Pokemon Variants

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

To take my mind off Bravely Default for a while, I played through Pokemon White with a solo Panpour/Simipour.  I'll post that playthrough later.  System Error occasionally does challenge runs of Pokemon games too.

Realms Beyond may not be familiar with Pokemon's mechanics, so I'll give a rough explanation. 

Stats

HP:  This works the same way it does in every other RPG.  Pokemon has a "low health, high damage" battle system, so don't expect your characters to take many hits.

Attack:  The equivalent of "Physical Attack" in other RPGs.  In the first three "generations", some types such as Rock were always physical.  Since the 4th generation games Diamond and Pearl, attacks were classified as physical or special.  For example, Rock Slide is physical, and Power Gem is special.

Defense:  This protects against attacks that are based on the Attack stat.

Special Attack:  Think "Magic Attack".  Water, for example, always used to be special, but now some moves like Waterfall are physical.  Special Attack and Special Defense were once one stat called "Special" in the first generation, but were split in Gold and Silver.

Special Defense:  Like Defense, but for special attacks.

Speed:  Pokemon turn order is deterministic.  If you have at least one more Speed than your opponent, you always go first unless the enemy uses a "priority" move like Quick Attack.  The only exception is a coin flip if two Pokemon have exactly the same Speed, but this is rare.  Speed is therefore the most important stat other than HP.

Pokemon do not have innate Accuracy or Evasion unless their Ability says otherwise.  Each move has its own base accuracy.  Evasion and Accuracy are modified by moves like Double Team or Hone Claws.  Weather can make certain moves more or less accurate too.


IV:  Every Pokemon randomly has 0-31 added to each stat when it is "generated".  These bonuses are nicknamed "Individual Values" or "IVs" for short in the competitive community.  You can't increase these unless you're using Hyper Training in 7th generation games.  IVs are a hidden mechanic, but recent games will at least tell you if an IV is 0 or 31 for each stat. One of your highest IVs will be cryptically hinted at in the stat screen with a "characteristic" such as "Alert to sounds" (Speed) or "Often dozes off" (HP).  Breeding for good IVs is the bane of every competitive player who plays on a cartridge.


EV:  "Effort Values", or "EVs" for short, are stat bonuses you can control.  If you beat up a particular Pokemon, you'll add points to a specific stat.  4 Effort Values equal 1 stat point.  You won't see the full effects of EVs and IVs until level 100, but they can make a difference even at levels lower than that.  A Pokemon can have up to 510 EVs total and 252 EVs in a particular stat (63 stat points).  Offensive Pokemon will likely want to max out Speed and either Attack or Special Attack, with the remainder HP or something.  IVs and EVs are mostly for competitive battles, since the AI opponents in the story mode are easy enough not to require stat optimization.


Type:  Elements in Pokemon are called "types".  To list all the advantages and disadvantages of each type would require a chart.  "Super effective" attacks against a type deal double damage.  "Not very effective" attacks do half damage, and some types are immune to others.  Normal attacks do nothing to Ghosts, for example.  Pokemon can have up to two types.  For example, Simipour is pure Water, and Gyarados is Water/Flying.  If a Pokemon uses an attack of its own type, its base power will be multiplied by 1.5.  This is known as the "Same Type Attack Bonus", or "STAB" for short.

Ability:  Starting in the 3rd generation games Ruby and Sapphire, every Pokemon has a passive Ability.  These can vary wildly in quality.  Slaking's Truant ability forces it to do nothing every other turn.  Kingdra's Swift Swim doubles its Speed if the Rain weather effect is active.  Gluttony allows a Pokemon to eat a healing or stat buff berry item at a higher HP percentage than normal.  



Most battles are 1 vs. 1, though on rare occasions you'll run into 2 vs. 2 or 3 vs. 3.  Switching a Pokemon takes a turn, and each trainer can have up to 6 on their team.    
   

My next post may cover common variant types of Pokemon games.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

I was going to cover status ailments, but my narcoleptic computer ate the original post.

Anyway, on to the variants.

Solo:  Use a single Pokemon to fight all battles.  Other Pokemon may be required to use HM moves to move around the world.  (e.g. if you're soloing with a Fire type, you'll need a Pokemon that can use Surf that never fights). 

This is easier than it sounds, because typically you're only fighting one Pokemon at a time.  Experience is split among Pokemon that participate in battle too, so solos can level up quickly.  Black and White tried to change this by making overleveled Pokemon gain much less experience.  You'll die occasionally to unlucky critical hits, so don't try a solo permadeath playthrough.


Monotype:  Only Pokemon of a particular type are allowed to fight.  This includes dual types (e.g Bulbasaur can be used in a mono-Grass or mono-Poison).  You have to find creative ways to get around your type disadvantages.  I once did a mono-Normal run of X, and it wasn't too hard.

Nuzlocke:  This challenge is named after a webcomic if my memory isn't deceiving me.  I don't care for Nuzlockes, but they might be worth considering if you like roguelikes.  The rules:

-You may only catch the first Pokemon you see in a route or town.
-Pokemon are "dead" when they are knocked out, and must be "released" or stored in the PC forever.
-If you get a Game Over, you have to start the game over again.  (Not all Nuzlocke players use this one.)


Wonderlocke:  Similar to a Nuzlocke, but you must Wonder Trade each Pokemon you catch.  Wonder Trade is an online feature in the 6th and 7th generation games that randomly trades a Pokemon with another Wonder Trade user.  You had better hope you get something better than Magikarp!


Gauntlet:  Other players give you restrictions for your playthrough.  Some of these apply to the whole run.  One example is "You must spend X amount of money every time you visit a Pokemon Center".  A few are "Event Challenges" for specific areas or boss fights.  One sample Event Challenge for the 2nd generation games would be "You must beat Falkner using only Pokemon that are weak to Flying".  Gauntlets are popular on the Smogon forums, so if you want to try it, go there.


Scramble:  Other players pick your team.  The amount of challenge depends on how cruel the forum is feeling at the time.


Some players like to go through the game without using items in battle like X Attack and Hyper Potions.  This simulates multiplayer battles where those are banned.  One of the hardest optional rules would be abstaining from Pokemon Centers, because PP restoring items are rare in these games and cannot be bought.  Each move can only be used as long as you have at least one PP for it.

Here are a few details about Panpour and Simipour before I post the solo playthrough:

Simipour Base Stats (i.e. the minimum at Level 50 with 0 IVs and 0 EVs with a neutral nature)

HP:  75
Attack:  98
Defense:  63
Special Attack:  98
Special Defense:  63
Speed:  101

Simipour has bad defenses, mediocre attack power, and above average Speed.  101 Speed barely outpaces a lot of Pokemon who sit at base 100.  Quite a few Unova Pokemon like Accelgor and Mienshao outspeed Simipour assuming equal level, but you won't have an equal level in a solo playthrough.     There aren't many good Water types for story mode playthroughs in Unova, and if you have Panpour in the first place, it means you didn't pick the Water starter Oshawott.  (You get Pansage, Pansear, or Panpour in the Dreamyard depending on which starter you selected.  If you choose Snivy, you get Panpour.)

