Pokemon Colosseum: The Speedrun

Toothache

Let the music play!
is a Community Leader Alumnus
I have been spending the last two months planning a speedrun of Pokemon Colosseum, and while I've been working with people from SpeedDemosArchive, and got some good input about speedrunning itself, I've been having very little input on the actual game. So I turn to you, the Smogon poster, who is more likely to have played the game and suggest possible improvements.

In order to complete the game as fast as possible, I decided I would utilise the fact that every battle is a double battle, and attempt to use only one Pokemon in battle, especially one that can hit both opponents and can speed up the game. I decided on Feraligatr, since he has ok stats and good coverage with his moves - Surf / Blizzard / Earthquake / Hydro Pump, as well as having access to 3 moves of different types that hit both opponents.

Here is a proposed segment plan for a 100% snags speed run (in which, I snag all 48 possible Pokemon) as fast as possible:

segment 1
- check Espeon and Umbreon for +SpAtt nature and perfect SpA range (84 for Espeon, 48 for Umbreon)
- Rider Willy and Folly fight

segment 2
- 3 Super Potion chest near Mayor's house
- Mayor -> Phenac Colosseum
- Wakim fight
- Pokeball purchase (10(+1) Pokeballs, 6 Great Balls, sell Awakening and Ice Heal)
- Folly and Trudly fight, snag Makuhita

segment 3
- Cipher Peon Bluno, snag Croconaw, check for estimated Rash/Mild nature and max SpA (53)
- Construction Yard -> Pyrite arrival
- visit Jail for key, Thief TM
- sell Thief, purchase 5 Super Potions
- Visit Duking
- activate Cail battle in Pyrite Colosseum, heal

segment 4
- Cail battle, do not snag Furret, Croconaw in Hyper Mode
- reclaim gear for Colosseum
- enter Colosseum, use Hyper Mode -> Call to lower Shadow Bar until Surf is uncovered

segment 5
- shadow Yanma snag
- battle near save point, Croconaw out of Hyper Mode

segment 6
- 8 battles on the way to the roof, get 5 Great Balls, get Revive, Croconaw healed and in Hyper Mode during 8th battle
- shadow Remoraid snag
- shadow Mantine snag (game gives full heal here), go down lift for 3 Hyper Potions
- shadow Qwilfish snag, Croconaw out of Hyper Mode
- get 3 Ethers, 2 Hyper Potions
- get 3 Ultra Balls
- shadow Meditite snag
- shadow Dunsparce snag
- heal machine!

segment 7
- get 4 vitamins (one battle here)
- shadow Swablu snag, Croconaw in Hyper Mode
- heal and save

segment 8
- Miror B fight, do not snag Sudowoodo
- take Snatch TM
- visit Shop, sell TMs and buy Super Potions
- Fateen
- Agate arrive, get Ultra Balls and Silk Scarf
- visit Eagun
- heal at PC

segment 9
- get Quick Claw
- 3 battles on route
- Ciper Peon Skrub, snag Hitmontop
- get Small Tablet, purify Croconaw,use Vitamins, heal
- purchase Net Balls, and Ultra Balls if necessary
- Mt Battle arrive

segment 10
- Feraligatr solo from here
- 9 battles on route
- Dakim fight, do not snag Entei
- get F-Disk, get Time Flute, get Steel Wing TM
- visit Pokemon Lab area, mail -> Pyrite, get Elevator Key
- The Under arrive
- buy Blizzard, replace Rain Dance
- 3 Hyper Potions next to hotel
- visit Perr, collect Powerup Part
- PC heal

segment 11
- visit Nett and Megg
- shadow Ledian snag + one extra fight
- get R-Disk
- get 3 Rare Candy
- Venus fight, do not snag Suicune
- get Attract TM
- open doors to PC, heal

segment 12
- shadow Gligar snag
- shadow Stantler snag
- get 2 Hyper Potions, 2 Timer Balls
- shadow Piloswine snag
- get 4 Ultra Balls
- shadow Sneasel snag
- get Subway Key, use Subway
- get Maingate Key
- stock up on potions and Ultra Balls
- Lab return, get 2 Full Heals, get 3 PP Ups
- fight battle for Card Key

segment 13
- watch out for and collect 3 DNA Samples (appear in random locations each time)
- shadow Aipom snag
- fight battle for Down St Key
- shadow Murkrow, dont snag
- shadow Forretress, dont snag
- shadow Ariados, dont snag
- get Full Restore
- shadow Granbull, dont snag
- make sure you have all 3 DNA strands, use DNA Analyser to discover code
- researcher Kotan fight, starts alarm
- shadow Vibrava, dont snag
- enter code
- Skrub redux fight
- get HP Up vitamin, use
- Ein fight, do not snag Raikou
- get Earthquake TM, replace Bite
- get Data Rom
- stock up on healing and pokeballs
- take Data Rom to Nett
- Realgem arrive
- free up save room (one battle), heal

segment 14
- Miror B redux, do not snag Sudowoodo
- Dakim redux, do not snag Entei
- heal
- shadow Sunflora snag
- shadow Delibird snag
- Venus redux, do not snag Suicune
- Ein redux, do not snag Raikou
- mail -> Agate, get Master Ball
- use colour cards, shadow Heracross snag
- one extra battle
- speak to Silva, use lift
- go to save room, clear out, heal

