Current Events > I'm doing a solo run in Pokemon Red with Porygon (who did nothing wrong)

(+) Yeah! (+)

The seizures were all Pikachu's fault, and Porygon took the fall because Nintendo didn't want to punish their poster child. But we all know the truth. Porygon did nothing wrong.

https://i.imgur.com/h9LDReF.gif

Anyways, I originally told myself after my previous solo run (a Fletchling solo in X/Y back in August/September) that I wasnt going to play any more Pokemon until the new Scarlet/Violet games came out. However, Ive been watching some Jrose11 gen 1 solo runs on Youtube lately (fantastic Pokemon YouTuber, I definitely recommend his videos) and I got the itch to do one of my own. So I picked out a Pokemon I like that Jrose hasnt done a gen 1 solo run with yet, booted up the original Pokemon Red in all of its janky, glitchy, badly aged, fucked up glory, and used a save editor to change my starter Pokemon into a level 5 Porygon to start the run.

For this run, Im going to follow the same rules as Jrose does for his gen 1 solo runs:

* No items used during battle at all, only out of battle. This is different from my previous solo runs where I allowed myself to use healing items in battle.
* I have to beat the whole Elite Four and the Champion all in a row without saving between them.
* No using cheat device codes or save editors beyond the first one to change my starter to Porygon at the start of the game
* No using glitches aside from the Badge Boost Glitch, which is completely unavoidable and may as well be considered a unique gen 1 battle mechanic with how common and unavoidable it is. Ill go into more detail on this later on when it starts coming into play, or earlier if enough people ask about it before then. But Jrose uses it, so Im going to use it too.

The playthrough began with me and my virtual buddy Porygon defeating my rival at Oaks lab, running Oaks errand, getting the Pokedex, going through Viridian Forest, and beating all of the bug catchers in the forest. After clearing out all of the trainers in the area aside from Brock, Porygon is now at level 12. Porygon only knows Tackle, Sharpen, and Conversion right now, which sounds terrible for facing a Rock-type gym. Interestingly, Conversion actually has a different effect in gen 1 than it does in later gens. In gen 1 only, it changes Porygon into the same type as the opposing Pokemon. So if I use it in this battle against Brock, then Porygon becomes a Rock/Ground type, which means it loses the 1.5x STAB boost on Tackle but also resists the attacks that Brocks Pokemon will be using on it and will only be taking 0.5x damage. Im going to try the battle against Brock at level 12, and if I fail a few times, Ill grind more levels and try again. The Brock hurdle is just an inevitable part of a gen 1 run using a Pokemon who only has Normal-type attacks early on. Porygon gets Psybeam at level 23, but I dont want to overlevel that many levels to beat Brock if I don't have to.

https://i.imgur.com/tfFngoy.gif

Wish me and Porygon luck. We're probably going to need it.

yo whaddup I'm Cal and this is my cyberduck

we're here to to get money and cyberfuck your shit up

Porygon is one of the best worst pokemon! Beats the hell out of most Snorlax, can wall Chansey, can take on Gengar, and can status most Psychics. All from a pokemon with low 300 BST. He has a wide movepool and can run several different sets as a surprise.

ChocoboMogALT posted...

Porygon is one of the best worst pokemon! Beats the hell out of most Snorlax, can wall Chansey, can take on Gengar, and can status most Psychics. All from a pokemon with low 300 BST. He has a wide movepool and can run several different sets as a surprise.

Yep, Porygon does have quite a wide movepool to work with. But between TM's being one-time use in gen 1 and no move reminder, I feel like managing its four moveslots to have the right moves at the right time will be a key factor in this playthrough.

Teach it Flash.

Porygon2 was my sweeper in Silver

Porygon is awesome. Good luck with the run.

Solar_Crimson posted...

Teach it Flash.

No, I can easily get through Rock Tunnel without Flash. And even if I did need it, I would give it to an HM mule and not Porygon.

Calwings posted...

No, I can easily get through Rock Tunnel without Flash. And even if I did need it, I would give it to an HM mule and not Porygon.

Sounds like you're afraid.

If Porygon is so innocent, surely there can be no harm in teaching it Flash?

wish it never got evolutions and just got buffed instead

Tag.

Calwings posted...

or earlier if enough people ask about it before then

:) tag

I was today years old when I learned about the Badge Boost Glitch.

Golden_Key33 posted...

I was today years old when I learned about the Badge Boost Glitch.

