The Monotype Challenge v8, Tera Edition

1. If playing Standard Mode of a Gen 1 game, or a romhack or fangame that uses the Special stat instead of Special Attack and Special Defense, Legendary Pokémon with a base stat total of 500 or higher are prohibited instead of those with a base stat total of 600 or higher, and Legendary Pokémon are defined by having a base stat total of 475 or higher instead of 540 or higher.
2. You may hack in a small amount of money if you softlock yourself by running out of money for the Safari Zone (in RB) or a drink for the Celadon guards and do not have a Pokémon with Pay Day.
3. If playing Stadium, you may transfer any Pokémon from any compatible game. This includes legendaries and mythicals, as endgame trainers also use them.
4. In a mono-Electric run of Yellow, you may trade or hack to evolve your starter Pikachu any time after making it to Celadon City.
5. You may trade Pokemon to GSC to breed Pokemon. You may only breed them with other Pokemon from your Gen 1 game, and must trade them all back immediately after you've hatched the eggs you need.

1. In GSC, you may trade or hack in TM09 (Psych Up) after reaching Ecruteak City.
2. If playing Stadium 2, you may transfer any Pokémon from any compatible game. This includes legendaries and mythicals, as endgame trainers also use them.
3. In Fire, Water, Grass, and Electric monotypes of Gold and Silver, but not Crystal, you may trade or hack in Fire, Water, Thunder, and Leaf Stones after defeating the trainers who would've given them to you in Crystal.

1. In RS, or in Japanese Emerald and FRLG, you can use any e-Reader card.
2. In a mono-Poison run of RSE, if you are trading or hacking in a starter, and do not have a way to guarantee the correct personality value for Wurmple, you may trade or hack in a Cascoon instead of a Wurmple. It may be up to level 7 instead of level 5 and may know moves it learned or could have learned as a Wurmple.
3. In a mono-Grass run of Sapphire, FireRed, or LeafGreen, you may trade or hack in additional Sun Stones after reaching Meteor Falls (in Sapphire), or getting the National Dex (in FRLG) if you want to use multiple Bellossom.
4. In a mono-Normal run of Ruby or Emerald, you may trade or hack in additional Moon Stones after reaching Meteor Falls.
5. If your copy of RSE is affected by the Berry Glitch, or your internal battery has failed, you may trade or hack in Berries, provided you already have at least one berry of that type already. You may also trade or hack in the Pacifidlog TMs once you get to Pacifidlog Town.
6. If your copy of RSE's internal battery has failed, you may trade or hack in any items from the section of Shoal Cave that you cannot access. If Shoal Cave is stuck at High Tide, you may also trade or hack in Snorunt.
7. In FRLG, you may trade or hack in TM10 (Hidden Power) at any time after reaching Route 5.
8. In FRLG and Emerald, if you have already used a single-use move tutor, you may trade or hack other compatible Pokemon to teach them the moves that the move tutor would have taught.
9. In FRLG, you may trade Pokemon to a completed copy of FRLG to breed Pokemon before beating the game. You may only breed them with other Pokemon from your original FRLG game, and must trade them all back immediately after you have the eggs you need.
10. In Gen III, you may use Pokémon Box Ruby & Sapphire to store Pokémon, and use the eggs obtained from it. Transferring Pokémon from other games counts as a trade for the purposes of the trade rules.
11. In a mono-Ghost run of Ruby, Sapphire, or Emerald, you may trade or hack in a level 5 or lower Shuppet or Duskull as a starter, even though Shedinja is available before the first gym.