There were some downsides to using Simipour.  Many Pokemon that evolve with a Stone can only learn level up moves in their base form.  Panpour's final move Crunch was at level 43, so I couldn't evolve with an optimal moveset until Chargestone Cave after the halfway point of the game. 
 

A few important moves for this challenge:


-Learning Scald at 22 is great.  Scald is a base 80 special Water attack that has a 30% chance of Burning the opponent.  It's frequently used in competitive battles to deter physical attackers.  You wouldn't normally get Scald until you find the TM in the Cold Storage dungeon.

-Acrobatics is a base 55 power Flying physical attack that doubles in power if the user is not equipping an item.  Since I had either the Eviolite or the Lucky Egg for most of the playthrough, it wasn't at max power.  It was good for taking out Grass types that would otherwise give me trouble.  Panpour learns it naturally at level 31, and you don't get the TM for it until you defeat the 6th Gym Leader Skyla. 

-Crunch is a base 80 physical Dark attack that has a chance to debuff Defense by one stage.  There are enough Psychic and Ghost types in Unova that you'll want to consider Dark coverage.

-Almost every Pokemon can learn Return, a physical Normal attack that can have up to 102 base power if the hidden Happiness stat is maxed out.  Solo runs don't have to worry about Happiness much, since it's gained through using a Pokemon in battles.

-Work Up buffs Attack and Special Attack by one stage per use, and is learned via the TM that you get from beating the 1st Gym Leader.  It's a useful move for "mixed" attackers, and it saves money on X items if nothing else.  Simipour cannot learn superior buffs like Bulk Up or Swords Dance through TMs, so Work Up was in his moveset for the whole game. (Remember that Pokemon can only have 4 moves at a time.)

-Waterfall is an 80 base power physical Water attack that has a chance to make slower opponents lose a turn by "flinching".  Waterfall allows you to climb waterfalls outside of battle, but this isn't important until the postgame since Unova tried to downplay HM requirements.  Waterfall is available after you get Surf and can access route 18 near Nuvema Town.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Time to post the Panpour/Simipour solo playthrough!  I originally wrote these for Smogon as I was playing.  All the parts will be posted at once for convenience's sake.


-I wanted something more original than a starter, but it had to be an early game Pokemon. That, and the 5th generation starters are a disappointment anyway! So Panpour/Simipour it is. The "elemental monkeys" receive a lot of criticism on the Internet for their "lazy design", but I like them. They seem viable for the regular game without being overpowering, or too weak to be fun to play. Panpour is in the Medium Fast experience group according to Serebii.

To start out, I picked Snivy in order to get Panpour. The first Bianca, Cheren, and N battles were easy as usual. (Is the "ch" in "Cheren" pronounced like "ch", "sh", "k", or as in "L'Chaim"? The only episodes of the cartoon that I've watched were back in the RBY era.)

In the Dreamyard, I got my Panpour and condemned my starter to being frozen in time inside the PC for the rest of the game. Unova isn't Alola, so chances are there's no Poke Pelago for Snivy! Panpour has a Quirky nature and the "Somewhat stubborn" characteristic. I nicknamed him "DonkeyKong" for lack of any better ideas at the time. Maybe "SeeNoEvil" will be its new name upon reaching the Name Rater, wherever that character is in White. . .

Some NPC dialogue in Striaton City was entertaining:

"The Striaton City Gym Leader. No matter how often I challenge him, he always uses Pokemon that I don't like. . ."

-Are you insulting my Panpour? The Striaton Gym specializes in elemental monkeys.


"I think it is all right to move ahead with Pokemon you've trained well, even without thinking about type matchups."

-That's the motto of a solo run, according to the first trainer in the Striaton Gym.

EDIT: 3 million PokeDollars for a chef-prepared Potion advertised on TV in Accumula Town? The Unova economy must be suffering from hyperinflation if their equivalent of QVC advertises items that cost $3,000,000 to middle class families. . .

Whimsicott is the astrological sign for April. "Everyone around you probably respects your strong character". Hyper Potions are a Whimsicott sign's "lucky item". If you pay attention to the dialogue in this game, things get weird quickly. .

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Panpour defeated Chili the Striaton Gym Leader easily. I was a bit concerned at first that Chili’s Lillipup Work Up would buff it enough to kill Panpour in one hit eventually because I was at a Speed disadvantage. Chili never bothered to attack though, and I got a lucky critical hit. This gym is designed to force players to use Pokemon other than their starters, and that’s where the elemental monkeys come in. All Chili’s Pansear could do was use Incinerate to destroy Panpour’s Oran Berry.


After getting HM Cut from Fennel, I caught a Patrat and named her “HM CUT”. She won’t be used in battle, except in Doubles Trainer battles. In Doubles, Patrat will only use “useless” moves for Panpour like Work Up to simulate a solo battle.


My first loss was against the first Team Plasma Grunt of all things. A level 10 Patrat Bided on the first turn, and Water Gun didn’t do enough damage to kill it before it unleashed its stored power a couple of turns later.  (Bide deals double the damage that the user has taken.) Wait, I might actually have to use tactics during this playthrough?

Death Count: 1


To get even, I replaced Leer with Work Up. The Patrat Bided on the first turn, and I used the free turns to buff Panpour’s Special Attack. After it failed, I clicked Water Gun, and it got a critical hit! Now that’s overkill. The second Team Plasma Grunt sent out Purrloin and used Assist despite having no other Pokemon. The AI doesn’t check for number of remaining Pokemon, I guess.


Route 3 Cheren was easy, but I was still annoyed because I wasn’t expecting him to charge in out of nowhere. It’s been a while since I’ve played White. Tepig used Defense Curl, Odor Sleuth, and Tail Whip, and I decided to make Panpour Work Up while he had the type advantage. I was expecting him to send out an elemental monkey or something, but he chose the weak Purrloin instead. It only had time to get in one Sand Attack before falling to Water Guns.


Cheren did his part in the double battle against Team Plasma Grunts in Wellspring Cave. Panpour used Work Up on the first turn in case one of the Patrats Bided, while Tepig used Ember. Panpour defeated each Patrat with Water Gun after they were weakened.


A converted warehouse in Nacrene City sells stat buffing items (e.g. X Attack, Dire Hit). I’ll have to remember that. X Defends will come in handy for the Watchog in the local Gym.


Preschooler Juliet near the entrance to Pinwheel Forest almost increased the Death Count. Cottonee used Growth, Mega Drain, Stun Spore, and Leech Seed to great effect. Petilil used Mega Drain too. I had to use a Super Potion, a Paralyze Heal, and a bottle of water to make it through that fight at Level 17. Panpour had 2 HP left after I won! I wonder if the other trainers tell player characters to give up battling if they lose to a Preschooler. Preschooler Juliet’s dialogue after battle indicates that she knows unevolved Pokemon learn moves moe quickly. She’s a child prodigy!


Youngster Keita’s 3 Tympoles were another surprising challenge. The Tympoles’ Bubblebeam was weak, but they had Supersonic. It took a lot of Potions to keep Panpour from killing himself in confusion. They Growled so many times that it was safer to use Water Gun instead of Work Up + Scratch.


After that fight, I decided to replace Scratch with Rock Smash. Rock Smash has the same base power, can hit a few types for Super Effective damage, and has a Defense debuff too. Leveling up to 19 let me replace Lick with the superior Bite. Given that Panpour can learn Scald at level 22, chances are DonkeyKong will burn enemy Pokemon instead of paralyzing them with Lick.


