[Challenge] The Monotype Challenge v8, Tera Edition

[jespoke]

Monotype Poison (Soul Silver), update 2 (3rd and 4th badges)

• I beat the rival in Azelia
• After arriving in Goldenrod, I go straight past to route 34 to catch a new party member, a Nidoran♀️ that I name Klara.
• I am lucky to be a fan of puzzle games, because I am currently faced with the fact that the Gastly line learns Thunderbolt and not Thunder. So I have one way to get a real move for Radon right now: Playing Voltorb Flip up to 10.000 coins for Thunderbolt.
• I do end up doing the Voltorb Flipping, because having Thunderbolt is going to be a big deal for the whole game.
• In order to not have to do more Voltorb Flip than necessary, Pokemon in need of elemental moves will just have to live with the less accurate versions that the Department Store sells if they can actually learn them.
• On that note, I buy Solarbeam for Jonathan Lonathan, and bot hBlizzard and Thunder for Klara (Fun fact of the day: the Nidorans can all learn the Electric and Ice elemental moves, but the Fire ones can only be learned once they fully evolve)
• After only a few levels, Klara evolves to Nidorina
• I pick up the Dig TM, and am faced with a difficult decision: Which one of Sdrawkcab and Klara gets Dig, and which one gets Earthquake? I end up giving Klara dig, so she will have a Ground STAB in the time between getting the Moon Stone and reaching Victory Road
• I fight Whitney, taking down her Miltank with my newest selection of dirty tactics: Curse on Radon and Roost on Existence. It was supposed to be accompanied by paralysis from Sdrawkcab's Glare, but Miltank had a Lum Berry. She still contributed with Intimidate though. Klara did not end up having to join the fight, but I did have her Double Kick as the backup plan if I got crit or flinched to death.
• I get the Plain Badge!
• I make my way to Ecruteak, and then straight to Olivine. There, I pick up the Good Rod, which will let me catch my final team member.
• I had the idea that I wanted to use a Qwillfish this run, because when do you ever have a reason to do that? So I make my way all the way back to route 32 to fish for the 5% chance at a Qwillfish without the swarm. But this involves so much running away from the vastly superior Water/Poison pokemon Tentacool, it turns almost depressing. So eventually I decide I would rather use Tentacruel for the some-teenth time, than use something I will end up comparing unfavorably to the Tentacruel I could have had all run.
• With that motivation, I catch a Tentacool that I name Tentacute.
• After beating the rival in Burnt Tower, Sdrawkcab evolves into Arbok.
• Shortly afterwards, Existence evolves into Golbat.
• And then immediately on the next level, Existence evolves again into Crobat, taking on the X shape that inspired his name. His massive speed gives me hope that I may actually have an option that will outspeed Morty's Gengar.
• Morty turned completely free because he decided to waste a turn having Gengar use Mean Look on Existence. Klara Shadow Clawed the Gastly and Haunter down, and with the Quick Claw she even got a hit in on Gengar. After that, Existence could clean up in 2 hits due to outspeeding and the aforementioned Mean Look use. I got the Fog Badge!

The team:

Existence the lv 25 Crobat
Bite, Wing Attack, U-Turn, Roost --- Inner Focus
"Was already good as a Zubat, but now he is an absolute star, outspeeding Morty's Gengar on even level."

Sdrawkcab the lv 22 Arbok
Crunch, Rock Tomb, Glare, Acid --- Intimidate
"Intimidate + Glare is super valuable, and other than that she is a good jack-of-all-trades. Would probably have gone from solid to great with Dig, but as i reasoned in the update, she will get Earthquake later instead."

Klara the lv 21 Nidorina
Blizzard, Dig, Shadow Claw, Thunder
"Her insane TM learnset lets her use the upside of Johto's lopsided TM distribution, to get an endgame moveset the moment i caught her. And there is still potential to change it up later if need be. And now that i have Surf, i can immediately go get the Moon Stone to evolve her too!"

