Speedrunner finds major time-skip glitch in Pokémon FireRed Switch

Pokémon’s early titles are built on fragile code that the speedrunning community has long explored for shortcuts. The recent Switch port of Pokémon FireRed, released as part of the franchise’s 30th anniversary celebration, has reopened that hunt and revealed a significant new time skip.

Swiss runner iamClemi stumbled on the exploit in Professor Oak’s lab while trying to pick up a Charmander with good stats. An accidental press of the L button — larger on a Switch than on the native Game Boy Advance — brought up the help menu and made the usual Poké Ball pickup sound go missing.

Opening the help menu suppresses many sound prompts across the game. In some cases the player character simply stands silently after picking up items or healing at Pokémon Centers; when catching a wild Pokémon, the fanfare pause is skipped entirely and the game fast-forwards to the PokéDex entry.

Switzerland

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