Nuzlocke

The Nuzlocke challenge is a self-imposed fan-made gameplay formula designed to make the video games of Pokémon series more difficult. Players using the Nuzlocke challenge will be unable to use their Pokémon again if they are knocked out in combat once and can only add the first Pokémon they encounter in a select area to their team.

The Nuzlocke challenge was created by Nick Franco when he was a student at the University of California, Santa Cruz. While procrastinating an assignment, Franco decided to play Pokémon Ruby with a harder ruleset to make it more interesting. He created a webcomic based on the playthrough, dubbed Pokémon: Hard-Mode. A recurring Nuzleaf character, who resembled Lost character John Locke, resulted in the Nuzlocke challenge's name, being a combination of both Nuzleaf and Locke.

It has proven popular with players due to its focus on building emotional attachments with the player's Pokémon, as well as for the added challenge it provides. The Nuzlocke challenge is also popular with content creators online, attracting wide fan followings within the Pokémon fan community. Former Nintendo Minute hosts Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang, following their departure from the series, stated that they had been forbidden by The Pokémon Company from using Nuzlocke rules in a video. This resulted in fandom backlash, resulting in the Company making a statement clarifying the situation. The Nuzlocke challenge has been adapted into other videogames since its introduction.

History and gameplay

See also: Pokémon (video game series) § Gameplay

A diagram detailing the rules of the challenge.

In the Pokémon series, players travel across an open in-game world, capturing the titular creatures and using them to battle each other in combat; they can use various attacks both offensively and defensively. If a Pokémon takes enough damage, they will "faint" and be knocked out, rendering them unable to be used in combat. These Pokémon can be healed at Pokémon Center locations, or by using healing items. The primary goal is to become the strongest trainer in the region.

Nuzlocke gameplay functions identically to regular Pokémon gameplay, with the only differences being that players can only catch the first Pokémon they encounter in a given area, and that when a Pokémon is defeated in battle, it is considered "dead" and cannot be used again, even if healed in-game. Some rulesets encourage the player to nickname their Pokémon to form a stronger attachment to it.

The Nuzlocke name came from a Nuzleaf depicted with the face of John Locke from the series Lost, who was portrayed by actor Terry O'Quinn (pictured).

The Nuzlocke challenge was first created in 2010 by University of California, Santa Cruz student Nick Franco. Franco, procrastinating on college work, chose to play Pokémon Ruby, adding additional rules to make the play session more interesting. Franco eventually turned the playthrough with the ruleset into a webcomic, dubbed Pokémon: Hard-Mode. The original comic contained frequent homophobic, racist, and misogynistic commentary, though the gameplay formula largely separated itself from its comic origins as the formula's popularity spread. A recurring Nuzleaf character, who was drawn to resemble Lost character John Locke, became the source of the formula's name, with the words "Nuzleaf" and "Locke" combined to coin the term "Nuzlocke".

As the series has progressed, games have become less compatible with the Nuzlocke format, with games such as Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, which drastically change the gameplay style, being nearly impossible to play with the standard formula. In a Destructoid interview, Franco stated the formula was made more difficult by additions to the games that make gameplay easier; additions included an affection level, which allowed Pokémon to survive hits that would otherwise KO them, and Pokémon spawning in the game's overworld instead of through random encounters, which limited the player's ability to randomly select which Pokémon they would encounter. As a result of these changes, further additions to the ruleset were made to allow for the challenge's difficulty to remain.

Twitch streamer lateyourpie created another variant of the rules, dubbed the "Ironmon Challenge", which kept the basic Nuzlocke formula, but Pokémon locations, item locations, and Pokémon attacks were all randomized. It was devised to provide challenge to those already familiar with the Nuzlocke ruleset, and was stated in official documentation as "...not meant to be fair, and possibly not even fun". More difficult kaizo challenges limit to one Pokémon at a time. Other adaptations to the ruleset have been devised, such as the "Hatelocke", which creates one continual run spanning the whole series, barring players from using Pokémon they captured in previous games.

Reception

The Pokémon series is primarily popular among children, and as a result, children more easily bond and grow emotional attachment to their particular Pokémon. Due to a lack of challenge in the series for fans familiar with its gameplay, the series' outdated gameplay formula, and a lack of interest to newer additions to the franchise, the challenge has proved popular with adult fans. The limited rulesets make the defeat of a Pokémon more emotionally impactful to players than they would be otherwise; according to Vox, the Nuzlocke challenge revived the feeling of emotional connection players felt with their Pokémon when they were younger. The ruleset also encourages a stricter, more strategic version of gameplay, as it is substantially more difficult than it would be otherwise.

Nuzlockes became popular in the Pokémon fandom, primarily due to their higher difficulty and their focus on players bonding with their Pokémon. It is especially popular among content creators, who have cited it as being beneficial for garnering viewership and a sense of community; live streams of creators playing with the Nuzlocke ruleset frequently garner hundreds of thousands of viewers, with a many raising money for charity.

Following their departure from the web-series Nintendo Minute, Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang, the series' former hosts, stated they had planned to do an episode featuring them playing a Pokémon game with Nuzlocke rules, only to be rebuked; according to them, they were not allowed to do so due to it being considered to be on the same level as playing a ROM hack on the platform. Yang alleged The Pokémon Company had previously removed content creators from their creator program due to them using Nuzlocke rules in playthroughs. The statement was met with backlash within the fandom, resulting in The Pokémon Company International making a response, clarifying they have no issue with players using the ruleset.

The Nuzlocke format was later adapted in other video games. Coromon, an indie game inspired by the Pokémon series, included a game mode which allowed players to play the game using Nuzlocke rules. The game Temtem added several "challenge modes" in a post-release update, with one being inspired by and using the Nuzlocke rules. Other Pokémon fan games, such as Pokémon Insurgence and Pokémon Korosu, include Nuzlocke game modes, with the latter making it a mandatory gameplay feature.