Pokémon Let's Go, Eevee! Any% F.A.Q.

Pokémon Let's Go, Eevee! Any% F.A.Q.

Q: What are you trying to do?
A: I am trying to complete Pokémon Let's Go, Eevee! as fast as possible

Q: What is your best time?
A: My best time is 3:02:08

Q: What is the World Record?
A: The World Record time is 3:02:08 by eddaket

Q: That's you!
A: I know!

Q: Where can you save time?
A: I don't remember to be quite honest. At a glance, my early game (before Rival 3) could be a bit better. My catching can always be better as well

Q: Does player gender matter?
A: It does not. The boy is "faster" because it's the default option in the intro, however it's a matter of frames

Q: What Pokémon do you use in the run?
A: I start with Eevee, which I use until I reach Fuschia City, where I get Sea Skim and surf down to Cinnabar Island to get a Staryu. Then I use Starmie until the end of the game

Q: What stats do you need in order to do the run?
A: The starter Eevee always has 31 IV in all stats, so all we're looking at is the Nature. Eevee needs to not be -Attack, or -Sp. Atk in order to do a run. Depending on how I'm feeling, I'd likely also reset -Speed

Q: What's an ideal nature for Eevee?
A: That's a tricky question. In general, Attack is more valuable than Sp. Atk, so either Lonely or Naughty would be best. However, if your Sp. Atk is REALLY high, you can save a lot of time in Hideout/Tower like my PB. Sp. Atk that high is rare, but in my opinion would be an optimal Eevee

Q: If Eevee always has 31 IVs, how can a stat be higher or lower outside of the nature?
A: Let's Go simplified stats significantly, removing EVs and replacing them with AVs (Awakening Values). Through normal gameplay, an AV in a random stat is given to a Pokémon when it levels up. These AVs are literally ADDED to the stat value at the end of the calculation. For example, if we'd normally have a stat value of 20, but have 5 AVs, then our stat value is 25. We get Eevee at Level 5 (w/ 0 AVs), and typically hit Level 30 before we switch away from it, it'll be gaining ~25 AVs during the run. For reference to the previous answer: If we're +Sp. Atk and have 13 or more AVs (of the ~23 we have at that point) invested in Sp. Atk, we can go for a faster Jessie/James fight that saves significant time. That's not realistic by any means, but it's certainly a possibilty (as was seen on my PB)

Q: Do Starmie's stats matter?
A: Yes! But we won't reset for bad stats. We can luckily set the nature of Starmie to always be Modest (using Madame Celadon), so it's really just a luck of the draw when it comes to the IVs. Sp. Atk and Speed are the two most important stats, but Defense can matter as well

Q: Why do you not nickname Eevee or the other Pokémon that are used?
A: Nicknaming takes more time than it saves. Text moves incredibly fast in these games (7+ characters per frame), so nicknaming doesn't save any time

Q: Can you do this run on Let's Go, Pikachu!?
A: You can! It has its own route though

Q: Which game is faster?
A: Currently, Eevee has the fastest time, but they are close enough to consider them equal in my eyes

Q: What are the differences between the two games for the speedrun?
A: This is a loaded question for sure, but I'll break down the biggest factors for you
- Both Eevee and Pikachu learn Headbutt, but Eevee's Headbutt has STAB (same type attack bonus). This makes Eevee OHKO many more things early game than Pikachu
- Both Eevee and Pikachu learn move tutor moves in Cerulean City, however Eevee gets far better coverage from its moves. Eevee OHKOs every Oddish, Gloom, Sandshrew and Rhyhorn that it faces, while Pikachu does not
- Eevee learns four total move tutor moves, so Pikachu saves time by only learning one
- Pikachu needs "help" from some of the catches for the mid-game (S.S. Anne -> Tower you dual main Pikachu with Growlithe, Pidgeotto, Nidoquing, etc). This "help" is actually very fast, so it doesn't waste a lot of time (if any), however it does make the mid-game a bit more volatile
- Champion has a Jolteon in Pikachu rather than Raichu, often needing more setup than in Eevee

Q: Why do you have a PokéDex on screen? Is this Catch 'em All?
A: No, this is Any%. The PokéDex is counting the Pokémon I have caught because the requirement to enter Koga's gym is to catch 50 unique Pokémon

Q: Gym requirement? Are there others?
A: Yes! Each gym has it's own requirement, though only one of them is really time consuming:
Brock - Have a Grass or Water Pokémon
Misty - Have a Level 15 Pokémon
Lt. Surge - Use Chop Down on the bush outside the gym
Erika - Have a Cute Pokémon
Koga - Have 50 Pokémon registered in the PokéDex
Sabrina - Have a Level 45 Pokémon
Blaine - Retrieve the Secret Key
Giovanni - Have 7 badges

Q: What are the colors on the PokéDex?
A: The colors on the PokéDex Counter correspond to information for me and the viewers. Black = Nothing | Dark Blue = Planned Catch | Orange = Caught | Dark Gray = Not caught, but marked for some reason

Q: What are the numbers next to your splits?
A: The first half of my splits will appear like this: Split Name [XX]. This means that on my PB, I owned XX Pokémon (colored Orange). This allows you and me to see not only how far ahead/behind I am in time, but also in Pokémon count as that is arguably more important in some cases. You can (generally) assume each Pokémon takes 30s. This means that if my PB had a split at 1:30:00 with 30 Pokémon, and I just split at 1:31:00 with 31 Pokémon, I could be considered only about 30s behind instead of a full minute

Q: What does using 2 controllers let you do?
A: 2 controller is used in two ways. The first is it allows you to catch Pokémon using 2 controllers which makes the Pokémon more likely to be caught as well as boosts the EXP you gain by almost double. Secondly, it allows you to summon another trainer for battles which gives you a 2 Pokémon to 1 advantage

Q: Wow, 2 on 1 battles sounds super OP! Why don't you use it on every fight?
A: It's slow. In general, you need to be able to save a move select in order for it to be worth it. For example, take a fight is normally something like Headbutt x2. You could do that as a 2 controller fight, however it'll take about the same amount of time, which makes it slower (summoning and de-summoning the other controller takes a few seconds)

Q: Well what fights do you use it on?
A: I'm going to be using it on the following fights for the following reasons:
- Rival 3 (S.S. Anne): Setting up with 1 controller on this fight is kind of slow, requiring a Guard Spec. and two shotting the Pidgeotto. With good speed, we can turn a 6+ turn 1c fight into a 3 turn 2c fight
- Archer (Hideout): Weezing hits hard, so setting up AS we KO it is crucial
- Ted (Electrode guy in Mansion): This guy was a run killer before 2 controller was allowed. Way safer and the same speed
- Blue (Silph Co): Way faster. It also prevents needing to swap Dodrio to the front and then away from the front after the fight, so it's even faster than that
- Rival 5 (Route 22): A great example of the power of 2c. We setup as we KO Pokémon and turn something like a 9 turn fight into a 4 turn
- Naomi (Victory Road): A bit slower (8-10s) but prevents the run from dying to a Hydro Pump miss. I usually make a gametime decision on this one

Q: What is your goal time?
A: A new PB to start. When I got the 3:02, I said that sub 3 was possible, but given that it was over a year and a half ago, I can't really say anymore how possible it is. Let's start with aiming for a 3:02:07 and go from there