• Our software update is now concluded. You will need to reset your password to log in. In order to do this, you will have to click "Log in" in the top right corner and then "Forgot your password?".
  • Forum moderator applications are now open! Click here for details.
  • Welcome to PokéCommunity! Register now and join one of the best fan communities on the 'net to talk Pokémon and more! We are not affiliated with The Pokémon Company or Nintendo.

The Gender Fairness Challenge

252
Posts
7
Years
  • Age 31
  • LOL
  • Seen Oct 24, 2016
Gender Fairness Challenge
Special thanks to Schwann for approving this.
Spoiler:


What is the Gender Fairness Challenge?
The Gender Fairness Challenge simply states that only Pokemon of the same gender are allowed to fight.

How does the challenge work?
Choosing any of the GBA games (FireRed/LeafGreen, Sapphire/Ruby/Emerald), you simply must battle through the game fighting the enemy Pokemon using any Pokemon in your roster of the same gender.

What do I do if I run out or don't have the same gender Pokemon available?
Pretty simple, you MUST lose until you have a Pokemon of the same gender available.

What about battles against the Rival trainer, such as May or Gary?
As I mentioned above, you are required to lose until you beat them with the same genders as required.

But wait, what if they switch out or the next Pokemon they bring out isn't the same gender?
Then you must do the same. Males can only fight Males, Females can only fight Females.

But wait, what about double battles?
Males can only fight Males, Females can only fight Females. Almost every battle gives you the chance to switch out before an attack happens. If you just so happen to get hit, then you are allowed to retaliate (attack back) once with the opposite gender. After that attack, you MUST switch out for the same gender unless attacked again, in which you can return the favor. If the battle becomes a 2-on-1 and one of your Pokemon is the opposite gender, then they cannot attack, they are only allowed to do supportive moves (such as Helping Hand) or you must waste their turn by using items.

But wait, what if I get stuck and cannot use the same gender?
Well, then it looks like you'll be restarting the game. Sucks, don't it?

But wait, what about Genderless Pokemon?
They have no gender, so take it how you want. You can make them able to fight both or fight none.

But wait, how do I capture the opposite gender?
Better prepare to toss a lot of Pokeballs. You can only attack them if they attack you. This does not mean keep on attacking, it means unless you take damage, you cannot attack them AT ALL with any move, all you can do is help yourself or use Pokeballs until they physically harm you. (This means if they use Toxic on you, you cannot attack them until you take damage. As for moves like Sleep Powder or Stun Spore, you cannot attack period!)

Can I do this challenge on ROM hacks?
Sure! I don't mind that.

Can I do this challenge on the older games as well?
Sure! But as far as I remember, only Silver/Gold/Crystal display the gender of the Pokemon. So unless you have a special hack of Red/Blue/Yellow that shows the genders, then you're out of luck... since only the Nidoran line has SPECIFIC gender differences.

Can I do this challenge on newer games?
Only if the game shows the gender of the Pokemon in battle.

DISQUALIFICATIONS
If you do any of the following, you are IMMEDIATELY disqualified and will NOT be allowed to participate in the challenge OFFICIALLY on here.

1: Do not stay in a battle on PURPOSE with the opposite gender, just so you can attack them when they attack you. If you are able to switch out for the same gender, do so IMMEDIATELY. If you do not have the same gender available, you need to RUN, SPAM USELESS MOVES AND LOSE, or EXPEND (waste) ITEMS until you lose.

2: Do not use hacks (not hacked ROMs), cheats, or glitches to ensure you get the Pokemon you need or want. This is supposed to be a challenge, not a walk in the park.

3: If mixed with a RANDOMIZER, do not abuse the randomizer to have better chances. If you randomize your starters, you are NOT allowed to use LEGENDARY Pokemon. However, you can catch them in the wild.

4: Master Balls and Ultra Balls are FORBIDDEN (as it makes catching Pokemon you may want or need too easily). You can however, sell them if you want.

5: Exp. Share is allowed. HOWEVER, only Pokemon of the same gender are allowed to gain from it. This means, if a MALE Pokemon in your party has Exp. Share, then all FEMALE (and GENDERLESS) Pokemon must be boxed up IMMEDIATELY, and visa-versa.

