NUZLOCKE: Emerald

[Flynt]

This is something I'm working on on another forum. Thus, a lot of the things within reference that forum specifically. While for the most part, in the context of the LP will refer to things that have been posted in the comments there. Over here, I will do my best to answer questions and comments as well, though it will most likely be out of character. With that said, I hope you enjoy my Let's Play of Pokemon Emerald, Nuzlocke Version:

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So we're doing this. I am not much of a fan of the Nuzlocke game, as KoL has pointed out in the past it is very easy to break. Oh well, I will try my best not to completely destroy the game by playing it the way it wasn't intended to be played. I won't be releasing my Pokemon, either, I can use them on the post game and such after I win this. Not going to let that work to go waste. Don't worry, I will box them permanently until then should they faint.

As the screenshot above and the thread title shows, I'll be Nuzlocking Pokemon Emerald, my personal favorite game. This is going to be separate from the main Nuzlocke thread as per the suggestion of Linkachu.

I will be playing a male, as that is my IRL gender. We'll also be using my Screen Name as my Character Name, for convenience sake.

We begin our struggles in not abusing this game in Littleroot. As the home town, Littleroot has not much of interest outside of the Lab. There are no Trainers to battle, Trades to complete, or Pokemon to catch.

As a quick, personal note, I do like the touch of changing the Machoke to Vigoroth in the moving sequence.

Anyway, we begin by going through the normal sequences. Grab the Potion and set the time, we've done this sort of routine a million times by now. Mother sends us off to pester the Birch family, the only other people who own a home in Littleroot. We meet May, who will try and fail to be our rival in this game. Or, MAY, as I should say. Emerald was before Game Freak realized that they could use lowercase letters in their proper nouns.

As another quick note, I'm pretty sure she hits on you in this scene.

Which makes her giggle a hell of a lot creepier.

Anyway, MAY remembers that she was supposed to help her father collect wild Pokemon. Instead of rushing off to him, she instead plops down on her computer.

She's a great influence to her sibling down on the first floor, ain't she?

Anyway. You all know what happens next, we've got to locate the professor.

Said professor is currently getting his shit ruined by a rabid Zigzagoon. MAY is just a wonderful daughter.

By the way, I'm not counting any of the battles up until the point we get the Pokeballs as the "First Pokemon I saw" on that specific Route. It makes it a bit fairer that way.

But anyway, Birch- Er, PROF. BIRCH needs us to save him from the rabid Zigzagoon, since his daughter can't be asked. I'm not letting you guys tell me what Pokemon to choose, as that wouldn't end well. (No, I do not like Mudkip.)

We're going with this Pokemon, Torchic. The battle menu has been unchanged since RBY. You have four options, ATTACK, BAG, POKeMON, and FLEE. As this is a tutorial battle, FLEE is unavailable to us. The only thing useful right now is ATTACK.

Choosing to ATTACK leads to a second menu, where up to four attacks can be chosen. Torchic starts with Scratch, a basic Starter attack, and Growl, a move that lowers an Enemy's Attack. Scratch spam is good enough for now, don't waste your time with Growl. About three hits should down the Zigzagoon, even if it does use Growl on you.

PROF. BIRCH forgot the first rule of Pokemon. Never wander into tall grass unless you yourself have a Pokemon. Though, to be fair, I guess he had three, he just managed to leave the bag that had said Pokemon about a dozen feet away from where he was in the tall grass. That's possibly an even worse mistake.

... Somehow, I fear this level of incompetence is becoming a theme.

Dad must of been throwing pictures, around, as Birch recognizes me. We then teleport to his lab. I hope he remembered to grab his bag this time. Birch decides to repay me by giving me the Torchic I used to save his ass. He asks if I want to name it, which I indeed do.

Because I am uncreative, the Torchic is named Cid, after the Blaziken from my stories.

Birch wants us to reprimand his daughter for him. This family is just a tad dysfunctional, eh? Apparently saving Birch's ass doesn't make me a proper trainer, I need to destroy MAY as well. Sure, why not?

We now enter Oldale for the first time. While here, we can grab another free Potion. They really give these things away at first! Since this is a Nuzlocke, these things will come in handy.

