I got my eyes on this challenge few weeks ago and was considering trying it ever since. It's not a type of challenge I would normally do, since this is more about patience than it is about the difficulty of the battles. And that's something out of my comfort zone, so why not try it?

But what is The Professor Oak's Challenge? It actually has only one simple rule: Obtain every single Pokémon available before the next Gym Badge. Sounds easy, right? Until you realize you have to get your starter to level 36 to get its final evolution. And get Pidgey to level 36 to get Pidgeot. And get Mankey to level 28 to get Primeape. And all of that before facing Brock... Yeah, that will be easy. So I added another rule - include other starters and version exclusive Pokémon to the mix.

And that's all for now. I already started my run few days ago, logging about 34 hours in total so far and almost being done with the first part. So, expect an update soon.

I started the game with Bulbasaur. For this run, I decided not to nickname my Pokémon, because it will be easier to talk about them here. I beat my Rival for some extra EXP and caught Pidgey and Rattata on Route 1. I continued my catching spree on Route 22 and got Mankey and Spearow. I actually caught one more Spearow, since it will be needed for a Farfetch'd trade later. I got Caterpie, Weedle and Pikachu in Viridian Forest. I won't be able to evolve Pikachu now, which means it's the first "finished" Pokémon.

I trained on upper side of Route 2 until my Pokémon could one-shot everything and then went to Viridian Forest. The reason I did this was to avoid getting poisoned by Weedle. First Pokémon to fully evolve was Spearow, since it knew Peck from the start and I solo the whole forest with it earlier. Weedle was the second Pokémon to evolve, while Caterpie took a while for some reason. I already got Ivysaur and Pidgeotto, when I was able to get Caterpie/Metapod to level 10. Speaking of Pidgeotto, it was one of the easiest level up. It quickly learned 4 damaging moves with a lot of PP, meaning it could stay and battle for a long time at once. Ivysaur on the other hand only knew Vine Whip and Tackle, meaning I had to go to Poké Center a lot.

Now, when I had 2 free slots on my team, I traded in Charmander and Squirtle. And since they quickly stopped obeying me, it became such a chore to level them up. They died a lot and got poisoned by Weedle all the time. Why did I decide to do this again? But in the end, I evolved them both in their final form and finished the first and the longest part...

After beating Brock, I caught both male and female Nidoran and Jigglypuff, while also avoiding trainers so I can save those precious EXP for them later. I didn't have to train them right now, I had plenty of time before Misty. But there is a point of no return after Mt. Moon, so I did beat all the trainers here. And I also bought Magikarp.

In Mt. Moon, I got all possible Pokémon and spent like 10 hours here just hunting Moon Stones. I needed 4, but 2 can be found just lying on the floor. The remaining 2 were pain to obtain. Clefairy, a 5% encounter, has a 5% change to hold one. So I taught Nidorina Thief and started a Clefairy genocide. Before I got the first one, I had pretty much everyone evolved at least once. But eventually I got them all and evolved Nidorina, Nidorino, Jigglypuff and Clefairy.

Outside of Mt. Moon, I covered basically every Route between and around Cerulean and Vermilion. I caught Ekans, Oddish, Abra, Drowzee, Diglett, Meowth, traded in Bellsprout and Sandshrew and completed in-game trades to get Mr. Mime and Farfetch'd.

I also received VS Seeker, that helped a lot with leveling, after I cleared all possible trainers, including S.S. Anne and Cerulean Gym (without Misty). I had two leveling spots. One right above Vermilion, with a trainer with Butterfree and second above Cerulean, with like 6 trainers on a screen.

This part went overall faster. Traded Pokémon were once again pain to grind, but otherwise it was great.

After beating Misty, the whole Kanto opens up, with the only exception being Surf areas. So there was a lot Pokémon to catch.

But first, I went back to Pewter City and obtained Old Amber and Flash. Then I went through Routes 9 and 10, caught Voltorb and got pass Rock Tunnel, where I caught Machop and Onix. I also got Growlithe, before arriving in Celadon City. This city became my main hub for going around Kanto. It was the place, where I could buy elemental stones, which means I could evolve Pikachu, Gloom, Weepinbell and Growlithe. I also picked up Eevee and since I can breed more later, I decided not to get more of them from my other saves. Another reason why Celadon was my hub was a group of bikers just west of Celadon, that only had Poison and Fighting-types, so they were easy to beat with Pokémon like Alakazam.

