Well, readers, here is the final of the three challenge write-ups I had promised, and this run was a doozy. After challenge runs of all three of the first generation Pokemon games, I was stuck trying to figure out ideas for the Johto games. After how much fun I had with the Rattata solo, I decided to do a similar solo run with a similar Pokemon: Sentret. And while the Rattata solo run was extremely easy, I knew the Sentret solo would not be a walk in the park. I was absolutely correct; Sentret is a terrible Pokemon and not a good solo run candidate despite its varied moveset options.
Sentret was never one of my favorite Pokemon, and now I know why.
I wound up deciding on a moveset of Slam, Dig, Surf, and whichever of the three elemental punches would be most useful at the time. Once Pokeballs became available, I picked up a Sentret, and at a friend’s suggestion, named it “Teemo” after the League of Legends champion. The first section of the game was easy; both of the first two gyms went down without much difficulty. The first roadblock came exactly where I thought it would: Goldenrod City’s gym leader, Whitney. Those familiar with the Johto Pokemon games know exactly how horrible Whitney’s Miltank is, and a lone Sentret is not the Pokemon one would think to bring up against the infamous cow. After many tries and a large number of obscenities, Whitney went down, and it was time to move on. The next difficult point of the game came immediately after; Morty, the fourth gym leader, was even worse to deal with. Ghost-types being horrible to go up against was a recurring theme due to something I had not expected. Second-generation Ghost-types almost always open battles up with Curse, and with no other Pokemon to switch out for, a solo runner has no effective way to deal with the move. Sentret is also horrendously slow, so Morty’s Ghastly was always able to open the fight with the unavoidable Curse. Morty eventually was defeated, and I finally could move onward to the next area.
The Sentret in question, post-Red.
After the third and fourth gyms, the game again became easy for quite a while. The remaining Johto gyms were largely uneventful, and the journey continued without much trouble until the Elite Four. Nearly every member of the Elite Four proved terrible to face. Remarkably, Lance wound up being easier than any of the Elite Four members due to heavy use of Ice Punch and Slam. As usual, Kanto was completely uneventful because the Pokemon encountered there are significantly weaker than those of the Elite Four. The final challenge of the run came right at the very end: Red. Red is typically no slouch to face, and in the solo run, he was even worse. A ridiculous amount of luck was needed to end the run, but after countless tries and a massive amount of rage, the run was finally completed. I will never do a Sentret solo run again and I would not recommend that anyone attempt something so stupid.
Well readers, I hope you have enjoyed reading my challenge run write-ups; I know that I enjoyed…well, I enjoyed two of the runs mentioned, at least. The Sentret solo was not a fun endeavor, and I do not recommend that any of our readers attempt this run. I hope you liked these pieces, readers. Whether you did or not, please let me know in the comments, readers!
