How FAST Can Squirtle Beat Pokémon Red?

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Here are chapters if you want to jump around! What did you think about Squirtle in Gen 1? Is it your favorite starter? 0:00 - Intro 1:10 - Stats and Moves 2:59 - First Gym: Brock's Rock Types 4:00 - The Value of Taking Risks 5:58 - Second Gym: Misty's Water Team 7:25 - Single Highest Cluster 7:55 - Unique Coverage with Dig 9:15 - Third Gym: Lt. Surge's Electric Types 10:44 - Split Data: First Look 12:55 - Cycling Road Grinding 15:31 - Fifth Gym: Koga's Poison Types 16:37 - Brisk Swim Down to Cinnabar 17:44 - Sixth Gym: Blaine's Fire Types 18:20 - Fourth Gym: Erika's Grass Types 19:06 - Silph Co. and Rival #5 19:56 - Seventh Gym: Sabrina's Psychic Types 21:46 - Eighth Gym: Giovanni's Ground Types 23:49 - Split Data: Final Look 25:24 - Elite Four Start: Lorelei and Beyond 29:15 - Champion Fight 31:14 - Results: How fast did Squirtle beat the game?

[@Greymangamer]

Real one! Squirtle was my first starter back when I got my version of blue in the 90s. Glad to see he had a good run. As always, great content!

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

I've always loved the Squirtle Squad but I'm a fire starter guy at heart.

[@PabloNeves26]

Oh, you think the internet was a mistake? Did you know that in terms of human reproduction Vaporeon...

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Yea, it's pretty cringe lol.

[@thejuic3b0i64]

No

[@franslair2199]

Vaporeon is not even in top 3 eevelutions on e621

[@cody-m]

Solid sunglasses placement on the overlay sprite. And ever-greater commentary -- concise, technical, and very consumable. This vid did not show up in my subscription feed nor notifications for whatever reason, but I saw your post about Squirtle and navigated to that on your main video page. Go Squirtle!

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Yea going forward, I'm trying a few things out that might affect sub feeds. I'll try to do a post at the time of release with a direct link to help out going forward!

[@realperson69]

Even though I understand the reasoning, I still dry heaved when I watched you sell TM13. 😂 Thanks for the video!

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

TM13 gets tossed a lot on the channel! Blizzard is just too good!

[@lamiaprincess6371]

So going into this, I was pretty aware that Blastoise was the speedrun route before Nidoking eventually replaced it (and Blastoise still does really respectably tbh) so I knew that Squirtle had some potential, but I thought that it's lackluster stats would end up really holding it back. It doesn't have great utility moves or powerful set-up options. Withdraw exists for sure but its definitely no one's preferred option for getting badge boosts. Looking back however, there are definitely some things I overlooked. One of the big ones I didn't think about was Mega Punch, which really gave Squirtle an edge over Bulbasaur early on. It's just a move that does more than double the damage of Tackle and that definitely played a part in how fast Squirtle was early on. Also it's coverage can't be understated, because hitting SE is just, very good and Squirtle does a really good job at that. But also, I'm a lot more familiar with Yellow than I am Red or Blue and I think Yellow is just a harder game for most Water-type Pokemon. Surge has Sleep Powder to mess you up, Blaine is a lot more difficult and is a significantly higher level, even random little things like Giovanni having a Persian and the Nidos with Thunder and the general presence of Exeggcute/Exeggutor and Magneton really hurt the Water type. In R/B, Squirtle just has a lot less to solve. Also very quickly but one little thing I noticed and wanted to shout out: the bit in Rock Tunnel where you wait to heal your Poison from the Oddish/Bulbasaur Jr. Trainer until your Repel wore out was really cool. It's a really minor optimization but it's also just a really smart one? Always a lot of love for the big optimizations but I feel the little ones need their shout outs too sometimes.

