- Greetings Pokefans,
Michael here,
and earlier this year,
I made a video where
I attempted to beat
Pokemon Alpha Sapphire with
only one of my favorite Pokemon,
that is not very well endowed
in the stat
department, Castform!
Hell yeah!
There were multiple reasons
I chose to do that challenge
in Alpha Sapphire,
but one of the biggest ones
is that it's a generation
where TMs do not break.
What that means is
that I could change
my Castform's move set
to have it specialize
in a particular
weather that differed
depending on the boss battle.
So for example, I fought
Flannery with rain,
Wallace with sun,
and Drake with hail.
Yeah.
But then I became
aware of someone else
who did a Castform
solo run challenge,
but in an older game
where TMs do break
and therefore changing the
move set up is not so easy.
That challenge is
"Can I beat Pokemon Emerald
with only Castform?"
by Mah-Dry-Bread.
I've been watching
Mah-Dry-Bread's
Pokemon play through
challenges for a while.
And he does ones
that are a lot harder
than the ones I attempt,
because I like it
when things are fun.
And I asked permission
to make a reaction video
to his Castform video, and
he graciously said yes.
So make sure to subscribe
to Mah-Dry-Bread,
link to his channel will be
in the description below.
And he does very regular
Pokemon challenges.
So, if you don't like
how infrequent mine
are, there you go.
I have seen many of
Mah-Dry-Bread challenges,
but I have not seen
the Castform one.
So I'm excited to check it out
and I'm just gonna be reacting
to seeing how he's able
to pull it off, if he is.
So, without further ado,
don't forget to
subscribe to my channel.
Since 60% of my viewers
are not subscribed,
which is a hell no moment.
And let's dive
into my reaction to
"Can I beat Pokemon Emerald
with only Castform?"
All right, here we go.
Oh wait, no, here we don't go.
I need my gamer
goggles, hell yeah!
And every time I film
something with these glasses,
I don't notice that they're
dirty during the day,
but with all of
the filming lights,
it like, makes all
the little bits
of not cleanliness on
there much more noticeable
and I like, have to clean
them before every single video
I film wearing them.
Side note, if you're
someone watching this video
who happens to be
working for the company
that makes these glasses,
just hit a brother up for
some sponsorship stuff,
you know, if you want to.
Okay, now I'm ready to go.
I'm going to hit play.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Hey
everyone, Mah-Dry-Bread here.
Pokemon Red with only one
Beedrill was a really weird one.
So let's-
- Pokemon Red
with only Beedrill?
Oh, that doesn't sound-
Wait, that says Butterfree!
Oh, that's the nickname.
Okay, (laughs)
that was a moment.
I haven't done any
play through challenges
in gens one or two yet,
because I started
Pokemon in gen three.
And so, gen three is like the
oldest Pokemon I'm used to.
So whenever I play
through gen one or two,
I'm like, this is so old.
The Pokemon box is terrible.
How did people live like this?
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
Let's do one that
I've been getting requested
nonstop for a whole year now.
Today's the day that
we finally figure out,
would I be able to
beat Pokemon Emerald
with a team of
only one Castform?
Castform's stats are actually-
- Wow, a year!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Pretty
good by the standards
of the Pokemon I usually
use on this show.
- (laughs) Castform's
stats are good
compared to the
Pokemon that I use,
is not a sentence I think
I've heard anyone say ever!
Castform, I mean, that
was something I realized
when I was doing my challenge,
is that early game Castform
is the strongest Pokemon.
But then as you get into
the later parts of the game,
yeah, it's not the strongest.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
70 in each stat,
making it a total
of 420 base stats.
You can make your own jokes.
My level up-
- Oh I did, trust me!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] As
soon as he hits level 10.
And after that, he has access
to tons of weather moves and-
- Okay, I didn't know
this, yikes! (laughs)
So I always thought
Castform got hydro pump,
blizzard, and fire
blast by level up.
I know it gets
hurricane nowadays.
I know it didn't
always get that.
Cause hurricane is
not a gen three move.
I was not aware it did
not get hydro pump,
fire blast, and blizzard.
Like,
wow that sucks. (laughs)
This really will be a
heck of a lot harder
than the version I did! (laughs)
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
And weather ball.
So he's pretty usable.
The TM move list is also very-
- Pretty usable, okay.
Well I'm just like, wow
that's garbage! (laughs)
And Mah-Dry-Bread is so
used to using Pokemon
like fricking Magikarp
that he's like,
"Wow, this is pretty
decent!" (laughs)
Also, one thing I should mention
in my Castform challenge,
I didn't go with
weather ball at all,
because I just, I completely
forgot that using it
under weather doubled its power.
I thought weather ball
only changed its type,
but no, it becomes
100 base power
if you use it under the weather,
which was something
that I was not aware of.
So I'm sharing
that with you now.
That's why I didn't
use weather ball
in the original
Castform play through,
Cause I didn't know!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
Very impressive,
giving us even
more type coverage
by adding things
like thunderbolt
to our potential move list.
- Castform's move set
is not one of it's weak points!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
Better than what
I usually have to choose from.
- Oh yeah!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] His main
gimmick though,
is his ability forecast.
