💞 The Wedlocke Challenge 💞

​

This is a variation of the Nuzlocke challenge that not only makes you bond with your Pokémon more, but also makes them bond with each other, care for each other, fight for each other, even die for each other... you know. True love~

This challenge has been made popular by youtuber Marriland, who explains his typical Wedlocke ruleset in this video. But here's a rundown!

💐 Core Nuzlocke Rules

These are the typical nuzlocke rules that define that challenge and still apply here:

• Any Pokémon that faints is considered dead and must be released (or permanently put in PC).
• You can only catch the first wild Pokémon encountered in each area, and none else.
• If the first wild Pokémon encountered faints or flees, there are no second chances.
• All Pokémon must be nicknamed.
• The challenge ends when you first see credits roll.

The first two rules are in effect only after you gain the ability to catch Pokémon.

🌹 Additional Nuzlocke rules

Of course, there's additional rules and clauses you can add to your challenge. You can find some examples in the Nuzlocke challenge thread here, but some other clauses that you may want to play with are:

• Dupes Clause: if your first encounter in a new area is a Pokémon you already have, or you have a member of its evolution line, you can (or are forced to) skip that Pokémon and try going for another encounter.
• Shiny Clause: shiny Pokémon can be caught regardless of whether or not they're your first encounter.
• You may not level up your Pokémon past the level of the next Gym Leader / Champion's highest level Pokémon.
• You may not use any item during trainer battles.

💐 Wedlocke Rules

So, in all wedlocke variants, your Pokémon need to form pairs. How do these pairs work? Well...

• When in battle, you may only switch between Pokémon that make up the same pair. The same goes when you use moves such as U-Turn or Baton Pass.
• When it's the opponent that forces a switch through Roar or similar, you can continue the battle with the new pair.
• The switching rule also applies when a Pokémon faints. If one of the two Pokémon in a pair faints, you have to send in the other one and never switch. Only when both Pokémon in a pair are fainted, you may switch to another pair.
• When playing Double or Triple battles, the rule still applies for each pair that your Pokémon belong to. There may be situations when Pokémon belonging to different pairs are on the field at the same time (such as a triple battle, or a double battle when one of your Pokémon has fainted), but that in itself is alright.

🌹 Creating pairs

In a Standard Wedlocke, pairs need to be made up by one male and one female Pokémon. In order to allow for this, there are rules that impact which Pokémon you may catch.

• If you have a Pokémon that is not paired with anyone, you are allowed to not catch any more Pokémon of its own gender, until you find one that is eligible for pairing. Then, those two Pokémon will make up a new pair.
• You may choose to never catch genderless Pokémon, or only pair them with other genderless Pokémon.
• When a Pokémon in a pair faints, but the other is able to finish the battle, it will remain in your team as unpaired. If you happen to have another unpaired Pokémon around, you can create a pair with those two if possible: otherwise, you'll need to pair that Pokémon to your next eligible encounter.

If you want to make things slightly easier...

• Once you have a full team, you may choose not to pair up any Pokémon that is sent to the PC, but still make sure that for each Pokémon of one gender you catch, you catch another one of the opposite gender right after.
• This means that you can create new pairs only when you need to change your team rotation: once a pair is made, though, it stays in place even if the Pokémon get boxed.
• If you find yourself with one unpaired Pokémon, due to its pair having fainted, you can pair it up with any eligible Pokémon in your PC.

Marriland himself has agreed that the standard wedlocke might feel a bit... heteronormative. It is what it is. But in that case, fear not! You may find other ways to make pairs that don't just depend on gender - and this would make the challenge playable even on First Generation games! For example...

• The 2020 Wedlocke event, hosted here, includes a Rainbow Wedlocke mode, where Pokémon are paired based on their natures (thanks to Janp for this variant!)
• You may decide to divide all Pokémon into two groups based on whether or not their caught level is an odd or even number. And in that case, you may only pair up one Pokémon with an odd caught level, to one with an even caught level.
• You may also come up with your own way to create pairs... if you feel brave and want to test it out~

💐 Sign-up

Username:
Game of choice:
Optional Rules:
Criteria for pairs: (gender, caught level, rainbow...)