Hello. Below this ruleset you will find very extensive explaining on my thought process behind the rules you are about to read. This is a long document; I want to share my thoughts with as much detail as possible. But the rules, and basically all you need to know, are these: (NOTE: THIS CHALLENGE IS GOING UNDER PLAYTESTING TO ENSURE IT'S PROPERLY BALANCED AND IT FEELS THE WAY IT SHOULD. RULES MAY CHANGE OR BE DELETED.) All previous Standard, Ultimate, and Kaizo rules apply (you can check these here: https://gist.github.com/valiant-code/adb18d248fa0fae7da6b639e2ee8f9c1) unless otherwise specified. 1. Every trainer has smart AI. 2. Starting at level 20, every trainer has Sensible Held Items (Consumable only for Generation 3 games). 3. Every Gym Leader has 6 Pokémon. 4. You may pivot to a new Pokémon about midway through the game, before beating the game, in a specific area designated depending on the game you are playing. Only this Pokémon can beat the game if you choose to pivot. FireRed/LeafGreen: Fuchsia Safari Zone Emerald: Lillycove Safari Zone Heartgold/Soulsilver: Bug Catching Contest (after beating Morty). 4a. Only Pokémon that have defeated a Gym Leader can enter this area, or otherwise be used for Mid-game pivoting. 4b. For this "pivot", you may catch 3 (?) Pokémon and compare them. You may level, evo, teach TMs, etc. to any of the 3. You must eventually settle on using ONE of them. You can also catch a 4th (?) Pokémon if they are among your favorites. 5. Every TM can be taught once you pivot, but only once. Before this, only Gym TMs can be taught, and also only once. 6. Every move that boosts an offensive stat more than +1 or boosts an offensive stat along with another one (Bulk Up, Dragon Dance, etc.) is banned past the first gym leader. Note how moves such as Agility or Cosmic Power are not included on this list. 7. You can only boost a stat once per battle past the 1st gym. 8. If you DO NOT PIVOT, the following will ALSO be banned past the first gym leader: ITEMS: Full Restore, Rare Candy, every X item. ABILITIES: Huge/Pure Power (unless <411 BST), Speed Boost, Pickup Items (also for pivot?). MOVES: Absorb, Mega Drain, Giga Drain, Meditate, Howl, Growth, Charge Beam, Drain Punch. NOTE: If you evolve into a banned ability Pokémon, you may run it, but only if you pivot at the Safari Zone. -- GAME SPECIFIC -- FireRed/LeafGreen 1. You need to decide if you pivot or not once you reach Fuchsia City. 2. Misty must be fought right after you beat the Rocket that gives you a Nugget on the Nugget Bridge. 3. (PIVOTLESS) Lt. Surge must be defeated before leaving Vermillion City on first arrival. 4. Lt. Surge must be defeated right after you receive Cut. 5. SS Anne optionals are banned. Items are also banned if you do not pivot. 6. Erika's Gym must be completed before entering Rocket Hideout. 6. (PIVOTLESS) Both Rock Tunnel and Victory Road must be fully cleared. 7. (PIVOTLESS) The Sevii Islands are banned. IF YOU PIVOT they are accessible, with some restrictions: 7a. Treat this place like a dungeon. 7b. Only the Full Restore and Iapapa Berry items are allowed. Any other item from this place is banned. 7c. Only Island Three trainers are allowed. -- RULE AND THOUGHT EXPLANATION BELOW -- (Rules are explained again below. Feel free to ignore them if you've already read them). This run takes inspiration of Kaizo ironMON, made by iateyourpie, Super Kaizo ironMON, made by iateyourpie and SaltyDolphin, and Subpar Kaizo, a variant made by Arex. This is an attempt at taking a different approach at the concept of "difficulty" in this kind of challenge. The point and goal is to make the player make choices that will make their run harder or easier depending on their choices, such as correctly evaluating how good their Pokémon is and whether it can beat the game or not. That may sound literally like "kaizo" so far, but you will see how this takes a turn that changes things completely. The streamer will have two choices considering what they are given: if their initial Pokémon is capable of beating the game, then they can choose not to pivot in the Safari Zone, Bug Catching Contest, or any area designated for the specific game they are playing. This, of course, is a concept that we are familiar with in Super and Subpar Kaizo, but it is at this point where we can see what I mean by "make choices". If you decide not to pivot, you will be presented with a challenge that is clearly harder than regular Kaizo, or even Super Kaizo. You only take this approach if your main Pokémon is actually able to beat the game under heavy circumstances, such as item banning (Full Restore, Rare Candy, etc.) and even Exp. limitations. If you do decide to pivot, however, these limitations will not be present, and we are studying whether some changes are favorable towards the gameplay experience and make the difficulty more adjusted. Let's start of with what the goals are: The challenge must be harder than Kaizo