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

I like the attention to detail. It's cool you noticed some of that stuff but I will say I disagree about the Yellow to Red part. Most of the problematic parts of runs will be Koga/Blaine/Giovanni 3/maybe Lance/and the Champion fight but fights like Blaine/Giovanni/the Champion's Sandslash are just all handled easily. I think the easier Rival 2 fight combined with bad Surge AI made it a very tempting run but what it came down to was a bloated mid game to keep me on Red.

[@AH12866]

Love the artwork to represent Squirtle squad! I was pleasantly surprised with this one. Great stuff as always!

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Thanks! Yea I always loved the Squirtle Squad. I feel like it's sad there isn't a sprite for that in Yellow considering it's anime heavy.

[@mikekalicki1059]

Really enjoyed this one and its a good start to the new year. Glad the start trio is completed and i can say i am honestly surpised squirtle is thes best.

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

I always find it interesting. I watch other content from time to time and I'm surprised that Squirtle didn't win other starter times and I'm surprised Articuno wasn't anyone else's top bird.

[@red-eyessolares1817]

Nice to see my favorite Kanto Starter do well! Cool to see how you were able to use Withdraw in the the run!

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

I'd look at someone sideways if they didn't use withdraw!

[@johngleeman8347]

The cool shades gave our blue bowling ball the confidence it needed to succeed!

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

It gave it a ton of confidence!

[@willjoyce5013]

The back sprite melts my brain a little bit when it's used to closer but works for Squirtle as he's tiny plus it's well detailed

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Yea Space World back sprites are hit or miss.

[@alexcampbell7872]

So nice to pull up good ole tube of you and see that you have posted a video. Keep up the epic work my friend!

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Thank you kindly! I do my best!

[@Speedrunner0218]

Real one. I'm surprised squirtle got this result. The others with swords dance is op

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

I think it's mainly just due to how generally weak fire/grass is. They just don't get any moves and wait until Silph to be carried by SD/Body Slam. Bulba did well, but a water type with ground coverage and a badge boosting move was just really good!

[@mattyp724]

Squirtle Squirtle BROTHER! That back sprite is ELITE

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Space World!

[@mastercyclon]

Poor little feller. He got his crown but lost his shades. Can't be a real one without the squad shades.

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

The real OGs have backup glasses for that very occasion!

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

17:37 *TOMBSTONER, BROTHER!!!*

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Yea! Yea!

[@n64_kfp]

I love squirtle and was so happy to see you put the squad shades on him for this run. Can't wait to see when you get to run Blastoise.

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

The shades are the most important part!

[@tonyyu6153]

So funny to see the sunglasses fall off and with bandage on Squirtle face when it was hurt seriously lol 86.28, it is indeed not bad at all, even no swordsdance or growth, but it has blizzard and surf.

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Yea swords dance would have been nice but overall it does kind of make me wonder about Blastoise a lot.

[@tonyn7560]

Happy new year my man. That throwing off the helmet analogy was hilarious mate

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Thanks! Sometimes I just start talking lol.

[@mukariz]

I was shocked to see Squirtle win but it makes sense after seeing this video.

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

I hoped I explained it well!

[@foodruct]

You are a real one Matt I was surprised to see squirtle to so good.

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Appreciate that and it was pretty solid! Really high tier run for a base stage!

[@bateltheassistant]

Squirtle had earned the cool glasses 😎 for sure with that kind of dominant performance. 😊 Having the medium slow growth rate is a blessing and a curse, especially whenever you need the extra edge that badge boost can give. This way managing exp is a challenge and requires a lot of experience. Reflect can be really annoying especially at the final fight,and if the game has a special mood it would add a crit😂😂😂. Alakazam can be really scary whenever you don't have a clear answer to it. But overall Squirtle was really good as a first stage pokemon. Water types in general tends to be really good with the right moves. I really like the back sprite it makes Squirtle so adorable. 😊 And the thumbnail is really cool as well. Thanks for making me have a great time while completing a crystal legacy run.😊

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

It was fun but I'm glad to push on. The last few videos/streams let me get kinks out of the overlay and finally know what I need to finalize for Crystal. It was hell doing both at once because I was always tweaking it whether it be because I wanted to or someone had good feedback. Squirtle was solid! You don't see many water types get much outside of the bog standard surf/ice move strategy. Having a badge boosting move and ground coverage really helped it out on top of that sweet level up group. It was close in the end and I wonder how the final stages will do? I think it could potentially be the opposite order, lol. Charizard already had the glow up with like a 96/100 rating so if something beats it, they'll be in a HIGH position. What's next in Crystal Legacy? Meganium? Pls say you went Dugtrio.

