[Challenge] The Time Warp Challenge

[Pumpkaboo92]

Question: What classifies as a cute water pokemon? Cause I find Swampart rather cute....

 

[Ahri]

Question: What classifies as a cute water pokemon? Cause I find Swampart rather cute....

Was thinking more objectively cute but that's a pretty flexible rule as everyone finds different things cute. I find Blastoise cute for example.

 

[Pumpkaboo92]

Was thinking more objectively cute but that's a pretty flexible rule as everyone finds different things cute. I find Blastoise cute for example.

Thanks, this helped out actually. I don't have Jurrasic Jam but still kinda wanted to know on that.

 

[_confused_piplup_]

Username: _confused_piplup_
Game: Pokémon Platinum
Era: The Progressive Era

 

[Morzoelin]

Username: Morzoelin
Game: Pokémon R.O.W.E
(An open world version of Emerald with all Pokémon up to gen 8. Since it's available I'll be using Lycanroc as my mandatory Pokémon)
Era: Ancient Rome

 

[Morzoelin]

I already started the challenge for Ancient Rome but afterwards I'm thinking of doing an ultimate challenge run. I don't have the gen 1 or 2 games can I use Fire Red and Soul Silver instead.

 

[Morzoelin]

Pokemon in the Era of Ancient Rome Part 1

Started my journey in Verdanturf Town with a Slugma. I passed through the Rusturf tunnel and Route 116 without trouble catching a Rockruff along the way. Upon arriving in Rustboro City I foolishly challenged the Gym Leader Roxanne and was swiftly defeated. Made my way back to Verdanturf Town and from there across Route117 to Mauville City. At this point my team consist of Diana (Rockruff), Helen (Slugma), and Merlin (Abra). I decided to test my skills against this city's Gym Leader Wattson. After some quick training we enter the Gym and challenge Wattson. Diana went down to Wattson's togedamarru but Helen dealt swift vengeance taking it out with Earth Power. A couple more Earth Powers and an Ember later the rest of Wattson's team were defeated. Having beaten Gym Leader Wattson and earned the Dynamo Badge we have decided to continue our journey and challenge Roxanne again when we are stronger.

Current Team in Party Order:

Diana (Rockruff) Lv. 16 Female
Merlin (Abra) Lv. 13 Male
Helen (Slugma) Lv. 18 Female

 

[Morzoelin]

Pokémon in the Era of Ancient Rome Part 2

Leaving Mauville City we made our way down Route 110 to Slateport City along the way Merlin the Abra evolved into Kadabra. After making it to Slateport City when walked around sightseeing and trade Merlin with the Tradeback Guy to evolve him into Alakazam. With Merlin now having reached his final evolution we continued onward. Making the long sea trip across Routes 109, 108, 107. After battling other seafarers and exploring an Abandoned Ship, we finally arrive in Dewford Town. Merlin's psychic power sweeps through the local gym leaders pokemon claiming us victory. With Gym Leader Brawly defeated we claim the Knuckle Badge and confidently begin another long but this time rather uneventful sea voyage across Routes 106 and 105 eventually arriving in Petalburg City. Still filled with confidence from our recent victory in Dewford Town we rush the Petalburg City's Gym Leader Norman and in a hard fought battle that left Diana the only pokemon standing and newly evolved. Claiming our Balance Badge we rest and begin planning our next move.

Current Team in Party Order:

Merlin (Alakazam) Lv. 31 Male
Diana (Lycanroc) Lv. 27 Female
Helen (Slugma) Lv. 26 Female

 

[Ahri]

I already started the challenge for Ancient Rome but afterwards I'm thinking of doing an ultimate challenge run. I don't have the gen 1 or 2 games can I use Fire Red and Soul Silver instead.

Yes you can use Fire Red and Soul Silver for Gen 1 and Gen 2 respectively.

 

[MaClaw32019]

Username:MaClaw32019
Game:Ultra Sun
Era:Ancient Rome

 

[Janp]

The Ice Age Ultimate Challenge

SUMMARY

​

So... It has been a while. I signed up for this over a year ago. Since then, I slowly beat all my games in Ice Age settings. It was fun. My teams were once pretty unbalanced, but in slightly different way than before. Anyway, let's talk about each run separately...

