How Charmander Stole World Record in FireRed Speedruns

[@PulseEffects]

Squirtle or Charmander? 👀

[@samwise3744]

Bulbasaur, I don’t care if he’s slow

[@Dynamic256-ORIGINAL]

Bulbasaur, because I'm not a speedrunner and sleep powder is OP

[@beltramejp]

Squirtle, but competitively I think Charmander does more.

[@veghesther3204]

Neither Bulbasaur is still the best starter both in the Gen 1 games and its remakes.

[@ForCasualPlayers]

Agumon!

[@jaybeans981]

I never thought “Charmander is easier for Brock” would be a sentence ever uttered

[@pixality7902]

Haven't gotten there yet but I assume it has something to do with metal claw

[@XxzaidosxX]

​@@pixality7902and not having to sit at 1/3 hp for torrent

[@roxienatura]

I’ll be honest, a lot of the video seemed really questionable.

[@nicolaistuhlmuller8718]

Charmander actually never struggles with Brock. In Gen1 even an underleveled Charmander has no issues with Brock if you simply spam Ember and switch to Growl whenever it charges up Bide. In the remakes you have Metal Claw for that.

[@nicolaistuhlmuller8718]

@@roxienatura what exactly? The entire video is a fact based documentary on something that actually happened, so what is questionable about it?

[@resurrekt7114]

Me waiting for the inevitable rise of Chikorita in Johto speedruns: 💀

[@somebodyrandomly]

I'll wait years if I have to

[@resurrekt7114]

@@somebodyrandomly 🤝

[@VCV95]

Why won't they give the other johto starters makeovers? Makes me sad.

[@resurrekt7114]

@@VCV95 we can hope my brother Stay strong

[@duelist4512]

Chikorita is the most worthless starer ever created.

[@LocalMaple]

0:42 From Wikipedia: Time attack is a type of motorsport in which the racers compete for the best lap time. Each vehicle is timed through numerous circuits of the track. The racers make a preliminary circuit, then run the timed laps, and then finish with a cool-down lap. Time attack and time trial events differ by competition format and rules. Time attack has a limited number of laps, time trial has open sessions. Several video games across decades also used the phrase.

[@TheShiningDiamond]

Almost got me with the bulbasaur fake out. Really wish we could get a speedrun wr route with a grass starter though

[@PulseEffects]

There are technically two that have! I might cover topics on pure typing like grass eventually.

[@scottrauch1261]

​@@PulseEffectsso gen 2 and 3?

[@PulseEffects]

@@scottrauch1261 Gen 6 and 9!

[@rblxcontrol5778]

@@PulseEffects gen 6 is really only using the grass starter because of the two rivals. and gen 9 is just busted for grass types

[@TheMoogleKing93]

"An old website called Speed Demos Archive" Excuse me whilst I continue to die of old age.

[@4Nesca]

Dude I'm not even in the speedrun community but I know for a fact you have to be a blessing for them by putting the speedrun community in the spotlight with your amazing videos!

[@nakedmolerat8356]

What

[@SuperSonic71087]

This is pretty fascinating. Ever since I started playing Pokémon when it first came out, my starter ironically was Charmander. Fire starters have been my favorites in the early gens, and when I saw there were runs with Charmander and Cyndaquil for Gens 1 and 2, I had to try it out, even if it isn't the fastest way. It was more fun for me since Typhlosion is my favorite Pokémon overall, and Charizard is up there too. The nostalgia makes it better as well. Great video as always Pulse!

[@maybedonn]

RTA comes from the Japanese speedrunning community, where "Time Attack" is a car racing thing in Japan and it just stuck with the western community as well, as I understand it

[@leftysheppey]

I've definitely seen this in English translations for games, too. I couldn't tell you what game at all, though.

[@thomy2562]

​@@leftysheppeyA lot of arcade racing games have an option called "time attack"

[@TheOnlyIpinguEver]

Time Attack is not a Japanese thing it’s a common thing in all kinds of racing games.

[@leftysheppey]

@@thomy2562 ah, I probably got it from Gran Turismo or burnout then.

