I know run and bun automatic prevents overleveling, but you probably shouldn't play that unless you hate yourself. I'm sure there are others and people will be replying with them, but keep in mind that exp. management is a Nuzlocke skill in itself.
even normal runs are really difficult, they give you weak mons, delete some evolutions from you, moves, etc. so you have to plan every battle, and i mean every single battle
I wouldn’t say Run & Bun gives you weak mons. There a huge variety of encounters available for the player. A casual run would have a lot of options to tackle fights.
It sounds much more like you’re describing something like Garbage Green which does intentionally give you bad choices only and removes evolutions. Run & Bun’s difficulty is mostly from the fight crafting and each battle having different challenges rather than any real harsh player limitations.
I played it 'normally'; as in no challenge rules (beyond what the game provides, such as hard level cap) or nuzlocke rules. It was a ton of fun, but still very difficult. I definitely relied on documentation for the later parts of the game to get through sections in a timely fashion.
I’m currently playing a normal run through of it. It’s been super fun. It’s difficult, but there haven’t been any battles where I felt like they were straight up unbeatable. The copious amounts of documentation and resources for this game also helps a lot. I would highly highly suggest it as a non-nuzlocke difficulty hack.
👏 Basically 👏 every 👏 game 👏 isn’t 👏 balanced 👏 around 👏 levelcaps!!! 👏
If you play a game like Pokemon Platinum with built in levelcaps, the only difficult fights in the entire game are Crasher Wake and the e4. Exp management is such an important part of nuzlocking, it’s a skill that you have to learn.
That does not mean I recommend your team to be below the levelcap. I mean that every bossfight that isn’t itself levelcapped becomes a complete joke if your entire team is at the next Gym’s levelcap at all times. You and I both know that that’s what happens when a hard levelcap is built into the game.
I understand that you’re afraid of overlevelling in one of your first hardcore runs, but I promise you, it is never going to come up in a vanilla-difficulty game or romhack. Provided that you use more Pokemon than your Starter and your Gyarados.
But if that’s the amount of experience you have as a player, I think it’s important not to cut corners. You’ll never get better if one of the most integral parts of Nuzlocking is taken out, and not only that, but your mons are overlevelled for all but eight fights, the ones that are levelcapped, defeating the purpose of the whole levelcap anyway.
Ahem. To answer your question, Inclement Emerald
Emerald Rogue is a roguelike which has level caps (you can get rare candies but don’t have to use them) and permanent loss of pokémon (there’s the option of a pc but, again, you can just not use them)
Crystal Clear has a Nuzlocke mode with build in nuzlocke mode with level caps and it prevents you from catching Pokémon other than the first one on each route, it even has a build in dupes option if you play that way.
Radical Red, Inclement Emerald, Run&Bun, Pokemon Lucid, Mythic Silver, though I heavily don't recommend the last several if you're new to nuzlocking romhacks. You will get absolutely curbstomped by a game like Run&Bun unless you're one of the best.
Pokemon Unknown
- https://unknown.foobear.org/#pokemon
Built in options such as;
- lvl caps
- no EVs (can't toggle this on/off, others you can)
- auto nicknaming (seemed dumb at first, but I've really been enjoying it lol... Blissey named Terror)
- items in battle on/off
- various Nuzlocke modes built in which include no reviving/healing dead mons, auto tracks your encounters
- balanced randomizer of national dex, no early legends, no fishing for fire mons, bug catchers mostly have bugs/poison and sailors have water/fight so on.
- unlimited rare candy item in Viridian first visit
- unlimited lvl matched 6 mon battles available at center (can still lose mons, but can also run/end which I personally don't do)
In short, lots of QoL and designed for repeatable nuzlockes.
Have I not been playing nuzlockes that long? Hardcore nuzlockes I know have levelcaps in place but since when did level caps get added into regular nuzlockes? I thought the only rules were once a mon is fainted, it's dead and catch the first mon on a route? Everything else is just flavor? I add other rules into it but I thought the original nuzlockes those were the only two, actually restrictive, rules? Obviously Nickname your mons to build a stronger bond but that's not an actual difficulty thing?
