Electrode Line - How fast can I beat Pokémon Crystal? - Pokémon Crystal Solo Challenge

[@AstronoMETV]

Electrode? Squidgy, you've got to stop the self abuse, I'm worried about you.

[@sebarsht12]

Squidgy, we're all human. Mistakes happen, and we look back thinking what we could have done instead, i can tell you as an ADHDer, that shit further inhibits the dopamine. Did anyone die from the Electrode run? No (hopefully), can it be redone with all the lessons learnt? Yes, you did that with Girafarig and Ursaring. You're doing a great job and like seeing your videos (i usually watch while I'm having dinner)

[@MobileGamingChronicles]

This will either be electrifying great, or explosively bad.

[@MobileGamingChronicles]

Oh dear, no Thunderbolt until after the Elite 4. Yeah, Thunder is basically a more expensive and worse version of Thunderbolt.

[@horizonforevergold]

*Electrode gets no Electric moves by experience* Gamefreak: Sometimes circumstances of one's birth are... complicated.

[@Adece100]

Dont lose hope Squidgy! I'm no challenge runner but you are a shining beacon of hope for all these Gen 2 pokemon! If theres anyone who can get each one of them through a solo run its you!

[@Squidgy]

I'm too far deep into the Gen 2 dex to give up now! I am determined to get (at the very least) every fully-evolved Pokémon over the line, even if some are kicking and screaming!

[@Adece100]

@@Squidgy Haha even if some are kicking and screaming. That's a good one 😆

[@mr.prodigy3401]

ahh my daily 30mins of peace

[@ondank]

Three drill is such a dependable guy. Always got something wise for us even when we disappear for a while. As for electrode. I never knew it was done so dirty. What the hell can you do when the thing doesn't ever get an electric move by level up. Two self destruct moves but no special attacks. Thanks gamefreak. Truly a gimmick Pokémon. Honestly, I can see why you were dreading it. You're a braver man than I, you couldn't pay me to go through this.

[@food_toobs8333]

You’re right, there’s just some Pokémon that just won’t perform well, and they can really tax your mental fortitude when doing these runs. I applaud you for sticking to it, however, and you certainly got Electrode a higher placing than I expected. Goes to show that while a good moveset isn’t everything (a la Pichu), it can make a massive impact on your run. Good job as always Squidgy

[@RFGfotografie]

The funny puns in this video and reactions are just to hillarious xD

[@jaimeXDgo]

How about starting a "What If" series? You'd do the run in a separate leaderboard, and give mons the least amount of fixing necessary to make them stand up. What if Voltorb learned Thunder Shock at lvl 5 and Thunderbolt when evolving? What if Sneasel's Attack and Special Attack were swapped? You know, patching a glaring weak point in any given mon's development to make them viable for a run like this.

[@silverrey7379]

What if Onix had more attack than Wurmple

[@Squidgy]

I really like this idea - it'll take some time to figure out and formulate the exact parameters, but as a streaming series, it could be an awful lot of fun!

[@andersonantunesdeleu8591]

That just proves how awful electrode's learnset really is! That sure was a struggle! You were very brave for taking finally this run Squidgy! You did the best you could! This Pokemon really only gets a bit better in gen 4 with some more coverage moves, everyone knows that!

[@LuisSilva-yc5fz]

bro having to rely on Struggle off a 30 base attack to hit Gastly, who is the lead of a 3 pokemon battle, is insane

[@UnmotivatedSlacker]

Giving Electrode the electric pokemon zero electric moves for it's level up set was certainly a choice Gamefreak made. I think I'm going to need a deeper explanation on how going through Mt. Mortar pre-surf is cheating though. You always have access to it by that point and you can do this on any run.

[@Squidgy]

The cheating in Mt. Mortar is one of the oldest in-jokes here on the channel - for quite a few videos, I had a commenter who accused me of cheating every time I got Hidden Power before defeating Morty, even though it's possible to just wander through Mt. Mortar to grab Hidden Power without the need for Surf!

[@discgolfwes]

Today I learned Sonicboom doesn't affect ghosts in Gen 2

[@raikiri23]

The fact it doesn't even get thundershock is mind boggling

[@NastyMuckSpread]

Electrode and Voltorb are so user unfriendly in solo challenges. You did the best you could and we appreciate the content grind on this one.

[@mtvhigh]

You're only human and so are we. This one is made tough due to the game makers who give voltrob nothing of value to use stab. Stay strong good sir.