segment 15
- Gonzap fight, do not snag Skarmory
- Not-so-Elite 4 fights, snag all four of Miltank, Absol, Houndoom, Tropius
- Nascour fight, snag Metagross
- Evice fight, snag Tyranitar
- end of main game

segment 16
- mail x2 -> Pyrite, Cail redux, snag Furret
- use Master Ball glitch to snag Furret and Pokemon around Duel Square
- Snagem Hideout arrive
- get Max Elixir

segment 17
- Cipher Peon Nore redux
- mail
- get Elixir, get 2 Max Revives
- get PP Ups, get 2 Max Ethers
- get 5 Ultra Balls on ground
- Ciper Peon Verde/Rosso fight, snag Bayleef/Quilava
- mail -> The Under, save in Hotel 2F

segment 18
- Chaser Gurks fight
- stock up on healing
- Lab revisit
- all snags using Master Ball glitch
- shadow Murkrow snag
- shadow Forretress snag
- shadow Ariados snag
- shadow Granbull snag
- shadow Vibrava snag
- Cipher Peon Verde/Rosso fight, snag Bayleef/Quilava
- potion stock up
- 4 x mail -> Snagem Hideout

segment 19
- fight after save point
- fight on way to shadow Pokemon
- shadow Smeargle snag
- shadow Ursaring snag
- use hole to return to save point, heal

segment 20
- fight after save point
- Gonzap redux, snag Skarmory
- get D-Disk, 3 Rare Candy
- head to The Under, use D-Disk, save at Deep Coloseum

segment 21
- Deep Colosseum version 1, Miror B fight 3, snag Sudowoodo

segment 22
- Deep Colosseum verson 2, Dakim fight 3, snag Entei

segment 23
- Deep Colosseum version 3, Venus fight 3, snag Suicune

segment 24
- Deep Colosseum version 4, Ein fight 3, snag Raikou

segment 25
- Deep Colosseum version 5, Deep King Agnol fight, snag Shuckle
- start of mail chain, save when TV segment is shown

segment 26
- Fake Hero Fein fight, snag Togetic

Unfortunately, when it came to testing this part, I've hit a bit of a snag. I managed to get Feraligatr solo from the start of Mt Battle through to Dakim, and even as far as the first two fights before Venus. However, I needed some assistance in taking on Venus (damn Attract). I believe there is only one male Attract user in the game (Wigglytuff in the 3rd Venus battle) so it might be a good idea to try and get a female Croconaw for the actual run itself.

The problem I'm having comes from the four fights after Venus, since they occur concurrently down the stairway towards the Shadow Liner. I'll copy my musings from IRC about this part:

<Toothache> also colosseum is proving much more difficult to speedrun than I initially thought
<Toothache> I'm wondering whether its faster to capture the four shadow pokemon that appear just after Venus in Snagem Hideout, rather than the first time you face them, since I can use the ball-dupe glitch on the master ball
<Toothache> but this adds 3 extra battles to the end-game
<Toothache> 1 is required for the 100% route at least
<Toothache> I need to rethink my route, getting a guaranteed snag might be faster overall than trying to get lucky four times in a row with ultra balls (especially when you struggle in the battles themselves)
<Toothache> the extra exp early on will be beneficial also

As it stands, I'm able to use the ball-dupe glitch on the Master Ball in 27 battles (14 appear normally just after you get the Master Ball, plus 7 in Pyrite, plus 6 in the Shadow Lab), which is well over half. Adding these four would take this number to 31, showing how essential having guaranteed snags will be for speeding up the game.

Anyone wishing to discuss with me on IRC can do so in a channel I set aside for this purpose, #arcor on DejaToons.

Any other suggestions or proposals will be appreciated.
 
A double post! But an important one: I have just purchased a DVD recorder thanks to the power of ebay, so I will be able to record my actual speedrun for the world to see.
 
You could just go old school and run your GCN through a VCR before hooking it to your TV. VHS tapes, remember those? :P

I made a video out of various Grand Theft Auto clips using that method way back when.
 
speed demos doesn't accept VHS anymore I believe. I'm not sure if soloing is the greatest idea as you could have a partner get extra exp, which would certainly help, and makes any attract battles less of a pain.

You can just use the partner to heal/snag as needed if you know attacking would be a waste of time.
 
If I use a partner, I can manage through the game somewhat easier, except by the time I get to the final bosses I will be around L48 vs 6 x L61 pokemon. I've thought about this carefully, and I do have the right approach, but needless to say it will be tricky at best to manage.

And SDA do still accept VHS, but they prefer DVD quality videos.
 
Perhaps then you should consider what battles are significantly easier/faster through doubling (Venus). You could also with a little luck of course have the partner ko'd while Croc gets all your experience.

Yeah that under stairway of death (as I like to call it) can be quite a pain. Perhaps selling hold items to get healing stuff? If you get a critical in the right battle it could help.
 
