Your personal rules of playing Pokemon

[FilipJPhry]

I was playing some Heart Gold while watching CFL and working on my NFL fantasy team(Multi-tasking ftw!)when I noticed that almost all of my current starter Pokemon were the very first ones I've caught.
Typhlosion, Nidoking(Route 12,level 12), Victreebel(R32,lvl 6), Togekiss(Hatched Violet City), and Ampharos(R32,lvl 6).
Those are the first five(pre-evolution duh) in my collection. The lone exception is my Red Gyarados, because I needed a water HM ***** to take me places.

This made me remember playing Blue, and my final team consisted of Blastoise, Pidgeot, Golem(me & my brother traded, then traded back), Raichu, Alakazam, and Victreebel.
Again, Pokemon(pre-ev) you can catch in the first 3-5 routes in the game.

This realization made me come up with this:
If you caught a Pokemon and is inserted to your party immediately, that Pokemon remains in your party until a HM is required.

What is your Golden Rule?

 

[sextus the crazy]

pretty much the only things I do different is that I usually plan my teams out in advance. And for the special versions (Emerald, Platinium, etc.), I usually import lv. 1 pokemon that I raised from other games (e.g. I for HG I imported a lv 1. gible, heracross, elekid, mudkip, and skarmory and chose cyndaquil for my starter.

 

[Marter]

Always have a Pinsir in your party, assuming you can get one at the current moment you're playing.

Yeah, I like Pinsir.

 

[tofulove]

i hated all the hms other than surf, which is the flame thrower of water. so surf i love you, but rest could all die, and flash, i hated you the most.

and i do what sextus does, i plan out my team before i start the game and what moves they will have. although do not import babies, i has not the ability to do so

 

[Something Amyss]

I usually only go for the cute ones. >.>

 

[Strain42]

1. Use only my starter until I catch the first Pokemon I want (this is usually sometime before the third gym, but not always)

2. Instantly ditch starter for new Pokemon. There are only two cases in Pokemon where I use my starter. Diamond because of the severe lack of new Fire types and Yellow because it's basically Pikachu version.

3. No Legendaries or Pseudo-Legendaries. Pretty self explanatory.

4. Use only Pokemon from that games generation, with the exception of remakes using Pokemon from the originals Gen (this also means no evolving. So I have to keep Sneasel as Sneasel instead of Weavile in Heart)

5. As of Gen 3, my party Pokemon can only be captured in regular Pokeballs. This is sometimes difficult, but it's never been too daunting a task.

6. This is where it gets confusing. I make my team based on the party members from Digital Devil Saga. Each team member has a rule.

Varna/Varnani (depends on gender) must be Water or Ice
Agni must be Fire or Dragon
Prithivi must be Grass, Rock or Ground
Vayu must be Flying. If another Pokemon covers flying duties, Vayu may be any Pokemon with the ability levitate, or able to learn the move Roost (so basically winged things that can't learn Fly like Beedrill or Dunsparce)
Dyaus must be Fighting, Psychic or Dark
Indra must be Electric or Steel

So basically the only four types that aren't covered are Poison, Bug, Normal and Ghost. I generally use those four in the Mystery Dungeon games. But of course with all the dual types I have several of those Pokemon in my teams.

I'm sure I have a few other rules, but they escape me right now. Plus I'm sure nobody cares anyway.

EDIT: This isn't really a RULE, but I have an Ice type in every single one of my games. Is mostly just coincidence though.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Don't use the Master Ball on anything but a legendary that you want to nature-manipulate.

Always teach water types Surf. ALWAYS.

Use a 4 pokemon main party, a Fly slave with decent combat ability, and an HM Slave.

Have your team complete before the third gym. So, late game pokemon rarely make it into my team.

Always kill Trick Room users FIRST.

 

[Kermi]

Don't use the Master Ball on anything but a legendary that you want to nature-manipulate.

Always teach water types Surf. ALWAYS.

Use a 4 pokemon main party, a Fly slave with decent combat ability, and an HM Slave.

Have your team complete before the third gym. So, late game pokemon rarely make it into my team.

Always kill Trick Room users FIRST.

Yeah, I only catch Pokemon I plan to use until the endgame. I will avoid catching anything I am not going to use - last game I played (Diamond) I was at the 6th gym before I had 6 pokemon in my party because there'd only been four pokemon I wanted to capture (including the water ***** for HM abuse later).

Then I keep those pokemon forever, sometimes swapping out for legendaries but only after I've beaten the pokemon league (or equivalent).

This all started because back when I played red/blue I couldn't be bothered swapping out so I kept the first six I captured and levelled them up. I had to grind like a ***** to get them all to a high enough level to beat the Elite 4 + Gary Oak so after that I kept the same rule but just got picker about what I captured and when.

