I often did solo runs with Swampert back when Emerald was my only game. My best team for Hoenn has to be my most recent, from about 5 years ago:






I'd literally never caught a Feebas before, so that was very rewarding. I had to wait until the post-game to blend with Berry Master in order to evolve it. During the story I also used Absol - a great design let down by his stats and typing being at odds - and Clamperl, the latter because when I caught one in a Dive Ball it turned out to have great IVs and Hidden Power Grass, which made it brilliant against Juan and Wallace. Its now in Gen V as a Gorebyss with Shell Smash. Torchic was my first ever starter, and I remember thinking Blaze Kick was incredibly cool, but I'd only ever completed the game with Swampert until then (still never even evolved a Sceptile).
The five pictured (except Clamperl) each reached Master Rank in contests, as well as doing quite well in Battle Frontier (I think I may have beat the Dome Ace): Cool, Cute, Smart, Tough, and Beauty respectively.
I did a LeafGreen run with Red's team from PokéSpe which was quite cool, but not particularly challenging - Venusaur, Pikachu, Poliwrath, Gyarados, Snorlax, and Eevee then Aerodactyl is not exactly a weak team. Now
Gold in HeartGold on the other hand...that was tricky! No Fly, for authenticity I didn't evolve Aipom (and couldn't Togetic), not a single super-effective move to hit Dragon (although Sudowoodo could get a hit in on Charizard)...might do it again in the VC release!