1. Shadow Pokémon are not considered a type for the purposes of this challenge. If you wish to start a "Shadow Pokémon only" challenge run, make a separate thread for it.
2. In Colosseum, Miror. B counts as a gym leader for the purpose of rules pertaining to the first gym.
3. If playing the Japanese version of Colosseum, you can use any e-Reader card.
4. Due to both games' focus on double battles, you may hack up to two starters if you pick a type that can hack starters, and your challenge starts once you get two Pokémon of your type instead of one.
5. If you do not yet have access to the Relic Stone, you may save edit to purify any Shadow Pokémon, provided that they already have a fully empty heart gauge and are or evolve into your type. This is to prevent unwinnable situations where a user's only Pokémon cannot make it to the Relic Stone because it can't level up or change its moveset. If you cannot or do not want to save edit, you may delay the official start of the monotype run until you reach the Relic Stone, as though you didn't have a Pokémon of your type.
6. In Standard Mode, if you hack Pokémon as starters, you may not use a hacked starter and a snagged or gifted Pokémon of the same species or its evolution in the same party. This does not apply to wild Pokémon caught at a Poke Spot, or to Free Mode playthroughs.
7. For a Pokémon Colosseum playthrough to qualify for the Type Mastery Challenge, the player must progress into the postgame and defeat Deep King Agnol. You do not need to snag his Shuckle.
8. In XD, Lovrina counts as a gym leader for the purpose of rules pertaining to the first gym.
9. For a Pokémon XD playthrough to qualify for the Type Mastery Challenge, the player must progress into the postgame and defeat either Miror B. at Gateon Port or Lovrina in the first round of Orre Colosseum, or defeat Battlus at the top of Mt. Battle. If the player chooses Miror B., snagging the last Shadow Pokémon is not required.
10. In Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness, you may use Shadow Lugia if it matches your type in Standard Mode, as you snag it from a final boss that uses multiple Legendaries. If playing a mono-Flying run, you may also use as many Legendary Birds as you can snag from him.
11. In Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness, if you have already used a single-use move tutor, you may trade or hack other compatible Pokemon to teach them the moves that the move tutor would have taught.
12. In a mono-Grass run of Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness, you may hack in a single Leaf Stone after snagging Weepinbell. You may also trade one in during the postgame if you can't hack.
13. In a mono-Fire run of Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness, you may hack in a single Fire Stone after snagging Growlithe. You may also trade one in during the postgame if you can't hack.
14. In a mono-Fire run of Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness, if you don't want to hack in a Fire Stone and want to evolve both Arcanine and Ninetales, you don't need to use a Fire Stone on Eevee even though Flareon is your first available Fire-type. However, in this case, you can't use Eevee at all once you catch your first two Fire-types. This restriction is waived if you evolve Eevee into Flareon via a traded Fire Stone in the postgame.

1. In DP and Japanese Platinum, you may use My Pokémon Ranch to store Pokémon. Transferring Pokémon from other games, or Pokémon traded from Hayley, counts as a trade for the purposes of the trade rules.
2. In DPPt, you may trade or hack in Pokémon outside the regional Pokédex but obtainable via the Dongle method.
3. In DPPt, you can trade or hack in TM64 (Explosion) after obtaining the Coin Case in Veilstone.
4. In DP or Pt without access to an event Regigigas, you may trade or hack in a Regirock, Regice, and Registeel to battle/catch Regigigas. You must permanently box, trade away, or release the Regi trio immediately after catching Regigigas.
5. In Platinum, if you continue a challenge into the postgame, you may trade or hack in an event Regigigas to battle/catch Regirock, Regice, and Registeel. You must permanently box, trade away, or release the event Regigigas immediately afterwards. Do not use it in battle.
6. If playing HGSS, you may obtain Pokémon from the Pokewalker. You may also hack in Pokemon obtainable from the Pokewalker if you do not have access to them or their routes. You must still reach Goldenrod City before hacking in any Pokemon from Beyond the Sea or obtain the National Pokedex before hacking in any Pokemon from a route that requires it.
7. In HGSS, you can trade or hack in an event Celebi to trigger the Giovanni encounter. You must permanently box, trade away, or release the Celebi immediately afterwards. Do not use it in battle.
8. You may trade or hack in a Kyogre or Groudon in HGSS for the sole purpose of catching or battling Rayquaza. You cannot use it for anything other than catching Rayquaza and must permanently box, trade away, or release the Groudon/Kyogre immediately afterwards.
9. If playing Battle Revolution, you may transfer any Pokémon from any compatible game. This includes legendaries and mythicals, as endgame trainers also use them.
10. In Battle Revolution, you may use opponents' Pokemon not of your type in Neon Colosseum, but you must still bring a monotype party of your own for your half of the roulette.

