Pokemon Variants

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

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

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

Crystal:  Slowbro, Noctowl, Meganium, Rattata
Sapphire:  Breloom, Sableye
Fire Red:  Jigglypuff
Pearl:  Pachirisu, Roserade
White:  Simipour, Gurdurr, Simisear, Audino
X:  Dunsparce, Vespiquen, Volbeat
Moon:  Butterfree, Magneton


These are all the solos I've done for this thread.  There was an attempt at a Lumineon solo of Moon, but I got bored with it after Aether Paradise or so.  Moon has some interesting gameplay differences from the others, but the unskippable cutscenes make me want to slap the developers.  Hopefully Sword/Shield won't have that problem. . .


It's generally more fun to try to win without X items and Potions.  The early solos used them a lot more than the later ones.  There also has to be some room for tactics involving the moveset.  Solo Caterpie may be funny to read about, but it wouldn't be fun to play because all you can do is grind for more levels.

[superdeath]

Crystal Sentret solo? Or Miltank maybe.

Or always a favorite, Fire Red- Paris?

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Crystal Sentret solo? Or Miltank maybe.

Or always a favorite, Fire Red- Paris?

Miltank would actually be too easy!  Basically, think Rattata, but with much higher stats, more powerful attacks, and the ability to heal 50% max HP without an item.  Miltank comes after the 3rd gym, so no mirror match vs. Whitney.


Sentret's base stats make Rattata's look good:


HP:  35
ATTACK:  46
DEFENSE:  34
SPCL. ATK:  35
SPCL. DEF:  45
SPEED:  20


Sentret is faster than Slowpoke but slower than Slowbro, meaning it'll probably take a lot of hits it can't withstand in the late game.  Double Team isn't available until Kanto either.  Consider that Rattata was barely able to beat Lance, even with all the FULL RESTORES.  A variant like solo Sentret would probably be heavy on the X items.


Paras in FireRed suffers from having 25 SPEED in a game where its weaknesses are everywhere.  Beating the Gyms would require the same "grind on every route trainer in the region" approach that solo Jigglypuff used, but could be possible.  If Blaine's Fire Gym and Blue's Arcanine outspeed, however, Paras is doomed.


EDIT:  If you're interested in solo Paras without items, there's a YouTube video by "plonkerboy900" that's a montage of the boss battles.  He had to grind Paras to Level 100 to beat Agatha, and relied on the solo Rattata Double Team trick to get past Blue's Arcanine.


But there may be a different RPG playthrough first before I get around to Pokemon again.

[superdeath]

Geodude?

What RPG's do you own.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon Pearl Solo Kricketune Part 1:  Bugsy's TM


No Pokemon player can resist the call of a new variant for long.  Dantski said on Page 5 of this thread:  "Hah and I was convinced this was going to be a Kricketune playthrough".  Now Realms Beyond will finally get to see the Bug type with the "bring it on" battle pose and the weird cry in action!


To begin the game, I set the clock on my DS Lite to 4:00 AM, because Kricketot could only be caught in the morning or at night.  ALBA the female trainer went through about 2 Kricketots on Route 202 until she found one with a Jolly (+Speed, -Sp. Atk) Nature and the mediocre "proud of its power" innate IV stat characteristic.  Kricketot probably had a good Defense IV because its stat was higher than an earlier Relaxed (+Defense, -Speed) version ALBA caught before.


Kricketot began with no attacking moves, only the Attack debuff Growl and the "counterattack after a few turns of taking damage" move Bide.  It would have been too painful to waste all the PP for both moves and use Struggle, so Kricketot relied on the "bait and switch" method in early trainer and wild battles to gain experience with the starter Piplup.  Piplup was chosen for HM convenience, and to ensure the rival Barry would have the Turtwig starter that was weak to Bug.


Kricketot evolved at Level 10 in the Ravaged Path after Piplup beat up a few Zubats and Geodudes.  He gained his first move Fury Cutter, which was introduced in the Johto games as the TM you get for defeating the 2nd Gym Leader Bugsy.  This physical Bug  attack has 95% base accuracy, and doubles its power for every consecutive hit from a starting value of 10.    


