Gym leaders: They're the cream of the crop when it comes to trainers in the Pokémon games. Almost every main series Pokémon game has eight (or more) gym leaders for the player to battle, each with a themed-type to conquer.
But perhaps more fun are the gyms in which you can challenge gym leaders. Each leaders' "challenge before the challenge" is unique: it could be as simple as extra trainers, or as complex as solving math problems or teleportation puzzles. Some truly stand out from the rest, so get your thinking cap on: We're going to choose the 10 hardest gym puzzles to solve.
10 Snowbelle City (Wulfric)
The last challenge you'll face on your way to the Kalos Elite Four, Wulfric's gym resides in Snowbelle City, and is an Ice-type gym, as you'd expect. The Snowbelle Gym has several rotating platforms of different colors, and the player must rotate the platforms several times while defeating the trainers in place to reach Wulfric.
Each colored platform must be rotated a specific number of times in order to reach the next trainer, which can become confusing very quickly. With so much green, blue, yellow, and pink spinning around, it's no surprise that some trainers got led astray by Wulfric's puzzle.
9 Blackthorn City (Clair)
Clair shares a love of dragons with Pokémon League Champion Lance, but one way they differ is Clair's aptitude for creating puzzles. Once the player finally gets access to Blackthorn Gym, they will encounter a boulder puzzle emulating Victory Road. The lava encasing the platforms makes the atmosphere all the more intimidating.
Even after the player makes it through the gym puzzle and defeat Clair in battle, they'll still have to complete the "Dragon User Challenge" before receiving the Rising Badge, making it twice the effort to achieve than other gyms.
8 Driftveil City (Clay)
Gym leader of Driftveil City (perhaps the most catchy song in the Unova region games), Clay is a businessman in the mining industry and initially refuses to battle the player until they've defeated Team Plasma in the Cold Storage (blaming their escape on the player's use of the drawbridge).
In Pokémon Black & White, the Driftveil Gym features a series of mine shaft elevators that must be navigated to reach the central elevator, which leads downwards to Clay. The gym gets a redesign in Pokémon Black 2 & White 2, with a conveyor belt puzzle that can take the player to dozens of different platforms, all while in relative darkness. It's quite similar to a mine, and apparently intentional on Clay's part (according to one trainer in the gym).
7 Ecruteak City (Morty)
Morty not only has a great role in the anime in relation to Suicune, but is a formidable opponent as gym leader of the Ecruteak City Gym. Its original iteration in Generation II features an invisible walkway with multiple trainers waiting to battle.
Falling off the invisible path will send you right back to the beginning of the gym, meaning that most trainers will fall off the path at least once or twice before reaching Morty. This gym is all about trial and error, but luckily you can remember which tiles were safe to walk on.
6 Vermilion City (Lt. Surge)
Perhaps the Lieutenant was trying to teach us a lesson on the unpredictability of the battlefield, but his gym puzzle earns him a spot on this list for its randomness. Looking for both switches ends up being an annoying guessing game, rather than something that makes your brain work. The phrase “Hey! The electric locks were reset!” Must be burned into some players’ memory.
Not only is it difficult to navigate around trainers you might not want to fight, but some trash cans only have a 25% chance of containing the second switch needed to open the door. Talk about trash odds.
5 Lavaridge Town (Flannery)
Out of all the gyms on this list, Flannery's gym is the only one residing in a town, as opposed to a city, but don't underestimate it! Before the player even reaches Flannery, they will have to face a multi-floored bathhouse maze which will have them going in circles if they aren't careful.
Coupled with ledges that can undo the player's progress if jumped off of, this puzzle is not easy by any definition It takes some serious brain cells to come up with such extensive gym puzzles, and Flannery has cells to spare.
4 Snowpoint City (Candice)
Ice-type gyms have become rather common in the Pokémon series, despite Ice being a type plagued with weaknesses. Snowpoint Gym, however, is not weak by any standards. Not only is Candice a tough fight, but reaching her requires some moderate brainpower.
In order to reach Candice, the player must slide along the ice floors of the gym and gain enough momentum to destroy the massive snowballs blocking the path. With four levels of ice floors and six trainers ready to disrupt your sliding, Snowpoint Gym is often considered the most challenging of all Ice-type gyms. (Side note: the English translation certainly saw an opportunity with the name Candice and took it: Cand-Ice.)
3 Sootopolis City (Juan/Wallace)
Even gyms that are Water-type are not safe from ice puzzles. The uniqueness of the Sootopolis gym, however, lies in its use of ice not as a sliding puzzle, but rather one of logic and planning ahead. if you can walk across every tile exactly once and arrive at the stairs, then you can skip all trainer battles.
It’s a nice reward system for using your higher-thinking skills. The true reward, of course, is the gym battle itself: Wallace for Ruby, Sapphire, Omega Ruby, and Alpha Sapphire, and Juan for Pokémon Emerald.
2 Mossdeep City (Tate & Liza)
As much as Team Rocket’s Lair in Kanto prepared us for tile puzzles, Tate & Liza’s gym still proves to be a formidable challenge. The Mossdeep Gym has three different iterations, with both its Generation III versions being superior puzzles.
In Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, the Mossdeep Gym features spin tiles that move the player in certain directions, with switches scattered around the gym capable of changing the way certain tiles point. In Pokémon Emerald, the gym's redesign is very noticeable, with separate rooms connected by warp tiles that can rotate their directions via spin tiles. This is not only a unique puzzle idea but disorients the player by reshaping the room entirely.
1 Saffron City (Sabrina)
Psychic-type gym leaders must want to test our mental powers as well as our Pokémon. It would explain why so many of their gyms involve complicated and obfuscating puzzles to reach them!
Sabrina’s gym is similar to Flannery’s but with more warps to choose from and more trainers to battle (or avoid). It might be that many of us played through the Kanto region as kids, but the Saffron city gym felt the most challenging, and ending up in Sabrina’s room feels more like a fluke rather than actually solving the puzzle. Just make sure not to lose to her team of stalwart psychics!