MOTHER Any% English GBA notes

MOTHER GBA English :: Beginner Manip Route

Here is the map post for cool maps that I made also. http://imgur.com/a/xlCqD

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STEP 1: Get HippieManippie
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We all know HippieManippie is messed up and totally weird but NOT ANYMORE!!! Skate and I found out a way to consistently get it, finally, and here's how.

You wake up and you're Ninten and you're all cool n stuff and you're gonna go save the world so go to the door. Oh snap, a lamp attacks! WHAT DO YOU DO???

D, R, D, D, Setup, R, R, 5, R, AUTO. (This sets up the fastest battle text-scrolling speed. For some reason the option is only IN battle but whatever. Just do it now)

Make your way to the baby doll. Exit your room, wallride against the northern wall by holding up/left against it to enter the door on the first moment possible, run to wherever the baby doll ends up at. AUTO it.

IF:
Smash for 5: CANCEL AUTO IMMEDIATELY. With optimal movement, this is the battle RNG you'll get, so to manipulate hippies you need to auto-cancel and guard for two turns. After that, AUTO again. The fight should end after 6 total turns, and you'll get a PSI move after leveling up. This may seem slow, but it saves minutes in the long run.
Regular hit for 3: Same as above
Smash for 4: Same as above, except you'll have slightly different stats later on. Shouldn't make a huge difference but you'll have 1 less HP (probably don't go for this if you want consistency, the rest of these notes will consider the smash for 5 route).
Hit for 2: DON'T auto cancel. You probably have HippieManippie Prime (The HippieManippie we used to reset over not getting). If you hit for 2 a second time in a row, you have it.
There are other possibilities but hopefully you won't get them because you ran so speedy fast to the baby doll that you can never get them.

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STEP 2: Do HippieManippie
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Once you beat the baby doll, it'll be on the dresser. Check it to get your first melody. (Beats Onett's first melody right?) Head downstairs and talk to the phone. When mom moves out the damn way, go outside, open the A menu to check the dog, go back inside.
Get the "It's Locked" text from the door, use the key without moving. Get the three presents inside, equip the cracked bat, start running in circles for rats.

You know you're still on HippieManippie if the fifth rat you fight is immediately after the fourth one, and the sixth one is also p fast after the fifth one, and during the sixth one's fight you both dodge each other. The seventh rat will put you at 32 exp and you'll level up, you should get 6 HP 4 PP, everything else don't matter.

Leave the basement, talk to your sister, store the Bread and the Basement Key (preferably in that order, so taking out the bread is easier).

IF:
You're at 19 HP or over: DON'T talk to mom before going outside.
You're at 18 HP or under: TALK TO MOM BEFORE GOING OUTSIDE. You will need this heal.

After you store your stuff and heal or not heal go outside. Get comfy in your chair because you'll be here a while.
Your first fight should be a Hippie (hence HippieManippie). Hippies are OP as hell because they give you 6 exp and $35. You want them and Wally's which are also pretty OP because they give you 5 exp and $20. Everything else is P lame but the whole grind is manipulated so you wanna make sure to stay on task.

BE CAREFUL NOT TO LEAVE THE DANGER ZONE. The danger zone is the exact grid areas on the map where you'll get encounters. [CONSULT MAP 01]. This danger zone is pretty huge so I like to just stand in the middle of it and run in circles there so there's absolutely zero chance I'll ever accidentally leave. If you do it'll mess up the fight order (sometimes?) so just don't do it yo.

If you were at 19 HP or over, don't worry about healing the first time because you'll do it automatically in one of the first two crow fights. This saves time over mashing through an hour of mom text, and it doesn't mess up the pattern as long as you heal IN THE FIELD after the dog fight that hits you for 2 and then 3 (you'll be at around the 16 HP range at that point, just keep an eye out).

If you were at 18 HP or under and healed at mom, just heal IN THE FIELD, NOT IN BATTLE, once you're at 16 HP. This should happen twice. If you heal at around this time every time, you won't lose the pattern.

