How many Pokemon beat Bugsy without Optional Battles? - Episode 1

Minimum Battles is the ultimate challenge. 165 Pokemon beat Falkner on Minimum Battles, but now it's time to find out how they do against Rival 2 and Bugsy!
On my main channel @RBYPokemonChallenges , I have already completed this challenge with all 151 Pokemon on Gen 1, but Gen 2 presents a massively different challenge - sleep and Wrap were nerfed, there's no Gen 1 miss (1/256 glitch), and all the trainers have better AI. But Minimum Battles might just be possible with some effort and ingenuity.
Today's challengers:
Charmander, Charmeleon, Charizard
Squirtle, Wartortle, Blastoise
Meganium
Quilava, Typhlosion
Totodile, Croconaw, Feraligatr
Redos:
Cyndaquil
Channel Member Picks with Egg Move!
Caleb Marks - Bulbasaur

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

There are a lot of explanations in this one, so somewhat fewer Pokemon. I imagine as we progress, some fights will be more obvious and get cut out, Also, thanks to the commenters who mentioned the Hard Stone and Poison Barb, two more items that we will get in the next episode.

[@MobileGamingChronicles]

When I saw Hard Stone, I was like "that's pointless, you can just press B to stop evolving." Then I realized that was the Everstone lol, Hard Stone I think boosts rock type moves by 10%.

[@TonioQuo7]

A new checkpoint unlocked

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Aw yeah!

[@tamonowo247]

I never thought I'd get strangely addicted to seeing the same content done over and over again but with a different protagonist :')

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

I'm glad you enjoy it! Also, thank you and welcome to the channel membership!

[@meevs]

Technically that final rocket grunt with the koffing gets upgraded to a named boss in HGSS, he's called Proton! And I'm with everyone else, take the berries and the pink bow without the backtracking.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Proton, got it! Yeah, I spend hours doing the runs each time, so cutting out a but of tedious backtracking is really appreciated

[@michabaron4129]

I would absolutely take leech seed over tackle on bulbasaur as you can always learn more normal attacking moves later and normal doesnt improve your coverage much anyway. Also worth noting that Ancient power is slightly better at doing neutral damage than STAB vine whip in gen 2, even with Miracle Seed.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah ai was using Vine Whip primarily due to Ancient Power having limited PP and avoiding backtracks. I will keep an eye on the situation with Tackle etc, since there could be a fight where Sleep Powder + Leech Seed turns out to be the better play....

[@anndeekingman]

Fun fact, the pink bow has some effect on struggle in gen 2 even though it is classed as typeless damage. A content creator called Snowy covered this in a video, not tried it myself but seems legit.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, I've seen Snowy's video on it, and we will use that if necessary. Struggle still remains weaker than Swift, though

[@myhandleiswhat]

Struggle is Normal type but it is just programmed to affect Ghosts and be Neutral to resists. Pink Bow affecting it is probably an oversight from the developers.

[@turtersvongenbu]

It might have been better for Bulbasaur to forget Tackle instead of Leech Seed since normal doesn't add much to grass and rock coverage, but leech seed with sleep could be used to heal up mid fight and chip away at Pokemon you otherwise can't do good damage to. Tackle was not necessary to make it through this section, so it could be worth keeping this in mind if Bulbasaur hits a roadblock in the future.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Fair enough.

[@relt1554]

Amy and May are anagrams so i think that was the naming scheme for those twins.

[@ILeikNormalTypes]

If we wanna be really technical, since you have infinite berries, you should also have infinite money. So if you need to get Charcoal before Rival2, it could be an option if you wanna allow that Edit: before anyone on this split I guess, you don’t fight anyone until you get to Azalea in this split so it could just be preloaded like the other held items in theory

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

That is true. I would argue that Charcoal is fair game if we find a need for it.

[@only1gameguru]

Indeed you can sell a billion berries to get it from the shop

[@travisalexander6440]

It also means every TM in Celadon is an option for custom movesets as necessary.

