Pokémon Black | Any% FAQ [August 2024]

Pokémon Black | Any% FAQ

What's changed?
- Not a whole lot in reality, the main things really are:
1) TTS has tied my time. This alone wasn't enough to make me come back and we were content having tied PBs, but
2) We now skip an extra trainer in the Plasma Skip section. This saves an extra 20s or so. This combined with the already almost 1
minute I had to save on my Skyla split, as well as the 45s on the final split, gives me more than enough motivation to come back.

Plasma Skip?
- This is a strat that was theorised for years, but was only implemented in 2023. Basically it uses RNG manip to spawn dust clouds in front of the Plasma trainers in Chargestone cave to reduce the number of mandatory fights. Now, we have a new iteration of this as mentioned above. Here's a video of my movement that showcases the strat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35j1s5A90mI

Why do you keep resetting?
- One of 3 reasons most likely.
1) Incorrect movement at the beginning, so my RNG Manipulation gets messed up.
2) I died. Speaks for itself.
3) Run was too bad to warrant continuing. For example, failing Lillipup capture, spinners etc.

Why do you name yourself "S" and Lillipup "Z"?
- Having a 1 character name saves time, and my name begins with S.
- Z is the superior letter, that's why.

Why Black and not White?
- The only major difference is here is the legendary you get at the end of the game. In Black you get Reshiram and in White you get Zekrom. Reshiram is better at killing Zekrom, which makes it preferable to have. Additionally, the order N sends his pokes out is different depending on if Reshiram or Zekrom is on the field. He will send out Carracosta against Reshiram but Vanilluxe against Zekrom.
- There's some minor stuff too, like you fight Iris instead of Drayden in White. Iris' Druddigon does not have Rough Skin in White unlike Drayden's, which saves a couple seconds in the ability activation, but also potentially saves you a healing menu as well.

Why do you pick the girl?
- Personal preference. There are only minor text differences between the two for these games.

Why do you pick Snivy?
- The starter doesn't ultimately matter in this game, the only requirement is that they need to be able to learn Cut. This narrows it down to Snivy and Oshawott, and they perform identically other than Snivy being able to speedtie N's Purrloin, so in theory it's quicker!

Why don't you nickname Snivy?
- Not used long enough to warrant nicknaming him.

What's with the weird movement?
- RNG Manipulation! This allows me to avoid encounters, once I reset for Lillipup it's to avoid encounters and also manip both spinners and get a Pidove.

Pidove?
- Purely for fly!

When do you get Lillipup?
- About 15 minutes in.

Why Lillipup?
- Lillipup is really just the best option throughout this game. Access to so many STAB moves in the earlygame like Tackle and Take Down really make it a force to be reckoned with. Additionally, Return once its powered up is insane on Stoutland. Stoutland is also able to keep Work Up throughout the game instead of needing X Items in the lategame, each time WU is used over an X Item it saves 1 second.
- The final and perhaps most important thing between Stoutland and other pokes that used to be used (like Emboar) is the entry animation. Emboar is a heavy poke, and has a "ground shaking" animation when it enters battle. Stoutland is light enough that this doesn't occur, and each time it's sent out saves roughly 1 second over a poke that does. Given Emboar was used before, and there are x fights between getting Emboar and the end of the game, Stoutland saves approximately 51 seconds on entry animations alone.

What is your goal time?
- 3:08.

What is WR?
- 3:09:54 by me/TTS (Tied).

What are the grades? (A+/A/B/C)
- These are actually more for the benefit of the viewer, to see how good the segments were in my PB, with A+ being the best, and C being the worst. Shows easily that losing time to an A+ segment isn't that bad, but losing time against a C segment is really bad. It also allows viewers to see where I'm expected to be able to save large amounts of time.