Congrats on finishing the run. I will watch it later. However, regardless of the entertainment value of this movie itself, I don't think this run is worth being published alongside
[4015] GBC Pokémon: Crystal Version by MrWint in 2:48:36.03 due to their similarity, especially for almost 3 hours long movies. Some of you probably will want to use the fact that
[4163] GB Pokémon: Blue Version by TiKevin83 in 1:29:35.61 and
[3664] GBC Pokémon: Yellow Version by TiKevin83 in 1:36:41.68 are considered separate branches as a reason for why this run should be considered acceptable as a different branch, but I think these two cases aren't exactly comparable.
First, let’s not forget that Gen 2 glitchless runs are about 80 minutes longer than Gen 1 gltichless runs. As a result, the difference in length between this movie and the Crystal movie is less significant over the span of the movies compared to the difference in length between those two Gen 1 movies. To be exact, the Yellow movie is 7.8% longer than the Blue movie, while this movie is only 3.4% longer than the Crystal movie.
More importantly, Gym Leaders, Elite 4, and Rival, aka the bosses in these games, have different teams or at least different move pools in Red/Blue and in Yellow. The same does not apply to Gen 2. Crystal made NO modifications to the teams of existing trainers from Gold/Silver. While some mandatory trainers in Gold/Silver were made optional in Crystal, they don’t make much difference in the span of, again, almost 3 hours.
Arguably, the most noticeable difference in plot sequence between Gold/Silver and Crystal is that the Burned Tower and the Rival fight inside it is optional in G/S but mandatory in Crystal. However, because of the choice of Pokemon usage made in this run, which is to catch Raikou and use it from there onwards, this difference is nullified. And yes, this means the two runs use the exact Pokemon to fight at any point in the game.
All in all, Crystal just isn’t very different from Gold/Silver. In fact, it’s probably fair to say Crystal made the least changes to the base game out of all Pokemon “third versions” if we only consider international releases. I respect the authors of this movie for their efforts put into its making, and I probably will vote Yes for entertainment after watching it. Unfortunately, I really don’t think this run should be published alongside the Crystal one unless there turns out to be a unique fastest route for each of them in the future, all things considered.
