[Challenge] The Monotype Challenge Re:Returns

[Sheep]

Healing her team, Janna quickly sprinted for the Dragon's Den. She was itching to get her last Johto badge and capture the final member of her team. Marianne carried her behind the gym building and to a cave entrance. Occasional droplets of water fell from atop the cave, and the atmosphere inside seemed much colder than the outdoors. Regardless, she had no intention of giving up now. Recalling her surfing Pokémon, she entered the cave, waving to a man nearby who seemed to be expecting her arrival.

Immediately, she was greeted with a dragon-type trainer, who challenged her with his Dragonair. She countered with Marriane's Ice Punch and, as expected, emerged victorious. After the battle, she could see more trainers further ahead, and steeled herself for the upcoming battles. She surfed along the edges of the water and challenged them all as she came closer. None were difficult, as she expected. After all, if she were to find these battles difficult, how would she have beaten Clair to begin with?

Janna eventually made it to a creaky building. Its wooden walls were cold and moist. She entered, and saw an elderly man at the end of the room. He tapped his cane when he saw her, beckoning her to him. She walked over. Apparently he could tell why she was here, understanding Clair probably sent her over. He asked her several questions about Pokémon, and she answered them honestly. He smiled and nodded.

Immediately then, Clair walked in. She approached the two and smirked, probably expecting Janna to have failed this trial. She was shocked to hear that was not the case. The elder deemed her worthy, however, so Clair adjusted her slumped, defeated shoulders and stood tall again, handing her the final badge. Yes! It was finally time to capture her final Pokémon and challenge the Elite Four! Janna gave many thanks to the elder and Clair, the latter whom apologized in return and handed her TM Dragonbreath.

Janna then exited, hopped on her flying Pokémon, and proceeded for Olivine. There, she healed her team from the onslaught of dragon battles she had just encountered, and surfed down to the Whirl Islands. With the help of Marianne's Whirlpool, she entered one of them and began searching for her desired partner. It took a while, but a Seel appeared and swam up to her, flapping its fins together happily. She sent out Lysithea and weakened it with Ice Punch, which ended up freezing the Pokémon. She took this as her chance and threw a Great Ball, catching the Seel immediately. She decided to name her Hilda. Janna gave her an Exp. Share to hold since she was only lv. 22, and hopped onto her flying Pokémon once again to head to Professor Elm's Lab, since he called her moments before requesting her presence.

There, Professor Elm continued telling her how proud he was that she earned all eight badges. He handed her the Master Ball. Janna admired it excitedly, then put it in her bag. She decided to deposit her flyer for now, to make room for the entirety of her water team. She then surfed east and took her first steps into the Kanto region. Scaling a waterfall inside the nearby cave, she made it out only to be challenged by a trainer right away. Her opponent was using grass types, so the battle was slightly difficult. Nonetheless, Janna emerged victorious.

Similar results followed. Several trailers challenger her along the way, eager to battle the Elite Four before her, and she effortlessly defeated them all. She eventually made it to a small cottage. A young girl offered to heal her party free of charge for her inside, to which Janna happily obliged. She continued north, defeating more trainers. Soon enough, she made it to Victory Road. Thinking this a great opportunity for her water types, she spent some time defeating wild Pokémon in the area to level her team up. Her party felt even stronger.

She went back to the girl's cottage only to be offered another heal, happily accepting. Now she felt ready to go through the cave before likely beginning yet another training session. She didn't feel like she could tackle the Elite Four quite yet.

The team:

Hilda ♀ Lv. 38 @ Nevermeltice
Surf, Headbutt, Aurora Beam, Waterfall

Claude ♂ Lv. 38 @ Amulet Coin
Surf, Earthquake, Slam, Ice Punch

Marianne ♀ Lv. 38
Surf, Bite, Ice Punch, Whirlpool

Lysithea ♀ Lv. 38
Surf, Hypnosis, Strength, Ice Punch

Ignatz ♂ Lv. 38
Surf, Spark, Thunder Wave, Waterfall

Lorenz ♂ Lv. 38
Surf, Sludge Bomb, Bubblebeam, Acid​

 

[StenirRPG]

Been sick off an on for the past few weeks, so at most, I was getting an hour of training done before passing out. Now, I'm better, but I have a bunch of gyms to cover, but they are all the same.

