Mini celebration post because, after getting sent the wrong game twice, I finally got the right game and completed my collection of Spyro and Skylanders games.
Spyro 1, 2, and 3 for original Playstation are sadly claimed by my mom, but I have them on PSP. (The disc wasn't working 100% properly last I played Spyro 1 on it anyway. Lots of music skipping.)
Spyro Enter the Dragonfly and A Hero's Tail for PS2.
Season of Ice, Season of Flame, Attack of the Rhynocs, and Orange: the Cortex Conspiracy for GBA.
Shadow Legacy on DS.
The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning on PS2, GBA, and DS.
The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night on PS2, GBA, and DS.
The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon on Wii and DS.
Skylanders Spyro's Adventure for PS3 and 3DS.
Skylanders Giants for PS3 and 3DS
Skylanders Swap Force for PS3 and 3DS
Skylanders Trap Team for Wii U and 3DS
Skylanders Superchargers for Wii U and 3DS
Skylanders Imaginators for Wii U
AND Reignited Trilogy for Switch (digital because why bother with a demo cart) and the 2019 all-games-on-disc revision for PS4!
Back on Wolvden. Last time I played was 10 months ago. Trying to remember what I was doing.
My last post was the end of an arc, at least, with the state of things returning to relative normalcy. I wanted to try to get a specific wolf for the next arc, but I don't know if I actually wrote down what that wolf was. I guess that lets me be free to decide a new one!
I probably will not be doing narratives anymore. I haven't formally mentioned this, but AI scrapers make me very uncomfortable and I do not want to give them any further free training on my narrative style, especially as I get more serious about my original fiction. All story updates will now thus be in bullet-point form. (That form probably is less intimidating to those scrolling their feed, anyway)
Now to read 10 months of news posts to find out what I missed.
And Nathanael is going to have his second Cataclysms event. I'll probably go with Merged this time, though, since that's the only faction I haven't done yet. May or may not end up canon.
Unpopular opinion, but this year's Altador Cup is the most fun I've had with it since Altador Cup I.
No stress to hit certain ranks in certain time frames, counting each score and not going to bed until I have enough. No knowing that even with all that effort to get the best trophy, I still won't be able to afford the top prizes. No frustration that my team's practice day lands on a weekend or otherwise a day I can actually grind because even though that was so, you could still earn prize points.
I was skeptical about it being only just over a week, but even that's a positive. I really feel like I can go all-out instead of trying to ration it with other real-life responsibilities.
Like, my team is not doing well. I'm on Team Moltara and as of today (Monday the 13th with only two matches to go including today's) we have not won a single round. Which is still a bit of an adjustment for me since I only joined Moltara in AC XIX after previously being in Darigan, which is a mid-high tier team. (I was bored playing the same five characters since AC II)
Even then, though, I'm doing my part. Scoring as high as I can in YYB in hopes we're not last. I'm having fun.
No matter how old I am, no matter how much I logically know that The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning has the most basic of video game plots. . .
I always step away with feels. And it makes me sad all over again that Dawn of the Dragon didn't have the same writers. I might like Dawn of the Dragon's gameplay more, but the FEELS are not there.
I took stock of the number of Spyro games I have (and I intend to clear in my personal Spyrothon), and the number is a lot more staggering than I initially thought.
10 Classic series I already knew. 2 that need to be played at home (PS2 games) and 8 that can be played anywhere. Original trilogy on PSP, Season trilogy and Orange on GBA, Enter the Dragonfly and A Hero's Tail on PS2, and Shadow Legacy on DS.
8 Legend of Spyro games. 3 that need to be played at home and 5 that can be played anywhere. A New Beginning and The Eternal Night on PS2, Dawn of the Dragon on Wii, A New Beginning and The Eternal Night on GBA, and all three on DS.
11 Skylanders games. All of which need to be played at home. First three games on PS3, last three games on Wii U, and five games on 3DS. Despite 3DS being portable, I am not taking my miniportal or figures to work with me.
Plus Reignited Trilogy on Switch and PS4 because yes I got two copies - one for portability and the other for quality/actually being the disc that has all the data on it. I might bookend the marathon with them since I started with the Switch version but I think it's appropriate for the last game I play to be the last Spyro game Toys For Bob made.
This adds up to a total of 30 unique games. 16 played at home, 13 played anywhere. Plus Reignited on both. Counting Reignited as three each, that's 19 at home and 16 anywhere.
