How many Pokemon beat Bugsy without Optional Battles? - Episode 3

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:
Nidorina, Nidoqueen,
Nidoran M, Nidorino, Nidoking,
Clefairy, Clefable,
Vulpix, Ninetales,
Jigglypuff, Wigglytuff,
Chinchou, Lanturn,
Cleffa,
Igglybuff,
Togetic,
Xatu

[@DennisTheZZZ]

Bugsy: “I fear no ‘mon. But those things… (Cleffa and Igglybuff) They scare me.“

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Cleffa is king 👑

[@DennisTheZZZ]

@@GSCPokemonChallengesI love the idea that you want to buy your future son a Cleffa doll! I was born on June too!

[@raptors11111]

Awesome man! Hilarious that the babies got thru 🤣. Glad to see Rival 2 and Bugsy at least filtering out a few of them tho they arent entirely useless

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, the beauty of this series is how much movesets trump stats. Babies can crush where fully evolved Pokemon fail. It's a beautiful thing

[@raptors11111]

@@GSCPokemonChallenges it really is amazing! Gets me wondering who's even gonna be able to stop the power of Igglybuff and Cleffa with their sing strats 🤣. Whitney might be no problem too unless shes smart enough to just go for Stomp flinches, instead of trying to build rollouts

[@androidboyd]

Double Kick > Scratch (even with Pink Bow) against neutral targets, for the Nidorina/Nidoqueen. Probably would've made Rival 2 quite a bit easier, using the right move and having a healing berry/status berry.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, I always forget about it being neutrally effective there. That's something to redo

[@andrewpalmer1873]

Man if you ever change your intro song, I don’t know what I’d do😅

[@edwardnowakowski5990]

It’s gives Saturday morning feelings

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

For sure. I'll try to keep that consistent for sure!

[@zenverak]

@@GSCPokemonChallengeswhat is it called?

[@waterierStone]

It's crazy how broken sleep is. like fully evolved starters couldn't beat even fawkner, but an igglybuff could beat bugsy

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, people complain about Gen 1 sleep, but even I. Gen 2 it's still completely OP.. Nothing that learns a sleep move will ever forget it in this series because 55% is good enough to progress without too much luck.

[@jaifain4813]

If this channel or the RBY version had merch, i would buy a shirt with jigglypuff and clefairy that says "Sleep and Pound"

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Lol, I need to make that!

[@joshmcb6042]

Love these so much!!! Thank you for such good content.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Thank you for watching! I appreciate the positive vibes!

[@TsuikeNovaus]

One Criticism of Bugsy vs Vulpix: Vulpix could have first tried the fight if you had shifted to quick attack rather than gambling on the final turn roll with fury cutter.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

I can go back and look at it again.

[@annaangelic2318]

Been binging this whole series, keep it up!

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Absolutely. It's going to keep coming.

[@ZkiART]

Man, love your content! Thanks from Italy! (Can't wait for Red!!)

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Thank you! It's going to be a grind to get to Red, so well really just have to see how many Pokemon make it there

[@mikew2648]

Just a reminder you still have a typo on the pass with struggle part of the overlay. Great video as always, thanks!

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Thanks for that!

[@orangefiberdrinkgaming]

I'm calling it now. Clefable will get through the entire game. It has so many ways to deal with any obstacle.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

I think it has an excellent chance. Good typing, stab moves, sleep, coverage galore

[@135forte]

The Clef line is one of my favorites, so good to see it doing well, especially knowing how poorly Chansey tends to do.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, fortunately it seems that even little Cleffa is doing quite well!

[@kaseywalton]

I think the babies and Togetic would have a much harder time against Bayleef. Keep in mind not only is Razor Leaf significantly stronger than Water Gun, but Poisonpowder can make any Pokémon who needs a lot of turns to win suffer much more

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

It's all stuff to test later in redos.

[@roymerkel8008]

~22:00, think we found the second Bugsy casulty. Last video we came out saying "no one fails at Bugsy", but looks like we're finding some now. I'm going to guess the pokemon that can pass rival two but not Bugsy are pokemon that aren't terribly weak to Rival too, but only have mud slap as a accuracy move AND have high attack, but we'll see as we move forward.

