Home in Time for Christmas - a Pokemon Red "nuzlocke" challenge report

[Seperallis]

This isn't entirely tied to that other thing I will be doing. I started this game while figuring out the kind of rules I would like to see in the other game I plan on recording for said other thing. Having started the game, though, I am bound and determined to see it through. Being my first ever Nuzlocke challenge and apparently holding myself to a far higher difficulty standard than most other such challenges, I figured I would write a relatively short summary report of the goings-on in the game. This is mostly for my own benefit, looking back on my first attempt and reliving the memories at some point another 10 years in the future when the full force of mid-life regret is bearing down on my psyche and the clock of passing ages begins to grow louder.

Because I never actually planned for this to be a "thing" on its own, I have no recording or screenshots of my progress. At least, not initially. I still won't record, but maybe I'll intersperse my impending walls of text with a couple screenshot updates in the future, but at least the first two chapters will just be my ramblings. Sorry about that.

Anyway, pulling from that other thing, this is the list of rules I eventually settled upon:

Show ContentThe Challenge Rules:

Base Rules:
- Only catch the first Pokemon encountered in any area.
- Any KO'd pokemon must be released or permanently stored in PC.

Clarifications:
- No resets.
- No trading. Period.
- Nickname all caught pokemon.
- The First Encounter rule:
- - also applies to surfing/fishing in an area; the first encounter is either on land OR on/in water.
- - also applies if the first encounter escapes or is KO'd; there is no second attempt.
- - For the sake of variety, the Duplicates rule applies: if the first encounter has been caught before, I may choose to either catch it OR try again...up to three times, at which point I'm S.O.L.
- - also applies to any static area encounters (such as Snorlax in Red/Blue, or Sudowoodo in Silver/Gold); they may only be caught if they are the first wild encounter if the area.
- - the Shiny rule does NOT apply; any shiny that's not the first encounter is forfeit, and I will cry about it.

Difficulty Rules:
- No Legendary Pokemon. Duh.
- Any Daycare use is verbotten.
- Pokemon that enter my party may only leave by being KO'd; I cannot store party pokemon, or swap them with reserves.
- I may not use more pokemon than the gym leader/elite four I am battling, regardless of the size of my party.
- - Losing these pokemon counts as a total party wipe, even if I have other pokemon in my party that remain healthy and able to fight
- No pokemon in the party may be a higher level than the next Gym Leader/Elite Four pokemon; any pokemon that goes over this limit must sit out all battles until they are no longer over-leveled.
- Only Set battles are allowed; I cannot automatically swap pokemon when an opponent is KO'd.
- "Destiny Bond" and "Second Chance" rules are for cowardly bitch-babies; any KO from any source is a legal KO.
- Any total party wipe is "game over" and ends the run.

That's about it.