Emerald 3-star TAS Route

                                 ~~~~---- Pokémon Emerald, 3-star TAS ----~~~~


Version 1.0 : 28/03
Version 1.1 : 29/03, 00:19
Version 1.2 : 31/03
Version 1.3 : 14/04

New changes :
Tested IFG on Battle Dome (Not faster)


-) To do :
Make clearer parts in the route.
List the harmless contest opponents.
Determine the best contest opponents to have. (the fastest contest move types, moves that make nervous being really useful, and moves that startle being avoided)
List the Battle Frontier "good" Pokémon, and the ones to avoid. (depending on Base HP and HP EVs, avoiding Sturdy too).
(helpful source : http://upcarchive.playker.info/0/upokecenter/content/pokemon-emerald-in-depth-guides.html)
Check for that damn Wally script.
Time a trip from Battle Frontier to Move Deleter, with 2 moves deleted. (more or less than 40 seconds ?)




---// Goal
3-star consists of beating League, obtaining 7 Gold Symbols, and obtaining 5 paintings, as I don't know if filling the regional Pokédex would be entertaining in a TAS.


--// Beginning of the run
-- Use the global route for the any% TAS.
- Start with a SID of 0xXYYY, X being 0,1,2,3,8,9,A or B. (YYY being anything)

- Pick up a Berry from a near Berry bush.
- Buy 3 Fluffy Tails at Verdanturf's Mart.
- Do not deposit the KO Abra in PC at Fortree. (Only Castform)


--// First Pomeg Glitch data corruption
- Obtain an invisible Bad Egg with the first Pomeg Glitch corruption. (a corrupted empty slot)
~It will be useful later for Decaswitch, a technique allowing to perform Pomeg Glitch without Pomeg Berries and 1HP Pokémon.
This corruption unlocks the Ever Grande Fly Location and corrupts Castform. Castform's Bad Egg knows an Instang Flee Glitch Move.

- Pick Castform's Bad Egg and beat Fortree's Gym to obtain Fly Badge.
- Fly at Ever Grande.
- Beat Victory Road and enter League.
- Exit League and Fly to Ever Grande's beginning.
- Surf to Route 128 and pick up the hidden Heart Scale.


--// Catching Wailmer/lord
-a) Surf towards Lilycove to unlock its Fly location. Make a detour through Route 129 to encounter a Lv  27 Wailord (1%, 1/6) with a Corruption Type of 3 (1/6) and a "good" PID (the 8th hexadecimal character of its PID must have a specific value out of 8 possible, 1/2). (Total : 1/7200)

-a) Surf towards Mossdeep to unlock its Fly Location, then go towards Lilycove to unlock its Fly Location.
Fly to Mossdeep and obtain Super Rod.
Fish a Lv 27 Wailmer (30%, 1/6) with a Corruption Type of 3 (1/6) and a "good" PID (the 8th hexadecimal character of its PID must have a specific value out of 8 possible, 1/2). (Total : 1/240)
~A Pokémon with a Corruption Type of 3 and 16.486 Exp is required. Pokémon with a Fluctuating exp curve require the less experience to do this (Lv27 + 346 exp) (Other exp groups require 740 exp or more to get to 16.486 exp)
A Corruption Type of 3 is needed to obtain an OHKO Glitch Move from Experience.
This is one of the fastest ways to obtain a Glitch Move.
And 0x4066 is the fastest OHKO Glitch Move on US Emerald.

This strategy is here in case manipulating for a convenient Wailord is too tedious.
346 Exp needs to be gained at Day Care.


--// Item Duplication and shopping
- Fly to Lilycove. (The Wailmer barrier is still here and blocks the way)
- Deposit Abra and Bad Egg to PC.
- Switch Wailmer/lord with the invisible Bad Egg. (Decaswitch)
~Invisible Bad Eggs (corrupted empty slots) can be swapped with the last party Pokémon alive.
This makes an easy way to obtain a fully KO party in order to set up a Pomeg Glitch. That party must have more than 2 Pokémon too.

