Pokemon Crystal Chikorita% FAQ

Pokemon Crystal FAQ (Chikorita route)

Q: What are you trying to do?
A: Beat Pokemon Crystal as quickly as possible with only the Chikorita evolution line, without using glitches.

Q: What are you playing on?
A: GambatteSpeedrun, an accurate emulator for Gen 1-2 Pokemon games.

Q: Why not console?
A: My capture card is not fully set up with my new computer. My old computer died.

Q: What is the world record?
A: 3:41:21 by me.

Q: What is your goal?
A: To beat the WR and finish a run with the new route.

Q: Is Chikorita faster than Totodile?
A: No, not even close. This is a separate category.

Q: Why is this category not on speedrun.com?
A: The "only use X Pokemon" rule is too arbitrary, and there hasn't been much competition (I'm the only runner).

Q: Why do you save and quit before choosing Chikorita?
A: This is RNG manipulation to get a perfect Chikorita. After hard resetting, I need execute a series of inputs, including one frame-perfect input. If I do this correctly, the manip has a 56/60 chance of working. I also need to start every attempt on the same second (1:01, 2:01, etc.) of a timer that I have running in the background.

Q: What stats does this perfect Chikorita have?
A: 7 HP, 12 Attack, 15 Defense, 15 Speed and 15 Special. This gives it Hidden Power Ground 70, which is easily the best Hidden Power available.

Q: Why is HP Ground so good?
A: It covers Chikorita's offensive and defensive weaknesses -- Fire, Steel and Poison types -- and is available relatively early in the run. I get Hidden Power immediately after entering Ecruteak City so that I can use it on the Kimono Girls (Jolteon/Flareon), Rival 3 (Haunter, Quilava and Magnemite) and the Ghost/Poison types in Morty's gym. Later in the run, it's used to save many turns on Poison and Fire types that use super-effective moves. Additionally, HP Ground allows me to skip Headbutt (38-second detour) and Earthquake (28-second detour), teach Body Slam (saves 1-2 turns), fight Jasmine early (5-second movement time save), and delay the second Goldenrod shopping trip so that I can afford 4 Proteins.

Q: What are the biggest run killers?
A: Bugsy is the main one. The only move you can reasonably use against him is Tackle, and you don't have much money for X Attacks. Because of this limitation, it's important to outspeed the Scyther so it doesn't kill you with Fury Cutter. But both Metapod and Kakuna can use String Shot, making you slower even if you use an X Speed.

Q: Why set the time to 5:49 p.m.?
A: Sentret (Cut slave found on Route 29) only appears during the day, and Poliwag (Whirlpool/Waterfall slave found on Routes 30-31) only appears at night. Most runs will hit 6 p.m. shortly after you leave Route 29 and enter Route 30. It's possible that a different time is optimal, but the Chikorita manip might not work at different times, so I'm sticking with 5:49.

Q: Why choose the girl?
A: Her sprite in battle saves about 1 second throughout the run, and certain RNG manipulations don't work as the boy.