Challenge COMPLETE: Pokemon Yellow Stylish Shiny Breedlocke Tradeback Chosen-by-Committee CompleteDex Challenge

QuentinQuonce

QuentinQuonce

formerly green_typhlosion
Countdown: https://logwork.com/countdown-qd3b


Introduction​

I've been breeding lots of nice shiny Pokemon in GSC with cool egg moves as a project to keep me from the crushing despair of my uni work, and it's time for them to actually do something.

Being the only generations in the series with mutual compatibility, Gen I and Gen II have some quirks when it comes to trading between them. Namely, exclusive moves. If you're familiar at all with the Gen I competitive scene you'll no doubt be aware of the term "tradeback" - that is, moves Pokemon gained access to in Gen II that they couldn't learn in Gen I. For instance, Fire Punch existed in Gen I, but Alakazam couldn't learn it by any means. When it was made into a TM in Gen II, Alakazam gained access to the move, meaning that an Alakazam which knew Fire Punch could be traded back to Gen I with a nifty new move it couldn't otherwise get.

Multiple Pokemon in Gen I have similar situations going on - some of their tradeback moves useful, some not so much. So I got to thinking whether I could base a challenge around that. I've wanted to do a complete Pokedex challenge on Yellow for a while, but what if I were to use a team of Gen I Pokemon with only tradeback moves?

That led to the formation of this challenge - my Pokemon Yellow Stylish Shiny Breedlocke Tradeback Chosen-by-Committee CompleteDex Challenge!

(seriously, I'm just gonna use the acronym PYSSBTCCCCC, it'll save everyone, including my fingers, lots of time)

"But wait!" I hear the pedants already crying out. "Shininess doesn't show up in Gen I." I know. I'm just breeding them that way for the fun of it.

The Challenge​

Here's how this is going to work:

-All six team members must know moves they can’t learn by any means in Gen I (the more useless, the better). Those are the ONLY moves they are allowed to know - they are NOT allowed to learn or use any other moves. If a Pokemon does not have 4 or more moves which fit the bill, it obviously has no option but to learn other moves by levelling up (due to Gen I lacking a Move Deleter) but it is not permitted to use them. An exception is made for HMs, which still cannot be used in battle unless the HM in question is a tradeback move (such as Flash for Parasect).

-This is a Pokedex completion challenge in which trading is forbidden, but due to the nature of the challenge all six of my team members will need to be traded in from another game. Once the six Pokemon I will be using are on my Yellow save file, that's it - the gates are shut, the drawbridge pulled up, closed for business, no more trading until the challenge is over. All remaining Pokemon in the game must be obtained natively*, with the added restriction that I must capture all 151 Pokemon BEFORE becoming the Champion.

-This will be a timed challenge: once my team of six is chosen and I sound the starting whistle, I must beat the game and complete the Pokedex within 60 hours. The challenge will kick off on Sunday at 10AM UK time, and end at 10PM the following Tuesday. I'll embed a timer, and be writing regular updates as I progress.

*The Mew glitch will be used where needed (for a detailed explanation of how this works, check out Bulbapedia's article on the topic). Note that to make proper use of the Mew glitch, I may have to use Pokemon other than the ones on my team. However they will not be used in battle - only the chosen six can be used to continue the game's story - i.e. if it's a battle with no wider objective.

The whole "chosen-by-committee" part​

A list of candidates for this challenge is below. And here's where the fun part comes in! There are fifteen Pokemon on this list, but I won't be selecting six to use. No, dear reader - you'll be the one doing that. The first six people to comment get to nominate a Pokemon I have to use (limited one per user). Once I have a full team of six selected, the challenge can begin in earnest.

To select a Pokemon for the challenge, use the format of the message below in your post. Please do feel free to select the ones you judge will be most challenging to use.

Green_typhlosion, I choose for you [Pokemon]!


