SoulGold level caps and Hard mode: every option explained

Play Hard difficulty with Hard caps. That’s the game as it was built, and it’s how I finished it.

You get three separate settings that control difficulty: the cap rule (None, Soft, Hard), Difficulty (Normal, Hard), and two level-scaling toggles. They don’t depend on each other, so “I’m on Hard” can mean four different setups.

The 11 level caps

The cap goes up with each badge, plus two story events. How strict it is depends on the Level caps option in the next section.

Cap	Unlocked until	Notes
12	Badge 1 (Falkner, Violet City)	Hard Falkner’s team averages Lv 12.5
19	Badge 2 (Bugsy, Azalea Town)	Hard Bugsy averages Lv 20
26	Badge 3 (Whitney, Goldenrod City)	Hard Whitney averages Lv 27
34	Badge 4 (Morty, Ecruteak City)	Hard Morty averages Lv 34
42	Your 5th badge, in any order	Chuck, Jasmine and Pryce each have a 4-badge team at Lv 42
45	Your 6th badge	Their 5-badge teams run Lv 45 to 46
48	Your 7th badge	Their 6-badge teams run Lv 48 to 49
55	Goldenrod Rocket takeover event	Triggers after seven badges regardless of order; Archer’s team is Lv 55
58	Badge 8 (Clair, Blackthorn City)	Hard Clair averages Lv 58
62	Until you catch Ho-Oh or Lugia	The story legendary is Lv 65 with two health bars
70	Until you become Champion	Hard Elite Four runs Lv 68 to 71; Lance’s team is Lv 70 to 71
None	After the Hall of Fame	Postgame rematches sit at Lv 77 to 85

On Hard, gym leaders sit at the cap or one level above it. You can’t outlevel them, so every fight comes down to matchups and moves. That’s exactly what made the run fun for me.

Chuck, Jasmine and Pryce scale with your badge count. The first one you fight uses a 4-badge team, the second a 5-badge team, the third a 6-badge team. Fight the one you’re weakest against first. Every team is in the gym leader guide.

EV caps follow the same badges. Your EV total is held to part of 510, it grows with each badge, and it only fully opens once you’re Champion.

None, Soft and Hard caps: the EXP math

None ignores the cap. Full EXP at every level. You can walk into Falkner at Lv 30 if you want.

Soft lets you pass the cap, but each level over costs a lot more:

• 1 level over: EXP divided by 4
• 2 over: divided by 8
• 3 over: divided by 16
• 4 over: divided by 32
• 5 or more over: divided by 64

You’ll drift one or two levels past the cap and then stall. I tried Soft for a couple of gyms and missed the clean stop of Hard. Soft also boosts EXP below the cap, so a new catch catches up fast.

Hard gives zero EXP at the cap. Nothing drifts. The Candy Jar still banks 90 percent of every foe’s EXP, so nothing you fight is wasted.

Trainer battles give 1.2 times the normal EXP, so you hit each cap quickly on any setting.

Normal vs Hard difficulty, and the Doubles change

Hard changes three things:

1. Every gym leader and Elite Four member, Lance included, gets a Hard team with held items, natures, and often full EV spreads. Postgame rematches, Title Defense challengers and several bosses get Hard teams too.
2. Gym and Elite Four fights are Doubles, unless Trainer format forces Singles.
3. Regular trainers without set moves pick slightly smarter moves as you progress.

Wild Pokémon, level caps, EXP and items don’t change. Hard with None caps means tough Doubles you can outlevel. Normal with Hard caps means regular Singles at even levels. Hard with Hard caps is the one the game is built for.

The Doubles are what got me. In Singles, Whitney’s Miltank is a stat check. In Doubles it shows up next to a partner, and you have to decide which one goes down first. I lost to Hard Morty twice before I brought a spread move and a Protect user instead of two attackers.

Trainer format (Default, Singles, Doubles) overrides eligible trainers. Singles puts Hard gyms back in Singles with the Hard teams. Doubles makes route trainers with two or more Pokémon fight in Doubles too. Wild, facility, partner and multi battles keep their own format.

Trainer scaling and wild scaling

Both start Off, and both only scale up.

Trainer scaling raises trainers to sit just under your party’s average level. Optional areas skip it since 1.1, so a side cave won’t suddenly match a Lv 60 team. With Hard caps it barely matters in the story, because you can’t get far ahead anyway. Turn it on if you play None or Soft caps.

Wild scaling keeps wild ‘mons 8 to 10 levels behind your party, but never below their normal level. Turn it on if you want a late catch on an early route to show up usable instead of at Lv 4. Mt. Silver stays as tough as it is. I kept both off for my whole run and liked it that way.

Exp. Share and the Candy Jar

You get the Exp. Share right before Violet City, and it’s on by default. Leave it on. The caps keep you from outrunning the gyms.

Elm’s aide gives you the Candy Jar with the Egg after the first gym. Every time a foe faints, 90 percent of its EXP also goes into the jar, on top of what your team gets, up to 99,999,999. Use the jar to turn the bank into Exp Candy L, M, S and XS, biggest first, up to 999 of each per use. Leftover EXP stays in the jar. I had a big stack waiting for the postgame.

Other EXP items:

• Lucky Egg: Kitakami Mountain, the Route 47 grotto, or the Battle Tower BP shop
• Exp Candy XL: Battle Tower shop
• Reverse Candy (minus one level): Goldenrod Department Store 4F. Use it when a trade or gift shows up over the cap.

Which settings can be changed mid-game

Level caps, Difficulty, Trainer scaling, Wild scaling and Trainer format are all in the regular Options menu (three pages, from the start menu). None of them are new-game only, and none of them lock.

The Artifact of Chaos in Elm’s lab turns all innates on from Lv 1, and you can flip it on and off whenever you want.

Difficulty is a free toggle. Switch between Normal and Hard any time, with no lock and no warning, and the next trainer battle uses the new setting. The Hall of Fame records whichever one is on when you enter it. To go from Normal to Hard mid-story:

1. Change Difficulty in Options.
2. Check the next gym’s team against the gym guide.

Recommended settings for three kinds of player

I ran Hard difficulty, Hard caps, both scaling off, Trainer format Default, Set battle style and Exp. Share on, and finished the postgame on that.

First time in Johto, or first ROM hack. Normal difficulty, Soft caps, Trainer scaling off, Wild scaling on, Exp. Share on. Soft caps keep you honest without ever freezing a ‘mon at zero EXP. Normal keeps gyms in Singles, so a regular team works. Wild scaling makes late catches usable right away. Take Cyndaquil or Froakie, and see the starters guide.

You’ve beaten the main games. Hard difficulty, Hard caps, both scaling off, Trainer format Default. Every gym leader is at the cap, in Doubles, with items. The Elite Four at 70 is a real wall the first time, so start building for it once you beat Clair. The best team for Hard mode is the team I ended with. Skip Wild scaling, because it makes the Lv 56 to 60 Paradox Pokémon on Meteor Island harder to plan for.

Challenge or Nuzlocke run. Hard difficulty, Hard caps, Set battle style, Trainer scaling on, Trainer format Doubles. Trainer scaling closes the gap between route levels and the cap. Forcing Doubles on route trainers means the gym Doubles won’t surprise you. Shiny odds start at 1/256, and you can drop them to 1/512 or 1/1024 in Options if you want fewer distractions. Leave the Candy Jar unused and keep it as an emergency fund for a replacement.

Still picking a hack? The difficulty ranking puts SoulGold Hard next to Radical Red, Unbound and the rest.