TheJWittz Pokemon TCG Speedrun FAQ

[These FAQ are written by Azurillkirby. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask in the chat!]

Q: What game is this?
A: This is Pokemon Trading Card Game, a video game installment of the Pokemon TCG, developed by Hudson Soft for the Game Boy Color. (By the way, you can purchase this game for the 3DS Virtual Console.)

Q: What are you playing on? / What program are you using for your timer?
A: Josh is playing using the Game Boy Player, a Gamecube add-on that allows you to play Game Boy/GBA game. The timer program is Wsplit.

Q: What category are you running?
A: Any% No Tutorial. You must beat the four Grand Masters and the champion as fast as possible, using any means given to you by the game. The tutorial sequence is skipped.

Q: What is the World Record for this speedrun?
A: 42:13 by StrawberryWhiteblock. This time is listed as 50:16 on the leaderboards because you add 8:03 to account for the tutorial. You can find the leaderboards for this game at speedrun.com/pkmntcg

Q: What is your personal best?
A: Josh's personal best is 49:58 (58:01 when you include the tutorial time). He is currently ranked 9th on the leaderboards.

Q: Why does the timer start at 8:03?
A: Because the tutorial is skipped, we add the time that the tutorial would have taken to the timer.

Q: Why do you skip the tutorial?
A: It is 8 minutes long and nothing can be done to make it faster. Because of this, most runners of the game start from a save state immediately after the tutorial.

Q: Why / How do you speedrun a game with so much randomness?
A: Because it is still a fun game to play. In fact, the randomness is what makes Pokemon TCG so unique.
For the "How", you attempt to mitigate the amount of influence RNG has on the run, and you have to use strategy to play as fast as possible despite what the RNG gives you.

Q: What is "RNG"?
A: RNG = Random Number Generator, and this term is used to describe anything in games involving randomness.

Q: Why do you start with the Charamander and Friends Deck? Why not the Squirtle/Bulbasaur decks?
A: The Charamander and friends deck have the cards most useful for the speedrun, especially Diglett/Dugtrio. Also, there are four clubs you have to beat all of the trainers for: Grass, Lightning, Water, and Fighting. Because the Charamander deck has good Fires and Fightings, it has an easy time with the Grass and Lightning clubs without needing too many extra trainers.

Q: What Pokemon are used in the run?
A: A mix of Fire Pokemon [Charamander/Charmeleon/Ponyta/Magmar] and Fighting Pokemon [Diglett/Dugtrio] is used for all of the Grass Club and Lightning Club, as well as Michael (Fighting) and Amanda (Water).
Scyther is used Gene (Rock), as well as Jessica and Chris (Fighting).
Pikachu/Raichu/Electabuzz are used for Joseph (Science) and the rest of the Water Club.
Mewtwo is used for Gene (Science) and Mitch (Fighting).
Seel/Dewgong is used for Courtney and the third Ronald Fight, one of the Grand Masters and the Champion.
Diglett/Dugtrio [By themselves] are used for Ken (Fire), Murray (Psychic), Steve, Jack, and Rod (Grand Masters).

Q: What makes Diglett/Dugtrio so good?
A: First of all, most trainers in the game have cards that are weak to Fighting, because so many trainers run Colorless (Normal) Pokemon because any energy works with them, and Colorless Pokemon that aren't Flying are generally weak to Fighting.
Secondly, Diglett has free retreat, which is extremely helpful.
Thirdly, Dugtrio's attacks are very powerful. It's second attack does 70 damage, which is insanely powerful.

Q: What makes Scyther so good? Why do you run a deck with only one Scyther in it and no other basics?
A: Scyther being resistant to fighting makes him destroy Jessica, Gene, and Chris. Also, all of Gene's Pokemon are weak to Grass. You don't need any more Pokemon in order to beat these trainers. Running ONLY Scyther in a deck guarantees that you start with it.

Q: Are these cards real? Or do they only exist in the game?
A: Almost all of the cards (including every card used in the run) used in the run exist in real life. There are a few Game Boy exclusive cards though, such as the Legendary Cards you win at the end of the game.

Q: Why do you talk to that guy in the Fighting Club and then leave?
A: By talking to Mitch, the Fighting Club Leader, it triggers the three Fighting Club trainers to appear in various clubs, and they must all be fought in order to fight Mitch.

Q: Why do you want to lose to Ronald?
A: You are forced to battle Ronald, but you are not forced to win. The only thing you get out of winning is a Super Energy Retrieval, which is not useful for this speedrun. There is absolutely no penalty for losing, so the *fastest* way to beat the game is to lose to Ronald as fast as possible during the two times the game forces you to fight him before the end of the game.
(However, when you battle Ronald as the Champion, you DO have to beat him.)

Q: Why did you soft-reset the game?
A: There are multiple reasons that Josh may have reset the game:
1- Josh's starting hand was bad, so he is resetting so that he can start the battle again with a new hand.
2- Josh realizes he is about to lose a battle, so he resets to start a new battle quicker.
3- Josh made a misplay, so he is resetting to undo it.
4- Josh is attempting to manipulate the RNG/AI to prevent a specific event from happening, such as one of his Pokemon being knocked out or to change the event of a coin flip.
5- Josh is restarting the entire run because the early game was bad.

Q: How can you reset during the middle of a battle and keep his progress?
A: The game saves every time you go back to the main battle menu. As such, you can always go back to it whenever you reset the game.

Q: What cards are you looking for in packs?
A: Any of the Pokemon stated above. It's worth noting that all of these Pokemon, other than Mewtwo, are in the Colosseum Pack, so those are the only packs he looks at. (While the Mewtwo is given to you for free.)

Q: How is the game going so fast?
A: Unlike any other Pokemon game, you can set the text speed to instant, so text is super super fast.

Q: What is that clicking sound?
A: Pokemon TCG requires constant mashing because of the instant text speed, so that is him mashing the A+B buttons on his controller.

Q: When does the timer end?
A: After you've beaten Ronald, gotten the Legendary Cards, and the screen fades to white.

Q: Will you ever run this at AGDQ/SGDQ?
A: Probably not. TCG has been rejected multiple times in the past due to how RNG dependent it is, and how hard it is to follow. There's a chance it may be run sometime, but don't get your hopes up.