Nidoking-Line Solo Challenge - Pokemon FireRed

Rules:
1. Only my starter in battle
2. No items in battle, except held items
3. No glitches, exploits, save states, or RNG manipulation
4. No evasion moves before level 100*
Rule details:
-- *In gen1, evasion boosting is allowed if the Pokemon does it through means other than learning the move by level up or TM. For example, using Mimic or Mirror Move to boost evasion is allowed. (This exception is to keep ranking consistent with my legacy videos.)
-- I am allowed to manipulate my starter
-- I play the game at 4x game speed
-- For fair comparisons all my Pokemon have perfect (or near perfect) DVs / IVs
-- I am allowed to catch HM users - I can use all field moves
-- All in-battle glitches are allowed in generation 1
-- In generation 1, I'm allowed to skip Marowak with the Poke Doll
-- Surge's trash-can-puzzle is automatically solved
-- The bike is allowed in gen1, banned in gen2, and allowed for bypassing terrain in gen3
-- Saving between league members is allowed
-- If the solo Pokemon faints and I choose to blackout it counts towards my reset counter
-- I can pause the game and timer to take breaks
-- The footage is sped up / slowed down to match the pace of my narration
-- The ability Pickup can only be used if the starter has it
Patreon: / scottsthoughts
KZbin memberships:
/ @scottsthoughtspokemon
Twitter: / psychicflying
Twitch: / scottsthoughtspokemon
Illustrations by / sarinavail
Thumbnail art by / brianlsart
STAB: bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wi...
DVs / IVs: bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wi...
Damage Calculations: bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wi...
Gen1 Stat Calculator: pycosites.com/pkmn/stat_gen1.php
Gen2 Stat Calculator: pycosites.com/pkmn/stat_gen2.php
Gen1 Crit Rates: www.smogon.com/rb/articles/cr...
Learnsets: bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wi...
Base Stats: bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wi...)

[@nilsfujibaya3560]

Something to note is Secret Power doesn't trigger contact abilities, so by using secret power you were fine against Lt. Surge, it wouldn't trigger the static.

[@MelodicTurtleMetal]

Pretty sure he mentioned that in a previous firered

[@Shawnzy1]

Wait what ?

[@MelodicTurtleMetal]

@@Shawnzy1 the move doesn't make contact, regardless of the type. More accurately, the move doesn't make contact, and the type isn't considered. So it will never trigger static or poison point no matter which type it is

[@Shawnzy1]

@@MelodicTurtleMetal you learned me something , as my great grandpa would say

[@nr1516]

The biggest problem I see in this run is that you don`t really lean into Nidokings special capabilities earlier, it would solve a bunch of rough spots with Water pulse on Blaine and shockwave for the silph rival, since Atk. reduction is pretty common. Also I love Nidokings arms.

[@Skipatronic]

They gave the Poison Bunny Dig!

[@SJtheMFZB]

Eh, he's more of a gerbil.

[@MelodicTurtleMetal]

​@@SJtheMFZBwith those ears?

[@SJtheMFZB]

@@MelodicTurtleMetal Hamster ears.

[@Lucifers-Stepdad]

It's name is supposed to be derived from rhino, isn't it?

[@Skipatronic]

Actually if you guys want to get technical, I researched Nidoking's inspiration and it appears he's based on the kaiju Baragon

[@shimmianNS]

On the ninth day of December, Scott's Thoughts gave to me: A moonstone evolution The "Rhydon of gen three" A Pure Power powerhouse Wattson's ace in Hoenn 'Phan v Ursaring! A tiny turtle's bubble The fire starter digging A garden lizard's leech seed And those three weirdo mons punching

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

Along with a side of psychic/flying venomoth Also ooooo 69 nice

[@bp3366]

​@@adventureoflinkmk2What?

[@naphackDT]

Not just any moonstone evolution. It's the hero of the glitchless run.

[@jboi6196]

@@adventureoflinkmk2 where's the 69? and the Venomoth?

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

@@jboi6196 wrong type however Sabrina has one And unfortunately Scott didn't put any nices before the 69s :( don't mind me it's a tick now

[@KigerrEE]

Really love the clean up fire red and leaf green did to the base game, really feels like a love letter. Nido is also one of my favorites, great choice 🎉

[@vava85]

Great video

[@bedbathandyourmom6565]

Scott: I wish the marowak ghost was a pokemon I would totally use it. Also Scott: today we’re gonna finish pokemon crystal with only a sunkern. Scott you would be happy to run any pokemon lol

[@Lucifers-Stepdad]

Alola made the dream kinda come true?

