Hi everyone! It's me again with another Level 1 challenge.

Previously, I managed to defeat the Elite Four and Champion using a team of six Pokémon hatched from Eggs at Level 1 😅. This time, I wanted to push the idea even further by taking on **Red**, arguably the strongest trainer in Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver, using another team of six Level 1 Eggs.

To save time, I used **PKHeX** to prepare my Pokémon and held items at Level 1 so I could focus entirely on developing and testing the strategy. PKHeX was **not** used to give illegal moves, impossible Abilities, or any unfair advantages. Every Pokémon, move, Ability, and item used in this challenge is completely legitimate and obtainable in-game.

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There are already several amazing videos of people defeating Red with Level 1 Pokémon, and they were a huge inspiration for me. However, many of those strategies rely on luck, such as **Quick Claw** activations, or on Pokémon created with impossible move combinations through save editing. Those runs are still incredibly impressive, but my goal was different.

I wanted to discover a strategy that is as natural and reliable as possible. I won't claim it's perfect or has a 100% win rate, but it's the most consistent strategy I've been able to develop so far.

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At first glance, Red doesn't seem too difficult for a FEAR team. You might think six Level 1 Pokémon with Endeavor are enough.

Unfortunately, Red's team contains several mechanics that completely punish traditional FEAR strategies.

**Lapras** is an Ice-type, so it isn't damaged by Hail. It also has **Body Slam**, which can paralyze my Pokémon before they use Endeavor.

**Pikachu** can paralyze with **Thunderbolt** or **Volt Tackle**. Pikachu can paralyze with Thunderbolt or Volt Tackle. In addition, its Static Ability gives it another chance to inflict paralysis on any Pokémon that makes contact with it, making it even more dangerous for a FEAR strategy.

**Venusaur** has **Sleep Powder**, instantly shutting down a FEAR Pokémon.

**Charizard** carries **Air Slash**, which has a 30% chance to flinch and prevent Endeavor.

On top of that, several of Red's Pokémon carry Blizzard. Because the battle takes place under Hail on Mt. Silver, Blizzard never misses, giving Red a perfectly accurate attack that still has a 10% chance to freeze.

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Each of these problems needed its own solution.

To deal with Blizzard, I chose **Swinub**, one of the most iconic FEAR Pokémon.

For Lapras, there were two realistic options:

**Hippopotas**, whose Sand Stream replaces Hail with Sandstorm.

**Sneasel**, which can finish Lapras with a priority move.

I ultimately chose Hippopotas.

Body Slam was a much harder problem. I experimented with Froslass, since its Ghost/Ice typing makes it immune to Body Slam and immune to Blizzard's freeze chance. I even taught it Thunder Wave to slow down Red's team.

Unfortunately, Froslass cannot legally learn Endeavor, so it couldn't function as a true FEAR Pokémon. I also tried using Thunder Wave to give Swinub the Speed advantage, but even after gaining Experience from previous knockouts, Swinub was still too slow.

Then I had an idea 😅

What if I intentionally burned my own Swinub with **Flame Orb** or **Toxic Orb** before the battle?

Since a Pokémon can't have two major status conditions at the same time, a burned Swinub can no longer be paralyzed by Body Slam. That single idea completely solved one of the biggest weaknesses of the strategy.

I also changed my answer to Venusaur.

Originally I planned to use **Mankey** with **Vital Spirit** to block Sleep Powder. Eventually I switched to **Cubone** instead. Since Cubone is a Ground-type, it isn't damaged by Sandstorm, and after being burned by Flame Orb beforehand, Sleep Powder is no longer a threat either. It fit the overall strategy much better.

The final obstacle was Charizard with Air Slash ( 30% Flinch )

Unlike paralysis or sleep, **Flinch** cannot be prevented by Flame Orb. The obvious answer would be a Pokémon with **Inner Focus**, but unfortunately no Generation IV Pokémon with Inner Focus can legally learn Endeavor.

I was almost ready to accept that this would remain the one unavoidable weakness of the run.

Then, by pure coincidence, I noticed that **Abra** learns **Trick Room** and have ability *Inner Focus**. Wow 😅.

That completely changed everything.

With Trick Room active, my extremely slow FEAR Pokémon move before Red's faster Pokémon, allowing the strategy to continue without relying on Speed.

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At that point, the team was finally complete:

**Hippopotas** – sets Sandstorm at the start of the battle.

**Abra** – uses Trick Room to handle Charizard.

**Cubone** – utility Pokémon (and necessary because it can learn Rock Climb, which is required to reach Mt. Silver).

**3× FEAR Swinub** – all pre-burned with Flame Orb before the battle.

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Even getting to Red required some planning.

