Pokemon Speed Completion Challenge

[Master Kirby]

Pokemon Speed Completion Challenge

Goal:

Beat all 8 Johto gyms, The Elite 4, All 8 Kanto gyms, and Red (in Mt. Silver) in the least amount of time possible.

Speed Completion Tips

• Only use One or Two Pokemon on your team. They will level up quicker than a large team. Ex. A team of two will level up 3 times faster than using a team of 6.
• Build move sets made up of diverse types of offensive attacks. This will increase the chance of Super Effective One-Hit-KOs.
• Only do tasks that are necessary to reach the final goal. After beating a Gym, go directly to whatever task will allow you to enter the next Gym. It isn't necessary to fight all the trainers you see.
• Only fight Trainers. Trainer's Pokemon give 1.5X the EXP that a wild Pokemon of the same Species and Level would give. Use REPEL at all times that you can't avoid wild Pokemon encounters. These places would be in Buildings, Caves, or in the Water.
• Plan ahead. Decide on your Pokemon, move sets, and where you plan on going before playing. Feel free to save, explore, and then restart when you have found the quickest route to your destination. Thinking ahead will save game time since you won't have to backtrack or waste time standing still while you make a decision.
  
  

These are the key points that I decided to follow before I did a Speed run through my Red version. By following these tips, you should be able to sweep through the game fairly quickly.



Rules:

• No external cheat devices allowed. No Gameshark, Action Replay, or similar cheat devices
• Use of in-game glitches are allowed, since the nature of a speed run is to take advantage of any in-game means necessary to beat the game quickly.

I'm sure anyone would agree that trading in (or sharking) a level 100 Moltres would be considered cheating. Everyone has a different view of what is fair. You should know where to draw the line. For example, I am not planning on using the duplication trick on Rare Candies, though I may use it on TMs. I figure that as long as you still have to train your team to level up, you're not cheating.

~~~~~

What are your ideas on how to beat GSC as quickly as possible?

What Pokemon do you plan on using?

What are your strategies?

If you want to join the challenge, just post and let us all know what your thoughts are.

~~~~~

I am trying to think up a team that would have high speed and a wide variety of offensive skills. If you can KO your opponent quickly, you don't need good defenses.



I am thinking of starting out by only using Cyndaquil and training it to:

Typhlosion
Flamethrower
Thunderpunch
Earthquake
and something else


If it doesn't take too long, I may also use Lugia when it is available.

[Jeff]

Cool, I was wondering if you were going to do this for GSC. Good luck!

[Master Kirby]

Thanks Jeff. I think it will be fun playing through Silver again, yet going for speed. Right now I am planning out what pokemon and move sets to use.

It all depends on how I decide to approach this challenge. If I trade in low level pokemon in the beginning of the game, it could go differently than if I only use pokemon that I catch in-game. I need to decide how close I want to get to the point where it would be considered cheap.

The best way I can think of to beat the game as quick as possible is by trading in a level 3 Mewtwo that I caught in my Red version by doing the Missingno Trick. I didn't shark it, but then again Mewtwo aren't found naturally in the wild in Silver.

If I want to beat the game by only building native Silver teams, I need to find someone else that is strong, fast, and has a good move set. I could use Cyndaquil, as I mentioned earlier, though he can't be taught Thunderpunch until level 36 when he becomes a Typhlosion. Until that pont, he would just have Ember, and some TMs like Rollout or Mudslap.

I also need to decide where to get pokemon to use for HMs. I could either trade in a Mew or two, or catch some pokemon in the game.

I have some thinking to do...

[Master Kirby]

This past Sunday night I found that the battery in my Pokemon Silver cartridge, that I thought I had repaired, was not working properly, so I could not sustain a game save without it becoming corrupted or erased.

As explained in my battery replacement thread, I replaced the battery with a new one that had spot welded tabs to assure a constant connection. Once I had finished repairing everything this afternoon, I was finally able to get started on my Speed Completion of the game.