[@jonathanfrank9207]

This is probably one of your shortest full videos, and that just goes to show how beastly Nidoking is.

[@MelodicTurtleMetal]

Nah, he's just not showing gameplay like he used to. He's still pointing out the occasional item and problem trainer, but otherwise he's transitioning to the 'this battle, then this battle, in this battle' videos.

[@alexrobinet7576]

Lapras has lore reasons to go from cranky to happy. It was on the verge of extinction but had a population rebound.

[@alakan123456]

Thanks for all of the hard work this month. Absolutely loving the videos.

[@handanyldzhan9232]

3:24 Nidoran's BST is 273. The devs want to make BSTs round as often as possible, so the increase would either be 10k+2 or 10k+7. Looks like they did it by raising its defense by 17 instead of 15. Some pokemon were designed after their evolutions, so I'd figure the critters Game Freak invented first would have round BSTs and allocating them the way they like while the later ones would undergo more complicated changes, including sometimes having their BST made non-round. 16:32 Nidoking, The Speedrun Pokemon.

[@zealotonaiur1585]

Great work with all these videos Scott. I'm watching every single one when it comes out. Love the content!

[@christopherballero866]

giving male & female Nidoran a 3rd stage evolution so soon makes it absurdly good in Gen 1 and its remakes

[@perkypenguin1663]

Very cool to see how powerful Nidoking was in this video! You did a very good job taking advantage of its prowess as a mixed attacker.

[@christopherustupski2316]

Been stuck around 1.6K likes! Waiting to see the day we break 2k! Been here since you were in the 3 figure subs! Congrats Scott. Great to see the channel grow!

[@somerandomperson2626]

Nidokimg has always been my favorite gen 1 pokemon so I'm happy it could perform so well!

[@britishpalmtree9268]

Your content is fantastic! Thank you for the nidoking run! Id love to see a salamence emerald run and a snorlax fire red run!

[@stellarsub-orbital9922]

Glad to see you playing Fire Red. Im a genwunner, i got Yellow back when it first came out, but i love the graphics and additions of the remakes.

[@Dullstar2XQT]

Honestly it would be interesting to see how things would change if everyone who has different teams in Yellow was given their Yellow teams (adjusting movesets for Gen 2/3 changes as needed). As far as changes between FR/LG and RBY trainers go, the Self Destructing Hiker specifically is an interesting case between FR/LG and RBY: Self Destruct is generally more dangerous for individual Pokemon, mainly relevant in solos and Nuzlockes, but Magnitude is more dangerous for runs with larger teams that don't care about making it through the fight with no individual members fainting; if you don't have an answer to Self Destruct, the problem will solve itself eventually as long as you have an extra Pokemon in reserve. While the Magnitude team isn't *that* hard to deal with, you can't just tank hits until he blows himself up like an idiot, and I've also won a lot of Koga fights by having the final Weezing self-destruct when I had 2+ Pokemon left, as the AI doesn't seem to care that this situation results in a guaranteed loss for them.

[@Arex778]

The time has come. I have been waiting for this for so long.

[@thebigbean8783]

Greatest pokemon ever? It very well might be. This will always be one of my all-time faves. It's just so amazing. I think it's gonna clobber this game without breaking a sweat

[@PeTeThEgOtH]

Hey #scottsthoughts, you never dissapoint and you always upload when I'm on my lunch at work what a time to be able to watch !!!

[@Navytrooper97]

i just love this gen 3 stuff, keep it up !

[@PillzmansFox]

There are some pokemon that do have disadvantages if they evolve, take torchic for example, can inly learn flamethrower if they learn it as a torchic rather than evolving and only getting fire punch and blazekick

[@Stevo2557]

This gen uses Squirtle for the speedrun the entire game. Nidoking is only used in gen 1. Nice job with this one

[@dragonhunter2001]

Movepool is so sick, in my leafgreen save I used both nidos. They just have a nice design too.

[@renkitty]

Nidoking is tied for my very favorite Pokémon ever!! I'm hoping this run goes well!!!

[@hiei248]

The NIDOKINGDOM, baby! My favorite gen1 mon to play with

[@maxmanramfan]

Before watching, I assume that the king dose phenomenally well. Using the full line means it'll level up faster in the early game, and being a moonstone evolution, it can evolve the moment it is most beneficial. Additionally, the type coverage available is insane. Sabrina, Loreli, and Lance are the only things that might slow the king, but I have high hopes for this one.

[@tylerd1297]

It's solid but it gets shafted at every corner by the TM changes. In RBY you can lock into your final moveset by badge #4. Here you're shifting around because all the good moves come late.

