Finished my first ever starter-only run

[ZeraX]

Never beaten any Gen1 game before, But after hearing many stories recently about how Psychic Type was broken and OP. I had an interest to beat the game with only Bulbasaur since it has Poison type and because it's the hardest of the three starters to do with. I loved the sound of such challenge.

Though, it wasn't as expected, game wasn't that hard, Only Alakazam and Exeggutor were the biggest troubles. Sabrina and Blaine were wiped out under 1 minute with Razor Leaf (I swear).

Lance was too easy, Body Slam took it down quickly, Agatha was a bit annoying and made me heal myself several times. Blue was the biggest challenge. 2 Psychic and 2 Flying Pokes and one that has 4x resistance to Grass. That's making me taking SE damage from Flying, Psychic, Ice and Fire moves! Which in theory is pretty darn scary with Bulbasaur alone. But I did it! I only used Leech+Toxic on Pidgeot and Alakazam only. Meaning i defeated Gyarados, Exeggutor and Charizard fair and square.

Proof:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni_cru47ZTM


Bulbasaur had kinda small movepool, I actually hated the fact that it can't learn anything other than Grass/Poison/Normal TMs. Though Body Slam, Razor leave and the status moves were more than enough to beat everything down, I hoped at least it could learn Earthquake, but then again this made the challenge more interesting and made this experience unforgettable.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Bulbasaur since it has Poison type and because it's the hardest of the three starters to do with.

I agree with the Poison part, but wasn't that the fan theory that Bulbasaur was the game's 'Easy' setting, Squirtle was the 'Medium' setting and Charmander was the 'Hard' setting? It was devised becuase of the type advantages/disadvantages at the gym battles, but I don't know how can Bulbasaur be hard.

EDIT: You've kept Bulbasaur everstoned I guess? That makes it much difficult..

 

[ZeraX]

I agree with the Poison part, but wasn't that the fan theory that Bulbasaur was the game's 'Easy' setting, Squirtle was the 'Medium' setting and Charmander was the 'Hard' setting? It was devised becuase of the type advantages/disadvantages at the gym battles, but I don't know how can Bulbasaur be hard.

EDIT: You've kept Bulbasaur everstoned I guess? That makes it much difficult..

That's a misconception. Bulbasaur had advantage over the first three gyms but that's it.

In Gen1 its movepool was small and limited and relies on grass moves the most which is countered by many types. And it couldn't learn any move that isn't Grass/Poison/Normal via TMs in Gen1. And its moves had low PP. Psychic was its worst nightmare too.

Out of the three starters, Bulbasaur gets the toughest time against The E4, Where Psychic and Ice are dominating. The Rival uses 5 out of 6 Pokemon that have advantage over Bulbasaur. And Bulbasaur is the only kanto starter that doesn't learn any move against Dragon type (Charmander learns Dragon Rage and Squirtle learns Ice moves), Though Dragon Rage isn't that great, but you get the idea.

Squirtle has two weaknesses only, can learn Dig and Ice beam to counter them plus Dragon-type which make it kinda invincible. And it also learns Fissure.

Squirtle has the best coverage out of the three Starters, it can smash the E4 and The Rival alone. It used the most for Speedruns.

Squirtle makes the game a child's play. Bulbasaur starts easy but then it becomes hard lately. Charmander starts hard but becomes easy once it becomes Charizard (overleveling).

Though in Bulbasaur's case, abusing the status glitches can make it a much easier for it.

And yeah, making unevolving Bulbasaur was intended to make it more difficult and challenging. Unlike Venusaur, Bulbasaur doesn't benefit from the 100% Critical Rate of Razor Leaf too, which make it less OP too.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

@ZeraX your post was very educating! Really liked the effort you gave to provide that Stereotypes do not always matter.

 

[Foxwarrior]

You did a nuzlocke kind of journey, in which the pokemon can't faint? If not, you grinded Bulbasaur? I think having a first stage starter 15 levels above is the only way to beat the game with no problems (?)

 

[ZeraX]

@ZeraX your post was very educating! Really liked the effort you gave to provide that Stereotypes do not always matter.

Thank You, Glad it was helpful

You did a nuzlocke kind of journey, in which the pokemon can't faint? If not, you grinded Bulbasaur? I think having a first stage starter 15 levels above is the only way to beat the game with no problems (?)

No, just a solo-run Wouldn't try a nuzlocke with 1 Pokemon lol. And actually it's normal to have an overleveled Pokemon in this case, Since it's will take all the EXP in the game alone. But 15 levels ahead against 4 Weaknesses isn't significant, that's why i relied on spamming potions while Toxic doing the job lol

It would easier if it was Venusaur too, Decided to let it be just a Bulbasaur to increase the difficulty

 

[PurplePopplio]

That was such an intoxicating, invigorating and inspiring journey! Glad to see you pushing the odds and rising to the top.

 

[ZeraX]

That was such an intoxicating, invigorating and inspiring journey! Glad to see you pushing the odds and rising to the top.

Thanks a lot

And yeah, it was a great experience. I'm motivated now to do a Bulbasaur-only again on LeafGreen, OR and Sun.

Having Grass and Poison is a good combination for challenges i think, which make it more fun.

 

[DarkMeow]

Holy Shuckle pal, that's awesome! I can barely get past the Elite 4 with my (well, underleveled) team. This is a pretty awesome accomplishment. I can imagine that this took some time.

 

[ZeraX]

Holy Shuckle pal, that's awesome! I can barely get past the Elite 4 with my (well, underleveled) team. This is a pretty awesome accomplishment. I can imagine that this took some time.

Thanks a lot, i appreciate that