The Rules of Nuzlocke

If you don't know what a Nuzlocke is, it's simple. It's basically a game of Pokemon with a few player-imposed rules to follow. The rules were originally supposed to make the game harder (and often do), but they also tend to make the player WAY more emotionally invested in their Pokemon.

Here are the rules I will be following for this comic:

  1. If a Pokemon faints, it is dead, and it must be permanently boxed or released.
  2. Only the first Pokemon encountered in each area may be caught, starting from when the game allows me to start catching Pokemon.
    • Caveat: "Caught" means "caught." Pokemon that are received as a gift (e.g. the Togepi egg) are exempt from this rule. The Daycare may not be used to obtain eggs (since unlimited eggs would make this rule pointless) or to safely grind Pokemon. Only one Pokemon may be purchased from the Game Corner.
  3. Nickname everybody.
  4. Pokemon may only level-grind until they are the same level as the next gym leader's strongest Pokemon. e.g. Before fighting Morty, I can only grind up to level 25, because his highest-level Pokemon is level 25.
  5. I'm not allowed to use a guide to find out when my rival will show up. Dude is inscrutable. This also applies to Team Rocket and other things my character couldn't know about in advance.

There's one more rule, but I can't tell you what it is yet. It won't apply until a certain point in the run, anyway. For now, enjoy the mystery!