It makes him into a fire
form during harsh sunlight,
water form in the rain,
and an ice form in hail.
- Yeah!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Weather
ball, that will get stronger
and gain a new type
along with the weather.
This is actually
really powerful.
In fact, this might be-
- News to me
after I've posted mine! (laughs)
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] To be honest.
Like always, I'm
writing the script
as I go through
with the challenge.
So, this part is being
written before I've started.
Everyone comment down below
and guess if I can win or not.
I'm pretty confident
that I can beat this one.
I don't wanna get
too overconfident,
but I think this
will be an easy run.
That's kind of why I put
this off for so long.
- So two things,
Mah-Dry-Bread and I,
despite the fact that we
both do Pokemon play through
challenge videos, clearly
do it differently. (laughs)
First off, the
production process.
And he writes it as he goes
along, as you just said.
I write the whole thing, I
do the whole play through
then I write the whole script,
because then I can
speckle in jokes
and foreshadowing and stuff.
I know literature.
But also, I think it's so funny
about our different scales
of difficulty. (laughs)
Like, he's confident
this is gonna be easy
compared to all the other
ones that he's done.
And he's not gonna
use items in battle,
if you see that at the
top, which is something.
And like, I'm just like,
"No items in battle?
"No!" (laughs)
And I was like, "Castform
solo run in gen three?
Nay peasant, it's
entirely too difficult
"for a king such as myself!"
Alternatively, you
could interpret that as,
"I'm a giant wimp!"
Which honestly like, if
you're calling me a wimp
in regards to the difficulty
level of Pokemon games
I decide to play,
I'm good with that.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Even
though people have been
asking for this nonstop
since I started,
let's explain the rules. In
combat I can only use Castform.
I'll need other Pokemon-
- Standard.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] To use HMs,
but I won't be allowed to
use any of those Pokemon
in battle.
- As I did, yes.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] No
glitches or exploits,
no items in battle, only
pokeballs, held items-
(speakers drown each other out)
- The no glitches
or exploits, yes.
I did my own Alfa Sapphire.
I don't have a hacked 3DS,
I don't know how I would have.
But also the no items and battle
is something that I have, yeah.
Like I said, that seems too hard
for a feeble simpleton
such as myself.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] In
combat are allowed.
Also, if you enjoy this video,
be sure to like, subscribe,
and ring the bell for more.
let's do this!
- Same for my channel!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Use the
universal Pokemon randomizer
to replace Treecko
with Castform,
so we can do the
whole run with it.
I named him Mallow, because
he's a cloud person.
Our nature is hardy, so no-
- Is that a reference?
Mallow, cloud person?
Is that just a reference to
marshmallows being like clouds?
Or is there a character
Mallow in Pokemon?
She's not, she's
a grass type chef.
This is either a reference
I don't understand,
or it's just marshmallows,
clouds, similar things,
not scientifically, but in
appearance and apparent texture.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Changes.
Our actual stats are
almost perfectly even
and we're at level five,
so we only have tackle.
We're normal type right now,
so at least we get the
same type attack bonus
and then it level 10
we get a load of really useful
early game moves.
- Which is honestly, nice.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
The first main fight
was a completely
one sided beat down.
First form starters aren't
really gonna have the stats
to handle us right now.
- Yep!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Very quickly,
we ply through
the early trainers
and when we're fighting
one in the forest,
we hit level 10 and
learn water gun,
ember, and powder snow.
- Water gun, powder snow!
Ember, coverage god!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] I can't even
this good of type coverage
in most of my
Pokemon challenges.
I actually ended up getting
to Roxanne's rock gym
at only level 11,
lower than her Pokemon.
Water gun brought her
first Geodude to a sliver,
but we got hit by
rock tomb, lost speed
and she used a potion to heal.
We took her out
on the follow up-
- How's Nosepass gonna go?
That's not four times weak.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Last
is Nosepass though,
and it's only rock type,
so we aren't double super
effective against it.
We go shot for shot with
water gun and tackle for ages.
But because she has both
an Oran Berry and a potion,
we just get one hit away
from taking her out.
Considering I level up
during the attempt though,
I bet I'll win on
the second try.
- Oh, okay.
See yeah, that's
the tricky thing
about the way Mah-Dry-Bread
does challenges,
is because no items in battle
means he loses a lot more often.
If you haven't watched
my Castform video yet,
please watch it.
I like views.
But a spoiler, I'm
warning you now,
this is a spoiler for
my Castform video.
So if you have not seen it,
click off and go watch it now.
Five, four, three, two, one.
I beat it without
even losing once.
I did not lose a single
battle in the entire time.
But if I could not
heal in battle,
if I could not use in
battle healing items,
I absolutely would have,
especially to like,
that Vileplume and
like overruled rain,
so I was forced into
being a water type
in the rain against
a grass type.
Yeah, woulda lost that one.
I healed a lot and that was
the only reason I won that!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Both
of the Geodudes this time
and it actually
levels me up to 13.
Weirdly enough though,
we actually do worse
against Nosepass,
because in the end, Roxanne
used a second potion.
On the very next attempt though,
we ended up winning because
she used one last rock tomb.
So, we still got a fast win.
Would you look at this,
we're past the rock
gym in an Emerald run
and we're not level 25.
