What makes the Pokémon series resonate with fans all around the world? For one thing, it’s incredibly accessible. Younger players who are newer to RPGs will find it a fun romp with some of the cutest critters around. Pikachu’s adorable, but wait until you meet its friends!
Meanwhile, Pokémon veterans will probably want to breeze through the story in order to get to the meat of the experience: competitive battles. Don’t be in too much of a rush, though, because there are ways to make the main game itself surprisingly tough. If you’ve been thinking about taking on your first Nuzlocke challenge, here are some helpful tips!
Updated January 21st, 2021 by Gene Cole: Pokemon fans are desperate for a new game now that a year has passed since the release of Pokemon Sword & Shield. Many are looking for greater challenges, and for many this includes trying their first Nuzlocke Challenge. Those who are giving their first go at this difficult mode should know a few extra tips before they get started.
15 Choose Your Starter Carefully
Even though starters are supposed to be completely even with each other, most players can tell you one starter is often weaker than the others when it comes to Nuzlocke runs. For Pokemon Red & Blue, this would be Charmander, who’s extremely weak against the first two Gym Leaders and will make you hope for more resistant Pokemon as you enter each new area.
Nuzlockes are certainly about fun more than anything else, so you should always go with what you know or love most if you don’t want to metagame your run too hard. Nonetheless, you should always make sure you aren’t putting yourself in a dire situation from the start.
14 Turn Off Battle Effects
This is an incredibly small change, and it might seem pointless to those who enjoy seeing the flavor of each attack, but turning off battle effects in the options menu of any Pokemon game will make your experience drag on far less. This prevents all the flames, water, and other elements and movement from taking up the battle’s time, meaning they can all proceed twice as fast.
This is especially important for grinding, as you’ll often need to fight tons of wild Pokemon to reach a point where you can beat certain Gym Leaders without fainting. With the game moving faster, you’re also less likely to get bored and give up midway through your challenge.
13 Save Constantly
The true spirit of the Nuzlocke Challenge is to never return to an old save, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t bother saving your game frequently. Those who are new to the Challenge certainly should in case they want to try something they misread or weren’t prepared for, but you never know when your cartridge will get knocked loose or your battery will suddenly die.
It’s extremely easy to lose a Nuzlocke Challenge, but the last thing you want is for it to be over from something outside your control. Save anytime you feel safe and comfortable, and make sure you don’t lose your progress when grinding for experience.
12 Research Your Opponents
If you go into a Gym or the Elite 4 without looking up what Pokemon they’ll start off with, you’re going to be one of the bravest trainers around. If you don’t want to risk dying right away, however, you might want to make sure to look up each boss fight in advance, since every hit could mean the end of your run.
This goes for everything from Gym Leaders, to the Elite 4, to even the occasional battle with a rival or trainer. It can be exhausting looking up every detail and move they might have, but you’ll surely be thankful not to encounter something you weren’t prepared for early on.
11 Make Your Own Rules
The Nuzlocke Challenge is a great fan-made experience for Pokemon players, but it’s important to remember that nobody’s going to enforce these rules on you besides yourself. You can be as harsh as you want, but you can also be lenient if it’s your first time, or if you’re not comfortable with certain parts.
If you don’t like releasing your Pokemon, feel free to put them in boxes so you can transfer them to new games. Feel free to reload save files if you get hit with things you find unfair, like Critical Hits or moves you just forgot about. It’s all about fun, and if your Nuzlocke experience is exclusively causing you stress when you play, you should always feel free to lighten the burden.
10 Make Sure You’re Familiar With The Original Nuzlocke Rules
Your first step on this potentially super frustrating road is familiarizing yourself with the rules of a Nuzlocke challenge. The name Nuzlocke derives from a webcomic that often features a Nuzleaf that looks like John Locke (of Lost fame), and the basic rules are understood to be twofold.
Firstly, a Pokémon that faints has been ‘killed’ and must be released immediately (or without ever being used again), unless you’d rather make a separate PC box for your noble, fallen warriors. Secondly, the player can only catch the first Pokémon they meet on a route (or individual area). If they fail to, they forfeit the chance to obtain a Pokémon in that location.
9 Check Out Some Optional Rules
As the Nuzlocke concept caught on, players developed some additional rules to tailor the experience to their own preferences. It’s a very fluid concept, so you’re free to experiment and impose further restrictions on yourself if you wish to.
Most Nuzlockers, for example, abide by the additional rule that every Pokémon caught must be nicknamed. Mostly so that the player feels closer to them, to heighten that devastating sense of Fire Emblem unit loss whenever a Pokémon is sent to the big PC box in the sky.
