Starmie vs Tentacruel - Pokemon Yellow Solo Challenge Race
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- Опубліковано 16 січ 2025
- Rules:
1. Only my starter in battle
2. No items in battle, except held items
3. No glitches, exploits, save states, or RNG manipulation
4. No evasion moves before level 100*
Rule details:
-- *In gen1, evasion boosting is allowed if the Pokemon does it through means other than learning the move by level up or TM. For example, using Mimic or Mirror Move to boost evasion is allowed. (This exception is to keep ranking consistent with my legacy videos.)
-- I am allowed to manipulate my starter
-- I play the game at 4x game speed
-- For fair comparisons all my Pokemon have perfect (or near perfect) DVs / IVs
-- I am allowed to catch HM users - I can use all field moves
-- All in-battle glitches are allowed in generation 1
-- In generation 1, I'm allowed to skip Marowak with the Poke Doll
-- Surge's trash-can-puzzle is automatically solved
-- The bike is allowed in gen1, banned in gen2, and allowed for bypassing terrain in gen3
-- Saving between league members is allowed
-- If the solo Pokemon faints and I choose to blackout it counts towards my reset counter
-- I can pause the game and timer to take breaks
-- The footage is sped up / slowed down to match the pace of my narration
-- The ability Pickup can only be used if the starter has it
Patreon: / scottsthoughts
UA-cam memberships:
/ @scottsthoughtspokemon
Twitter: / psychicflying
Twitch: / scottsthoughtspokemon
Illustrations by / sarinavail
Thumbnail art by / brianlsart
STAB: bulbapedia.bul...
DVs / IVs: bulbapedia.bul...
Damage Calculations: bulbapedia.bul...
Gen1 Stat Calculator: pycosites.com/...
Gen2 Stat Calculator: pycosites.com/...
Gen1 Crit Rates: www.smogon.com...
Learnsets: bulbapedia.bul...
Base Stats: bulbapedia.bul...)
49:59
"I hope it's obvious to all of you that I could drop acid at this point in the run"
Now THAT'S content
I came here to say the same thing
My thoughts exactly, just casually dropping acid while filming the video.
@@mariozanchez I will give real life money to see this.
😂😂
Video in 5 words:
Drop Acid Tentacle Monster Domination
I feel like starmie could've went a lot faster if you just held off on teaching thunderbolt until after you defeated blaine. That way, you can hold unto bubble beam to make the fight more consistent at a lower level. I can't think of many trainers in the midgame that would give starmie problems without thunderbolt.
Yeah, the only think thunderbolt is useful for in the early game are the slowpoke in rock tunnel, but their special is so bad you can take them out with bubblebeam. Def makes sense to delay teaching until Lorelei
@@gordtvradio3465I wonder if he’ll do that once he gets to Staryu?
This is an excellent idea but I’m not sure how helpful it would actually be. It looks like Scott’s optimized playthrough has Starmie just barely 2-hitting Blaine’s ninetails and rapidash with 138 effective power psychic. Bubblebeam would be 195 effective power, so it would do more damage but it would still be a 2-hit KO. Perhaps it saves a turn with Blaine’s Arcanine but at that point we’re talking about a marginal improvement
And then you have to consider if that slight advantage against Blaine is worth slowing down against the slowpoke and the rival’s cloyster
I think starmie just lacks base special stats would've been better if some of its defense went to special
the intimidating tentacles-folded pose is so good
Deep fried vanilla sauce oil lubricant
Hence why it's called the "Gangster of the Sea," according to the Red and Blue pokedex
He looks like a bouncer at the door of a stripclub
Facts
It looks like a child that's just been told "No"
In Japanese Skull Bash is called "Rocket Headbutt", I guess the gem thing is it's head and it just rockets into enemies using water jets
Really that’s why blastoise has it!
Cooked
Was coming to explain this, game freak saw it as a flying ninja star, which makes sense.
they definitely shouldn't have changed it in translation, that's sick
My takeaway from this video is that you've learned so much over time with these playthroughs. Your optimizations are incredible and you're really pushing these Pokemon to their limits. It's exciting to watch, and I'm really looking forward to one day seeing the full completed Yellow tier list!