[@ExSuPiO1]

I just always assumed it stood for something like "Real Time Attempt" 😅

[@pchurch692]

Man, running these games was pretty fun. Both routes were interesting, having two fairly comparable Pokémon to use made it really varied. Still have nightmares about Mega Kick accuracy though... thanks for the content Pulse!

[@PulseEffects]

I miss those days so much. This was the prime Pokemon Speedrunning Era. 😭

[@The5thGenGuru]

"What're you gonna do Geodude? Jackass-" The Geodude in question:

[@bmac4]

RTA is called Real Time Attack because of the Japanese community. This is to separate it from Time Attack, which was what they referred to segmented runs as due to old NicoVideo rules, and thus were technically not Real Time. A lot of games from Japan feature Time Attack modes because that name originated from Racetracks in Japanese motor sport, similar to Time Trial in English. Not entirely sure why they used the word "attack" but it has been around longer than speedrunning has. I think English speaking communities just use it because early interactions with the Japanese community and it's a convenient initialism (RTA) over just spelling Real Time each time that people understand regardless of language barriers.

[@neongaminglp8071]

12:52 I was so hyped for a second when I heard that name, only for it to be shattered in a matter of seconds. I trusted you!

[@chromos5268]

I can rest easy knowing the rise of Magikarp in Pokemon Speedruning will happen sooner later

[@matheuslopes3304]

Magikarp is used in HGSS manipless

[@MattC-jg1yb]

For Pokémon speed runners, this is like the first guy to do a high jump backwards

[@rooislangwtf]

0:40 Time attack (taimu atakku) comes from Japanese as a term for speedrunning and real was added to indicate it's using a timer instead of in game time

[@jonskillings1258]

Charmander isn't popular because he was harder, he's popular because he's a fire breathing dragon and because the game was red. That's why Squirtle is a close second, because he's blue and blue is the most popular color, so even though Charmander's design is cooler, people still like Squirtle. Venasaur is definitely the coolest design in gen 3 fom the front, but if you look at the gen 1 back sprites, it's way less cool than the other 2, and we didn't get a Pokemon Green until gen 3

[@roxienatura]

100% agree with all of this. It’s literally just aesthetics.

[@MaikDreijer]

Hell yeah I love this dude's storytelling

[@paulsmith9786]

12:50 I got so hype for a second..

[@rastas_4221]

Lot of the rules of SDA were like that because it was a quake speedrunning site when it was made. They had no need for external timers since demo files are extremely accurate.

[@NGSRumble]

whats teh name of the song that starts around 12:55?

[@notalostnumber8660]

The main difference with Real Time, and Real Time Attack, is that in RT you can pause the timer (imagine you can only stream/record in 1 hour increments, so you pause the timer whenever you are switching session) RTA is more strict, because you cannot pause the timer untill it's finished (and if you do pause it by accident, well... time to re-time with the video!)

[@xavierjohnson2321]

Squirtle: Becomes the best pokemon tovspeedrun with Charmander: NONONONONO! WAITWAITWAITWAIT!

[@ultimapower6950]

Hahhaha that’s hilarious Nidoking solos both

[@nicolaistuhlmuller8718]

@@ultimapower6950 not in frlg though, it's pretty slow there

[@ultimapower6950]

@@nicolaistuhlmuller8718 so your telling me that FRLG overthrew the NidoKingDom

[@nicolaistuhlmuller8718]

@@ultimapower6950 yes there's actually a video on this channel about it but to summarize: 1. No more X Acc + ohko move so you can no longer horn drill everything from Celadon onwards 2. Nidoking's ability is next to useless in a speedrun while the starters' can be abused in utterly insane ways 3. Nidoran is caught a bit later (before Mt. Moon) so it misses out on some exp on the route to Mt. Moon. In its core Nidoking was always only slightly better than Squirtle even in rby and essentially was a trade: a major early game stop to grind up your Nidoran after Brock in exchange for being able to oneshot everything later on with always hitting horn drills. In frlg this trade is no longer present. There's also minor things, like Dig being nerfed, Earthquake being obtained later, an early Mega Kick that Wartortle and Charmeleon can learn (meaning its Trash is no longer the strongest early game move), a lot of stuff getting Levitate, especially many poison types, and other little details but it's mostly the lack of 100% accurate OHKO moves that killed it off in frlg.

