion when Arbok came out, but it wasn’t good for setup because it loved using Double Team like Lorelei’s Dewgong. Another Psychic broke the cobra’s back. Ice Beam was stronger against Crobat and her last Pokemon. Agatha swapped out Haunter for the one Johto Ghost type, and Misdreavus didn’t have a Psychic weakness to exploit. Two boosted Ice Beams were enough, however.


Lance’s Gyarados could take advantage of Dragon Dance now to increase both its Attack and Speed. This was a scary move, especially when combined with Earthquake. Gyarados became too tough to stop after about 2 Dragon Dances, and 2HKOd OG PUFF.


Death Count: 9


The same thing happened again, except Gyarados was frozen for a couple of turns thanks to a lucky Ice Beam.


Death Count: 10


Jigglypuff was lucky with the AI on the next round. Gyarados used Thunder Wave and Earthquake on occasion instead of Dragon Dance, and a Body Slam paralysis rendered it unable to act for a few turns. Then Kingdra came out, and it was a Dragon Dancer too. A Surf and Hyper Beam later, and OG PUFF was toast.


Death Count: 11


The next attempt was finally successful. Jigglypuff got a lucky paralysis with Body Slam on Gyarados again, but not before being paralyzed herself with Thunder Wave. Kingdra set up with Dragon Dance, but used Surf instead of Hyper Beam and was Body Slammed. Dragonite 1 was level 66 and mostly used Dragon Claw, but once opted for Flamethrower. This was good setup for X items, especially after a Dragon Claw caused Dragonite to become infatuated with OG PUFF’s Cute Charm.


Aerodactyl outsped Jigglypuff and hit with a critical Earthquake, but OG PUFF responded in kind with a critical Ice Beam. By the time the level 72 Dragonite appeared, I was paranoid and used a Max Potion instead of going for the KO. It used Hyper Beam, and Jigglypuff retalitated with an Ice Beam. OG PUFF ended the battle with 178/376 HP.



Gary led with Heracross, a terrible opponent for a Normal type like Jigglypuff. It started with Counter, which failed because I used the special Psychic. Megahorn caused it to fall in love with OG PUFF. Insert your own dirty joke here, because I’m not going to do it for you. Alakazam came out next, and outsped Jigglypuff to KO it with Psychic.


Final Death Count: 12


I realized after that loss that Heracross was the perfect setup bait despite being a Fighting type. Its moves were Rock Tomb, Megahorn, and Counter, none of which could hit for super effective damage. Being male was its downfall, because it fell in love with Megahorn this time too. After many X items and a Guard Spec, Jigglypuff responded to Heracross’s flirtations with Psychic.


Alakazam may have had a strong mind, but it had a weak body and could be Body Slammed. Tyranitar was Rock/Dark and was especially vulnerable to Brick Break. Its Sand Stream passive ability damaged both sides of the field permanently until the weather was changed. (Though Tyranitar itself was immune like all Rock/Ground/Steel types.)


Gyarados and Arcanine couldn’t Intimidate OG PUFF when Guard Spec was up, and were promptly Body Slammed. Gary’s final Pokemon, a level 75 Venusaur, didn’t get to strike at all. It used Sunny Day to blow away the Sand Stream, and ate a Sitrus Berry when Ice Beam sent it into red health. OG PUFF destroyed Gary’s starter with a critical Ice Beam after the fact, and won the final boss fight!


But there was one challenge remaining. A Pokemon in Cerulean Cave claimed to be the strongest in Kanto, and OG PUFF did not tolerate upstarts. She climbed down through the mazelike tunnels and reached the genetically engineered Mewtwo. But Jigglypuff needed no such enhancements. Mewtwo began with Safeguard, while OG PUFF Body Slammed continuously. The one attack it used was the pathetic Swift. When it got low on health, Mewtwo repeatedly used Recover. But it wasn’t enough. Mewtwo’s AI routine used Safeguard again, and that gave Jigglypuff the opportunity she needed to go for the kill. OG PUFF ended her final battle with 321/376 HP.


Jigglypuff stood triumphantly on Mewtwo’s former “throne” and ruled Cerulean Cave from then on. That was a fun challenge! I never expected a gender and “contact” restricted ability like Cute Charm to be so useful, but strange things happened when so many physical Pokemon were programmed as male. OG PUFF had weak stats, but she certainly had a better selection of moves than SEJUNPARK the Pachirisu. Kanto’s non-linear layout helped her gain a lot of levels quickly, as did Jigglypuff’s “Fast” experience classification. OG PUFF needed only 800,000 EXP to reach level 100, while the slowest group Fluctuating requires 1,640,000. Like all solo runs with weak Pokemon, it required heavy use of healing and buff items.


OG PUFF Final Stats



HP: 376
Attack: 131
Defense: 91
Special Attack: 109
Special Defense: 66
Speed: 82



Final Moveset


Ice Beam
Brick Break
Body Slam
Psychic

[T-hawk]

I liked this one. Jigglypuff is best Pokemon. I only ever played the first two gen games, and lost interest halfway through Silver, but I did have a Jigglypuff leading that party way back then.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

I liked this one.  Jigglypuff is best Pokemon.  I only ever played the first two gen games, and lost interest halfway through Silver, but I did have a Jigglypuff leading that party way back then.

As much as I love the 2nd generation games, they have a wonky level curve.  Kanto in particular is very underleveled for an area you only reach after the Elite Four.  That may have been why you lost interest.

If I ever do a Crystal variant playthrough, it'll be with a Grass Pokemon.  The Johto Gyms hate that type, but that may be a coincidence.  They had to use the types that weren't already represented in Kanto.  (Except for Dark.  It must be a running joke at GameFreak to not have a Dark type Gym in any game.  No, the Kahuna from Alola doesn't count.)

Although I have my original 1st and 2nd generation cartridges, their save batteries are long gone.  To do those, I'll have to buy them from the 3DS shop.  The only main series game left that I wouldn't have to buy is X.  Chances are that'll be my next solo.