Team Plasma Grunts in formation blocked the way to Pinwheel Forest. If they stick to this tactic instead of sending out low level Pokemon to fight young children, they could conquer the world. The grunt who’s second from the top says “We will steal Pokemon! You’ll never play together again!”. You’d think they’d at least try to hide their true intentions when they’re posing as an animal rights organization. Was the Japanese dialogue this unsubtle? Another Grunt at the Dreamyard talks about Ghetsis “tricking” people with his speeches. If N met any other member of his organization, he’d figure out the ruse in no time.


Back in Nacrene, a waitress at the Café Warehouse called her establishment “a stylish café in a rural area!” The “City” in Nacrene City should dispel any notions of the place being rural, but what do I know?


One of the professors of Castelia University is “Dr. Technic Al’Machine”. With a name like that, he has few prospects in life apart from appearing on talk shows and discussing Pokemon moves. . .such as Quiver Dance that doesn’t even have a TM!


Meeting N in front of the Nacrene City Gym was a surprise. Pidove was the biggest threat on his team, oddly enough. Panpour buffed himself with Work Up while Pidove Leered to lower Defense. Quick Attack hitting a –Defense Panpour did quite a bit of damage. Tympole went down to a single Bite, and Water Gun beat Timburr before it could unleash Bide.


The Nacrene Museum has an Armaldo fossil if you look closely enough. A “meteor that has a space virus attached to it” is another 3rd Generation reference. The guy with the sunglasses in the Gym is helpful enough to tell players that Normal types are weak to Fighting, and Fighting Pokemon live near Pinwheel Forest.


Patrats and Lillipups were easy prey for Rock Smash. Lenora’s Herdier and Watchog were not! I used my only X Defend to prepare for Watchog, but Herdier reduced it to normal with Leer. Take Downs hurt a lot too, and Lenora healed the recoil damage with a Super Potion. Force-feeding Panpour with Super Potions was required to win at Level 21. It may sound like a cheap trick, but you have to do that when you’re dealing with the 5th Generation experience point system with an unevolved Pokemon.


Panpour survived the Retaliate after Herdier died, and slowly took down Watchog with Rock Smashes when he didn’t have to chug Super Potions. He somehow managed to dodge a Hypnosis and avoid critical hits. I can see why this is one of the hardest Gyms in Unova. Beating Watchog gave Panpour Scald, the bane of physically attacking Pokemon in competitive battling.


Having an 80 Base Power move with Same Type Attack Bonus is overpowered for this point in the game. Gorm quoted Sun Tzu’s proverb about knowing your enemy before leaving. If he had followed the ancient Chinese author’s advice, he would have given his underlings stronger Pokemon than Patrat and Sandile. The TM for Grass Knot was available in Pinwheel Forest, which might come in handy if I have trouble with heavy Water types such as Carracosta.


GameFreak must have loved its graphics at the time. It shows in the Skyarrow Bridge design and the sweeping camera angles.


A nice person in Castelia City asked me which elemental monkey I wanted to evolve. After I chose “Panpour”, I received a Water Stone! Evolving Panpour probably isn’t a good idea right now. Panpour will get Crunch at level 43 if I can hold out long enough. Acrobatics is another level up move, but I can always use a TM later if I'm forced to evolve Panpour early.


Castelia City’s Battle Company was fairly easy. Bite’s flinch rate helped with the trainer with all 3 elemental monkeys. “Janitor” Geoff had a Trubbish and a Mincinno. Wouldn’t an alleged Janitor want a Pokemon that cleans the offices instead of a living pile of garbage? Trubbish poisoned Panpour with Sludge, which was a bit annoying, but not much of a threat. Mincinno nearly defeated me with Swift, though. I suspected something weird was happening when he gave me 4000 PokeDollars, far more than the office workers. Turns out he was in disguise to test trainers. He gave me an Experience Share that’s useless for a solo playthrough. Another worker handed me a Scope Lens. Extra critical hits may be worth it in some situations.


The Passerby Analytics HQ sounded dodgy, so I knew I had to check it out. One of the last questions on the questionnaire was “What would you like to become?”. One of the choices was “Team Plasma”. Are they checking for stupid people who’d openly admit to being Team Plasma sleeper agents? I answered “Pokemon” and left.


I went north to the desert and beat up a few Fisherman with Basculins. I’m surprised GameFreak didn’t make an evolution for it, because Basculin’s clearly meant to be the Unova version of Magikarp. Looking in the building near the north exit of Castelia paid off. A man was impressed by my Pokedex and gave me the Eviolite. Guess what item Panpour will use until it evolves!


Another building in the northern part of Castelia City had a party with people speaking in various languages. I know Spanish, so I can quote and (roughly) translate for you:

“¡Es la primera vez que vengo aquí!”=”It’s the first time I came here!” (“Vengo” is present tense, but it makes more sense as simple past in English in this context.)

“¡Pero este precioso paisaje hace que me sienta como en casa!”=”But this beautiful countryside makes me feel at home!”

“¡La próxima vez traeré a mis amigos!”=”Next time, I’ll bring my friends!”


I think the Italian-speaker is saying “Hello! Are you having fun? Don’t feel embarrassed.”, but that’s only because of possibly misleading Romance language cognates. I have no idea if I’m correct here. As for the German guy, I have absolutely no idea what he's saying.

One Team Plasma Grunt said being beaten by a solo Panpour was “Bad for Team Plasma! Or Plasbad, for short!” Bronius said that it would be “amusing” to build a hideout in front of a Gym, but Team Plasma wears Templar armor and garish robes instead of sensible disguises. Ghetsis had a slip of the tongue and said “we can easily create the world that I-I mean Team Plasma-desires!”. How is he fooling N and the citizens of Unova again?


At the Name Rater, I changed the Panpour’s name to “SeeNoEvil”.


The Castelia Gym’s Harlequins were easy to beat. SeeNoEvil used Bite on the Sewaddles, and Scald on the Venipedes and Dwebbles. Burgh, however, is quite difficult for an unevolved Water type. Whirlipede lowered my Physical Defense with Screech, and this forced me to use X Defends when Leavanny came out of its Poke Ball. A critical hit Razor Leaf had this result:


Death Count: 2


I reset when my Trainer “whites out”, because I’m paranoid about running out of money to buy items. The Death Count should be enough evidence of my shame!


On Take 2, Whirlipede poisoned SeeNoEvil with Poison Tail. I used a Dire Hit so SeeNoEvil could take out Whirlipede with a critical hit Scald. Using Bite on Leavanny didn’t get a critical hit or a flinch like I had hoped. A String Shot dashed any hopes of SeeNoEvil outspeeding his opponent. Leavanny then Razor Leafed Panpour twice, causing:



Death Count: 3


On the next try, I maxed out SeeNoEvil’s attacking stats with Work Up and gave him a Dire Hit. Whirlipede was as annoying as usual with Poison Tail and Screech. It took several Super Potions, a Soda Pop, and a Lemonade, but eventually Whirlipede fell to a non-critical Scald. Bite failed to get a critical hit or a flinch yet again, resulting in another Razor Leaf-induced failure. Even the Eviolite can’t save Panpour, it seems.


