2021 - Current Compilation of Routes

The Following Routes are assuming some knowledge of the game as they are shortscript for the routes. Hopefully helpful to all of you, and will be updated as the year goes on.

Old Beginner Route
Deck Used: Charmander & Friends
Deck Edit: +2 Grass Energy, - Raticate, Meowth. Talk to Energy Guy
Deck Edit: Up to 20 Fire, 14 Fighting Energy. -2 Grass Energy, Charizard, All Lightning Pokemon
Heather, Kristin, Brittany, Nicholas, Brandon
Deck Edit: Cut Chaff, Focus on Diglett, Charmander, Magmar lines and better items
Jennifer, Isaac, Nikki, Michael, Amanda
Deck Edit: Diglett line only
Ken
Scyther Manip
Deck Edit: Scyther only
Jessica, Chris, Gene
Deck Edit: Diglett line, Rattata
Murray
Deck Edit: Pika/Rai OR Electabuzz
Sara, Joshua, Amy
Deck Edit: Mewtwo only
Joseph, Rick, Mitch
Deck Edit: Seel / Dewgong OR Articuno OR Magikarp / Gyarados
Courtney
Deck Edit: Diglett / Dugtrio
Steve, Jack, Rod, Ronald


Raagentreg’s 2020 Route
Deck Used: Charmander & Friends
Deck Edit: +4 Grass energy, - all colourless, talk to energy guy
Deck Edit: - all lightning, Charizard, Growlithe, Arcanine, Ponyta. +All Fire, Fighting, -4 grass energy, -3 lightning energy
Heather, Kristin, Brittany, Nicholas, Brandon
Deck Edit: Cut Chaff, Focus on Diglett, Charmander, Magmar lines and better items
Jennifer, Isaac, Nikki, Michael, Amanda
Deck Edit: Pika/Rai OR Electabuzz
Sara, Joshua, Amy
Deck Edit: Diglett/Dugtrio
Ken
Deck Edit: add 2 or 3 rattatas
Murray
Mail Manip
Deck Edit: Scyther only, 10 grass energy, all colourless, rest Psychic energy
Jessica, Chris, Gene
Deck Edit: -Scyther +Mewtwo
Joseph, Rick, Mitch
Deck Edit: Articuno OR Seel / Dewgong OR Magikarp / Gyarados
Courtney
Deck Edit: Diglett / Dugtrio
Steve, Jack, Rod, Ronald

Chris is me - Electabuzz Manip Route (2020)
I wrote a guide on this, may be out of date, bug me on Discord if you have questions

Deck Used: Charmander & Friends
Deck Edit: +2 Grass -2 Rattata, Energy Guy
Deck Edit: - Charizard, Ponyta, Growlithe, Arcanine, All Electric Pokemon, All Colorless Pokemon, Grass Energy. + Fighting and Fire Energy, 5 Lightning total
Jessica, Michael, Brittany, Kristin, Heather, Talk to Nikki, Nicholas, Brandon
(Optional deck edit at any time above to add Hitmonchan and remove Machop / Machoke if Hitmonchan is pulled)
Deck Edit: + Charmander / Charmeleon, Base Magmar, Diglett / Dugtrio, Hitmonchan, Good Trainers; - Machop / Machoke, Lightning Energy, Fire / Fighting as necessary
Jennifer, Issac, Amanda, Nikki, Rival
Deck Edit: Scyther, Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee (whatever you got), Grass / Fighting / Double Colorless Energy
Chris
Deck Edit: - Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee, Fighting Energy + Nidoran M / Nidorino if no Scyther
Gene
Deck Edit: Diglett / Dugtrio, Hitmonchan
Ken
Deck Edit: Add 2 Rattata
Murray
Deck Edit: Replace everything with 4 Magnemite, a bit over half Lighting energy
Ronald Loss 2 (intentional selfdestruct)
Side Room for Mewtwo, and Mailbox Manip if you did not get Electabuzz yet
Amy, Joshua, Amanda, Joseph
Deck Edit: Mewtwo
Rick, Mitch
Optional Manip for Dugtrio if you need them and didn’t need Electabuzz
Deck Edit: Seel / Dewgong, or Articuno, or Magikarp / Gyarados, depends on mood and pulls
Courtney
Deck Edit: Diglett / Dugtrio
Steve, Jack
Optional deck edit for Hitmonchan (I don’t really do this anymore)
Rod, Ronald, You won!

Chris is me - Bulbasaur / Haymaker Route (2021) 
Deck used: Bulbasaur and Friends
Deck Edit: +3 Lightning Energy, -3 Colorless Pokemon
Talk to Energy Guy
2ND DECK: +59 Energy and a Colorless Pokemon
Talk to Energy Guy Again
Dismantle 2nd Deck
Deck Edit: - All Pokemon and Energy, Also Revive. + Electabuzz, Hitmonchan, 2 Potion, Gust of Wind, Max Fighting Energy and 1 less than max Lighting Energy  
Jessica, Amanda, Sara, Jennifer 
Deck Edit: - Electabuzz, +additional Hitmonchan, Extra Trainers; - Lightning Energy as needed
Brandon, Nicholas, Chris, Heather, Michael
Deck Edit: -Hitmonchan, + Electabuzz, Trainers, Lightning Energy over Fighting
Joshua, Amy, Joseph
Deck Edit: Abra / Kadabra, Psychic with Fighting for filler (not Lightning), Trainers and such
Rick
2ND DECK: +4 Magnemite, Max Lightning, rest Water Energy
Select 2nd Deck, Ronald Loss 1 (Selfdestruct)
Select 1st Deck, Brittany
Deck Edit: Diglett, Dugtrio, Hitmonchan, Fighting Energy
Issac, Ken, Murray* (Can add Rattata for Murray but I usually do not)
Select 2nd Deck, Ronald Loss 2 (Selfdestruct)
Dismantle 2nd Deck
Deck Edit: Ponyta, DCE, Base Magmar, maybe Charmeleon if you got them, Fire Energy
Kristin, Nikki
Deck Edit: Articuno*, Water Energy, Trainers (see below if you don’t have Articuno)
Gene, Mitch, Courtney
Deck Edit: Diglett / Dugtrio
Steve, Jack, Rod, Ronald

