I purchased, with great enthusiasm, Pokemon HeartGold the very day it was released.  I opened with delight the unusually large box and liberated the game and Pokewalker accessory inside.  I've loved Pokemon ever since it was huge "back in the day".  I was just an elementary school kid back then, but even as the years have passed, I've loved the series with all my heart.  It can do no wrong in my eyes.  

OR CAN IT?!?!?  

Now more than thirty hours into the game, I find myself at a crossroads, or perhaps more accurately a brick wall.  I scaled the ranks with great effort to reach Indigo Plateau and the Elite Four.  I've compiled a crack team of Pokemon, trained to be specialists in what they do, and supplemented with all the Carbos, Iron, Calcium, etc. that I could find (or purchase).  They were slightly underlevelled (all being in their late level 30s or early 40s), but certainly my training prowess would see me through this greatest of challenges, right?  Right??  RIGHT???  

WRONG.  

Now going on about three days, I've been trying in vain to defeat these foes.  I cannot.  I've even ground out a few levels in an attempt to get my team any and all advantage (something that, with the level and selection of Pokemon on Victory Road, takes hours and hours at a time to level a 6 man team) I fail.  It's my fault, I know.  It's my fault for training such a shitty team of miscreants.  It's my fault for not knowing before hand the foes I would face, and it's my fault for not wanting to put the work in. 
 
It is simply infuriating that, at about 10 attempts, I can only reach the 4th of the Elite Four.  Great, right!?  I can push through one more member and get to Kanto!  NOPE.  As any Pokemaster worth their salt knows, you will have to fight a Champion following the four members of the Elite Four.  THEN WHY CALL IT THE ELITE FOUR, POKEMON?!  Call it the Elite Five!  Or don't even put a number!  Better to not be prepared than to be outright decieved!  

I know this is very whiny.  I know I'm ranting, but the point is that I am at my wits end with this game.  I even resolved to start the game over, a fact that I knew would at least give me joy.  If nothing else, the joy of finally making PROGRESS, a joy that I haven't felt in a great long while.  In fact, I actually DID restart the game this very morning.  I played four about half an hour, and despite realizing the daunting task I had of making it back to the Elite Four, I was at the very least looking forward to assembling a brand new team and making a brand new name for myself.  I had a new lease on life.  That is, until I went to save the game.  

I could not.  

Apparently, the game makes you physically delete your old file before adding a new one.  PHYSICALLY DELETE IT!  And you might think that, "Alright, fine.  So if I start a new game, I can just overwrite the old save, right?"  WRONG, sir, WRONG!  You must actually delete your old file from the main menu, and you are actually able to start a new game which you can than NOT SAVE.  You can start a new game... and then not be able to save it... at all... ANY OF IT!  

So, you win Pokemon.  I'll keep playing your sadistic game.  I'll keep grinding out levels for hours and then spend more hours failing to beat your Elite Four.  I cannot deny your awesome power.  

The worst part of all this is, is with this horrible failure and the on-going ups and downs of my Street Fighter IV career, I'm having a very bad gaming bender.  The only solace I can take is that I recently got a surprise Easter care-package in the mail that gives me the power to change this.  I'll likely pick up Wario Ware DIY tomorrow, or just stash the money for Super Street Fighter IV.  Who knows.  

That's it, folks.  If you read all that... God bless you. 
I know I didn't. 
-Rix

That's really goofy about saving a new game.  Weird...
 
I'm one of those guys who sticks with his starter and makes him/her into a tank before leveling any other Pokemon.  I think my Feraligatr was in his 70s (I think) before I even go to the Pokemon League.  Maybe you should try making a tank Pokemon before you try the League again.
 
As for SFIV, I can play you some time if you would like.  You can make sweet sexy love to my fat sumo friend.

But you had to read it, cause you wrote it.

 
I never beat the Elite Four in Red/Blue. In Gold/Silver i got up to Red/Ash/Whatever you want to call that last dude, but could never beat him.

i just got to the elite four like 20 minutes ago but decided i should go to bed... err giant bomb. My suggestion to you is to grind levels on the actual elite four themselves, likely get a hell of a lot more experience per battle, not to mention you dont have to endlessly kill god damn golbats and fucking gravlers. you should give your mom all your money first so you dont loose anything when you fail to beat the four/five. remember you dont lose xp when you die just money. 

I don't see why the elite 4/champion thing should be a surprise to you, since you said that you were a pokemon fan and all the games have done it, but w/e.  
Unless they suddenly made it a lot harder, I never had a ton of trouble with the elite 4...just carry a lot of revives/hyper potions,etc., and make sure you heal everyone before the next battle. Plan who's going when based on the elite 4's types/champion's first pokemon, and after that just...don't suck? idk, never had that much trouble so i don't know what to tell you.

The thing I've noticed about HG and SS is that the leaders levels are 2x higher than everything else you fight going up to them.  All through Johto you're fighting trainers and wilds at lvl 17 - 25 and then all the gym leaders have a team of at lease 2 30's and a a 35.  It makes the game just feel madly unbalanced and it seems they've made it like that to make the leaders harder than your average trainers.  There's better ways of doing it than that.... 
 
Also, I happen to have a team of 11 lvl 100's just waiting it out in my box, desperate for me to get this 8th and final badge so I can go wreck the hell out of verything in my way thereafter.

It pays just to power level one pokemon. I finished the elite four in under 20 hours just using my typlosion with a bit of lugia on the side.
 
You should catch Ho-oh if you haven't already. That's a lvl. 45 from the start.

The most complicated answer is: Sounds like you need a breeding plan, dawg. Successfully breeding your pokemon together can dramatically increase their base attributes. Also - use your pokedex. Some pokemon may look awesome but have much lower stats than you might think. You need to find good offensive and defensive pokemon and breed them until they are as strong as they can be. They might not be your favourite pokemons, but when it comes to the elite 4 you gotta go a little hardcore.
 
Also, we need to street fight some time. Add me on xbox live: o0I SWEEP I0o

you think the elite four is bad the first time through? wait till you get all the kanto badges the trainers in kanto have lv40-50 pokemon the gym leaders have lv.50-70 and after you get all the badges from kanto the elite four get a new team of pokemon and there levels go up to 60-70 and red at mt.silver has lv.70- to about lv.89

Its called grinding. I had to grind 2 of my party members to level 54 before i was able to beat them. So just man up and grind a few of your pokemon out. It will be over before you know it. And bring a shit load of full restores and hyper potions (and full heals for those hyper potions so when they get status ailments D:)

Well...The question is are you going in with enough Revives and Full Restores?  I went in with two Pokemon in the 40's (My starter and Lugia), three in the low to mid thirties, and one in the twenties.  With liberal use of an extreme amount of Revives and Full Restores, I trounced the Elite 4 and the champion.  The key is having your Pokemon know a diverse amount of attacks and the healing items.   

Y'know that's actually a good idea, with the new game thing. I've had little family members roll up to my gameboy waay back when, and just start a new gaming without knowing it would overwrite mine. At least this way they'd be denied. Not like that's a problem now that I'm an adult, but at least the kids of today will be saved.

When you go to start a new game and you already have a saved file, it gives you a warning that takes up half the screen and says "If you start an adventure now you won't be able to save it"  
 I don't know how i am going to fare against the Elite Four but my main dudes are all at level 40 and im not even finished with all the gyms yet.

I managed to cheese my way through the elite four using a combination of Alakazam (with Shadow Ball and Focus Blast) and Lugia (With Blizzard). Now I'm at the brick wall where I have all 16 badges and have pretty much cleared out Kanto, but still am far too underleveled to fight Red.

Pokémon saves have always been wonky. I don't buy that "pokédex data" or whatever explanation they have.
 
In any case, good luck with enjoying Pokémon. I know it's still possible, but I'm not sure I want to buy a new game (and a DS, for that matter) to find out. Maybe when Black/White hits...

I didn't find it all that hard honestly. level 45 of Ampharos Scizor Typhlosion and Lugia got me thorugh the first four on the first try, and Lance only took two (saved before fighting him and tried again after my loss). It just takes a little strategy and four creatures that you can rely on.

" Y'know that's actually a good idea, with the new game thing. I've had little family members roll up to my gameboy waay back when, and just start a new gaming without knowing it would overwrite mine. At least this way they'd be denied. Not like that's a problem now that I'm an adult, but at least the kids of today will be saved. "

" @Bigandtasty: Yeah, I don't know if I'd really recommend it.  As a nostalgia piece, it's decent, and the Pokewalker is a nice little peripheral, but it just feels kind of... old.  Something about Diamond and Pearl felt newer, but Heartgold and Soulsilver are almost slavish to the old ways even if it is detrimental to the experience.  I'd say hold out for Black and White if you're looking for a Pokemon experience, or go back and play Diamond and Pearl again.  "