Tentacute the lv 21 Tentacool
Surf, Blizzard, Payback, Acid --- Clear Body
"I have only just caught him, but i am already seeing how right i was to drop the idea of using Qwillfish: being a special attacker means he can already use Surf and Blizzard now, instead of having to wait for Waterfall to get a real move."


Radon the lv 19 Gastly
Thunderbolt, Curse, Hypnosis, Night Shade --- Levitate
"Thunderbolt unlocked her combat, but Curse is still her biggest contribution so far. But now Shadow Ball and evolution are about to unlock her true potential."

Jonathan Lonathan (Lonathan) the lv 19 Bellsprout
Solarbeam, Vine Whip, Sleep Powder, Stun Spore --- Chlorophyll
"Too frail for his reward for now, but Solarbeam at least gave him a move with more than 35 bp to fire off."

 

[Mochorro]

The Ultimate Monotype Challenge! (Fighting)

Yellow, HeartGold, Sigma Σmerald, Platinum, White 2, X, Ultra Sun, Sword, Violet.

Additional Rules: - No items on important battles (rival, leaders, etc.)
- Set mode for important battles.

7. FIGHTING to the end! Clearing the post-game!

Time for Pokémon Sword post-game! Hop was waiting for me at the Slumbering Weald to fight! Compared to the champion, his little brother was once again not too difficult: Bewear ran past his team with Drain Punch, knocking out Dubwool, Snorlax, Cramorant and Corviknight. His Cinderace forced me to switch, and unfortunately Pyro Ball burned Conkeldurr, so Rock Slide didn't do enough damage. Scrafty defeated Cinderace, but missed High Jump Kick against Pincurchin when it was going to knock it out (this move has 50 % accuracy for me, it is not normal the huge amount of misses!) I had to send Sirfetch'd to end the fight.

Right after this battle, Sordward surprised me, as I had not healed my team and I had to fight with my 4 remaining Pokémon. Bewear wrecked his Sirfetch'd with Thrash, but his Doublade forced me to switch, because of Choice Band. It got a crit with Iron Head and beat my Hitmonlee. Bewear's Shadow Claw finished it off, and then Hawlucha tanked two liquidations from Golisopod and sealed the deal with Acrobatics and then High Jump Kick against Bisharp.

After easily dealing with 3 Dynamax Pokémon, you are challenged by Sordward and Shielbert at the Pokémon Lab to a double battle. The fight was extremely easy. When Hop's Dubwool fainted, my Hawlucha together with Hop's Cinderace overwhelmed their teams (this time High Jump Kick didn't miss).

While going across every gym in the region, in the Fairy-type one you have to deal with Bede. I have a bad type match-up against him, and to make matters worse, Sirfetch'd missed a key Steel Wing attack versus his Gardevoir. In the end, Hitmonlee finished off the Gardevoir with Fake Out, and Bewear with Thrash managed to take down Rapidash and Hatterene, but I was down to two Pokémon by then.

The third round against Sordward was very easy, as Hitmonlee handled his Sirfetch'd and Doublade (he tried to go for Swords Dance), and then Hawlucha beat Golisopod and Bisharp.

As for the legendary Pokémon, Zamazenta was a bit annoying, as I only have physical attackers and it used Iron Defense, but a critical hit with Hawlucha's Acrobatics took it down. Finally, I used the Master Ball to catch Zacian.

The final showdown of this monotype challenge is once again against Hop and his new Zamazenta! Hop's Pokémon levels have increased quite a lot, so it should be interesting! My Sirfetch'd made good use of its Leek item to get past Dubwool after a Cotton Guard and then Corviknight, landing three critical hits in a row. It eventually went down to Cinderace. As almost always, Conkeldurr with Rock Slide defeated it, and then he sent Snorlax, which was a big help, as it allowed me to fully heal Conkeldurr using Drain Punch. Pincurchin was a joke, and his final Pokémon was Zamazenta. It took down my Conkeldurr with a couple of Play Rough, but Bewear easily tanked its attacks and put an end to the fight with two Drain Punches! To be honest, the fight would have been much harder in Pokémon Shield, Zacian would have been extremely hard to defeat with my current Pokémon, being a Fairy-type that boosts its Attack at the start of the battle and has an insane Speed stat.

