Professor Oak's Challenge

[~ Z ~]

Hello all, this thread will be here to talk about the tedious and difficult challenge known as the Professor Oak Challenge. This challenge was started on Reddit and has an entire subreddit for it. The rules are simple but test your patience and endurance. Obtain every Pokemon you possibly can in a single given game before you reach your next Gym badge. To elaborate, here are the rules more in depth. 

1. Obtain every Pokemon possible before reaching your first Gym Badge.

This means that you must fully evolve your starter Pokemon before reaching the first gym badge of your selected game. For example, say you are playing Pokemon Red. You got your starter ready but you must also catch and evolve Pidgey, Rattata, Caterpie, Weedle, etc. Every single Pokemon that can be caught before Brock must be fully evolved. Stone evolutions are an exception because some stones are not available later into the game. It sounds easy, but it is very draining and tests your patience thanks to a slow and repetitive nature. 

2. You can only use one version of a game.

If you are playing Pokemon Red, then Pokemon exclusive to Pokemon Blue will be unobtainable. Trading is also not allowed meaning trade evolutions like Alakazam and Gengar are also unavailable. 

You are free to use items and any rare candies you find. The trick to the playthrough is to find the right Pokemon to grind off of and which Pokemon to evolve first. This challenge also works very well in the remakes, and, believe it or not, is actually a little bit more difficult, even with the EXP. SHARE. The easiest version to try this challenge is in Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire version due to the Pick Up ability on Zigzagoon. It has a 10% chance to get an item after every battle, out of those items, a Rare Candy which can easily lift hours of grinding. This changed from Emerald version onward.

I am currently attempting this challenge on my Omega Ruby version and I am about 10 hours in with 3 fully evolved Pokemon under my belt (Beautifly, Dustox, and Mightyena. I would count Nuzleaf but I have to evolve it with a leaf stone) I saw a video that inspired me to attempt my version of the Professor Oak Challenge and see if I can handle it. It's rough but I'm actually enjoying it! This thread is here for anyone interested and hopefully post times for how long it took everyone to finally get to their first gym leader. 

For more information about the challenge and for extra tips, view the subreddit it originates from, r/ProfessorOak.

 

[Appelsider]

Wow that sounds  super tedious to be honest! XD
I'd never have that kind of patience, I'm one of those type of people who wanna know the story of the game as soon as possible so I'm not really a patient gamer.
Even for a second playthrough, this would sound like too big a pain for me. XD

But its  cool you're giving it a try and it sounds really hard! Perseverance is key, don't give up! And lemme know how long it took you in total.  :teehee:

 

[LoopyPanda]

I don't think I could endure this any better than a normal Nuzlocke challenge, but yknow, I'd probably attempt this in my copy of Let's Go... only after I figure out if it's actually possible to do a casual speedrun of it using only Eevee

I'd go nuts if I attempt this on any other game... but then I might miss out on a possible Shiny... but I also have no patience!!! Had no idea an entire reddit of super masochist Pokemon fans exist (but Nuzlockes are designed for masochists aren't they? :lmao: )

Either way, I also wanna know how long it took you huehue

 

[~ Z ~]

Finally got me a Swampert at the ripe level of 36. Took me 20 hours to reach this far but I still have a long way to go. I still need Gardevoir, Exploud, Slaking, Pelipper, and the Ninjask line.

 

[~ Z ~]

I finally got the final Pokemon I needed. The hards ones were Gardevoir, Slaking, and Exploud. I GOT THEM THOUGH. Now on to the next batch. Keep in mind that I do not have the stone evolutions, and after doing some research, they are required before moving on. However, in the Remakes, the only way to obtain the stones is through Super Training. You must beat all the ones required before being able to attempt to get the ones that give out the stones. So technically, I failed this challenge, but frankly, I'm just going to wait until I get the actual stones to get the Pokemon. I know eventually I'll have to do the Super Training regardless, but I want to train the Pokemon I have now. It's hard enough as it is...

I mean, it took me 38-39 hours just to get to the first gym... And that's with me playing nonstop.

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[ShineCero]

That sounds very, very tedious, but pretty interesting!

Do you think you can do this challenge with Sword and Shield? :thinking:

 

[~ Z ~]

Judging with how Wild Areas work and how much you can access them, it will be really difficult to attempt this challenge. I don't know how many Pokemon will be available in the Wild Areas and how much you'll be given access to early on, but let's just say you will have at least 60 Pokemon registered in your dex. You also need to know which Pokemon are going to be there too. Pokemon that have a slow Experience rate will need more work than faster groups and I have no idea how/where the best experience will be rewarded. I'm also not sure if you'll be able to rematch trainers so you'll have to rely entirely on wild Pokemon until that information is confirmed. I was thinking that the 'higher leveled' Pokemon can be a good source of experience but it'll be difficult to defeat with low leveled Pokemon.

 

[~ Z ~]

Spoiler

Spoiler

These are all the Pokemon I can obtain before the third Gym badge and MAN OH MAN, this was more of a breeze than before. The deeper I go into the game, the easier this challenge gets. Mostly because I have access to higher level Pokemon and trainers. Whelp, time to run the gauntlet that is the fourth badge. I know there's a ton of more Pokemon I need for that part but I think most are single evolutions. I'm READY.

Pokedex is at 77 caught and 92 seen.
Time is 75 hours.
Yeesh.

 

[~ Z ~]

Spoiler

I know this thread is practically dead but I am posting this to let you guys know that I never gave up on the challenge. Sure, I took a bit of a break (Sword and Shield took most of my time). That time you see is very real. 168 In-Game hours. This is my time before I fight Wallace, the 8th Gym leader of Hoenn. But I can't fight him until I have 387 registered Pokemon. You heard me right! 387 Pokemon.


Truth be told, this isn't all that bad since I've seen people spend almost over 200+ hours. Why? Well, the Mirage Islands are kinda luck-based. They change every 24 hours. I currently have 362 registered Pokemon (the number you see in the picture is how I have SEEN) so I don't need that much but this last push is the real test of my patience. So far, I've been kinda(?) lucky since every other day I get the Mirage islands I need. But once that number gets lower and lower, the chances of getting repeats massively increases. I'm not sure when I will fight Wallace but I'll be sure to let you guys know.

 

[ShineCero]

Holy shit dude, good job :joy: