Digging deep soloing Yellow with two-stage Ground-types

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Rules:
1. Only my starter in battle
2. No items in battle, except held items
3. No glitches, exploits, or save states
4. No movepool evasion-boosting moves before level 100*
Rule details:
-- I make no attempt to have the exact same rule details between generations.
-- I am allowed to manipulate my starter
-- I play the game at 4x game speed
-- For fair comparisons my Pokemon have perfect (or near perfect) DVs / IVs
-- I am allowed to catch HM users - I can use all field moves
-- Evasion boosting is allowed if the move is not obtained from the Pokemon’s movepool. For example, using Mimic or Mirror Move to boost evasion is allowed.
-- Surge's trash-can-puzzle is automatically solved
-- The bike is allowed in gen1 & 4, banned in gen2, and allowed only to bypass terrain in gen3
-- Saving between league members is allowed
-- I can pause the game and timer to take breaks
-- Items obtained with the ability Pickup can only be used if the starter obtained them
-- The footage is sped up & slowed down to match the pace of my narration
These Rule details apply only to generation 1:
-- All battle-mechanic glitches are allowed (glitches that occur outside of battle are banned)
-- In generation 1, I'm allowed to skip Marowak with the Poke Doll
If you didn’t read these rules and left a comment. Thanks for helping with the algorithm.
Patreon: / scottsthoughts
KZbin memberships:
/ @scottsthoughtspokemon
X: / psychicflying
Thumbnail art by BrianLS: / brianlsart
Illustrations by Sarina Vail: / sarinavail
Video Editing by Shawn McMullen
STAB: bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wi...
DVs / IVs: bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wi...
Damage Calculation: bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wi...
Stat and Catch Calculators: pycosites.com/pkmn/index.php
Gen1 Crit Rates: www.smogon.com/rb/articles/cr...
Growth Rates: bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wi...
Learnsets: bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wi...
Base Stats: bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wi...)
If you're new around here, Venomoth is a Psychic/Flying type, you can't change my mind.

[@uli11]

"Ok, here's Surge" (one frame).

[@uli11]

Omg Scott if you see this- skipping over Surge like this is so funny... this is a joke I would not hate as a recurring joke.

[@44MagnumNA]

​@@uli11it's as great as the random hiker Bruno running joke lol

[@Marshall_D_Teach_]

Surge is a joke and not a funny one...

[@natezuniga-qd7pe]

I just went to comment on that and saw this on top lmaoo

[@weaponizedemoticon1131]

Made me actually laugh out loud. Thanks Scott!

[@paulmann8570]

Scott: So here’s Surge. *Skips Surge* Surge during a random Dugtrio run: *And I took that personally.*

[@paleoscinkus542]

The reason Marowak can learn Fire Blast is because in Japanese it translates to “Daimonji” which is a ceremonial festival in Japan that signifies the spirits of deceased family members returning to the spirit world by lighting giant bonfires. There’s a lot of Japanese culture references in the games that are sadly cut out for international releases.

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

Oh that’s really interesting! Thanks for sharing.

[@crystalfireplays8060]

Damn that's crazy that's why fireblast looks the way it does

[@danielcarrilho5217]

Thats also why Alolan Marowak makes sense

[@Lurker504]

Scotts mind is speedrunning so much, he shortened tail whip to leer, very efficient. XD

[@WillowEpp]

44:02 It's really nice they added an exception so Earthquake can hit Koga's Psychic/Flying ace.

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

So true

[@KeitaroHirochi]

They even reward you for finding that out with a "It's super effective!" message, even though it isn't!

[@bettyunicorn6132]

@@KeitaroHirochi It really isn’t

[@FairFaceDann]

"this may be the best Pokémon yellow playthrough I have ever completed on the channel, my play was precise..." Cuts to Ash bumping into a fence for a few seconds. xD

[@Zorgdub]

That was priceless. Great comedic timing.

[@justsomeone3962]

Red*

[@hyuuint]

I think "Sike" works on a big level beyond your given reasons. This game was released in the 90s, and one of the "phrases" I remember people throwing around everywhere was "Psyche!"

[@goldkobold6496]

You know this video made me think that you doing a Pokémon yellow Relay race would be really cool. Just choosing 4 Pokémon that you think would do best in early, middle, mid late, and late game. Whenever you reach a point where you change to a new Pokémon they’re at the level your previous Pokémon was at with the moves they would have at that level

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

That’s a fun idea!