[@Neo_Bones]

Realistically who is doing that though

[@travisalexander6440]

@Neo_Bones I get that, but realistically who would do this on absolute minimum battles and minimum XP? Who is ever trying to do this with Struggle strats? For some mons that were bleeding-edge close, why not take a couple battles in Sprout Tower or a few more in Azalea Gym to pick up 2-4 levels and walk both these sections? I see the whole thing as a theoretical exercise actually put in the game and played through.

[@orangefiberdrinkgaming]

I've been very excited for this! Thanks for this masterpiece of a series!

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Thank you! Many more to come!!!

[@Shane-qy7ff]

I love this series! Thank you for all the effort and hard work!

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Thank you so much for watching!

[@Spudmay]

So glad this is out! So excited for this second part of the series!

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Aw yeah! we're ready to go on the Bugsy section!

[@theotheyoutubewatcherista]

for a challenge like this just giving yourself any out of the way items that you could normally obtain is absolutely the best way to go about it

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, I think everything should be shown legitimately at least once for the sake of clarity, and then after that it's all fair game

[@turbotreehouse9780]

Like the concept, content, and charisma. Thanks for the new muse 🙂

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Absolutely, thank you for watching!

[@brolsroyceyt2362]

At long last I been waiting for this day!! 🔥🔥🔥

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

We made it! I will be recording Episode 2 tomorrow.

[@Camurgladius]

Charmander out here literally slapping and clawing to try and keep a rep for the unevolved no-eggmove starters in contention.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Aw yeah he's putting in work!

[@thecatherd]

Looking forward to the rest of this series already! I think Bugsy and Rival 2 will provide a different kind of challenge than Falkner.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

That will definitely be true. I'm not feeling that the other trainers will do much though, it's basically just Bugsy and Rival 2 for the most part.

[@mrzeloswilder]

Honestly love the fact we are onto the next checkpoint. Always fun to see these. I'm more interested to see how many manage to beat Whitney on minimum battles. Cause to me I do not feel like there will be that many roadblocks after Whitney until Jasmine. Morty MIGHT be a roadblock to slower mons but overall I feel that Jasmine would be the next BIG roadblock. But who knows, there might be some random trainer that radically surprises me.

[@travisalexander6440]

Whitney might be the odd duck where a final evolution might not make it but a lesser form might; Charizard is 4x weak to Rollout so its Mudslaps might not stack fast enough, but Charmeleon's could.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

This is fair. I will need to test Charmander and Charizard separately there

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

I think another potential roadblock is Rival 3 in the Burned Tower. He was optional in GSC, but is required in Crystal... And in my testing he is sometimes quite tough

[@travisalexander6440]

@@GSCPokemonChallenges I was only thinking about it because I know the standing rule was that if the final evo did not make the cut, every pre-form was eliminated automatically. We might have some edge-case here; I say might because with a Mudslap or two and maybe a Fire Punch Burn, Charizard will eat some resets but probably squeaks out a pass in decent enough time.

[@accapaellass]

For fire types like Charmander which need more damage you could try to ember Croconaw for the 10% burn. It's not likely but it's damage over time (they'll probably still fail though), anyways always great to see a sub-optimal move like swift being the key to victory

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, Chip Damage could be a good strategy in some tough spots.

[@DarKnightKilla13]

Wooo! So pumped for this next part of the series! Keep 'em comin' brother! EDIT: just as a note, I know at regular game speed there's a way to quickly manip every spinner somehow with using the pause menu, like when they face a certain direction and you pause it stops them long enough for you to pass. I think when they are facing left or up and you pause-strat you can pass below or to the right and when they are right or down you can pass left or up. You'd have to look up exactly how but that MAY help you with manip on those spinners!

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Thanks for the tip! I'll look into that!

[@tannerwells3210]

inspiring way to play the game! keep them coming!