After your second heal, just keep autoing all the fights until you get to 124 exp. The final fight will be a centipede, and you want to be as close to the left edge of the danger zone as possible when grinding for it, so you do as LITTLE MOVEMENT AS POSSIBLE IN THE DANGER ZONE after you're done. After that fight, you'll be at level 5 and at like 3 HP so go inside. Heal with mom and take out your bread (which you stored because if you have it in your inventory during HippieManippie a crow will steal it and that's bad). Leave the house.

SPOILER ALERT, HIPPIEMANIPPIE'S NOT DONE YET. But instead of grinding in the area by your house, head toward the town and cross the bridge. If you're following the path then the danger zone ends just before the path finally becomes like a straight diagonal [CONSULT MAP 02]. Grind on the very edge of the danger zone until you get the Hippie to close off the grind. You'll be at 144 exp and $500, which is exactly what you need. Immediately head down-left into town [CONSULT MAP 03].

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STEP 3: GRAVEYARD
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You're not gonna be grinding that much here, the idea is that you'll get through here so fast and under such stellar circumstances that the zoo will be a breeze to manipulate.
Head straight to the Podunk dept store ATM. Pull out all your money and head up to the SPORTS section to buy the Tee Ball Bat. Equip it. Head back down to the bottom and sell the cracked bat to the lady, then head back up to the FOOD section and buy a bread. (Now you have two!) Go up to the top of the store, the PET section, and get the baby canary. Say yes, then no. (I like to buy the bat first so even if you accidentally say yes to buying the baby canary for $85 you won't actually lose the money.)

Bread is cool because it's kinda like Exit Mouse, except it's universal! You can "Use" bread to place it on the ground, and at any time you can use breadcrumbs to immediately warp back to the exact spot you placed the bread initially. We use bread a few different times throughout the run, and this is the first instance.

After you get the tee ball bat, baby canary, and bread, leave the store. Place the bread on the ground before you move, and head straight downright. Once you reach the path, head down left to the graveyard [CONSULT MAP 04]. Depending on how well you moved at the end of HippieManippie, you will get either Wally or Centipede, and you want Wally. Auto Wally and Snake, and on your way to Pippi run from every bat encounter [CONSULT MAP 05]. With the correct movement you shouldn't get shit ghost, but if you do just auto it, all it means is time loss.

Autofight Gang Zombie and single bat if you get it. If you miss the hole entrance you'll get another ghost and it sucks so just practice that timing/movement. Run from 4-bat and anything else you encounter, and check the lower left casket for Pippi!

When you talk to Pippi, DON'T MASH. Wait for the text to finish, and scroll over to No, then hit Yes. This is CRUCIAL. Ninten has to be all cool and humble about his bravery in order to receive the Franklin badge. If you mess up it's not rip run but it's a huge time loss because you have to go up to Pippi's house and talk to her and you're gonna get triple crow squad which is an amazing nightmare. And also for everyone who's asking NO THE BREAD CRUMB GLITCH IS NOT IN THE ENGLISH VERSIONS OR THE GBA PORT ASDFGKAJDHAHS okay so once you get Pippi use the bread crumbs and head left to the mayor's office. Talk to the mayor and get free money and the zoo key. It's okay if you overmash and get extra keys because you can drop them but it's still annoying lol.

Head back into the store. Save/reset. Saddle up, buckaroo, you're manipulating. [CONSULT MAP 06]

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STEP 4: ZOO
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Zoo used to be a real nightmare because anything could kill you at any time, but we've finally solidified our route through the area. The path through the latter half of the zoo branches based on an elephant encounter, so keep your wits about you.

Reload, and make your way out of the store and up to the hotel. Rest there, and leave the building. Head up and left up to the path, then up the path. At the house after the fat lady, head up and left. Make your way from here to the canary village. [CONSULT MAP 07] for the best route to Laura. Give her her baby that the evil humans stole from her so that she gives you Melody 2. Make your way back out and up to the zoo.

