Hello, I'm CTNC and as you can tell by the title of this thread, I'm a mad man. Because of the insane nature of this run, I decided to document it. (And by document, I basically mean write a fan fiction. Hopefully it's better than most...) If you just want to know how this is possible without going through too much fanfiction there's the Game Play Summery.
The origin of this run
First of all, This was Not my idea, but as far as I know I might be the first to do it. It all started when the Youtuber/Steamer Gamechamp3000 played through Mario Odyssey without jumping... and won. When I heard of it I instantly became a fan and watched him go through the post game to get over 700 Moons. (I decided I had to try it, but that’s getting off topic.) He then did other challenges like Kirby without Eating, Splatton without the Hero Shot, and Mario Sunshine without FLOOD. People would suggest things to try in the comments and something that caught my eye was “Can you beat Pokemon Red without attacking?” I thought about it and it seemed insane, but possible. (Well, not on Red because of something that isn’t programmed in Gen 1) A month or two later I decided to replay Fire Red and after picking Squirtle I thought, “No, Let’s do Status Moves Only” and pressed A+B+Start+Select for the madness.
Edit: Turns out I wasn't the first guy to try this challenge! Jrose11, who you might know from is it possible to beat Pokemon Red/Blue with a Magikarp video (and the Fire Red/Leaf Green followup video) in his Crystal Status Moves Only Video said he tried it (with Gold/Silver if he remebered correctly) years before he started Youtube but quit before beating the Elite Four. I still might be able to say I was the first to finish a Status Moves only run though.
Rules
1: No two Pokemon of the same evolution chain are allowed.
No Butterfree army, no matter how awesome it sounds for once.
2: No using Potions, Status Heals, or Revives in battle. Held items are fine.
Stalling is way too easy with Full Restore and Revive Spamming.
3: Battle Mode Set
No free switches from KOs. Do I seem like someone who wants Easy Mode on?
4: I Must Fight Every Trainer.
It’s something I do anyway, but here it makes things sound even more insane.
5: No Attacks. Status Moves ONLY.
No Tackle, No Poison Sting, No sanity.
With the obligatory stuff out of the way, it's time for the madness.
The Beginning of the Impossible Dream
Beginning to Rival Fight 1
The First Real Challenge
Goes until the first real challenge has been defeated
I hope you like what you've read so far and that you'll keep reading if you do like it please read on.
Edit: Fire Red is Complete and I'm posting Soul Silver here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18310052/chapters/43340606 (Sorry for linking to a Fanfiction website, but you can't exactly make posts with over 50,000 words on Smogon.)
Quick Link to the start of the Pokemon Shield playthrough
Quick link to the start of the Pokemon Black playthrough
The origin of this run
First of all, This was Not my idea, but as far as I know I might be the first to do it. It all started when the Youtuber/Steamer Gamechamp3000 played through Mario Odyssey without jumping... and won. When I heard of it I instantly became a fan and watched him go through the post game to get over 700 Moons. (I decided I had to try it, but that’s getting off topic.) He then did other challenges like Kirby without Eating, Splatton without the Hero Shot, and Mario Sunshine without FLOOD. People would suggest things to try in the comments and something that caught my eye was “Can you beat Pokemon Red without attacking?” I thought about it and it seemed insane, but possible. (Well, not on Red because of something that isn’t programmed in Gen 1) A month or two later I decided to replay Fire Red and after picking Squirtle I thought, “No, Let’s do Status Moves Only” and pressed A+B+Start+Select for the madness.
Edit: Turns out I wasn't the first guy to try this challenge! Jrose11, who you might know from is it possible to beat Pokemon Red/Blue with a Magikarp video (and the Fire Red/Leaf Green followup video) in his Crystal Status Moves Only Video said he tried it (with Gold/Silver if he remebered correctly) years before he started Youtube but quit before beating the Elite Four. I still might be able to say I was the first to finish a Status Moves only run though.
Rules
1: No two Pokemon of the same evolution chain are allowed.
No Butterfree army, no matter how awesome it sounds for once.
2: No using Potions, Status Heals, or Revives in battle. Held items are fine.
Stalling is way too easy with Full Restore and Revive Spamming.
3: Battle Mode Set
No free switches from KOs. Do I seem like someone who wants Easy Mode on?
4: I Must Fight Every Trainer.
It’s something I do anyway, but here it makes things sound even more insane.
5: No Attacks. Status Moves ONLY.
No Tackle, No Poison Sting, No sanity.
With the obligatory stuff out of the way, it's time for the madness.