(Michael laughs)
Next up, I'm going
to have to do either-
- That's true, beat
it under level!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Work
towards the electric gym,
but decided to try
the fighting gym
since it's worth
experience for now.
The electric gym is always
really tough anyway.
- Are you not worried
about money though?
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] We
don't make it past Machop.
- Okay, actually,
I was just saying,
so, he's attempting
the fighting gym,
knowing that he's
probably gonna lose,
because he wants the experience.
And I'm sitting here thinking
that's gonna lose
you a lot of money,
which is not great.
But I guess if you're not
using healing items in battle,
you're not as strapped for cash.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Type
until we can change
the form with our weather.
So, they do a lot of damage.
I decided to go level up off
the trainers on the beach
until we can learn our
first weather changing move.
- Yeah, I did the same!
I trained in (drowned
out by other speaker)
to get rain dance,
make myself not-
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] But rain dance
is the only one
I want right now.
And I replaced water gun.
I know it seems really weird
cause I'm giving up
one of the same type
attack bonus moves with it.
But this is a strategic
choice for the long term.
I won't need a water gun again
until I get water
ball at level 30,
but I will need tackle to
deal with the water types
for a little while.
Plus powder snow can
freeze and ember can burn.
Water gun is just water gun.
Even after getting to-
- So that's interesting.
So, he kept only rain
dance, which is what I did,
but I kept water gun around.
I don't recall, I think I
might've deleted powder snow
just because water
and ice overlap a lot
on what they're super effective,
well, ground. (laughs)
I feel like, wow what
else is ice good against?
Just re-watch my video.
I explained my thought
process in my video.
And I don't remember
it now. (laughs)
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Level 20
and using rain dance though,
I still can't beat Machop.
We take far less damage,
but we also have to
keep wasting time
keeping the rain going.
I was hoping for good freezing-
- I one shotted
it with water gun!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] He
thawed out the same turn.
Cause that's just-
- At like the same level, so.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
Brawly used to potion.
I'm gonna have to come
back when I'm stronger
or have a new move.
Let's fight our water gun-
- Water gun woulda worked!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
First is Wingull,
so I tackle it twice
to take it down.
Second was a total tactical
failure on my part,
water gun was the
first move to replace,
but I should have
done this fight.
We have nothing that's
affective against Combusken.
We're weak against it
if we don't make it rain
and we do almost no
damage with tackle.
I'm probably just gonna be stuck
grinding until level 30
when I can get weather ball.
I decided that every
two levels I gain,
I'd try the fighting gym again.
- Okay.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] At level 22,
it's actually going really well.
We do just the right amount
of damage that Machop
got taken out by the
third hit with the crit.
- Aw yes!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] And his
Meditite, I just kept
using powder snow
and tackle, easily
getting us the win,
because he was just
using focus punch
and failing due to the
damage over and over.
Last was Makuhita though,
and his vital throws
were way too strong
and our powder snow
was way too weak.
We really didn't last long.
- Wow, this is just, yeah,
it's such a clearly, just such
a different experience here.
Cause when I did it in the
Castform replaced Mudkip.
I didn't hack in the Castform,
but I just chose Mudkip
and then got a Castform egg
as soon as I possibly could.
And so, my rival had Grovyle,
so my Castform was just like,
just beat it with Ember.
Yeah, not having water
gun to beat the Combusken
is (laughs) yeah, I would agree
on the tactical error part.
But it's fine, there's
a lot of video left.
You'll be fine,
I believe in you.
But also I'm feeling pretty good
that I be Brawly
first try, you know,
much easier game where
I bred my Castform
to have very good IVs
and a modest nature.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
24, the fight goes
almost the exact same way.
It's pretty frustrating
that a large part
of the fights luck is based
on Machop at the start.
At level 26, we do
a little bit better,
but it was mostly
just because he didn't
use vital throw as early.
At least we are really
close to getting a new move.
- Believe in yourself Mallow!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] At level 26,
this time not using rain dance
and powder snow,
instead just tanking
the super effective hits
and staying normal
type so the tackle
gets powered up by the
same type attack bonus.
We do much more damage
and almost take him out,
but we still end up going down.
(Michael screams)
I'm starting to think
that at level 28 I
can finally win this.
- See, this is why
I make challenges
easier on myself than
Mah-Dry-Bread does,
because Mah-Dry-Bread
is just like,
"Oh, couldn't get it here."
Like, how many
times has he fought
this freaking Makuhita? (laughs)
Like, on the, I'm like,
"God, that's so frustrating!
"You still can't beat it!"
And I'm not even
doing it! (laughs)
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] At level 28
we get back to
Makuhita, our tackles
are doing way more
damage than before
and we easily take him out.
It's crazy how a few stat points
can completely change a
battle this early in the game.
It's a shame I had to
level up eight times
just for this one gym though.
- Yeah, that's a
lot of grinding.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] This time
I'm just able to tackle
my way through the entire fight,
but not without taking a lot
of damage in the process.
Double kick mixed with
focus energy for crits
when we're still normal type
is really rough to deal with.
- Yeah.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] While
fighting trainers
in the electric gym,
we finally hit level
30 and replace tackle
with weather ball.
It's a normal move with
50 power and 100 accuracy.