I’m not gonna lie I’ve been watching your videos for the past two years and it’s so amazing to see how your strategies have changed, picking and choosing which trainer to fight using particular status moves earlier than later, and to top it all off not using rest against the champion This video was amazing
Tentacruel has been possibly my most anticipated pokemon for you to run since you started your channel. I am just so wildly excited for this pokemon. I want it to win so bad. Starmie is a monster, though, and a very exciting pokemon for you to run again. Man, this is just an amazing versus video. Immediately one of my favorites
I'm really proud of em both
well duh, of course starmie is a monster, they're all monsters, pocket monsters
Tentacruel is such an anomaly to me. It took me until Gen3 where I randomly added a Lv35 Tentacool to my team to see how weirdly good it is. This in mind, I later tried it in Gen1 and 2 and was equally surprised. The fact that it's so common and annoying really blindsided me. It's also strange considering the hoops you jump through to get other strong mons in RBY. It feels like the ultimate budget mon whenever I use it.
Side note, I kinda wish they kept the bug/poison interaction. It's such an interesting interaction, even moreso now with actually good attacking moves, because it benefits a lot of low stat pokemon.
Tentacruel was strongest in gen 1, after which it lost 40 sp attack
For sure! I still had a really good experience with it in Gen3. It's not as powerful anymore, but when I see how common it is, I still expect an absolute weakling somehow, which it isn't.
I always feel like i missed out on a lot of cool water types cuz kid me really disliked all water types that arent gyarados for some reason lol. I have yet to use a tentacruel, and only tried starmie very recently
It's the same with Crobat, honestly. You meet so many annoying Zubats and Golbats on enemy teams steamrolling through them that you might not notice that both poison/flying and poison/water are actually good types and Crobat's 535 and Tentacruel's 515 BSTs are actually beast. With Gen 1's Special stat making tentacruel even more hilariously strong, it makes sense they gave that behemoth the slow level up rate vs. the later games.
In fact, many pokés you think "why the hell does it have a slow level up rate" from gen 1 makes sense if you look at the original BST.
I LOVE your overlay, it is amazing to look over and see the moveset of each Pokémon, as well as the Stats od the opposing Pokémon, but especially the first one
It is awesome to watch you learn between runs and see your knowledge and skill compound with the more Pokémon you use. These vs videos are especially good as it just adds context to the runs that a regular solo challenge often can’t quite get across. As a Tentacrule fan though watching the end of that first play through was actually painful. Acid is really a trap move, and Wrap is not just thematic but a truly powerful amount of consistency. Even if I have to admit that it is slow.
Scott, I am so proud of you. This video really shows off how much growth you've had in the production quality, data analysis, and overall narration. I am so freaking happy for you because I remember some of the rougher videos. That being said, those videos have a certain charm to them. Cant wait to see what 2024 brings!
Starmie missing like 3 tackles in a row vs Misty was actually crazy
I really didn't expect another Starmie video seeing as you had prior one, least of all a race which is my favorite kind. Starmie is one of my top favorite Pokemon and I'm glad to see more proof it's just as strong in this format as it is in competitive. Thanks for all the fun and educational videos Scott.
The moveset-over-time visualisation at the end is so cool!
Versus videos probably require the most work but they are also the ones I look forward to the most. They are always so much fun. I hope this one is the same!
I don’t remember if they’re new, but it’s the first time I’ve noticed the graphics you have up at 1:00:59 (with where you used candies and a timeline of your movesets) and I *love* it, especially the moveset timeline. So much information to glean!!
It's so satisfying to see the time savings play out. I'm super happy you were able to beat my times and really push the boundaries on these Pokémon!
It is insane to me the number of poison types there are in in the S tier considering how OP Psychic and Ground both were in Gen 1 (granted all the poison types have great secondary typings). Just goes to show why it's important to test assumptions!
As you said, insane secondary typings. Also all of those pokés have busted stats or movepools that have little do with the actual typing.
With a third of the pokédex being poisons, a bunch of them are bound to be good.
You also benefit greatly from being able to take on Sabrina later, and solo run challenges in general benefit greatly from being able to know what the crack spots are and thus work towards it.
As Starmie is my favorite Gen 1 mon and one of my favorite Pokemon overall, I am really glad to see how some creative optimizations got it a top-tier time. I thought it'd be doomed by the slow level-up group and the nasty early-game trainers like the wrapping lass, but you actually found a way around those hurdles. Absolutely amazing performance. Amusingly enough, not running Surf is actually pretty reflective of Starmie in competitive battling, where Surf is less common than Thunderbolt, Blizzard, or Psychic.
Speaking of competitive, we have the king of Gen 1 UU, Tentacruel, also putting in a great performance despite also having the slow growth rate. Gen 1 Wrap sure is busted.
Starmie is taking the W 100% imo, I cannot see anywhere it's going to struggle. Water gun access at the start, and once it assembles the coverage trio of Surf/Thunderbolt/Psychic in the mid-game it's probably nearly unstoppable. Surge feels like the only possible wall and we know he can be RNGed. It's going to be a big surprise if anything can stop Starmie.