Horsea
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Dragon Rage, Headbutt, Waterfall, Splash
Horsea's picks for tradeback moves are the ultimate mixed bag. Dragon Rage is fearsome in the early-game while Headbutt and Waterfall are both perfectly serviceable options. It also gets... Splash. Well, you can't win them all. But it's certainly better overall than a lot of other mons. Note that Seadra also gets Disable and Aurora Beam as tradeback moves but both are illegal with Dragon Rage and Splash - in the spirit of the challenge, I had to go for the largest number of moves possible at the same time.

Ponyta
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Thrash, Hypnosis, Double Kick, Quick Attack
Ponyta's moveset looks pretty underwhelming but my intuition is that it's probably a lot better than it looks. Sure it can't do shit against Gengar but Normal and Fighting are perfectly good offensive types in Gen I, and Hypnosis is always a good option. It's going to miss having a STAB move though.

Jigglytuff
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Dizzy Punch, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Thunderpunch
With the classic trio of Thunderpunch, Ice Punch, and Fire Punch, as well as nifty STAB options in both Dizzy Punch and Headbutt, Jigglypuff is one of the big winners in the game of GSC tradebacks. The only issue is it’s, uh… Jigglypuff. But it’s not all bad.

Kabuto
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Mega Drain, Sand-Attack, Dig, and Headbutt
Ah, Gen I. A halcyon era in which, for a good chunk of the Pokemon that existed at the time, your best hope of getting a STAB move was usually from some obscure NYPC event. No Rock Throw for Kabuto, sadly, but Mega Drain, Dig, and Headbutt are decent enough. Sand-Attack is... kind of just there. While it's not spectacular, it's more than sufficient and a lot more than others get.

Aerodactyl
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Earthquake, Flamethrower, Headbutt, Roar
Monstrous, both statistically and aesthetically, Aerodactyl manages to have great tradeback options despite none of them being STAB (except Rock Throw which - much like its fossilised brethren - only ever came via an NYPC event). Unfortunately the final tradeback move it gets is... Roar, which is borderline useless in Gen I. But when dealing with Rock-types, one must take the rough with the smooth. (I'm here all week.)

Gyarados
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Headbutt, Thrash, Flamethrower, Waterfall
Gyarados may not have the wide range of great options like Earthquake, Aqua Tail, Hidden Power, and Bounce it gets in later gens, but its movepool is still surprisingly wide here. With Headbutt, Thrash, Flamethrower, and Waterfall, it's a total monster and even has STAB. Overpowered or what?

Rhydon
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Fire Punch, Thunderpunch, Headbutt, Roar
Rhydon's notorious versatility serves it well here, as it gains Fire Punch, Thunderpunch, and Headbutt from Gen II - more than enough to get by, despite its abysmal Special stat. Note that I'm using a pre-obtained low-level version of the in-game trade Rhydon from Yellow (BUFFY), which is possible by way of catching a level 10 Golduck in Gen II.

Paras
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Psybeam, Poisonpowder, Light Screen, Flash
People often write Paras off, but with Poisonpowder, Light Screen, and Flash, it becomes an absolutely superb defensive supporter capable of whittling down a good chunk of the game. And if you're going to be restricted to a single offensive move, you could pick a worse type in Gen I than Psychic (which also handily covers the Poison-types immune to Poisonpowder).

Exeggcute
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Confusion, Mega Drain, Strength, Flash
Unexpectedly, Exeggcute actually looks like the winner here. With perfectly usable STAB in the form of Confusion and Mega Drain as well as a decent enough backup in Strength, it's probably the most well-off Pokemon on this list. Flash helps too. A complexity exists in that Strength is a tradeback move for Exeggcute but not for Exeggutor, meaning that it can only use that particular move until and unless it evolves.

Tauros
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Horn Attack, Surf, Flamethrower, Thrash
Tauros has a cool niche in that it's the only Pokemon to get Surf as a tradeback move. Beyond that, it also gets Flamethrower, giving it a decent Normal-Water-Fire trio of moves. It's not quite the barnstorming array of physical options that truly would make it a titan, but it's just about good enough.

