Hello and welcome back to another instalment of The Very Best, Like No One Ever Was, a series of blogs chronicling my efforts to complete an "ultimate playthrough" of the first generation of Pokémon games. If you're curious about what that entails, I'd recommend reading the introductory blog for this series, which outlines the different ways I'll be playing each of the three games in order to achieve this ludicrous feat. I'd also advise reading the first phase of the project before moving on any further, since it covers the opening hours of each playthrough. For those who are all caught up, read on to find out how I fared against the trials of Mt Moon and the Cerulean City Gym.
Phase Two - Twistin' with Misty
My main take-away from the first phase of this project was just how much the three playthroughs were already starting to diverge, with Red, Yellow and Blue Versions all featuring different teams and therefore demanding different tactics to make it past Brock. I'm particularly excited to see how much that divergence continues in this phase, as I move through Mt Moon and towards Cerulean City. There's also a choice on the horizon which I'll need to be mindful of in terms of making sure I'm able to acquire that coveted completed Pokédex. Let's begin by returning to the Nuzlocke playthrough of Red Version.
Red Version - Birds, Bats, Plants and Stars
Picking Red Version back up, I find myself sitting outside the Pokémon Center in Pewter City with a freshly-healed team of Pokémon. I do a quick bit of menu navigation to get my bearings, checking on the current team and the items in my bag. I make a quick stop at the Poké Mart and spend some of the winnings from beating Brock on a few more Poké Balls, ready for the potential captures en route to the next destination - Cerulean City. The first step on that journey is to head east along Route 3, a mountain path dotted with several trainers. Most of these are Youngsters, Lasses and Bug Catchers, but while the types of Pokémon they use aren't anything too worrying, their levels do cause me concern - particularly the Lass near the end of the route with a lv14 Jigglypuff. Thankfully I'm able to negotiate these battles without any major upsets, and make it to a patch of long grass where I pick up our next encounter - a Spearow, which I catch and name Needlebeak. At the first opportunity, I sub Needlebeak into the team in place of our Pidgey, Avion. There's a good reason for this - Spearow knows the Flying-type move Peck, which gives it a distinct advantage over Pidgey and its exclusively Normal-type current moveset. It will also evolve into Fearow much sooner than Avion will become a Pidgeot, giving us a bit more raw power to work with in the earlier stages of the game.
At the far end of Route 3 is the entrance to Mt Moon, next to which is a conveniently-placed Pokémon Center. I rest up, make the necessary team changes, and then do something which may prove a little controversial. While the "one capture per route" rule of the Nuzlocke format is pretty clear, the topic of gift Pokémon, event Pokémon and static encounters is more of a grey area. As I'm tracking my Nuzlocke progress through an app which lists these as viable encounters, I've decided to treat them as such. This means I can chat with the guy in this Pokémon Center who's selling Magikarp and buy one from him for ₽500. I name it Leviathan and stick it straight in the PC - I already have a Water-type on the team in my starter, Torpedo the Squirtle, but knowing there's a potential Gyarados in reserve is reassuring. It also means I don't need to sacrifice any future fishing encounters on using the Old Rod to fish up a Magikarp, and can instead use the Good and Super Rods to snag a wider variety of 'mons.
With the team rested and refreshed, it's time to head into Mt Moon. This is the game's first proper dungeon, where every step taken is a potential encounter - some might argue Viridian Forest fills that role, but given encounters are still restricted to long grass, I consider it more of a fancy route than a legitimate dungeon. Speaking of encounters, I don't have to search for long to find one in the cavernous heart of this mountain, and as expected, it ends up being one of the myriad Zubat that are ubiquitous here. While a Geodude or Paras would have been preferable, I can't look a gift horse in the mouth and snaffle up the Zubat, naming it Radar. It goes straight to the PC, since Grand Horn the Nidoran ♂ and Needlebeak have the Poison and Flying types already covered on the team.