Yeah, I've watched a lot of JRose11's videos on Youtube where he does Gen 1 solo runs, and I kind of roll my eyes every time he says he's going to use the Badge Boost glitch. I know there's no true way to avoid it in Gen 1, but in my eyes, it kind of sullies his challenges to rely on it.

Then again, if he didn't, some of the Pokemon would be downright impossible to win with.

DrizztLink posted...

Sounds like you're afraid.

If Porygon is so innocent, surely there can be no harm in teaching it Flash?

Lmao.

If anyone here doesn't know about the Badge Boost Glitch, this link explains the gist of it.

https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/List_of_battle_glitches_(Generation_I)#Stat_modification_errors

If you want to know more, ask and I can try to explain it further or more clearly.

Golden_Key33 posted...

I was today years old when I learned about the Badge Boost Glitch.

Yep, just one of many glitches resulting from gen 1's shoddy programming. It sounds dumb to say things like "I'm using Agility to raise attack power" or "the opponent using Leer helped me outspeed their other Pokemon" but that's just the way it works in this dumpster fire of messed up code.

Solar_Crimson posted...

Yeah, I've watched a lot of JRose11's videos on Youtube where he does Gen 1 solo runs, and I kind of roll my eyes every time he says he's going to use the Badge Boost glitch. I know there's no true way to avoid it in Gen 1, but in my eyes, it kind of sullies his challenges to rely on it.

Then again, if he didn't, some of the Pokemon would be downright impossible to win with.

I'm not really a fan of it either, but what are you supposed to do? Limit your Pokemon's already small moveset even further by never using any boosting moves that would trigger it? Reset whenever an opponent hits you with a move like Leer that lowers your stats and triggers it that way? If it's so unavoidable to the point where it's practically a feature, I agree with Jrose that the best thing to do is use it to our advantage.

Tag

The Brock hurdle is done, though it took a bit of leveling up first and I ended up running into another annoying gen 1 glitch. Even after setting up the max of 6 Sharpens, Porygon just wasnt doing enough damage at level 12 to take out both Geodude and Onix. I tried and failed 3 attempts using Conversion and 2 attempts without using Conversion (to keep the STAB for more damage output) before I decided to level up more.

I tried again at level 14 and lost my first attempt due to Onix's Bide being stronger (read: glitchier) than I expected it to be. Onix outsped Porygon and used Bide, and Porygon hit it with a Tackle for 5 damage. Then I had Porygon pointlessly use Sharpen thinking "since I'm not attacking it, Bide will do less damage", but then Bide hit for 30 damage at the end of the 3 turns and took Porygon down to just 1 HP. As it turns out, if you use a non-attacking move after landing a damaging move onto an opponent using Bide, the game will actually count the damage done for that turn as the same damage the previous attack did when it comes to how much Bide will do back. Me using Sharpen after hitting it with Tackle first was still contributing 5 damage to Bide's power, so I only did 5 damage across the 3 turns, but the game counted it as 15 and then Bide did double that amount back. This glitch, like many many others in gen 1, was fixed in later games.

On my second attempt at level 14, I got some better luck, plus I knew to just keep attacking through Bide because of what happened before. Porygon was able to beat both Geodude and Onix to win the battle and get me my first gym badge.

Porygons lore is pretty interesting, its literally a digimon

Calwings posted...

the game will actually count the damage done for that turn as the same damage the previous attack did when it comes to how much Bide will do back

https://i.imgur.com/ZQKHnbY.gif

Today, Porygon and I went through Mt. Moon, made it to Cerulean City, won the second rival battle (which took me a few tries thanks to Pidgeotto being a bitch and using Sand Attack), went through Routes 24-25 including Nugget Bridge, and got the S.S. Ticket from Bill. On Route 24, I also got the first useful TM that Porygon can learn in the form of Thunder Wave. After all of the trainers along the way, Porygon is level 22 now, one level away from learning Psybeam and finally having a better attacking move than Tackle!

Ill probably try to take on Mistys gym next, but I might go to Vermilion City and deal with the S.S. Anne first. Im still thinking about it.

I watched a Nuzlocke once where the streamers were using Porygon as their "psychic" pokemon because it knew confusion. They forgot that it wasn't actually psychic and took it into the fighting dojo.

nice, also hope you are well op

pegusus123456 posted...

I watched a Nuzlocke once where the streamers were using Porygon as their "psychic" pokemon because it knew confusion. They forgot that it wasn't actually psychic and took it into the fighting dojo.