So far, I've done 2 at home and 2 anywhere. I have a long ways to go.
I don't have anywhere else to put this analogy, but it's been bouncing around my head since the Playstation Digital future announcement so I'm putting it here.
Buying something digital is like paying your neighbor once and you can use their lawnmower whenever you want. You have full use of it; you even have a key to the garage for when they aren't home, but it's never your lawnmower.
You are reliant on your neighbor keeping their end of the deal, and that there will be no falling out. That the neighbor will never decide to get rid of the lawnmower. That maybe if you modify the lawnmower in ways the neighbor doesn't like, they won't take away your key and refuse to let you have a deal on any other of their tools again. Or that if someone cheats with your neighbor's partner and frames you (someone hacks into your account and cheats in games) the neighbor won't believe you're the culprit and stop dealing with you.
The deal might allow you to keep the lawnmower in your garage instead, and if you don't leave it unlocked, your neighbor might not be able to do anything about it if something goes wrong (downloading a game and keeping the device offline). That's the most you can do, though, and if something does happen, you still can't make this sort of deal with any other tools.
And sure - that's a lot of unlikely "if"s. 99% of the time, this deal will work wonderfully and you will always have access to that lawnmower.
But all those "if"s can be avoided by just buying your own lawnmower from the hardware store (buying a physical copy that is complete-on-disc/cart - and before you argue, most games are this way even if some AAA games aren't). It might be less convenient and you now need to store it yourself, but it's yours. If you have a falling out with your neighbor, they might not help you repair it anymore (provide game updates), but they can't stop you from using it, and you can always buy other tools from the hardware store.
Sony is closing the hardware store, so starting in 2028, you'll have to go through your neighbor for Playstation tools.
One Spyro Level a Month Until Spyro: A Realm Beyond Releases - June 2026 - Jacques
Intro/Rules
Previous Level
Next Level
We have a title! We have a release window! We have an announced new Spyro game!!!!!! (tags will stay the same though since I'm too lazy to change it on the older ones)
But we're still trucking along in the classic games until it actually releases. I'll make it to the end of Spyro 1 for sure. Spyro 2 is going to be cut short.
Anyway, Jacques. The other nightmare level. Despite it looking like literal hell, it is significantly less scary than Dark Passage IMO.
Entrance
No portal archway to greet us. We're on the outskirts here. And a couple of creatures are here to greet is. They look awfully excited - maybe they just heard about A Realm Beyond.
The one wearing armor must be charged and the other one must be flamed, even though they're around the same size.
When I read Beowulf for school, I imagined Grendel and Grendel's Mother to look like these guys.
Defeat them, flame the fool, and use the platform to ascend.
Branching Path
Both ways have fools and enemies. Let's go left, first.
The Left Route
Left route leads to a dead end. A tall fool platform without a fool nearby, some shielded enemies, and some gems. You can see other platforms in the distance, but they're too far to glide to.
The Right Route
After a couple fools and enemies on the right route, you come across a locked treasure chest, and an archway that leads to a dragon. The archway leads to the end, so I'm not going there yet.
While archways tend to be near the start of the level, I doubt this was ever intended to be the beginning, unless this was the first boss designed and they decided to make them actual full levels afterwards.
But maybe in-universe this is where dragons tend to land, when it's not covered in whatever those things are.
The Key
Continuing past the archway, there's a lower platform with two fools on it. Flame them both and the platform in the middle makes a wedding cake shape, allowing you to access the cave and the key.
You'll also need the platform in wedding cake shape to get off this island. Either back to the locked chest or gliding over to the left path from earlier.
Secret Area
There is one fool hanging out by himself near the path split. He's the one you need to flame to lower the tall platform on the left path. Flame him and quickly make your way to the platform and you see a dragon!
Unika
Unika thanks us for releasing him. No praise for our ingenuity or anything. TBH he's probably only here to provide a checkpoint.
Secret Area Left
Again we have a split path. Taking the left side, there's a bunch of flameable creatures on top of platforms and a whirlwind to glide to them. Today was actually the first time I successfully got them all in one glide on the PS1 version!
Secret Area Right
The right side is pretty straightforward - flame a fool, glide across, and do another tricky glide to get all the gems.
Back to the main level and through the archway!
Revilo
Revilo tells us to "aim high in life, but watch out for flying boxes." We should definitely be on the lookout for those.
Jacques
The ultimate fool and Jack-in-the-box himself. Like most bosses in this game, he's kind of a pushover. You just chase him and flame him when he's on top of the boxes. He throws boxes at you, but in the original game at least, it's infrequently enough that if you rush him he has no chance.
