How many Pokemon beat Falkner without Optional Battles? - Episode 11

Minimum Battles is the ultimate challenge. But how many Pokemon can beat the first Gym of Gen 2 on Minimum Battles?
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:
Drowzee, Hypno,
Krabby, Kingler,
Voltorb, Electrode,
Exeggcute, Exeggutor,
Cubone, Marowak,
Snubbull, Granbull,
Qwilfish

[@A_levs]

I love how rare it is for Falkner’s Pigeotto to even go for mud slap. Even if it’s super effective on ur mon as long as u don’t resist gust he’s still gonna gust up.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Basically. Gen 2 AI focuses on the expected damage of the move and Mudslap is only 20 power and non-STAB

[@brolsroyceyt2362]

Glad to see this Series Return 🔥🔥

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

For sure. I'm trying to get Falk er done (at least all recorded) this month. Wish me luck!

[@dragonslayerz2220]

Things regarding Gen 2 sleep, and Hypno: Sleep itself is weaker in Gen 2, but the moves aren't any weaker. You can act the turn you wake up in gen 2. Also, Hypno lost like 40 special attack in the special stat split.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah they nerfed it's special a lot. But sleep is still OP imo

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

47:01 more like the pidgeys and spearows and hoothoots.. and the beedrills and combees..

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

😂

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

44:01 and three even passed on ZERO, thats right, ZERO DVs... unintentionally...

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yes 😂

[@xelac1334]

1:00:35 That particular Marowak in RBY was a ghost because she was murdered by Team Rocket. The game doesn't let you catch her because she's dead. Normal Marowaks - as in living ones - aren't ghosts at all and can be seen without a Silph Scope. So no, it wouldn't have made sense to make Marowak a Ghost type in Gen 1 since a Cubone doesn't die when it evolves.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

That's a fair argument. It still doesn't mean we could try a Ghost Marowak run for the sake of an experiment though

[@jeffdeneum]

Great vid as usual! Thanks for all your work!

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Cheers, thanks for watching!

[@stardf29]

SPOILER for quick recaps... ... ... Hypno: Sleep strats so OP that it even got through on 0 DVs. PASS Drowzee: See Hypno. PASS Kingler: Access to the physical Vicegrip allows Kingler to crush the gym even on 0 DVs. PASS Krabby: No physical moves and only a weak Bubble holds Krabby back. Struggle gets to Falkner but gets walled by him. FAIL Electrode: Sonicboom does tons of damage to these weak mons, and not even a bit of mud can hold it back. PASS Voltorb: With only Tackle (or Struggle), Voltorb gets stuck on the God Rod, of all people. FAIL Exeggutor: Basically Hypno again albeit with proper max DVs. PASS Exeggcute: Reflect makes sleep strats more consistent. PASS Marowak: Good thing it can Headbutt the birds. PASS Cubone: It's Yellow all over again! No attacking moves even when reaching Falkner means Struggling to even reach Falkner, and it can't get past him at that point. FAIL Granbull: High Attack and STAB Tackle is more than enough to bull through the gym. PASS Snubbull: Charm and Tail Whip helps against Falkner. PASS Qwilfish: Against the mudslinging Falkner, Tackle past the Pidgey, get a turn 1 poison on Pidgeotto, then Tackle away and it barely gets by. PASS Final Results: PASS: 10 FAIL: 3

[@SNWWRNNG]

Being used to Gen 1, infinitely regrowing Berries that can heal without using up a turn are such an asset for the weaker Pokémon. The enemies usually not having held items gives the player a nice advantage.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Agreed ,held items are completely broken, especially when a berry is healing about 50% of HP each time

[@nautgamingnautgaming9949]

Thank you GSC Pokémon Challenges I WATCH YOUR main channel and understand your work You are a TRUE POKEMON RESEARCHER that means a TON to me as at my age I like researching potential too in Pokémon n learning from you

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Thanks for watching and supporting! I always appreciate your comments! I am just really interested in things that aren't looked at enough, plus it's fun to play the game in different ways

[@nautgamingnautgaming9949]

​@GSCPokemonChallenges I feel so bad one of my favorites will die to Abe in heracross next week

[@nautgamingnautgaming9949]

​@@GSCPokemonChallengeswould thick club or light ball be accepted for this challenge with marowak n Pikachu

[@dragonslayerz2220]

With any pokemon that lacks damaging moves, fighting Hoppip on route 29 should be a guaranteed method of wasting PP without taking damage.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Absolutely. It's never a problem to waste the PP, just then is it still "minimum battles" or not

[@mackowens7234]

I see Kingler having a pretty easy time beating the game solo. Even though water is special in gen 2 it'll be a nice stab against most gyms in Johto

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah I'm interested in how many can beat the Johto league, then Blue, then Red. Not sure any other Kanto Gym Leaders will be walls

[@mackowens7234]

@@GSCPokemonChallenges agreed! Maybe Erika and Surge for quad super effective moves but probably just them or Blaine

[@accapaellass]

I noticed that they were 0 DV because they were female! If you don't know the gender of the Pokémon is linked to attack DVs if it's variable.