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Thank you! More to come!

[@nutmegdoesstuff1339]

This is probably like the only time it would matter, but I do feel like when you have the choice between a team with two pokemon vs a team with one pokemon that gives more xp, going with the one still makes sense since even if you get more out of it, it's still less pokemon.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

I don't think I've encountered this so far (I'll have to double check). But on general I go for the lower Exp route

[@MobileGamingChronicles]

After the series concludes: How many Pokemon beat Pokemon Crystal (whichever version this is) without optional battles? The movie. 690 hours. Oh God, where's my beer at? I need a swig. 🍻🤣🤣🤣

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, this is going to be such a massive project, and just keep in mind my actual time is several times what makes the final video 😂

[@androidboyd]

I feel like using the status berries more (Poison vs Bugsy, Paralyze vs Rival 2, etc) will result in getting through faster with some Pokemon as this challenge continues.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, I will need to look for specific spots where the Poison or Paralysis is the only reason we're losing. So far, it was more about lacking survivability and already being outsped

[@nickvitantonio5174]

I dont know if this is true or not, but it's worth looking into. I heard that in Gen 2, if the AI is hit with an accuracy lowering move, the AI can change its move mid turn and it can check which move will hit and which move won't. So if the croconaw saw that after the accuracy drop water gun and rage would both miss, but leer would hit, that could explain why it uses weird moves at points. It knows every other attack would have missed otherwise, so it's better to at least get something from the turn.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

I know Stadium 2 had something like this, but still haven't been able to confirm for Crystal

[@17Master]

I predict six winners this time. I can't really recall any mandatory battles outside the Bugsy, Rival and Team Rocket, and with Rival's starter evolving AND having a super effective move, I suspect this section is going to be nasty for most Fire, Water and Grass types. Even Arcanine barely got by and that thing's a beast stat wise.

[@17Master]

Accuracy strats OP

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah the accuracy can be OP, but I won't reset here forever. There's such a massive difference between going first with accuracy strats and going second with accuracy strats

[@jussioman]

Commenting for the algorithm. I like the series since it forces the player to go against all the bad match ups and think about alternative strategies. When I played crystal as a kid I always thought Johto section was too easy if I played the game the way game freak invented it.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

I agree. Fighting every trainer just made the game too easy. But Minimum Battles gives us a proper challenge and keeps things level-appropriate

[@acdcljb]

You have a typo in "pass with struggle" section of the summary page. Bayleef will be a bane of many mons, you will see! Anyway, I am a bit curious about the next segment of the game because if I recall correctly, there are almost no mandatory battles on the way to Whitney - so maybe run up to Morty? The game opens a lot after his badge, it will be really wild getting the right pathing for each mon.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

There are few trainers available there. Two that we CAN fight in the underground path, and then one in Whitney's gym. The bigger factor is gathering TMs and held items

[@raptors11111]

Awesome man great to be in a new section. Good for Croconaw and Wartortle for getting thru. Thought Bugsy would be more of a challenge, that 5% chance to miss fury cutter might be the saving grace of a lot of pokemon going forward. But the rival is proving tricky as expected.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, I think the key is going to be that if we ONLY win with a Fury Cutter miss, it's probably too lucky, but of it's EITHER a Fury Cutter miss OR a crit, we reset to try to get it.

[@dragonslayerz2220]

​@@GSCPokemonChallengesA fury cutter miss is not that unlikely, unless it's needed on a specific turn. 1/20 is better odds than some of the strategies that have been used, such as the crit + 30% range that...I think it was one of the fossils that needed it?

