Gotta Play 'em All! [A journey through all 35 main series games]

Somehow things went very...smoothly today? I progressed through the game quite smoothly and had to do very minimal grinding except for when I caught Makuhita in Granite Cave. Even then, it was only a couple of levels because I had my army of Pickup Zigzagoon since the start of the game so I already had around 5-ish Rare Candies.

Right now my team is very physical-based but I am planning on adding some special attackers to fill out the remaining 3 slots so don't worry. That being said, they've held their own quite well so far. Marshtomp destroyed Roxanne and Taillow made quick work of Brawley.

I thought Wattson would be a breeze as well with Soft Sand boosted Mud Shot from Marshtomp but his Voltorb caught me off guard with Selfdestruct, taking me out after prior damage from Magnemite's SonicBoom. I didn't think I would need any of my other team members so I hadn't gone back to heal, which led to a wipe. The second time around, I used Makuhita against the Magnemite and Voltorb so Marshtomp was at full health to take on the Magneton.

CURRENT TEAM

Tumblr the Marshtomp ♂ - Lv. 24

Torrent / Naughty nature

- Tackle
- Mud Shot
- Growl
- Water Gun

Twitter the Swellow ♂ - Lv. 22

Guts / Rash nature

- Wing Attack
- Focus Energy
- Steel Wing
- Quick Attack

Snapchat the Makuhita ♂ - Lv. 23

Thick Fat / Rash nature

- Tackle
- Vital Throw
- Rock Tomb
- Fake Out

Today's update is a little shorter, covering only two gyms instead of the three I originally planned to do. I got my booster shot yesterday and felt a little 'out of it' as a result today. I only had a minor fever but I still figured I shouldn't push myself.

That being said, I'm glad Fire Red was on the schedule today because I know these games in and out so I can pretty much play them on auto-pilot. I only again made some last minute changes to my team, swapping out Hypno for Kadabra because I just can't handle Hypno's design. I was a little iffy about using a NFE at first (I usually never do this) but Kadabra's Special Attack and Speed are literally higher than most fully evolved mons in this game lol.

The two gym fights were pretty easy and I didn't struggle against the rival this time around either. Water type starters are generally very balanced and handle the early game very well.

CURRENT TEAM

Cedar the Wartortle ♂ - Lv. 22

Torrent / Docile nature

- Water Pulse
- Tackle
- Bite
- Withdraw

Pine the Nidorino ♂ - Lv. 21

Poison Point / Modest nature

- Leer
- Peck
- Poison Sting
- Double Kick

Magnolia the Gloom ♀ - Lv. 21

Chlorophyll / Relaxed nature

- Bullet Seed
- Secret Power
- Stun Spore
- Poison Powder

Sycamore the Kadabra ♂ - Lv. 21

Synchronize / Bashful nature

- Psybeam
- Thief
- Disable
- Confusion

I'm still feeling kind of meh because of my booster vaccination two days ago so I spent most of the day just lazing around on the couch and playing Pokemon. (Hence the longer play time)

As always, D/P run so slow...It also didn't help that I'm torturing myself by using the Roserade line again so we're back to running around to friendship grind. This time it wasn't too bad though since Roselia doesn't start getting new moves until lv. 16 so I had a little more leaway. I still made sure to evolve him before Roark so he could destroy those Rock types though.

I wasn't going to

Out of all games I've played so far, I really like the squad I have going on this time. As mentioned when I played Diamond, messed up on the version excluvies for my planned D/P teams so I had to do the little 'transfer over an egg' trick again to get Murkrow. I'll actually be trading over one more team member in the next part because this Pokemon is usually post-game locked. I won't spoil which mon it is just yet though~

CURRENT TEAM

Tabasco the Monferno ♂ - Lv. 22

Blaze / Naughty nature

- Scratch
- Mach Punch
- Grass Knot
- Flame Wheel

Relish the Roselia ♂ - Lv. 20

Poison Point / Mild nature

- Magical Leaf
- Growth
- Leech Seed
- Stun Spore

Hoisin the Shellos ♀ - Lv. 20

Sticky Hold / Relaxed nature

- Mud Bomb
- Mud Sport
- Hidden Power
- Water Pulse

Soy Sauce the Murkrow ♀ - Lv. 21

Insomnia / Docile nature

- Peck
- Night Shade
- Pursuit
- Wing Attack

Today was...crazy. While the possibility of me encountering a shiny during this challenge HAD crossed my mind, I definitely did not expect for it to happen so soon. Let alone have it be a Pokemon which was actually on my planned team for this game!