While Zubat make up the majority of the encounters in Mt Moon, there is just enough variety in both the trainers and the wild Pokémon here to ensure that all members of the team get a decent chunk of experience on the way through. On the lowest floor of the cave, I start running into a new trainer class - members of Team Rocket. I've long thought it a little odd that the evil team show their hand for the first time here, since there isn't anything going on in Mt Moon for them to disrupt. Bulbapedia claims that they're present to try and steal fossils to sell, but none of their dialogue states this as far as I can recall. Nonetheless, their teams of Poison-types make for excellent training fodder, particularly for Grand Horn who ends up hitting lv16 and evolves into Nidorino. Towards the end of the path through the dungeon I locate a hidden Moon Stone, an evolution stone which just so happens to trigger Nidorino's evolution into Nidoking. I decide to use it on Grand Horn straight away - none of the remaining moves he'll learn as Nidorino are particularly worthwhile, and having the extra power at this early stage should be incredibly useful.
At Mt Moon's exit I run into a Super Nerd who has excavated two fossils and says I can choose to take one if I beat him in battle. I oblige, and when given the choice, opt for the Dome Fossil which can be resurrected into a Kabuto much later in the game. I admittedly make this choice without any real consideration for its implications further down the line, I just really like Kabutops' design and would prefer to use one over Omastar. With the Dome Fossil pocketed, I make my way out of Mt Moon, emerging into the fresh air and daylight of Route 4. Cerulean City lies just a short way east and down a ledge that marks a point of no return, but before I make my way there, there's one more thing to take care of - an encounter for the route. I run into an Ekans, which I catch and name Redda. As with Radar the Zubat, Redda will be taking up storage space in the PC for now since, while I do really like Arbok's design, I already have an abundance of Poison types.
On arriving in Cerulean City I make my usual stops at the Pokémon Center and Poké Mart to heal my team and restock my bag respectively. Misty's gym is right next to the Pokémon Center, its door inviting me in to battle, but I decide to postpone the inevitable just a little bit longer in favour of some more exploration. My main worry at this point is that we have nothing that can hit Misty's Water-types super-effective damage. Thankfully there are a couple of routes north of Cerulean City that are home to the Grass-type Pokémon Oddish, which would be an ideal acquisition at this point in the run. I head north, forgetting that in order to reach those routes, I first have to do battle against my rival, Blue. This is a pretty tough battle for this stage in the game, and I've just wandered into it with no preparation. Blue leads with a lv18 Pidgeotto that's scary on account of its STAB priority Quick Attack and annoying thanks to its tendency to spam the accuracy-lowering Sand Attack. I decide to brute force my way through it with Grand Horn and although one of his Horn Attacks misses on account of a Sand Attack, it doesn't take long for Pidgeotto to go down. His lv15 Abra only knows Teleport, a move that is useless in trainer battles, making it a sitting duck for Incisor the Rattata. Incisor then stays in for an honour battle against Blue's Rattata, taking it down with a combination of Hyper Fang and Quick Attack. That just leaves his Bulbasaur, and thankfully I now have a means of dealing super-effective damage against it with Needlebeak's Peck. It's by no means a damageless victory, but I make it through without any casualties.
The other blockade on Route 24 (which I didn't forget about) is Nugget Bridge, a gauntlet of five trainers that must be beaten in order to reach the northern half of the route and claim the victory prize of a Nugget. As a kid I had no idea that Nuggets were intended to be sold, and would hoard them just in case they had some kind of special use later in the game. As an adult who now knows better, I'm already mentally spending the ₽5000 I know it's worth before I've even won it. The Nugget Bridge battles thankfully pose no notable threats to my team, but they do push Torpedo up to lv18, allowing it to evolve into Wartortle. When I'm finally past all the trainers on the bridge, I make my way to the patch of grass to the west, and almost immediately find what I'm looking for - an Oddish, which I catch and nickname Anther. A little further north in the long grass on Route 25, I encounter the famously difficult-to-catch Abra, which loves to flee from battle with Teleport. Since I have no moves to put it to sleep, all I can do is throw the only Great Ball in my possession at it and hope for the best. By some stroke of luck, it stays in the ball and becomes the newest addition to the team. I name it Acorah, and send it straight to the PC.
