The "Wonderlocke Challenge" is a variant seen in Gen VI games and beyond, wherein any Pokémon caught must immediately be traded through Wonder/Surprise Trade, and the received Pokémon is to be used instead. This sometimes comes with a level restriction where, if the received Pokémon is too strong relative to that area of the game (e.g., getting a level 40 Mon when you haven't even beaten the first Gym yet), you must continue to trade until you get an appropriately leveled Pokémon.
There's also the "Cagelocke Challenge" where two people, mostly content creators, play the game like a normal Nuzlocke with each other and when both combatants complete a Pokémon gym, they both enter a Wifi battle with only one of their Pokémon. Whoever is beaten in that battle must release the Pokémon they used in it.
Marriland's "Wedlocke Challenge", which requires you to pair up your Pokémon into Battle Couples. In battle, you can only swap out a Pokémon for its partner, and a pair is permanent until one of the Pokémon dies; in which case, the partner must try to "avenge" their loved one and finish the battle before they can be reassigned a new one, and if the partner does faint before the battle finishes, there's no other choice.
The "Soul-link" Nuzlocke is based around two players, when both players catch a Pokémon from the same area, they are considered 'linked' and should one die, the other is considered dead as well. should one player fail to catch a Pokémon (if it either fainted or ran out of pokeballs) then the other player must release the Pokémon even if they successfully caught it.
A popular even harder variant of the Nuzlocke, especially among content creators, is the "Hardcore Nuzlocke" which adds three rules: no item use during battles, "set" mode enablednote Normally, in battles with NPC Trainers, upon defeating one of the opponent's Pokémon, the incoming replacement is announced to the player, and they are given the opportunity to switch out for another Pokémon. This is the default "Switch" option under "Battle Style" in Options; "Set" excises this opportunity, and the opponent's next Pokémon is sent out without intermission, as in battle facilities and multiplayer battles, and self-imposed level caps where the player can only raise Pokémon up to the level of the highest level Pokémon used by the incoming Gym Leader.
The "Snaplocke" is a variant where half of the Pokémon families that can be encountered in a given game become ineligible to be encountered. Often, a player will ask their friends or (in the case of content creators) followers or subscribers to decide which Pokémon are "snapped". Almost invariably, the results are that almost all the strong families available in a given game are wiped and the player is stuck with junk.
Other Challenge Runs and Self-Imposed Rules
In general, the most common self-imposed rules that you'll find used, either on their own or in conjunction with the various challenges listed on this page, include no item use during battle (this may or may not include held items), using "set" battle mode (which disables the option to switch Pokémon in response to what an opposing trainer is about to send out after a KO), and banning the use of Legendary and Mythical Pokémon. Refusing to use Legendaries and Mythicals during the main game is actually a common enough occurrence that even casual players tend to abide by this rule.
Solo Character Runs, with the challenge of these runs being highly dependent on what Pokémon you choose. While there are definitely plenty of Pokémon that make such an attempt difficult, if not impossible (especially if you throw in a "No Evolution" clause), there are also a fair number that can actually make a Solo Pokémon Run easier than a normal one. An over-leveled Pokémon with good stats and a sufficiently versatile moveset can brute force their way through pretty much anything, as it's easy for most Mons to shrug off type disadvantages when they're thirty levels higher than the opponent, and your starter is definitely a member of this group.note In fact, it isn't uncommon for younger first-time players to use only their starter in battles throughout most of the game because of this. The idea of training the rest of the team never comes to mind because their awesome pet dragon or otter is handling everything by itself. All you'll need are a few PP-restoring items for the Elite Four and (in earlier generations) an extra Pokémon or two whose only purpose would be to hold mandatory HM moves, if your chosen Pokémon can't learn all the required ones. On the other hand, use a Pokémon that doesn't have a good moveset or base stats (like a first-stage Bug-type), or an odd gimmick (like Ditto or Shedinja), and you will find yourself forced to come up with some interesting strategies to get to the end credits.
This is taken up a notch on games where the Elite Four and Champion all leveled up on the rematches, most notably Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. It is possible to do, but not consistent.Explanation The 5 challengers' Pokemon are between levels 75 to 88. Pokemon here have mostly max IVs and max EVs, making their stats a lot harder to defeat. In order to succeed, you will need to one-shot every Pokemon outside of super-effective hits and be faster than every Pokemon here. Most Pokemon have moves that cover a lot of types. Yanmega can randomly use Detect to protect itself and get a free speed boost, outpacing unboosted Pokemon that have no priority moves. Ninetales instantly use sunlight, powering up fire moves and halving damage for the super-effective water moves. Infernape and Lucario have Focus Sash and a priority move, meaning they are almost guaranteed to deliver 1 or 2 hits against you unless you have a multi-hit move. The only known Pokemon to achieve this is Kyogre at Level 100, Max IVs other than Attack, EVs on Special Attack and Speed, and Timid nature (ups Speed but lowers Attack). The reason for speed is due to Alakazam; the setup just barely outspeeds Alakazam by 1 point and lowering it even down a notch means Alakazam gets a free hit. Surf is its main move to use against most of the Pokemon due to STAB and Drizzle power-up. Thunder and Ice Beam are used for Pokemon weak to those moves (except for Rhyperior which you use Surf instead). Origin Pulse, while 15% inaccurate, is used against Arcanine and Magmortar since Surf can't one-shot them due to sun. Milotic can't be 1-shotted with Thunder. The reasons why this is inconsistent are the A.I. dependency on move selection, critical hits, unlucky chances of status like paralysis, and the mechanic in the game where the Pokemon with the max friendship can dodge a move or endure fainting that leaves it at 1 HP.