[@Phil-S8]

I hate when they don't give a Pokemon a single STAB move on the level up learnset. I wonder how a rain dance and thunder strategy would've worked

[@Squidgy]

Pre-Kanto, Rain Dance and Thunder weren't viable because of money - it would've taken me far longer to either earn or gamble the coins needed to pick up Thunder, and after the League there was very little point because we had Thunderbolt! I did have the Rain Dance and Thunder TMs in the bag for the Red fight, but I never ended up using them.

[@Lightshock16]

SPOILER: you know a Pokémon is struggling when ONIX is hard countering it 🤣🤣

[@felixkendall-muniesa8971]

This is gonna be a painful run 😭

[@prismatic_pulse]

20:50 I gotta say that I was surprised when I saw that the Hidden Power type was Ground. While that was good initially for Morty's Ghost types and a few other battles, I personally think that Fire would have been the most useful. But Ice, Water, and Grass are all good for opposing Ground types. In the future, I definitely would like to see another Electrode run with a different Hidden Power type to see how it fares!

[@prismatic_pulse]

Also, I did not realize that Electrode's level up moveset was THAT bad until I saw this video 😭

[@Squidgy]

The HP Ground was a gamble which didn't pay off, I tried Electrode with HP Ice a couple of years back and it wasn't the play, and with HP Water already being done for Electrode, Ground felt like the next logical step! I'm gonna let this one settle for a few months then go back in with a fresh pair of eyes after the new year!

[@christopherballero866]

No STAB or unusable STAB was horrible the physical/special split & giving Pokemon good moves was so helpful but it did take a while. Electric STAB would've been so useful in this run especially with the League as a lot of their Pokemon including the champ's would've been OHKO'd by Electrode's thunderbolt

[@silverrey7379]

Gamefreak: "Let's make a Special oriented pokemon whose type combination is only physical! also, let's make the only usable move of one of these types drop special defense while being physical!"

[@26KIDa]

Thanks, Threedrill for the cheer-up! Yeah, I do think that HP Fire would have been a better choice, but it's tough to say when starting a run like this! What do you do with Electrode, the speedy wonder? I'm sorry this challenge stepped on your spirits, but I think you have a great community here that really enjoys your runs! I do, for sure!

[@kangaskdan]

Why do Gamefreak hate Electrode? :D Super speedy super crap. Thank you for putting yourself through this for our entertainment :)

[@jussioman]

Swagger- rollout is trolly and cheesy but gotta say that its satisfying when it works.

[@Squidgy]

I really don't like resorting to the cheese strategies, but some Pokémon give me no choice. You're not wrong, though, when it works it is incredibly satisfying!

[@jdsnerdverse]

a little advice on the struggle strategy. Go get the pink bow and equip it to boost struggle. I know struggle is supposed to be typeless but the game does code it as a normal move. Might not do alot but a little more damage could be the different between victory and defeat

[@Squidgy]

Hey! It's been common knowledge for a while that Struggle interacts with the Pink Bow. The time it would have taken to go all the way to Route 29 and back without the bike or Teleport meant it wasn't worth the effort to do, as we would've lost more time than we would have gained. The issue with Rival 2 in this one wasn't so much the damage we were doing and more the fact we were relying on the RNG not statusing or critting us.

[@SonicMeters]

I like your videos please continue them

[@Squidgy]

I have no plans to stop creating these challenges!

[@ihaveanopinion888]

I feel like GameFreak didnt know what to do with pokemon like Voltorb, Koffing and Magnemite (no limbs) during the first 2 gens. They barely get any usable moves in the early game.

[@davidettles1992]

I've never seen so many resets at Bruno ever.

[@Squidgy]

The Bruno fight in this one made a few of us rethink how we approach him with Electric-type Pokémon. We're now going in holding a Gold Berry a lot of the time to try and counter the damage we receive from Dig.

[@megamaxuiama]

Another Pokémon that Gen2 brutally screwed over with its lack of decent attacks.

[@Yokai0711]

maybe after your and electrodes struggles in this challange, you could try and backport the hisuian electrode with it's moveset. It plant typing removing the weakness to ground and the better moveset might let you breeze thru the early and midsection of the game. It would be very interessting to compare. Thank you very much for the video :-)

[@Squidgy]

You might have just predicted Monday's backport for the live stream! I've had Hisuian Electrode made up for quite some time now - I've just gotta do some final playtests and then it'll be good to go!

[@Yokai0711]

@@Squidgy Awesome, can't wait to see it monday :-D

[@SoraDonaldGoofy99]

Here I am wondering what you need. Hidden Power for sure, and maybe Toxic? Reflect? (I'm reverting to my Gen 1 logic as I type this comment...) Can't wait to see what you'll need!

[@BearGaemz]

One of the fastest Pokémon gets one of the slowest times. Just goes to show that learn set can make or break a Pokémon. Honestly think if Voltorb got at the very least thundershock via level up this would've been a much faster run.

