Pokemon Heart Gold Baton Pass FAQ

 Pokemon Heart Gold Baton Pass FAQ

Q: What is Baton Pass?
A: Baton Pass speedruns are runs where you change the Pokemon used for every major battle.

Q: What are the exact rules?
A: Each major battle (Gym Leader, E4 member, Champion) needs to be defeated with a different Pokemon. A Pokémon which takes part in a major battle (that is, the Pokémon is sent out in the fight) can not be used to battle in a future major battle (that is, the Pokémon can not use an attack.)
This means at least 22 different Pokemon must be used in this run.

A Pokémon which has been used in a major battle can be sent out in a future major battle provided that it does not attack. (for example, to use a Revive on the Pokemon you are using for that battle.), unless it is for the specific use of its ability (i.e. sending out a Gyarados specifically to use Intimidate to lower the attack of an opponent count as 'using' it)

A different Pokemon is defined as a Pokemon that is of a different species, and not evolved directly from a Pokemon used prior (for example, you can not use a Cyndaquil for one Gym Leader, and then evolve it to Quilava and use it again.)

There are no restrictions for non-major battles.

Q: Any particular reason you've picked this back up?
A: Yes! Myself and JTMagicman will be racing this at ASM this July!
You can find the ASM 2025 schedule here: https://ausspeedruns.com/ASM2025/schedule
And make sure to follow AusSpeedruns to see the event: twitch.tv/ausspeedruns

Q: What Pokemon will you use for each major fight?
A: There are a few fights which might be done different in the future, but the current route is as follows:

Falkner: Cyndaquil
Bugsy: Rocky
Whitney: Kenya
Morty: Raticate
Chuck: Electrode
Jasmine: Quagsire
Pryce: Golduck
Clair: Tentacruel
Will: Noctowl
Koga: Golbat
Bruno: Donphan
Karen: Miltank
Lance: Ditto (Plus support if poor Ditto - either Intimidate from Growlithe/Stantler, or Static Mareep/Flaaffy)
Brock: Tangela / Tangrowth
Misty: Starmie
Surge: Graveler
Erika: Rapidash
Janine: Bronzong / Kingler (I am going Kingler, JT is doing Bronzong)
Sabrina: Snorlax
Blaine: Lanturn
Blue: Gyarados
Red: Mewtwo

-

For reference, I am doing this run Manipless. This is partly because I've prepared this route for races, but also because I think this category is best done manipless. Using manips would obviously be faster, and change the route quite a bit, however there are quite a few Pokes that would be better to get without manips, just to save the time from saving and restarting the game, given some of the Pokemon are only used for a handful of fights, gambling on the stats would be a better strat on average.

Q: Are there glitches in this run?
A: No, this speedrun is glitchless.

Q: Why Heart Gold over Soul Silver?
A: There are exclusive Pokemons between the 2, and the most relevant one is Donphan is in HG, which is excellent for Bruno.

Q: Why not use Ho-Oh, or Raikou?
A: Given this is manipless, there is only 1 Master Ball. And that is reserved for Mewtwo to beat Red. Catching legendaries without the Master Ball is super bad, especially the roamers. While they might save 1-2 minutes in doing a fight faster, if on average they take 10 minutes to obtain and you have to spend a huge amount of money to buy balls to catch them as well, it is just not worth it.

-

Q: What are you playing on, it is emulator?
A: No, I'm playing on a 3DS with a capture board installed allowing me to record game footage

Q: So what are the really hard fights in this run?
A: There are quite a few fights that are really tricky depending on your stats. I would say the entire Elite Four is the hardest part though.

Q: Do you catch anything that isn't used in fights?
A: Sentret is caught for Surf. Togepi Egg is not used at the moment, Hustle would not help for many of the hunts at all since they are almost all in different slots (only help would be Quagsire, and it's not that rare.)

Q: Why do you play as the girl?
A: See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9pD4oLiFyo

Q: What is WR?
A: https://www.speedrun.com/pkmnhgssext?h=Baton_Pass-To_Red&x=9d8o4j62-38dp9048.814jd4e1 | See: Splits

Q: What is your goal time?
A: The main reason I've picked this back up is for ASM, but getting 5:10 during a practice run was already my goal. Any improvement from here is a bonus.

Q: What is with those split icons? What does A and B mean?
A: This is a grading system for all of my splits. I'm sure you are familiar with grades, A+ being the best then going down from there. So the idea is, if the split has an A+ next to it, my time there was really good and would be very difficult to beat. If it's a C though for example, it was quite poor, and I should be able to save time there pretty easily.

This way, everyone watching has more accurate information on where I can save time, and where I should be making up time. Also that all time loss is not equal, as losing time vs an A+ split isn't really that bad, whereas losing time vs a C split is really bad. It'll probably take a while for a lot of people watching to pick up the meaning so I will appreciate everyone who explains how this works (correctly) in chat to new people.