Which Pokemon can beat Emerald's bosses by themselves?

[There Is No Arceus]

After FRLG and HGSS, the time has now come to do this challenge in Emerald. For this challenge, we will be seeing who can get through all of Emerald's bosses by themselves. Contestants are the 202 pokemon in the Hoenn pokedex, as well as the pokemon from outside said dex that managed to beat HGSS. Porygon-Z unfortunately couldn't be here, so we'll be joined by Snorlax, Zapdos, Suicune, Mewtwo and Mew. I've also decided to include Smeargle, Ditto and Unown, since they have interesting gimmicks that are fun to play around with. That brings us to a grand total of 209 pokemon.

Rules will be as follows:

1. I will be treating them as if they are my starter, so only levelup moves and TMs/move tutors available before the relevant boss are allowed. Same for held items; they must be available before the boss fight.
2. My pokemon will be at the level of the boss's ace, unless that level cap would go down between fights, in which case they will stay at the previous level cap.
3. Bosses will be challenged in level cap order if there are multiple bosses that can be accessed at the same time. If the level caps are identical, I will start with the boss whose defeat opens up more of the world.
4. Each pokemon gets 10 tries to beat the boss, though i may give up after 5 if i see no pathway that could possibly lead to victory.
5. No items in battle; held items are allowed
6. All my pokemon will have IVs of 2 across the board, EVs evenly distributed between all stats and a neutral nature. This means Hidden Power will always be a 70BP Fighting move.
7. In cases where my pokemon's gender is relevant, it will be the gender it's most commonly found as, or female if is gender ratio is 50/50
8. In the interest of being able to focus on the battle at hand and not having to plan ahead, i will pretend that pokemon can relearn levelup, TM and move tutor moves at will, and can switch abilities at will. That way i'm not stuck with an ability that worked against Roxanne but was useless after.
9. The moves Double Team and Minimize are banned. The TMs for Substitute, Attract and Flash are also banned, though these moves may be used if they are part of a pokemon's levelup moveset.
10. Only pokemon with the ability Pickup may use items that are gained through that ability.

The boss order will be as follows: Roxanne - Brawly - Route 110 Brendan - Wattson - Mt. Chimney Maxie - Flannery - Norman - Route 119 Brendan - Winona - Lilycove Brendan - Magma Hideout Maxie - Tate & Liza - Space Center Maxie - Archie - Juan - Victory Road Wally - Sydney - Phoebe - Glacia - Drake - Wallace - Steven

Lilycove Brendan is technically optional, but there's enough TMs locked behind him that i felt justified including him. I should also note that i haven't yet decided how i'm gonna do the Tate & Liza fights.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

We of course start off with Roxanne, but before that, i'm afraid i have to disqualify the 4 pokemon of whom i know they have no possible way of making it to her below her level cap. First off there's Regirock, Regice and Registeel. These pokemon have only Explosion at level 5, so there's no way for them to gain any experience as they just instantly faint. They cannot beat Route 103 Bredan; they're out. Then there's Latios. At level 5 he has Psywave and Memento, and the only other moves before the level cap are Helping Hand and Safeguard. None of these moves can damage Dark types, and the aqua grunt in the forest has a Poochyena. Memento even means i cannot struggle. Latios is out. Latias gets Wish instead of Memento, so she can waste her PP and Struggle the Poochyena down no problem.

The remaining 205 can get through the forest, though they can get poisoned, paralyzed or put to sleep by Shroomish if need be. We pick up the Pecha, Oran, Chesto, Cheri, Aspear, Leppa, Rawst and Persim berries from the flower shop and TM09 Bullet Seed from a woman just outside, and head on to Rustboro. We head into the Trainers School, where the teacher gives us a Quick Claw. A quick stop at the Cutter's house then rewards us with HM01 Cut. We then head northeast to Route 116 and take a Twistedspoon off the wild Abra. Zigzagoon and Linoone can also use Pickup to pick up a King's Rock. After that, it's time to head for the gym.

So let's look at what we're up against. Roxanne has 2 identical Geodude, at level 12. They each know Tackle, Defense Curl, Rock Throw and Rock Tomb. Many pokemon get only normal moves at this point, so these defensive rocks may prove difficult. Course, the real deal is her level 15 Nosepass. It's holding an Oran Berry and knows Block, Harden, Tackle and Rock Tomb. It's probably stupid with Rock Tomb and will only use it if i outspeed, but this thing has garbage speed so that'll happen often. It also has terrific defenses, but little offense to hit me back with.

The Treecko family obviously had few issues, but the same could not be said for Torchic. His moveset at this point consists of Ember, Growl, Scratch and Focus Energy. All of these moves are not very effective, and all enemies can hit me for supereffective damage. i initially tried things with Growl and Focus Energy, but i found that just spamming Ember is the most consistent way of getting past the Geodudes. Never even got a hit in against Nosepass though. Torchic is out. Combusken is one level shy of learning a fighting move so he had to do it with the same moves as Torchic, but not being weak to Rock made all the difference. Getting a few burns also didn't hurt; i could beat Roxanne try 1. Blaziken does get an extra move, Fire Punch, so obviously he could do it too. Course, the Mudkip family didn't struggle too hard.

