Pokemon: Diamond Nuzlocke edition

What is a Nuzlocke run, you might be saying?

Nuzlocke run is a term used in Pokemon using set rules to create artificial difficulty in a playthrough.

The rules were simple:

1)If your Pokemon faints, it's considered dead it must be transferred to a designated box where it cannot be used again.

2) Healing items were permitted; no revives, of course!

3) There are no totem legendaries used at all!

4) The following Pokemon are banned: Lucario, Garchomp, Roserade, Luxray Infernape and Floatzel.

That was it; Let's get started:

I started my Nuzlocke run and picked Turtwig; I played through the game at a steady pace until I had a close call with the first gym leader Roarke and would have had to start the entire game again but thankfully made it through unscathed.

The game isn't hard at this point...I welcomed Psyduck into my team and began training like crazy for the tough road ahead; I had Grotle, Abra and a Staravia on my team so far.

I lost Psyduck at level 27, which was tough to take because I thought this was his moment!

Houndoom was obtained from the underground, after the tutorials, one of the few fire types available in the game! He had to be on the team! I lost him in the battle cafe against a Sudowoodo. He couldn't escape the battle and took a critical low kick to the face! It was an OHKO! RIP buddy.

After mourning the loss of my Houndoom, I was training in the area under the cycling road. Boom! Full odds shiny Ponyta from nowhere. What incredible luck, I managed to catch it and was in two minds of using it due to the perma-death rule. My Kadabra did a lot of the work leading the line and was untouchable for the most part of the early game!

I picked up Jirachi and Mew using my saved data from Lets Go: Pikachu and Pokemon Sword. I had used Mew from let's go, so Jirachi was added. My team consisted of Grotle, Kadabra, Ponyta and Jirachi. My team is looking promising so far. I'm not too worried.

I added the Happiny egg; life was good! We were untouchable. I had wanted a water type and a fighting type, so I picked up Croagunk when I could. Sadly as soon as I got Toxicroak, he met a sticky end. I can't recall who to though... It just happened so fast! A new fighting type was added in his place. Welcome to the squad, Meditite.

Swablu was picked up along the way. The fairy typing was the goal here, she was to be the Garchomp killer, I didn't expect the little bird to survive long, but she made it to evolve to an Altaria. I remember not having fond memories of fighting an Altaria in the original games, so hopefully, she's as monstrous as I remember.

Things were going great! I was going through the game at a steady pace. I bested Iron Island with ease, got the Riolu egg and put it in the pc :( Lucario is against the rules, remember?

I defeated team Galactic at the lakes and made my way to Snowpoint City. Here's where things get pretty grim, I was training Jirachi, way over levelled thinking everything was fine until I crossed paths with an Ace trainer, no problem I thought as I got ready to spam Psychic as I have done effortlessly in the past.

OH NO! Her Lopunny survives with 1hp. What happens next makes me sick. She uses mirror coat. Oh *#^! I thought this isn't going to end well. I see Jirachis health plummet. Narrowly avoiding death and to keep its trainer happy she survives! with 1hp... Relieved I wanted to get her out of there ASAP. Only we are on a mountain in the snow where it's hailing, the text rolls across the screen. My heart sinks. Jirachi is hit by the hail and succumbs to her injuries. Things are bleak now. My follower is no more. I replace her with Maril and trudge onwards. everything becoming very real now.

Maril evolves quickly to Azumaril, I absolutely destroy team Galatic at their hideout, Azumaril taking no prisoners. I reach Cyrus. Demolish his team like they're not even there and release the 3 Legendaries.

My team is looking a little unorthodox, but I feel determined to tackle Mt. Coronet. I start to ascend the mountain. Torterra, Altaria, Alakazam and Rapidash will go down in history. Azumaril and Medicham pulling their weight too, that is until we get to the summit. An Abnosnow appears, I'm not quite sure what happens here. Abnosnow crits Medicham after out speeding him. He's down, another fallen soldier. I replace him with Sneasal, an old favourite. Probably a temporary placement on the team. I now have a massive weakness to dark pokemon, which I'm not thrilled about.

The summit now. I blow away Cyrus' commanders and march on to the boss himself. My Alakazam nearly bites the dust; he's saved by 1hp due to full friendship (got to love that mechanic on a Nuzlocke run). My team scrape past Cyrus, the dark weakness causing havoc. I manage to best him and press on to Dialga.

I start with Torterra and use earthquake where it's nearly a 1HKO! I keep my team healed and take wave after wave of the relentless roar of time attacks while throwing balls constantly. Fortunately, it doesn't take long and Dialga is mine. Straight in the box, it goes. I Can't use it as it's against the rules.