[@FarmerTome1]

I second this idea. 4 might be slightly too many but it would be fun to watch trios face off. Starters vs Legendaries vs Elemental punchers vs Eeveelutions, etc

[@Willingmess]

The sudden cut at Surge for Marowak was hilarious!

[@rtyuik7]

29:38 - this kind of subtle humor ("like, we can probly just skip Sur-- so after finishing the third gym leader.....") is that Goldilocks amount of 'you know what joke im going for, so im not gonna beat you over the head with it'...[chef's kiss]

[@chrisdixon7377]

Iv been the marowak in the credits for years! Finally!! Iv been waiting for this

[@nezzivancic3644]

I'm Zoroark in the credits... So I still have a few years of waiting 😂

[@myggmastaren3365]

So in this video we have the Yellow devil (Sandslash), the hope for kaizo ironmon players (Dugtrio, which can be normally caught at a high level in diglett cave) and Cubone's mom (Marowak)

[@javelin4646]

big yellow mention ‼️

[@RaynmanPlays]

Scott's Thoughts drinking game: Take a shot every time he says "damage rounding threshold." Use water. And only if you're severely dehydrated. Don't want any of you dying to alcohol poisoning or overhydration.

[@Articision]

Also: "In generation 1: < enter random broken game mechanic here>"

[@johanmedioni7856]

Mine would be “Scott uses a periphrasis to avoid repeating a word”.

[@marchaustein1429]

1:52:46 scott: "my play was precise" also scott: bonk bonk bonk your cuter is excellent

[@yoshi6421]

editor?

[@emkalina]

sanslash is probably one of the coolest designs ever. I've used dozens of them from gen 1 to 3

[@jackfarnsworth791]

Sandshrew and Sandslash are my all time faves! As a kid Sandshrew and Articuno were who I’d have day dreams about in class I might have been about the happiest person alive when I got an ice-type sandshrew

[@HighPriestFuneral]

@@jackfarnsworth791 Come to think of it, Sandshrew riding on the back of an Arcticuno is a great mix of adorable and majestic.

[@ZealousPawn]

Awesome video. Super rewarding to see my Sandslash speed tie observation and Snowy’s subsequent code analysis get a shout-out in the video. Thrilled to see it be a part of an awesome Sandslash run too, fantastic results Scott.

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

This was one of the most interesting, if not the most interesting thing discovered while doing these runs!

[@2122Super]

Really loved this segment

[@mariozanchez]

"my bone move is having pp problems" You can hear the smirk before he regains composure.

[@Chronoflation]

"I think this may have been my best playthrough of Pokemon yellow, my play was precise..." *immediately walks into a wall for half a second 😂🤣 great timing on that footage there. If that was intentional humor or not, just great 👍

[@foxbird123]

Sandslash is my favorite of these 3. He was my buddy in Stadium.

[@TheGreatSpanishBaldwin]

The Surge battles in this video were just, *cheff’s kiss*

[@banditrests]

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that marowak was one of the developers’ favorite Pokémon, so they decided to just give it all the best moves even if they didn’t really make sense. Sort of like the designer of Pikachu saying she made the encounter rate so low because she didn’t want other people to have it lol

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

If true, I love that. Not everything needs logic.

[@banditrests]

@@ScottsThoughtsPokemon I can’t seem to find the source for that, probably one of a million Pokémon fact videos or something but it kinda makes sense, these games were just made by people who didn’t really know what they were doing was going to be a phenomenon lol

[@calebjohnson9740]

Just incredible work Scott, steadily establishing yourself as one of the best poketubers, if not the best already

[@Zorgdub]

Seeing Scott use Earthquake against the flying Venomoth brought a tear to my eye.

[@NioNerd]

Scott: "I think this Sandslash run is my best Yellow run on the channel. I played precisely.." *proceeds to run into a sign* lol xD Very good video, Scott! I love your content. Keep it up!

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

I need to ask Shawn if he did that edit on purpose, I didn’t notice it while reviewing haha

[@extraplain2412]

Came to say this 😂

[@ryanwells137]

That Agatha vs Marowak fight was the most cursed thing ive ever seen

[@jamescallaghan7726]

Hahahaha! I love the sandlash "and here's Serge" instant cut to dugtrio! Well done!

[@olivernylander]

Sandslash revenge arc! Only pokémon I tried speedrunning with using your rules & interface. Best video you've made yet probably :)

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

I’m really happy with how this one turned out!

