How do you make your games a challenge?

So, I got this idea from the Fancy A Challenge? page. Here's what I do:

I usually don't buy any items, since it feels unfair. Also, I don't really ever use items in battle.

I never use my master ball.

I usually pick what my six Pokemon will be before I start playing, and switch only if it's not possible.

I try to make it as far as I can in the game without any of my Pokemon fainting (My record is the elite four, then my Pokemon fainted there).

I sometimes play the game with only my starter Pokemon. I've never beaten it like that, but it's still fun to go as far as I can without getting bored.

I make sure I battle every trainer in the area before moving on.

Once, I actually just caught the first five Pokemon I saw, and that was my party, along with my starter.

I sometimes make sure that all of my Pokemon came from eggs, meaning that I began training them straight from level 5.



So, what do you do?

None of these are intentional but hey. I don't use the masterball; I don't use items in battle; my team is mostly made of early-game Pokemon if possible; I almost never switch.

Never buy items, never ues items, never hold items (Unless it's a macho brace or exp. share) and I make sure that I have at least 2 pokemon of the same type in a team.

I try and do one-pokemon play-throughs. I've only done it once, but usually I only have two or three pokemon on me at a time.

I almost always only use one pokemon, never switch it, and never use items. It wouldn't really matter if I switched it anyway, though, 'cause the rest of my team are HM Slaves that are at the 20s in level at best. Of course beating the Elite Four is cruel, but I usually manage.

I think I was able to beat Gold with Typhlosion alone.

I tried only using one pokemon on my red version...

It wasn't much of a challenge. I started with Squertel, and it was LV 30 before my second badge, and lv 86 just before the elite four. It was nothing but one hit kills.

Although, I unintentionally do the, don't use items thing.

((Dragon_night, you spelled "Squirtle" wrong))

I usually make mine a challenge by either having only 4 Pokemon, or I make it a challenge by having 6 or more Pokemon.

I don't :) I'm such a lazy bastard

I plan out my six pokemon. I usually don't catch any other Pokemon until i get all six of them. I also have an HM slave with me untill i get all my pokemon. In diamond, i still have my Bibarel with me. I will until i catch a Sneasel.

I don't do this anymore, but when I first started playing Pokemon I would just train my starter. I beat Gold with just my Typhlosion, but just because I didn't feel like training any other Pokemon at the time.

For the first game in the series, it's usually just vicious underleveling. I went against Pearl's E4 with a team of lv. 47's. As a rule, I don't train above fifty for the E4 in any version.

For the third game in any generation, I usually plan out my team ahead of time to be pokémon I really never use but think would be fun to play with. My Emerald ingame team ended up being torkoal, exploud, altaria, relicanth, sableye, and zangoose. I'll need to start planning my Platinum team soon.

For the first game in the series, it's usually just vicious underleveling. I went against Pearl's E4 with a team of lv. 47's. As a rule, I don't train above fifty for the E4 in any version.

For the third game in any generation, I usually plan out my team ahead of time to be pokémon I really never use but think would be fun to play with. My Emerald ingame team ended up being torkoal, exploud, altaria, relicanth, sableye, and zangoose. I'll need to start planning my Platinum team soon.

I don't make it a challenge because I'm lazy.






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<_<
>_>

I once went through Blue with only my Charizard, Stringy (don't ask). I also went through all of Emerald with only a Mudkip/Marshtomp/Swampert and Taillow/Swellow. :)
Sometimes I plan my teams, but usually I get bored before I get even four of them.

Um... I don't really think about making the battling "more challenging", although on principle I don't like it when my team members faint and so try to make sure it never happens. But as you kind of fail at the game in general when your Pokémon start dying frequently, well... why "strive" for it when it's what you're supposed to do anyway?

Collection-wise, though, I usually make it a point to catch every Pokémon I see as soon as I see it so I have absolutely no excuse not to complete/near-complete the Pokédex. (I seem to have failed at this in Diamond and for the life of me cannot understand why D:) The goal I'm apparently better at sticking to is one I remember coming up with on a playthrough of Red or something years ago: I never challenge a gym leader with fewer than their badge number x 10 Pokémon in my Pokédex (so I need 10 before I can challenge Brock, 20 before Misty, etc.) It's not that hard and I can usually pull well ahead of that goal (and so should probably get around to upping it one of these days), but there are times when I seem to come up short and actually have to force myself to go out of my way and look for stuff. Which is apparently challenging. So.

Other than that, though, just the occasional monotype run-through. I'm doing Water on my Pearl right now, and I really want to do Dark but Dark is easier to do on Diamond and I don't want to start my Diamond over so. I either have to be not lazy and trade/hatch for Stunky and Murkrow or just not do Dark, I guess. I know I could never do the whole "single Pokémon" thing, though. Not so much because I'm afraid it'll be too challenging but because I'll drive myself crazy thinking about how gee, Staraptor (or whatever) is nice and everything but WHY AM I NOT TRAINING A LUXRAY (or whatever) LUXRAY IS COOL TOO AAAA I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH COOL IN MY TEAM. It'd be more of a self-control issue than anything else. :/