[Discussion] Blind and Deaf Challenge Runs

[bfrost97]

Hey! A couple of years back, there was a popular video by a YouTuber named MartSnack where he describes a "Blind and Deaf" run of Fire Red. Completing the run involves constructing a list of button presses and times for which the buttons are held, such that if the button sequence is precisely followed the game would be beaten regardless of random events. That is, the sequence has to account for if each grass tile gets you into an encounter or not, if you have a Pokemon with perfect IVs and a beneficial nature or awful IVs with a detrimental nature, etc. It is distinct from a tool-assisted speedrun in that it is not frame-perfect, so the random events are truly unpredictable. The rules are as follows:

1. A "completed run" is a sequence of button presses that, if followed, will (almost) always beat the game. The sequence should be made public somehow.
   1. A button press is of the form (button, time) where the button is held for that amount of time. "Wait" (i.e. not pressing a button) is also a valid button press.
   2. If there are certain completely unavoidable fail points (e.g. see the "fast Pidgey" in MartSnack's first video) it must be noted and the likelihood should be minimized as much as possible.
   3. The timing of/between button presses cannot be sensitive. That is, you cannot rely on pressing A for 1 frame in a situation where pressing A for 2 frames would ruin the run.
2. The Day Care is totally legal, but time in the Day Care should be minimized. This makes it so that the strategies used are still interesting, rather than just beefing up a Pokemon to LVL 100.
   1. To get around spending lots of time in the Day Care, X Items are legal and encouraged.
3. Trading is allowed so long as all trading partners are playing blind and deaf (see my Fire Red Round 2 video).
4. While the button sequence does not have to be totally optimal, reasonable effort should be made to reduce the amount of time the run takes.
5. Be cheesy! Use any strategy the game allows.

As far as I can tell, there have only been a few Blind and Deaf runs completed. The history is that MartSnack completed FR Round 1 on an emulator, then I completed it on official hardware. I did Crystal on my own, then did FR Round 2 with the help of a fan called Kakashi. Now I am some portion of the way through Alpha Sapphire and am posting updates. Recently, MartSnack did Platinum.

These runs can take many months to complete, but it would be fun to see the community grow and share resources! I will be posting an update to the Alpha Sapphire run on Youtube by June (hopefully), but I would also be happy to share updates and strategies on this forum.