For this edition of Speedrun Fast, I traveled across the Internet, searching far and wide. Welcome to the run that holds the current world record for Pokemon Yellow, done in an astounding two hours. The run is performed by Gunnermaniac3 without the use of glitches. That’s right, this trainer leaves home, travels all over the country and wins the championship match in the same amount of time it takes some people to fully wake up in the morning. There are two videos below. The first is the actual run itself, recorded as it streamed. The second is a commentary feature of the same run. I show both videos here because the commentary video edits out the sound from the game, thus, people who want to hear what’s going on and those who would rather have a walkthrough can choose whichever they prefer.
Pokeball One: Original Video
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q32b5XoecQ[/embedyt]
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Viewers will be able to see the chat stream on the left as they watch the Pokemon Yellow run, which Gunner often voices replies to throughout the run. Because world record runs require so much focus, it’s not uncommon for runners to forego true commentary and optionally add it in later. The time splits are displayed on the right for comparison to previous times.
Pokeball Two: Commentary Video
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lupTXpn_5w[/embedyt]
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Gunner mentions the time splits in this video, particularly the very last one, which he is skipping. A split, in speedrun terms, is a pre-defined segment of gameplay that serves as a progress marker, such as the eight gyms found within Pokemon Yellow. These allow runners to easily keep track of the status of their run and gauge their performance on the go. He also explains the moves he makes and why he makes them, and sometimes what he might do differently in other situations, such as opting for extra potions at the expense of a certain amount of time.
Pokemon Yellow was re-released on the Nintendo eShop on February 27, 2016, along with Red Blue. All three are compatible with Pokemon Bank, allowing trainers to transfer their teams to the sixth and upcoming seventh generation of games. It is due to these versions that I decided to cover a Pokemon run, and being reminded how different the battle mechanics were back then, even when compared to the second generation, is like mounting a bike again after years without riding. I hope you enjoyed this world record speedrun and leave a comment if you’d like to see a specific game covered in the future.
