Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen

FireRed & LeafGreen #

Pokémon is a well known game made by Gamefreak and published by Nintendo/ The Pokemon Company. The FireRed and LeafGreen are remakes of the original Pokémon games, Red, and Blue. FireRed and LeafGreen released on the Gameboy Advance in 2004 and the gameplay was very similar to Red/Blue, but with some updates to the current version of Pokémon games.

The Community #

There are many active Pokémon communities on the internet. There are many Poketubers (Pokémon Youtubers) that try different kinds of challenge runs and modded runs of Pokémon that have gain popularity over the years. Whatever community, if any, you want to join are likely to stay around for a long time due to the popularity of the game franchise.

Of the communities, one challenge type remains the most common of them all; The Nuzlocke Challenge. Bullbulbapedia, Reddit, and Nuzlock University are the 3 major sources of information relating to this topic. However the Pacifist run is not a common or well known type of run for Pokémon. Very few have attempted this feet; Deviant Journal, Reddit Post, and YouTube Video by SmallAnt are the 3 sources I was able to find relating to FireRed and LeafGreen. They all agreed on the same rule sets (for the most part), check them out below…

Community Pacifist #

The community has agreed to the following ruleset for FireRed & LeafGreen;

• No Direct Attacks
  • Any ability that has an ‘Attack’ value can not be used.
  • Any ability with a 0 ‘Attack’ value can be used.
    • ‘ Mirror Move’ and ‘ Counter’ technically have a base 0, they still deal direct damage and not valid. This is because it uses the other Pokémon’s attack value, thus making it not truly a 0 base attack if the other Pokémon attacks with a non-status effect.
    • ‘ Night Shade’ and ‘ Seismic Toss’ uses your Pokémon’s level for the base attack value, so this can’t be used.
• Status effects are okay to use (Burn, Poison, Sleep, Confusion, etc)
• Items are fine to use.

The idea behind this challenge for a pacifist is that we are willing to defend ourselves (Status Effects), however we are not willing to directly injure anyone or their Pokémon. It’s not our fault that the opponent is not taking the message of to back off seriously and causing their Pokémon to faint due to pushing them too hard.

A True Pacifist #

I disagree with the rule set and want to change it. No attacks with the intent to directly harm. Meaning any damage the opponent takes is of their own volition. The question then becomes, how does a Pacifist win in Pokémon? The short answer; “ Struggle & Confusion”.

Disclaimer I have yet to test out “A True Pacifist” run, so I can not comment on the level of difficulty. However with my experience with Pokémon in general, I can say this will be one of the harder runs on a standard Pokémon game as there is a lot of wait time that will happen from battles. I will update this section once I start/finish my run.

Starter Pokémon #

The first Pokémon can make or break your run depending on what you want to do. Below are some charts of moves you may want to consider for each starter Pokémon to determine how you would like to approach this run. Ideally you would start with Bulbasuar, however if you are planning a ‘True Pacifist’ run then you may want Charmander…

Bulbasaur #

Charmander #

Squirtle #

Helpful Abilities #

Here are a list of abilities you may want to consider when doing this run;

• Flatter: Causes Confuse on opponent, but raises special attack two stages.
• Detect: Evades attack, but may fail if used in succession.
• Thunder Wave: Induces paralysis.
• Confuse Ray: May induce Confusion.
• Destiny Bond: If the user faints, the opponent will also faint.
• Leech Seed: User steals HP from the opponent every turn.
• Spore: Induces Sleep. (100% Accuracy)
• Sand-attack: Lowers opponent’s Accuracy one stage.
• Spikes: Sets spikes that hurt the opponent upon switching.
• Hail: Causes Hailstorm for 5 rounds.
• Attract: Induces Attract.
• Double Team: Raises user’s Evade one stage.
• Minimize: Raises user’s Evade one stage.
• Perish Song: All Pokémon on the field faint in 3 turns.
• Protect: Evades opponents next attack; the move’s accuracy drops.
• Recover: User recovers half the maximum HP.
• Safeguard: Prevents all status problems.
• Substitute: Creates a decoy using 1/4 of the user’s maximum HP.
• Swagger: Induces Confuse. Raises opponent’s Attack two stages. (90% Accuracy)
• Whirlwind: Ends battle. Switches the opponent Pokémon in a trainer battle.
• Toxic: Induces severe poison. (85% Accuracy)
• Kinesis: Lowers opponent’s Accuracy one stage.
• Light Screen: Halves Special Attack damage inflicted on user.
• Reflect: Halves Attack damage inflicted on user.
• Trick: User trades items with opponent.

Stat Changing #

Stat Changing - Raising or Lowering Accuracy, Evade, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, or Speed.

Status Ailment #

Status Ailment - Changes a Pokémon’s health status to something than healthy.

Health Restoration #

Misc. Effects #

Pokémon Abilities #

• Effect Spore: Afflicts the foe with poison, paralysis, or sleep 10% of the time when it attacks directly.
• Flame Body: Burns the foe on contact 30% of the time. (Unlikely)
• Pickup: May pick up items.
• Poison Point: Poisons the foe on contact 30% of the time.
• Pressure: Doubles the foe’s use of PP, making it run out of stamina
• Static: Paralyzes on contact 30% of the time.

It’s important to note that ‘on contact’ means the attack uses the “Attack” attribute for the damage type and not Special Attack. Meaning Pokémon that use only Special Attacks (Alakazam) will never make contact with your Pokémon making the PokeAbility a 0% chance of happening.

Pokémon with the (*) means the evolution of the Pokémon will keep the ability.

Meowth is strongly suggested as it will save you money with the pickup ability. To farm items, you can use escape/roar/etc to end battles fast. After a battle end is when Pickup checks to see if an item was found or not.

Hold Items #

• Cleanse Tag: Pokémon Tower (5th Floor)
  • It decreases the wild Pokémon encounter rate if held by the player’s Pokémon.
• Lax Incense: Lost Cave (Island Five)
  • Reduces the accuracy of moves targeting the holder by 5%.
• Leftovers: Route 12 and 16
  • Restores 1/16 of the holder’s maximum HP
• EXP. Share: Route 15 gate 2F (from Oak’s aide after obtaining 50 Pokémon)
  • An item to be held by a Pokémon. The holder gets a share of Exp. points without having to battle.
• Smoke Ball: Rocket Game Corner (800 Coins)
  • You will always run from Wild Pokémon.
• Amulet Coin: Route 16 gate 2F (from Oak’s aide after obtaining 40 Pokémon)
  • Doubles the battle money if the holding Pokémon takes part.
• Focus Band: Held by wild Machoke (5% chance)
  • The holding Pokémon may endure an attack, leaving just 1 HP.
• Quick Claw: Safari Zone
  • Quick Claw gives the holder a ~23% (60/256) chance of going first in its priority bracket.

Other Pokémon Games #

I’ll be researching other Pokémon games to see if they can also be played as a Pacifist, but for now I can say for certain that FireRed & LeafGreen can be played as a ‘Pacifist’ per the community!

While it is possible to do the True Pacifist method on older games, it would be much harder as there are no Pokémon Abilities and your funds will be severely limited. With the Elite Four, you will need a huge stock of items in order to complete the run. Additionally it would be RNG based with Sand-Attack and similar attacks to prevent any damage while lower their PP.