[@roymerkel8008]

~28:00 -- at Clerafy and Jigglypuff lines. I predict Jigglypuff, Clerafy, Wigglytuff and Clefable will get through, but metronome and sleep strats will be required. Unless the babies get better moves then pichu, I predict they don't. We'll see.

[@roymerkel8008]

Cleffa: unexpected hero!

[@roymerkel8008]

~1:09 -- WOW that lack of confuse ray scares me going into bugsy, we might need my egg move on this one.

[@roymerkel8008]

~1:13 -- NICE! Glad to see my egg move kept the dream alive 😁. Question is if it'll get us through Witney or not (if confuse ray finally comes into play then we probably can squeek through, but if not then I'm 50/50). Yeah, I think the problem with Vulpix is it's relatively low stats and lack of access to it's best moves at this early point in the game. But if my move can keep the dream alive through Golden Rod then we might have a shot to get at least to the elite 4.

[@roymerkel8008]

Also surprises me how big of a thread rival 2 actually is, going into this challange I thought Bugsy (who gave me trouble as a casual player in college) would be the wall, but rival 2 is actually a pretty big threat. Rival 3 could also be a threat 2-3 series from now, but I think he's not too much stronger then 2 and the survivers will have some better moves so I suspect Morty will be the bigger threat at that point, but we'll see.

[@stardf29]

SPOILER for quick recaps... ... ... *Asterisk indicates the mon had to use Struggle to get past Falkner. Nidoking: Overpowers everything with Horn Attack outside of Rival 2's Gastly, which requires Mud-Slap. PASS Nidorino: See Nidoking. PASS Nidoran-M: See Nidoking, albeit with some Leer support against Scyther. PASS Nidoqueen: A few Tail Whips and a Fury Cutter miss allows Nidoqueen to Scratch past Bugsy. Rival 2 is a matter of Mud-Slapping past Croconaw. PASS Nidorina: Despite getting past Rival 2, she just doesn't have the power to get past Bugsy's Scyther even when it misses a Fury Cutter. FAIL Clefable: Metronome shenanigans for the win! PASS Clefairy: Sing strats for the win! PASS Cleffa: Can use Sing strats to get past enemies through Bugsy, with some help from Charm. Sweet Kiss can cause Gastly to knock itself out, and then it's back to Sing strats to get past Rival 2. PASS Wigglytuff: See Clefairy. PASS *Jigglypuff: See Clefairy, with some help from a critical hit against Scyther. PASS *Igglybuff: See Cleffa. PASS Ninetales: Ember burns through the bugs, and then some confusion luck gets through Rival 2. PASS Vulpix: Bugsy is not too bad but Rival 2's Croconaw deals too much damage for Vulpix to handle, at least with its base moveset... FAIL Lanturn: Parafusion stats are still great, and Flail is a good damage upgrade to get through even Rival 2's Bayleef. PASS Chinchou: Lacking the extra bulk, Chinchou seems to be taking too much damage and not doing enough with Flail to defeat Bugsy's Scyther. There may be a way through, but it could involve some pretty strict damage range luck... FAIL Togetic: Some Metronome shenanigans here and there, especially against Rival 2's Gastly, but Swift provides consistent damage against Bugsy and Rival 2's Croconaw to beat them. PASS Xatu: Peck easily dispatches Bugsy, and Night Shade is a nice extra option to beat Rival 2 without issue. PASS So about Chinchou and Flail: the thing with Flail is, it has very strict damage ranges in which it can deal very high amounts of damage. At its 47 max HP when fighting Scyther, it would have to be at 3 HP for Flail to have 150 base power, and 1 HP to have 200 base power. So if you could take enough damage going into Scyther that you could end up with that little HP after enough attacks, there might be an opening with Parafusion luck to deal enough damage to Scyther to defeat it. Then, a similar strategy could theoretically be used against Bayleef. With that said, this strategy would likely require quite a lot of luck to get the right combination of attacks and damage ranges from the enemy to hit those thresholds, on top of any required paralysis/confusion luck. (As a side note, apparently in Gen II, Flail cannot cause a critical hit nor does it have any damage variation, so fishing for crit luck/damage ranges is out of the question.) So does Chinchou deserve to be disqualified due to excessive luck needed for a win? Yeah, probably. Would I still like to see a successful run with this strategy because the Chinchou line is my favorite? Yeah, of course, but that's just me. Final Results: PASS: 14 FAIL: 3 Bonus: Vulpix with Hypnosis: Yeah, sleep strats are OP. PASS

