What is a Pokémon randomizer? Explained

The more advanced video games become, the more valuable older consoles and games seem to get. Whether it’s the nostalgia factor or newer generations simply discovering classic titles for the first time, retro gaming is hotter than ever. One of the most popular retro titles is the legendary Pokémon series. Now there’s another reason to revisit those old games: The Pokémon randomizer.

No matter how much you love Black, Gold, Crystal, or even OG Red and Green, the games get repetitive after numerous playthroughs. That’s where randomizers come in. They allow for a completely different playing experience, meaning you get to experience a game fresh with a whole new set of parameters. Fun! So what are they and how do they work? Read on!

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What exactly is a Pokémon randomizer?

Simply put: a Pokémon randomizer lets you changes aspects of the game in unpredictable ways, making for a completely new playing experience. This means you’ll encounter different wild and trainer Pokémon, different items, abilities, moves, and a whole mess of other things.

The randomizer will make sure all the Pokémon in the game are completely, well, random. Instead of knowing what’s coming next, you’ll encounter something completely unexpected. While the story would remain the same, everything else would be different.

For example, in Black you can choose from three starter Pokémon: Oshawott, Snivy or Tepig. Instead you could start with a Crustle, or a Axew, or a Golurk. Doesn’t make sense? Doesn’t have to! That’s the whole point of it.

A rock-type Pokémon could learn flying-type moves. Also, TMs can be randomized as well if so desired. (HMs are not because they’re not need for game progression). Trainers and gym leaders can have completely different Pokémon as well.

Are you used to only certain Pokémon spawning in specific areas? No more. You could even change the classes of the trainers as well.

How do you get a Pokémon randomizer?

Getting a randomizer for newer Pokémon games, like Sword or Shield, can be more difficult because you have to mod a Nintendo Switch, and that will void your warranty and could potentially brick your system if you don’t know what you’re doing.

However, for Pokémon on the Game Boy, Game boy Advance or Nintendo DS, the process is much easier. The simplest way to do it is to first get a ROM of the game you want to randomize. These are pretty easy to find online, and you’ll also need an emulator, which can also be found with a simple Google search.

Finally, get the Universal Pokémon Randomizer application, which you can find here.

The Nuzlocke Challenge is also worth mentioning here, as a randomizer has a way of obliterating the difficulty of the game. It basically exists to pose a challenge to players who use randomizers but still don’t want to breeze through a game.

The name’s origin is sort of mysterious, but it involves a combination of the Nuzleaf Pokémon comic and the name John Locke. The thing about the Nuzlocke challenge is that you have to follow the rules on your own.

Here are those rules:

• The player is only allowed to catch the first Pokémon they encounter in the area. If the Pokemon faints or escapes, then you can no longer catch a Pokémon in that area.
• If there are scripted battles or Shiny Pokémon encounters, then you can catch those Pokémon as well even if you already caught a Pokémon in that area.
• If there is a double battle, then the player can only catch one of those Pokémon.
• Any Pokémon that the player owns that will faint will be considered as actually dead. The players must release the Pokémon or just keep it in the storage without using it for the duration of the game.

As you can see, this pretty much levels the playing field for a random game, if you have the ability to stick with it, that is.

How does a Pokémon randomizer work?

First of all, a randomizer will start by shuffling all the Pokémon in the game itself. That means you never know what you’re going to run into, and your starters will be completely different. However, randomizers have the ability to set custom parameters.

You can set them to two-stage evolutionary lines, you could even start with a Mewtwo if you wanted. You can randomize both gift and Legendary Pokémon, to switch out type for type and get a different legendary, or you can make those completely random as well.

Wild Pokémon can also be randomized, or they can be set to what’s called Area one-to-one Mapping, which means Pokémon you can encounter on certain routes can be switched out for others. There’s also Global one-to-one Mapping, which means specific Pokémon get switched out for other specific ones.

Enemy trainer Pokémon can be switched out this way as well. In the options of the randomizer, you could choose the trainer to have 100 percent random ones, or have them be all one type, and you can even make everyone in the gym have the same type as well.

Encounters can be customized too. You can pick similar strength encounters so you have more control over power differentials between your Pokémon and enemies. Another fun option is the Catch Em All Mode, which makes sure you’ll be able to collect every single Pokémon in the game. It’s a good mode for all you completionists out there.

Honestly, there is so much to randomize and customize it’s like you’re playing a whole new game, and it’s really fun to do! You can even make areas type-themed so you only encounter one type of Pokémon, and you can also disable Legendaries if you want to.

If you really want to get crazy, you have the option to randomize a Pokémon‘s moves, stats, abilities and types, but be warned, this pretty much throws things off the rails. It’s like using that every car goes 100 mph mod on GTA5.

So as you can see, a randomizer is an excellent way to spice up a game you’ve played a million times or have gotten sick of from replaying so many times. There are so many options and custom choices to set that it really makes you feel like you’re playing a whole new game.