Gen II - Crystal Battle Tower Discussion

QuentinQuonce

formerly green_typhlosion
I'm completely new to battling but really want to beat every level in the tower on my playthrough. I was wondering what the best team would be to beat every level. So the same 3 pokemon for all 10 levels to minimize grinding. The team doesn't need to consistently beat any level, just be actually capable of doing so without too much luck. I also used some of the good TMs on shitty pokemon so that is another reatriction for me.

The TMs I still have are: 4-6, 10-13, 16-21, 27, 31, 34-37, 40-43, 45, 47-50 + whatever TMs have repeatable methods to obtain.

This is supposed to be done on a single crystal file so no trade to evolve or gen 1 pokemon. I also never caught Snorlax so that's out of the picture. Is this even possible or should I just reset my 150 hour file.
It's possible (in the sense that anything is possible) but you've made a difficult task harder by 1) not wanting to use any other games, 2) already having used several good TMs, and 3) not having Snorlax.

Using the same 3 Pokemon for all 10 levels sounds like a potentially really fun challenge... I've been thinking about devoting some time to this soon. Much harder with those three factors listed above taken into account, but it's definitely doable if you can think up three which fit well together. For instance I used Arcanine, Aerodactyl, and Lapras for level 10 which I think in general could probably have a decent shot at conquering the whole tower. Maybe. Idk.

OTOH if you're dead set on not using any other games there are some fun ways to go about your task. In particular the lower levels can be fun to abuse with Pokemon that don't normally evolve until later, since the Gen II games allow for some species to be caught way underlevelled. Off the top of my head:
  • Dragonair can be caught at level 10 by fishing on Route 45 (and you can trade one to the girl in Blackthorn City for a level 10 Dodrio)
  • Magneton can be obtained at level 19 by catching a Dugtrio at this level and trading with the NPC in the Power Plant
  • Fearow can be caught at level 7 on Route 22
  • Arbok can be caught at level 10 on Route 4
  • Poliwrath can be obtained at level 10 by catching a Poliwhirl on Route 22 and evolving it with a Water Stone
  • Golduck can be caught at level 10 on Route 6
  • Noctowl can be caught at level 7 on Route 2
  • Xatu can be obtained at level 15 by catching a Haunter at this level and trading with the NPC in Pewter City
If I were going to make a team of three for all ten levels and I couldn't trade I'd definitely start with Dragonair. Just my instinct. Poliwrath actually makes a decent partner for Dragonite as it covers Ice, Rock, and Steel so that's not a bad shout either.
 

QuentinQuonce

formerly green_typhlosion
It's possible (in the sense that anything is possible) but you've made a difficult task harder by 1) not wanting to use any other games, 2) already having used several good TMs, and 3) not having Snorlax.

Using the same 3 Pokemon for all 10 levels sounds like a potentially really fun challenge... I've been thinking about devoting some time to this soon.
So I decided to actually try this myself! Could I make a unique team for all 10 different level brackets in Crystal's Battle Tower?

Well, yes. Yes I could.

Each bracket has 21 different Pokemon you'll see on enemy teams. While each has a good mix of types, there's enough variance that you can design dedicated teams optimised to face each one. I looked carefully at the sets for each level bracket and considered the best counters or what would have a strong chance of sweeping.

To make my initial selections easier, I drew up a list of likely species. One major point to consider is that this Battle Tower actually allows the use of legendaries, albeit with some caveats. Mewtwo, Mew, Lugia, Ho-Oh, and Celebi are only permitted in Level 70 and upwards. Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Raikou, Entei, and Suicune are all usable at any level, but in practice this means that the birds can only be used in Level 50 and upwards while the beasts can be used in Level 40 and upwards. 30 different Pokemon sounds like a lot, but you'd be surprised. There's a whole bunch of Pokemon I thought I'd be using that didn't make the cut, and some unexpected picks.

Seeing as Gen I and II have a bunch of underlevelled mons available, I thought it'd be fun to incorporate as many of them as possible for the early levels as an amusing "cheat" against the NPCs here, who typically only use single-stage species or those which can be evolved early like Espeon and Blissey. The long-range trainer glitch in Gen I throws the matter of what to use slightly into question as any Pokemon from Gen I can be obtained at level 7 with it, meaning that I was perfectly free to bring, say, a level 10 Zapdos to the Tower. Arbitrary code execution is also extremely easy to perform in Gen II, and can also be used to modify a Pokemon's level. However, ultimately I decided that - while underlevelled Pokemon were fine in principle - I wouldn't use any outright unobtainable species, and would only use those the game naturally allows one to obtain. I opted to avoid using ACE where possible, but made one notable exception you'll read about later on.

Anyway, with all that out of the way, my 10 teams are below. Each has accomplished a minimum of five complete streaks in their respective bracket.