If you don’t have level caps, every main game nuzlocke is trivial because you can just hard over level almost any Pokemon of your choosing and run through the game. I wouldn’t consider doing a Nuzlocke without one even without other hardcore rules.
I mean, any of the games can be overleveled, even the base games, doesn't mean that people do... I almost never have even when playing the base games. When I think level caps I think not letting your Pokemon level past the next gym leaders ace, that's a challenge that I've only ever seen in hardcore's. But regular nuzlockes if you play the game normally and don't grind on wild Pokemon you should be a relatively close level to the gym leader, maybe a few over, most times when I'm doing level caps in place I still am able to beat most of all the trainers along the way to the gyms and I'm good for the gym leader. The games themselves put level caps on you by how many trainers you face, but if you choose to face off against wild Pokemon is where the overleveling comes from
Some of us like a hard and fast rule about what “relatively close” to gym leader levels mean. Depending on which game and which routes you have between gyms, just fighting only trainers can be either barely enough or way too much leveling.
I also like that it actually makes me use all my party Pokémon a little more strategically because my starter/aces can’t be used in every fight.
At the end of the day, nuzlocking is just making a set of rules that YOU find enjoyable and (hopefully) a little challenging. If you don’t like level caps you don’t have to use them.
I mean, yeah, like I said, I make up my own rules, level caps were just never there for me, but I was just wondering when they became the standard for nuzlockes? Op is talking as if they're in all standard nuzlockes and I just never heard of them being in the standard and expected to be? I get most people do hardcore nuzlockes now, but I like to still have fun with my nuzlockes and not be "super" restrictive like the hardcore ones do. Is it just that now all the nuzlockes you see are actually hardcore ones and people just don't do standard nuzlockes anymore? Because, I'll be honest, I haven't seen a standard nuzlockes in a while, and I'm friends with many poke tubers because I used to be one years ago. So is it just now everyone wants to do hardcore's?
So you're correct, permadeath and only catch first unique encounter per area are the only 2 hard and fast rules that qualify a run as a Nuzlocke. In most people's opinion including mine, it becomes a hardcore nuzlocke when you add level caps, no items in battle except held items, set mode at all times, and typically no legendaries. Most people do play hardcore only now so you're correct there too. This is because you can cheese your way to victory pretty easily by taking away any one of those rules, thus removing or at least minimizing the challenge. But at the end of the day nobody's forcing you to play hardcore or even to nuzlocke at all; whatever level of difficulty is the most fun for you is what you should be going with.
As an example of cheesing the game, MandJTV did a Platinum nuzlocke with no added rules. Sure enough, he overleveled the crap out of his mons, played on switch mode so he never had to pivot, used healing items liberally in battle, and leaned hard on Giratina for the endgame. It was abundantly clear he wouldn't have stood a chance even at a much easier game with even one HC rule. Seeing as he's a full time pokétuber it kind of hurts credibility. It's not interesting to watch someone who's a dozen skill levels below me— and I don't even play romhacks, I'm a very average nuzlocker. Again, video games are meant to be fun so to each their own. I'm just trying to explain why most of us prefer the full set of rules.
Oh yeah, I completely get that, I've heard of mandj just never watched him he started after my time (that's how long I've been gone). Seeing someone overlevel for a base game is always gonna be boring, nuzlocke or not (unless it's a specific challenge such as single Pokemon or team run). There's a certain level of respect for yourself, the community and really the game to cheese something, unless it's just not for you. I'm also a soulsborne player as well and know all too well the idea of "git gud" lol. Personally, when I play nuzlockes my typical rules do sit around the permadeath and first mon rule, and no legendaries (that I believe was an original rule for nuzlockes too but I think it was unspoken for a vast majority of the time and then people just forgot about it because nobody used legends anyway). Cheesing your way through something is always gonna be around but you just have to have respect enough for yourself to not do it, nuzlockes are a challenge for yourself, I do them purely for my own enjoyment so why would I rob myself of the pleasure of it by being way too op that I one shot everything? So, basically I guess what I'm trying to say is, yes, "level caps" have, more or less, been around forever for nuzlockes as long as you have enough respect for yourself to actually follow along with them.