6: Trading between game saves (including your own) is NOT ALLOWED.



PARTICIPATION
If you want to join this challenge, please post down in the comments, in this format:

Name: The name of your trainer in the game.
Game: The name of the game you are playing.
Team: The current Pokemon on your team, their gender symbol (if they have a gender), and their level.

Remember... ♂ is MALE, ♀ is FEMALE.

BONUS DIFFICULTY (Optional)
Only capture and use Pokemon of the same gender as your Trainer, allowing only GENDERLESS Pokemon to be your attacker for the opposite gender. (Requires a randomizer to do, I'd suggest starting with a Genderless Pokemon then)

The Right Way
cddmMzu.png
HSWgVE5.png


The Wrong Way
iylRQ7B.png
XUwxv6M.png


Gameplay Example
(Sorry for the lag, my computer is awful)
Spoiler:


I expect you all to do this challenge fairly and correctly.
If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask.

PARTICIPANTS
(Only the first 5 participants (not including myself) will be listed)

Spoiler:
 
Last edited:
1,103
Posts
11
Years
  • Age 31
  • Seen Feb 20, 2024
Name: Ahri (always using that for challenge runs)
Game: White 2
Team: haven't decided yet.

Will begin after I finish the Halloween event challenge.
 
87
Posts
7
Years
  • Age 31
  • Seen Oct 8, 2018
I'll be going with Gold. Just out of curiosity -- if the opponent switches out and you accidentally get in a hit on a Pokemon of the wrong gender, is that all right? I can't think of too many times that it would be relevant -- just curious.

By the way, I noticed something useful for Gym Leader battles and the like when I checked Bulbapedia -- with the exception of mono-gender Pokemon, Gym Leaders and other important Trainers will tend to use Pokemon of the same gender. So try to get a male Mankey before Brock, female Bellsprout/Oddish before Misty, male Diglett before Surge, etc. :D
 
252
Posts
7
Years
  • Age 31
  • LOL
  • Seen Oct 24, 2016
I'll be going with Gold. Just out of curiosity -- if the opponent switches out and you accidentally get in a hit on a Pokemon of the wrong gender, is that all right? I can't think of too many times that it would be relevant -- just curious.

By the way, I noticed something useful for Gym Leader battles and the like when I checked Bulbapedia -- with the exception of mono-gender Pokemon, Gym Leaders and other important Trainers will tend to use Pokemon of the same gender. So try to get a male Mankey before Brock, female Bellsprout/Oddish before Misty, male Diglett before Surge, etc. :D

As mentioned above, if a Pokemon of the opposite gender attacks you, you are allowed to attack back. However, you must switch out for the same gender immediately after.
 
87
Posts
7
Years
  • Age 31
  • Seen Oct 8, 2018
Current team @Olivine:
PokeBro the L19 :t079: ♂
Maelstrom the L22 :t017: ♂
Dude, yes! the L24 :t074: ♂
Phoenix the L19 :t156: ♀
MUSCLE the L23 :t066: ♀

The worst part of the game was early on, when my only usable Pokemon against Trainers was a L2 :t016:. XD Aside from that, things have been relatively simple -- I'm currently grinding PokeBro up for deployment against Chuck and Jasmine's Steelix.
Out of curiosity, is a minor hack to enable trade evolutions by level acceptable? I don't need it -- it just occurs to me that two of my team members will be affected.

Some notes on the experience so far, for the benefit of other players:

One thing that I've noticed is that, at least in Kanto and Johto, male Pokemon are far more prevalent due to an abundance of male Trainers. (A general rule is that Pokemon will be the same gender as their Trainer. There are a few exceptions to this, including Jasmine's Steelix and the all-male Pokemon of the Kimono Girls in GSC.) 3/5 of Kanto's E4 is male and 4/5 of Johto's -- crucially, the CHAMPIONS are male. Furthermore, you'll be forced to lose the first Rival battle if you have a female starter, and, as far as I can tell, the game only becomes unwinnable if you run out of PokeBalls before you catch a Pokemon of the opposite gender to your starter. (Otherwise, I'm fairly sure you could, in the ludicrously worst-case scenario, run a two-Pokemon challenge with your starter and other Pokemon.) Losing to your rival cuts your cash and increases your chance of this. TL;DR: Male starter unless you like a challenge.