Things happen quite quickly now, I explore the underground a little more and power through some battles. 8th gym now, he's electric and my Torterra knows earthquake so EZ. I take every battle I can get now, we are on the home stretch.

I train my team on the route to the pokemon league and then onwards to victory road. I seem to remember this particular version of Victory Road being quite a maze. I press onwards, the goal is in sight now. I take no casualties and no prisoners against other trainers in victory road and I reach the end game, the Elite 4. I pump my team full of the rare candies I've collected on the way and they're all mostly hitting between levels 65-70. They're ready.

First up, Aaron, he is a bug type user and I have a shiny flaming horse, most of them go down easy. The Drapion however wasn't having any of it! He kept being able to heal, I was a little worried. This was the first test. He uses earthquake and misses. I manage to put him down and with that beat Aaron and move on to number 2!

Bertha is next, she uses ground types. I won't go into too many details here, I had a Torterra at level 72, she didn't stand a chance here. I put her whole team down back to back without issue! Just under halfway there now.

Flint is next, my strategy here was to spam earthquake with Torterra with quick claw and to outspeed them due to my levels. Rapidash, there was no way, I take the hit but survive with no problem, then my EQ hits. Bye-bye speedy fire horse.

I switch to Rapidash for Steelix and chip away at his health, being cautious as he hits like a truck. I use alakazam for the rest as he is a glass cannon, he out-speeds them with ease and often deals a death blow. 3 down. One more to go.

Lucian uses Psychic-type and I have a Torterra with the move crunch, so I make light work of his team, although when he brought out Medicham my heart sunk. Fortunately, he missed a high jump kick and my alakazam did enough damage previously to finish him off, I healed up my team and moved on to the real challenge... Cynthia.

This was tricky Spirittomb doesn't have a weakness so I did my best to damage it as much as possible without taking casualties. I got through that OK.

Roserade was easy, Rapidash took it out in one hit. Perfect. More of this, please. Gastrodon is next, I've never liked these things. I used Torterra and took it out in two hits with minor injuries. Lucario was next up, I used earthquake, he outspeeds me and hit me with Aura sphere, it hurt but not too badly, I finish him off. This is where things get sticky. Mitotic survives Torterras attack, uses ice beam, it stings, a lot. I've got no choice but to switch out. I've not nothing else with a grass or lightning attack. I rely on my glass cannon alakazam to finish the job. Next up is the final showdown versus Garchomp, Cynthia and her Garchamp, the memes come flooding back to me, this combo has made many kids cry in the original games.

I'm quietly confident, I have two fairy types, I'm thinking this should be a breeze. Evidently not, she outspeeds me. Poison Jab. Gardevoir takes it straight to the face and dies. Oh, $%^# I'm thinking. Azumaril, the underdog on the team, I relied heavily on the little guy to bring him up to power with the others and he delivered, he's probably my favourite. Thinking a little mouse is definitely going to be quicker than a giant sand shark I use my fairy move, but no. It wasn't to be, Poison jab hits first and it's just as fatal the second time around. RIP buddy.

I switch into Alakazam, I outspeed him and hit him for big damage, only too much. She heals with a full restore, I switch out to Sneasal to heal my Torterra, Sneasal fulfilled his job and takes one for the team.

Torterra is back now, my plan wasn't to outspeed but to survive, sure enough, I do. I deal some more damage using a grass attack but still not enough, I have to switch out again. This time it's Rapidash. I might be able to do enough damage and outspeed it here, and I do but cause minuscule damage, it shrugs it off and earthquakes. RAPIDASH SURVIVES WITH 1HP. #$%^. This is going downhill fast. Alakazam again, outspeeds and uses Psychic, Garchomp survives, barely and heals again. I use Psychic again, I see the health bar continue to go down, it's a critical hit. And Garchomp is finally defeated, he was scary.

Cynthia crowns me and what is left of my team champion of Sinnoh and with that my first ever Nuzlocke run comes to an end. What a journey. My team and their levels are:

A moment of silence for the fallen: Staravia. Psyduck. Houndoom. Toxicroak. Jirachi. Medicham. Gardevoir. Azumarill. Altaria. You were valiant warriors.

And that completes my first ever Nuzlocke run. it was fun and definitely added a new level of challenge to these games, my favourite aspect of it though was using pokemon I've never really used before, Azumarill especially. I'm not sure if a Nuzlocke run will be possible on the next instalment of Pokemon but if it is I'll certainly be giving it a go.