[CONSULT MAP 08]
After you cross the bridge make sure you cling to the left wall. The movement is pretty meticulous but once you get it solid you'll know when you're good. You need to encounter the snake [Auto] while the bridge is on screen, but not while anything above the bridge is on screen. The latter is fine, it just means time loss because you'll get a hyena encounter afterward, just run from that if you get it.
You're on proper manip if you encounter Pre-Zoo tiger [Auto]. If not, reset and try again (don't forget to re-grab melody 2 and all that). You need to have all of this happen correctly.

Talk to the Monkey. He calls you a big doodoo head and runs off with your key because he's a dick kinda like bubble monkey. But it's fine because just walk up to the gate and it'll open.
Stick to the path on Map 08. If you stray at all you'll get a fly encounter and basically ruin everything, so just right angle around the flower patch. Grind purposefully in that area for a couple hyenas and auto them. You do this because you get a freakin' huge HP boost like 12 HP holy moley. After this, lifeup twice in a row BEFORE YOU MOVE. You'll be at 59 HP (max)! Continue up the path.

You're gonna get either early tiger or late tiger. One of those tigers. Idk what determines which one you get but whatever. Late tiger is what you're hoping for I guess because it saves like 0.00000001 seconds because on turn 3 Ninten outspeeds but really they're both the same. Auto whichever tiger, and IMMEDIATELY LIFEUP after the battle WITHOUT MOVING. Especially if you got early tiger because if you forget to lifeup after early tiger you'll also get late tiger and you'll literally die.

Next you're gonna enter the ＨＹＥＮＡ ＺＯＮＥ. In the ＨＹＥＮＡ ＺＯＮＥ you can get three possible ＨＹＥＮＡ encounters. The first one is good because you can run from it on turn 1, but the second one is bad because it takes 2 turns to run so if you get "Hyena C tried to play dead" hyenas guard on turn 1 I guess, then run on turn 2. The third one is really good because you can guard and Hyena C will run away. So you will get either 0, 1, 2, or 3 of these encounters and I have literally no idea what causes this variability but just roll with it ok. Either way manip will be the same from here on out except the path is gonna branch into two paths.

IF:
You don't get elephant 1:
This is the better outcome. Continue up the path until you get Gorilla 1. Manual fight it (you'll take no damage). Afterwards you will get Smash Croc. Wanna know why he's called Smash Croc? Well that's because if you Auto him you will smash him and he will die in one shot. Anyway continue up the path until you get runaway hyenas. Guess what you do to those guys. Afterwards, encounter elephant 2. Use Def. Up a on turn 1, and auto on turn 2. You should lifeup automatically the turn after the turn where elephant smashes you; this is normal. You WILL level up off of elephant 2. You will not get either Elephant 3 or Smash Croc Jr.
You get elephant 1:
This is the slower outcome. It's okay, it's just dumb and random. Run from elephant 1. Continue up the path until you get Gorilla 2. Manual fight it so that you take no damage. Get runaway hyenas and run from them, then encounter elephant 2. Use Def. Up a on turn 1, and auto on turn 2. You should lifeup automatically the turn after the turn where elephant smashes you; this is normal. You will NOT level up off of elephant 2. You will immediately get elephant 3 (Guard, Run), and afterwards get Smash Croc Jr. (Auto him). You will level up off of Smash Croc Jr.

Cool, you're in the building. On the first floor, head into the right door to get that present. On the third floor, head into the right door to get that present, then head into the left door to get to Starman Jr.
On the way there you'll probably get Flies (guard), Double 'pedes (auto), and/or Double Rats (auto). If you get anything else it means you're goin' super slow fam.

