Pokémon games have never really been much of a challenge. I mean, that’s why Nuzlockes are so popular, right? You need to artificially inject some difficulty into the titles to really make the formula work.
However, while most trainers and Pokémon in the series follow the rules, others sometimes break them in one way or another. Intentionally or otherwise, this creates some of the more interesting challenges as the devs try to balance scales that are invariably tipped in our favour.
Let’s look at some of the most interesting examples, and why they make for such fascinating encounters.
10
Ultra Necrozma
Ridiculous Stat Boosts
This one is pretty famous, especially if you’ve ever Nuzlocked Ultra Sun and Moon! But why does this battle break the rules?
For starters, this battle is more like a trainer battle: you can’t run from this fight or catch Necrozma. No, it must be defeated! And if that wasn’t annoying enough, as soon as you enter the fight, Necrozma gains +1 to every stat.
On top of that, Necrozma has great coverage with its moveset and the ability Neuroforce, making its super-effective attacks even more potent. The thing is, you might have seen inherent stat boosts before, but they were from Totem battles! Necrozma isn’t even a totem Pokémon, and still gets a ridiculous amount of buffs. Getting through this battle without losing a single Pokémon is a massive challenge.
Related
Recommended
2025-07-27T14:00:14
8 Best Pokémon ROM Hacks To Nuzlocke
This list covers some of the best Pokémon ROM hacks to attempt a nuzlocke challenge.
9
Ghost Marowak
Unable to Be Caught
I remember the first time I played Pokémon Yellow and ran into the Ghost. Honestly, the whole vibe of Lavender Town and the Pokémon Tower really freaked me out. But then again, I think I was like 4 or 5! Now this Ghost isn’t a Gastly; it isn’t even a Pokémon… not until you have the Silph Scope at least!
Of course, we all know it’s a grieving Marowak, but oddly enough, even though this really should be a regular Pokémon battle, you can’t catch this Marowak, no matter how hard you try. At least Necrozma gets an excuse; Marowak isn’t even legendary.
The thing is, though, in the original Generation 1 games, you can use a Poke Doll to escape the battle. If you do it this way, the battle is considered over, and you’re the victor.
8
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky
Inevitable Outcomes
The Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series is pretty infamous for having ridiculously unfair battles that pit you and your partner against a massive number of opponents. Whether it’s the entire cast of your Guild or Darkrai and 6 other Pokémon from the Dungeon surrounding you! But you always come out on top!
Well, one of the most annoying things that always seems to happen in these games is that your victory often means very little. For example, in the Grovyle fight at Crystal Lake, it doesn’t matter whether you win or lose; the story plays out as if you lost.
The same is true of the battle against Snover in Bidoof’s Special Episode. Even if you find a way to win, the game assumes you lost, so putting in extra effort and using items in these fights is pretty pointless.
7
Ghetsis
Evolving Too Early
Generation 5 is pretty famous for having Pokémon with stupidly high evolution levels. Whether it’s Mienfoo at level 50, Pawniard at level 52 or Larvesta at level 59. Of course, the most famous of these is Zweilous, the Pseudo-Legendary of the games, which evolves into Hydreigon at an eye-watering level 64.
The thing is, if you remember playing the original Black and White and facing off against Ghetsis at the end, you’ll remember he has a Hydreigon as his ace. And, for some magical reason, it’s level 54. On the one hand, I get Game Freak wanting to give cool, powerful Pokémon to trainers and give us a challenge, but 10 whole levels under? Whatever happened to treating your Pokémon with love and respect?
6
Lance
Impossible Movesets
Ah, and speaking of having underleveled Pokémon, we have another cheater in our midst. The thing is, Lance actually commits another assortment of sins alongside having illegal Pokémon.
Let’s ignore his 3 underleveled Dragonite for now, and take a look at his Generation 1 and 2 movesets. First, as part of the Elite 4, Lance has a Dragonite with Barrier, a move it cannot learn in that generation. He shoots himself in the foot a little with this, however, as the battle AI is coded to always use super-effective moves, even if they don’t actually do any damage. So he will always use Barrier against, let’s say, a Gengar, because of its poison typing.
And he commits another error in the next Johto titles, where he has an Aerodactyl with Rock Slide, another move that can’t be learned in Generation 2. Either Lance is a huge cheater, or maybe he just knows some secrets that we don’t!