Ok, for anyone that is interested, I have finished my test run. All 48 Pokemon, snagged in a time of 10 hours 34 minutes. That time will be broken by at least an hour in the actual run, the time is heavily unoptimised and is only a rough indicator of the final time, considering the amount of changes I've planned to the actual route. Once my Wii scart arrives, I can actually start recording the speedrun itself. I'll post an updated segment plan once I've gone through my inventory and estimated how many items I really need, so I can minimise the amount of running around shopping I need to do.

EDIT:
Well the first segment is recorded, and I'm quite impressed with what I decided to keep. The IVs arent the best, but they dont need to be - Espeon needs to have good enough SpAtt to support Croconaw, and Umbreon needs to have decent attack to support Espeon before Croconaw arrives. Bearing all that in mind, these are the IVs of my Pokemon. I wish to prove that having massive IVs everywhere is not necessary for a fast time, I will be using fairly average IVs for the most part here:

(IVs are listed HP / Att / Def / SpAtt / SpDef / Speed )
Mild #196 Espeon: 14 - 17 / 14 - 17 / 0 - 3 / 28 - 31 / 18 - 21 / 8 - 11
Quiet #197 Umbreon: 25 - 28 / 30 - 31 / 0 - 2 / 10 - 13 / 15 - 17 / 22 - 25

You may be wondering why I'm happy with these. First of all, with a max SpAtt range on Espeon, it can support Croconaw with great damage. The speed IV isnt an issue since with Espeon's base Speed it outspeeds everything it needs to for the areas where it is used. Mid-range Att stat with no reduction from nature helps for Return damage too. As for the average to low defences, if I manipulate enough crits I dont need to even worry about taking too much damage, and if necessary I have access to Reflect. Umbreon only gets used in a total of 6 battles, so his stats aren't really a priority, but getting a SpAtt boosting nature was nice, the high Att will add towards Secret Power damage (I'll be using that for the paralysis chance), and is fast enough even with -Speed nature to do what it needs.

The most important IVs will obviously be Croconaw's, but I'll worry about that when the time comes. But things are underway now with the recording. If however, the low defence on Espeon proves too much I might be forced to start again, but I'll worry about that if it becomes a problem during the first Pyrite visit

Oh, and I forgot to mention something very important - my test run was done at 60 hz, but because of the DVD recorder being a PAL machine unable to record at 60 hz, this speedrun will be recorded at 50 hz. This means the total time for the run itself will be around 11 hours, ideally under 10:45, but we shall see how things go.
 
haha, you could possibly use that espeon and umbreon for a breeding project! Good luck, by the way, I own the game and I know how hard it is to finish quickly. Looking forward to seeing the video!
 
Large update! First, the re-mastered segment plan.

segment 1
- check Espeon and Umbreon for +SpAtt nature and perfect SpA range (84 for Espeon, 48 for Umbreon)
- Rider Willy and Folly fight

segment 2
- 3 Super Potion chest near Mayor's house
- Mayor -> Phenac Colosseum
- Wakim fight
- Pokeball purchase (10(+1) Pokeballs, 6 Great Balls, sell Awakening and Ice Heal)
- Folly and Trudly fight, snag Makuhita

segment 3
- Cipher Peon Bluno, snag Croconaw, check for estimated Rash/Mild nature and max SpA (53)
- Construction Yard -> Pyrite arrival
- visit Jail for key, Thief TM
- sell Thief, purchase 5 Super Potions
- Visit Duking
- activate Cail battle in Pyrite Colosseum, heal

segment 4
- Cail battle, do not snag Furret, Croconaw in Hyper Mode
- reclaim gear for Colosseum
- enter Colosseum, use Hyper Mode -> Call to lower Shadow Bar until Surf is uncovered
- shadow Yanma, dont snag
- battle near save point, Croconaw out of Hyper Mode

segment 5
- 8 battles on the way to the roof, get 5 Great Balls, get Revive, Croconaw healed and in Hyper Mode during 8th battle
- shadow Remoraid snag
- shadow Mantine snag (game gives full heal here), go down lift for 3 Hyper Potions
- shadow Qwilfish snag, Croconaw out of Hyper Mode
- get 3 Ethers, 2 Hyper Potions
- get 3 Ultra Balls
- shadow Meditite snag
- shadow Dunsparce snag
- heal machine!

segment 6
- get 4 vitamins (one battle here)
- shadow Swablu snag, Croconaw in Hyper Mode
- heal and save

segment 7
- Miror B fight, snag Sudowoodo
- take Snatch TM
- visit Shop, sell TMs and buy Super Potions
- Fateen
- Agate arrive
- visit Eagun
- heal at PC

segment 8
- get Quick Claw
- 3 battles on route
- Ciper Peon Skrub, do not snag Hitmontop
- get Small Tablet, purify Croconaw, use Vitamins, heal
- purchase 3 Net Balls, and Ultra Balls if necessary
- Mt Battle arrive

segment 9
- Feraligatr solo from here
- 9 battles on route
- Dakim fight, do not snag Entei
- get F-Disk, get Time Flute, get Steel Wing TM
- visit Pokemon Lab area, mail -> Pyrite, get Elevator Key
- The Under arrive
- buy Blizzard, replace Leer
- 3 Hyper Potions next to hotel
- visit Perr, collect Powerup Part
- PC heal