Poliwhirl
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Headbutt, Ice Punch, Mist, Haze
Poliwhirl has a fair bit of choice when it comes to tradebacks. No Fighting-type STAB for its eventual evolution, but it does get Waterfall. Ice Punch and Headbutt look like enough to round out the set - but why make things easy? It also gets Haze and Mist; two attacks which, while occasionally useful, are largely pointless in-game. Booting Waterfall from its moveset and giving it Ice Punch, Headbutt, Mist, and Haze are just enough to keep things spicy. Note that it must already be a Poliwhirl for this challenge as Poliwag cannot learn Ice Punch; arbitrary code execution will be used to lower its level.

Growlithe
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Thrash, Fire Spin
In any other generation, Fire Spin would be a pretty sucky option for your sole STAB move. But not so in Gen I! Growlithe strikes gold, managing to be surprisingly overpowered with only two moves.

Nidoran-M
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Amnesia, Confusion, Disable, Defence Curl
Nidoran lives up to its evolution's mighty name, learning a veritable smorgasbord of tradeback moves including the top prize in RBY - Amnesia. While it gets the full set of elemental punches, that would make it way too overpowered so we've gone with Disable and Defence Curl with Confusion as its only STAB. But, much as with Paras, Psychic is a pretty decent sole STAB to have in Gen I, and that, in conjunction with Amnesia, is enough to turn Nidoking into a Nido-nuke. This thing will tear shit up.

Meowth
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Amnesia, Hypnosis, Dream Eater, Headbutt
Like Nidoran-M, Meowth wins the game of tradebacks by getting access to Amnesia. However, its other moves aren't so fantastic. No Surf or Flamethrower or Ice Beam for the OG Poke-kitty, but it does at least get both Hypnosis AND Dream Eater. Not everyone's that lucky. It also gets Headbutt which is nice.

Snorlax
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Tackle, Lick, Defence Curl, Flamethrower
Overpowered though Snorlax is, its tradeback moves hobble it immensely. The best that can be said is that it gets a STAB move (however paltry it might be) but Lick - useless against Psychics in this gen - won't be doing it any favours. Flamethrower at least gives it some utility.​

I look forward to receiving your picks, and to embarking on my quest later this week.
 
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Now this looks like an interesting and unique challenge. I will probably not follow it in super detail once you get started, but I can give you a Pokémon at least. Edit: NVM, read the first post a bit clearly and saw that you had a time limit, so maybe I will follow it all the way through to the end after all.

Green_typhlosion, I choose for you Ponyta!

No idea if it will be one of the most challenging ones, but have fun either way! Plus you get a FWG core this way.
 
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Final preparations done, nicknames assigned, and here are my boys, all waiting (im)patiently in the departure lounge in Goldenrod City to travel back in time to the monochromatic dystopia of RBY Kanto.

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I was all excited to learn that the 3DS has an inbuilt screenshot function. And then disappointed to learn that it was actually an online function which has since been discontinued and no longer works. Unfortunately, I am left with no option but to take crappy photos from my phone. While this run won't have as many grainy blurry shots as my Pokemon Engrish Emerald Let's Play (highly worth a read, if I do say so myself) I'll probably take a few photos here and there in order to prevent this challenge becoming a wall of text.


The challenge kicks off tomorrow - see you there!​
 
Update 1

I start the game fresh, giving my hero the rather heroic and dashing-sounding name Tyias and deciding to be immature by giving my rival the name Nadger. (Look it up if you're not familiar.)

After Professor Oak saves me from being attacked by a fearsome wild Pikachu and Nadger rudely deprives me of a far cooler starter Pokemon, he gives it to me instead. I head north to Viridian City intending to trade as early as possible and am dispatched back to Pallet to deliver Oak's parcel. Once that's done, he gives me a Pokedex and asks me to fill it for him. That's the idea, old man!

I return to Viridian and stock up on Pokeballs, subsequently catching Nidoran-F, Mankey, Pidgey, Rattata, Spearow, and Caterpie in the surrounding areas. That's enough to exchange with another game (I'm keeping Pikachu for now) so I head to the Pokemon centre and link up with my buddy Hector in the Johto region, who sends me my much-anticipated team of six.