Poochyena would Bite through the Geodudes hoping for flinches, which he got in attempt 4. I'd then hit a few Sand-Attacks on Nosepass before Biting down on it as well. This strategy worked out as planned, and thus Mightyena repeated it. Zigzagoon came after, but he had serious problems here. His moveset consists of Tackle, Tail Whip, Growl, Headbutt and Sand-Attack. Not very effective physical moves are not the road to victory here. I tried making the enemy miss with Sand-Attack and i tried lowering his Attack with Growl, but nothing worked. I gave up after attempt 5, never even getting past Geodude number one. Zigzagoon is out. Linoone did have the stats to try and Headbutt-flinch the Geodudes, and then to get some Growls and Sand-Attacks in on Nosepass, but while he came close a few times, he never could deal the finishing blow. Linoone is out.

Up next was wurmple, and it may seem hopeless with just Tackle, String Shot and Poison Sting, but with enough motivation and a can-do attitude, this little bugger has the confidence that he can take the win. His whole family is depending on him to get this job done, so with strong will and determination, he faces off against Roxanne's rocks. Yeah, he's out. Silcoon is also out, and while Beautifly could one-shot the Geodudes with Absorb, she was in turn one-shot by Nosepass. Beautifly is out. Cascoon is out, and it wasn't smooth sailing for Dustox either. Confusion did decent damage, but the enemies' supereffective hits added up. I tried going in paralyzed so they wouldn't use Rock Tomb as often, but that didn't work either. In the end, no member of the Wurmple clan could do it. Dustox is out.

Last for today, the Lotad clan all wiped the floor with Roxanne.

 

[RichestAirPirate]

We of course start off with Roxanne, but before that, i'm afraid i have to disqualify the 4 pokemon of whom i know they have no possible way of making it to her below her level cap. First off there's Regirock, Regice and Registeel. These pokemon have only Explosion at level 5, so there's no way for them to gain any experience as they just instantly faint. They cannot beat Route 103 Bredan; they're out. Then there's Latios. At level 5 he has Psywave and Memento, and the only other moves before the level cap are Helping Hand and Safeguard. None of these moves can damage Dark types, and the aqua grunt in the forest has a Poochyena. Memento even means i cannot struggle. Latios is out.

4 Pokémon are out because they can't even get past minor NPCs. The Regis can't even do anything aside from explode. We're off to a great start lol

The loss of Torchic, Zigzagoon, and Linoone weren't too shocking. Although shoutout to Combusken for coming through without needing Double Kick.

Up next was wurmple, and it may seem hopeless with just Tackle, String Shot and Poison Sting, but with enough motivation and a can-do attitude, this little bugger has the confidence that he can take the win. His whole family is depending on him to get this job done, so with strong will and determination, he faces off against Roxanne's rocks. Yeah, he's out. Silcoon is also out, and while Beautifly could one-shot the Geodudes with Absorb, she was in turn one-shot by Nosepass. Beautifly is out. Cascoon is out, and it wasn't smooth sailing for Dustox either. Confusion did decent damage, but the enemies' supereffective hits added up. I tried going in paralyzed so they wouldn't use Rock Tomb as often, but that didn't work either. In the end, no member of the Wurmple clan could do it. Dustox is out.

I'm dying from this. Like, just all of that build up just to announce that the whole Wurmple family got clapped. I mean, it's not like it was any surprise but like- yeah. Being weak to Rock sucks.

Overall, funniest start to a challenge I've ever seen.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

4 Pokémon are out because they can't even get past minor NPCs. The Regis can't even do anything aside from explode. We're off to a great start lol

Wouldn't count Brendan as a minor NPC, but yeah, legendary movesets suck in the early game. Course, that's because we're not supposed to get them at these low levels. Feels kinda odd to lose Latios already though; guy beat all the bosses in both FRLG and HGSS, but that aqua grunt was just too tough.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

The Seedot family wiped the floor with Roxanne, but for Taillow it was hopeless. He took over half from the enemies' rock moves, and the best he could do in return was Guts-boosted Struggle, which didn't do nearly enough. Taillow is out. Swellow's stats meant it did have a chance, by going in paralyzed with only 1 PP for Focus Energy. There were a few attempts where i crit through the Geodudes and made it to Nosepass, but unfortunately i never crit enough to actually kill Nosepass. Swellow is out. Not all pokemon weak to Rock had a terrible time though; Wingull could OHKO the Geodudes, and while he could not 2HKO Nosepass and was brought to the red in one hit, a lucky crit got me the first try victory. Pelipper didn't need a crit, because Nosepass wasted time with harden; i water-gunned him down with ease.

As for Wally's boy Ralts, his only tools were Confusion and Growl, plus the unusable Double Team. He has piss-poor defenses and couldn't one-shot the geodudes, and even one hit would mean Nosepass could kill. I tried going in paralyzed so that the geodudes would go for defense curl rather than Rock Tomb, but while this brought me to Nosepass a few times, i'd always lose so many turns to paralysis that he could take me out. Ralts is out. Kirlia however gets Magical Leaf for some reason, so she destroyed the rocks with that. Gardevoir does not get Magical Leaf, but her Confusions one-shot the Geodudes so she arrived at Nosepass with full health and could Confusion him down.