segment 10
- visit Nett and Megg
- shadow Ledian snag + one extra fight
- get R-Disk
- get 3 Rare Candy
- Venus fight, do not snag Suicune
- get Attract TM
- open doors to PC, heal

segment 11
- shadow Gligar, dont snag
- shadow Stantler, dont snag
- get 2 Hyper Potions, 2 Timer Balls
- shadow Piloswine, dont snag
- get 4 Ultra Balls
- shadow Sneasel, dont snag
- get Subway Key, use Subway
- get Maingate Key
- stock up on potions and Ultra Balls
- Lab return, get 2 Full Heals, get 3 PP Ups
- fight battle for Card Key

segment 12
- NB: lab code is obtained before recording segments 12 and 13, since it doesnt change (locations of DNA Strands are random, however)
- shadow Aipom snag (ensure it has Pick Up)
- equip Quick Claw
- fight battle for Down St Key

segment 13
- shadow Murkrow, dont snag
- equip Mystic Water
- shadow Forretress, dont snag
- shadow Ariados, dont snag
- get Full Restore
- shadow Granbull, dont snag
- equip Quick Claw
- researcher Kotan fight, starts alarm
- equip Mystic Water
- shadow Vibrava, dont snag
- enter code
- Skrub redux fight, do not snag Hitmontop
- get HP Up vitamin, use
- Ein fight, do not snag Raikou
- get Earthquake TM, replace Bite
- get Data Rom
- stock up on healing and pokeballs
- take Data Rom to Nett
- Realgem arrive

segment 14
- Miror B redux
- heal
- shadow Sunflora snag
- shadow Delibird snag
- Ein redux, do not snag Raikou
- mail -> Agate, get Master Ball
- IMPORTANT - move Feraligatr to 2nd position while using ball-dupe!!
- Dakim redux, snag Entei
- Venus redux, do not snag Suicune
- use colour cards, shadow Heracross snag
- one extra battle
- speak to Silva, use lift
- go to save room, clear out, heal

segment 15
- Gonzap fight, snag Skarmory
- Not-so-Elite 4 fights, snag all four of Miltank, Absol, Houndoom, Tropius
- Nascour fight, snag Metagross
- Evice fight, snag Tyranitar
- end of main game

segment 16
- mail x2 -> Pyrite, Cail redux, snag Furret
- use Master Ball glitch to snag Furret and Pokemon around Duel Square
- Snagem Hideout arrive
- get Max Elixir

segment 17
- Cipher Peon Nore redux, snag Yanma
- mail
- get Elixir, get 2 Max Revives
- get PP Ups, get 2 Max Ethers
- get 5 Ultra Balls on ground
- Ciper Peon Verde/Rosso fight, snag Bayleef/Quilava
- mail -> The Under, save in Hotel 2F

segment 18
- Chaser Gurks fight
- stock up on healing
- Lab revisit
- all snags using Master Ball glitch
- shadow Murkrow snag
- shadow Forretress snag
- shadow Ariados snag
- shadow Granbull snag
- shadow Vibrava snag
- Cipher Peon Verde/Rosso fight, snag Bayleef/Quilava
- potion stock up
- 4 x mail -> Snagem Hideout

segment 19
- Skrub III fight, snag Hitmontop
- staircase refights, snag all 4 of Sneasel, Stantler, Piloswine, Gligar
- shadow Smeargle snag
- shadow Ursaring snag
- Gonzap redux
- get D-Disk, 3 Rare Candy
- head to The Under, use D-Disk, save at Deep Coloseum

segment 20
- Deep Colosseum version 1, Miror B fight 3
- Deep Colosseum verson 2, Dakim fight 3

segment 21
- Deep Colosseum version 3, Venus fight 3, snag Suicune

segment 22
- Deep Colosseum version 4, Ein fight 3, snag Raikou

segment 23
- Deep Colosseum version 5, Deep King Agnol fight, snag Shuckle
- start of mail chain, leading to Outskirt Stand
- Fake Hero Fein fight, snag Togetic

Notice that I've combined certain segments, and split others up. The lab area is perhaps the most dangerous, and it involves a huge amount of luck (especially since I require Quick Claw to activate not once, but twice). I split that up at the most logical place, since before you open the Down St door, you are nearest to the save point. Most of the battles in the lab abuse Torrent, so healing isnt the best option, and Electrode with its blinding speed require Quick Claw (because there's no way Feraligatr is ever outspeeding the wrecking-ball-o-doom).

Most of the changes involve the timing of the snags. Since you are forced to refight many of the trainers through the game anyway after the normal completion, it is faster to snag their Shadow Pokemon then, when you have the Master Ball, rather than later. I use the Master Ball to its fullest, except in the case of Aipom, where it is actually faster getting it first (the refight is an extra 30 seconds of travel time out of your way, plus I can abuse Aipom's Pick Up for Rare Candy later).

