[Challenge] The Tri-Species Challenge

[Volga]

The Tri-Species Challenge

The Challenge:
The Tri-Species Challenge is a challenge where you use three Pokemon to complete a game.​

Rules:
1. You can only use your three Pokemon you signed up with. You cannot use any other Pokemon under any circumstances, if all of your Pokemon faint, and you have HM Slaves, you must let them faint, not battle at all. NFE Pokemon are allowed to be used, and you can use as many HM slaves as you need.
2. To complete each game, you must:
RBGYFRLG - Defeat your Rival as Champion
GSCHGSS - Defeat Lance (Kanto and Red are now optional)
RSEORAS - Defeat Steven(RSORAS*)/Wallace(E)
DPPt - Defeat Cynthia
BWB2W2 - Defeat Ghetsis(BW)/Iris(B2W2)
XY - Defeat Diantha
3. Legendaries are not recommended, as they will take away the challenge, but you absolutely can if you want.
4. Pokemon-Amie/Refresh is banned, with Sylveon having a two heart exception. Mega Evolution and Z-Crystals are banned.
5. You can sign-up for Single, Ultimate, or Rule-Free. Single is one game, ultimate is one game of each generation, and Rule-Free is no rules.
6. Hacks are allowed, but full hacks are not allowed in Ultimates. Enhanced Hacks (eg. Blaze Black, Sacred Gold) however, are allowed in Ultimates.
7. Have fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hacking/Trading Rules: (These are a must read)

Spoiler:

You may trade in one Mega Stone if none of your Pokemon have stones available pre-E4. If even one of your Pokemon have a Mega Stone available pre-E4, you can not trade any in.
Any and all hacking and trading is forbidden, except in these cases:*
1. (Pokemon) You are using a Pokemon not available before the first badge.
2. (Pokemon) You are using a Pokemon not in the Regional Pokedex.
3. (Item) Any item needed to evolve that isn't available pre-E4.
3a. If you need a stone that is only available pre-E4 via Pick-Up, you can hack it in.
4. Pokemon evolves by trading but you can't trade, then you can evolve via hacking. You can do it any time that you could do it legitimately in-game. For example, you cannot not hack to evolve Onix to Steelix until you legitimately obtain a Metal Coat in-game.
If any of these apply, you may hack at the beginning at level 5 or lower, or as an egg. (HAs and Egg Moves are allowed, as for IVs, idc)
You CAN hack your Pokemon to be shiny, since it is purely visuals, but obviously, do not offer these in the trade corner as they are still not legit.

*This seems to be an issue that was unclear in the Duo-Species challenge, and it also applies here.
You can NOT trade in a Pokemon already evolved, even if you have to wait until right before the E4 to evolve, then wait, no hacking/trading. If you can't evolve at all pre-E4, then too bad.

Sign-Up
Username:
Version: *If this is a hack, please say both the hack name and the base game.
Single/Ultimate//Rule-Free?: *Single is one game, Ultimate is going through all six regions.
Pokemon: *If you are using fully evolved Pokemon, make sure to post those, if you post NFEs, I will assume you play through the entire game as so.

Username: Alex Taylor
Version: Leaf Green, Heart Gold, Alpha Sapphire, Platinum, Black 2, Y
Single/Ultimate/Rule-Free?: Ultimate
Pokemon: Aggron/Flygon/Walrein

Single Challengers:

Spoiler:

Kanto

Spoiler:

AoTora -

- Fire Red Omega (FireRed)
AoTora -

- Yellow
PekoTAS -

- Red
Polymus1 -

- Fire Red
TheDarkDarkDarkness -

- Fire Red

Johto

Spoiler:

TheDarkDarkDarkness -

- Soul Silver
DyingWillFlareon -

- Crystal

Hoenn

Spoiler:

TheDarkDarkDarkness - Randomized (Not yet) - Emerald

Sinnoh

Spoiler:

TheDarkDarkDarkness - Randomized (Not yet) - Platinum

Unova

Spoiler:

Enigma -

- Black 2
TheDarkDarkDarkness - Randomized (Not yet) - Black 2

Kalos

Spoiler:

Florges -

- Y

Alola

Spoiler:

Volga -

- Sun

Other

Spoiler:

None.

Single Champions:

Spoiler:

Kanto

Spoiler:

None.

Johto

Spoiler:

None.

Hoenn

Spoiler:

Mr. Taco Eater -

- Emerald

Sinnoh

Spoiler:

Limesar -

- Platinum

Unova

Spoiler:

FireSnow -

- Black

Kalos

Spoiler:

None.

Other

Spoiler:

None.

Ultimate Challengers:

Spoiler:

Alex Taylor -

- Leaf Green, Heart Gold, Alpha Sapphire, Platinum, Black 2, Y
Enigma -

- FireRed, HeartGold, Emerald, Platinum, Black 2, X
thenickel09 -

- Leaf Green, Heart Gold, Ruby, Diamond, White, Y, Sun/Moon?

Ultimate Champions:

Spoiler:

None.

Rule-Free Challengers:

Spoiler:

None.

Rule-Free Champions:

Spoiler:

None.

 

[Enigma]

Dual sign-ups!

Username: Enigma
Version: FireRed, HeartGold, Emerald, Platinum, Black 2, X
Single/Ultimate//Rule-Free?: Ultimate
Pokemon: (Shiny) Zapdos, Raikou, Latias

Username: Enigma
Version: Black 2
Single/Ultimate//Rule-Free?: Single
Pokemon: Giratina, Darkrai, Zekrom

I'll probably also do a non-legendary one at some point, but I've yet to decide which three I wanna use for that.

 

[AoTora]

Username: AoTora
Version: Fire Red Omega
Single/Ultimate/Rule-Free?: Single
Pokemon: Swampert, Blaziken and Sceptile.

Username: AoTora
Version: Yellow
Single/Ultimate/Rule-Free?: Single
Pokemon: Arcanine, Blastoise and Pikachu

 

[Enigma]

Ultimate Tri-Species Challenge

​

FireRed; Complete!

Picked Squirtle as my starter, and soon after acquired my team.
Trained my team up to level 10, then defeated Brock.
Defeated Team Rocket in Mt. Moon.
Defeated Misty pretty easily.
Boarded the SS Anne, got HM01 Cut, and got off the ship.
Defeated Lt. Surge.
Traveled through Rock Tunnel to get to Lavender Town, then to Celadon City.
Defeated Team Rocket again, then defeated Erika.
Finally got enough coins to spend on a TM24 Thunderbolt for Kirin.
Cleared out Pokemon Tower to get the Poke Flute, then went down to Fuchsia City and defeated Koga.
Defeated Team Rocket once again at Silph Co.
Defeated Sabrina.
Got the Secret Key from Pokemon Mansion.
Traveled back to the Power Plant to get TM25 Thunder.
Flew back to Cinnabar and defeated Blaine.
Rescued Lostelle.
Defeated Giovanni.
Flew back to Celadon to get another TM24, this time for Chidori.
Cleared out Victory Road and trained my team up a sufficient amount.
Fought the Elite Four and the Champion and won, thus completing the Kanto region!

Team Stats

Kirin (Raikou) Lv. 51
Thunderbolt, Bite, Toxic, Quick Attack

Chidori (Zapdos) Lv. 61
Thunderbolt, Drill Peck, Rain Dance, Thunder

Kaiten (Latias) ♀ Lv. 61
Psychic, Wish, Dragonbreath, Surf
​

​

 

[Alex Taylor]

Updated the main post.

Let me know if I missed anything.

 

[Limesar]

Username: Limesar
Version: Platinum
Single/Ultimate/Rule-Free: Single (Rule-Free depending on how you determine my situation)
Pokemon: Floatzel, Porygon, Houndoom

Now, the thing about this run is that I have no access to cheats or another gen 4 game; plus, I'm playing on a cartridge, so I'm not doing it on an emulator.

Considering none of my chosen pokemon are accessible before the first gym, BUT Buizel's accessible before the second gym, I think I'll have to beat Roark first, then get on with the challenge. I'm not sure if this would count towards Rule-Free or Single, so I'm letting you decide.

 

[Alex Taylor]

Username: Limesar
Version: Platinum
Single/Ultimate/Rule-Free: Single (Rule-Free depending on how you determine my situation)
Pokemon: Buizel, Porygon, Houndour

Now, the thing about this run is that I have no access to cheats or another gen 4 game; plus, I'm playing on a cartridge, so I'm not doing it on an emulator.

Considering none of my chosen pokemon are accessible before the first gym, BUT Buizel's accessible before the second gym, I think I'll have to beat Roark first, then get on with the challenge. I'm not sure if this would count towards Rule-Free or Single, so I'm letting you decide.