[@aa7x3]

I remember seeing years ago a red version segmented speedrun using Charmander. I think it was on SDA. Roughly 2 hours using Charizard and Lapras to beat the elite4. I always wondered why it wasn't expanded upon.

[@kyledabearsfan]

Fighting over which starter is the best, all these years later. So good.

[@Starveed]

9:20 ''The power of the sun'' Doc Ock agreeing somewhere

[@enoyna1001]

I've tested this myself, the in-game timer is pretty inaccurate. One minute in my LeafGreen was around ~61 seconds IRL.

[@meowtastic___meowtastic___6115]

Love the content! Keep it up!

[@rifatnasir6490]

This guy needs way more subs...high quality content and great narration.

[@eeveewithcoffee9554]

As a bulbasaur fan, I’ve never been so baited so hard before

[@Reluxthelegend]

13:58 Ok, I didn't expect you to look so close to your profile picture. O.o

[@MediumDSpeaks]

What a great thing to wake up to alongside my eggs, yogurt, oatmeal, brownies, red bull and grapefruit(im bulking for my next speedrun)

[@PepeThefrog-qt5wu]

0:32 POKEMON WHAT NOW?

[@Saiden31]

Is that the lacrimosa of dana theme in the intro???

[@noammkw3770]

RTA is named like that because in japanese racing games "time trails" are called "time attack", so "real time attack"....

[@adamabou-nasr1130]

Couldn't imagine 2+ hours of the low health beep

[@nathan94251]

Shrooms had me super into this video 😂❤

[@Christoffski]

I don't think for casual playthroughs many would pick Squirtle if you could catch even Krabby earlier. Surf, Strength, Cut & OHKO moves make it so much more interesting, fun and useful to me - let alone other mons. The super rod kind of ruined water types in Kanto unless you trade them in. I get it for speedrunning, though.

[@nicolaistuhlmuller8718]

Kingler has horrible special attack though, so as a water attacker it's really not that useful at all.

[@Christoffski]

@@nicolaistuhlmuller8718 for a fun, non-optimised playthrough it's not a problem in my experience. It's got a lot of utility and actually, swords danced up with a salac berry, its flail absolutely rips. I think only rock, steel and ghost types can survive even x1 of those. 💥

[@scraps7624]

You are by far the best pokemon speedrun content creator on this site

[@Sleepingfishie]

Alt title the rise of Charmander

[@piclesmcflubber]

I love your videos ❤😍 the only complaint I have is that they aren’t 30 mins long! LOL I’m always so sad when your videos end. 🥺

[@sicarius4749]

I know Time Attack from Mario Kart, where you could compare your time with others.

[@Wxesley]

i love all ur vids man thxs so much

[@jefforear641]

12:53 bruh 💔💀

[@Borchert97]

Honestly I feel like Bulbasaur is the best starter. It no-diffs the first two gyms and by the time you're further than that you're getting ready to get Zapdos. You also resist Gym 3, you only really run into issues at Gym 4.

[@nicolaistuhlmuller8718]

No, Bulbasaur really is the worst. The other two starters also beat up the first two gyms easily, but Bulbasaur takes much longer to learn its offensive stabs and can't use it against most early trainers because of the abundance of poison, bug and flying. It doesn't get Dig so it can't hit Surge's mons properly, and it struggles even harder with the pokémon tower, koga and team rocket since they are all 3 poison focused. Even if you were to switch to Zapdos for the run, Bulbasaur actually takes the longest to get there.

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

Yeah Bulbasaur suffers early, then doesn't pay off. Bulbasaur doesn't hold up in practice, and never faces "good" conditions. You need to grind for Brock but get stuck chipping bugs to death just for starters.

[@NaturalFireWave]

In a casual/nuzlocke sense, I would agree. However, it is just incredibly slow in speed running. I know that pulse went into why it was in one of his earlier streams, but I can't recall all the reasons. I think he might also have a video on it on here. I might be thinking of someone else though.

