Pokemon Heart Gold Rocky FAQ

      Pokemon Heart Gold Rocky FAQ

Q: What does Rocky mean?
A: Doing a glitchless speedrun with Rocky, the in-game traded Onix in Violet City.

Q: Is this run Manipless or not?
A: No, now that I'm doing attempts by myself, I will be using manip.

Q: How much does manip help?
A: Well, given the Rocky is in-game traded, the stats are actually exactly the same. So the 3 main time saves are:
1) Getting Pokerus, so Rocky gets more EVs
2) Not getting encounters for as long as I can still manip encounters
3) I'm going to do Voltorb flip to buy my 2 HM slaves (Dratini/Ekans), along with a Metronome item to help for Red. Because I can buy Ekans in HG only, I'm also going to use HG over SS.

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?
A: A fair bit. I think it'll be above 4:30, and the Glitchless run with Raikou sits at 3:33

Q: How good is Rocky?
A: Good and Rocky do not belong in the same sentence.

Q: What are the hardest fights in this run?
A: All of them. But Chuck is definitely the hardest.

Q: What are Rocky's IVs?
A: Given it is an in game trade, Rocky always has the same IVs. They are: 25 HP, 20 Att, 25 Def, 15 Sp Att, 15 Sp Def, 15 Speed with a Hasty Nature and its ability is Sturdy.

Q: Why do you pick Chikorita as the starter?
A: The main reason is so the Rival has Cyndaquil, which is the best matchup for Rocky. Chikorita also gets the Cut, but so does every starter.

Q: What are the moves you use in the run?
A: Tackle, Screech, Rage, Rock Throw, Dig, Payback, Earthquake, Stone Edge

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

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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 not Soul Silver?
A: I'm doing the Voltorb Flip to buy an Ekans, which only happens in HG. In Soul Silver it's a Sandshrew.
The reason for getting an Ekans is because it can learn Strength, but more important can have Intimidate as it's ability, which makes setting up on some trainers (Lance/Blue/Red) a lot easier.

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
See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI1-PJ7Sy1w

Q: Why do you name yourself '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: At Voltorb Flip I get Dratini (Surf/Whirlpool/Waterfall), and Ekans (Strength). I also pickup Kenya (Fly) and catch Ho-Oh (for Double)

Q: What is WR?
A: https://www.speedrun.com/pkmnhgssext#Alt_Main_Pokes | 5:20:46 by Gimmy (My 5:02 from the race is actually invalid since I accidently triggered the Rage Glitch on the Whitney fight)

Q: What is your goal time?
A: Definitely under sub 5 hours at least.

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.