I can see how that would end badly.

Sooooooooo the random Team Rocket grunt in Cerulean City that stole the Dig TM gave me more trouble than Misty did. Just gen 1 things.

Against Misty, I started the battle with Porygon using Conversion to turn itself into a Water-type. Because of that, due to the good AI that some of the important trainers in the game have, Misty would refuse to use not very effective Water-type attacks and would only use Normal-type attacks for the rest of the battle, even though a not very effective Bubblebeam would still do more damage than a neutral Tackle. Thanks to that good AI, I had Porygon set up 6 Sharpens while Staryu used very weak Tackles, then my Porygon fought back with a much stronger Tackle to 2-shot Staryu and 3-shot Starmie to get me the second gym badge. In this battle, Porygon leveled up and learned Psybeam, which will make things a bit easier going forward.

Then I faced the aforementioned Team Rocket grunt, and his Drowzee was a bitch to beat because it kept Disabling Tackle and putting Porygon to sleep with Hypnosis. I won on the first try, but it was really annoying and took a while to take down. From there, I went through routes 5 and 6 to get to Vermilion City, where I got the bike voucher, restocked on items to heal outside of battle (still not using any in battle), and traded a random Spearow I caught earlier to a random in-game NPC for a Farfetchd who will be my HM mule for Cut and Fly.

Next time I play, Ill take on the S.S. Anne and probably fight the third gym too.

The S.S. Anne was no trouble aside from the third rival battle, who yet again was annoying because his Pidgeotto would use Sand Attack. Once I got past that thing without it using Sand Attack on the third attempt, it was smooth sailing. I got the HM for Cut, got off the boat and it sailed away, then I healed and got ready for Lt. Surges gym. I battled the trainers in his gym and a couple more on Route 6 to get Porygon to level 27 and just shy of level up to 28. Why specifically there? So I can use Conversion at the start of the battle to turn Porygon into an Electric type and make it resist Electric attacks for the battle, level up Porygon to 28 by knocking out Voltorb and have it learn Recover mid-battle by deleting Conversion, and then fight the rest of the gym battle with Recover.

The plan went perfectly. Porygon used Conversion on Voltorb and then knocked it out with Psybeam, leveled up and learned Recover, set up 6 Sharpens while Pikachu weakly used Quick Attack, then used its boosted Tackle to 1-shot Pikachu and 3-shot Raichu. Raichu still used Thunderbolt on Porygon once (I guess Surge doesnt have good AI like Misty does) but it didnt do much thanks to Conversion making Porygon resist it, so Porygon recovered the damage and then finished off Raichu.

Third badge and Thunderbolt TM acquired. Thank you for your service, Conversion.

Didnt play today, but I did want to give an update on a couple of things. Porygon is currently level 28, and its moveset right now is Tackle, Psybeam, Sharpen, and Recover. Im 99.9% sure that Recover is staying in that last slot for the rest of the game, and Im holding off on using the Thunderbolt TM because I dont really need it right now but might really need it later on. I mentioned it before, but managing the single-use TMs and Porygons limited move slots will be a key factor in this run.

Also, now that I have the Thunder Badge from Lt. Surge, I now have the Badge Boosts for Attack and Defense unlocked. That means an extra 12.5% in both of those stats at the start of each battle, and each time Porygons stats change in battle (either by raising them with a move like Sharpen or by the opponent lowering them with a move like Tail Whip) the Badge Boost Glitch will re-apply those boosts and give an additional 12.5% to those stats. Later on Ill also unlock the Badge Boosts for Speed (after beating Koga) and Special (after beating Blaine) which will be even more helpful.

So yeah, thats where things stand after three badges. Next up is the long winding road to Celadon City.

Calwings posted...

So I can use Conversion at the start of the battle to turn Porygon into an Electric type and make it resist Electric attacks for the battle, level up Porygon to 28 by knocking out Voltorb and have it learn Recover mid-battle by deleting Conversion, and then fight the rest of the gym battle with Recover.

This is the kind of quality bullshit that keeps me coming back.

I went through routes 9-10 and Rock Tunnel to get to Lavender Town, then through routes 7-8 to get to Celadon City. The only battle of note along the way was one hiker in Rock Tunnel who had two Geodude and a Graveler, all with Self-Destruct. I had Porygon use Sharpen repeatedly to raise its defense (it sounds so weird to say but thats just the Badge Boost Glitch at work) and waited for his Pokemon to go boom. I healed with Recover once the Graveler came out to be safe, but as long as none of them got a critical hit, Porygon would be fine.