I have been playing Pokemon for a very long time, yet I've run into very few random shinies. I do remember catching a shiny Zubat in D/P once, but I forgot about it and ended up deleting the save file without ever transferring it. ^^;; There's also this one traumatic experience with a shiny Butterfree in Pokemon White, which I accidentally killed with a crit Energy Ball while trying to weaken it. Hence why I was very nervous when I encountered this Gastly with only 7 Pokeballs in my bag. Thank god I had Slugma with Yawn to put it to sleep.

Let's not just talk about Gastly though, since the rest of my team is pretty sweet as well. I really like how HG/SS has the Primo eggs which give you early access to Slugma, a severely underrated Fire type. (And pretty much the only Johto fire type available in the main game.)

Heracross is also a beast because I managed to catch an Adamant one with Guts. I'm sure you can imagine I had absolutely no issues with Whitney this time after I got her pre-poisoned from one of the Weedle in Ilex Forest. I've never seen Miltank's HP bar drop so quickly.

Bugsy caused the most issues, once again. His Scyther managed to take out my Slugma with a crit Quick Attack, but at least Slugma left it with a present thanks to Flame Body, so Gastly could handle it from there.

Falkner was kind of annoying too since Slugma was too weakened to take many attacks once the Pidgeotto came out. I basically had to rely on Hypnosis + Curse from Gastly but he kept on stalling with Roost. > <

For my last team member, I really want to use a Dragonair, so I might grind for game coins in between now and the next part to see if I can buy one from the Game Corner. I could wait for the special ExtremeSpeed one, but that's all the way after the 8th gym and I'm not sure if I want to grind that much in the late game...

CURRENT TEAM

Kindness the Bayleef ♂ - Lv. 21

Overgrow - Lax nature

- Headbutt
- Reflect
- Razor Leaf
- Poison Powder

Charity the Gastly ♂ - Lv. 21 ★

Levitate - Hasty nature

- Hypnosis
- Lick
- Night Shade
- Curse

Humility the Slugma ♂ - Lv. 20

Flame Body - Naughty nature

- Smog
- Yawn
- Ember
- Rock Throw

Patience the Slowpoke ♀ - Lv. 20

Own Tempo - Gentle nature

- Headbutt
- Yawn
- Water Gun
- Confusion

Diligence the Heracross ♀ - Lv. 21

Guts - Adamant nature

- Headbutt
- Brick Break
- Aerial Ace
- Rock Tomb

We're once again back in the Unova region and I'm still loving these games. I didn't get as far as I did in Black but that's mostly because I decided to give myself a bit of a break today since I played quite a bit yesterday. While I would love to complete the challenge in one year, I don't want to go too quickly in the beginning and completely burn myself out.

A lot of the Pokemon I wanted to use on this team are available early game, but thankfully Audino training is a real time saver when it comes to training. It does take a while for the shaking grass to pop up at times, but it's totally worth it since one Audino yields the same amount as EXP as 10+ other Pokemon would.

Also somehow all of my team members ended up being female for this one, haha. I usually just catch the first one of the species, but for Woobat I caught 4 of them in total. The first two had SpA reducing natures and the third one had the Klutz ability over Unaware. The fourth one has an okay nature (Swoobat is naturally super fast anyway) and the right ability to I rolled with it.

I also didn't wipe against the first gym this time because I got a super lucky critical hit against the Panpour. I did wipe once against Cheren during the rival fight in the trainer school though. I would have probably wiped again when you battle him on route 3, but I got lucky with Assist pulling Tail Whip instead of literally any attacking move.

Lenora was much easier this time since I had Pignite. I could just switch in my Cut slave Pansage on the powered up Retaliate and sacrifice it for a safe switch-in, then take out her Watchog with Arm Thrust.