God, I wish Crystal's Battle Tower recorded streaks in some form otherwise this would have been a bloody brilliant challenge run...

:gs/dragonair: @ Berry Juice
Dragon Rage
Double-Edge
Thunder Wave
Horn Drill

Dragon Rage team babyyyy. Why would you play level 10 any other way. Double-Edge was literally never used; Thunder Wave is a useful way to slow down something if it's about to kill you and leave it in position for one of the backups to beat. Horn Drill is lolz and barely ever used unless Wobbuffet showed up, I just threw it in for fun.

:gs/Poliwrath: @ Miracleberry
Surf
Submission
Earthquake
Curse

There's a lot of Fighting-weak stuff at level 10, so Poliwrath was attractive as a backup. Miracleberry is used because of Tauros (which can Swagger), Umbreon (which can Toxic), and Mr Mime (same); one Curse is sufficient for Submission to 2HKO everything bulky.

:gs/Arcanine: @ Gold Berry
Dragon Rage
Flamethrower
Bite
Protect

Obligatory backup Dragon Rage user. Hardly used but great insurance. Level 10 is actually a really fun format, it's cool that there's a surprisingly high amount of stuff eligible to enter. One day I'll crack and bring legendaries for a laugh though.

:gs/Kadabra: @ Miracleberry
Psychic
Thunderpunch
Ice Punch
Fire Punch

Could have used Alakazam here, but Kadabra absolutely suffices (and why not save Zam for a later round). It's a fearsome sweeper, and can take a hit from most of the stuff it can only 2HKO like Steelix and Quagsire.

:gs/Pinsir: @ Leftovers
Curse
Substitute
Submission
Body Slam

GSC is a curious place, where even Pinsir can be a bulky tank. Yes, Pinsir gets Swords Dance, but it walls a bunch of Pokemon in Level 20 thanks to its resistance to Earthquake. It outspeeds Exeggutor and Umbreon and blocks their attempt at using Toxic with Substitute; and with even one Curse behind it, it's a wall which can shrug off powerful physical attacks. Fighting/Normal is unimpressive coverage but Level 20 has no Ghost opponents so there's no fear of anything stopping you in your tracks. Go Pinsir!

:gs/Chansey: @ Brightpowder
Softboiled
Defence Curl
Double Team
Toxic

There's a fair few powerful special attackers in this round who can trouble Pinsir with Fire moves. Every potential third team member I had was weak to something - Ice, Electric, Water - which led me to the ultimate special tank: Chansey. Much as with Kadabra, we can wait until a later round to bring her slightly bulkier older sister.

But yeah. Against nearly all special attackers you can comfortably boost up and laugh at their pitiful attempts to bring you down, then face down any subsequent physical attackers with maxed defence. Alakazam is the only actual threat as it has Toxic; otherwise, it actually can be beneficial to get paralysed since it blocks random burns or freezes and Chansey generally moves last anyway. It doesn't need an attacking move when only Nidoking, Steelix, and Scizor are immune to being poisoned; Pinsir and Kadabra can handle all of those guys themselves. Though it'd probably win a Struggle war if it came to it. Fun fact, despite it being so famously stall-heavy, I think Gen II is the only generation I've never experienced a Struggle war in...

:gs/Alakazam: @ Miracleberry
Psychic
Ice Punch
Fire Punch
Thunderpunch

Alakazam absolutely cleans up in this round, having dominating matchups against a whole host of foes. Very, very little can OHKO it back: only Marowak and Houndoom are truly threatening foes here. But if you ever do fall, backup is here in the form of...

:gs/Gengar: @ Bitter Berry
Shadow Ball
Giga Drain
Ice Punch
Destiny Bond

Level 30 is a good round for Gengar: there are three sets that cannot touch it (Blissey, Ursaring, Primeape) and a couple of others like Bellossom and Crobat who can't do much. It's always fun when one of them is sent out and you can laugh in their faces. You're pretty much assured of a kill whatever you do with this, as Destiny Bond lets you take down stuff like Houndoom and Espeon. Bitter Berry is specifically to beat Crobat, whose only option is to use Confuse Ray or Wing Attack thanks to Gengar also being male.

:gs/Steelix: @ Leftovers
Earthquake
Rock Slide
Explosion
Curse

This is the round where trade evolutions come to shine! Steelix is seriously good. Much like Gengar, it has a few sets it can comfortably wall (Ursaring, Electrode, Espeon, Porygon2) and it's not hard to get at least one Curse up and wreak havoc. Thanks to Steelix's titantic defence, it can face down the likes of Machamp and Marowak and attack back - or, for a last resort, explode on them.

:gs/Weezing: @ Brightpowder
Flamethrower
Thunderbolt
Sludge Bomb
Explosion

An interesting lead, can take out a lot of stuff and explode as a last resort on things it can't beat.