[@nicolaistuhlmuller8718]

@@NaturalFireWave he does have a video here. The core point with Bulbasaur is that it's the worst starter since it has so much more flaws than the other two and offers barely anything in return. Even in a casual setting it's still the worst starter, but at least you can patch up its flaws through level grinding and catching other mons for battles, two options you don't have in a speedrun.

[@NaturalFireWave]

@nicolaistuhlmuller8718 where that is true. Bulbasaur in a casual and nuzlocke sense more of just plays a role that you don't get much of in gen 1 and the remakes. Which that is more of a supporting role with a reliable way to have recovery on your team without potions. In a causal playthrough I usually have more than one mon on my team by the time I get to Brock and usually don't have any problem with him.

[@BluSteel_]

So I know that in Johto and Hoenn the male rivals talk less but is there something about Leaf that makes the game faster or is it just preference this time?

[@sagacious03]

To me, the differences in routing are more interesting than the strife to get the WR. After all, which is better comes down to which has the superior Sum of Best. Or better yet, which does better in TAS? But then the TAS shows that all 3 starters are inferior, because it uses Clefable! For the ultimate, unbeatable world record, RTA has to imitate the TAS because THAT is the perfect run. Even if it's unlikely, RTA runners still dedicate tens of thousands of hours to trying & failing to get a WR or even just a PB. So why dedicate time to an inferior route? I suppose the apparent conclusion is they like seeing their favorite Pokemon more, & like the high risk high reward playstyle. But IMHO, getting a WR is often just a matter of grinding for superior RNG &/or hoping your reflexes don't fail you. Anyway, neat analysis video! Thanks for uploading!

[@Hardivh]

I'm playing FRLG with all starters to get all the Legendary Beasts and Charmander is the fastest one for sure. You Metal Claw the first gym, Mega Punch/Kick the second Gym and them breeze through all the rest

[@nicolaistuhlmuller8718]

Squirtle is even faster though as Charmander needs a bit of leveling to reach level 13 for Brock. With Squirtle you never need to fight a wild mon or optional trainer

[@TeveshSzat89]

Sound like in game timer was an equalizing ground.

[@adamg2031]

Variance is an important part of what makes games fun. For a speedrun, you want consistency, but consistency is boring. Charmander was appealing not because it was better than Squirtle, but because it was worse.

[@psyxypher3881]

Long live the king.

[@natecgames4612]

This does beg the question, would it be faster to beat the game if you had all 3 starters or just 1?

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

You'd only use one You don't want to split exp in a run like this, a level 25 chameleon is significantly better than a level 16 Charmander and Squirtle and a level 5 Bulbasaur

[@ZimVerse]

Charizard Is Way Too Overhated.

[@UGMD]

Overhated? It’s one of the most popular Pokémon of all time it’s fine

[@ambrosius94]

@@UGMD the charmander line is defo overhated, over loved by game freak but every time I see someone say it's their fave kanto starter they get dunked on

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

Charizard is overhated Bulbasaur is underhated. Squirtle is right about right, probably a bit overloved, but not far off. Just gotta remind people that Squirtle is only the shoo-in for RB speedruns because it's an HM slave now and again.

[@TheLegoknightyt]

Bulbasure is the best one it’s strong against most of the gyms and boss fights just by set up alone

[@nicolaistuhlmuller8718]

No, Bulbasaur actually has the worst matchups against the gyms and e4 of all starters. Squirtle doesn't have a single bad matchup and Charmander can work around its problematic one, while Bulbasaur has a ton of hard stops, mostly Koga, Sabrina, Blaine, Agatha, Lance and the final rival.

[@TheLegoknightyt]

@@nicolaistuhlmuller8718 what do you mean he has a good match up for Brock misty surge geovani and half of the ice elite 4 team and resests koga and erica

[@TheLegoknightyt]

@@nicolaistuhlmuller8718 second thing the entire Bulbasure line is poison type witch resests koga s team entirely

[@nicolaistuhlmuller8718]

@@TheLegoknightyt again, it has way more bad matchups than Squirtle or Charmander (also Koga resists grass while Bulbasaur is neutral to poison and Bulbasaur lacks ground moves, so it has the worst Koga matchup out of all 3 starters).

