Well... this one was. Rough. Part of that was my fault; due to having Pokemon Emerald on my phone, I play a lot of versions of Gen 3 Hoenn for fun. Which means, I am VERY familiar with Emerald's Hoenn, to the point that I was, honestly, really burnt out on it by the time I did this run. This one was... not my favorite, though there were a number of highlights.
Willowbark the Grovyle, level 33
M, Overgrow, hasty, starter Pokemon in Littleroot Town
I think this line of Pokemon is cursed for me. Willowbark was a good part of the team, but eventually he started to struggle. He really needed the evolution into Sceptile, but before that could happen, he got crit by a random trainer's Pokemon, and that was that... sorry, buddy.
Fleetfoot the Linoone, level 24
F, Pickup, relaxed, caught on Rt 103
I'm a reformed Zigzagoon line hater; when I was a teen, Zigzagoon and Linoone were some of the very few Pokemon I'd actively describe hating, but after using several, and the extremely cool Galarian Zigzagoon line, I'm now a lover of this silly line of raccoon/mongooses. Fleetfoot was a very reliable team member; any normal type that gets Headbutt is, really, but unfortunately there were a lot of sacrifices that had to be made to Wattson, and she was one of them, falling to his Magneton.
SwampSteps the Ludicolo, level 55, Champion
M, Swift Swim, gentle, caught on Rt 102
The comeback of the century. SwampSteps spent a large chunk of this run complete fucking dead weight; Ludicolo learns good TMs, but this line's level-up moveset in Gen 3 is absolute fucking TRASH. He was less than useless until after Norman, where I could finally give him Surf. After that, though, his moves just kept getting better and better, and his evolution made him the core of the team. By the League, he was a complete monster. I'm thrilled with how he turned out in the end, but CHRIST BUD, pick up the pace next time maybe?
Flyboy the Shiny Swellow, level 32
M, Guts, rash, caught on Rt 116
I had already planned to use Swellow this run, catching a careful natured Taillow on Rt 104, but while grinding up my team for Roxanne, I ran into this sparkly lil man! Since I was already going to use one, I just replaced the other Taillow with this one. Like, I had to, right?? Swellow's a pretty solid Pokemon, fast and hits pretty damn hard with the right moveset, but unfortunately for my shiny boy, Swellow's are pretty much made of tissue paper. He couldn't survive a mirror match with Winona's Swellow, dying to an Aerial Ace before he could take out the other bird... with most other deaths, I'm planning not to take them up through the gens, but Flyboy is 100% coming with me into the future.
CatScratch the Skitty, level 24
F, Cute Charm, quiet, caught on Rt 116
I LOVE Skitty!! It's so cute, and can be surprisingly good if you give it the right moveset. CatScratch was a very helpful girl, but she was the other death to Wattson, dying to a Self-Destruct from his Voltorb.
Ironclad the Aron, level 21
F, Sturdy, rash, caught in Granite Cave
What a waste of a really cool Pokemon... Poor Ironclad barely got to do anything on the team before she got hit by a Magnitude 10. Gnarly, dude... I'm so disappointed.
Friction the Manetric, level 55, Champion
F, Static, hasty, caught on Rt 110
Like with Carapace from last game, I've never been a Manectric fan or really used one; every time I've tried its died IMMEDIATELY. Friction, however, was an AMAZING Pokemon. She hit hard, and hard enough that her flimsy defenses weren't really a worry. She mostly did one thing, which was Thunderbolt, but her Thunder Wave came in handy quite often too. I'm hoping to eventually get her into ORAS and Legends: Z-A and Mega Evolve her!
MoltnShell the Torkoal, level 56, Champion
F, White Smoke, calm, caught in Fiery Path
Torkoal is such a cool Pokemon; White Smoke and Clear Body are such wild abilities, and the fact that so few Pokemon get them makes basically all of them VERY fun to use. MoltnShell had two modes in battle; Flamethrower, and Stall with Protect and Toxic. She was a very solid team member.
AcidDaggar the Seviper, level 55, Champion
F, Shed Skin, naive, caught on Rt 114
Seviper is basically a slamdunk for one of my favorite Hoenn Pokemon; its a snake, its Poison type, its got a cool bit of lore with its relationship to Zangoose, AND it reminds me of a childhood favorite movie, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. However, I've only really used one once, ages and ages ago in Alpha Sapphire. I was excited to use one again here! And though AcidDaggar could be... less reliable than some of her teammates, and also I spelled her name wrong I think, I still love her, and I'm glad she made it.
Wax n Wane the Lunatone, level 55
X, Levitate, bashful, caught in Meteor Falls
Wax n Wane was so, SO good... even without Rock Slide, they filled their niche on the team incredibly. They were accurate with Rock Throw and Hypnosis, hit hard with Psychic, and did really consistent damage with Shadow Ball despite the lack of STAB. They were wonderful... they almost made it all the way, but they missed a Hypnosis against Steven's Armaldo, and Ancient Power took them out... I'm so sad they didn't make it to the end.
Demonia the Flygon, level 55, Champion
F, Levitate, naive, caught on Rt 111
While most of the nicknames in these are based on some attribute of the Pokemon, I couldn't resist naming a Gen 3 Flygon after Tommy Boy in some way lol. Demonia, no shock, was a great team member. She's a pseudo, so I wasn't expecting any different. Not a lot to say here- consistent damage and good stats; tttttthat's a pseudo!
Final Thoughts
This run was a fucking slog man... I had to grind WAY more than I thought I would, I was so familiar with almost all of the game that I wasn't interested in anything that was happening outside of battle, and when something unexpected did happen, it just pissed me off... I was very happy to move on from this to Fire Red.
Stats