If you're slow, though, then yes you do have to watch out for the flying boxes.
After defeating him, the last few gems are on the exit level platform and the level is complete! We have reached the 90% milestone, which is 3% more than last time.
Lore Talk
I actually doubt Gnasty's army directly has much to do with this level. Yes, he froze the dragons, and his spell turns gems into warriors for his cause, but the creatures here look barely anything like the Gnorcs outside.
That isn't to say this level is unaffected by Gnasty's attack. I think the twisted creatures here are nightmarish representations of Gnorcs, half-remembered, twisted and exaggerated by the nightmare. Maybe Revilo and Unika were working on it because of the rumors of Gnasty's foray into magic. Like I said in the Dark Passage post, some Dream Weavers dragons specialize in nightmares.
Gnasty's real army probably took one look at this place and chickened out.
Next Stop
The dragon realms have been cleared of Gnorc activity. It's time to head to Gnasty's own territory in Gnasty's World Home. (And yes, that will be it's own post/month. The other homeworlds were.)
Concurrent Spyro News
On June 7, 2026, Spyro: A Realm Beyond was announced, and I am beyond excited, as you may imagine. It is currently slated to arrive Spring 2027, so almost a year from now.
So far we've only had the initial trailer with 7 seconds of flying gameplay, which appears to be heavily based on Speedways, but with some sort of momentum mechanics.
We also know that the villain is "a new evil" as stated in the trailer, that the bad guys are called "Scavs," and Sparx's absence from the trailer is not a technical error as when asked about it, the developers said that they aren't getting into the story yet.
I don't know how closely I'll follow news from this point on, though, since I like to go into new games knowing as little as possible after I'm sold on it. And I am sold on this.
At the same time, though, I don't know if I will be able to keep myself away. And documenting what we knew when in this series might be fun. So we'll see.
Monday: Hyped for Spyro a Realm Beyond, wanting to play the flying Spyro game (Dawn of the Dragon). I have it on Wii (U). Finds Gamepad. Goes to look for Gamepad charger by the TV. Finds Wiimote. Checks to see if it works. No. Tries to replace batteries. Battery container is full of dried battery acid. Pulls out batteries, tries to clean battery container, replaces batteries. . . it doesn't work.
Internet for new Wiimote. No choice but to wait for it to arrive.
Thursday: Wiimote arrives. Still need to charge Gamepad. Don't have time to play until Friday.
Friday: Opens Wiimote, replaces batteries. . . doesn't work. Spare batteries are dead. Good thing I bought more. Newer batteries DO work, yay!
Swap the HDMI to Wii U, struggle to sync the new Wiimote (eventually it works), change to Wii mode. . . Sensor bar isn't working. Dusting it off and unplugging/replugging and it still doesn't work.
Ugh. Points the Wiimote in random directions until a cursor appears on the screen. It catches something out the window. Very carefully navigate until I can open the game.
Like, I had an initial knee-jerk reaction of "this isn't platforming." But it was quickly replaced with excitement once it dawned on me that it wasn't platforming vs. combat (which other post-Classic games had) but from that tiny preview, it seems to be all about flow.
Spyro flies, but the game is built around it. From the interviews, it sounds like it's all about movement. Sort of like Sonic, but very much like Speedways.
And I love Speedways. Mostly for the flying. My favorite levels are Speedways and Aquaria Towers because those are the levels you traverse in full 3D movement.
But also those Speedways races, where you can carefully position yourself to get maximum speed through chaining the speed stars. I oftentimes will challenge myself to replay Country Speedway and not miss a single speed star (since although that's only the second one, it has the biggest, most complex density of speed stars). It is insane how long you can keep top speed that way.
And now we have a whole game about that. An entire game built around my favorite part of replaying Spyro 3. I am the target audience.
The weekend excitement for potential Spyro revail got me to actually test out my PS2 on the CRT TV that my mom gave me. I played Croc.
Only for a few minutes into gameplay, the screen devolved into a blurry mess with the scan lines getting out of sync and offset. Turning it off and on again did not help and in fact the menu text is a garbled mess so I can't even troubleshoot since I don't know what I'm selecting.
Weirdly, during gameplay, the screen returned to normal for about a minute after the entire screen went white for a cutscene. By the time I got to a level, though, it was starting to get bad again.
