I got the idea for this one a while ago on Reddit, but I didn’t get around to actually start it until now. I have a love-hate relationship with Pokemon, where I like the idea of collecting and training monsters, but I end up getting bored and quitting before the end. In any case, here’s the idea of my Pokemon challenge…

Follow the Story of the Pokemon Anime

This is probably impossible to follow through completely, but I’ll give it my best shot. I’m not a huge fan of the anime, and I didn’t watch all of it, but I do remember a good chunk of it and for everything else, there’s google.

In any case, the idea is to catch and use only the Pokemon which Ash used in the anime and to do it as close to the proper points in the story as possible. This means Pikachu will be my main hitter and he will never evolve. It also means I’ll start with Pokemon Yellow, since that one follows the story of the anime the most faithfully.

It also means I’ll have a lot of trouble with most of the gyms in the game, since apparently, Ash is the worst Pokemon trainer ever. Lucky for me, I’ll be playing on an emulator, so I’ll have access to the fast forward feature for some quick and relatively painless grinding.

Go through all the generations

Since the anime has seasons, and the game series has generations, it’s actually possible to follow the story that way to, to a degree. While there are some emulators which allow transfers of Pokemon between games and possibly even between systems, It probably won’t be possible to always do this, so I’ll have to use cheats to recreate what I have between games.

In any case, I’ll switch my main party based on the game I’m playing and I’ll store the Pokemon I’m not using any more at my PC, instead of leaving them with Professor Oak. I’ll allow myself some liberties here, just as with the previous rule, but I’ll try to be as faithful as I can.

The End

Well, that’s actually it. These two rules give me plenty of things to be careful about during my playtroughs. As usual, I probably won’t complete this challenge any time soon, and I might even abandon it at some point, but for now, I hope it will be interesting for both myself and the readers. You’ll be able to find links to the individual games here.

Pokemon Yellow

• Pokemon Yellow [1] – The First Part of the Challenge
• Pokemon Yellow [2] – Completing the Starter Set
• Pokemon Yellow [3] – I didn’t Catch a Snorlax
• Pokemon Yellow [4] – Late Game Stuff
• Pokemon Yellow [5] – The League
• Pokemon Yellow [6] – The End
• Pokemon Yellow [7] – How to Get All the Pokemon Ash Caught

Pokemon Crystal

• Pokemon Crystal [0] – Preparation
• Pokemon Crystal [0.5] – Attack Plan
• Pokemon Crystal [1] – Finally!
• Pokemon Crystal [2] – Expanding the Team
• Pokemon Crystal [3] – Ecruteak City Gym
• Pokemon Crystal [4] – Olivine Lighthouse
• Pokemon Crystal [5] – Lake of Rage and Mahogany Gym
• Pokemon Crystal [6] – To the Pokemon League
• Pokemon Crystal [7] – The League Won
• Pokemon Crystal [8] – How to Get all the Pokemon Ash Caught in the Anime

Pokemon Ruby

• Pokemon Ruby [0] – The Plan
• Pokemon Ruby [0.5] – Generation III Save Editor
• Pokemon Ruby [1] – All the Way to the Petalburg Gym, A Day Off
• Pokemon Ruby [2] – Getting to the Pokemon League
• Pokemon Ruby [3] – The GameBoy Advance Chapter Is Over

Pokemon Platinum

• Pokemon Platinum [0] – How to Follow Ash – The Plan
• Pokemon Platinum [0.5] – How to Edit DeSMuME Saves and Add Pokemon
• Pokemon Platinum [1] – The Beginning, the First Gym and to Eterna City
• Pokemon Platinum [2] – From Eterna Gym to Hearthome City
• Pokemon Platinum [3] – Hearthome and Veilstone Gym
• Pokemon Platinum [4] – Pastoria Gym and Celestic Town
• Pokemon Platinum [5] – The Iron Island, Canalave and Snowpoint
• Pokemon Platinum [6] – The Sunnyshore Gym and the Victory Road
• Pokemon Platinum [7] – The Sinnoh League