Starting Plan:

In order to progress quickly, I have decided to use a team made up entirely by Cyndaquil/Quilava/Typhlosion. Since he would get all the EXP, I don't have to fight as many trainers, and won't spend as much time switching around between different pokemon.

To start out, I saved before chosing a pokemon. Then I chose Totodile, played until I got the pokeballs, caught a sentret, and then used the computer duplication trick by depositing Totodile. This allowed me to "Go Back In Time" to before I had chosen anyone so I could then choose the Cyndaquil that I would be using for the whole game. I would use the time-traveling Totodile later on when I needed to teach someone Cut and Surf.

Upgraded Cyndaquil:

Once I had progressed to the point where I had the pokedex, I decided it was time to upgrade my Cyndaquil to ensure that I would progress quickly through the game. Using Pokemon Stadium 2, I transfered some items from my previous game into this new game. I taught Cyndaquil Rollout, Mudslap and Dig, gave him a Leftovers to hold, and fed him a few Protein and Calcium to boost his EVs in the right direction.

Even though Rollout only starts as a 30 power attack, it has been my most used attack, even up to the 6th gym. Since it doubles in power each time it hits (for 5 turns; power: 30, 60, 120, 240, 480) it gets to be very powerful. In combination with Leftovers, I can keep attacking and healing for 5 turns while only using 1 PP for the move. That means I am able to go longer without healing at a Pokemon Center, and then I progress quicker through the game. The best thing is that since trainers send out weaker pokemon first, by the time the stronger ones come out, Rollout is multiplied to a higher level so it can often KO someone who could normally be a problem.


Game Status:

Falkner @ Violet City
Rollout took out the Flying types quickly.
Time After Victory = 0:23

Cyndaquil L:11
Rollout
Leer
Mud-slap
Dig


Bugsy @ Azalea Town
Ember burned Bugsy's bugs to a crisp.
Time After Victory = 0:47

Quilava L:20
Rollout
Ember
Mud-slap
Dig

Totodile - Cut


Whitney @ Goldenrod City
I used a variety of attacks. When I got lower in HP, I just used Dig more often so I would have extra Leftovers healing time while I was underground. My Rollout was stronger than her Miltank's Rollout.
Time After Victory = 0:57

Quilava L:23
Rollout
Ember
Mud-slap
Dig

Totodile - Cut


Morty @ Ecruteak City
A constantly rolling Rollout was able to 1HKO Gengar. The biggest problem in this Gym was when the ghosts used Curse. That gave more damage than their attacks. I just had to KO them first. One Ember would KO a Gastly, and one Dig could take care of a Haunter.
Time After Victory = 1:20

Quilava L:30
Rollout
Ember
Mud-slap
Dig

Totodile - Cut, Surf
I taught him Surf once I obtained it after beating the five Dancing Kimono girls that had the Eevee-lutions.


Chuck @ Cianwood City
This guy was the hardest Gym leader I have had to fight so far. I fought him while I was down at the island to get the medicine for the sick Ampharos in the Olivine City Lighthouse. His Poliwrath knew Surf, and was only 6 levels lower than Quilava. He KOed me a few times. I was saved once again by Rollout. By taking the first 4 hits to knock out the Primeape I was able to 1HKO Poliwrath with a 480 base power Rock attack before he could use Surf!
Time After Victory = 1:51

Quilava L:36
Rollout
Flame Wheel
Mud-slap
Dig
After finishing the battle with Chuck, Quilava Evolved to Typhlosion. I taught him Thunderpunch for water encounters. I could teach him Earthquake now, but I think for now I will keep Dig since it allows me to heal more often by using Leftovers.

