Pokémon Red and Blue/Elite Four

You’ve finally reached the end — the Elite Four, the four strongest Trainers in the entire game. If you can defeat all of them, you will become the new Champion and beat the game. However, there is one caveat to this: you must battle the Elite Four with no access to a Pokémon Center between battles. And if you lose to one of these Trainers, then you must restart your battles back at the beginning. Purchase all the healing items you can afford, grab those Ethers and Elixirs, because this is the one place in the game where PP depletion becomes a real worry, and head on in.

Boss — Lorelei (•5544 reward)

1. Level 54 Dewgong
2. Level 53 Cloyster
3. Level 54 Slowbro
4. Level 56 Jynx
5. Level 56 Lapras

Your best bet here is an Electric type, so taking Zapdos might be a good idea. Only Jynx would pose a problem to such a strategy (it is Ice/Psychic), so a powerful Fire-type would be a good call. If you have Fighting, that will be super-effective against the Dewgong, Cloyster, and Lapras.

Boss — Bruno (•5472 reward)

1. Level 53 Onix
2. Level 55 Hitmonchan
3. Level 55 Hitmonlee
4. Level 56 Onix
5. Level 58 Machamp

Zapdos will come really handy here also. Just use Drill Peck and you’ll overcome his three Fighting-type Pokémon. The two Onixes can be quickly defeated by copious amounts of Surf.

Boss — Agatha (•5940 reward)

1. Level 56 Gengar
2. Level 56 Golbat
3. Level 55 Haunter
4. Level 58 Arbok
5. Level 60 Gengar

This boss is kind of a joke. Agatha is notorious for using Dream Eater over and over again when your Pokémon is not asleep, meaning it does nothing. She also switches her Pokémon out more-or-less at random. An Alakazam or Dugtrio would be very powerful here, although you’ll need something non-Ground to deal with Golbat.

Boss — Lance (•6038 reward)

1. Level 58 Gyarados
2. Level 56 Dragonair
3. Level 56 Dragonair
4. Level 60 Aerodactyl
5. Level 62 Dragonite

First of all, the two Gyarados are four-times-weak to Electric. Zapdos should finish them. Otherwise, this may well be your first encounter with Dragon-type Pokémon. If you brought Articuno, then Lance can’t do a thing to stop you. Other Ice-type attacks will be extremely effective.

So you’ve defeated the Elite Four. Is your name going to go down in history? Not quite yet…

Boss — Rival

1. Level 61 Pidgeot
2. Level 59 Alakazam
3. Level 61 Rhydon
4. Level 61 Gyarados, Exeggcutor, or Arcanine
5. Level 63 Arcanine, Gyarados, or Exeggcutor
6. Level 63 Blastoise, Venusaur, or Charizard

The Rival will always start with Pidgeot, then Alakazam, then Rhydon. Zapdos would again come in really handy, easily defeating Pidgeot. Anything with Surf can easily take out Rhydon. The Alakazam, on the other hand, is nasty. It knows Recover, so it can restore half of its HP up to twenty times. Furthermore, none of the usual elemental attacks are super-effective against Alakazam; the only Pokémon that would help in this way is, believe it or not, Parasect.

Once you manage to defeat those first three Pokémon, the next Pokémon depends on which starter you chose back in Pallet Town. If you chose Charmander, then he has a Gyarados, an Arcanine, and a Blastoise. If you picked Squirtle, he has an Exeggcutor, a Gyarados, and a Venusaur. If you chose Bulbasaur, then he has an Arcanine, and Exeggcutor, and a Charizard. Zapdos works once again against Gyarados. If you picked Sqirtle, then the powerful Ice-type move that probably took down Lance would also be effective against Exeggcutor and Venusaur. Zapdos can be a powerhouse here when using its non-Electric-type attacks.

And that, once your rival’s last Pokémon falls, will be that! Congratulations are due; you just beat the game.