You most likely don't assume of Pokémon when requested to call notoriously difficult video games. Despite having a complicated aggressive meta, the campaigns of Pokémon video games have been accused of being too simple for years now, particularly in more latest video games. As a outcome, fan communities have come up with numerous voluntary, restrictive challenges to make the game more troublesome, reminiscent of the many variations of the Nuzlocke problem.
But there's one fan-created problem mode that's so troublesome it had by no means been overwhelmed… till now. It's the Super Kaizo Ironmon problem, and it's simply been defeated after over a 12 months and hundreds of makes an attempt by lots of of neighborhood members.
The Super Kaizo IronMon problem was created by streamer iateyourpie, who got here up with it in 2024. It builds off of the IronMon challenge and its past variations, which iateyourpie created a few years earlier than that, and which was already a troublesome solution to play Pokémon.
The commonplace IronMon problem consists of guidelines reminiscent of required use of a randomizer, all enemy coach and wild Pokémon ranges elevated by 50%, a requirement that if a Pokémon faints, it can’t be used anymore, and a rule which you can solely catch OR kill one Pokémon per route — no grinding wild encounters for EXP.
Then, there's the Ultimate IronMon guidelines, which add more restrictions reminiscent of solely permitting six Pokémon to be obtained during the run complete, not letting you allow a Gym when you enter till you've overwhelmed it, and solely permitting gamers to enter a dungeon one time.
And then on high of that there's Kaizo IronMon, which provides guidelines like just one Pokémon being allowed for use at a time, solely permitting gamers to catch Pokémon up to 4 ranges larger than the highest Pokémon on their crew, prevents killing any wild Pokémon in any respect, and bans all types of useful objects, talents, strikes, and Pokémon.
Super Kaizo IronMon takes actually all of these guidelines, and for some unhinged purpose, adds even more. It require a ROM patch to present trainers good AI and held objects, and offers Gym Leaders full groups of six, making them far more troublesome than regular. It forces gamers to "pivot" to a new Pokémon halfway by way of the game, and has restrictions as to how that Pokémon may be chosen. It bans even more strikes and objects, and has numerous necessities for various variations of Pokémon that prohibit sure areas reminiscent of the Trick House in Pokemon Emerald, the S.S. Anne in FireRed and LeafGreen, and Amity Square in Pokémon Platinum.
So, yeah, possibly no shocker that this took so long to beat, huh? But streamer Reimi has lastly managed to do it after an eye-popping 8,502 makes an attempt. The successful run, which concluded this previous Friday, occurred on Pokémon FireRed. Because it's a randomizer, any Pokémon can seem anyplace, so Reimi's starter Pokémon alternative was between a Krabby, a Weedle, and a Blissey. Unshockingly, Reimi went with the Blissey, which grew to become his major fighter for the complete first half of the run.
But as a result of of the pivot rule, Reimi needed to swap major Pokémon midway by way of the game. He was allowed to catch three totally different Pokémon from one particular space to select from, and in the end settled on a Crobat nicknamed Heskey that advanced from… Ivysaur (it's a randomizer!). Reimi's initial response to the evolution on display screen was, "That's at least something," however that one thing was a complete heck of a lot as the run continued.
It all culminated in a nervewracking remaining battle towards Blue with Heskey at stage 90 and outfitted with Earthquake, Sludge, Aerial Ace, and Thunderbolt. In this randomized model, Heskey took out Blue's Camerupt simply with a one-shot Earthquake, and a Parasect with Aerial Ace. Parasect left a nasty partying present in the type of Flame Body burning Heskey, just for Blue to ship out a second Parasect with Acid Armor. Heskey nonetheless managed to take it out a single shot with Sludge after therapeutic the burn, and Blue despatched out his ace subsequent: a stage 95 Quagsire. But Heskey dispatched THAT in a single shot too, with a vital hit Earthquake.
Next up was a stage 86 Rayquaza, of all issues, which proved trickier. Heskey needed to slowly chop its well being down with Sludge, and whereas he managed to poison it, Blue saved utilizing Full Restores and Rayquaza saved utilizing Refresh to negate Heskey's efforts. At one level, Reimi had to make use of the one Full Restore in his bag simply to maintain Heskey alive, regardless of wanting to reserve it for a potential Dynamic Punch later in the fight. Eventually, Rayquaza dropped, leaving Poliwrath. Three assaults later, Heskey completed the job, and Reimi grew to become the first particular person ever to complete Super Kaizo IronMon.
So what's Reimi doing now that Super Kaizo IronMon has been conquered? He's… nonetheless taking part in it. At the time this piece was written, Reimi was simply outdoors of Viridian City with a stage 39 Tentacruel named Squidward.
Reimi's victory will possible pave the approach for more wins down the highway, however iateyourpie's disclaimer on the Super Kaizo IronMon guidelines web page, "This is not meant for everyone," actually rings true given how ridiculous it was simply to get one particular person to achieve the finish of the problem precisely one time.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can discover her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected].