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A Different Way To Play Pokemon (Gift and In-Game Event Pokemon)

EmpoleonProd

Empoleon Master Trainer
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I was looking at the basis for Red's character a while back for Gen II and HG/SS, and it's pretty obvious, and I had known this for years, that his team in both sets of games is based on in-game events from Gen I and FR/LG. His Gen II and HG/SS team includes the Pikachu and the three starters obtained in Yellow, the Snorlax that is caught on Route 16 (this is because there are two Snorlax's, one on Route 12 and one on Route 16, in the Gen II games and HG/SS, only one is in the game and it's near Route 12, so it can be safely assumed that Red specifically caught the one on Route 16.), the Espeon came from the Eevee obtained in Celadon City, and the Lapras is received after defeating Team Rocket in Saffron City.

This made me think of a new way to play Pokemon games, where you only play with Gift Pokemon and In-Game Event Pokemon (This means Legendaries, stationary Pokemon, like Snorlax, etc).

Immediately I started looking into what games one would be able to do this in, and to my surprise some games simply don't have enough available gift or event Pokemon.

Using the Gift and In-Game Event pages on Bulbapedia, you get lists kind of like this:

RSE:

-Your choice of Treecko, Torchic, or Mudkip
-Wynaut
-Castform
-Kecleon
-Your choice of Lileep or Anorith
-The mascot Legendary, Groudon, Kyogre, or Rayquaza

More are available in the Post-Game, but the whole point is to have the team for Gyms and the Pokemon League. It would be doable in the Hoenn games, but without a flyer things would get pretty annoying.

FR/LG:

-Your choice of Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle
-Magikarp (Magikarp salesman)
-Eevee
-Snorlax
-Your choice of Hitmonlee or Hitmonchan
-Lapras
-Hypno
-Your choice of Kabuto or Omanyte
-Aerodactyl
-Articuno
-Zapdos
-Moltres

Game Corner Pokemon:

-Abra
-Clefairy
-Dratini
-Scyther(FR)/Pinsir(LG)
-Porygon

As you can see in this case, this would be a lot easier to do in the Kanto games, because you simply have more choices. I'm currently playing through FireRed sort of like this but I imported two other Kanto starters to mimic Red's team and I caught a Pikachu, my other two spots are going to be rotated with various Pokemon received in in-game events or as a gift.

D/P/Pl:

-Your starter of choice
-Drifloon
-Happiny(DP)/Togepi(Pl)
-Eevee (Platinum Only)
-Porygon (Platinum Only)
-Rotom (Platinum Only)
-Riolu
-Uxie
-Mesprit
-Azelf
-The mascot Legendary

Again, with this many choices this wouldn't be hard to do at all, especially with the extra Pokemon you only get in Platinum.

HG/SS:

-Your starter of choice
-Eevee
-Lapras
-Dratini
-Togepi egg
-Mareep egg
-Slugma egg
-Wooper egg
-Sudowoodo
-Red Gyarados
-Tyrogue

Game Corner Pokemon:

-Mr. Mime
-Eevee
-Porygon

As you can see, there are a lot of options in HG/SS, especially with the Primo eggs for Mareep, Slugma, and Wooper available early on adding diverse Pokemon to your team. I'm actually planning a run through HG with a similar setup like this.

For Gen V the lists are considerably small for B/W but viable in B2W2.

X and Y is also pretty empty when it comes to in-game event Pokemon, the only ones are the Kalos and Kanto starters, Lucario, Lapras, and Snorlax.

So has anyone ever tried playing the games like this, if not, are you maybe now thinking of giving it a try? I feel like it's almost like a way to play through a game, "canonically", so to speak.
 
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From your list for Gen 4, aren't most of those found late game or post game? I think you'd only have your starter and driftloon for most of the game, making it very challenging!
 
From your list for Gen 4, aren't most of those found late game or post game? I think you'd only have your starter and driftloon for most of the game, making it very challenging!

In the case of Diamond and Pearl, you are correct, but you do get the Happiny egg in Hearthome or close to it. In Platinum you get Togepi from Cynthia early, Eevee from Bebe early, and Porygon in Veilstone City. Diamond and Pearl would be very difficult with this kind of gameplay though.
 
What about adding in-game trades to your options too? Some of the best pokes i've owned are from in-game trades. Examples include Zynx, Ch'Ding, Esphere, Marc, Nino/Nina from FRLG; Skitit, Makit from RS; Kazza, Gaspar, Charap from DPP; Minipete, Fluffee, Redeye/Blueeye from BW.
 