[@TheLegoknightyt]

@@nicolaistuhlmuller8718 it’s still the best cuz it’s not over used like a big turtle or a lizard that would faint to a single rock

[@SachinGoyal-wi3si]

2016 Jee advanced paper was the highest

[@Jreaddy]

BIG BHARmander had to take that top slot.

[@adamzboss]

It took them how long to figure out fire blast is 1 hit ko and op 😂 That was back when brute force actually worked, hyper beam fire blast, that’s all you needed

[@terraknight2384]

woah Ys VIII music

[@mageius]

If no one has messaged it here in the comments the recent called real-time attack its thanks for the Japanese community. Basically it's using real time for time trial.

[@TeveshSzat89]

Alrgiht, s, basically, someone decided to burn wayy to much time to do something peopel thought wasn't possible.

[@nicolaistuhlmuller8718]

I don't think anybody experienced with the game thought it was completely impossible. Charmander's Kanto matchup is almost as good as Squirtle's after all (in the originals only Lance was a problem), and with something like Sunny Day it's easy to get close.

[@moryakantha5782]

0:32 👀

[@spritemaster8980]

It's absurd how powerful Blaze made Zard in Gen 3. Pretty sure it was one of the backbones for its competitive viability too - especially with Sunny Day, it annihilates nearly everything on the other side of the field.

[@obliviona1]

base zard has never really been viable in comp, usually hovering around the lowest tiers. It only saw higher tiers when it got it's Megas and gained Drought and Solar Beam

[@Savariable]

@@obliviona1 charizard is literally OU in gen 3 lmfao

[@theworstchannelever6196]

Gen 3 was easily base-zard's best generation, it has blaze and the modern ev system but doesn't have stealth rock

[@nicolaistuhlmuller8718]

The main issue with the starter abilities is how unreliable they are to trigger, especially since you can't really control the damage your opponents deal to you. Ironically Charizard did have a powerful physical moveset in gen3 that made use of Blaze: Belly Drum, Salac Berry, Double Edge, Earthquake and a fire move of choice. The main goal of the set was to set up Belly Drum and a Salac Berry to go for a sweep, with the blaze boosted fire move taking care of the physically defensive mons that could take on a +6 physical move, like Skarmory. So while it ironically is the strongest glass cannon setup sweeper in gen3, it also is so thanks to Blaze.

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

I'm like 90% certain this has nothing to do with blaze and everything to do with belly drum

[@ConnorJG76]

Squirtle was always the smartest choice for Kanto. People have made scientific studies about it

[@Christoffski]

It's boring to me, ending as only water type. If one got the super rod earlier then I don't think I would ever pick it again.

[@bradwurst8141]

Blastoise bettah

[@DarrienGlasser]

150 second intro

[@marciplan]

man this video contained so much fluff. It really could have been 3 mins.

[@PulseEffects]

There is no fluff, every detail was important for the conclusion of the video.

[@leeeroyjenkins555]

As a Squirtle fan, gotta love the thumbnail :) Edit: You changed the thumbnail? How petty lmao. Ait, dislike and unsub. You ain based my guy.

[@bobjones4469]

No, people love Charizard cuz of the "cool" factor and cuz Speed and Power was all that mattered in a casual run. In a casual run, your starter can very easily one shot their way through the game due to being overleveled. Being hard is not exactly what Pokemon games are known for. Unless you're talking only about speed runners. I don't know anything or care about Pokemon speed running so can't comment much on that.

[@nicolaistuhlmuller8718]

This is a speedrun video on a speedrun channel that's named "how charmander stole world record in firered speedruns", so yes obviously this video will not care about the casual side and only focus on speedruns.

[@pedrofortini5991]

Hey it looks like I'm him Yeah, the one you've thought: THE FIRST

[@theschnozzler]

Blud thinks he's him 💀

[@TheAwes0meWilly]

Salamèche est juste plus mauvais que carapace tout simplement.

[@yaasinm]

negra edition lol i see what you did there.