Rule-Free is for people that want to play with no rules attached.
Trading/hacking in your Pokemon is optional, you're not breaking any rules, so this will count as single.

But just be sure to use only your starter until you can catch Buizel. :)

 

[Limesar]

Ah, thanks for the clarification! And I picked Piplup and only used it until I got Buizel.

UPDATE 1:

Had to do a BUTTLOAD of grinding because of Gardenia. Went ahead and evolved my buizel into a floatzel, and THANK THE HEAVENS I had picked up an X Attack and an X Sp. Defense, or I would've had even more trouble.

Badges: 2

Current Team:

• Floatzel (Nicknamed Autumn) [Female/Level 26]
  Modest Nature/Capable of taking hits
  Ability: Swift Swim
  Moves: Swift | Crunch | Aqua Jet | Water Gun

I actually realized my folly in my sign-up: forgot to have evolutions for my pokemon (aside from Porygon)! Changing that now...

 

[Mr. Taco Eater]

Username: Mr. Taco Eater
Version: Emerald
Single/Ultimate//Rule-Free?: Single
Pokemon: Gardevoir, Aggron, Sharpedo

I think it seems fair enough to use my starter to train up ralts a bit because it doesn't get any damaging moves until level 6.

 

[thenickel09]

Name: thenickel09
Versions: LeafGreen, HeartGold, Ruby, Diamond, White, Y
Pokemon: Hypno, Octillery, Cradily
Style: Ultimate

 

[Limesar]

UPDATE 2:

Spoiler:

Woo, Fantina was easier than I expected! Then, again, I DID end up with a level 29 floatzel when I fought her - no access to porygon or houndour until Veilstone kind of caused the problem.

In either case, 3rd badge get... But wait, there's more!

After the first fight with Fantina, I made it to Solaceon, caught some unown (purely for the pokeball seals), got Defog and got to Route 215... First battle there, the game crashed. And I forgot to save before the battle...

All the way back to right before the Fantina fight.

The update's not over, yet!

So I basically went straight to Veilstone this time, saving frequently, and I quickly obtained the porygon gift! Then, I went south to catch a houndour, and got that, too!

Then I fought the Veilstone gym trainers, went back to get my seals and Defog back, and battled Maylene.

Maylene was tough due to her lucario. Since none of my pokemon knew a move strong against this lucario, I started grinding my newest recruits. I went to the Game Corner and obtained an Ice Beam TM and a Metronome item. I also got them close to level 30, while my floatzel was level 34...

After a long war of attrition plus a revive and several hyper potions, I finally took down Maylene. Finally!

Badges: 4

Current Team:

• Floatzel (Nicknamed Autumn) [Female/Level 34]
  Modest Nature/Capable of taking hits
  Ability: Swift Swim
  Moves: Swift | Crunch | Aqua Jet | Water Gun
• Houndoom (Nicknamed Lucy) [Female/Level 28]
  Gentle Nature/Somewhat of a clown
  Ability: Early Bird
  Moves: Smog | Beat Up | Bite | Odor Sleuth
• Porygon (Nicknamed D4TA) [Genderless/Level 29]
  Naive Nature/Likes to run
  Ability: Trace
  Moves: Psybeam | Signal Beam | Recover | Ice Beam

Also, I found out that one of my friends has a gen IV game... I just need to meet up with him. If I do, then I can evolve my porygon!

 

[Mr. Taco Eater]

Might as well do an update.

Spoiler:

My Starter was Treecko. It took about two hours to get a Ralts. The I leveled it up a bit. Progressed through the game for a while. Then I caught Aron in Granite Cave. Ralts evolved. I caught a Zigzagoon and Marill as HM slaves. Aron Evolved. Kirlia evolved. I'm in Petalburg Gym right now and have logged about ten hours of playtime. This hasn't really been too hard, although the first three gym leaders took two attemps each. You need Surf to get Carvanha so I still only have two Pokemon.

Current Team
-Gardevoir, Level: 34, Moves: Shock Wave, Psychic, Toxic, Calm Mind
-Lairon, Level: 33, Moves: Rock Tomb Iron Tail, Mud-Slap, Take Down. Item: Soft Sand

Also someone needs to update the challengers

 

[Limesar]

So, I managed to get ahold of one of my friends that had a gen IV game and evolved my porygon! It's not a porygon-z yet, but I'll let you know when my porygon2 evolves.

