A Pokemon streamer has been dubbed "the greatest nuzlocker in the world" after completing a 'deathless' run of the series' most notorious fan game.
Pokemon Emerald Kaizo is a devilishly difficult spin on the third-gen classic. Beating it in a standard run is an achievement in itself, and as a result of its devilish complexity, it's become a favorite testing ground for top-tier nuzlockers - Pokemon players seeking an extra challenge who opt for a 'permadeath' version of the game. Emerald Kaizo whacks up level caps, grants gym leaders and other major antagonists extra Pokemon - including Legendaries - and introduces movesets, abilities, and items all designed to make every fight as difficult as possible.
All of that combines to make an Emerald Kaizo Nuzlocke one of the series' biggest challenges, that regularly takes even expert players hundreds of attempts to finish. But not content with that self-imposed difficulty, streamer Drew Prouty added an extra layer of complexity, dubbing a run a failure if he lost even a single Pokemon. As someone who's never had the patience to even complete a standard Nuzlocke, a deathless Nuzlocke seems horrifying, and a deathless Kaizo Nuzlocke is something I can barely comprehend.
In all, it took Prouty 402 attempts to finally get his win last year, and that final run has now been documented in a video by Nuzlocking YouTuber PokemonChallenges. What makes the eventual winning attempt even more wild is that Prouty didn't even get the starter Pokemon he wanted.
Given the sheer number of runs that Prouty attempted, he opted to use a save file that locked in his first ten encounters (Nuzlocke rules also dictate that you catch only the first Pokemon you discover in each new location), as long as those encounters had more than a 10% catch rate. That also meant always picking Treeko as a starter Pokemon, due to its high speed and its strength during later parts of the run. On attempt 402, however, a viewer compelled Prouty to take Torchic instead, getting the entire thing off to a potentially shaky start. Eventually, Torchic became a Blaziken that was pretty handy in a number of pinch points, including the tricky fourth gym fight with Flannery and the fight with Team Magma's Maxie, but it definitely wasn't an optimal pick into the late game.
Other pain points include the double battles with Gym 7 leaders Tate and Liza, and Gym 8 leader Juan, which is the furthest Prouty had ever made it in previous runs. Those fights involved intricate manipulation of the Pokemon AI, ensuring that opposing Pokemon would always focus fire on a partner Pokemon, while first a Sunkern and then a Kingdra were able to set up and eventually sweep the gym leaders' teams.
That brought Prouty to the Elite Four, a part of the game that the community has largely optimized. The vast majority of victorious Kaizo teams include a Forretress, Slowbro, Dusclops, Salamence, a flexible normal-type physical attacker like Slacking, and a Sceptile. The latter was already out of the picture, so Salamence had to be sacrificed to help round out the team. In an unconventional approach, Prouty opted for a Milotic (who would prove to be crucial), as well as the surprise addition of two normal type Pokemon - a tanky Kangaskhan, and a Zangoose with a burn that would take advantage of its attack-boosting Guts ability.
With that team, Prouty's Elite Four run was far from a sure thing, and there are several hair-raising moments in the late parts of the run: his Slowbro was Frozen, nearly killed by an opposing Dewgong before it could defrost; an enemy Aerodactyl hit several Ancient Powers but failed to get the critical stat boost; and at one point Prouty gambled the entire run when a misclick nearly ruined his entire strategy - things were only salvaged when he hit two 33% chance switches in a row.
For all those potential eleventh-hour stumbling blocks, Prouty eventually defeated Champion Steven, to complete a months-long effort and a feat that many had thought impossible. In fact, a combination of good planning and some very good fortune makes me wonder whether this feat will ever be completed again. I'm reminded of the Pokemon Red speedrunner whose massive gamble paid off so well that they retired from the scene having 'killed' the category forever. If Emerald Kaizo is the hardest Pokemon game ever, Prouty's accomplishment might be the greatest in the history of the series.
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