Pokémon CrystalDust FAQ (Dec 2020)

Pokémon CrystalDust FAQ (Dec 2020)

Q: What is this game?
A: This game is called Pokémon CrystalDust, it is a rom hack of Pokémon Crystal with Gen 3 mechanics (Emerald base) created by Sierraffinity (formerly Diegoisawesome).

Q: Is this on emulator?
A: Yep, playing on mGBA

Q: What is WR?
A: My current splits, which is a 2:20:41

Q: This looks pretty fast for getting through Johto and Kanto!
A: This version of this hack is only complete to the end of the Elite 4 (Lance). A later version is in the works, which will include Kanto, and is likely to be released in 2022. Sierra streams development of the latest version over on https://twitch.tv/DoMoreAwesome on Sunday evenings so please check it out and give her some support!

Q: What Pokémon will you be using?
A: I'll be running with the Totodile line. For HMs, I will put Surf and Strength on Feraligatr, catch a Sentret on Route 29 or a Sandshrew in Union Cave for Cut, catch a Poliwag on Route 44 for Whirlpool and Waterfall, and pick up the free Spearow (Kenya) for Fly.

Q: Why not Chikorita or Cyndaquil?
A: We all know that while Chikorita is the cutest Johto starter, it's not feasible for a speedrun like Gen 2 and 4. Cyndaquil is an interesting case especially given Sprout Tower is mandatory - it's as fast as Toto for almost the entire run other than the Chuck split.

Since Croconaw evolves 6 levels earlier, you can handle Chuck's Poliwrath pretty easily. Quilava gets OHKO'd by Poliwrath, so you have to do the Mahogany hideout earlier to get Typhlosion (which can learn Thunderpunch) for Chuck. There is a double battle in the hideout which is very fast with Gatr since you have Surf. Finally, since you can't get Fly until after Chuck, it's a lot of backtracking on foot/bike. This loses around 5 minutes.

Q: Are there any manipulations?
A: Yes, just the one, with a recent extension. I manipulate a Totodile at the start and then extend to no encounters to Mr. Pokemon (huge shoutouts to kurddt and pickleplop for finding two paths for the extension).

Since this game is based on Emerald, the manips operate the same as in Emerald. Hence, every time you save and hard reset in front of the Toto ball and select it on the same frame, you'll get the same Toto. I will usually take three tries max at the Toto manip and continue regardless of whether I hit extended (though for third try Toto I will reset if I don't get extended).

Coincidentally, I'll be running with the same frame (1026) as in Emerald. It has a Naughty nature and IVs of 21 HP, 23 Attack, 28 Defense, 30 Special Attack, 29 Special Defense and 29 Speed.

Q: Could you do more manipulations?
A: We're envisioning doing further no encounter manips for Route 29/30/31, along with getting a guaranteed Cut friend (Sentret or Bellsprout with yolo ball), but it's a lot of work to figure these out.

Q: I see you're forced to release the beasts. Why don't you manip one of them, like Raikou?
A: Thanks to CasualPokePlayer, we found out that the beasts aren't actually released at all, it's just a cutscene and you cannot catch them in this game. This might be fixed in the next version though (TBD).

Q: Any other notable differences between this and vanilla Crystal?
A: There are quite a few. I fight Benny (spinner in Azalea gym) to get Croconaw for Bugsy. The Bugsy fight doesn't use Rage as a result. Rival 2 is also different, we do not teach Fury Cutter and set up X Attacks instead (shoutout to CasualPokePlayer for this routing change). Whitney is very different as well since Clefairy has Cute Charm, so we set up X Attacks (3) and an X Speed. This fight would be a lot worse if we skipped Benny as we'd need another X Attack and another X Speed.

There are a lot of other differences, mainly use of Torrent in this game is nice to make some fights faster (especially in the Radio Tower).

Q: What is your goal time?
A: Sub-2:20! Though I am doing prep for a marathon so I will likely do a couple marathon-safe/no reset runs as well.

I will be running this as a race with Quina (PB 2:22:19) at the No Holidays Allowed 2020 Marathon. The race will be on Wednesday, December 16th at 20:20 EST (17:20 PST, 19:20 CST).