Pokemon FireRed (Charmander) Any% FAQ

Pokemon FireRed (Charmander) Any% FAQ

Q: What do you play this game on?
A: I play on both a Gameboy Player for the Gamecube, as well as an original Nintendo DS.

Q: What are you trying to do?
A: I'm trying to beat Pokemon FireRed/LeafGreen as fast as possible with Charmander as my main.

Q: Are there any glitches used in this category?
A: There are no glitches used in the run.

Q: Why do you keep resetting?
A: Probably because I didn't hit the proper frame to get a runnable Charmander. I want at least 20 IV Attack, 27 IV Special, and 29 or 6 IV speed (depending on the nature), with a Quiet, Mild, or Rash nature.

Q: Who is the fastest Pokemon to run in Pokemon FireRed Any%
A: There has been a pretty good amount of debate on this subject. The short answer is we don't know, but I feel Squirtle might have an edge over Charmander.

Q: What are the differences between Squirtle and Charmander in Any%?
A: https://pastebin.com/G2DbcTzM

Q: Why don't you just grab a Charmander and run with it?
A: Because this particular speedrun is fairly brutal. If I were to just go off and grab a Charmander, I'd probably die a lot quicker due to me not being able to kill things on the route as fast as I'd like to kill them. I feel it's a huge waste of time, and I'd honestly only ever do this if it were the last run of the day.

Q: Why don't you run Squirtle or Bulbasaur?
A: A Bulbasaur run probably wouldn't appeal to me unless there was a route for it already out there. I also do mainly run the Squirtle route for Any%, but likely feel like doing Charmander runs at the moment of you reading this.

Q: You keep mentioning times, and frames, and reading your trainer ID, what exactly are you talking about and doing?
A: So the way Generation 3 games work in terms of getting a good starter, is based on the time frame you get the Charmander. It's also dependent on your Trainer ID. So, I plug in my trainer ID into a predictor program in order to hit the proper time frame to get a good Squirtle. You can find it here if you wanna check it out. (http://forums.pokemonspeedruns.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=499)

Q: Does gender affect anything like in Gen 2?
A: Gender for the Charmander and Trainer sprite I choose don't really make a big difference.

Q: You're at red health, why don't you heal?
A: Charmander has an ability called Blaze. Blaze boost your Fire moves power by 1.5× if I have less than or equal to ⅓ of its maximum HP remaining. This ability can save quite a bit of time in many different sections of the game, so you'll often see me go into fights with very low health.

Q: What are the beeps I hear right before you grab a Charmander?
A: I use a program called Eon timer. I plug the time frame I want into the program. Then, once that exact time frame is about to come up, it will produce an audio queue in order to help me hit the time frame I am looking for.

Q: Why Any% instead of Round 2?
A: Having run both categories, I think I prefer the intensity of Any% over Round 2. Round 2 is a truly amazing run, but the length of the run and having to catch so many Pokemon can really add on a lot of stress. Even more so if you get 3 hours in and lose a run. So much as I like Round 2, taking a break from the category really makes a difference. Also, there is no Charmander route for Round 2 as of right now.