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Food info about Flail. I may need to go back and test that more for Chinchou

[@andersonantunesdeleu8591]

I don't know who's gonna pass, but I think almost no one's gonna pass Morty! Its curse ghastly is gonna wreck all the competitors! Haha

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

That could certainly be true.

[@andersonantunesdeleu8591]

@@GSCPokemonChallenges but you're the one who's gonna make it work, aren't you GSC? I believe in you! Enjoying the series btw, thank you!

[@dragonslayerz2220]

Gen 1 sleep may have been horrifically broken, but gen 2 sleep is not that much better.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Still obscenely broken imho

[@androidboyd]

Not super necessary here, since Jigglypuff/Wigglytuff have Sing, but Metapod is a pretty good Pokemon to set up Defense Curl/Harden/etc on, and Disable can be used to break Fury Cutter chains.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

True true. I avoided Disable strates because Sing is the same accuracy but gives a much larger advantage

[@1krubby]

poison typing feels like such a liability in gen 1 but in gen 2 it seems really helpful. there's just not that many pokemon using psychic or ground moves and now that there's actual bug and fighting moves to look out for, poison's resistances come in a lot more handy. there's also sludge bomb now.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, I will. e interested to see how much Sludge Bomb helps poison types as we go through.

[@PKMNwww411_MkII]

Last time, my favorite baby Pokemon Pichu failed. 3 Thundershocks may not be enough to KO the Lv9 Rattatas even with 1 Mud-Slap. 3 Swifts is enough, but Mud-Slap is needed. You replaced Tail Whip with Mud-Slap. Replace Charm with Swift and Replace Thunder Wave with Sweet Kiss. Thundershock is needed for Bugsy's Scyther. The No Random Battles Game Genie code is what he's using and I'm using it too. I also used a Game Genie code to change my starter to a Pichu. I changed its DVs with the debugger in BGB. I made it to Slowpoke Well to test the theory out. Swift indeed does more damage than Thundershock. The Berry is needed. Stay tuned for the Bugsy finale.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

For sure. I will go back and test this myself. I am always down to learn a new strategy.

[@orthochronicity6428]

There are not many music snippets that I can hear when exhausted with a migraine, but the intro jingle on low volume remains calming. Unfortunately, that increases the chance I'll fall asleep... but that means the video will get a second watch, so at least that's good for the algorithm.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

For sure. When I found that track initially, I was like "this is the one, it gets me hyped to start recording". Glad you enjoy it too!

[@RobBomford]

Unlimited money from berries means unlimited game corner tms so i would say definitely do that. While I somewhat empathise with those that may say these things arent realistic, I feel like the whole idea of minimum battles is to push all these Pokémon to their limits. Besides, who doesnt want to see igglybuff fireblasting things

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

I agree. I think we keep them as a last ditch effort if anything, the final go to to try to progress when everything else has failed

[@TheAnalyticalEngine]

Yet more proof that, for Gen II, movepool > base stats I did not expect Cleffa to do so well

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Exactly this. I think people can get too hung up on base stats when it's movesets that matter most for a solo challenge.