So that's it! In the end I played through the tournament at Wyndon, battled Marnie once again and also had a fun battle against Game Freak Morimoto. Then this morning I also caught a few Pokémon in the Wild Area, so my team has reached level 70 (they were level 66 more or less against Hop). This is my final team (no spoiler tag this time, they deserve the spotlight!)

@ Black Belt. Lv. 70 (M). Reckless.
Lonely Nature. Blaze Kick, Close Combat, Fake Out, High Jump Kick.

@ Choice Band. Lv. 70 (M). Fluffy.
Naive Nature. Thrash, Drain Punch, Thunder Punch, Shadow Claw.

@ Assault Vest. Lv. 70 (F). Sheer Force.
Brave Nature. Ice Punch, Thunder Punch, Drain Punch, Rock Slide.

@ Leek. Lv. 70 (F). Steadfast.
Impish Nature. First Impression, Steel Wing, Brick Break, Leaf Blade.

@ Leftovers. Lv. 70 (F). Shed Skin.
Bashful Nature. Ice Punch, High Jump Kick, Drain Punch, Crunch.

@ Nothing. Lv. 70 (M). Limber.
Naughty Nature. High Jump Kick, Dig, Acrobatics, Swords Dance.

Number of losses: 1.

Well, that's it. This started with Yellow... 8 years ago! I didn't even have a job back then xD I know I didn't finish White 2 post-game, may go back to it one day, I don't know. But apart from that, this Ultimate monotype challenge is finished!

On this specific run, I remembered Gen VIII worse than it actually was, the game is quite fun, despite its problems. It was not too challenging, but Leon and the final battle against Hop can be quite tricky, especially the former, and some of the fights against Bede were also difficult. I liked my team. I didn't have any special attackers, but I had some speedy Pokémon, and also some bulkier ones. While in X and Ultra Sun Hawlucha was clearly the MVP, here I am not so sure, all of my Pokémon were important.

Speaking of Ultra Sun, what a nightmare it was, by far the hardest game of the 9 I played. Violet was not too bad except for the Professor Turo fight with the Iron Valiant. Pokémon Sword was definitely harder than Pokémon X, but still quite manageable, with some important trainers having Pokémon weak to Fighting. As for the first 5 generations, White 2 in challenge mode provided some interesting battles, and I still remember even if it was a long time ago the nightmare it was to get past Bugsy with a solitary Poliwag in HeartGold.

In general, Fighting-types hit very hard, but lack variety of special attackers, and Speed is an issue in many of the available Pokémon as well. The addition of Fairy-types made the future generations quite tricky in some instances.

Nothing more to add, I will come back to this Ultimate monotype challenge when gen X releases! Until then, I may do more monotypes, just not another ultimate challenge xD. See you on the next challenge!

The Ultimate Monotype Challenge! (Fighting)

Yellow, HeartGold, Sigma Σmerald, Platinum, White 2, X, Ultra Sun, Sword, Violet.

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

I'm not sure if this message is 100% necessary, but I won't be returning to the thread for another couple months (unless something changes). Hopefully I'll still be able to moderate the "No Evolution" thread whenever someone posts there, but I don't know when I can return to my Game Mastery Challenge because of all the projects (personal, mental health-related, etc.) that I have going on. I hope it's not necessary for me to be removed from the list of challengers, but if the mods decide to let someone else moderate the "No Evolution" challenge (on the grounds that I am not currently participating), I would understand. (Rules are rules, you know.) I'll still be logged into the forum, but I cannot confirm when I'll be back in this thread (or if I'll be back by the end of this calendar year). Thank you for your time.

 

[Explorer of Time]

I can run it in your absence, if you wish. It's a simple challenge and we've already worked out the edge cases, so pretty much all I'd have to do is add people to challenger/HoF lists.

