Pokémon Gauntlet Gold

How hard can you make a vanilla Pokemon game? Trashlockes are usually the answer to that question, keeping vanilla enemies unchanged while forcing the player to use low-tier encounters.

But what if you want to raise difficulty without changing trainers OR wild Pokemon availability? Gauntlet Gold is an experiment with that idea. It is vanilla Pokemon Gold, but with difficulty upped by forcing long trainer gauntlets with limited access to healing items.

Every route, cave and gym will trap you in until you have cleared every trainer. You can no longer buy potions from marts; what you find on the ground is all you get for healing within gauntlets. Even Indigo Plateau will not sell healing items, so you will want to manage your resources carefully to be able to beat the Elite Four.

Basically, this game is inspired by the resource-management strategies of the ironmon challenge, as well as the gauntlet system used in Garbage Green. Although Gauntlet Gold is easier by design, as it doesn't also impose a trashlocke. It makes for a fun and fast-paced challenge run.