- Yeah, yeah see,
once again, if I knew about
the power doubling thing.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Change
his type accordingly.
That means we have a
100 power water move
with the same type
of attack bonus
because we'll change
the water form.
- Yeah, okay.
Yeah, I know it's good.
I didn't know about
the doubling of power.
I just didn't know, okay?
I didn't know!
I kept water gun,
cause I was like,
"Oh water gun, it's only like
10 base power points less
and I don't have to set
up the rain to use it
and get water damage.
And rain dance just
has very little PP.
That was my thought process,
but it would have been stronger.
It turned out fine, okay?
Like I said, I didn't lose!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
For the fire gym.
That'll be awesome.
Electric gym time though.
Water ball takes
voltorb to a sliver
as he hits us with spark,
but he used a super potion,
so we had to hit
him two more times.
Electrike is second.
- What is weather ball's PP?
Is it only 10?
That was another
draw back of that.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Ember does
a small chunk of damage.
We get paralyzed off-
- It was so fast,
I can't see!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] We Ember
again to bring him to a sliver,
but he uses a super potion.
- Now Watson's team
is brutal in Emerald.
All the paralysis is a lot.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] So,
we're below half health.
Last is Manectric,
but we failed an attack
early from paralysis.
So he quickly took us
down with a few sparks.
- Oh no!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Even if
we weren't paralyzed, we
might not have won that fight.
Failing that, I decided
to fight the trainers
in the area and just
try the fight again
at whatever level that
makes me end up at.
It took a solid half hour,
but we're now three
levels higher.
We know-
- Good, yes!
Good, use your power!
Go Mallow, Go!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
And paralysis us.
But, he only gets one shockwave
before we finish him.
- Stupid Magneton!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
Manectric actually
ended up being pretty easy,
because the way his health
landed from our attacks,
he never ended up
using a super potion.
Honestly, if not for that
we would have lost.
- Oh, spicy!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] The
next story of the game
is where I'm gonna have
to both fight team Magma
and then the fire gym.
But considering we have
rain dance and a water ball,
I'm really not that worried.
The Maxie fight starts-
- He keeps calling it
water ball! (laughs)
Is it technically water
ball when it's raining?
Yeah, but, (laughs) I
just think it's funny!
I mean, it's water ball now!
It's water ball
currently. (laughs)
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Attack,
but we just made it rain
and swept him easily
with powder snow
and weather ball.
- Oh, he said weather
ball that time!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Was a
total sweep with weather ball
once I started rain dance.
- I'm such a jerk
when it comes to like,
"Ha ha, you said
something wrong!"
I do that to PokeMEN7
John all the time.
Calls like, cause
Doublade "do blade"
and I'm just like,
"It's double blade!"
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Usually
this gym is really hard,
so I'm happy that it went well.
We have to get back to
Petalburg city though.
So on my way, I picked
up the root fossil.
I knew that if I
didn't say what I took,
you'd all ask, actually
now that I think about it,
everyone ask anyway,
comments are good for
the YouTube algorithm.
Next is the normal-
- They don't actually
matter that much.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] I
start my rain dance
right away as
Spinda confused us-
- I mean they're good, yes.
But it's not much of an effect.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] We
still hit our weather ball
for a one shot.
Vigoroth also got one
shot by weather ball.
- Yes, go!
Oh god, belly drum Linoone!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] But,
because all he did
was belly drum-
- Ah, terrible memories!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
Confusion, and finished him.
- Oh, oh, oh you got it!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
The rain stopped,
so I just rain danced again.
He wastes his turn
using counter,
so on the turn where
he can't attack
due to his truant ability-
- Oh, that's so much damage!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Seeing as
he's just spamming counter,
I just use rain dance on the
turns where he can attack,
and he goes down
very, very easily.
- That's how you beat Slaking.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
With that done,
we get surf and I
decided to go straight
to the abandoned ship.
- Ice beam?
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] The
areas really small.
- No ice beam, you need dive.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
At all required,
so I usually don't even go here,
but it's really easy to get
the TM for ice beam here.
And ice beams are awesome!
- Oh no!
I'm misremembering things!
Yep there's ice beam! (laughs)
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] At some point,
I just wanted to get it early.
While we're on the TM hunt,
I also shut off the
generator in the New Mauville
power plant.
- Thunderbolt!
You get thunderbolt
so much earlier
in Ruby, Sapphire,
Emerald, than ORAS.
In ORAS, you can't
get the Thunderbolt TM
until after you stopped
the Groudon or Kyogre,
which is like,
man, it was so nice
to be able to get it so early
in Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald.
Freaking ORAS is like,
"No, the move is too
powerful, you must wait!"
Wait until I have seven
badges and the legendary?
Like, come on!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
Then gen three,
since so many major trainers
love water type Pokemon.
This'll probably
carry us through some
really awful fights.
So on our way North,
we have to do the weather
institute battles.
They're so easy that
I never bring them up,
but because we get a
free Castform from it,
I thought it'd be
funny to show you.
Sure we can't use this Castform.
But she was still
really helpful.
She was holding mystic water.
It buffs her water moves-
- That's true!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Power
by 10% in this game.
So I move it to Mallow-
- That's true.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] To
power up hi weather ball
during the rain even more.