Death Count: 4


RNG-based losses are annoying, aren’t they? I played a bit more cautiously this time around, and used a few X Defends to mitigate Screech along with a Dire Hit. A Work Up boosted Scald beat Whirlipede as usual. Bite made Leavanny flinch and put it in critical health! Burgh healed it with a Hyper Potion, but it wasn’t enough to save Leavanny from a critical hit Bite! I thought Dwebble had Sturdy, so I used Bite again. It knocked it out in one shot. SeeNoEvil was angry after the previous 3 losses.


Unlike Cheren, Bianca was considerate enough to call on the Xtransceiver before fighting me. She wasted a few Super Potions on Herdier, so I eventually made SeeNoEvil use Rock Smash before finishing it off with Scald. I used Work Up to remove the Intimidate debuff from Herdier. Munna had enough time to get in one Psybeam before Panpour Bit it to death. A few Bites took care of Dewott, and SeeNoEvil defeated his rival monkey Pansear with one Scald.


Cheren in the Route 4 desert was a little trickier. Work Up on the first turn against Pidove allowed SeeNoEvil to power through the rest of the fight with Scald. Pansage got in a Vine Whip after SeeNoEvil failed to knock it out in one shot, but the sandstorm finished it off.  (Sandstorms hurt all Pokemon that aren't Rock, Ground, or Steel type for 1/16 of max HP at the end of a round of combat.) Liepard’s Pursuit sent SeeNoEvil into critical HP, but fortunately a Scald defeated Pignite before it could act. Beating Cheren leveled Panpour to 31, so I replaced Rock Smash with Acrobatics.


The Route 4 and Relic Castle trainers were easy. Acrobatics took out the Grass types more efficiently than Bite, and Bite destroyed the Psychic and Water types. Scald beat everything else. One trainer was so pleased that someone noticed him that he gave me Soft Sand. Psychic Cybil is a fraud, by the way. She claims to know that I’m a Pokemon trainer through clairvoyance, but anyone could notice the Poke Balls on my character’s belt!


Defeating the Team Plasma Grunt with a Watchog and Trubbish impressed the old man from the Daycare, so he gave me a Bicycle.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

This post will cover everything from Nimbasa City to the Cheren fight shortly before Twist Mountain.


When I tried to leave Nimbasa City through the western exit, Bianca marched me over to the Musical Theater. Putting a cane, opaque glasses, and a top hat on Panpour qualifies as “elegant” according to Nimbasa City standards, I guess. The musicals were funny, but I miss the Contests from Hoenn when I played this minigame.


Afterwards, SeeNoEvil beat up the trainers on Route 5, Route 16, and in Nimbasa City’s stadium. Striker Tony (?) said “Both my Pokemon and I still haven’t gotten enough practices. . .In terms of levels, that would be five. . .”. I thought character levels were an abstraction for the players’ convenience, but it turns out they really do exist within the story.

Fighting N at the amusement park was much easier than I had expected. I think I had a hard time with the Sigilyph on my first playthrough, but maybe that’s because I relied too much on Pignite at the time. I buffed SeeNoEvil with Work Up a couple of times until Sandile used Embargo. Disabling Eviolite was equivalent to a significant Defense and Special Defense debuff, so I decided to go on the offensive. SeeNoEvil defeated Sandile and Darumaka with Scald. Scraggy couldn’t handle Acrobatics. Sigilyph seemed threatening, but Bite killed it in one hit before it could do anything. Who knew having a level 35 Pokemon with boosted Attack and a super-effective move could make the fight anticlimactic?


I defeated Elesa on the first try, believe it or not. It involved stuffing SeeNoEvil with many X Defends and X Special Defenses at the beginning as the two Emolgas Volt Switched into each other. There were a few close calls with Volt Switch critical hits, but Lemonades and one Hyper Potion healed the damage. When I had a few “safe” turns (Volt Switch is never safe for Panpour!), SeeNoEvil increased his Special Attack with Work Up. I threw in a Dire Hit too.


The real reason for my victory was probably the AI’s refusal to use anything other than Volt Switch for Same Type Attack Bonus. After Scald killed the first Emolga, the second one switched into Zebstrika. A Scald therefore knocked out Elesa’s best Pokemon before it could act. One more Scald defeated the last Emolga. Chances are it was the Eviolite that won the battle. I’m not sure how SeeNoEvil would have fared as a Simipour.


Cheren rudely interrupted me on Route 5. Why can’t he call with the Xtransceiver like Bianca? Then Alder thought it was a good idea to make Cheren and me defeat a few Preschoolers and take their pocket change. Alder is a bully.


The Route 6 trainers were forgettable. Few in Unova bother to evolve their Pokemon, even after the 4th Gym, and their levels are stuck in the mid 20s. Worker Filipe in Cold Storage had a Gurdurr. At least that’s a start, but still a speedbump compared to my level 40 Panpour. The Team Plasma Grunts in the storage container attempted to stop me with their Sandiles, Watchogs, and Liepards, but they were at the same level as the Workers’ Pokemon. Cheren called them a “waste of oxygen”, an apt insult for gangsters who can’t beat up a few kids despite outnumbering them 4 to 1.


Clay and the other trainers in his Gym were weak to SeeNoEvil’s Water type. Scald killed everything quickly, and even the Water/Ground Palpitoads were neutral to Water at best. Give them a Gastrodon with Storm Drain at least, GameFreak! Clay’s Excadrill survived the first Scald because it’s a Pokemon good enough to be banned by Smogon’s “Overused” tier. Clay healed it with a Hyper Potion, but the second Scald was a critical hit. Palpitoad was burned by the first Scald when it appeared, and it only had time to use one Muddy Water before passing out. The elevator going down through the mine shaft was fun at least!


Bianca was harder than the Gym Leader. A bit surprising for a character who's supposed to be weak according to the story. Herdier wasn’t too much trouble, but Musharna was surprisingly sturdy even in the mid 20s level range. For the sake of comparison, Panpour is at level 42. It hit SeeNoEvil with a few Psybeams, and Bite wasn’t enough to take it down before Bianca could heal it. I took advantage of the predictable AI and used Work Up on the turn where she used a Hyper Potion, and then made SeeNoEvil Bite Musharna to death. Pansear fainted after one Scald, but Dewott was tough enough to take a couple of Bites and use Revenge. Revenge didn’t do much damage even with the boost that came from being attacked that turn, but I was worried about critical hits. SeeNoEvil still managed to win without chugging healing items in the end. Bianca gave me the Fly HM after I won, so I could go back to previous towns quickly.


Clay took out the previously impassable Galvantula web blocking Chargestone Cave with his Krokorok. The linearity in this game is a bit too obvious sometimes. . .N said I was a “neutral presence” compared to the power-hungry Cheren and the weak Bianca to emphasize the “blank slate” personality of all Pokemon protagonists. Then Professor Juniper showed up and gave me a Lucky Egg, an item that doubles Experience Points gained. It’s as if the game wants me to power level with a solo character! Beating up a random Hiker’s Gurdurr leveled SeeNoEvil up to 43, teaching him his final move Crunch. This was a significant upgrade over Bite, and a Dark type move would be needed for Caitlin of the Elite Four.