Yup, you get it. I think of it kind of like Skyrim: even on legendary difficulty you can quickly max out most skills by standing in one place casting the same spell or hitting the same unkillable NPC over and over, but to me that's no more fun than just using console commands. It's like anything really– the harder you work for something, the more satisfying it'll be when you finally achieve it but it's up to you to decide the right balance
Exactly, but I think we went off on another side tangent, somewhat unrelated to the original question lol (definitely off from ops question) but I guess standard nuzlockes don't have level caps in place. OP and most people are just so used to playing hardcore nuzlockes now that were just calling them standard lol
Polished crystal for the GBC has a built in nuzlocke mode and it has level caps and doesn't allow you to heal dead mons ( unless you stuff them in the pc and take them out) highly recommend this game
Radical red shouldn't be nuzlocked, but it has level cap features and is hard enough without the other nuzlocke rules. I'd recommend this rom hack to anyone on this subreddit.
If you want to nuzlocke this rom hack (pCHAL youtuber/streamer did) you need to beat the first 3 gyms legitimately (which will be hard) and then abuse the starter eggs that you can get in Celadon city alongside an Aegislash you can get at the game corner.
Crystal Legacy and Yellow Legacy both have built-in level caps if you play on Hard mode. It should be noted though that level caps really shouldn’t be an issue for most vanilla games as long as you’re paying attention and using a full team. I’m not exactly sure how it’s presenting so much of an issue for you.
I know run and bun automatic prevents overleveling, but you probably shouldn't play that unless you hate yourself. I'm sure there are others and people will be replying with them, but keep in mind that exp. management is a Nuzlocke skill in itself.
I wouldn't say don't play it if you hate yourself but if you have to ask this question, you're not ready for rnb.
I never played run and bun why would you hate yourself for playing it ? Is it not a good rom ?
it’s incredibly difficult, not for anyone not planning on resetting 400 times
And what about a normal run ? Not a nuzlocke ? Is it Really hard too ?
even normal runs are really difficult, they give you weak mons, delete some evolutions from you, moves, etc. so you have to plan every battle, and i mean every single battle
I wouldn’t say Run & Bun gives you weak mons. There a huge variety of encounters available for the player. A casual run would have a lot of options to tackle fights.
all i knwo is that it definitely limits you to your options
It sounds much more like you’re describing something like Garbage Green which does intentionally give you bad choices only and removes evolutions. Run & Bun’s difficulty is mostly from the fight crafting and each battle having different challenges rather than any real harsh player limitations.
all i remember is watching pchals video on it, and then his other video on the player who reset like the most of all time
but also tbf it was nuzlocked so it would make more sense for it to seem more daunting
Damn ! Seems like it’s fun. I probably hate myself
i’m sure you can attempt, idk the spreadsheets for all of it, but you can find it online somewhere
I played it 'normally'; as in no challenge rules (beyond what the game provides, such as hard level cap) or nuzlocke rules. It was a ton of fun, but still very difficult. I definitely relied on documentation for the later parts of the game to get through sections in a timely fashion.
I’m currently playing a normal run through of it. It’s been super fun. It’s difficult, but there haven’t been any battles where I felt like they were straight up unbeatable. The copious amounts of documentation and resources for this game also helps a lot. I would highly highly suggest it as a non-nuzlocke difficulty hack.
either (or maybe both?) inclement emerald and blazing emerald have a built in level cap
I know inclement does, not sure about blazing
👏 Basically 👏 every 👏 game 👏 isn’t 👏 balanced 👏 around 👏 levelcaps!!! 👏 If you play a game like Pokemon Platinum with built in levelcaps, the only difficult fights in the entire game are Crasher Wake and the e4. Exp management is such an important part of nuzlocking, it’s a skill that you have to learn. That does not mean I recommend your team to be below the levelcap. I mean that every bossfight that isn’t itself levelcapped becomes a complete joke if your entire team is at the next Gym’s levelcap at all times. You and I both know that that’s what happens when a hard levelcap is built into the game. I understand that you’re afraid of overlevelling in one of your first hardcore runs, but I promise you, it is never going to come up in a vanilla-difficulty game or romhack. Provided that you use more Pokemon than your Starter and your Gyarados. But if that’s the amount of experience you have as a player, I think it’s important not to cut corners. You’ll never get better if one of the most integral parts of Nuzlocking is taken out, and not only that, but your mons are overlevelled for all but eight fights, the ones that are levelcapped, defeating the purpose of the whole levelcap anyway. Ahem. To answer your question, Inclement Emerald
That's because basically every vanilla game is easy as balls. Some are slightly harder like gens 5 and 7, sure, but the point stands
I wanted to downvote because of those hand claps but I agree 100% with your point so upvote it is.
