Despite many gamers moving on to Generation 9's Scarlet and Violet, a Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl player has managed to best the Elite Four with an entire team of unevolved "baby" Pokemon. The feat was accomplished with no shortage of grinding to level up the critters, and plenty of items.
When it comes to making teams that feature their favorite Pokemon, many players are aware that some teams may require more stubborness than others to make it to the end of the game. Personally choosing not to evolve a few party members, much less all six, could make a game like Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl significantly harder, but not impossible.
This fact of the franchise was one again proven by Reddit user SouthWheel, who decided to challenge the Elite Four with a "baby team" that gave a few creatures left at their first evolutionary stage time to shine. This lineup featured the starter Piplup, Gible, Shinx, Ralts, Riolu, and Houndour. It seems that despite there being an official grouping of "Baby Pokemon," SouthWheel wanted to go for a less restrictive approach to make sure the team had plenty of synergy. It worked out in their favor as they've made it through the five battles needed to enter the Hall of Fame.
As expected with a lineup with lower stats than their opponents, SouthWheel has expressed in the comments that completing the challenge dealt with sacrificing every member of the Baby Pokemon team at least once to buy time for another critter to be given items such as revives and potions to stay in the game. When asked what level his team finished the gauntlet at, SouthWheel responded by saying that Piplup was level 81, Riolu was level 63, and the other creatures were roughly in the 70s.
There's something to be said with regard to how the Elite Four has fallen in terms of difficulty when the Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Elite Four takes a considerate amount of work to beat, while players are disappointed with the Pokemon League in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Many consider them to be underwhelming and a tad too easy, re-opening the door for difficulty setting discussions in Pokemon games once again. Still, SouthWheel's accomplishment is earning plenty of well-deserved congratulations from other trainers.
Even though the "baby team" name of SouthWheel's team may be a bit misleading, it still rings true when it comes to an old set of rules. In Pokemon Stadium 2, fans could participate in the Little Cup, which specifically required that the creatures trainers used hadn't evolved yet. These rules still persist in competitive Pokemon circles as an extra set for fans to battle with for fun, which may mean that SouthWheel might have made a viable team out of this challenge.
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are available on Nintendo Switch.