Game Design Blog #10 - The Nuzlocke Challenge

In the Pokemon community there are many who consider the regular games to be way too easy. The Pokemon series is not known for being a hard one. Many argue that the series is easier to get into because of how easy it is to play. Others want more of a challenge after playing the same games for so long. 

This was the thought process for a webcomic artist known as Nuzlocke. Nuzlocke was bored during finals week at his college and decided to play an old copy of his Pokemon Ruby. Thinking the game to be too easy he imposed two self-restricted rules on his playthrough. He was only allowed to capture the first new Pokemon he saw in each new area and if a Pokemon fainted he had to release it thus making the Pokemon not usable for the rest of the play through. The results were what he did not expect. He found himself caring about his Pokemon team and using Pokemon no normal players would use. He wanted to share his experience so he made a now well-known web comic known as Pokemon:Hard Mode. He posted them on 4chan and these users have dubbed it the Nuzlocke Challenge. 

The impact the Nuzlocke Challenge had on the Pokemon community was astounding. Many fans of the comic partook in the challenge and made their own webcomics. The Nuzlocke Challenge had thus developed it’s own community and the challenge is well-known by many Pokemon fans. People on youtube.com have also recorded themselves doing their own Nuzlocke Challenge spreading the popularity of it. Others (such as myself) partake in the challenge on their free time. Many add their own rules to the challenge to make it harder or easier and it is all up to preference. The same two rules are still intact. The original webcomic although vulgar and comedic did teach a valuable lesson to Pokemon fans everywhere. The lesson that it taught was “there is no victory without loss.”

You can read the original comic here: http://www.nuzlocke.com/pokemonhardmode.php?p=1

Resource: "What Is the Nuzlocke Challenge?" What Is the Nuzlocke Challenge? 1 Jan. 2010. Web. 5 Nov. 2014. <http://www.nuzlocke.com/challenge.php>.