How to Do a Nuzlocke Challenge in Pokémon

Last Updated: January 25, 2021

The Nuzlocke Challenge is an interesting way to play Pokémon games. It can spice up a game you're bored with. It brings in new rules in which you play by, and changes your experience as an overall. Nuzlocke challenge is basically a hard mode Pokémon journey. For few Pokémon players, this challenge may be too much to handle, but if you follow this tutorial, you will finally become a Pokémon hardcore pro!

Steps

1
Familiarize yourself with the rules. Nuzlocke is where when one of your Pokémon faints, it's considered dead. Meaning that you will have to release it, or just keep it in a PC box but never use it again. And the final rule is one Pokémon per area. It doesn't matter if you made a faint by accident, or if you already caught it, first Pokémon you find in an area is that.
2
Begin a new Pokémon game.
3
Choose a starting Pokémon. Choose a reasonable starter Pokémon.
- For example, if you are doing Nuzlocke challenge in Pokémon LeafGreen or FireRed, you must choose between Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander. Bulbasaur is kind of a Special Attack kind of guy and is considered as an easy Pokémon to start with. It can eliminate the first two gym leaders for that game, but that's for people who want an easy runner, or if they like Bulbasaur because they find it enjoyable.
- Squirtle is a normal runner, which develops good defense other than the rest of the stats to begin with. Squirtle can take out Brock (first Gym Leader) and make it neutral to beat Misty (second Gym Leader).
- Charmander is the hardest to start out with. It has good special attack and speed to begin with, but it will have some trouble between Misty, Brock, and is neutral to Lt. Surge (third Gym Leader). Charmander can be chosen by people who feel like they want a good challenge.
4
Stock up with any kind of Potions, healing items, and TMs and HMs. This is major towards the Nuzlocke challenge. Potions, Super Potions, Hyper Potions, Max Potions, and Full Restores are needed to survive this challenge. As you can see, poison will bother you in the game, so stock up on Antidotes just in case your Pokémon is poisoned and it will die by the time you reach the Pokémon Center.
- Other status healers are recommended also, Antidotes are just the items to save you. Revives and Max Revives will be useless when you are going to run through this challenge, since you can't resurrect your dead Pokémon. TMs and HMs are important if you have a Pokémon with a poor move pool.
- In Pokémon Sun and Moon, there are no HMs, only TMs, so you won't have to go to a Move Deleter to get rid of HMs you don't want on your Pokémon.
5
Think about the Pokémon that may help you on your journey. For example, you meet up with a Tangela. Very solid Pokémon to have with decent stats to have, but a poor move pool to have (move pools are the selections of moves the Pokémon learns by gaining levels). Diglet/Dugtrio have powerful moves to have in their move pool but very weak against HP and defense/special defense. This is one reason to think about the Pokémon. All Pokémon all have advantages and disadvantages to start with.
6
Create a decent Pokémon team with different types. All Pokémon teams go up to six Pokémon. And to go through Nuzlocke, you need to have a unique Pokémon team. If you start out with Mudkip (Hoenn Region), and it soon evolves to Swampert, making it extremely powerful Pokémon. Swampert is a Water/Ground type Pokémon and only has one weakness (Grass). Having more than three Pokémon that have Water/Ground doesn't make it easy, in fact, harder than you might think. A team like Swampert, Swellow, Minun, Numel, and so on. That makes it a unique Pokémon team because all the Pokémon have some sort of different type. Remember, you need to run into these Pokémon!
7
Grind up some levels. Nuzlocke will be a pain if you have Pokémon five levels lower than a Pokémon you are challenging. To raise more levels, you can either battle wild Pokémon over and over, or battle trainers you probably missed. Don't let the Pokémon faint, or it's going to the graveyard.
8
Start your journey. When you reach a new area where wild Pokémon are available, the first Pokémon you encounter is the one you may catch. You may not catch any Pokémon in that area other than that first. You must release your Pokémon or place it into a PC Box if it faints; as it is counted as dead.
9
Find ways to earn money. You need Pokedollars to be able to buy healing Items and others, so you are going to need to battle a lot of Pokémon Trainers (Grind levels by going to Wild Pokémon first), and selling some of your items. You don't have to sell all of your items, but the one's you don't need. For example, you can sell Nuggets, Big Pearls, and Revives/Max Revives. Those you don't need to use during your journey.
10
Repeat the process and you will be a pro at Nuzlocke! Enjoy playing Nuzlocke and good luck at it!