 

[Shakomaru]

My rules for 3rd Gen.
1.Always get a pokemon with sky uppercut
2.Get a ralts before getting to first gym
3.Catch the game's mascot before elite four
4.If bored, do a Nuzlocke

 

[ColorfulObscurity]

All of my Pokemon play throughs are done with Nuzlocke rules.

 

[Furioso]

See these guys?

Yea those guys, they are your sacrifice, if you need to heal, switch to them and heal while they die, only use them for HMs, until you can get anything slightly good, replace them as soon as you can, and remember to abuse them verbally, constantly

 

[mitchell271]

I have 4

Never permanently trade because you'll regret it later.
Always keep your starter pokemon with you.
Always pick the fire starter pokemon if you want to beat the first gyms with out grinding.
Never use a Master Ball on anything but a legendary.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

All's fair in love and war. And I don't battle out of love.

 

[Shadowstar38]

1) I plan my party out based on the pokemon that are the most astheticly pleasing visually(they look) are worry about type advantage after the fact

2) Have an ***** pokemon on hand that you can use all the HMs on. I suggest a normal type sense certain ones can learn anything(meowth)

3)Only catch the Legendarys that fit the types you need. I never go for everyone because after Hoen it was just a headach.

 

[RedHighwind07]

I used Panpour (and then Simipour) in my main party. It has amazing speed and I had a Sp. Atk. beneficial nature. As for rules, I always have six pokemon with me, all evenly raised with HM's incorporated. I always make sure my pokemon are the same level as the Gym Leader's strongest pokemon (lots of grinding :/). Always have a Fire type pokemon and a powerful Bug Type (Escavalier saved my ass so many times) and I try to to import or get an Eevee evolution where I can. Also, more recently I try to have a Leech Seeder/Stunspore/Protect pokemon on my team. I recently started playing Soul Silver again, and this is my team heading into Victory Road-

Pidgeot Lvl 42 (ATK+ nature)-Flyer
Ninetails Lvl 44 (Speed+ nature)
Meganium Lvl 45 (DEF+ nature)
Umbreon Lvl 44 (DEF+ Nature)-basically my wall
Tauros Lvl 45 (ATK+ Nature)-Is amazing at getting me out of tight spots
Poliwrath Lvl 42 (Speed+ nature)-HM Slave, can hold it's own in combat though

 

[Leemaster777]

My personal rules:

1: Plan out your team in advance. Sometimes broken if I've managed to keep myself un-spoiled in regards to new pokemon in a new generation.

2: No more than two pokemon on a team can share a weakness. This is for a more practical reason, rather than just OCD.

3: No legendaries.

4: Always use the starter pokemon.

5: Normal pokeballs only for team members. (other pokeballs are okay if I'm just catching them for my pokedex)

6: No HM moves on team members, other than Surf and Fly.

7: No nicknames.

8: No trading pokemon from other games into a new one until Elite Four are beaten. (I've recently made an exception to this rule if I use the GTS)

 

[Terminate421]

Always have at least one starter on my Team. Anyone and somehow.

Preferably a starter I like of course.

Also, only use pokemon that I like, fuck the rules and people who say "Pokemon X sucks, I'll just use Excadrill!" I use pokemon who I like.

For story mode though, unless it is surf, always have an HM slave.

 

[StellarViking]

I make sure to always have a fire, water, dark, flying, electric, and wildcard at all times. My current SoulSilver (just started over) is Cyndaquil, Mareep, Magikarp (screw you, not just for Gyarados, magikarp is awesome), Zubat, Togepi, and what's gonna be Eevee to Umbreon.

 

[St.Augustine6]

1: Always use starter through whole game. Chose water starter on first play-through (so you know you'll have something to teach Surf to).

2: Catch a flying Pokemon in the first couple of routes (Pidgey, Hoothoot, Tailow, etc.).

3: Every time I play the same game again, I try to use completely different teams if possible, so let's say in Ruby I started with Mudkip and caught a Tailow early, the next time, I would start with Treecko, and catch a Wingull. Mix it up, makes it more challenging.

4: If bored, or on 4th run, use challenging rules (e.g. Nuzlocke).

5: Never, ever skip a trainer battle, even in Gyms, the more possibility of gaining experience, the better.

 

[N_of_the_dead]

Mine for red/blue was "Catch em all after you beat em all".

Going for the 151 can wait till I'm ready to focus my attention on it only and not let it interfere with story. So yeah usually I would have very few pokemon maybe twenty tops till I'd beaten the Elite Four. Most of the catches would be guys I used, pokemon I could trade with npc's(I considered that part of story) and the occasional rare guy I come across (why not I found it). The one clause in the rule was the safari zone, legendaries and cubone (idk I just like the sad little bastard).