CURRENT TEAM

Takis the Pignite ♀️ - Lv. 22

Blaze / Sassy nature

- Grass Knot
- Ember
- Arm Thrust
- Flame Charge

Ruffles the Woobat ♀️ - Lv. 22

Unaware / Quiet nature

- Confusion
- Air Cutter
- Heart Stamp
- Assurance

Bugels the Drilbur ♀️ - Lv. 22

Sand Rush / Hasty nature

- Hone Claws
- Metal Claw
- Dig
- Rock Smash

Kale Chips the Petilil ♀️ - Lv. 22

Own Tempo / Bashful nature

- Razor Leaf
- Growth
- Leech Seed
- Sleep Powder

Funyuns the Whirlipede ♀️ - Lv. 22

Poison Point / Quirky nature

- Iron Defense
- Poison Tail
- Bug Bite
- Protect

The beginning part of Black 2 was definitely less of a struggle than White 2 since I didn't have an Azurill to friendship grind this time around. The Sewaddle line is a friendship evolution as well, but it usually evolves in the early 20s by just playing the game regularly and running around looking for shaking grass during grinding. (And I was right since mine ended up evolving at lv. 22 :p)

I was a little worried about Roxie at first because I had no real counters to Poison types, Dewott handled her pretty well. I equipped her with a Pecha berry just in case, but she never got poisoned and a couple of Water Guns did the trick.

Burgh could have been scary as well with 2 bug weaknesses and a grass weakness against his ace Leavanny. It turned into an honor battle against my own but thankfully, mine has the superior Bug Bite and I was one little higher which made me outspeed as well.

Scraggy has not done too much yet because it has only been on the team for a while, but I'm sure he'll perform well in the latter parts of the game. I really wanted to catch one with Moxie but that 5% encounter rate is rough and after 4 Shed Skins one, I just put the one with the best nature on my team.

CURRENT TEAM

Danish the Dewott ♀ - Lv. 24

Torrent / Quirky nature

- Tackle
- Water Gun
- Razor Shell
- Rock Smash

Empanada the Leavanny ♀ - Lv. 25

Swarm / Gentle nature

- Razor Leaf
- Return
- Bug Bite
- Protect

Strudel the Scraggy ♂ - Lv. 24

Shed Skin / Naive nature
- Brick Break
- Frustration
- Faint Attack
- Headbutt

My goal for this game is to use a bunch of Kalos Pokemon which I've never used before. Even though I like almost all of the Gen VI designs (except for you, Barbaracle), the Kalos dex has so many Pokemon, I couldn't resist using my old favorites when I initially played through these games.

While I realize that Gogoat and Pyroar might not be the best Pokemon in the game of their respective type, I still want to give them a chance. Gogoat in particular actually has a really solid movepool with Grass + Ground coverage, but I guess it's held back by its lackluster stats. Then again, everything works in-game, doesn't it?

So far, I definitely haven't had any major issues. I got unlucky with Para hax against Grant's Amaura and Tyrunt hit quite hard which managed to take out my Skiddo, but Frogadier could finish it after that. Meanwhile Litleo solo'd the first gym after a couple of Work Ups.

Also I'm still very, very much addicted to the 'Head It' minigame in Pokemon Amie, haha. I guess that's a good thing though because I want to use Sylveon later down the line so I'm gonna have to affection grind.

CURRENT TEAM

Aquarius the Frogadier ♂ - Lv. 26

Torrent / Docile nature

- Round
- Thief
- Water Pulse
- Quick Attack

Leo the Liteo ♂ - Lv. 25

Rivalry / Timid nature

- Headbutt
- Ember
- Fire Fang
- Work Up

Aries the Skiddo ♂ - Lv. 25

Sap Sipper / Mild nature

- Razor Leaf
- Bulldoze
- Leech Seed
- Growth

Gemini the Honedge ♂ - Lv. 25

No Guard / Adamant nature

- Swords Dance
- Aerial Ace
- Shadow Claw
- Shadow Sneak

While I've always written ORAS off as one of the weaker remakes, I'm honestly starting to notice so many little details about them which I love. In my humble opinion, these games are just so much more polished than BDSP will ever be.

I also really like the DexNav feature as a way to get amazing moves on your Pokemon early on. For example, I spent some time to get a Shroomish with Seed Bomb and another with Wake-Up Slap. After trading both of them over to my Pokemon Y copy, I decided to create the ultimate Schroomish with both egg moves.

My team pretty much destroys the first couple of gyms with super effective moves for all three of them. I nearly wiped to the rival fight before Mauville though, but then the AI decided to be stupid and used Quick Attack against my Marshtomp with Grovylse instead of the 4x super effective Mega Drain. This allowed me to lower its speed with Rock Tomb and win regardless.

However, the best thing about today was that I hit the big ball of yarn in the 'Head It' mini game not once, but TWICE. (In a row, for that matter!) I've played that game to dead and never managed to hit the big one at the end.

