Hariyama - level 59 - Doing this Solo run review per gym as well as Elite Four. The levels below are the level at the end of the gym. Technically team spoilers ahead.

Gym 1 - Level 15 - Vital Throw spam
Gym 2 - Level 35 - Had to come back later to do this one as his Makuhita was tough with Bulk Up
Gym 3 - Level 27 - Vital Throw spam
Gym 4 - Level 36 - Bulk up, Vital Throw spam
Gym 5 - Level 37 - Bulk up, Vital Throw spam
Gym 6 - Level 42 - Belly Drum, and Facade spam
Gym 7 - Level 49 - Had to be burnt before the battle so I went to Mt Pyre, found a Vulpix and purposefully got burnt to hit Facade hardcore and one shot the Xatu and Claydol and basically take out the other two with Vital Throw and a CRIT.
Gym 8 - level 51 - Belly Drum, Facade spam

Now for the Elite 4!

Sydney - Level 56 - Belly Drum, Sitrus Berry activates. Brick Break spam
Phoebe - Level 57 - Belly Drum, Sitrus Berry activates, Earthquake spam
Glacia - Level 58 - Brick Break spam
Drake - Level 58 - Belly Drum, Sitrus Berry activates. Facade spam
Wallace - Level 59 - Belly Drum, Sitrus Berry activates, Facade spam AND get get poisoned by Tentacruel to then make Facade spam even more powerful, and then win.

Another sub level 60 for the win!! Quite happy with this run, nothing really too difficult. Hariyama really can hold his own ground. Hardest part is 7th Gym and Drake.

The next game my brothers and I tackled in our playthrough series was one I knew well. However, this time, it wasn't a solo run; instead, we played with a full team of six. I have to admit, it felt strange and often more challenging than solo runs, as we had to adhere to level caps for all six Pokémon, unlike in solo runs where the one Pokémon can advance independently if it's beneficial.

I still LOVE Hoenn. It’s really nicely designed and the too much water complaint is really justified to me as a bad thing since it’s just a great way to explore things and split up the game. Take out the water in Hoenn, and the game gets shorter significantly and Pokemon games don’t need more padding. I made some mistakes in team building as I did not grab a Makuhita or Swablu at the points I should have making them lower levelled than they should have been at the Elite Four. In all honesty, after doing so many solo runs, Pokemon in Hoenn just feel like they can do more than you think so it was hard to decide on 6 alone, even with my brothers taking 12 of the dex for themselves (we do not share at all).

Next up is Platinum. I’m already dreading it.

Kyogre - level 53 - Doing this Solo run review per gym as well as Elite Four. The levels below are the level at the end of the gym. Technically team spoilers ahead.

Gym 1 - level 11 - Water Pulse spam
Gym 2 - level 14 - Water Pulse spam
Gym 3 - level 20 - Ancient Power, stats up, Water Pulse spam
Gym 4 - level 27 - Water Pulse spam
Gym 5 - level 29 - Water Pulse spam

With Surf HM, moveset changed quite a bit. Now we have Surf, Tbolt, Body Slam and Calm Mind.

Gym 6 - level 34 - Calm Mind 2x, Tbolt spam

Like a complete idiot, I forgot that Thunder is 100% accurate under rain and Kyogre has Drizzle, possibly the best move in the game with it's high Sp Attack, and many water types. Plus it lasts for the whole battle?? That is crazy good. Anyway, so when I got to Lilycove, I bought Thunder.

Gym 7 - level 41 - Surf spam
Gym 8 - level 45 - Thunder spam, Ice Beam on Whiscash

Time for the Elite 4!

Sydney - level 48 - Calm Mind, Surf Mightyena, Ice Beam spam the rest.

Phoebe - level 49 - Calm Mind 2x since Dusclops will Protect 2x at least and then Surf spam.

Glacia - level 50 - Thunder on Sealeo, or else Hail will take over the Rain. Then Calm Mind on Glalie and Surf the pure Ice types and Thunder the other waters.

Drake - level 51 - 1x Calm Mind when Shelgon uses Protect, then spam Ice Beam.

Wallace - level 53 - 2x Calm Mind on Wailord and Thunder. Thunder the Ludicolo who SURVIVED?? Then Calm Mind again when it heals and Thunder again. Thunder the rest of Wallace's team until Whiscash - Use Surf instead. That's game.

Amazing run. Truly the fastest and lowest level run I've gotten yet. Kyogre is the new champ at Level 53. Probably could have been level 52 and maybe even 51 had I fought less trainers on the way alas this is the new champ. (I still like Groudon more)

Any Pokemon with access to Ice Beam and Tbolt is mighty in Hoenn but an always accurate Thunder? That is insane for damage output. Plus no need for Double Team is also lovely.

https://i.imgur.com/olOIbIo.jpg

Glalie - level 64 - Doing this Solo run review per gym as well as Elite Four. The levels below are the level at the end of the gym.

Gym 1 - level 15 - You have to strategise with Powder Snow and use Double Team (gotten at level 7) when the foe is on red health which will allow usage of DT and then attack again.

Gym 2 - level 31 - I went ahead to Mauville City since Brawly was a little bitch and OHKO'd me with his Makuhita. Fought everyone I could and came back to headbutt spam his ass.

Gym 3 - level 35 - We now have Ice Beam which makes life a lot easier. Ice Beam his first two Pokemon. But his Magneton is very tough, but with some RNG, beat him with Headbutt FLINCH. 3 TIMES IN A ROW! Then KO with Ice Beam and finish off the last with the IB.

Gym 4 - level 42 - Surprisingly, the easiest gym so far considering all of her Pokemon has Overheat. Ice Beam the Numel. Then Headbutt, flinch, Headbutt, flinch the Camerupt, it'll heal so you can Double Team. I think this is crucially important since any Overheat is a risk. Now I DT again, and just for the offence. Ice Beam spam and dodge all the incoming hits with our raised evasion, and win. AND THEN Snorunt evolved into Glalie!

Gym 5 - level 43 - Ice Beam spam and win. That's all it is to it.

Gym 6 - level 45 - Again, Ice Beam spam. Easy peasy.

Gym 7 - level 52 - Ice Beam spam. A pure Ice type doing well was against my original thought process. It has many weaknesses but it surprisingly working out quite well.

Gym 8 - level 57 - Headbutt spam. Ice Beam the Kingdra, win.

Time for the Elite 4!

Sydney - Level 60 - Ice Beam spam
Phoebe - Level 61 - Double Team 4x because Dusclops will waste 4 times using Protect so you may as well do DT and then just Crunch spam.
Glacia - Level 62 - Wearing the Lax Incense, Double Team 4x, hit a crit Return, she heals the Sealeo and then Double Team again. Then Return spam and win. It's kinda cheesy but unfortunately her Pokemon are too tanky too do it at this level without DT.
Drake - Same as Phoebe, Shelgon will do Protect at least 2x so I did DT 2x and then Ice Beam everything. Worked like a charm.

Wallace - Level 64 - Kinda sucks to do it this way but I am an advocate for completing these runs at the lowest level I can (without wanting to commit death). All of these Pokemon hit super hard plus are fat and take a lot of damage. I replace Crunch with Earthquake for her Tentacruel. Anyway, with the Lax Incense, I did a 4x Double Team and hit the Sealeo with Return twice and killed. Earthquaked the Tentacruel, Return spam the rest. Miltotic is the scariest thing to deal with here. I did another Double Team, got hit by Surf, dropping me to 3 HP and then hit a crit Return. Miltoic was on yellow, used Surf and MISSED and I used Return again and hit another crit and won.

It's a relatively annoying run in the beginning but after 3 badges, it starts to ease up. I wanted another sub level 60 but I think it's kinda hard to pull off considering it's a pure Ice type. Regardless, that's another Hoenn Pokemon done :D

Mudkip - Level 78 - One of the hardest solo runs I've done yet

For this solo run, I want to express that I love Mudkip so much and is my favourite starter out of all starters so I'm very grateful to do this run. Off the bat, I went for Quiet nature as I planned this Mudkip to run a Special set mainly thinking it would be Surf, Ice Beam, Return and Double Team.