:gs/Marowak: @ Thick Club
Earthquake
Ancientpower
Rest
Curse

Marowak can sweep a LOT of foes at level 40. Only a few sets have effective moves - even stuff that looks threatening like Exeggutor isn't. Against approximately 50% of the sets in level 40 you can boost a couple of times, rest off the damage, and go nuts. Marowak is a very fun Pokemon when you use it right.

:gs/Kangaskhan: @ Leftovers
Earthquake
Rock Slide
Shadow Ball
Flamethrower

And then there's this. Round 40 is all my niche favourites. Kangaskhan makes a great backup revenge sweeper; there's a fair few Psychic-types at level 40 and Shadow Ball punishes them hard. Flamethrower is for Scizor, Forretress, and Steelix.

:gs/Starmie: @ Miracleberry
Surf
Psychic
Thunderbolt
Ice Beam

Starmie is and always will be a fantastic lead. That's all.

:gs/Scizor: @ Mint Berry
Curse
Rest
Quick Attack
Metal Claw

Curse+Quick Attack is a rather brilliant combination even if it's not terrifically powerful, and Scizor finds a lot of stuff to set up on. Wishes it could run a couple of extra moves, but with enough boosts you can just whale away and gradually bring stuff down without issue.

:gs/Snorlax: @ Leftovers
Curse
Rock Slide
Earthquake
Rest

If you can't, though, use this dominant booster instead. Really, Snorlax is everything Scizor wishes it could be - better type, better stats, and excellent coverage with just two moves. Snorlax is just so incredible in GSC - you can set up on very nearly anything.

:gs/Dragonite: @ Leftovers
Curse
Extremespeed
Wing Attack
Surf

Dragonite is excellent in Level 60 as there's a bunch of things it can set up on; hilariously, it's another even better version of Scizor. You need three Curses for Extremespeed to hit hard enough for sure KOs, but Wing Attack is brutal against a lot of stuff and Surf hits most of the things Extremespeed isn't effective against (Tyranitar, Golem, Rhydon). Skarmory is the only foe you can't reliably beat (even at +6, Wing Attack 3HKOs). Still, if you can find a foe that you can get to +6 against, do it and the rewards are very great.

:gs/Heracross: @ Focus Band
Counter
Reversal
Megahorn
Earthquake

I initially planned to run Scope Lens until the slow and tedious process of resetting Mystery Gift over and over broke me and I gave up. There's only one Quick Claw user in level 60 so it felt safe to run Reversal here - Level 50 has none, but it's also stuffed full of Psychic- and Flying-types. A lot of sets in level 60 run Earthquake, which Heracross resists and can comfortably Counter back at stuff. Neat-o.

:gs/Lanturn: @ Leftovers
Surf
Thunder
Ice Beam
Thunder Wave

Lastly, we have the useful bulky backup insurance mon. Lanturn is a fun option; there are a lot of Water and Flying Pokemon in this round, and it hits a lot of them super-effectively. Otherwise, you can Thunder Wave to give another team member an easier time of things.

:gs/Porygon2: @ Miracleberry
Skull Bash
Ice Beam
Thunderbolt
Recover

I specifically chose Pory2 for a round where Machamp wasn't included. It's a darn good lead. There's such a broad swathe of Normal moves that I decided to be a little funky and go with Skull Bash - against weaker foes, it's a neat way to grab Defence boosts. More often you'll be choosing Ice Beam or Thunderbolt though.

:gs/Moltres: @ Brightpowder
Flamethrower
Sky Attack
Substitute
Toxic

I wanted to use one of the legendary birds and decided Moltres would be the best one. And oh man those Flamethrowers are fearsome. Brightpowder actually works a treat since the move you fear most is Rock Slide, which already has slightly shaky accuracy; it's nice to squeak a few misses. Substitute was used as a way of ideally cheesing some extra miss chances; it very occasionally comes in handy.

There's no point using Fly when Sky Attack is a stronger version of the same move, and Wing Attack is just too weak. Steel Wing looks like a nice idea, but it hits nothing in Level 70's pool of foes super-effectively except Tyranitar, which you're never going to KO. Lastly, Toxic was chosen instead as a way to reliably take down stuff like Blissey, Umbreon, Snorlax, and Blastoise.

:gs/Nidoking: @ Focus Band
Earthquake
Rock Slide
Submission
Horn Drill

Why the fuck does Nidoking not get Sludge Bomb in Gen II? So unfair. Anyway. Level 70 has a lot of Electric moves so a Ground-type felt like a good bet for my third slot. It works well in conjunction with Moltres since it makes for very easy switch-ins; Nidoking has a decent matchup against a lot of the stuff you'll see here. Horn Drill is mostly a gimmick, but against slower foes like Snorlax it can be a desperate roll of the dice to get that KO you can't otherwise achieve. Even with a Black Belt equipped Submission doesn't even reliably 2HKO Ursaring, and Hard Stone doesn't get you any closer to an OHKO against Charizard, so Focus Band was a "fuck it, this'll do" option that very occasionally comes in useful.

