u/DoorAlternative7356

Hi guys. After recently completing a Poison Oak challenge (reaching the credits with as few Pokemon registered as caught/seen in your Pokedex as possible) in X version, I compiled this list of every Pokemon which you cannot beat XY without encountering at least once. There are 126 species of Pokemon which cannot be avoided if your aim is to enter to Kalos Hall of Fame and see the end credits. In addition, there is 1 interchangeable legendary Pokemon that is mandatory in one version and not the other, and vice versa. Then there are a further 6 Pokemon which change depending on which Kalos starter you chose at the beginning of the game. Therefore, the fewest number of Pokemon that can be registered as seen after beating AZ is 133. No less than 4 Pokemon must be registered as caught to beat the game (Kalos starter, Kanto starter, Lucario, box legendary). I previously believed Lucario wasn't mandatory, but the required Lucario mirror-match against Korrina registers Lucario, even if you don't accept the gift Lucario afterwards.

Hi guys. A couple of days ago, I posted the random shiny Gulpin and Pansear I found whilst playing a Poison Oak challenge (beating the game whilst completing as little of the Pokedex as possible) to this subreddit. Due to the nature of the challenge, I'd either have to reset over the shiny encounters, or forfeit the challenge. I decided to catch the shinies, trade them over to my ORAS master save, and reset the run. Therefore, I'm now on my third attempt at this challenge, and I've found another shiny. Quite frankly, I can't believe my own luck. This was in a horde encounter, but I wasn't grinding horde encounters specifically. This was also going to be the last fight before my Chespin levelled up and learned Seed Bomb, so I could stop grinding and progress with the story. Now, I have 3 options. 1. Reset over the save, losing the shiny Yanma forever. 2. Catch the Yanma, trade it to ORAS and reset the challenge. 3. Catch the Yanma and continue with the challenge. Obviously the Yanma would stay in the box, and I'd have to mentally subtract 1 from both the "caught" and "seen" tallies in my Pokedex. I'm leaning towards option 3 to be honest. If I hadn't reset this challenge twice, and I hadn't already spent 8+ hours on this save I might think differently, but I really don't want to have to start this challenge for a fourth time or lose a cool shiny. What do you guys think?

Poison Oak challenges are my take on the traditional "Professor Oak" challenge which Youtuber Johnstone popularised years ago. Instead of trying to maximise caught Pokemon before every badge, the goal of a Poison Oak run is to minimise your Pokedex completion before the credits. This requires avoiding most optional trainers, using only mandatory gift Pokemon and HM mules, and resetting over unnecessary wild encounters. I believe X/Y can be beat with 3 caught, 133 seen, and I wanted to play through the game to double check. However, I keep running into shinies early in my run, and I don't have the willpower to reset over them. It's a nice problem to have though :)