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

And that is correct.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah I didn't even look at the Gender. Just played the same way either way #genderequality

[@dragonslayerz2220]

Predictions: Drowzee, Hypno, Krabby, Kingler, Electrode, Exeggutor, Cubone, Marowak, Snubbull, Granbull and Quilfish make it. Voltorb and Exeggcute fail, Snubbull will need a crit, Quilfish will have mud slap problems but succeed, and Cubone and Marowak need a move that isn't ground.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

All fair predictions.

[@celticv]

Think one of the reasons why people don't use sleep moves in gen2 as opposition has a habit of wake up turn 2 . Perhaps you could call it bad luck 😢. it's one of reasons why I prefer to paralyse moves over sleep moves any day. . Am expecting least 2 maybe 3 to fail . Thanks for video love series

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

For sure, this is kind of like the hate in Gen 1 on Wrap or Double Team though, I think people focus so much on the times that the opponent got insane luck causing them to lose, not realizing that most of the time (especially with the bad gen 1 AI) those moves weren't actually that OP

[@DanteTheIguana]

I had a good chuckle when the 0 DV reveal happened. In Gen 2, gender is based on DVs (attack specifically), so a max DV Pokemon should always be male. I was quite confused!

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah I just set to 0 DVs out of habit 😂. I was like, wow this Drowzee's attacks are really weak... Managed to beat Falkner though. I actually had another episode where like the first five Pokemon failed, then I went back and realized I had been using 0 DVs the whole time 😂

[@travisalexander6440]

You mentioned all the Bug moves (especially Zubat's Leech Life) and Pokémon in the next section, and my thought immediately went to a different potential wall in the same fight: Gastly. For Mons that only have Normal moves to work with at that level (or TMs for those who cannot learn Mudslap), they might have to go to Struggle Strats to even hit it, but that means the Mons (i.e. Exeggcute, at that point, I think) that have gotten through with Sleep skills are going to have that option mostly taken from them. Someone else probably beat me to it, but Thick Club is the item you are referencing.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, I anticipate Gastly on Rival 2's team walling some contenders. It will be very interesting to see how much that is the case though.

[@zacharybrown3010]

this is a cool series.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Appreciate that, Zachary! Thanks for watching!

[@philipmurphy2]

GSC Pokémon Challenge time folks

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Thanks for being here, Philip!

[@michaelpapili4139]

This is an account i foresee hitting JRose numbers. Easy sub.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Wow, appreciate that!!!

[@DoctorNovakaine]

Watching Drowzee: "That boy will never make it on 0 DVs. Look how it does in the best possible scenario." Watching Krabby and getting the reveal: "...Oh. Never mind, then." Krabby is another one of those mons where I feel like its prospects could swing enormously by having egg moves. Even just egg moves from its level-up moveset could make an enormous difference. Same with Cubone, imagine it having, you know, ANY attacking move that isn't Ground (especially Rock Slide, which is legit). Sadly, Voltorb is SOL - being genderless means no egg moves for you. A shame because if it could inherit Sonicboom or Thunderbolt it probably completely changes its odds. I...was not foreseeing Exeggcute making it. Sleep OP. Of the five Fighting-types up next time, only Hitmonlee and Hitmontop even have a chance. Lee gets Meditate which juuuuust might be enough to push it over, Top gets Rolling Kick which has a flinch chance, though its Speed might not be high enough to let that proc. Chan and Tyrogue get no moves to help them through and Heracross will die horribly to 4x Flying weakness. Only thing that could possibly give trouble to Rhyhorn/Rhydon is Mud Slap making landing hits a crap shoot. But they're probably just going to surf through the first half of the gyms before facing trouble later with Chuck, Jasmine, and Pryce.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, I think the analysis is spot on. I will use Egg Moves with disobedience when I do the full game solo challenges later on. I will likely start doing full game challenges from Pokemon that get eliminated in this section, since we know they don't get to progress in the main series

[@pvzbronygodgaming8476]

Qwilfish has significantly higher attack than Tentacool does, hence why its poison sting did more damage

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Makes sense, since it isn't an unevolved form

[@KyleLeeman]

This series is goated. Can’t wait to see how it progresses when we leave Falkner

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

For sure, Falkner is just a grind of a lot of Pokemon, but the Bugsy sections gets the first couple of TMs and more required battles to level up

[@hiei248]

Yussss. I love these

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Thanks for watching!!!

[@ToxicCross1]

Yes Krabby line episode

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Krabby boy is here!

[@orangefiberdrinkgaming]

I always look forward to these videos! Are the failed Pokemon going to face Bugsy or are they disqualified for the rest of the game?