Fury Cutter wouldn't normally be considered as a move for a solo, but it was all that Kricketune had to work with.  It proved surprisingly effective in the first Barry battle on the route east of Jubilife City.  Fury Cutter connected 6 times in a row, taking out the Level 9 Turtwig in 1 hit even after the Level 7 Starly cut Kricketune's Attack to stage -3 with Growls.  Route trainers, Oreburgh Mine workers, and Oreburgh Gym subordinates fell to the chitin blade as well.


Gym Leader Howard Roark had the honor of being the first DEATH COUNT of the playthrough.  His Level 12 Geodude and Level 12 Onix crushed Kricketune under same type attack bonus Rock Throws, and Geodude in particular had too high a Defense for even a built-up Fury Cutter to slice through it in time.


DEATH COUNT:  3


One attempt experimented with the Fighting type HM Rock Smash, which worked well on Geodude and killed it in 2 hits.  Then Kricketune tried setting up Fury Cutter on the Onix that had lower Attack.  This failed.  If possible, it was best to avoid having to lock in an HM move until the Move Deleter later in the game.


Take 4 featured the unlikely success of Growl.  One of those intimidated Geodude into -1 Attack, and its Rock Throws were now manageable.  Kricketune slashed with precision with Fury Cutter, and after 4 of those eroded Geodude, he pulverized Onix and the Level 14 Cranidos with one attack each.  Not bad for a forgotten Bug type only 3 levels higher than the Gym Leader's star!  Kricketune emerged with his first badge 18/54 HP at Level 17.



Kricketune Stats and Moves
 

Level 17 @ Quick Claw
Ability:  Swarm
 

HP:  54
Attack:  39
Defense:  26
Sp. Atk:  23
Sp. Def:  24
Speed:  29
 


Fury Cutter
Growl
Bide
Leech Life


EDIT:  I managed to get the Solo Rattata victory picture to show up as my avatar.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon Pearl Solo Kricketune Part 2:  In the Name of Realms Beyond


Kricketune's solo journey through Sinnoh was routine until he reached Commander Mars in the Valley Windworks in Floaroma Town.  Mars opened with a Level 14 Zubat that reduced Fury Cutter's power to 1/4 with its Poison/Flying typing.  More importantly, Zubat carried Toxic, a special Poison status ailment whose strength increases at the end of each turn.  Once afflicted with it, Kricketune had no chance of survival on the first attempt, but he at least limped long enough to be picked off by a Level 16 Purugly Fake Out.


DEATH COUNT:  4


To prepare for the next encounter, Kricketune equipped a Pecha Berry to cure Toxic once if it appeared.  And Zubat used it as its 2nd move in the fight when Kricketune's low accuracy sleep move Sing missed.  Unfortunately, Zubat cast Toxic again while Fury Cutter was gaining strength.  Then Pokemon Pearl's terrible trainer AI activated and made Purugly use the ordinary Scratch instead of the priority flinching move Fake Out.  Kricketune survived at Level 20 with 10/62 HP while poisoned, so if Mars hadn't been so stupid, Team Galactic would have won.


Eterna Forest had a special gimmick:  Double Battles with an AI trainer named Cheryl who had a Chansey companion.  This section was quite difficult for a route filled with lower level trainers, because Bug Catcher Jack and Lass Briana came with a Pachirisu and Beautifly.  Pachirisu's Spark had a high chance of inflicting paralysis and ending Fury Cutter streaks when Kricketune lost a turn.  Beautifly's Gusts had same type attack bonus and were super effective against my solo monster.


DEATH COUNT:  6


Berry preparation was in order, so Kricketune equipped a Cheri Berry to cure paralysis once.  Sullla often complains about how the spell names are less indicative of their effects in later Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games, so he certainly wouldn't appreciate PRZCUREBERRY being renamed Cheri Berry! 