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Aerodactyl, Jigglypuff, Ponyta, Paras, Nidoran-M, and Horsea.

And now the journey can truly begin.

Pokedex count: 13
 
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Update 2

On the road we go, to Viridian Forest. I catch a Metapod before I reach the gatehouse at the northern exit.

Here's where the first bit of tricky jiggery-pokery comes in. The Mew Glitch (actually, let's call it the Long-Range Trainer glitch, makes more sense) can be used in Viridian Forest to obtain various Pokemon before Brock (here's an explanation how if you aren't aware). Nidoking, Electrode, and Gengar are all obtainable via this method - but it's not them I'm after right now.

I expect to have to reset a few times to get the right Pokemon, but I get the Ivysaur I was looking for on the first try! Buzzer the Horsea uses a not-very-effective Waterfall to get it to low health, and I catch it on the second Pokeball. From there, it only takes a tiny bit of experience to get it to level 100, evolving it into Venusaur. That's one of the trickiest Pokemon to find, out of the way already. Hurrah!

We reach Pewter City, one of my favourite locations in Kanto. It'd be far too easy to flatten Brock with Dragon Rage, so I decide Buzzer the Horsea will sit this one out.

Even with Double Kick, Ponyta is barely strong enough to bring down Brock's Geodude. There's no way it'll be able to defeat Onix as well, so I sent out Paras and soften it up with Flash while it Screeches repeatedly. I manage to drop its accuracy three times before it uses Bind, incapacitating me. Finally it uses Bide and I figure it's safe to Psybeam. Despite this confusing it, it manages to hit through both that and the accuracy drop and scores a KO.

I bring Ponyta back out, at 2 HP. Thankfully, Onix foolishly uses Bide again, and Double Kick proves just strong enough to finish it off in two more hits. One badge down, woohoo!

I decide to make use of the Long-Range Trainer glitch a couple more times and snag myself a Lickitung and a Gengar. Another tricky pair out of the way. And I believe there's an NPC later in the game who wants a Lickitung...

On to Mt Moon!

Pokedex count: 18
 
Update 3

I head up Route 3, catching a Sandshrew on the way, and enter Mt Moon, beating up all the trainers I find inside.

Unfortunately, all this battling has pushed my team members up to over level 10. This nearly loses me a Clefairy when Ponyta uses Quick Attack instead of Hypnosis - thankfully, it narrowly survives and I catch it. I'll have to make beating Misty a priority so my team become obedient again. Luckily they're still more or less strong enough to cope.

I catch a second Clefairy shortly afterwards. Zubat and Geodude are here now, but there's no point bothering with them yet when I can catch them at higher levels in other locations. Proceeding to the end of the cave, I'm stopped by a possessive Super Nerd who assumes I'm here for his rare Pokemon. Um, I actually... just wanted to leave the cave, dude. It's not my fault the way is barred by fossils.

But whatever, needs of the plot outweigh the needs of the player or something. I whale on him and he concedes, granting me permission to take one fossil. I pick the Dome Fossil, as Omanyte is more easily accessible via the Long-Range Trainer glitch. IIRC there's a Channeler in the Saffron Gym who yields one.

But before I can leave, I'm stopped by Jessie and James! Oh yeah, they're in this game. I always forget about them. Aerodactyl refuses to lift a finger... er, wing... and dies of Poison damage. Paras takes some heavy damage before it defeats Ekans, but Meowth revenge kills it. Ponyta manages to clean up, but I stumble out of Mt Moon bruised and thoroughly battered. Time to rush to the Cerulean City Pokemon centre.

There's a girl in a house nearby with a Bulbasaur she wants to give to a nice trainer. Unfortunately, Pikachu still dislikes me so she refuses to hand it over. I repeatedly use a Potion on it at full health to artificially make it happier, and she relents! That's my first full evolution line! Well, if Aerodactyl isn't counted, I guess.