Now for a surprising upset: Surskit actually won. He could outspeed and OHKO the Geodudes, but was usually killed by Nosepass fairly quickly. So i decided to go in paralyzed to avoid Nosepass's Rock Tombs, hoping that my Quick Claw would allow me to outspeed the Geodudes, or that they would go for Harden. Even if i arrived at Nosepass with full health, he only needed one Tackle to bring me into kill range from Rock Tomb, but he often went for Harden or Block instead. In attempt 8, i got no less than 2 crits on Nosepass, allowing me to take home the victory just by spamming Bubble. Masquerain was less lucky though. He has a moveset of Bubble, Quick Attack, Sweet Scent and Water Sport; in other words he has only Bubble. The Geodudes were still one-shot, but Nosepass could one-shot me, and even a crit couldn't save me as Bubble didn't remotely do half. Masquerain is out.

Shroomish and Breloom destroyed Roxanne, but next was Slakoth. Slakoth can only move every other turn and only has Scratch or Struggle for offense. He has recovery, but that only postpones the inevitable. Slakoth is out. Vigoroth also had Focus Energy and Uproar, and didn't have an awful ability, but he didn't have Slack Off. His strat was to set up a Focus Energy and go for crits with either Uproar or Struggle, but i never even made it to Nosepass. Vigoroth is out. Norman's boy Slaking had to make do with the same moveset as Slakoth, but unlike Slakoth, he has actual stats. His Scratches did more to the Geodudes than their Rock Tombs did to me, though this changed after a few hardens. I could stop that with Yawn though; putting them to sleep. I also had more than enough Slack Off PP. However, i ran out of Scratches vs Nosepass and had to waste all my PP for all my moves; i thought i was gonna lose, but then Struggle crit and killed Nosepass for the first-try victory.

Looking at Abra's moveset, the strategy was clear: After every hit, Teleport away to the pokemon center and heal fully so that they'll wear themselves out. Sadly for Abra, Teleport doesn't work in trainer battles; Abra is out. Kadabra and Alakazam also carried Confusion, so they had more success.

 

[RichestAirPirate]

The loss of Ralts is unsurprising. Its stats are AWFUL, even by base stage Pokémon standards.
Surskit scraping by past Masquerain is actually kinda expected. Being quad weak to Rock sucks when you're in a Rock type gym.
I actually was shocked by Slaking struggling for a bit on this fight. (Although he's gonna HATE fighting Brawly. He is just begging to a Meditite's Pure Power boosted Focus Punch to the face.)
Also, Abra lol. Just... teleport out of these challenges, man.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Nincada may be bug, but he's also ground, which meant the enemies were not super effective. I didn't have enough offensive PP to get through all enemies, so i had to go in with specific amounts of PP for my status moves to make things work. I went with 3 Sand-Attacks per pokemon, plus 6 Hardens. Fury Swipes was my main offense; each hit did 1 damage regardless of how many Defense Curls the geodudes had. I also had Leech Life to recover off the damage my foes did when they did hit me. I'd set up all my Hardens on the first Geodude and kill him, then i'd usually run out of PP on Geodude 2, but in attempt 3 i crit him with Leech Life and managed to reach Nosepass with 3 Sand-Attacks and 1 Leech Life remaining. This was enough to struggle him to death. His evolutions had a slightly worse time though. Not only does Ninjask have way lower defense than Nincada, he also trades Nincada's Rock neutrality for a double weakness. The strat was still to Sand-Attack, Harden up and then attack, but it went about as well as you'd expect. Ninjask is out. Of course, there's still the other evolution, Shedinja. Shedinja can only be hit by supereffective moves, but will faint to any hit. This is a rock gym. Shedinja is out.

Our boy from Rusturf Tunnel, Whismur, had it rough. He has only normal moves and Astonish, and though he does have Howl, he didn't have the bulk to set up a bunch of those. Whether i tried with Uproar or Struggle, i'd invariably get killed by the first Geodude. Whismur is out. Loudred did better, and the struggle strat could get me to Nosepass, but i could never beat him. Loudred is out. Exploud however did find success. He Howled thrice, then Uproared through all his foes. Makuhita and Hariyama didn't have quite such a rough time; they could kill everything with Vital Throw. Next up was a surprising problem child: Goldeen. Goldeen gets no water moves at this point; all he had was Peck, Tail Whip, Water Sport, Supersonic and Horn Attack. I tried confusing my foes and lowering their defense, but while this strat would usually get me past the first Geodude, i never even saw Nosepass. Goldeen is out. Seaking has the same moveset, and while he could make it to Nosepass fairly consistently, this strategy proved too terrible to get the win. Seaking is out.

Magikarp is out, but surprisingly Gyarados also ran into trouble. He ha only Thrash at this level, which is not very effective, and the enemies can hit him for supereffective damage. I tried with Thrash and i tried with Struggle, but neither worked. Gyarados is out. On to Azurill, whose Bubble only did just over half to the Geodudes. Fortunately, they liked to waste time with Defense Curl, but i did have to Charm Nosepass's Attack into Oblivion. I then started chipping away with Bubble, and many many turns later, victory was mine. Marill and Azumarill had the much more powerful Water Gun, so of course they won.

