Pokemon Crystal Classic FAQ

Pokemon Crystal any% glitchless (Classic) FAQ

Q: What are you trying to do?
A: Beat Pokemon Crystal as quickly as possible with these restrictions: no glitches, no hard resets (meaning no RNG manipulation).

Q: What are you playing on?
A: A GameCube using a GameBoy Player.

Q: What is the world record?
A: 3:17:13 by me.

Q: What is your goal?
A: To improve the WR. I'm extremely unhappy with my execution in the WR run, and I know I'm capable of better.

Q: Why is this category not on speedrun.com?
A: There hasn't been enough interest from the community. Since RNG manipulation was discovered in 2016, runners and routers have largely focused on improving the manip strategies. I'm hoping to help change that.

Q: Why not run with manipulation?
A: Manip in Gen 2 is actually awful. For any manips to work, you have to keep a timer running for your entire session of attempts and only start a new run on a certain second (1:00, 2:00, etc.). The manips themselves are quite difficult and stressful to execute. And the run has a ton of variance even if you execute every manip perfectly, so it's not rewarding. Playing without manip also makes the run more strategic, as you have to manage different Totodile stats and different risk thresholds (take fewer risks with good Totos/times).

Q: How is the route different without manips?
A: Since you can't manipulate the Master Ball from the Goldenrod Lottery, you can't catch Entei or Raikou. So you do the whole game with the Totodile evolution line. This is only a few minutes slower since Totodile has an amazing late game.

Q: Why is Totodile faster than the other two starters?
A: Totodile gets Rage for Falkner's gym, while Cyndaquil must rely on Leer and Tackle. Chikorita, despite being the cutest starter in all gens, isn't a fast battler at any stage of the game.

Q: Why are you resetting?
A: Probably because my Totodile's stats were too low. I might also reset because my Totodile died or I lost too much time to encounters and spinners.

Q: What stats are you looking for?
A: Stat ranges at Level 5 are as follows: HP 20-21, Attack 11-13, Defense 11-12, Sp. Atk 9-10, Sp. Def 9-11, Speed 9-10. The two Special stats are controlled by the same DV, so if my Sp. Def is 11, I'll know my Sp. Atk is very good (a high 10) as well. The standard "good Totodile" has Level 5 stats of 21/12/12/10/11/10. If my Attack is 11 (0-4 DV), I'll always reset; if Attack is 13 (15 DV), I'll consider taking worse other stats. I'll always reset if my Sp. Atk is 9.

Q: Why do you set the time to 5:50 or 5:51 p.m.?
A: Sentret (Cut slave found on Route 29) only appears during the day, and Poliwag (Whirlpool/Waterfall slave found on Routes 30-31) only appears at night. Most runs will hit 6 p.m. shortly after you leave Route 29 and enter Route 30.

Q: What are spinners?
A: Trainers that face random directions and can't be consistently dodged even with perfect execution. In Gen 2, a spinner can change directions 8 times in the time it takes you to walk one tile!

Q: Why choose the girl?
A: https://www.twitch.tv/werster/v/38667384

Q: Why aren't you running against WR splits?
A: The early game is ridiculously good and delays fighting two trainers until later. If I ran against these splits, I'd be 1-3 minutes behind even if my run was on WR pace. This is confusing for viewers.