Introduction:
I just finished playing through Pokémon LeafGreen yesterday and thought I would go over my playthrough and approach to playing the game. First and foremost, this is by far not my first time playing through the Kanto Pokémon games, however, it is technically my first time playing LeafGreen specifically as I only owned FireRed until recently. Because this isn't my first playthrough, I made it a point to only use Pokémon I've never used before, with sort of one exception. I also had a couple of self-imposed rules that I normally play with being that I avoided grinding against wild Pokémon, didn't use any items in battle besides held items and Pokéballs, and I had my battle style on set.
The Hall of Fame:
Cherry the Venusaur ♀ LV. 53 | Leech Seed, Synthesis, Sleep Powder, Razor Leaf | Overgrow | Miracle Seed
This is the exception to the using only Pokémon I've never used before rule... well, sort of. I've used Venusaur a couple of times in the past, however, I have never used it as my Starter Pokémon before. I've used one in Yellow, but that was with the other starters as well, not letting me really feel like Venusaur was my ace. This was the first time I would actually use Venusaur, and in its' own game no less! Anyway, "Cherry", who was named after cherry blossoms, has completely changed how I view Venusaur. I now love this adorable giant monster as I somehow finally got its appeal by using it. I also grew to really appreciate the ability to put stuff to sleep and win even at a disadvantage with moves like Leech Seed and Sleep Powder. Overall, she was an awesome member and has now made me confused about what my favorite Kanto starter is!
Pineapple the Sandslash ♀ LV. 46 | Attract, Sandstorm, Rock Tomb, Earthquake | Sand Veil | Leftovers
The first pokemon I added to the team was the mouse Pokémon Sandslash. I named her "Pineapple" because she kind of looks like one and I just thought it was perfect once I thought of it. This was a Pokémon I've always wanted to use in the past but couldn't as it's a LeafGreen exclusive. Finally getting to use it was actually pretty awesome and I didn't know that this line was actually supposed to be a mouse until I saw the Pokédex. Once I actually learned that, I could actually see it in hindsight and having my cute sand mouse was something I could get behind. She was a kind of physical tank and while she wasn't the MVP or anything like that, I really enjoyed seeing how far I could push this little mouse to greatness.
Gacha the Persian ♀ LV. 46 | Attract, Hidden Power (Fire), Bite, Thunder | Limber | Black Glasses
I originally caught her kind of on a whim as I wasn't sure what my team would be yet, however, she eventually became the user of probably the most toxic strategy on the team. Named "Gacha" after mobile gacha games and all the money they make, I had to be creative in taking advantage of a speedy pokemon that was frail, yet not strong enough to KO opponents before they could hit back. That strategy was making all the boys love her with Attract and then spamming Bite to take advantage of her speed and hope for flinches. This actually worked a lot better than expected and I will be giving her a King's Rock in the post-game to make this an even stronger strategy. She also picked up 2 Hidden Power TMs for me before evolving which I put to great use on her as well as on an upcoming team member.
Dena the Vaporeon ♂ LV. 47 | Acid Armor, Bite, Blizzard, Surf | Water Absorb | Leftovers
Dena's name was inspired by the company of the same name that developed Pokémon Masters because you can pronounce it like DNA which I thought was fitting for an Eevee. She was a strong tanky water Pokémon that kind of did the job better than the Blastoise I normally use through Kanto. He was a special defence tank that could fix his defence with Acid Armor which was cool. Dena got a crazy critical hit against Blue's Charizard in the champion match one-hit KO'ing it helping me get a win I might not have gotten without the crit.
Coco the Pinsir ♀ LV. 51 | Swords Dance, Attract, Rock Slide, Hidden Power (Bug) | Hyper Cutter | Quick Claw
Coco was the Pokemon League MVP with Swords Dance allowing it to get some clutch sweeps and comebacks throughout the fights. I only managed to beat each member on the first try thanks to this bug pulling me through. I named her after coconut trees in Animal Crossing because you could find stag beetles on them at night in the summer. I soft reset the game over and over to get a Pinsir with Hidden Power Bug as it's really the only way to get a good stab move on Pinsir this generation. Overall a super cool bug and the team MVP towards the end of the journey.
Hydra the Dodrio ♂ LV. 48 | Double Team, Fly, Drill Peck, Tri Attack | Early Bird | Amulet Coin
Hydra was named after the mythological monster of the same name with multiple heads. Despite being a cool, better version of Pidgeot and Fearow, it really was a standard flying type with nothing crazy to write home about. Except his AMAZING performance against Lance in the Elite 4. Dena got taken out early before it could kill a single one of Lance's dragons and Hydra got a Critical hit Tri Attack with a burn as the Dragonite was full restoring and then survived an outrage on 7 HP to finish the Dragonite off with another Tri Attack. Not only that but he then froze the incoming Dragonair before it could do anything, 2-shotting it, and then finished off the other Dragonair with another crit. It was insanely lucky and absolutely like an anime moment. I was imagining Hydra giving it 120% and showing who the real monster was to the dragons.
What's Next:
I'm now trying to complete the Kanto Pokédex before I visit Islands 4-7 for the post-game by using my other Gameboy and copy of FireRed. I've already managed to rush to Cinnabar in under 3 hours skipping the 3rd and 4th badge in FireRed to get the other fossil revived and now I just need to catch the version exclusives and catch everything else needed in LeafGreen. I plan to post again showing off the completed Pokédex and then make a couple of posts for the postgame. Thank you so much if you read all of this and I hoped you enjoyed it!