After a quick return trip to Cerulean City to heal and shuffle the team about so Anther is in the roster, I return to Route 25 and make my way east to the Seaside Cottage, battling trainers and collecting items along the way. I've picked up a number of TMs at this point, but none of them contain moves which strike me as particularly useful right now, so most of my acquired items end up sitting in storage in the PC. At the Seaside Cottage I meet Bill, inventor of the Pokémon PC storage system, who has somehow managed to turn himself into a Pokémon in an experiment that sounds like something straight out of The Fly. I offer my help in reverting him back to his human state, for which he thanks me by gifting me a ticket to attend a party on the S.S. Anne, a luxury cruise liner currently docked in Vermilion City to the south. Having exhausted all I can do in this part of the world, I return south to Cerulean City, training my team on the way to ensure everyone is lv18.
The final step for this phase of the Red Version Nuzlocke is to battle Misty at the Cerulean City gym for our second badge. I feel much more confident about this fight with Anther in the party, and position it at the head of the team. My strategy is to inflict either Poison or Paralysis on Misty's Staryu and Starmie to disrupt them, then use Absorb to deal super-effective damage while healing any damage she manages to do to me. There are two gym trainers prior to the battle with Misty, and while the male Swimmer with a Horsea and Shellder doesn't pose any problems, I do end up having to switch my strategy somewhat for the female Jr Trainer whose Goldeen knows the Flying-type move Peck. I do feel a little bit apprehensive squaring up to Misty, knowing that one of her Pokémon is part-Psychic type, but as with using Butterfree in Brock's gym in phase one of the Yellow Version playthrough, I subsequently learn that apprehension is misplaced since her Starmie doesn't actually know any Psychic-type moves. The battle goes off without a hitch, and my strategy plays out exactly as intended. Anther even hits lv19 partway through the fight and learns Sleep Powder, giving me an even more potent status-inducing move to subdue Starmie while slowly Absorbing all of its HP. Misty doesn't really know what to do, throwing a pair of pointless X-Defend items that have no bearing on my Special Grass-type attacks. It takes a few turns, but eventually both of Misty's star-shaped Water Pokémon fall and she has no choice but to bestow the Cascadebadge upon me, bringing the second phase of this Nuzlocke playthrough to an end.
Yellow Version - Short and Sweet
As I prepare to jump back across to Yellow Version and the playthrough inspired by Ash's actions during the anime, I realise that this may well be the shortest phase of the entire project. Between Ash earning his first and second gym badges, there are only two episodes of the anime to watch - Clefairy and the Moon Stone, which covers his journey through Mt Moon, and The Water Flowers of Cerulean City, which documents his second gym battle. Over the course of these two episodes, Ash acquires no new Pokémon, meaning I'll be facing off against Misty in Yellow Version with an unchanged team of Pikachu, Pidgeotto and Butterfree. All this points to phase two of Yellow Version being the least eventful part of this entire project.
As in Red Version, I pick up the action back in Pewter City and start heading east towards Mt Moon, defeating the trainers along Route 3 as I go and resisting the temptation to hunt down new team members in the long grass. The journey through Mt Moon itself is largely the same as it was in Red Version, with two notable differences. First, after the battle against the Super Nerd, I lay claim to the Helix Fossil instead of the Dome Fossil. This is an important choice, since picking different fossils in Yellow and Blue Versions is necessary to ensure I have access to both lines of Fossil Pokémon for Pokédex completion purposes. The second difference is that as I exit Mt Moon in Yellow Version, I have my first fight with Team Rocket's Jessie and James. These characters were retro-fitted into Yellow Version to bring it more in line with the anime, punctuating the experience with occasional battles similar to the rival. True to their anime counterparts, their team consists of Ekans, Koffing and Meowth, although since double battles didn't become a thing until the third generation, I'm limited to fighting them one at a time. Challenge-wise they don't really offer anything notably different to any other member of Team Rocket, all of whom use teams made up of Poison and Normal types, but their inclusion as a nod to the anime is still appreciated.