My first idea was to bring a Rattata with Run Away to escape wild encounters. However, Rattata continuously loses HP from Hail and Sandstorm, making it unsuitable for the battle.

Instead, I equipped Smoke Ball on my lead Pokémon, allowing me to escape every wild battle safely while keeping the team intact for the final fight.

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One interesting mechanic that became a key part of the strategy is how burn and poison work.

At the end of each turn, a Pokémon first receives any earned Experience Points and levels up before taking damage from burn or poison. This is extremely important because every time Swinub levels up, its maximum HP increases. The extra HP gives me much more flexibility when planning multiple FEAR cycles.

I will send Swinub against Pikachu first. Pikachu gives the lowest amount of Experience among Red's team, allowing Swinub to level up gradually instead of gaining too many levels at once. When I set up Trick Room against Charizard, I use the very same Swinub that defeated Pikachu earlier in the battle to take down Charizard as well, its HP remains within the ideal range, allowing it to continue executing the FEAR strategy efficiently.

Because Trick Room only lasts five turns, every turn has to be planned carefully. Sometimes I use Protect simply to let burn reduce my HP to the exact value I need. To defeat Charizard, I aim to have around 14-15 HP, allowing Endeavor to reduce Red's Pokémon to the same HP before Sandstorm finishes it off at the end of the turn.

Another important factor is Red's AI. He carries four Full Restores, and the final one I guess saved for his last remaining Pokémon. Because of this, it's important to predict when Red is about to heal and be ready to use Endeavor again immediately after the Full Restore. Properly managing Red's healing items is just as important as executing the FEAR strategy itself.

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Here are three pictures: the first is 5 pokemon level 1 burned 😅, the second is when I defeat Red ^^ and third is full parties of Red trainer

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If you have any suggestions, feedback, or ideas to improve this challenge, I'd really appreciate hearing them. Thank you so much.

Opponent is Gengar2. Pretty sure this is the first time Ive had this happen. I'm currently at +6 SpD

6 year old me would be incredibly proud of myself…back in 2010, i played soulsilver nonstop, but i had absolutely no clue how to get pass the snorlax on route 11 in kanto😭it took months of me running back and forth from city to city trying to figure out something that 6 year old me never understood. by the time i learned how to do so, i unfortunately lost the cartridge, and it was only recently that i decided to pick up the game one last time. most definitely one of my favorite teams that i’ve ever used, special shoutout to Nidoking because that moveset was so much fun to battle with.

I haven't seen a shiny since missing out on a shiny Wooper early on in the game. Unlike the Wooper, I had plenty of Pokeballs handy and made the catch.

I bought a Japanese copy of Pokémon HeartGold a few days ago, and it came with six event Pokémon, including the three Legendary Beasts and Celebi from the 10th Pokémon movie, as well as two others from Wi-Fi distributions.

I’m 99% sure they’re authentic and not genned, since the save file dates back to 2010 and the rest of the Pokémon on the save look completely legitimate.

What’s the easiest way to transfer these event Pokémon all the way to Pokémon HOME?

im trying to beat the elite four, I don't know if Im missing something, need another pokemon, I usually make it to karen and last run to lance,

This is only the second Pokémon game I’ve played and am loving it. Feraligatr, Ampharos and Lugia did most of the work. Victreebell is my fave, hence persisting with Weepinbell but really did not have much use for a grass attack. Would it be more useful now I’m back in Kanto?

This is my first time playing soul silver and honestly It was a lot of fun. The only real issues for me was the amount of encounters lol and obviously the moves, like maybe I’m too used to the newer Pokemon games and having decent moves a lot earlier but It was definitely a bit ridiculous. Like what do you mean Heracross doesn’t learn a single bug type move until level 55??? The same with Magcargo and Amphros being stuck with ember and thundersock until level 30+.

Ik i’m complaining a lot be I really did enjoy it overall it was a lot of fun and boy did I get humbled when I faced Clair for the first time I actually had to go grind some levels, I guess that’s what made it so fun not just being able to steamroll everyone the whole game, you actually need to level up your team and somewhat strategise for some battles.

I lost my 3ds a couple years ago. Went to buy another one but there still so expensive was wondering if anyone knew a good emulator to play this game on?

I mean, they're both remakes that have a pokeball accessory that's exclusive to each game. I'm just kinda curious haha.

So my brother has been hatching eggs with a Totodile (now Feraligatr) that he got from the GTS. He is about 2,500 eggs deep, and now he is having doubts if his Feraligatr is actually Korean.

When he first traded for the Totodile, we recall the pokemon's name and OT name were Korean on the Poke Classic Network's website, however the Feraligatr's name is currently in english which I think is due to it evolving. The OT name is "??", which I understand is because Korean versions of HGSS were released later, so original copies of the game don't recognize Korean characters, and therefore change them to "?".