Totodile - Cut, Surf
Krabby - Strength


Jasmine @ Olivine City
After returning to the Light house with the Secret Medicine (I think that is what it was called?) I was able to fight Jasmine. After using Dig to beat her first Magnemite, Steelix and her other Magnemite were taken out with a single Flame Wheel.
Time After Victory = 2:01

Typhlosion L:37
Rollout
Flame Wheel
Thunderpunch
Dig

Totodile - Cut, Surf
Krabby - Strength


Now that I have Fly, I need to find a pokemon to teach it to, and then I'll head back up north to the next town. I'm pretty sure that 2 hours and 1 minute is the fastest I have ever beaten the first six gyms. Now I'll have to see how fast I can beat the rest.

[Master Kirby]

Team Rocket Beat-Down

After beating Jasmine in Olivine City, I headed back to Ecruteak City and took the eastern path over to Mahogany Town. Team Rocket had a base there where they were planning on using Radio signals to make the Magicarp in the Lake of Rage abnormally evolve in to Gyarados. Lance the Dragon Master showed up, and we cleared out the base, sending the Team Rocket Executive running to find a different place to make trouble.

Pryce @ Mahogany Town
Pryce and his gym trainers were a peice of cake. Typhlosion 1HKOed pretty much everyone with one hit from either Flame Wheel or Thunderpunch. Pryce's Dewgong actually had enough Special Defence to hang on with a sliver of HP after the first hit, though it didn't do him much good.
Time After Victory = 2:23

Typhlosion L:41
Rollout
Flame Wheel
Thunderpunch
Dig

Totodile - Cut, Surf
Krabby - Strength
Farfetch'd - Fly


Radio Tower Rescue

Upon receiving a phone call from Professor Oak, I discovered that Team Rocket had taken over the Radio Tower in Goldenrod City. I flew over there, and after fighting a bunch of Grunts, defeated the Team Rocket Executives that were holding the Radio Tower's Director hostage. As a reward, I was given the Silver Wing.


Lugia the HMer

I decided to catch Lugia so that I could have someone to teach the HM Waterfall, and so that I would have a second high level pokemon to fall back on if for some rare chance Typhlosion got knocked out. I used a Master Ball that I had traded from a previous game save so that I didn't have to spend a lot of time weakening it. As soon as I found and captured Lugia, I cloned him and taught him Waterfall, Fly and Strength so I could get rid of Krabby and Farfetch'd.


Clair @ Blackthorn City
Since the Dragons didn't have much of a weakness, I just relied on my offensive strength to knock them out with Flame Wheel and Rollout.
Time After Victory = 4:08

Typhlosion L:50
Rollout
Flame Wheel
Thunderpunch
Dig

Totodile - Cut, Surf, Whirlpool
Lugia - Fly, Strength, Waterfall


Elite 4

After obtaining all the Gym badges for Johto I returned to New Bark Town and headed East for Kanto and Victory Road. On my way to the Elite 4, I leveled up to around 54, so I was already a higher level than anyone I would face there. I had forgotten how low their levels were in GSC. In Red, your rival (The Champion) had pokemon up to level 65. I beat the majority of these guys in one hit.

Will - Psychic
I took out his Flying, Water, and Ice types with Flame Wheel and Thunderpunch

Koga - Poison
Everyone here, except for Muk, were weak to fire or Electric.

Bruno - Fighting
Bruno's team actually put up a fight. Onix went down to some Flame Wheels due to his low Special Defense, but the Hitmon-s and Machamp were able to do some damage with their high Attack and good Special Defense (the Hitmon-s have 110 base Special Defense, which is even better than Venusaur). I used Dig so that I would have an extra turn of Leftovers healing before being hit again. That strategy worked fine until Machamp used Earthquake while I was underground, boosting it to a base power of 200. Luckily, I was a high enough level that even though I was already damaged, I survived with 4 HP. One more Flame Wheel took him out, and I won the battle.

Karen - Dark
When Karen's Umbreon used Smoke Screen and Confuse Ray, I decided that it was not a good time to chance using Rollout (since it usually has a 90% accuracy). I switched to Lugia and Waterfalled Umbreon away. I switched back to Typhlosion and KOed Karen's Vileplume with Flame Wheel. When Murkrow was sent out, I started a Rollout, and that took care of him, Gengar, and Houndoom.