FIrst two gyms are easy as pie, just Water Gun everything and then Tackle what is not gonna die. My Mudkip was level 21 by the end of 2nd gym + also has Rock Tomb. NOW en route to Mauville is the dreaded May fight with her Grovyle. My lord, Gamefreak was creating some absolute bs with this fight. First attempted it at level 24 and easily took out Wingull with Rock Tomb and had lost a bit of health from Wing Attack but Grovyle's absorb and quick attack is just too good. So I returned at level 25 and attached an oran berry. Took Wingull out as usual and then with Grovyle, the plan was to Tackle it death and I did that with one being a crit and healed with the berry. Then Slugma died pitifully to Water Gun :D Mudkip replaces Tackle with Take Down for power alone.

Gym 3 is bs too. 4 Pokemon all super effective against Mudkip. Tried at level 33, 34 and 36. Did not work. His Manectric will kill you since you don't outspeed. BUT at level 38, with some EV training done in HP and Attack, we actually stood a chance. Rock Tomb the Voltorb and then Mud Slap. Then Mud Slap for Elektrike and kill. Magneton is tricky because he has Supersonic AND T Wave but the AI goes for T Wave and I recover with a Cheri Berry. Mud Slap kills. For Manectric, Rock Tomb for the speed drop and he used HOWL which is great so I can then outspeed and kill him with a Take Down. If I had Dig or Return at this point, I woulda won at a lower level. Same with if I had Double Team but I am saving my cash for Ice Beam.

For gym number 4, we now have Hydro Pump instead of Water Gun and Dig instead of Mud Slap. At level 44, just DIg and Hydro Pump her since they are all fire types and win. Gym 5 is Hydro Pump, Hydro Pump, Dig and then on Slaking, you want to Rock Tomb and then Hydro Pump 2x. Not a hard gym at all. Replace hydro Pump IMMEDIATELY with Surf. Better accuracy and PP >>>> power.

May's Fortree fight is a lot easier now since we're level 47, just Surf and Rock Tomb.

Gym 6 is easy, just Ice Beam and Rock Tomb although I did not buy Ice Beam yet as I was short on cash so I just Rock Tomb and Surf the gym instead. Plot stuff happens, beat Maxie, easy fight. We level up quite a bit to level 58. At gym 7, Ice Beam the Xatu and Surf spam the rest, win. Later on, for Archie, just Surf, Ice Beam and then Dig. Now get to Pacifilog and we get Return! Just much better to have than Take Down. Gym 8 comes around and we're level 62. I just attached a Cheri Berry for Body Slam paralysis recovery and Return everything then win. Come victory road, Wally gets demolished by a level 63 Mudkip who kills with Ice Beam and Dig.

Okay so coming in at level 64, it's Elite 4 time, Dig is now redundant so replace it with Double Team. For Sydney - Double Team 2x and then Surf the Mightyena. It can high roll and kill. Ice Beam knocks out Cacturne and Shiftry. Get Swaggered by Crawdaunt and then you can hit twice with Return and Surf on Absol. It's tough from the getgo as you don't really outspeed much here.

Phoebe is annoying too. Dusclops will not 4x spam Protect like in my other runs and will for Shadow Punch instead which is lame so you're hoping for a lucky rng. I got two double teams in and then surfed him out. Then Double Team again on Banette and Surf. Did this another time on the next Banette and Surf the rest praying to not get hit by anything.

Problem has arisen - Glacia cannot be beaten at level 65. The Hail and power of the opponents here are way too close. This would be impossible to complete unless we grinded and pick up all rare candies possible.

Attempt 2 - at level 70 - everything on Sydney is quite easy to do. Phoebe is similar as before except now you can do 4x Double Team on her Dusclops. Glacia is still a pain due to hail and not being able to take that many hits as well as not having any attacks that can knock this bitch out and Return is hitting about half health at best. Rock Smash is not viable and unfortunately, Mudkip has NO stat boosting access. Regardless, not possible however I did get to see her last Pokemon which is a good sign we're almost there.