If you're in Kanto, Erika's Pokemon, Sabrina's Mr. Mime and Venomoth, Lorelei's Pokemon, and Agatha's Pokemon are female. Giovanni's Nidoqueen is female for obvious reasons.
If you're in Johto, Whitney's Pokemon and Karen's Pokemon are female. All of Karen's Pokemon except for Umbreon are female. Will's Jynx is female for obvious reasons.

Also, I'm pretty sure genderless Pokemon should be allowed to fight both sexes, because certain Leaders'/Champions'/important NPCs' teams will force you to fight genderless Pokemon in order to advance in the game. (Yeah, I goofed here: Misty's Pokemon are genderless, not female. In my defense, I play Red/Blue much more than FireRed/LeafGreen.) I don't know if Sinnoh is exempt from this, but that's true of Kanto (Misty), Johto (Jasmine), Hoenn (Tate + Lisa, Steven), and Unova (N, Brycen) at the very least.

---

Okay, so I've now finished the E4. Clair was the single hardest part of the run, as I ended up having to grind MUSCLE to L44 to get past her. Fortunately this isn't a Nuzlocke, so I just kept bashing MUSCLE and Phoenix into her first few Pokemon until they were strong enough to beat her. Obviously I spent all my money first.
E4 was second-hardest, but I already had a routine worked out from other challenge runs. Spend all money, bash against Will until the team's strong enough to get past him, equip Amulet Coin, and start doing no-item runs while stocking up on healing items and EXP.
Final strategy went like this:
Maelstrom or PokeBro handled the Xatus -- Dude, yes! just didn't have the Sp. Def. Phoenix downed Jynx. The Red Gyarados could flinchlock or Dragon Rage his Slowbro until another could finish it off. Exeggutor obviously went to Maelstrom.
Dude, yes! handled as many of Koga's Pokemon as possible, with PokeBro finishing the rest.
PokeBro is fully capable of soloing Bruno.
Maelstrom or Dude, yes! could handle Umbreon, Vileplume and Gengar went to Phoenix, and MUSCLE demolished Murkrow and Houndoom.
Lance... was a real issue. I ended up having to repeat a strategy I've used before, which is to muddle through the Gyarados and Thunder Dragonite as well as possible, then have PokeBro start piling up Amnesias and Curses. The rest was pretty simple.

Current Team @ Hall of Fame:
Maelstrom the L53 :t018: ♂ | Fly | Sand Attack | Wing Attack | Quick Attack
Dude, yes! the L47 :t075: ♂ | Rollout | Defense Curl | Rock Throw | Earthquake
PokeBro the L55 :t080: ♂ | Psychic | Surf | Curse | Amnesia
MUSCLE the L51 :t067: ♀ | Cross Chop | Vital Throw | Foresight | Seismic Toss
Phoenix the L42 :t157: ♀ | Flame Wheel | Strength | Quick Attack | Smokescreen
BERSERK the L32 red :t131: | Whirlpool | Waterfall | Bite | Dragon Rage

---

Run complete.

Final Team:
Dude, yes! the L55 :t075: ♂ | Rollout | Defense Curl | Rock Throw | Earthquake
MUSCLE the L53 :t067: ♀ | Cross Chop | Vital Throw | Foresight | Seismic Toss
PokeBro the L61 :t080: ♂ | Psychic | Surf | Curse | Amnesia
Maelstrom the L56 :t018: ♂ | Fly | Sand Attack | Wing Attack | Quick Attack
Phoenix the L47 :t157: ♀ | Flame Wheel | Strength | Quick Attack | Smokescreen
ZZZ the L50 :t143: ♂ | Rest | Snore | Body Slam | Rollout

Not much to say. Pikachu went down to Earthquakes, Espeon to Surfs, Venusaur to Wing Attacks and a Body Slam, Charizard to a single Rock Throw, Snorlax to Rollout, and Blastoise to Psychics.