CURRENT TEAM

Tidal the Marshtomp ♂ - Lv. 25

Torrent / Jolly nature

- Tackle
- Water Gun
- Mud Bomb
- Rock Tomb

Future the Kirlia ♀ - Lv. 24

Trace / Naive nature

- Draining Kiss
- Confusion
- Double Team
- Magical Leaf

Boxer the Breloom ♂ - Lv. 24

Poison Heal / Naughty nature

- Leech Seed
- Mach Punch
- Seed Bomb
- Wake-Up Slap

Magnetic the Magnemite - Lv. 22

Sturdy / Bold nature

- Thundershock
- Magnet Bomb
- Volt Switch
- SonicBoom

Anyone want a spare cut scene? I don't think I'll ever get over how painstakingly slow the early game of SuMo is. Foruntately, things can only get better from here on out. Even though I logged nearly 6 hours of gameplay today, not much of it was actually spent actively playing the game. It's just me smashing the A button through yet another cut scene while watching YouTube videos. xD

I also had to run around a fair bit because I keep on torturing myself with these friendship evolutions. I wanted to evolve my Pichu at lv. 13 so it would learn both Nasty Plot and Electro Ball. Pikachu won't be getting access to any better Special electric type move until lv. 34, unfortunately.

Thankfully, the parts where I actually did play the game all went rather smoothly. I didn't struggle against any of the major battles. The first trial was quite scary since I only had two Pokemon and Alolan Raticate can hit quite hard. Pikachu had to sacrifice itself to use Charm a couple of times to get its attack down as much as possible, before Litten could come in to finish it with Fire Fang.

Both Hala and the Totem Wishiwashi got absolutely destroyed by Pikachu though. Hala has mostly slow Pokemon and after using Charm on the Mankey to lower its attack, I could set up two Nasty Plots and sweep through the rest of his team. The same happened to Totem Wishiwashi who is naturally slow as well.

Fomantis got added to the team relatively recently so she has mostly been getting EXP through the EXP share, hence her lower level. I do plan to grind her up in between this part and the next one though, but I was too tired to do that today.

KitKat the Torracat ♂ - Lv. 25

Torrent / Mild nature

- Acrobatics
- Ember
- Fire Fang
- Bite

Milky Way the Pikachu ♀ - Lv. 24

Static / Calm nature

- ThunderShock
- Charm
- Nasty Plot
- Electro Ball

Baby Ruth the Fomantis ♀ - Lv. 18

Leaf Guard / Docile nature

- Leafage
- Growth
- Razor Leaf
- Fury Cutter

We have survived another round of Alola cutscene madness! With four Alola games to play and only three starters, there's one starter I'm using twice and that happens to be Litten in both Moon and Ultra Sun. It's not my favorite of the trio, but Fire types are usually pretty rare so picking one as your starter makes it easier to build a team.

This team did struggle a little against the early game, however. I wiped a total of 3 times, I believe? The first time against the teacher battle because Beldum missed its Take Down when the Popplio was at only like 2 HP. Although my Beldum was only at 1 HP after taking a Water Gun also so I believe recoil would have taken it out for a double down.

My first attempt against Hala ended pretty poorly as well despite already being overleveled. I was able to easily sweep him with Acrobatics once Grubbin hit lv. 19, thankfully.

The final wipe was against Totem Araquanid but on my second attempt, Acrobatics got a high roll on the first hit. The second one didn't quite kill after an Intimidate drop from Masquerain, but the Araquanid was low enough at that point so Torracat could come in, outspeed and finish it with Scratch.

Now to address the elephant in the room ーー Yes, I know Beldum isn't terribly late game. However, it's a pain to catch with its low catch rate and levels up very slow as well. It was just much more convenient to have it on my party from the very beginning so it could leech off EXP with the EXP share and evolve by the Water Trial. Now that it has actual moves, I'm sure it'd be a much more useful team member.

CURRENT TEAM

Copper the Torracat ♂ - Lv. 24

Blaze / Docile nature

- Bite
- Fire Fang
- Double Kick
- Work Up

Nickel the Charjabug ♀ - Lv. 23

Battery / Sassy nature

- Acrobatics
- Bug Bite
- Spark
- Bite

Titanium the Metang - Lv. 20

Clear Body / Serious nature

- Take Down
- Confusion
- Metal Claw
- Brick Break

Today I decided to take a few steps back and stay under the 4 hours of play time. I realize I've been playing A LOT of Pokemon as of late, but I like to get a strong start with most of these games, since I'm hoping to find a job (relatively) soon and once I do, I'll obviously have less time to play.