I should also note that while making this post, I noticed I didn't take screenshots of Hall of Fames. Hopefully I have good enough reputation that you'll trust me I finished all runs.

Fire Red

I'm satisfied with how this team turned out. Dewgong picked the short stick and I barely used it. Since I also had Blastoise and Lapras, Dewgong was there mostly to tank some hits. I run Rest/Sleep Talk and it was fun, but one-shotting everything with Blastoise and Lapras was faster. Jynx was also nice. I mainly used it as Psychic user. Rhydon was there to balance things up and Nidoqueen was jack-of-all-trades.

Heart Gold

I had quite a hard time putting this team together, because I, once again, wanted to use Pokémon I don't usually use. And quite a few of them were obtainable really late into the game, so I pretty much solo'd most of Johto just with Quagsire. Because of this, I barely used the rest and when I did, I usually sent out Tyranitar or Sneasel, because they could counter Quagsire's weaknesses. Corsola was mostly HM slave and Piloswine because it's mandatory Pokémon and it could tank some hits.

Ruby

Now, this was fun team. I think I balanced it pretty well. You can imagine I spent an eternity getting Feebas and evolving it. Other than that, this was fine run. Milotic, Walrein and Flygon did most of the work in E4, with other members usually taking the lead against some problematic Pokémon. Also I have no idea how, but Steven's Metagross somehow beat 5 of my Pokémon on its own and I only beat it thanks to Sharpedo's speed.

Diamond

Now that I look at this team, I don't really have much to say. I had to hack in Swinub as my starter, which certainly made the early game interesting, but I think this team had one huge advantage. While unbalanced, it had quite a few powerhouses ready from the start. Garchomp is a league on its own, but Mamoswine or Wealive also did good. Rampardos on the other hand... I can't seem to find a good use for it anywhere.

Black

This team... How to describe it? It made me realize how weak some first stages of 3-line evolution lines are. Tympole and Roggenrola could barely survive a hit, did almost no damage and were really slow, so in the early game, I usually just grinded them up on Audino and used Panpour. Same goes for Vanilite. Cubchoo wasn't an exception. It was actually even worse, because I could just get Beartic and avoid grinding up Cubchoo. But who could say "no" to this poor baby? In the end, it was worth it, because once my Pokémon evolved, they steamrolled everything in their path. There were struggles from time to time, especially in E4, but we made it.

Y

Kalos isn't nice place to explore during Ice Age. I had such a hard time picking up Kalos Pokémon for this run and in the end had to put some non-Kalos Pokémon on my team. The early game was rough, but it got slowly better and easier after Reflection Cave. The duo of Glaceon and Azumarill worked surprisingly well against most obstacles. I was worried about later Gyms and E4, but it went surprisingly well. My Azumarill had Huge Power, making it formidable opponent to even Mega Gardevoir.

Ultra Moon

It wasn't intentional, but this was really defensive team. Toxapex and Palossand are great walls, Crabominable also can take a punch and Minior is just fun to use. I had such a great time trying to figure optimal way to use Minior. I need to do solo run with it later this year. Alolan Ninetales and Lycanroc complement the team with their fast and strong attacks. Out of all the teams in this challenge, this one was my favourite.


I have a lot of fun doing these Ultimate runs, but they take quite a few time to finish and I'm lazy to write up my summary. Next up on the list is Stone Age, but it feels like my teams would be way too similar, so I decided to kick up my time machine and go to The Cold War era. Hopefully, I'll finish it and write up a summary earlier than in 2025.

Username: Janp
Game: Fire Red, Heart Gold, Sapphire, Pearl, Black 2, Y and Ultra Moon
Era: The Cold War

 

[Pebblycone]

Finally revisiting this challenge, trying a different Era this time!

Username: Pebblycone
Game: Pokemon Sapphire
Era: Ice Age

 

[Captain Gizmo]

Username*: Captain Gizmo
Game: Y
Era: Ice Age

 

[Captain Gizmo]

Beat the game! Fighting water and fighting type was terrible. Whole team was weak against fighting and fairy.

