Pokemon Red FAQ (new route)

Pokemon Red FAQ (2018)

Q: What are you trying to do?
A: Beat Pokemon Red as quickly as possible without using glitches.

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

Q: What is the world record?
A: 1:45:48 by me.

Q: Why are you starting over?
A: Probably my Nidoran died or I made a major mistake. These things lose too much time.

Q: Why do you save and reset in the middle of the run?
A: This is RNG manipulation. The game almost always starts from the same RNG seed when you hard reset after a save. You can buffer every input from reset to file select, allowing you to frame perfectly load your game. As long as you continue to be frame perfect, you'll get the same RNG. So what you can manipulate depends on how easily you can be frame perfect. Movement is extremely easy to do frame perfectly, so encounters are manipulated whenever it is worth the 20 seconds it takes to save and reset. Surge's trash cans are also manipulated. Battles require too many precise inputs to do frame perfectly.

Q: When is it worth manipulating encounters?
A: Route 22 (catch a perfect Lv. 4 Nidoran in the same spot every time) and Mt. Moon (manipulate a Paras and no other encounters from the entrance to the Rocket).

Q: How much time does the manipulation save?
A: It's tough to say, since runs before RNG manipulation just reset for good Nidorans and encounter luck. A good run with RNG manip will exit Mt. Moon at about the same time as a good run without it. But these good starts will happen nearly every run with manip, whereas they often took weeks to achieve without it. More good starts means more time-saving risks can be taken without fear of losing a valuable run. All things considered, I'd estimate 2 minutes.

Q: What stats does this perfect Nidoran have?
A: 13 HP, 15 Attack, 15 Defense, 14 Speed and 15 Special. Because of RNG constraints, it is impossible for a Nidoran caught on Route 22 to have higher HP and Speed without having much lower Attack or Special.

Q: How are you catching the Nidoran from full HP almost every time?
A: By buffering all of the inputs before the catch. The first text box ("Wild Nidoran-M appeared") looks like it can't be buffered, but there's actually a 4-frame window (hold A before you see the arrow). I also catch Paras this way.

Q: Why do you keep talking to the bike shop guy?
A: This is an exploit. If you talk to him before you get the Bike Voucher, he gives you instant text until a menu appears. The game normally displays 1 character of text per frame, so a full text box is 36 frames (0.6 seconds). With instant text, every character is printed at once. Instant text goes away whenever you open the menu or a YES/NO text box appears, so you can only use it for two 5-10 minute stretches between Mt. Moon and Surge. This saves about 80 seconds.

Q: Why isn't instant text a glitch?
A: It's programmed into the game, similar to the other text speeds (Fast, Medium, Slow). You just don't see it often in normal gameplay.

Q: Why do you keep complaining about instant text?
A: Two reasons. First, healing or switching out kills instant text, so you end up taking huge risks to maintain it. Second, you have to rely heavily on mashing in fights, as the game often doesn't accept buffered inputs during instant text.

Q: What is your goal time?
A: WR.

Q: What's up with the anime GIF?
A: It's Homura and Madoka from the anime Madoka Magica. I want you guys to have something pleasant to look at during the instant text section of the run. Also, conveniently, you can watch an episode of Madoka Magica in the time it takes me to get through the instant text section.

Q: The GIF is too distracting; can you turn it off?
A: No.