[@bateltheassistant]

@@GymLeaderMatt1987 A ground move for a water type is really helpful,it make electric types so much easier. I learned to love it time and time again with my run with Feraligatr. Meganium is going to be next but I'm optimistic about it , because it gets a lot of great moves. Yeah I'll probably do Dugtiro at some point,but I'll have to trade it to the game, which opens a can of worms with disobedience,but I'm willing to try it out. 🤔 About Charizard though it's difficult pokemon to route in gen 1, especially because of Lance's Gyarados and Lorelei's whole team . If only it could have had thunder punch traded back to gen 1 , Charizard could have a chance to do it without too much over leveling.

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

With Swords Dance I thought Charizard was fantastic but I guess we'll have to wait until a bigger channel puts it's name on the map, haha. It was a very dominant run up there with things like Gengar in Red and Yellow! If I had a bunch of subs, I'd make a 'legacy' style game but made with solo running in mind. The part that bothers me about 99% of ROM hacks is that they don't keep that playstyle in mind. I think a menu that let you pick any Pokemon in the game to start with, stops you from using items, and forces the typical rules on you would be great as well as tailor the experience around that. I enjoy difficulty as much as the next guy but you have to keep the Pidgey solo runs or the Hoppip solo runs in mind when you are giving Jasmine the beefiest sausage team in the history of the game, haha, but I'll be patiently waiting for the next one!

[@bateltheassistant]

@@GymLeaderMatt1987 Hopip and Pidgey are going to be painful without hidden power,and I'm not sure how to even start routing them out,but I guess that Meganium will give me more experience on running with a grass type that has leech seed. I wish that there was a game with a menu that let you pick between nuzlockes and solo runs. That could make crystal a lot more challenging and not as punishing as the kaizo games, that's for sure.🫡 Whenever you'd get to do that, I don't mind helping you out with testing. Yeah that's a good point,rom hacks are basically making you run with a full team, because some of them are really making you finish the game at a very high level with a team in a casual run. Some of them are really hard to even nuzlocke, mostly because of the end game. So I'm not sure that some are possible to solo run with non legendary Pokemons.🤔

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Yea I'd guess it's because solo running is probably the most niche thing to do in Pokemon and it's not as huge as other things like nuzlockes or just casual play. There's a reason that someone just talking about Crystal Legacy changes gets more views than the majority of solo runs lol. I'd love for it to keep growing and growing but with Jrose only doing like 20 videos last year with several just being Small Ant copy type runs that aren't solo and MDB's views dwindling, I don't have much hope!

[@gunner101ism]

GLM, your a real one. I think your video styling is so good, you are hilarious on commentary, I like your ranking system and the split data is well timed and helpful, loving the content #tombstonerbrother

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

That's very nice of you to say! Appreciate that. I'm trying to get it all working together smoothly and always trying to make progress!

[@gmanz5]

My rotten adult brain loves the word squirt!

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Lmao, noooo.

[@PraefMace]

Can't say I expected Squirtle to be the best of the trio! Do wonder if that will remain true as fully evolved.

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

It’ll be hard to be Charizard but I can’t really find anything wrong with Blastoise. Venusaur will almost assuredly be last though.

[@michaelclark2458]

As a charmander fan I always had deep respect for squirtle. He’s a real solid option.

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

For sure. I always thought it was probably the best but I'm a fire starter guy myself.

[@blakeschwab7518]

squirtle was my favorite starter as a kid ( my least favorite now) so excited to see what it can do. water typing is good but its slow and defensive, not great for solos. really dont think it will compete with bulbasaur. idk why people act like 90% accurate moves are 50% accurate, theyre usually fairly reliable. Edit: i was dead wrong, good job squirtle.