The Let's Go games aren't super high in content either, so I didn't really see a point in pushing myself to play the S.S. Anne segment today. I did, however, clear Nugget Bridge already and get the ticket from Bill. I only recently discovered that you can actually battle Misty as soon as you arrive in Cerulean City. In every Kanto game I've played, I always do Nugget Bridge and the routes North of Cerulean first.

I have to say that the whole 'catching Pokemon to gain EXP' thing can be really refreshing when you're playing 35 games like I am. It's honestly much easier to level up 'weak' Pokemon this way because they don't actually need to take any opponents out to get EXP. I definitely chose to use the Magikarp line in one of these games for that reason, haha. Grinding a Magikarp to lv. 20 is a pain in the other games.

CURRENT TEAM

Hazelnut the Eevee ♀ - Lv. 22

Impish nature

- Headbutt
- Bite
- Double Kick
- Sizzly Slide

Pistachio the Ivysaur ♂ - Lv. 21

Brave nature

- Headbutt
- Vine Whip
- Poison Powder
- Leech Seed

Macadamia the Clefairy ♀ - Lv. 21

Modest nature

- Headbutt
- Seismic Toss
- Thunder Wave
- Amnesia

Cashew the Gyarados ♀ - Lv. 20

Adamant nature

- Tackle
- Splash
- Scald
- Bite

I learnt from the mistakes I made in Pokemon Sword by battling too many Pokemon in the Wild Area and actually managed to stay on par with the gym leaders and major rival battles in terms of levels this time around!

Thank god Max Raid Battles don't give EXP (only EXP candy) because I definitely went a bit wild with those again. They're just so easy to do on the side since usually all it takes are one or two super effective max moves to take out the one star raids. The TRs are absolutely busted too if you have a Pokemon who can learn a bunch of them. Just look at my Arrokuda's moveset which is - admittedly - a little OP for the early game.

So far, my team consists of all Pokemon I've never used before and while their designs aren't my favorite, they do perform well in battle and I always enjoy using grass/water/fire cores. I'm hoping to develop a newfound fondness for some Pokemon by doing this challenge, hence why I'm pushing myself to use different Pokemon and not just my favorites. (SwSh makes it hard though because so many of my favs are available early game)

I also totally forgot how little content there is between Milo and Nessa's gym challenges. I stopped after defeating Hop on the bridge when playing my copy of Sword, but I wasn't feel too tired yet today, so I decided to play for a bit longer and got my second badge maybe twenty minutes later? Thwackey absolutely wrecked her whole team after all.

CURRENT TEAM

Tootsie Roll the Thwackey ♀ - Lv. 25

Overgrow / Relaxed nature

- Double Hit
- Razor Leaf
- Magical Leaf
- Knock Off

Swedish Fish the Arrokuda ♂ - Lv. 24

Swift Swim / Careful nature

- Aqua Jet
- Waterfall
- Drill Run
- Throat Chop

Gummy Worm the Sizzlipede ♀ - Lv. 24

Flash Fire / Docile nature

- Flame Wheel
- Leech Life
- Smokescreen
- Bite

I definitely realize now that on the days where I played between five to six hours of one game, I was pushing myself to the point where it felt more like a chore han a fun challenge. Therefore, I'm gonna try and stick to playing a maximum of four hours a day for the remainder of the challenge.

For Pokemon BDSP, this meant that stopping after the second gym badge seemes like a solid checkpoint, although I could have probably done the battle with Saturn as well if I really wanted to.

I had a very kind member of the Discord server trade me a Spiritomb egg (thank you old-stargazer!), because it's a Pokemon I've always wanted to use, but the tedious method needed to obtain it always prevented me from doing so. I'm also using the free Jirachi given to you because even though it's a legendary, its stats aren't too OP and how often do you get to use one of these in a main playthrough? It was too good of an opportunity to pass up on.

All battles went very smoothly but that's to be expected when you pick Chimchar as your starter. Gamefreak also decided to make the Chimchar line even more OP early-game by giving it Power-Up Punch. Goodbye Roark and Gardenia, haha.

