Glitches Annotations Part 3

ACE is doable in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen as well, even before completing the game. It uses a similar Mail removal process as the Tile Corruption glitch in Ruby/Sapphire. The difference in data structure between the games causes this process to allow for ACE

Thief was patched in these games to no longer steal Mail so speedrunners instead use Recycle with Mr.Mime and Knock Off with Farfetch'd. Recycling Mail allows for Mr.Mime to delete its Mail while still keeping Mail Memory in its Mail Memory Slot

More specifically, it points to Box 3 Slot 1 of the PC. By writing Mail Memory into it, using specific Mail words, speedrunners can frankenstein up a glitchmon that can, again, run code written into box names after being swapped around in the Move Pokemon menu

Speedrunners have found Box Names codes that, when ran, automatically completes the game and plays the credits, completing the game almost 40 minutes faster than the glitchless world record

Unfortunately, the FRLG any% category is not commonly ran due to some issues. Getting Mr.Mime requires catching an Abra to trade, which without manips, requires a lot of luck due to its rarity and needing to be caught on the first turn due to having Teleport

The easy answer to this would be to just manip it. However, RNG manipulation in FRLG is easier said than done. Unlike in Ruby/Sapphire, seeds aren't static after soft resetting and which seed you get depends on inputs you press before getting past the title screen

How much time you spend before clearing the title screen is the biggest factor in what seed you get and it's precise to the frame. This means that speedrunners must hit a frame perfect input at 60 frames per second in order to get a specific seed they want to hit

There are other factors such as buttons pressed at certain times but this one is the most significant due to the difficulty of frame perfect inputs. Even the most consistent runners usually only have a ~50% hit rate for frame perfect inputs

The best manip found (at the time of the making of this TAS) requires a frame perfect window for the seed 5C2F and a 2 frame window for Abra to show up. Additionally, this manip also chains into a second Abra catch at a 4 frame window for it to show up

Catching a second Abra saves time as it contributes to the 6 poke requirement for the Mail glitch to work. Additionally, it gives the player access to Teleport even after the first Abra is traded, allowing them to quickly get back to Cerulean City after trading

Needless to say, a 1 frame window into a 2 frame window is very difficult to execute consistently especially so on a run that already has a frame perfect manip, in the Squirtle manip. As of the making of this TAS, no any% run on the leaderboard does this Abra manip

To get Abra quicker without using manips, runners lead a level 10 poke and then Repel. This filters out all encounters under level 10 and thus, reduces the amount of unnecessary encounters gotten before encountering an Abra

It's worth talking about the frame perfect manip that is actually done in any% runs, as well as every other FRLG category that isn't manipless: Squirtle Manip. It is a highly unique manip for several reasons

This manip is notable because it doesn't rely on hitting a specific seed. Instead, runners check their TID, which is linked to the initial seed, to figure out what seed they are on figure out a RNG frame that gets them a good Squirtle, and then try and hit it

Runners must also keep track of NPC movement, as that advances RNG and therefore, affects the wait time for whatever frame they're going for. They must wait 1 frame less each time an NPC starts moving and another frame less when they finish moving

It's worth noting that because they're hitting different seeds and frames, the Squirtles will always have a different combo of IVs and Natures in each attempt. Runners have a set of acceptable IV ranges and natures to get but which spread they get will differ per run

There are three acceptable natures for Squirtle, all of which boost Special Attack: Mild which lowers Defense, Rash which lowers Special Defense, and Modest which lowers Attack Which one you get alters strategies, as well as the riskiness of important battles

One of many examples includes the Misty fight: She is more likely to pick Water Pulse instead of Swift against low Special Defense turtles so runners are more likely to pick up a Persim Berry when playing with a Rash Squirtle

Needing to adjust strategies for different stats and natures makes the FRLG glitchless and Elite 4 Round 2 speedruns very interesting, giving compensation for the lost  potential in manips caused by the RNG system

Elite 4 Round 2 speedruns are even more affected by the RNG system. Round 2 of the Elite 4 in FRLG requires at least 60 pokes registered in the dex, meaning that runners will need to catch a lot of pokes, a task that would otherwise be made far easier with manips

Due to the variety in encounters, the exact pokes caught in each run are different. Although certain pokes are always caught, others will vary, and runners need to adjust their strats depending on which pokes they happen to find

Which pokes are always caught and which ones are good to catch depend on many factors such as rarity, catch rate, and whether they can add another poke to the dex count by evolving from an evolution stone or Rare Candy, or by being traded for another poke

Although not always, it's generally better, if possible, to get pokes by evolving with a Rare Candy or evolution stone, by in-game trades, or by gift pokemon than it is to catch wild ones, as these methods remove the RNG factor from encountering and catching

An example of a poke that's always caught is Spearow: it has a decently high encounter and catch rate and it can be traded for Farfetch'd for another catch. Farfetch'd is also a great HM-ployee due to its ability to learn Cut and Fly without needing to forget moves

As can be deduced, this category has a massive amount of variation and therefore, the ability to adapt to different situations is huge for achieving top times. To put it into perspective, the beginner notes for this category is a whooping 73 pages long

As such, FRLG Round 2 is one of the most interesting categories in Pokemon Speedrunning again, giving compensation for the RNG system messing up manips. With manips, this category would likely be extremely manip heavy which would likely not be as interesting