EDIT: No spoilers, but the optimizations on Starmie broke my brain. Absolutely wild! Well done Scott!
EDIT2: That moment of pure disrespect when you don't even need to save before a major battle 1:13:03 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Now that's entertainment!
The rapping lass would like a word. Team tenta all the way!
Don't forget ice beam
Scott: "It's time to drop acid" *proceeds to play poorly*
Bro you’re constantly uploading without losing any quality in your videos. Just recently found your channel and have been binging here lately. In the most respectful way, your videos help me go to sleep as well. Keep up the good work my friend!
He somehow just gets better and better! I've been around since very early on, and his style, his gameplay, and the aesthetics just continue to improve.
I’ve watched some of his older videos and it is insane to me just how much the quality went up with the commentary and layout and everything. Totally mind blowing
love the overview with the levels and movesets used for each gym leader. As always, you're incredible
I am a long time viewer of the channel and since Starmie and Tentacruel are my two fave Kanto water types I've been so keen waiting for their time to shine.
Thank you for all the work you've done, it's always a good time when you see a fave pokemon of yours be done as a run and seeing what happens. Either way it's always a good time seeing what you cook up.
I gotta say, I was very surprised by the results! I thought for sure the opposite outcome was going to happen, but I’m glad I was wrong.
Your optimization for Starmie, especially with regards to the Wrapping Lass, was amazing to see in action.
Always nice to see the W/Rapping Lass live up to her monicker and basically act as Starmie's Midboss to even start to enter into the midgame.
Great video Scott, as always!
The fact that Tentacruel managed to make it this close is amazing considering he has everything going against him in the last battles due to typing. Maybe Cthulhu could have gained some extra seconds with Blizzard instead of Ice Beam, but it probably wouldn't have been enough. Water/Psychic Pokémon with access to Psychic is just too much to handle.
I love both of these pokemon, i'm so excited for this race! Thanks for always making us great content Scott!
can we talk more about the tentacle monster and how it will use its pp to dominate
Starmie adjustments were insane. Well done Scott
Great optimisations on both of these Pokémon today. I expected both of these to do very well but it was clear from the first runs that there were more obstacles for them than you might think. But shows how much strategy there is in solo runs in how well you were able to plan and overcome these obstacles in your optimised runs and take these Pokémon to their potential.
I like how the debate was swords dance or barrier for tentacruel, and then you didn't use either of them in the last playthrough :P
Hell yeah this video rocked for sure. I've definitely watched Starmie solo runs in the past, and to be honest the takeaway I always got from them was "the play was questionable and for only doing a first run I don't think Starmie was given a fair shake". Deep down I've always known that Starmie's insane movepool was going to carry it. There's no way you get so many options and don't end up having a great run.
Tentacruel I'm a little disappointed by, not by like much all things considered, but Tentacruel is a Pokemon I think gets really underrated for a variety of reasons. It's stats are amazing and its movepool isn't that bad all things considered, and an S-tier finish that saved over half an hour on its first run is really stellar. I feel like Tentacruel can maybe do a little bit but that might be getting a bit granular.
Amazing video.
great video as always! Starmie is one of my favorites, and Tentacruel is pretty strong as well, so it made for a very exciting race!
ive been watching random episodes mixed with recent uploads, so the (w)rapping lass never really had a big impact until now, from what ive seen. so i'm glad she did, her art is my favorite, how smug she looks and her pokemon being her backup crew. also starmie supremacy
Now this, is a Powerhouse match up! Besides psychic pokemon, their water counterparts are bloated as well. (example: Blastoise) however if I were to pick between the two, would probably be Starmie. Simply because of movepool and for that reason only. Arguably because it's water/psychic vs water/poison, but both have great speed and special, so this'll be fun😁
Damn seeing the view counter skyrocket while watching the video was insane, incredible how popular you've gotten Scott! Kudos, keep up the good work bud.
As always, this was an excellent video! So nice to see some Slow Growth Rate Pokémon on the S-Tier list. Great job obce again, Scott and Team!
Okay that supercut in cerulean on the dig man’s house was super cool. Appreciating the little things today.
The prophesied battle for dominance between the Great Old One Cthulhu, and mayonnaise virtuoso Patrick Star.
I get hype when ever you announce a Vs. Video, with that said As a Starmie fan I really like these results. Tentacruel was really good too and Gen 1 wrap can't be underestimated. When I do a playthrough I leave it on my Dragonair/Dragonite until I get Hyper Beam. Anyways close race nice to see 2 S-Tier pokemon race. Nice video as always thanks for all the hard work.
