Diamond Nuzlocke Entry 1
as of december 16th 2025 my entire city had a crazy blackout. caught in the throes of the cold and a lack of power, i turned to my beloved 2010 DSi, my 2014 2DS, and my copy of Pokemon Diamond (2004) for entertainment. ive never beaten any sinnoh game, so this was an opportunity to do just that. of course i couldnt do just that though, i have to nuzlocke it of course.
to get our rules out of the way, the mandatory rules are:
- all pokemon must be nicknamed
- if a pokemon faints it is considered dead, and can no longer be used
- i can only catch the first encounter on each route
my additional rules are:
- nuzlocke starts when we get pokeballs
- shiny clause - if i find a shiny i can catch it
- pinwheel clause - if there are two areas with the same name but vastly different encounters, each area is its own encounter
- dupes clause - if i run into a pokemon ive already caught, i have 3 attempts to find a new encounter. otherwise i must catch or abandon that encounter
got it? great! our adventure starts with Fox, a young trainer from New Bark Town who's friend Lupin wants to visit lake verity to hunt for rare pokemon. when an abandoned suitcase containing three pokemon is left behind, Fox and Lupin claim Chimchar and Piplup respectively to defend themselves from the incoming Starly attack. confronted by Professor Rowan's assistant Dawn afterward, they make their way to Sandgem Town to meet him. deeming them suitable for trainerhood, Professor Rowan lets them keep their pokemon and gives them each a Pokedex.
finally given free will, i immediately buy 10 pokeballs and 3 potions. the nuzlocke has started. the first encounter Fox gets is a Bidoof that we promptly named Taupe. or Chimchar is Mauve btw, i was gonna do a flower naming theme but knew less colors than flowers off the top of my head (keep in mind my evil no good blackout). grinding for some time, my second encounter is Indigo the Shinx! the team is turning out rather unique. making my way to Jubilife, i find Lupin in the trainers school only for him to run off, and get my Poketch shortly after.
going north early, i manage to catch a Budew, which will be a HUGE help for Roark, the first gym leader. hes a consistent run ender for me in any nuzlocke ive done previously of the sinnoh games. generally first gyms tend to be my kryptonite, so ive gotta be ready. heading to the east, i meet Lupin for a fight the Emerald the Budew promptly wins, and my encounter here is Slate the Starly. at this point a long grinding session was due, and the team is brought up to a consistent level 9. afterwards, i head further east and pickup a Geodude named Pewter just outside Oreburgh. another grinding session and theyre all now level 10! i couldnt remember if there was any big battles before Roark, so i kept it at 10/11 for most of my team for a while
this is the part where my power comes back, and while a very good thing i cant help but feel a little bummed. i was excited on relying on my DS being my only focus and playing a lot of this nuzlocke disconnected. of course im going to keep going, theres no way im backing down from the challenge, its just gonna be a concerted effort on my part to play from now on >:)
entering Oreburgh Mine looking for Roarks lazy ass whos blowing off his Gym responsibilities, i manage my seventh encounter, a Zubat names Smalt. convincing Roark to do his job he almost certainly gets paid less to do than his hard labor career, its time to grind to level 13/12 for Roark. once i do, the battle begins. Emerald the Budew manages to take out his first pokemon in one hit. good good. his onix? also one hit. but next is his cranidos, a hard hitter that outspeeds a lot of my team at this point. if Emerald doesnt make this one shot, we're fucked.
against all odds, we manage to take the badge!! Emerald the Budew grew two levels to be out level 14 (almost 15) GOAT of the team. an early champion of our challenge, and im so excited to see how far i can go. one badge down, no casualties!