After that-
- Mallow's like,
"Thank you sister,
"I will take your mystic
water power." (laughs)
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] May fight,
and this is usually
a really easy one,
but it's always raining here
and she actually resists
water really well.
- Oh yeah, the
always raining stuff!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Absolutely,
insanely bad confusion luck.
I actually almost
lose, even though
she's just using
lame moves like-
- So, I think, so the
thing with like, the rain
on some of these
routes near Fortree
that it's actually
dependent on the time of day
and like, the day of the week.
But with like, if
you're playing,
I believe, if you're
playing on a ROM, the like,
it doesn't have,
like on an emulator,
it doesn't have the
in game clock thing.
And so, it's like,
whatever it decides it is,
it just always is.
So that's why it's
always raining.
It's like with that,
with Shoal Cave,
you like, can't properly
like, make the tide change.
Cause like the DS emulators,
they will just take the
clock time on your computer.
But at least in my experience,
the game boy advance
emulators can't do the same.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Like absorb,
but we do get the
wind on the first try.
The flying gym is next,
but naturally it was a
totally one sided beat down.
- Oh yes!
Go Castform! Go
Castform! Go Castform!
Yes!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] The
team Magma leader Maxie.
- Don't you just
love seeing Castform
one-sidedly defeat everything?
It's fantastic!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
Pokemon, so he doesn't
really stand a chance.
Next is the psychic gym, it
is a mandatory double battle.
So, I filled out the
team with Magikarp.
Right away I make it rain
as our Magikarp goes down.
- That's that Magikarp.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] And we
get hit by earthquake.
I then use the
water weather ball
to one shot Claydol
so he can't sit around
earthquaking us forever.
- Good call!
Claydol's a problem!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] And Xatu
finished the round by
setting up sunny day,
turning us into a fire type.
- Oh boy!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] I've decided
to ice beam Xatu.
- There's the first sun version!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] As
he uses calm mind.
Solrock nails us with psychic
and we're at half health.
Then they hyper potion Xatu,
so our next ice beam
couldn't finish him off
and we got hit by psychic again,
even losing special defense.
- Yeah, double battles
in solo runs are hard!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
Finishes off Xatu,
but Lunatone came out and
one last psychic finished us.
This is always a brutal fight.
- Yeah, especially if
you can't heal in battle.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Sunny day
by making it rain again.
I got farther, since I could
take out Solrock and Lunatone,
but by the time I did,
Xatu had powered up
his special attack so much-
- Ooh, multiple
calm minds! (groans)
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] I
try one more time,
this time replacing
ember with thunderbolt,
just in case I can get
paralysis to stick.
I did the same opener
to deal with Claydol
and this time is Xatu
didn't use sunny day.
So I instantly took out Solrock
with a water weather ball.
- Yes.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Xatu made it
sunny the next round,
so I switched to
thunderbolt and hit Xatu
as their whole team was
just using calm mind.
(Michael groans)
The second thunderbolt
took out Xatu, I made it
rain to switch back to water
and he was still
just using calm mind.
So I brought it to red
health with weather ball.
He used calm mind again,
and I finished him off.
- Yes, go Castform!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Last,
before the final gym,
we have our one fight with
team Aqua's leader Archie,
but he's just Maxie
with a water type.
So, Thunderbolt was great.
(Michael laughs)
Finally, on to the water gym.
Luvdisc is a one shot
with thunderbolt.
And second is Whiscash, first
ice beam for solid damage,
but he uses amnesia.
So, I switched to weather
ball for a physical attack.
Earthquake hurts a bit.
- Oh, I didn't even
think about that!
Yeah, weather
ball, if it's like,
if it's the sandstorm
or no weather version
it's not a special attack.
Fascinating!
When I fought Wallace,
I just like, was like,
"The sunlight!"
Cause I really hadn't
gotten to use the sun much
and I wanted to use it.
So, I was just like solar
beam, solar beam, solar beam!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
Potion, so it took
three more weather
balls to end him.
Sealeo survived
thunderbolt with a sliver,
hit us down to 26 health.
- You jerk!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
Then we finished it.
Crawdaunt was a one shot
and last is Kingdra.
Ice beam did a bit-
- Oh, I hate this Kingdra
so much!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] As he used
double team.
(Michael groans)
The second ice beam hit again
to bring him to low health.
- Screw you Juan!
Screw you Juan and
your dumb Kingdra!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Then
we finished him off
with one last hit.
- Oh, you got him, no he didn't.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Last,
before the Elite Four,
is the Wally fight.
Altaria is double week to ice,
so one ice beam took it out.
- Yep.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Second,
is Delcatty who missed us,
so we had to take
him out in two hits.
Third, is Magneton.
Ice beam isn't doing much,
but the second one
freezes it solid,
so it only hit us once.
- Ooh, ice, ice, baby!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] And
last, is Gardevoir.
Thunderbolt does decent damage.
- How much time is
left in this video?
Wow!
The league is a lot of
this video! (laughs)
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Lets
off a future sight.
Our second one paralyzes him.
But because of the
synchronize ability,
we got paralyzed as well.
Then for the rest of that round
and the whole two
following rounds,
we were both fully paralyzed.