TV worked fine a few weeks ago when I played a DVD. Even the DVD menu is having the same issue now, though. What's changed about the environment:
Added PS2
Added additional remotes (one for TV itself and one for a second secondhand TV)
Meta Quest was put in area. Removing Meta Quest did not remove issue, at least not quickly.
Large flatscreen is positioned right next to it. Not touching but within a foot. I do not currently have a place to move flatscreen and it's too heavy to move by myself so I cannot test moving flatscreen away if it would help.
I'm posting this right before I turn off my computer for the night, but anyone reading this have any ideas what might be going on? Is it dying or is it saveable (by someone who does not want to take the TV apart nor has the money to hire someone to do it right now)?
I'm semi-hoping it's just the flatscreen and it's not broken forever but even that's annoying because now I need to rearrange the room to separate them.
I mean it's not the end of the world if I can't use it - I very much have other TVs I can play PS2 on, just it looks best on a CRT screen.
One Spyro Level a Month Until the Next Spyro Game Releases - May 2026 - Icy Flight
Intro/Rules
Previous Level
Next Level
It's time for the last Flight of the game!
Area 1: Lighthouses and Chests
This level is very compact. Ahead of you as you enter is a bunch of lighthouses to light, as well as a bunch of chests to flame along the bottom. There isn't a clear efficient path through these obstacles and I always need to turn around at least once, retreading ground to get them all.
Train Tracks
At the start and end of the first area, there's train tracks the lead through a tunnel. This leads to the other major areas.
Trains and Helicopters
Following the train tracks will lead to two smaller areas filled with helicopter Gnorcs. Get the trains and the Gnorcs and the level is complete!
Finishing this level gives us 10K treasure total if done now, and leaves us at 87% - only 1% more than last time.
Lore Talk
This Flight stands out in how disorganized it is. Particularly how busy and weird the lighthouses and the chests are in the beginning, versus the strangely clear sections where the Gnorcs are flying.
There's even a bunch of buildings in one of the Gnorc sections, but it looks very dragon-made, so I don't think this is necessarily a Gnorc outpost like Wild Flight. Gnorcs are definitely here with their trains and helicopters, but they didn't shape this place other than maybe cutting through the mountains.
I think this Flight wasn't ready yet. The dragons put in a bunch of obstacles, but hadn't gotten around to arranging them before Gnasty froze them. I've said before that the Flight world was probably a dragon world that got flooded so everyone left and it got repurposed, and I think the building area is the village equivalent for this world.
Next Stop
It'll be time for the boss of Dream Weavers: Jacques.
I like how all the other bosses are weird things that aren't names. And the one for the dream/nightmare world is just Jack but French.
In this part, I completed the main Kanto story! All that's left for the comparisons is the Elite Four Round 2, but I'm taking a bit of a break before getting into that.
I finished Victory Road, took on the Elite Four and was stunned at how easy it was compared to Diamond, and then started exploring Sevii Islands 4-7. I'll only have the Sevii Island trainers to fight before going for Elite Four Round 2, so I'm hoping to get all the Exp I can.
Direct route and boss comparisons between FireRed and Let's Go, Pikachu under the cut!
Victory Road stats and comparisons
FireRed
Team Levels at start of route: 46, 46, 46, 46, 46, 46
NPCs: 12 with 45 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 40, High of 48, Median of 42
Low Health Heals: 5
Team Levels at end of route: 48, 47, 47, 47, 48, 48
Let's Go, Pikachu
Team Levels at start of route: 54, 54, 54, 52, 54, 52
NPCs: 11 with 28 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 46, High of 48, Median of 47
Low health heals: 7
Team Levels at end of route: 56, 56, 55, 54, 55, 54
LGP also had two Coach trainers in Victory Road, so it doesn't have fewer trainers. Still, despite the opposing trainers sometimes being higher than me in FR when that's not the case in LGP, I had to heal more in LGP.
Bruno was a complete pushover in FR. Not so much in LGP. You know, I think the fact that you have to have Surf and thus a Water-type really skews the perception of Blaine and Bruno in the older games.
Despite the level difference, I had the same amount of trouble with Agatha between the two games. I also didn't count Pokeflute uses in FR - not sure whether that was the case in LGP (or if she even got anything to sleep in that game).
The champion fight was tough enough that even though I loosened up my Switch rules, I still needed more healing items than in LGP where I was playing on Set. (Normally I can only Switch to the front of the party; here I switched to type advantage because I was not sure I could do it with taking an extra hit)
And none of these did I have nearly as much trouble with as the Diamond Elite Four when I played with this same ruleset. Is Kanto just that easy?