[@DisplayName317]

One of the few examples I can think of where postponing evolution for moves might be a good idea is in Gen 3, where Seedot will learn Synthesis at Level 21, which is your only other option for healing aside from Giga Drain and Rest, and, if you want to be the funniest gamer alive, you can wait until Level 43 for it to get Explosion. Explosion can be taught by move tutor in FireRed, Leaf Green, and Emerald, but Synthesis can't be learnt any other way.

[@TheGamingCamel22]

I love the Nidoran line so much, like Nidorino for me is what truly a "Pokémon" looks like, maybe coz of the intro haha

[@arodplays]

i love your work :D keep it up

[@needude7218]

I've always loved nidoking for how flexible it is. It has great early game stats and the movepool to remain viable in the later game (and then picking up Sheer Force in later generations just compounds its strengths)

[@ReisHeredia]

Long life to the King, Nidoking is a beast 🎉

[@ellebelle03]

The King came to conquer! Gotta love Nidoking.

[@CoffeeFlavoredMilk]

I'm guessing the "Rock Tomb as speed control" thing is why Bruno used it with his Machamp vs Nidoking. Granted Scary Face would make a lot more sense there.

[@Zorafin]

I'm glad to see a revival of evolution line runs. It's more interesting, even if it might be less entertaining.

[@andreapareti324]

I know it's really minor, but I'm so glad you went back to use the real tile from the actual end of the battle compared to the stated one in the Hall of Fame: it feels infinitely more consistent, considering the final battle is where game time stops.

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

Is it where the gametime stops? Pretty sure gametime keeps incrementing all the way until the hall of fame.

[@andreapareti324]

@@ScottsThoughtsPokemon Wait, really? I thought, in Gen 3 at least, you stopped one immediately after the "You've beaten Ass" (lol) sentence but instead furthered the other until the registration into the Hall of Fame, where the game itself tells you the time at the end. Am I remembering wrong or have I misunderstood this the whole time? Lol. Well, either way, I think they should both stop at the same time, ideally, lol, but of course, if there are software limitations that make this tough, it's not a huge deal.

[@Ech0Ray]

I think Nidoking is one of the best solo runner in FRLG. Only Gengar and Alakazam should be faster, as they are even stronger, have comparable coverage and are not impacted by Intimidate

[@d.a.d.-ohgosh]

Here come's His Majesty 👑

[@llSuperSnivyll]

For a potential second playthrough, you could give them a Hasty nature. It means you'd need less levels to outspeed (if needed), and since Nidoking's typing means the only physical type it's weak to is Ground (and you have tools to deal with that), and all its resistances (not counting the Electric immunity) are physical...

[@bryandauzat293]

With how quickly it becomes nidoking, this really doesn't feel like an evolution line video

[@shinipede3998]

Nidorino was my first shiny. I found it in the Safari Zone, miraculously caught it, evolved it immediately, and put the thing on my team. He’s sitting around on a copy of Pokemon Pearl now. Really fun to make my older brother jealous with, as he never found a shiny of his own until a male Combee in Pokemon Scarlet last year. Hail to the King, baby

[@justsomejojo]

Man, Nidoking in Kanto is such a power trip, no matter the generation, ESPECIALLY if you aren't hoarding TMs for postgame purposes (I'm doing that currently because I want to finally beat the Battle Frontier). I love using it. At this point, I think the only "balancing measure" was to give it Thrash vs Nidoqueen's Bodyslam, but the existence of Secret Power makes that a moot point in my opinion.

[@DanBottiglieri]

As a kid I used to tend to only use one Pokémon, and so I either used to use Venusaur or Nidoking, what a beast.

[@ScottE-2]

Looking forward to my favorite Psychic type come next Friday.

[@NativeGolfer10]

I love what you’re doing with Fire Red with the evolution lines. Are you going to do a different series of playthroughs with Leaf Green?

[@NioNerd]

Hey Scott, I have a couple of questions for you. 1) Do you plan on doing the evolution lines that require a trade to evolve? If so.. 2) How do you plan on solving the issue of some Pokémon requiring trades to evolve? Legends Arceus used an item to solve the issue.

[@gonzoxp]

The two points in defense. Probably in preparation for the next evolution. The secondary ground type usual has good defense. Also it's a stone evolution so you can evolution anytime you want. As long as you have a moon stone.

[@justanotherperson5770]

The King is HERE!!!!!!!

[@Matty2Saints]

25 minute video is heartbreaking but i fully understand that we still get daily december (:

[@julesthurongi1223]

I love your vids as I can get my pokemon content, without a Snorlax sized load of profanity laden commentary. I have young kids, and it’s rare to get a content creator who keeps his plays/vids G rated.

