Nuzlocke Challenge: A New Pokemon Craze
Last Updated on: 29th July 2021, 03:24 am
As a resident of the YouTube landscape, it’s been hard to ignore the absolute explosion of videos about Pokemon Nuzlocke Challenges. From Red and Blue all the way to the newest entries of Sword and Shield, numerous PokeTubers have taken to recording their playthroughs and condensing them into 20ish minute long digestible videos. A number of channels have seen great growth upon trying these challenges, hardcore or otherwise, so just what is the Nuzlocke Challenge? Here’s everything you need to know!
While the concept of the challenge itself isn’t new, the absolute explosion in content for it is. So here are the main rules:
1. Faints = Boxed
The main rule that governs the Nuzlocke Challenge is: if a Pokemon faints, it’s dead. The Pokemon can no longer be used and must either permanently be placed in the PC or released back to the wild. As one can guess, this challenge is primarily a difficulty modifier for the game, punishing mistakes and poor luck more than the game would naturally do so.
READ MORE: The Case for the Pokemon Nuzlocke Challenge
In a lack of space to put it elsewhere, an optional rule is to restart the entire game upon losing an entire battle. A player can choose to restart or merely box/release their prior team of six.
However, while the time spent grinding new Pokemon would be tiresome, one could infinitely catch new Pokemon to replace their ranks. That’s where the next rule comes in.
2. First Encounters
The rule that supplements the first is that you may only catch the first Pokemon encountered on each area within the Town Map. This limits the amount of Pokemon obtainable in a Nuzlocke playthrough to be a maximum of the number of unique areas in that particular region.
Some optional amendments are applied here at a player’s discretion. Species Clause is an exception to this rule in which, if the first encounter of a new area is a member of a previously caught evolutionary line, the player may skip the encounter. Some people set a limit to three uses per route, and some do so infinitely.
READ MORE: Top 5 Easiest Pokemon Gym Leaders
Some areas are also up to interpretation. Areas like Mt. Coronet in Sinnoh have multiples areas with different encounter sets, and the player can choose to count these as new areas or not.
3. Nicknames
The last main rule of the challenge is actually an optional one, but one that has been around since the origins of the challenge. In order to make potential sacrifices, misplays, or poor luck hurt more, a nickname will ideally make it hurt oh so much more.
When you’ve had a Pokemon with a long legacy get KO’d by nearly unpreventable circumstances, it never really stops hurting… RIP Boog in my latest Pokemon Shield Nuzlocke.
4. Hardcore Nuzlocke
The latest online wave of content, however has been focused on hardcore rules which are as follows. No items are allowed to be used in battle aside from held items. A Pokemon must be benched temporarily if it levels past the highest levelled Pokemon of the next Gym Leader. Lastly, the battle mode must be set to Set Mode.
These rules help increase the difficulty further by eliminating item spam, overlevelling, and exploiting risk free switching. While many pros are doing such challenges on YouTube now, I’d recommend ignoring hardcore rules until you’ve got some nuzlocking experience first.
Still, if you’ve never tried a Nuzlocke Challenge, I’d highly advise it! Even if its the game you know best, this challenge is sure to spice up any playthrough!