“Stone” evolutions are an interesting mechanic in Pokemon, as far as the main game is concerned. SeeNoEvil could have evolved as early as Castelia City if I wanted to, but Simipour doesn’t learn any new moves by leveling up, so delaying evolution was essential. Now that SeeNoEvil has exhausted his selection of moves anyway, it’s time to use the Water Stone!


Panpour Level 43

HP: 110

Attack: 74

Defense: 58

Special Attack: 54

Special Defense: 58

Speed: 72



Simipour Level 43

HP: 131

Attack: 113

Defense: 71

Special Attack: 93

Special Defense: 71

Speed: 103



Panpour would have roughly 87 in both Defense and Special Defense with the Eviolite equipped, so losing it is bittersweet. The gains in Attack, Special Attack, and especially Speed make Simipour superior overall. Offense is better than defense for the main game, since Pokemon have much lower health compared to bosses in other RPGs like Bravely Default.


Chargestone Cave was a breeze after evolving SeeNoEvil. Simipour’s Scald defeated all the Team Plasma Grunts and their weak Watchogs, Trubbishes, and Liepards. The Ace Trainers had the sense to carry Electric type Zebstrikas and Grass type Lilligants. They still couldn’t take Scald or Acrobatics. N’s Pokemon were all from Chargestone Cave, and included Boldore, Joltik, Klink, and Ferroseed. None of them could survive Scalds. N may be one of the more interesting Pokemon antagonists, but as a boss fight he’s weak until the end of the game.


A guy in the Mistralton City Pokemon Center told me SeeNoEvil’s Hidden Power was Psychic. Mistralton City has the Move Deleter and Move Reminder NPCs, but both were useless for my solo playthrough. Skyla the Gym Leader said there was a “sick Pokemon” at the Celestial Tower. I think GameFreak decided to recycle Jasmine’s characterization from the Johto games here. The Sky Drop TM was useless to me, as well as the Charge Beam TM in Route 7.


Route 7 and Celestial Tower trainers were smart enough to use fully evolved Pokemon occasionally. They were fond of the elemental monkeys and Swoobat in particular. Mistralton City’s Gym was a joke. SeeNoEvil killed all 3 of Skyla’s Pokemon in one hit! Crunch was super-effective on Swoobat, Scald punched through Unfezant’s low Special Defense, and a critical hit Crunch made the Water/Flying Swanna pass out.


Cheren at Route 7 wasn’t much harder. His team consisted of Unfezant, Pansage, Liepard, and Pignite. Three weak early game Pokemon and a second-stage starter. Come on, Cheren! Blue would have had an Emboar by now. Alder jumped off a cliff after the battle and gave Cheren and me the HM for Surf. It has 15 more base power than Scald, so I’ll use it until I get Waterfall at least.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Twist Mountain was no match for SeeNoEvil's Surf and Crunch attacks. The Boldores were a bit annoying because their Sturdy ability that enabled them to hold on with 1 HP after the first hit.

A bit of backtracking can sometimes help in these games, even with a solo Pokemon. Surfing west from the starter location Nuvema Town led me to the HM for Waterfall. A base 80 power Water physical move would be SeeNoEvil's main attack for the rest of the game.

The bridge leading to Driftveil City had Ducklett as a rare encounter. Even though I was only using Simipour in combat, I wanted a Ducklett because it could learn both Fly and Surf. Hidden Machines were a pain before Sun and Moon abolished them. Many of them were weak in battle, such as Cut or Flash, and some Pokemon could not learn any of them. This lead many players to find Pokemon such as Bibarel that could function as "HM Slaves" that were useful only for their non-combat abilities. I therefore nicknamed Ducklett "HM MULE" and released the Tranquill that was my previous Fly user. Catching a Gurdurr in Twist Mountain allowed me to use Strength to push boulders.

After going through the Icirrus Gym, I remembered why I had forgotten Brycen in the first place. He has no personality, and is yet another late game Ice specialist. Gold and Silver had a 7th Gym Leader with Ice Pokemon 11 years earlier. And then X and Y made the 8th Gym Ice. You'll appreciate Sun and Moon's Island Challenge more if you replay the older games and realize how stale the Gym formula had gotten. The Gym layout itself was somewhat more memorable. Sliding across ice over bottomless pits? Are there no building codes in Unova? I would ask the same question about Skyla's Gym, which involves shooting yourself out of cannons. . .

(Yes, I stepped in the path of the 4 dancers to block them and watch them run in place! )

Brycen had a Vanillish, a Beartic, and a Cryogonal. Before I switched out Surf for Waterfall, I had used Surf on one of the random Gym trainers' Cryogonals, and the fact that it survived surprised me. Sure, its base Special Defense is 135, but SeeNoEvil was almost level 60. It probably has a terrible Special Attack IV. The Gym Leader battle was another anticlimax. Vanillish died to one Waterfall. Beartic barely survived a Waterfall, so of course that meant Brycen would heal it with an item. I decided to Crunch to soften it up to avoid getting it into critical HP again, and I got a lucky Defense debuff. After that, I just clicked Crunch again. Cryogonal fell to one Waterfall. Maybe the real problem with Ice Gyms is that Ice is a terrible defensive type. Ice only resists itself. Compare that to the Rock type, another one with many weaknesses (Water, Grass, Ground, Fighting, and Steel). At least Rock can resist Normal, Fire, Poison, and Flying!


Simipour is now Level 60. Even the 5th generation experience curve can't stop SeeNoEvil from overleveling almost entirely on Trainer battles!

Dragonspiral Tower was full of Team Plasma Grunts who used mid-30s Scraggys, Liepards, and Watchogs. They managed to do the one thing they were good for: stalling for time. N reawakened the legendary Pokemon Reshiram at the top of the tower, and challenged me to use the other legendary dragon Zekrom against him. The Black Stone needed to revive Zekrom was at Relic Castle in the desert. Time for more backtracking!

The NPC blocking the way to the rest of Relic Castle, and was replaced by more Team Plasma Grunts with their crummy Liepards, Trubbishes, and Watchogs. (The "railroading" in this game is heavy handed. I miss the relative nonlinearity of the first two generations. . .) At least they're not as weak as Team Flare from X and Y! After beating them all, Juniper told me to go back to Nacrene City. Lenora gave me the Black Stone, and everyone said to go to Opelucid City to take on the final Gym Leader.

One thing I like about the story is that the Gym Leaders and the rival try to stop the villains, unlike the earlier games where they sat around doing nothing useful. Unfortunately, Bianca is relegated to "rear guard" duty because she's the main female character.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

In the Route 8 swamp, Bianca battled me yet again with a Stoutland, a Musharna, a Simisear, and a Samurott, all in the late 30s-40 range. She actually evolves her starter! Why can’t she fight Team Plasma instead of Cheren? She even has the motivation to do so, because they stole her Munna in Castelia City.


On the Tubeline Bridge, Ghetsis bragged about how Team Plasma would be the only Pokemon trainers left after everyone else is beaten into submission. If our hero Solo had a tape recorder whenever he was near Team Plasma, the villains’ plans would fail once N learned the truth. As soon as I had crossed to the other side, a weird baseball player threw the TM Fling at me. Does he do this to everyone who goes to Opelucid City?



