Survival Of The Fittest Challenge

[NohBuddy2016]

Survival Of The Fittest Challenge
Also known as the "Healthlocke Challenge"

The rules of this challenge are simple and can be applied to any standard Pokemon game (meaning, all the Pokemon games that are not spin-offs).

Rules
1: All healing, curing, and restoring items are NOT ALLOWED to be used unless the game forces you to use them. This means, items such as BERRIES (not the Pokeblock ingredient ones), ANTIDOTE, POTION, ETHER, and others are NOT ALLOWED and must be sold immediately. This also goes for things like PARLYZ HEAL, Leftovers, and Poke Flutes (cannot be used to wake up Pokemon (except in instances of waking up a Pokemon blocking your path), and so on.

2: POKECENTERS are now completely OFF LIMITS. However, all Pokemon you have that are at FULL HP can use them to restore PP. This means any Pokemon that isn't already at full health must be boxed up first. HOWEVER, if you want to go all the way back, you can fully heal as much as you want with your mom with all your Pokemon.

3: Because this isn't a NUZLOCKE, you can use REVIVAL items as much as you want (since they're expensive anyways). This also means fainted Pokemon must be boxed until you can buy a REVIVE or MAX REVIVE for them.

4: Healing moves such as RECOVER can be used.

5: Every 3 gym leaders you beat, you get 1 FREE full party (and all boxed Pokemon) healing at the Pokecenter.

6: You are not allowed to FLY to any city or location unless that is the ONLY way to get there.



So yeah, that's it. Nothing too fancy or out of the blue.

GOOD LUCK!​

PARTICIPATION​

To join, simply comment below:

TRAINER: (Put the name you gave your trainer here)
RIVAL: (Put the name you gave your rival here)
GAME: (Put the name of the game you are playing here)
TEAM: (List all the Pokemon [by their actual Pokemon name] that you have so far and their levels)

PARTICIPANTS​

TRAINER: NOH
RIVAL: BUDDY
GAME: Pokemon Yellow
TEAM: Pikachu Lv75 | Kadabra Lv64 | Snorlax Lv67 | Haunter Lv67 | Nidoking Lv68 (Completed)

TRAINER: AL
RIVAL: JB
GAME: Pokemon Gold
TEAM: Quilava Lv20 | Zubat Lv13 | Togepi Lv12

TRAINER: No Heal
RIVAL: Hale
GAME: Pokemon Blue
TEAM: None yet...

 

[DyingWillFlareon]

TRAINER: AL
RIVAL: JB
GAME: Gold
TEAM: Quilava lvl 20, Zubat lvl 13, Togepi lvl 12

Spoiler: Day 1

Forgot about the Berry the starters hold so Cyndaquil ate it on the first Route. Sold the Potions and Berries at the Mart and Cyndaquil fainted from poison from a Spinarak so we trekked back from New Bark to Mr Pokemon. Mandatory heal, but he had almost full HP anyway. Beat our Rival from Smokescreen spam first to avoid more damage and named Rival because naming the meanest rival in the games after your bf is totally alright eh. Caught a Zubat in the cave on the further Route and made it to Violet. Both Pokemon are at 1 HP and have no damaging moves. I dont wanna trek back from New Bark... QwQ Survival of the fittest....

Went to the Sprout Tower and immediately fainted to the first sage of course, but we were transported to Cherrygrove instead of New Bark which I thought was interesting since we didnt even set foot in their PC. Beat the Tower in one go and thought we could take out Falkner easily but I forgot about his gym trainers and we lost to the first one, but back around the second time we beat them and Falkner himself after pushing through. Cyndaquil evolved right before the Gym Fight and he managed to Smokescreen and Leer once again. On Pidgey, I tried to use Smokescreen a lot then Leer a lot to get Zubat's Leech Life to do more damage and heal her, but the dang AI of course got the hit and Quilava finished the fight himself just barely. Used up all his luck on Pidgey so Pidgeotto never hit once. :p Zubat is fainted and Quilava is at 5 HP, still gotta hatch an Egg with only Growl and Charm.... :')

Spoiler: Day 2

Went bacl to heal at the lab as well as get the egg to hatch and show Elm, tried to train Zubat a little on the way but too many Hoothoot it took forever. Togepi hatched in New Bark Town and we ran back to Violet. We made it to Dark Cave or whatever its called but fainted to the first trainers Onix.. Couldve won if it didnt use Bind and Zubat was faster.. We almost got to the TM for Swift when Zubat learned Bite so I gave the TM tl Togepi jnstead and continued on. By the time we made it to the Slowpoke Well only Quilava was unfainted but I thought if I can just get him to ohko the Rockets and Gym Trainers and be overleveled then we could win and heal, but one of the Rockets got Supersonic on Quilava and he fainted too fast. Now weve made it back and beat them, were going to the Gym.

