Ah yes, sub two hours. Feels good. Looks good also. I felt this was my cleanest run of Pokemon Red so far, and not surprisingly it's also my fastest. In this run, I go back to the tried and tested Squirtle as my starter Pokemon. E4 is very quick thanks to fissure. There's not much else to talk about that hasn't been talked about before in my last three runs. If anyone wants to talk to me about the run, don't hesitate to drop me an email at platinum.cygnus AT gmail DOT com or talk to me on AIM (s/n Platinum Cygnus).

Well this should be my last Pokemon Red run. Unless some good time savers appear, there's nothing left to do to shave time off except luck manipulation. Enjoy the run!

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Quality Note(s): There is a small distortion in the video at the very beginning. This only distorts the Gamecube logo for about 2 seconds, then, quality returns to normal. This happens again at about 6 minutes in.
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I'll start with thanking some of the people who made this possible.

• Nate, Radix, Mike: for being the gorgeous few that run the site out of their own time with little in return but our own persistent recording mistakes, stupid questions, and all around being ignorant and helpless. You have my undying gratitude.
• Tom "Slowbro" Batchelor: for giving me the idea to even do this ? with great incentive. The 100 dollar bounty combined with my previous obsession for running this game compelled me to bite the bullet and go for my first run here at SDA.
• Matt "BleachFreak86" Shadrick: For consistently being my only competition, and providing me with the competition to refine my technique and my expertise. Also, for being there while I ran this and watching me make mistakes and laugh. Probably would be much more boring without you there cracking me up.
• SDA Forumites: For helping me out with my strategies and giving me some constructive criticism. There are a lot of knowledgeable, prospective runners out there for this game. Some memorable personalities include Time, Thomaz, Cygnus, and Petrie911

This run was conceived in late September, 2007. Almost a year later, I finally finished. What took so long? Pokemon games are very, very inconvenient to single segment. Anything, no matter how easy, has a chance of going wrong, making a run actually follow to completion without major mistakes pretty unlikely. I hadn't acquired means of recording this until 2008, so up until then, practice was all I could do. Initially, I had planned to do a run using the missigno glitch to get a mewtwo, making the end of the run easier. In the end, I decided to get Zapdos for a non-glitched run that would be much more difficult to obsolete (Hey, nobody can use glitches that I don't use) and would appeal to a larger audience.

Now that you're here, I bet there's two reasons that you're reading this right now.

1. You are just looking around SDA and reading random run commentaries that interest you.

2. You found a link to this from my relative accomplishments blog that I shamelessly advertise on my myspace page.

The former, I don't expect you to really know me, so I don't care if people who are impersonal in nature assume I have no life. The latter, may be surprised to read this. Yes, it's me. The kid from Moore High who is ubiquitous, questionable, and suggestive. "Stigmatize" me, as I'm sure you already know I have no life.

Now that most of the necessary introductions have been laid down, it's time to cut to the meat.

The final time is 2:39, 2:41 if the final time is the save after pallet town. (Yes, this single segment has a save after the ending, I'm pretty sure that's not against any rules)

2:39 is quite a big difference from the 2:09 Segmented run on the site already. Where could 30 minutes go?

Saving takes no time at all. The game is defined by random events.

That, very articulately said, is all the reason I need. I disregarded riskier strategies, and the run is overall clean (Average for me), and the strategy actually followed through. The only REAL mistake is quite obvious in Surge's Gym, where I have absolutely no influence over the pseudo-random trash cans that seal my fate, and lose 4 or 5 minutes. Regardless, I am satisfied. Watching that part is sure to utter a wow, as my luck up until that point was top notch and the placement of the locks in his gym is SO UNBELIEVABLE UNLIKELY.

I don't feel like watching the run and doing an in-depth, part by part commentary over the whole thing. Overall, I was very lucky with the battles with a few exceptions (Mount Moon Rocket) I don't enjoy being nitpicky, but I made some dumb mistakes throughout that cost me a few seconds (Menu Hesitation, Talking to people twice), I got a bit sloppy, but I don't think it cost me more than a few minutes in the end. I think that without extreme luck, optimal menu speed, and some serious concentration, sub 2:30 will not happen. Playing around with conservative segmentation (2,3 or 4 Segments) Shows me that with this strategy an absolute perfect time would be 2:25. However, this is outside the realm of possibility for a Single Segment because it implies that every battle goes perfect.

