The Pokémon franchise tends to focus heavily on battle and combat mechanics instead of puzzle-solving. But, that doesn’t mean the Pokémon games don’t feature some tough puzzles here and there. Gyms, for one, are typically filled with some type of maze or physical riddle that needs to be solved in order to gain access to the gym leader.
However, some of these puzzles are located in the greater overworld. Regardless of where they are, many of them are so perplexing or difficult that they have gained notoriety among fans. It’ll take some real problem-solving skills to figure these ones out. Here are those extremely difficult puzzles, ranked.
10 Sky Pillar
After entering the Hall of Fame in Ruby and Sapphire, players will gain access to Sky Pillar, on top of which they will find and battle the Legendary Pokémon Rayquaza. Before venturing to the top floor and battling this giant monster, they’ll have to navigate a strange puzzle of cracked floors, rocks, and maze-like doors.
Part of what makes this puzzle so frustrating is that it requires you to bike across the cracked pieces of floor. If you stop on any of them, you’ll fall through to the next level and have to start again.
9 Mossdeep City Gym (RSE)
These Psychic-type gym leaders, who battle you at the same time, have had different puzzles in their gym across each iteration of the Hoenn region. In both Emerald and Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, the gym puzzle changed from the original one found in Ruby and Sapphire.
However, while all are difficult, this one has to go to the original version. Their Ruby and Sapphire gym puzzle forces you through the classic warp tile paths and ensuing maze. Trying to keep track of where you are in the gym and where you’ve already gone is frustrating and endlessly difficult.
8 Vermilion City Gym
Some gyms are more work not because of a traditional difficulty, but because the player has next to zero control over whether they succeed. Lt. Surge’s gym in Vermilion City is the perfect example of this, making your chances of success entirely random.
In order to make it to the Electric-type leader, you’ll need to find two switches inside a sea of trash cans. Their locations are random, and if you don’t find them in perfect order, they’ll reset and you’ll have to start again. All the while, trainers are battling you. It’s very frustrating.
7 Seafoam Islands
Is there anything worse than having to ascend and descend ladders between floors while trying to solve a puzzle? The Seafoam Islands are notorious for this. If you can successfully navigate this puzzle, you’ll find the Legendary Articuno inside the cave. Unfortunately, the puzzle itself is frustratingly difficult.
It requires you to push boulders in certain directions, fall down particular holes, and navigate the maze of rocks, streams, and cave entrances. What’s worse is that the successful path changes based on which entrance you come in.
6 Ice Path
After defeating Johto’s seventh gym leader, Pryce, players will have to navigate through Route 44 and the Ice Path on their way to the final gym in Blackthorne City. Hopefully, you’re not sick of Ice-types after your battle with Pryce, because the Ice Path will be your home for the next few hours of your life if you can’t figure it out.
This cave is similar to the Seafoam Islands, in that you have to navigate through Strength-puzzles and extremely-specific paths. Sliding around on the ice in the right direction, pushing boulders the right way, and using holes in the ground will all be necessary to conquer this cave.
5 Silph Co.
Why do the developers of Pokémon games love teleporting tile puzzles so much? While hunting down Team Rocket in most iterations of the Generation I games, players will have to navigate around the Silph Co. headquarters — a several-stories tall building with various rooms, offices, hallways, and a serious lack of elevators.
In order to navigate between the floors, players must use the teleporter warp tiles. Navigating this maze is in itself an annoying and difficult challenge, but you also have to contend with the multiple Rocket grunts interfering with your ability to walk around by battling you, which adds to the tedium.
4 Furfrou Chase
If you’re easily frustrated by having to participate in random rival battles for which you receive no warning, you’ll hate the Generation VI games. In these games, players have four separate “friends” that they’ll have to battle throughout Kalos.
What’s more frustrating than these battles, though, is helping Shauna corner a runaway Furfrou in the Parfum Palace garden. You and Shauna will have to work together to herd the Pokémon into a corner, but it’s far more frustrating than it seems. It’s difficult to get Shauna to stand where you want, and the Furfrou always runs in the opposite direction of what you want.
3 Sabrina’s Teleporters
Again with the teleporters! This is actually one of the first times these warp tiles appeared in the Pokémon games, and it’s perhaps the most frustrating iteration of this puzzle. In the Saffron City gym, Sabrina is waiting for you in the final room (the rooms are platforms in the Let’s Go games). But, each room before her has between one and three warp tiles that will bring you to another room.
Trying to find the perfect path without doubling back on yourself is near impossible. Save yourself the trouble and just look up a guide, it’ll add five years to your life.
2 Snowpoint Gym
Arguably the most difficult gym puzzle across the entire Pokémon franchise, the Snowpoint City gym puzzle will have you throwing down your game in frustration in no time. This puzzle requires the player to navigate an icy path toward the gym leader by sliding in different directions.
What makes it more difficult than other ice puzzles is the snowballs sitting on the ice. Your character will need to smash through these snowballs at high speeds, so they add just another obstacle to an already-frustrating maze.
1 Regi Hunting
This is one of the most head-scratching, counter-intuitive, confusing puzzles ever inserted into a video game, Pokémon or otherwise. In order to catch the Regi trio of Regice, Regirock, and Registeel, players need to navigate a strange sequence of catching particular Pokémon, using moves in places they shouldn’t work, and reading braille. You read that right.
Once you’ve caught the first three Regis, you’ll need to do even more perplexing work to find their master, Regigigas. This will require nicknaming your Pokémon and making it hold certain items. Some people hate this puzzle, while others see it as a fantastic puzzle design that gave Pokémon a much-needed difficulty curve.
NEXT: 10 Pokémon Who Look Awesome (But Are Sort Of Useless In Battle)
