Pokemon Yellow FAQ

Q - What are trying to accomplish?
A - This is a Glitchless Any% Speedrun, in which I try to complete the game as quickly as possible without using any glitches. This run requires obtaining all 8 Kanto badges and defeating the Elite Four.  My PB is 1:58, and the current WR is 1:54 by Gunnermaniac3.

Q - What Pokemon are used in the run?
A - The starter Pikachu is used in the first fight.  We catch a Nidoran male and evolve it to Nidoking and use as our main battler throughout the run.  We catch a Pidgey or Spearow for Fly, and are gifted a Charmander for Cut/Dig and a Lapras for Strength/Surf.

Q - Why do you use Nidoran?
A - Since your starter is Pikachu, you need a Pokemon that can beat Brock.  Nidoran (male or female) and Mankey are the only Pokemon you can legitimately use for this without wasting too much time training.  With Nidoran male, you can evolve to Nidoking very early on and learn a wide variety of TMs making it the most optimal choice to beat the game quickly.

Q - Why a male Nidoran?  Females can learn the same TMs, right?
A - Nidoking has higher Attack and Speed, while Nidoqueen has higher HP and Defense.  Nidoking also learns Thrash at level 23, which only uses one PP for 3-4 attacks and dominates the mid-game.  Nidoqueen gets Body Slam instead, which is slightly weaker and will run out of PP much faster.

Q - Why do you wait in the grass instead of searching for Nidoran?
A - In this game, which Pokemon you get from a wild encounter depends on the current time.  Each area has 10 different encounter slots that cycle through based on a timer.  After you get one encounter, you can determine your position in the cycle, and figure out how long you have to wait until Nidoran appears.  For this reason, it's not recommended to look for an encounter until the cycle is close to Nidoran.

Q - Why won't a level 4 Nidoran work?
A - Nidoran needs to be level 12 for Brock to learn Double Kick.  With a level 4 Nidoran, you have to fight an extra trainer to get to level 12.  This extra fight takes almost two minutes, and in that time you could have easily found a level 6 Nidoran instead using the encounter manipulation described above.

Q - What stats are you looking for?
A - The maximum stats at level 8 are 16 Attack, 13 Defense, 15 Speed, and 13 Special.  Attack, Speed, and Special are the most important.  Generally you want all three of these to be at least decent, but I'll usually try to run any Nidoran that has good Attack regardless of the other stats, since just getting the Nidoran on decent pace can be difficult sometimes.

Q - What are the hardest fights in the speedrun?
A - Misty always has a good chance to kill you if you don't have either really high Speed or really high Special.  Surge can kill you anytime, but it is very unlikely.  From there, there are no real risks until Blaine.  Blaine, Giovanni, Lorelei, Lance, and Champion can all end the run if they get a critical hit on turn 1 when you have to set up.

Q - What is redbar?  What is a jingle skip?
A - Your Pokemon is in "redbar" when its health falls below ~21% of its maximum HP.  Having low health causes the warning sound to constantly play in the background.  In this game, it will override certain other sounds that play, which can cause you to skip jingles for leveling up and learning moves.  For example, if you have low health when you win the initial rival fight, you can skip a jingle for Level 6 and for learning Tail Whip, saving a decent amount of time.