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Pokemon Hard Mode: A Challenger Appears
April 3, 2010 by Nick Salyers
Filed under Features, News, Nintendo, Pokemon Hard Mode
It’s safe to say that if you’re reading this post, you’ve played Pokemon. Pretty much everyone under the age of 25 has. And rightfully so; Pokemon is probably the greatest handheld RPG ever made, and a perfect one for new player to jump in to. Pokemon, while being difficult to a degree and requiring knowledge of the game’s mechanics and matchups, contains no real consequences. You can save at any time, trade over stronger pokemon to new playthroughs, and basically, if you’re tenacious enough, you can’t lose.
But what if you could? Introducing the Gamerz Zone’s very own Pokemon Hard Mode. Our very own Andrew “Phot” Rodriguez has agreed to undertake this enormous task, and we’ll be updating you every week until he finishes. But first, the rules.
-If a Pokemon in your party faints, you must release it.
-Every time you reach a new route, cave, etc., you must catch the very first Pokemon you see, regardless of your current number of party members. The Pokemon may sit within the box for an indeterminate amount of time as a backup.
-If you fail to catch the first Pokemon you see, either via it fleeing, knocking it out, or having no Pokeballs, you may not catch another. Tough shit.
-This means you can not catch a pokemon in a route you were in before you could catch pokemon. So no route 1, you were there before you had pokeballs.
-If a town you go to contains a body of water or a gift Pokemon like Bill’s Eevee in G/S/C/HG/SS, that may be considered a Pokemon of a new area.
-You must nickname your pokemon so there is some sort of attachment. Each pokemon is a best friend to you, to see them die is heartbreaking.
-If your entire party faints, they all must be thrown away. If you have a pokemon left in a box somewhere, you may continue, otherwise you must start your game over.
-Treat pokeballs as rare artifacts; at no point can you buy more than one from each store. You should only use ones you find in the wild or are awarded.
-You are, under no circumstance, allowed to get a second pokemon from any given area.
-You are, under no circumstance, allowed to use items outside of battle. If you were poisoned on your last turn of the battle, you better hope to god theres a pokemon center nearby.
-You may not switch out before the enemy trainer sends in a new Pokemon.
-You are not allowed to use legendaries in battle.
-If your pokemon is 4 levels higher then the pokemon you are fighting then you are not allowed to attack with that pokemon. (Wild pokemon only. Legendary pokemon acts like a trainer fight.)
So basically, the PHM is designed to make the game harder and impose consequences on the player, making them play with a purpose rather than just rushing through.
So let’s take a look at the set up and a first hiccup in our hero’s story…
Our hero is named.
And so is our rival.
And our first pokemon has a name as well…
The first fight.
And the first hiccup, and a quick restart as losing your only pokemon means game over.
Phot receives the pokedex.
and now we’ve got our first two teammates.
And that’s all for this week folks. Be sure to check in next week for the latest update from Phot’s adventures in Pokemon Hard Mode.
There's no way in hell I'd be able to do all that. I don't have the patience for it… More power to you Phot.
how did you get the screen shots?
An emulator.
You are right. This isn't an exclusive and shouldn't have been told as such. The only exclusive is just to show one of our members, Ph0t, going through with it. I'll be sure to update everything with the real source info. I hope it didn't upset you too much. I noticed all of the emails with your comments. lol
No one ever said the concept was exclusive. If you misinterpret a story, we are not held responsible for that. We would have gladly added a source for the comic if anyone had bothered to let us know, which, by the way, you did not. Spamming and acting like a child is not informing anyone of anything, especially when you do so to try to convince the staff to "kill themselves" and "consider suicide."
Ah, they weren’t all me. I’m not even the OP/Nuzlocke. I’m just the guy who found this when browsing the internet. Maybe I shouldn’t have called the hounds (with our chat)…after all, a good section of these guys DID come from /v/. It’s the new /b/, ect.
And if you haven’t noticed, hello, the source is on the ‘website’ thing accessible by clicking my name. :V
…If that was RMc(numbers and letters I forget but don’t care to remember) writing the most negative comments, I wouldn’t be surprised. Not at all. ._.;
Oh, forgot to mention this. For easier screenshots, the VBA has a way to quickly take them without that menubar thing on top. Just hit F12 and BANG, instant screenie~
Good to know, thanks.
In the future, a quick comment or email and we'll fix things like that. The comic and idea came to us via a third party, and none of us here at TGZ knew anything more about it. None of us are the 4chan types really. I hope you'll take a look around though, and if you like what you see, come on back, and if you've got anymore feedback, let us know.
I named my pokemon from Pearl version after internet people too. Raticate is Dillon. Skitty is Kitty man. Spinda is PhOT. Hounddoom is Morte. Ampharos is Anna.
I played with a guy in the Reach beta who's clan tag was "EZE" O.o
How does the Safari Zone work in PHM? Is is still under the same rules, i.e. first Pokemon only? Or do the individual sections count as different areas?
I'm playing Fire Red, and I've gotten up to this point. It's fun I'll give you that, but this is a bitch haha.
And the same thing in HG/SS; since you can swap areas in the Safari Zone, can you only use each area once, thereby removing the use of the items to make rarer Pokemon appear?
I think we had decided that it counted as one area. It'll be a while till he gets there, his computer died on him again.
Damn, the whole Safari Zone is one area? Bummer, that'll make things more challenging.
Well it ain't called "Pokemon Easy Mode"
wat about potions can u buy them or use them at all?
hey i have a technicallity to call if ur pokemon gets poisoned in the last turn of a battle can u just get into another battle and use an item in there i mean technically its in battle so it would count huh and for the trainer thing u cant have a pokemon out in the beggining dont attack but switch out just for the exp?
Choosing your gender was the hardest part in mode mode due to Prof. Oak
What version of pokemon is Ph0ts playing?
Great info you got here.
So, I'm attempting it. I was lucky to run into a Pikachu first in Viridian Forest!
But then while level grinding I found a Shiny Pidgey. I still had a Pokeball left.
…It was on Route 1.
That hurt more than nicknaming a fainting Pokemon.
I just couldnt leave your website before saying that I really enjoyed the quality information you provide you with to your visitors… Definitely will be back often to check up on brand new stuff you post!
What about Kurt, in HeartGold, SoulSilver, Gold, Silver, and Crystal? Would you be able to have him create Pokeballs at any time you want, or would it be only once?
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Whet the fudge ? It's just a Nuzlocke. Get the things right and give the source credits at least…
Here, here!