What’s the best starter to pick for an Emerald Nuzlocke?

Question

I am thinking of doing an Emerald Nuzlocke, but I have a few questions first:

1) On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the hardest, 1 being very easy, how hard is an Emerald Nuzlocke, compared to other games nuzlockes? (Yes, I realize this is a little selective, I just need to know, as it being a "third game" makes it harder than most other games, level wise.) Also, please explain why it is that score

2) What is the best starter for an Emerald Nuzlocke? (I was thinking Sceptile, becuase it's good against Wallace, the champion in Emerald, but tell me if I'm right or not.) Also, give comparisons to the others, and why it's the best one.

Comments

Wallace has 3 ice attacks and a poison attack, so Swampert still has more of a type advantage than Sceptile.

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For my Emerald nuzlocke, I decided upon using Treecko instead of Mudkip due to me using it all the time. It managed to do well against a couple gym leaders (Roxanne, Wattson, Juan), but it had to take a backseat for most of the E4, it did assist with Sidney and Phoebe a bit, but it couldn't do much against Drake (as I taught a different Pokemon the Dragon Claw TM), Glacia, and even Wallace as half his team had Ice/Poison coverage. From what I heard from other people, Blaziken isn't too good, so I assume that the gen 3 starter ranking is something like Swampert > Sceptile > Blaziken.
I ended up getting many ideal Pokemon as well such as Azumarill, Breloom, and Manectric, so that probably ended up making the run much more easier. Overall, I think Swampert is still the best in Hoenn regardless of which game you're playing.

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Okay, thanks JTP, also, since you have experience with an Emerald Nuzlocke, could you answer the first question too? The question about how hard it is compared to other Nuzlockes? Thanks, that'd be great.

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How hard the nuzlocke is? I haven't played enough nuzlockes to come up with a proper rating, but I'd say its slightly harder than Ruby/Sapphire. Mostly because of certain gym leaders being given more Pokemon as well as held berries, such as Roxanne getting an additional Geodude and her Nosepass getting an Oran Berry, or Tate & Liza getting a Claydol and Xatu, as well as their aces each getting a Sitrus Berry. I feel like you could get a better rating from somebody else, but I'd give Emerald a 7-8 for its difficulty.

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Okay, thanks so much JustATypicalPerson.

Answer 1

When it comes to difficulty, I would say around eight out of ten based on this discussion on reddit. Even this article ranks it as fifth most difficult games. However, this is very subjective as one player might find it easier than another as seen in the first reply on this post

As for the starter, without a doubt it is Mudkip. Even the first reply in the first link suggested so

Best advice? Start with Mudkip. He is solid throughout the entire game and there are no major Grass trainers so he is always reliable. Not to mention Wattson is really tough if you didn't get a Geodude, but Marshtomp obliterates him. Brawly is handled easily if you kept your Wurmple alive or if you get a Sableye (who Brawly straight up can't even touch). Flannery can be rough, but try Rain Dance or Thief on Torkoal's Power Herb. Thick Fat Azumarill also helps.

In all honesty, even when not in a nuzlocke Sceptile is the worst out of the three. It doesn't really help in any major battles up until the very end point in the game, unless you count slaughtering Aqua grunts as major battles. It also has some very difficult matchups such as Flannery, Winona and of course, whoever that dragon trainer is in the elite four

Blaziken kinda sits in the middle. It's not super great like Swampert and it's not as bad as Sceptile. It has some bad matchups like again, Winona, the twins and of course, Juan and Wallace but for the most part, it will do just decently

Comments

Woops, sorry, forgot to BA, there you go. Thanks for the answer, it really helped.