Ironmon no matter what. Whether you pivot or not. This can be achieved by simply making every trainer smart AI (something done already in both Super and Subpar) and by limiting resources. If you do pivot, the challenge must be way harder than what we are used to. Limiting items and places to go to is a good way of achieving this, something we have already seen in Skill Ironmon, by ExarionU. There may need to be changes to the Quality of Life of these runs to not make them frustrating, such as being able to choose which starter you pick (a good middle ground to this may be increasing the amount of favorites a runner can have), changes to the teaching TM system, etc. What rules would Brutal Kaizo have? All previous Standard, Ultimate, and Kaizo rules apply (you can check these here: https://gist.github.com/valiant-code/adb18d248fa0fae7da6b639e2ee8f9c1) unless otherwise specified. Every Trainer has smart AI (maybe make this random depending on the run? That way the runner could also scout which trainer class has smart AI depending on the run). Every trainer has Sensible Held Items starting at lvl ?? (Probably game dependent. A good starting point would be 20 in FireRed/LeafGreen). Every Gym Leader now has 6 Pokemon. The following moves are banned: Bulk Up, Calm Mind, Dragon Dance, Swords Dance, Tail Glow, Nasty Plot, Shift Gears, Quiver Dance, Charge Beam, Fell Stinger, etc. (this list will be expanded, but you get the idea). Every TM can be taught to your pivot, but only once. Until you pivot, only Gym TMs can be taught, and also only once per Pokémon. You may pivot to a new Pokémon about midway through the game, before beating the game, in a specific area designated depending on the game you are playing. FireRed/LeafGreen: Fuchsia Safari Zone Emerald: Lillycove Safari Zone Heartgold/Soulsilver: Bug Catching Contest (after beating Morty). Only Pokémon that have defeated a Gym Leader can enter the Safari Zone, or otherwise be used for Mid-game pivoting For this pivot, you may catch 3 Pokémon and compare them. You may level, evolve, teach TMs, etc. to any of the 3. You must eventually settle on using 1 of them. (Heartgold/Soulsilver only: this Pokémon you catch must be at 3 levels lower than the one you entered the Bug Catching Contest with). You may catch an additional 4th Pokémon if it's one of your starter favorites. Once you settle on a pivot: It must be different than any Pokémon you were running before; if it later evolves into one of those Pokémon, that's OK. You may reenter each Dungeon one additional time. You must beat the game with this new Pokémon. Evolutions will now have their original spread before evolving plus the extra BST they get randomly spread across their stats. Rough ideas of balancing pivot vs non pivot: Pivot or no pivot must be decided as soon as the Safari Zone becomes accessible. This is game dependent, so for HGSS, for instance, it would be as soon as you beat Morty. If you were to use a banned item during your non-pivot run, then must pivot as soon as you reach the pivot area for each game or as soon as you use it. IF NO PIVOT: Full Restores, Rare Candies, Set-up moves, most X items, regular TMs are banned. There could also be some EXP limitations that definitely need playtesting. The following abilities are banned: Huge/Pure power (allowed if <411 BST), Speed Boost, Pickup (?). Gen4 only: Huge/Pure power (allowed if <411 BST), Speed Boost, Pickup (?), Magic Guard, Poison Heal, No Guard. Note how Battle/Shell Armor are now allowed. Any move that drains HP from opponent is now banned. IF PIVOT: Set-up moves are allowed once per battle, no matter who you are facing. This rule also applies for any X item. Banned moves apply to this rule. Any TM can be taught to your new Pokémon, but only one per Pokémon will be allowed. The following abilities are banned: Huge/Pure Power (allowed if <411 BST). Gen4 only: Huge/Pure Power (allowed if <411 BST). TL;DR IF NO PIVOT BANNED ITEMS: Full Restore, Rare Candies, X items (?), Non-Gym TMs. BANNED ABILITIES: Huge/Pure Power (allowed if <411 BST), Speed Boost, Pickup items. BANNED MOVES: Any setup, draining moves. Now I will list every decision me and the community have made and the reason why each and every specific rule, rule change, and general ideas exist. Anything already existing in challenges such as ironMON, Kaizo ironMON, Super and Subpar I will not be explaining why it's there here, since the original creator has the say on that and I'm simply applying it to what we have in hand here. It is important to remember that, while it is true that I had the idea of this challenge, it wouldn't have been nearly as good without everyone's help. I quick thank you before we keep going! With that being said, let's start of with the rules: RULE #1: You may choose to pivot or not to pivot. WHY: The essence of Super and Subpar Kaizo had to be preserved in this challenge. The history of ironMON in Pokémon challenges is