 

[jespoke]

Monotype Poison (Soul Silver), update 3 (gyms 5-7 + Radio Tower)

• I go for the red Gyarados first, to get the Exp Share.
• Jonathan Lonathan evolves into Weepinbell.
• I experiment with Hidden Power a bit, but the results are sad:
  • Jonathan Lonathan gets HP Steel, which is beyond useless to him, because he doesn't want to face Ice types. Even if he did, the only Ice types of note take neutral damage from Grass anyway.
  • Tentacute got HP Electric, which would be sick, if he didn't get a power on it that is so low that its super effective damage only matches resisted Surf.
  • So I end up giving it to Radon, who gets HP Fire, which at least might be relevant for steel types.
• After finding out that the Tohjo Falls Moon Stone is locked behind Waterfall in HGSS, but that Crystal added one in the Ruins of Alph, Klara gets to evolve into Nidoqueen.
• I played a bunch of Pokeathlon, and then changed the date on my DS to one where there would be Leaf Stone in the point shop, which I use to evolve Jonathan Lonathan to Victreebel.
• On my way up the Olivine Lighthouse, Radon evolves to Haunter.
• Existence had a comically easy time with the Cianwood Gym until Poliwrath, despite being lv 25. Radon cleaned up at the end. I get the Storm Badge!
• Klara easily had Jasmine's Magnemites covered, but the Steelix was a big team effort, considering my team is all at least 9 levels below it. Still no items needed in battle so far though.
• I get the Mineral Badge!
• After missing 2 Thunders in a row, it occurred to me that I should look up where the Wide Lens is. Turns out they can be bought for 1000 coins at the Voltorb Flip Corner, in the very same city that sells the Thunder/Blizzard/Fire Blast/Focus Blast TMs! I decide to go buy one for Klara at the very least.
• I face Pryce with my team that is far below his level, with 3 members that are weak to Ice and another that is weak to Ground. I manage to win it on the first try without items still, but only by the skin of my teeth, with Existence clutching it out with a Bite flinch in the end. I would probably have been fine on a second try, because it would have been a lot easier if Tentacute had not gotten frozen.
• Johto is just plain mean to Grass types. A lot of the time it feels like I am not fighting anything else than Poison and Flying types, both from Rocket and non-Rocket trainers. Jonathan Lonathan barely ever gets any action.
• While fighting my way up Radio Tower, Tentacute evolves into Tentacruel.
• The rival fight was pretty tough, partially because my team of Poison types only has a single Poison type move to hit Meganium with, and it is Acid on the Water type 😅. So it got to stall a lot with Reflect and Synthesis, but with Paralysis on it and Existence's 4x resistance and Roost, it was inevitable. The Haunter was really scary though, outspeeding and one-hitting my own. Once again Existence was the key, with his actually pretty good special bulk, high speed, and Bite.
• The Rocket executives were nothing compared to the rival, especially because I actually have multiple good matchups into Houndour and Houndoom.

The team:

Radon the lv 19 Haunter
Shadow Ball, Thunderbolt, Hidden Power (Fire), Hypnosis --- Levitate
"Choice Specs Haunter is an absolute menace. She needed the others to be strong for important targets like Jasmine's Steelix and the rival's Haunter, but could have soloed most other things. I could evolve her, but i don't feel like it is necessary."


Klara the lv 21 Nidoqueen
Dig, Blizzard, Shadow Claw, Thunder --- Poison Point
"Her raw stats and wide coverage is really valuable. Her attacking stats are not so high that she totally sweeps, but she can do a lot that the others can't."


Existence the lv 25 Crobat
Fly, Bite, Roost, U-Turn, --- Inner Focus
"Surprisingly bulky considering its design and speed stat. The high speed and Bite are crucial for Psychic and Ghost types."


Tentacute the lv 21 Tentacruel
Surf, Blizzard, Payback, Acid --- Clear Body
"Mostly clicks Mysticwater-boosted Surf, and does just fine with that. The high Sp Def + Payback tech against Psychic types has not come into play yet, but i will be facing Will eventually."


