NUZLOCKE: Custom Rules

1: Pokemon that faint have been killed in battle. Release them, or permanently box them in the Cemetery Box.

♦Particularly favored Pokemon may be migrated/transferred or traded to another Game File.

♦Pokemon that faint in the Battle Frontier and Battle Tents (seen in Emerald) are not dead, don't worry.

2: You may ONLY capture the FIRST Pokemon you encounter on each route, cave, etc.

♦Shiny Pokemon are exempt from this rule, but may not be used through regular Game Play.

3: All Pokemon captured must have a Nickname.

4: If you so desire, you may have ONE resurrection AFTER obtaining all 8 badges from your region. This is the only resurrection you will receive during the entire game, so choose wisely. HeartGold and SoulSilver do NOT get a second resurrection upon obtaining all 16 badges.

5: When you have lost all of your Pokemon on your team and in the boxes it's Game Over.

Capture Clauses:

General clauses for all games

♦Pokemon obtained using Rock Smash must be considered an Encounter. You may not obtain a Pokemon from more than one rock on that Route, and you may not capture any other Pokemon on the Route.

♦Fishing counts as an encounter. You may not capture a Pokemon using Surf if you have already captured one while fishing.

♦You may obtain up to 5 Pokemon through breeding. However, you may not breed the same Pokemon more than once.

♦In-Game trades are legal, provided the Pokemon the NPC asks for was the first Pokemon you encountered in its territory. You may not hunt for it.

♦Global-Link/ Wifi trades are legal provided you trade away a Pokemon that is part of your major team. No getting rid of boxed Pokemon to obtain better ones.

♦Legendary Pokemon may be captured for the sake of transferring them to a different game file. You may not use Legendary Pokemon in your run, unless its capture is plot relevant. (Reshiram/ Zekrom)

♦Non-Legendary Intractable Pokemon are not considered Encounters. (Rotom/ Volcorona/ Driffloon/ Musharna) However, respawning Pokemon may only be captured once. (Drifloon/ Musharna)

♦Roaming Legendary Pokemon such as Raikou, Entei, Suicune, Latias and Latios are not considered Encounters. You may skip past them and capture the next Pokemon you meet.

♦Pokemon that faint in the Battle Tower, Battle Frontier, or Battle Tents are not considered dead.

♦Gift Pokemon and Gift eggs are legal to use.

♦Gift Fossils are legal, as are Fossils found in the desert or caves. (Kabuto/ Archen/ Anorith etc.)

♦Different levels of caves and dungeons do NOT count as new Routes.

♦Ponds and lakes do NOT count as a new area. If you captured a Pokemon in the grass on that Route you may not Surf, Dive or Fish in that area.

♦Pokemon that must be traded in order to evolve (Haunter, Graveler, Machoke etc.) are perfectly legal, and you may have your friend help you evolve them if you wish.

♦Trading with a friend to obtain helpful items (such as Fire Stones or other evolutionary items) is legal provided you return the Pokemon holding the item that they gave you. You may NOT use this technique to obtain multiple Master Balls. (Come now, that would be far too easy!)

Fire Red, Leaf Green, Red, Blue & Yellow

♦The Safari Zone may be used to obtain ONE additional Pokemon. You must choose only one area to hunt in. If you encounter a Pokemon that is found outside the Safari Zone (Nidoran for example) you may skip past it until you find something rarer.

♦Pokemon obtained from the Game Corner count as Encounters. You may only buy one.

♦Snorlax may or may not be considered an Encounter. It's your choice to capture, or exclude it from your run.

Gold, Silver, Crystal, Heart Gold & Soul Silver

♦The Bug Catching Contest and Safari Zone may be use to obtain only ONE new Pokemon, so pick your area wisely. If you encounter a Pokemon that is found outside the Safari Zone (Nidoran for example) you may skip past it until you find something rarer. The Bug Catching Contest is considered a different Route than the days when it's a normal park.

♦Pokemon obtained from trees using Headbutt count as an Encounter. You may only capture one Pokemon from a Headbutt Tree on each route, provided you did not capture any Pokemon in the grass on that same Route.

♦Sudowoodo may or may not be considered an Encounter. It's your choice to capture, or exclude it from your run.

♦ Regarding the Eevee that you receive from Bill in Goldenrod City: It is your choice to consider it as an Encounter or not. If you choose, you may either obtain the Eevee and a Pokemon from the Game Corner, OR exclude one or the other. The choice is yours to make. (I personally consider Eevee a Gift Pokemon and the Game Corner Pokemon are Encounters. Gift Pokemon bypass the Encounter rules.)

Ruby, Sapphire, & Emerald

♦Diving Spots may be considered a different Route from the Surfing area above. However, you may not use more than one Diving Spot on each Route.

♦The different tides of Shoal Cave may be considered different routes from one another.

♦Bagon/ Snorunt: The secluded areas these Pokemon are found in may be considered different Routes from the rest of the cavern. However, you may only capture this species of Pokemon if it is the first Pokemon you find in that secluded area.

♦The desert is considered a different Route from Route 111, and may be used to obtain one addition Pokemon.

