Pokemon Soul Silver Mareep+ FAQ

      Pokemon Soul Silver Mareep+ FAQ

Q: What does Mareep+ mean?
A: It means I'm going to catch a Mareep, and use it (along with it's evolutions) to beat the whole game. In other words, an alternate Pokemon run using Mareep!
The + in Mareep+ is to differentiate it from a potential alt run with *just* Mareep, where you would never evolve it

Q: Is this run Glitchless or not?
A: Yes, it is glitchless. Alt poke runs are glitchless unless explicitly said otherwise.

Q: Where will you catch Mareep?
A: Right after reaching Violet before Sprout Tower, I'll catch one below on Route 32.

Q: So is this faster than using Raikou?
A: No, the entire point of an alt Pokemon run is that it is not the fastest way to beat the game. Otherwise it would just be...the fastest way, and it'd be the main category.

Q: So how much slower is this going to be? What's your estimate?
A: A good deathless run should be under 4 hours, but not by much.

Q: How good is Mareep?
A: Actually very good!

Q: What are the hardest fights in this run?
A: As always, Red. After that, while there isn't any fight that's super bad, the worst are probably Bugsy, Morty, and Blue.

Q: Do you manipulate the Mareep? If so, what are it's stats?
A: Yes. It's IVs are 20 HP, 24 Att, 16 Def, 31 Sp Att, 30 Sp Def, 30 Speed with a Rash nature. It's also Female, and given these IVs it has a Hidden Power of Ground with 65 Power.

Q: Why do you pick Cyndaquil as the starter?
A: Purely so the rival has Croconaw/Feraligatr, which is the best matchup for Mareep. Cyndaquil also gets Cut (but all the starters can).

Q: What is the final moveset you have?
A: Thunderbolt, Signal Beam, Hidden Power (Ground 65), Discharge.
(Though technically I do teach Rock Climb before Red as well, I never use it in battle)

Q: What are the rules for alt main pokes?
A: You can find the rules across the series here: https://pastebin.com/uTqgXp6m

---

Q: What are you playing on, it is emulator?
A: No, I'm playing on a DS (phat) with a capture board installed allowing me to record game footage

Q: Why do you keep resetting and changing the time?
A: I need to use a specific time in order to use RNG manipulation, so I set the clock in such a way that I can use it.
 The timer counts down to when I need to reset for the correct second.

Q: What is RNG?
A: Random Number Generator, the thing that determines everything random within the game, such as stats, encounters and pokerus.

Q: What is RNG Manipulation?
A: RNG manipulation is used in this speedrun, which involves resetting on a specific second starting from a specific time, and hitting the correct frame for the correct seed after resetting. This allows for manipulating of the wild encounters, Mareep's stats, and Pokerus.

Q: What causes the resets?
A: I missed initial starting seed. There are 2 ways to check whether I hit the correct seed:
1) I check my Trainer ID. The one I am aiming for is 42614. I know if I get this ID, I hit the right starting seed, as that is generated at the same time. This is what I used to do, as it is the first thing you can do to check.
2) I can also check the movement of the NPCs in New Bark Town. Because their movement is derived from the RNG, I can tell I hit it based on their movements. If the girl faces Down, then turn Right, Down, and then Left, I got it
If not I didn't hit the right seed, so I reset. The RNG for the seed advances every frame, so it is a frame perfect trick

Q: Why is your movement so strange at the start of the run?
A: Because you can't get the best possible results off the bat. The movement that I do is designed specifically to manipulate the RNG (from NPCs movement around me, and the like) so that I get my great Mareep, Pokerus off the first trainer battle (Mikey), and no encounters to Falkner (ideally all the way to Goldenrod).

Q: Why did you just talk to your Cyndaquil?
A: Because it advances the RNG! This is used to advance the RNG in the gate before Violet to a point right before the Mareep I'm aiming for.

Q: So why don't you just manipulate everything in the game?
A: There are multiple RNGs at play, and not all of them can be controlled the same way. Battle RNG for example, advances just about every frame, including lag frames, making it totally unpredictable.

Q: Why not Heart Gold?
A: Heart Gold and Soul Silver are the same for one key difference, the legendary Pokemon you must visit. Visiting Ho-Oh and Lugia take almost the exact same amount of time (Lugia is faster by like ~2 seconds assuming you have good movement), but there's also a Rare Candy in the Whirl Islands that is currently a part of the route, making it a clear choice.

Q: Why do you play as the girl?
A: The counterpart does the catching tutorial, and the male does it faster, so it’s faster to choose the female for yourself

Q: Why do you name yourself and Mareep 'I'?
A: Because it's faster to name them one character for text purposes, and the letter 'I' gives a nice spin as if the game was self-narrating

Q: Do you catch anything else?
A: I don't catch anything else, but I do obtain other Pokes. Those are: Dratini (Surf/Whirlpool/Waterfall), Abra (Teleport), Kenya (Fly), and Shuckie (Strength)

Q: What is WR?
A: https://www.speedrun.com/pkmngen4ext#Alt_Main_Pokes_HeartGoldSoulSilver

Q: What is your goal time?
A: To get a decently clean run. Probably sub 4.

Q: Do you plan to do other Alt Pokemon runs?
A: Yeah, in the future. I've already done a few of these in other games, which you can view here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKdCHbtiZdhA63-FROqfqamattnoWR0xd

I've got quite a few more on my list to do in the future (mostly across Gen 4/5). I definitely don't need suggestions on more - I've thought about and considered everything you can imagine. It's hard to find the right mix of something you get early enough in the game that is actually still interesting to use. But I've certainly got some more planned, it just takes a long time to route the whole game with something else.