[@raptors11111]

@@GSCPokemonChallenges thats a good way of doing it, i can definitely support that. The chance of a crit OR fury cutter miss should be about 11% which is pretty reasonable odds

[@raptors11111]

@@dragonslayerz2220 yeah i wasnt complaining or anything, just saying it makes Bugsy slightly less threatening than i originally expected. Thought he'd be more of a wall but so far Bugsy stops as much as a green light lol

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

I think the bigger factor is really the combination of factors. I should have been more clear that if the only way to progress is for example for him to miss on a specific turn AND get a crit, that's probably too luck based. There will be some times where I will reset a lot for a specific situation and also some times where a Mon might get insanely lucky for all I know, but gets the first try victory. So it's kind of an inexact science.

[@stardf29]

SPOILER for quick recaps... ... ... Typhlosion: Bugsy is obviously burnt to a crisp. Rival 2 requires some Mud-Slap luck. PASS Quilava: Needs a lot more luck with Mud-Slap misses but still within reason to get through. PASS Charizard: See Typhlosion, but with more Mud-Slap luck. PASS Charmeleon: See Typhlosion. PASS Charmander: See Quilava. PASS Meganium: Beats Rival 2 with Mud-Slap luck. Can even beat Bugsy by using Mud-Slap against Kakuna and then hoping for some lucky Fury Cutter misses from Scyther. PASS Feraligatr: Beats Bugsy easily with Rage, then can use Fury Cutter from the gym to deal with Rival 2's Bayleef with some setup. PASS Croconaw: See Feraligatr. PASS Totodile: Unfortunately, it cannot learn Fury Cutter without evolving, and being slower than Bayleef is a death knell. FAIL Blastoise: Can use Withdraw to tank Bugsy's attacks, and barely squeaks by Rival 2 with good Mud-Slap luck against Bayleef. PASS Wartortle: Somehow manages to beat Rival 2 first with good Mud-Slap luck, and then some luck with a crit and a Fury Cutter miss beats Bugsy. PASS Squirtle: Can get past Bugsy with some crit luck but has the same issues against Rival 2. FAIL Final Results: PASS: 11 FAIL: 2 Bonus: Bulbasaur w/Ancientpower: Has no problem thanks to Ancientpower. PASS (I've been busy lately so haven't had a chance to really watch through this video until now.)

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Thank you so much! Your recaps are always amazing! I hope they're just as good when we start the gen 1 minimum battles series

[@grrman]

With spinners it would do you well to temporarily turn of your speed up. They are easily passed at normal speed. Speed-runners use a trick where they open the start menu quickly as that'll delay the next spin enough to guarantee the pass by.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Fair enough . I'll need to look into that

[@MobileGamingChronicles]

6:02 at first I was looking through my peripheral vision just barely and thought it was a hidden item, so I rewinded 10 seconds and looked carefully at the video. Nope, regular item. 😅😅😅

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Hey, it happens

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

6:18 today i found out: you can actually wait out the spinners rather than press your luck or use patches/hacks

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, it is best sped up, but it does work

[@Red-yt2dk]

I think you should have infinite of any item that you could technically renewably get more of, and you have free gamehooky access to any item that is available that the current point in the game. In this series, we're not interested in actually doing the run, just whether the pokemon can theoretically do it at all, within the constraints of the game. So, if there is a way to get more of an item, officially in the game, you have infinite of that item. EDIT: This DOES mean that if you _cannot_ get more of an item, that item is gone forever for that particular pokemon. In the charizard run e.g., if you kept the Fury Cutter run, the Fury Cutter TM would have been gone forever for Charizard and could not be used in a future segment.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Exactly this. I will keep even bad move decisions via TM if they are present

[@mikew2648]

Heads up the ui has a typo on the "pass with struggle" section. Thanks for the great content as always!

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Oops, will get that fixed! Thank you!

[@stevepierce227]

I also just noticed you can get the Poison Barb from Frieda on Fridays right above the Pokemon Center before Union Cave.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, I learned this too. I mention it in Episode 2, which will be out next week

[@redreoicy6698]

I think it's fine to give yourself pink bow without backtracking. You might consider something similar when you reach return to avoid walking for ages to max friendship.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, there's a tradeoff between doing everything legitimately and the time it takes to do it with every Pokemon. So as a shortcut, I think showing once that it's legit and then just using Gamehook to shortcut is the way to go.