Time to take on Misty! With no Grass-type moves on my team, and my entire team uncontrollable, this is going to take some doing. Luckily, Misty's Starmie doesn't have any Psychic moves, though, so I figure I'll save Paras for Starmie and hope it uses Poisonpowder.

I lead with Jigglypuff. 50% of its moves are decent against Staryu, at least. It surprises me by obediently using first Dizzy Punch, then Thunderpunch, but Staryu OHKOs with Water Gun. I send out Horsea, who again surprises me by obeying my command and finishing Staryu with Dragon Rage.

I keep Horsea in play for Starmie, hoping for a quick and easy win. No such luck - it uses Waterfall instead, then refuses to obey any further commands. Luckily, the sloppy first-gen AI means that Starmie doesn't attack, instead using Harden over and over. I figure it's worth switching to Paras to share the XP around. Starmie continues to Harden until it's maxed, but Paras doesn't obey a single command. It does get three accuracy drops with Flash, but then it takes a nap.

Starmie, fed up of nonviolence, starts using Tackle and hits through the accuracy drop. Sod this. I switch back to Horsea who alternates Headbutt and Splash for five turns. The former barely leaves a mark thanks to Starmie's +6 Defence. It hits me with Tackle, bringing me into the red, but finally I get the desired result - Horsea uses Dragon Rage again, and Starmie faints!

Second badge down. Misty is so disgruntled, she turns away rather than face me.

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No need to worry, though. At least my team will obey me now. For about ten minutes.

Time to heal again and go exploring up north.

Pokedex count: 21
 
Update 4

As I head out of Cerulean and onto Route 24, I meet someone coming back - it's Nadger! Oh yeah, what with all the excitement of trading my team over I completely forgot to fight him on Route 22 earlier. Guess that means he'll be turning his Eevee into a Flareon, then.

His paltry Spearow, Sandshrew, and Rattata are no match for me at all. What, no Abra yet? Get your game on, man. Why is his Spearow higher levelled than his Eevee? Weird.

Route 24 presents us with a obnoxiously long slog of trainers waiting upon the Nugget Bridge. The Long-Range Trainer glitch can be performed on this route, too, but I don't have an Abra yet either, and the Escape Rope only works inside. So it'll have to wait until later.

There's a whiny guy up at the north end of the route who mournfully tells me that as he's done a poor job of raising his Charmander, he needs someone else to raise it instead. What gives with this guy? He was a total asshole in the anime, and he's a wet blanket here. I agree to his request out of concern for his Charmander, a loser like this doesn't deserve to raise one.

I make it through the route, avoiding as many trainers as possible. Some of these guys have really good yields for the Long-Range Trainer glitch. I'll come back here later. After meeting Bill and separating him from the unidentifiable monster he merged himself with, I return to Cerulean and fight a Rocket Grunt in some guy's backyard, gaining access to Route 6. After the battle, Wukong the Nidoran-M becomes the first member of the team to evolve, becoming a Nidorino!

This turns out to be a useful place. I give my recently-acquired Charmander to the Daycare Man, hoping that by the time I reach the Pokemon League it'll be levelled enough to fully evolve. But more importantly, after a few attempts, I catch an Abra by using Ponyta's Hypnosis to put it to sleep on the first turn!

Now we're in business. I return to Route 24 and use Abra's Teleport to perform the Long-Range Trainer glitch once more, catching myself a legendary Mew!

Six hours in and I'm a bit behind where I hoped to be. Better pick up the pace.

Pokedex count: 25
 
Update 5

I'm going to try not to catch every single tricky Pokemon using the Long-Range Trainer glitch. It'll get boring if nothing else. However, Chansey is such a bastard to catch I make an exception: a trainer on Route 6 yields one, so I perform the glitch and catch it, then proceed south to Vermilion.