Stand up against the capsule thing and open up the menu. You should have an HP amount in the 30's and 7 PP. You should have a rope, another bread, and a Medicine (lifeup cream) in your inventory. Lifeup once and start the fight.
Starman Jr. is a boss, and just like with any other boss such as the baby doll you're not gonna get the same RNG result every time. Based on exactly how long it takes you to get there, the game's gonna pick from a pool of different RNG outcomes to throw at you, so you're gonna have to hope you moved for a good one.
The safest strat that I've come up with is to use Defense Up on turn 1, and the rope on turn 2. There's a very common RNG seed for this fight where if you use the rope on turn 1 he immediately breaks out, so I use rope on turn 2 to hopefully circumvent this. Doesn't always work, but hey whatever.
The longer Starman stays tied up by the rope, the better. If he's tied up, he can't do anything, so whale on him as much as possible. If your HP is really low and he escapes, use the Medicine immediately, then auto and hope for the best.
A few things to keep in mind:
1. Beam a does around 30 damage. You should be able to survive about one or two of these before being in actual danger.
2. Beam Y is PERFECT. He'll do no damage to you because the Franklin Badge, AND it'll drain most of his PP. Once he uses one Beam a and one Beam Y, he has no PP left and can only do his physical attack.
3. His physical attack does around 15 damage, so unless he smashes (which does double) you probably aren't in danger.
4. Defensive stance is okay. No damage to you, you'll just be doing about half damage to him that turn.
5. He has about 60 HP.
Know when to heal to make the most out of your underlevelled situation.

If by some miracle Carpainter I mean Starman Jr. lets you through, hurray!!! You've saved the zoo. On the way out of the zoo office, go to the second floor and the second door to get a bread present, you need this. Go check out that singing monkey and get Melody 3. Bread crumbs out of the zoo.

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Step 5: Magicant
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Woah, Magicant already? And why's it all pink?

Head straight right from your position after using bread crumbs. Follow the path up to the cops on the bridge.
If you have 16 HP or fewer, yeesh... You're in bad shape for this next small section.
There's no way that we've tested to have you take less than 16 damage on the way into Magicant, so if you have a healing item you're gonna have to use it. You have 1 PP left right now and you need it for a Telepathy coming up, so no lifeup... If you have a medicine still, use that, but if not you're gonna have to eat (NOT USE, EAT) your bread and buy another one later, thus requiring an extra fight somewhere. I'll let you know where.

On the way you'll get
-Snake* [Auto]
-Hippie* [Auto]
-Snake* [Auto]
* = Sometimes
Talk to top cop. Just like in Onett manip, top cop is faster (he has less text).

On the way to the Magicant entrance:
-Biopede [Run]
-Double 'pedes [Auto]
-Snake [Auto]
-Biopede [Auto]

Make a note of whether or not you got Hippie, as well as whether you ate your bread. Hippie makes $35 worth of difference, and that can be a lot. You should get him with the current zoo route, but if somehow not then you'll make do elsewhere.

Inside the Magicant Entrance cave, line yourself up adequately with the spire thing [CRUCIAL] and use Telepathy on it. (Seriously... if you miss somehow you'll waste your one psychic point and rip run right there.) You'll read some dumb BS about Giygas' tail and warp to Magicant.

In the building straight to the left after the bridge, store the diary which you no longer need. Then in the building on the lower left of the town area, talk to the guy and give him your ATM card. Talk to him again and he'll give it back to you, plus a Big Bag! The Big Bag is cool because it's literally 30 free lifeup alphas right in one inventory slot, forever for the rest of the run. How sick is that.

Head up to the top of town and heal Ninten in the second building from the left. After that, head up to Queen Mary's castle. On the way there you should encounter a Raeb Yddet (if not, grind for one real quick). Auto it, and continue on. Talk to the guard in the center, then Telepathy him. The answer is Two Alligators.

Go in the left door, the left door, and the left door. The upper left present has what you want STOP RIHGT THERE DON'T MOVE. OKAY. NOW SLOWLY MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE PRESENT AND MAKE SURE THERE'S NO CHANCE YOU'LL OPEN THE WRONG PRESENT. This is a thing that has ripped runs of mine. The upper left present has the Boomerang, which is CRUCIAL (have I used that word enough yet?). And this room is magical in that if you get one thing out of any of these six presents, the other 5 open and the items inside disappear forever.
Get the Boomerang and equip it straight away. Leave the castle.