I think that if somebody beat my run, I won't be too disappointed. I'm not satisfied yet, I'll need to sub 2:30 before I'm absolutely satisfied. The 100 Dollar bounty and the fact that this has taken nearly a year has caused me to settle for a run that is satisfactory and not excellent.

Anyways, I've queued up about 50 little projects in the time it took to finish this, and it's about time to get around to them. Look forward to my future runs! I promise that they will look better and more refined than this nightmare-of-a-single-segment.

Where to start?.. I would like to begin by thanking a few people: primorial#soup for his excellent comments on my old Youtube run that made me redo my run and shave of so much time, Chamale for the great Walk through Walls glitch that made the run as fast as it is, Samthedigital, Cygnus, hanzou and a few more I might be forgetting for helping me (without them possibly knowing, even!). And of course the staff from SDA, because without them, this wouldn't be possible.

Originally, it all started with Metroid. To be precise, M2K2, SCU and Metroid Zero Mission. I started speedrunning MZM and somehow, via M2K2 and SCU, I got on SDA (and TASvideos.org) where a world opened up before me. After trying a lot of tricks in various games, I suddenly got the idea to speedrun Pokemon Blue/Red. One of my favorite games. It started with a weak 2:02 using a glitched Gengar level 100 to beat the game and it grew out to be much more then that.

I'll just list the comments on every segment because there are quite a lot of new tricks in the run. :)

• Seg1:

  I use a neat trick in the beginning that changes the colors of the game. Yes, it's still Pokemon Blue, just in a green jacket.

  To start off, naming everyone '-' speeds up the game by a bit, every bit helps no?

  This segment took a while because I absolutely need 11 Attack, 11 Special and 12 Speed, which allows for maximum (critical) damage at times where it turns 2HKOs into OHKOs. If the Attack and Special are 18 at level 10, you know the stats are high enough.

  Small mistake with accidently going to the status screen, but since the stats where what I needed, I kept it. :)

• Seg2:

  Nothing really interesting. Just hope for a lot of critical hits (CHs) and failed Tail Whips from Squirtle.

• Seg3:

  This segment took quite a few resets (100+). No encounter is needed so I make sure to avoid it.

  The Potion I grab is needed to skip a Poke Center.

• Seg4:

  The main goal of this segment was to get as little damage as possible and still get a decent fight.

  Failed Stringshots is the way to go. Took me at least 100 resets.

• Seg5:

  Luckily, this didn't need any resets at all. :) Next segment is hard thus I made a save here. Potion is needed for later.

• Seg6:

  Same as before, less damage and a fast battle is prefered. I set the cursor on 'Save' to prepare for a great glitch.

  I buy 3 Poke Balls, 2 Potions and 3 Escape Ropes. Now, I walk towards the guy that brings you to Brock and when he's done,

  I cancel the text with B and immediately press Start and Save the game.

• Seg7:

  After a seemingly weird start, I walk back to the guy and he mysteriously dissappeared! :)

  Combining this with the Walk through Walls glitch (explained later), I skip Brock completely.

  Later, I found out it could be done faster, 29 seconds could be shaved off. Maybe in the future? ;)

  Anyway, this segment took quite a while, because I wanted at least an OHKO on Weedle/Caterpie and the 2HKO on the other (with a failed Stringshot) and an OHKO on the last Caterpie.

  Settled with a 1HKO + burn instead because this is the start of the run and I wasn't gonna get stuck on something like this.

• Seg8:

  Same as before, less damage allows me to skip a Poke Center.

  Being at such a low level almost requires more saving just to get the quick OHKOs.

  STABed Ember from 18 Special OHKOs the last Metapod.

• Seg9:

  Took me quite a fewl resets, but I finally managed. Saving a few times is definately faster then random encounters.

  I pick up Mega Punch because I need the power.

• Seg10:

  Wasn't really hard, just needed a few resets.

• Seg11:

  Same as before, had to reset quite often. I hate Mt.Moon. >_>

• Seg12:

  Being at such a low level means you can get KO'd quite easily so I put a save in between the Rocket and the Nerd.

  Yay, Charmeleon.

• Seg13:

  The amount of random encounters you get after the battle is insane, insane I tell you.

  After leaving Mt.Moon I do not pick up the Great Ball, it's not needed. I do pick up TM04: Whirlwind. It replaces TM45: Thunder Wave in my old run.

  For some reason Whirlwind doesn't work in battle versus trainers so I happily take advantage of that non-damaging move. :)

  Healing at the Poke Center sets a Teleport check-point for later.