[@bretterry8356]

So happy to see this video. Three reasons. 1. Ground type is my favorite. 2. Pure ground is better than rock/ground because it doesn't have the extra weaknesses. 3. Gen 1 crit mechanics on Sandslash with Slash is amazing. I had one on my team the first time I played Blue Version when I was a kid, and it's been my favorite Pokémon for over 20 years now.

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

100% pure ground is better than Rock. It isn’t just the weaknesses. It’s also the speed. Rock types are generally slow and that just emphasizes the weaknesses even more.

[@HemiJack]

Big yellow crossover caught me of guard, but it was a very nice surprise!

[@DemonsFlame]

Marowak: "After many trials and tribulations, I can finally unleash my ultimate technique, eat my Bubble Beam, Rhydon!" Rhydon: *Survives* Marowak: "You had one job Bubble Beam, ONE JOB!!"

[@llSuperSnivyll]

Mostly just for curiosity's sake, the logic for Marowak showing up as a GHOST is what is known in the glitch communities as a Special Encounter, because it's exactly the same type of encounter that spawns when using the Mew/Ditto Glitch. It is the reason the Ditto Glitch can be manipulated (in Red and Blue, as it's pointless in Yellow due to being only in Cinnabar) to remove one of the Snorlax and skip Pokémon Tower entirely.

[@Zorgdub]

0:39 "You clicked on a 2 hours video, what did you expect?" Wait, what? I see a pokemon yellow video from Scott, and I clicked without thinking. I didn't notice it was two hours! I'm not ready for this!

[@rtyuik7]

when i saw the thumbnail in my Subscription Feed, i thought the time was something like 20 minutes...when i heard him say that this was a 2 hour video, i had to postpone watching the rest of it xD

[@removebeforeflightgamingth9923]

No what a wasted opportunity, you should’ve done a head to head to head to head to head to head to head to head to head vs video with dodrio, magneton, and dugtrio. They are also a type triangle, random?! I think not!

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

Yeah, I wanted to do that for awhile. But Sandslash vs Marowak just wasn’t as good as all three of these together.

[@Robeebert]

You had a tangent in the first couple of minutes into a breakdown video. For that reason I have subscribed. That is the entire reason I watch a breakdown.

[@PaperPikpik-kb3rj]

Hey Scott! I’ve been watching for a ew years now and you’ve definitely become my favorite solo runner! You’re dedication to doing multiple playthroughs for the best possible result is always interesting to see and I love tuning in weekly to see what you’ve made. Amazing job!

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

Thanks. I really appreciate the kind words. I’m happy to hear that my work has been noticed and that it matters in some small way :)

[@Articision]

Always a treat these versus videos, awesome job :)

[@dxjxc91]

1:52:47 "my play was precise" said exactly as he bonks into a fence... *relatively precise.

[@Xeraser2]

Marowak's first Surge split absolutely killed me even if it did take a moment to sink in.

[@khaotix64]

A nice long versus Gen 1 video!! My favorite 😊❤

[@angelotirado3542]

I love it when you make audio mistakes with the editorial corrections, you nail it in a humorous way

[@iskander0725]

I'm a 1:45 into the video and one tangent later. I'm already glad I clicked on this 2 hour video. Big plus points, I love all of these Mons so much.

[@Munja03]

This is the kind of high class video we've come to expect!

[@skeetermania3202]

That Bide speed tie info was nuts! Also, I wonder if you tried Seismic Toss for Marowak. For two of the Cloyster you’re going to face, I’ve observed that Level 43 is needed to 2 hit Rival Fival’s and 62 is needed to 2 hit Lorelei’s.

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

Truly

[@stopstopp]

The irony of saying how precise the final Sandslash run went as he walks into a wall. Never change, Scott

[@jamescallaghan7726]

Amazing Dugtrio and Serge cut! I've been watching your content for years now, and your produced videos have been getting better and better. I have also been enjoying your streams, and like the approach that you've taken by doing the first play through recorded and then jumping in.

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

I’m always working to make these better. Thanks for leaving this comment because it means I’m moving in the right direction. I’ve also been really enjoying the new stream format. It leaves me with so much more energy and it definitely improves the quality of my play.

[@arckrokosz3123]

Thank you so much for the great content! It's been so awesome seeing just how far you've grown and all the neat additions you've added to your videos. Keep up the great work! - the #1 seel fan

[@tobarf2940]

Love that you're getting sponsorships! Applying it to your content in the ad reel made it engaging Great video

[@gamer19191]

Sandshrew is my favorite Pokemon of all time, so im glad that Sandslash was able to win!

[@signalfirefly]

I couldn't tell you now exactly who was on my original Blue team, but I remember that Sandslash. There's a special place in my heart for that backsprite.