CURRENT TEAM

Habanero the Monferno ♂ - Lv. 22

Blaze / Serious nature

- Scratch
- Flame Wheel
- Power-Up Punch
- Mach Punch

Aubergine the Spiritomb ♂ - Lv. 22

Pressure / Naive nature

- Night Shade
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Sneak
- Payback

Capsicum the Jirachi - Lv. 22

Serene Grace / Mild nature

- Confusion
- Wish
- Swift
- Grass Knot

I never noticed this before, but Yellow looks so much more vibrant and alive than Red/Blue do! Even though I still enjoy playing the OG's as well, I do think Pokemon needs at least a bit of color. It isn't quite the same in black and white.

Today I didn't get to play too much since I went out shopping with my mom, but the Gen I ones are so linear, it's quite easy to speed through them when you're not being stopped by a NPC/cut scene every five steps.

Brock can be a little tricky when you have just Pikachu, so I made sure to put an early game Pokemon on my team which would be able to handle his Rock types. Granted, Nidoran (F) isn't the strongest and Double Kick isn't STAB, but it still did the trick.

Meanwhile Misty was a complete pushover with both Pikachu and Weepinbell on my team.

Charmeleon hasn't gotten a chance to shine yet, but if I teach him Dig, he could be very useful against Lt. Surge. (I still don't understand why the Nidos don't get Dig in Gen I...)

CURRENT TEAM

Lemon the Pikachu - Lv. 22

- Thunder Shock
- Quick Attack
- Tail Whip
- Thunder Wave

Plum the Nidorina - Lv. 21

- Scratch
- Double Kick
- Poison Sting
- BubbleBeam

Cranberry the Charmeleon - Lv. 21

- Scratch
- Leer
- Seismic Toss
- Ember

Papaya the Weepinbell - Lv. 21

- Vine Whip
- Growth
- Wrap
- Poison Powder

Believe it or not, but this is actually my first time playing Pokemon Crystal and I was caught off guard by some of the minute differences with G/S! For example, I never knew that there's one random bug catcher in Ilex Forest, or that the questions to get the Radio Card are different.

This was also the game where I had the most trouble crafting a team because there's only so little viable options in the Gen II games due to a mix of horrible movesets, lots of Pokemon being locked away in the post-game and evolutionary stones being a nightmare to obtain.

The Hoothoot line is not something you see often, but honestly it has served me well so far. I basically needed one early game Pokemon on my team because I wasn't going to solo the first two gyms with just Chikorita/Bayleef.

The Nidorans are also just solid Pokemon all around although I was surprised by the fact they still don't get Dig via TM in this generation! I knew about Gen I not giving them Dig but I figured Gen II would have surely fixed that. :/ At least I can get the elemental punches once Nidorino reaches its final stage.

Despite choosing Chikorita as my starter, I didn't struggle against any of the gyms so far. Falkner's Pidgeotto did get a lucky crit on Hoothoot and took it down, but with little HP left, Chikorita could finish it with a Tackle. Bugsy was a pushover with no Focus Energy or Technician and Whitney was surprisingly easy as well. I had Bayleef set up a Reflect on her Clefairy and poisoned Miltank as well. Nidorino did get infatuated because of Attract but broke through most of the time to finish the battle with a couple of Double Kicks.

CURRENT TEAM

Homer the Bayleef ♂ - Lv. 21

- Headbutt
- Razor Leaf
- Poison Powder
- Reflect

Shakespeare the Noctowl ♂ - Lv. 21

- Swift
- Hypnosis
- Peck
- Mud-slap

Dante the Nidorino ♂ - Lv. 22

- Headbutt
- Poison Sting
- Horn Attack
- Double Kick

Even though Emerald is a very nostalgic game to see since it was the first game I ever played, I wasn't really feeling it too much today. I honestly ended up playing more than I originally thought I would because I felt like stopping at Brawly would be a bit too early, so I pushed through and did the small Team Aqua event at the museum and defeated Brendan on the route before Mauville as well.

The team I'm using on this save file is not the best right now, because of its frail Defenses. You think I wouldn't struggle against Brawly with a Kirlia and a Zubat on my team but you're wrong. His Meditite totally rocked my world on my first attempt because of Light Screen/Bulk Up/Focus Punch. I tried to spam Double Team with my Ralts to stall the Light Screen but Focus Punch hit anyway and totally OHKO'd my Psychic type.

On my second attempt against Brawly, the RNG decided to have mercy as I got insanely lucky with hax. Not only did Confusion confuse both the Meditite and the Makuhita, they hit themselves in confusion every single time as well.

