Pokemon Yellow Classic FAQ

Pokemon Yellow any% glitchless (Classic) FAQ

Q: What are you trying to do?
A: Beat Pokemon Yellow as quickly as possible with these restrictions: no glitches, no hard resets (meaning no RNG manipulation), no instant text, no Poke Doll.

Q: What are you playing on?
A: A GameCube using a GameBoy Player.

Q: What is the world record?
A: 2:03:20 by me.

Q: What is your goal?
A: To beat the WR.

Q: How is this category different than regular glitchless?
A: No RNG manip means I'll have to accept a variety of Nidorans, rather than the same perfect Nido every run. I also can't manipulate Mt. Moon encounters. This makes the game more interesting and exciting, but some runs will be lost to bad stats and/or too many encounters. Also, I have to do Rocket Hideout for the Silph Scope rather than just using a Poke Doll to escape the Marowak in Pokemon Tower. It's about a 5-minute detour.

Q: Doesn't manip make the run more consistent? Why play without it?
A: For me, the main reason is that RNG manipulations are extremely stressful to execute. Hitting them consistently is mostly a matter of natural talent that I lack, but I still get upset when I miss them. Running without manip also makes the run more strategic, as you have to manage different Nidoran stats and different risk thresholds (take fewer risks with good Nidos/times). Whether that's worth the hours of early resets remains to be seen....

Q: What are the numbers in the bottom-left corner?
A: Those are Nidoran's DVs, which range from 0 to 15.

Q: Why are you resetting?
A: Probably because my Nidoran's stats were too low. I might also reset because my Nidoran died or I lost too much time to encounters.

Q: What stats are you looking for?
A: Stat ranges at Level 8 are as follows: HP 25-27, Attack 14-16, Defense 11-13, Speed 13-15, Special 11-13. Attack and Speed are the most important stats; 14 Attack or 13 Speed is almost always unrunnable. Most Nidorans with 15-16 Attack (5+ DV) and 14-15 Speed (6+ DV) are runnable, but I won't take a DV spread like 0/6/0/8/4.

Q: Why do you exit the grass when looking for Nidoran?
A: Encounter slots appear in cycles, so at certain times in that cycle, my chance of encountering a L3 or L4 Nidoran is much higher or lower than the base 5% chance. More info here: http://www.pokemonspeedruns.com/index.php/Pok%C3%A9mon_Red/Blue/Yellow_DSum_Manipulation

Q: How is Yellow different than Red?
A: The "boss" trainers (gym leaders/Elite Four/rival) are more difficult because their Pokemon have better movesets. The early game is also more difficult because Nidoran is a rare encounter rather than common, and you must train it to Level 12 to beat Brock with Double Kick. The midgame is easier because red bar saves less time (doesn't skip Pokemon cries in Yellow), and thus it's not risking being at low HP.