10 Hardcore Challenges Gamers Set THEMSELVES

7. Nuzlocke Challenge - Pokemon

Final fantasy 7
Nintendo

This is a fun one! Not even saying that ironically.

The Nuzlocke Challenge consists of rules that some players decided to self-impose in order to add an extra level of challenge to the beloved childhood series enjoyed by millions. Y'know...for kids!

The core rules boil down to this. Any Pokemon that faints is now considered dead and cannot be used in future - just to make this thing resembles dog fighting even more than it already did.

The player must catch the first Pokemon encountered each area and none other - have fun with your goddamn Rattata or whatever for like fifty hours. You must nickname all of your Pokemon to encourage an emotional bond - just gonna breeze past the additional morbidity that adds to the first rule. There's no trading either, nor can you reset the game if things get tough.

Those are just the universally accepted rules. There are also additional rules to increase difficulty because...sure, why not? However, there's also additional rules to make it more forgiving and accessible to others. For the sake of brevity, and the word count, they can't go here.

This one yours truly can personally sign off on. I tried it during a bit of a rough patch and I found it oddly therapeutic. Try it out.

Contributor

Johnny sat by the fire, idly swirling his brandy, flicking through the pages of War and Peace, wondering whether it was pretentious to write his bio in the third person.