18 05 2022

Leaf Green: Erika wasn’t so difficult. Still took quite a few hits. Going to the Rocket secret base event, the level drop from Erika was surprising. More so than Yellow, it feels like I am doing things out of order more. Giovanni was easy thanks to Blastoise and Hitmonchan. Getting the feeling Hitmonchan is going to get replaced, especially when I find an ice type. Pokemon Tower rival battle is easy, and the new game’s walking speed is really helping this section not feel slow. Some of these areas are even flagged to let you run! 

    Silph Co. still feels long. Much less annoying this round thanks to higher game speed. I really should’ve raised a psychic type. I forgot that a good portion of the poison types in Kanto now have Levitate on Koffing and Wheezing. I’m going to run and get one after this I think. It really feels weird going from pokemon tower to this, but it kinda makes sense. Just feels weird to suddenly be getting in a fight with Blue again. He was easy. Except for Venusaur. He now has a Venusaur because I chose Squirtle. Venusaur is my usual pick in RBY. My first and the one I return to because of bulk. Also later games give Venusaur a more fun moveset. Now I have to fight said bulk. I have not overleveled yet, and the upper floors of Silph Tower are equal to mine for the most part. Venusaur surpasses. Definitely made to be as much of a ‘boss’ encounter as Giovanni. Venusaur is programmed to Sleep Powder if the opponent is not asleep. I’m not sure if that old “enemy misses status more” rule still applies, but it sure feels like that rule doesn’t work anymore. I didn’t train anything that could easily one-shot Venusaur. So I spend a lot of time juggling potions, pokeflute, and my team. Three resets later, Venusaur only missed three times. Finally got it to not hit for a final blow on the last try. Oof. 

Giovanni is a little easier than Blue was for my team, but still making me regret not getting a psychic. I’ll wait a little longer so I make a decision based on what I can get from the Safari Zone and if there’s anything interesting on the routes. Sabrina’s Gym I just took out with Blastoise. I made a quick detour to give it Mega Kick. I know full well the low defense stat on her team still exists. Mega Kick seemed too funny to pass up. I know I could’ve gone and tried to get Strength early and just used that… But the image of a kaiju turtle with canons and stubby-ish legs doing the Kamen Rider kick is just perfect. Blastoise’s bulk makes up for any lacking damage. I forgot about Venomoth and had to improvise. Diglett is still around for now so that works. Blastoise takes out her Alakazam with a Meeeegaaa Kiiiiick!!! 

Ok, at this pace I’m very happy with things. So, time to mess that up and do other things. My grand plans to keep my awkward team are falling apart. I decide to replace Hitmonchan with a Jynx, so I look up where to just find a Poliwhirl. Oh right, I have to upgrade fishing rods. I go down to Fuchsia and get the Good Rod and then get the Super Rod. Just go right to em. Catch one above Vermilion. Trade it, I was just going to train it from whatever 20something level I find one at, I didn’t have a way to force the max level encounter. Jynx is traded in Celadon and being a traded pokemon it’ll get more exp. While I’m at it and catching stuff to train, I do the thing that was a pain to do back in the day and really haven’t properly tried to do again. I go and get a Dratini. 

Waltzing into the safari zone, I quickly do the route and get the Teeth and the Surf HM. I figure out how to use bait in Gen III’s Safari Zone. Apparently some pokemon are easier to catch with bait than expected?. Keeps them around longer and doesn’t make them harder to catch. Two Dratini and a bunch of new pokemon later, I start raising the one with better stats. I now have enough species on the pokedex to get Exp.Share and Amulet Coin. This helps training and getting money. I use the Psychic TM on Jynx and go into Koga’s gym. Jynx takes care of a lot, but I do switch to other pokemon. Koga went easier by grabbing an actual Psychic type and giving it a STAB move. From here on out, just lots of cleaning up routes for experience and getting ready to get the legendary birds. Lots of EXP grinding while doing other things in Seafoam. Makes up for how little I was able to use Raichu.