One Spyro Level a Month Until the Next Spyro Game Releases - April 2026 - Haunted Towers
Intro/Rules
Previous Level
Next Level
Spring is upon us - the time of the year for new life. Or in this case, reanimated life. We're not picky.
Entrance
We're dropped down in front of a building with a closed wooden door. A suit of armor is nearby, that can neither be flamed nor charged. The door can be broken down by either, though, so in we go. Just a wellness check, you see.
Yeah, right inside we have a Gnorc that throws grenades, a small wizard, and the wizard reanimates the suit of armor sitting inside. While the Gnorc and wizard can be taken out fairly easily, the suit of armor still can't be defeated.
What's more, to either side there's other animated suits of armor blocking our way, and a metal door as well. We can only go forwards.
Fairy 1
At the end there's another door, where a fairy is being harassed by a Gnorc. Defeat the Gnorc and the fairy will reward us with a kiss.
A kiss that enhances our flame breath into Superflame! It's time to take out some haunted armor and get some treasure!
The Main Island
Once we defeat the two suits of armor and collect all that there is on this small island, we can take a whirlwind over to the bigger island. It has more suits of armor, and even a strong chest, but our Superflame quickly runs out. We can only head past them, taking out wizards and Gnorcs as we see them.
Kosoko
Our first dragon of the level, Kosoko, is along the way. He gives us a hint that magical fairy kisses might do something to our power of flame. I really don't think we could have gotten here without figuring this out.
Fairy 2
Finally, across a bridge there's another fairy, cornered, being harassed by a Gnorc. Rescue her to regain Superflame.
Into the Tower
Past a wall we need to Superflame, there's that annoying wizard that animated everything and then a whirlwind that takes us up to an entrance to the tower. Inside is a Supercharge ramp!
The Grand Hall
Past a wall we need to Supercharge, there's an entire room of doors. Going from left to right:
The first wooden door leads to a fairy being harassed by a Gnorc. Defeat it and we can get Superflame again. But wait, what's the point of the Supercharge, then?
The second wooden door leads to a treasure room guarded by a suit of armor. We can get Superflame and it's very satisfying to destroy the metal chests with fire alone.
The wooden door at the end of the hall has a dragon!
Lutalo
Lutalo tells us what we want to hear: we'll soon be able to face Gnasty Gnorc. After two and almost a half years, he's so close!
The final two doors that need to be Superflamed or Supercharged lead outside - one to a little ramp with a strong chest and the other to a staircase.
If you're as smart as the developers give you credit for, you'll figure out that the Supercharge is there for a reason and you'll run around out the flat entrance to find that reason. The little circular ramp is a red herring - you can Superflame that chest no problem.
No, what you have to realize is that 1) you can jump down to the earlier area where you took the whirlwind up to the Supercharge ramp in the first place and 2) the fact that it's a ramp, not a staircase, to the whirlwind is important because you have to USE it like a ramp while Supercharging. Jump and glide around and you'll find a secret area!
Or you can use a guide. I certainly did the first time I played.
Secret Area
This secret area is a platform, with some fodder, and a whirlwind that leads to a strong chest. And a dragon!
Copano
Copano congratulates us on becoming a master of the Supercharge. Spyro's not even sassy to him this time.
The Haunted Staircase
Past him, there's a room with a ton of armor pieces on a long staircase. Quickly, a wizard starts enchanting them, and if you're not fast enough, you'll be blocked and have to leave and try again. (Luckily not the whole level iirc)
If you are fast enough, you can platform your way past them in time, take out the wizard, and meet a very special fairy.
Infinite Superflame
Be kissed by this fairy, and we get infinite Superflame for the duration of our stay in the level. Now we can take out the remaining suits of armor at our leisure.
Hop down this hole in the floor and we're back in the grand hall. Time to take the final staircase.
The Final Stronghold
All that's left in the level is a small little square with the final wizard, a final fairy for if you don't find the secret with a Gnorc harassing her, and some last treasure.
After the last treasure is collected, the level is 100% complete. Our new game total is 86% - 4% more than last time.
Lore Talk
Those suits of armor aren't actually haunted - they're enchanted. Where's the haunted portion? Where's the ghosts?