Sdrawkcab the lv 22 Arbok
Crunch, Rock Tomb, Glare, Stockpile --- Intimidate
"Intimidate + Glare continues to be valuable., but she is suffering from lack of a STAB, and lack of strong coverage moves now."


Jonathan Lonathan (Lonathan) the lv 19 Victreebel
Solarbeam, Secret Power, Sleep Powder, Vine Whip --- Chlorophyll
"Johto continues to not let grass types shine anywhere; throwing their resists everywhere, but rarely ever showing Water or Ground types that aren't also Poison or something."

 

[jespoke]

@Explorer of Time I was thinking of signing up for the Ultimate Bug monotype again, but first want to know what would be allowed in terms of counting runs i have done before. Here's the deal:

1. I was Bug Monotype champ up to gen 5, back in 2013, in the 3rd thread.
2. I have since beaten X (Not posted to Pokecommunty), and Sun (In a single full-game post here https://www.pokecommunity.com/threads/the-monotype-challenge-re-returns.421499/page-3#post-10056368)
3. Last December i beat gens 1 and 2 again, not posted here. But i have screenshots of the final teams, and kind of would like to make a post of what i remember from them.

If allowed, i would like to sign up with Kanto, Johto, and Alola beaten, because those are the ones i have done with rulesets that i would be satisfied with nowadays, most importantly by banning in-battle revives and limiting potions.

 

[Explorer of Time]

I was thinking of signing up for the Ultimate Bug monotype again, but first want to know what would be allowed in terms of counting runs i have done before. Here's the deal:

1. I was Bug Monotype champ up to gen 5, back in 2013, in the 3rd thread.
2. I have since beaten X (Not posted to Pokecommunty), and Sun (In a single full-game post here https://www.pokecommunity.com/threads/the-monotype-challenge-re-returns.421499/page-3#post-10056368)
3. Last December i beat gens 1 and 2 again, not posted here. But i have screenshots of the final teams, and kind of would like to make a post of what i remember from them.

If allowed, i would like to sign up with Kanto, Johto, and Alola beaten, because those are the ones i have done with rulesets that i would be satisfied with nowadays, most importantly by banning in-battle revives and limiting potions.

For the purposes of your Bug Ultimate Challenge, Emerald, Platinum, White 2, and Sun all definitively count as beaten since you've done it here on PokeCommunity. X doesn't count as beaten since its run was never posted here.

I can't find any posts with either of your completed Kanto or Johto runs, but I'll mark them complete if you make posts about them here. At minimum, I would need a list of each Pokemon you used in battle, and the game version you used.

You can also apply for optional games for your monotype, including your suggested second runs of Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova.

 

[jespoke]

For the purposes of your Bug Ultimate Challenge, Emerald, Platinum, White 2, and Sun all definitively count as beaten since you've done it here on PokeCommunity. X doesn't count as beaten since its run was never posted here.

I can't find any posts with either of your completed Kanto or Johto runs, but I'll mark them complete if you make posts about them here. At minimum, I would need a list of each Pokemon you used in battle, and the game version you used.

You can also apply for optional games for your monotype, including your suggested second runs of Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova.

Ok, then this will be a big varied post about my past Bug monotypes!

Let me put this at the top then:

User: Jespoke
Type: Bug
Game(s): Red, Crystal, Emerald, Platinum, Black 2, X, Sun, Sword, Scarlet
Challenge Type: Ultimate
Standard Mode / Free Mode: Standard

Personal rule choices:

• Battle style Set
• No revives in battle
• + others depending on the game

So first off, i found my final post for my original Leaf Green run, from July 2010 in the second thread (Very soon to be 15 years ago ): https://www.pokecommunity.com/threads/ultimate-monotype-challenge.162786/post-5934228.
I don't seem to have made a final post for the original Soul Silver run. The first two threads just ran on an honor system, so it was just accepted. Looking at the team in Pokemon Bank now, i must have abused the hell out of revives and the pre-set hail to get through Red.

