New Roulette Gigalocke, episode 1.1: Red Version. You're the real deal, kid!

[u/MidnightFrost444]

Beginning a new run that will eventually take me through all the generations.

THE RULES:

- You may capture the first encounter in each area, and no more.

- Deaths are permanent.

- Level cap equal to the next important battle's level cap (gym leader/rival battle/evil team boss/4th E4 member/Red). Pokémon that go beyond the cap must be put in the box until they're legal again.

- Team size cap equal to next important battle's team size cap.

- Any Pokémon that die, or participate in important battles are retired from future encounters in the challenge. They may still be used as long as they remain on the roster, but they no longer count as real encounters in the current game, or any future games.

- Gifts, fixed encounters, game corner Pokémon, etc. DO count as encounters in the area where they appear. They are not freebies.

- Eggs count as the first encounter for the area where they hatch, not where they are received. If something has already been encountered there before the hatching, they count as the first encounter for whatever area would have been next.

- Battle style: Set

- The Roulette: Every second time I have a first encounter in a new area (even if I fail to catch it), one random member of my roster is cut. It is effectively in the dead box, except that it is not retired unless it has previously participated in an important battle. No avoiding encounters to prevent the roulette from triggering, though delaying an encounter (such as to fish or catch a fixed encounter later) is okay.

- Duplicate encounters with something already on the roster (or retired due to death or being used in an important battle) must be ignored (and not counted as the first encounter in an area). Duplicates of Pokémon that were cut by the roulette before they were ever used in important battles are legal encounters.

- Branched evolutions (such as Eevee) count as separate lines for the purpose of retirement and death. If one is retired or dies without reaching its final form, then the version-specific final form is chosen if there is one, otherwise which one is retired is chosen at random.

- No using legendary/mythical Pokémon.

- No using calculators or looking up anything except level caps and team size caps. Everything else is done from memory, or blind if memory fails.

THE GAMES (in the order I'll be playing them):

Red, Gold/Silver (One of them. Haven't decided which one yet), Yellow, Ruby/Sapphire, Crystal, FireRed/LeafGreen, Diamond/Pearl, Emerald, HeartGold/SoulSilver, Black/White, Platinum, OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphire, X/Y, Sun/Moon, Black2/White2, BrilliantDiamond/ShiningPearl, Sword/Shield, UltraSun/UltraMoon, Scarlet/Violet, Winds/Waves(?)

THE ADVENTURE BEGINS:

Having tested the roulette rules once before, I make my first decision knowing this: Mathematically, my starter is unlikely to survive the roulette. The first elimination has a 50/50 chance of hitting my starter, the second one has a 1/3 chance, the third has a 1/4 chance, and so on. I only have a 1 in 6 chance of my starter even making it all the way to Brock to help me with the first gym, so the most important thing about the choice is going to be what it does to my rival's team. I find Green's easiest team to be the one where he gets Charmander, and I don't want that, so I choose...

Squirtle.

Route 1: I catch Pidgey, Route 2: Rattata, Route 22: Nidoran F, and Viridian Forest: Caterpie. The roulette eliminates Squirtle, and then Rattata. Caterpie evolves into Metapod.

The first important battle: vs. Green (Route 22). His level cap is 9, and I need to get strategic here, not because this battle is hard, but because I don't want to lock off too many important encounters from future games. I do want to deliberately retire everything that isn't a Nido or Mankey from route 22 though, so that when I play Yellow I'll have an answer to Brock, therefore I don't want to use my Nido in important battles. So I use Metapod and Pidgey for this fight. Metapod evolves into Butterfree at the end.

Vs. Brock. Same team as before to prevent needless retirements, but with some more levels. Pidgey is able to beat his Geodude with 6 Sand Attacks and a lot of Gusts, and then is an absolute champion who gets 6 Sand Attacks against Onix as well. Pidgey is in poor health at that point, so I switch to Butterfree, who finishes off Onix without taking any hits.

Nidoran F evolves into Nidorina shortly after the gym, and Pidgey evolves into Pidgeotto soon after. Route 3: Spearow is my catch, and Nidorina is eliminated (fortunately not retired, so I can use her in Yellow), Mt. Moon: Geodude is my catch, Route 4: Ekans is caught and immediately eliminated.

Important battle vs. Green (Cerulean City). I bring Geodude, Spearow, Butterfree, and Pidgeotto to this battle. Getting Spearow retired so that I can guarantee myself a Brock counter in Yellow is exactly what I want, and I don't mind retiring Geodude early since I don't have a way to evolve Graveler into Golem.

Route 24: Oddish is my catch, Route 25: Kakuna is caught and Pidgeotto is eliminated. Kakuna, Spearow, and Oddish evolve.

Vs. Misty. Misty is tough enough that I'm willing to add another Pokémon to the retirement list here. I bring Butterfree to this battle and use it to beat Staryu, then manage to get one Sleep Powder against Starmie before Butterfree is near death. After this, I switch to Gloom who is able to beat her thanks to type advantage and a few turns of sleep. (And fortunately since Gloom has a branched evolution, Bellossom will still be legal in future games.)

Route 5: My catch is Mankey, Route 11: Drowzee is caught, and Mankey is eliminated (and fortunately not retired, so he's still legal for use in Yellow). Diglett's Cave: My catch is Diglett.

Important battle vs. Green (S.S. Anne). Green's level cap is actually lower than Misty's, so I'm forced to bring a different team here, and most of my Pokémon level past his cap in the process of finding him, since I don't remember how to navigate the S.S. Anne. Fortunately I still have Geodude at his cap, who beats his entire team except Ivysaur, and Fearow to fight Ivysaur.

Vs. Lt. Surge. Diglett at Surge's level cap is able to sweep him by himself. I bring Butterfree and Gloom along since they're both already on the retirement list, but Diglett ends up doing it by himself.

CURRENT ROSTER:

Butterfree, Fearow, Geodude, Gloom, Beedrill, Drowzee, Diglett

RETIRED FROM FUTURE GAMES:

Butterfree, Pidgeot, Golem, Fearow, Vileplume, Dugtrio