The first two Deep Colosseums were combined into one segment since those are pretty easy overall, Miror B can be a pain but once you're through that Dakim falls easily. I snag Entei in Realgem, since Dakim almost exclusively uses Earthquake, and I'd have to be careful not to have Entei come out and get EQ'd to death, slowing me down. Entei's replacement Houndoom is weak to Earthquake, so the fastest thing to do is to manipulate the battle so that Houndoom is sent out into an enemy Earthquake, saving me time in having to attack him myself.

Segment 4 and 5 were combined, since with my new route I delay snagging both Furret and Yanma until after the normal completion (both trainers you have to fight anyway, so its faster), and of course, snagging early is always slower than snagging later, as well as adding early exp to Croconaw. It would be faster to also delay the snagging of Swablu until the start of segment 7, but since the next fight is Miror B, and I absolutely HAVE to be in Shadow mode (so I can Shadow Rush crit all four of his Ludicolo). I also need Miror B to send his Ludicolo out in a specific order, since some have Rain Dish and some have Swift Swim. Croconaw can only afford to be hit maybe once because of Shadow Rush recoil, but after all four Ludicolos are gone he can afford to be KOed. So, while it is faster to leave Swablu, there's a huge amount that can go wrong with Miror B's first fight, especially since I'm snagging Sudowoodo at the end (Sudowoodo's replacement Armaldo is an easy KO with Surf, especially since Miror B also loves to set up rain)

I combined the segments around the revisit of Snagem Hideout for two main reasons - the battles themselves are fairly easy, except for Gonzap, and the fact that retreating to the save point forces you into extra battles, so it made more sense to logically combine them into one segment. Gonzap can be tricky, since he loves to use Attack-boosting moves or items then spamming Hyper Beam. His most dangerous Pokemon is his Dragon Dancing Gyarados, which is an achilles heel of using Feraligatr anyway, but the downside of using Hyper Beam means he will sit around for a turn after attacking doing nothing, giving me time to wipe it out before he has chance to attack again (forcing me to heal and slowing me down). It is interesting to note that Hyper Beam does not have 100% accuracy, but if it misses it can be used the next turn. It is only when Hyper Beam hits that the turn delay comes into effect.

I combined the Deep King colosseum fights and the Togetic snag into one segment, since with a partner the battles becomes laughably easy. Agnol holds the only Pokemon that Feraligatr cannot damage at all, Shedinja, but I use a very fast method of getting rid of it (I will save that as a surprise for now, but see if you can guess what I do). Fein's fight is also very simple, except for the presence of Gyarados, which is a 2HKO even with Helping Hand Blizzard. Thankfully, his Gyarados also loves to use Earthquake, meaning he will take out his own team for me, with Togetic at no risk at all being part Flying type.

I think this is as refined as I can get in planning. As for the item collecting/shopping, I did several trips in the test run which wasted a bit of time, but I'll have to plan carefully when I shop and what I get. There was a huge amount of items leftover from my test run, but unfortunately with the battles being so random there are times when I need those items, it is not as easy to plan for it.

As for the segments themselves, they may be subject to change in two areas. The fights under the staircase after Venus I actually had to split into two saves (the second and third fights are the most dangerous, and the fourth isnt easy either). Also I had to use two extra saves in the lab which wasted about 5 minutes of backtracking, but the lab requires probably the most luck manipulation beyond the actual stat requirements of resetting on the starters and Croconaw. I will certainly hesitate to use extra saves if it involves a lot of backtracking, but I may be forced to in the run. Saving in itself is often a bit of a time-waster anyway, depending on the locations of the save points, some are handily on your route (the one after you get the Powerup Part, for example) while others are a huge distance away (the lab area has one save point which involves anywhere between 1-3 minutes of backtracking to reach). And some segments are going to be crazy no matter when I save, Venus's battles especially.

I've reached the point now where I can safely say that crits wont just happen if I restart a few times. After now 100 battles from the same save, Umbreon has failed to crit every single time. Its not that the game wont give crits, since I've seen Espeon crit 5 times in that period, a little below average but not unreasonable. (Crit rate is 1/16, so 6 crits would be the average in 100 battles) For some reason, it wont allow Umbreon to crit no matter what I do. I want to continue the run, so I dont have time to test it further, but to be honest it would need someone with the ability to hack the game and example the RNG itself to determine exactly why this happens.

With that in mind, I decided to do the next best thing and allow Umbreon to flinch instead. I've have at least seen that happen, there is video evidence to prove it, and it has higher odds of causing a flinch than a critical hit (10% chance). Flinch chance only works when you are faster, but for all 6 of Umbreon's battles that is not a problem, even with the -Speed nature he is still fast enough to cause flinches on all his opponents.

