Pokemon Heart Gold Glitched FAQ (new)

Pokemon Heart Gold Glitched Speedrun FAQ

Q: How is this glitched?

A: I beat the game with only six badges obtained.



Q: Wait, how?

A: Generation IV games have a glitch known as "Tweaking". The game is made up of grids, and by going fast between these grids, the game unloads areas with the void in which you can traverse to bypass certain barriers (Tohjo Falls, Goldenrod City gym entrance, etc). You do this using the bike and to a minor extent with running shoes.



Q: Which badges are obtained?

A: The first 5 Johto badges are obtained, as well as Blue's badge in Kanto. The reason 6 badges are obtained is access to Surf, Fly, Strength and Cut, which are the only HMs that are needed.

Eventually I might try to skip the badge needed for Fly if I figure out a different route, but for now it is very convenient.

Blue's Badge enables Rock Climb to be obtained as well removing the guy in front of Cerulean Cave, allowing Mewtwo to be obtained.



Q: Why are you playing at Night?

A: Nighttime allows me to catch Murkrow and Houndour. It is also arguably as fast to catch a Wooper instead of a Sentret for Surf, but it doesn't matter which one is used.

I try to play at a time that avoids the Police Officer trainers at night, so I am actually playing during the day until around Ecruteak City (before 8PM).



Q: Which Pokemon are caught?

A: Depending on the time of day, I will use the starter pokemon of Cyndaquil, a HM Slave in Sentret during the day or a Wooper in the night (caught in the wild), Kenya (the gift Spearow), the Lake of Rage Gyarados, Murkrow or Houndour and a Mewtwo.



Q: Why those Pokemon?

A: Cyndaquil is ideal for the Falkner and Bugsy because of his Fire typing and ability to clear Sprout Tower rapidly and later on for Strength (and Cut).

Sentret/Wooper are HM slaves for Cut and/or Surf.

Kenya is used for the Whitney and Morty, and for Fly after Gyarados is obtained.

Gyarados is used for the 5th Gym, the Elite 4 and Blue. He is the best currently because of his ability to tank hits effectively and dish them out too, with Waterfall. At level 44 he also gains Dragon Dance, which is used to sweep everything past Koga easily.

Murkrow/Houndour is caught for 2 reasons. In the Blue fight, the lead pokemon Blue uses has only 2 attacking moves: Psychic and Leaf Storm. The idea is to manipulate Leaf Storm multiple times to lower his Special Attack. Other than this, the Dark typing also prevents Mewtwo from affecting them in anyway and allows a safe capture.

Mewtwo is used for the final battle with Red, but also as a Rock Climb slave, since none of my other pokemon can learn it except for him.



Q: Why don't you throw a Master Ball at Mewtwo?

A: I actually never obtain the Master Ball in this run. I skip it becaues of glitches used, and instead, I buy a massive amount of Dusk Balls in Vermillion City (around 50). The reason for this is actually to catch Murkrow/Houndour faster and also for Mewtwo, as the catch rate is increased by 3.5x.

The effective catch rate at 100% hp for all pokemon is 45%~ for Houndour, 18%~ for Murkrow and 1.2% for Mewtwo. At Red HP, these values are doubled, and under status such as Freeze, are quadrupled. For Mewtwo, the max catch % is 8.090% with a Dusk Ball and 2.106% with a Pokeball.



Q: Why do you play as the girl?

A: This is faster because of the catching tutorial. The girl fails the tutorial, so by picking the boy, you actually lose time. Also, the boy has low DV's in glitching, so the girl is mandatory <3



Q: "Why is glitchless faster?!"

A: It's currently not faster, look at the splits before asking this. If I'm going more slowly than glitchless it's because my run is not optimised at this point in time lol.