Nuzlocke

Logo of the Pokémon franchise internationally.

The Nuzlocke challenge is a self-imposed fan-made gameplay formula. It is designed to make the Pokémon series videogames more difficult, with rules being imposed alongside the standard formula. 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 given area to their team.

The Nuzlocke formula 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. It has proven popular with content creators online, attracting wide fan followings within the Pokémon fan community.

History and gameplay

See also: Gameplay of Pokémon

In the Pokémon series, players travel across a wide in-game world, capturing creatures called "Pokémon" and using them to battle other Pokémon in combat. Pokémon can use various attacks both offensively and defensively against other Pokémon. 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 sexist 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 also stated that the formula was made more difficult by additions to the games that make the gameplay formula 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'd 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 later created another variant of the rules, dubbed the "Ironmon Challenge", which kept the basic Nuzlocke formula, but made it so Pokémon locations, item locations, and the attacks Pokémon can use were all randomized. More difficult "kaizo" challenges make it so only one Pokémon can be used at a time. The challenge 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". 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, a lack of diversity in the series' 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, with the Nuzlocke challenge being stated by Vox to help reviving the feeling of emotional connection players felt with their Pokémon when they were younger. The formula also encourages a stricter, more strategic version of gameplay, as the gameplay 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 Nuzlockes as being beneficial for garnering viewership and a sense of community. Nuzlocke streams frequently garner hundreds of thousands of viewers. Many Nuzlocke streams have been held to raise money for charity.

Following their departure from web-series Nintendo Minute, Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang, the series' former hosts, stated that they had planned to do an episode featuring them playing a Pokémon game with Nuzlocke rules, only to be rebuked by Nintendo. According to them, Nintendo did not allow them to do so due to considering it to be as on the same level as playing a ROM hack on the platform. Nintendo had previously removed content creators from their partner program due to them using Nuzlocke rules in playthroughs. The statement was met with much backlash within the fandom, resulting in The Pokémon Company International making a statement, saying that “We do not have any issues with fans/creators playing the games with Nuzlocke rules.”

The Nuzlocke format was later adapted in other video games. Indie game Coromon, a game heavily inspired by Pokémon, 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.