Pokemon Platinum Baton Pass FAQ

 Pokemon Platinum 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.)

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.)

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 Chimchar for one Gym Leader, and then evolve it to Monferno and use it again.)

There are no restrictions for non-major battles.

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:

Roark: Machop
Gardenia: Monferno
Fantina: Bibarel
Maylene: Rotom
Wake: Tropius
Byron: Gastrodon
Candice: Medicham / Bronzong / Probopass / Magneton
Volkner: Quagsire / Jolteon
Aaron: Jolteon / Magneton
Bertha: Pelipper
Flint: Floatzel
Lucian: Giratina
Cynthia: Tentacruel

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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.

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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. Maylene, Candice, Aaron and Cynthia stand out as really tough ones, or at the very least ones where you need a lot of setup and therefore dying is really bad.

Q: Do you catch anything that isn't used in fights?
A: Only the Togepi Egg, which is hatched as it has a 50/50 chance to have Hustle, which can make high level Pokemon (like Gastrodon) easier to find.

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/pkmnplatext#Baton_Pass

Q: What is your goal time?
A: It was sub 5, so now any future improvement is icing on top.

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.