UPDATE 3:

Spoiler:

I ended up underleveled for Wake, apparently. Roy (my rival) proved that to me when his grotle was level 36 while my strongest was no more than 35.

Wake's ace, Floatzel, was difficult to defeat, and I had to stall out his gyarados. Other than that, Fen Badge get, and a Galactic grunt chase ensued.

Next up, Cyrus fought me, and thanks to my porygon2 with Ice Beam, the fight was easier than I expected. Again, slightly underleveled here.

And this update ended after the next rival fight. He had a level 38 torterra that fell to a critical Ice Beam. How's THAT for unlucky, huh, Roy?

Current Team:

• Floatzel (Nicknamed Autumn) [Female/Level 36]
  Modest Nature/Capable of taking hits
  Ability: Swift Swim
  Moves: Swift | Crunch | Aqua Jet | Surf
  
• Houndoom (Nicknamed Lucy) [Female/Level 36]
  Gentle Nature/Somewhat of a clown
  Ability: Early Bird
  Moves: Smog | Fire Fang | Bite | Odor Sleuth
  
• Porygon2 (Nicknamed D4TA) [Genderless/Level 36]
  Naive Nature/Likes to run
  Ability: Trace
  Moves: Psybeam | Signal Beam | Recover | Ice Beam

 

[Alex Taylor]

So, I managed to get ahold of one of my friends that had a gen IV game and evolved my porygon! It's not a porygon-z yet, but I'll let you know when my porygon2 evolves.

Just so you know, you should be getting the Dubious Disc soon, it's in the Team Galactic HQ which I think is after the 6th gym. ;)

Also someone needs to update the challengers

The new owner (Volga) is planning to update the OP within the next few days, so don't worry. :)

--------------------------------------
And I will have an update myself, hopefully soon. I want to get at least 2-4 badges first.

 

[thenickel09]

Just finished the Kanto leg of my challenge, onto SoulSilver!

(Unless there's no requirement that you have to go in order, in which case I'll be playing Ruby.)

Final Team:

Spoiler:

Miss Squirt the ♀ Octillery | Lv. 56 | Mild
Moves:
Surf
Ice Beam
Bubblebeam
Psybeam

Comments: I didn't expect much from Ms. Squirt, but I was very surprised at her excellent Sp. Atk stat, and she was a powerhouse in taking down 'mons that weren't weak to something that could've been handled by the other two. I'm giving the MVP to her solely because I think she did an amazing job in the early game that didn't compare to the others.

Kelvin the ♂ Hypno | Lv. 57 | Quirky |
Moves:
Psychic
Toxic
Brick Break
Calm Mind

Comments: Again, another surprise! I was very impressed with Kelvin's ability to OHKO a lot of Pokemon with a +1 or even an unboosted Psychic. He was also really good at taking hits, which proved invaluable later in the game.

Barney the ♂ Cradily | Lv. 57 | Jolly |

Moves:
AncientPower
Earthquake
Giga Drain
Acid

Comments: Holy moly, Cradily's gen 3 movepool is ABYSMAL. The ONLY Grass type STAB it can learn is Giga Drain, which is only 5 PP. The only Rock it learns by level up is AncientPower, also only 5 PP. However, despite these glaring weaknesses, Barney did a really great job at taking hits, so I'm thankful that he was on deck.

Overall, my team impressed me a lot, and I can't wait to dive into the other games and see how they perform. Also, I learned that I really hate Lorelei because her Lapras was excellent at wiping out my entire team :(

 

[Mr. Taco Eater]

I finished my run of emerald. It was actually a lot easier than I had expected because you are only training 3 pokemon instead of 6, so your team is over leveled compared to the normal trainers.

Spoiler: Final Team

Sharpedo ♀
Lv: 56
Ability: Rough Skin
Moves: Surf, Crunch, Ice Beam, Slash
Item: NeverMeltIce

Gardevoir ♀
Lv: 55
Ability: Synchronize
Moves: Thunderbolt, Psychic, Calm Mind, Shadow Ball
Item: Magnet

Aggron ♀
Lv: 54
Ability: Rock Head
Moves: Rock Tomb, Iron Tail, Earthquake, Take Down
Item: Soft Sand

Comments: So half of my team's moves were tms, mostly because Aggron and Sharpedo only get stab level up moves for 1 of their types, and Gardevoir's damaging moves are all Psychic type. The only inconvenience I had was that Aggron doesn't get Double Edge until level 63, and the moves I went with on Aggron had kinda bad accuracy.