Anyways, once I got to Celadon, I started gathering some items for the journey ahead. I bought drinks to give the girl in the department store to get the TMs for Ice Beam and Tri Attack, plus an extra drink for the guards to get to Saffron City. Then I went to the outskirts of Celadon to get the HM for Fly to give to my HM mule Farfetchd, I went to Saffron to get the TM for Psychic, I flew back to Lavender and went down to Route 12 to get the TM for Swift, and then I returned to Celadon. I upgraded Porygons Tackle to Swift, but aside from that, all of the TMs I just gathered are going to be saved for later. I dont need them yet, but Im pretty sure Ill need most of them later.

DrizztLink posted...

This is the kind of quality bullshit that keeps me coming back.

It feels like all of my solo runs have some kind of ridiculous moment like that at some point.

Calwings posted...

I now have the Badge Boosts for Attack and Defense unlocked. That means an extra 12.5% in both of those stats at the start of each battle, and each time Porygons stats change in battle (either by raising them with a move like Sharpen or by the opponent lowering them with a move like Tail Whip) the Badge Boost Glitch will re-apply those boosts and give an additional 12.5% to those stats.

I think it's only stats other than the one altered. So Sharpen, for instance, doesn't gain an addition 1/8th attack.

ChocoboMogALT posted...

I think it's only stats other than the one altered. So Sharpen, for instance, doesn't gain an addition 1/8th attack.

I just double-checked, and you're right. The stat being directly affected by the move is recalculated correctly and not affected by the glitch, then the other stats are recalculated and given another 12.5% by the glitch.

I decided to try and take on Erikas gym first instead of the Team Rocket stuff in Celadon and Lavender. While facing the random trainers in her gym, Porygon reached level 35 and learned Agility, so I got rid of Sharpen to learn it. Porygons base speed is really low, and being able to boost it to outspeed powerful fully-evolved threats later on will be very useful. I'll miss Sharpen making Porygon's Normal-type STAB moves stronger, but the Badge Boost Glitch still does that to a lesser extent.

Speaking of powerful fully-evolved threats holy shit, Erikas Victreebel was fucking annoying. I'd say it was the most annoying Pokemon Ive had to face in this run so far. It outspeeds Porygon so I have to use Agility on the first turn, and its bulky enough on the special side to survive not one but two super effective Psybeams as well. Plus it knows Wrap and Sleep Powder, two extremely annoying moves in gen 1, and Razor Leaf, a move that (with gen 1s crit mechanics and Victreebels base speed) gets a critical hit 100% of the time to do a lot of damage. After over a dozen failed attempts, I was considering using my Psychic or Ice Beam TM early or just giving up and coming back to face Erika later on, but then I had a try where I got lucky and Victreebel missed with Sleep Powder twice in a row. I was able to take it out, and after that, Erikas Tangela and Vileplume were a cakewalk and I took home the fourth badge.

Calwings posted...

So I can use Conversion at the start of the battle to turn Porygon into an Electric type and make it resist Electric attacks for the battle, level up Porygon to 28 by knocking out Voltorb and have it learn Recover mid-battle by deleting Conversion, and then fight the rest of the gym battle with Recover.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/6/0/AAZuMeAADM0w.jpg

Today I took care of the Team Rocket stuff in their hideout under the Celadon Game Corner and at the Pokemon Tower in Lavender Town. They were total pushovers compared to Erika. The only notable things that happened were me picking up the TM for Double-Edge (which might be useful if I need a stronger STAB move, but recoil damage sucks) in the hideout and the fourth rival battle being the easiest one yet because this time Porygon has Swift and it doesn't matter how many times Pidgeotto wants to use Sand Attack. His Gyarados surprised me by having Hydro Pump at such a low level and doing a ton of damage with it, but Porygon was able to recover it off and then get through his other Pokemon without any trouble.

At this point, the game opens up a bit. I could go down to Fuschia City and take on Koga's gym, or I could go to Saffron City and finish the last of the Team Rocket stuff in Silph Company. I'm still thinking about it.

Today I used the Pokeflute to wake up one of the Snorlax, defeated it to move it out of my way, made my way down Cycling Road to Fuschia City, went through the Safari Zone to get the HM for Surf and the gold teeth to give the Warden to get the HM for Strength, and then took on Kogas Poison-type gym... a gym in which the Pokemon that I had the most trouble with werent even Poison-types at all.