1. In BW, you may use the box legendary after catching it in Standard Mode, if it matches your chosen type. There are only two battles left in the game, and they're both balanced around you having it, so it's fair to use this time.
2. If your box legendary does not match your chosen type, please make sure to have a full party of Pokemon of your type before fighting the Elite Four, even if some of them are too weak to fight. If you forget this, please switch out Reshiram/Zekrom immediately. (Allowing it to faint won't disqualify your run, but switching out would be much preferred because it preserves your opposing legend's power points, of which it does not have very many.)
3. In a grass, fire, or water monotype of BW, you may trade or hack in a level 10 or lower Pansage, Pansear, or Panpour after receiving the wrong type's elemental monkey in the Dreamyard. If you can't trade or hack, you may use a single Pokemon not of your type for the mandatory double battle against Twins Kumi & Amy without forfeiting your challenge.
4. You may trade or hack in two starters instead of one in a Poison, Ground, Rock, Bug, Ghost, Steel, Ice, or Dragon run of BW, because of Kumi and Amy's mandatory double battle.
5. Similarly, in a mono-Fighting run of BW, you may trade or hack in a Timburr, Mienfoo, or Scraggy as a second starter, also because of Kumi and Amy's mandatory double battle, though your first starter will still be Tepig. If you can't trade or hack, you may use a single non-Fighting-type Pokemon that doesn't evolve into Emboar for the mandatory double battle against Twins Kumi & Amy without forfeiting your challenge.
6. In BW, you can trade or hack in an event Legendary Beast or Celebi to trigger the Zorua or Zoroark encounters. You must permanently box, trade away, or release the event legendary immediately afterwards. Do not use it in battle.
7. In BW, you may trade or hack in a Tornadus or Thundurus for the sole purpose of catching or battling Landorus. You cannot use it for anything other than catching Landorus and must permanently box, trade away, or release the Tornadus/Thundurus immediately after catching it.
8. If playing BW or B2W2, you may hack in Pokemon that were obtainable in the Dream World when it was operational. You may also use Pokémon that were legitimately obtained from the Dream World, should you somehow have them. You must have reached Entree Forest and have the required number of badges per area. You may also hack in berries that would be obtained from the Dream World, provided you already have at least one berry of that type already.
9. In B2W2, you may trade Pokemon to BW or a completed copy of B2W2 to breed Pokemon before beating the game. You may only breed them with other Pokemon from your original B2W2 game, and must trade them all back immediately after you have the eggs you need.
10. If playing B2W2 on Easy Mode or Challenge Mode, please state so in your application or your first update. Your challenge run will be marked as "Easy Mode" if you lower your difficulty to Easy after catching a Pokémon of your type, or as "Challenge Mode" so long as you activate it before catching your first Pokémon of your type and don't lower it for any reason.
11. If playing B2W2, you may transfer in Pokémon from Pokémon Dream Radar, or hack in Pokémon from it at an appropriate level if unavailable. Do not transfer any Legendary until the postgame.

