Pokemon fans love to complain that the games are too easy. While I struggled through some of the endgame battles in Pokemon Yellow as a kid, I’m now 20 years older and vastly more experienced. For instance, I now understand that STAB is a thing and status moves have a place on my team. But even without a lack of knowledge of the game’s most basic battle mechanics, Pokemon fans have been creating their own difficulty for years.
Whether or not you think Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl should be more difficult (our lead features editor, Cian Maher, thinks the Cynthia rematch proves they shouldn’t be), Pokemon players have been innovating with self-imposed rules since Arceus created the universe as we know it - or at least since Satoshi Tajiri created Pokemon.
Whether you engage in laborious nuzlocke challenges, play competitively against other IRL players, or download a ROM hack to artificially increase the Pokemon difficulty, it’s likely that you’ve engaged in at least one measure to help match the game to your skill level. However, T1 streamer and former Pokemon pro Sejun Park needed an extra challenge.
During his BDSP playthrough, Park took on the challenge of beating the game with only Pachirisu. He had six of the Pikachu clones on his team, but even six Electric-type squirrels will struggle to beat one Garchomp in the hands of Cynthia. However, to make things even more difficult, Park banned himself from using items in battle or grinding to level up his team.
It’s no surprise that he’s turning things up a notch, however, as Park is the 2014 Pokemon World Champion - a tournament he won with an iconic Pachirisu on his team. While it was more than just a mascot in the competition, even making a key appearance in both battles of the Grand Final, taking six of them into Cynthia’s office is practically a death wish, even if they are all nearly 20 levels above her ace.
Back in 2014, Park consistently outplayed his opponents to take the title, but in 2021 he needed a fair amount of luck. In his successful match against Cynthia, one of his Pachirisus survived two Earthquakes from Garchomp on 1HP thanks to the friendship mechanic that grants you random Sturdy boosts, before the dragon shark hit itself in confusion and knocked itself out. Let’s not take away from his achievement, however, as the Cynthia battle is one of the toughest in all of Pokemon, even if you’re using a full-strength team.
Park’s achievement is proof that Pokemon fans will make their own difficulty settings in lieu of Black & White-esque hard modes. We’re less than a week into Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl’s lifespan, and players are already innovating in amazing and unexpected ways. The emotional closing moments of Park’s stream reminded me of him holding his Pachirisu plush aloft back in 2014, and of Karen’s words after you beat her in the Elite Four of Pokemon Silver: “Strong Pokemon. Weak Pokemon. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled trainers should try to win with their favourites.”