As for the run, I made it to the Elite Four. Headbutt has been my friend throughout the run, but it seems like every time that I get into a groove, I die. I've caught everything except a Shuckle.

Gyms have either been Night Shade spamming or hopeful Fury Cutter. And then Headbutt.

That's how it was until Clair. CLAIR SUCKS. It took me seven tries to figure it out, but I think my mons are so low leveled (they were low 30s). The gym itself was fairly simple, but she sucked. I eventually outlasted because I had an amazing Forretress that tanked her Pokemon...after I managed to poison it. So, I basically spammed Hyper Potion and didn't attack once it got below half so that poison would kill it but she wouldn't heal it. Thankfully, that worked...

I pushed on through to the Elite Four, but I needed to go catch a Poliwag to know Waterfall (apparently, Totodile can't learn that, but it can learn Whirlpool and Surf). That got me through to the Elite Four...

Where I lost to the first member.

So, I decided to breed and remake and purposely train my mons. I'm only on my new Heracross right now. I did all the calculations and such in Excel because that's what I do. And I am keeping track of training.

I'll give another update once I move to the next mon, but my team is going to be Heracross, Butterfree, Venomoth, Forretress, Pinsir, and...a final one that I can't remember (left my notes in a different room).

I know I've still got Kanto to go, but I might jump to Gen 6 after this, and then Gen 7 after - I've got those. Gen 3 -5 are not ones I have except PC-based. But...let's beat Red, right?

 

[Newfi Cheese]

Sup, I'm Newfi, a newbie who was on the last one, coming at you with a monosteel run! I've already completed Moon, and I'm in Victory Road for Y so expect a final update on that sucker soon

Forum Name: Newfi Cheese
Games: Leaf Green, Soul Silver, Alpha Sapphire, Platinum, Black 2, Y, Moon
Pokemon Type: Steel
Single/Ultimate/Free Mode?: Ultimate

 

[Kyuuji]

I am proud to announce I just beat Lance with my Psychic type team! It was a pretty hard battle, I had to keep sacking pokemon for my Slowbro to Ice beam his Dragonites to death. :P It was amazingly fun, I loved having a Alakazam, the Exeggutor learned Wood Hammer at the final grinding session, but he was pretty much a burden the whole game, regardless, I still love him. :3 My team is down below!



---------------------------------
Abraham (Alakazam) | Choice Scarf | Lv. 43
- Psychic
- Calm Mind
- Focus Blast
- Reflect
---------------------------------
Jesse (Espeon) | Metronome | Lv. 40
- Quick Attack
- Tackle
- Swift
- Psybeam
---------------------------------
Cloud (Xatu) | None | Lv. 40
- Confuse Ray
- Shadow Ball
- Wish
- Fly
---------------------------------
Abrams (Slowbro) | Quick Claw | Lv. 44
- Surf
- Fire Blast
- Yawn
- Ice Beam
---------------------------------
Bill (Hypno) | None | Lv. 40
- Headbutt
- Drain Punch
- Poison Gas
- Psybeam
---------------------------------
Hawaii (Exeggutor) | Miracle Seed | Lv. 40
- Wood Hammer
- Egg Bomb
- Leech Seed
- Strength
---------------------------------

 

[Newfi Cheese]

Final update for my Y run, even though I doubt anyone on this one read the previous couple, I was going to train DangerNoodle my Onix up in Victory Road to deal with Malva, and my other dudes up to at least level 70, but I decided to give the Elite Four a shot and man, it was easy! Malva's Torkoal took a bit of doing, since it's super bulky and is super effective against my whole team, but no one else was really that bad! The Champion was laughably easy, Mawile demolishes all her little dragons, and Lucario punches every thing else. Gardevoir goes down in one Iron Head. I really forgot how easy this game was! Anyway, onto the team and my thoughts.

Goku the Lucario
Absolutely my favorite team member. I never really got the Lucario hype, but wow! This dudes' a beast! Anything weak to fighting dies immediately, and Close Combat kills anything else. Even without his mega form he got so much work done. I'm excited to use him in the future, especially considering most games give you a Riolu early (looking at you Black 2)

Stabitha the Ferroseed
Honestly, way bulkier than I thought, and Iron Barb stalling was surprisingly effective. She tanked some flamethrowers and was the only way I could really kill Ground and Water types, both massive problems. I wish I got to use it more honestly, because it had solid damage and defense.