I spent like 15 minutes trying to beat a random Hypno that resisted Psybeam, didnt take much damage from Swift, and hit back for a lot of damage with Psychic. I basically had to keep using Recover until it used a weaker move besides Psychic and gave me enough health to work with to attack it with Swift. Literally right after I beat this Hypno, my Porygon leveled up to 42 and learned Tri Attack, so I deleted Swift for it since I didnt need two Normal-type moves. Then suddenly, as if the game knew the perfect way to piss me off, the next two trainers both had a Sandslash that spammed Sand Attack to make Porygon miss a bunch of times and make me immediately wish Porygon still knew Swift. I ran out of PP for Psybeam, finally knocked out the second trainers Sandslash with my very last use of Tri-Attack, and was out of attacking moves as the trainer sent out an Arbok as their other Pokemon. The only way I could win was to burn all of my PP for Agility and Recover, then hope that Porygon could beat the Arbok with Struggle before the recoil damage and Arboks attacks took Porygon down. Thankfully, Porygon actually managed to pull it off with a sliver of its health remaining. The battles only took one try each, but those one tries were still really annoying.

Theres still one more random trainer to beat in this gym as well as Koga himself, but I don't feel like playing anymore today. I'm annoyed at the game, and now I have a baseball game to go watch and probably be annoyed at. On that side note, fuck the Astros.

Calwings posted...

the TM for Double-Edge

Huh, I guess I forgot this was a Gen I attack? I always it was introduced later.

Calwings posted...

the next two trainers both had a Sandslash that spammed Sand Attack to make Porygon miss a bunch of times

Also, this is super obvious but I guess I'm just really cluing into for the first time, but I guess enemy debuff attacks are way stronger in a Solo Run because you can't just switch out your dude to remove them. Literally every debuff persists until you offset it with a buff, (or the badgeboost glitch, I guess, but that doesn't affect accuracy I don't think? Still tryna wrap my head around it).

I took some time this morning to beat that last random trainer in the Fuschia gym (he had a Hypno, but it was easier this time with Tri Attack) and then beat Koga. The first time I tried, I took a risk setting up 3 Agility (for the Defense badge boosts in case his Weezing used Self-Destruct) against his first Koffing, but it hit me with Smokescreen multiple times and I knew the battle wasnt going to go well so I reset. On the second attempt, I just knocked out the Koffing with Psybeam right away and set up my boosts on Muk. It used Minimize a couple of times, but at least that chance of missing would only apply against Muk and not for the rest of the battle. His second Koffing did land one Smokescreen before going down, but it luckily didnt affect my ability to take down his Weezing. It never used Self-Destruct, Porygon was able to Recover off any damage it took, and 3 hits from Psybeam (with 1 miss thanks to Smokescreen) took down Weezing and earned me the fifth gym badge.

Next up is dealing with Team Rocket in Silph Company. Theres a bunch of trainers there that I could face to level up a bit, and theyll go away for good once I beat Giovanni at the top. Looking back on it, I probably should have trained on those mooks before I went to Fuschia to take on Kogas gym, because that might have saved me a lot of time and frustration. Oh well, whats done is done.

ApherosyLove posted...

I guess enemy debuff attacks are way stronger in a Solo Run because you can't just switch out your dude to remove them. Literally every debuff persists until you offset it with a buff

Yeah, that's definitely a problem with solo runs. Attack drops, Accuracy drops, Sleep, Confusion... I just have to sit there and deal with that annoying stuff because I can't switch out. This is what makes Agatha of the Elite Four one of the most frustrating parts of most Kanto solo runs. Jrose calls it the "Agatha Lottery" because it's such a luck-based battle for most Pokemon.

ApherosyLove posted...

(or the badgeboost glitch, I guess, but that doesn't affect accuracy I don't think? Still tryna wrap my head around it).

The glitch isn't really helpful for that. Each trigger of the badge boost glitch raises the affected stats by 12.5%, but a stat being lowered by one stage by an opponent's move lowers it by 33%. So it would take 3 badge boosts to offset 1 stage worth of lowered stats. Plus, accuracy and evasion aren't affected by the glitch at all, so once my Pokemon is hit with a Sand Attack or Smokescreen, there's nothing I can do about it.