The Cheri Berry wasn't necessary when a Fury Cutter combo combined with Chansey Egg Bombs took out Pachirisu before it could roll a paralysis with Spark.  Fury Cutter doesn't check for consecutive hits to the same target in Double Battles, only that it hits someone at all.  So Beautifly was hacked apart with one hit when it appeared after the duo's other Pokemon died.


Eterna City had the name changing NPC, so Kricketune was renamed DANTSKI in honor of the Realms Beyond member who wanted to see that Pokemon in a solo challenge.  I don't know Dantski's gender, so when I refer to "him", it's specifically about the Kricketune.


Gardenia's Gym in Eterna City was full of Grass types that were either weak or neutral to Bug attacks, and once DANTSKI reached Level 26 and replaced Fury Cutter with the more reliable X-Scissor, he weeded the battle arenas.  Gardenia herself had a Level 19 Cherubi and Level 19 Turtwig who were eviscerated with one move.  X-Scissor's 80 power wasn't strong enough to one-shot the Level 22 Roserade, who had competitive-caliber stats for an opponent this early in the game.  Roserade automatically healed some HP with a Sitrus Berry and used some ineffective move I didn't notice.  A 2nd X-Scissor won DANTSKI his second badge, and the trainer ALBA could use Cut outside of battle.


HM MULE the Bidoof's logging allowed me to reach the Old Chateau and grab the Substitute TM.  A Smogon member suggested using that move for the Pachirisu playthrough, so of course I remembered to find it again.  Substitute sacrifices 1/4 of max HP to create a decoy that takes minor hits for you and blocks debuffs and status ailments.


Team Galactic also blocked their Eterna City headquarters with Cut trees.  DANTSKI rampaged through the grunts until he reached Commander Jupiter, who opened with a Level 18 Zubat.  A Substitute precaution was meant to avoid Supersonic confusion, but all the enemy did was cast resisted Giga Drains.  2 X-Scissors clipped its wings, and then a Level 20 Skuntank appeared. 


Although it didn't resist Bug like Zubat, Skuntank had much better HP and Defense and could survive a neutral X-Scissor.  Skuntank ate a Sitrus Berry like Gardenia's Roserade did and unleashed Poison Gas, which failed thanks to the Substitute.  A 2nd X-Scissor chased Team Galactic out of Eterna City with DANTSKI at Level 28 and 63/83 HP.  ALBA the trainer received the Bicycle as a reward for saving the shop owner and took a break for a while.


DANTSKI the Kricketune Stats and Moves
 
Level 28 @ Quick Claw
Ability:  Swarm
 
HP:  83
Attack:  62
Defense:  42
Sp. Atk:  37
Sp. Def:  38
Speed:  48


X-Scissor
Substitute
Sing
Leech Life

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon Pearl Solo Kricketune Part 3:  Final Moveset. . .Before the 3rd Gym?


Not much happened in the solo Kricketune "challenge" between the Commander Jupiter battle and Hearthome City, where Barry the hasty rival challenged DANTSKI to another battle.  Trying to make a Substitute doll against the Level 19 Starly was pointless when Endeavor broke it in one hit.  Due to the properties of Endeavor, it meant Starly's max HP was more than 1/4 of DANTSKI's, at least.  One X-Scissor knocked Starly out of the sky.


Next came a Level 20 Ponyta, whose Fire type resisted X-Scissor and prevented a one hit KO.  Ponyta's only move was to Growl to reduce Attack to -1.  This wasn't enough to stop one hit KOs on both the Level 20 Buizel and the Level 21 Grotle, and DANTSKI won again with 72/94 HP at Level 32.


An NPC in one Hearthome City building gave DANTSKI a Shell Bell hold item, which replenished a small amount of HP after attacking an enemy.  Near Hearthome City was the Lost Tower, and odd dungeon that had little to do with the plot but was still mandatory.  This was because the Strength HM was at the top.  But more importantly for DANTSKI, there was a Return TM randomly lying around. 


In other Pokemon games, NPCs give Return as a reward for having a Pokemon with a high friendship stat, so its placement in Pearl is strange.  Return served as a good supplement to X-Scissor if an enemy resisted Bug, even if it didn't have the badge boosts and same type attack bonus that TOPPERCENT the Rattata had.


Veilstone City features both the department store and the Game Corner, whose TMs offer many options to a solo Pokemon.  DANTSKI wanted Swords Dance, a move that would buff his Attack by 2 stages per use.  The problem was that it cost 80,000 Poke Dollars because Game Corner TMs.  Money usually wasn't a problem for other solo runs.  I remembered the parable of the "pearl of great price" as ALBA sold off most of the TMs acquired throughout the playthrough.  Smogon members would probably have an allergic reaction to selling the multiplayer move Stealth Rock!    


That still wasn't enough cash, so DANTSKI mugged a few trainers to the south of Veilstone to get the rest.  Swords Dance was worth it against Veilstone's Fighting type Gym Leader Maylene.  Her Level 27 Meditite was perfect bait for Substituting and increasing DANTSKI's Attack to +4 (3X normal).  Meditite wasted turns trying to block attacks with Detect or Meditating to increase its own Attack before DANTSKI decided to hack it with X-Scissor.  Level 27 Machoke and Level 30 Lucario fell to one boosted Return each, even though the latter resisted Normal.  DANTSKI got his 4th badge with 117/119 HP at Level 41 holding the Shell Bell.


Crasher Wake the Water Gym Leader of Pastoria City was a pushover too.  DANTSKI even had full HP at Level 44 thanks to his Shell Bell reversing any damage taken.  Crasher Wake's Level 27 Gyarados Intimidated DANTSKI and reduced his Attack to -1, but 2 Swords Dances raised it to +3.  Gyarados's 60 power Bite was ineffectual against a higher leveled opponent.  Level 27 Quagsire and Level 30 Floatzel were neutral to Bug and could therefore be cut down with X-Scissor.


While ALBA was chasing down a Team Galactic member, Barry ran into her and challenged DANTSKI to another rival battle.  He didn't even bother to evolve his Level 26 Starly, making for a good Swords Dance opportunity.  The enemy Wing Attack may have been more of a danger from a Staravia.  One Return felled Starly and Level 25 Ponyta, while X-Scissor sliced Level 28 Grotle and Level 25 Buizel.  With the Shell Bell, DANTSKI won with full HP at Level 45.



DANTSKI the Kricketune Stats and Moves
 
Level 45 @ Shell Bell
Ability:  Swarm
 
HP:  131
Attack:  101
Defense:  67
Sp. Atk:  61
Sp. Def:  59
Speed:  82
 
X-Scissor
Return
Substitute
Swords Dance

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon Pearl Solo Kricketune Part 4:  Boring Gyms


The plot railroaded ALBA and DANTSKI after Cynthia handed out a Secret Potion to cure the Psyducks who were blocking the route to Celestic Town.  This was yet another Johto reference in a game that started with a news broadcast about the Red Gyarados.


Going through the Defog route was annoying without the HM, so I had to backtrack to pick it up in the Great Marsh (i.e. Safari Zone) near Pastoria City.  Don't know why the developers chose to give it to an NPC right by the entrance inside the park, and they probably didn't know either.  At least finding Surf in the Kanto games required navigating the Safari Zone correctly!  In the Platinum version, Defog is instead in the Solaceon Ruins.


After dealing with a Team Galactic Grunt and seeing a cutscene about legendary Pokemon lore in Celestic Town, DANTSKI had to backtrack to Hearthome City to battle Fantina the Ghost type Gym Leader.  The odd design choice was changed in Platinum, where Fantina is the 3rd Gym Leader.  The NPCs inside the Gym had funny lines about how ALBA must have intentionally failed the quiz in order to battle them, and questioned if she had a Poketch on the DS touch screen at all.  (One of its starting applications is a calculator.)  Pokemon trainers can answer basic arithmetic problems in order to bypass battles, but choose not to because they realize that "higher levels" and "more money" make for better math.