Zubat has been dead weight for most of the run so far but at the very end, she did learn Wing Attack which will make her a million times more useful. I might try and friendship grind a little in between now and the next time I play Emerald, just so I can get a powerful Crobat as early as possible.

CURRENT TEAM

Faunus the Grovyle ♂ - Lv. 22

Overgrow / Hardy nature

- Pound
- Pursuit
- Absorb
- Quick Attack

Diana the Kirlia ♀ - Lv. 21

Synchronize / Timid nature

- Confusion
- Double Team
- Thief
- Calm Mind

Minerva the Zubat ♀ - Lv. 21

Inner Focus / Rash nature

- Wing Attack
- Bite
- Leech Life
- Steel Wing

Pokemon Platinum fixes so many of the issues D/P has and it really is no surprise that this game is so generally loved by Pokemon fans. It runs much faster, although I still ended up logging almost four hours today. Part of this was just me running around to grind friendship on Togepi to get it to evolve though.

I knew I wanted to use Togekiss on one of my gen IV teams, but the Togepi egg you get in HGSS is much better than the Platinum one (because it actually hatches with a usable attacking move), so I saved my egg from SS and transferred it over as soon as I could.

Even though the Togekiss is my favorite Pokemon, the Togepi line didn't bless me with fortune today because something truly heartbreaking happened. I ran into a shiny Starly on the way back to Sandgem Town (before the catching tutorial) and wellー I didn't have any Poke Balls. :'') You know what's even worse? I found out afterwards that I could have actually bought balls from the mart before the stupid tutorial. > < I've never done this before in these games, but I probably will from here on out to avoid another tragedy like this.

The battles were also quite challenging in this one, Gardenia in particular. My team wasn't super well equipped to take her on and my 'no healing in battle' rule made me lose after I made the dumb mistake of trying to Yawn her Roserade while Cherrim's Safeguard was still active. ;; Thankfully, I played more smart the next time and managed to beat her.

I thought Prinplup with Pluck would be useful but honestly, he couldn't even beat the Reflect + Razor Leaf Turtwig she leads with so scratch that. Meanwhile Meditite is pretty much dead weight until I get the bike and have access to the Brick Break TM, which is only after the 2nd gym.

CURRENT TEAM

Aquamarine the Prinplup ♂ - Lv. 23

Torrent / Bashful nature

- Pound
- Metal Claw
- BubbleBeam
- Pluck

Opal the Togetic ♂ - Lv. 23

Serene Grace / Modest nature

- Extrasensory
- Yawn
- Grass Knot
- Charm

Garnet the Meditite ♀ - Lv. 18

Pure Power / Jolly nature

- Confusion
- Rock Tomb
- Meditate
- Hidden Power

We have reached the end of round 1 at last! This game has definitely been hyped up a lot for the past week or so, ever since the leaks started dropping. Since I have zero experience with the kind of open world/exploration type games, I was a little worried that I might not enjoy it as much as the traditional Pokemon format, but I was pleasantly surprised!

The graphics are somewhat underwhelming and I did get a bit overwhelmed at times having to switch between different screens/options, but I think that's more of a me-issue than an issue with the game. I've always been pretty slow and clumsy, so I went into this fully expecting to struggle.

One thing which I enjoy a lot is the wide variety of Pokemon which are available early on. On top of that, it's super easy to teach them a variety of coverage moves as well.

I do have a 'final team' in mind which I want to use, but I decided to roll with this squad of 6 for now and I will swap out certain Pokemon as I replace them with others.

There are very few trainer battles in these games but the few there have been, I did not struggle against at all. I grinded quite a bit in the early parts of the game, so my Pokemon were always a little overleveled.

The battle against Kleavor was a nightmare though. I had to try five types before I finally beat him because I kept dodging to the wrong side and just completely missing my throws with the balms. It was pretty embarrassing...I'm probably gonna have to practice my throwing technique a little or I might not be able to make it past some of the future boss battles.

