In the
Pokémon series, players travel across a region, capturing the titular creatures and using them to battle each other in combat; they can use various attacks both offensively and defensively. If a Pokémon takes enough damage, they will "faint" and be knocked out, rendering them unable to be used in combat. These Pokémon can be healed at Pokémon Center locations, or by using healing items. The primary goal is to become the strongest trainer in the region. Nuzlocke gameplay functions identically to regular
Pokémon gameplay, with the only differences being that players can only catch the first Pokémon they encounter in a given area, and that when a Pokémon is defeated in battle, it is considered "dead" and cannot be used again, even if healed in-game. Most rulesets encourage the player to nickname their Pokémon to form a stronger attachment to it. from the series
Lost, who was portrayed by actor
Terry O'Quinn (pictured). The Nuzlocke challenge was first created in 2010 by
University of California, Santa Cruz student Nick Franco. Franco, procrastinating on college work, chose to play
Pokémon Ruby, adding additional rules to make the play session more interesting. Franco eventually turned the playthrough with the ruleset into a
webcomic, dubbed
Pokémon: Hard-Mode. In a
Destructoid interview, Franco stated the formula was made more difficult by additions to the games that make gameplay easier; additions included an affection level, which allowed Pokémon to survive hits that would otherwise KO them, and Pokémon spawning in the game's overworld instead of through random encounters, which limited the player's ability to randomly select which Pokémon they would encounter. As a result of these changes, further additions to the ruleset were made to allow for the challenge's difficulty to remain. Other adaptations to the ruleset have been devised, such as the "Hatelocke", which creates one continual run spanning the whole series, barring players from using Pokémon they captured in previous games. == Reception ==