[@derekrobb2458]

Thanks for this scott got a 12 hour drive home and this video help me power through a chunk of it

[@TheLostSoul0]

Fantastic video, Scott!

[@theSato]

over 2 hours, i am so happy also love to see the big yellow shoutout, he is the only other youtuber i patreon for! having night anxiety keeping me from sleeping , and i have a double shift at work in 7 hours, thanks fren

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

Big Yellow is great.

[@Regenstaug]

Sandslash is God-tier!!! At least, it is in my heart!!

[@juanchirino4900]

Excellent video Scott. They all landed more or less where I was expecting. I was surprised that Sandslash did quite that well though. Figured it would come in second to Starmie. It's a good surprise though.

[@shimauta1941]

Three for the fact it's such a long video. IMHO your longest videos are your best ones.

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

Agreed

[@rasul9614]

loooooooooooooove the long format!!!!! please do more of these and the analysis videos oh my laaawd thank you (ok this sounds sarcastic but I am genuine, I love this format)

[@youtubemixup756]

Hey I caught the preview. I know you’ve been working hard on this video for a while Scott. Cant wait to see it.

[@HighPriestFuneral]

Sandslash did a wonderful job. One of my favorite Pokemon in Gen 1 and you've done it great justice. Thank you, Scott. You've done incredible work. (Also I kind of like how the Oak battle at the end was an interesting mirror of the playthroughs themselves.)

[@heath8377]

Lovely to see my favorite type and one of my favorite Pokemon spotlighted in this run!

[@williambaker5730]

Love the content Scott keep it up!

[@shimauta1941]

Another great video down. Stay awesome Scott.

[@clashatdemonhed9554]

I love that you get sponsors now. Keep it up!

[@marlysalt]

Thanks for the birthday gift, Scott! I always wanted a video from you.

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

Happy birthday!

[@VegeMaticPragtarian]

Scott: “My play was precise” *immediately shows footage, bumping into a wall* 😂 Great vid Scott and team

[@Rubbly]

So lucky that you managed to hit Venomoth with those Ground type moves! I thought the Grass/Flying type would give you more trouble! Enormous video, always appreciate the effort you put into these VS videos! Congrats on the sponsor as well, should make the work you put into this a bit more worth it!

[@flickerdart]

1:52:47 Scott: "My play was precise" Footage: bonking into the fence for several steps

[@Synthese3218]

Great video as always Scott! Thank you for the Sandslash spotlight as it is my favorite Pokemon, even though you hate it with a burning passion :D

[@n64_kfp]

Although the video is long, it didn't feel like it because it's so well put together. Very much enjoyed getting to watch these three runs this morning. One thing I do want to note is that when showing the opponent's team on the right, a pokemon in the 5th slot has a darker shade of purple for its speed stat, which makes it a little bit harder to read. Not sure if this is because I'm watching on my phone, but thought I'd mention it. But again, great video Scott, really looking forward to watching the analysis videos.

[@zeroyon4562]

This is one of your finest videos, thanks Scott. I’m surprised just how good sandslash is. I never gave it much thought when I played it as a kid, but tbf I just brute forced the game with zero strategy anyway.

[@charlessegale6493]

Three more videos on all three of these Pokémon? Wow, I guess you needed to do this in order to properly *Dig* into the nitty gritty of all three of these Ground type go-getters! As usual, excellent video, Scott and Team! My brother and I can't think of a better way to spend time after screaming ourselves hoarse cheering our champion on at Medieval Times! Seeing the three-way race between Sandslash, Dugtrio and Marowak, I can't say I'm surprised how well Sandslash dominated due to the scintillating supremacy of Swords Dance.

[@mrdewarion]

I'd really *really* love to see a reaction of one of the original devs to one of these analysis. I have a hunch they never in their lives anticipated, that people, let alone fans, would ever dive that deep into what can only be described as the very core of the code. It must feel surreal, given that it was basically marketed as a pure kid's game way back when.

[@jdsnerdverse]

Very good video Scott I hope my pokémon Blue ground versus video lives up to yours

[@Sjavlin]

Yeah, I love these long videos ❤

[@Zorgdub]

"The only optional fight on the SS Anne is the Gentleman guarding the Rare Candy." So it's official, getting Rest is non-optional.

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

Correct

[@Marchingvenusaur]

Marowak presenting as a ghost in some situations is incredibly cool, i never wouldve expected that. But also the idea of fishing one up is pretty funny.