absolutely legendary at this point, and respecting the former creator and those who have done nothing but improve the challenge was an absolute must. Being able to choose between pivoting and not pivoting adds layers to the challenge, making it more interesting without being confusing. Viewers and runner can now be attached to something from right off the start, expecting an extremely difficult challenge coming ahead, which is very much in flavor of the original Kaizo: unfair, not a walk in the park. The purpose of this was not to make it relaxing nor friendly; frustration is expected out of losing, but also extra satisfaction out of a specific situation going your way, such as a really good Pokémon out of the lab, a great play from the runner or even a very lucky outcome. RULE #2: If you pivot, your run becomes more accessible. If you don't, your run will be extremely hard. WHY: This is definitely the most flavorful decision of this challenge: choosing a path. Having to pivot becomes a choice; you are no longer forced to do something that you don't want to do or might be frustrated if you do. Now you have the power to do whatever you think is best for your run, which shows skill and is extremely interactive not only with your community, but also with yourself and the game. You might not plan to pivot, but hey! Here's TM## Earthquake off the ground, which you cannot teach unless you pivot. And hey! A Rare Candy. Those are banned unless you are pivoting. But hold on! Your basically perfect Kingdra just learned Dragon Claw. It creates a really immersive experience for everyone. The constant communication with the game as you go through it is what I believe makes this challenge so unique and fun. RULE #3: Moves which give a boost of +2 of an offensive stat are banned. WHY: These moves have been very infamous for making a challenge so difficult as Kaizo Ironmon be much easier than it should be. If you simply press one of those moves to +6 to a specific stuff you normally don't have to deal with an entire team, but just one at the start and hope it doesn't go for Perish Song or perhaps Leech Seed. That's not very interactive, and it can make some runs extremely trivial while also toxic, since they so heavily rely on things going well from one specific enemy. Notice, however, how the use of moves such as Agility are allowed. This is because going +6 in speed doesn't have this effect in a battle at all, and it can allow for some unique sets with low speed to work, similar to You could, of course, also do this with moves that only boost the move +1, such as Meditate or Growth, but that's why the following rule was created. RULE #4: If you pivot, you may use any X Item or non-banned setup move once per fight. WHY: I believe using a move such as Meditate or Growth used once per fight doesn't create a situation where interacting only with one Pokémon, just like I explained in Rule #3, is reached. Allowing for this kind of situation also creates variety in a set, and having to sacrifice a whole move slot just for +1 is definitely not overpowered. Notice how this isn't even a possibility if you choose not to pivot: if that's your route, even doing this isn't allowed. That emphasizes on the fact that runs which decide to take their original Pokémon will have to face a really difficult challenge, unfair if you will. RULE #5: Every TM can be taught to your pivot, but only once. Until you pivot, only Gym TMs can be taught, and also only once. WHY: Having TMs be 50% to be taught can easily lead to a frustrating experience. Remember: the game is the one that needs to create that feeling, and going through a literal coinflip isn't exactly interesting. A Pokémon can be made or broken by a situation like this, and it's simply sad to miss an opportunity so rare just because you got tails instead of head. I consider that not to be competitive, and I think a challenge like this needs to test a runner's skill almost above everything. What's so unique about Kaizo, however, is that randomness will always be a factor, and that can be fun. This is balanced out by the fact that only one can be taught to each Pokémon, and it's a way to incentivize pivot runs. RULE #6: You must battle the Vermillion Gym right after getting Cut. (Needs playtesting/opinion from the community) WHY: Lt. Surge felt like the weakest out of the 4 gym leaders before pivoting. You were able to even do him late, even after Rock Tunnel (although this is not normally recommended because of the Speed Badge Boost), making it a much easier fight since 4 of his 6 Pokémon were below level 30, which guarantees a fully evolved species. That's not the case for his trainers, who are arguably potentially harder than Surge, but the gym as a whole felt like the weakest. This also punishes non-pivot runs because of the following rule. RULE #7: If non-pivot, you must get Cut and immediately leave the SS Anne, without getting any item nor fighting any