- Open Wailmer/lord summaru and put Astonish/Water Gun as their 1st Move.
~Astonish will give Pelipper, Water Gun Golduck.
- Deposit Heart Scale in PC and put it in 1st Slot.

- Exit Pokémon Center and go to the Contest hall.
- Pick up the Pokéblock case and make a Pokéblock with the picked Berry.
~The optimal blender (1/2/3 NPCs) is unknown as of now.
- Go to the shore and collect the hidden PP Up.
- Put that PP Up in Slot 2.
- Surf and make a wild battle to perform a Pomeg Glitch corruption.
~Use that Pomeg Glitch corruption to duplicate PP Ups and Heart Scales.
- Use a Fluffy Tail and flee.
- Fly to Slateport.
- Go to the market. Sell some PP Ups and buy X Energy Roots.
- Buy 6 HP Up too.
- Fly to Lilycove.
- Go in Route 121 and enter Safari Zone entrance.
~Since you have no alive Pokémon, the twins won't fight you.
- Open PC.
- Withdraw Wailmer/lord and Castform's Bad Egg.
Deposit Invisible Bad Egg and Marshtomp.
- Exit PC.


--// Catching Wobbuffet
- Enter Safari Zone.
- In the beginning Zone, catch a Wobbuffet (10%) with Corruption Type 7 (1/12), "good" IVs (SpAtk and SpDef IVs that aren't too low, 13/16) and a "good" PID (the 7th hexadecimal character of its PID must have a specific value out of 4 possible, 1/4)(the 8th hexadecimal character of its PID must have a specific value out of 8 possible, 1/2). (Total : 1/960*13/16 ~1/1181)
~This Wobbuffet will become the Pokémon that will beat contests.
Corruption Type 7 was required to manipulate Ribbons with PP Bonuses and Friendship and Species with EVs.

The combination of Contest moves that will be used can be directly made with Regice/Registeel/Regirock, or with Meditite/Poliwrath + Explosion/Destiny Bond.
Poliwrath is the fastest one to obtain with EV manipulation.
And catching a Wobbuffet is the fastest way to obtain a Pokémon knowing Explosion/Destiny Bond.


--// Beating League
- Once Wobbuffet is caught, fly to Ever Grande.
- Enter Victory Road. Make a wild battle. Send Wobbuffet, let it die, then flee.
- Exit Victory Road and Fly to the League.
- Enter League.
- Open PC.
- Switch Castform's Bad Egg with Wobbuffet.
Swich Wailmer/lord with Invisible Bad Egg.
~Like this, Castform's Bad Egg is at the slot of the "currently/last fighting Pokémon", and the whole party is KO.

- Close PC.
- Beat League.
~Wobbuffet needs to obtain the League's ribbon.
Invisible Bad Egg is here to have a fully KO party once Wobbuffet is caught (and killed).
Taillow is here for Fly.
Castform's Bad Egg has the Instant Flee Glitch Move.
Thus, you can't beat league with less Pokémon in order to have a shorter Hall of Fame.


--// After beating League
- Continue the run.
- Fly back to Mauville. Go to Route 117 and enter Day Care.
- Open Day Care PC.
- Deposit the invisible Bad Egg and withdraw Wailmer/lord.
- Withdraw 3 Heart Scales.
- Deposit Wailmer/lord in Day Care.
- Go back to Route 117 and go near the pond on the left.
- Surf and fight a Marill for Wobbuffet. (+2 HP EVs)
~Wobbuffet needs 62 HP Evs to become a Poliwrath.
- Give an HP Up to Wobbuffet.
- Give the Pokéblock made earlier to Wobbuffet.
- Put Wobbuffet in 3rd party slot or higher.
- Make a wild battle to decrease Wobbuffet's Friendship to 0.
Switch to let Wobbuffet take a hit.
Use an Energy Root on Wobbuffet and take another hit after that. (-10 Friendship)
Repeat until Wobbuffet hits 0 Friendship.
Flee.

