A new time skip in the Pokemon FireRed Switch port is shaking up speedruns

The Pokemon FireRed port released for the series' 30th anniversary has given speedrunners something to chase, and a Kotaku report describes how a discovery happened completely by accident. Swiss runner iamClemi was in Professor Oak's lab, hoping to pick up a Charmander with good stats, when he pressed the L button, which is larger on a Switch than on the Game Boy Advance. That opened the help menu, and he noticed that a sound cue normally played when picking up the Poke Ball was missing.

It did not save time right there, but he kept digging. Opening the help menu cancels many sound prompts throughout the game. When picking up items or healing at Pokemon Centers the character still stands in silence, as if honoring the missing jingles. When catching a wild Pokemon, however, the usual pause for the fanfare is skipped entirely, taking the player straight to the Pokedex entry.

Runner Gunnermaniac called it by far the largest time save found in any Game Boy Pokemon game since RNG manipulation was discovered nearly a decade ago. The skip saves 2.68 seconds for every captured Pokemon. That sounds small, but it adds up in categories with many catches. Gunnermaniac holds the record for Elite 4 Round 2, an epilogue challenge that requires capturing at least 60 unique Pokemon, and he acknowledged the find puts his own record in danger.

I like this story because it shows how a new platform can reopen settled leaderboards. A bigger shoulder button on new hardware, an unexpected menu, and suddenly old routes are up for debate again.

Source: Kotaku