So, for the three battles in Segment 2, my plan is this:
Battle 1: Team Snagem Wakim - Corphish and Koffing
Turn 1: Espeon SE Confusion on Koffing, Umbreon Bite flinch on Corphish
Turn 2: finish Corphish with Espeon Return

Battle 2: Cipher Peon Trudly 2 - Whismur and Lotad
Turn 1: Espeon Confusion on Whismur, Umbreon Bite flinch on Lotad
Turn 2: finish Lotad with Espeon Return

Battle 3: Cipher Peon Folly - Spinarak, Duskull, Shadow Makuhita
Turn 1: Espeon SE Confuson on Spinarak, Umbreon KO Duskull with Bite
Turn 2: Espeon Return, Umbreon Secret Power, paralyse Makuhita, full paralysis
Turn 3: ball dupe Great Ball and snag

If I remember correctly, Secret Power has a 30% chance of inflicting a status, in Makuhita's case paralysis (the type of effect changes depending on the location), which is a good odds. I cannot afford to take any damage at all in these battles, so the crits or flinches are essential. The next best thing for Makuhita to do, if it is not fully paralysed, is for it to use Focus Energy on its first turn. Duskull does not require a critical hit for Umbreon to OHKO, but it does require the IVs to be reasonably low, or for it to have a -SpDef nature (and still the IVs cannot be too high). I believe Lotad has Foresight, as does Duskull, so using those non-damaging moves would be a safe alternative to being flinched or KOed, but not a faster time. However I will take the fastest I can manage, and plan to be sub-20 minutes by the second save (it is possible if the battles allow)

Oh, and I forgot to mention: I added the first segment to YouTube. Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNWUBHT6N-I
 
thanks for posting this tooth, you're one of the few people in smogon who could be called more dedicated to ingame play than i am and i love reading accounts of your efforts
 
Thanks for the support Jumpman16, and for anyone else who is following along but have yet to post, thank you too. Good to know there is interest in this after all. Anyway, I've finally finished Segment 2. Noobtube means I've split it into two parts. Made a few glaring mistakes, but I managed to make a much faster time, beating my test run by around a minute even with these mistakes.

This segment got 99 problems, but a flinch aint mine. You'll see ;-)

Segment 2 Part A: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU_tLCvZIZY
Segment 2 Part B: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIu9KtWbcik
 
Toothache said:
Thanks for the support Jumpman16, and for anyone else who is following along but have yet to post, thank you too. Good to know there is interest in this after all. Anyway, I've finally finished Segment 2. Noobtube means I've split it into two parts. Made a few glaring mistakes, but I managed to make a much faster time, beating my test run by around a minute even with these mistakes.

This segment got 99 problems, but a flinch aint mine. You'll see ;-)

Segment 2 Part A: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU_tLCvZIZY
Segment 2 Part B: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIu9KtWbcik
Click to expand...
Any progress since this?

To be honest, my idea of a speedy way through the game is play until Day Care is unlocked, put Feraligatr in Day Care, unplug controller, tilt controller stick upward, plug back in, wall-glitch for a few days, come back, and win. It's nice to see this effort being made, though.
 
A lot, but no-one has bothered to post for a while so I've avoided double posting until someone cared. Anyway, I've made a ton of progress. I caught this female Croconaw for my run, its impressive to say the least:

Rash #159 Croconaw: 20 - 23 / 30 - 31 / 30 - 31 / 19 - 21 / 21 - 23 / 24 - 27

I've also made a lot of progress in the run, I am saved just after the first Miror B battle in fact. Preparing for the next segment will be tricky since I'm also trying to manipulate berries to make certain later battles much easier.

Segment 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS_lat27Hvw
Segment 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMqtTRlUgHk
Segment 5 part A: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWdGgFk7TWM
Segment 5 part B: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_xVgJ3vfNE
Segment 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Boe1QQpxTJc
Segment 7 part A: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Odh8NVIdXcg
Segment 7 part B: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm9pBr9uffM
Segment 7 part C: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9PHUy9u9bI
Segment 7 part D: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEQQfaa3_pg
Segment 8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r99H7GpGes8
Segment 9: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9YyCs0c5eM

And if you just want a single link, I've appended all of these into a playlist if you prefer that sort of thing:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=D41067260A124859

So yeah, go watch, post, comment, and I'll keep you lot more updated with the run itself. My aim is to save at the start of the Mt Battle segment, where Feraligatr will be solo for the first time, in around 1:55. In a normal playthrough you'd expect to be here in around 3 hours if you'd done everything possible up to now, maybe 2:30 if you skipped a few things, so I'm well ahead of myself. I knew 1:45 would be ambitious, and it is pretty much impossible to even come close to 1:50 for that save. Mt Battle segment is easy, save for Battle 6 and the Dakim Battle itself, but neither are as troublesome as Miror B, so its all good. The Ethers I picked up in segment 7 will be used here, at least 2 of them since this part is all about Surf.
 
Toothache said:
A lot, but no-one has bothered to post for a while so I've avoided double posting until someone cared. Anyway, I've made a ton of progress. I caught this female Croconaw for my run, its impressive to say the least:

Rash #159 Croconaw: 20 - 23 / 30 - 31 / 30 - 31 / 19 - 21 / 21 - 23 / 24 - 27...
Click to expand...
Well then, hooray for me! You could always edit your last post of a page to include new videos, if you wanted. Good luck to you at continuing.

Sidenote, why not use Viddler for higher quality uploads and less restricted video lengths?
 