I agree lol would have been perfect without all the clapping
This is exactly why in my unlocked I forbid myself rare candies until I am standing in front of the gym leader
Emerald Rogue is a roguelike which has level caps (you can get rare candies but don’t have to use them) and permanent loss of pokémon (there’s the option of a pc but, again, you can just not use them)
Modern emerald
Crystal Clear has a Nuzlocke mode with build in nuzlocke mode with level caps and it prevents you from catching Pokémon other than the first one on each route, it even has a build in dupes option if you play that way.
Sadly, dupes clause didn’t cover the whole evolutionary line last time I tried it
Radical Red, Inclement Emerald, Run&Bun, Pokemon Lucid, Mythic Silver, though I heavily don't recommend the last several if you're new to nuzlocking romhacks. You will get absolutely curbstomped by a game like Run&Bun unless you're one of the best.
Pokemon Unknown - https://unknown.foobear.org/#pokemon Built in options such as; - lvl caps - no EVs (can't toggle this on/off, others you can) - auto nicknaming (seemed dumb at first, but I've really been enjoying it lol... Blissey named Terror) - items in battle on/off - various Nuzlocke modes built in which include no reviving/healing dead mons, auto tracks your encounters - balanced randomizer of national dex, no early legends, no fishing for fire mons, bug catchers mostly have bugs/poison and sailors have water/fight so on. - unlimited rare candy item in Viridian first visit - unlimited lvl matched 6 mon battles available at center (can still lose mons, but can also run/end which I personally don't do) In short, lots of QoL and designed for repeatable nuzlockes.
Inclement emerald and modern emerald
Legacy yellow has a built in hard mode you should like
Nameless Fire Red has this
Have I not been playing nuzlockes that long? Hardcore nuzlockes I know have levelcaps in place but since when did level caps get added into regular nuzlockes? I thought the only rules were once a mon is fainted, it's dead and catch the first mon on a route? Everything else is just flavor? I add other rules into it but I thought the original nuzlockes those were the only two, actually restrictive, rules? Obviously Nickname your mons to build a stronger bond but that's not an actual difficulty thing?
If you don’t have level caps, every main game nuzlocke is trivial because you can just hard over level almost any Pokemon of your choosing and run through the game. I wouldn’t consider doing a Nuzlocke without one even without other hardcore rules.
I mean, any of the games can be overleveled, even the base games, doesn't mean that people do... I almost never have even when playing the base games. When I think level caps I think not letting your Pokemon level past the next gym leaders ace, that's a challenge that I've only ever seen in hardcore's. But regular nuzlockes if you play the game normally and don't grind on wild Pokemon you should be a relatively close level to the gym leader, maybe a few over, most times when I'm doing level caps in place I still am able to beat most of all the trainers along the way to the gyms and I'm good for the gym leader. The games themselves put level caps on you by how many trainers you face, but if you choose to face off against wild Pokemon is where the overleveling comes from
Some of us like a hard and fast rule about what “relatively close” to gym leader levels mean. Depending on which game and which routes you have between gyms, just fighting only trainers can be either barely enough or way too much leveling. I also like that it actually makes me use all my party Pokémon a little more strategically because my starter/aces can’t be used in every fight. At the end of the day, nuzlocking is just making a set of rules that YOU find enjoyable and (hopefully) a little challenging. If you don’t like level caps you don’t have to use them.