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

For the accuracy, I think it’s more or less confirmation bias or just what a big KZbinr said. You notice the times you miss a couple of times more than the 10 consecutive times you hit.

[@camsaw2388]

Great video new layout looks so clean

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Thanks! Got another few changes to finalize it!

[@Harmony242]

4:23 sneaky Gen 1 miss!

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Gotta love it.

[@rando5673]

I was hoping it would be a full team of squirtles

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Sounds slow!

[@mattyp724]

Actually think that could be a really cool run…have them all have different move sets!

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Ha, Squirtle gets like 4 moves total.

[@LT3Fluffy]

Hero on a half shell BOI!

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Yea!

[@senorguthrie]

Real one loving the vids keep up the good work

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Appreciate that. Glad you enjoy the content!

[@removebeforeflightgamingth9923]

Are these the beta gold and silver sprites?! I love the old tail sprites for squirtle and wartortle makes them look like fish instead of a squirrel tail!

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

At 3:33 I put it up! I tried to start implementing it in the video!

[@victoriancu5661]

The stomp (rapidash in the Blaine fight) that did so much damage after the leer was a crit. So the leer didn’t matter and also it was doing way more damage than it should have under normal circumstances. Just wanted to let you know.

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

I noticed after the edit but most of the time I'm speaking I'm also talking about the combined runs. 2x debuff to defense doesn't feel great with Take Down! Glad you are paying attention though!

[@banditrests]

21:19 I know you meant psybeam because you can see it, but can psywave even crit? I don’t think it rolls damage that way. Anyway, great run, the squirtle line is always great, it just wishes it had shell smash like 7 generations earlier lol. And yeah, gen 1 blizzard is one of the most broken widely distributed moves ever, why is it 90% accurate?

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

I think Psywave has it's own calculations and can't crit. Almost something like Seismic Toss or Night Shade not being able to crit.

[@34autobot]

Is this video not showing up in their sub feed? I only saw this because it popped up on my home page

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

I tried to put out a community post! I was trying messing with some settings to see if it did anything. Spoilers: It didn't, lol.

[@Schluggo]

I did not have a prediction but I am GLAD to see sleep strats lose so go Squirtle real one

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Yea, Bulbasaur was a little generic but effective. I'm glad the better overall learnset prevailed.

[@TheRomanFox]

Great Video, Matt!

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@GeneralWiggins]

Damn, that shocked me. Definitely thought bulbasaur had it. Always question why you skip ice beam, but I guess it's about time to admit I have no idea what I'm on about. Easy, because its true.

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Ice Beam always comes down to what it actually helps you do. If I'm getting Blizzard later, what does Ice Beam do in the interim. I have to skip Erika until after Blaine no matter what so the answer to what Ice Beam does is make Rival 4 faster and then you have to ask yourself if going to the top floor, grabbing an extra water, talking to the girl, opening the start menu, going to items, scrolling down to Ice Beam, learning another move, and then replacing that move later is really saving you time just to make Rival 4 ever so slightly faster. Casually, it's a pretty good move but when you are just trying to save all the time in the world, it's really just wasting a minute+ just to make one of the easiest battles in the game like 2 turns faster.

[@gregoryhorn9841]

I enjoy the starter runs. Squirtle is my favorite

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

It was pretty good. These are done then I want to get Blastoise/Venusaur eventually then potentially move on to other gen starters? Not really sure where to go.

[@reddragonpress]

Squirtle Squad Superiority!

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

It did well!

[@dragonfly116]

GLM, you're a real one

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

YOU are too!

[@Melody-ic1gi]

"Im sure someone is gonna comment and say it's not but....I don't believe you"😂😂

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Surf for Gyaraodos!

[@petertje8841]

Nice content bro, keep going ❤

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Thanks! I'll do what I can.

[@carl4889]

Did you play around with Hydro Pump in any of your trial runs?

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

I did not. The moveset is pretty tight and how late you get it combined with Surf being permanent just makes me hold off. I'm not sure where it would have helped at.