Scott I love the line graphs you make at the end of your runs, could you please make the colors more different please? I have a very hard time telling which pokemon is which when the colors are so similar. Ove your videos and super excited for December, thank you for all the hard work!!
Thanks for making me look up the japanese name for skull bash
It's apparently "rocket headbutt," given that bulbapedia can be trusted
so starmie having it makes more sense with that name
"I hope it's obvious to all of you that I can drop acid at this point in the run"
Woah Scott, didn't realize the Tentacruel run was that fun for you 😂
No lie though, the best way to go is to drop acid at the beginning and just speed-run the game. 100% do recommend, it's a good time. Especially if you've got buddies that you can race. We did that in college, it was lit.
Yes. Finally another Gen 1 video! The baby series was great and the Firered playthroughs are fun. But Pokemon Yellow - and especially a versus video - just hits different.
The move list graphs are so cool. Well done
Great video. I remember the old one, I found your channel when you only had few videos and ever since then, you've been my trusty sleeping aid x)
I hope we'll see some vs or solo challenges where you actually start with a lower evolution because it is somehow beneficial to the pokemon. There must be some pokemon where this is the case.
“I hope it’s obvious to all of you that I can drop acid at this point in the run” 😂😂😂 @48:03
I absolutely love the art of Tentacruel folding its tentacles.
I think Starmie shows, how good Mewtwo will be. It simply is like Starmie just with a much better early game (especially against grass Types) and without electric weakness.
Also it obviously doesn't have harden as a badge boost move but don't really need it.
After this Starmie time I am confident, you can even go under 30minutes with Mewtwo. Sounds crazy but should be possible.
Great work with the video. Versus videos are obviously very much work but great to watch. Especially the comparing charts. (In one video or in a series like the baby-series in Gen 2.)
Honestly I really love Tentacruel such an underrated design, I'm rooting for it ! Also perfect nickname 👌
Modern science has proven that starfish are nothing but head. So technically skill bash is basically just starmie body slam.
Hey Scott, great video. Always enjoy a new pokemon run. Try intentionally getting poisoned before the wrapping lass; if you're poisoned, you can't be stunned. (Worked for an omanyte run I did a while back)
What a great vod! 2 of my fave gen 1 mons
Two of my favorite Gen 1 mons going head to head, but gotta root for my boy Tentacruel. Excited to see the results 👀
Man, been waiting so long to see Tentacruel. Probably in the top 3 for my favorite Pokemon
Since you're doing vs you should make a bracket just for fun!
...on second thought, it doesn't make that much sense
Unless its mon you've never done and progressing the bracket changes gen
But it'd be very interesting to follow if its like a "journey"
Imagine 8 mons vs, only legends maybe
Then each round is a new gen that none have run before
If you just plan out what mons are in the bracket then this can definitely work
Only starters or legendaries is likely the easiest to do
I'd be interested for comparison to know how fast a theoretically perfect mon would be, by which I mean something that outspeeds and one-shots everything on minimum battles. Not so much because I think that would make for an interesting run, but because it would be cool to know where the ceiling is and far the very best actual mons are from reaching it.
Game time under 2 hours is certainly possible for mewtwo playing at regular speed. But Scott does lose time playing at 4x speed due to menuing and general movement.
A 'blackout metric' is something you only hear on this channel. I'm amazed by your passion!
Man gen 1 wrap is so relevant in this vid! Its been a little while since we've had a good final evolution with wrap prior to Arbok, so it makes sense why we've missed its true power.
One thing i love about wrap in competitive is that it actually functions like a slow u-turn in later games, a wrapped mon won't attack the mon you switch in!
Its also fascinating how little some of the more obvious strats play into the optimised runs. No swords dance, no surf on starmie. There were big optimisations to be made because they're tough mons to pilot, many exclusive strats
These 2 are both my favorite Pokémon of all time but i think Starmie has it in the bag! It gets STAB Surf & Psychic which are 2 of the most broken moves in the game Tentacruel also gets STAB Surf but the best best poison move it gets in this game is Sludge which doesnt stack up very well to STAB Psychic! Also Sabrina might be a possible wall for Tentacruel sadly...But if Scott gives Starmie the Boltbeam,Surf & Psychic combo it should be virtually unstoppable! Excited for this run either way!
The optimized Starmie run is what we'd like to see ( + Scott actually using T-Wave shocked pikachu face)
Great video. Thought u were insane for not teaching Starmie Surf, i thought for sure you were going to use it in the optimized run for Blain, Giovanni, and the rival's Sandslash/Flareon...especially since you barely even used Harden, but cant argue with a time just over 40m. Looks like it worked out great.
