On Hidden Power and reset efficiency for specific Hidden Power types in manipless Pokémon GSC Speedruns


Just wanted to summarize my findings investigating the implied question in the title: Is it reasonable to reset for specific Hidden Power Typings in manipless gen 2 Speedruns?

tldr: Yes, if you allow multiple types. The actual minimum number of types you can reasonably reset for heavily depends on your stat restrictions and tolerance for resets. It also depends on when in the run most of those resets are.

An example for this would be the restrictions i have decided on for manipless chikorita.

Stats at L5

First i looked at the stat spread on L5 focusing on ATK and SPC. It's no secret that chikorita is not the best starter or pokemon in general (for the purpose of speedrunning, defensive grass types are obviously not optimal, at least it's cute <3) so i think having good ATK and SPC is the most important. The other stats are irrelevant for now.

At L5 11 ATK translate to 11+ ATK DVs and 11 SP ATK 12 SP DEF means 11-14 SPC, 13 SP DEF means 15 SPC DVs. This ensures the best possible chance to make it through the early game (almost no diffence to a perfect chiko at least until Bugsy).
-> The chance to get such a chiko is 25/256 ~ 9.77%. (currrent toto routes sometimes reset for 9+ ATK and 12+ SPC which is 28/256 ~ 10.94%, so very similar but with later resets).

This might seem bad, but all of those resets are fastest possible resets (checking stats right after getting it).
Speed is kinda nice, but so far shouldn't be a priority. DEF almost never matters.

Hidden Power Type

The next step is to determine what kinda hiddenpower is needed.
After thinking abt coverage options (Mudslap lol), there is one section that it is "needed" for, Morty's gym.
Mudslap's 20 BP and more importantly 10 PP (the bigger problem actually) isn't really cutting it.
Because Haunter/Gengar are recurring Mons, having something that is at least neutral for them would be nice and likely "optimal".
There are 2 possible approaches i can think of here (well 3 if we count skipping Hiddenpower):
A:	Reset for super effective types for the gastly line.
B:	Reset for neutral types for the gastly line.

Option A consists of only 4 types: Ghost, Psychic, Dark, Ground making it 1/4 ignoring the stat restrictions.
Option B consists of 12 types: every type, except for Bug, Grass, Poison, Fighting which is 3/4.

The good thing abt Option A is that it is much easier to route, Option B is better for reset effeciency.
After accounting for the 11+ ATK stat restriction, Option A is 3/10 and Option B is 4/5.
The overall chances considering stats are 2.93% for A and 7.82% for B.

Hidden Power BP
Not really relevant for Chiko, but can be something to consider for a different main.
The way Base Power is roughly calced by using the mostsignificant bits of ATK, DEF, SPD, SPC and multiplying them by 8,4,2,1 respectively (similar to how HP is calced, but HP looks at the least significant bits) then it adds spc mod 4, multiplies by 5 and divides by 2 and adds 31 (every division rounds down). So for every stat that is 8 or higher, Hidden Power's Basepower rises, where the order of influence is ATK, DEF, SPD, SPC.
In chiko's case that means the BP of Hidden Power is at least 53, because ATK > 7  and SPC > 7.
53+ BP is generally fine and reseting for BP seems very ineffecient.

HP DVs
HP DVs are dependend on the stats and those determine hiddenpower. That means there is a correlation between Hidden Power (more specificially Typing) and HP DVs.
Ever HP DV can only have 4 possible Hidden Power types:

HP DVs
0	FightingPoison	Fire	Grass
1	FightingPoison	Fire	Grass
2	FightingPoison	Fire	Grass
3	FightingPoison	Fire	Grass
4	Flying	Ground	Water	Electric
5	Flying	Ground	Water	Electric
6	Flying	Ground	Water	Electric
7	Flying	Ground	Water	Electric
8	Rock	Ghost	Psychic	Dragon
9	Rock	Ghost	Psychic	Dragon
10	Rock	Ghost	Psychic	Dragon
11	Rock	Ghost	Psychic	Dragon
12	Bug	Steel	Ice	Dark
13	Bug	Steel	Ice	Dark
14	Bug	Steel	Ice	Dark
15	Bug	Steel	Ice	Dark

This can help with resetting earlier.
For Example, Chiko with 0-3 HP is not only bad because it has low HP, but it also only has a 1/4 to have a neutral Hidden Power and 3/4   for a bad Hidden power.
Unless the other stats are exceptional and Hidden Power Typing isn't known yet, it could be argued that resetting there is actually for the best.


Reset Effeciency

After testing a bit you are very likely to know your HP type after Rival 1 (considering extra exp to reach level 7 there, and checking every stat on each Level up).
In some cases you might have the possibility for 2 different typings, and rarely for 4 types.
This makes resetting for Hiddenpower and good stats imo very reasonable.