Claire the Mawile
I was a bit disappointed with Mawile. She didn't feel like she did much damage, and she was definitely not bulky. Mega would've helped, but I don't like using Megas, they feel cheap. I may be more impressed when I play ORAS (which is the next game I plan on doing), but in this last run, she was really just a fairy type to deal with Dragons

Sephiroth the Aegislash
I'm so sad I can only use this dude in one game, I'd love to keep him around. He's got great type coverage and his forms are super useful, King's Shield is indispensable! The concept is so cool, but ah well, looks like he's only sticking around for this one.

Overall, this game was really not that bad. None of the gyms were big counters to me, honestly, Viola probably caused me the most problems. There weren't many options, but most of them that I had were really strong. A good time, but I'm glad its over so I can get on to the more interesting games (and more difficult!)

 

[Grumeaux]

Since i'm in preparatory class this year i won't have much time so instead of the Grass White run

I'm going to do a little of a solo Zigzagoon Run when i have the time and will only update the Gym leaders win/Elite 4 and Champion/Steven
(I guess that would count as a mono Normal Emerald run lmao)

 

[The Undisputed Era]

Since i'm in preparatory class this year i won't have much time so instead of the Grass White run

I'm going to do a little of a solo Zigzagoon Run when i have the time and will only update the Gym leaders win/Elite 4 and Champion/Steven
(I guess that would count as a mono Normal Emerald run lmao)

Sadly using only 1 pokemon doesn't count a a monotype challenge, pretty much because the point is to use a full team or as many of the type as you can.

 

[Newfi Cheese]

Steel in ORAS is a slog at the start. You can't get an actual steel type till after Slateport, so the entire start of the game is just dragging through with my Treecko. Once I get to Slateport, I can catch Screwball the Magnemite, and after getting to Mauville City, I can get a bike and the HM Rock Smash so I can can pick up Panzer the Aron and Olmec the Nosepass in Granite Cave. Wattson provides very little challenge, and for now it's off to Flannery, after some antics with Team Aqua!

Oh, I was wondering, since this game really doesn't have many steel types, could I pick up Registeel? I've never really used a legendary and I don't know if it's allowed

 

[ShyRayq]

Steel in ORAS is a slog at the start. You can't get an actual steel type till after Slateport, so the entire start of the game is just dragging through with my Treecko. Once I get to Slateport, I can catch Screwball the Magnemite, and after getting to Mauville City, I can get a bike and the HM Rock Smash so I can can pick up Panzer the Aron and Olmec the Nosepass in Granite Cave. Wattson provides very little challenge, and for now it's off to Flannery, after some antics with Team Aqua!

Oh, I was wondering, since this game really doesn't have many steel types, could I pick up Registeel? I've never really used a legendary and I don't know if it's allowed

Looking at the front post, it states that the only banned pokemon are ones not allowed in the Battle Facilities, i.e. Box Legendaries and Event pokemon. Registeel is neither of these so I'm assuming it is allowed. If someone wants to correct me, they can.

 

[StenirRPG]

So...how to get through the Elite Four? Over-train one single Pokemon (Heracross with a back-up Forretress), jokingly see how far you can make that go, and then figure you'll die and can swing back around to pick up the full team and power level them.

Oops.

I ended up getting my Heracross to Level 54, giving me a moveset of Megahorn, Strength, Headbutt, and, rather surprisingly, Reversal. Hilariously, by the time I reached Lance, I just spammed Reversal because I was in the 100/150/200 Power Range (which is less than just under 21% of health).

Elite Four was meant to be training, and it probably will be, but I did not mean to actually pull this off with just the two of them. I was also using the Amulet Coin so I could build up money and buy more Hyper Potions and some Revives at the Elite Four Store, and then avoiding using as many potions as possible.

So, I get into Will, and his typical pattern is Xatu 40, Xatu 42, Jynx 41, Exeggutor 41, Slowbro 41. Xatu 40 comes out, and I use a single Headbutt. It would bring it down to about 25%. Thankfully, this seemed to be above the amount to use a Max Potion, so either I get lucky and Xatu flinches, or I get a bit of damage from Psychic. I'd love for it to flinch, and the time I made it through the round, I did get it to flinch. Then I just use Strength to save on Headbutt uses. Down it goes. Rinse and repeat for Xatu 42 and Jynx 41. When Exeggutor and Slowbro come out, I use Megahorn and take them both down in one hit.

