Pokémon fans have designed the toughest challenges. Now, a year later, it's beaten

When asked to name the infamous game, you probably won't think of Pokémon. Despite its complex competitive meta, the movement of the Pokémon game has been accused of being too easy for years, especially in recent games. As a result, the fan community has proposed various voluntary, restrictive challenges to make the game more difficult, such as the many changes in the Nuzlocke challenge.

But there is a fan-created challenge pattern that is so difficult until now. This is the Super Kaizo Ironmon Challenge, defeated by hundreds of community members in over a year of attempts.

Super Kaizo Ironon Challenge is created by streaming iateourpiehe proposed it in 2024. Tiemon Challenge and its past changesin the years before that, it was already a difficult way to play Pokémon.

Standard Ironon challenges include rules such as the need to use the machine, all enemy coaches and wild Pokémon levels increased by 50%, which is required that if Pokémon is sleepy, it can no longer use it, and you can only capture or kill one Pokémon on each route, then you must not grind the exp encountered in wild wild.

Then, there is the ultimate Ironmon rule, which adds more restrictions, such as only getting six Pokémon in the running total, once in, until it is defeated, you won't be allowed to leave the gym, and players will only be allowed to enter the dungeon once.

and Then exist That There is Kaizo Ironmon, which adds a rule like allowing only one Pokémon at a time, allowing players to capture up to four levels of Pokémon than the highest Pokémon on the team, completely preventing killing any wild Pokémon, and forbidding all kinds of useful items, abilities, abilities, movements and Pokémon.

Super Kaizo Ironmon actually takes all these rules, for some irrelevant reasons, Add more. It requires a ROM patch to enable trainers to intelligently use AI and hold items, and provides the stadium leaders with a full team of six, making them more difficult than usual. It forces players to “spin” new Pokémon midway through the game and has restrictions on how to choose Pokémon. It prohibits more actions and items, and has various requirements for different versions of Pokémon that limit certain areas such as Trick House of Pokémon Emerald, SS Anne from Firered and Leafgreen, and Amity Square from Pokémon Platinum.

So, yes, maybe it took a long time to beat, right? But after 8,502 generous attempts, Streamer Reimi finally managed to do it. The winning run ended last Friday happened when Pokémon opened fire. Because it is a random compound, any Pokémon can appear anywhere, so Reimi's first Pokémon choice is between Krabby, Weedle and Blissey. There is no doubt that Reimi went with Blissey, which became his main fighter throughout the first half of the run.

But due to the pivot rules, Remy had to swap the main Pokémon midway through the game. He was allowed to capture three different Pokémon from a specific area and eventually settled on a crobat nicknamed Heskey, the debris evolved from… ivysaur (it was a with the machine!). Reimi's initial reaction to the evolution on the screen was: “At least something”, but as the run continued, that reaction became a lot of things.

It all reached a disturbing final battle with the blue and was equipped with earthquakes, sludge, air ace and lightning at 90 with Heskey. In this random version, Heskey easily pulls out the blue photographer with a one-time earthquake with aerial ace. Parasect left a nasty party gift in the form of a flame body burning Heskey, just for blue, sending a second parasite with acid armor. Heskey still managed to strike out a piece of sludge after healing the burn, and the blue next releases his ace: Level 95 Quagsire. However, Heskey also sent a shot in a severe earthquake.

Next is the 86-level Rayquaza of everything, which is even more tricky. Heskey had to slowly chop its health with sludge, and although he managed to poison it, the blue kept using the full restore, while Rayquaza kept using refresh to eliminate Heskey's efforts. At one point, Reimi had to use a full restore from his bag to keep Heskey alive, though she wanted to save it for a potential dynamic shock after the fight. Eventually, Rayquaza fell off and left Poliwrath. After three attacks, Heskey finished the work and Reimi became the first person ever to complete Super Kaizo Ironmon.

So, what is Reimi now conquered Super Kaizo Ironmon doing? He is… still playing. At the time of this article, Reimi is just outside the city of Viridian, with a level 39 Tentacruel named Squidward.

Reimi's victory may pave the way for more, but on the Super Kaizo Ironmon Rules page, Iateourpie's disclaimer “This is not what everyone means,” is certainly true, because it's ridiculous to just allow one person to get the end of a challenge completely.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior journalist at IGN. You can find her post on bluesky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Is there a story tip? Send it to [email protected].