Pokemon games are a ton of fun to play through, and to this day, games from all eras of the series are enjoyed by new and old fans alike. There's just something special about starting up a new save file, meeting the professor, picking your starter, and setting out on an adventure to be the very best (like no one ever was).
However, if you're a seasoned Pokemon player who's beaten every game multiple times over, sweeping your way through gym leaders, evil teams, elite four members, and champions can get a little old. It might be time to look for ways to mix things up, and fortunately, we have some great suggestions to keep your next Pokemon playthrough feeling fresh.
10 A Nuzlocke Challenge
Nuzlockes are one of the oldest challenges in all of Pokemon, and have remained popular for good reason - they add an extra level of difficulty and excitement to the playthrough that's bound to leave you with some memorable moments.
There are three key rules to a nuzlocke: you can only catch the first Pokemon you encounter in each area; you have to nickname your Pokemon to grow more attached to them; and if a Pokemon faints, it's considered dead and cannot be used anymore.
9 A Monotype Playthrough
Another long-standing and popular way to add an extra bit of difficulty is limiting yourself to only using Pokemon which share a typing. This can be a particularly fun challenge due to the swinginess of the matchups - your all-water team will have no trouble with Brock, but Erika and Surge will pose huge threats.
Whether you allow secondary typings, or duplicates of Pokemon, is entirely up to you - like nuzlockes, there's a huge variety of rulesets people play with and you're totally free to pick and choose whatever seems most fun for you.
8 Other Pokemon-Based Restrictions
Typing is just one criteria you could use to limit your teambuilding options. What about a team of Pokemon whose names all start with the letter P? Or only using red Pokemon? How about fishing encounters only? The options are truly limitless.
If you can think of a way to categorize Pokemon, you can use it for a challenge. Some of the most interesting (and difficult) ones could be only using Pokewalker Pokemon in HGSS, only Pokemon caught in Camp from SwSh, or limiting the Pokedex numbers you can use - prime numbers only, anyone?
7 Racing A Friend
If you have plenty of time on your hands, a great way to make a playthrough more exciting, and introduce a bit of a social element, is to race against a friend. Start the game at the same time, and whoever beats the champion first wins.
To take things up another notch, you could add complications into your race - why not make it a nuzlocke, or limit the typings you can each use? If any one of the challenges on this list isn't enough for you, combining them is a great way to make things even harder.
6 Randomizing The Pokemon You Encounter
Something that's become incredibly popular in recent years is randomized playthroughs. Instead of encountering Rattata and Pidgey on Route 1, you could stumble across Mewtwo or Snorlax. Equally, though, your endgame legendary encounter could be a Weedle.
There are numerous ways to randomize a Pokemon game - you can make it so the power level of the randomized Pokemon is roughly equivalent to what you'd ordinarily find, or generate a totally random set of encounters for each route, or make it so every single encounter is just a random roll for one of the hundreds of Pokemon in the game. Similarly, you can randomize enemy teams, items on the ground, and just about anything else you can think of.
5 Randomizing The Map
A specific sub-genre of randomized playthroughs that really changes how you approach the game, randomizing the map means that every entrance will lead to a random exit. You'll walk out your front door in Twinleaf Town and you might step out into Canalave, Snowpoint, or even Cynthia's room.
The challenge becomes less so about beating the game, and more about mapping where all the doors lead to so you can actually find the gyms (and getting Fly so you can somewhat control where you go). This challenge is super popular for races, so grab a friend (and a pen and paper) and turn your region of choice into a labyrinth.
4 A Shiny-Only Playthrough
Shiny hunting is one of Pokemon's biggest sub-communities, so it's no surprise there are shiny-based ways to make your run harder. One main variation is a dream team quest, which sees you choose your six favorite Pokemon in the region, shiny hunt them, and then beat the game with them.
The other popular option is the badge quest, where you have to catch a shiny before you can attempt each gym. These are certainly time-consuming challenges, but in something like Let's Go or Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, where shiny hunting options are numerous, it'd certainly make for a memorable playthrough.
3 Professor Oak's Challenge
At the start of Kanto-based Pokemon games, you meet Professor Oak, who instructs you to go out and catch all the Pokemon within the region. Most just take this as general guidance, but what if you took it literally?
In Professor Oak's challenge, you have to catch and evolve every Pokemon you possibly can before you can challenge a gym. Once you beat the gym, you'll unlock new areas with new Pokemon, and the process repeats. If you've always liked the idea of truly catching 'em all, then this one's for you.
2 Ribbon Master Challenge
Ribbons are a somewhat underrated part of the Pokemon series. They act as rewards for your Pokemon to commemorate great achievements, and some of them can be incredibly hard.
Pick a Pokemon to be your ribbon master, and then set out to get every ribbon you possibly can for them. The ultimate ribbon master challenge would start in Colosseum or XD, and involve transferring your Pokemon all the way through to modern games, but if you simply want to get every ribbon you can for a Pokemon in your game of choice, you'll still have a fun time.
1 ROM Hacks
If you truly feel the mainline Pokemon games no longer offer enough challenge for you, then perhaps it's time to turn to ROM hacks. These are fan-made modifications of Pokemon games that typically focus on increasing difficulty by giving opponents better AI and more advanced teams, while also offering a better quality of life to players.
Some of the most notable ROM hacks are Radical Red, a hack of FireRed that adds Pokemon from every generation, Drayano's hacks (Sacred Gold and Storm Silver, Renegade Platinum, and Blaze Black and Volt White), and the Kaizo hacks of Blue, Crystal, and Emerald.