Annnnd I managed to get both Pokemon fainted before the battle even truely bagan and Quilava soloed Bugsy with four Embers... Gotta be more careful...Togepi wont evolve this way either.

Some questions, what about games past 2nd gen where the PC heals them? Im guessing theyre off limits or you place the full hp pokemon in it only? Or just not allowed period? Just asking for clarification, since Im clearly using Gen 2 this time, and I didnt see it on there though Im not having a good seeing/reading day for some reason and missing/misreading other things so sorry if its already said.
And would prof elm be the replacment for the mom in gen ii cause she doesnt heal your team but you can heal them at the lab.
Last, since the Gyms are 8 would I get to heal after the last Badge or just keep going since thats only 2 Badges beaten? since tate and liza are technically two leaders hoenn gets a third heal lol

 

[NohBuddy2016]

TRAINER: AL
RIVAL: JB
GAME: Gold
TEAM: Cyndaquil lvl 5

Some questions, what about games past 2nd gen where the PC heals them? Im guessing theyre off limits or you place the full hp pokemon in it only? Or just not allowed period? Just asking for clarification, since Im clearly using Gen 2 this time, and I didnt see it on there though Im not having a good seeing/reading day for some reason and missing/misreading other things so sorry if its already said.
And would prof elm be the replacment for the mom in gen ii cause she doesnt heal your team but you can heal them at the lab.
Last, since the Gyms are 8 would I get to heal after the last Badge or just keep going since thats only 2 Badges beaten? since tate and liza are technically two leaders hoenn gets a third heal lol

In the situation with the PC healing Pokemon, then yes, only fully healed Pokemon can be boxed to replenish PP. However, it means for people playing the much later games that they'll have to carry fainted Pokemon if they want to keep them.

As for the professor being the replacement, seems fair to me.

And lastly, considering your situation, every 2 gym/leader fights, you can get a full team heal.

 

[DyingWillFlareon]

In the situation with the PC healing Pokemon, then yes, only fully healed Pokemon can be boxed to replenish PP. However, it means for people playing the much later games that they'll have to carry fainted Pokemon if they want to keep them.

As for the professor being the replacement, seems fair to me.

And lastly, considering your situation, every 2 gym/leader fights, you can get a full team heal.

Okie dokey

But theres still an even number of Gyms in every region(8 in each region, 16 in johto games) so why my situation? Im so sorry if Im being difficult or aomething I just wanna make sure Im doing everything right

 

[NohBuddy2016]

Okie dokey

But theres still an even number of Gyms in every region(8 in each region, 16 in johto games) so why my situation? Im so sorry if Im being difficult or aomething I just wanna make sure Im doing everything right

I guess cause I didn't calculate extra battles with big name leaders.

 

[Disturb Not The Harmony]

Hm. Briefly glancing over this makes it seem like the Grass-type starter (in Kanto, Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos) is highly preferred because it gets free Leech Seed, which can be potentially used to regenerate HP against weak opponents.

According to Bulbapedia:
Aqua Ring, Grassy Terrain, Heal Pulse, Healing Wish, Ingrain, Leech Seed, Present, and Wish are moves that restore HP. Notably Heal Pulse cannot target the user.
Absorb, Drain Punch, Draining Kiss, Dream Eater, Giga Drain, Horn Leech, Leech Life, Leech Seed, Mega Drain, Oblivion Wing, and Parabolic Charge are moves that drain HP.
Heal Order, Milk Drink, Moonlight, Morning Sun, Recover, Rest, Roost, Slack Off, Soft-Boiled, and Synthesis are moves that recover the user's HP. Notably the Chikorita line DOES get Synthesis.

As far as I can tell, there is basically no reason you want to use Pokemon that lack healing moves, because they're incapable of having PP regenerated by PokeCenters without forcing a team wipe and being regenerated that way.

We now head into some analysis...

Spoiler:

Interestingly enough, for Pokemon that have HP-recovery (not HP-draining) moves, the Old Rod is the single most valuable item in the game. It allows summoning (with 100% reliability in Gen 1 and decent reliability in later generations) of an enemy that does not deal damage, so that HP can be guaranteed to be full at the end of the fight, enabling use of a PokeCenter. Magikarp thus become the world's weirdest PP-replenishing items. Also, due to a quirk in programming in Gen 1, they may be summoned from the water in Lorelei's room.
(Before Old Rod, Harden-only Bugs are equally useful.)

Important moves:
Rest can be taught to essentially any Pokemon that can use TMs. The problem is the location. Kanto's is S.S. Anne, Johto's is Ice Path, Hoenn's is Lilycove City, Sinnoh's is Veilstone City, Unova's is Castelia City, and Kalos's is Hotel Cyllage. Learning Rest grants one Pokemon the ability to regenerate full HP at the cost of passing out for two turns, which means it probably won't be at full HP at the end of the Rest unless the enemy can't deal damage for one reason or another.