In an effort to make things more fair, I won't be grinding at all before going to May. I managed to avoid any fights going up to Oldale. I do manage to get into one, with a Poochyena, while heading up to May herself. Then another, with a Zigzagoon. The Zigzagoon managed to put up a fight, but killing it, and it is killing it, as this is Nuzlocke, netted me enough EXP to level up once. ANOTHER Zigzagoon puts me well on the way to Level 7... And in need of one of my potions.

Anyway, May decides she needs to battle me.

May, like any good Rival, magically picked the Pokemon with the Type Advantage. No matter, it has nothing that is Super Effective against Torchic.

Defeating it brings Cid up to Level 7, and costs me my other potion (She got a pair of Critical Hits). This game already wants me to lose. Cid is also well on the way to Level 8, and learns Focus Energy, which I think increases Crit' chance. We also get 300 Poke (Poh-key), enough to buy a new Potion. Inflation really hit the Pokemon world hard.

May dashes off, back to the lab. Which is also our next destination. Making a pit stop in Oldale to heal and buy a Potion first, though.

May is nice enough to wait for us at the gate to Oldale. Though she seems to be incredibly nearsighted. She won't notice you until you are right next to her, oddly. Or maybe she's blind and does everything by hearing, and knows our footsteps already when we get close. That sounds a lot cooler, let's go with that.

May of course rushes off. And we, of course, follow, like the loyal lap dog (Growlithe?) that we are. Utilizing ledges means there are no battles between Route 103 and Littleroot. Nice of Game Freak, isn't it?

Possibly the first "Ohai" variant in a Video Game.

Birch is very happy that we beat up his daughter and stole her lunch money. As a reward, we get a Pokedex. Apparently May gets easily excited, and shows Daddy the data it stores on every Pokemon she manages to catch. Mustn't be many, as she only challenged us with one. May also forks over a share of her Poke Balls, which means we can now capture Pokemon.

Leaving those two to 'tard out in the lab, Mother finds us. She is quite the understanding woman, as always (Or she wants to sleep on the only bed in the house.) She gives us the Running Shoes, which I believe are also an RSE creation, and her support on our adventure. Anyway, Home is now a makeshift Pokemon Center. If we're ever in the neighborhood (Read: Almost never), we can stop there and get some rest.

Anyway, now that we can capture Pokemon, our Nuzlocke challenge can finally begin.

And already, we capture our first Pokemon. Poochyena, Level 3, male. His name is Specter. Not the Pokemon I wanted, but hopefully he'll be a badass addition to the team.

Route 103 is a little more generous, and coughs up a Level 4 male Zigzagoon. This is Andre, named after my Linoone character.

I think that's enough for the first update. I'll grind a bit off camera, then we'll head off to Petalburg, and possibly push through to Rustboro City.

Pokemon and Stats as they are now:

Cid - Torchic
Level 7; HP 24/24
Ability: Blaze (Powers Fire attacks to 1.5 when HP falls below 1/3)
Knows Scratch, Growl, and Focus Energy.


Specter - Poochyena
Level 3; HP 15/15
Ability: Run Away (Guaranteed 100% chance to Flee from any Wild Pokemon Battle)
Knows Tackle.


Andre - Zigzagoon
Level 4; HP 17/17
Ability: Pickup (Chance to pick up an item after battle; won't work if he already has a held item)
Knows Tackle and Growl.

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Because of this forum's Image Limit, later updates are likely to be split into Multiple Posts. I have spoken with a part of the Administrative Team, and given the okay to do this. Thank you.

[ImmunityBow]

Heh, I've had a bunch of friends who've done Nuzlock, and Zigzagoon always ends up netting them so much money, so that was a good catch.

[Flynt]

Heh, I've had a bunch of friends who've done Nuzlock, and Zigzagoon always ends up netting them so much money, so that was a good catch.

Zigzagoon is pure awesome.

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It's time for another exciting adventure in NUZLOCKE: Emerald. First, the results of my grinding:

Cid - Torchic
Level 10; HP 31/31
Ability: Blaze
Knows Scratch, Growl, Focus Energy, and Ember.