• Seg14:

  Ugh, this battle is hard, I tell you. Especially Pidgeotto. >_> Oh well, I got it done with only two missed Mega Punches.

• Seg15:

  Again, being at such a low level means they can easily hurt you, so instead, I try to go for CHs as much as possible.

• Seg16:

  Same, nothing special.

• Seg17:

  Same. >_> I'm becoming repetitive. ;(

• Seg18:

  Yay, finally, Nugget Bridge is done. That and Mt.Moon are among the worst parts of the game. Time to get this thing going! ;]

• Seg19:

  I catch Abra with one Poke Ball and prepare the glitch for the next segment.

• Seg20:

  In my other run (which I never finished), this took me among the 150 tries.

  But by making sure I had enough PP for Ember and a slightly higher Attack stat and one Poke Ball more, this was easier.

  I activate the so-called Mew glitch that makes it possible to trigger ANY Pokemon as long as the last opposing Pokemon has the correct Special stat. I use Growl six times on Shellder. This lowers Mew's level to 1, setting up another glitch.

• Seg21:

  Here, I use a new glitch. Any Pokemon that has the Medium-Slow growth formule, when at level 1, has -54 experience. When it gets less then 54 experience, the game reads it as having the experience needed for level 255 and it levels you to 100 instead. Mew levels to 100 and I proceed to beat up some trainers. After beating Misty, I get Bubblebeam which has less lag then Pound so I use it the most throughout the run. I should have split this segment up but the mistakes weren't that bad. I buy 7 Repels and heal at the Vermillion Poke Center, setting up the next glitch.

• Seg22:

  By saving inside Lt.Surge's Gym, I can figure out the correct order of the thrashcans.

  Here, I use two glitches, effectively skipping Snorlax twice. Visiting the route where Snorlax is, then activating the Mew glitch (hence the sudden appearance of Chansey and Tentacool), makes Snorlax dissappear.

  After getting Fly, I make the Snorlax near the Cycling Road dissappear. I get an elixir, which I didn't need. >_>

• Seg23:

  Using Whirlwind on the Koffing, I make sure it Poisons me and get a certain HP after the Poison takes its toll.

  It's needed for the next glitch. I enter and exit the Safari Zone to setup the so-called Glitch City glitch.

• Seg24:

  I leave the Safari Zone and the guy asks me to enter, I say No and this means I have 500 steps before I'll get teleported back to the Safari Zone.

  This segment took me quite a while but Whirlwind made it a lot easier (stupid fully paralysing Thunder Waves. >_>).

  I made Weezing use Selfdestruct on me dealing exactly 36 or 37 damage and proceed to get Ice Beam and beat Erika.

  I deposit Charmeleon and Abra and jump over a ledge at the precise 500th step.

  Doing this makes it possible to walk through walls and walking over water. Leaving or entering a building disables the glitch, thus Poison kills Mew and the glitch stays (it also stays during Fly).

  My other run failed here because I didn't get the Cinnabar Fly-checkpoint. ;( By using the Walk through Walls (WtW),

  I skip Surf, Poke Tower and Silph & Co and head straight to Sabrina.

• Seg25:

  I grab the Secret Key and get myself Poisoned with a certain HP for the next WtW glitch.

• Seg26:

  After beating Blaine, I get teleported back to the Safari Zone and proceed to Bike to the Elite Four and effectively skipping Strength, the Boulder and Earth Badge. WtW is fun. :)

• Seg27:

  I decided to save at Agatha because her Gengars and Haunter are annoying with not being OHKOd. ;(

• Seg28:

  The rest of the E4. I got Poisoned but didn't feel the need to reset just for that.

  I finish the game at 1:26, being 12 minutes faster then my run on Youtube. =D

Possible improvements:

• Going for more critical hits would have sped up some parts of battles, but usually is too hard to manage.
• The Brock skip can be done faster, effectively winning 29 seconds. Instead of Ice Beam, I could use Blizzard
• and the elixir gotten in the tunnel, this would skip the long trek to the top of the store. Blizzard also would OHKO the Gengars and Haunters so it's worth a try.
• You could go all TAS-like and use Take Town to get your HP lower, but I fear that may be too hard.

You may see me in the near future with a Single Segment glitched Yellow run. Other then that, I may redo this run if I figure out better strats and tricks so you haven't seen the last of me. ;)

You can email me at thomas_wennink AT hotmail DOT com if you have any comments about the run.