Pokemon Sapphire: The Shedinja Solo Run

 

Here it comes, dear fellow gamers: the most insane, challenging Bug 'Mon run of them all. Did I manage to do the deed? You'll have to wait for the official battle report for the answer — let's keep the suspense alive! For now, let's line up the many specifications of that most unique run.

A Shedinja run automatically doubles with a non-damage run — do or die indeed. I would have to worry about Flying, Fire, Rock, Ghost and Dark Moves, but also about Poison, Hail and Sandstorm damage. I would improvise on the spot regarding the latter category; as for the former, I decided to raise my one-shooting chances by picking up the right Nature for my Nincada. The only important stats were Speed and Attack: with only 1 HP, literally nothing else would matter. I needed a boosted Attack and a untouched Speed, i.e. a Nincada with a Lonely or Naughty Nature. I finally got the former, and it didn't disappoint: once leveled up all the way to the big 100 and after gobbling a dozen Proteins reaped by my crew of Zigzagoons, my little Unakite boasted an healthy Attack of 264. Pretty good for a Bug 'Mon , shall I say, and probably one of the five best Attack stats ever boasted by my One and 'Monlies.

 

High Attack was all nice and well, but it wouldn't be enough: to make it, I would also need powerful Moves that would guarantee one-shooting. Since Hyper Beam and Solar Beam were out because of their two-turn activation, my only realistic options were Return and Shadow Ball; and lo and behold, I spent nearly all my run spamming that duo. The other two slots were occupied by Thief, which I kept for a plan I'll detail in the next paragraph, and Confuse Ray, which came in handy in a couple of situations I'll detail in the next post.

As mighty as Return and Shadow Ball were, I had an inkling their raw power wouldn't be enough against some 'Mons — I'm looking your way, Steven's team. I needed even more oomph to be sure to make it alive — to make it, full stop — and that extra oomph would be provided by none other than Type-boosting items. The Silk Scarf was easy enough to snatch in Dewford; the Spell Tag, on the other hand, was a whole other can of worms. It was only available at Mount Pyre, where Shuppets had a 5% chance of holding one. I went there and started spamming Thief at all the Shuppets I encountered; and wouldn't you know, I still didn't have a Spell Tag after 60 Thief in a row. I decided to change tactics and throw Ultra Balls instead; and this time around, it only took a dozen Shuppets to land me a Spell Tag. Was my Thief bugged, or was I simply supremely unlucky? Guess I'll never know, but I got my Spell Tag all the same. It came in handy indeed, as you'll see very soon.

Indeed, I'm done with the preliminaries; I'll meet you again in the battle report, in which you'll finally learn if my Unakite made it all the way to the Champion and beyond. Until then, dear fellow gamers, keep playing and take care!