Leech Seed cannot be learned via TM, and has the slight issue that the drain is proportional to the enemy's HP. As such, a Magikarp won't be much use for healing your L50 Venusaur. On the bright side, the enemy can faint from it, so draining a sleeping or minimal-damage enemy may result in fully-healed HP. Bulbasaur can abuse this early on by landing Leech Seed and then Growling an enemy's Attack down until it deals hardly any damage.

Milk Drink is extremely valuable and is a Miltank/Skiddo line exclusive. Since healing moves aren't banned, it should be usable to restore Pokemon HP in the field. Mind, Miltank/Skiddo then has to heal itself to full, but it can potentially be used to drag the team's HP back up to full for a PokeCenter run.
Chansey's Softboiled has similar uses.

Absorb is a weak draining move... which nonetheless makes for a good HP boost in Rock/Ground-heavy areas like Tunnels/Caves/Mountains. Many Grass-types can abuse it... and Kabuto, Beautifly, Frillish, and Goomy.
In RBY, its superior cousin, Mega Drain, may be learned by essentially all Grass-types via TM... and by Butterfree, Beedrill, Ekans line, Zubat line, Venonat line, Tentacool line, Grimer line, and the Gastly line. I particularly recommend the Gastly line due to its high Special, which compensates for the absence of STAB.
In Gen II-IV, its far super cousin, Giga Drain, may be learned by several more Pokemon. Unfortunately for Johto players, it's only available from Kanto...

Dream Eater is a powerful move that only works on sleeping Pokemon. In Gen 1 it's limited to Gastly line naturally and Drowzee line by TM (Viridian City, requires Cut to obtain), in Gen 2 is expanded to Hoothoot line extremely late, and in Gen 3 is extended to Ralts line similarly late. Gen 4 adds two Legendaries and Gen 5 adds Munna at L41. TM learn-lists after Gen 1 are a bit more versatile, but Gen 2's Dream Eater TM only comes in Viridian City...

Pay Day is not a recovery move, but is the only thing that can recover your CASH. (After Gen 3, Persian does not learn it, so delay evolution to L30!) It's available to multiple Pokemon via TM16 in Gen 1. Keep in mind that Meowth is only available pre-E4 in Blue, Silver, Crystal (nighttime), FireRed/LeafGreen, and SoulSilver.

TL;DR: best team in Gen 1 seems to be one Rest TM user, a high-level Gastly line member and/or a Dream Eater TM!Drowzee, a Mega Drain user, Snorlax, and Bulbasaur. Chansey's nice if you can get it, but the catch rate is ridiculous. Meowth should be kept in mind for Pay Day.
I would include Drowzee because Rival's Alakazam can cause major problems for Haunter/Venusaur/anything either part-Poison-type or without a high Special. Snorlax can Amnesia up, but Gen 1's mechanics allow Alakazam to crit frequently and possibly take out Snorlax; it's best to have insurance.

Gen 2 team seems to be Chikorita/Hoppip line, Miltank, Gastly line, and... Abra line? Kanto's high-level Snorlax may be added once you get there.
Dewgong, Furret, and Ursaring all make for decent natural Rest users, but Ursaring is only available in Gold.
Staryu is a Recover user, but Gold and Silver don't have Water Stones before Kanto. Crystal MAY have an occasional Water Stone from Fisherman Tully on Route 42. Just... avoid?
Espeon/Umbreon get Morning Sun/Moonlight at L52.

I don't really play beyond the GBC games, so... :D;;
Honestly, Gen 2 is weird because the EXP curve is... bad. There's some likelihood you'll suffer blackouts just from Clair and E4, especially since these conditions limit grinding, so a Recovery team may not be as useful as in Gen 1; besides which, your mother can save your cash. The only reason to focus heavily on recovery, as far as I can see, is to set checkpoints at Pokemon Centers. No one wants to fight Clair and end up back in Violet City. :P

Spending Ideas:

Spoiler:

Generally speaking, blow all your money on Revives and Pokeballs. The ONE major exception I can think of is Gen 1's ignores-accuracy-check X Accuracy and possibly X Speed -- Haunter can use this to land 100%-hit Hypnosis on a slew of enemies, and Hypno can do the same after enough X Speeds (if it survives long enough).

Alternatively, if you are not in Gen 5, teaching a TM will give you the move with full PP. Potentially, blowing money on, say, Mega Kick TMs would allow you to restore the PP of that move for 3000P a shot by repeatedly re-teaching it. This may be abusing mechanics, though...

---

All of that said, I'm signing up:

TRAINER: No Heal
RIVAL: Hale
GAME: Pokemon Blue
TEAM: N/A (yet)

Planned team is something like Venusaur, Haunter, Hypno, and Snorlax. (Meowth may be caught so that I can always break it out in case emergency money restoration is needed.)