Mono-Type has you act as an unofficial Gym Leader, as you're only able to use Pokémon of a single type. Depending on the game, this can greatly limit your team selection; for example, attempting a Mono-Fire run in Diamond & Pearl leaves you with only the fire starter and the Ponyta evolutionary lines to work with.
No-Evolution. As the name suggests, you aren't allowed to evolve your Pokémon. Pokémon that don't evolve whatsoever are fair game. Some players will allow themselves to catch mid-stage Mons if they appear in the wild, while others also allow final stage evolutions found in the wild.
Permadeath runs: if a Pokémon faints, you must release it. Especially against the Elite Four. In a similar vein, the "No-Blackout" challenge forces you to restart the game from the beginning if all your Pokémon faint. If you're really hardcore, you can make a No-Damage Run, which is nigh impossible — but it's been done before. Gamechamp3000 tried this in their VG Myths series and beat Pokémon Bluewithout taking a single hit, with one of the rules being that Save Scumming wasn't allowed and that they'd have to start from the very beginning if they took damage. Another player, Smallant1 also pulled it off in Platinum, though with a rule that he could save after defeating every gym, with those serving as checkpoints.
"Shiny Only" runs. Runs where only shiny Pokémon can be used, usually requiring loads and loads of Save Scumming gifted Pokémon (starters or Eevees typically) or guaranteed encounters (legendary encounters usually) until a shiny is found. The most popular is G/S/C/HG/SS, as a shiny Gyarados is a guaranteed encounter.
The "Living Pokédex" Challenge for completionists and collectors. This challenge takes Gotta Catch Them All to its logical extreme, as you're required to have one of every species in that game's National Pokédex at once in your PC. Bonus points if you organize them in proper order. True Pokémaniacs can take even that up a notch with the "Living Shinydex" challenge, which is the same but with the ultra-rare Shiny Pokémon — including the one-time-only Legendaries. Have fun spending literal days soft-resetting the game 1,000+ times until you get that Shiny starter Pokémon! note And Arceus help you if your game is one that requires you to go through a long cutscene between the closest save point and actually getting that starter, like Pokémon X and Y or Pokémon Sun and Moon. Doubly so if your muscle memory decides to screw you over and you automatically soft-reset before your brain registers that, yes, that was a shiny.
"Professor Oak's Challenge" requires you to catch and evolve as many Pokémon as possible before each Gym badge, completing as much of the regional Pokédex as you can with the minimum amount of badges possible. You must do this in a single playthrough and using only one copy of the game, meaning trade evolutions and version exclusives aren't available.
Pacifist Runs where you can't directly attack the opponent. Most players take the Technical Pacifist approach, where indirect damage is still allowed, meaning you can use status moves to inflict conditions such as poison and burn, or set up entry hazards such as Spikes. There are also "true pacifist" runs, where your moveset is limited even further to just stat-altering and PP-draining moves, meaning you have to force the opponent to run out of moves and Struggle to death. You can also use Pokémon with passive status inflicting abilities like Poison Point or Flame Body, or passive damage inflicting abilities like Rough Skin or Iron Barbs.
NPC runs, where you roleplay as an A.I. trainer, be they Bug Catchers, evil team Grunts, or Gym Leaders. This means you have to use the same species of Pokémon they have (evolution may or may not be allowed), and you aren't allowed to use healing items in battle.note If you're roleplaying a trainer that does, such as a Gym Leader, you're limited to the same amount as them. This may also limit the number of Pokémon you can have on your team.
The "Team Rocket Challenge" is a related challenge.
- You must have a cheating device with a "catch Trainer Pokémon" cheat available at all times. note Wait, are we talking about Team Rocket or Cipher? - The only "wild" Pokémon you may use (outside of your starter) are of Bug, Dark, Ghost, and Poison type, and the Rattata line or that generation's equivalent (Sentret, Zigzagoon, Bidoof, Patrat). - You may use Pokémon outside the above types only by stealing them from fellow Trainers. - When battling an important Trainer (Rival, Gym Leaders, Team Leaders, Elite Four, Champion), you may only steal their last Pokémon. - If the game you are playing has Team Rocket as the enemy team, avoid as many Team Rocket battles as possible. If the enemy team is not Team Rocket, you must battle them as much as possible.