After leaving Mt Moon I make my way straight to Cerulean City, not stopping to catch anything in the interest of staying faithful to the anime. This commitment to faithfulness means I also won't be heading north of Cerulean to Routes 24 and 25, since Ash doesn't experience the events associated with these places until after his second gym battle. That means no rival battle, no Nugget Bridge, and no meeting with Bill until Yellow Version reaches phase three. In fact, all that really remains to be done is to challenge Misty for the Cascadebadge. Before we do, though, I'm keen to get a little bit more experience for the team, and so I head west back to Route 4 and grind out some levels on the wild Pokémon there, bringing all three of my Pokémon to lv18. Once Pikachu, Pidgeotto and Butterfree have all reached that threshold, I return to Cerulean City, heal up at the Pokémon Center, and make my way into Misty's gym.
One of the main goals of this playthrough is to try and earn the gym badges using strategies borrowed from Ash in the anime. In Pewter City I wasn't able to do this, since Ash ends up besting Brock by supercharging Pikachu and activating the sprinkler system to weaken his Onix - strategies that aren't viable in the games since Onix is completely immune to Electric-type attacks. Here, though, I think I have a chance to follow in Ash's footsteps. In the anime, Pikachu refuses to battle against Misty due to the friendship it's cultivated with her while on the road, leaving Ash to battle with Pidgeotto and Butterfree instead. Bearing this in mind, I decide to lead with Butterfree and use it to put Misty's Pokémon to sleep with Sleep Powder, then wail on them with Confusion. This works well for Staryu, but completely falls apart against Starmie - while it falls asleep easily enough, Confusion does practically no damage on account of its resistance to Psychic-type attacks and very high Special stat. I switch out to Pidgeotto, hoping to subdue it with some STAB Quick Attacks, but Misty decides to throw out one of her X-Defends, all but negating Pidgeotto's damage output as well. When Starmie wakes up and starts dealing big chunks of damage with Bubblebeam, I decide it's time to abandon Ash's strategies and bring out my own Pikachu to land some super-effective damage with Thundershock. Doing so brings the fight to a much quicker conclusion. I may be 0 for 2 on aping Ash's strategies in this series, but I'm 2 for 2 on badges, and that's the most important thing.
Blue Version - ???
With phase two of the Yellow Version playthrough wrapped up, I dig out my copy of the Pokémon Master Guide and jump back into Blue Version to continue my childhood-inspired playthrough. From loading back up in Pewter City I follow the same path east along Route 3, through Mt Moon and into Cerulean City. Since Blue Version is where I'll be aiming to complete my Pokédex, the journey is punctuated with captures of newly-encountered Pokémon. On Route 3, that means exploring the long grass for a while in search of a rare Jigglypuff. Mt Moon has four new encounters - the unavoidable Zubat and the Rock-type Geodude, along with two slightly rarer Pokémon in the form of Paras and Clefairy. I also make a point of picking up the Dome Fossil again in this playthrough, to ensure I can get a Kabuto to go alongside the Omanyte I'll end up reviving in Yellow Version. Finally, while Ekans can't be encountered on Route 4 in Blue Version, I am able to catch its version-exclusive counterpart, Sandshrew. All of these new captures put our Pokédex total at 17 different types of Pokémon caught so far.
As I progress on this journey, I try to distribute experience evenly between four of our six team members - Bulbasaur, Pidgey, Pikachu and Nidoran ♂ - while simultaneously making sure that Charmander and Squirtle never see any combat for the duration of this phase. The reason for this is that they're traded Pokémon, which means if they level up any higher than lv10, they will become disobedient. Thankfully there aren't any situations that desperately call out for any Fire- or Water-type coverage through this leg of the game. It also shouldn't take too long to get them back up to par with the rest of the team, since a perk of using traded Pokémon is that they earn an additional 50% experience in every battle. For now though, these guys will have to serve as placeholders on the team.