Specter - Poochyena
Level 7; HP 22/22
Ability: Run Away
Knows Tackle and Howl.

Andre - Zigzagoon
Level 8; HP 24/24
Ability: Pickup
Knows Tackle, Growl, and Tail Whip.

Speaking of Pickup, Andre has been a very busy Zigzagoon. He's already well on his way to filling my bag with goodies.

In any case, since we got our Pokeballs, we are no longer in the Tutorial Stage, and as such, we can go left from Oldale to the next town. So, after making a pit stop to buy some Poke balls (In a batch of 10, since we get one free for that), we head that way.

Route 102 has a few new Pokemon we can capture, as well as our first few trainer battles. Joy.

Our sole Pokemon for this route is... Another... Poochyena... Fuck.

Catching said Poochyena, we shall name him Wyatt. He's basically a clone of Specter. Level 3, male, only knows Tackle. His Ability is also Run Away. The only difference is the route we caught him on, and his Nature (Specter is Quirky, Wyatt, Serious).

Anyway, this guy gives us our first trainer battle. It is, unfortunately, against the law to refuse a trainer battle, even in the most inopportune places. These guys literally crawl out of the woodwork to try and ruin your day.

He has one Pokemon, yet another Poochyena.

He nearly murders Wyatt in two hits, which means I need to switch Pokemon or already lose one.

Cid should suffice.

Cid promptly sets that bitch on fire, another kill to his name. We steal this kid's lunch money (80 Poke), and continue on our way.

As an aside, I'll only be showing highlights from later trainer battles. Only special battles will get play by play coverage like this.

Already we have another battle.

He starts with a Wurmple, which I saw a lot while grinding, but never showed here yet.

Wyatt manages to score his first kill, thanks to String Shot spam. Murdering that Wurmple got him up to Level 4. Rick here has another one though, which I think I'll let Specter deal with. Killing it sets Specter on the path to Level 8, and nets us the 64 Poke this Bug Catcher managed to find. Andre also found another X Attack, I imagine by looking through the Bug Catcher's belongings.

As the screen shot suggests, this is a Lotad, another one of the random Pokemon you can find here. Can't catch it though, since Wyatt appeared first. Speaking of Wyatt, he was able to cherry tap this thing to death, and leveled up again for his effort. Now that he's level 5, he also learns Howl.

Howl boosts the user's Attack, by the way.

Soon after said battle, another Trainer presents himself. He starts with a Zigzagoon.

... Well fuck. That was a complete waste of time.

Specter quickly avenges his clone. The Youngster then sends out another Pokemon we haven't seen before.

A Taillow. It Growl spams for a bit, but never attacks, so Specter easily kills it. After beating the kid, he gives us his lunch money, 48 Poke. How these three kids ever expected to buy anything with so little money is beyond me.

[Flynt]

Over here we have our first Berry trees. They offer free food, basically. The tree on the left offers two Oran berries, which restore half the amount of heath a basic Potion would. That's pretty good to start out, but stronger Pokemon need better things, and Oran berries quickly fall by the wayside as a healing item.

The tree on the right gives two Pecha Berries. Pechas are great Berries, they heal Poisoning. All berries can be given to a Pokemon and be used as a Hold Item, unlike man made healing items like Potions or Antidotes. They're great for a quick fix, as the Pokemon will eat them as soon as they are needed.

Anyway, I suggest replanting one of the Orans and one of the Pechas, so you can come back later and get more berries.

Anyway, this route has one last Trainer for us. She starts with a Zigzagoon, which we counter with Andre. Killing it sets Andre on the way to Level 9.

She also has one of these. Shroomish, and especially their evolved form Breloom, are great Pokemon. I'm going to hope I get lucky enough to get one.

Anyway, Shroomish are great, but Cid is better. A sole Ember one shots the Pokemon. The EXP gain pushes him halfway to Level 11, and we get another 64 Poke for winning.

That's our last confrontation, and we quickly reach Petalburg City. Petalburg is the first Gym town you'll find on your journey. However, you aren't allowed to challenge it until you get four other badges. It's kind of like Viridian City, in that way.