Next is my Monotype Bug (Red) run from last December, summarized:

• Spoiler: Red Summary

  
  

  • Started the game as BUG, picking my usual water starter named Surfboard
  • Played through the intro until i could catch STAB the Weedle, and Margerine the Caterpie
  • I trained Margerine up though its evolution to Metapod and then Butterfree
  • I don't think i bothered to evolve STAB before facing Brock, because leveling at this point is grinding on lv 2-4s, and he wouldn't be able to contribute much since Brock has a boatload of Full Heals to remove poison with.
  • Margerine used Harden + Confusion to blow through Brock, for the Boulder Badge
  • At this point i evolved STAB to Kakuna and then Beedrill
  • In Mt Moon, i caught a Paras i named Arthas
  • I beat the rival, mainly off the back of Margerine's Sleep Powder. I skip Misty to beeline for the TMs for Body Slam and Dig, since Paras can actually learn both of those.
  • I seem to remember that the rival fight on the SS Anne took multiple attempts.
  • Around this point i have stopped using STAB, leaving him as a lv 14 Beedrill until the end of the game.
  • Now caught up on levels, and with a strong moveset, Arthas and Margerine can beat Misty for the Cascade Badge
  • Arthas resists electric and has 100 bp Dig, so I'm pretty sure i beat up Lt. Surge to help me prepare for Rock Tunnel, and not the other way around. Either way, i got the Thunder Badge
  • Somewhere around here, Arthas evolved into Parasect. This is the point where the team when from "Paras and Butterfree, dynamic duo" to "Parasect, and his sidekick Butterfree."
  • Rock Tunnel gets a special mention, because doing it in one trip got really dicey because i ran low on PP for Dig, Body Slam, and Confusion.
  • Once though, i gathered and sold whatever i need to to buy a Scyther from the Game Corner, that i named Bananaman because of its gen 1 backsprite, where its scythe looks like a banana.
  • I taught the Psychic TM to Margerine, which will account for 80% of what she does for the rest of the playthough.
  • With the gen 1 type chart, everyone fears everyone in Erika's gym, with multiple 4x weaknesses in play. But i won the Rainbow Badge. This also gets me the Mega Drain TM, which finally gives Arthas Grass STAB to use on the scary Rhydons that will be coming up later.
  • At some point i realize that playing Blue for Pinsir would have been good, because it gets Rock Slide, Submission, and Earthquake. But what i have here with high speed Double Team + Slash is quite good too.
  • I make my way towards Fuchsia City and catch a Venonat that i name Lavendel
  • I don't remember much special about the fight against Koga. I have Psychic and Dig to work with. I got the Soul Badge.
  • The same goes for Sabrina. Though the Alakazam is really scary, at this point i had 3 Sleep move users to work with and 2 Slash users for good physical damage. I got the Marsh Badge.
  • Somewhere along the way, Lavendel evolved to Venomoth.
  • The fight against Blaine was the big one for this run. I really only had one option here: I have two Double Team users in Bananaman and Lavendel, and Fire Blast is not that accurate to begin with. So dodge. It didn't work out on the first try, but it didn't take many tries either, because of how good Evasion boosts are in gen 1, and how strong Bananaman's Slash is. So I got the Volcano Badge.
  • Giovanni was mostly about who i apply where; i had two Psychic move users for the Nidos, Arthas for the Rhydon, and Bananaman who was solidly the teams stongest member by now, got to play a supporting role for once. I got the Earth Badge.
  • I remember that the rival fight before Victory Road was very tough, though not what it was specifically. I had to preserve the health of specific team members to face Alakazam and Growlithe, while fighting Gyarados and Pidgeot who were just generically strong.
  • Time for the Elite 4
  • First Lorelei. Lavendel is the only member of my party that is not weak to Ice, but she really fears the Psychic types. The speed of the Jinx, and the bulk of the Lapras were particular problems.
  • Then Bruno. Lol Gen 1 Bruno.
  • Bananaman could not hit Agatha's Gengars, but he could fight the others, to preserve them so they could hit the Gengars with Sleep moves, Psychic, Dig, and Psybeam.
  • Lance very famously falls into an AI pitfall against Venomoth, so the real threat was the Aerodactyl that outspeeds and obliterates my whole team with gen 1 Hyper Beam. So the plan was simple: The rest of the team has to get down Gyarados, then get in Lavendel on a Dragonair, where it can set up 6 double teams so it can dodge the Aerodactyl when it comes in long enough to chip it down with Psybeams.
  • Finally the champion fight, which was once again about preserving the right pieces for the right opponents. Someone had to face the Pidgeot, then one of the Double Teamers had to face Arcanine's Ember, preferably with Double Team up. Next i needed to resist the urge to use Arthas against Rhydon, because he is my most specially bulky team member and knows Spore, so i need him for Alakazam. Instead Lavendel's Solarbeam is the plan for Rhydon. And in the middle of this there is also Gyarados which is really tough, but about equally so no matter who faces it, and Venusaur, which is free.
  • Reached the Hall of Fame, finishing the Bug monotype for Kanto, without revives this time!