I did one round around the region, beat every possible trainer, including Team Rocket, caught way too many Pokémon to list here, got Good and Super Rod, Exp. Share and Amulet Coin, caught even more Pokémon and then got to grinding.

Good thing about this part was the already mentioned bikers, since they were easy to beat, but still gave out a lot of EXP. The worse thing about this part were some encounter rates. Grimer in Celadon City had only 1% rate, there were Pokémon in Safari Zone with 4% rate and I still had to get Porygon and evolve Dratini. Which wasn't that hard in the end. I had enough money to just buy enough coins for Porygon. And Dratini leveled up fast thanks to the bikers. The version exclusives were as annoying as ever, but hopefully, there won't be many of them in later parts.

In the end, I almost completed the PokéDex and don't even have 3 badges. Which means the next few parts will be shorter. So, next Gym Leader will be Koga, since beating him will unlock Surf outside the battle, meaning I'll be able to get more Pokémon, including legendary Pokémon Zapdos.

So, this part went pretty well. After beating Koga with my overleveled Alakazam, I was able to use Surf in the overworld. I caught Tentacool and surfed to the old Power Plant to catch Magnemite and its evolution, Electabuzz and legendary bird Zapdos. Zapdos somewhat easy to catch, especially when compared with Electabuzz. It took me so long to find one and even longer to catch one. Zapdos just stayed in like 4th Ultra Ball and that was it.

I was also able to catch Tangela in Pallet Town and Seel inside Seafoam Island. I'll have to return there after beating Erika, since I'll need Strength to access Articuno.

There were barely any Pokémon to level up, but there also were fossil Pokémon, that started at level 5 and needed to get to level 40 to evolve. Thankfully the bikers from previous part were still eager to battle. And so I finished this part and will challenge Blaine next, since by beating him, I'll be able to get to One Island to get one and only encounter for the nexrt part.

After beating Blaine, the only Pokémon I could catch were Ponyta and Rapidash. I got lucky and encounter both in a span of 2 minutes, so I didn't have to grind Ponyta.


Since this would be small update, I decided to beat Erika too and get access to reminding Pokémon I could catch before post-game. I ventured back to Seafoam Island and caught Articuno in the very first Ultra Ball. I returned back to One Island and caught Moltres. It took a little bit longer than Articuno, resisting whole 9 Ultra Balls and even beating Dragonite.

Finally, I traded Magmar. And that's all Pokémon available before facing E4. 147 Pokémon. That's not bad. Should be 146, since I traded in Hitmonlee earlier, before realizing it can be obtained later just like the rest of Eeveelutions, but who cares?


So, post-game si next. There are a lot of Pokémon to get in the post-game, but it's also the final part.

Well, surprisingly, there isn't much to say about the post-game. It went really well. I got National Dex, cleared everything I could on Sevii Islands and caught up almost a box and a half of new Pokémon. I found a great training spot on One Island near the hot springs. All trainers there had Fighting-types, so I could just spam Psychic-type attacks with Alakazam and get EXP almost for free.

After getting pretty much everyone leveled up and evolved, including Leaf Green exclusives and trade evos, I started breeding baby Pokémon. And after that, I returned to Kanto to challenged Mewtwo to a battle. I caught it pretty quickly, staying in a 3rd Ultra Ball. I remember it being harder.

And finally, I set up to hunt down the last Pokémon - Entei. And it took me basically just as long as the whole post-game. It was social distancing so effectively, it always stayed on the other side of the region. I tried various tricks and mindgames, but just couldn't get on the same route as it was. But in the end, I encountered and used my Master Ball just to be sure.


Overall, I enjoyed this challenge a lot. It was different enough from the other challenges I do to make it fun. I found it relaxing to just grind levels and collect as many Pokémon as I could. This was the first time since like Alpha Sapphire, when I felt enjoyment from collecting Pokémon. But I hate grinding up Pokémon from the second version, especially at the start, when they are disobeying all the time. Trade evolutions also made it a little bit more complicated. So next time I'm doing this challenge, I'll just use the regular ruleset.

Janp said:

But what is The Professor Oak's Challenge? It actually has only one simple rule: Obtain every single Pokémon available before the next Gym Badge. Sounds easy, right?

Click to expand...

Yeah, this is just how I play the game now...

Janp said:

Until you realize you have to get your starter to level 36 to get its final evolution. And get Pidgey to level 36 to get Pidgeot. And get Mankey to level 28 to get Primeape. And all of that before facing Brock...

Click to expand...

Oh yeah, that's a bit more of a challenge!