Attempt 3 - at level 75 - The moveset is now Return, Ice Beam, Double Team and REST. I know we are so desperate at this point. Sydney is easier now, just do double team and ice beams. Phoebe is 6x Double Team and Ice Beam spam basically. Then rest when dying and pray you wake up. As much as resto chesto is appreciated as a strat, you can't run it as Ice Beam is the only attack that can hit Phoebe's pokemon and you'd run out of PP, even if PP maxed. If you get cursed or unlucky with Rest rng, restart. Okay so we now have a new shiny move for Glacia, let's see how it worked out. Sealeo comes out, spam Double Team and somehow still get hit by a Body Slam AND get paralysed?? Without a Cheri Berry, we have to rest to get rid of the paralysis and Return spam. Now we are running chesto resto meaning Chesto Berry does wake us up instantly. Drake is easy, just Double Team 6x and Ice Beam spam.

Wallace - With a chesto berry equipped, Double Team 6x on the Wailord and use Return to kill his first 3 Pokemon and then Rest, wake up and spam Return again.

To conclude, I still love Mudkip but I just wish he had a bit more.

Zigzagoon - Level 74 - It's hard but also not really that hard.

For majority of the early solo run, you need to use headbutt and sand attack and tail whip. You get Flail at level 33 which is great but because it is a Zigzagoon, you'll be at the 3rd gym by this point due to needing to overlevel for Wattson. As you struggle on, you'll grab Double Team, a staple in solo runs, and level to 41 by the 4th badge. At 41, you have Belly Drum. insert victory trumpet sounds

Now with Headbutt, Flail, Belly Drum and Double Team, you're pretty set up however once you beat Norman, you'll wanna teach Surf to Zigzagoon. Mine being Adamant nature didn't really utilise Surf at it's best ability but it still works really well... until the 7th gym. Liza and Tate make for the worst gym in probably all Pokemon games for solo runs. Doing a 1 v 4 is crazy hard to manage. At this point, I was level 60 and the strat was not gonna work. So I had to go to Mt Pyre, grab Shadow Ball and in my opinion the best hold item for solo runs, the Lax Incense. This will drop all enemy attacks accuracy by 5%. It's minor but also can be very clutch. Also go to Pacifilog Town and grab Return as killing is better than flinching.

With Shadow Ball, Return and some levelling, at level 66, little Zigzagoon runs the most luck based strat ever. Spam Double Team and hit a Belly Drum and pray you never get hit back. Shadow Ball everything and huzzah the toughest part is over. I think I attempted them at least 10 times in just this run.

The rest of the game works out the same and because we did some Whismur grinds earlier on for exp, HP EVs were good and Belly Drum was doing it's thing (only on major fights though as healing after each battle is crazy long and expensive).

Breeze through to the Elite four, and I kid you not, this little fucker had one of the easiest Elite Four attempts I've ever done. With Sydney, you bring out Zigzagoon, do a SINGLE double team and a belly drum, then just spam return, win. For Phoebe, her Dusclops will do a 4 turn protect spam most times, so abuse that and go for 3 double teams and a Belly drum. The thing is double team is not necessary for Phoebe for Zigzagoon as he outspeeds all of her Pokemon but we have to waste the remaining turns. After 4th turn, spam Shadow Ball, win. Glacia's Sealeo allows the same thing as she'll waste a turn on Hail, and with just two Double Teams and a Belly Drum, you hit everything and win. Just like Phoebe, all of her Pokemon are slower than your Zigzagoon. Now comes Drake, he has speedy dragons so Double Team is an absolute must. Like Phoebe, her Shelgon will 4 turn spam Protect which gives you ample opportunity to spam Double Team and a Belly Drum. Plus with Shelgon going for Rock Tomb, he'll never hit so go for 6 Double Teams. Then Return everything, pray the RNG doesn't fuck you over, win. Only threat in this entire E4 run has been Salamence so far.

Wallace's Wailord is annoying since it's got Water Spout, a move that will OHKO at full health. However, I do not care so I double team spam, Belly Drum, return, win. Easy as pie but the beginning is long and grindy.

Deoxys Speed form - Doing this Solo run review per gym as well as Elite Four. The levels below are the level at the end of the gym.

