Pokemon Fire Red Round 2 FAQ (Venusaur route)

Pokemon Fire Red Round 2 Venusaur% FAQ (October 2020)

Q: What are you trying to do?
A: Beat the second round of the Elite Four as quickly as possible using Venusaur as the main Pokemon.

Q: Why are you catching Pokemon?
A: I need to catch 60 to get the National Dex, which unlocks several sidequests that unlock the second round of the Elite Four.

Q: What is the world record?
A: 3:32:50 by SparkleLanturn, using the Blastoise/Mewtwo route. Video here: https://www.speedrun.com/pkmnfrlg/run/yokjnxdz

Q: Is Venusaur faster than Blastoise?
A: No, not even close. I did any% runs with Venusaur three years ago, and my best runs were 15 minutes behind the Blastoise WR. Venusaur has some advantages in Round 2, such as access to Sleep Powder for catching Pokemon, but it's still not competitive.

Q: What is the fastest Venusaur time?
A: No one has completed a run with Venusaur yet.

Q: What are the numbers on the chart in the bottom-left?
A: The top-left number (TOTAL) is the number of Pokemon I've caught. I start at 18 because that's the number of Pokemon I always catch, regardless of luck. The remaining 42 (top right) depend on luck. The number to the right of that is how far ahead or behind I am on Pokemon, compared to an average run. If it says 1, I have one more Pokemon than I normally do, which is worth about 50 seconds. So my time is effectively 50 seconds faster than whatever it says on my splits. If it says -1, I have one fewer Pokemon than normal, so I'm effectively 50 seconds slower than my current time.

Below that, you can see which Pokemon I've caught and which I'm missing. The numbers to the right of each catching area are:
- The number of Pokemon I expect to catch in that area (e.g., 6 for Viridian Forest)
- The number of Pokemon I have actually caught in that area this run

If I catch a Pokemon that I can evolve without a Rare Candy (e.g., Growlithe, Nidorino, Exeggcute), that counts as 2 (or 3 in the case of Caterpie and Weedle, since they evolve twice). If I catch a Pokemon that I can trade (e.g., Venonat, Ponyta), that also counts as 2. Pikachu counts as 3 because I can evolve it into Raichu and then trade the Raichu for Electrode.

Q: Why are you resetting?
A: Probably because my Bulbasaur's stats were bad.

Q: What stats are you looking for?
A: I want 28+ IV Attack, 19+ IV Special Attack and 24+ IV Speed with a Lonely (+Atk, -Def) or Naughty (+Atk, -Sp. Def) nature. HP and Defense matter a lot too; I won't take less than 15 IV Defense with a Lonely nature, and I won't take less than 5 HP. Special Defense is by far the least important stat.

Q: What are the hardest fights for Venusaur?
A: Agatha 2 is easily the hardest one. Both Gengars outspeed you and have Psychic, and your best move to beat them is a 4x not-very-effective Sludge Bomb. Every other fight has a very high win rate, as I've designed this route to be safe. If I want to make up time, I can attempt riskier strats on fights such as Viridian Rival and Lorelei 2.

Q: Why are you checking your trainer ID at the start of the run?
A: This enables me to RNG manipulate a good Bulbasaur, albeit with a couple of restrictions. Each ID produces a unique list of Bulbasaurs, so by checking my ID, I'll know which Bulbasaurs I'll get on certain frames. If there's a great Bulbasaur at, say, frame 4200, I'll want to select Bulbasaur in Prof. Oak's lab 4200 frames after my trainer ID was generated. This method is inconsistent because the RNG doesn't always advance at the same speed, so I might get Bulbasaur #4195 or #4205 in the example above.

Q: Why aren't you using the new manip that reduces variance?
A: It's a pain to configure, it doesn't help that much, and early resets don't usually bother me. I plan to learn it eventually, but I've been busy with routing and real-life stuff.

Q: What is your goal?
A: For now, to complete a decent run with the new route. I should be able to get sub-4 without much difficulty.