Pokemon Fire Red Charmander% FAQ (August 2024)

Pokemon Fire Red Charmander% FAQ (August 2024)

Q: What are you trying to do?
A: Beat Pokemon FireRed as quickly as possible using the Charmander evolution line.

Q: What is the world record?
A: 2:04:40 by Ananan. Full leaderboard here: https://www.speedrun.com/pkmnfrlgext?h=Alt_Main_Pokes-charizard

Q: Could Charmander be faster than Squirtle?
A: Despite recent route improvements, no. Charmander was once considered a serious contender for WR, but then the community discovered that Bite is a broken in-game move for Squirtle (as if it wasn't broken enough already). After some rerouting, Squirtle solidified its #1 spot and has since gotten many times around 2 hours. Squirtle can go fast and play relatively safe for the whole run. Charmander must choose between ridiculous levels of risk and significant time loss to safety strats.

(A full YOLO Charmander route is quite fast and fun in theory, but you just never beat the game.)

For more entertaining analysis and history, I recommend watching this video by PulseEffects: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfbjEhr1DbU

Q: What is your goal?
A: To beat my 2017 PB and the WR.

Q: What route improvements have been made since your PB?
A: Mainly just playing safer and smarter, which allows more good runs and good Charmanders to finish. I lose about 35 seconds in the early game in order to gain higher levels for Rival 2, Misty, Rock Tunnel, Viridian Rival and the Elite Four. Most importantly, I guarantee what was previously a 65% do-or-die Fire Blast range on Champion's Blastoise. And I sometimes go for a safer deathwarp strat on the S.S. Anne.

Full route notes here: https://pastebin.com/pD9PTsSn

Q: Why aren't you using the early Misty/Surge route?
A: Every analysis I've done has that route coming out slower for both any% and Round 2. The Surge fight is bad and your Charmander stat requirements must be very strict. In terms of a traditional pros/cons analysis, it falls short by 10 seconds or so. But I also think it falls short on a fundamental routing level. The route seems to have three major purposes:
- To save movement in backtracking for Surge
- To skip the optional trainer guarding the Brick Break TM
- To make the Rock Tunnel Graveler safer by getting early Flamethrower

However:
- The fastest possible movement is to deathwarp off the S.S. Anne, which the route can't do
- The route has to fight a different optional trainer early to get Level 26 for Misty
- Rock Tunnel is overall riskier because you need to keep low HP to OHKO Geodudes with Magnitude, and the Surge fight is also risky

Q: Why are you resetting?
A: Probably because my Charmander's stats were bad.

Q: What stats are you looking for?
A: 30+ IV Sp. Atk with a boosting nature (Mild, Rash or Quiet). My Attack also needs to be above average, and my HP, Defense and Speed can't be too low.

Q: Why are you checking your trainer ID at the start of the run?
A: This enables me to RNG manipulate a good Charmander, albeit with a couple of restrictions. Each ID produces a unique list of Charmanders, so by checking my ID, I'll know which Charmanders I'll get on certain frames. If there's a great Charmander at, say, frame 4200, I'll want to select Charmander in Prof. Oak's lab 4200 frames after my trainer ID was generated. This method is inconsistent because the RNG doesn't always advance at the same speed, so I might get Charmander #4195 or #4205 in the example above.