The Beginning of the Impossible Dream
Beginning to Rival Fight 1
Another tenth birthday in Pallet town has come and gone. The new ten year old is off to receive the traditional gift, his first Pokemon. This kid wants to be the very best, like no one ever was, but he has a core belief that violence is wrong. Nothing could sway him from that belief, but he still wants to be a Pokemon trainer no matter what. Everyone told him it was a choice between accepting Truth of violence of battles or keeping the Ideal of peace. He had accepted the Truth, but saw no reason to lose the Ideal. With Oak’s lab coming into sight and he smiled as he thought. He really would be like no one ever was.
Dude: ‘Sup Climmy
Professor Oak’s grandson was leaning on the wall between the front door and the No Loitering Sign. Climmy waved at his best friend.
Climmy: Hey Dude.
Dude: You know that’s not my name, right?
Climmy: What is your name?
Dude: *Shudders*
Climmy: Why bring it up then?
Dude: So you really think you can be the best without attacking?
Climmy: Yep.
Dude: You’re insane. What starter are you picking?
Climmy: Bulbasaur.
Dude: Really? Not Squirtle?
Climmy: It evolves into War-tortle then evolves into something with cannons.
Dude: Good point, but still.
Climmy: Besides, even if Charmander and Squirtle weren’t practically made for fighting, I’d still like Bulbasaur most.
Dude: Want to battle after we get out starters?
Climmy: Depends on the moves Bulbasaur knows.
Oak: Ah, Climmy are you ready for your Pokemon?
Climmy: Do you like rhetorical questions?
Oak: Ha, come on in and choose your first Pokemon.
Climmy: I decided a long time ago. I’m like to meet my new Bulbasaur.
Oak: Excellent. Bulbasaur, meet your new trainer.
Bulbasuar: Bulb!
Climmy: Oh, by the way, what moves does he know?
Oak: Tackle and Growl
Dude: Good Luck.
Climmy: Just Growl? I’m not ready for a battle.
Dude: Then you’ll never be ready.
Climmy: You’ll see. Oh, you’ll see...
Dude: Maybe, but probably not. Smell ya later.
(In game we fought and he won, obviously.)
Climmy headed north with his new ally through Route 1 and Viridian City. As they traveled Climmy told him about his dream and Bulbasaur listened fascinated by how different he was. When they arrived in Viridian Forest they spent a half hour in the tall grass. For most people, you’d assume they’re training or looking for a Pikachu, but this is someone so against violence that they wouldn’t even use Tackle, so who knows what this mad man was doing? Eventually they left the grass and walked up to a trainer that would obviously beat him. One violation of common sense later Climmy won.
Dude had seen the whole thing and needed to know how Climmy had trained Bulbasaur without Tackle and Climmy casually told him that after using Harden enough times Kakuna can attack and it's a move with recoil. Dude was dumbfounded. "You used Growl against a Kakuna until it used Struggle..." Climmy grinned and denied it. "Don't be ridiculous. I used Growl AND Harden. I didn't think Bulbasaur could take all the Struggles by himself, so I caught a Metapod. Too bad she couldn't take all the Struggles..." Dude made several noises but failed to to say anything even close to words, so Climmy said that he'd challange him when he could speek and with a smell 'ya later Climmy was off to baffle more trainers.
After easily defying common sense with every other trainer in the forest Climmy caught up with Dude to challenge him. Dude sent out a Pidgey and facing it wasn’t much different than fighting bugs so it went down with little trouble. Its Sand Attack may have seemed like a problem, but it doesn’t matter much when your aim only needs to be true once. Charmander unleashed a barrage of Scratch and Growl, but no Embers. When Climmy asked why Dude said he didn't need it. Dude changed his mind after Charmander fainted.
2:11 Dude Defeated
Dude: ‘Sup Climmy
Professor Oak’s grandson was leaning on the wall between the front door and the No Loitering Sign. Climmy waved at his best friend.
Climmy: Hey Dude.
Dude: You know that’s not my name, right?
Climmy: What is your name?
Dude: *Shudders*
Climmy: Why bring it up then?
Dude: So you really think you can be the best without attacking?
Climmy: Yep.
Dude: You’re insane. What starter are you picking?
Climmy: Bulbasaur.
Dude: Really? Not Squirtle?
Climmy: It evolves into War-tortle then evolves into something with cannons.
Dude: Good point, but still.
Climmy: Besides, even if Charmander and Squirtle weren’t practically made for fighting, I’d still like Bulbasaur most.
Dude: Want to battle after we get out starters?
Climmy: Depends on the moves Bulbasaur knows.
Oak: Ah, Climmy are you ready for your Pokemon?
Climmy: Do you like rhetorical questions?
Oak: Ha, come on in and choose your first Pokemon.
Climmy: I decided a long time ago. I’m like to meet my new Bulbasaur.
Oak: Excellent. Bulbasaur, meet your new trainer.
Bulbasuar: Bulb!
Climmy: Oh, by the way, what moves does he know?
Oak: Tackle and Growl
Dude: Good Luck.
