Kadabra Only - Pokemon Yellow

[@Sorrowisyourdemon]

Hearing about those conditional 5 pokeballs you can get from Oak sounds like such a playground rumor

[@TheMoogleKing93]

The text box even bugs out!

[@jdsnerdverse]

100% true I did a ditto run and I did that to sell and buy an extra potion or two

[@RoninCatholic]

I never played gen 1 without getting them, and was surprised to hear how many people don't take them until I really thought about it.

[@_RiseAgainst]

This confused me as a kid. Sometimes I would get pokeballs, sometimes I thought I was crazy and made them up.

[@Matthew-bw6so]

I never knew that!

[@perkypenguin1663]

I don't know why, but I already knew about how horrible Alakazam's starting moveset was in this game, but it never occurred to me until today that Kadabra would have the same problem. On a related note, I can't wait for the baby Pokemon to turn the entire game into Kadabra's Brock split.

[@lainwired3946]

While I get the trading aspect (i was also a 90s kid), I always hated how Gengar and Kedabra were locked behind that mechanic. You always wanted those pokemon on your team but by the time the gba came around, it wasnt that easy to find a teenage friend to trade with, and now I always play solo. Its one mechanic i still dont like all these years later.

[@sepg5084]

This is why after playing Pokemon Red and Ruby decades ago, i have only always played later versions on emulator. I don't want to pay for a game that i can't play to the fullest if i have nothing to trade with/can't go to pokemon events.

[@lainwired3946]

@@sepg5084 yeah I have cheated them in the past but back in the day you basically had to throw away your kedabra to get the proper stats etc w gameshark (or mainly xploder in europe). Also obv I meant alakazam in the OP*!

[@BloodfelX]

Mystery Dungeon did it best in my opinion, just having a trade substitute item called the Link Cable that fulfils the evolution requirements while making it difficult to access the power of fully evolved trade Pokemon as early as Level 15. (Kadabra being able to evolve into Alakazam that early is so absurd, but I suppose Magikarp into Gyarados isn't too different.)

[@connordarvall8482]

I grew up out of town, so there were no opportunities for me to trade. I just had a game where I couldn't use 20 or so mons.

[@feliciavale4279]

Misty is so sexy

[@aarongeorge8175]

In Red there was a bug that made it impossible for Kadabra to learn Kinesis (and thus no Pokémon uses the move at all), and so in Yellow they added Kinesis to its beginning moveset to fix this and so enemy Kadabra would have the move. My guess is that to add Kinesis to its starting moves, they just overwrote Confusion without thinking about it, hence the pain you’re going through.

[@mattildas7515]

My personal theory of the Gastly line is that they were originally just poison type and were given the ghost type when it and bug were brought in later in development (hence their late position in the type index and their lack of moves. Similar with dragon on the special side)

[@Hubilicious90]

Interesting theory! I just wonder why the bug type would have been added so late in the progress, when the creator of Pokémon came up with the idea because he loved catching bugs IRL (at least that’s what I remember, not sure if that’s actually true). Then again, one would expect there would be at least one good big move, if bugs where so important to the creator…

[@uteriel282]

the gastly line is poison type because their bodies are made out of swamp gas.

[@_Vengeance_]

Heck, you know that story of how Erika has her kimono closed the wrong way around which is how deceased people wear it? Well, I think she was originally supposed to be the Poison Gym Leader, using Gengar as her ace (or maybe just Haunter) and they forgot to do her kimono normal after they ditched the idea. Think of it: her anime theme's about stench and parfumes which are gasses like the Gengar line and is a suitable theme for the dead (the dead smell, and would wear parfume to mask it. Not saying Erika was originally a zombie, just that she probably themed herself as one), she always dozes off which is also thematic for a death theme, in the TCG Erika is often paired with Clefable which is what Gengar's based on, in Celadon City there's talk of Grimer which is a smelly Poison Pokemon, a theory about Tangela is that it's a ghostly apparition covered by vines, and Koga's team seems like it was just an afterthought (he could be a random Biker and you wouldn't realize he was special with that team, and his gym trainers barely even use Poison types) as if he was introduced really late in development.