Lance - Dragon
At Level 57, I wasn't worried about getting hurt. Gyarados fell to a Thunderpunch and Aerodactyl took a Flame Wheel and a Thunderpunch. Since all the Dragonites and Charizard were weak to Rock, I used Rollout against them. Lance's Charizard was hit so hard with a Rollout, that he wouldn't have survived even it he was level 100. Since I had been using Rollout against the Dragonites, by the time Charizard came out, Rollout hit him on its 5th turn. With the 4X weakness to Rock, Charizard was 1HKOed with a 1920 Base Power attack!!!


Game Time after beating the Elite 4 = 4:51

Typhlosion L:58
Rollout
Flame Wheel
Thunderpunch
Dig

Totodile - Cut, Surf, Whirlpool
Lugia - Fly, Strength, Waterfall


Revisiting Kanto

Now that I have beaten the Elite 4, I will be taking a trip to Kanto, the setting of RBY, to beat another 8 gyms. Since there are less things going on in that continent, I suspect this will go a bit quicker than the first part of the game.

[Master Kirby]

Runnin' Around Kanto

It was a lot easier to beat all 8 Kanto Gym leaders since I was already a high level, and there weren't many tasks I had to complete to be allowed to reach the next gym. I basically knocked out all the Gym leaders' pokemon in one or two hits, and went on to the next ones. The only one that put up a fight was Blue's level 58 Arcanine (In Viridian City). Even then, if I had used Thunderpunch instead of Dig, he would probably have fallen quicker due to my great Special Attack.

• Beat Lt. Surge @ Vermilian City
• Beat Sabrina @ Saffron City
• Beat Erika @ Celadon City

Game Time = 5:21


Typhlosion L:62
Rollout
Flamethrower
Thunderpunch
Dig

Totodile - Cut, Surf, Whirlpool
Lugia - Fly, Strength, Waterfall

From this point on, Typhlosion's moveset did not change, and I did not need to add any HMers to my team.


Fix Power Plant

Before I could fight Misty, I had to fix the problem at the Power Plant. Some foreign sounding Rocket Member from Johto had stolen a Machine Part so that the Plant stopped working. I found him and beat him, breaking the news that I had already shut down Team Rocket in Johto.

After returning the Machine Part to the Plant, I found Misty hanging out at the Cove (by Bill's house, north of Cerulean City) with her boyfriend. After she ran off, I returned to Cerulean City and met her at her Gym. Using Thunderpunch, her water types fell just as quickly as would any other type (I had to use Flamethrower against Quagsire since he is Ground type).
Game Time = 5:51
Typhlosion - Level: 65


Beat Janine @ Fuchsia City
Game Time = 5:59
Typhlosion - Level: 66


Other Stuff

I took the path East of Fuchsia City, up to Lavender Town. I visited the Radio Tower, and was given a Radio Expansion card for my Pokegear since I had helped fix the Power Plant which was powering the Radio Tower. This Expansion allowed my to pick up Kanto starions, one of which was Poke Flute music. I used this to wake Snorlax and gain access to Diglett's Cave so I could go to Pewter city and the other western towns in Kanto.


Beat Brock @ Pewter City
Game Time = 6:19
Typhlosion - Level: 67

Beat Blaine @ Seafoam Island
Game Time = 6:25
Typhlosion - Level: 68

Beat Blue @ Viridian City
Game Time = 6:31
Typhlosion - Level: 69


Battle with the Legendary Red

After beating all 8 Kanto Gyms, Professor Oak gave me access to Silver Cave, where the last trainer was. The first room needed Flash, which had I skipped getting, so I had to navigate to the second room by using an online map and listening to the sounds of myself bumping against walls when I can't walk any farther. I finally rached the second room, and saved the game before talking to Red.