:gs/Mew: @ Miracleberry
Psychic
Fire Blast
Thunderbolt
Submission

It's legendary time! Mew makes for an astonishingly good lead. I really wish there was a way to boost Special Attack in this generation but never mind; it gets by. Submission is there for Tyranitar.

:gs/Umbreon: @ Leftovers
Curse
Rest
Protect
Quick Attack

There's no Machamp at level 80, nor are there any Psych Up users, so Curse Umbreon seemed a good shout. Even after six Curses Quick Attack will barely do anything. But who cares, you're invincible! Set up and enjoy the comfortable feeling of nothing being able to OHKO you.

:gs/Lugia: @ Brightpowder
Psychic
Aeroblast
Hydro Pump
Ancientpower

Gengar is the only Pokemon Umbreon can't outright beat, so I felt comfortable bringing Lugia as backup. Sweeping is not what Lugia was made for, but I've already got Umbreon as my booster and I've actually never played with Lugia in any format so decided to give it a go. And boy does it feel good to sweep with this. Ancientpower is technically not a legal move at this level, but it was too tempting to resist.

:gs/Ho-Oh: @ Miracleberry
Sacred Fire
Earthquake
Ancientpower
Thunder

Another legendary lead! When in Rome...

Ho-Oh is a devastatingly good sweeper. I wish it got a decent Flying move, but the coverage it has is more than enough to get by. It's one of the few Pokemon that can actually hit really hard with Ancientpower; getting that rare omniboost is the icing on the cake.

:gs/Electabuzz: @ Brightpowder
Thunderbolt
Ice Punch
Fire Punch
Cross Chop

When I was looking at the pool of options I was surprised I hadn't already used this. It's a brutally good sweeper, and cleaves through a lot of the enemy sets with ease. Cross Chop is for Tyranitar, Tauros, and Miltank; you'll die to Earthquake unless you get a crit, though. Now would have been a great time for Scope Lens...

:gs/venusaur: @ Leftovers
Sleep Powder
Double Team
Leech Seed
Protect

There are only a few species in the Level 90 pool that Venusaur can comfortably set up on, but if you get to +6 you will win guaranteed. Nothing here is immune to Leech Seed, so I could comfortably forgo Toxic and just stall out turns with Sleep Powder/Protect. I considered Growl to dampen the impact of stuff like Snorlax's Hyper Beam but when you can just put it to sleep and boost, it's unneeded. This is a devastatingly good mon, and possibly my very favourite.

:gs/mewtwo:@ Miracleberry
Psychic
Ice Beam
Thunderbolt
Selfdestruct

And at last we come to Level 100, where Mewtwo reigns supreme. Mewtwo 2HKOs very nearly every foe you'll face in this bracket; and it has a truly phenomenal closing move in Selfdestruct: even Steelix takes 30% from it. It's horrendously overpowered but you'll have so much fun with it.

:gs/Suicune: @ Leftovers
Surf
Icy Wind
Toxic
Rest

If Mewtwo is the king of Level 100, Suicune is the undisputed queen. Nothing kills this; even Electrode and Exeggutor fail to 2HKO. It's quite ridiculous how reliably this kills things. Icy Wind is exquisitely good team support, but also helps Suicune out a lot since you can Icy Wind turn one, Toxic turn two, Rest turn three. Keep healing until the foe is dead. You're welcome.

:gs/Celebi: @ Brightpowder
Leech Seed
Protect
Giga Drain
Perish Song

This one was added to deal with that annoying Kingdra, which is pretty much the only foe Suicune can't handle. Otherwise, Celebi is a surprisingly lacklustre option here: it can take out Rhydon and Omastar, but it's vulnerable to a bunch of other stuff. Leech Seed is technically an illegal move as Celebi comes at too high a level to have it in Crystal, and there's no move reminder: arbitrary code execution was used to obtain it. Seeing as it's the only "cheat" mon here (and if I were playing original Gen II, I could use Stadium to get the move), I figured it wasn't a truly egregious breach of any rules. And it's not as if this is a regulated format, anyway.
 
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I'm not entire sure but I remember that I read about Raikou, Suicune, Entei and the three legends birds being baned in level 40 or lower in the battle tower.
 

QuentinQuonce

formerly green_typhlosion
I'm not entire sure but I remember that I read about Raikou, Suicune, Entei and the three legends birds being baned in level 40 or lower in the battle tower.
They're not (Bulbapedia says no, and I'm fairly sure I've entered the birds at lower levels before in the past, obtained at lower levels via the LRT glitch in Gen I). They're only banned in a technical sense because they can't legally be obtained any lower than level 40/50.
 

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