Fantina's Level 32 Drifblim had the terrible 30 base power Astonish as its main attacking move, along with the weak 40 power Gust.  It took 2 of the former and 1 of the latter to break the Substitute, allowing DANTSKI to buff himself twice with Swords Dance.  Drifblim tried to dodge attacks with a Minimize evasion boost, but this failed to stop X-Scissors, even when Fantina fed it a Hyper Potion.  Drifblim dealt more damage in death with its passive Aftermath ability than it could achieve in. . .undeath?  It was a Ghost type, after all.


Level 36 Mismagius only had a partial resistance to Bug and fell to one X-Scissor.  Level 34 Gengar was Ghost/Poison and only took 1/4 damage from DANTSKI's main move, letting it live long enough to Spite some PP away from X-Scissor.  Fantina healed her star with 1 Hyper Potion before conceding the match.  DANTSKI was Level 52 with 101/153 HP and the Shell Bell.


Barry tried to put up more of a fight in Canalave City by leading with a Level 31 Staravia's Intimidate.  The Substitute + Swords Dance combo was free when Staravia whiffed a Take Down.  Staravia tried to buff evasion with Double Team, much like Fantina's Drifblim and its Minimize, but a single Return was sufficient to ground the bird.  Level 32 Ponyta, Level 30 Heracross, Level 35 Grotle, and Level 32 Buizel all saw stars after a single Return or X-Scissor.  At least Buizel struck with a token Quick Attack, which failed to break the Substitute.  DANTSKI's victory was at Level 53 and full HP while holding the Shell Bell.


Byron the Steel Gym Leader began with a Level 36 Bronzor, which was the perfect bait for Substitute and Swords Dance.  Its Flash Cannon was a viable attack, but Bronzor only shot it once.  Instead, Byron told it to cast 2 useless Hypnosis and 1 nullified Confuse Ray against the Substitute.  Once all 3 Swords Dances were completed, DANTSKI bisected Bronzor and a Level 39 Bastiodon with X-Scissor.  Steelix's extraordinary Defense and resistance to Bug kept it alive for the first X-Scissor, but even Byron's healing item couldn't save it from a critical hit.  Steelix's attack on Round 1 was. . .Ice Fang.  Not even Iron Tail with more base power and same type attack bonus.     DANTSKI got his 6th badge with full HP and Substitute intact.


At this point, I'm trying to finish the playthrough as quickly as possible.  As strange as it sounds, solo Kricketune is too easy to be fun once it gets its final moveset.  It plays much like an inferior Pinsir, without any gimmicks other than having to rely on Fury Cutter at the beginning.  At least solo Pachirisu was funny when I was dying to Leech Seeds from random NPC trainers.


DANTSKI the Kricketune Stats and Moves
 

Level 55 @ Shell Bell
Ability:  Swarm
 
HP:  161
Attack:  129
Defense:  84
Sp. Atk:  78
Sp. Def:  72
Speed:  105
 
X-Scissor
Return
Substitute
Swords Dance

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon Pearl Solo Kricketune Part 5:  Boring Dungeons


Battles with Commander Mars and Commander Jupiter at Sinnoh's lakes were not worth mentioning here, because the "evil team gauntlet" was always the weakest part of the Pokemon story mode.  In Snowpoint, the trendy saying was CUBISM, because apparently there was a renewed interest in Picasso's early art.  


Candice the Ice Gym Leader opened with a Level 38 Snover, which was far more dangerous than its weak stats would imply.  Snover's passive ability was Snow Warning, which summoned a never-ending hailstorm that pelted DANTSKI for 1/16 max HP at the end of every round.  Combined with the 1/4 HP drop from the Substitute meant to set up Swords Dance, and you can see why DANTSKI wanted Shell Bell healing.  Level 40 Medicham stalled for a turn with Detect, though Level 38 Sneasel and Level 42 Abomasnow both fell to a +2 X-Scissor without being able to attack.  DANTSKI got the 7th badge with 122/180 HP at Level 62.


Cyrus's first team of Level 40-43 Murkrow, Golbat, and Sneasel in Team Galactic's Veilstone headquarters was so pathetic DANTSKI didn't even have to Swords Dance to kill them all in one hit.  Commander Saturn wasn't much better, though at least Toxicroak struck with its own X-Scissor (?) while DANTSKI was Swords Dancing.  