1. If continuing a challenge into the postgame of X and Y, you may trade or hack in Pokemon available only through the Friend Safari.
2. If you aren't playing a Free Mode run in which you can use Xerneas or Yveltal, please make sure to have a full party of Pokemon before catching it. If you forget, you'll have to switch out Xerneas/Yveltal and allow one of the pokemon you can use to take a free hit from Mienshao. (Allowing Mienshao to faint Xerneas/Yveltal to avoid switching is neither allowed nor recommended because it can hurt itself with a potentially Swords-Dance boosted High Jump Kick, so please switch out instead.)
3. In a mono-Poison run of ORAS, if you are trading or hacking in a starter, and do not have a way to guarantee the correct personality value for Wurmple, you may trade or hack in a Cascoon instead of a Wurmple. It may be up to level 7 instead of level 5 and may know moves it learned or could have learned as a Wurmple.
4. In a mono-Ghost run of Omega Ruby or Alpha Sapphire, you may trade or hack in a level 5 or lower Shuppet or Duskull as a starter, even though Shedinja is available before the first gym.
5. In Omega Ruby, you may trade or hack in Palkia, Thundurus, and Zekrom for the purpose of catching or battling Giratina, Landorus, and Kyurem, respectively. You cannot use these Pokemon for anything other than catching their respective Legendaries and must permabox, trade, or release them after catching the Pokemon they're needed to unlock.
6. In Alpha Sapphire, you may trade or hack in Dialga, Tornadus, and Reshiram for the purpose of catching or battling Giratina, Landorus, and Kyurem, respectively. You cannot use these Pokemon for anything other than catching their respective Legendaries and must permabox, trade, or release them after catching the Pokemon they're needed to unlock.

1. The Verdant Cavern counts as a gym for the purpose of rules pertaining to the first gym.
2. In SM and USUM, you may trade or hack in Pokémon outside the regional Pokédex but obtainable via Island Scan, if Island Scan is unavailable to you.
3. In Ultra Sun, you may trade or hack in Entei, Palkia, Thundurus, and Zekrom for the purpose of catching or battling Suicune, Giratina, Landorus, and Kyurem, respectively. You cannot use these Pokemon for anything other than catching their respective Legendaries and must permabox, trade, or release them after catching the Pokemon they're needed to unlock.
4. In Ultra Moon, you may trade or hack in Raikou, Dialga, Tornadus, and Reshiram for the purpose of catching or battling Suicune, Giratina, Landorus, and Kyurem, respectively. You cannot use these Pokemon for anything other than catching their respective Legendaries and must permabox, trade, or release them after catching the Pokemon they're needed to unlock.
5. In all Gen 7 games, you may not use Pokemon that gain your chosen type via Mega Evolution until after obtaining the Key Stone in the postgame.

1. In SwSh, after catching Regieleki or Regidraco, you may trade or hack in the other one you did not select for the purpose of catching or battling Regigigas. You cannot use it for anything other than the Regigigas battle and must permabox, trade, or release it after catching Regigigas.
2. The old-save bonuses in BDSP count as event items and Pokemon for the purposes of event items and Pokemon. This means that you may catch and use Arceus in Free Mode and hack in the Azure Flute if you don't have it, but you can't use the Mew or Jirachi from Floaroma.

1. In Legends: Arceus, you may use up to two legendaries of your type in the postgame in Standard Mode, as Volo's battle counts as two legendaries even though you fight the same Pokemon twice in a row. You also may use any legendaries of your type regardless of their base stats. After catching Arceus, you may use as many legendaries of your type as you wish because of the Eternal Battle Reverie.
2. In Legends: Arceus, if you use Arceus, you must use your type's plate on it as soon as it enters your party. You may not use the Legend Plate under any circumstances.
3. In Legends: Arceus, Pokemon inelegible for trainer battles may not be used in wild Pokemon battles either.

1. You may not play a mono-Stellar team because the type is only available through Terastalization, and it is thus impossible to have more than one Stellar-type Pokemon at a time.
2. Stellar is therefore not required for any multi-run challenge involving a Gen 9 game.
3. The challenge for SV is considered completed after defeating Sada or Turo, rather than after defeating the champion, and the mandatory Paradise Protection Protocol battle right afterwards is considered a Rental Pokemon battle that does not disqualify the player.
4. You may not catch Pokemon from the Terrarium until you defeat either Professor Sada or Turo, or at least one member of the BB League Elite Four. Entering the Terrarium before beating the game is still allowed so long as you do not catch Pokemon within it.
5. If you do not have access to Group Blueberry Quests, you may hack in Treats for Legendary Pokemon of your type after getting your first Treat from Snacksworth. You may also trade in a single copy of any the relevant Legendaries after getting your first Treat if you can't hack.