[@androidboyd]

When I did the math for many Smokescreen scenarios to figure out the scenarios which were most likely for me to get through, it often seemed like 2-3 accuracy drops was the sweet spot. Each additional usage of the move is another turn where the opponent rolls to hit you, and amount of accuracy drop is lower for stage dropped.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, in general you want 1-2 but it depends largely on how quickly they KO you and how many turns you need to KO them. For example, if you have a situation where the opp cannot KO you easily 2 is basically optimal. However, there comes a point. where it's purely either 1) you lose if they hit you even once or 2) it takes so many turns for the player to KO the opp that it is borderline impossible that you start to have to set up all of them and pray. These are the scenarios that I am generally trying to give up on in this secrikn

[@davidgardner6677]

It's not a fetch quest.. it's a FarFetchd quest 😂

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

It just works

[@edwardnowakowski5990]

Scott’s thoughts altered the code to make it so spinners will always look away from the player during his playthroughs. Have you considered asking him for the code for convenience’s sake? Just so you don’t have to worry about getting caught by spinners while doing over a hundred runs

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, I think he had a modded ROM, but that would require a lot of work to apply the hack and then create a separate version with each Pokemon in a starter ball, then go back and replay the Falkner section. There really aren't that many spinners in the runs (most are between Violet and Ecruteak)

[@edwardnowakowski5990]

Fair enough, if its more trouble than it’s worth, then it makes sense to keep things as they are

[@redxraider0613]

Liking this Series so far. I think the wall will be after morty, Jasmine/Price

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

That could be fair. We're going to get a lot of extra levels from the Rocket Hideout after Morty, but Jasmine can be legit scary in these runs

[@Neo_Bones]

The Koffing Grunt is actually a named trainer in the remakes. There, he’s called “Rocket Executive Proton”

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Code Name: Koffingz in the Corner

[@annaangelic2318]

My favorite new series

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

That's awesome! Thanks for watching!

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

10:35 you can say it was missed opportunity... you can say it isn't... i think they were going for an annogram Edit: also i think twins april & may would push it with the character limit, youll see that the future twins battles are three character names.. yay 3rd gen and later

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah makes sense, but I still wanted April and May, granted they're also just bad....

[@myhandleiswhat]

I think speed runners will open the pause menu for a few seconds and that can sometimes cause the trainer to stick in a direction before continuing the spin. It's been a while since I've watched a full speed run. It has had mixed results with me.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

I'm sure there is a technique to it, but nothing that we can't handle with the speed up

[@Exaskryz]

Wanted to see Charizard strat out Ember to redbar Gastly, then build the fury cutter up at that point, might make 3rd or 4th fury cutter where you start on Croc. Not sure if it is enough to survive the Water Guns though

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah I went for that with some other Pokemon. Fury Cutter just does so little there, but it can build up enough without a miss to OHKO the Croconaw after only 3 or 4 hits on Gastly

[@philipmurphy2]

This is better than any movie

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Thank you!

[@tannerwells3210]

I'm just leaving a message on your most recent video of this series. I really like the way you're playing thro each pokemon

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it!

[@drlar1236]

Ouch, dropping the news bomb of gamehook going down. Had just been lurking in the discord last month trying to explore getting set up with it. I'd still be interested in your overlay video if even gamehook is unavailable any longer, so those of who still have it could get an overlay set up! I never got the example overlay going.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

For sure. I am still working out some things on my end, but once it's in a more polished, I may still just show it off

[@felixkendall-muniesa8971]

I reckon 7 or 8 of the next 15 challengers will make it through, bayleef is too much of a wall for Pokémon that can only hit it with normal or resisted attacks, or those weak to grass

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, it's going to be very interesting.. Lots of Flying types that should just crush, but then there's the Sandshrew line, Pichu, and others that could be rough

[@MobileGamingChronicles]

Ooooo Arcanine 1hp hype!