[@Dolph1nRacer]

I couldn't help but giggle at the end with your artwork next to Nidoking because... Nidoking is smol boi. Only 4'7". Not quite as much of a behemoth as its results would imply.

[@somegal3836]

I really like Nidoking. Sure it isn't the best mon, but it is a fun pokemon with a variety of moves. And it's special attack is still decent, so it can do some solid work with it's lower offensive stat.

[@mr.cauliflower3536]

silph co also cuts the fishing time out by giving you a lapras

[@ArecnaD2]

This was probably addressed at some point earlier, but in your overlay for TMs/HMs, for Nidoran, Hidden Power was listed as a normal move and for all three Thief is listed as TM01 (I believe it's 46) None of this is that important, just wanted to let you know!

[@SmashMath151]

Did not realize Nidoking aged as well into FRLG as it did, mostly because of Levitate. A diverse Special movepool backed up by 75 Special Attack certainly helps! Speedrunners usually just stick with Blastoise or Charizard, but I'd imagine Nidoking still does quite well. IIRC, it's used in the E4 Round 2 run.

[@bananaspice1967]

All make way for the King!

[@elliot0E]

For halloween next year Scott should "backport" a hacked fantasy gen 1 ghost pokemon using the Marrowack ghost as inspiration. Itd be cool to see how a pure ghost type would do in Gen 1. (Other than the Misdrevious run he previously did)

[@dvillines26]

Alolan Marowak would also be an amazing backport. or Skeledirge, lmao, put Torch Song in and see what happens. having it buff Special instead of just Special Attack would be so busted.

[@Kahadi]

An interesting glitch was recently... Confirmed that technically sort of pertains to this run and could have had an impact. Until recently, there were only a couple of documented cases of this glitch because of how unlikely it is, but it has since been confirmed. In FrLg, as well as I believe Emerald, multi-hit moves like Double Kick have a chance of a weird interaction with abilities that can give a status condition on contact, like Static or Poison Point, in which somehow it can lead to the Pokemon with Poison Point or Static receiving the status condition. For example, a Nidoran using Double-Kick on a Pikachu can lead to the Pikachu becoming Paralyzed due to Static (or, very rarely for this specific setup, becoming Paralyzed due to Poison Point). Which isn't how it's supposed to go, obviously. As I understand it, it has something to do with how those abilities gave their status conditions and how that interacts with multi-hit moves, essentially leading to the game getting confused and accidentally giving the multi-hit attack a chance of giving that status condition when it shouldn't. The video I saw on it did testing, and it seems to be possible with any multi-hit attack that makes contact against Flame Body, Poison Point, Static, or, if I recall, Effect Spore, just not with the Sleep status. I believe it even works in Coliseum and XD... Or it would if any multi-hit moves that made contact were available in those games (they had to hack the game to test it, but I recall it working), which is odd. It's a weird interaction and I don't fully understand it myself. As of the video I saw, nobody could figure out what caused the variation of the glitch that mixed up the text as well, but there is a documented case of it, where a Nidoran used Double-Kick on a Pikachu and it said Pikachu was Paralyzed by Poison Point. Again, it didn't end up happening in this run. But in theory, others trying this challenge, as well as future attempts with other Pokemon that have a multi-hit attack or status giving ability, could end up encountering this glitch. Maybe keep an eye out in future runs.

[@Sweepout]

That health thing is funny. I feel like some games it actually looks orange, others it actually looks yellow.

[@anthony6929]

Poison point only triggers on contact moves. So tackle may proc it while absorb wouldn't.

[@riotd.r.8363]

I memorized the locations of 4 Moon Stones in Gen 1. Loved having a fully evolved beast by the 2nd gym. Still gives me 3 Stones in Gen 3.

[@jaryant]

I can't wait for the beedrill run in firered

[@ultimapower6950]

I have an example where postponing evolution until learning a move is a good idea. I know it’s a rom hack but in Pokemon Vega The only way to get a Ferroceros with Earthquake is to delay the evolution of Ryno’s until level 49. There’s a reason it’s apart of Tohoak’s Finest

[@SansWasTheHero]

A ghost marowak does exist in sun/moon. A fire ghost type. Not the same as you're asking for but I was pretty hype when I first seen it thinking back to gen 1.

[@Mocita]

I was hoping that the Double Kick glitch would’ve activated in this run. That’s a fun glitch.

