Pokemon HG/SS any% Manipless

      Pokemon HG/SS any% Manipless FAQ

Q: What is Manipless?
A: Manipless is, as the name implies, not using manip. So beating the game with no RNG Manipulation.

Q: Is this Glitchless?
A: No, this is any% Manipless, rather than regular, so it has glitches. Well. only one, but it is used extensively. It's quite well known, it's called tweaking.

Q: What is tweaking?
A: Tweaking is a glitch in all gen 4 pokemon games. The games are loaded by 32x32 tile grid, and by moving quickly over various load lines where these grids intersect, you can cause the game to load/unload certain collisions and character sprites allowing you to get to areas before you're supposed to.

Q: How much changes in a Manipless run?
A: A lot! Because you can't get an early Master Ball to use on a (manipped) Raikou, the route changes a fair bit. Instead Gyarados is used to beat the back half of the game.

Q: Any other change aside from the Pokemon you use?
A: Well, yeah. Because there's no RNG manip, Cyndaquil's stats are random. Which means all of the early fights are different each run. Kenya always has the same stats, however.
There's no Voltorb Flip too, which means no Abra, or Dratini. As such, I also catch a Sentret early game for Surf

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Q: What are you playing on, it is emulator?
A: No, I'm playing on a 3DS with a capture board installed allowing me to record game footage. Usually I use a DS, but because there is not RNG manip here, a 3DS works the same for run, and has the circle pad, which is useful for catching Magikarp.

Q: Why do you choose Cyndaquil?
A: Because the Cyndaquil evolution family is the best for start of the speedrun.

Q: Why not Soul Silver?
A: Heart Gold and Soul Silver are basically identical, but the Pokemon you encounter on Route 30 are slightly different, and Heart Gold has Level 2 Pidgeys whereas Soul Silver has Level 3 Ledybas, and the Level 2s are easier to kill.

Q: Why do you play as the girl?
A: The counterpart does the catching tutorial, and the male does it faster, so it’s faster to choose the female for yourself.
See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI1-PJ7Sy1w

Q: Why do you name yourself and Cyndaquil 'I'?
A: Because it's faster to name them one character for text purposes, and the letter 'I' gives a nice spin as if the game was self-narrating

Q: Do you catch anything else? Mewtwo maybe?
A: I catch a Sentret (for Surf/Whirlpool), and obtain Kenya (for Fly), and either a Machop/Geodude (for Rock Climb). I also get Shuckie for Red.

Q: What is WR?
A: https://www.speedrun.com/pkmnhgssext?h=Manipless_Any-ENG-DS3DS&x=wkp0e7j2-7891z05n.0q5jpk2l-gnx29rj8.192j2djq

Q: What is your goal time?
A: Ideally I'd like record. For now any improvement is good, probably eyeing off second place and then make a play for first.

Q: What is with those split icons? What does A and B mean?
A: This is a grading system for all of my splits. I'm sure you are familiar with grades, A+ being the best then going down from there. So the idea is, if the split has an A+ next to it, my time there was really good and would be very difficult to beat. If it's a C though for example, it was quite poor, and I should be able to save time there pretty easily.

This way, everyone watching has more accurate information on where I can save time, and where I should be making up time. Also that all time loss is not equal, as losing time vs an A+ split isn't really that bad, whereas losing time vs a C split is really bad. It'll probably take a while for a lot of people watching to pick up the meaning so I will appreciate everyone who explains how this works (correctly) in chat to new people.