And onto Koga. Typical order for me was Ariados, Venomoth, Crobat, Forretress, and then Muk. Ariados and Venomoth die to Headbutt (for later training, I would switch to Strength once I knew I could one-shot), and then here comes Crobat. My Heracross is apparently so OP that a Strength knocks it out. If In the times where I was low on health, a use of Reversal will actually knock it out. But, I do use Reversal on Forretress (who hilariously always started the battle with Spikes). Muk takes a few uses of Strength or, if I'm dead enough, Reversal.

From there, time for Bruno. Order here is Hitmontop, Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee, Machamp, Onix. Hitmontop always tries to spam Quick Attack first (so if I'm under 50 HP, I went ahead and used a Hyper Potion). Can never be too careful with crits. A Strength will knock out Hitmontop through Hitmonlee. Machamp takes 2 of whatever, and Onix dies to either one or two Reversals, depending on where my health is.

Karen. Oh Karen. She's the first real sign of trouble with that Houndoom. The order here is Umbreon, Vileplume, Gengar, Murkrow, Houndoom. Umbreon takes a Reversal as OHKO, Vileplume is Headbutt/Strength, and then comes Gengar. From my moveset, only Megahorn will damage it, so it initially takes two of those to kill it. Nice. Murkrow takes a total of a Headbutt and a Strength, and then Houndoom comes out. This was my wall for a bit, but with a good enough damage roll (yes, I even let Gengar hit me into a lower range before KOing it), Houndoom will go down with one use of Reversal (or, at most, two). By this time, I'd gained a level or two on my Heracross, and I could actually survive a use of Flamethrower, but only just. Thankfully, I appeared to be faster, as I got off another Reversal.

Down to Lance. I wasn't planning on surviving this far, but I went ahead and gave it a shot. I decided to try saving without full health, just in case the few uses of Reversal would help out. Order here is Gyarados, Aerodactyl, Charizard, then Dragonite 50 and then both Dragonite 47. I think the one with Thunder was last (one has Thunder, one has Blizzard). Gyarados is up, and I throw Headbutt, praying it flinches, it doesn't. It uses Rain Dance, and I finish it off with Strength. Aerodactyl comes out, and I go ahead and use Reversal on it (Rock/Flying just makes Fighting 1x, but I have STAB...and it's honestly my best move of the four to actually pull this off). Charizard is where I desparately need the Headbutt flinch, and I got it. A Strength later and I'm down to the three Dragonite. Level 50 one shows up and tries to use Outrage, does a bit of damage, but I used my second-to-last Reversal in the hopes it kills it. By this point, I'm sitting at 3 HP. That means I'm doing base power 200 Reversal, and my damage output is increased by 50%...and my type effectiveness is cut in half, but this is Gen 2 so I get the additional 12.5% boost there. Hilariously, that means I'm doing a 200 Base Power Reversal with a modifier of 112.5% from Badges times 1.5 STAB times 0.5 Type. So, I do about 84.4% of the total damage I could be doing. It takes two Reversals to knock out Dragonite 50. After I run out of Reversal, I spam Headbutt and then Strength for as long as I can.

Then, surprisingly...I survived. I sure as heck didn't expect it, and it was hilarious to see my character only put two Pokeballs up on the computer to register for the Hall of Fame. Then I stopped laughing after I realized I needed to go back to Cherrygrove just to get my Farfetch'd Fly Slave. Time to go through the ridiculousness that is Kanto...which took like 3 hours. The entire time, I had my Farfetch'd and five Bugs. Heracross just ran over the entire area, taking everything out. I began to get the levels of my other Bugs up by giving them the Exp Share one by one. Finish a Gym? Pokemon with Lowest Level gets the Share. And keep going. And more of the same.

Then back to Elite Four and go through it again. And this is where I'm likely going to sit for a while, slowly building up money and resources and levels. This is where I'll likely be into the coming weekend, but I don't know. I'm assuming I'll have to get all my mons to 60s just to even have a shot at beating Red. Time to grind away.

