Pokemon Red FAQ

Pokemon Red FAQ

Q: What are you trying to do?
A: Beat Pokemon Red as quickly as possible without using glitches.

Q: What are you playing on?
A: Gambatte, the most accurate emulator for GameBoy Color games.

Q: What is the world record?
A: 1:50. Video can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAXGQ8oywxM

Q: What Pokemon do you use in this run?
A: I use a male Nidoran as my main Pokemon, and I use Squirtle to beat the first gym. I also use Pidgey/Spearow and Paras/Farfetch'd/Oddish as HM slaves.

Q: Why are you resetting?
A: Probably because my time or my Nidoran's stats are bad.

Q: What stats are you looking for?
A: Ideally, a Nidoran with 16 Attack, 15 Speed and 13 Special at Level 8. If my time is good, I'll probably take a 15/14/11 Nidoran, but I won't run 14 Attack, and I probably won't run 13 Speed.

Q: Why are stats so important?
A: With Attack, I need to maximize the chances that I can OHKO certain Pokemon. Having 16 Attack at Level 8 also allows me to use faster, riskier strats if necessary. With Speed, I want to outspeed certain Pokemon, such as Misty's Starmie and Sabrina's Alakazam. Special is much less important, but having 11 Special at Level 8 means certain Pokemon later in the run might not die to one Thunderbolt/Ice Beam.

Q: You keep saying "DV" -- what is that?
A: DV stands for dynamic value. Each Pokemon has a DV ranging from 0 to 15 for each stat. The higher the DV, the higher the growth rate for that stat. At Level 100, the difference between 0 and 15 DV is about 30 stat points. DVs help me decide which strategies to use, and I can determine them by checking my stats at certain level-ups.

Q: What is "red bar," and why is it important?
A: When your Pokemon is below 20.83% HP, its health bar turns red and a warning sound plays. While this sound is playing, the game does not pause to play certain other sounds, such as Pokemon cries and level-up jingles. Pokemon cries last about 0.9 seconds on average, and level-up jingles last 2.2 seconds. Being in red bar for long stretches can save 30, 60 and sometimes even 90 seconds. Being in red bar is less risky than it would appear in this game, because Nidoking OHKOs most opposing Pokemon.

Q: Why do you exit the grass when looking for Nidoran?
A: This is a form of RNG manipulation that is explained here: http://www.pokemonspeedruns.com/index.php/Pok%C3%A9mon_Red/Blue/Yellow_DSum_Manipulation

Q: What is your goal time?
A: Eventually 1:49. Right now, I just want to get a few good runs (1:54 or better) on stream.

Q: Where can you save the most time on your 1:50?
A: Mt. Moon (I had 10 encounters, which is average); Fly, Poke Flute and Koga (I didn't use red bar strats); and the Elite Four if I play risky. The first three splits are almost impossible to save time on, so I expect to be 30-90 seconds behind as I enter Mt. Moon.