I just finished playing through Pokémon LeafGreen yesterday and thought I would go over my playthrough and approach to playing the game. First and foremost, this is by far not my first time playing through the Kanto Pokémon games, however, it is technically my first time playing LeafGreen specifically as I only owned FireRed until recently. Because this isn't my first playthrough, I made it a point to only use Pokémon I've never used before, with sort of one exception. I also had a couple of self-imposed rules that I normally play with being that I avoided grinding against wild Pokémon, didn't use any items in battle besides held items and Pokéballs, and I had my battle style on set.
The Hall of Fame:
Cherry the Venusaur ♀ LV. 53 | Leech Seed, Synthesis, Sleep Powder, Razor Leaf | Overgrow | Miracle SeedThis is the exception to the using only Pokémon I've never used before rule... well, sort of. I've used Venusaur a couple of times in the past, however, I have never used it as my Starter Pokémon before. I've used one in Yellow, but that was with the other starters as well, not letting me really feel like Venusaur was my ace. This was the first time I would actually use Venusaur, and in its' own game no less! Anyway, "Cherry", who was named after cherry blossoms, has completely changed how I view Venusaur. I now love this adorable giant monster as I somehow finally got its appeal by using it. I also grew to really appreciate the ability to put stuff to sleep and win even at a disadvantage with moves like Leech Seed and Sleep Powder. Overall, she was an awesome member and has now made me confused about what my favorite Kanto starter is!
Pineapple the Sandslash ♀ LV. 46 | Attract, Sandstorm, Rock Tomb, Earthquake | Sand Veil | LeftoversThe first pokemon I added to the team was the mouse Pokémon Sandslash. I named her "Pineapple" because she kind of looks like one and I just thought it was perfect once I thought of it. This was a Pokémon I've always wanted to use in the past but couldn't as it's a LeafGreen exclusive. Finally getting to use it was actually pretty awesome and I didn't know that this line was actually supposed to be a mouse until I saw the Pokédex. Once I actually learned that, I could actually see it in hindsight and having my cute sand mouse was something I could get behind. She was a kind of physical tank and while she wasn't the MVP or anything like that, I really enjoyed seeing how far I could push this little mouse to greatness.
Gacha the Persian ♀ LV. 46 | Attract, Hidden Power (Fire), Bite, Thunder | Limber | Black GlassesI originally caught her kind of on a whim as I wasn't sure what my team would be yet, however, she eventually became the user of probably the most toxic strategy on the team. Named "Gacha" after mobile gacha games and all the money they make, I had to be creative in taking advantage of a speedy pokemon that was frail, yet not strong enough to KO opponents before they could hit back. That strategy was making all the boys love her with Attract and then spamming Bite to take advantage of her speed and hope for flinches. This actually worked a lot better than expected and I will be giving her a King's Rock in the post-game to make this an even stronger strategy. She also picked up 2 Hidden Power TMs for me before evolving which I put to great use on her as well as on an upcoming team member.
Dena the Vaporeon ♂ LV. 47 | Acid Armor, Bite, Blizzard, Surf | Water Absorb | LeftoversDena's name was inspired by the company of the same name that developed Pokémon Masters because you can pronounce it like DNA which I thought was fitting for an Eevee. She was a strong tanky water Pokémon that kind of did the job better than the Blastoise I normally use through Kanto. He was a special defence tank that could fix his defence with Acid Armor which was cool. Dena got a crazy critical hit against Blue's Charizard in the champion match one-hit KO'ing it helping me get a win I might not have gotten without the crit.
Coco the Pinsir ♀ LV. 51 | Swords Dance, Attract, Rock Slide, Hidden Power (Bug) | Hyper Cutter | Quick ClawCoco was the Pokemon League MVP with Swords Dance allowing it to get some clutch sweeps and comebacks throughout the fights. I only managed to beat each member on the first try thanks to this bug pulling me through. I named her after coconut trees in Animal Crossing because you could find stag beetles on them at night in the summer. I soft reset the game over and over to get a Pinsir with Hidden Power Bug as it's really the only way to get a good stab move on Pinsir this generation. Overall a super cool bug and the team MVP towards the end of the journey.
Hydra the Dodrio ♂ LV. 48 | Double Team, Fly, Drill Peck, Tri Attack | Early Bird | Amulet CoinHydra was named after the mythological monster of the same name with multiple heads. Despite being a cool, better version of Pidgeot and Fearow, it really was a standard flying type with nothing crazy to write home about. Except his AMAZING performance against Lance in the Elite 4. Dena got taken out early before it could kill a single one of Lance's dragons and Hydra got a Critical hit Tri Attack with a burn as the Dragonite was full restoring and then survived an outrage on 7 HP to finish the Dragonite off with another Tri Attack. Not only that but he then froze the incoming Dragonair before it could do anything, 2-shotting it, and then finished off the other Dragonair with another crit. It was insanely lucky and absolutely like an anime moment. I was imagining Hydra giving it 120% and showing who the real monster was to the dragons.
What's Next:
I'm now trying to complete the Kanto Pokédex before I visit Islands 4-7 for the post-game by using my other Gameboy and copy of FireRed. I've already managed to rush to Cinnabar in under 3 hours skipping the 3rd and 4th badge in FireRed to get the other fossil revived and now I just need to catch the version exclusives and catch everything else needed in LeafGreen. I plan to post again showing off the completed Pokédex and then make a couple of posts for the postgame. Thank you so much if you read all of this and I hoped you enjoyed it!