[@RsSooke]

Squad goals

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

The goal is to beat Bulbasaur! We'll see how it goes.

[@RsSooke]

@@GymLeaderMatt1987 I was honestly surprised! Very good.

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

I had some practice with Wartortle a long time ago but it just has everything it needs.

[@kasimsiddiqui]

Love you kept tackle for so long

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Yea, it’s replacing a move just to replace it is a bad practice. The reality is most of the game you rely on one or two moves and streamlining things to where there’s no added fat feels good. Glad you noticed!

[@Xantrro]

It's turtle time ! :D

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

I like turtles!

[@kevinsips3658]

Was that “not so fast, my friend” a Lee Corso homage?

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

You already know!

[@lukcdk]

i believe this video did not appear in my notification section, either ways youtube recommended me this one so i saw it.

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

I made a community post earlier about it. That one should have made it to the recommended.

[@CaravanOfSleep]

You know what sounds worse than Squirtle? Moistle

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Doesn’t quite roll off off the tongue.

[@stefanoc5099]

Loving your videos man... does someone has a link for the sprites? loving them

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

They are just Space World demo sprites. Good should point you in the direction but the front sprites are just red version. I put the information around 3 minutes in.

[@Kanbei11]

Squirtle gets tombstoner by TM? Nice

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Oh yea. That's HUGE for a water type that normally don't see that sort of coverage.

[@thetrav2100]

keep it up man!

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Doing everything I can!

[@Polyphony1987]

I love your videos Matt! Will you ever take sponsors?

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Probably not, especially for a hobby. I don't even play ads on livestreams or anything.

[@MazterP28]

Is this the spaceworld demo for squirtle backsprite

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Around 3 minutes I plaster the sprites on the screen!

[@gambleralex5083]

Real one

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Appreciate that!

[@Deez-Master]

I always liked squirtle hes a cute lil guy

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

I've always loved the OG Squirtle Squad episodes.

[@RobKni76]

ALGORITHM

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Appreciate it, brother.

[@charlesbopp1870]

Soddie -popped

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Music to my ears!

[@kiwiciwi123]

🐢 💨 , turtle on a nutshell . Would you ever do Sirfetch”d backport ?

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

I got a list of like 5 or 6 I want to get to and since I generally only do about 1 a month, it might be a while!

[@Wilkey89]

Do you know what my prediction is?? Everyone has fun ❤️

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Great prediction!

[@rjhardesty334]

Ty for the content bro

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Any time!

[@Reeves89]

Woop new vid thanks GLM

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Hope you enjoyed!

[@jackruby6696]

REAL ONE

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Appreciate it, brother.

[@TwoShot.]

Lets gooooooooooooooooooooo

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Let's get it.

[@sidj.6491]

Real one :)

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Appreciate that!

[@miguelceromil]

I don't shower since last year

[@kyra4942]

im proud of you squirtle, well played matt

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Yea, Wartortle was great when I played it forever ago and I knew Squirtle had some potential.

[@caseypreisler6878]

Inquisitor run next please?

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

Lmao, that guy was a piece of garbage.

[@caseypreisler6878]

@@GymLeaderMatt1987 agreed but at least we all got a laugh when you took the trash out dissing him as he left the stream😂

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

I always open up the floor for conversations but I find that most people like that are cowards that can't articulate a coherent thought if their life depended on it. He probably drools on himself.

[@caseypreisler6878]

Agreed, he was far from great at articulating himself.

[@celiaveronicahipolitoramos5033]

I like your accent

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

That's nice of you to say!

[@zacharyheflin6794]

🐢 👓

[@MrBoneArrowTheEggRoll]

DID SOMEBODY SAY LOBTOMIZED (GEOMETRY DASH REFERENCE)

[@GymLeaderMatt1987]

If you typed in lobotomy or lobotomized into Google, I don't think Geometry Dash would be in the first 3,000 results haha.

[@MrBoneArrowTheEggRoll]

​@@GymLeaderMatt1987 yeah but lobotomy dash