Janp said:

I found a great training spot on One Island near the hot springs. All trainers there had Fighting-types, so I could just spam Psychic-type attacks with Alakazam and get EXP almost for free.

Click to expand...

Possibly my favourite grinding spot in all of the games I own (Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova). The steps taken in the round trip to the hot springs to heal are enough to recharge the Vs. Seeker but still don't take long. If I'm using Dratini, that's where it becomes a Dragonite before the Elite Four.

I'm not normally a challenge person - I think I maybe started a monotype once? Nuzlocke goes against the sentimental way I play Pokémon. But this has me interested. The last time I play LeafGreen I captured every available Pokémon on each route before advancing, but I didn't do evolutions until the post-game and I have no way of trading, so it was simpler than yours. Although I eventually decided to make it a Living Pokédex featuring every one available in the game - so a lot of breeding. I've continued this method with HeartGold too.

What do you think would be the toughest game to do this challenge on? I only own Gen III-V games so for me, I initially thought HeartGold / SoulSilver because of just how much you can capture in the Safari Zone, but it needing long waits. Then I realised that they're the only Gen IV games where manipulating the clock doesn't mess things up (although you do have to manually reset to 23:59, open the game for 2 minutes, save at 00:00 and repeat). So if you have bad luck with the Great Marsh I'd say DPPt are the toughest. Black and White would probably be the easiest - no Safari Zones, the altered experience system - although the likes of Volcarona that evolve at stupidly high levels will be tough to do given the lack of rematches in those games (I don't recall if that changed in B2W2 but they have a much larger Pokédex).

Amore said:

I'm not normally a challenge person - I think I maybe started a monotype once? Nuzlocke goes against the sentimental way I play Pokémon. But this has me interested. The last time I play LeafGreen I captured every available Pokémon on each route before advancing, but I didn't do evolutions until the post-game and I have no way of trading, so it was simpler than yours. Although I eventually decided to make it a Living Pokédex featuring every one available in the game - so a lot of breeding. I've continued this method with HeartGold too.

What do you think would be the toughest game to do this challenge on? I only own Gen III-V games so for me, I initially thought HeartGold / SoulSilver because of just how much you can capture in the Safari Zone, but it needing long waits. Then I realised that they're the only Gen IV games where manipulating the clock doesn't mess things up (although you do have to manually reset to 23:59, open the game for 2 minutes, save at 00:00 and repeat). So if you have bad luck with the Great Marsh I'd say DPPt are the toughest. Black and White would probably be the easiest - no Safari Zones, the altered experience system - although the likes of Volcarona that evolve at stupidly high levels will be tough to do given the lack of rematches in those games (I don't recall if that changed in B2W2 but they have a much larger Pokédex).

Click to expand...

I think Gen IV games would be the hardest. DPPt will require a lot of luck to get Munchlax and the rest of Honey Tree encounters. HGSS have a huge problem with low wild Pokémon levels throughout the whole game. Gen V games on the other hand have a huge advantage with Audino grinding.

Janp said:

I think Gen IV games would be the hardest. DPPt will require a lot of luck to get Munchlax and the rest of Honey Tree encounters. HGSS have a huge problem with low wild Pokémon levels throughout the whole game. Gen V games on the other hand have a huge advantage with Audino grinding.

Click to expand...

Forgot about the honey trees...so yeah, I'd say Diamond and Pearl hardest, Platinum a close second because the battles and Surf are slightly less mind-numbingly slow.

Until you realize you have to get your starter to level 36 to get its final evolution. And get Pidgey to level 36 to get Pidgeot. And get Mankey to level 28 to get Primeape.

Click to expand...

do you mean you willfully trained until lv.36 only using wild pokemon on route 2 and viridan forest?
nice flex but honestly I don't understand why one would submit themselves to such horrid boring torture.
I'll be reading your adventure nontheless.

Wow! This sounds like one hell of a challenge! I definitely would not have the mental strength or sanity to do that much grinding during the early stages of the game. :p

d4rk said:

do you mean you willfully trained until lv.36 only using wild pokemon on route 2 and viridan forest?
nice flex but honestly I don't understand why one would submit themselves to such horrid boring torture.
I'll be reading your adventure nontheless.

Click to expand...

I remember I was watching something on youtube while being on auto-pilot grinding up. It didn't took that long in the end. Traded Pokémon were bigger problem, since they would not attack most of the time. If I would ever do this challenge again, I wouldn't include traded Pokémon in the mix and would do a classic Professor Oak's challenge.