Nickname theme: Animal Crossing Characters
I chose Bulbasaur nicknamed Leif as my starter. Route 1 encounter was Rattata who I nicknamed Rod. Route 2 encounter was Pidgey which I crit and killed. Route 22 encounter was Spearow who I nicknamed Anchovy (though at the time I was hoping for Mankey). Viridian Forest encounter was Weedle who I nicknamed Flick, who at the time I was pretty disappointed with - I wanted Pika or Caterpie.
I grinded Rod, Anchovy and Flick on Route 22 as it only has Pokemon that give Speed and Attack EVs until they were level 13 or so. Therefore Flick evolved into Kakuna, the Beedrill. I grinded Leif to level 12 (as I was concerned about overleveling) on Route 1 as it gives just speed EVs - this gave him a chance to potentially outspeed in upcoming fights.
I only fought the trainers needed to progress (the bug catcher at the end of Viridian Forest with Spearow and Brock's gym trainer with Bulbasaur) before engaging Brock, one level underlevelled. But I wasn't concerned, Brock isn't really a threat with Leif's Vine Whip, and I took that victory easily. Badge 1 obtained. No Deaths.
Route 3 Encounter was Nidoran Male who I nicknamed Bob, and Route 4 I chose Magikarp who I nicknamed CJ from the salesman (which in retrospect, I regret, because Magikarp is a free encounter on so many routes, and I still hadn't gotten Ekans or Mankey). In Mt Moon, I obtained Geodude who I nicknamed Tank, which is far better than getting Zubat in this game. All encounters up to this point, I EV trained. I'll get more specific about this later on since I was much more selective by the end of the game. I skipped most Mt Moon Trainer's as to not mess up my EVs and as not the overleveled, and went on to Misty. Bob evolved into Nidorino and then I used the Moon Stone to make him a Nidoking. A monster for this early in the game. Rod also evolved into Raticate. Leif also evolved to Ivysaur.
Misty was definitely more tough than Brock. The EV training didn't help Leif outspeed Staryu/Starmie, and whilst Staryu was a one-shot, I didn't think Vine Whip on Starmie would result in even a two-shot and it would lead to a heal, and Swift does a surprising amount of damage. So I leech seeded and poisoned the Starmie and then switched to Flick. Flick took nearly half a health bar's worth of damage, and I knew if Starmie crit, he was dead, but I risked Twineedle, as I honestly wasn't all that bothered about Flick dying. Surprisingly to me, the amount of time I'd invested into EVing actually paid off, and Beedrill outsped this Starmie, who made it faint to take the victory. Badge 2 obtained. No Deaths.
The Rival fights were never very difficult and not worth talking about as I was often overlevelled and overprepared for all but the last one, so I made my way up and past Nugget Bridge. My Route 24 encounter was Abra, who I nicknamed Katrina. I was really hyped to get an Abra in a Pokeball. Thats a 1 in 4 chance! Route 25 I got an Oddish who I named Kiki. I skipped all trainers where possible.
With S.S. Ticket in hand, I went down towards Vermillion, picking up a Meowth on Route 5 called Kid Cat. Route 6 I had to skip temporarily due to having all the encounters I'd come here later for a fishing or surfing encounter. Diglett Cave I obviously got Diglett as my encounter, who I called Resetti. My route 11 encounter was Drowzee who I called Luna.
This is when I started to be more selective with my EV training, only opting to EV trainer mons I saw as useful in the upcoming gyms. It is to note, that there's no consistent way to EV special attack yet - that's in Lavender Tower, so I opt to just EV special-oriented mons in speed for now. I'll mention the important and EV'd mons as I talk about the gym fights. After skipping most trainers on board the S.S. Anne, I did another easy rival fight and then faced Lt. Surge. Easy. I dealt with him with just Resetti, who swept the first 3 mons with ease and Tank who dealt with the Raichu. Badge 3 obtained. Still no deaths.