1. You can kinda sorta do a monotype challenge in a few other spinoff games listed in this section. None of these games qualify for the Type Mastery Challenge because they're so different from everything else.
2. Since none of these games have trainer battles, once you get a Pokémon of your type, don't use any Pokémon without your type.
3. In the Pokémon Rumble series, since the simplified stat system means that there isn't actually much of a difference between Legendary and non-Legendary Pokémon, all Legendaries are allowed in Standard mode.
4. In most, if not all, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games, getting a monotype team without hacking is impossible until the postgame. If hacking, give yourself a partner of the same type as you and don't add any Pokémon to your team that aren't your type, excluding mandatory escort missions in the story. Your endpoint is seeing the credits roll.
5. In both Pokémon TCG video games, you can do a monotype challenge by only using Pokémon cards that have one type. You may still use any non-Pokémon cards. You may also use Eevee cards that evolve into your type, but only if you have at least one Vaporeon, Jolteon, or Flareon card in your deck. Legendary Pokémon cards are allowed in Standard mode. The challenge starts once you have enough cards to actually have a playable monotype deck, but use your own judgement since I have no TCG experience.
6. I have no experience with Pokémon Conquest and don't know how to do a monotype run in it, but it looks theoretically possible. If anyone is actually interested, I'll do some research.
7. Any official spinoff games not listed here or in an above section are impossible to monotype and thus not allowed.

1. You do not have to use the "one type only" in-game challenge rule, since it's more restrictive than this thread's ruleset and can't be exited once you actually finish your run.
2. You may not use the Mirror Mode challenge. You may not Restrict Trainer Items unless you also restrict player items.
3. You may not activate the Friendship Bonus option, may not turn Earn Extra Money on unless you also restrict player items in-battle, and may not turn on Win Rare Candies unless you both restrict player items and turn level caps on.
4. You may not use the Cheaper Items option to purchase any items usable in trainer battles unless you also restrict player items in battle, but may temporarily turn it on to purchase items that are unusable or useless in trainer battles (i.e. Repels and Poke Balls).
5. If you use the Stat Equalizer option, you have to announce it at the very start of your run, and it will be noted in your Hall of Fame.
6. If you use any Randomizer, you have to follow all the additional Randomizer rules listed above. You also have to mark your run as randomized, and it will be noted in your Hall of Fame.
7. If you use Catch Them All mode at any point in your run, you have to announce it as soon as you activate it, and it will be noted in your Hall of Fame.
8. If you turn the PSS Split on, you have to announce it as soon as you activate it, and it will be noted in your Hall of Fame.
9. Emerald Cross counts as Emerald for the purpose of the Game Mastery Challenge, but only if Catch Them All mode, Randomizer Mode, the PSS split, and the Stat Equalizer mode are all turned off.
10. The Gligar gifted to you in Sootopolis by the developer counts as an Event Pokemon and may not be used in battle. Caught Gligar are unaffected, whether obtained through the postgame Safari Zone or the Randomizer.
11. You may use any other game options without restrictions.

1. You may not use the Wii Cheat Menu to add Rare Candies, Money, Master Balls, Medicine Items, Battle Items, Sacred Ash, Gems, or Recollecting Gift Pokemon.
2. You may, however, use the Wii Cheat Menu to add Berries, the Shiny Charm, the Oval Charm, or Max Repels. You may also use any of the three handicap codes.
3. The Dream World rule from normal Gen 5 games does not apply as this romhack takes into account that the Dream World isn't operational, and all Dream World Pokemon can be caught in-game.
4. If playing in Standard Mode, you may use up to two of the Swords of Justice in a mono-Fighting run, since Ghetsis uses both a Kyurem and a Genesect.
5. If playing a mono-Psychic or mono-Fire run in Standard Mode, you may use Victini after defeating Drayden, or after defeating Skyla in Challenge Mode difficulty, since Ghetsis and Challenge Mode Drayden both use a 600 BST legendary.
6. In the postgame, in Standard Mode, you may use any Legendary of your type except Arceus. You may also use up to four Legendaries of your type in your team, since Benga's rematch team also has four Legendaries.