- Bike the required amount of steps for Wailmer/lord.
- Enter Day Care and pick up Wailmer/lord.
- Go near the Day Care PC.
- Give an Energy Root to Wobbuffet.
~As a step cycle happened between the last fight and the way to PC, this one is needed.
- Give 6 PP Ups to Wobbuffet. 1 for Move 2, 2 for Move 3, 3 for Move 4.
~They will also increase Wobbuffet's friendship by 30.
- Give Wobbuffet 5 HP Ups. (62 HP EVs, 55 Friendship)

- Open PC and deposit Wobbuffet in Box 2 Slot 19.
- Deposit Wailmer/lord in Box 2 Slot 24.
~A Double Corruption will be performed on Wobbuffet and Wailmer/lord.
As the PC Pokémon corruption from Pomeg Glitch is mainly 5-periodic, and as this corruption starts from Box 2 Slot 24, this placement will corrupt these 2 Pokémon in the least time (least amount of Up pushes).
A Double Corruption is required for Wobbuffet because Ribbons and Level can't be kept with a single corruption.


--// Performing a Double Corruption
- Perform a Decaswitch to have a party with : Castform Bad Egg, Invisible Bad Egg
~Invisible Bad Eggs can be switched with the last alive Party Pokémon.
Thus, you end up with a party full of KO/Egg/Bad Egg, and that contains more than 2 Pokémon, which will allow to set up a Pomeg Glitch without relying on Pomeg Berries anymore.

- Perform a Pomeg Glitch data corruption to corrupt Wailmer/lord and Wobbuffet once. Use a Fluffy Tail to flee.
~This first corruption will corrupt either the TID (ID, SID couple), or the PID of these Pokémon.
The condition on the leftmost hexadecimal character of SID and PID is needed in order to corrupt PID and TID with this setup. (else, a corruption initiator would be needed)

- Perform a second Pomeg Glitch data corruption to corrupt Wailmer/lord and Wobbuffet. Black out to the Pokémon Center.
~Wailmer/lord will become a Lv 100 Pokémon knowing Fake Tears/Air Cutter and Glitch Move 0x4066.
That Pokémon will either be Pelipper or Golduck. (due to 1st Move) (Pelipper/Golduck will be chosen depending on their cry lenght)

Wobbuffet will become a Poliwrath at Lv 100 (due to Beauty and Coolness) with some Contest stats (due to its IVs), knowing Destiny Bond, and with all Hyper ribbons (due to PP Bonuses and Friendship).

--//A finishing touch
- Fly at Fallarbor. Make Poliwrath learn Submission and Mind Reader. (leave Counter to Poliwrath)
Make Golduck/Pelipper learn Hydro Pump, and put 0x4066 in first slot.
- Give Pokeblocks from Belue and Watmel Berries to Poliwrath.


--//Beating Battle Frontier
- Fly to Battle Frontier and beat all 7 Battle Frontier buildings with this Golduck/Pelipper.
~ The order of the Symbols hasn't been decided yet.

- Battle Factory :
It still needs to be beaten without any tricks as changing your winning streak it too tedious (requires other Glitch Pokémon to also restaure trainer name and other things), and as you can't easily change your 3 Pokémon party. (The only way is to change the number of the previously selected Pokémon, then corrupt the receptionist's script to be taken to the Factory with the previously selected Pokémon)

- Buy a Focus Band for Golduck before going into Battle Pike.
- Battle Pike :
Avoid every battle, except the Leader.
Hydro Pump and Focus Band required to get through Shuckle (Silver) and Steelix (Gold).

Shuckle fight : (181 HP)
Hydro Pump hits (92-110) (80%)
Shuckle uses Double Team/Toxic (chance of ?)
Hydro Pump hits (92-110), KO (80%)

Steelix fight : (291 HP)
Hydro Pump hits (204-240) (80%)
Steelix uses Earthquake (can he use something else ?), Focus Band activates. (10%)
Hydro Pump hits (204-240), KO. (80%)

Golduck has nearly no IVs and EVs, whereas Steelix has 31 IVs/255 EVs in Atk. Earthquake is a sure kill. (unless the IA can choose to use another move that can miss, like Iron Tail).