Well, I think the answer lies in the fact that this place is clearly occupied by Gnasty's army. The Gnorcs have discovered/invented grenades. They did not find them in Dream Weavers. They are invading, trying to capture the fairies as we've seen in Lofty Castle. They're working with the wizards from Magic Crafters as well, using the wizard powers to turn the normally-haunted armor against the dragons.
By the placements of the dragons and the fairies, we have a land that both Dream Weaver dragons and fairies live. Each have their own types of houses, with the smaller enclosed ones belonging to the fairies and bigger connected ones belonging to the dragons. It's weirdly-shaped because it's Dream Weavers.
Spyro is getting here to an occupation in progress, and he's just in time to stop it. The ghosts have already fled, but he manages to rescue the fairies and of course the dragons.
Next Stop:
One more break from the platforming in Icy Flight.
Since last time, it's been an island adventure. I successfully navigated the Seafoam Islands, reached Cinnabar Island, explored the mansion, revived some fossils in the lab (which I'm not using) and beat Blaine, went on a trip to the Sevii Islands, and then headed back across the ocean to Pallet Town, beat the final Gym, and headed to Victory Road. Kanto's end draws near.
Route comparisons along the way:
Route 20 stats and comparisons
FireRed
Team Levels at start of route: 41, 42, 41, 41, 41, 42
NPCs: 10 with 24 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 28, High of 35, Median of 30
Low Health Heals: 0
Status Heals: 1
Team Levels at end of route: 42, 42, 43, 42, 42, 42
Let's Go, Pikachu
Team Levels at start of route: 50, 49, 48, 48, 49, 48
NPCs: 11 with 21 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 41, High of 46, Median of 43
Low health heals: 1
In-battle heals: 4
Team Levels at end of route: 51, 51, 50, 49, 51, 49
Despite both games having a big level difference, I had a significantly tougher time in LGP, needing to heal in-battle several times. Wheras FireRed was a simple float with only the minor annoyance of a status condition.
There was also a Coach Trainer in the Seafoam Islands in LGP. They did not stand a chance.
Pokemon Mansion stats and comparisons
FireRed
Team Levels at start of route: 42, 42, 43, 42, 42, 42
NPCs: 7 with 15 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 29, High of 38, Median of 34
Low Health Heals: 0
Team Levels at end of route: 42, 43, 43, 42, 42, 43
Let's Go, Pikachu
Team Levels at start of route: 51, 51, 50, 49, 51, 49
NPCs: 7 with 15 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 44, High of 46, Median of 45
Low health heals: 3
Team Levels at end of route: 52, 52, 51, 50, 51, 50
Similar to the route before, the Pokemon Mansion posed no threat in FR, but I had to heal a few times in LGP.
There was also a Coach Trainer in the mansion in LGP. They also did not pose a threat.
Cinnabar Gym stats and comparisons
FireRed
Team Levels at start of route: 42, 43, 43, 42, 42, 43
NPCs: 7 with 16 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 34, High of 41, Median of 36
Low Health Heals: 0
Team Levels at end of route: 43, 43, 43, 42, 43, 43
Let's Go, Pikachu
Team Levels at start of route: 52, 52, 51, 50, 51, 50
NPCs: 4 with 5 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 44, High of 45, Median of 44
Low health heals: 0
Team Levels at end of route: 53, 52, 51, 51, 52, 50
The gym itself was an easy romp both times. LGP doesn't actually give you a chance to heal in between fights - it just allows you to skip them by answering the questions correctly. You can skip the trainers in FR, too, but you don't have to fight them all in a row, either.
Blaine's levels in FR told me that I was exactly where I wanted to be in level. My team had no problem wiping the floor with him, though. I had significantly more of an issue in LGP, where I needed to use healing items, despite being higher level than him. This is the difference between having a Water-type with Surf and not.
Sevii Islands
The Sevii Islands only exist in FRLG, so no comparisons are possible here. I went and cleared the three islands that are available at this point in the game.
The Kanto Federation fight gave me a little trouble (but not too much), and Mt. Ember I had to heal a few times, more to status than to health, though. And then I went back to Kanto to head north back towards Viridian.
Route 21 stats and comparisons
FireRed
Team Levels at start of route: 44, 44, 45, 45, 45, 44
NPCs: 9 with 22 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 27, High of 37, Median of 31.5
Low Health Heals: 0
Status Heals: 1
Team Levels at end of route: 45, 45, 45, 45, 45, 45
Let's Go, Pikachu
Team Levels at start of route: 53, 52, 51, 51, 52, 50
NPCs: 9 with 22 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 42, High of 42, Median of 42
Low health heals: 0
Team Levels at end of route: 54, 53, 52, 52, 53, 51
Got a status condition in FR (entirely because of Poison Point, and Abilities don't exist in LGP), but otherwise was an easy route for both games. It can be done before Cinnabar, but I wanted something in-between Gyms.
