Pokemon Fire Red any% (Manipless) FAQ Q: So how does this run work? A: This run is based around a Mail Corruption glitch you can activate in double battles. It requires the use of the moves Recycle, and Knock Off. As such, it means you have to get a Mr Mime up to level 33 (for Recycle), and a Farfetch'd to Level 21 (for Knock Off) as these are the earliest you can get these moves. As such, you gotta catch an Abra, trade it for Mr Mime as soon as you get to Vermillion, and then use it as your main until it reaches Level 33. So the route is way different in that regard for quite a bit of the run. After doing the glitch, you can warp straight to the end. Q: Are there any route differences for the start? A: Yes. Because you aren't using Squirtle through the whole game, it's better to save candies for Mr Mime. So previous runs of this category, instead of getting Wartortle to L20 before Misty, have done her at L19 to save one of those Rare Candies for Mr Mime. In the route I'm doing now, I'll actually fight Misty at L17 - saving both Rare Candies for Mr Mime and skipping a trainer with Squirtle. In a vacuum, this saves about 2 minutes, but you bleed a large amount of that time over the fights you do with lower experience. The fights that become especially worse are the last 2 in Mt Moon, and the first 2 after Mt Moon, those being Misty and Rival 2. These fights are not only slower but way riskier, Misty especially as I'll be relying on Mega Kick instead of Bite. Should these fights go really well, it will save a decent amount of time, though probably less than even 1 minute. That being said, given this is a slightly shorter category, at the point of going for a really good time, I consider this a risk worth taking. Q: Is there anything else you have to catch? A: So do to the glitch, you need a full party of 6 Pokemon. These Pokemon are as followsL: Squirtle, Magikarp (bought before Mt Moon), a Level 10 Pokemon (caught after Mt Moon, used to Repel trick for Abra), Mr Mime (caught as Abra above Nugget Bridge), Farfetch'd (Caught as Spearow on route west of Celadon), and a Cutter. The Cutter can actually be the Level 10 Pokemon if it ends up being a Rattata, in which case the final Pokemonn can be anything basically. The Cutter can also be a low level Rattata on Route 1, or an Oddish while looking for Abra, or a Diglett on the way to trade for Mr Mime. Q: What is your goal time? A: I'd like to shoot for the record. Q: What are the hardest fights in this run? A: Mr Mime actually does pretty well for it's fights - the most annoying by far is actually the final one where you setup the glitch, mostly because it's the only one Mr Mime can disobey you on. So fight wise, it's definitely the early ones with Squirtle/Wartortle. With this experience route, Misty and Rival 2 are the worst. The 'hardest' thing to do i.e. the biggest variance point, is catch an Abra. Both encountering one and having to just chuck the ball. Encounter rates are 10% for L11 and 1% for L13, but with using a level 10 and Repel tricking, those odds are almost doubled as all the encounters below level 10 are removed. Catching with a Great Ball turn 1 is about a 41% chance, and catching with a Poke Ball is about 28% --- Q: What are you playing on, it is emulator? A: No, I play on a DS (Phat) with a capture board installed. Q: Why do you choose Squirtle as your starter? A: Cause it beats the early game the best. Q: Why AREN'T you doing manip for starter stats? A: Because the "manip" in this game involves following the instructions of external tools, which to me personally crosses the line of having tools assisting your speedrun. So I choose to play the game in a way that actually feels legitimate to me, so all my runs of FR/LG are manipless. Q: What stats do you need on Squirtle? A: The most important stats are Special Attack and Attack. Ideally at Level 5, both are 11 - but I'd like at least 11 Special Attack + Attack to equal 22 (i.e. I'd take 10/12), though I will also take 10/11 if the other stats are good too. Q: Why do you play as the girl? A: She's cute. Q: Why do you name yourself and Squirtle '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: What is WR? A: https://www.speedrun.com/pkmnfrlgext?h=Manipless-glitched&x=824le5ed-38dexy1n.192407yq It is worth noting that because I'm playing on DS, my time will get converted down a few seconds afterwards (about 6s), so a 1:18:24 in my run would actually be a 1:18:18 Also worth noting that currently the manipped record is only a few seconds better than the manipless record: https://www.speedrun.com/pkmnfrlg?h=any-eng-console&x=mke1e5j2-6njye7vn.q759ydp1-yn23p9gl.1py4rov1 So it's entirely possible to beat that at the same time.