Here's what I'm heading for in the team/move department. Anything with a * has not yet been achieved.

Heracross: Megahorn / Reversal (potentially Earthquake?) / Headbutt / Strength
Forretress: Pin Missile / Strength / Headbutt / Double-Edge*
Venomoth: Sludge Bomb* / Psychic / Psybeam / Swift*
Parasect: Giga Drain* / Slash / Dig* / Spore*
Butterfree: Psychic / Psybeam* / Gust* / Confusion*

My sixth slot is kind of up in the air at the moment. But I will probably see how far this will get me.

Next update is going to be after my first attempt at Red. Here's to hoping I'll collect my second game for the Bug-type run!

 

[Janp]

Ultimate Dragon Monotype in Pokémon Emerald

FINAL PART

​

Hoenn portion of Dragon Monotype was fun. I hacked in Bagon as my starter since it's available only right before E4. Roxanne wasn't easy and I lost first battle because she landed 3 crits in a row. Other than that there really weren't any problems until Juan and E4. Their Ice-type attacks hurt especially cause my whole team was 4x weak to Ice-types. I had to restart the whole E4 after Wallace's Wailord swept my 3 dragons with 3 Blizzards. I had more luck in the next attempt and Wailord's Blizzards missed this time. But that was only a start to more ice incoming. I can't even count the number of Revives I've used in this battle, but somehow I won.

And here's the Hall of Fame:

Spoiler:

Looking through the Platinum Dex I think I'll return to using only 2 Pokémon - Garchomp and Altaria (since I can't get anyone else). And I think I'll hack in Swablu as my starter since it can be obtained later than Gible.

Team

Drake, Naive Male Salamence
lvl 65, Intimidate @King's Rock
- Dragonbreath
- Flamethrower
- Steel Wing
- Fly

Sydian, Jolly Female Altaria
lvl 65, Natural Cure @Quick Claw
- Dragonbreath
- Dragon Dance
- Sky Attack
- Perish Song

Sandy, Mild Male Flygon
lvl 65, Levitate @Soft Sand
- Dragonbreath
- Hyper Beam
- Earthquake
- Crunch​

 

[The Undisputed Era]

Steel in ORAS is a slog at the start. You can't get an actual steel type till after Slateport, so the entire start of the game is just dragging through with my Treecko. Once I get to Slateport, I can catch Screwball the Magnemite, and after getting to Mauville City, I can get a bike and the HM Rock Smash so I can can pick up Panzer the Aron and Olmec the Nosepass in Granite Cave. Wattson provides very little challenge, and for now it's off to Flannery, after some antics with Team Aqua!

Oh, I was wondering, since this game really doesn't have many steel types, could I pick up Registeel? I've never really used a legendary and I don't know if it's allowed

Only pokemon specified on the first post ban list are not allowed to be used. Legendary Trio's, Pseudo-Legendary pokemon and any other special pokemon are fine.

FINAL PART

​

Hoenn portion of Dragon Monotype was fun. I hacked in Bagon as my starter since it's available only right before E4. Roxanne wasn't easy and I lost first battle because she landed 3 crits in a row. Other than that there really weren't any problems until Juan and E4. Their Ice-type attacks hurt especially cause my whole team was 4x weak to Ice-types. I had to restart the whole E4 after Wallace's Wailord swept my 3 dragons with 3 Blizzards. I had more luck in the next attempt and Wailord's Blizzards missed this time. But that was only a start to more ice incoming. I can't even count the number of Revives I've used in this battle, but somehow I won.[/CENTER]

Surprised you didn't get Kingdra, would have made dealing with Ice types less annoying.

 

[Janp]

Surprised you didn't get Kingdra, would have made dealing with Ice types less annoying.

I've only realized Kingdra is an option during the battle with Juan and at that point I didn't want to backtrack and raise another Pokémon. And I couldn't even evolve it without hacking.

 

[The Undisputed Era]

I've only realized Kingdra is an option during the battle with Juan and at that point I didn't want to backtrack and raise another Pokémon. And I couldn't even evolve it without hacking.