All Mailbox Manipulations are here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/175hlpWC1PgHeF1wja3vIti_BM2sGaJ7J_Q-PyWwwQdQ/edit?usp=sharing

2021 - Master Mailbox Manipulation Sheet

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/175hlpWC1PgHeF1wja3vIti_BM2sGaJ7J_Q-PyWwwQdQ/edit?usp=sharing

Credit goes to Chris is me for creating the worksheet

All Cards - Needed grinds

A quick count/reference for how many of each pack/rare we get in the all cards route at minimum, and how many additional rares we would need: https://pastebin.com/TqaMUUW2

All Cards - New route

Just the new route only:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/15PLhdneAc7guJQpb4wmhhliof7BU3Z0vkhpura_bMFk/edit?usp=sharing

See other All Cards guides for collecting the Rares.

All Cards Info / Route

All Cards Rare Database Spreadsheet

This is a Google Doc spreadsheet to help with All Cards runs.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1t67xoYO33zCX7JknaLBuyw5v9sOZ366He7tUcMh3rx4/edit?usp=sharing

Tips to using this database;

1) Consistency comes from using the computer in Dome, due to the lack of NPCs. Rares may change due to the NPC's small affect and chaning becomes impossible to predict.
2) Reference points given are based on my (gcah2006) mashing - other people tend to go faster. You may want to bear this in mind and make your own notes.
3) Columns are colour-coded. Yellow, Peach and Orange advance RNG by 18, 19 and 20 frames respectively. Double packs advance by 38 or 40 frames (two lots of their colour).
4) To chain rares, move down the selected number of columns and check for rares you may need. Do NOT leave the email menu or the RNG will advance and be unpredictable.
5) Some rares are extremely rare (or impossible) in certain packs. An example of this is Lass in pack 2/8/10. I'm trying to come up with a list of these and you should bear it in mind before using your packs.
6) Packs 2, 8 and 10 are exactly the same. The Colosseum pack of 1 and 6 are also identical.

Order of packs may be different, depending on the route.
Here is my route:
Talk to Mitch
Talk to Nikki
Beat Isaac
Beat Nikki
Beat Gene
Beat Ken
Beat Murray
Beat Amy
Beat Rick
Beat Mitch
Grandmasters

Original work not done by Raagentreg

Any% ACE Notes

This assumes you know about executing the down+A glitch

The glitch behaves differently (runs a different memory location as if it were code) depending on the context of the duel. Executing it during a Whirlwind switch, with certain things setup (like temporary world map variables) will bring you to executing your deck's cards as code. A small deck edit sets up that code to trigger the credits cutscene

There are two main frames you can aim for, one from the tutorial RNG, and one from soft reset RNG. Hitting the frame from tutorial is much harder due to more human input variance, but it should theoretically be 3 or 4 seconds faster. (Less wait time, no saving in diary, but he plays a Bill during his turn)

If you just want a time instead of 1st try [highly recommended], do the soft reset, because you can re-attempt it over and over quickly.

details are here (and of course, you should watch the run too):
https://pastebin.com/csRih4Wj

oh also Flowtimer is here
https://gunnermaniac.com/ft

Original work not done by Raagentreg

Any% Glitchless - Electabuzz Route and Manipulation

formatted guide with a couple pictures and some convenient manipulation tables available at this link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HuWv1aaMALKGpzjPAjPPXJqwjaUdBolmtg7ohVjPUKU/edit?usp=sharing

The basic theory behind this route is that Electabuzz is more helpful for the Water gym than Scyther is for Gene. By rearranging the battles slightly, this allows runners to reset past bad luck earlier in the run, and to have a more consistent set of fights in the Water gym. To do this, I created a booster pack manipulation that gets Electabuzz and usually another good card (Computer Search, Dugtrio) with a little bit of practice.

Scyther is only really advantageous for the Gene fight. Scyther is used against two Fighting minions mostly out of convenience rather than because he is the best matchup - while Scyther semi-consistently wins these fights, they are not won that quickly. Electabuzz on the other hand solves some huge reliability issues in the Water gym. Paralysis helps with Horsea’s Smokescreen, and the ability to do 80 damage to Lapras, 40 damage to Poliwag, etc. can save multiple turns across the three fights. 70 HP for a basic is very durable, much moreso than the glass cannon Pikachu.

==Mailbox Manipulation For Electabuzz (or Scyther Early)==
See the referenced Google Doc for these details and tables; they are too hard to format readably into plaintext: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HuWv1aaMALKGpzjPAjPPXJqwjaUdBolmtg7ohVjPUKU/edit?usp=sharing

==The Route:==
Quick Summary: Jessica, Grass / Electric, Michael, Amanda, Chris(?), Gene, Manip, Water, Ken, Murray, Joseph, Rick, Mitch, E4

>Fire Gym - Jessica
Jessica is battled first because there is a low but reasonable chance you can beat Jessica with the starting deck, and she is otherwise a bit of a pain. Look for Mankey or Rattata starts ideally, with few to no Bench Pokemon.

>Grass / Electric / Grass as normal, Michael (Grass lobby), Amanda (Water)
This part is pretty normal; you can do Michael first if you want to, but it's a little easier to do it after beating Nikki. In any case, you have to go to the Water gym to deal with Amanda while you still have a Fire / Fighting hybrid deck. This does introduce a little extra movement.

>Chris
Here's where the route gets interesting. If you happened to pull an Electabuzz earlier, but not a Scyther, you can do a mailbox manipulation to get a Scyther. If you pulled a Scyther already, save your mailbox manipulation for Electabuzz later. If you got ~neither~, not all hope is lost, but you need to proceed without Scyther.

If you have Scyther, edit to it and battle Chris with the Scyther deck. Otherwise, you can try this fight with a Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee, or Diglett / Dugtrio deck. This one is tough without Scyther as a lot can damage you quickly and there aren't a ton of great starting frames, which is why the high HP Hitmonchan / Hitmonlee are sometimes used.

>Gene
Ideally you have a Scyther and you just play as normal against Gene. If not, your best bet is to build a Nidoran M / Nidorino deck. You should have many Nidorino by now as it is a frequent Uncommon in Colosseum packs. While they do not resist Fighting, Nidoran can do damage T1 / T2, and Nidorino can OHKO stuff as early as T2 with Double Colorless, and guarantees it by T4. Just watch your HP and you'll be fine. If you don’t do Nidorino, you can try Pinsir or Articuno.

>Electabuzz Manip - Water Gym
If you need to, do the Electabuzz mailbox manipulation detailed in another section at this point. Then edit your deck down to just Electabuzz, Trainers, Lighting energy, and filler, and sweep through the Water gym. It tends to go better than with Pikachu, as you have chances to OHKO Pokemon like Poliwag and Lapras that Pikachu couldn’t. Be sure to include Mysterious Fossil / Clefairy Doll so you can double switch against Horsea’s Smokescreen, and it can help to have cards like Energy Search that let you manipulate coin flips.

>Ken, Murray
Do these fights as normal, hopefully with a bonus Dugtrio. Don’t forget to grab Mewtwo!

>Joseph (Science minion)
You can either fight Joseph with Mewtwo or Electabuzz, who can be faster. When editing for Electabuzz, put in all your Psychic energy as if you were running Mewtwo, with Electric as filler. That way, swapping in Mewtwo after the fight is very fast and you don’t lose much time.

Note: It might be best to put this fight after the Water gym, actually? Saves a small deck edit in exchange for movement time. Up to you.

>Rick, Mitch, Elite Four
Play these as you normally would. You should have at least 2 Dugtrio so you won't have to run the back three fights with Dewgong or Gyarados, which is nice.

Any% Glitchless - Fast Mash Manip

These are still preliminary findings, however they could be very useful.

The idea behind Fast Mash Manip is simple, instead of doing the normal Scyther Mail Manip, you say that either 1) I don't need Scyther or 2) I would still like Scyther, but it's not necessary. You can also get Electabuzzes out of these manips, a consideration if you want those for the Water Club.

The execution is very simple, instead of waiting on the title screen as you would for Scyther, you instead mash as fast as you can through all the title screen and into the mailbox, open pack 1, and check to see what Rare + Uncommons in that specific order are shown. Then you open the packs in the order listed, if you see exit, then that means go out of the mailbox screen to see the overworld in the background, then jump back in. The reasoning is to advance your RNG enough to maybe snag another good rare afterwards. The cards noted afterwards are the notable cards that you are getting for that chain.

Hitmonchan   -  Nidorino, Raticate, Kadabra        -  1, 3, 4, exit, 6  -  Scyther, Pkmn Trader
Wigglytuff      -  Full Heal, Raticate, Nidorino        -  1, 6, exit, 3  -  Dugtrio
Pinsir              -  Raticate, Kadabra, Growlithe       -  1, 3, 6  -  Dugtrio, Scyther, PP
Kangaskhan   -  Full Heal, Nidorino, Magmar       -  1, 4, 3, 6  -  Scyther, CS, PP
Hitmonchan   -  Raticate, Nidorino, Revive           -  1, 6, 3  -  CS
Item Finder    -  Nidorino, Magikarp, Raticate       -  1, 6, exit, 3  -  IF, Scyther
Wigglytuff      -  Nidorino, Revive, Seaking            -  1, 6, exit, 3  -  Dugtrio
Scyther           -  Magikarp, Defender, Kadabra     -  1, exit, 3,6  -  Scyther
Scyther           -  Revive, Kadabra, Raticate            -  1, 6, exit, 3  -  Scyther, Dugtrio
Gyarados        -  Defender, Kadabra, Raticate       -  1, 3, exit, 6  -  Dugtrio
Item Finder     -  Seaking, Raticate, Arcanine        -  1, 4, 3, 6  -  IF, Dugtrio
Kangaskhan    -  Magikarp, Defender, Seel           -  1, 4, 3, 6  -  Scyther, CS
Hitmonchan    -  Revive, Seaking, Nidorino          -  1, 3, 4, 6  -  IF, Dugtrio
Hitmonchan    -  Defender, Kadabra, Arcanine     -  1, 6, exit, 3  -  Dugtrio
Item Finder     -  Seaking, Nidorino, Kadabra        -  1, 3, exit, 6  -  IF, Dugtrio
Comp Search  -  Kadabra, Arcanine, Nidorino       -  1, 3, exit, 6  -  CS, Scyther
Electabuzz      -  Nidorino, Kadabra, Raticate         -  1, 3, 6  -  IF, Electabuzz, Electabuzz
Dugtrio           -  Seaking, Arcanine, Nidorino        -  1, 3, 6  -  IF, Dugtrio
Scyther           -  Kadabra, Raticate, Charmeleon    -  1, 4, 3, 6  -  IF, Scyther, Scyther, Pkmn Trader
Electabuzz      -  Arcanine, Seel, Nidorino              -  1, exit, 3, 6  -  Electabuzz
Dugtrio           -  Raticate, Nidorino, Kadabra        -  1, 6, exit, 3  -  Dugtrio, Scyther, PP
Gyarados        -  Charmeleon, Nidorino, Raticate  -  1, 3, 6, exit  -  Scyther, CS, PP
Wigglytuff      -  Nidorino, Kadabra, Arcanine       -  1, 4, 3, 6  -  CS, Scyther
Gyarados        -  Nidorino, Raticate, Defender      -  1, exit, 3, 6  -  :(
Scyther           -  Raticate, Arcanine, Kadabra        -  1, 6, 3  -  Scyther, Scyther, PP
Pinsir              -  Kadabra, Raticate, Arcanine        -  1, 4, 3, 6  -  Scyther
Kangaskhan   -  Nidorino, Kadabra, Seel              -  1, 6, 3  -  CS, Dewgong, Dewgong
Dugtrio          -  Raticate, Arcanine, Nidorino       -  1, 3, exit, 6  -  CS, Dugtrio

Abbreviations:
CS	Computer Search
PP	Pluspower
IF	Item Finder

Any% Glitchless 2018 Route

The top runs all use slightly different routes, and it's impossible to really say which is the most consistent or the fastest. Key factors in routing are obtaining booster packs (especially Colosseum) as soon as possible, delaying difficult fights as late as possible so your deck strength will be stronger for them, and minimizing deck edit frequency/complexity.

Here's my very simplified personal route, grouped by deck edits:

~~~
Charmander/Magmar/Charmeleon/Diglett/Dugtrio Deck:
Heather, Kristin, Brittany, Nicholas, Brandon, (Trainer improve deck edit here), Jennifer, Isaac, Nikki, Michael, Amanda

Pikachu/Electabuzz Deck (Maximum Potions/Defenders):
Sara, Joshua, Amy, go to Rock Club side room

Scyther Deck (Mailbox manip first):
Chris, Gene, Jessica

Diglett/Dugtrio Deck: Ken
Add Rattatas: Murray
(GET THE PROMO MEWTWO AFTER MURRAY)

Promo Mewtwo Deck:
Joseph, Rick, Mitch

Seel/Dewgong Deck: Courtney
Diglett/Dugtrio Deck: Steve, Jack, Rod, Ronald
~~~

== more detailed route info ==

Start with a quick edit to add a couple Grass Energy to the deck, to reach a threshold where Mason's aide will give you 10 energy of each type. Then make an edit to remove all Pokemon except Charmander/Charmeleon, Magmar (basically a fragile basic Charmeleon), Diglett/Dugtrio, and maybe Machop (Machop can get scummy turn 1 kills, but Diglett's lightning resistance and 30 damage starting turn 2 makes it better in the long game) and maximize Fire/Fighting energy.

With our starting deck, Grass+Lightning Club is always the best first choice.
The Lightning Club duels are way more consistent to win, so if you're doing Full Game or in a race, it's suggested to do Lightning Club first. (Fighting Brandon/Nicholas for 4 Colo packs, then editing before Jennifer, is a good idea)
Heather and Brittany have multi-type decks with a lot of variance, which makes them very inconsistent, so we do them first to reset over them as soon as possible.
Fighting Michael early is very very difficult; however, his Colosseum packs are nice, and it's early enough that resetting isn't too bad. Ideally, you'll have a Diglett vs. Electabuzz match-up; or he has a Magmar without energy; or just Mankeys. Hitmonchan is not what you want to see. This is a fight where you really cannot take a match-up you can't win.

Water Club used to be done later, but as it's another club with 3 peons to fight, it's good to get its packs early. Also, Amanda's Scythers and Wigglytuffs are best fought with Charmeleon/Dugtrio, so it's good to go to Water Club to edit from the Fire/Fighting deck to something else.
Pikachu is a glass cannon, so losing duels is always a threat. Raichu's 20 damage Agility makes it worse against 50/60 HP Pokemon, and evolving is your only way past a Smokescreen, so don't evolve if you don't have to. Always prepare a bench Pikachu if you have one so it's ready to Thunder Jolt.
If you managed to get 2 Electabuzzes out of packs, I'd suggest using only both of them, taking out the Pikachus. But if you have only 1 Electabuzz, I would keep the Pikachus in.

Now that I have 3 Medals, which unlocks Mail 6, I do the Scyther manip in the Rock Club side room: https://www.speedrun.com/pkmntcg/guide/u7q9o
Scyther duels are generally easy, so I think it's good to get them out of the way ASAP for some nice packs from Jessica and Chris. Plus, you want to open up your Colosseum/Evolution mail packs ASAP. So, two birds with one stone.
Be careful against Jessica/Chris's Colorless pokemon. In particular, going second against a Rattata might be a loss...

Now, with some better trainers hopefully, it's time for a Diglett only deck against Ken. His Fire types aren't the biggest threat; his Chanseys are! Ken is fairly easy, as he has quite slow attackers; none of his Pokemon can attack with 1 energy. Be careful of a Magmar Fire Punch or a DCE Tauros Stomp, however.
Quickly add Rattatas before leaving Fire Club, to help lose against Ronald 2 and his Hitmonchans.
Murray is one of the hardest fights, as his deck has the bulkiest Colorlesses, the walling Mr. Mime, and the threatening Kadabra/Alakazam. Evolving to Dugtrio can be a death sentence if he has a Mr. Mime, but you do want to be able to one-shot Chansey/Kanga/Snorlax/Kadabra, so play wisely. Luckily, Mud Slap can 2-hit all of those threats as well.

Get the Mewtwo for free from the Psychic Club side room, and use it to take out Joseph, Rick, and Mitch. Not much to say there, try to Energy Absorb turn 1 if you have a discard enabler, and be very careful against Mitch's aggro deck. (We used to do Joseph with the Fat Pikachu deck; it's better against Spearows but weaker against Flying Pikachus and Zubats, and would require more overworld travel if done after Water)

You can open Mail 12 (a Trainer-preferenced Colosseum pack) before the Dome if you really want to...
Seel/Dewgong is the best choice for Courtney, as Dewgong's 50 for 3 two-shots legendary birds, and one-shots the rest of her Pokemon.
Diglett/Dugtrio is better for the rest of the Dome, for obvious reasons against Steve, for Jack's prevalent Chanseys, and to aggro with Mud Slap against Rod's Dratinis and Magikarps and Ronald's Dratinis and Eevees.
Switching back to Dewgong after Steve is a good idea if your Dugtrio count is bad compared to your Dewgong count; Seel/Dewgong is generally slower but more consistent, especially if Jack/Ronald get their birds out, while Dugtrio's performance against Chanseys and Diglett's performance against non-bird basics, but low health, makes it faster but riskier.

== common route options ==
My route is the one I find to be the most logical, with minimal extra Club trips and minimal deck edits.
Delaying Michael is probably one of the smarter route changes; the next best spot for him might be after Murray, with a quickish edit to take out the Rattatas and put in Charmander/Charmeleon (or just Magmars if you have a few).
Water Club would be easier with more defensive items, so you could do Fire Club third, then the Scyther section? (Murray can't be fought unless you have 4+ medals, so Psychic Club has to be 5th or later)
Jessica and Chris aren't necessarily best fought with Scyther; unlike Gene, there's no Weaknesses at play here, just a Resistance to Fighting, and Scyther generally having decent damage output.
The Scyther section could also be delayed to after the Psychic Club to increase DCEs/trainer power, and make the deck edits a little smoother (add psychic energy when switching to Scyther), although you should still open mail 1/3/4/6 after 3 medals.

GTNTG's early game does an odd route of Lightning Club: Jennifer, Nicholas, Grass Club: Heather, Kristin, Fire Club: Jessica, and then Water Club. I don't really get it, but he does always save+soft reset before duels, so perhaps Jessica has a lot of good frames after a soft reset when using the default deck? In general, his weird route of extra early peon fights and avoiding club masters having the best time shows that, maybe extra club trips don't matter, and just getting as many booster packs as possible matters more.

Original work not done by Raagentreg

Any% Glitchless Route + Strats (Recommended for Beginners)

Any% No ACE Notes

THIS ONLY WORKS ON US GAME BOY VERSION, NOT JP OR PAL OR 3DS

For possibly better and far more detailed info, read entrpntr's paste here: https://pastebin.com/QnYGzNey

there is a new glitch that instantly ends any duel:

https://youtu.be/ieyYHsurOcQ

You press Down+A on the same frame, while viewing the play area, with cursor on your bench (or your active, if you have no bench).

Thankfully due to lag frames, it is not frame perfect by any means.

One way to do it, if you have no bench, is to buffer the Down+A immediately after pressing Select. However, you CAN'T hold Select during the buffer or it won't work. So tap Select (I recommend having it bound to a Left Trigger), then hold Down+A.

https://i.gyazo.com/da10c06d8cc14b29dd9991e3c89a912b.mp4

If you have a bench, the best way is to open a Pokemon's info, then buffer Down+A while closing it (holding B is OK for this)

https://i.gyazo.com/9b705bfa926d8a928e7c0cfa5fd18ec8.mp4

Sometimes, instead of winning the duel, this will take you to an infinite party screen. Pressing B to close it just reopens it. This is fine, and actually makes the trick easier. Buffer just A when closing the screen. Eventually, it will work. (Whether the duel ends or not is based on some subframe Game Boy screen refresh timing things by the sound of it)

In this example, all of these attempts were the correct input, just none of them worked:

https://i.gyazo.com/382cdc773da49f2979a143611aa11fdd.mp4

Hope this works as a basic tutorial for the input needed

BIG NOTE: The only reason you win the duel like this is because by default you are the "last duel winner". If you lose a duel, this trick will just copy that loss. Saving and reloading doesn't change this, you'd have to win a duel to change it

CURRENT ROUTE: Choose Bulbasaur & Friends due to having the bulkiest basics

There are two club orders that have been timed to be identical theoretical lengths (world map inputs below)

Mason Fighting Grass Water Lightning Rock Ishihara Fire Science Psychic Grass Fighting Dome:
Right, right up, down, left up, up, up, right right up, right, left, down, down left, up right

Mason Lightning Fighting Water Grass Science Fire Psychic Ishihara Rock Fighting Grass Dome:
Up, down, right, up, up, up, left, left up left, down, down down, right up, left left

The Lightning-first saves some movement thanks to Ronald pushing you to the right, although you have to take an extra step when leaving Water so you exit on the left (for Ronald 1).
Always fight the right guy in Lightning Club after Jenny, since Isaac is on the left half.
Minimize step counts by fighting opponents on the left side before the right side in Grass Club and Water Club (Grass should go Brittany Kristin Heather Michael, Water should go Sara Amanda, Jessica before Ken)
Of course, its up to you, the extra steps aren't that big of a deal and can feel less natural.

world map frame timing data: https://pastebin.com/j8EMCF9Q
 
Original work not done by Raagentreg

Documentation - Booster pack type preferences - Who gives what pack

Colosseum (no Fire rares):
GRASS - Heather
FIRE/NONE - Adam [left], Jonathan [right], (Nikki Mail)
WATER - Sara [2P]
LIGHTNING - Nicholas, Brandon
FIGHTING - Andrew [left], Michael [middle], Jessica [right]
PSYCHIC -
TRAINER - Imakuni, (Courtney Mail)
NONE - (Mason Mail 1 and 2)

Evolution:
GRASS - Kristin, Erik [left], (Gene Mail)
FIRE -
WATER -
LIGHTNING -
FIGHTING - Ryan [right, 3P], Chris [left], (Isaac Mail)
PSYCHIC - Daniel [left, 1M], Robert [side]
TRAINER - Imakuni, (Steve Mail)
NONE - John [down], (Mason Mail 2)

Mystery (2x Colorless except in None):
GRASS - Brittany, David [right]
FIRE -
WATER - Joshua, (Ken Mail)
LIGHTNING - Amanda [3P], Jennifer, Isaac, (Amy Mail)
FIGHTING - Matthew [side], Gene
PSYCHIC -
TRAINER/CL- Imakuni, (Jack Mail)
NONE - Ken, (Mason Mail 3)

Laboratory:
GRASS - Joseph, Rick
FIRE -
WATER - Amy
LIGHTNING -
FIGHTING - Mitch?
PSYCHIC - Stephanie [right, 2M], Murray [4M], (Mitch Mail, Murray Mail, Rick Mail)
TRAINER - Imakuni, (Rod Mail)
NONE - Nikki, (Mason Mail 3)

Original work not done by Raagentreg

Documentation - Boosters/Opponent deck lists

http://vps.krickl.me/tcg.html

¤updated broken link 1/30/17

Documentation - Continue Duel information

This page has some good information about the uses that soft resetting and using Continue Duel can have.

http://notes.stump.io/tcg-continue-duel

Pastebin mirror: https://pastebin.com/jsV9kqRk

Documentation - Mailbox pack triggers

This is what you need to do to receive the mailbox packs for each leader.

Mason 1 (Col Typeless): ...
Mason 2 (Col/Evo Typeless): 3 Master Medals
Mason 3 (Mys/Lab Typeless): 7 Master Medals

Mitch (Lab Psychic): Talk to Mitch
Murray (Lab Psychic): Talk to Murray
Rick (Lab Psychic): Talk to Joseph
Ken (Mys Water): Talk to Ken
Gene (Evo Grass): Talk to Gene

Isaac (Evo Fighting): Defeat Brandon (right)
Nikki (Col Fire): Defeat Kristin (up-left)
Amy (Mys Lightning): Begin dueling Joshua (can lose)

Courtney (Col Trainer): 8 Master Medals
Steve (Evo Trainer): Grand Hall entered (can turn back)
Jack (Mys Trainer): Courtney duel began (can lose)
Rod (Lab Trainer): Courtney duel won

Original work not done by Raagentreg

Documentation - Starting deck contents / extra cards

Decks presented in ID order for possible manipulation purposes.

Charmander & Friends:

1-10: Fire_Energy
11-18: Lightning_Energy
19-24: Fighting_Energy
25: Charmander_LV10
26: Charmander_LV10
27: Charmeleon_LV32
28: Charizard_LV76
29: Growlithe_LV18
30: Growlithe_LV18
31: Arcanine_LV45
32: Ponyta_LV10
33: Ponyta_LV10
34: Magmar_LV24
35: Pikachu_LV12
36: Pikachu_LV12
37: Raichu_LV40
38: Magnemite_LV13
39: Magnemite_LV13
40: Magneton_LV28
41: Zapdos_LV64_(Fossil)
42: Diglett_LV8
43: Diglett_LV8
44: Dugtrio_LV36
45: Machop_LV20
46: Machoke_LV40
47: Rattata_LV9
48: Rattata_LV9
49: Raticate_LV41
50: Meowth_LV14_(GB)
51: Professor_Oak
52: Bill
53: Bill
54: Switch
55: Computer_Search
56: Pluspower
57: Potion
58: Potion
59: Full_Heal
60: Full_Heal

Extra cards:
1 Bulbasaur, 1 Ivysaur, 2 Caterpie, 1 Metapod, 2 Nidoran Female, 1 Nidoran Male, 1 Pinsir
2 Seel, 1 Dewgong, 2 Goldeen, 1 Seaking
2 Abra, 1 Kadabra, 1 Gastly
4 Grass, 4 Water, 3 Psychic

---

Squirtle & Friends:

1-11: Water_Energy
12-17: Fighting_Energy
18-25: Psychic_Energy
26: Squirtle_LV8
27: Squirtle_LV8
28: Wartortle_LV22
29: Blastoise_LV52
30: Seel_LV12
31: Seel_LV12
32: Dewgong_LV42
33: Staryu_LV15
34: Starmie_LV28
35: Goldeen_LV12
36: Seaking_LV28
37: Lapras_LV31
38: Abra_LV10
39: Abra_LV10
40: Kadabra_LV38
41: Gastly_LV8
42: Gastly_LV8
43: Haunter_LV22
44: Machop_LV20
45: Machoke_LV40
46: Geodude_LV16
47: Geodude_LV16
48: Hitmonchan_LV33
49: Rattata_LV9
50: Rattata_LV9
51: Raticate_LV41
52: Meowth_LV14_(GB)
53: Professor_Oak
54: Bill
55: Switch
56: Pokeball
57: Scoop_Up
58: Item_Finder
59: Potion
60: Full_Heal

Extra cards:
1 Caterpie, 1 Metapod, 1 Weedle, 1 Kakuna, 2 Nidoran F, 1 Nidoran M, 1 Pinsir
2 Charmander, 1 Charmeleon, 1 Growlithe, 1 Arcanine, 1 Magmar
2 Pikachu, 1 Magnemite, 1 Magneton, 1 Electabuzz
3 Grass, 4 Fire, 4 Lightning

---

Bulbasaur & Friends:

1-11: Grass_Energy
12-14: Fire_Energy
15-23: Water_Energy
24: Bulbasaur_LV13
25: Bulbasaur_LV13
26: Ivysaur_LV20
27: Venusaur_LV67
28: Caterpie_LV13
29: Caterpie_LV13
30: Metapod_LV21
31: Nidoran_Female_LV13
32: Nidoran_Female_LV13
33: Nidoran_Male_LV20
34: Nidoran_Male_LV20
35: Nidorino_LV25
36: Tangela_LV12
37: Flareon_LV28_(Jungle)
38: Seel_LV12
39: Dewgong_LV42
40: Krabby_LV20
41: Krabby_LV20
42: Kingler_LV27
43: Goldeen_LV12
44: Goldeen_LV12
45: Seaking_LV28
46: Vaporeon_LV42_(Jungle)
47: Jigglypuff_LV14_(Jungle)
48: Meowth_LV14_(GB)
49: Eevee_LV12
50: Eevee_LV12
51: Kangaskhan_LV40
52: Professor_Oak
53: Switch
54: Pokeball
55: Pluspower
56: Pluspower
57: Defender
58: Full_Heal
59: Full_Heal
60: Revive

Extra cards:
2 Pikachu, 1 Raichu, 1 Magnemite, 1 Electabuzz
1 Diglett, 1 Dugtrio, 1 Hitmonchan
2 Abra, 1 Kadabra, 2 Gastly, 1 Haunter, 1 Jynx
1 Bill, 1 Gust, 2 Potion
4 Lightning, 3 Fighting, 4 Psychic

Original work not done by Raagentreg

Scyther / General Mailbox Manip Information

Scyther is a crucial card that, unlike all other crucial cards in the run, we aren't guaranteed a copy of. However, the free booster packs you receive in the mailbox can be fairly easily manipulated after a soft reset. You can save in front of the PC, with the cursor on the mailbox, then soft reset, and mash A to get back into your file and into the mailbox screen (where RNG is frozen) with fairly consistent timing.

The best way to time what frame you get in the mailbox is by looking at the first energy ball on the title screen's position. For the Scyther manip, you want it to be about up-right of the "TM" symbol before you advance to the main menu, kind of like this:

https://i.imgur.com/dBtyNzG.png

This position leads to a cluster of 3 Scythers (as well as 3 Gyarados), in this order:
Dugtrio, Scyther, Electabuzz, Hitmonchan, Scoop Up, Pinsir, Wigglytuff, SCYTHER, SCYTHER, Gyarados, SCYTHER, Gyarados, Gyarados, Computer Search, Magneton, Magneton, Zapdos, Kangaskhan

If you don't get the Scyther, however, you can chain the other mailbox packs to reach another Scyther option, since RNG only advances by opening packs on the mailbox screen. Going earlier is better than going later, as there's no good chains off of the Magnetons.
For best results, you need to have Mason Mail 2 (Col+Evo) available; with current routes, this means doing the manip after beating Lighting/Grass/Water. The chains always start from Pack 1, the default cursor location. However, the three-Scyther cluster is the same to reach on pack 3 and 6 as well. (And, if you're doing Lightning Club first, you have to swap any mentions of pack 3 and pack 4)

My manip focuses on obtaining valuable Rares in Colosseum, as well as Common trainers (Energy Search, Gust of Wind, Energy Removal, Gambler) in Evo/Mys/Lab. If the manip doesn't include the third Colosseum pack, it'll say "Exit", and you may want to then re-open the mailbox to randomly open the remaining Colosseum. Once you've opened all Colosseum packs, feel free to exit the manip if you feel you don't need the commons from the other packs.