Interesting that the water routes seem more copy-paste than others, with the same total Pokemon counts.
There's also a Coach Trainer here in LGP. They did not require healing.
Viridian Gym stats and comparisons
FireRed
Team Levels at start of route: 45, 45, 45, 45, 45, 45
NPCs: 8 with 24 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 37, High of 43, Median of 38
Low Health Heals: 2
Team Levels at end of route: 45, 46, 46, 46, 46, 46
Let's Go, Pikachu
Team Levels at start of route: 54, 53, 52, 52, 53, 51
NPCs: 6 with 8 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 47, High of 48, Median of 47
Low health heals: 1
Team Levels at end of route: 54, 54, 53, 52, 53, 52
One more heal in FR than in LGP, but also more trainers so I can't fully commit to saying it's on average more difficult. The levels are convincing me that I am not overleveled in FR, since there's a much bigger gap between regular trainers and bosses in this game.
Giovanni stats and comparisons
FireRed Team Levels: 45, 46, 46, 46, 46, 45
Opponent Levels: 45, 50, 44, 45, 42
Healing items used: 0
I am on average equal to Giovanni in FR, levels-wise, while I am well above him in LGP. In neither case does this final Gym give me much trouble. Somewhat anticlimactic, but I had great counters to his team in both games so it's not unexpected.
And with nothing else inbetween, we have the next Rival fight. Again, I'm about equal in level to him in FR, and a bit over him in LGP, but neither gave me enough trouble to need to heal. Definitely was a pretty satisfying fight at least in FR (been a while since LGP) where more of my team got to do some damage.
Since last time, I traveled through the second half of the Fuchsia loop, training my Lapras against the trainers on the Silence Bridge half. Then I finished training in the Fighting Dojo, where he finally reached the level that the rest had. They all fought Sabrina, and afterwards I headed down into the ocean routes via Fuchsia.
Route comparisons along the way:
Route 12 stats and comparisons
FireRed
Team Levels at start of route: 40, 40, 40, 40, 40, 25
NPCs: 8 with 18 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 21, High of 29, Median of 24
Low-health heals: 1
Team Levels at end of route: 40, 40, 40, 40, 40, 27
Let's Go, Pikachu
Team Levels at start of route: 45, 44, 43, 43, 44, 43
NPCs: 3 with 5 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 35, High of 36, Median of 36
Heals: 0
Team Levels at end of route: 45, 45, 43, 43, 44, 43
Not quite a fair comparison since I did the first half of Route 12 earlier in LGP whereas I did the whole thing at once in FR. I wouldn't describe either of these as hard. In fact I'll probably be repeating myself a lot if I commentate each route so I may not.
I also did this section in opposite directions per game, starting in Route 12 in FR while starting in Route 15 in LGP. Whoops.
There's also a coach trainer here in LGP.
Route 13 stats and comparisons
FireRed
Team Levels at start of route: 40, 40, 40, 40, 40, 27
NPCs: 10 with 33 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 24, High of 30, Median of 27
Low-health heals: 1
Team Levels at end of route: 40, 40, 40, 40, 40, 32
Let's Go, Pikachu
Team Levels at start of route: 44, 43, 42, 42, 43, 42
NPCs: 10 with 19 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 36, High of 40, Median of 37
Low Health Heals: 0
Status Heals: 1
Team Levels at end of route: 45, 44, 43, 43, 44, 43
Easy route in both.
Route 14 stats and comparisons
FireRed
Team Levels at start of route: 40, 40, 40, 40, 40, 32
NPCs: 11 with 28 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 26, High of 33, Median of 28
Low-health heals: 1
Team Levels at end of route: 40, 40, 40, 40, 40, 35
Let's Go, Pikachu
Team Levels at start of route: 43, 42, 41, 41, 42, 41
NPCs: 10 with 14 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 37, High of 40, Median of 38
Low Health Heals: 2
Status Heals: 1
Team Levels at end of route: 44, 43, 42, 42, 43, 42
Seems I had a little more trouble in this route in LGP than in FR. Makes sense, since the opposing levels were a lot closer to mine than in FR. Doing this really makes me appreciate the effort put into LGP's level curve.