I usually remove trade evolutions via a program when I play via roms. No hurt comes from doing so, means you have have access to every pokemon as you should be allowed to :D

 

[Janp]

I usually remove trade evolutions via a program when I play via roms. No hurt comes from doing so, means you have have access to every pokemon as you should be allowed to :D

I do that too, but usually only when I know I'll be using trade evo in that run. I did that in my Heart Gold run to get Kingdra.

 

[StenirRPG]

Okay, so here's where I'm at. Let's get the "TL;DR" out of the way. I beat Red, but I'm not satisfied with how I did it.

Going in, I had five mons. Reason I didn't have 6 was because I had my starter thinking I needed Surf to reach Red. I had been training a Paras->Parasect via Elite Four, so I was power-leveling with my Heracross (for lack of a better term). I did another "how close am I" test, knowing this was Red and my Heracross was L75 and my others were low-to-mid 40s. I'm sitting here with Ariados, Parasect, Forretress, Venomoth, and Heracross. I wanted to see what I could do from that before having to end up with Forretress and then Heracross. I'm at 99 Revives and 99 Hyper Potions (thank you, massive training with Elite Four).

Pikachu is a jerk. I spammed Psychic with my Venomoth...and lost that battle. I through my Parasect out there, having it use Spore to put it to Sleep. Then, Dig as much as possible. Eventually, my Parasect is knocked out and my Ariados takes over. Night Shade does end up knocking out Pikachu.

Out comes Venusaur. Ariados does die to it, but it gets off a few uses of Flash. So, now we are down to Forretress and Heracross. I push forward with Forretress, using Headbutt and then Pin Missile to knock out Venusaur. Two down, and I'm breathing a little easier. Charizard then shows up...and I go "oh crap". Headbutt, Headbutt...and Forretress is down to like 20 HP. Charizard is faster than me, so I'm not going to get any damage dealt. I instead use a Revive on Venomoth. Forretress goes down. I bring out Heracross. You might know why I went this route, but if not, it'll become apparent.

Headbutt and Charizard is down. Out comes Espeon. Megahorn knocks that out in one shot. Out comes Snorlax, and I use Megahorn and then Reversal. And now...I'm down to one.

Blastoise smacks my Heracross with Surf and it goes down. I switch over to Venomoth, use a Revive back on Heracross, and Venomoth goes down to Surf. Out comes Heracross, and I pop a Hyper Potion. Blastoise uses Rain Dance, so I've got a ready-to-go Heracross and keep using Headbutt. Heracross takes another two Surfs and then Blastoise goes down.

So, I beat Red. But, like I said, I'm not satisfied with how I did it. I don't really like using a Pokemon as cannon fodder. I'm going to do some extra training for my mons and try another stab at it once everyone is around L55.

I think, by rules, this does count. If it does, mark me down for Gen 2 Bug complete. Yay for two gens down.

If it doesn't, I'll be probably posting an update shortly with a hopefully more satisfying battle where it's not Heracross pulling everyone through.

QUICK QUESTION:
For the "evolve by trading", what do you modify the evolution to go off of? Just to know ahead of time.

 

[StenirRPG]

Hate to Double-Post, but I did go and train a little and then go after a second round with Red.

Parasect vs Pikachu
Spore then Dig. Red uses Full Restore twice, but a few uses of Dig later, Pikachu is down. Surprised the three uses of Thunder never hit me. But it is Thunder, after all.

Parasect vs Venusaur
Venusaur uses Sunny Day. I use Spore. Slash time. I tried Dig a few times, and there was one use of Solarbeam, but after that, we got into a rhythm. Slash until about to wake up, then spam Spore. Thankfully, that Solarbeam did only about 45 damage. A nice 3,432 exp lol

Parasect vs Charizard
Well...this is the one battle that just sucks. First off, I'm running Slash, Giga Drain, Dig, Spore. I go for Spore, but I'm dead. I know it. I'm 30 levels lower (47 vs Charizard's 77). I decide to go ahead and send out my now L77 Heracross. If I can get through Charizard, even my Heracross does end up going down...all I need to do is win and I'll be happy.

Especially since I won't chalk it up to "Oh, gotta knock out a mon to bring back Heracross."

Heracross vs Charizard
Headbutt, with Fire Spin back at me. Headbutt again, only to be met with Wing Attack. I'm down 19 HP. Fire Spin drops me to 3. I'm fine with scraping by. Well fought, Charizard.