That's five actions in a row.
I've never seen that before.
- Wow, that is crazy!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
So we took damage,
but we attack next round
and just finished him off.
That was nuts!
Let's take a look at our stats
before we try the Elite Four.
They're really not
that bad for level 57-
- You're only 57?
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] But
they are far from great.
The Emerald Elite Four is
usually quite a bit harder
than the Elite Four
in gens one or two.
So I don't think I can
get away with winning
at this low of a level.
- Yeah, I don't think
so either! (laughs)
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
Just to see how I do,
but I don't expect
to get very far
without at least
a few more levels.
Last chance to guess
if we can win or not.
Let's do this!
- Yeah, no!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] First
is dark trainer Sidney.
Right away we use
thunderbolt on Mightyena,
but get hit by sand-attack-
- The highest level in the
league is higher than you
and you're just a Castform!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Of our health
and we finish it with
another thunderbolt.
Sand-attack is the worst.
Shiftry hangs on from
red health from ice beam,
but gets frozen solid.
But they just use full restore,
so don't celebrate yet.
Another two ice
beams hit though,
so it does go down.
Cacturne dodges
the first ice beam
and hits us with cotton
spores to slow us down.
- Oh, slow Mallow.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] When
we were hitting ice beam.
- Mal-slow! (laughs)
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Faint
attack brings our health down
even more as we finish him off
and we're in pretty rough shape.
Crawdaunt is next and we
could totally one shot him,
but he ended us.
Considering this was my luckiest
of 20 different attempts.
Thanks to sand-attack.
We cannot win this
without better stats.
- Yep!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] I'll try
again at level 60.
I still got sand-attack-
- I was right! (laughs)
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] This time
we didn't miss the followup,
So we're still healthy.
- Mine was like,
over, mine was a lot
healthier! (laughs)
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
A second one hit
to bring him into red health.
- Higher level.
Well also healthier, cause I
used in game healing items.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] So,
he's healthy again.
Interestingly enough,
our next ice beam ended
up one shotting him.
He must've been
in a damage range.
Cacturne was a one shot.
- Oh yes!
I love when you surprise
one shot things.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Last is Absol,
but thunderbolt
missed and we got hit
with a weak rock slide.
Our second thunderbolt
missed again
as he used swords dance.
And finally, our third
one hit for decent damage.
Rock slide did a lot
more damage this time
thanks to swords dance.
I hit weather ball for
a solid chunk of damage,
as he slashed all the
way down to red health
before we finally finished him-
- Believe in yourself!
Yeah!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Second
is ghost trainer, Phoebe.
- You did it!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] First,
is Dusclops who spams
protect and has pressure
to ruin our power points.
- Why turn into the rain here?
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] So,
I just used rain dance
as she protects.
- You stay normal!
- If you stay normal,
they can't touch you
with the ghost moves!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
Second try worked
and we take her down.
The first Banette is a one
shot with weather ball,
but on the second
one, the rain stops,
so I try to ice beam-
I guess it is more powerful.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] She
missed Will-o-wisp
and I ice beamed again
for a critical hit,
taking her out.
Sableye-
- I used shadow ball
(laughs) to beat Phoebe.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] As it hardly
hurts us with faint attack.
We hit it again to
take it to a sliver.
She uses double team,
then she healed.
We hit two more ice beams to
bring it to a sliver again.
- Double team's the worst!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] We got
crit with faint attack
to lose most of our health.
Then she healed again.
We crit to bring it
back to red health.
Then we miss
thunderbolt, got hit,
missed ice beam and
finally finished it off.
Naturally, the final
Dusclops easily took us out.
Once again, things
like double team
and sand-attack are
super frustrating
to fight against in a
single Pokemon challenge.
- If it's not 100%
accurate, it's 50% accurate.
If double team or
sand-attack has been used,
it's 5% accurate.
- All right, I'm gonna
have to grind more.
If I'm gonna go through
power points that fast,
just trying to beat the first
two members of the Elite Four,
then there's no
way that the few-
- Plant Leppa berries!
Wait, I don't know, I don't
know if those will grow actually
on an emulator.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
Considering that I also need
to get lucky enough
or strong enough
to start getting runs where
I have enough power points
by the second battle
to still make it
to the end of the fight.
I might just have to get
strong enough to one shot
Sidney's Mightyena,
so that I stop
losing moves to sand-attack.
I tried to re-fight
them every few levels,
but I'd often just
lose to Sidney again.
So, I really do
need these levels.
At this level, whether
or not I get past Sydney
is just luck.
Finally, we get another
good shot at Phoebe.
This time it goes
straight for weather ball
after rain dance.
- Nice!
Okay, now you're at a level!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] And Sableye
before it stopped raining.
- What was mine?
I don't remember.
I feel like when I'd
be at mine ended up
at like, a little
over 70 I wanna say.
I wanna say that's
where mine was.
So he's starting
to get there now.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Critical
ice beam for tons of damage,
tanked an earthquake,
hit another ice beam
that she hung on from
thanks to a berry.
She healed with a full restore,
so I had to use two
more thunderbolts.
She hit another earthquake
and finally we take it out.
We really aren't
doing much damage.
I should've just used
weather ball more.