[@mattildas7515]

@@Hubilicious90 so bug and dragon (and sort of ghost) are weird odd ones out of the first gen's pokemon as they are far more based on the pokemon's form rather than their elemental vibe like water, fire electric. My guess is the bug types that were designed before the type would have had other types and gpt retrofitted with bug (the weedle line could be pure poison and pinsir could be fighting). Scyther was originally a weird dragon looking thing and the caterpie and venonat lines are weirdly late in the pokemon internal index

[@Peffse]

Aren't they made of miasma?

[@JustAnderw]

That moment where you defeated lorelai, only to pass through and briefly talk to that man who's apartment is connected to the elite four chambers, then pass through to agatha is hilarious

[@trombaritone86]

Misty "My policy is an all out offensive with water pokemon" Also Misty: Uses X Defends and Harden

[@ZealousPawn]

Mindgames

[@raute2687]

Can I just say how much I appreciate your commentary always being in sync with the gameplay? Makes the video that much more enjoyable!

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

Shawn spends a lot of time synchronizing the footage and voice over! Glad it matters!

[@andywilson4789]

I've been watching pokemon RBY gameplay for over a decade and didn't know about the 5 pokeballs from oak, blew my mind thought I knew everything about the games by now.

[@TheDanishGuyReviews]

Love that you posted a video with one of my favourite Pokémon on my birthday. (Can't believe l'm 30 already.)

[@marsella527]

Been playing pokemon since 98 and had no idea about the courtesy pokeballs. Always learning something from your videos Scott!

[@Mozumin]

One of the bug catchers in Viridian Forest leads with a Metapod. You could theoretically spam out the last few uses of Teleport against it, though then you'd be up against a max defense Metapod, then a Caterpie and another Metapod, as a level 5 Kadabra so... yeah, yikes.

[@jareddoesstuff358]

Wow. I had no idea that they didn't start with confusion in Yellow. I just always assumed Kadabra and Alakhazam would be S tier.

[@AndrewDavis2112]

Those viridian forest trainers may give terrible money, but it’s still better than KZbin ad revenue

[@Michael-sb8jf]

Personally losing the battle in Oaks lab shouldn't really be counted as a reset. 1. Because its not a "black out" perse 2. Its almost impossible to win

[@Davidahle]

That, and in another video he decided, that blackouts shouldn't count as a reset, if they are a means of progressing. Like blackout-training on the lightyears junior trainer. The reset counter is for player error losses and to account for time saved when resetting.

[@bunfireblupee]

I adored this video thank you so much Scott!!! Gosh imagine how good this thing would be if it got a special category shadow ball and confusion as a starting move; those two things would solve basically every problem it has and would probably make it faster than Mewtwo because of its much better growth rate. Anywho yikes I empathize with that pain of struggling to optimise so much; Kadabra definitely seems like a tough one. Edit; Nevermind lol, guess who forgot Psychic is immune to ghost >.< Also goshhh I am so hyped for these coming videos! Tentacruel vs Starmie will be awesome and the baby pokemon in Crystal have had much foreshadowing in your streams hehe~ Looking forward to them!

[@Carson_Gardner92]

The final five minutes or so of this video truly capture why I love your content. After your second split airs, you mention something to the effect of “at this point, I knew I had to call it quits and stick to my production schedule”. Of course, at that point we all know that you were going to get in at least 3 or 4 more runs to truly optimize this monster! Haha

[@ryanwells137]

29:43 Bruno's not even a hiker anymore, he's just decor in a room lmao

[@shadowtitanx3962]

Ah yes. The JRose11 run. (That's his favorite Pokemon btw)

[@kevinsips3658]

Not even acknowledging the hiker before Agatha lol

[@tylorvezina9793]

Great video as always, Scott! Must have been frustrating to not be able to improve your time with a Pokemon as broken as Kadabra. If only it started with Confusion, it would shave off so much time. Funny how Jrose still hasn't even done a Kadabra run, and it's his channel mascot. I love both your channels, and love the different, albeit both satisfying approaches you have to the tier lists. Looking forward to a ton of great videos, you sure have been working hard to release so many, and I just want you to know how much we all appreciate the effort!

[@Ectar2003]

With as much of a problem Magneton has been on the channel lately, I'm looking forward to its solo run.

[@thebigbean8783]

I don't prefer watching premieres, but I am super looking forward to this playthrough so I'll watch it 19 minutes after the premiere lol. I cant believe it's starting moveset though. That's a crying shame.

[@MrMovees87]

The amount of time, work, and effort that you pit into your videos is always incredibly commendable and inspiring!

[@ScottE-2]

Can't wait to see how you handle the lil babies from gen 2. They are... going to be one rough and rowdy bunch. If they aren't crying you are just trying to get passed a certain gym leader.

[@bateltheassistant]

Kadabra looks really cool in the thumbnail😊. But I guess it kind of shows how hard it was to optimize it.😅 I'm glad tht in the end it got a better real time, with a lot of luck involved. Tomorrow's Togapi playthrough is going to be interesting that for sure.😊

[@luiskaiser4805]

I love these transitions in this video so much, from SS Anne to surges gym

[@TJF588]

These smooth edits! This is the sorta stuff I love to be glued to the screen for (and those Nice moments). I mean, the Cerulean Gym fits all inside a little bitty Pok[accent]e Center!

[@junepearthespork1469]

I've said it before and I'll say it again I watch your videos almost every night it's just became habit now keep up the good work scott

[@PrincessGoth574]

I think that because you have already run alakazam, and the pokémon are so similar, that in a way your first kadabra run was already well optimized simply from running alakazam previously.

[@RandysOfWar]

I’ve always loved the design of the Abra line. Even though I could never figure out why they gave Kadabra such a large…tail?

[@fangiscool1]

He looks like a bug mixed with a fox

[@mewnani]

I've always wondered why Kadabra loses the tail when evolving to Alakazam, myself.

[@tsawy6]

The lines on the crotch are... interesting

[@Reedonkulouz]

Omg is kadabra wearing a brown t shirt 😂😂😂 i can't unsee that now lmao

[@james_ford86]

I told you about that Oak PokeBall thing a long time ago. Nice to see you finally use it.

[@CelticGuardian7]

I can only imagine how painful trying to set new records with Kadabra would be. It'd be a resetting cycle of trying to get fantastic RNG for Metapod spawns, then you'd have to pray nothing goes wrong at the champion after finally getting that luck. It sounds like a speedrunning nightmare.

[@thedyzer69]

This would have been the perfect jrose colab

[@samdogygaming918]

I absolutely loved the break down during the amazing early game.

[@kevinsips3658]

Wow the 1st and 2nd Brock splits were within 10 seconds of each other. Nice consistency.

[@DanBottiglieri]

JRose11 will be so proud you gave his favourite Pokémon so much time

[@Caswa7]

Scott, to answer your questions… 1. You can’t legally have a Kadabra before lvl 16 so in game (no cheats) as soon as Abe’s evolves you get your attacking move. Also as you know Alakazam is a trade evolution so that reasoning passes on to them as well. 2. You have said in several videos you think the ghosts were given poison typing to avoid poison statuses. However, that logic doesn’t hold because you can still burn them. How can you burn something with no physical form? The reason is that poison types served double duty as the “bad guy” type. This can be evidenced by team rocket having them and other “evil” Pokémon.

[@MattDRT0358]

I'm so hopeful that this has a version where you give it confusion at level 1 to see how quick it can go

[@veghesther3204]

Exactly since Abra to Alakazam are USELESS if they don't START with a attack move and yes Kinesis doesn't do any damage either.

[@flare6255]

as someone who had no pokemon friends to play with, until the ability to do internet trades, I never got any pokemon evolutions. I used Kadabra and Graveler in almost every single game I played, because they're always pretty good and avaliable early, but never got to evolve them.

[@victoriancu5661]

I imagine you checked how much body slam would do with your weak attack, but I wonder if the chance to paralyze might make Alakazam more consistent. Do you really have to hit more than 3 times? Also I feel like executor might just die to 3 psychics (two with the special drop). That’s just a feeling though, and I’m probably wrong.

[@grundgutigertv6170]

Gosh, struggle strategies at the beginning are horrible! Thanks for going through with it 😢

[@misternoodle1236]

We need to come together as a community and petition to change the "slowbone" nickname for that one trainer to "Lazybones"

[@danpitzer765]

I had forgotten that Kinesis exists. The /worse version/ of sand attack. Freaking 80% accurate sand attack.

[@paulmann8570]

This is the closest to a Jrose11 cameo, isn't it?

[@SinnerChrono]

Mega punch has a 15% chance to miss so its more like miss punch. Had me cracking up. 😂

[@NativeGolfer10]

Oh nooooo… I didn’t make it past the 10 second mark before I felt SO bad for Scott. Lol I thought Kadabra got Confusion as an opening move. 😬

[@tehy123]

I feel like teaching Reflect right before Blaine is probably correct. (I was also going to recommend Mimic on Slash for the Champion, but then I saw the last few minutes of the video lol)

[@Fugate97]

Thank you for explaining Prof. Oak gives you 5 poké balls. I had that happen when I first played Pokémon yellow and thought I was just crazy when I replayed it once I got older and he didn’t give me the poke balls 😂 Great video btw!

[@michaelfreeman3189]

I know it wasn't available in first gen but have you ever thought about putting in egg moves? It might be interesting to see how much a playthrough would change if it had a descent move set. Kadabra is such a good pokemon if you just look at it's typing and base stats.

[@tsawy6]

Have you seen his Abra video? He concludes with some gen 2 back port shenanigans!

[@shadowtitanx3962]

Porting Confusion over from Red and Blue would be a lot more interesting imo.

[@GMJ7]

In addition to backported Egg Move shenanigans, I'd love to see cross-generational "traded" movesets being used in RBY runs someday. For example, Kadabra can legally have Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Thunder Punch, and Psychic in GSC, so in theory a person could have that moveset via trading from Crystal to Yellow the moment trading becomes possible (i.e., Viridian City). Imagine the insane time Kadabra (or Alakazam!) could get with all three elemental punches in addition to Psychic. 😵‍💫

[@BloodfelX]

(23:58) "Psywave downvotes itself." Even Psywave knows how bad Psywave is.

[@daviddoyle2143]

Hard to take rival seriously without his dope jacket from red and blue

[@mufasa5851]

You are an amazing player and pathfinder as always.

[@laureate90]

Could it have been possible to do a Movember run, using only mustached Pokemon? Alakazam, Kadabra, Probopass, Kricketune, Entei... Whose tache is the very best, like no tache ever was?

[@ericwolf9664]

Green ghosts that seem to have a hard time holding themselves together are always the most dangerous. Therefor if they ever make a special attacking variant to guts it should definitely be given to a ghost type first.

[@mickgorro]

Scott: ... Like why not it? Me: Woooobuffet!

[@Citizen5101]

Kadabra's moveset changed because in RB it was glitched and supposed to include Kinesis, but as a result the move is left completely unlearnable in RB. It can only be seen through Metronome. In Yellow there are lower level wild Kadabra available, still not low enough to not get all 4 starting moves, but much closer. I believe there's an added trainer in Yellow with a Kadabra under level 20 and the new moveset would matter there. However I can't find a comprehensive list of added trainers to check that one.

[@GerBessa]

Can you teleport from viridian after getting Oak's thingy to get back to palette ?

[@manemanen]

Vaperoen team mimic thunderbolt on magneten for Vaperoen

[@northdakotagamer]

Have you looked into RNG manipulation to get the encounters you like in the early game of a run like this? To get the metapods you need that is

[@mjbalbo]

Scott's playing with Jrose 😂

[@riccardomosena4162]

you went against the vaporeon team and i got a vaporeon made with a 3D printer as a gift, perfect xD

[@Pyxis10]

Of course you did.

[@riccardomosena4162]

@@Pyxis10 sometimes it's sad having vaporeon as the favourite Pokémon after that pasta came out T.T Also, it was a gift for my birthday, haven't asked myself (but it will be a fine addition to the vaporeon plushies i have)

[@RaycrowX]

That 5-hit critical hit Barrage at 43:13 was _so unlucky!_

[@Reedonkulouz]

Should've added reflect for Blaine and Giovanni using recover until you got a favorable turn to use psychic with high health. Just maybe that could've worked. Wouldve loved to see 0 resets 😅 regardless keep up the good work Scott I look for to seeing your videos any chance I get 👍😁👌

[@Reedonkulouz]

Unless the crits would've bypassed the reflect anyway. Can't remember exactly if it would or not lol but seems like a gen 1 thing lol

[@shadowtitanx3962]

Crits ignore Reflect/Light Screen.

[@Reedonkulouz]

@@shadowtitanx3962 yeeeeaaah that's what I thought. Once I posted the comment I subconsciously remembered that was the case lol crits are such a pain and unfortunate statistic when it comes to counting resets but it's a part of the game 🤷 regardless Scott did a fantastic and thorough job at trying to optimize this play through. Gotta respect the amount of time and effort he put in to even knock just 2 minutes off of the entire thing.

[@Kanbei11]

Zero resets was never going to happen as you'd need inhuman luck to get past Rival 1

[@Reedonkulouz]

@@Kanbei11 I'm 💀💀💀 kinda not wrong though all depends on the Mon and level but rival 1 is definitely a morale/ no reset breaker lmao

[@TMBRMECH]

I love how metapod looks like it has a nose

[@Shawnzy1]

Viridiam city citizens “ I’m poor, I took that personally “

[@PokeMaster22222]

Theoretically, you could Mimic Leech Seed or Thunderbolt, in the Champion fight - Leech Seed would drain HP from Ninetales, Magneton and especially Vaporeon, adding some chip damage and chip healing, while Thunderbolt would be great against Vaporeon, I'd imagine. Though Mimicking Thunderbolt would put you at risk of Thunder Wave...

[@paulnewton2284]

Togepi was probably horrible. I'm sure between its run and this run, you're sick of spamming status moves so you can use Struggle. At least Togepi gets a new move at level 7... oh wait, it's Metronome. Yay, more randomness! But at least it can learn Mud-Slap after beating Falkner. It sure would be nice if you could also get Rock Smash before then, but for some reason the guy only gives it to you after clearing away the Sudowoodo. Why the devs thought it was a good idea to give you a TM for a base 20 power move after the 3rd gym and after you get access to great TMs from the department store like the elemental punches, I'll never know.

[@ru213]

I love how I saw this vid a few days ago and it had 41 views... now it has 41k... you go Glen Coco!!!!

[@G0ATFAC3]

The Brock Split is SUCH a make or break split for so many Pokemon, it's a real shame.

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

I’m going to disagree with you here. I was thinking about this the other day, in a game like crystal where the first leader isn’t a make it or break it battle the results end up being less interesting. Not to mention, there are some really interesting solutions to Brock with moves like Disable that come about just because he is such a wall. That being said, if you love Kadabra, yes it is such a shame. Brock certainly ruins many results.

[@altheapolyam]

29:40 I love how you just skipped Bruno XDDD

[@anonymerdude5306]

From lvl 5 to 16 was a real Hustle i would even say a "Struggle" :D

[@penpal222]

the slowbone... I love this nickname

[@codyssmith73]

1:05 Incorrect! There’s a fifth Bug move in Yellow, a glitch move known as TM 28. It has 85 base power & only 46% accuracy though, and it’s only learned by a hybrid of Persian after level 100, so it more just exists in the code rather than it being an actual move one can use.

[@SomeLesti]

Lord Helix knows what you did. Lord Helix is unamused

[@youtube-kit9450]

You somehow managed to undersell how busted psychic types were even with everything you listed. Even if ghost was super effective, the only ghost move with variable damage was lick, all ghosts had poison so were weak to psychic, and ghost was a physical type. Also, since steel didn't exist yet, the *only* type to resist psychic... was psychic type. Also, psychic had a 30% or so chance to lower special, a stat all psychic types excelled in... which was both attack and defense, meaning many psychic types were bulky as shit specially.

[@el_oh_ell]

Gen 1 kadabra with fire, ice, lightning punch and psychic is unstoppable

[@CallMeFreakFujiko]

Here's an idea that could maybe save some personal time while also shaving some time for the Pokemon off- Save what the timer is at right after beating Lance. (Or right before the Elite 4 if you're not using an emulator.) That way if you realize that one strategy might work over another, like replacing a move with another move that's available to you only *after* a battle, you can just go back to the state right before Lance and rewind the timer to where it was right after beating him. That way you won't have to beat the entire game all over again while relying on RNG just to see if that small change will give you a better time. This is just a thought. A thought I'm not even entirely sure will work as well as I'm imagining it will.

[@TJF588]

What a painful amount of maximization for the early game. Could we one day get a "RGB Kadabra and/or Alakazam in PKMN Yellow" run?

[@codypaul7136]

Well they did that in the TV show made ghost type strong against Psychic type

[@Real_Renegade_Gaming]

I'd love a "what if Kadabra started with... Any damage move" playthrough

[@pommyadam]

I do wonder how a "Pokemon Red/Blue" version of Kadabra would go in Yellow, purely for the "yeah, let's just stomp the game" run I guess technically the same for Alazakam (which might be worth including because the "2nd playthrough" doesn't really have any value in terms of optimisation) 56 mins for a first playthrough with an 18min Brock-split?!

[@sirki2885]

its such a imagine if you had confusion from the start run LOL, would be faster than most of the legends

[@lazypaladin]

Finally, its time for the *_third_* Pokemon who got Nintendo sued!

[@rooislangwtf]

I'm surprised Scott didn't try T Wave during any of his attempts

[@azeemsiddiqui4764]

Pretty sure that there is a Bug Catcher outside of Cerulean that knows Twinneedle.

[@SkillHook]

Can you make abra/kadabra/alakazam run where you put confusion at lvl5 so you win lab battle and face jolteon team :)

[@johnnyestes980]

I would love to see it comapred if you gave kadabra confusion at the start or even like scratch/tackle 🤣

[@gloweye]

>4 of the strongest trainers in the game are still waiting for it... And bruno. He's also there.

[@WillowEpp]

With how long Exeggutor takes, I wonder if Toxic has value?

[@monkey314159]

You need to do another play through where Pokemon start with at least a tackle and see how they perform.

[@CoolKid-ij4oo]

This is Underrated

[@HinodeHinansho]

I hope once you do Nidorino-you name it Keychain-based only on the fact that that is my keychain I got when they were a Burger King giveaway in kid's meals. But I got it and had it as a keychain on my keys since that time.

[@Mocita]

At 46:09 you snuck Pinsir into the list here. I know you did a run with it recently, so I'm guessing you forgot to throw it in the list here.

[@heath8377]

Just to comment on the pseudo reset for the first rival fight, shouldn't it not count as a reset since you kept playing afterwards without actually resetting? Doesn't the same rule apply that prevents resets from being counted from whiteout training with trainers?

[@DLC88]

Heh, the struggle is real

[@sahuanitasahu7696]

Man what happened to gengar vs alakazam in crystal

[@christopherholladay1015]

Getting spoiled with all these videos 🎉

[@guyzan]

You should have gone to Koga, then blaine and then rival #5 & Sabrina. Koga - type advantage & speed boost. Blaine - special boost. These + the extra exp should have given you some edge.

[@danielrobinsonchangemyvisi3195]

Kadabra , don't have confusion on the first level that sucks, and Alakazam as well that really sucks