optionals. WHY: This might look odd, since Exp is not as relevant if you are going to pivot anyway, but truth is that the experience is greatly appreciated for Surge and Rock Tunnel. This way, getting to the pivot should be more consistent, and it should truly test the limits of your non-pivot Pokémon. Now to list the changes from the other categories. CHANGE #1: Evolutions will now keep their original spread, and have the potential extra BST gain randomly spread across their original stats. WHY: Evo runs have always been really weak compared to just the good ol' big BST beast, such as Kingdra or Snorlax. Obviously this kind of Pokémon will always have an advantage--they are, in the end, among the strongest. With this change, though, you can now control far more reliably what you will get out of your evolution, making dream runs like Salamance or Dragonite be far more reasonable and potentially a win condition to your non-pivot (or pivot!) runs. CHANGE #2: Double the amount of favorites (3 to 6 for gen3). WHY: I considered just outright being able to choose the ball from the start, but I think that's actually not very flavorful. Getting a silly Sunkern in the lab, while a waste of time strictly speaking, can also lead to very good content. This change attempts to do three things: make lab Pokémon more consistent, having a better shot at the pivot point, and potentially having a better way to monetize this system for streamers. CHANGE #3: Trainers start holding their items at lvl 20. WHY: The early game in some games, especially FR/LG, can get really annoying at times. If the first bug catcher just casually has a Sitrus Berry, that increases his Pokémon HP by up to 30, which basically means you could double his HP bar, and make his Pokémon which has this item have its BST increased by 70. That is way beyond your control, and the early game for this game is already really hard with smart AI trainers and high levels from the get go. Thus, trainers will start having their held items at lvl 20, which make Brock's ace potentially harder (in flavor), and trainers such as the first Rocket in Mt. Moon also becomes potentially harder. In addition, this number is quite easy to remember. CHANGE #4: Hidden Items are allowed. WHY: If you are to ban a certain % of the items, while it is true that you are making it less likely for the runner to have useful items, you also incentivize those runs that get incredibly lucky anyway, which is makes a clunky mechanic. This is also extremely bad in later generations, where lots of items that are irrelevant to the challenge are added, thus making heals less common. The difficulty curve can still be played around with if you ban the most powerful items, which is the case for non-pivot runs. And finally, I will share some of my general ideas. Bear in mind that some of these can actually become changes to the category, but I'm still not quite sure if they would be good or not. IDEA #1: Runs don't need to die if you use a banned item for non-pivot, but then you HAVE to pivot. WHY: Something I really want to achieve with this is that a broken rule by accident should never mean the fun ends (unless it's really blatant, in which case then it's probably not an accident to begin with). Some actions, however, mean that the course of your run will inevitable change, and that is the case with this one. IDEA #2: Only the best among the best can beat the game if you don't pivot. WHY: I was a really big fan of regular Kaizo. But it ultimately felt a tad too easy to beat with the proper Pokémon. If you don't pivot in this category, it really resembles what Kaizo offered, and that is why there need to be heavy restrictions if you choose the non-pivot route. We all know at this point that having to swap your Pokémon mid-way is a really heavy punish on its own, especially in games like FireRed/LeafGreen, where your options to scout something in the Safari Zone are very limited. This is why only extremely good Pokémon should be able to beat the game, even if the E4 is a lot easier than average. I'm sure the community will come up with unique ideas, on top of the ones we already have, to make non-pivot runs even harder. Remember: ironMON is not meant to be light on you. It's a really, really hard challenge. The sky is the limit as long as the ideas are not ridiculous. IDEA #3: Allow more than 3 Pokémon in the Safari Zone, or allow to catch more than one of the same species for reroll purposes. WHY: The main goal of the Safari Zone is to get a good Pokémon to beat the game with. Having 3 choices is interesting, and truth is, sometimes you don't even have that many. But sometimes the 3 choices you get are lackluster. That's not fun at all. This rule idea is to mostly allow for more aggressive approaches (low BST Pokémon, Evo runs, YOLO Huge Power out of a weak Pokémon) to flourish, but it needs to be studied, especially with those who are very familiar with Super and Subpar.