Time for a mirror match, my Geodude vs her two. Mine had quite a big advantage though, as he could Struggle. I didn't have the HP to struggle for the entire fight, so i did keep my PP for Rock Throw, as well as 3 PP for Harden to make the enemy moves deal 1 damage rather than 2. This probably also wouldn't have worked if it weren't for Lady Luck choosing my side; Rock Throw got no less than 2 crits on the first Geodude, allowing me to eventually kill the Nosepass with my HP in the red. Graveler deployed the same strat and got a first-time victory with just 1 HP left, and if those two can do it, then obviously so can Golem. Now it's time for the other mirror match, and it turns out Roxanne is a filthy cheater. Nosepass doesn't learn Block until level 16, but hers has it at level 15. Not that i want the move; i just thought it was curious. Unfortunately though, the actual mirror never happened. My Rock and Normal moves hit the Geodudes for not very effective damage, while their Rock moves were neutral against me. 30 base HP also doesn't lend itself to Struggle. I gave up after 5 attempts; Nosepass is out.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

For Skitty, things looked pretty bleak. She has Sing, Growl and Tail Whip, but none of these tools could weaken Geodude enough so that my DoubleSlaps would outdamage him. I did get past the first Geodude when i switched to using Struggle, but that was only because i got 2 crits, and the second one killed me anyway. Skitty is out. Delcatty had an even worse movepool, with just Growl, Sing, Attract and DoubleSlap. Sadly i could not interest Geodude in a lesbian relationship, and Delcatty wasn't strong enough to make it through with DoubleSlap, Struggle, or hybrid strats. Delcatty is out. Zubat was next, wielding Leech Life, Supersonic and Astonish. Zubat is out. Golbat also gets Screech, which in combination with Supersonic and Astonish would usually get me past the first Geodude, but Roxanne would then send out Nosepass early and i could never beat him. Golbat is out. Crobat has much better stats but the same moves, so while he could chip off more of Nosepass's HP, he never could deal the finishing blow. Crobat is out.

The losing streak doesn't end there; Tentacool gets only Poison Sting, Supersonic and Constrict. Tentacool is out. Tentacruel gets these same moves, and his stats aren't good enough to Struggle, so he's also out. Losing streas do eventually end though; Sableye had Night Shade, so he could deal a flat 15 damage every turn irrespective of Defense Curl, which got the 3-shot on all of them as they hardened. His counterpart Mawile also had no issues; she resists everything Roxanne can do and can strike back with special Bites. The Aron family then destroyed Roxanne with Metal Claw, and the Machop family did the same with Guts-boosted Karate Chop. Meditite doesn't get a fighting move at this level, so she had to instead spam Confusion to get a first-try victory. Medicham meanwhile gets Ice Punch, making this fight completely free.

For Electrike though, this fight was less free. He had Tackle, Howl, Thunder Wave and Leer. Doesn't have a good attack stat though, nor good HP. I tried howling and struggling, and i tried howling and tackling, but i never got past Geodude number 1. Electrike is out. Manectric's stats are much better, and the Struggle strat usually got him to Nosepass, but i arrived there at such low HP that he'd just kill me. Manectric is out. The Pikaclones were next, but both of them had a moveset consisting solely of Growl, Thunder Wave, Quick Attack and Helping Hand. I didn't even bother with these moves and went straight for Struggle, but Plusle never broke through the first Geodude and Minun only did so due to a lucky crit, and was then finished off by the second Geodude. Plusle is out, Minun is out.

 

[RichestAirPirate]

For Skitty, things looked pretty bleak. She has Sing, Growl and Tail Whip, but none of these tools could weaken Geodude enough so that my DoubleSlaps would outdamage him. I did get past the first Geodude when i switched to using Struggle, but that was only because i got 2 crits, and the second one killed me anyway. Skitty is out. Delcatty had an even worse movepool, with just Growl, Sing, Attract and DoubleSlap. Sadly i could not interest Geodude in a lesbian relationship, and Delcatty wasn't strong enough to make it through with DoubleSlap, Struggle, or hybrid strats. Delcatty is out. Zubat was next, wielding Leech Life, Supersonic and Astonish. Zubat is out. Golbat also gets Screech, which in combination with Supersonic and Astonish would usually get me past the first Geodude, but Roxanne would then send out Nosepass early and i could never beat him. Golbat is out. Crobat has much better stats but the same moves, so while he could chip off more of Nosepass's HP, he never could deal the finishing blow. Crobat is out.

The losing streak doesn't end there; Tentacool gets only Poison Sting, Supersonic and Constrict. Tentacool is out. Tentacruel gets these same moves, and his stats aren't good enough to Struggle, so he's also out. Losing streas do eventually end though; Sableye had Night Shade, so he could deal a flat 15 damage every turn irrespective of Defense Curl, which got the 3-shot on all of them as they hardened. His counterpart Mawile also had no issues; she resists everything Roxanne can do and can strike back with special Bites. The Aron family then destroyed Roxanne with Metal Claw, and the Machop family did the same with Guts-boosted Karate Chop. Meditite doesn't get a fighting move at this level, so she had to instead spam Confusion to get a first-try victory. Medicham meanwhile gets Ice Punch, making this fight completely free.

