Radical Red 2.3 (Hardcore Mode) - Elite 4/Champion

This was painful. Where should I begin? Losses. My total loss count for this run is 214. That's a new record for Radical Red. E4 losses? 132. This is second only to Dark Rising Kaizo, where I lost 201 times in the Pokemon League, but you know, it's Dark Rising Kaizo. I didn't count losses at the time I played the original DR. ANYWAY, Lorelei beat me 41 times, mostly her rain team. Bruno beat me 33 times, Agatha beat me 34 times. Lance beat me 16 times, which doesn't sound like much but consider how rare it was to reach him. Blue beat me 8 times, again, rare to reach him.

The team went through several changes. Galarian Darmanitan-Zen had a lot of attempts but Meloetta replaced it. Alakazam got replaced with Hatterene, Ribombee, even the returning G-Darmanitan-Zen, but thankfully I got to win with Alakazam. That and Togekiss are 2 of my all-time favorite Pokemon. Rayquaza's my number 1 by the way, didn't please me to battle Lance's shiny Mega one, but I digress. The final team you see in this video specifically lost 81 times, so some attempts were kind of wasted with the different team variations but at least I learned about the AI here. I even took notes on things to do for my depression-fried brain.

A big part of my losing so much is trying to push this team, stubbornly I might add. I wanted these mons in the Hall of Fame. The only change I'd make would be Meloetta for G-Darmanitan-Zen, but I needed a higher chance of flinching. That's a common theme with these matches, flinches helped so much, and the Choice Scarf was a godsend. 4 of the 6 mons had a Choice Scarf, that says a lot. Obviously I went for mostly offense. Like Emerald Kaizo, defensive options are kind of strangled by the restrictions the game puts on you.

Togekiss and Alakazam, I already mentioned my love for them. Wailord was in because it was such an MVP in pre-E4 battles, and I desperately wanted it to be in the final team. Now, the Champion's team is based on your starter. Bulbasaur was my starter, so his final team was a permanent sun one, making Wailord less viable. However, it played a part in that battle, a probably wasteful PP stalling session with Arceus-Ground. Sorry for those who have to watch that. Meloetta pretty much filled in for G-Darmanitan-Zen nicely, with the increased risk of flinching, although missing out on STAB Flare Blitz and Icicle Crash did have an effect on strategies for some of the battles. Pirouette form can be permanent in 2.3, so you can capitalize on a very high Attack and Speed stat, as well as Serene Grace, hence me mentioning flinching. Rock Slide got a lot of use. Solgaleo came from the Pewter egg. It started out as a Cosmog. I got very lucky and just had to use it for a good chunk of the run, and of course for the final team. Great STAB, outspeeds base 150 Speed mons with the Scarf and being Jolly, and necessary coverage, no stat drops, best seen against Lorelei's hail team. Lastly, Landorus was a very lucky shiny encounter. That pretty much sealed it for me, I had to have it on the final team. I was trying to find Meloetta and wound up finding a shiny Landorus, it was fate.

Important info about the E4 teams. Lorelei and Bruno have 2 different teams. Agatha and Lance each have 1 team. As I said earlier, Blue's team is based on your starter. I know of a permanent rain one, I don't know about the 3rd team. Each battle had a very painful gimmick. Permanent weather and Misty Terrain (when Fini entered the battle) for Lorelei, permanent Misty Terrain for Brock and his physical fighters, thus they can't be burned. Agatha has permanent Psychic Terrain. Lance's entry hazards cannot be removed. The Champion's team can't be afflicted by stat-changing and status condition moves. Yeah, fun.

Man, this run took me 5 days, nearly 2 of those just on the E4. I got angry, I got sad, I soldiered on though. When I finally won, I clapped my hands way too hard, I was shaking with excitement, hands up in the air, aggressively saying "YES!" It was great, I don't get that emotional often. So, I'm thankful for Hardcore Mode getting that out of me. Was it worth the pain and suffering? I'll say yes. Do I want to do it again? No. If there's a 2.4, I guess. I'm not doing Monotype runs for Hardcore Mode, don't ask me. I could change my mind, but currently that's a hard "NO" for me.

The music is from Clover. This was requested. I hadn't touched Clover music in a while because I already used a lot of them. I scraped together the following: the Carlito Battle Theme, Haunted Radio (rendition of Elvis Presley's Blue Suede Shoes), Grindhaus Ranch (appropriate for this run, it was emotionally grinding), and the victory theme for beating the Ebin Region Gym Leaders.

I can't wait to get back to regular business, as in doing Monotype runs. I got my fill of self-inflicted pain. I do recommend people to try Hardcore Mode, especially those who've played Radical Red loads of times. Something new.

Enjoy the video.