What about adding in-game trades to your options too? Some of the best pokes i've owned are from in-game trades. Examples include Zynx, Ch'Ding, Esphere, Marc, Nino/Nina from FRLG; Skitit, Makit from RS; Kazza, Gaspar, Charap from DPP; Minipete, Fluffee, Redeye/Blueeye from BW.

I thought about those, and I agree, those could count, personally I'm not a fan of them, however, I like to be the OT of all my Pokemon, not sure why.
 
That would actually be pretty fun! My FR/LG team would probably be:

*Charizard
*Aerodactyl
*Mewtwo
*Snorlax
*Jolteon
*Lapras
 
This is a great idea, EmpoleonProd. Since you didn't include them, here are the gift/event Pokémon for the first two Gens:

Red/Blue:

- Bulbasaur/Charmander/Squirtle (only one)
- Magikarp
- Eevee
- Snorlax
- Hitmonlee/Hitmonchan (only one)
- Lapras
- Omanyte/Kabuto (only one)
- Aerodactyl
- Articuno
- Zapdos
- Moltres
- Mewtwo

Yellow:

- Pikachu
- Magikarp
- Bulbasaur
- Charmander
- Squirtle
- Eevee
- Snorlax
- Hitmonlee/Hitmonchan (only one)
- Lapras
- Omanyte/Kabuto (only one)
- Aerodactyl
- Articuno
- Zapdos
- Moltres
- Mewtwo

Gold/Silver:

- Chikorita/Cyndaquil/Totodile (only one)
- Togepi
- Spearow
- Sudowoodo
- Eevee
- Shuckle
- Lapras
- Gyarados
- Electrode
- Tyrogue
- Snorlax
- Ho-Oh
- Lugia

Crystal:

- Chikorita/Cyndaquil/Totodile (only one)
- Togepi
- Pichu/Cleffa/Igglybuff/Tyrogue/Smoochum/Elekid/Magby (only one)
- Spearow
- Sudowoodo
- Eevee
- Shuckle
- Lapras
- Gyarados
- Electrode
- Tyrogue
- Dratini
- Snorlax
- Suicune
- Lugia​

And, here are the Game Corner prizes for all six games:

Red/Blue:

- Abra
- Clefairy
- Nidorina (Red only)
- Nidorino (Blue only)
- Dratini
- Scyther (Red only)
- Pinsir (Blue only)
- Porygon

Yellow:

- Abra
- Vulpix
- Wigglytuff
- Scyther
- Pinsir
- Porygon

Gold/Silver (Goldenrod):

- Abra
- Ekans (Gold only)
- Sandshrew (Silver only)
- Dratini

Gold/Silver (Celadon):

- Mr. Mime
- Eevee
- Porygon

Crystal (Goldenrod):

- Abra
- Cubone
- Wobbuffet

Crystal (Celadon):

- Pikachu
- Porygon
- Larvitar​

Comparing the games, it seems that the Third Versions have better gifts/events (although Brock could be a challenge in Yellow) while the paired games have better Game Corner prizes.
 
Pl:

-Your starter of choice
-Togepi(Pl)
-Eevee (Platinum Only)
-Riolu
-The mascot Legendary

Add Spiritomb and you have my Platinum team.

SS:
-Your starter of choice
-Lapras
-Togepi egg
-Sudowoodo
-Red Gyarados

Add one of the Electrode from the Johto Rocket base in Mahogany and you have my Soul Silver team.

This was fun to do but some times it was annoying as you didn't have enough Pokémon or the right Pokémon for certain opponents.
 
Add Spiritomb and you have my Platinum team.

SS:
-Your starter of choice
-Lapras
-Togepi egg
-Sudowoodo
-Red Gyarados

Add one of the Electrode from the Johto Rocket base in Mahogany and you have my Soul Silver team.

This was fun to do but some times it was annoying as you didn't have enough Pokémon or the right Pokémon for certain opponents.

Huh, I totally missed Spiritomb and the Electrodes on my lists. I guess I'll add those to the list and maybe make lists for the games I didn't make them for. This is starting to become a fun idea I wanna do in more games, like Platinum or Black.

I'm considering doing this on a copy of ORAS as well. Could be a fun way to do my first play through for OR.
 
I've done something like this in FR/LG before. The difference is that when I did it, I only went with Gift Pokemon or Pokemon that I could buy, so it was more of a no Pokeball run. I think I had a final team of Venusaur/Lapras/Jolteon/Hitmonchan/Kadabra/Aerodactyl or something like that.
 
Has anyone done this recently? I'm just getting back into Pokemon and really wanna do this on my AS.
 
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