Took IronTurt the Squirtle.
Caught MadGopher the NidoranM on Route 22.
Lingered in Viridian Forest to get SlimeBorg the Pikachu. A bit of a stretch, but Dragon Warrior lacks cutesy electric mice.
IronTurt solos Brock.
Roster: IronTurt |MadGopher | SlimeBorg (Roll 1d3: 2)
Okay, bye-bye, MadGopher the L9 NidoranM!
Snag Watabou the Clefairy in Mt. Moon and BullBird the Spearow on Route 4.
Accidentally lost to Cerulean Rival due to several unlucky crits from him and accidentally throwing a PokeBall at him rather than using a Potion. Oops. Well, quickly corrected.
I then collect, above Cerulean, Rosevine the Bellsprout and Metaly the Abra... ahem. Metaly the Abra... Metaly the Abra...... Metaly the Abra...... METALY THE ABRA...
Ahem! That catch went just fine and I don't know why anyone's staring at me funny. Next. In other news, grinding went great!
A combination of SlimeBorg and Rosevine takes down Misty.
Roster: SlimeBorg | Watabou | IronTurt | Metaly | Rosevine | BullBird
(Roll 1d6: 2... again? Huh.)
Okay, bye-bye, Watabou the L14 Clefairy!
Metaly evolves on the way to Vermillion. I grab MudDoll the Diglett, then go through the ritual motions up to Lt. Surge.
Roster: MudDoll | Metaly | SlimeBorg | BullBird | IronTurt | Rosevine
(Roll 1d6: 1)
Jeez. Okay, bye-bye, MudDoll the L24 Diglett! You served me very well during your short stay on the team.
I was terrified I'd lose my Cut user, so this could be worse. I throw Almiraj the Drowzee on my team to compensate. BullBird evolves on the way to Rock Tunnel. The Tunnel itself is uneventful, largely being rushed by IronTurt. I go immediately to Erika because I want to find out what I'm losing before I spend any of the Rocket Hideout or Pokemon Tower EXP dumps.
Roster: BullBird | SlimeBorg | Metaly | Almiraj | Rosevine | IronTurt
(Roll 1d6: 1? Seriously? Confound it.)
Goodbye, BullBird the L25 Fearow. I was HOPING you would stay for Fly purposes, but I suppose we all must part ways. You served me very well indeed.
I fill its slot with MadCat the Eevee. Along the way, Almiraj learns Confusion and actually becomes viable.
Pokemon Tower goes well, so it's now time to grab Snorlax and roll for whomever I kick off the team. Perhaps I should have skipped MadCat... eh, I have two Psychics on the team, I'm set for life.
Roster: Almiraj | Rosevine | Metaly | SlimeBorg | IronTurt | MadCat
(Roll 1d6: 6)
Huh, so much for Eevee. I wasn't expecting that, but okay. That works.
Much as I love Pikachu, it's becoming nonviable, stat-wise, and pre-Yellow Pikachu has a horrible natural movepool. So it gets a Thunderstone, and away it goes.
Hilariously underleveled (all Pokemon < L30), I hobble through the Fuchsia Gym using status, which is painfully pleasant to use after a Nuzlocke which forbid status moves. And then I swept Koga with Metaly, who is a L31 Kadabra, until he courteously blew up his own Weezing.
Roster: Metaly | Almiraj | Rosevine | SlimeBorg | IronTurt | Mudou
(Roll 1d6: 4)
WELL I'M GLAD I GOT SOME USE OUT OF SLIMEBORG THEN. Farewell, SlimeBorg; I was just really beginning to enjoy using a Pikachu in a run. :(
Sadly, SlimeBorg was the most replaceable, since any Electric-type can be mimicked by a Pokemon with Thunderbolt. Still... ouch. I catch DarkHorn the Nidorina from Safari Zone to compensate. At L33, she is actually the strongest Pokemon on my team.
Seriously, I forgot how badly leveling went on a 6-Pokemon team. Might have to start running the No EXP circuit for high-level mons.
I then proceeded to solo Blaine with Wartortle (it evolved after the battle) and then, because he felt this was too dignified for him, he KOed it so he could gracefully have his L47 Arcanine KOed by a L28 Hypno. Blaine continues to be the single most pathetic Gym Leader in Gen 1, and that includes Brock. At least Brock is excruciatingly painful for No EXP and/or Normal Monotype runs.
Roster: IronTurt | Rosevine | Metaly | Almiraj | Mudou | DarkHorn
(Roll 1d6: 2)
Really? Farewell, Rosevine. You were a fair Weepinbell, and it was fun having you on the team. If only you learned Razor Leaf earlier, you could have been truly formidable.
...I now have no Cut user. However, it CAN be learned by -
Wait, how does TENTACRUEL use Cut? I really don't want to know. Nonetheless... I can work with this...
*several Max Repels later* Okay, I now have KingSquid the L41 Tentacruel, courtesy of Rare Candy. That works. It's E4 viable, as I know from long experience. It is also DEFINITELY the highest-level Pokemon on my team, by about eight levels.
Huh, I wonder if it would make things more interesting to consider Giovanni a force-swap point. Nah. At any rate, as you might imagine, Silph Co. was nothing to write home about. Double Psychics, woo.
Almiraj sweeps Sabrina.
Roster: Almiraj | Metaly | IronTurt | Mudou | DarkHorn | KingSquid
(Roll 1d6: 3)
...
Farewell, buddy. You were the best Blastoise anyone could wish for. Well - I've had more amazing ones, but that had to do with TMs.
Enjoy your retirement, buddy. IronTurt the L38 Blastoise departs the team.
Out of sheer frustration, I finally get WhipBird the Aerodactyl and enjoy my all-expense-paid flight. KingSquid and Metaly then demolish the Viridian Gym.
Roster: KingSquid | Metaly | Mudou | Almiraj | DarkHorn | WhipBird
(Roll 1d6: 1)
...I swear Random.org is actually biased toward 1.
Farewell, KingSquid the L43 Tentacruel. You were very good, as usual, and now I need to go grab a spare Water-type.
Because "balanced typing" is for games that have weird ideas like "legitimate Psychic weaknesses", we round off the cast with Mirudraas the L38 Slowbro. Yes, those are available in the wild in Seafoam Island. It takes a lot of Max Repels, though.
Me, after having half my team wiped by Alakazam: Oh, wait, I have that one Pokemon who's the Gen 1 hard counter to Alakazam in my team, right?
*one Hypno later*
Yeah, so the game's pretty simple from here on out, aside from my awful level deficits. (What's L40? Is that what grinders see?) Specifically, 38/39/39/33/30/35. Oh well - half of them are Psychics. It's doable.
Okay, well. Lorelei. Pop quiz! L37 Snorlax or Elite Four member? L37 Snorlax (and two Hyper Potions), of course! Though now Mudou is L38. Gen 1 Amnesia is ridiculous.
Okay, a softball! Bruno or an L39 Kadabra! That's easy, of course. It's now an L41 Kadabra.
Agatha or Hypno? Yeah, Hypno.
L58 Gyarados or L38 Snorlax? Most of Lance's roster or an L39 Slowbro? Yes, you guessed it - my Pokemon. Hail Hyper Potions. All 12 or so of them. It was a long battle, put it that way.
And... ouch, ouch, ouch. I'm really glad this wasn't a Nuzlocke. I ended up having to KO Gyarados with Mirudraas and handle Arcanine and Venusaur with Almiraj. Nonetheless - run complete.