Diego, the Tyrantrum♂
Level 70
Strong Jaw
Dragon Claw, Rock Slide, Crunch and Hone Claws

Ellie, the Avalugg♀
Level 69
Own Tempo
Ice Fang, Toxic, Return and Protect

Sid, the Greninja♂
Level 71
Torrent
Night Slash, Smack Down, Surf and Extrasensory

Peaches, the Krookodile♀
Level 78
Intimidate
Swagger, Earthquake, Hone Claws and Foul Play

 

[Devalue]

Username: Devalue
Game: Sapphire
Era: Jurassic Jam

Liked the idea of not being able to buy from marts. Hates to use Golem yet again. Figured it would be too good to not use in the others. Meant Jurassic Jam.

 

[Devalue]

Update 1: Start to Norman
Game: Sapphire
Era: Jurassic

Usually adds a item limit. Deems that unnecessary with marts restricted. Will try to stay near the gym leader level caps on Set mode, though.

• Roxanne: 15
• Brawly: 18
• Wattson: 23
• Flannery: 28
• Norman: 31
• Winona: 33
• Tate & Liza: 42
• Wallace: 43 (probably not happening)
• Elite Four: 55 (Drake's Salamence)

Ought to define the allowed Pokemon more.

1. Establishes what counts as a "cute Water type". Tries to base it on what others may say.

• Mudkip: Probably. Removes the rest of the line.
• Lotad: Probably. Lombre: No. Ludicolo: Maybe?
• Wingull: Probably. Pelipper: No.
• Surskit: Yes. Locks out Masquerain.
• Goldeen and Seaking: No?
• Magikarp and Gyarados: No. (Passes on using Gyarados yet again in a playthrough.)
• Marill and Azumarill: Definitely.
• Tentacool and Tentacruel: No.
• Carvanha and Sharpedo: No.
• Wailmer and Wailord: No.
• Barboach and Whiscash: No.
• Corphish and Crawdaunt: No.
• Feebas: Big no. Milotic: Yes.
• Staryu and Starmie: No.
• Psyduck and Golduck: No.
• Clamperl: No. Huntail: No. Gorebyss: Yes.
• Relicanth: No.
• Corsola: Yes.
• Chinchou: No. Lanturn: Yes.
• Luvdisc: Yes.
• Horsea: Yes. Locks out Seadra and Kingdra.

Presents a very immediate problem regarding Roxanne. Will be limited to Torchic, Beautifly, Dustox, and Nincada.

2. What are the reptiles (that are not already included in the types)?

• Seviper
• Kecleon
• Tropius
• Rhyhorn + Rhydon. (Takes elements from dinosaurs.)

Mostly underwhelming Pokemon.

And finally, the trainer. Rolled female for gender. Named them "Mary", after Mary Anning, a famous paleontologist.

Chose Torchic as the starter. Named it "Tyrano". Has a Quirky nature. Seems very good on the special side and very weak on the physical side. Strong hitpoints and speed too.

Headed to Petalburg Woods as soon as possible (while also picking up some hidden items). Saved. Caught a Wurmple in one ball and named it Daio (after Daiopterix, a type of moth). Will this become a Mothim? Hopefully. Catches whatever cocoon this will not be.

Switch-trained Daio to level 7. Wound up being Silcoon. Bleh. Caught a Cascoon and named it "Kalli" (after Kalligrammatidae, a type of lacewing). Down to 3 Pokeballs. Found one on the ground for 4 Pokeballs.

Began the arduous task of switch-training Kalli by using Daio, to avoid levels on Tyrano. Cannot say how long it took for certain. Guesses an hour, maybe more (sped up, mercifully). Evolved both of them before reaching the end of Petalburg Woods.

Leveled everyone to 14 for Roxanne. Considered it good enough. Led with Daio. Took off three-fourths of Geodude's health with Absorb. Evaporated to Rock Tomb. Triggered Roxanne's Potion. Was no match for Kalli's luck, however. Confused Geodude on the first Confusion, criticaled it on the second, and won the duel as Geodude hit itself. Managed to take off half of Nosepass's health before the three-shot Rock Tomb. Dealt next to zero damage with Tyrano's Ember. Went from bad to worse with Roxanne's second Potion. Burned Nosepass too late. Ended in a loss.