Heracross vs Espeon
Espeon is next, and I go ahead and use Megahorn to get rid of it. I am okay with doing that, because I'm not doing any switching, but also because I'd be using Heracross anyways because Megahorn is the best Bug attack I have.

Heracross vs Snorlax
Heracross uses Reversal. Once again...that would have been my go to move. That, and I know Blastoise is going to knock out my Heracross.

Heracross vs Blastoise
I go for Megahorn. Hindsight would have told me to use Reversal. But I come up a bit short...and Heracross does go down to Surf.

I have the choice of my Venomoth, my Forretress, or my Ariados. I feel like Forretress would be too tanky to start with. Like a half-cheese Heracross. So, I pull Venomoth. Venomoth currently has Psychic, Psybeam, Confusion, Leech Life. My only choice is to use Psychic and HOPE I roll high enough to take it out...assuming that I survive a hit with anything greater than 0. I get lucky - Blastoise uses Blizzard...which MISSES. I get Psychic off...and it knocks it out.

I am honestly more satisfied with this battle than any other battle throughout the entire run of the game. On one hand, it feels good to go "I beat Red with a Heracross". On the other hand, it feels even better to go "Okay, I beat a Pikachu and a Venusaur 25 levels higher than I am with a Parasect spamming Dig and Slash while constantly using Spore". Beating the Elite Four is nice and all, but going from "I needed to resort to one specific Pokemon" and only having that mon alive at the end is nothing compared to trying to get even some strategy going...even if it's "sleep - smack - repeat".

My end team:
Parasect L47
Forretress L47
Venomoth L49
Ariados L49
Heracross Lol-L77

I'm calling that good and done. 58h56m of insanity. Debating on starting Gen 3 tonight or tomorrow. I'll be actually getting screenshots for that, so hopefully it won't just be walls of text!

 

[Sheep]

Hey guys, just wanted to let you all know why there haven't been any updates with my run lately.

Janna seemed to be struggling against the Elite Four but was spending days pushing on and training against them to strengthen her team for that ideal run, but in the end even my pushing her to keep at it wasn't enough to stop the Crystal save file from being corrupted. She seems to have lost her memory and cannot load a save other than before she defeated Morty's gym. Janna speculates it's because Lysithea was too powerful for the game cartridge to contain, since the load issues began right after she evolved into her bulky new form of Poliwrath.

And so, her hardworking team will be laid to rest, but they will be revisited in the near future with a new run, likely in HGSS. Janna and her Three Houses students are not done yet! They just need some time to rest and prepare for their next journey. Here is the final team she ended with before the save file corrupted when she was ready to challenge Karen:

The team:

Hilda ♀ Lv. 41 @ Nevermeltice
Surf, Headbutt, Aurora Beam, Waterfall

Claude ♂ Lv. 41 @ Amulet Coin
Surf, Earthquake, Slam, Ice Punch

Marianne ♀ Lv. 43
Surf, Bite, Ice Punch, Whirlpool

Lysithea ♀ Lv. 40
Surf, Hypnosis, Strength, Ice Punch

Ignatz ♂ Lv. 39
Surf, Spark, Thunder Wave, Waterfall

Lorenz ♂ Lv. 39
Surf, Sludge Bomb, Bubblebeam, Acid​

:clap: for all these hardworking Pokémon that did their best

 

[Janp]

Hey guys, just wanted to let you all know why there haven't been any updates with my run lately.

Janna seemed to be struggling against the Elite Four but was spending days pushing on and training against them to strengthen her team for that ideal run, but in the end even my pushing her to keep at it wasn't enough to stop the Crystal save file from being corrupted.

Sad to hear that. But I'm sure Janna would wipe the floor with the whole E4 and even Red. I'm looking forward your next run.

 

[Mochorro]

I am back at work these weeks and I am very busy so I haven't updated for a while, but my run in Platinum is not dead, the monotype in this game started 2 years ago and it's turning out to be eternal xD, but I'll keep going, for sure. These days I only tried to raise Riolu's happiness, so nothing worth an update by any means, I have not made progress.

I wanted to say though, that with Sword and Shield coming soon, I guess I'll add one of them (depending on the exclusives of each game, although Sword with Sirfetch'd has some chances haha) to the ultimate monotype challenge!