Climmy: Just Growl? I’m not ready for a battle.
Dude: Then you’ll never be ready.
Climmy: You’ll see. Oh, you’ll see...
Dude: Maybe, but probably not. Smell ya later.
(In game we fought and he won, obviously.)
Climmy headed north with his new ally through Route 1 and Viridian City. As they traveled Climmy told him about his dream and Bulbasaur listened fascinated by how different he was. When they arrived in Viridian Forest they spent a half hour in the tall grass. For most people, you’d assume they’re training or looking for a Pikachu, but this is someone so against violence that they wouldn’t even use Tackle, so who knows what this mad man was doing? Eventually they left the grass and walked up to a trainer that would obviously beat him. One violation of common sense later Climmy won.
Dude had seen the whole thing and needed to know how Climmy had trained Bulbasaur without Tackle and Climmy casually told him that after using Harden enough times Kakuna can attack and it's a move with recoil. Dude was dumbfounded. "You used Growl against a Kakuna until it used Struggle..." Climmy grinned and denied it. "Don't be ridiculous. I used Growl AND Harden. I didn't think Bulbasaur could take all the Struggles by himself, so I caught a Metapod. Too bad she couldn't take all the Struggles..." Dude made several noises but failed to to say anything even close to words, so Climmy said that he'd challange him when he could speek and with a smell 'ya later Climmy was off to baffle more trainers.
After easily defying common sense with every other trainer in the forest Climmy caught up with Dude to challenge him. Dude sent out a Pidgey and facing it wasn’t much different than fighting bugs so it went down with little trouble. Its Sand Attack may have seemed like a problem, but it doesn’t matter much when your aim only needs to be true once. Charmander unleashed a barrage of Scratch and Growl, but no Embers. When Climmy asked why Dude said he didn't need it. Dude changed his mind after Charmander fainted.
2:11 Dude Defeated
First thing's first. I lost the battle that happens after picking starters. You don't have to win it, especially if you can't win it.
The good news is Bulbasaur learns Leech Seed at Level 7. The bad news is you need Bulbasaur starts at Level 5. Without Leech Seed you can't do anything, to opponents, so I stall out cocoon Pokemon until they use Struggle. Bulbasaur alone can't survive Struggle, so I caught a Metapod todie tank Struggle. It got KOed. Twice. By cocoons. Can I have my badge of dishonor?
For the rival, who I named Dude, I just decided save before hand to try it. He never used Gust or Ember. At the time I assumed Gust was latter than Level 9, but no Ember confirmed this Dude battle has the RNG AI.
Milestones
0:31 First Level Up
0:41 First New Move
0:51 First Trainer defeated!
2:11 Dude Defeated
The good news is Bulbasaur learns Leech Seed at Level 7. The bad news is you need Bulbasaur starts at Level 5. Without Leech Seed you can't do anything, to opponents, so I stall out cocoon Pokemon until they use Struggle. Bulbasaur alone can't survive Struggle, so I caught a Metapod to
For the rival, who I named Dude, I just decided save before hand to try it. He never used Gust or Ember. At the time I assumed Gust was latter than Level 9, but no Ember confirmed this Dude battle has the RNG AI.
Milestones
0:31 First Level Up
0:41 First New Move
0:51 First Trainer defeated!
2:11 Dude Defeated
The First Real Challenge
Goes until the first real challenge has been defeated
Climmy arrived at Pewter City, home of the first real challenge for any Pokemon trainer. Bulbasuar was ready and Metapod was... not doing much. Climmy thought better safe than sorry, so he tried to go to Route 3 for training. The key word being tried... Some kid dragged Climmy to the gym and when Climmy asked how long he's been doing this he said 8 years and Climmy wondered how he been arrested or put in a mental hospital. Climmy then trained in Viridian Forrest instead then headed to the gym when he felt he was ready.
When Climmy was ready he entered the gym and soon realized he may haveoverestimated Brock which lead to enough training for an easy, uneventful battle. Leech Seed’s drain and Growl’s Attack lowering allowed Bulbasaur to heal any damage he took. In hindsight, training to Level 15 for Poison Powder may have been overkill. What should have been the first real challenge was instead something barely worth talking about.
3:17 Bolder Badge!
(I like the idea of sharing my team after Gym Battles, but I think it’s better to wait until after the first real challenge to do that.)
Throughout Route 3 and Most of Mount Moon no one came close to beating Climmy, not even the so called crime family that was looking for fossils legally. Only one trainer came close to a challenge and she was definitely the first real challenge. Lass Miriam had a Level 11 Oddish. To stand a chance Climmy trained for hours to get Butterfree to Level 18 and hatched an insane plan. He would have his Butterfree or newly caught Zubat use Supersonic then switch between the two of them until Oddish Snapped out of confusion and have whoever was out use Supersonic again. If his madness wasn't apparent yet it became apparent when he chose Growl and Harden over other moves. Climmy challenged Miriam and when Oddish KOed itself Climmy had a moment of relief... then Miriam sent in Bellsprout. Climmy was not happy. Zubat couldn't stay in against Bellsprout because Supersonic would run out of PP while he was trapped by Wrap, so Buterfree had to face Bellsprout it alone using Harden while waiting for confusion to wear off.