[@vampocalpyse]

Sike art with the fisher in Ike's clothes with his pole as the sword would be amazing.

[@RichardBlaziken]

Sandslash is one of my most favorite Pokémon, so this was a blast to see! That said, I know some time in the future you can get it to S tier! I’d love to see that happen, it’s so close!

[@andreapareti324]

Wow, that Marowak Agatha fight was something else! I guess that's why they say "never give up", huh.

[@enitheway]

"Ok, here's Surge" got me so good.

[@kaseywalton]

1. The Surge bit was one of the best you've done. 2. Sike is awkward. I would recommend against using it. It reminds me of when you were toying with using the name Bone Slow. 3. The Bide information was the most interesting aside. I hope it doesn't get lost in the middle of this video.

[@jeffdeneum]

Scott! What the heck man, 2 hours?! You're the best content creator I follow and you deserve a million subs man, been following you since forever, wish I could support you on patreon but I'm too poor. Thanks so much for all you do and make sure to take care of yourself!

[@wowallthosemovies]

Wow I'm so proud of my little spiky boy! With Sandshrew It's been my favorite Pokémon for a long time. So surprising that it would do so well too, but access to swords dance just gives it the edge.

[@mukariz]

I remember doing a sandslash run a while back and was pleasantly surprised with how well I did. Nowhere near your level but still a good run.

[@somethingandapie]

Ah yes, Lance, the famous flying type specialist.

[@BraneWyrms]

For the nickname Sike: sometime's I just like nicknames like "Ike's Fisherman"

[@xujhan]

Regarding the calculation for the odds of getting a blizzard freeze at the end of your Marowak run: the chance is actually better than the 9.9% you cited. With a single use of Blizzard you have a 10% chance to miss, an 81% chance to hit without a freeze, and a 9% chance to hit with a freeze (disregarding the chance of a gen 1 miss). So the chance of not freezing on a single Blizzard is 91%, and the chance of getting two non-freezes in a row is 91% * 91% = 82.81%. The complement of that, 17.19%, is the probability of getting at least one freeze out of two Blizzards - or very slightly less if you account for gen 1 misses. Love the videos!

[@kevinsips3658]

44:50 Ma-ma-mia! It’s-a Porta-mento! Leave it to Scott to accidentally use an Italian word about music theory instead of a French word about… words 😄

[@adamjones3672]

45:00 Call him “The Sea King”

[@HighPriestFuneral]

Or to give Ike his due as well, "Ike the Sea King".

[@juhboodles]

Ayoo! Gettin that bag tho! Big gratz! But I feel like I'm listening to you in VLC on like...1.12× speed. You the bestist

[@klausklaus8092]

One idea since you do multiple playthroughs anyway: It would be interesting to see the sum of the best splits at the end, just to get a feel for consistency vs. ceiling. Would be cool if you consider it, nice video as always 👍

[@26KIDa]

[Sad Story] So my guinea pig has been sick for the past few months, requiring (at least) twice-daily feedings from a large syringe. Whenever I sit down to feed her, I would select one of your videos and watch it while giving her "critical care". I swear she would watch! She passed away in her sleep last night. This was the last video we watched together. Thank you, Scott, for these videos: they mean a lot to me.

[@chrisa6212]

As a Sandslash fan, I'm glad to see it do so well

[@nicholasharbeson1748]

You got me I do enjoy your videos just the length sometimes. I'm a sub but want to continue to hear your thoughts

[@lenlimbo]

I'm gonna be honest, when you said that you didn't expect for Surge to be a problem with any of these three ground types, I mumbled in loud voice "Well, if Raichu manages to connect a Mega Kick, Dugtrio is frail enough to get shoot down". About 1 hour and a half later, when I was reading in the couch while hearing the video, you mention how a gen 1 miss followed by a mega kick KOs Dugtrio and I was all "I fucking said it!!" 🤣

[@samrickis9204]

Hey, Scott I love the videos. I was wondering what you use to alter your starter pokemon

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

Disassembly + GameHook + Frontend I wrote. It's a software stack that isn't publicly available right now.

[@conmac1351]

Sandslash is my favorite from gens 1-3, awesome to see this roll out. Still looking forward to the "but what if Alolan form?" run, whenever it comes out in probably 2029!

[@archiiebarrett]

I'm so excited for Seaking vs. Seadra. I KNOW it's coming this year, someday.

[@discgolfwes]

Scott's Thoughts the Movie: Triple Trouble

[@nesflaten]

"My play was presice" Walks into wall for 10 steps 😂