- Battle Tower :
All Sturdy/Shedinja fights will be avoided.
The OHKO Move will take care of everything.
If Golduck/Pelipper knows Air Cutter, Shedinja can be taken care of. (and it would be a fast Pokémon to kill)

Battle Arena :
The OHKO Move will take care of everything, except Leader's Shedinja. (Silver)
If Pelipper/Golduck doesn't know Air Cutter, a move will be learned with a Held Item. (Peck from a Protein)

Battle Pyramid :
All trainers will be avoided, except the Leader.
OHKO Move will take care of his Pokémon.

Battle Dome :
OHKO Move will take care of everything.
Using an Instant Flee Glitch Move here causes a tie. The winner is then decided based on the raking of the players in the tournament (made upon the Base Stats of the selected Pokémon, their types, and the highest level you have). But this can only be used against very few people at the beginning and against nobody after few tournaments because of the medium Base Stats of the Pokémon that would be selected (Golduck and 2 others).

Battle Palace :
OHKO Move will take care of everything.
Having Hydro Pump on Pelipper/Golduck would be an hindrance to get a series of 3 OHKO Glitch Move choices.
 Moves are separated into 3 categories (Offensive, Defensive, Sneaky, O,D,S) depending on their targets (and the effect for some cases, I don't remember well).
The chance to use a Move on one of these categories depends on the Pokémon's nature. (there's also a specific case when the Pokémon's HP is below 50%)

Here, the chance to use 0x4066 would be :
0x4066, Hydro Pump, Air Cutter (1)
0x4066, Hydro Pump, Fake Tears (2)

(1) (0x4066 chance) = 1/3*( (O chance) + 1/2*(D chance) + 1/2*(S chance) ) = 1/6 + 1/6*(O chance) (around 1/4)
(2) (0x4066 chance) = 1/2*( (O chance) + 1/2*(D chance) ) = 1/2*(O chance) + 1/4*(D chance)

If we removed Hydro Pump and Air Cutter/Fake Tears at Lilycove, we would have :
0x4066 (3)
(3) (0x4066 chance) = (O chance) + 1/2*( (D chance) + (S chance) ) = 1/2 + 1/2*(O chance) (around 3/4)
Which is 3 times higher than in case (1)

With (1), we have around 1/64 chance to use 0x4066 three times in a row per battle, so an average of 64 waiting frames for RNG manipulation.
After 42 battles, this makes 2688 frames = 44.8 seconds.
Thus, removing Air Cutter and Hyro Pump may save time overall.


--//Beating Lilycove Contests
- Once the 7 Gold Symbols are obtained, Fly to Lilycove and enter the Contest Hall.
- Enter a Master class contest with Poliwrath.
- Win them with a total score higher than 800 to obtain a painting of Poliwrath in that contest.
- Repeat this step for the 5 Contests.
~Thanks to his ribbons, Poliwrath can directly enter Master class contests.
He needs to win with a final score higher than 800 to trigger the painting event.
Final Score = 20*Hearts + Voting Score.

Here, the combo : Mind Reader (3) - Submission (6*2) - Mind Reader (3) - Submission (6*2) - Destiny Bond (8) will be used.
The amount of hearts it gives is : Cool (40), Beauty (38), Cute (38), Smart (41), Tough (38).
Ovations can add few more hearts in Cool and Smart contests, but they aren't needed.
The downside of this combination is that being startled on Submission makes you lose a whole lot of hearts (generally a dozen), which isn't affordable.

Without any Contest stats, 40 hearts are required to obtain a final score of 800. (Final score = 20*Hearts + Voting score)
Thus, a Voting Score of 40 or higher is requires in Beauty, Cute, and Tough categories.