So I had a lot of fun with this run and I would like to do an ultimate, but I have a few questions first.
1. I only have one copy of X/Y and I'm not willing to delete my save file, so how would this work out?
2. If I start an ultimate with a different team, can this run count anyways, and if I don't change my team will this run count?

 

[Alex Taylor]

(Unless there's no requirement that you have to go in order, in which case I'll be playing Ruby.)

You can play in any order.

So I had a lot of fun with this run and I would like to do an ultimate, but I have a few questions first.
1. I only have one copy of X/Y and I'm not willing to delete my save file, so how would this work out?
2. If I start an ultimate with a different team, can this run count anyways, and if I don't change my team will this run count?

1. If you have powersaves or homebrew, you can back-up the save file. That's really the only way with just the one game afaik.

2. An ultimate is going through all 6 regions with the same three Pokemon, so this run will only count if you use the same three Pokemon for the rest of the ultimate.

 

[Mr. Taco Eater]

Ok, so here's my new signup.

Username: Mr. Taco Eater
Single/Ultimate//Rule-Free?: Single x5
Versions: Fire Red, Crystal, Emerald, Platinum, White 2,
Pokemon: Lapras, Heracross, Magneton/Magnezone

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I can't use gen 6 games so this is basically an ultimate run without X/Y. If something does work out for me though, I'll update the post.

 

[Limesar]

After nearly 27.5 hours of playtime, my challenge comes to an end!

Spoiler:

So I fought through the rest of the gym leaders and Galactic with no problem; it was the grind that took me so long. To speed things up, I searched for rare candy locations and gathered up enough to bring my team to roughly level 58. I also fought as many trainers I could, but that came and went. Then I got the Psychic TM, Sludge Bomb TM, Dark Pulse TM, and used some heart scales for the move tutor. But then I decided, "Hey, I'm getting impatient, so why not challenge the league now?"

And so I did.

Aaron was a little less of a pushover than I had hoped, but he still went down without a hitch. Bertha's whiscash and hippowdon gave me a bit of trouble before falling. Flint... Flint was pretty easy despite him getting Sunny Day up. Lucian probably gave me the most trouble of the Elite 4, but with plentiful amounts of revives, I managed to beat him.

Finally, Cynthia.

Cynthia's spiritomb fainted due to Lucy's flamethrower attack burning it - the spiritomb didn't even last more than a turn. Her milotic was probably the hardest, but thanks to the power of my porygon-z and a couple of discharges, it went down in a relatively short time. Then, her lucario gave me a bit of trouble, though it wasn't as bad as the milotic.

The one I feared the most was up next; Cynthia's garchomp.

This garchomp...





...failed to outspeed my porygon-z EVEN THOUGH I was FOUR levels BELOW it!

So I oneshot it with Ice Beam. Boy, that was anticlimactic.

Her last two pokemon were her togekiss and roserade. You probably already know what happened to them, so I'm not going into detail.

Here's an image as proof:

Team:

• Floatzel (Nicknamed Autumn) [Female/Level 59]
  Modest Nature/Capable of taking hits
  Ability: Swift Swim
  Moves: Swift | Ice Fang | Aqua Jet | Surf
• Houndoom (Nicknamed Lucy) [Female/Level 59]
  Gentle Nature/Somewhat of a clown
  Ability: Early Bird
  Moves: Sludge Bomb | Flamethrower | Dark Pulse | Thunder Fang
• Porygon-Z (Nicknamed D4TA) [Genderless/Level 58]
  Naive Nature/Likes to run
  Ability: Adaptability
  Moves: Psychic | Tri Attack | Discharge | Ice Beam

And there you have it! I also managed to order all main series pokemon games from gens I-III off of eBay, and those'll come around mid- to end-October. That way, I can do all sorts of challenges!

Maybe that image is too big, but whatever...

 

[PekoTAS]

Oh heck yeah! Playing with only three Pokemon is my favourite way to play Pokemon. Sounds easy, but does require a decent strategy. I'm signing up for sure!

Username: PekoTAS
Version: Pokemon Red
Single/Ultimate//Rule-Free?: Single
Pokemon: Charizard, Raichu, Vileplume

Additional Rules: Game is played on "Set", and items are not permitted during battles. (Pokeballs are only used against wild Pokemon)

This is a run I've been wanting to try for a while, but couldn't find a copy of the game at a good price until recently. Lucky that it fits in with a challenge run. :)