In Opelucid City proper, I checked out the Triple Battle building. Triple Battles were an experimental format that was axed in 2016’s Sun and Moon, and it’s a bit of a shame. They function similarly to Double Battles, but positioning is now a factor. A Pokemon on the far left, for example, cannot hit the opponent on the far right with Waterfall. “Shifting” a Pokemon to another position takes up a turn. As for how I did the Triple Battles, well, I sent out HM MULE the Ducklett and HMSTRENGTH the Gurdurr and had them attack each other. To keep the spirit of a solo run, I had to make sure the partner Pokemon were useless!



Surprisingly, SeeNoEvil couldn’t use the Frost Breath TM from the Icirrus City Gym, even though Water type Pokemon can usually learn Ice moves from TMs. So I had to rely on Crunch for neutral damage against most of the Fraxures, Deinos, and Druddigons that resisted Waterfall. Then I got the idea to replace Acrobatics with Return. Return increases in power when the hidden “Happiness” stat is at maximum, and since this is a solo playthrough, SeeNoEvil got all the “Happiness” points from winning battles.



Gym Leader Iris was yet another anticlimactic boss. I wanted to lower Fraxure’s HP to critical so Iris would heal it and give me a free turn to buff with Work Up, but Return knocked it out in one hit. Oops! Druddigon didn’t do much damage at all, so SeeNoEvil Worked Up twice and used Return again. Return at +2 Attack could kill both Druddigon and Haxorus in one hit. Cheren near Victory Road was another easy opponent. He still stuck with the weak early game Pokemon Simisage, Liepard, and Unfezant. At least he evolved his Pignite into Emboar this time!

SeeNoEvil the Simipour was at level 68, and the enemy trainers hover around the mid 40s at most. The Victory Road trainers used a variety of fully evolved Pokemon. One Stoutland managed to survive a Waterfall, so I guess the early game dog had better Defense and HP than I thought. By the end of Victory Road, SeeNoEvil's level reached 72. I bought many Full Restores and Full Heals at the Pokemon League and set off to challenge the Elite Four. . .

(Of course, I stuffed my HM users into the PC. The Hall of Fame looks so much better when there's only one Pokemon featured there!)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Here's the last update of Pokemon White's main game. And my viewers will be happy to see the return of the Death Count!


Most of the Elite 4 members were easy. Shauntal and Caitlin used Ghost and Psychic types respectively, which meant they were prey for Crunch. Shauntal’s Jellicent disabled Crunch with its Cursed Body ability when it died, but her Golurk and Chandelure had secondary types that were weak to Waterfall anyway. Caitlin’s Musharna got a critical hit Psychic that got the Special Defense debuff when Crunch took it down to critical health. This was concerning, but a second Crunch proved that the first one just had a bad damage roll and knocked Musharna out. Caitlin’s only Pokemon that wasn’t pure Psychic was the Psychic/Flying Sigilyph. There’s no Metagross, Malamar, or Medicham in Unova to make Dark attacks neutral with a secondary type.


The first one I fought, Grimsley, was the toughest. Scrafty and Bisharp were sturdy enough to require multiple Waterfalls to kill, so they got in a few Night Slashes and other attacks suitable for Dark types. His last Pokemon was Liepard. Why do even Elite Four members insist on using “PU” tier early game Pokemon?


When fighting the Fighting master Marshal, I made sure to buff with Work Ups against Throh before taking on the other Pokemon. I knew Sawk had the annoying Sturdy ability, so I tried to soften it up with a half damage Crunch before finishing it off. Unfortunately, a buffed Simipour was too strong to prevent it from going into critical HP. Conkeldurr was easy after having to fight an opponent that couldn’t be killed in one hit from max health!


N had defeated the Champion Alder right before I did. He thought becoming Champion of the Pokemon League made him emperor of Unova or something, so he was about to command everyone to release their Pokemon. Cheren beat the Elite Four immediately after I did, and stayed behind to help Alder while I was in Team Plasma’s castle. (How no one noticed a giant castle under the Pokemon League before is beyond me.) No wonder Grimsley said that there were an unusually high number of challengers recently! 

All the Gym Leaders except for the Striaton triplets showed up to battle the Seven Sages of Team Plasma while they were wasting time shouting ominous platitudes at me. The Shadow Triad gave me the opportunity to heal, probably because N was more honorable than the rest of Team Plasma and wanted a fair fight.



One scientist bragged about being able to hack into the PC system so they could steal all the Pokemon inside. This raises more questions, especially when you know PC Pokemon go to a physical resort island in Sun and Moon. . .Another Grunt said that “Team Galactic and Team Rocket drew too much attention to themselves”. How were they any less conspicuous than Team Plasma? Not many people run around in Templar armor and colorful robes. N and the rest of Team Plasma assume I can’t win without a legendary Pokemon, but they didn’t account for my level advantage, did they?



Catching Zekrom was required to advance the plot, so I threw the Master Ball at it on the first turn. The final N battle was supposed to be a showdown between the legendary Dragon types, but I switched out Zekrom for SeeNoEvil on turn 1 and never used it.



Reshiram dealt significant damage with Fusion Flare even though it was “not very effective” against Water Pokemon like my Simipour. Reshiram’s Reflect halving physical damage was annoying to deal with, because all of SeeNoEvil’s moves were based on Attack. It took a few healing items, but I was able to Work Up a few times and defeat the rest of his team with Waterfall and Return. Carracosta was knocked out in 2 hits from Return after Sturdy activated and N used a Full Restore on it. That’s how overpowered buffing can be in this series. Vanilluxe, Zoroark, and Archeops all died in one hit.



Ghetsis led with Cofagrigus and used Toxic when I switched out Zekrom on the first turn for my solo SeeNoEvil. It continued to poison Simipour whenever I cured it, but it occasionally gave me an opening when it used Shadow Ball or a failed Protect. I made sure to Work Up a few times to deal with the dreaded Dark/Dragon Hydreigon. That tactic paid off because Hydreigon died in one hit to Return.


The rest of Ghetsis’s team consisted of Bisharp, Bouffalant, Seismitoad, and Eelektross. All of them were in the 50s, and SeeNoEvil was at 76 by the end of the fight. Eelektross would have been a threat if I hadn’t outsped it and killed it with a Work Up-boosted Waterfall on the turn it came out of its Poke Ball.



After Ghetsis’s plans failed, N flew off into the sunset with Reshiram. The international police agent Looker appeared disguised as Solo’s mom, and asked me to hunt down the remaining Seven Sages of Team Plasma. He also gave me a Super Rod for no reason. That isn’t an exaggeration. Looker even said fishing had nothing to do with my quest! Yes, I will do the postgame. It doesn’t feel right to leave the eastern half of Unova unexplored. Cheren was too incompetent to prevent Ghetsis from escaping. I knew we should have sent Bianca instead.



Ace Trainer Glinda at the end of Marvelous Bridge introduced Rotation Battles, a weird variant of Single Battles where you have 3 Pokemon on the field and can switch one to the frontline without using up a turn. Unlike the typical Single Battle trainer, Glinda knew how to switch between her Beheeyem, Alomomola, and Klinklang to decent effect. All of them were about level 65, while Ghetsis’s strongest Pokemon is his level 54 Hydreigon. Glinda could save Unova by herself if she cared about Team Plasma at all! The average level of enemy Pokemon increases considerably in eastern Unova.


