Pokemon HeartGold Any% FAQ

Pokémon HeartGold Any% F.A.Q.

Q: What are you trying to accomplish?
A: I am trying to defeat Pkmn Trainer Red as fast as possible.

Q: What does "Any%" mean?
A: "Any%" is the category I am running.  The goal is to complete the game as fast as possible, with glitches being allowed to do so.

Q: What is the Best Time (BT) in this category?
A: 1:59:29 in real time, by werster.

Q: What is your current Personal Best (PB)?
A: Keizaron - 2:04:19
   Tyrant - 2:02:31

Q: Why is Tyrant's name listed?
A: He uses my FAQ for whatever the fuck reason.

Q: What is your goal?
A: Sub-2.

Q: How are you streaming/recording your runs?
A: I use the following programs:
    > Twitch streaming: OBS Studio
    > Game-only capture: ds_capture
    > Timer: LiveSplit
    > Audio Timer: EonTimer
   I use the following hardware:
    > Console: DS Phat w/ capture card installed

Q: What are the differences between HeartGold and SoulSilver?
A: With the updated encounter manipulation, SoulSilver produces a slower fight for experience.

Q: Why do you choose the girl for the run?
A: Her boy counterpart, Ethan, performs the catch tutorial faster.

Q: Why do you set your DS date to 1/1/2096 and your DS clock to 10:57?
A: I need these parameters to perform RNG manipulation.

Q: Why do you wait at Oak for so long?
A: I have to start the game at a certain time (~0:57) for RNG manipulation.

Q: What are you manipulating?
A: I am manipulating the following:
    > Cyndaquil (Rash, 4/23/21/28/5/31)
    > Encounters (a Sentret to fight, a Sentret for Cut and Surf, one to two encounters for Raikou manip, and last but not least Raikou)
    > Master Ball lottery (the winning ID is 39391, our starting ID)
    > Raikou (Rash, 16/4/22/31/17/4)

Q: Why do you name everything one character?
A: Naming commonly seen names one character saves frames throughout the entirety of the run.

Q: Why do you keep resetting the game?
A: I either:
    > Did not get the ID; I can tell by the NPC movement outside; the right RNG seed always has the same NPC movement
    > Did not correctly do movement, thus ending manipulation
    > Died; I died.  Duh.

Q: Why do you catch [insert Pokémon here]?
A: Here is a basic rundown of the entire team:
    > Cyndaquil/Quilava: First main Pokémon, Strength slave.
	> Sentret: Cut/Surf slave.
    > Raikou: Second and final main Pokémon, Rock Climb slave.

Q: What is a "spinner"?
A: A spinner is a trainer that randomly looks in each direction.  These spinning trainers cost precious time on account of extra time battling.  There are 4 unique spinners that I must pass 5 total times.

Q: What the heck did you just do to the map?!
A: I did a glitch called tweaking.  By moving in certain patterns on the loadlines of the maps, I can confuse the game, allowing me to skip several areas of the game.

Q: What is skipped?
A: Slowpoke Well's cutscene, getting the Radio Card, "spinner hell" (the route after Goldenrod), and several gyms.  Most noticeably, I will distort the map to get to Victory Road without getting Whirlpool, Waterfall, etc.

Q: What are the hardest fights in this run?
A: The first two gyms are actually incredibly tough depending on RNG.  Rival 2 can be a pain.  Whitney is a crapshoot because of Metronome and Miltank being a barely favourable range.  Any fight with Thunder is a potential problem.