The Avian Solo Runs, Episode 1: Pidgeot in Pokemon HeartGold

Welcome, dear fellow gamers, for the first episode of my Avian Solo Runs feature! We're dealing with star material here, since our lone ranger du jour is none other than Pidgey, an absolute fan favourite and one of the most ubiquitous 'Mons of the first two generations. Did that famous opener live up to his reputation? Well, we'll see that very soon.

I cruised Johto and revamped Kanto on my DS, since I don't own the original games; and things will probably remain that way since these games are notorious for being unplayable these days lest one regularly replaces their batteries. Fun fact: my copies of HeartGold and SoulSilver, which are boxed and mint and which I snatched for a very fair price back in the days, are Canadian ones. More specifically, french Canadian ones, which sport only the language of love and are uncompatible with english copies. Now, this honestly boggles my mind: why release an exclusive french version in a country with two official languages? Was it a Québec exclusive? Anyway, this messed up with my Poke-references quite a fair bit — just think of all the translation work I had to go through just to be able to deliver that post — but owning the games in perfect condition was definitely worth the hassle.

This time around, I polished off Kanto right after Johto, taking my Pidgey-turned-Pidgeot all the way to the summit where Red was lounging around, seemingly staring at nothing with snow piling up around his ankles (Spoiler: Pidgeot wiped the floor with him and his 'Mons). And boy, what an epic, mindblowing and fulfilling run that was! It was all at once deliciously grindy, heart-warmingly cosy and brimming with thrilling exploration and roaming, and I loved every minute of the 22 hours I spent cruising the original two Pokemon regions. Well, nearly every minute: I could have done without the 100.000 times my Pidgey was paralyzed by Electric 'Mons (could it be due to her weakness to that particular Type?), without Whitney's bloody sturdy Milktank (good thing my Pidgey was female, or things would have been even worse because of Milktank's Attraction) and without Lt. Surge's ridiculously annoying Magneton, which I needed to postpone over and over to be able to beat it (Pidgey towered literally 45 levels over it when she took it down yet still struggled to do so).

The rest, however, was a cakewalk; and the fact that I even managed to reach Red at all despite my Pigdeot's occasional lack of punch — the poor thing has a base Attack of only 80, which is even lower than Liepard — was in no small part due to smart Move management. Flying 'Mons have very few weaknesses to start with, and most of the work consisted in working around these weaknesses. I unfortunately didn't manage to alleviate issues with Electric 'Mons, and they remained a thorn in my side until the very end. Rock 'Mons, on the other hand, were easy to dispose of thanks to an ingenious hack: I reprised the trick of wielding one Special Move and one Physical Move of the same Type — in that case Air Slash and Wing Attack respectively — to target each foe's defensive weaknesses. It turns out that Rock 'Mons often have shitty Sp. Defense, which allowed my Pidgey to dispose of them without breaking a sweat thanks to the combination of Air Slash, decent Sp.Attack and overleveling. I had an Electric-typed Hidden Power that allowed me to take care confortably of the many Water 'Mons littering Johto and Kanto, and Quick Attack retained its power for so long that I hold unto it until the late stages of the game before replacing it with my beloved Return, a.k.a. the Perfect Solo Run Move. As for my Pidgey's last glaring weakness, i.e. Ice 'Mons, they were so few and far between that dealing with them was hardly a hassle. I only had to delay Mahogany Town's Gym until my Pidgey was overleveled enough to take down Pryce's Pilowswine without passing out in the process.

This leads me to one of HeartGold's highlights, namely its non-linearity. I had written off this feature as crappy old-school game design during my first run of the game, but I realize now that this enthusing opening of the game world after Ecruteak City was entirely intentional on GameFreak's part. And boy, is it a thrill to get to explore the wilderness at your own pace and tackle the three next Gyms in the order you want! As it turned out, I started with Mahogany's Gym, failed to clear it and then followed the more traditional order of Cianwood and Olivine before returning to Mahogany with a vengeance and a good number of extra levels under my belt. Kanto was even better, allowing me to roam around as though I owned the place. I kinda did, in a way; despite having played through the first generation only once, I remembered nearly all locations. Now that I can appreciate better non-linearity and roving in Pokemon games, maybe I'll replay Generation I entries with a more open mind at some point. Hey, I own a copy of Yellow that is just begging to be played before its batteries die on me.

You get the picture, dear fellow gamers: this first official Avian Solo Run was a total and complete blast. It was thrilling, uplifting, heartwarming and a delightful adventure from beginning to end. Never before did I undertake 16 Gyms, a whole Pokemon League (twice) and a legendary Champion with a single 'Mon, and this exploit created the most enduring and amazing bond between me and my beloved Pidgey. This most breathtaking run also gives me good hopes for the following Avian Runs; although I already suspected that bird 'Mons were stellar solo run material, successfully tackling two regions and a regiment of Gyms Leaders with a single bird really drives the point home in the most flamboyant way. See you soon for my next Avian Solo Run, dear fellow gamers! Thanks for reading, and be my guest anytime!