♦The Mirage Tower in Emerald may be considered a different Route from the desert and used to obtain one additional Pokemon.

♦The Safari Zone may be used to capture ONE additional Pokemon, so choose your area wisely. Pokemon that appear outside the Safari Zone may be skipped until you find something rarer. (Oddish and Gloom for example)

♦The Zigzagoon/ Poochyenna you save Professor Birch from does not count as an Encounter.

Diamond, Pearl, & Platinum

♦Honey Trees are considered Encounters, and may only be used once per Route to obtain a new Pokemon, provided you did not already capture a Pokemon on that Route.

♦The Great Marsh may be used to obtain ONE addition Pokemon, so choose your area wisely. If you encounter a Pokemon found outside the marsh (Bidoof for example) you may skip past it until you find something rarer.

♦Fossils that are excavated count as an Encounter. You may revive only one fossil, and it must be the first one you found in the Underground.

♦Spiritomb is legal provided you only capture one. (assuming you actually manage to talk to that many people in the Underground during a Nuzlocke run...)

♦The Starly you must fight off when you first get your Pokemon (in the double battle with Jun/Barry) do not count as Encounters.

Black & White/ Black 2 and White 2

♦Shaking Spots/ Dust Clouds/ Shadows/ Bubbles: These are considered Encounters, and may only be used once to obtain a new Pokemon, provided you did not capture a Pokemon on that Route already.

♦Fossils given to you by the man on Twist Mountain are considered an Encounter, and you may only revive the first fossil he gives you. (please note that this happens AFTER beating the League)

♦Hidden Grottoes: These are considered Encounters. If you choose to capture a Pokemon in a Hidden Grotto you may not capture any other Pokemon on that Route.

Optional challenges

Type Locke:
In a Type Locke you may use only one Type of Pokemon. The type of Pokemon is entirely up to you, and is not determined by your Starter Pokemon. However, once you decide on the Type you will use, you must remove your Starter Pokemon from the team permanently. (provided that you did not decide to use your Starter Pokemon's type). You are not excluded from using Duel Type Pokemon. For example, if you decide to do a Water Locke, you can still use Chinchou. All other Nuzlocke rules may or may not apply.

N-Locke:
Inspired by the character N in Pokemon Black and White.
You may only use local Pokemon in each city you encounter. Local refers to the Pokemon native to the routes directly North, East, West and South of a city. Let's say you begin in Littleroot Town. To the North you will find Zizagoon/ Poochyenna, and Wurmple (depending on the version). You may capture ONE of EACH of these Pokemon if you wish, to get you to the next town. Once you reach a town with a Gym, you must abandon the Pokemon you used to get to that town and use the Pokemon in the routes around the new town. Say you get to Rustboro City. You are now limited to the Pokemon found in Routes 104, 115 and 116. This pattern continues until you reach the Elite Four, in which case you will be limited to one each of the Pokemon you can find in Victory Road. All other Nuzlocke rules may or may not apply.  

There are a number of ways to interpret this kind of challenge, so take it as you wish, and have fun.

Single-Locke:
In this challenge, you will use only one Basic level Pokemon. It can be any Pokemon you wish, but you may not allow it to evolve. This challenge is not necessarily Nuzlocke related, so if your Pokemon faints, you may continue the challenge, unless you want a higher level of difficulty.  

Optional Extra rules

◘ You may flip a coin to determine if a fainted Pokemon has died during a battle. You can also roll dice, deciding which numbers determine fatal damage, or if you have a random number generator, you may choose your own percentage.

◘ You may only use berries to heal your Pokemon.

◘ You may limit the number of times you can visit the Pokemon Center in each town.

◘ You may NOT use Pokemon Centers at all, and rely only on items.

◘ You may NOT use berries during your run.

◘ You may NOT use any items during your run.

◘ You may use both items and berries but you cannot use Pokemon Centers OR you limit the number of visits you can make to each Center.

◘ You may use Pokemon Centers, Berries and unlimited Pokemon Center Visits, however, Revives and Max Revives are ALWAYS prohibited.

◘ You may not capture duplicates of the same Pokemon. This includes said Pokemon's evolutionary chain.

◘ You may not capture duplicated Pokemon even after the Pokemon in question has died. (this is particularly difficult for games where the same Pokemon is present on many Routes. For example, Pidgey, and Bidoof.)

◘ If the Pokemon you encountered on a Route is a duplicate of a Pokemon you already have you may skip past it until you find a new Pokemon.

◘ If the Pokemon you encountered on a Route is a duplicate, you may only skip once. If the second is also a duplicate, you're out of luck.

◘ If the Pokemon you encountered on a Route is a duplicate, you may NOT skip past it. You cannot capture anything else on this Route.

◘ You may NOT allow any of your Pokemon to evolve. Wild evolutions (for example Gloom or Golbat) may be captured, but not evolved any further.

◘ You may NOT evolve you Pokemon, OR capture evolved Pokemon.

◘ You may not use any Repels, Super Repels, or Max Repels.

◘ You may not use Escape Rope to leave a cave.


Have fun, and happy Nuzlocking to all of you!