I wish you luck with this, as well as to post to say that you have at least my support. If you need some (not too trivial) help, just PM me. :D
 
Segment 10 Part A: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beB-t30LRTY
Segment 10 Part B: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULXO2DWRBI0

This went pretty well, with the exception that I couldnt manipulate a berry here. Why? Well, after picking one up in Segment 9, the game wouldnt allow me to get one from the Berry Master, unless I exited and entered Agate again, or waited around at least 6 more minutes. Neither was acceptable from a speed point of view, so I decided to leave it. This would mean I absolutely HAVE to use Segment 11 to get the Persim Berry, otherwise Ein will be more of a nightmare than he already is.

Speaking of Segment 11, this is a real headache to get right. My main philosophy behind getting the fastest time throughout this run is to reduce or eliminate the number of animations you have to sit through. In doing so, I had to backtrack right at the start of this segment and do an optional battle. Why?

Well, two main reasons. The first is that completing this battle gives me a free TM, meaning more money for items. The other reason is that the exp gained here pushes me an extra level up in the later battles for this segment, and the extra level is basically REQUIRED for speeding up these additional battles. The detour for this adds about 2 minutes, but it almost pays for itself in this segment alone.

Now, on to Mt Battle itself. Entering is annoying because the Athlete and Glasses Man that stand around the foyer often walk right into your path as you enter, and of course you are entering blind so you cant avoid them until too late if they do.

The battles start off easy. With a fully healed Feraligatr, I can spam Surf for the first 5 battles. The first 3 are all uneventful, with the only problem maybe coming from the Baltoy in battle 2. It always barely survives Surf here beyond getting a crit, and has Psybeam and Mud-Slap which have a small chance to mess you up with confusion or accuracy loss respectively. Either way, it takes the same number of turns so that is only a minor inconvenience.

Battle 4 is where the optional battle pays off. At L37, where I originally entered this battle, Baltoy again would survive Surf, and its first act would almost always be Dig. This makes this battle take an additional turn, slowing me down some. L38 gives me enough SpAtt to KO Baltoy... some of the time. This has the effect of KOing Baltoy before it can act, and means I dont have to wait around for him to pop up after Dig, saving me time on two fronts.

The only thing that can really mess me up in Battle 5 is if Barboach's Spark paralyses, and Surf is a 2HKO on Barboach. I use the end of Battle 5 to heal Feraligatr to full health (or as close to it after one Super Potion), use an Ether (since I only have 1 PP on Surf!), and all 4 vitamins that I have. The Attack and Speed are necessary for the very next battle, and the Iron and Zinc all add to Feraligatr's durability, which will also be needed. The reason I heal at the very start of the segment is for PP purposes.

Battle 6 is tough to get right. I did some testing on Cacnea's AI, and he will always use Teeter Dance if you use Surf, but almost always use Needle Arm if I use Slash. A Slash crit, however KOs Cacnea. This is a bad thing, since I want to use Cacnea to put Feraligatr into Torrent range by the end of this battle. The Attack and Speed gain from the vitamins are necessary here to deal with Kadabra, since without them he can outspeed Feralgatr and survive Slash more often. Using Bite would also work on Cacnea, but it has a higher chance of stopping Cacnea from doing what I need (ie attacking) over Slash.
Turn 1: Feraligatr uses Slash on Cacnea, Spinda uses Psybeam, Cacnea uses Needle Arm
Turn 2: Feraligatr uses Slash on Cacnea, KOs, Kadabra sent out, Spinda uses Psybeam
Turn 3: Feralgatr uses Slash on Cacnea, KOs, Spinda uses Psybeam
Turn 4: Torrent Surf on Spinda

Torrent is necessary to KO Spinda, it survives a non-torrent Surf.

Battle 7 is interesting, since it can start in two ways. It consists of Graveler, Sandslash and Vibrava. Torrent Surf is necessary here to KO Sandslash and Vibrava, but the important thing that has to happen is that Vibrava comes out last. If Vibrava leads, that is an instant reset, since it can suvive Torrent Surf in doubles, but not on its own. The reason I cant use 2HKO here is that all 3 use Dig, again costing me time. With Dig, this battle takes 4 turns, if I KO them all without Dig ever occuring it takes 2 turns.

Battle 8 is where the Rawst Berry would have been needed. All four of the Pokemon here know Will-O-Wisp, and again, Torrent is needed here. Without Torrent, Koffing survives a Surf, and Kirlia survives Surf unless it is on its own, so manipulating the battle in the following order is the way to go:

Turn 1: Feraligatr uses Surf, Houndour is KOed, Koffing is sent out, Duskull uses Will-O-Wisp (miss)
Turn 2: Feraligatr uses Surf, Koffing is KOed, Duskull is KOed, Kirlia is sent out
Turn 3: Feraligatr uses Surf, KOes Kirlia

Battle 9 is not a worry. I need to enter the Dakim battle at around 90 HP, using a second Ether here too for Surf.

Dakim's battle suffers from a curious AI. His Pokemon are Golem, Metang, Marshtomp, Camerupt and Shadow Entei. However, he always leads with Metang and either Golem or Camerupt, and never leads with Marshtomp, which always comes out third. Entei always comes out last. All of his Pokemon besides Marshtomp know Protect, but the curious thing is that the AI will not use Protect if Marshtomp is out in the battle. Knowing this, I can use that to my advantage.