Commanders Mars and Jupiter challenged Barry and me to a Double Battle on the Spear Pillar atop Mt. Coronet.  This was somewhat difficult because Barry sent out a Munchlax that did nothing but buff its own defenses with Stockpile, or debuff the enemies' Defense with Screech.  Both Mars and Saturn started with ineffectual Bronzors that tended to use Gyro Ball or Extrasensory with low attacking stats. 


A Level 46 Skuntank, however, was bulky enough to take 1 X-Scissor, and shot a Flamethrower instead of skunk spray.  Level 45 Purugly, however, was helpless before X-Scissor, and the final Golbat cast Confuse Ray on Munchlax instead of DANTSKI.  DANTSKI won at Level 66 with about 2/3 max HP.


Cyrus used evolved Pokemon in his final battle, though Level 45 Honchkrow's terrible AI whiffed with Steel Wing, and failed to disable the Substitute's items with Embargo.  A Swords Dance followed by a critical X-Scissor defeated the mob boss crow.  Level 46 Crobat outsped with a Bite, but failed to harm the Substitute and crashed to the ground after a single Return.  Level 45 Gyarados's Intimidate failed to faze the Substitute, and it too collapsed after a Return.  Weavile finally managed to break the Subsitute with its high Speed and Night Slash, though it was weak to X-Scissor.  DANTSKI conquered Team Galactic with full HP at Level 67.


DANTSKI took one Water Pulse from Palkia before a Swords Dance boosted X-Scissor sent the legendary Pokemon of space back to its own world.


Volkner, the Electric Gym Leader of Sunyshore City, was good enough to make a surprisingly interesting battle.  Level 46 Raichu broke DANTSKI's first Substitute with a critical Charge Beam that also buffed its Sp. Atk.  Then the questionable AI took effect, and Raichu wasted its buff by attacking with the physical Brick Break, or failing to paralyze the 2nd Substitute with Thunder Wave.  One Swords Dance boosted X-Scissor snapped Raichu, but somehow Static passive ability paralysis ignored the Substitute and afflicted DANTSKI.


Level 47 Ambipom unnecessarily buffed its Speed with Agility, allowing a free X-Scissor.  Level 49 Luxray's Thunder Fang destroyed the final Substitute, and DANTSKI couldn't immediately counterattack because he was fully paralyzed that round.  A Charge Beam increased Luxray's Sp. Atk, but the early route Electric type couldn't take advantage of the boost when an X-Scissor sliced it in half. 


Level 47 Octillery's signature Water move Octazooka decreased DANTSKI's accuracy, creating a real possibility of a DEATH COUNT after another turn wasted on paralysis.  Octillery cast Charge Beam to fit the Gym's nominal Electric theme, and at last DANTSKI cut off the tentacles with a final X-Scissor to win at Level 70 with 61/202 HP.  Kricketune's Shell Bell has been useful during this playthrough!


Next was a generic Surf route and a dull and confusing Victory Road.  Pokemon Pearl is probably the blandest entry in the main series, and you're not missing out on much if you haven't played a Sinnoh game.  At least the trainers provided enough experience for a few more levels before the Elite 4. . .



DANTSKI the Kricketune Stats and Moves
 
Level 74 @ Shell Bell
Ability:  Swarm
 
HP:  213
Attack:  172
Defense:  112
Sp. Atk:  104
Sp. Def:  96
Speed:  139
 
X-Scissor
Return
Substitute
Swords Dance

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon Pearl Solo Kricketune Part 6:  Not So Boring Elite 4


Barry the twig-armed rival rushed into the Pokemon League Pokemon Center to challenge DANTSKI one more time before the end of the game.  (Why does everyone have such tiny arms in this game?  Maybe they're on the Chrono Cross diet plan.  Even Poshul only weighs 26 lbs.!)


Level 48 Staraptor was the best choice he could have made for his lead.  Its guaranteed Intimidate debuff and Flying type put DANTSKI at a disadvantage.  Perhaps anticipating future multiplayer tactics, Staraptor switched with a U-Turn attack to Level 49 Rapidash.  The flaming horse Bounced into the air for a 2 turn Flying attack instead of immediately breaking the Substitute with a Fire move, so DANTSKI managed to Swords Dance twice.  A Return sent Rapidash to the glue factory and plucked Staraptor's feathers.  Another Return crushed Level 50 Heracross's exoskeleton.


Level 51 Snorlax had such high HP that it was best to Substitute and Swords Dance one more time.  Its Earthquake was "not very effective" against DANTSKI's Bug type, though a Body Slam managed to destroy the Substitute doll.  One boosted X-Scissor put Snorlax to sleep.  Level 49 Floatzel dealt minor damage with a priority Aqua Jet before an X-Scissor skinned it.  Level 53 Torterra's tree was chopped down with another X-Scissor, resulting in a 206/216 HP victory at Level 75.


Since I just wanted to finish the game quickly, I didn't bother finding every Rare Candy in Sinnoh, and only bothered to boost DANTSKI to Level 78.  This was enough, as none of the final opponents had levels as high as Red's team from Crystal. 


Aaron the Bug master began with a Level 53 Dustox that made excellent Substitute bait.  Its Light Screen was irrelevant as DANTSKI only used physical attacks, though there was only enough time to set up one Swords Dance before a freak Bug Buzz critical destroyed the Substitute doll.  Return and X-Scissor exterminated Dustox and Levels 53-57 Vespiquen, Drapion, Heracross, and Beautifly without taking any damage.  The Shell Bell even restored enough HP that DANTSKI at Level 78 didn't have to consume a healing item before the next Elite 4 member.


Bertha the Ground master opened with a Level 55 Quagsire that summoned a Sandstorm on the first round.  Sandstorm dealt as much Substitute-ignoring damage at the end of every round as Hail, making me thankful for the Shell Bell.  Although Quagsire didn't hit hard directly, its Double Team evasion meant DANTSKI had to kill it quickly with X-Scissor after 1 Swords Dance before wasting too much PP or dying to Sandstorm attrition.  Level 56 Sudowoodo was no more than free experience and 1 use of X-Scissor PP.  


Level 56 Golem had high enough Defense in its rocky shell to survive one X-Scissor and let it retaliate with a half power Earthquake.  Quagsire's Sandstorm abated that round.  Bertha healed her Rock/Ground type with a Full Restore, and DANTSKI used Return to drain enough HP to avoid activating more Full Restores before a final X-Scissor.  Or so I thought.  The 1st Return was a critical hit, and a 2nd was a KO.  Level 55 Whiscash was as vulnerable to X-Scissor as Sudowoodo, but Hippowdon was robust and survived one to buff its Attack and Defense with Curse.  This wasn't enough to prevent DANTSKI's victory, and Kricketune left the arena at Level 79 with 223/227 HP.


Flint the "Fire master" only had 2 Fire types due to Sinnoh's horrible Pokemon selection.  Flint's Rapidash Bounced much like Barry's, meaning a free Substitute and Swords Dance for DANTSKI.  One Return was sufficient to put down Rapidash.  Level 58 Drifbliim was one of the most dreaded opponents of the playthrough because Kricketune didn't have many options for dealing with Ghost types, especially those that took 1/4 damage from X-Scissor.  It was an anticlimax when Drifblim wasted most of its moves trying to Burn DANTSKI's Substitute with Will-o-Wisp.  Two more Swords Dances and a lucky X-Scissor critical popped Driblim's balloon in one hit, and the Shell Bell mitigated passive Aftermath damage somewhat.


Level 61 Infernape outsped even Jolly Kricketune and Thunderpunched to break the Substitute.  The doll's sacrifice gave DANTSKI one chance to KO with Return.  Level 57 Lopunny perished after one X-Scissor, though Level 57 Steelix required 2 thanks to its high Defense and Steel type.  Steelix's only move was. . .Sunny Day.  Just like Jasmine's Steelix.  Maybe Flint needed to slap a weather move onto Steelix to fit the Fire theme?  (For some reason, many opponents use Steelix in Pearl. . .)  At Level 79, DANTSKI survived with 172/227 HP.


