How long did it take you to beat Pokémon Scarlet & Violet? 20 hours? 30 hours? Well, the speedrunning community is here to put us to shame, as Automaton Media has spotted that the latest Pokémon games are being completed in under five and a half hours.
At the time of writing, the world record on Speedrun.com is held by Pokémon speedrunner truely, who has managed to beat the game in an impressive 5 hours, 27 minutes and 11 seconds. Okay, so that's all three story paths, a decently levelled team of Pokémon, and plenty of other things we don't want to spoil here, all wrapped up in an evening?
But wait, it's not a team of Pokémon helping many of these speedrunners. In many of his runs, truely has relied on one early-game Pokémon — Flamigo, the Fighting/Flying-type flamingo. We say relied on, but what we mean is that truely pretty much only uses this single Pokémon for the entire run, save for a few exceptions. Flamigo has already proven quite popular for its typing and its strong physical attack and high speed stats, but this takes its strengths to a whole new level. All of the top three records on Speedrun.com all focus on using this brand new Pokémon to power through the game.
Other than abusing Flamigo's Scrappy ability (which allows it to damage Ghost-type Pokémon with Normal and Fighting-type moves), there aren't too many tricks to a super fast Paldean playthrough. One obvious trick seems to be focusing on the Titan Pokémon, as beating them allows you to upgrade Koraidon/Miraidon's traversal abilities.
There are lots of awkward climbs and big drops that allow truely to achieve the current best time. But, like any good speedrunner, he's determined to beat his own time and thinks he definitely can. We're cheering you on!
You can watch the full speedrun below but be warned of some strong language throughout the video.
Are you impressed by Pokémon Scarlet & Violet speedruns so far? And are you fond of Flamigo? Let us know!
[source speedrun.com, via automaton-media.com]
Comments 14
I love flamigo; a simple design, a type combo of my more favourite types, and the ability scrappy is amazing.
It's a shame it can't learn false swipe. It would be a fantastic catcher.
Would it be in 2:30 hours if the game didn't run at 15~20 fps?
Flamigo IS pretty busted
Based Flamingo Pokemon owning the competition. What a lad/lass
Speed runs are purely chest thumping. That's not enjoyment of the game itself. I like the fact trainers don't force you to fight unless you contact them. What I like is the quest that upgrades the mythical Pokémon that allows it to do more ability. I am those that enjoy the quest and collecting items as overall game satisfaction. Still see glitches before the patch fix.
@SwitchForce It absolutely is a valid way to enjoy a game, just not the same way as many people. Speedrunning's not really my thing (though I am also rarely one to keep playing past the credits or to go for 100% completion) but I can definitely see the appeal of just revisiting the same game over and over, looking for what you can do to shave off time and seeing what shortcuts and oversights there are able to be exploited. Sometimes it can lead to some really interesting diversions in how a game's approached.
Plus a lot of speedrun strategies can also be translated to more casual runs pretty well. Like top of my head even if you're not doing everything else there is to break it doing the spin-into-hammer thing in Paper Mario 64 does shave off a lot of unnecessary travel time.
@SwitchForce But it's not really up to you to decide whether another person gleans enjoyment from a given playstyle. Individual subjectivity and all that. I casually run a couple games myself, nothing compared the records on speedrun.com, but I find it super fun to learn tricks and hone my skills for a better time. When I first learned how to BLJ through walls in Mario 64, for example, it felt so satisfying clipping through a wall for the first time!
@SwitchForce Once again a person that thinks that speedrunners have never properly played that game before.
They obviously play the game for the first time and immediatelly start speedrunning it, there's no way they have done a normal playthrough before /s
I absolutely adore the fact that the two main mons used for speedrunning SV when the game initally came out were between the two Fighting/Flying types and between a luchador eagle and a literal flamingo.....the flamingo won.
I have a very big soft spot for Flamigo myself. I remember seeing one chilling just off the beaten path at the start of the game and thinking it looked pretty cute. I sent out my Pokemon, absolutely lost it at the name and thought it'd be an easy catch. FIVE DEAD POKEMON LATER and I was being absolutely MASSACRED by this stupid garden toy. I somehow managed to catch it with my last Poke Ball and kept it on my team for the first 10 hours of the game I was that impressed by it. I'll always love ya Flompadre!
I ran into a Flamigo. I soon ran away from that Flamigo. Friggin big stupid pink Elden Ring boss over here out of nowhere.
While I like flamigo the name and design scream rushed and lazy. I wonder how much more amazing these games would be if they released them every 3 or 4 years instead.
@SwitchForce "Look at me, I'm in charge of deciding how people are allowed to enjoy a single player video game!"
@SwitchForce,
Up to an individual on how they play a single player game, and speed runners put a lot of time and dedication into what they do, of course there is some ego involved, but I have no issues with it myself, as it does not personally impact on how I play a certain game, or my enjoyment of it..... not sure why if ruffles your feathers so much to be honest.
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