The reason I heal Feraligatr to around 90 HP is because of his Metang lead, which will prefer to use Psychic on gatr rather than Earthquake. Metang's partner will always use Protect in the first turn no matter what you do here, so using Surf is the best option since it deals the most damage to Metang. After two Psychics, gatr should be in Torrent range again, with a little bit of leeway in case Psychic causes a SpDef drop.

Marshtomp is both a blessing and a curse here. It is a blessing because the AI will not use Protect while he is on the field, but it is a curse because he has two moves that can screw you over - Mud Shot and Muddy Water. Mud Shot is the move he generally uses, and since it can lower Speed it is a problem. Muddy Water is generally only used if Psychic causes a SpDef drop, and this can screw you because it has a chance to lower accuracy.

The timing of Torrent gives me the best way of finishing the battle with Entei on his own, since Torrent Surf fails to OHKO in doubles. Entei will go first regardless of whether Mud Shot was used or not, since it is a faster Pokemon than Feraligatr (and the level difference at this point is only 3). I need to survive to this point with either around 30 HP (enough to survive an average Fire Blast) or for Fire Blast to miss. (15% chance) If the SpDef drop occurs from earlier Psychics, I'm usually at too low HP to survive Fire Blast here, so I need for it to miss.

In summary:
Turn 1: Golem/Camerupt uses Protect, Feraligatr uses Surf, Metang uses Psychic
Turn 2: Feraligatr uses Surf, Golem/Camerupt is KOed, Marshtomp is sent out, Metang uses Psychic, Torrent range
Turn 3: Feraligatr uses Surf, Metang is KOed, Camerupt/Golem is sent out, Marshtomp uses Mud Shot
Turn 4: Feraligatr uses Surf, Camerupt/Golem is KOed, Marshtomp is KOed, Entei is sent out
Turn 5: Entei uses Fire Blast (either a miss or survive), Feraligatr uses Surf and KOs Entei.

And with that battle out of the way, that eliminates all the luck manipulation for this segment... except one. I am forced to return to Agate for story purposes, so I use this, my last opportunity to try and get a Persim or Lum Berry. I also decide to get the Exp Share here, I didnt get it last time I was here because I plain forgot, but it will be very useful when I get the Master Ball for supplying gatr with as much Exp as possible and still getting the guaranteed snags. I have around 23,000 cash after I sell my TMs, so I also do shopping here for a Calcium and some Revives, saving around 6,000 cash for later.

Visiting the Shadow Pokemon Lab for the first time. You cannot enter just yet, but you have to go here to get an e-mail, which allows you to continue the story progression. There is a box of 3 Hyper Potions I can pick up here, but I choose to ignore them since I have enough of them for now and it would cost about 20 seconds to run around the side of the fence to get it. I dont have to read the e-mail here, which helps. Next is to Pyrite, pick up the Jail Key, unlock Reath/Ferma's cell, get the Elevator Key from Reath, then enter The Under (avoiding the trainer near the elevator).

At this point I can actually buy the Blizzard TM for 5,500, which is why I needed to save cash earlier. I save it for now, since I want to test Bite's usefulness in the Venus 1 battle. I go to pick up the Powerup Part, since thats a story McGuffin, then save just after since I'm right at the save point here. My time here needs to be 2:30 or less, making this segment about the same length as Segment 7.

In summary, this segment is much harder than Segment 7, even though it is around the same length and has the same number of battles, mainly due to the fact that Feraliagtr is on his own in these battles. Now, you may wonder why I choose to solo Feraligatr. I do this for two main reasons:

1) It gives her more Exp. If I'd stuck with two partners throughout the whole game, I would reach the not-so Elite 4 battles at around L48. This makes Nascour and especially Evice particularly deadly, with 6 Pokemon each of L55 and L62 respectively, and I would struggle to survive here. Focusing on one Pokemon with all the exp gives her double the growth essentially, which means I can basically use any partners as support later if there are battles she cannot do on her own, or for the ball-dupe glitch. This is also the reason I get the Exp Share, since it grants Feraligatr most of the Exp for those battles where she is forced to have a partner (3/4 vs 1/2). Feraligatr has a good start also, since the Mt Battle section comprises of about 90% of the Pokemon which are all weak to water, and gains better coverage later with Blizzard and Earthquake. Feraligatr also gains 8 levels in this segment alone, thats almost a level per battle, showing the signficance of having her solo.

2) It reduces the number of animations. Feraligatr entering the battle on her own is faster than, say Feraligatr and Espeon, since it adds an additional animation. Espeon tends to become less useful as the game progresses, having poor coverage and a limited movepool. So, even if Espeon stayed in the battles, it would just waste time if Espeon actually did anything, and since you HAVE to have a partner select a move before either of you act, and Espeon is faster than Feraligatr, it would be a time waster having him in the battle for combat purposes. Espeon usefulness however comes in later, since it is one of two Helping Hand users I have access to, but then it is fulfilling a support role and not a combat role, and a combat role for Espeon becomes a liability in terms of time.

So, in summary, I know what I need to do for this segment, but it all involves luck. Expect this to take some time for it all to fall into place.
 
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