8 Don’t Overdo The Additional Rules, Though
If you’re not familiar with Nuzlockes, you might be aware of the wild ride you’ve let yourself in for. As a result, it’s best not to add too many restrictions for your first attempt.
Those with many Nuzlockes under their belt experiment with various things, such as randomizers (in which every wild encounter and trainer battle could be anything) or healing limitations (each Pokémon Center can only be visited once, perhaps). Once you bring elements like PP conservation into play, you’re really being hard on yourself. Especially if a Mega Rayquaza pops up in the hands of an early Gym Leader.
7 Know That Some Games Will Be Harder Than Others (And Avoid Those The First Time Around)
Of course, there are now eight generations of Pokémon titles. That’s a lot of potential Nuzlockes to choose from, but it’s best not to just dive into one randomly. The game you choose may have a large impact on how rough your ride will be.
The Totem Pokémon in Generation VII may be the bane of your existence, for example, with Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon being especially challenging to Nuzlocke. On the flipside, Pokémon X & Y tend to be regarded as more locke-friendly, with factors like the Exp. Share helping the player along.
6 Be Very Careful With Items
Now, some players have gotten accustomed to scurrying back and forth from the Pokémon Center to heal between every battle on harder routes. Depending on the Nuzlocke rules you’re working with, this may not be an option for you here.
As such, there’s one very important thing to bear in mind: never use items willy-nilly. Even a single Potion can be the difference between keeping that key member of your party and losing them. At Poké Marts, you want to be more miserly than Ebeneezer Scrooge himself, ensuring that your Poké Dollars only go on the most important items: lifelines like Potions, status-healing items and enough Poké Balls to nab your next potential team members.
5 Be Mindful Of Every Trainer You See
This will be especially important if you’ve decided to tack additional healing restrictions and/or a randomizer onto your Nuzlocke. In the first instance, PP conservation is a must. In the second, a humble Bug Catcher could suddenly bust out a Ho-Oh or Giratina and crush your hopes, dreams, and earthly soul into shards of salty defeat.
Trainers, as always, can be valuable (sometimes even crucial) sources of experience. It’s a risk-reward situation. Do you think you have the healing items to make that battle worth it? Should you avoid the last couple of trainers in this route, or clear them out? This depends on a lot of factors, but most importantly on the rules you’ve set yourself.
4 There’s No Such Thing As Being Overlevelled
As is the case with any RPG, the temptation to boost your party’s strength at every opportunity is very strong. Grind for levels and cutting your way through bosses like they’re hunks of warm butter can be super satisfying, after all.
At the same time, though, being overlevelled can make battles seem trivial. On your first time playing through a certain game, it’s sometimes better not to take this route. With a Nuzlocke, though, you needn’t worry about any of this. If the EXP Share has pushed you a good way above where you ‘need’ to be for a certain area, be glad of it. Sometimes, you need all the help you can get!
3 Prepare For What’s Coming (And Never Underestimate Gym Leaders)
Naturally, it’s all but impossible to apply this tip where randomizers have been used, but in more standard Nuzlockes, the player tends to have a big advantage: they know who the Gym Leaders are and which typings they use.
Depending on the state of your team at that moment and the hand you’ve been dealt, this many not count for much, but if you have a Pokémon or two that are great against the upcoming challenge, make sure they’re in tip-top condition. There’s much more to lose here than in a standard playthrough. We hope you’ve been conservative with your healing items!
2 Do Your Best To Keep Your Team Well Rounded
If you’re a competitive battler, you’ll be familiar with that awful feeling of impending doom that arises when your only Pokémon that can stop the opponent’s sweep is taken down. The rest fall like dominos and the battle’s lost.
In a Nuzlocke, this is more devastating than ever, as blacking out is generally considered to be a ‘game over.’ In tandem with the last point, then, it’s crucial to keep your party as well-rounded as possible. It’s the closest you can get to being prepared for anything.
1 Know When You Have To Sacrifice A Team Member
In competitive battles, you’ll also find yourself in situations where you’ve no choice but to send a Pokémon in simply to take a hit for another and faint. Some losses are inevitable in Nuzlockes too, so you’ll have to recognize when this can’t be helped.
As attached as you’ve grown to Lord Fluffington Smythe III (odd name for a Tyranitar, even if it would fit in the nickname box), you might have to let him go (or even several members) in order to keep the Nuzlocke going. You’ll have to make your peace with that.