[@mathturtle37]

My predictions were close. Babies did better than I thought and Nidorina let me down. Good job Cleffa! I think your prediction is pretty much right. Fully evolved pokemon will probably be fine. I'd bet against Quagsire (4x from Razor Leaf), Bellossum, Jumpluff and Growlithe for sure. Maybe for Mareep, Aipom, Vileplume, Venomoth and Dugtrio (all will struggle with rival 2). Sudowoodo mimics gastly's hypnosis. Flaffy should be fine (Mareep is an alt-main for the Gold/Silver speedrun for a reason). So you know how you said the next section doesn't have any broken TMs? The elemental punches might not be as broken as Double Team/Sub but them plus Headbutt, Rollout, Dig and Return make Goldenrod the place where a lot of pokemon get lots of options. Also remember friendship is a thing, unless you do lots of pointless running back and forth Return is worse than Headbutt for a while. You could just fix it with gamehook though (I'm skipping 3 hours of running back and forth to just set friendship to 255). I don't really think you can afford the game corner TMs yet. 110k (5500 coins) is pretty steep when all you have is selling infinite berries. I think there's a nugget in union cave that you skipped so I'm kinda OK with funny money charcoal (though I'm not convinced it really made a difference in the fights you used it for), but adding in 110k of magic money doesn't really feel ok to me. *fact checks self* [money math] selling all berries: 6.7 years and wht apricorn to fast ball to sell: 1.6 years and selling weekly return TM: 1.2 years and bug catching contest 3x per week to sell sun stones (not really min battles anymore): 155 days or Buena's password for nuggets (and nothing else): 66 days *&#(*#&$(# Buena you ruined my argument, why are nuggets only 3 points? Now I don't hate infinite money as much as I thought. [/money math] Ok, I'll be curious to see how you handle Buena's password. 1 point per day. 3 points gets you a nugget or rare candy. 5 points for a vitamin. Maybe each pokemon gets some reasonable number of points to spend? Or pays for points with your score tracker? infinite vitamins/nuggets/candies seems kinda broken. You could ban it but that doesn't really line up with how you've been tracking stuff like berries so far (and your funny money charcoals). Something to think about for the next section I guess.

[@DennisTheZZZ]

Yeah, the next section is gonna be interesting, but why wouldn‘t the Bug-Catching Contest be minimum battles anymore? The only problem with it is when you defeat a pokemon, you get xp, but not if you catch them, just like regular wild encounters, sometimes catching them is required (HM users) and you can farm Gold Berries from it. Buena‘s Password… You could farm infinite Rare Candies from her, so I‘d definitely ban that or at least only allow to get one per item, same with the lottery items in the Radio Tower. But then, you could get all the Game Corner TMs by gambling alone. Like I said, the Whitney section will be really intriguing.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, I need to decide how exactly to handle all of the options there. Farming Gold Berries fro the bug catching contest is one piece, then the Game Corner is a second one. We are definitely going to ban infinite Rare Candies. In general we will go for Dig, Rollout and Headbutt as a starting point since they are one-time TMs, and grab the Quick Claw which might help in some spots. Then elemental Punches and Return will be added, since again they are easily obtainable, and are just logical at that point. Game Corner TMs, are going to depend on 1) how realistic it actually is to obtain them, and 2) how broken they turn out to be in practice. The argument on one hand is that while they may make Whitney possible and let more mons progress, there will still come a point where weaker mons start to get exposed, especially if they are progressing entirely from one TM move.

[@mathturtle37]

@@DennisTheZZZ For the bug catching contest I was thinking the same argument as struggle: you can deplete your PP without getting xp but it isn't really minimum battles anymore. I guess I forgot about gambling to get coins (as a kid I lost a lot of money in there the first time I tried it and it biased me away from gambling). The one thing I hated about the remakes was they took out the option to buy coins (just take my money and give me the TM, I don't want to spend 15 hours playing voltorb flip). But for this I guess the game corner TMs should be allowed since gambling should be fine.

[@BasilLecher]

The babies?!

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Aw yeah!

[@SavrCosmicFighter]

I know we got a while before Whitney but that honestly is gonna terrify me with how hard it may wall lot of the passing mons so far. Bugsy seems oddly suspect with how the passes have been able to handle him pretty well

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, there have been some tough spots with Bugsy with specific mons, but he's not looking that tough overall. I think looking forward that Whitney, Jasmine, and Clair will put in the most work eliminating Pokemon. Pryce will be easy, and Chuck and Morty will put in work, but less than others. Karen is going to ruin many mons as will Lance later down the line.