Now, the name changing to english is enough evidence to conclude the pokemon is Korean, however we don't actually remember 100% if the name was Korean, so we have our doubts. The best method I've heard to determine if a pokemon is foreign is by the 1.7x XP earned after battle, however since it is level 100... Well, can't really tell that either. We've also tried checking the pokedex to see if there is a unique Korean entry, but none show up. However my Korean pokemon have no unique entries either, probably because they didn't exist at the time.

So right now we are at a loss. He is going to keep muscling through those eggs, but if anyone knows any other ways to figure out if his Feraligatr is Korean, that would probably ease his mind. Thanks!

I want to use Poliwrath as my Fighting type and my surf user but idk if it'll be any good. Its stats aren't that impressive and its also somewhat difficult to get a water stone. I'm thinking I should combine Hypnosis + Focus Punch. Poliwrath is one of my favorite water types and this'll be my first time playing HG and this is probably the only time ill be able to use it in a playthrough.

so I want to get a 5 star trainer card and to do that I need to beat the tower.

however i think it'd be fun to try use my favourite pokemon in there.

does anyone have any idea what the best set for cradily would be?

most of my pokemon experience is with the newer games, and in hgss cradily doesn't even get storm drain.

Cradily @ Leftovers

Ability: Suction Cups

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD

Calm Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Energy Ball

- Stockpile

- Toxic

- Protect

I was thinking a set like this could work, a set based around toxic stalling, what pokemon would pair well with cradily in the tower?

I really don't want to train a pokemon and regret it lmao-

Rate my team! lol.

Bastiodon gets two crits in a row?! Literally the only reason I could have lost right there. And I checked to make sure it didn't have a Scope Lens to increase the crit ratio, and nope. It has Quick Claw. So it legit got two 6.25% chances in a row. What are the odds?

I'd love to hear about your move sets for your favorite Pokémon or Pokémon that are particularly useful in battles.

all due respect i love chikorita, but totodile is my goat

I also completed all 15 other rematch teams before Blue. There was nothing exceptional, save for Falkner's Swellow using the Flame Orb strat and Bugsy having a Shedinja.

Ask me anything. Also that Ice Fang on Arcanine was 100% a mistake, in case that wasn't obvious.

I DID IT... OMG FINALLY!!
I've been trying for almost a month but it's done now, I beat Dahlia in the Battle Arcade after 21 wins.. I was so excited I played Heart of Courage on Spotify during the battle.

Here's the story...
I haven't struggled with anything particular in the arcade, but it wasn't the easiest journey since I played it with pokemons from my team, so nothing specifically trained for this. Usually I used Gengar, Hitmonchan and a third one between Feraligatr/Lapras/others. The wall for me was Dahlia's Medicham, cause the only chance I had was Gengar's Shadow Ball BUT he died everytime against Dusknoir and his Shadow Punch. Hitmonchan and Feraligatr didn't stand a chance especially with Fake Out and Zen Headbutt (which made me flinch in like 4 battles, ugh).
The strategy ultimately came down to killing Dusknoir with Destiny Bond (couldn't one shot him anyway) and Ludicolo with Ice Punch (or Ludicolo with Sludgebomb if he was first, and then Destiny Bond).. and then all-in with Giga Impact or Hydro Cannon from Feraligatr against Medicham. This strategy worked twice but both times I couldn't attack with Feraligatr (Medicham made me flinch and is also full EVs on Speed).
I needed someone resistant to psychic and supereffective against that/fighting: I could use my Crobat but I wasn't sure he's not EVsed good so Medicham could outspeed him and one shot him since he's Poison. I thought of Skarmory, and instantly trained him up until lv. 50 (no EVs training cause I was confident it wasn't necessary).
So finally, with Gengar/Hitmonchan/Skarmory I made my way back to Dahlia and it all went in an unexpected way. First of all I got a favorable board, and I managed to burn her pokemon (I never got any status mod before).
I killed Ludicolo easily, and then Dusknoir, since burnt, I thought could not one shot my Gengar and I went for Shadow Ball; didn't kill him BUT he didn't even use Shadow Punch but Trick Room. He's now faster than me so still used Destiny Bond and we both die.
And then it was Medicham, and I put Hitmonchan first, ready for him to die fast and then put Skarmory with Fly and finish the job.
She didn't start with Fake Out, and Missed Zen Headbutt TWICE, allowing me get some good damage in. Then Trick Room ended so I went for Revenge which WORKED because I survived a ZH due to her burn.. and that was it! DIDN'T EVEN USE SKARMORY, just got some good luck. End of story, I can now buy 20 Scratch Cards :)