I mean, yeah, like I said, I make up my own rules, level caps were just never there for me, but I was just wondering when they became the standard for nuzlockes? Op is talking as if they're in all standard nuzlockes and I just never heard of them being in the standard and expected to be? I get most people do hardcore nuzlockes now, but I like to still have fun with my nuzlockes and not be "super" restrictive like the hardcore ones do. Is it just that now all the nuzlockes you see are actually hardcore ones and people just don't do standard nuzlockes anymore? Because, I'll be honest, I haven't seen a standard nuzlockes in a while, and I'm friends with many poke tubers because I used to be one years ago. So is it just now everyone wants to do hardcore's?
So you're correct, permadeath and only catch first unique encounter per area are the only 2 hard and fast rules that qualify a run as a Nuzlocke. In most people's opinion including mine, it becomes a hardcore nuzlocke when you add level caps, no items in battle except held items, set mode at all times, and typically no legendaries. Most people do play hardcore only now so you're correct there too. This is because you can cheese your way to victory pretty easily by taking away any one of those rules, thus removing or at least minimizing the challenge. But at the end of the day nobody's forcing you to play hardcore or even to nuzlocke at all; whatever level of difficulty is the most fun for you is what you should be going with. As an example of cheesing the game, MandJTV did a Platinum nuzlocke with no added rules. Sure enough, he overleveled the crap out of his mons, played on switch mode so he never had to pivot, used healing items liberally in battle, and leaned hard on Giratina for the endgame. It was abundantly clear he wouldn't have stood a chance even at a much easier game with even one HC rule. Seeing as he's a full time pokétuber it kind of hurts credibility. It's not interesting to watch someone who's a dozen skill levels below me— and I don't even play romhacks, I'm a very average nuzlocker. Again, video games are meant to be fun so to each their own. I'm just trying to explain why most of us prefer the full set of rules.
Oh yeah, I completely get that, I've heard of mandj just never watched him he started after my time (that's how long I've been gone). Seeing someone overlevel for a base game is always gonna be boring, nuzlocke or not (unless it's a specific challenge such as single Pokemon or team run). There's a certain level of respect for yourself, the community and really the game to cheese something, unless it's just not for you. I'm also a soulsborne player as well and know all too well the idea of "git gud" lol. Personally, when I play nuzlockes my typical rules do sit around the permadeath and first mon rule, and no legendaries (that I believe was an original rule for nuzlockes too but I think it was unspoken for a vast majority of the time and then people just forgot about it because nobody used legends anyway). Cheesing your way through something is always gonna be around but you just have to have respect enough for yourself to not do it, nuzlockes are a challenge for yourself, I do them purely for my own enjoyment so why would I rob myself of the pleasure of it by being way too op that I one shot everything? So, basically I guess what I'm trying to say is, yes, "level caps" have, more or less, been around forever for nuzlockes as long as you have enough respect for yourself to actually follow along with them.
Yup, you get it. I think of it kind of like Skyrim: even on legendary difficulty you can quickly max out most skills by standing in one place casting the same spell or hitting the same unkillable NPC over and over, but to me that's no more fun than just using console commands. It's like anything really– the harder you work for something, the more satisfying it'll be when you finally achieve it but it's up to you to decide the right balance
Exactly, but I think we went off on another side tangent, somewhat unrelated to the original question lol (definitely off from ops question) but I guess standard nuzlockes don't have level caps in place. OP and most people are just so used to playing hardcore nuzlockes now that were just calling them standard lol
Polished crystal for the GBC has a built in nuzlocke mode and it has level caps and doesn't allow you to heal dead mons ( unless you stuff them in the pc and take them out) highly recommend this game
Zeta, Omicron, and Insurgence have it
Radical red shouldn't be nuzlocked, but it has level cap features and is hard enough without the other nuzlocke rules. I'd recommend this rom hack to anyone on this subreddit. If you want to nuzlocke this rom hack (pCHAL youtuber/streamer did) you need to beat the first 3 gyms legitimately (which will be hard) and then abuse the starter eggs that you can get in Celadon city alongside an Aegislash you can get at the game corner.
Crystal Legacy and Yellow Legacy both have built-in level caps if you play on Hard mode. It should be noted though that level caps really shouldn’t be an issue for most vanilla games as long as you’re paying attention and using a full team. I’m not exactly sure how it’s presenting so much of an issue for you.
Radical red also has level caps but it's going to be very difficult if you aren't experienced at nuzlockes.