1. Fusions of Legendary and non-Legendary Pokémon are considered to be Legendary if they have a stat total of 550 or higher and do not have the ability Truant. They are considered to be non-Legendary if their stat total is below 570 or their ability is Truant, and as such will be exempt from all restrictions on Legendaries. Fusions of two or more Legendaries are always considered to be Legendary, and fusions of two or more non-Legendaries are never considered to be Legendary.

Mintaka☆ said:

Pokémon Xenoverse - Additional Rules and Specifications for Monotype Runs

1. The Starter Pokémon - Part I
During the main game, keeping the Starter Pokémon (Shyleon, Trishout or Shulong) in the party is mandatory for story progression. If you want to play the game as intended by its creators, it is highly recommended that you run on Free Mode (see Part II as to why) and center your run around any of the types they cover - that is, Grass, Fairy, Fire, Sound, Water or Dragon - so that you can include them in your party.

Should you choose to run with any other type, or choose not to use them in your team (e.g. in a Standard Mode run), the Starter can remain in the party, gain experience if you are playing on Modern Mode/with the Exp. Share on, and be sent out whenever the story requires it (e.g. during the Tag Battle against A and B at the Newtron Library), but must be kept out of battling duties otherwise, especially after you have access to a Pokémon of your chosen type.

2. The X Pokémon
Given that the X Pokémon function much like regional variants once caught, you may catch any of them as long as you are allowed to and as long as they match your chosen type. It is recommended that you farm them around the region, however; check guides as to where and how to encounter them.

3. Abraham's Scaleon
If you have less than six Pokémon during the battle against your Blue Energy-possessed Starter, before the 4th Gym, Cardinal Abraham will lend you his Scaleon to help you out. You may only send it out to battle if - and only if - you're on a Mono-Dragon run. Otherwise, ignore it.

4. The Starter Pokémon - Part II (Spoilers)

Spoiler:

As stated in the story, the Astral Forms of the Starter Pokémon are essentially Legendary Pokémon and have stats on par with such. Therefore, they are subject to the rules of the specific variation of Monotype you are running.

If you are on Standard Mode:
-During the battle with Vakuum (the sphere Pokémon and the last boss before the Cardinals/Elite Four), the Starter Pokémon in its Astral Form must be switched out as soon as possible after the game prompts it to be sent out, and only the remaining members of your party must battle it.
-After the battle with Vakuum, the Starter in its Base Form will automatically transform into its Astral Form upon sending it out to battle. You may either box it, or use the Terrestrial/Xenoversal Rings to return it back to either of its previous forms, but due to the Standard Mode rules on Legendaries, the former is recommended.

If you are on Free Mode, you are allowed to use your Starter in its Astral Form to directly battle Vakuum, as well as to keep it in your party after said battle. It's your call, but you have that dispensation. And again, if you want to stick to the way the creators intended this game to be played, it is recommended that you sign up under Free Mode rules.

5. Endpoint
The goal, as stated in the Core Rules and as seen in most official games and fan games, is beating the Champion...

Spoiler:

...in this game, Aster, the Lumen.

6. Extra Goal
Since the post-game Furious Battles are kind of impractical to do on a challenge run, the extra goal for this game would be to fulfill the conditions to unlock them, as follows:

Spoiler:

Defeat Taraxo on Route 13, catch Dielebi, Lugia and Ho-Oh, and then defeat Gold in Aurora Den.

If you are on Standard Mode, you have special dispensation to get ahold of the aforementioned Pokémon, but you must not send them out to battle even if they match your chosen type.

Any future rules and/or specifications will be added to this post. Per Aspera Ad Astra!

Click to expand...