Third is ice trainer Glacia.
- Yeah!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Sealeo
hung on with a sliver right
away from Thunderbolt-
- Oh hell yeah!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] So we
just turned into an ice type
and didn't get hurt.
- Look it, there it is!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] She
used a full restore,
but a thunderbolt and
weather ball took her down.
Walrein is second, so I
thunderbolted for big damage.
- When I fought
Glacia, I was like,
"Should I just like,
let her do the hail?
"Or should I like, just
like brute force it?"
And I think I set up sun.
I have to re-watch it.
I should've re-watched
my own video
before I did this,
but I think, I
don't actually think
she ever got the
chance to set up hail
when I fought her.
Cause I just like,
just obliterated things
with like, fire moves in the sun
or maybe not even in the sun,
maybe I just blasted
with fire moves.
I don't remember.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
Took a solid quarter
of my health damage from surf,
then finished it off
with another thunderbolt.
Glalie is next, so
I use rain dance
knowing my weather ball
could overpower it.
We take an ice beam
for almost no damage
then one shot it
with weather ball.
- Yes!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
Another Sealeo comes out
and turns it to hail again.
- Wow, I really
should've got weather ball,
but it's fine, scald
is good too. All right?
Scald worked for me later.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] But
naturally, I just made it rain-
- Gosh, I should've
just kept weather ball.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] And one
shot it with weather ball.
Fourth is dragon trainer Drake.
And finally, for the
first time in a while,
we had a really easy fight
where I just swept his
whole team with ice beam.
- Yeah!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
Took a few more hits-
- No hail though.
I used hail against
him and that was fun.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] The
Pokemon champion Wallace.
Right away I
thunderbolted Wailord
to bring him to
almost read health.
As he nailed us with blizzard
for a quarter of our health.
He then full restored, so it
took two more thunderbolts-
Wailord is so freaking bulky!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
Second is Tentacruel
and tanked a
thunderbolt pretty well.
- Very good special defense!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] So this
run is probably doomed.
I finished it off and
next was Ludicolo.
Ice beam for a bit of damage
and he starts double
teaming right away-
- Oh, this Ludicolo!
That ruined my-
I love Ludicolo, but his
Ludicolo double teaming
was a big reason I
had one failed attempt
in my Emerald with no
new moves challenge.
I hate double team!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Battle
wasn't even close.
I'm gonna have to
grind until thunderbolt
hits a lot harder.
I've been looking over
the TM list over and over
trying to figure out a solution,
but I'm just not seeing one.
- Rain dance and thunder!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
Accuracy be way lower
and I'd be making the
fight really unreliable.
I could learn solar
beam, but it's too slow.
If I use solar beam
with a sunny day,
then I'd turn into
a fire type Castform
and would get taken out by
Wallace's strong water moves.
- Well, I mean, you'd
cancel out the weakness.
It would be the same as
if you are a normal type.
Rain dance and thunder!
Rain dance and thunder?
You could like have
the TM in the back
and then like, swap
out one of the moves
for thunder right
before the battle.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] It sucks
to suddenly need to grind
so late in the run,
but you gotta do
what you gotta do.
- I mean, thunder! (laughs)
You just buy the TM! (laughs)
To be fair, I don't
have experience
with fighting
Wallace in this run,
cause I did alpha Sapphire.
The champion is Steven
and I just used a mix of
scald and flamethrower
depending on the
Pokemon I was fighting.
But like, thunder's 100%
accurate in the rain!
Does have pretty bad PP,
but like, you could do
thunder and thunderbolt,
just saying!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
Eventually, I had leveled up
all the way from
level 70 to level 82
and I still lost because I
can't out muscle Ludicolo.
The worst part is-
- I mean yeah, it's Ludicolo.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] That his
only weaknesses are flying-
- Ludicolo's got
great special defense.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] We can't
learn any attacking moves
of any of those types.
- Yep.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] This is
getting a little worrying.
I went ahead and
made a shell bell
so that we can heal a little bit
while we deal damage.
I worried that this
could backfire though,
since I kind of want
the extra water power
from the mystic water,
since I'm worried that
I might need to use rain
dance and weather ball
to beat Wallace's Whiscash
if I get that far.
You know, just overpowering
it with our strongest move.
I ended up at level 84
getting to Wallace again.
This time Wailord is a
one shot with thunderbolt-
- Oh yes!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] And
Tentacruel missed his toxic,
so I took him out too.
When toxic hits, we pretty
much instantly lose.
- Oh, that's interesting,
I didn't know that!
In modern day games,
toxic if used by a
poison type cannot miss.
Like, even if you're
like, digging or flying,
but turns out that's
not the case here.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] So,
that was important.
Ludicolo is still
spamming double team,
but we hit two ice beams.
He takes a 51 health
from us with surf,
then full restores and we
just keep using ice beam.
Every time I get
hit into red health,
he just keeps using a full
restore, hoping that'll-
- He's gonna run out, right?
How many do they have?
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
Lucky with our accuracy
and land tons of hits.
By the time we take him out-
- There we go!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Our
health is about half.
Whiscash is next
and is part ground,
so I decided to
just use rain dance.
He uses amnesia to beef
up his special defense
and we hit a weather ball
for pretty big damage.