Fun challenge. Oddly, at least in this early generation, what it amounts to is a restricted team size for handling most challenges in the game and a lot of trouble with Clair. More than type advantages, the issue is just that her Pokemon are overleveled compared to your female Pokemon, which get the very short end of the Trainer EXP stick. The gender imbalance in the game really surprised me. I never noticed there were so few female Pokemon on enemy teams...
 
Last edited:
38
Posts
9
Years
I will join the event. Sign me up pls.

Name: Volt 5
Game: Black 2
Team: Undecided

I will start this challenge after finishing up my Reborn challenge.

Here is the 1st update of my progress:

Journal Log:
Part 1
Spoiler:

Part 2
Spoiler:


Badges earned:






My current team
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
252
Posts
7
Years
  • Age 31
  • LOL
  • Seen Oct 24, 2016
Man... y'all are making me look bad for not doing such an extensive journal of my travels... much thanks and appreciation goes out to you all for being truly dedicated to the challenge.
 
38
Posts
9
Years
Here is the 1st update of my progress:

Journal Log:
Part 3
Spoiler:


Update 4
Spoiler:


Badges earned:












My current team
Spoiler:
Spoiler:


In PC
Spoiler:
 
Last edited:
103
Posts
8
Years
  • Age 22
  • Seen Jun 22, 2019
I have a few questions:

Is this is a nuzlocke, and if not can I do it that way because then it would be a challenge and I think, more fun. So I have to really be smart with my battling and the pokemon I have of each gender.

Also I was a bit unclear about wht to do early on. Say the first 3 pokemon I catch are all female. The next trainer you battle has all males, but it is impossible to beat him then, For my first encounter fter my starter should I just wait until I find a pokemon of the opposite gender of my starter so the run is startable?
 
252
Posts
7
Years
  • Age 31
  • LOL
  • Seen Oct 24, 2016
Every battle pretty much means you better capture both males and females early on to have a chance. If I am correct, most trainers and gym leaders only use Pokemon of the same gender in earlier games before NDS. Heck, in order to even capture the opposite gender for the first time, you'll have to rely on luck or RND to capture your first female, since you only start with 5 pokeballs.

As for Nuzlocking this, do whatever you please. This is pretty difficult as it is, since if all of your male pokemon faint against a trainer with only male pokemon, then all of your female pokemon are useless and visa-versa. Not to mention, only males can attack males and only females can attack females.

It took me quite a while to beat this myself, since I had to grind for hours on end just to have a fighting chance against some trainers.
 
87
Posts
7
Years
  • Age 31
  • Seen Oct 8, 2018
For a Nuzlocke, you MUST have a male starter in Gen 1-5 (don't know about Kalos). Otherwise, you WILL be forced to die to the very first Rival fight.

Also, in Kanto, I'm pretty sure you don't have to fight a female Trainer until Nugget Bridge. (There are Lasses on Route 3 and Mt. Moon, but they can be evaded.) That gives you Route 2 (and maybe Route 1), Route 22, Viridian Forest, Route 3, Mt. Moon, and Route 4 for catch chances, so you only have a 1-in-64 chance of not having gotten a female first encounter by the time you're forced to use a female Pokemon.

In Johto, I think you can avoid female Trainers until Slowpoke Well, and the only females you have to fight there are a L9 Zubat and L11 Ekans. After that are a L10 Ledyba and L10 Spinarak in the Azalea Gym, and then you're free of forced female battles until Goldenrod, where you can hopefully pick up MUSCLE the Machop (who is always female). So you really only need to grind up one good female Pokemon before that. (Though if you're Nuzlocking and you can't get a Drowzee for MUSCLE, you're going to have to grind up your strong female Pokemon for a while and hope it isn't weak to Rollout. Whitney's no joke.)

Also, if you're in Kanto or Johto, the males can usually get by on Trainer EXP because most Trainers/Gym Leaders are male. However, the females will fall behind, which will really hurt you in the later game. (Clair is an essay in pain.) I kind of wish there was a Randomize Gender option so the game wasn't lopsided... :P
 
Back
Top