Is it worth using X Accuracy to offset that? Bulbapedia says that in the first two gens, it just makes the game skip accuracy checks instead of raising it by one stage. Googling also indicates that this even works on OHKO moves, so I feel like it would work against someone spamming Sand Attack/Smokescreen.

Probably if you wanted, but one of the main rules Calwings is following is:

No items used during battle at all, only out of battle. This is different from my previous solo runs where I allowed myself to use healing items in battle.

I almost want to do this

So when you have all the badges, you can spam double team for example until you are a maxed stat God? No idea that happened.

I'll try to play some more later today, but it depends on how I'm feeling after getting my COVID booster and flu shot in a couple of hours. It may have to wait until tomorrow or Wednesday. We'll see.

pegusus123456 posted...

Is it worth using X Accuracy to offset that? Bulbapedia says that in the first two gens, it just makes the game skip accuracy checks instead of raising it by one stage. Googling also indicates that this even works on OHKO moves, so I feel like it would work against someone spamming Sand Attack/Smokescreen.

As mentioned, I'm not using items during battle for this playthrough. If I wasn't following that restriction, then you would be right that X Accuracy would be a great idea to offset Accuracy drops in gen 1 solo runs.

KainWind posted...

So when you have all the badges, you can spam double team for example until you are a maxed stat God? No idea that happened.

After 6 Double Teams, all four of the other stats would be 87.5% above their normal value in the stat screen (12.5% for the initial Badge Boost and 12.5% for each of 6 re-applications from the glitch) which is a pretty good boost. That being said, I don't want to use Double Team. Sometimes having favorable RNG can help to win a battle depending on the situation, but I don't want to turn my entire strategy for victory into relying on the RNG of Double Team boosting my Pokemon's Evasion. Jrose never uses it, and I don't want to use it either. It feels cheap.

Calwings posted...

As mentioned, I'm not using items during battle for this playthrough

Ah, I missed that.

I'm feeling fine and the baseball game was postponed to tomorrow, so I did get the chance to play some more tonight. I went around Silph Company and its teleporters, searching for items and fighting enough random grunts to get Porygon to level 48 before the two big battles in this area.

On the way to Giovanni, there was also the fifth rival battle, or as Jrose affectionately calls him, Rival Fivel. His Pidgeotto is now a Pidgeot, but this thing still knows Sand Attack and I dont have Swift anymore. I only had Porygon use Agility once before 2-shotting Pidgeot with Tri Attack, but it did land a Sand Attack before it went down. His Gyarados did massive damage with Hydro Pump (it would have KOd if it got a crit) but it was also 2-shotted by Tri Attack, then Porygon thankfully outsped his Alakazam after a single Agility and 1-shotted it with Tri Attack. If Porygon missed any Tri Attacks against Gyarados or Alakazam, I probably would have lost. After recovering off the damage that Gyarados did, the rivals Growlithe and Venusaur were trivial to beat, even with a couple of misses due to Sand Attack. After that battle, a random guy gave me a free Lapras, who is now my HM mule for Surf and Strength, then I healed up and went to the top to kick Giovannis ass. He was super easy compared to Rival Fivel. All I did was just set up 3 Agility on his Nidorino, everything went down in a couple of hits from either Tri Attack or Psybeam, and none of them could do much damage back to Porygon.

And with that, the Team Rocket subplot is officially dealt with! The fact that the "evil team" subplot ends so early in the Kanto games compared to other Pokemon games (most people normally have 4-5 gym badges when they complete it, where it usually extends beyond the 7th badge in other games) is sort of refreshing after playing other gens for so long. I believe it's actually possible to complete the Team Rocket subplot with only 2 badges earned in normal gameplay, since you only need Cut (for the one bush that blocks the route to Rock Tunnel) to access this part of Kanto and you can use that as soon as you beat Misty.

Actually, that gives me an idea for a future playthrough: a gen 1 run, but I play the game completely out of order. What do you guys think?

Imagine beating Fival and Giovanni, then going back to surge to body him with a lvl 40-something.

LeCh0nk posted...

Imagine beating Fival and Giovanni, then going back to surge to body him with a lvl 40-something.