For Electrike though, this fight was less free. He had Tackle, Howl, Thunder Wave and Leer. Doesn't have a good attack stat though, nor good HP. I tried howling and struggling, and i tried howling and tackling, but i never got past Geodude number 1. Electrike is out. Manectric's stats are much better, and the Struggle strat usually got him to Nosepass, but i arrived there at such low HP that he'd just kill me. Manectric is out. The Pikaclones were next, but both of them had a moveset consisting solely of Growl, Thunder Wave, Quick Attack and Helping Hand. I didn't even bother with these moves and went straight for Struggle, but Plusle never broke through the first Geodude and Minun only did so due to a lucky crit, and was then finished off by the second Geodude. Plusle is out, Minun is out.

Oh geez... Yeah. This made me realize something.
Turns out that since a lot of Pokémon carry normal type moves in early levels, it's kind of tough to survive against a Rock type gym with 3 rock types with high defense.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Oh geez... Yeah. This made me realize something.
Turns out that since a lot of Pokémon carry normal type moves in early levels, it's kind of tough to survive against a Rock type gym with 3 rock types with high defense.

yeah, the lack of tools makes this gym absolutely brutal. Did not expect Crobat or Tentacruel to go out this early though; those are good pokemon.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Magnemite was just 1 level shy of learning Sonicboom, which would have made all the difference. Rather, he was stuck with Metal Sound, Tackle, ThunderShock and Supersonic, aka just Tackle and Supersonic. This strategy has failed miserably before, but i hoped resisting all their moves would mean keeping them confused and hoping for self-hits would be viable. It wasn't. With 25 base HP and 35 Attack, Magnemite isn't really built for Struggle either. Magnemite is out. Magneton has better stats but the same moves; supersonic strats could consistently kill one Geodude, and by confusing the first Geodude and then struggling, i could occasionally reach Nosepass, and one time i even came one crit away from winning. Unfortunately, i never got that crit, and i never came that close again. Magneton is out. Voltorb and Electrode however do get Sonicboom, and they used it to kill their foes 20 damage at a time.

Next up was Volbeat, who had Moonlight to complement Confuse Ray. Unfortunately, he also had a weakness to Rock, and his only offense was Tackle. I got past the first Geodude once, but that was with 2 PP for Confuse Ray and 0 PP for Moonlight. This was hopeless, so i gave up after try 5. Volbeat is out. Illumise had Charm instead of Confuse Ray, making this even more hopeless. I could lower Geodude's attack, but after that i could do nothing so i was just a sitting duck waiting for him to crit me. Illumise is out. Things were a tad bit easier for the Oddish family; all of them finished the fight at full HP.

For Doduo there was little hope. He did have the special Pursuit to hit them with, but they dealt supereffective damage which outdamaged my moves with ease. I did have Growl to weaken their attack, and i tried going in paralyzed so that they'd go for Defense Curl rather than Rock Tomb, but neither of these strats worked. Doduo is out. Dodrio gets these same moves, but his much better special attack meant that if i went in paralyzed, it was possible to Pursuit down the Geodudes while they were spamming Defense Curl. This is what happened in attempt 5, and Nosepass won't use a rock move unless he sees the kill, so i felt it was safe to Growl his attack to -6 and then spam Pursuit for the kill. This worked out; Dodrio gets to fight another day.

Roselia won, and Gulpin and Swalot get Bullet Seed too for some reason. That means it's now time for Team Aqua's boy Carvanha. He has no water moves, but he does have Bite. He has no defenses though, so i had to go in paralyzed so that the Geodudes would Defense Curl. That way i could Bite my way through, because Dark moves are special in this gen. Sharpedo had no need for paralysis; he just spammed Bite until all the enemies were dead. Lastly for today, Wailmer and Wailord had Water Gun.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

On to Team Magma's boy Numel. He'd use one Growl per foe, then he'd spam Ember hoping for burns. Fortunately, my foes liked to spam ineffectual hardens, so i had plenty of time to burn them, and it only took until attempt 4 before i got the W. Camerupt didn't have to bother with this strat, as he has Magnitude. Things went less well for their fellow gen 3 fire type, Slugma. (yes, slugma is gen 3, don't try to argue otherwise.) His only moves are Ember, Rock Throw, Smog and Yawn. The strat was to go in paralyzed hoping for Defense Curls, use Yawn to keep the enemies asleep and then wail on them. However, while this strat occasionally got me past the geodudes, i did next to no damage on Nosepass and he could kill me from well over half. I never found a way around this. Slugma is out. Magcargo had the same moves, but his better stats and Rock typing meant i could shrug off Nosepass's tackles; he won't use Rock Tomb unless i'm faster or he sees the kill. The Geodudes went down to the same strat i tried with Slugma, so Magcargo has passed this test.

