Pokemon Variants

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon Crystal Solo Seaking Part 3


Nothing during the sequence of Team Rocket holding the Goldenrod Radio Tower hostage was interesting except for the battle with DBROOKS.  Golbat barely held on after a Return and dazzled VENKATESH with Confuse Ray.  Golbat later swung with Wing Attack before crashing to the ground.  Magnemite paralyzed Seaking with Thunder Wave while he was still confused.  Meganium set up a Reflect barrier to weaken Return and shot Razor Leaf until Seaking went belly up.


The second take was a "fluke", as DBROOKS might have said.  Golbat survived a Surf this time, though Confuse Ray wore off by the time Magnemite returned.  Instead of picking Razor Leaf or Reflect, Meganium. . .missed with Poison Powder, just like it did as a Bayleef in Azalea Town.  Seaking grew to Lv 48 with 111/152 HP.


Clair was a flawless victory at Lv 52, which I would never have expected from a Seaking!  Even if he was wearing a Pink Bow for both style and Normal type power.  All three Dragonairs died to one Return each, and the Return that slew Kingdra was a critical.


DBROOKS in Victory Road was easier since he had fallen behind the level curve.  And that's accounting for VENKATESH skipping many Johto trainers.  The only damage taken came from Golbat's Wing Attack, cutting VENKATESH down to 163/182 HP at Lv 57.  Meganium cast Reflect earlier in the fight, and Surf was not enough to soak Golbat in one hit.


Seaking's now ready for the Pokemon League.  Can Icy Wind kill Lance's Dragonites, or will VENKATESH have to resort to the most generic Johto moveset possible?

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon Crystal Solo Seaking Part 4


Will of the Elite 4 had only two Pokemon that could take a Seaking's Pink Bow Return:  Exeggutor and Slowbro.  Exeggutor planted Leech Seed on VENKATESH, which sprouted and drained him to 160/182 HP at Lv 57 when Slowbro forgot how to not be at +2 Special Defense with Amnesia.


Koga's Forretress had much lower Special Defense than Defense, but this was still enough to avoid dying in one hit to Seaking's average Surf.  It shot Swift stars at VENKATESH, and Crobat poisoned him with Toxic just before fainting.  Crobat was actually faster than a Lv 58 Seaking, and created Double Team illusions after surviving one Return.  VENKATESH moved on to the 3rd Elite Four member at Lv 58 with 169/186 HP.


Bruno had the honor of cutting Seaking's HP to the lowest amount out of any of the "Four Heavenly Kings".  Hitmontop was the defensive Tyrogue evolution and survived one Return to undermine Seaking with a critical Dig.  His other Hitmons died in one hit to Return.  Machamp slammed VENKATESH with a non-critical Cross Chop, and Bruno fed his four-armed monster with a Max Potion to hold on for another round.  Critical Surf and a critical Horn Attack prevented Machamp from healing again, and Seaking won with 88/189 HP at Lv 59.


Karen should have been the hardest Elite Four member due to her Umbreon's Sand Attack and Confuse Ray, but this Eevee evolution was the victim of a critical Return.  Vileplume paralyzed VENKATESH with Stun Spore and healed a bit with Moonlight.  Gengar's Curse only made it easier for the Ghost to drown in Surf.  Murkrow struck VENKATESH with Faint Attack and Houndoom chomped with Crunch, but Return and Surf killed the other Dark types respectively.  Seaking got a surprisingly easy victory at Lv 59 with 119/189 HP.


Many solos choke at Lance, and Seaking was no exception.  It took three tries to beat the Champion wearing a Batman cape.  Icy Wind was completely useless in this playthrough, as it couldn't even kill a Lv 47 Dragonite with the Nevermeltice equipped!  This left Seaking open to Thunder Wave paralysis from the Dragonites.  VENKATESH died once to an Outrage from the Lv 50 Dragonite, and another attempt failed due to Hyper Beam.  Thunder was a major threat from the first Dragonite Lance sent out.


VENKATESH had to fall back on the most "premium mediocre" moveset imaginable in Crystal:  Surf, Return, Rest, and Sleep Talk.  Rest + Sleep Talk is a reliable tactic for Red in many solos, but Seaking had to rely on it to even get to the rest of Kanto.  The first Dragonite whiffed its Thunder Wave thanks to the chance of enemy status moves missing in Crystal.  A Thunder Wave from another Dragonite did paralyze Seaking, but VENKATESH was able to Rest against the Lv 50 Dragonite who insisted on locking itself into Outrage. 


