A Swiss speedrunner named iamClemi accidentally found a significant glitch in the new Pokémon FireRed Switch port while selecting a starter Pokémon. The glitch skips sound prompts during wild Pokémon captures, saving time in speedruns. Runner Gunnermaniac called it the largest time save in Game Boy Pokémon games since RNG manipulation.
Pokémon FireRed, part of the recent Switch port released for the franchise's 30th anniversary, has drawn speedrunners seeking new exploits due to its fragile coding typical of early games in the series. During a run, Swiss player iamClemi was in Professor Oak’s lab choosing Charmander when they accidentally pressed the L button, which is larger on Switch controllers than on the original Game Boy Advance. This opened the help menu and notably silenced the usual sound cue for picking up the Poké Ball from the starter selection table. Further testing revealed the glitch cancels many sound prompts throughout the game, such as when picking up items or healing at Pokémon Centers. Crucially, it eliminates the pause during wild Pokémon captures, skipping straight to the PokéDex entry. This discovery affects multiple speedrunning categories. Gunnermaniac, the current world record holder for the Elite Four Round 2 category—an epilogue mode requiring at least 60 unique Pokémon captures—highlighted its impact in a YouTube video: “[This is] by far the largest time save discovered in any Game Boy Pokémon game since RNG manipulation was found nearly a decade ago. This is huge.” The skip saves 2.68 seconds per captured Pokémon, accumulating substantially in relevant runs and threatening existing records, including Gunnermaniac’s own.