I went back and fought all the trainers for EXP now that I significantly overleveled them and most of the Pokemon I planned to keep using were fully EV trained, and then I continued to Route 9. I fought most trainers I encountered from here on out for money and EXP. Kid Cat tagged along to use Cut and Flash because after 20 years of playing this franchise I still suck at navigating Rocket Tunnel and also because Persian sucks and I didn't plan to use it. My Route 9 Encounter was an Ekans called Snake (lol). Route 10 was a Voltorb called Static. Rock Tunnel encounter was a Machop called Champ.
Now outside of Rock Tunnel, I headed to Route 8 to obtain a Growlithe, who I named Isabelle. Who I immediately went on to kill by underestimating Erika's gym trainers. She got wrapped and I couldn't switch. RIP Isabelle the Growlithe. I'd already encountered everything on Route 7, and on Route 16 I obtained Doduo, who I named Peck.
Erika was probably the toughest yet. The status conditions were annoying. I led with Flick, thinking she was going to send out Tangela first, then switched to Luna who took a decent chunk of damage and then got paralyzed, then lastly I switched to Anchovy who swept with Aerial Ace. This fight was unnecessarily complicated. I should've just led Anchovy and led him sweep. Badge 4 obtained. 1 Death.
Rocket Hideout and the whole Rocket sidestory for that matter, wouldn't be important if it wasn't for Bob dying to a Mega Punch crit on Giovanni. I severely underestimated his Kangaskan's damage. This death SUCKED. Nidoking was a mon that I think is incredible in these games, and I thought he was going to come until the end with me. RIP Bob the Nidoking.
Also, encounters. In Lavender Tower I obtained a Gastly named Wisp. On Route 12 I obtained Snorlax who I called Stitches. On Route 15 I obtained Venonat who I called Nat. On Route 14, I obtained a Ditto who I named Blanca. Routes 17 and 18, I already had all the encounters for. Safari Zone I got Paras who I named Jacques (because I was running out of Animal Crossing characters actually related to bugs at this point so I did a haha Paras = Paris = France meme).
The next two gyms, I overprepared for to my detriment. I lost 2 mons to carelessly grinding on random trainers (Tank to a random Metronome Blizzard crit, and Rod to a burn tick on Tri Attack). RIP Tank the Graveller. RIP Rod the Raticate.
I overprepared, EVing and grinding Luna, Katrina, Nat (who evolved into Venomoth) and Resetti, and everything said and done, Koga was actually super easy. I swept his entire gym with Nat. Badge 5 Obtained. 4 Deaths.
With that gym out of the way and now with the Super Rod and Great Rod at my disposal, I flew around to get all the missing fishing encounters and various miscellanious ones. In Viridian City I obtained a Poliwag called Lilly, in Vermillion City I obtained a Horsea called Cleo. In Celadon City, I picked up the Eevee who I called Labelle (She's not a hedgehog but, much like Labelle transformed her image from a small town clothes shop owner to a city living fashionista, Eevee changes from a normal type to some cool elemental type). In Fuschia City, I obtained a Goldeen called Julian (because he has a horn. I'm running out of options, lol.) And on Route 13 I obtained a Krabby called Gulliver.
It's also worth noting at this point I'd fully EV trained Static, now an Electrode, and it would be an important asset to my team in the super boring rival fights. In Silph Co. I obtained Lapras who I named Kapp'n (because much like Kapp'n, he's most notable for sailing people across the sea).
Thinking the Sabrina fight would be tough as Gastly isn't a great answer to Sabrina in gen 3 due to Ghost being a physical type and Haunter having awful physical attack, I opted to just bring a team of Physical Attacking powerhouses (including Anchovy, Stitches, Resetti, CJ and Flick, as well as Luna for if I ever needed to switch into a heavy-hitting Psychic attack). Leading with Flick who I very much expected to die in this fight. But no. He outsped and swept every single Pokemon with Twinneedle. And this shows you how much an advantage having EVs has. I mean, he does have a Jolly nature, but even still, Alakazam has 45 more base speed and he still outsped at an equal level. This was twice I'd expected him to die and he destroyed instead. Honestly, Flick the Beedrill was the real MVP in this run, even if he didn't make it to the Elite Four. Badge 6 Obtained. 4 Deaths.