Take two, now with everyone at level 15. Burned both of Roxanne's Potions on Geodude this time. Set up one Harden on Kalli, which was probably unimportant. Confused Nosepass before going down this time. Burned it with Tyrano, which hit harder than the Ember itself, for the sketchy win.

Sailed to Dewford. Accepted an Old Rod and fished for a level 10 Tentacool. Wanted some kind of Water type before Flannery. Caught it on the first ball and named it "Medusa". Looks pretty decent with a Modest nature.

Leveled the main trio to 18 to Brawly. Led with Daio. Crushed Machop and Makuhita with two Gusts each. Suffered zero damage. +1 badge.

Hm. Obtains the Coin Case by giving someone Harbor Mail. Cannot buy that under these rules. Finds one at the Abandoned Ship, fortunately. Requires Surf to reach, however, so no early powerful TMs.

Almost wiped to one of the gym trainers in Wattson's gym. Specifically, the Sonicboom-spamming Voltorb trainer. Thanks Medusa for helping out in its first appearance with a poison on one of the Voltorbs.

Thought about catching Illumise for Encore and Charm. Enjoys both moves. Leaves a giant question about how it levels. Learns nothing stronger than a 40 power Normal move (with a sad base 47 Attack). Demands a TM to use. Picks up Shock Wave soon, with no competition. Who is Illumise going to be effective against later? ...Slaking. Fine. Did not have a sixth final party member lined up anyways. Might still be useful against Steven or something.

Hunted the 1% Illumise. Leveled everyone else up to 23 in the process. Caught the first Illumise in a single ball. (Good luck on that, if nothing else.) Adamant? Psh. Stuck the stats into an IV calculator. Made up for it with a strong Special Attack and good everywhere except Attack. Fine. Named it "Flammari", after a Jurassic Age firefly.

Gym time. Led with Tyrano (Combusken). One-shot Magnemite. Fainted on the Voltorb Self-Destruct, however. Left no good options for Magneton. Sent Daio (Beautifly) in to paralyze Magneton successfully before going down to a single Shock Wave. Left all not-very-effective moves and two Super Potions to chew through. Took the wipe over using a Revive.

Attempt #2: Beat Magnemite no problem. Switched to Kalli (Dustox) for Voltorb. Fainted on the critical Self-Destruct. Returned to Tyrano for Magneton. Unfortunately got outsped and hit itself on what should have been the killing blow. Lost exactly half its hitpoints on one Shock Wave. Switched to Flammari as a sacrifice, healed Tyrano with a precious Soda Pop, and won.

Proceeded to Fiery Path for a Torkoal. Nabbed it in the first Great Ball. Named it "Chelys". Plans to keep this for the long haul. Happens to be Modest with all-around good stats. Not great for Curse, but good enough. Kind of makes up for it with the good Attack IV.

Hm. Are the flutes allowed? Could argue soot to be a form of currency. Feels like a stretch, though. Would not call apricorns in Johto a currency. Seems like the same thing here. Decided to grab several flutes (Blue for Sleep, Yellow for confusion, and Black for fewer encounters).

Somehow managed to beat Archie without anyone fainting. Struggled with Golbat, mainly. Expended most of Chelys's (Torkoal) health on Bites from Mightyena that flinched and crit. Left a lot of Flying weaknesses on the team. Ended with Chelys on 3 hitpoints and Medusa on 1 hitpoint.

Leveled up Tyrano (Combusken), Medusa (Tentacool), and Chelys (Torkoal) to 28, plus Flammari (Illumise) to 27. Expected zero help from any of the bugs. Went back and forth on who to lead with. Chose Chelys for the eventual Torkoal versus Torkoal fight, if it goes well.

Poisoned Chelys on Turn 2, unfortunately. Settled for two Curses before Body Slamming. Underestimated how hard Slugma (with Flamethrower) with Sunny Day up would hit. Took off maybe 20-25 hitpoints. Doubted it could take an Overheat from Torkoal. Switched to Tyrano to avoid the faint. Stopped sunlight then, so why not switch to Medusa? Lopped off 3/4s of Medusa's health and paralyzed with Body Slam. (Never plays Nuzlockes because of this right here. Generally hates sacrificing a Pokemon for a clean switch. Leads to even worse positions.) Might still be faster, honestly. (Was not.) Sent Daio in to paralyzed Torkoal back and get torched by Overheat.