  [*]

Final team:


Bananaman the lv 55 Scyther
Slash, Double Team, Double Edge, Swords Dance
"The lategame MVP, with actual high Atk and Spd, and Gen 1 Slash and Double Team. He was the best answer to almost any task that i didn't have anyone in particular for, which was a lot."


Arthas the lv 47 Parasect
Slash, Spore, Dig, Mega Drain
"The midgame MVP. Dig in particular offered something very unique for the team. That and Body Slam made him strong and versatile very early. Later on, being the tankiest and most accurate of my sleep users was very relevant, particularly against the 3 Alakazam encounters, which he could also hit with Slash unlike the other two who had nothing for Alakazam."


Lavendel the lv 48 Venomoth
Psybeam, Double Team, Sleep Powder, Solarbeam
"In terms of stats and movepool, a straight upgrade over Margerine. Of course vital for Lance with that typing. But most of the time, Double Team and Sleep Powder just let her be a backup for either the role of Bananaman or Margerine, whichever of the two the team needed in that moment."


Margerine the lv 45 Butterfree
Psychic, Sleep Powder, Psybeam, Poison Powder
"Carried the beginning of the game, and then settled into just using Sleep Powder and Psychic were those might be useful."

Honorable mention:
STAB the lv 14 Beedrill
Fury Attack, Poison Sting, String Shot


And my Monotype Bug (Crystal) run from last December:

I don't remember this one in quite as much detail, probably because the whole run followed mostly the same formula. I used a team of 3, all introduced in gen 2: A Spinarak/Ariados named Spidops, a Pineco/Forretress named Ninehundred, and a Heracross named Husband.
Husband was far and away the star of the show from the moment i got him, while delegating Flying and Psychic types to Ninehundred, and relying on both of the others when his health needed to be preserved for a really big threat.

The final team:


Husband the lv 72 Heracross
Return, Earthquake, Megahorn, Counter
"Heracross with Return, Dig, Rock Smash is an absolute beast for gen 2. His special bulk is also good enough to avoid getting one-shot by some really important fire moves. His endgame level is just barely enough to tank the 4x effective Wing Attack from Red's Charizard, to KO it in return with Counter."


Ninehundred the lv 63 Forretress
Strength, Curse, Sandstorm, Explosion
"His big thing were the Steel type and Rollout, which made him the answer for the flying types husband fears so much. And the resistance to Psychic was also huge, because both of the others fear it. Actually used Sandstorm a lot in the E4 onwards. I used Curse to set up throughout Kanto, and it was my key to get through Red's Snorlax"


Spidops the lv 63 Ariados
Sludge Bomb, Night Shade, Giga Drain, Psychic
"I had him solo the earlygame to get to Night Shade more than anything. That move was huge for the part of the run from Falkner to Headbutt, as sad as that is. The Sludge Bomb TM actually brought him into some relevance again later on, letting him more effectively take on the early pokemon in big fights to preserve Husband as my Ace. When i reached Kanto, i could finally get the TMs to make him a real moveset."