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Aw yeah, he is legendary

[@MobileGamingChronicles]

@@GSCPokemonChallenges any Pokemon that survives on 1hp is legendary!

[@thunderdan4058]

Considering how much time it must take to play through each section and edit everything I think whatever you have to do to speed things up is allowed

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Thank you so much! Yeah, I am just doing it for time savings, so I think showing it legitimately one time and then just hacking in the other times is fair. Same as how I handled struggle.

[@MetalSandshrew]

It might be a super niche for Totodile specifically but I noticed that if you did Rival 2 before Bugsy Rival 2 sends out Gastly, Zubat, Bayleef. Perhaps you can build Rage on the Zubat to 1-3 shot the Bayleef. Also I doubt this will come up but for Twin trainers if you talk to the other twin the Pokemon order changes. But I don't think anything would rather take the Ledyba's Supersonic compared to the Spinarak's speed drop. EDIT: You may need to be below level 16 during the switch so it would need to be before the Paras as well.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

I need to look into this. Is there a reason why he swaps which Pokemon comes out based on the level?

[@MetalSandshrew]

@@GSCPokemonChallenges Not that I'm aware of but for some of the ones you attempted the rival before Bugsy it seemed to go Gastly - Zubat - Starter even though he had the type advantage. And last I checked Fire and Water aren't weak to Poison / Flying.

[@SkadingleMadongle]

Shouldn't you pick the weaker starter for the rival since if it would be a speedrun people would do that? But really cool series, I'm always pleased to see a new upload!

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

I mean, we could go that route too. I chose to go with one that were generally weak to.

[@SkadingleMadongle]

​​@@GSCPokemonChallenges Both options kinda make sense. I'm just worried about how many Pokemon will not make it due to Rival battles. But I think even with the weaker Rival starters barely any Pokemon will get through the full game without optional battles. Sadly...

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

We're just going to have to see. I think Rival 2 and Rival 3 are the hardest in my experience so far. Rival 4 in the middle of the Rocket story comes after we've already levelled q lot and have a bunch of TMs, and Rival 5 just before the league is basically just a warm-up

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

29:22 Teo landed on the spinner rip 41:00 he ran into a trainer rip

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Double RIP. It's going to happen with spinners, bet actually there aren't that many after we reach Ecruteak

[@TheAnalyticalEngine]

I'm quite happy with you just giving yourself a bunch of berries, since anyone could just wait a bunch of time or reset the game clock to harvest them - provided that those berries are accessible up to that portion of the game. Same goes for any held item accessible by that portion of the game There are some held items that are only accessible later on, and with optional battles, though - e.g. the soft sand

[@TheAnalyticalEngine]

Also, I think the Female Rocket Grunt's design is based on Cassidy from the anime - meanwhile, the Female Rocket Admin looks like an older version of Jessie

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, I plan not to allow those that are not available without optional battles. Yeah, I didn't think about looking to the remakes for names. I prefer to jokingly name them things that make sense to me

[@delvintodavo9419]

Maybe mentioned. Idk. But apparently in gen 2 the ancient pwr can’t activate an omniboost if it ko’s the mon (regardless if ends the battle or not ie first-last mons in a battle)

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

58:13 oooo oooooo you mean Jrose11?!

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Shh.! Don't say his name. He is legend!

