Is the Pokémon Company anti-Nuzlocke?

G'day and welcome back to The Victory Road. The only newsletter where we'll talk about Pokemon after giving you an Aussie greeting and lamenting that we already used up our "Wake Me Up When September Ends" references for the month.

Nuzlocke drama hits the Twitterverse

Hot off the press in the "news that isn't news" category this morning. Twitter user and Streamer @Patterz caused quite a stir in the community with a video he uploaded this morning that claimed (based on prior employees) The Pokémon Company of "considers [Nuzlockes] to be on the same level as using rom hacks." 

"There were a lot of creators who played a Nuzlocke style of Pokemon that got erased from their creator program."

For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, a Nuzlocke challenge is basically when you play through a Pokémon game with various sets of self-imposed difficulty challenges. Examples include not using health items, releasing your fainted Pokémon as if they'd died, and only catching the first Pokémon you encounter on each route. You can read all about the rules here.

You can crank up the torture even more if you're playing a rom hack and use a "randomizer" setting to change encounters with wild and opposing trainers' Pokémon. Unlock a traditional Nuzlocke, this CAN'T be done with hacking/modding the game, which is the little nugget that completely changes the context of this video. 

Patterz later clarified this in a tweet:

Either way, the match hit the gasoline and "Nuzlocke" is now trending on Twitter. 

Coming this week: Arceus Chronicles 

Fire up the ole Netflix because Pokemon: The Arceus Chronicles lands this Friday, September 23. Here's what it's all about:

When Ash, Pikachu, and friends receive a mysterious message from the Mythical Pokémon Arceus, they meet up with their old friend Brock and head to Mount Coronet to investigate. There, they find a rampaging Heatran and the group responsible—Team Galactic, previously thought to be dismantled. The team’s commanders are determined to find their missing leader by opening a gate between dimensions. With a trio of Legendary Pokémon and Sinnoh Champion Cynthia on their side, our heroes have a lot of help, but they’ll need all they can get to save Sinnoh!

You can check out the official trailer here.

Random Pokémon news encounters 

• Togedemaru, Celesteela, and Kartana Debut in Pokémon GO.

• Shiny Eternatus distribution available now through October 1 at Gamestop.

• Don't miss Ash's Lucario and Ash's Sirfetch'd via Mystery Gift for Sword/Shield

  • Sirfetch'd: H1SSATSUNEG1 (until Sept. 22)

  • Lucario: HAD0UW0CATCH (until Sept. 29)

Obscure Pokémon Fact of the Day (from u/Mx_Toniy_4869)  

Wurmple’s evolution is based on its personality value, specifically, the first 16 digits of it. Convert these 16 binary digits into base 10. If the resulting value ends in 0~4, Wurmple evolves into Silcoon. If the resulting value ends in 5~9, Wurmple evolves into Cascoon.

The resulting value ranges anywhere between 0 and 65535. Notice that the last value is one that ends in 5. This means that 32770/65536 of these values results in Silcoon, while 32766/65536 of these values result in Cascoon, a difference of 4 numbers out of 65536 numbers. 4/65536 = 0.000061 or 0.0061%

Until next time,Derek "don't stop nuzlockin'" Siddoway

Question of the Week: Have you ever attempted a Nuzlocke playthrough? Why or why not? Send your best stories of agonizing victory or crushing defeat and I'll share them in next week's issue.