Head down to the Crystal Cavern and grind in the first room there for a while.
	-guard groucho(bonus swoosh) until he leaves
	-auto papa
	-auto papa
	-lifeup
	-guard
	-guard
	-def up, fight swooshette, fight papa, fight
	-lifeup
	-guard
	-auto foureyes
	-Walk close to the ladder
	-guard groucho
	-lifeup, leave
At this point, you should be level 10 and have enough money in your bank account for what you're about to buy. Leave the caverns and head up and left to the fountain.
	-auto swooshette, lifeup to max
	-manual fight oak
	-run snail (IF YOU DIDN'T GET HIPPIE AND/OR YOU ATE YOUR BREAD EARLIER, AUTO THIS SNAIL)
	-auto raeb yddet

Once you get to the fountain, touch it, and use Telepathy without moving. The wise old man will appear. Say yes twice, withdraw $800, and leave. Head into the town area, and the second building from the right. Buy the Angel Brace and equip it. Head back into the Crystal Cavern.

Make your way through the caves to the Onyx Fish. You're gonna get a bunch of freakin' fights along the way, just auto them all unless they're grouchos(bonus swooshes). At the very beginning note whether it's an Ulrich or a Foureyes or something totally different. Either way you're set on money. And if you're not or if you're just nervous about whether you have good munz there's a backup fight coming up you can take so you have no excuse to be low on funds.

Get the PSI Stone present for free PP restoration whenever you want it except don't use it unless you have to because it has a 1/8 chance of breaking every time you use it and that is way too often. You'll basically be using it only under RNG manip-related circumstances, so when you do use it it shouldn't ever break... usually.

Onyx Fish is another Starman-like boss fight where you just never know what will happen. Make sure you're healed to max HP before the fight, and you can afford a Defense Up. Do that turn 1 and hope Ninten goes first. If Ninten outspeeds, you can definitely auto and be fine, he should go down in three hits, two if you get good damage rolls which is like never. If Fish outspeeds, you're gonna have to heal with something and be careful for the rest of the fight.

After you win the game will take you down into the hole below. This is the Onyx Hook, your repeated one-way ticket to Magicant whenever the hell you wanna go there! You'll use this a few times throughout the run.

Make your way out of the caves to the Forgotten Man, autoing everything on the way there. Also, don't forget to grab the Basic Sword present to sell for hot cash.  Talk to the forgotten man five times. On the fifth time, say no, then yes. Leave.

UFO, UFO (Lvl 12), Lynx, all auto. Make your way to town.

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STEP 6: My Name Lloyd
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Two Factories that both look the same. Have fun.

First make your way to the store and sell your Tee Ball Bat and Basic Sword. You'll have like a bajillion dollars after this so heck yeah. Go upstairs to the top floor and buy one repel ring and use it right away. Repel rings are cool because they repel stuff and you'll skip a ton of fights. (Also if you ate your bread earlier, you'll need to buy another one now).

"Why not buy more stuff now?" you ask. Well Ninten has a piss-tiny inventory and you need the two open slots for the next bit so hold your horses. We finna meet a new friend to carry all our shit for us.

After you repel ring, leave the store and Hotel™ real quick. Do it while you're still single so it'll cost $65 instead of $130 to max out Ninten's health.

Head straight down and around the elementary school (Place a bread in front of the school!!!) to the south. After a really stupid long path you'll find the Sweet Little Factory.

-If you think or know you're low on funds, grind for a fight just before entering the factory. This is Barbot/UFO. Manual fight UFO first, then manual fight Barbot x2. Now there's no chance you don't have enough money for what's coming up, hurray!
-If you know you're good on funds, move REALLY WELL down to the factory so that you get inside before encountering Barbot/UFO. If you slow you'll get the fight anyway, but if you don't need it you can just run from it turn 1, no biggie.

Left to the first door you see. Get the knife to sell for money. Left to the first ladder, right to the first ladder, left a couple areas to the trash can. Check it once for a bottle rocket. Breadcrumbs out of there and head into the school.

Run up to the top floor and try to enter the roof: The door will be locked. Head back down and to the furthest right room on the first floor to talk to the sexist janitor. Say Yes, Yes, No, Yes, and he'll take you back upstairs and unlock the roof for you. Inside the trash can (right where he belongs) you'll find Lloyd. Say yes to him and all that jazz, and talk to him a second time. He'll join your party, hurraaaay!!!