First, Red sent out a Level 81 Pikachu. I used Rollout, and eventually after using Charm, Quick Attack, and missing with Thunder, Pikachu fainted. When a Level 73 Espeon was sent out, I just attacked until it fainted. (From this point on, I might have mixed up the order in which Red sent out his Pokemon because I spent so much time fighting Snorlax that I forgot.) Red's level 77 Blastoise was able to deal out a bit of damage with Rain Dance and Surf, but my high Special Attack won out and I was able to knock him out with my Thunderpunch. As a level 77 Venusaur was sent out, I took the chance to heal myself to full health. He Solar Beamed me, but with its weakness, it didn't do much damage. One Flamethrower later, Venusaur was gone.

When the Level 75 Snorlax was sent out, I really had a hard time. If I used Rollout, I wouldn't be able to charge up to the larger attacks because Snorlax's Body Slams were taking out over a third of my health. I fainted a few times, and had to switch to Lugia so I could revive and heal Typhlosion. Even though Snorlax has high Special Defense and had used Amnesia to raise it even higher, I tried attacking with Flamethrower. That seemed to be working well to bring his health down, but then he used Rest and healed himself again. I just had to keep healing myself and attacking with either Rollout and Flamethrower until one of them was able to knock out Snorlax before he used Rest again. I was able to do more damage with Rollout while Snorelax was asleep since he would attack me with Snore, which wouldn't knock me out. After finally beating Snorelax, I had an easy one. Red sent out his level 77 Charizard. Because of the 4x weakness to Rock, I was able to knock him out within the first 2 hits. I was hit with a Wing Attack, but compared to the 30x4=120 and 60x4=240 base power attacks, it wasn't much. After my Victory, I was shown the game credits, and found myself standing in front of the Pokemon Center before Silver Cave.

I have finally beaten Red and finished the GSC Pokemon Speed Completion Challenge!

Ending Game Time = 6:48

Typhlosion L:70
Rollout
Flamethrower
Thunderpunch
Dig

Totodile - Cut, Surf, Whirlpool
Lugia - Fly, Strength, Waterfall


Ending Comments:

I was surprised to have beaten Pokemon Silver this quickly. During the Speed Run I did in Red recently, it took me 8:49 to complete the game. I guess that shows how different strategies can affect your speed. Aside from the fact that the Red completion was the first time I had ever tried beating a Pokemon game as fast as possible, I had used a team of two. By only using Cyndaquil/Quiliava/Typhlosion to battle in Silver, he got all the EXP and was able to level up much quicker. I also spent less time switching between team members.

During this Challenge, I also made sure that I didn't fight a lot of extra trainers to become overpowered. I only fought those that got in my way while I was going between gyms (and those battles necessary to gain access to the new areas). By saving when I come to an unfamiliar town, I was able to explore to find the exact route I must take to gain access the next gym. This way I didn't waste any time running around.

This was very fun and nostalgic. It was interesting beating the game quickly because the game flows together without all the pauses that you would have if you were playing little by little over a longer period of time. You get more of the story, without as much interruptions from leveling up in the wilderness. I would recommend it to anyone who has a GSC cartridge laying around.

[SupremeChampion]

thats really impressive man, beating the game in 6:48. really good time and all, and obviously you worked really hard. hopefully someone else will pick up the game and try to beat your time. i come this summer, i may give it a go myself, assuming my game still works.

~The Italian Stallion

[Redfire313]

I'm going to try and beat your time. But it has got to wait till December. I liked your stratagy.

[Typhlosion345]

hi, I'm new, but not to pokemon. How would you speed run Silver/Crystal with a Feraligatr?

[Mr.E]

I'm gonna have to say you'd stick moves on it and hit the bad guys. Both Feraligatr and Typhlosion have a versatile range of attacks well enough to fly through the game with ease. Meganium is the one that likely suffers.

[DaBlackBandit]

I think Meganium would be the hardest, but it can learn a bunch of a moves too. The Screen's Light Screen and Reflect to keep up it's defenses, atleast it learns Mud-Slap. You'll have to give it hidden Powers. But even a high enough level can beat down and Pokemon Ingame.