The base Contest Stats of Poliwrath will be : a / b / 0 / 0 / 128 / 0, as Cool and Beauty are affected by Wobbuffet's IVs (up to 255 and 63).
The 128 Smartness is given by the League ribbon, and adds 64 Voting score points in Cute and Tough.
The Beauty Voting Score for Poliwrath will be a/2 + b (rounded down). This induces a requirement on Wobbuffet's IVs.
Here are the main requirements for Wobbuffet's IVs.
If SpAtk IV is 0/16, SpDef IV must be 20/21/22/23/28/29/30/31. (1/16*1/4)
If SpAtk IV is 1/17, SpDef IV must be 16/17/../31. (1/16*1/2)
If SpAtk IV is 2/18, SpDef IV must be 12/13/14/15/28/29/30/31. (1/16*1/4)
If SpAtk IV is 3/19, SpDef IV must be 8/../15/24/../31. (1/16*1/2)
If SpAtk IV is 4/20, SpDef IV must be 4/5/6/7/12/13/14/15/20/21/22/23/28/29/30/31. (1/16*1/2)
If SpAtk IV is 5/../15/21/../31, it's OK. (11/16)
Total : 13/16 chance to have working IVs.

With a Wobbuffet with convenient IVs and the League Ribbon, no Pokéblocks are required for Poliwrath.

Flwaless/near flawless fights are needed to win and obtain a Total score higher than 800.
Opponents will be manipulated to not hinder Poliwrath (not using startling moves), and potentially help him (making other opponents nervous). Some Pokémon will be avoided (those who know 2 or more startling moves), and others will be prioritized. (those who use moves that makes the other contestants nervous)

--// Ending
- Once all 5 paintings are obtained, open the Trainer Card to show the 3 stars.
~The goal of the run is fullfilled.


--// Potential skips
- Using an Instant Flee Glitch Move might be faster in Battle Dome.
Thus, a third Pokémon could be caught and Double Corrupted to obtain another IFG. (but on a valid Pokémon and not a Bad Egg)
Getting to Artisan Cave to catch a Smeargle and Sketch the IFG from Castform's Bad Egg would take more time.


---// Comments
Obtaining the 5 paintings would be the end of the run, who could end on the trainer card. (as it would be the fastest required time to obtain 3 Trainer stars).

But I don't really know if the Battle Frontier part will be that nice to watch, because it will mainly consist of skipping battles or using an OHKO Glitch Move. (there is a lot of manipulation involved, but the result doesn't show it)


Anyways, the route is mainly completed, and only small time savers need to be tested/discussed.

Using other Pomeg Glitch techniques would require to catch other Pokémon and Double Corrupt them, which wouldn't be worth the time.
Also, the research about Pomeg Glitch starts to hit the edges. Apart from Arbitrary Code Execution (who would have many uses, but not in this run), the ways to make Pomeg Glitch/Glitch things interact with the game have been tested in many ways, and there are not many things left to test or get.

ACE still hasn't been verified, but it could normally be doable using Glitch Moves animations, and PC Pokémon data + PC Items to write the code.


--// Notes and additional links
As I was kind of quick about Corruption Types, here is a link with tables that describes them, along with their correspondance with a Pokémon's PID : http://www.petit-fichier.fr/2016/02/15/precisions-sur-les-sous-structures-de-la-gen-iii-en/precisions-sur-les-sous-structures-de-la-gen-iii-en.html

I used things from here : http://forums.glitchcity.info/index.php/topic,6868.480.html
and there : http://forums.pokemonspeedruns.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=421&sid=4679712943e6e5887855c0466ebdd9b5
Speedrun 3-star Route (in progress) : http://pastebin.com/05131g0z
Speedrun 4-star Route (in progress) : http://pastebin.com/GjPxMXGu
Battle Frontier data : http://upcarchive.playker.info/0/upokecenter/content/pokemon-emerald-in-depth-guides.html

By Metarkrai.