[@tiagoleivas3495]

I confess I prefer when your videos have less than 30min. I do like “complete” runs, but then I start watching 2x and skip some parts anyway

[@homer23422000]

Scott, you're forgetting that Gamefreak made Marowak a Fire/Ghost type with it's Alolan form. I personally think it should have been Ground/Ghost typing, no need to change the Ground typing. I want to say that there's only 2 Ground/ghost evolution lines. Also, Hitmonchan and Hitmontop don't learn numerous mid-tier fighting moves by level up from Gen 2-6, so from level 20-40 or so, their STAB move is a little lacking, i.e., they don't get 60-75 power guaranteed moves like Rolling kick for Hitmontop, and Drain punch for Hitmonchan, Storm Throw, Vital Throw, or Submission for either one. However, they do have access to Close Combat with the move reminder. I also think Gamefreak should have given Nidoking and Nidoqueen Sharpen to up their attack and Work up to increase Attack and Special attack.

[@Pepega580]

Nidoking is such a cool Pokemon.

[@Girthquake.88]

My favorite pokemon ever ❤

[@marsella527]

All hail the King!

[@Kanbei11]

I'm not sure if these are old runs but you may want to consider giving the rival Bulbasaur if you're running a physical attacker for the double intimidate

[@hikarimemeirooficial]

Have you considered using perffect EVs as well IVs?

[@ciceronroma]

I would love to see the abra, ghastly, geodude, Machop lines! But I would love to see up to the third stage. I don’t know how that could be implemented so it works. Make them “evolve” at 36?

[@Straven93]

Typically it's an option in the universal pokemon randomizer that "force" evolves certain pokemkn

[@rafilosofo]

About the Terry name, could it be that they tried Gary and noticed that if generates bad natures?

[@jeremythetiger7095]

Yeah! Do hypno next!

[@lazypaladin]

Here's where I display my Nidoking Moves. *_If it learnt any!_* The one thing that holds the Nido's back for me. TMs are all good but that realies on finding them and realies on using Nidoking mixed half the time which is _the entire point of Nidoqueen is it not?_

[@snakeywakey3893]

Ah, the king himself.

[@ZerglingOne1]

I was not prepared for how chunky the nidorino sprite is. He chomnk.

[@WalkerSunriseChannel]

To elaborate on the Gen 1 speedrun using Nidoking, this is largely because Nidoking is your fastest access to Horn Drill. The speedrun exploits the way X Accuracy is programmed to steamroll hard fights, as it makes Horn Drill bypass the accuracy check.

[@ok_iot]

I always loved nidoking.

[@veghesther3204]

about that does King/Queen have the same stats are their original Red/Blue counter parts if they do I prefer the one with the higher defense/attack stats of the 2 for the easier of them.

[@marlinlovato]

I can't be the only one who wants to see a race of a physical and a special nidoking 😅

[@misterschifano]

Lapras: Who needs teeth when you have H Y P E R BEAM~!!!!

[@petervanvliet6747]

The lapras srpite to me looks like the happiest little sea monster in the world

[@2010supersonic]

Can you do backport runs of FireRed like annihilape,Kleavor or regional variant of Kanto Pokemon

[@SiffiLP]

Any reason for just using the cheri berry as an held item since erica?

[@joshuaenns-wind9851]

Lapras is a smiley lad :)

[@JWStevens]

Guess that’s why they call him the King!!

[@MattWarb]

This should be good. Solid Pokémon is Nidoking.

[@male_maid5951]

when it comes to physical attackers i think the grass starter team will always be the most difficult due to having both arcanine and garados (double intimidate)

[@aerrae5608]

I always wondered why they didn't give Blue Dodrio as his lead, he only has one glass cannon mon. Imagine him leading with stab double edges and drill pecks. Or even worse, high crit rate stab hyper beams in gen 1 with body slam.

[@Alucard120392]

coming to this late again, I think Nidoking would benefit with a Special Attack boosting nature just so it outputs enough special damage to k.o the pokemon it failed to 1-shot

[@tylerwright332]

How do u set up the pokemon with the nature's and IV?

[@deadpool425fjf8]

"No Dark Types in the remakes" R2 Champion's Tyranitar: Am i a joke to you?

[@shootingstardust97]

Well Scott ain't doing R2 E4 which honestly is a shame, what u can do to solve R1 does not mean u can do the same for R2, R2 E4 is one of the most brutal sets for soloruns

[@aaronphillips95]

You should do the same in gen 1and see if you could find exploits to a gen 1 speedrun

[@TheMoogleKing93]

The term for numbers whose digits are reversed are "Reversible pairs" fyi.

[@ciropatalano1615]

Hey Scott actually they use charmander or squirtle for fire red speedruns lol

[@Crusina]

Yes! My fave!

[@Burningtreeblood]

Oh yeah!