I then went on to get all my encounters that required Surf, including Sprocket the Magneton in Power Plant, Joey the Psyduck on Route 6, Octavian the Tentacool on Route 19 and Zucker the Tangela on Route 21. Route 20 had no new encounters. Then I continued to Cinnabar where I revived Aerodactyl as my encounter, and named him Blathers (not an owl but certainly belongs in a museum either way). Seafoam Island encounter was a Dewgong named Rhonda.
Onto Pokemon Mansion we go, where I obtain Boomer the Weezing (lol). And then onto Blaine's gym who I'd grinded up a bunch of new Pokemon specifically for this gym, but swept it with Blathers and CJ the now Gyarados anyway. Badge 7 Obtained. 4 Deaths.
I actually chose to go to the Sevii Islands to get the few new encounters there, which included One Island encounter Pascal the Shellder, and Kindle Road encounter, Reneigh the Ponyta, as well as giving me a new place to grind. I also was going to get Magmar in Mt. Ember before realising it was a Leaf Green only encounter. Berry Forest apparently has Exeggcute too, but I went through probably 50 encounters and never saw one so I gave up.
It was now time to face Giovanni, who once against I'd prepared a team for but swept with Lilly, who was now a Poliwrath. Badge 8 Obtained. 4 Deaths.
Rival fight was uninteresting as always. He still has 2 unevolved mons, why? I actually used Flick the Beedrill for the last time in Victory Road since he's good against a few trainers there. Solid. While we're here, my Route 23 encounter was Porter the Mankey, too late to really be useful now, and Klaus the Onix. Awful encounter.
So now it was time for the Elite Four, and after weighing up the pros and cons of various team members, the team I decided, in the end, was Lilly, Static, Kapp'n, Stitches, Blathers and Luna. I grinded them up and gave them all appropriate move sets.
Lorelei: Most of her team I swept with Static's Spark, except her mons were too tanky and did too much damage, (I should've taught Static Thunderbolt but I was too lazy to grind casino coins) forcing me to switch to Lilly to deal with her Lapras. For Jynx, I switched in Stitches who Toxic Rest Snore stalled her. She was very annoying though because she kept confusing me, attracting me and putting me to sleep before I could rest. Probably the hardest Elite Four fight.
Bruno: I had Lilly deal with his Onix's and Luna deal with the rest. Easy.
Agatha: I gave Luna an Ether to restore Psychic PP and then swept with her.
Lance: Gyarados was one-shot by Static and the rest of her mons were one-shot by Kapp'n's Ice Beam, with the only slither of damage taken was his first Dragonair opting to use... Dragon Rage on the switch in. I calculated with a +speed nature (which I had), Lapras would always outspeed Lance's Dragonite with Max Speed EVs. OK. Dragon Master Lance was the easiest Elite Four fight.
Blue: His Pidgeot was a two-shot with Static. He then sent in Rhydon who I one-shot with Lilly's Surf. He sent out Charizard next, but I switched, worried I wouldn't KO and he'd use a flying-type attack. I predicted correctly, and Blathers took the flying type hit with ease, and then I used Ancient Power to one-shot him. He then sent out Gyarados who Static easily dealt with. He then sent out Alakazam, who I switched Stitches into knowing he could take a hit due to having max SpDef EVs from grinding Tentacools. In two hits of Return, Alakazam was dead. Lastly, he sent out Electrode. Initially, I sent in Blathers, but upon taking too much damage, I switched back to Stitches. I once again Toxic Rest Snore stalled his last Pokemon to obtain the win.