Gym 1 - Level 14 - Needed to spam Night Shade
Gym 2 - Level 25 - Needed Psychic to actually win
Gym 3 - Level 29 - Night Shade Magneton, Psychic remaining
Gym 4 - Level 35 - 2x Double Team, Psychic spam
Gym 5 - Level 37 - Psychic spam
Gym 6 - Level 41 - Tbolt everything and then Psychic Altaria
Maxie at Magma Hideout - Hard fight, needs Double Team
Gym 7 - Level 49 - Double Team + Shadow Ball
Gym 8 - Level 51 - Double Team + Tbolt, Psychic Whiscash

Elite Four

Sydney - Level 54 - Double Team 2x, Brick Break spam
Phoebe - Level 55 - Double Team 4x, Psychic spam
Glacia - Level 56 - Double Team 3x. Tbolt Sealeos and BB rest
(Replace Brick Break for Ice Beam)
Drake - Level 57 - Double Team 4x. Ice Beam spam
(Replace Ice Beam for Calm Mind)

Wallace - Level 58 - Double Team 2x, Calm Mind 2x, Tbolt Wailord. Psychic Tentacruel. Psychic Ludicolo, he heals, Calm Mind, Psychic. Psychic Whiscash, he heals, Calm Mind, Psychic. Tbolt Gyarados and Milotic. Win.

Deoxys Speed form suffers early game as it needs Psychic which it gets at level 25 in order to do anything useful. Lots of speed doesn't really do anything earlier on. Basically, Jirachi finished the run a level earlier at level 57 and has not been beaten for the lowest level completed Solo run yet.

Three more solo runs as me, and both my brothers took on a Solo run. I'm going to keep these ones brief as opposed to the other ones simply as I cannot be bothered to write an analysis on 3 Pokemon lol. Aggron was my run whilst the other 2 were done by my brothers.

Absol - level 66 - Playing a Mild nature, running a special set of Bite, Tbolt. Double Team and Calm Mind, it's no surprise Absol finished in first place. There's no major roadblocks for Absol except in the beginning, grinding to level 21 for Bite. The E4 is a breeze with such a cool Pokemon.

Aggron - level 69 - Definitely one of the hardest Solo runs I have taken on. Aron doesn't really excel at anything and constantly was struggling to keep up, relying on evasion boosts, crits and accuracy drops. It's defence doesn't count for much since everything special will knock it out (Mainly waters). Looking at my Relicanth review, Aggron performs a very similar way but worse due to a shit typing. Use something else.

Roselia - level 67 - If you look at my Cacturne review, it basically does the same thing however my brother struggled due to not keeping Growth and instead opted for Sludge Bomb. I believe Roselia and Cacturne would probably rank similarly due to their roles. Still better than Aggron yet didn't beat the game before me as Winona is a massive dick to a grass pokemon, as she spams Aerial Ace.

In conclusion, Absol and Roselia are recommendable, Aggron is not.

Later today, my brother came home for the weekend and we get to do a double review as me and my brother knocked two Pokemon down for solo runs.

Relicanth - Level 71 - This was my pick of one of the remaining Hoenn Pokemon I really wanted to check for Solo run viability. To put it frankly, it’s not good at all. It basically runs Water Gun, Rock Tomb, Yawn and Take Down for a good chunk of the game. Rockhead ability on Relicanth is it’s saving grace at least since the output on Take Down is very good albeit having only 85% accuracy and then later getting Double Edge. Relicanth is also a physical attacker so water moves on it are actually not the greatest.

Come the Elite Four, the moveset was Double Edge, Ancient Power, Earthquake and Yawn. However, this proved to be a problem as, believe it or not, Relicanth can’t take hits so Yawn got switched out for Double Team!! I find it funny that Double Team tends to be the answer for these weaker mons but a win is a win. For Drake, the play was double team up and the Ancient Power for an omni boost. Fortunately got one, and then Double Edge the rest of the team. Phoebe had to abuse Dusclops’ 4 protect turns with Double Team and then earthquake the team whilst holding a Leppa Berry as Dusclops’ Pressure eats up PP. Glacia is setup DT and then spam Double Edge or Earthquake. Drake strat is abuse Shelgon’s protect and Double Team up and then Double Edge all of them. Now Wallace, is very tricky. My strategy was DT and Double Edge everything BUT it didn’t kill because they are fat Pokemon unfortunately. So new strat for Wallace was DT up and then Ancient Power on the Wailord for an omni boost. With this boost AND lucky crits, I won. It’s doable but it’s not exactly fun or interesting.