Lv 50 Dragonite hit itself once in confusion after the Outrage ended, and Sleep Talk sometimes rolled Surf or Rest instead of Return.  Eventually, Dragonite crashed to the floor once Seaking woke up.  Charizard was too slow to fly out of the way of Surf, but Aerodactyl made a Rock Slide fall from the ceiling before becoming extinct again.  VENKATESH became the Champion at Lv 60 with 102/192 HP, but grew to Lv 61 immediately after killing Aerodactyl.


Lt. Surge and Sabrina were perfect victories at Lv 63 and 64 respectively.  Most Kanto Gym Leaders are wimps even when you don't fight every random trainer in Johto.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon Crystal Solo Seaking FINALE


All of the Kanto Gym Leaders except for Blue were flawless battles.  To be fair to Misty, her Lapras botched a Blizzard after surviving one Return.  Mystic Water ensured that even a Seaking could Surf the wave of victory as Brock's Kabutops and Omastar wiped out.  DBROOKS's last stand in Mount Moon was also a no hitter, and he was forced to write New York Times articles from then on.


(Venkatesh Rao isn't the only person on the Internet who dislikes David Brooks.  I've seen disparaging comments about his columns on random websites.)


Cal in Viridian City copied DBROOKS's tactics when he told his Meganium to miss with Poison Powder.  At this point something is meddling with the Pokemon RNG to troll me.


Blue's Pidgeot was faster than VENKATESH and slapped him with Wing Attack.  Exeggutor's Sunny Day sounded like a reasonable tactic, though he didn't send out his Water-weak monsters to take advantage of it.  Gyarados's Twister wasn't even an F1 because Leftovers recovered the damage.  Rhydon entered the arena right after Sunny Day faded, and one Surf dampened it and Arcanine.  Arcanine's Extremespeed dashed into VENKATESH, leaving him at 192/230 HP at Lv 71. 


(The DBROOKS battle happened after Seaking won the final badge.)


At Level 79, Seaking was not prepared for Red.  A fully evolved goldfish could not beat the game when he was three levels higher than Poliwag.  The main reason was that VENKATESH was slower than Lv 81 Pikachu, who jolted him with a paralyzing Thunder.  His only choice against Venusaur was to Rest, and that left him open to Solarbeam and Giga Drain.


RAO the trainer searched for the remaining three Rare Candies in Johto and fed them to VENKATESH.  At Lv 82, he was finally fast enough to strike Pikachu down with Return.  Venusaur came out second as before, only to use Sunny Day instead of Giga Drain.  Two Returns uprooted Venusaur.  Espeon cast Psychic twice as it was still faster than Seaking despite being Red's lowest level monster.  Snorlax set up Amnesia as Seaking Rested to recover.  Many rounds of Sleep Talk ensued.  It would sometimes pick Surf for minor damage, or re-sleep Seaking.  Snorlax consistently attacked with Body Slam as it was smarter than a Meganium.


Seaking was too tired in the aftermath to avoid Resting again versus Blastoise.  Blastoise and Seaking both Surfed at each other, though VENKATESH impressed the judges because he did it while asleep.  Returns eventually cracked Blastoise's shell.  Charizard had Speed in common with Espeon and smacked VENKATESH twice with Wing Attack.  Seaking's Surf was so bad that it couldn't even kill a Fire type 5 levels lower with one cast.  VENKATESH earned his disgraceful victory at Lv 82 with 126/265 HP.


Final Stats at Lv 82

HP:  265
Attack:  213
Defense:  151
Special Attack:  150
Special Defense:  175
Speed:  155


Seaking feels like an "identity crisis" Pokemon.  As a Goldeen, it pretends to be a Normal/Flying type with moves like Peck and Horn Attack.  Goldeen doesn't learn a Water attack until Surf in Ecruteak City, and that's with an HM.  Even after evolution, Seaking pretends to be a Normal type and prefers Return to Surf.  Water is still a Special Attack type in Crystal, and that is Seaking's worst stat.  This fact also makes Ice attacks, otherwise common for Water types, irrelevant to Seaking. 


Seaking reminds me a bit of Breloom in Sapphire, who wants to forget it's a Grass type and play with Fighting and Normal attacks instead.  Tentacool's early game in Crystal is another comparison, as both Goldeen and Tentacool need Supersonic's low chance of confusion to deal with difficult opponents.