8:58 Lass Miriam, The Road Block Finally Down!
When Climmy was ready he entered the gym and soon realized he may haveoverestimated Brock which lead to enough training for an easy, uneventful battle. Leech Seed’s drain and Growl’s Attack lowering allowed Bulbasaur to heal any damage he took. In hindsight, training to Level 15 for Poison Powder may have been overkill. What should have been the first real challenge was instead something barely worth talking about.
3:17 Bolder Badge!
(I like the idea of sharing my team after Gym Battles, but I think it’s better to wait until after the first real challenge to do that.)
Throughout Route 3 and Most of Mount Moon no one came close to beating Climmy, not even the so called crime family that was looking for fossils legally. Only one trainer came close to a challenge and she was definitely the first real challenge. Lass Miriam had a Level 11 Oddish. To stand a chance Climmy trained for hours to get Butterfree to Level 18 and hatched an insane plan. He would have his Butterfree or newly caught Zubat use Supersonic then switch between the two of them until Oddish Snapped out of confusion and have whoever was out use Supersonic again. If his madness wasn't apparent yet it became apparent when he chose Growl and Harden over other moves. Climmy challenged Miriam and when Oddish KOed itself Climmy had a moment of relief... then Miriam sent in Bellsprout. Climmy was not happy. Zubat couldn't stay in against Bellsprout because Supersonic would run out of PP while he was trapped by Wrap, so Buterfree had to face Bellsprout it alone using Harden while waiting for confusion to wear off.
8:58 Lass Miriam, The Road Block Finally Down!
I may have overtrained for Brock, and by that I mean Level 15 for Poison Powder. It was too easy. Lass Miriam in Mt. Moon on the other hand, much harder. I don't think you remember her because she's usually an easy forgetable trainer. My main offence Is Leech Seed, which doesn't affect Grass Types and Poison Powder, which doesn't affect Poison Types. Miriam has Oddish and Bellsprout. Grass/Poison Types. I needed another way to make Pokemon faint (For once that way of putting it works best...) and there was a way, confusion. The two options for getting it were to grind Buterfree to Level 18 for Supersonic something that leads to a sentence that isn't said much ussarcastically. The good news is Mount Moon has Zubat! This leeds to another rare sentence. The bad news is they don't know Supersonic at their levels. Once I leveled up Zubat I found out Bellsprout know Wrap, which forces Zubat to stay in and waste Supersonic's PP, and eventually make it attack while it's trapped in battle. You could try grinding until its next status move, but that's Confuse Ray at level 26. (28 with evolution.) I eventually grinded Butterfree to Level 18 and came up with a stupid plan. Use Supersonic then switch between Zubat and Butterfree until Confusion wore off. Bellsprout's Wrap made use the much more sane strategy of having Butterfree stay in and use Harden during the confusion turns.
Side note: I've now chosen Growl and Harden over other moves.
Milestones
3:17 Bolder Badge!
8:58 Lass Miriam, The Road Block Finally Down!
Side note: I've now chosen Growl and Harden over other moves.
Milestones
3:17 Bolder Badge!
8:58 Lass Miriam, The Road Block Finally Down!
Ivysaur - Level 20 - Docile (Neutral)
Leech Seed
Poison Powder
Sleep Powder
Growl
Butterfree - Level 18 - Sassy (+SpD -Spe)
Poison Powder
Supersonic
Sleep Powder
Harden
Zubat - Level 16 - Jolly (+Spe -SpA)
Supersonic
Unusable
Unusable
You may think that grinding for an optional trainer is overkill, but there would be many more Grass types to come.
Leech Seed
Poison Powder
Sleep Powder
Growl
Butterfree - Level 18 - Sassy (+SpD -Spe)
Poison Powder
Supersonic
Sleep Powder
Harden
Zubat - Level 16 - Jolly (+Spe -SpA)
Supersonic
Unusable
Unusable
You may think that grinding for an optional trainer is overkill, but there would be many more Grass types to come.
I hope you like what you've read so far and that you'll keep reading if you do like it please read on.
Edit: Fire Red is Complete and I'm posting Soul Silver here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18310052/chapters/43340606 (Sorry for linking to a Fanfiction website, but you can't exactly make posts with over 50,000 words on Smogon.)
Quick Link to the start of the Pokemon Shield playthrough
Quick link to the start of the Pokemon Black playthrough
Last edited:
