6 Pokémon run challenge

[DivineAll]

I posted this on a different forum and it practically became an instant hit the moment I did so. I finally figured it's about time I posted it here. The challenge is to beat any of the hand-held Pokémon games with only 6 Pokémon in your party. However, when I originally posted this challenge the ground rules were... mixed up to say the least, so I'll lay them out now before anyone asks them.

Basic Rules
1. Besides your Starter Pokémon, a Legendary Pokémon must be a part of your party. The only game exempt from this rule is Emerald.

2. Gold/Silver/Crystal/Heart Gold/Soul Silver players must go through Kanto and defeat Red to complete the challenge thoroughly.

3. The Gym Leaders must defeated the following order for the various games:
Red/Blue/Yellow/Fire Red/Leaf Green - Brock, Misty, Lt. Surge, Erika, Koga, Sabrina, Blaine, Giovanni
Gold/Silver/Crystal/Heart Gold/Soul Silver - Falkner, Bugsy, Whitney, Morty, Chuck, Jasmine, Pryce, Claire, Lt. Surge, Sabrina, Erika, Misty, Janine, Brock, Blaine, Blue/Green
Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald - Roxanne, Brawly, Wattson, Flannery, Norman, Winona, Tate & Liza, Wallace/Juan
Diamond/Pearl - Roark, Gardenia, Maylene, Crasher Wake, Fantina, Byron, Candice, Volkner
Platinum - Roark, Gardenia, Fantina, Maylene, Crasher Wake, Byron, Candice, Volkner

4. No use of cheat codes or glitches of any kind. GameShark is also forbidden. Strategy guides of all kinds are legal to use.

5. No releasing any captured Pokémon you have. What you've caught is what you're stuck with for the challenge, so catch wisely.

6. Trading with other trainers is legal. However, the trading section has it's own set of rules that will be separated from the basic ones.

Trading Rules
1: In-game trading is legal so long as you catch the appropriate Pokémon to trade with the in-game OT yourself.

2: Trade-backs are legal so long as one of your Pokémon evolves via trade.

3: If trading via trade-back, no items may be traded along with the Pokémon, unless they evolve via trade plus specific item.

4: For Diamond/Pearl players, the GTS may be used to trade with any random OT a max of 3 times.

5: The traded Pokémon must participate in one event battle, one Gym Leader battle, and one Elite 4 battle.

6: No trading Legendary Pokémon, special event Pokémon, or starter Pokémon.

7: No trading via Pokémon Stadium, Pokémon Stadium 2, Pokémon Colosseum, Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, or Pokémon Battle Revolution.

A list of optional Pokémon, beside Legendaries, will be posted later. If anyone wants to attempt this challenge, feel free to do so. If there are any questions, feel free to ask.

[Andrew]

So you take the one team and then trade them across each game to destroy them?

[DivineAll]

So you take the one team and then trade them across each game to destroy them?

Not necessarily. The point of the 6 Pokémon run challenge is to strategize way ahead of time who your final team of Pokémon is before taking on the Champion(s). Trading only helps, or enhances your team further.

For example: if you're playing Leaf Green and need a Growlithe from Fire Red. You can trade a Pokémon from your LG game to get the Growlithe from FR. Or you need Mr. Mime from either version. Trade an Abra you catch with the in-game trainer and everything's still legit.

However, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing, that's why I put the trading rules up.

[Poryhedron]

Hmm...I'm getting seriously sick of catching hundreds of a single pokémon trying to find ones with good IVs for my first serious Tournament Team, so I might try this as a change of pace, even though the only part of the rules that's new to my games is the requirement that I use a Legend. Haven't done that since Articuno in Blue/Yellow.

...well, that and defeating Koga before Sabrina. I've done that once or twice, but I usually do it the other way around.

Since this is in some ways the opposite of a Single-Fighter Challenge, I suppose I should ask whether HMers are legal. In case you're not sure, I'm referring to pokémon who stay in your party but practically never battle; they're there just so you can load them up with HMs that you wouldn't want to use on a serious battler, like Cut or Rock Smash.

[DivineAll]

HMers? Huh... no one's asked that question in the other forum I posted it in. Sure you can have an HM slave or two, but that would just increase the difficulty even further, wouldn't it? My advice is to either make use of a potential HM Pokémon in your final party, or trade said HM Pokémon with someone else for something you would consider to be in your final party. Either way, good luck.

[Blademaster]

Sure you can have an HM slave or two, but that would just increase the difficulty even further, wouldn't it?

How is having 6 or less Pokemon difficult in the first place? Do you have any idea how easy it is to sweep a Pokemon game with just your starter, let alone a starter and a LEGENDARY?

[Poryhedron]

Yeah, around here we regularly have Monotype Challenges where all of your battling pokémon must have a certain element (dual-types are your weapon against your chosen type's weaknesses. For example, if you do a Water monotype, you'll probably want Gyarados to shrug off Grass attacks and Quagsire, Swampert or Whiscash to nuke Electric-types.) Most participants in those just have three or four battlers, and then HMers. Your challenge is far more lax than we're used to, except that not only are you forbidding the trading of Starters, you're requiring us to make in-game use of a Legend. That'll confuse a few folks.

[DivineAll]

It was a good idea when I originally posted it on the other forum. Can you blame me for trying it out here? ...Wait, don't answer that... At least try the challenge out before you knock it. The challenge, more or less, is to test not only your advanced strategy planning skills or whatever, but to restrain all those people who like to catch Pokémon for novelty's sake, or just because you need to fill out your Pokédex completely, which, believe me, I fall into both those categories, despite not being a hardcore Pokémon player.

[Benton Blane Corinth]

Ive been looking for a challenge like this, what do you mean by a legendary must be part of your party? A major legendary, MewTwo, Ho-Oh, Lugia, Rayquaza, Dialga, etc. or minor, Articuno, Enti, Azelf, Latios, etc.?

[Link]

I'm pretty sure all legendaries are major. Anyway, you can try this challenge if you want guys, but I won't.

[Blademaster]

I'm pretty sure all legendaries are major.

This. Hence why they're called Legendary.

The only debatable case is Phione, and who the fuck would be using that thing anyway?

[Benton Blane Corinth]

This. Hence why they're called Legendary.

The only debatable case is Phione, and who the fuck would be using that thing anyway?

There are major legendarys and minor. The major's arnt allowed in battle frontier/tower/tents, minors are

[Link]

There are major legendarys and minor. The major's arnt allowed in battle frontier/tower/tents, minors are

Well...legendaries are allowed at VGC.

[DivineAll]

I'm actually genuinely surprised someone's taken an interest in this after this thread has been dead for so long and after I've updated the rules on that different forum a while back.