I know I said that I'd try to get to Rustboro City in this update, but having lost a Pokemon already, I think I'm going to take a break. The stats of the main three Pokemon are unchanged since the above grinding, but we now have our first Pokemon in the Graveyard:

R.I.P Wyatt
Route 102 (Level 3) - Route 102 (Level 5)

[Blade Flight]

I don't understand why people narrate their Nuzlockes...but they're an interesting read, regardless.

[Flynt]

Right. When we last left off, we had just entered Petalburg City.

Going to the Gym will hook us up with our dear old dad. RSE is the only generation in the series where the man is actually present in our lives. Norman, as that is his name, seems surprised that we made it all the way to Petalburg, but then he reads our minds or something and deduces we're with Pokemon. He can't wait for an opportunity to trash us. Ain't that nice of him?

Anyway, a nice young man in a clean white coat comes in to take me- Oh wait.

This is Wally, forget May, because he's the proper Rival of this generation. Dad spaces out for a bit, but he figures out what the hell Wally is talking about. Wally is going away to live with relatives, and he would love to have a Pokemon to take with him. Unfortunately, he doesn't understand the arcane secrets of throwing a Pokeball at a Wild Pokemon, and needs some help.

Dad is a lazy dick, so he dumps the chaperone duty on us. They he magics up a Zigzagoon, and lets Wally borrow it.

What follows is RSE's version of the Catching Pokemon tutorial.

... Three towns into the game. At least RSE has the decency to make someone other then you the rookie for once. I for one and sick of being reminded how to catch a Pokemon, seeing as an Old Man, a random Dude/Lyra, Dawn, AND Professor Juniper all feel the need to remind me. I really wish there was an option to skip this tutorial...

On his first try, Wally manages to find a Ralts, the rarest Pokemon locatable on this route.

Hacker.

Wally, of course, catches the Ralts. He is very excited of this fact. We then Teleport back to Norman, and report the day's work. Anyway, after returning his Zigzagoon to him, Wally jets. Norman suggests we go beat the crap out of Roxanne, the Gym Leader in Rustboro City. He then promises to battle me one day. That day will come quicker then he imagines.

Anyway, the house right next to the Gym is Wally's, but there isn't much point going there. Other then the Gym, Petalburg is a fairly empty town. On the way out, however...

... This douche finds us.

He correctly guesses we're a newbie trainer, then blows us off by telling me he only wants to talk to talented trainers. Ass.

After that little detour, we exit to Route 104. Another new route, which means more Trainers and one more Pokemon for our collection.

Said Pokemon is yet another Poochyena. You know, Zigzagoon is supposed to be the Rattata of Hoenn, not you!

Oh well... We catch it, of course. Our first female Pokemon, we'll name her Trish. Just like Wyatt, she's basically a clone of Specter, but female. She's only knows Tackle, and she's Level 4. Run Away is her Ability. She is also Hardy.

After a pitstop in Petalburg to heal and get some Potions, we continue on with our trainer battles.

We first find this kid, running around the beach like an idiot. Billy here starts off with a Zigzagoon. It nearly one shots Trish. This is getting to be a theme, isn't it...?

Specter comes to the rescue this time, managing to gain enough EXP by killing the Zigzagoon to level up.

Billy then sends out another Pokemon we haven't seen before. Seedot is a pain to train. As it gains levels, it does indeed gain some good attacks, and it can evolve twice. For the most part, however, you're stuck with Bide with it.

As long as you're faster then the Seedot, it can't catch you off guard with Bide. Case in point, Specter took it down without taking a single HP point of damage himself. Billy forks over 112 Poke for losing, and cries about sand in his shoes.

Our next fight comes from this Fisherman (the Bug Catcher below him doesn't fight.). He has one Pokemon, and he thinks it's pretty tough. Of course, it's Magikarp.

The most worthless Pokemon in the game (To the point that I forgot to take a Screenshot of it at first), Magikarp can't even defend itself until it learns Tackle at around Level 10. It evolves into Gyarados, which is a real monster, but until then is going to either take a lot of hits, or get switched around in the party a lot.

Killing it nets her enough EXP to get to Level 5. I also accidentally overwrote the screenshot above this one. This means that it only exists here and on Imageshack.