Gen 1 is so scuffed and sequence-breakable (even without glitches) that you can beat Blaine before you beat Surge. The only restrictions in the order are that Brock has to be first, Misty has to be second, Giovanni and the E4/Champion come last, you need to get the Pokeflute from partway into the Rocket subplot to reach Fuschia to face Koga and to do the remainder of the Rocket subplot, and you need to beat Koga to be able to use Surf and reach Cinnabar to fight Blaine. Aside from that, you can essentially acquire badges 3-7 and deal with the Rocket subplot in any order you want. Jrose has used this to his advantage quite a few times in his solo runs, though he's also messed up and tried to enter Giovanni's gym only to realize that he completely forgot a gym (usually Erika's) that he skipped earlier.

Then if you include the multitude of glitches in Red/Blue (many of which were fixed in Yellow), that opens up a whole other can of worms. The glitches are so useful and so bullshit that you can actually save Brock, normally the first gym leader, to be the last gym you defeat before the E4/Champion. I won't go into detail on that stuff here because if I decide to do that "gen 1 but I play the game completely out of order" playthrough, I might use glitches to make it even crazier. I'm still thinking about it.

Calwings posted...

: a gen 1 run, but I play the game completely out of order. What do you guys think?

YES

I thought about going to Cinnabar Island to fight Blaine first before Sabrina (his badge is what gives the Badge Boost for the Special stat, which would in turn make Sabrina easier along with a couple of extra levels) but I decided to see if Porygon could beat Sabrina at its current level of 51 first. As it turns out, she was easier than I thought. I had Porygon set up 1 Agility against her lead Kadabra, 1-shot it with Tri Attack, and then set up the remaining 2 boosts from Agility against her much less threatening Mr. Mime. After that, both her Mr. Mime and her big bad Alakazam were 1-shotted by Tri Attack as well.

After beating Sabrina, I grabbed the TM for Mimic from the copycat girl in Saffron in case I need it later, then I flew to Pallet Town and surfed down to Cinnabar Island. I got lost in the Pokemon Mansion and grabbed a few items while I was in there, including the TM for Blizzard, but eventually I found the Secret Key to unlock Blaines gym. Next time I play, Ill probably take on the last two gyms in one sitting if neither of them gives me and Porygon too much trouble.

Which fossil did you pick?

Funcoot posted...

Which fossil did you pick?

It doesn't really matter because I'm not going to use it in the run, but... Praise Helix, of course!

Anyways, I didnt expect either of the last two gyms gave me and Porygon much trouble, but they were, like Sabrina, easier than I expected. Both battles were just set up 3 Agility and then KO everything with Tri Attack or Psybeam when its needed. Blaines Arcanine survived a Tri Attack and did a ton of damage with Fire Blast, but it didnt KO, and aside from that, Porygon was never in any real danger. Now I have all of the badges and the last gyms went by so quickly, I got a little cocky and decided to go to Route 22 and fight the sixth Rival battle in this play session too. His Pidgeot finally, FINALLY forgot Sand Attack, so I was able to set up 3 Agility boosts on it without needing to worry about Accuracy drops. Pidgeot and Gyarados both went down to 1 Tri Attack and then 1 Psybeam (thankfully Gyarados didnt use Hydro Pump this time) and then his Alakazam, Rhyhorn, and Growlithe all went down easily. But then something unlucky happened Porygon leveled up. Why is this unlucky? You see, when your Pokemon levels up mid-battle, the game re-calculates your stats to their correct values, which reverses the effects of the Badge Boost Glitch. The Speed boosts from using Agility itself and the initial 12.5% boost that the normal Badge Boosts are still in play, but the extra 50% in Badge Boosts from the 3 uses of Agility and Gyarados lowering Porygon's Defense with Leer once are now gone. Thankfully, my rivals shitty gen 1 AI decided to never have his Venusaur use Razor Leaf, only using Poison Powder and a Potion while I 3-shotted it with Psybeam. Why is a trainer with Pokemon in the 40s still using normal Potions and not better ones? God, gen 1 is so scuffed.

Anyways, that rival battle is done. But next comes the hardest part of the game, the final gauntlet, the place where many gen 1 solo runs become very difficult: the Elite Four. Not only will I have to micromanage Porygons limited move slots with the variety of TMs that Ive saved up by only using Normal-type attacks and Psybeam so far, Ill have to micromanage Porygons experience points to not level up in the middle of battle and lose its badge boosts at an inopportune time. On top of that, due to the restrictions I put on myself during this playthrough (partly for more difficulty but also so I dont accidentally save after deleting a one-time TM move that I need) I need to beat the Elite Four and the Champion in a row without saving between any of them. Time to start thinking of a strategy.