Pokefan Elliott had Gulpin, Drifloon, Spheal, and Swablu, all Pokemon from previous games. I knew it was officially the postgame once trainers stopped using only Unova Pokemon.


Pokemon Ranger Shelly on Route 15 had an Altaria and an Abomasnow. Altaria was simple to defeat with a Work Up, but its Cotton Guard (+3 Defense) and Dragon Dance (+1 Attack, +1 Speed) buffs were concerning. The Grass/Ice Abomasnow had slightly too much Defense and HP to die to a single +1 Return, and knocked both itself and SeeNoEvil out with a Wood Hammer.



Death Count: 5



On the second attempt, I realized that Altaria’s Dragon Dances were wasted. It only attacked with the Special attack Dragon Pulse instead of a physical move like Dragon Claw. I could therefore safely use Work Up twice. A +2 Return made Abomasnow pass out on the first turn. SeeNoEvil had been avenged!



Hiker Kit took me by surprise. He spoke Italian as far as I could tell. If you’re going to speak a Romance language in this otherwise English script, at least pick Spanish so I can understand! His Hippowdon nearly knocked me out with gradual damage from Sandstorm. Work Up boosted Waterfalls defeated all his Pokemon in one hit, so no sixth Death Count yet! Professor Park told me about Poke Transfer, but solo playthroughs don’t care about getting Pokemon from Sinnoh or Johto.



The eastern end of Route 15 has one of two locations depending on your version. Since I’m playing White, Route 15 led to White Forest. This place has several annoying gimmicks. It seems the number of residents is based on time elapsed before you first entered. This punishes anyone who isn’t a speedrunner. Residents can be exchanged with Black City in Pokemon Black, but this requires use of Entralink, and Nintendo shut down the servers for DS games in 2014 or so. Pokemon from older games can be found here, but each one is tied to a different resident. One old man in my White Forest says Wooper lives there, for example.



White Forest also featured two Triple Battles. School Kid Shayne nearly defeated me with a Focus Punch Scrafty because SeeNoEvil attacked Cofagrigus with Crunch first. HM CUT the Patrat was about to become Watchog after the fight, but I pressed B. I wasn’t about to give a Pokemon that useless the dignity of evolution.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Here's the final update for the Unovan adventures of SeeNoEvil the Simipour. I may do another solo challenge with another Pokemon in a different game in this thread eventually.

Route 14 had the unfortunately named Ace Trainer Junko. Does she pronounce it “Hoonko” or “Yoonko”? She sent out a Purugly that confused SeeNoEvil with Swagger after I used Work Up. Using a Persim Berry cured SeeNoEvil, but I had to be careful with them. Most berries were tied to the discontinued Dream World if I’m correct, so I can’t grow any more. A +3 Waterfall defeated Purugly, and SeeNoEvil killed Espeon and Lapras with Crunches and Returns.



A random trainer with a Numel said “If we could greet anyone in the world with ‘Let’s have a Pokemon battle!’ that would be wonderful!” You know people do other things with Pokemon other than make them beat each other till they become unconscious, right? Giallo the Team Plasma Sage was standing near a waterfall, and decided to give me the Bulk Up TM. Unfortunately, SeeNoEvil can’t use it, so I had to stick with Work Up for my buffing move. Looker captured him almost immediately afterwards. Impressive for a guy who hands out fishing rods to potential investigators.



Youngster Wes at Landorus’s shrine must be MikkelDemey in disguise. Who else would level up a Caterpie to 61 without evolving it? (Yes, I know MikkelDemey used a Wurmple in his Pokemon Sapphire solo, not Caterpie.)



Cynthia the Sinnoh Champion in Undella Town was the main postgame boss apart from Elite Four rematches. Her Spiritomb almost raised the Death Count, and likely would have if it rolled a critical hit Shadow Ball. I thought I was safe by Working Up against Spiritomb a few times, but Cynthia was smart enough to Double Team until Spiritomb’s Evasion became a pain. None of my Waterfalls would hit it, and Spiritomb gleefully hit me with Sucker Punches and Shadow Balls. Will O Wisp burned SeeNoEvil a couple of times, and only Full Restores could save him from failing. A single Crunch knocked out the troublesome Spiritomb after a while.

Boosted Returns and Waterfalls defeated Lucario, Milotic, Eelektross, Braviary, and even the level 77 Garchomp in one hit. SeeNoEvil went from level 82 to 84 by the end of the Cynthia match, and it was a fun boss fight!



The Swimmers in Undella Bay were easy and typically used unevolved Pokemon. Swimmer Bart (?) said there were Water type gyms in Kanto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh. For someone from another country, he seems oddly familiar with “Poke Japan”. Or are Kanto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh countries themselves? It’s hard to tell because the only “government” in these games is the Pokemon League. Pokemon Red has Lt. Surge the “Lightning American”, and other Earth nations such as Guyana exist. The moon landing happened on the same date according to the Hoenn games if I remember correctly. Are Unova , Alola, and Orre part of “Poke America”? I’m curious.



Fisherman Mack on Route 14 was the obligatory 6 Magikarp trainer. Who levels up 6 Magikarp to 60 without evolving them? He’s not a player character, so he’s not doing a joke challenge run. After being defeated, he said “Is my fishing rod bad? Or is it my fishing skill that’s bad? I always catch the same Pokemon”. No, Mack, it’s because you press the B button every time your Pokemon try to evolve!



Youngster Astor may be the only Mothim trainer in existence. Even the most obscure Pokemon deserve a fan or two.


Lacunosa Town and the Village Bridge had interesting concepts, but there wasn’t much to them apart from a few battles. The only reason Lacunosa Town exists is to hint at Kyurem’s location and give it a bit of lore. Village Bridge was even more pointless. It’s a shame that it wasn’t earlier in the game, because a town on a bridge would have been an improvement on some of the main story locations.



Several people on Route 11 spoke French. Maybe they were from Kalos? The artifacts from the Abyssal Ruins date to 3000 years ago, the same time AZ fired the Ultimate Weapon to end the Kalos War. Unova and Kalos are mentioned to have close ties in X and Y. Was this foreshadowing?



The postgame has been a letdown apart from the surprise death to Abomasnow. No wonder I had forgotten everything about it except for Undella Bay! The only challenge left is the Elite Four rematch, apart from maybe killing legendary Pokemon.



After thinking about it for a bit, I realized that after SeeNoEvil defeated Reshiram, he wanted to prove Ghetsis’s statement that legendary Pokemon are not gods, and what better way to prove it than beating them up? (Except for Thundurus, because nobody can find roaming Pokemon. ) The Giant Chasm had several TMs that would have been useful during the main story, including Ice Beam. Why did GameFreak put Ice Beam in a postgame dungeon? Some of the design choices were a little strange. Perhaps it was meant to encourage players to try out Vanilluxe, Beartic, or Cryogonal?



Kyurem was at level 75, and put up a decent fight. SeeNoEvil Worked Up twice, and I was fortunate that Kyurem wasted a turn using Imprison (prevents opponent from using moves that the Imprison user knows). A Dragon Pulse and an Endeavor (reduces opponent’s HP to your current HP) dropped SeeNoEvil to 77/268 HP, but a second Return was enough to finish off Kyurem and gain the 90th level. Lacunosa Town residents can now go out at night without fear.



