Curated Critiques

Consistent release schedule? I don’t know her. Anyway, hi y’all. We’ve got a lot of fighting ahead of us today so let’s just get on with it!

A new route would normally mean new Pokémon but first of all we need to take on Nugget Bridge and its menagerie of trainers!

I wonder, is it a Nugget? I do so hope it’s a Nugget.

I don’t think you’ll mind me not showing off the boring unfused Pokémon that trainers have unless they’re quite notable. Other than these two, Cale has a Weedle and a Kakuna – Valefor sweeps this team without taking a single hit.

Cool. I’m more interested in that shiny TM over the way there.

Abra is first up and because she’s so quick, we have to deal with Teleport shenanigans before I can land enough Pecks on her to fell her.

Her other Pokémon aren’t so notable, though I think Manish is both a fantastic name and an adorable lil’ thing.

Not far now!

Youngster Timmy leads with Ekans. Note that the trainer’s levels have increased by two every fight – Nugget bridge might end up being challenging!

Meowshrew is kind of threatening. Fury Swipes could have one shot April May, I’m lucky that it used Fury Cutter on its other turns.

Damn right. This battle gained Valefor level 20 which not only means Razor Leaf but:

Utterly majestic. I love the quadruple horns. Noctowl should hopefully contribute some nice defensive stats too.

This line alone scares me…

And this is the reason. Self-destruct at this point in the game is all but a guaranteed death. April May was luckily able to take down the foe before I was able to find out if it had the move.

I can breathe a sigh of relief.

Zukey managed to put quite the dent in Valefor with Wing Attack, but Peck made short work of it. Flying-type moves are fantastic in Kanto.

It is, of course, a Nugget.

Team Rocket Grunt: …Pokémon. Want to join?

[No]

Team Rocket Grunt: Are you sure? Come on, join us! I’m telling you to join! Ok, you need convincing. I’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse!

We get a really cool little animation for this fight!

Uh huh, huh.

Despite Intimidate cutting down April May’s attack two Hyper Fangs are still strong enough to decimate the snake.

Koffbat looks so goofy, I love it.

Don’t I know it.

Now to have a look at this patch of grass and deal with whatever Professor Oak’s Aide wants.

Assistant: Right now I’m looking for a Pokémon called Abra that appears on this route. I’m studying its behaviour in its natural habitat, but its teleporting abilities makes it very difficult to even get a glimpse at one! Could you please help me find one?

Yeah, some of the quests in this game require actively hunting for and catching certain Pokémon. Since that isn’t really within the rules of the Nuzlocke I’m going to have to bend the rules a little. If I catch the requested Pokémon, great! If not, I’ll hunt for the Pokémon and then put it in a special box of it’s own once it’s served its purpose.

Incredibly, that won’t be required today. Time to catch us an Abra! Now, even though Teleport is changed in some battles to be a damaging move, if a wild Pokémon uses it, it’ll still escape from battle.

To that end Sleep Powder worked wonders.

One trip back to Cerulean Poké Centre to withdraw our new pal later…

Assistant: I see, so it looks like Abra can sense danger telepathically and teleport away even when it’s sleeping. Fascinating! Pokémon exhibit very complex behaviours influenced by the other Pokémon that live alongside them in their environment.

Assistant: …given route.

She of course now gives us a PokéRadar.

So now we’re gonna hunt for all the Pokémon on Route 24!

As we go around we pick up the TM for Draining Kiss, which is a nice get for a Pokémon I know we’ll be getting quite shortly.

Using the PokéRadar makes patches of grass flutter. I’m not sure whether they definitely contain rarer Pokémon and I’m not sure whether the assistant needed me to actually see all of these Pokémon in the route or to just have them all in my Pokédex, but these three plus Abra and a Pidgey that I failed to screenshot lead to this:

Assistant: …encounter with your PokéRadar.

This quest requires actually catching the thing, so it looks like we’ll be making use of that Quest Pokémon box after all.

Now this quest proved to be extremely frustrating. The PokéRadar has a chance of making some patches of grass shake, and they don’t necessarily have the rare Pokémon. In addition, the PokéRadar must be charged by running 50 steps with it for each use. Very bad luck and much running about meant that this happened quite quickly:

Togepi is a nice one, to be honest. Togetic and Togekiss are powerhouses. And now that we have two unfused Pokémon, you know what that means.

So, both versions of this Pokémon will turn out really well thanks to Togekiss and Alakazam both being fantastic, but this first combination is just a little bit inferior thanks to lower HP, Special Defence and Speed.

It’s a shame because this sprite is fucking perfection, no? It’s like a boiled egg that comes with its own spoon.

Togera is what we’re actually going with. It’s uh… interesting. I teach it Draining Kiss and then try to think of a new name.

After one of my favourite anime.

After what seemed like an age, I finally catch this fucker.

Just because he’s useless to my playthrough, doesn’t mean he doesn’t get a nickname!

We get some Ultra Balls, which is really nice. Especially since catching new Pokémon is an important part of this challenge.

Goodbye forever.

Another Strength puzzle stopping us from getting what we want.

That’s Route 24 out of the way, let’s explore Route 25!

Oh no.

He’s even named Joey like the Primal Rattata Lover!

Well that’s something. I bet the creator of this game was just creaming themself at the idea to make this trainer with this particular horrid thing. In all seriousness this was an annoying fight. I missed Sleep Powder twice, it managed to flinch me twice with Bite and Hyper Fang took chunks out of Valefor. Still won though.