Anyway, Darian is stunned his prized Magikarp could lose so easily, and hands over 360 Poke. Now that's a prize.

Anyway, up here we find two more Berry trees. Nothing special, two more Oran on the left, two more Pecha on the right.

This lady provides the last battle of this Route. Lady Cindy has one Pokemon, a Zigzagoon. It's Level 7, about the average level of my party. Trish is eager to fight, but I think I'll have Cid deal with this one. It's safer that way.

The Zigzagoon dies a fiery death, and Lady Cindy hands over 1400 Poke. Fuck yeah. Ladies and Rich Boys have some of the best loot in the game.

That done, we finally entire the obligatory forest level. Petalburg Woods has a few Bug Catchers for us, and offers one more Pokemon for our collection.

This Bug Catcher finds us first, though.

Lyle here has four Pokemon, the most of any trainer we've battled thus far. His first, a Level 3 Wurmple, is taken out by Trish. This gives her just under the EXP she needs to level up again. Thankfully, he has an exact same Wurmple for us, and killing it pushes Trish to Level 6.

Switching over to Cid at this point to get this over with. His next two Pokemon are exactly the same as the first two, and killing both gets Cid to Level 11. Lyle hands over 48 Poke, and we move on.

Our one Pokemon for this route is, of course, a Wurmple. At this rate, I'm just happy it isn't another Poochyena. It's also a tough little fucker. Manages to make me worry about Trish dying again and poison both Specter AND Trish. Thankfully we have Pecha Berries and an Antidote. I reward her efforts by catching her in the Premier Ball.

I'm naming her Lysis, hopefully Sem won't mind. This Wurmple is too badass for any other name.

After bringing my Poochyenas back from the brink of death, we continue on, finding a Paralysis Heal in the grass nearby.

[Flynt]

Eventually we come across this dude. He wants a Shroomish, so there's something we have in common.

After talking about our love for Shroomish for a bit, this dude comes up. He's a member of Team Aqua, one of the two incompetent Crime Syndicates of this land. He wants some papers our new friend, a researcher from Devon Corp, has. We immediately spring to the defense of our buddy.

I'll say this, I do like their uniform. He has a Poochyena, nothing we haven't seen before. However, this one is notable as being Level 9, easily the strongest Pokemon we've encountered thus far, other then the Magikarp, which couldn't even fight.

Lysis puts up a valiant effort, but is forced to back down from this target. Thankfully, Cid is strong enough to finish it off. The grunt hands over 180 Poke, makes an idle threat, and then flees. Our buddy thanks us with a Great Ball, which is pretty cool. He then rushes off to Rustboro City, where Team Aqua is apparently after something.

After murdering a Poochyena on the way out of the forest, Lysis levels up for the first time as a member of my party.

We are then confronted by yet another Bug Catcher.

James here has two Pokemon. The first is one we've never seen before, Nincada. Nincada is a pretty cool Pokemon, and can actually result in a pair of Pokemon if it evolves while you have an empty spot in the party. It also knows attacks that can hit Poochyenas like a truck, as Trish found out. She survived, but I ended up switching to Cid again.

After burning one Nincada, James comes right back with another, which suffers the same fate. He hands over 96 Poke upon his defeat. We also find an Ether in a nearby grass patch, which I forgot to screenshot. After killing another Poochyena, we make it out of the woods.

And I think that's enough for that update. Next time we'll push through to Rustboro and take care of Team Aqua.

Current Team stats:

Cid - Torchic
Level 11; HP 30/33
Ability: Blaze
Knows Scratch, Growl, Focus Energy, and Ember.

Specter - Poochyena
Level 8; HP 24/24
Ability: Run Away
Knows Tackle and Howl.

Andre - Zigzagoon
Level 8; HP 24/24
Ability: Pickup
Knows Tackle, Growl, and Tail Whip.

Trish - Poochyena
Level 6; HP 20/20
Ability: Run Away
Knows Tackle and Howl.

Lysis - Wurmple
Level 6; HP 11/21
Ability: Shield Dust (Negates attack side effects)
Knows Tackle, String Shot, and Poison Sting.