[@alexrobinet7576]

Don't forget to put iron tail on meganium if you can.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Perhaps after Jasmine we'll do that 😂

[@celticv]

its been awhile since i played crystal i think some gym leaders my use items that heals status but am not sure . i do remember main pokemon having a berry on them ether that or am thinking of different gen specially on mini battles i found them having berry was very annoying some cases

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

I need to research specifically what items they can use and under what conditions

[@mariusvfl1848]

Wouldnt paras be a ghost grass type? The bug has become a ghost and the mushroom is still there :)

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Fair enough

[@mathturtle37]

Predictions: I think the first stage starters fail. Rival 2 is one of the hardest fights in johto just because you don't have that many tools to use yet. *Quickly fact checks on Bulbapedia*... never mind they all have a shot, everything there learns mud-slap. It's really just a question of "can Meganium beat Scyther?" then and I think it just has enough stats for this point in the game. Mud slap is kinda OP.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, I think Rival 2 sets up to be the toughest overall. Bugsy will likely have his moments though, especially as we got to slower level up groups. Mudslap will be used a lot in this secrikn, and I anticipate it is OP provided we outspeed

[@mathturtle37]

After finishing the video: wow Bayleaf is mean if you don't outspeed. I think the speedrun takes one of the optional hikers in union cave to evolve to Croc before that fight. The odds of winning that with the first stage water types are really bad since they get 2 hit. I'm kinda impressed by Charmander getting through. Predictions for next time: Butterfree - has confusion for rockets and bugsy and IIRC gets Sleep Powder at 16 so should beat rival 2 with that. Ledian - I'm surprised it got through Falkner. I'll be even more surprised if it gets through this. Pidgey - might struggle just due to low stats. It does get Mud-slap and is kinda fast though so it could win. Pidgeotto/Pidgeot/Fearow/Noctowl - should be fine. I forget which rival they fought but Bayleaf is his best team (tanky pokemon with high-crit move is kinda good, ask Yellow version's Rival about his Sandslash) Ratticate - Hyper Fang at 14? then crushes everything. Probably needs Mud Slap just for Gastly but I think it learns it. Furret - I'll be honest it's 20 years since I used Sentret line in Gen 2 so I don't remember it's moveset. I think it gets swift though and pink bow stab swift should get it through. Arbok - I can't remember its moveset either. Since they nerfed wrap I didn't use it in gen 2. It's not weak to rival 2's starter and I think it should get Bite for the other poison types so I think it squeaks through. Worst case rely on Bite flinches right? Pichu - No way. How does it beat Rival 2's Bayleaf? --if it even gets that far Pikachu - So you have Quick Attack, Swift or resisted Thundershock against rival 2's bayleaf. If you beat Bugsy first you might have Double Team... do you ban that if learned by level up like Scott's Thoughts? Maybe Raichu - It had Tbolt right? Maybe that's enough raw damage to beat Bayleaf. Or its much higher attack stat lets Swift do enough. I think it gets by. Sandshrew - Runs into the same problem as Squirtle... not outspeeding the Bayleaf. Which rival did it fight? It might have a chance against Croconaw Sandslash - I think it gets by. Just higher raw stats. It gets Swift by level up so it should learn the TM too. Plus it might outspeed Bayleaf.

[@nutmegdoesstuff1339]

Wouldn't it make more sense to go for ember instead of the basic attacking move against the crocnaw for pokemon that have it? I feel like the damage difference isn't nearly enough to give up on the extra burn chance.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

I went for the normal attacks mostly to minimize the turns to get through there Burn strats make a lot more sense when the opponent is using a physical.move, but that could also be a last ditch effort to get through

[@lionyx98]

Slowly advancing 😊

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

We will eventually make progress

[@ericwolf9664]

Couldn't you get the hard stone and the poison barb prior to heading into the cave as well?