[@jackruby6696]

Gamefreak really hates electrode

[@vkingking]

Electrode seems super difficult to run. No worries, no hate here. Hopefully your next run will feel better for you.

[@JTBren]

Dang, that was tough. I know you usually try to be consistent with your breaks ehile doing the runs, but personally i think a run that makes you feel like this easily deserves more/longer breaks. Dont beat yourself up for GameFreak's bad game design!

[@sushilbhandari4068]

Well, I don't think we are getting Electrode run 2.

[@MiniMizer11]

What was your reason for running HP Ground that uses it's attack stat, in stead of HP water?

[@Squidgy]

Because I'm only human and sometimes as a challenge runner, I make mistakes. It's all part of the process. A friend of mine had already done the challenge with HP Water, I'd had a failed run with HP Ice, so HP Ground seemed like the next logical step.

[@MiniMizer11]

Of course Squidgy, mistakes can happen! And if a friend of you already did, it's totally understandable. Thanks for the quick reply and sorry to hear the run drained so much energy out you.

[@daveymarshall3679]

Would a egg move run make this better

[@Squidgy]

Unfortunately, the Voltorb line gets no Egg Moves in Gen 2, so we're stuck with this set of moves!

[@user-u9g8m]

Magcargo with Dragon Hidden Power = neutral at worst against everything :) Was Magcargo's problem mostly speed? It's funny, one pokemon that is the fastest gets close to one pokemon that is one of the slowest.

[@Squidgy]

Magcargo's issue was mostly down to speed, defensive stats, and inexperience as a challenge runner. Offensively, it's brilliant! You get Flamethrower via level-up, you can grab a Hidden Power to counter your weaknesses, and you get good Rock-type moves, too. However, you come across a LOT of trainers with strong Water-type moves who are just there to ruin your day!

[@user-u9g8m]

@@Squidgy I see that's awesome

[@aylawyatt8841]

A special hidden power type might've helped more, but honestly, Electrode is kinda just a bad pokemon. Unwhelming stats, aside from speed, empty movepool, and generally poor matchups throughout the game, really hurt it.

[@Squidgy]

In hindsight, a special HP type would've helped us somewhat, but not by much. I had a failed run with HP Ice about 18 months ago, and the major sticking point was Jasmine, so going for a HP type specifically designed for her was my logic there, and with Bruno's Pokémon having weaker Physical Defense than Sp.Def, I thought I might be on to something. You live and learn for the next one, though!

[@snakyjake9]

Why they decided to create an electric type pokemon who doesn't learn any electric moves on level up is beyond me. The movesets are terrible for most Pokemon in gen 2. That's why you're compelled to rely on return and hidden power for most runs.

[@veghesther3204]

BUT its only NOT doable if it ONLY starts with Explode/Self Destruct and NO attack move and yes it learns NO moves of its own type either.

[@RFGfotografie]

Its sick that an electric type Pokemon doesnt learn an electric type move by level up. It's unacceptable/.

[@deadpool425fjf8]

Gotta go...not so fast

[@SnowyTotodile]

I quite liked the talking section in the Kanto part of the run.

[@Squidgy]

Only quite liked? I'd better up my game! :D

[@nautgamingnautgaming9949]

​@Squidgy why not rain dance thunder Rain dance GUARANTEES thunder hits even through double team You can do the combo as soon as morty is beaten

[@Squidgy]

Rain Dance is free, but Thunder costs 5500 Coins, which is 95,000 PokéDollars. We do not have that kind of money going through the challenge. In most challenges, we just about scrape together the money for one Tutor move after the league, and that's with holding the Amulet Coin.

[@SnowyTotodile]

​@@nautgamingnautgaming9949 There are quite a few reasons why Squidgy would not do Thunder as early as Morty. First off, Electrode does not learn Thunder naturally. Only a small group of Electric types learn this move via level up. As such, you would need to purchase the TM. It's unlikely you could afford TM25 at this point by the time you defeat Morty since it costs 5500 coins (110K cash). In most runs, you would not even have half of this! And even if you defeated every trainer and picked up every item between New Bark Town and Ecruteak and all pre-Surf routes, I think you would have to go gambling for the remainder of the coins, which would cost a lot of time as opposed to just continuing the run and buying Thunder when you have enough. Second, committing to such a strategy so very early generally isn't a very good idea. You are giving up two moveslots for a single attacking move that starts off with 5 PP. This is barely enough to defeat a single Elite Four member, assuming you got OHKOs across the board. Electrode's special attack isn't high enough to secure one in many cases.