Getting through Mistralton Cave to find Cobalion was more difficult than the fight itself. I had to withdraw Zekrom from the PC to teach it Flash. Snivy could have learned it too, but leaving my starter trapped in the PC and using a legendary solely for Flash was a funnier idea. Cobalion was in the low 40s, and used Helping Hand on the first turn. Helping Hand is useless in Single Battles! What were you thinking, Cobalion? One Waterfall was enough to knock out Cobalion and intimidate it into letting me find Virizion and Terrakion. A single Return felled level 42 Virizion in a secret area of Pinwheel Forest. Terrakion was weak to Water, so you can guess how that battle went.



The last thing to do before the Elite Four rematch was tracking down the remaining Sages of Team Plasma for Looker. Most of them surrendered without a fight. Bronius of Chargestone Cave sent a few Team Plasma Grunts with Pokemon in the mid-60s range. Some were more respectable, like Scrafty, but they were still using Watchogs and Liepards! Ryoku in Relic Castle had a single Grunt with a Krookodile. The Team Plasma Grunts and the random Psychics and Scientists in the Dreamyard leveled SeeNoEvil to 93.



The Elite Four now had Pokemon in the low 70s level range. Grimsley now included a few older Pokemon in his roster, such as the Dark/Poison Drapion and the Water/Dark Sharpedo. Scrafty was a threat with its 150 base power Head Smash, but a few Waterfalls took it out. Krookodile’s Intimidate lowered SeeNoEvil’s Attack to -1 when it appeared, forcing me to use Work Up to restore it. This allowed Krookodile to get in a hit. A few Max Potions were needed to survive Grimsley.



Remember how I said there was no Psychic type in Unova that was neutral to Dark type moves? Caitlin read my advice and brought the Steel/Psychic Metagross and Bronzong this time. Musharna put SeeNoEvil to sleep with Hypnosis and attacked with Dream Eater. Setting up on Musharna with turn 1 Work Up was not a good idea! A Full Restore was necessary to avoid another Death Count.



Metagross’s Giga Impact got a critical hit when a +1 Waterfall failed to knock it out in one hit. Fortunately, it only changed the music to the “critical health” track instead of killing SeeNoEvil. A Full Restore healed Simipour while Metagross had to recharge. Bronzong got in a hit with Payback, but it had much weaker offense than Metagross.



Shauntal’s Cofagrigus was as annoying as usual with Will O Wisp. It also had the Grass type Energy Ball to exploit SeeNoEvil’s weakness. One of her new Pokemon was a Drifblim that had Thunder, a base 120 Electric move. If that hit SeeNoEvil, it probably would have added to the Death Count, but fortunately its horrible accuracy saved me.



Marshal’s rematch was challenging too. His first Pokemon was the Grass/Fighting Breloom. Breloom always gave me trouble in competitive battles with its 100% accuracy sleep move, and SeeNoEvil also had a type disadvantage. Using Return on the first round triggered Effect Spore, an ability that afflicts the opponent with a random ailment. It’s odd when you’re happy that your Pokemon is poisoned!  Breloom whiffed a Sky Uppercut, and a second Return finished it off.



Mienshao was a recurring annoyance with its powerful U-Turn (attack and switch Pokemon), and Hi Jump Kick took off about half of SeeNoEvil’s health when Mienshao decided to stay in the fight. Several Full Restores were needed for this fight. I softened up Sawk with Crunch before hitting it with Waterfall. A 120 base power Close Combat from a Fighting type hurts! Throh was Work Up bait because it was weaker than the rest of Marshal’s team.



Alder wasn’t interrupted by N this time, so I could have a proper Champion battle. He led with Accelgor, a fast and fragile Bug type that can know Energy Ball. A Return was barely too weak to kill it. Energy Ball drained about half of SeeNoEvil’s HP and lowered his Special Defense. I thought Escavalier would be Work Up bait at first. Then a critical hit Giga Impact from Escavalier had this effect:



Final Death Count: 6

Even at level 96, you can still have unlucky losses with a mediocre Pokemon like Simipour. On take 2, I Worked Up before taking out Accelgor. Escavalier decided to use Aerial Ace instead, a move less than half as powerful as Giga Impact. More Waterfall pressure defeated Escavalier. Volcarona is supposed to be the strongest Pokemon on Alder’s team, and is quite dangerous in competitive battles if you let it set up with Quiver Dances (+1 Speed, Special Attack, and Special Defense). Waterfall killed it in one shot. That’s a perk of being a Water type!



Bouffalant survived a Waterfall, only to kill itself with the recoil from Head Charge. Druddigon crumpled after a +1 Return, and a final Waterfall defeated Alder’s last Pokemon Vanilluxe. SeeNoEvil became the lone Hall of Fame Pokemon at level 97 at a play time of 25:46! Simipour was fun to use for a solo playthrough, though sometimes I wish I had used a weaker Pokemon for a greater challenge.



Out of curiosity, I used a few Rare Candies on SeeNoEvil after the credits to get to level 100 and check out its final stats. They are. . .



SeeNoEvil the Simipour

Quirky nature, “Somewhat stubborn”, Psychic Hidden Power
Gluttony ability

HP: 297
Attack: 272
Defense: 166
Special Attack: 215
Special Defense: 163
Speed: 253

Meeting only Unova Pokemon until after the Elite Four gives the region a unique character, even though the geography itself isn't especially interesting in Black and White. Castelia City, Nimbasa City, the desert, and Chargestone Cave were memorable locations, but the rest felt like it was mostly bridges and generic caves and forests. The linearity is a letdown compared to Kanto and Johto which let you go to a few areas out of order if you desire.

Team Plasma is dumber than I remembered. Ghetsis and a few Team Plasma Grunts give away their world domination agenda too early when they're supposed to be fooling everyone into thinking that their organization is benevolent. N was one of the better Pokemon antagonists though.

(I never played Black/White 2, so I can't say if the region had improved in the sequels.)

[Dantski]

Pokémon variants I found hard to get into for the most part, Nuzlocke's are too frustrating when you have to spend hours grinding new mons up after "deaths", randomizers feel cheap when random Gravelers end up with megahorn and OHKO your Celebi. They definitely aren't for everyone.

I did play a solo pokemon playthrough of FireRed with a Beedrill once, despite its limited movepool (ended up with Twineedle/Return/Brick Break/some defence boosting move) it ended up being a breeze except against Agatha and her Gengar's which resisted my moves. I think that run ended with Beedrill taking 2 KO's but it could easily have been 0 since both faints were avoidable.

The other variant I recall playing was an ingame trade only run, while I didn't research it beforehand, fortunately I chose a White/Black 2 which had very solid trade mons available, the only issue was I had to win 2 gym badges before any were even obtainable! So it was a solo starter run before I could make a trade, after that there's not many mons you could obtain before the end of the main story and 2 of them are grass types (I swear it was 4 mons but bulbapedia suggests its 3). After finishing the postgame content it was the pokemon game that ended with the highest level mon I've used in these games with a level 91 Ambipom.