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yes and yes, they are mentioned in the start of episode 2, which I am editing now

[@Auron3991]

Almost got it. As far as AI is concerned though, someone did a breakdown of the Gen 2 AI. It essentially boils down to a priority system with grouped modifiers doled out to the trainers. I think gym leaders almost always had the 'smart' grouping.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah I need to research it more particularly why the Rival AI randomly uses non-effective moves. Also his likelihood to swap out, which I saw once with Bulbasaur while testing the overlay for the Bugsy secrikn

[@billybrame3990]

this may be of use to you kzbin.info/www/bejne/h2eoZ4KXjMdqgrM the first 11 are on the AI but the whole video is good@@GSCPokemonChallenges

[@billybrame3990]

I tried to link to a video here that gives a full breakdown of the Gen 2 AI but KZbin apparently ate it ​@GSCPokemonChallenges

[@DoctorNovakaine]

I agree that Rival 2 is going to be the bigger problem. I think a lot of first-form Pokémon just won't be able to handle the evolved starter Rival 2 has, so I predict a lot of those dip out. The 4x weaknesses will probably also meet their end here. Bulbasaur trying to prove me wrong, though. But it has access to sleep, so that changes the equation - sleep trumps pretty much everything. I don't think any Pokémon has a good enough moveset in Gen 2 to really thrive in a solo run without TMs. And I don't think ANY Pokémon naturally learns any move that you get from a Gym Leader TM. (Gen 2 was particularly bad about that IIRC.) I actually did think fully evolved Pokémon would have some challenges against Rival 2, simply because that type advantage means a lot. Your Grass, Fire, Water, Rock, Ground, Ice, Bug, and Steel Pokémon are all going to have a guaranteed weakness unless they have a countercompatible dual type, and that means that even the fully-evolved ones are going to face some painful hits - and it's early enough still that the lower special of Croconaw isn't going to be monumentally less impactful. And anything that's stuck with Normal-type moves is almost certainly set up for failure because of the Gastly and having no choice but to try to Struggle...I just don't see any Pokémon making it through three other Pokémon with Struggle alone. Anything that can learn Mud Slap and goes against the Quilava is going to have a bit more advantage than those going against the Croconaw or Bayleef, because the type advantage means that it'll be more impactful.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah ,I think Bayleaf is the scariest, but Croconaw can also be tough. The Gastly at the beginning is the real nightmare though

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

This still ain't RBY Pokémon Challenges!!!

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

We'll get there someday!

[@connor-3455]

can we rename the paras guy after the youtuber "Paraspectre" it feels fitting

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Weekly Paraspectre shout-out! I could be down for that

[@rosso4001]

Those nameless Rockets, do they have names in HGSS?

[@Neo_Bones]

The one with the Koffing at the end of the well is named Proton

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, I didn't even think to check Gen 4 for names

[@alexrobinet7576]

Would withdraw on ghastly help?

[@markusjagering7449]

How come that in pass, pass with struggle and fail of the Falkner split the Unowns aren't displayed?

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

One Unown is in the pass column, but I will handle the individual unowns separately. We need to make a little dex.

[@markusjagering7449]

@@GSCPokemonChallenges Yeah I was thinking. Because with the 8 Unowns that failed basically 77 Pokémon were eliminated by Falkner.

[@thekakeking9400]

Team Rocket Grunt name ideas: Grunty, Grunter, Gruntette, Gruntella, Gruntrude...

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Gruntrude 😂

[@andrewpalmer1873]

The team rocket Grunt female with the wrapping ekans, why don't we call her…. Rapping Grass…like Rapping lass and Grunt combined… equals Grass….

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

I took to calling her Jessie Junior, because she and James got demoted in Johto and were clearly put on Slowpoke Well duty in Gen 2. The last grunt uses only a Koffingz so it almost makes sense that they are Jessie and James mixed in with some random grunts

[@andrewpalmer1873]

I like that, makes sense

[@delciv5854]

Bump

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Thank you

[@mackowens7234]

I see most mons minus Meganium. It’s too weak to scyther

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, Scyther's Fury Cutter is no joke!

[@mackowens7234]

@@GSCPokemonChallengesI’m honestly blown away that Meganium won 2nd try lol

[@ignisbad9158]

For rocket names, I say they are all named bob. Including and especially the females

[@6473n64m19]

Just do gsc challenges no more rby

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

But there's still so much to do in RBY!!!