The berry bush on the left has Cheri Berries.

This lass has two fusions of the same Pokémon – both genders of Nidoran. Took me a second to notice thanks to the way they’re so similar.

Pikachu fusions are really hit or miss aren’t they? In addition to this guy, Hiker Nob here has 3 Geodudes who all have Mud Sport, which can really make Pikachop utterly useless against the tide of power that is Valefor.

Another useless Revive for the pile.

Papoke looks like it’s in a state of perpetual agony, so really April May using Venochock to put it out of its misery is an act of kindness.

Captain Ike is now a high enough of a level to start contributing in battles, I feel. With Supersonic and the likes of Wing Attack and Venoshock he has a chance, though he does take a lot of damage. Oh well, it won’t be long until he evolves into something a bit sturdier.

Yes, Youngster Dan, look into that face and realise that your hubris will be your downfall. Nothing stands forever against the shambling hulk of orange, scaly flesh that is C A P T A I N I K E .

Mistakes were made. Rock Throw is a bitch. Luckily I can switch in April May to mop the rocky snake up.

Not long now!

At this point in the trainer gauntlet I run out of Hyper Fang PP and have to resort to using Bite to finish enemies off.

Flinch stops this Venoshrew from doing absolutely anything until its last turn, where it tries to use PoisonPowder on my Poison-type Pokémon.

That’s a lot of trainers. Gah.

I attempt to use Teleport to warp back to Cerulean for a quick heal, but I’m told that I need a new badge! This is another new thing with Teleport: It’s Fly in every way, right down to being able to fly you anywhere in Kanto!

A cool little detail when we come back to Route 25 after healing up is that it’s raining now!

Ooh, hark at her.

Venoshock and Bite deal with these two monstrosities handily. Drowans is particularly horrible, isn’t it? Talking to this guy after the battle gets you a trade opportunity- he wants something over level 20 for his Bulbatata. It’s a nice way to get a Bulbasaur if you don’t have one.

You mean the one I just beat into submission and extracted money from?

She’s quite a boring trainer. All of her Pokémon go down in one hit and Valefor hits level 21.

I have absolutely never been disappointed in what an Onix fusion looks like. They are uniquely impressive beasts.

Looks like Bill’s place is now a lighthouse instead of being near the lighthouse! We’ll finish this up and next time we’ll take on the gym, as this update has gotten a lot longer than I’d anticipated.

That’s today’s date, which is a very nice detail.

Bill: …this Rhydon. Experiment starting in 3… 2… 1…

A flash of light appears.

Where has Bill gone?

Oh for fuck’s sake.

Bill: …screwed up. I wanted to see what would happen if you combined the DNA of a Pokémon with a human… But now these claws are much too big and I can’t operate the cell separating system to turn myself back into a human. Hey! What’s with that skeptical look?

Despite being exasperated that this dude has obviously never seen The Fly or the episode of The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror that parodies The Fly, we decide to help the dude.

He hops into the pod on the right.

You’re damn right.

Actually I don’t know why I came here. There’s not much direction even in the originals on why you have to come to this out of the way location barred by a long gauntlet of trainers.

He of course gives us the S.S. Anne ticket.

I think I might.

That’s it for the update folks, but before I go, there’s a training montage while I get ready for the next gym!

Firstly we take Peach back, and she’s gained a very impressive 9 levels! She’s definitely ready to evolve.

And then:

Of all the things I expected, this was not it.

There we go. I actually ship her into the Pokémon Daycare, as I don’t think I need a third Fairy-type and second Normal-type but it’ll be nice to have backups.

Now for a HUGE amount of evolutions.

First up is Captain Ike who looks quite dashing as a Gyarabat.

Jiggychu is probably my favourite overall fusion at the moment. That tail is gorgeous. What a glowup.

I looked up where to get another Moon Stone and what do you know, there’s another one right here in Cerulean City! While it’s expensive, we have two Pokémon who need Moon Stones to level up and really, now that the issue of choice is taken away from us I see no reason not to evolve them both! Neither Jigglypuff nor Nidorina learn any absolutely crucial moves (except perhaps Nidorina’s Poison Fang but that’s around 30 entire levels away).

I have so much regret.

This sure is something.

And that was all she wrote.

Post-Update Summary

We got a lot done today, and it’s the longest update so far by a large margin. Hope you all stuck with me! Our team is rounding out quite well. I can’t see Peregrine being very vital to the team as we already have a superior Grass/Flying type but it can’t hurt to have it around for the time being as we have an empty slot. I’m super happy with getting Abra and Togepi in the order I did too. Peach should be useful in the next gym as she learned Electro Ball when she leveled up too! Fabulous.

New Pokémon

Route 24: Socks the Abra, Bugs the Buneary (Quest fodder)
Eggs: Majesty the Togepi and Alexandra the Clefursa (Cleffa + Teddiursa)

New Fusions

Abra + Togepi = Abpi
Cleffa + Teddiursa = Clefursa
Hootsaur (Hoothoot + Ivysaur) evolved into Noctsaur (Noctowl + Ivysaur)
Magibat (Magikarp + Zubat) evolved into Gyarabat (Gyarados + Zubat)
Nidotata (Nidorina + Rattata) evolved into Nidotata (Nidoqueen + Rattata)
Igglychu (Igglybuff + Pichu) evolved into Jigglychu (Jigglypuff + Pikachu)
Jigglychu (Jigglypuff + Pikachu) evolved into Wigglychu (Wigglytuff + Pikachu)