I don't know how easily people will be able to memorize this, or reference it during a run, but it greatly improves your odds of getting Scyther in one manip try, and can even improve your deck for the rest of the game (all 3 Scyther frames near the Gyarados lead into a Computer Search, and maybe a second Scyther!)

Original 2018 manip: https://pastebin.com/P7en4VQ6
New 2020 manip: https://pastebin.com/Rb3qFj0L

Kangaskhan (Nidorino) - no Scyther
Dugtrio (Raticate) - no Scyther
Pinsir (Kadabra) - no Scyther
Kangaskhan (Arcanine) - 5, 2, 6, 3, 4
Dugtrio (Kadabra) - 5, 2, 3, 4, 6
Gyarados (Nidorino) - 4, 5, 6, 3, 2
Dugtrio (Seaking) - 5, 4, 3, exit, 6
Scyther (Kadabra) - 5, 6, 4, 3
Electabuzz (Oak) - 5, 6, 4, 2, 3
Hitmonchan (Nidorino) - 5, 3, 4, exit, 6
Scoop Up (Kadabra) - 3, 6, 4, 2
Pinsir (Charmeleon) - 4, 3, exit, 6
Wigglytuff (Nidorino) - 2, 5, 3, 6, 4
Scyther (Seel) - 6, 2, 3, 4
Scyther (Charmeleon) - 3, 6, 4, 5
Gyarados (Growlithe, PP) - 4, 3, 6
Scyther (Magikarp) - 3, 4, exit, 6
Gyarados (PlusPower) - 4, 6, exit, 3
Gyarados (Growlithe, Kadab)- 4, 3, exit, 6
Comp Search (Dewgong) - 2, 6, 5, 4, 3
Magneton (Magikarp) - no Scyther
Magneton (Raticate) - no Scyther
Zapdos (Kadabra) - 5, 3, 2, 6, 4
Kangaskhan (Arcanine) - 5, 6, 3, 4
Dugtrio (Raticate) - 2, 3, 4, 6
Gyarados (Revive) - 4, 6, 3
Snorlax (Full Heal) - 4, 3, exit, 6
Item Finder (Kadabra) - no Scyther
Item Finder (Seel) - 5, 2, 6, 3

---

If you don't need Scyther, you can focus more on Dugtrios, Comp Searches, and Item Finders. Here's manipulation for doing that. This is done by mashing as fast as possible, instead of aiming for the triple Scyther cluster. (Still need to update this to be more thorough)

https://pastebin.com/ZDU7HHwG

---

Here's the raw workspace I had when making the 2020 Scyther / Gene First manips, to give you an idea of how I make them if you'd like to make them yourself: https://pastebin.com/QCgCYUY6

Original work not done by Raagentreg

Scyther Manipulation Cheat Sheets

Grass cheat sheet: https://pastebin.com/xjarqQuF
Lightning cheat sheet: https://pastebin.com/xmEXCCQj

These are based off of Scyther manip logic: https://www.speedrun.com/pkmntcg/guide/bfegl

Video Tutorials for Speedrunning (Mostly Any% Glitchless)

Tutorials in video form!

Still to add: Individual fight tactics, New Route

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYt86NXN3WmyyfyHNJZZoTze6DSXfKyko

stump

steppehaan

A.K.N

Raagentreg

MojitoMonday

pinecone606

Pokémon Trading Card Game

Game Boy Advance

Game Boy Player

Game Boy Interface

Yadoran91

skateman222

Toronite

Full Game

No Tutorial

No ACE

Charmander

Bulbasaur

Squirtle

Starting Point

Starting deck

Starting Deck

The rules of this speedgame have been updated! Most of these rule updates are just to clean up language and formatting - for example the allowable platforms rules are now in the "Game Rules" section so we don't have to list it repeatedly in every category's specific rules. However there are a few ru

Nom	Auteur
2021 - Current Compilation of Routes	Raagentreg 3 years ago
2021 - Master Mailbox Manipulation Sheet	Raagentreg 3 years ago
All Cards - Needed grinds	MojitoMonday 4 years ago
All Cards - New route	steppehaan 3 years ago
All Cards Info / Route	Raagentreg 3 years ago
All Cards Rare Database Spreadsheet	Raagentreg 3 years ago
Any% ACE Notes	Raagentreg 3 years ago
Any% Glitchless - Electabuzz Route and Manipulation	pinecone606 3 years ago
Any% Glitchless - Fast Mash Manip	Raagentreg 3 years ago
Any% Glitchless 2018 Route	Raagentreg 3 years ago
Any% Glitchless Route + Strats (Recommended for Beginners)	Raagentreg 3 years ago
Any% No ACE Notes	Raagentreg 3 years ago
Documentation - Booster pack type preferences - Who gives what pack	Raagentreg 3 years ago
Documentation - Boosters/Opponent deck lists	A.K.N 4 years ago
Documentation - Continue Duel information	stump 4 years ago
Documentation - Mailbox pack triggers	Raagentreg 3 years ago
Documentation - Starting deck contents / extra cards	Raagentreg 3 years ago
Scyther / General Mailbox Manip Information	Raagentreg 3 years ago
Scyther Manipulation Cheat Sheets	MojitoMonday 3 years ago
Video Tutorials for Speedrunning (Mostly Any% Glitchless)	Raagentreg 3 years ago