On reaching Cerulean City I heal up at the Pokémon Center, replenish my stores at the Poké Mart, and check in with the Pokémon Master Guide to see how it recommends I tackle this part of the game. Interestingly, it recommends tackling Misty with Electric- and Grass-type Pokémon, name-checking both Pikachu and Bulbasaur/Ivysaur as viable options. Players who don't have any Pokémon of these types are advised to skip ahead to Routes 24 and 25 to pick up an Oddish in Red Version or a Bellsprout in Blue Version, but since both of the suggested 'mons are already on my team, I decide to stick with the guide and prioritise the Cerulean gym battle over further exploration. As with Yellow Version, this means no rival battle, no Nugget Bridge, and no encounter with Bill until we reach phase three of this playthrough. Instead I take the team out to Route 4 and do a spot of grinding to bring everyone but Charmander and Squirtle up to the target level of lv18. This brings a host of evolutions, as Bulbasaur becomes Ivysaur, Pidgey becomes Pidgeotto, and Nidoran ♂ becomes Nidorino. While I do have a
My strategy in this version of the game is to use Ivysaur and Pikachu, as per the recommendations in the Master Guide. I decide to lead with Ivysaur and set up a Leech Seed on Staryu for recovery, then get stuck in with Vine Whip as a damaging move, and it goes down in a couple of turns. Starmie proves to be a slightly tougher cookie though. I follow the same strategy of leading with Leech Seed and intend to follow it up with Vine Whip, but Starmie lands a critical hit Swift before the Leech Seed lands that does a big chunk of damage to Ivysaur. I decide to switch to Pikachu and use Thunder Wave to try and slow it down, a move that almost gets the electric mouse knocked out, but which has the desired effect. I'm able to switch Ivysaur back in on a fully paralysed Starmie and now outspeed to land the necessary Vine Whips to take it out. Victory earns me the third Cascadebadge of this phase, a crucial element for the upcoming phases since it will allow us to battle with Charmander and Squirtle, without having to worry about disobedience again until they reach lv30. That's something to worry about next time, though. For now I return to the Pokémon Center, heal up and save my game to bring phase two of The Very Best, Like No One Ever Was to a close.
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And so another phase of this project comes to an end. Admittedly I didn't have quite as much scope to get creative with my strategies in this instalment, but since the Water type only has two weaknesses in Grass and Electric, my options were always going to be a bit more limited this time around. What I did find interesting about this segment is how it begins to demonstrate the relative non-linearity and scope for exploration inherent in these first generation Pokémon games, most obviously demonstrated by the ability to explore Routes 24 and 25 and obtain the S.S. Ticket from Bill either before or after taking on the gym in Cerulean City. This isn't even the furthest I could have theoretically taken it, since speaking to Bill opens up the pathway to Vermilion City to the south and makes even more of the region explorable. Phase three should see all the games reach relative parity with each other again as we move towards Vermilion City and take on Lt. Surge, before things start getting really interesting from phase four onward.
I'm sorry for the delay in getting this blog up and out there. Things have been fairly busy in recent weeks - I got married two weeks ago, and was then on honeymoon for a bit, and then came back to an incredibly busy week at work in the run-up to the Easter weekend. I also lost a nearly-complete first draft of this blog earlier this week when my laptop decided to spontaneously restart, and since I'm the kind of fool who likes to type directly into the Giant Bomb text editor, everything I'd been working on disappeared. I'm cautiously optimistic that the next instalment in this series won't take me a whole month to put together - I'm tentatively going to tell you to expect it somewhere towards the end of this month. Until then, thanks very much for reading. Take care folks, and I'll see you around.
Daniel
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