Their Fiery Path brother Torkoal would start the fight by setting up 6 Curses so that even Rock moves barely scratched him, then he'd Ember down the Geodudes. I did little to Nosepass though, so once he was burned, i spammed Smokescreen for 6 turns to destroy his accuracy. This let me chip him down without any worries. With Grimer, i dove even further into stall; i'd poison my foes with Poison Gas, then i'd Harden up to +6. I had Sludge for offense, but this barely did any damage so it was often better to try and Disable the Geodudes' Rock Throw. I had thus made myself impervious while i slowly waited for the enemies to die. Took until attempt 4, but it worked. Muk's strats are even better suited for this kind of play, so he won first try despite one of the Geodudes critting him. Koffng wanted to try the same strategy, but he forgot to bring a defense-boosting move. He came in with Poison Gas, Tackle and Smog; no real way to deal damage or tank it. Struggle didn't work either; Koffing is out. James's boy Weezing does get one extra move: SelfDestruct. A lose button whose PP i cannot waste; just what i needed. I had no choice but to try it with poison and Tackle, but while Weezing has enough bulk to occasionally reach Nosepass, i could never make serious headway into killing him. Weezing is out.

Moving on to the Jagged Pass, it's time for Spoink. Spoink came in with a moveset of Psywave, Splash and Odor Sleuth; i tell you, you haven't experienced true pain until you've tried winning a fight with just Psywave. I did win in attempt 6 though, and Grumpig didn't have to gamble with that garbage move as he had Psybeam. I sincerely hope i never have to use Psywave again for anything. We next move up to the soot route with Sandshrew. He has Defense Curl and Sand-Attack, both of which are really good, but he only has Scratch and Cut for offense. Thus, while i could raise my defenses and make sure they rarely hit me, i could only chip away at them 1 HP at a time, and eventually they would not only hit, but crit right through my defenses. That strategy didn't work, so i tried it with Struggle. I combined Struggle with various amounts of Defense Curl and Sand-Attack PP, but i always found i didn't have enough HP to take down Nosepass. Sandshrew is out. Sandslash did much better; with 6 Sand-Attacks and 2 Defense Curls, he managed to struggle his way through all the enemies, killing Nosepass with just 3 HP remaining.

Spinda went full offense, carrying Tackle, Uproar and Faint Attack. Course, i only used one of those moves, and it got me through in attempt 2. With Skarmory though, i had to go full into accuracy shenanigans; i hit both Geodudes with 6 Sand-Attacks so they'd miss all their Rock Tombs, then i hit one Leer and Swifted away. My remaining 3 Sand-Attacks were for Nosepass; they ensured that the chip i dealt with Swift and Peck outdamaged the chip he dealt with Tackle. Took me 6 attempts and about 500 years of my life, but Skarmory pulled through. Next up is the desert crew; Trapinch and his family had a Rock resistance as well as Bite, which allowed them to make it through with few issues. Lastly for today, Cacnea and Cacturne won with Bullet Seed.

(side note: i love how this dex is ordered; they come in the order the player would meet them)

 

[There Is No Arceus]

On to the routes west of Fallarbor. Swablu's strategy revolved around using Sing to put the enemies to sleep, and then Growl to lower their attacks. However, even after a few Growls Rock moves did massive damage, and my strongest offense was Astonish, which isn't not very effective but it's so weak that it might as well be. I never got past geodude 1; Swablu is out. Altaria has some actual stats, but it has the same terrible type and terrible moves, so while she could beat the first Geodude sometimes, she had absolutely no chance of winning the fight. Altaria is out. Next up was Zangoose who gets Swords Dance, which is ridiculously broken for this point in the game. I set up to +6, then i two-shot the Geodudes with Quick Attack. Nosepass Hardened and thus wasn't a 2-shot, but i still killed him with ease. His rival Seviper doesn't get as insane a toolkit, but he does get Bite, which is special in this gen and thus makes short work of Roxanne. As for Tate & Liza's boys, Solrock and Lunatone both spammed Confusion and won.

Barboach destroyed them with Water Gun, as did Whiscash, proving once more that he's the best pokemon in existence. Corphish was next, and while he had Bubble, he still needed a Harden to tank Nosepass's hits and bring home the victory. Crawdaunt didn't need Harden; he just spammed Bubble for the W. We return to the desert with Baltoy and Claydol; Psybeam spam was all they needed. Fossil time; Lileep and Cradily destroyed them with Bullet Seed, but Anorith only had Scratch, Harden, Mud Sport and Cut. I could see from the start that only Struggle had any chance of working, and i tried with various amounts of Harden PP, but the enemies' supereffective Rock moves always got the better of me. Anorith is out. Armaldo then came in to avenge his son, spamming Water Gun and absolutely destroying Roxanne.

Next up, we head for the hidden patch of land northwest of Meteor Falls. Igglybuff however stood very little chance. His strategy was to Sing the enemy to sleep, Sweet Kiss to confuse them and Defense Curl up. I could then use the turns when my foe was incapacitated in order to... do absolutely nothing. My only offense is Pound, and Igglybuff doesn't have any attack. I almost made it past Geodude 1 once. Igglybuff is out. Jigglypuff has Disable instead of Sweet Kiss, making her even more terrible. I tried a strat with Sing, Defense Curl and Struggle, but it didn't work. I couldn't think of any other strat; Jigglypuff is out. As for the guildmaster, i'm certain he could have done it with the right luck. He had DoubleSlap rather than Pound, so he could deal 2-5 damage without recoil, and while having PP for Sing. I'd Sing my opponent to sleep, get all my Defense Curls in, and DoubleSlap away while continuing to Sing my foe to sleep. Unfortunately i only had enough DoubleSlaps for the first Geodude, so i had to bring the right amount of Sing PP so i could Struggle thereafter. With the right amount of crits, i could certainly have beaten the second Geodude as well as Nosepass, but while i came close a few times, i never got the win. Wigglytuff is out.