Related
Recommended
2025-08-20T12:00:17
Pokemon: 8 Hardest Elite Four Members Of All Time
This list covers the hardest Elite Four members from Generations 1-9 of the Pokémon games.
5
Opal
Mysterious Stat Modifying
While Generation 8 certainly wasn’t my favourite, it did have some odd yet memorable moments. One of these shows up when you fight Opal, the Fairy-type gym leader of Ballonlea.
This battle introduces some fairly bizarre mechanics, not found anywhere else in the series. As the battle goes on, Opal will ask you questions about herself. If you get them right, then great, you’ll get a nice little stat boost. But if you get them wrong, your Pokémon’s stats will actually decrease. Yep, not from a move or an item, but a piece of trivia, mid-fight.
And the thing is, the last of these isn’t even true. You have to lie to Opal, saying she looks younger than she actually is, to get the final stat boost! Of course, this fight wasn’t actually difficult, but it’s still an odd event!
4
Avery
Sneaky Terrain Setting
And speaking of Generation 8, we have another major cheater over here. You’ll meet Avery in your adventure through the Isle of Armour DLC for Pokémon Shield.
Avery considers himself a bit of a rival, and as such, he will do anything to win. In the 3rd trial, you’ll battle Avery again; however, in this match, he will set up Psychic Terrain before the fight even begins!
Psychic Terrain is a pretty strong move that boosts the power of all Psychic moves by 50%, and it usually takes a full turn to set up. Unless, of course, Avery had a Tapu Lele… which he doesn’t! He realises this is wrong afterwards and pays the price! Good riddance, eh?
3
Klara
Cheaters Never Prosper
If you have Pokémon Sword, instead of facing off against Avery, you’ll meet Klara, who fills a similar role, acting as your rival as you progress through the DLC.
Like the previous encounter, during the 3rd Trial, Klara will scatter a load of Toxic Spikes on the field before the battle even begins, which feels a bit more devious. And this isn’t just 1 layer of spikes, but 2, meaning that you’ll have the Toxic variant instead of the regular poison! Because Toxic Spikes doesn’t wear off like Psychic Terrain, you’ll need to Rapid Spin these away, or send out your own Poison-type to absorb the poison.
The funny thing about these cheaters is that I actually really like this added challenge in Pokémon games. Lately, the titles have become laughably easy, perhaps because we’re a little older. So having your opponents cheat and get extra turns certainly levels the playing field a little bit.
2
Greevil
Genetically Altered Pokémon
Pokémon Colosseum and XD are some of my favourite Pokémon games of all time. They brought so much personality to the Pokémon animations, and the world feels much more alive and dangerous than in other titles.
At the end of XD, you’ll face off against Greevil, and realise he actually gets 7 Pokémon instead of 6! First off, you’ll have to face the awesome Shadow Lugia, XD001. If you like, you can end this battle immediately with a Master Ball, but if you want to catch it with something more interesting, like a Premier Ball, it is a rough fight.
Once that’s done, Greevil will battle you directly with a full team of Shadow Pokémon. Oh, and did I mention Shadow Moves are super effective against every regular Pokémon type? And if all that wasn’t enough, he also has the 3 Legendary Birds! Yep, this guy’s team is absolutely stacked! What a brilliant fight!
1
Volo
A 6 VS 8 Battle
Of course, if you thought that 6v7 was brutal, Volo will totally rock your world. The first time I fought Volo, his team caught me totally off guard. I knew as soon as I saw the Spiritomb and heard that classic music track that this was going to feel like a fight against Cynthia.
Cynthia is famously one of the hardest battles in all of Pokémon, being the Champion of the Sinnoh region. Now imagine if she had a Giratina that emerged after she was defeated… and then you had to defeat that Giratina twice, once in its Altered Form, and once in its Origin Form, all without being able to revive or heal your team. Yep, this was a truly unfair 6v8 battle, and it was glorious.
This is what I meant earlier about trainers who cheat. They make for some of the coolest moments in the series. Why would the main villain let you walk all over them and still abide by the rules? They would try to defeat you by any means possible, right?
So having Volo with effectively 8 Pokémon, plus a Legendary, made for one of the craziest and coolest battles of all time. I’m not sure any other trainer will live up to the awesomeness of that final battle! We will have to wait and see!