Had a funny idea. Baited out an Overheat with Flammari and switching to Tyrano. Went downhill from there because of constant criticals or paralyzes. Came down to Flammari. Handled Flail kinda okay, but not great. Also had to deal with Flannery's Hyper Potions. Finally sprung the trap: Encoring an Overheat. Should have been the 4th or 5th one. Somehow failed to work properly. Successfully used Encore. Watched Torkoal be fully paralyzed for two turns, then Body Slam with no notification of Encore ending. Hello? Is this just Gen 3 things? (Looking) Misunderstood. Apparently needs to be Tormented or Disabled. Aw.

Attempt #2: Led with Tyrano. Bulked up three times. One-shot both Slugmas with Double Kick. Two-shot Torkoal. Only lost 19 hitpoints. Goes a lot smoother when they do not get all the poisons, paralyzes, and crits.

Oh, right. Got Badge #3 a while ago. Allows Dragon-types on the team now. Feels like a trap. Cannot get Altarias, Vibravas, or Seadras in the wild. Leaves just Bagon. Declines to go through that leveling nonsense, not to mention the awful catch rate with limited balls.

Popped into the desert for the Claw Fossil. Resurrected it into "Locaris" the Anorith. Hates the detrimental Mild nature (+Special Attack / -Defense). Looks okay on IVs. Evolves so late (40).

Evolved Medusa into Tentacruel. Acknowledges this to be a little pointless. Will be replaced soon-ish. May not be until Lilycove or so, though.

Challenged Norman a hair under the cap (Medusa at 30, the three other main Pokemon at 29). Unlocks wildly better experience grinds after winning. Should have the winning solution, barring bad criticals.

Led with Flammari. Charmed Slaking and Encored it into Yawn. Switched in Tyrano and spammed Bulk Ups and the Blue Flute. Made it to +6/+6 with only 10 hitpoints lost. Obliterated the first Slaking in a single (critical) Double Kick hit. Suffered some damage from Vigoroth and Slaking. Won the match at just above 50% health. How was this the easy gym?

Received Surf and zipped over to the Good Rod fisherman. Reeled in a level 27 Barboach, after tossing back several lower level ones. Continued the streak of one-ball catches. Named it "Asteph". Has a Lax nature with IVs towards the extremes (approximately 1 in HP and 27 in both defenses). Decent enough.

Closes this update here. Should go better in the second half. Ironically used fewer items without an item limit (well, not counting the Blue Flute). Blames a rough time against the Elite Four last time in Hoenn. (Entered very underleveled.) Saves everything for that, even with the Emergency Supplies rule in place.

Spoiler: Item Stats and Team

Used items in-battle: 1 Soda Pop and Blue Flute

Stockpile:
Hitpoints: 6 Potion, 3 Super Potions, 5 Soda Pops
Revives: 4 Revives and 1 Max Revive
Status: 1 Antidote, 1 Parlyz Heal, 1 Burn, 1 Full Heal
Pokeballs: 6 Pokeballs and 6 Great Balls.
X items: 1 Attack, 1 Defense, 1 Special, 1 Speed, 1 Accuracy, 1 Dire Hit

Tyrano the Combusken
Level: 30
Nature: Quirky
Moves: Double Kick, Bulk Up, Ember, Peck

Medusa the Tentacruel
Level: 30
Nature: Modest
Moves: Surf, Supersonic, Constrict, Acid

Chelys the Torkoal
Level: 29
Nature: Modest
Moves: Body Slam, Ember, Curse, and Smokescreen

Flammari the Illumise
Level: 30
Nature: Adamant
Moves: Shock Wave, Encore, Charm, and Moonlight

Asteph the Barboach
Level: 27
Nature: Lax
Moves: Magnitude, Amnesia, Rest, and Snore

Locaris the Anorith
Level: 20
Nature: Mild
Moves: Scratch, Harden, Mud Sport, Water Gun

Bench

Daio the Beautifly
Level: 25
Nature: Hasty
Moves: Gust, Mega Drain, Morning Sun, Stun Spore

Kalli the Mothim
Level: 25
Nature: Quiet
Moves: Psybeam, Harden, Gust, and Moonlight