The "Gary Oak Challenge", which attempts to mirror your Gen I rival's game progression, and is really grind-heavy as a result. How he did all this and still managed to beat you to the Elite Four is beyond us:
- You must capture every unique Pokémon you can on the first available route. - Once you have more than six Pokémon, you must constantly rotate team members so that every Pokémon is used regularly in battle. - All Pokémon must be leveled up evenly, and they cannot be at a higher level than the Rival's strongest Pokémon at that point in the game. - Pokémon who evolve by means other than leveling up must be evolved as soon as possible.
The "Ash Challenge" or "Ash%" is a run of Pokémon Yellow (though Let's Go, Pikachu! can also work) that requires you to roleplay Ash's journey from the early arcs of Pokémon: The Series as closely as possible. Due to all the liberties the series took, it is none too easy.
- You must name yourself "ASH" and your rival "GARY." - You must keep Pikachu in the party throughout the entire playthrough. - You may only catch Pokémon that Ash used in the series. You must catch all of them, in the proper order, and as soon as possible.note The official speedrun category is particularly stringent on this, as it mandates you catch a Primeape—not a Mankey, but a wild Primeape, which is a fairly late encounter—before evolving most of your team, and twenty-nine Safari Zone Tauros. You also have to release Pokémon that Ash released—Butterfree, Primeape, and Pidgeot. - The rule on catches also applies to evolutions—they have to be done in the proper order they were given in the series. That means Bulbasaur and Squirtle can't evolve at all, and you can only evolve Charmander into Charmeleon, for instance, after catching Tauros. - You have to reach the Indigo Plateau and win, without making significant use of glitches. (Admittedly, this last one is a bit of a deviation, but it wouldn't be much fun to wash out of the League after all that work.)
The "Scramble" challenge: another player picks your team for you. That's your definitive team throughout the game; you can't evolve them. (Sucks if you're stuck with Magikarp and Wurmple.) A variant has you do this with eggs, as no one knows what's inside them until they hatch. The "Wonder Trade Challenge", only possible from Pokémon X and Y onward, is a variant where all Pokémon you catch must be Wonder Traded, and you're stuck with whatever you get in return. If you get a duplicate, Wonder Trade it again. Some variants require that instead of releasing fainted Pokémon, you must Wonder Trade them again.
The "N Challenge" originated in Pokémon Black and White, but can be done in other entries. You're not allowed to nickname your Pokémon and all of them are temporary party members; you must designate a certain point (e.g. after every Gym battle or rival fight) where you dump your team and catch new Pokémon, although you're allowed to keep one Pokémon after the fifth gym (and some variants allow you to keep your starter as well). Your team against the Elite Four must also contain at least one legendary (a real one — pseudo-legendaries don't count).
- No evolving your Pokémon. - No Dark, Psychic, or Ghost Pokémon or moves. - No Ekans, Arbok, Seviper, Serperior, Silicobra, or Sandaconda. - Pokémon must be Level 22 before they can breed. - Pokémon of the same gender cannot share a daycare center. - It is your duty to keep any egg Pokémon in the party until Level 18. - Legendaries are false idols and should be either killed or released into the wild if they have to be caught in order to progress in the game. - No Fossils, Game Corners, or drugs (PP Up, Rare Candy, etc.).
- Avoid battles wherever possible. - Never make wild Pokémon faint. - Don't catch more than you can carry (i.e. don't use PC boxes). - You must pick up items on the ground. - Never throw out items. - Don't buy supplies from Poké-Marts if you can help it.
- Choose one Nation to be a part of, be it Waternote Water, Ice, Grass, and Poison, Earthnote Ground, Rock, Steel, and Fighting, Firenote Fire, Electric, Dark and Dragon, or Airnote Flying, Psychic, Ghost, and Bug. Only catch Pokémon that are in your respective element. You are not the Avatar and you've got to deal with it. - You may catch a Pokémon if it can evolve into a type from your nation (e.g. Earth can have a Torchic because it will become a Fighting type). But if it evolves out of your nation, you cannot use it anymore. - Normal and Fairy types are free game (unless they have a secondary type — e.g. anyone can have a Ratatta, but only Air tribes can have a Pidgey).
The "Poké Ball-Only Challenge", which requires you to catch every Pokémon in the Pokédex using only standard Poké Balls. Good luck with the Legendary Pokémon. (You do get a pass for the Safari Zone and the Bug-Catching Contest, which require you to use specific types of balls.)
- You're only allowed to use the Meganium line, the Ampharos line, the Arcanine line, the Espeon line, Lapras and the Dragonite line. (In fact, this team is based on the Pokémon the Tokimeki PokéLive! and TwinBee version of Shizuku uses in that continuity.) - All of them must be female. - All of them must be named after Love Live! characters, though a variant also allows you to name them after characters from similar Idol Genre, Slice of Life and Music franchises like K-On!, Lucky Star, The Idolmaster and Vocaloid for example. - You aren't allowed to breed them for perfect IVs (if you're bringing them over from another game where you bred for them) and you aren't allowed to give them 252 EVs in their Attack stat they specialize in and their Speed stat. - You aren't allowed to cheat, unless you're using a Wild Pokémon Modifier cheat to catch them if you're using an emulator to play. - You must evolve them all the way into their final forms. - You must use them even in the postgame, at least until all of them are level 100. - You aren't allowed to challenge the in-game Battle facilities. - Except for plot-important Legendary Pokémon (Reshiram in Black, Zekrom in White, Xerneas in X and Yveltal in Y.), using Legendaries/Mythicals isn't allowed. - You must play as the female protagonist and name them after Shizuku.
Generations VI and VII had a simple one: Switch off the Exp. Share as soon as you get it. In these two generations, an active Exp. Share gives the full amount of Exp to everyone that battled, and half that to everyone else. Leaving it on makes it stupidly easy to steamroll everyone with a level advantage, but turning it off results in a much steeper difficulty curve. Generation VIII removes the Exp. Share as a toggleable Key Item and instead makes its effects permanent by default, but you can partake in a similar challenge by prohibiting the use of Exp. Candies from the Max Raid battles.
The "Ribbon Master" challenge, involving collecting as many ribbons as possible on one Pokémon. Ribbon Masters from Gen III tend to be purified Shadow Pokémon from Pokémon Colosseum or Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness because of their exclusive National Ribbon, but any Pokémon that has every possible ribbon starting from its game of origin counts.
One specific to Pokémon Legends: Arceus — during the boss fights with the Noble Pokémon, Dialga/Palkia, and Arceus, don't send out any of your own Pokémon when the game prompts you to. Finish the fight using your dodging skills and your balms alone. Depending on how well you're keeping up with the level curve, this might actually be easier than instigating a proper Pokémon battle, especially when fighting Arceus, who is under the effects of the Legend Plate during its boss fight.
Spin-Offs
The Pokémon Stadium games have completing the Gym Leader Castle with only rental Pokémon. The rental Pokémon the games offer the player if you don't have a mainline game to connect and import a team from are pitiful to say the least, having terrible stats, mediocre movesets or both. It's certainly possible to cobble together a rental team that can complete the Gym Leader Castle, but the difficulty of later fights combined with Checkpoint Starvation towards the endnote (the Elite Four are treated as a Gym, meaning they're effectively a Boss Rush) means things can go from "fairly challenging" to "is this even possible!?" really quick. Especially if you're going in with no knowledge of each trainer's gimmick or quirk.
For Pokémon Mystery Dungeon players, their biggest challenges involve Kecleon. Tough players try to recruit Kecleon — but even under the absolute best of conditions, their chance of recruitment is 0.1%. Craftier players try to steal from Kecleon — which will result in swarms of extremely high-level Kecleon attacking you (and they can double the speed of any other Kecleon in the room), and losing will turn the player's entire inventory into totally useless Plain Seeds. Truly gutsy players will try to defeat Kecleon.
In Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, the final boss has a full team of Shadow Pokemon. While the game allows you to snag what you can and rebattle as many times as you want for the rest, many players still challenge themselves to snag his whole team in one go.
New Pokémon Snap has the Diamonds Only Challenge, in which you can only take one photo of each Pokémon per trip through each course (with a few exceptions for cases where taking a picture of a Pokémon earlier in the course is the trigger for a later shot) and must submit all pictures to the Professor, and you have to reset as soon as one of them fails to be diamond (at least 4000 points).
. Nuzlocke runs are a variant of the Permadeath run, with the name for the ruleset coming from Nuzlocke Comics. The basic rules of the format are that any Pokémon that faints is considered dead and can't be used for the rest of the run, you can only catch the first wild Pokémon encountered in each area — if they faint or flee, game overnote — and the player must nickname all of their Pokémon, so they can be more emotionally attached to them. That last one isn't actually part of the original ruleset, but enough people adhere to it that it can be odd or even taboo to see someone not do it for their runs. Speaking of, there are also an assortment of additions made to the ruleset for the sake of both convenience and challenge, such as the "Species/Dupes clause" (you can try again if the first encounter in an area is a Mon you already have). Later generations also have self-imposed Obvious Rule Patches to prevent taking advantage of mechanics that would trivialize the challenge, like not being allowed to use the DexNav in Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire or avoiding visible overworld encounters in Pokémon Sword and Shield.