Pokemon Sapphire is a pokemon game from the third generation, along with Ruby and Emerald. The reason I chose Sapphire is that Ruby has a Groudon instead of a Kyogre, which isn't quite as useful, and Emerald is slightly longer. Mudkip is picked as the starter because it learns a lot of HMs and is good against many of the gyms. Although Blaziken is very useful for battling the Elite Four, I have Kyogre by then and have completely abandoned my starter. Of course, almost every hit in this movie is a critical hit, as they do about twice as much damage.
Settings (According to FractalFusion):
Visual Boy Advance 1.7.2.560
Sync Emulation Speed
Lag Reduction Speed (automatic)
Save Type Automatic Flash 128K
Note: Turn off Real Time Clock
Without following these settings exactly, you will probably get a desynch.
Points of intrest or confusion
In the first battle, just after getting my starter, I didn't seem to be able to get a critical hit. Maybe they aren't allowed in the first battle?
Most of the time, walking up to a trainer and talking to them is faster than just walking in front of them, because you don't have to wait for the exclamation mark above their head.
The Zigzagoon I catch is to teach Rock Smash and Cut to. Also, it conviently picks up a King's Rock for me.
The Quick Claw gives you a chance to sometimes (Read: Always) attack before your opponent, even if they are faster than you.
If my starter gets below 1/3 of his max health, his water attacks get stronger. So, I guess there is a bit of taking damage to save time in this run.
The attack 'Bide' revolves around taking damage, so I don't learn it.
King's Rock makes the opponent sometimes flinch, which makes them not attack that turn. It only works on things slower than you, so its usefulness degrades after the second gym.
Mud Slap does damage and decreases the opponents accuracy, so it really helps avoid damage.
I use a few potions to heal, because when you die you go back to the last pokemon centre you visited, and I want to use this to my advantage.
Golbat can't be hit by Mud Slap, so he will always hit me once. I use a TM and a potion to defeat him.
I die to warp back to my house, which happens to be right near the fifth gym.
The sixth gym presents problems, my starter dies and I beat the gym with the Castform the weatherman gave me. This includes healing at the only pokemon centre I use in the run.
I have to defeat my rival to get into the shop and buy Blizzard and Thunder TMs.
I catch a Wingull for using Fly to get back to Slateport.
The seventh gym is a double battle, and Blizzard hits both pokemon, so they both get frozen.
Explooring the undersea base turns my starter into an HM slave, but it doesn't matter because I soon get Kyogre.
Kyogre gets Thunder to kill the last gym, and then I head to the Elite Four.
Victory Road is dark because I don't have flash, so it's hard to tell what is happening.
Kyogre needs Waterfall and Surf to have enough PP for the Elite Four.
During the credits, it shows all the pokemon that you caught. I only got seven, so the pictures repeat again and again.
Thanks to Blackshellbowser for his first TAS of the game, Kitsune for advice, and FractalFusion for being the only one who could watch my WIPs and for a constant supply of new ideas.
Shaded Spriter meant using the Pokecenter at the town with Norman's Gym, near the beginning of the game, so that when you use "death", you don't have to bike from Littleroot Town.
Also, I think it is better to have Zigzagoon knocked out first, then get Marshtomp to be poisoned and have it faint just after getting the 4th badge.
Nice movie, just finished watching it. I have two things to point out:
-When catching a Zigzagoon, why not get it on Route 101? If it's below Lv05, you won't have to take time erasing a move when you teach it Cut and Rock Smash.
-When teaching Fly to Wingull, you overwrote the fourth slot instead of the first.
Now that I was thinking of it, it might be hard, since Team Aqua has no Grimer/Ekans/Koffing. All they have is Zubat/Golbat, which I recall don't try to poison anyone.
Or, if there was a Shroomish around, you could use a contact move ... oh wait, Marshtomp has no contact move.
Scratch that until I think of something else.
I agree with many others that there are places for improvement. I would have liked to see Swampert's Attack being useful near the end of the game, such as teaching Earthquake and fighting Victory Road, if not Elite 4. Kyogre's ability causes "Rain continues to fall" messages after every turn.
Edit:
Another thing is that, if you want better manipulation, you should not put speed text on fast. If the speed text is on fast, the text rambles on and you have no way of speeding it up or slowing it down. On the other hand, if the speed text is on slow/mid, you can always speed it up to fast by pressing A, so you can make Grovyle miss with Absorb/Leaf Blade, and get the critical hit with Rock Tomb by speeding the text up at different times. It's not always possible, but it's better.
When teaching Fly, I overwrote the slot with the shortest attack name.
Now that you mention it though, there are possible improvements to be had from having a path planned out, like catching the Wingull earlier as well.
Some good optimization points have been mentioned here. If there has been no improvement in a couple months, I'll go for it, but currently I'm tied up with Pokemon Red. However, the only idea I have an issue with is putting text on fast. If there's "No way of speeding it up or slowing it down", you can just hold A anyway for luck-manipulation.
However, the only idea I have an issue with is putting text on fast. If there's "No way of speeding it up or slowing it down", you can just hold A anyway for luck-manipulation.
I based it on observation, so only testing will reveal how it can be dealt with. I don't think the RNG in this game is as volatile as in the first two generations of games.