[@IsuKen]

I think Vileplume will get further than Bellosom at least just for the same reasons as the Nidorino vs Nidorina line, assuming either get through the next part like you said.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

I could agree with that. I think Bellossom and Vileplunlme struggle on Bugsy. But I would vote Vileplume to last longer if either does.

[@IsuKen]

@@GSCPokemonChallenges At least Vileplume has the benefit of its dual typing making it take neutral from bug. Bellossom being pure grass makes its extra bulk meaningless lol

[@DoctorNovakaine]

I think Nidorino and Nidoran might actually have a slightly easier time with Rival 2 because they don't have the Ground-typing that makes them weak to water. Same with Nidorina. Nidoking and Nidoqueen will get better moves in Goldenrod, they'll be fine. The Pink Bow did NOTHING for Nidorina against Scyther. The damage done did not change. I think you're overstating the amount of impact those hold items do. 10% is really not a big deal. I think Nidorina can get in with a miss, but I think you lost needed turns by over-Growling. Clefable, AKA Pokémon Move Randomizer Incarnate. Honestly, give it something better than Doubleslap, but its other three moves probably don't need to change ever. Sleep remains, as always, OP. Sleep + Confusion seems to be good enough for even baby Pokémon to get through. I'll admit I expected a few more failures by this time, but even though there haven't been many, Bugsy+Rival 2 have still been more capable than Misty was. If you're doing Golduck, you need to remember to do Psyduck as well - it's in the Egg Moves list.

[@delciv5854]

For the memes, going forward you should consider a metronome clefable and a TM clefable. Would be neat to see both

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

I could consider that, for sure. Same for Togetic.

[@celticv]

even the ambulance cant help them lol soo who beat you up ? a baby :D . great video !!! Bugsy needs retire :P

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Babies are legit OP.

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

This... is... NOT RBY Pokémon Challenges!!!

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

We shall see.... 😈

[@ENIXQUEEN90]

Pink bow adds 10% damage to normal moves ...that means you get only 1 damage for 90% of moves this early ...pink bow is pretty much completely useless except with maybe hyper beam/ takedown but if you got moves that powerful you won't need 10% extra damage anyways

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

I can agree. In some cases that 1 damage can help with e VERY marginal range, but it seems like berries are still overall better

[@belodie]

I'd guess Nidorina could win with that Growl strat if Fury Cutter missed at a very high power - maybe the 4th one? Probably a bit too inconsistent though.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

I just feel that hoping for him to miss at a very specific point is a bit too luck based to reset for. I think a lot of fails are technically possible with perfect luck, but I just have to cut off at some point.

[@6473n64m19]

Is it bad that this is ASMR for me? 😂😂😂

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Not bad at all!

[@Spudmay]

YO LET'S GOOOOO

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Let's go!!!

[@philipmurphy2]

Welcome you to GSC and RBY Pokémon Challenges, if i say Pokémon Challenges he would think I am talking about someone else. Guess it could be RBYGSC or GSCRBY challenges depending on channel which one you put first

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, I didn't ever really watch Nuzlockes or understand social media when I started the first channel... 😂

[@Hushyluv]

Could nidorina get through with struggle tho?

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

I believe the logic was that Double Kick is stronger than Struggle for neutral damage, but I don't think I tested Struggle strats on Bugsy...

[@brolsroyceyt2362]

What’s up fam hope your life and weekends been well 🙏🏾🙏🏾

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Aw yeah, we're ready to go! Thanks for the support Brols!

[@d.a.d.-ohgosh]

Yo I heard this dude called "RBYPokemonChallenges" was talking mad smack about you. What a chump! How will you, aka GSC Legend, aka He who dominated Falkner with King Fella, aka the recipient of the "Oh gosh" commentor, respond to such audacious insults?! I eagerly wait for your response.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

We shall see... 😈