Feebas differs from Magikarp in one way: he can learn TMs. Unfortunately for him, the only TMs available at this point are Bullet Seed and Cut, neither of which he can learn. Feebas is out. Milotic however differs from Gyarados in that she actually gets a water move at this level; she one-shot everything with Water Gun, though Nosepass was a crit.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Castform can't yet make himself a water type, but he can spam Water Gun, which is enough to win. Mity's boys Staryu and Starmie did the same, and Kecleon had Faint Attack to hit them on the special side. On to the Mt. Pyre crew; Shuppet, Banette, Duskull and Dusclops could Night Shade their enemies to an early grave, and Tropius, who is sandwiched between Mt. Pyre mons for some reason, could kill them with Razor Leaf. Chimecho spammed Confusion and won, but things were a lot tougher for Absol. All he has to work with is Scratch, Leer, Taunt, Quick Attack and Cut. I tried lowering their defense and Cutting away, and i tried lowering their defense and Struggling away, but neither option worked out. Struggle without any debuffs didn't do it either. Absol is out. Vulpix didn't have it easy either. His moveset consists of Ember, Roar, Leer and Quick Attack, so the strat was to go in paralyzed and get Embers in as the enemies set up their defense, then Roar them out to try and get them to continuously set up defense. Unfortunately though, while they did generally prefer Defense Curl over Rock Throw, they would mix things up from time to time and kill me. I never got the luck i needed, Vulpix is out. With Ninetales there was hope. I didn't have Roar, but i did have Confuse Ray, so i'd try to keep my foes confused as i Embered away. I would reach Nosepass almost every time, and if i could just get the burn from Ember, the win was pretty much guaranteed. However, that burn never came. Ninetales is out.

We're now on to the Safari Zone crew. Pichu's only offensive move is Thundershock, and with 20 base HP he's not struggling them down either. Pichu is out. Pikachu also had Quick Attack, which made all the difference you'd expect. Pikachu is out. Raichu adds Thunderbolt to that mix, which once again made all the difference you'd expect. His higher stats meant he could consistently struggle past the first Geodude, and he even reached Nosepass once due to a lucky crit, but obviously that's where it ended. Raichu is out. Psyduck and Golduck were one level shy of learning Confusion; their only moves were Scratch, Tail Whip, Water Sport and Disable. I didn't bother with these moves and went straight for Struggle, but neither of them had the power to Struggle though. Psyduck is out, Golduck is out. As for Wynaut, he has only 1 strategy, but he didn't have the HP to pull it off. Wobbuffet did have the HP, but Counter has limited PP and Roxanne likes to go for Harden, so it was a guessing game when i should use the move. In attempt 4 though, i guessed right enough times, and Wobbuffet won.

 

[Nicolas721]

Roxanne turned out to be quite an strict teacher, makes you wonder how Pokemon in a region who starts with a Normal-type gym would really perform.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Roxanne turned out to be quite an strict teacher, makes you wonder how Pokemon in a region who starts with a Normal-type gym would really perform.

they'd probably perform a lot better. Johto started with a Flying-type leader, and Falkner didn't cause nearly the carnage we're seeing from Roxanne.

 

[virtualpet2001]

Most of Roxanne's casualties here are bad type coverage but if this is how the first gym goes then I'm scared for Wattson
I was going to mention the Mossdeep leaders too but then i realized. You can't challenge them with a single pokemon on your team. do you know how to address that yet

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Most of Roxanne's casualties here are bad type coverage but if this is how the first gym goes then I'm scared for Wattson
I was going to mention the Mossdeep leaders too but then i realized. You can't challenge them with a single pokemon on your team. do you know how to address that yet

thus far i've thought of 3 options: my pokemon can fight them alongside a clone of themselves, they can fight them alongside a dud, or i can skip the twins for this challenge. I don't like the first two options, but i especially dislike the third.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Good moves are not the only ingredient needed for victory, as shown by Natu. He has Night Shade for consistent damage, but the enemies could 2-shot me with their rock moves. I had to go in paralyzed to avoid Rock Tomb, but once they hit a single Rock Throw, it was over anyway. Luck was never on my side; the one time the Geodudes cooperated and spammed Defense Curl, Nosepass crit a Tackle and brought me into kill range for Rock Tomb. Natu is out. Xatu was 3-shot by their Rock moves, but in attempt 4 they didn't use any so he got to avenge his child. Girafarig could then spam Confusion, but next was Phanpy. Phanpy's moveset at this point consists of Tackle, Defense Curl, Growl and Odor Sleuth. The strat was to get a few Defense Curls in and then start struggling, but i'd need an ungodly amount of crits for that to work. I never got said crits; Phanpy is out. Donphan gets Stomp instead of Tackle, whoop dee doo, but what did make a difference were his much better stats. He needed no crits to struggle all enemies to death on his first try. As for Pinsir, he was in much the same position as Xatu, having Seismic Toss but also a Rock weakness. However, they cooperated as early as attempt 2 and allowed me to win. Heracross was less lucky; while his Guts-boosted Horn Attacks actually did decent damage, i'd either lose so many turns to Paralysis or so much health to Poison that there was no way i could win. Heracross is out. Our final 2 Safari Zone mons, Rhyhorn and Rhydon, resisted everything Roxanne could do, so against the Geodudes they tail-whipped to keep Defense low, and against Nosepass they spammed Fury Attack for the win.