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

They are disqualified from the minimum battles series, but they will all eventually get their runs, either as races or pure solo challenges

[@A_levs]

If you think Gen 2’s intro is long and tedious I think you’re gonna spontaneously combust if you ever do minimum battles series in DPP, BW, SM, SwSh, and especially SV. RSE isn’t too bad at all w not much between the start and Roxanne also I recall BW2’s intro also being pretty fast as the 1st gym leader is in your hometown, but all the other main series games (except RBY obviously) have huge opening slogs.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah it's mind-numbing. Just let me get into the action, damnit 😂

[@alexrobinet7576]

Dont forget the 3 and 3 pp shelder with 1 crit. When you re check the fails.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, I need to check that as well. I need to make a list!

[@androidboyd]

Exeggcute can't beat Rival 2's Gastly. Well, it can, but then you have no shot against the rest of the team with just Struggle. It can get by the rest of the issues in Azalea with Hypnosis shenanigans.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, I expect issues there. it might be a weird Hypnosis into struggle and then pray after that, but likely not possible

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

Hey where do you get the music for your videos dude

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Streambeats by Harris Heller, royalty free, downloadable, and safe for KZbin

[@johncalabro8710]

Poor Drowzee. Get judge too early. spoilers GSC Well we are playing max DVs and Drowzee is not do that well. I don't think it can do 0 DVs. Later oh my mistake Hypo, Drowzee and Kinglar were on 0 DVs. Drowzee beast

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

Three beasts.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Yeah, I messed up at the start. I can reset the DVs later with the box trick, but I think Drowzee will still struggle a bit in the next section until it gets confusion.

[@johncalabro8710]

I predict next week. All the Hitmons make it, Hitmonchan being the hardest. Weezing, Rhydon, Shuckle (Struggle), Ursaring and Teddiursa make it. Rhyhorn & Lickitung (Struggle) is going to make it through after many resets. Koffing, Heracross don't make it. Fail at Falkner. Tyrogue does not get pass Abe.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

All sounds like fair predictions. I haven't started yet or looked up the movesets, but I heard Tyrogue is not so good.

[@johncalabro8710]

So I got 2 things wrong. Not bad. But Shuckle did not make it, I thought he would. Heracross I should of said would not get pass Abe but I only said that about Tyrouge. Not bad predication

[@ShadyScienceFeline]

The Thick Club (that’s the special Cubone/Marowak item) actually is technically obtainable, at least according to Bulbapedia: It’s held by wild Cubone and Marowak with a 2% chance, and these can be encountered in Rock Tunnel at a 35% chance. Even if you teach your Cubone/Marowak Thief (they can learn it) that’s extremely likely to be extraordinarily tedious, and comes only after you already had to make it past Lance. Also, the next time Cubone actually has an attacking move at level 5 is in gen 8. It’s not Bone Club, they actually removed that one; instead it gets Mud-Slap at level 1. Also also, I’m pretty sure the fail number is wrong and it should be 56.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

For sure, I need to mess with Thief strats to get held items, but that's too late for it to matter for poor little Cubone 😂 Got it, I'll check my count, it could be off because we've skipped over some Johto Pokemon, so my auto count doesn't work and I had to manually input

[@RaycrowX]

You actually don’t even need to use Thief with your rules. Since you’re catching Red Gyarados and Electrodes, you can legitimately catch Cubone and Marowak in Rock Tunnel too. It’s still minimum experience. And since time doesn’t weigh into your scoring system, it would be great to see you try this for Marowak. I think it would make a big difference for Blue and Red!

[@redreoicy6698]

Predict 8 suceed

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Fair enough

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

Hey Teo, I thought with max DVs a pokemon in gen2 would be male... why is your drowzee female

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

Mentioned this after the fact. I did the first 3 on 0 DVs by mistake

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

​​@@GSCPokemonChallengesjust came up to that point in the video buddy 😂😂 20:24 whoops lol 😂😂😂

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

You are NOT RBY Pokémon Challenges!!!!

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

LOL, I:m RBYPC Gen 2!

[@mike18911222]

Special request... YOU ARE NOT RBY Pokemon challenges!!!! RBY is so much better XD

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

I'll get there eventually!

[@stevepierce227]

Appreciate the content, but can I make a suggestion? Can you please stop saying OMG and things of that nature? As a Christian, it is making it more difficult to watch your content, and I really do enjoy what you are doing. I also have a baby son right now, and when he gets old enough to watch content like this I think it would be fun, but I don't want him hearing that all the time as I will be raising him to not take the Lord's name in vain. I hope you can see this comes from someone who enjoys your content, and wants to continue to enjoy it without any issues.

[@GSCPokemonChallenges]

It's definitely a bad habit of mine. I'll do my best!

[@stevepierce227]

​@@GSCPokemonChallenges Thanks! I really appreciate it.

[@jadenyuki4117]

Or maybe just leave the guy alone??? He’s under no obligation to cater to your beliefs.

[@stevepierce227]

​@jadenyuki4117 I never said he was, I was just asking as a courtesy. He by no means was obligated, but I am thankful that he is willing to. I really enjoy his content, and I just want to continue to enjoy it more. Am I wrong for simply suggesting a way for him to improve and reach a wider audience?

[@shadowmanwkp]

Oh my god, don't push religion onto other people.