He uses amnesia again though.
So we can't quite
finish them off.
I still use weather ball
since it's the strongest
move we have, but
he hits earthquake
then full restores since
he's in red health.
- I mean, the more
damage you do,
the more you heal
with shell bell.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
Earthquakes have gotten us
below half health
as our rain ends.
So, I just hit one last
weather ball to finish it off,
since it's now a
physical attack.
It's a lot weaker
when it's normal type,
but he beefed up his
special defense a lot.
Water Onix is next,
so we lose attack to intimidate-
- Water Onix? (laughs)
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Since he's
double weak to electricity.
- (laughs) Is that what
he called Gyarados?
Water Onix? (laughs)
Why is that so funny? (laughs)
I mean, you could call
Onix Rock Gyarados!
Like- (laughs)
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] And
it tanks a Thunderbolt
pretty well and badly
poisons us with toxic.
But we're faster,
and we manage to finish him
off with one last thunderbolt.
- And then to the win!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] We're
in the hall of fame-
- Yes!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Challenge,
but there's a post game fight
and I'm actually
pretty confident
that we can beat this.
- Oh, he's doing the
post game Steven fight.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Steven
stone is in meteor falls.
- Do you guys want
to know a fun fact
about this Steven fight?
I've never done it. (laughs)
I don't think I've ever done it!
Like, even when I was
playing Emerald as a kid,
I think I knew it
existed and I was like,
"I don't care."
I just did the Battle
Frontier stuff.
I don't think I've ever
actually done this Steven fight
in my entire life.
Because like, all
the other times
I've played through Emerald
since being a kid, have been
for like, videos and stuff.
So I just like, finished
and like, the main story
and then didn't
do anything else.
So yeah, I should probably
do that fight at some point.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Now that
we have the post game.
So I go straight there
to give the battle a try.
Skarmory's first,
and I'm incredibly
lucky that I took it out
in one critical thunderbolt.
And because that
thing usually opens
with toxic.
- Nice!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Armaldo
is next, so I start
my rain dance, tanking
an Ancient Power
for a solid amount of damage.
Then one shot him with
our water weather ball.
- Yeah, weather ball!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Aggron
is another one shot-
- This entire video has
just been an exercise
in humbling myself. (laughs)
Because I didn't know
weather ball doubles in power
and I'm feeling very silly
for not using it in my run,
but it was fine, I
didn't lose! (groans)
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Ball, we crit,
but I don't think I needed
that crit for that honestly.
Cradily is fourth, so I ice
beam it for solid damage.
He hits confused, right?
And we managed to hit another
ice beam for the knockout.
Claydol's out.
- This move set
that he's using for
Castform is just,
a master class in why
bolt-beam is a very good combo.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] So I
make it rain right away,
so I can tank meteor
mash without getting
instantly crushed.
Then weather ball him
for way more damage
than I was expecting.
- Nice!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] He hit
psychic for tons of damage
and ate a berry.
- But weather ball
KOs from that range.
Yeah, there you go!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] We managed
to hit the finishing move
on our very first
try at Steven Stone.
- Wow, that's wild!
- [Mah-Dry-Bread]
Well, that didn't go
exactly how I expected.
- (laughs) That's pretty funny!
It took took Wallace
multiple tries,
but like, Aye yo Steven,
you want a beat down too?
See guys, Castform,
clearly wonderful Pokemon.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] Lots of
bumps in the road early,
reasonably smooth sailing
for the bulk of the middle.
Then I had to grind
up so many more levels
than I was expecting
just to be able
to beat the Elite Four
and the Pokemon champion.
Actually beat Steven
first try though.
And in fairness, that
run was way easier
than most of what I do.
I really hope you guys liked
that challenge though.
- True.
- [Mah-Dry-Bread] I'm not
really sure what I'm gonna do
for next Saturday's
Pokemon challenge yet,
but I'm thinking of
Pokemon Fire Red one.
- I don't know what I'm going
to do for my play through
challenge video that I
will post in one week.
These once a week play
through challenge.
Entire play through
challenge in a week?
See, the reason I don't
do these very often
is cause they take
so long! (laughs)
I got all the other
videos to make.
And but like, how
do you do that?
Teach me your ways of efficiency
with play through challenges!
Cause mine like,
take forever to like,
play through an entire game,
write a very long script,
film a very long script
and then have my
editor, Katie edit
an extremely long
video. (laughs)
A week?
So final thoughts on that,
clearly Castform is a lot better
than people give him credit for.
Was able to be a game by itself
without any in battle
healing, which is wild!
A massive shout out
to Mah-Dry-Bread
for letting me make this video!
It was very entertaining!
Great job!
Just wildly impressive at
how much more difficult
the challenges that
he attempts are!
They're like, Oh, so much harder
than the ones I'm
willing to do! (laughs)
Thank you guys so
much for watching
and an extra special thanks
to my patrons over on Patreon
who are helping support
my channel and my business
and life and stuff,
independent of fluctuating
YouTube add rates.
If you wanna help support
me in the same way,
the link is in the
description below.
Also if you wanna
check out some more
of my fun Pokemon content I
recommend these videos here!
All right, that's
all I have for now!
So till next time, big
events, gotta catch them all!