We thus move on to the Shoal Cave crew. Snorunt could outspeed and OHKO the Geodudes with Icy Wind, but if i did that Nosepass would 2HKO me with Rock Tomb. So instead i went in paralyzed and hoped the Geodudes would Defense Curl as i killed them, then against Nosepass i spammed Icy Wind and hoped for the lucky freeze. I got the freeze in attempt 4, and whittled down Nosepass as he could do nothing. Glalie followed this same strat and also won, and while Spheal's Ice Ball didn't OHKO the first Geodude, it did build in power and kill every single one of Roxanne's mons. Sealeo's Ice Ball did OHKO the first Geodude, and while this reduced buildup meant less damage to Nosepass, it didn't matter as he still died in 2 hits. Walrein of course repeated all this.

And so we move on to the deep seas; i don't expect many losses from here on out. Clamperl destroyed them with Water Gun, and while its evolutions only had Whirlpool for STAB, they also had Bite and Confusion, respectively. Relicanth destroyed them with Water Gun, Corsola, Chinchou and Lanturn did so with Bubble, and lastly for today, Luvdisc won with Water Gun.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Horsea won with Bubble, but for Seadra as well as Clair's boy Kingdra, i opted for Water Gun instead for consistency. That means we've arrived at the pseudos. The Bagon family all had Bite to make their way through, though the man himself did need a crit on Nosepass. Things weren't quite as easy for Hoenn's other pseudo line though. Beldum only gets Take Down at this level, which against rocks is just a worse Struggle. He may be steel type, but he didn't have the HP to struggle through. Beldum is out. Metang also gets Cut, which i obviously didn't use, but his higher stats meant that his Struggles hit harder and i could take more recoil. With the right amount of crits, i could make it through, and that amount happened in attempt 4. Metagross gets actual moves; he killed them with Metal Claw.

So we move on to the legends, starting with Latias. I had hoped i'd never have the displeasure of dealing with Psywave again, but alas. At least Latias made it less painful by getting the needed ranges in attempt 1. Next up was Kyogre who didn't have too many troubles, and believe it or not, neither did Groudon. Rayquaza had the type disadvantage, but that doesn't matter when they never hit you; he just Twistered his way through. Jirachi didn't have any steel moves, but he did have Confusion which was good enough, and last for the Hoenn dex was Deoxys. He used Night Shade to get through, though full disclosure, i did have to mark him as a fateful encounter in the editor before he would obey me; Deoxys can't do it if you actually have him as your starter.

That brings us to the returning champs; the guys who beat all of HGSS. Snorlax would set up a Belly Drum and then Struggle his foes to death, but Zapdos had more issues. His moveset at this level consists of Peck, ThunderShock and Thunder Wave, in other words all he had was Struggle. He had the offense to make that work, but that rock weakness meant he just couldn't do it. Zapdos is out. None of the other returning champs had issues though; Suicune has BubbleBeam, Mewtwo is Mewtwo and Mew has Bullet Seed. (once again though, Mew won't cooperate if he isn't a fateful encounter)

That just leaves the mons i added due to their interesting gimmicks. Smeargle doesn't do levelup or TM moves; his moveset is snatched from mons we fight throughout our journey. For this fight, i copied Absorb off the Shroomish in the Petalburg Woods, Water Gun off the Wingull on Route 104 and Defense Curl off Roxanne's own Geodude; i couldn't find a fourth move that'd be useful. Didn't even need Defense Curl; i'd use Water Gun as my main offense, and the occasional Absorb for healing. Up next is Ditto, using his enemies' movesets against them. Sadly, this gimmick isn't very good. Geodude's moves are all not very effective against Roxanne's squad, so they'd wear me down well before i wore them down. I tried using Struggle rather than Transform, but that didn't work either. Ditto is out. Finally, there's Unown; trying to win by spamming one move. Fortunately for him, that move is Hidden Power Fighting, so he won with ease.

And that's everyone. Of the 205 pokemon that made it to Roxanne, 140 managed to beat here, while 66 faltered. This math doesn't add up; apparently i made a counting error at the start. In actuality, we had 210 pokemon at the start of this challenge, and 206 made it to Roxanne. Anyway, this massive amount of losses once again proves that Hoenn has some of the toughest gym leaders in the series and also Brawly. Speaking of Brawly, the 140 winners will be facing him next.

Here's the table showing how many pokemon beat the bosses, though that table isn't all that informative this early on:

Start	After Roxanne
210	140