Despite his type nominally being weak to Bug, Lucian the Psychic master was the most difficult of the Elite 4.  Sure, DANTSKI murdered Level 59 Mr. Mime and later Level 59 Girafarig with one X-Scissor before they could make a move.  But Medicham broke the Substitute with Fire Punch, and could survive 1 unboosted X-Scissor.  A 2nd Fire Punch forced DANTSKI to limp through the rest of the battle.  Level 60 Alakazam outsped DANTSKI and cast a half damage Focus Blast that left Kricketune at less than 1/4 HP, preventing him from stuffing another Substitute doll.  A Swords Dance gamble against Level 63 Bronzong succeeded when the bell buffed Sp. Atk and Sp. Def with Calm Mind instead of attacking.  One +2 X-Scissor made a Liberty Bell sized crack, ending the battle at Level 80 with 81/230 HP.


Cynthia has a reputation of being the hardest Pokemon League Champion from what I remember, and I'd have to agree.  I think her Garchomp sometimes took out my Level 100 Palkia if its Spacial Rend missed back when I used to level grind my multiplayer teams.  The Jolly nature was meant to outspeed this dragon.


Fortunately, her Level 61 Spiritomb was breathing room for Substitute and 2 Swords Dances.  The 108-themed Ghost type cast a weak Silver Wind and failed to Embargo the Shell Bell, until it remembered it had Dark Pulse to break the Substitute.  This was too late to prevent an X-Scissor KO.  A 2nd Substitute did nothing more than waste 25% of DANTSKI's HP when Gastrodon's "super effective" Stone Edge destroyed it immediately.  A single X-Scissor salted the slug, gutted the Level 63 Milotic, and pressed Level 60 Roserade.


Both of Lucario's types resisted DANTSKI's attacks, so the only option was Return.  A half damage Aura Sphere was a minor inconvenience, as was the enemy Full Restore.  More Returns sent Lucario flying off the stage in Super Smash Bros.  DANTSKI's Jolly +10% Speed was useless against Level 66 Garchomp when it got the first move.  However, that first move was "not very effective" Earthquake instead of a neutral damage Outrage, and one last X-Scissor won the game at Level 80 with 159/230 HP.


Solo Kricketune was funny back when I had to rely on consecutive Fury Cutters to deal any damage, but the variant was over once DANTSKI learned the reliable X-Scissor in the 2nd Gym.  Substitute from the Old Chateau after Gym 2, Return from the Lost Tower, and Swords Dance from the Veilstone Game Corner provided all the moves he needed for the rest of the game.  The only plausible alternative might have been using the Flying type Aerial Ace instead of Return for better type coverage with less raw power.  Kricketune plays like "Pinsir lite" rather than a unique Pokemon like some other solos.


(Kricketune does learn the Dark type Night Slash starting in the later 4th generation Johto remakes, but DANTSKI had to make do with a more limited move selection.)


Something about Sinnoh bothers me, and I'm not entirely sure why.  Perhaps it's the bland terrain, or maybe there's lower enemy variety in Pearl compared to other Pokemon installments.  The "4th generation slowness" isn't so bad if you turn off battle animations, like I do for all my solos.  It's doubtful I'll play Pearl again for a long time.


(That said, I have fond memories of 4th generation multiplayer, because Pearl was the 1st Wifi Pokemon game.)


DANTSKI the Kricketune Final Stats and Moves


Level 80 @ Shell Bell
Ability:  Swarm


HP:  230
Attack:  185
Defense:  121
Sp. Atk:  112
Sp. Def:  103
Speed:  150


X-Scissor
Return
Substitute
Swords Dance


EDIT:  I'd include the victory picture, but Realms Beyond won't let me.  Scroll to the bottom of this Smogon link to see it.  (It didn't rotate properly for some reason, so you may have to turn your head. . .)