After a couple of errands - picking up an Old Rod from a bloke in the northwest of town, and listening to the Pokemon Fan Club Chair's tedious reminiscing in exchange for a Bike Voucher, and dumping a bunch of items in the PC - it's time to board the SS Anne. Fun stuff! I'm mainly interested in the large stock of items aboard the ship, but I beat up a bunch of trainers nonetheless, and my team rapidly starts pushing level 20. I run into Nadger again on the ship, who boasts of catching 40 Pokemon. Well, he's got me beat there. But my set are better. Bet he hasn't got a Mew...

Out, and to the Vermilion Gym. I got curious about whether Lt Surge's changed team in Yellow might yield any good results in the Long-Range Trainer glitch and inputted the data*. Unfortunately, Lt Surge's sole Raichu yields... Diglett. You know, that thing you can catch right outside. Whoopee.

Oh, well. I approach Surge with trepidation. That mighty level 28 Raichu is pretty damn fearsome. Only Aerodactyl's Earthquake gives it anything to fear, but it's so fast it'll wreck me before I can move. So I opt to enfeeble it with Paras and let the rest of the team bring it down. That's the plan, anyway. I manage to poison it before it OHKOs with Mega Kick.

I send Ponyta out and do some chip damage with Quick Attack, ironically getting a second hit in because it misses the first strike. Next, Jigglypuff manages to confuse it with Dizzy Punch! It's in KO range, but it drops Jigglypuff. I decide to risk Aerodactyl and get lucky, striking with Earthquake for the win!

Three badges down! And now I can use Fly, which is marginally more useful than Teleport when doing the Long-Range Trainer glitch. All academic until I get the TM, though.

I need to get my dex numbers up. I head into Diglett's Cave and catch a Diglett on the way to the western exit, where I exchange the second Clefairy I caught for an NPC's Mr Mime. (Side note: I really love this little house. If I lived anywhere in Kanto, it'd be here.) After sweeping up all the items on the ground near there, I head east from Cerulean and catch a Magnemite. When I stop at the Pokemon centre on Route 10, I use one of the Moon Stones I picked up in Mt Moon to evolve one of the Clefairy I caught into Clefable. Won't evolve Jigglypuff just yet.

Right, Rock Tunnel. Eugh. Hate this place.

Pokedex count: 30




*So, here's some interesting trivia: in Gen I, all opponent Pokemon have IVs of 9-8-8-8 (Attack/Defence/Speed/Special). This means that you can use enemy data to work out what yields they'll produce when using the Long-Range Trainer glitch.
 
Update 6

Rock Tunnel time. I didn't bother picking up the HM for Flash because, of course, Paras already knows it. I typically never have it in playthroughs so this is nice and convenient.

I catch a Zubat upon entering; it's quite close to evolution level, so if I don't catch a Golbat I can just level this one up. Machop takes forever to show up, but I finally find one and catch it. Not bothering with Onix just yet. Might wait until Victory Road where it's marginally easier to find (and the Repel trick can be abused). There's a Super Nerd inside who yields a Pinsir if the Long-Range Trainer glitch is used, so I duly oblige myself. That's 6500C at the Game Corner saved.

God, Rock Tunnel suuuuucks. The entire cave is full of large empty spaces with no items to collect. I manage to avoid most of the trainers so I can get to Lavender as fast as possible. Might go back in and finish off the rest if I need the levels, I just remembered my team won't start to disobey until level 30 but I still want to beat Erika asap so I don't have to worry about disobedience again.

I rush across Route 8 and through the Underground Path to Celadon and then out to Route 16 so I can pick up HM02. Once I've taught Fly to the Mew I caught earlier, I use the Long-Range Trainer glitch to collect Cubone, Magmar, Blastoise, and Scyther, then trade the first of those for an NPC's Machoke which evolves into Machamp once I receive it. It also occurs to me that since I beat Lt Surge I'm entitled to a Squirtle from the Officer Jenny in Vermilion, so I pick that up too.

Right, time for Celadon. Lots to do here: pick up an Eevee from the Mansion, collect a Coin Case from a gloomy man in the diner, buy lots of Great Balls at the Dept Store. Aaaaand... breathe.

