Do you always lose to the Houndoom?

Question

The Houndoom in Inlet Grotto, when you you battle it, will you always lose, even if your Pokemon could survive it's attacks and defeat it?

Comments

I'm pretty sure you don't even get a chance to attack. If you press fight, it doesn't go to your moves, but rather it just shifts to the Houndoom attacking. It doesn't even show your hp bar, so you always lose, even if you could survive its attacks.

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You can not attack, since the pokemon returns to his pokeball

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Yeah thats what I meant.

Answer 1

Well, let's see how the game modified this fight:

When you hit Fight to choose an attacking move, the game skips the choosing part, and your Pokemon immediately gets attacked by the Houndoom. Furthermore, the game doesn't show you the HP loss of your Pokemon, and it immediately faints. The game also doesn't let you switch in a Pokemon after your first Pokemon faints.

This is evidence to prove that no matter what Pokemon you have, the game will skip your move selection, and Houndoom will "OHKO" your Pokemon. This encounter with the Houndoom is more of a cutscene than a battle.