CURRENT TEAM

Tsunami the Dewott ♂ - Lv. 23

Rash nature

- Water Pulse
- Aqua Jet
- Swords Dance
- Aerial Ace

Hoshi the Luxio ♀ - Lv. 23

Gentle nature

- Quick Attack
- Thunder Fang
- Bite
- Ice Fang

Fubuki the Eevee ♂ - Lv. 21

Naive nature

- Tackle
- Quick Attack
- Swift
- Baby-Doll Eyes

Hibana the Ponyta ♂ - Lv. 21

Impish nature

- Tackle
- Ember
- Hypnosis
- Flame Wheel

Tama the Mime Jr. ♀ - Lv. 20

Impish nature

- Confusion
- Hypnosis
- Iron Defense
- Zen Headbutt

Tsunou the Stantler ♀ - Lv. 20

Bashful nature

- Tackle
- Confusion
- Calm Mind
- Bulldoze

After the breath of fresh air which is Pokemon Legends Arceus, we're back to comfortable grounds with some good 'ol Pokemon Red, haha. I have to say, playing them back-to-back creates for quite the surreal experience. I can't say I prefer one over the other though. While PLA is definitely more immersive, I appreciate the simplicity of Pokemon Red and how it allows you to go on auto pilot. :p

I added two new team members to the squad and I have to say...The team gets wrecked by any rock/ground type ahaha...Thank god Brock is the first gym leader and doesn't actually have any Rock type moves on his Pokemon. > <

I'm in desperate need of a grass & water type but the ones I want don't become available until after you get the Poke Flute and move Snorlax out of the way. Speaking of which, I did go ahead and cleared out the Rocket HQ in the Game Corner after beating Erika, so now all that stands in the way of me and the last final team members is the Pokemon Tower.

Now can we talk about the real MVP of the second leg of this game? Carbonara the Arbok is an absolute unit who solo'd Brock and also got the final hit off on Erika's Vileplume after Charmeleon got knocked out. (Doduo literally didn't even get to do anything in the gym because it got outsped by Victreebel and Gen I wrapped to death...) Never again shall I look down on this beautiful snake and it's surprisingly diverse movepool in Gen I.

CURRENT TEAM

Arrabiata the Charmeleon - Lv. 32

- Mega Punch
- Growl
- Ember
- Leer

Alfredo the Raichu - Lv. 31

- Thunderbolt
- Swift
- Thunder Wave
- Quick Attack

Carbonara the Arbok - Lv. 32

- Wrap
- Body Slam
- Rock Slide
- Dig

Bolognese the Dodrio - Lv. 31

- Drill Peck
- Tri-Attack
- Fly
- Growl

The team has really evolved a lot since last time ー pun intended. I pretty much have my final squad of six already ready. There's one more Pokemon I want to catch which is a little more late-game, but it will be in its final form when I get to catch it, so at least I won't have to bother with that.

While Feraligatr and Ampharos are very common options on any Gen II team (and I've used them a bunch before as well), I've actually never used Bellossom, Venomoth or Magmar. While Venomoth is definitely no powerhouse, I do think he has potential once we get some better moves on him like Sludge Bomb and Psychic. Magmar hits really hard with Fire Punch and Bellossom's bulk is not to be underestimated.

You might also notice that I have a lot of hours logged on this game already, but most of that time was spent breeding for a Matcha 2.0 which has Razor Leaf. Basically I had to catch a Sunkern and breed a Sunkern so it would hatch at lv. 5, then get a Sun Stone to evolve it and grind it to lv. 10 so it would learn Razor Leaf ーー Then repeat the same process but with Oddish. :p

Is it a lot of effort for a mediocre move like Razor Leaf? Definitely.

Do I think it was worth it? Yes. I was not gonna deal with 20 BP Absorb until the late 40s/early 50s when Bellossom gets Petal Dance. While strong, it also locks you in so I don't really like using it. :/

I was a little worried about the fight against Morty because Hypnosis spam can be so annoying on a fast Pokemon. I got super lucky though since he missed every single one of his Hypnosis attacks, so Croconaw beat him down with Bite and Dig.

The fight against Chuck went pretty well too, with Venonat taking out the Primeape and even though Ampharos fainted against the Poliwrath because of bad confusion hax, she got enough damage on him so Bellossom could finish the fight.

CURRENT TEAM

Peppermint the Feraligatr ♂ - Lv. 30

- Dig
- Bite
- Ice Punch
- Surf

Camomille the Ampharos ♀️ - Lv. 30

- Headbutt
- Cotton Spore
- Thunder Punch
- Thunder Wave

Matcha the Bellossom ♀️ - Lv. 30

- Razor Leaf
- Cut
- Acid
- Poison Powder

Chai the Venomoth ♂ - Lv. 31

- Gust
- Confusion
- Leech Life
- Poison Powder

Oolong the Magmar ♂ - Lv. 30

- Fire Punch
- Strength
- Rock Smash
- Thunder Punch