Erika next.

Pokedex count: 41
 
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Update 7

I decide to go back into Rock Tunnel for a bit of quick grinding before the next Gym. Erika's never a particularly tough fight, but I feel like the extra levels will be useful in the long run. While in there, I finally encounter an Onix and catch it. Damn thing takes every Great Ball I have. King Feral the Paras becomes the second member of the Stylish Shiny Squad to evolve, becoming a Parasect, yay!

I finally enter the Celadon Gym, where every fucking opponent delights in using Wrap and/or Bind and wasting pointless minutes of my life. They're good experience fodder, though. Even with their compromised movesets, nearly all of my team have at least one move that can tear whoop Erika's arse. Well, that's the plan anyhow - Aerodactyl softens up Tangela but it retaliates brutally with Mega Drain and kills me first. It ends up knocking out Jigglypuff before it can do much, too. I end up boosting to the max with Nidorino because I want this thing over. It takes about 50,000 turns thanks to her Tangela repeatedly using Bind on me but I finally kill it.

Weepinbell next. It tanks a Confusion and KOs me in return with a crit Razor Leaf. AAAaaaaaaRRRRRgggHHHHHhhh. Okay. Okay. All is not lost. Parasect is able to mop up, though it takes heavy damage in the process. Now it's just Parasect and Ponyta, since I had to bring an HM mule to get into the Gym and opted to leave Horsea behind. Ponyta puts Gloom to sleep and manages to bring it to 50% with Thrash. Erika then very disobligingly heals and leaves Ponyta to deal with the confusion damage. Gloom manages to drop it with Acid. I send out Parasect, who gets in a good chunk of damage with Psybeam but dies as well. Then my HM mule dies too. Agh.

Well, serves me right for being overconfident. Guess we'll try that one again...

Pokedex count: 43

Twelve and a bit hours in and we're almost at one-third of the dex. Taking that as a positive.
 
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Update 8

I decide to train my team further by clearing out the Rocket base. Lots of nice items in here. Too many, almost. I end up having to toss my last Repel so I can get the Silph Scope after I beat up Giovanni, whose Ground-types are no match for Jigglypuff's Ice Punch.

With the Scope in my possession I proceed to Pokemon Tower and beat up Nadger, who's hanging around on the first floor. All the Gastly are splendid experience fodder so don't provide much of an impediment. No sign of a Haunter, though. Guess I'll have to evolve the one I caught later on.

We meet Jessie and James once again at the top. They're actually moderately difficult to beat at this point. Gotta say, I like this a lot more than the scenario in the other games. The whole scenario with the three Rocket Grunts (all of whom leave painstakingly slowly once you beat them) is deathly dull and doesn't feel tense or impressive or whatever they were going for. It's just tedious. Anyway, Ponyta (who sat out the entire tower thanks to not having a single move that affects Ghosts in any way) takes them out handily.

Finally we reach Mr Fuji, who's like "hmm? You came to rescue me? Oh thanks, but you needn't have bothered." Fun fact, I once made Mr Fuji vanish from the game thanks to excessive abuse of the Long-Range Trainer glitch (it can do that sometimes) and I've never lost a wink of sleep over it. He gives us the Pokeflute... and wouldn't you know it, the same thing apparently happened to the Snorlax on Route 12. Yup, it's... totally gone. Oops. Ah well, not to worry. This is where there's two of them. I head onward to the southern portion of this route and hunt for a Farfetch'd, which for some reason is wild on this route in Yellow. After about ten minutes I find and catch one. I also pick up the Super Rod, which... is weird. Why is the Good Rod in Fuchsia City, which is further away? I guess this means the game wants you to go via Cycling Road, but Route 12 is right under Lavender Town so it's really bizarre placement.

I hightail it to Celadon and fight the second Snorlax. I bought 30 Great Balls in Lavender expecting this to be a horrendously long bout, but to my great surprise the second ball does the trick.

Time for Erika take two.

Pokedex Count: 46
 
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