Route 15 stats and comparisons
FireRed
Team Levels at start of route: 40, 40, 40, 40, 40, 35
NPCs: 11 with 30 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 25, High of 33, Median of 28
Low-health heals: 0
Status heals: 1
Team Levels at end of route: 40, 40, 40, 40, 40, 39
Let's Go, Pikachu
Team Levels at start of route: 42, 42, 40, 40, 41, 40
NPCs: 5 with 9 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 37, High of 39, Median of 37
Low Health Heals: 3
Team Levels at end of route: 43, 42, 41, 41, 42, 41
Again, a bit more trouble in this route in LGP than in FR. Also less than half the trainers. Where did everybody go?
Fighting Dojo stats and comparisons
FireRed
Team Levels at start of route: 40, 40, 40, 40, 40, 39
NPCs: 4 with 9 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 31, High of 36, Median of 31
Heals: 0
Team Levels at end of route: 40, 40, 40, 40, 40, 40
Let's Go, Pikachu
Team Levels at start of route: 45, 45, 43, 43, 44, 43
NPCs: 4 with 4 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 31, High of 31, Median of 31
Heals: 0
Team Levels at end of route: 46, 45, 44, 43, 45, 44
Complete pushovers in both games. Going by levels, it seems the intended place to fight them is here in FR, but when you first get to Saffron in LGP.
Why does he just have a Poliwrath in LGP? Anime reference? It wasn't that way in Yellow. He was actually close to my level in FR, but not so much in LGP.
There's also a coach trainer here in LGP, which I also had no trouble with.
Saffron Gym stats and comparisons
FireRed
Team Levels at start of route: 40, 40, 40, 40, 40, 40
NPCs: 7 with 16 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 31, High of 38, Median of 33
Heals: 0
Team Levels at end of route: 41, 40, 40, 41, 41, 41
Let's Go, Pikachu
Team Levels at start of route: 48, 47, 47, 46, 48, 46
NPCs: 6 with 11 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 40, High of 42, Median of 41
Low health heals: 2
In-battle heals: 2
Team Levels at end of route: 49, 48, 47, 47, 49, 47
I had so much trouble in LGP I needed in-battle heals. Despite being about the same level difference. I think the biggest reason is I had a lot of Psychic counters on my FR team and did not on my LGP team. Kangaskhan was an MVP.
As in the gym itself, I had more trouble with Sabrina in LGP than in FR. Kangaskhan continued to be MVP.
Route 19 stats and comparisons
FireRed
Team Levels at start of route: 41, 40, 40, 41, 41, 41
NPCs: 11 with 33 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 27, High of 30, Median of 29
Heals: 0
Team Levels at end of route: 41, 42, 41, 41, 41, 42
Let's Go, Pikachu
Team Levels at start of route: 49, 49, 48, 47, 49, 47
NPCs: 7 with 11 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 38, High of 42, Median of 41
Low health heals: 0
Team Levels at end of route: 50, 49, 48, 48, 48, 48
And we end anticlimactically in the middle of the ocean with both games traveling with ease. LGP hits level 50 - can FR catch up?
My current team in Pokemon Champions is complete trash while I wait to shift to copying/modifying something someone who knows what they're doing has made.
But I cannot describe the joy I feel seeing the all-star team I cobbled together.
We have Brwn the Mega Kangaskhan who helped climb the ranks of the Battle Maison and Battle Tree. Blu4 the Greninja also came from this era as well as Gren the Meganium, but iirc they were on the Rotation Battle team that didn't actually make it to the top. Gren might actually get some real spotlight if I build a team around his new Mega form, though!
We have Whisp the ridiculously lucky Shiny Dragapult - I was only breeding for stats/Nature and a Shiny popped out with the final stats/Nature I was looking for. She got me through the ranks of the Galar Battle Tower, just so I could unlock whatever it was that unlocked. Maybe I was grinding for something, I don't remember.
We have Willie the Pelipper who ran support on my first actual VGC team copied from the internet, who got me up the ranks so Mina could get the Master Rank ribbon in Scarlet/Violet.
And then we have newcomers Whimsicott and Aggron from the default box, and Incineroar who was apparently summoned to the recruit ranch by my thoughts since I went through my boxes, realized I did not have a single Incineroar on any game on my main Switch, and then checked the ranch only for one to be in the lineup.
I also have Blu3 the Garchomp who has seen some use in most games since Gen IV Battle Tower in the box just in case I have some use for her. Garchomp is good.