Community Q&A

Question

How do I get a randomized file of a game?

Community Answer

Check out this article on how to Randomize a Pokémon Game.
Question

If I faint the first encounter in an area, can I redo the encounter?

Bun bun

Top Answerer

You may if you'd like, but most people don't let this happen. If they faint the first encounter, it's gone.
Question

What if I get into a battle at the beginning when I don't have any Pokeballs?

Community Answer

It honestly depends. You could consider the Pokemon your first encounter, and catch another after the mandatory knockout or ignore it and catch something else when you can get some Pokeballs. It's your choice, more than anything else.
Question

How do I do make a normal Pokémon game work like the Nuzlocke Challenge?

Community Answer

The Nuzlocke Challenge is a challenge taken on by the player. The game you play will function as normal, but you yourself will have to play by the rules of the challenge. If a Pokémon faints, release it. Only catch the first Pokémon you see on a given route. If you decide partway through the challenge that you don't want to keep playing that way, you can just start playing the game as normal.
Question

Is it okay to catch 'em all as long as I follow the rule of only using the first one found?

Community Answer

You could definitely do that, but it would make it very easy to cheat on the challenge if you did. If you want to go that route, you might consider organizing your PC boxes so that the first one or two are dedicated to usable Pokémon according to the rules of the challenge.
Question

Is my party limited to the first 6 Pokemon I encounter, or can I switch Pokemon in my party with new "first encounters"?

Blubb lé Blubb

Community Answer

Unless you have a special clause for that, you can store Pokemon and use them later if one of your team members faints.
Question

Can I use gift Pokemon?

NovaDrqgon

Community Answer

It depends on the Nuzlocke Challenge rules you have set for yourself. However, most Nuzlocke Challenge players have a rule against using gift Pokemon.
Question

When does a Nuzlocke officially start?

Chemical overflow

Community Answer

A Nuzlocke officially starts as soon as you get Poké Balls. Note that you can not buy them in the challenge, so it’s usually after a professor give you them or something like that, you have the first Poké Balls, and you try to catch your first encounter on Route 1.
Question

Can I use auto-revived pokemon when doing the Nuzlocke challenge in Pokemon?

Community Answer

No, there is no reviving a fainted Pokemon in the traditional Nuzlocke challenge because once fainted, the Pokemon is considered dead.
Question

Where do I go in Pokémon Sword and Shield to take part in a Nuzlocke Challenge?

Community Answer

To do a Nuzlocke, you have to familiarize yourself with the rules, then do it. The challenge is a self-imposed challenge, meaning that there is no feature at the beginning of a game to guide you through the Nuzlocke.

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Warnings

Each floor of a cave does not count as a new area.

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Avoid poison.

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Don't run out of Poke Balls.

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You may not go back to an area you've already visited to catch another Pokémon from there.

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Avoid Pokémon deaths.

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If all of your party Pokémon die, you failed the challenge.

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You must catch the first Pokémon in every new area you visit. You don't have to use it.

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Also, once a Pokémon has fainted, you must get rid of them

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You may not use Revives or Max Revives.

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Things You'll Need

A Pokémon game
A Game Boy (for Pokémon R/B/G/Y), a Game Boy Color (for Pokémon G/S/C), a Game Boy Advanced (for Pokémon R/S/E/FR/LG), a Nintendo DS (for Pokémon D/P/Pla/B/W/B2/W2) or a Nintendo 3DS (for Pokémon X/Y/OR/AS/S/M)
A notepad/reminder of the rules (If you added your own or you need some more clarification while you play)