Pokemon streamer dubbed "greatest nuzlocker in the world" after beating the series' most notorious game without losing a single Pokemon
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A Pokemon streamer has been dubbed “the greatest nuzlocker in the world” after completing a ‘deathless’ run of the series' most notorious fan game.
Pokemon Emerald Kaizo is a devilishly difficult spin on the third-gen classic. Beating it in a standard run is an achievement in itself, and as a result of its devilish complexity, it’s become a favorite testing ground for top-tier nuzlockers - Pokemon players seeking an extra challenge who opt for a ‘permadeath’ version of the game. Emerald Kaizo whacks up level caps, grants gym leaders and other major antagonists extra Pokemon - including Legendaries - and introduces movesets, abilities, and items all designed to make every fight as difficult as possible.
All of that combines to make an Emerald Kaizo Nuzlocke one of the series' biggest challenges, that regularly takes even expert players hundreds of attempts to finish. But not content with that self-imposed difficulty, streamer Drew Prouty added an extra layer of complexity, dubbing a run a failure if he lost even a single Pokemon. As someone who’s never had the patience to even complete a standard Nuzlocke, a deathless Nuzlocke seems horrifying, and a deathless Kaizo Nuzlocke is something I can barely comprehend.
Other pain points include the double battles with Gym 7 leaders Tate and Liza, and Gym 8 leader Juan, which is the furthest Prouty had ever made it in previous runs. Those fights involved intricate manipulation of the Pokemon AI, ensuring that opposing Pokemon would always focus fire on a partner Pokemon, while first a Sunkern and then a Kingdra were able to set up and eventually sweep the gym leaders' teams.
That brought Prouty to the Elite Four, a part of the game that the community has largely optimized. The vast majority of victorious Kaizo teams include a Forretress, Slowbro, Dusclops, Salamence, a flexible normal-type physical attacker like Slacking, and a Sceptile. The latter was already out of the picture, so Salamence had to be sacrificed to help round out the team. In an unconventional approach, Prouty opted for a Milotic (who would prove to be crucial), as well as the surprise addition of two normal type Pokemon - a tanky Kangaskhan, and a Zangoose with a burn that would take advantage of its attack-boosting Guts ability.
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With that team, Prouty’s Elite Four run was far from a sure thing, and there are several hair-raising moments in the late parts of the run: his Slowbro was Frozen, nearly killed by an opposing Dewgong before it could defrost; an enemy Aerodactyl hit several Ancient Powers but failed to get the critical stat boost; and at one point Prouty gambled the entire run when a misclick nearly ruined his entire strategy - things were only salvaged when he hit two 33% chance switches in a row.
For all those potential eleventh-hour stumbling blocks, Prouty eventually defeated Champion Steven, to complete a months-long effort and a feat that many had thought impossible. In fact, a combination of good planning and some very good fortune makes me wonder whether this feat will ever be completed again. I’m reminded of thePokemon Red speedrunner whose massive gamble paid off so well that they retired from the scene having ‘killed’ the category forever. If Emerald Kaizo is the hardest Pokemon game ever, Prouty’s accomplishment might be the greatest in the history of the series.
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I’m GamesRadar’s news editor, working with the team to deliver breaking news from across the industry. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I’ve run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam’s latest indie hit.
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