Flygon - level 65 - to put it frankly, Trapinch has only a few starting issues with it getting demolished by May’s Marshtomp and seemingly Roxanne. Other than these two, the little sandy crab sorts everything out with ease and evolves smoothly and by Winona, you already have a Flygon. This mf doesn’t even need Double Team which was a real indicator of it’s ability. I’m not gonna include a E4 breakdown because seeing how my brother did it, it’s just “use Earthquake and if not, then use Dragon Claw”. Even Glacia’s Pokemon aren’t an issue because Flygon outspeeds everything in the E4.

Although both of us were playing at 4x speed for most of the run, Flygon completes a lot sooner simply due to much less struggle.

Volbeat - level 73 - pretty nice run all in all. With Double Team quite early on, it was pretty easy to cheese a lot of things but it doesn’t hit much well. The other moves were Signal Beam, Tail Glow and Tbolt. In a solo run in Emerald, any Pokemon who can raise evasion and then raise an offensive stat, is able to basically win, no matter how low their base stats are. This is why Illumise will not be able to solo run as conveniently. A thing that kinda sucks though is Signal Beam is physical due to gen 3’s lack of special/physical split so Tail Glow does not benefit the only STAB Volbeat gets.

In the E4, Sydney’s pokemon all lose to raised evasion + Signal Beam. Phoebe’s follow suit. Glacia’s is a little harder but running Tail Glow + Tbolt on everything here. Drakes strategy is the same as Glacia. Wallace has nothing crazy either that can take out Volbeat immediately so just setup on the Wailord, and win.

Jirachi - level 57 - This is the first sub level 60 Pokemon I have finished the game with. Using none of the rare candies picked up in game too. 100 base stats on every stat with Modest nature, and a beautiful Steel-Psychic typing, this mf will NOT let you down.

With access to Psychic, Tbolt, Shadow Ball and a little later on Calm Mind, there’s no much that will stop Jirachi from soloing the entire game. In the beginning, there is a minor roadblock in that the first trainer you fight has a Poochyena and Jirachi’s only attacking move is Confusion at level 5 so a little grind earlier to get to level 9 is forced to actually play the game.

Elite 4 doesn’t have much of a breakdown here tbh. Jirachi comes out, uses a few Calm Minds, Psychic everything and Tbolts anything that won’t die from Psychic. Shadow Ball gets no usage with my Jirachi being a special attacker. I thought about Double Team + Calm Mind strats but I didn’t need it since Jirachi is just such a powerhouse anyway. I also really enjoyed this one in contrast to the more slower and harder ones I’ve been doing.

Spinda - level 75 - as useless as it may seem, Spinda being a normal type with useful moves seems to work for the run a lot. Running moves like Psybeam, Hypnosis, Teeter Dance and STAB Dizzy Punch through the majority of the game + access to Shock Wave and Shadow Ball (7th Gym) for the later game, he's truly a beast.

Come the Elite 4, Sydney is beaten with Brick Break as Hypnosis was no longer viable. Shadow Ball knocks out Phoebe and then gets replaced for Double Team. With a bit of luck, Brick Break and Dizzy Punch through Glacia's team. Oh dear Drake. So Drake uses Protect strats and rock moves and Shadow Ball loses it's viability here so introducing Double Team. The true champ of the run. Double Team up on Shelgon and then hit Dizzy Punches, hope for confusions and crits and after a while, it works. Though beware, Altaria has Aerial Ace which discounts the evasion change. Finally, Wallace - user of FAT ASS water Pokemon. High HP, Spe Def and Def mfs. So out goes Brick Break and in comes the final piece of the puzzle, Calm Mind. You may see where this is going. On the Wailord, spam Double Team and then Calm Mind and Shock Wave EVERYTHING. On Whiscash, just Dizzy Punch it a couple times and knocked tf out.

Stupid run yet again but so much fun.