Pokemon Red (JP) 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 2:01:52, and the current WR is 1:57:11 by Punyuta.

Q - How is this run different from English Pokemon Red?
A - The Japanese community uses RTA timing which ends after the credits.  Also they do not allow using the PokeDoll to skip the Marowak ghost, so Rocket Hideout must be completed.  This changes the route significantly, making your level higher for the mid-lategame, which makes certain fights such as Hypno and Blackbelt safer, and requires lower stats for Erika, Blaine, and Sabrina.

Q - Can you read Japanese?
A - Yes, but I cannot translate the words to English easily.  Even if I could, it would be unnecessary, as you can memorize the names of moves and items so that you know what you need to be looking for at all times.  For items in your inventory and in shops, you can memorize the items by price/quantity and position in the list.  For moves, you can memorize by the position the move is in your list.  Sometimes it still takes me longer in menus because I need to be sure I am using the right item, but I can improve with more experience.

Q - Why are your earlier split times so fast?
A - Japanese text requires fewer characters to be shown on-screen, so several minutes are saved throughout the course of the run compared to the English version.

Q - What Pokemon are used in the run?
A - We choose Squirtle as the starter so we can defeat Brock as quickly as possible.  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 catch either Paras or Oddish for Cut/Dig.  If we don't find a Paras, we can also trade Spearow for Dux (Farfetch'd) and use that for Cut instead.

Q - Why did you reset after Brock?
A - Nidoran needs to have at least 15 Attack and 14 Speed at level 8 to make completing the game easier.  12 Special is highly recommended but not required.  I will sometimes opt to run a Nidoran with 13 Speed if its Attack is 16, but it will make some fights much riskier.

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.  Silph Rival's Gyarados can kill you with Hydro Pump critical if you try for redbar.  Lance's Gyarados always kills you with Hydro Pump critical.  No other fights should really have any risk of dying unless you get very unlucky or have very bad stats.

Q - Why do you keep your HP so low?
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 most other sounds that play during battle.  The most important are Pokemon cries, which are skipped while you are in redbar.  When we have no risk of dying, we will intentionally lower our HP so that we can skip Pokemon cries in order to save a significant amount of time.