Nice to see Tentacruel get some love too, its definitely an underrated pkmn with its massive Special
That slow-down at Surge let me see something hilariously Gen-1 in real time: Raichu using growl, lowering attack, then, just as the text"Attack was lowered!" Finished, the badge boost glitch taking effect and raising attack back up 3 points. That was actually really cool to see.
Stellar work scott
I'm approaching it from the question of: Can we finally get a slow growth rate Mon into the S tier?
edit: Let's gooooo!
I just finished watching this and it’s a day after my birthday and I’m so happy that Starmie made it to S-tier it is my favourite gen1 Pokémon and a staple for my water type teams
very nice - love seeing the optimized runs
Ah im such a fan of gen 1 because these are 2 of my top 5 most used pokemon in playthroughs if i have the option. Such great coverage and great stats backed by the fantastic duel typing.
I love that Hypno is the only non-Poison Pokemon in the S tier
Why not use thunderwave with Starmie on the status condition jr trainer? It looks like bubblebeam has more effective power than tackle so you could replace tackle with thunderwave
The new premiere intro is so cool :) (I mean, it's new for me, I haven't watched a premiere intro in forever :).)
Hey if Doduo can learn fly without wings, I’d say Starmie can learn skull bash without a skull.
What are the different AI modifications? I only heard of good AI and bad AI before in gen 1
I think the 3 he’s referred to in some videos are using super effective moves (“good” AI), using setup moves at the start, and not using status moves when you already have a status
Hey Scott I had an idea for a more casual challenge you could try sometime. Pokemon [whatever gen you want] but only using STAB moves. I think this would be especially interesting in gen 1 where iirc there's more status moves that are typed, like Barrier/Agility so it's not just mindless attacking.
Holy shit. I love you Scott, I love your channel, but these 1st Playthroughs where painfull to watch. Ouch
One of the reasons I come here is to learn about Venomoth's type but sadly this video has not provided that :(
Considering the seeming impact from the lack of level-up moves, a potential future "Versus" video is to do a playthrough between fully evolved and unevolved. "Starmie from Level 5 vs. Staryu evolving into Starmie".
Scott - great content! When you do get around to your Mewtwo run I think it would be interesting to also see how it would do with its growth rate modified to be medium slow.
47:53
I mean you can drop acid. But how will getting dopey help you beat Agatha?
Are we going to get an Agumon VS Gabumon for April? 😜
When Scott said Tentacruel has "80 HP" I thought he said "ADHD" and I was very confused lol
Did you hurt yourself in your confusion?
Glad that you optimized your Starmie run. I got annoyed af when you didn't use Surf on Starnie since it has a high crit rate because of its high speed.
Starmie is on my head canon team, so very happy it did so well. I am not surprised Tentacruel did so well, as the poison type counters a lot of its weaknesses, where psychic type isn’t quite as defensive.
This has been good fun.
I feel like not using Surf is a sin
Definitely is
It’s probably correct but I agree there’s something kinda tilting about not seeing surf used on a water type
The fact that the Rapping Lass is a bigger problem than Surge is hilarious.
Funny enough, the Bruno Tier is also all Poison and Psychic!
I've been waiting for starmie for ages let's goooo
I don’t know if it will ever be relevant, but it looked like against the champion in Starmie’s first play through, after you leveled up you recovered the speed lost from paralysis. Not sure if it was an overlay glitch, but it definitely said 194.
ran a star is with no water moves. Felt weird at first but ended up being such a useful gen 1 min with all the other coverage moves
I love the comparison using the line graph, but if I may make a suggestion, please use colors that are easier to distinguish from each other, like python sunglow and cyan.
I do not mean to come off rude or mean, but you might be somewhat colorblind. however your feedback still stands, the color of the lines don't need to be the pokemons color. It would be just as useful if not more if he used two very different colors
Watching Tentacruel defeat a ghost/ice type like Venemoth with wrap and ice beam is impressive.
Player error. Thats an understatement for both of these pokemon
The dude fucks up ALOT
"Are there any other Squidwards i should know about?" "Meow..." -Annoyed Real Estate Fish and Gary
Can you do an unofficial run with Starmie changing its growth rate to Medium-Slow? Curious how that changes things.
Nice video I always liked the Vs runs.
In Japan, Skull Bash is called Rocket Headbutt. While still a little silly due to the lack of a head, it makes more sense as Starmie is presumably propelling itself with a water jet or somesuch to smash into the opponent.
I head 80HP as ADHD and I was like wait when did tentacruel get adhd lol
Nice vs video. Glad to see two mons do so well after three awful babies in Pokemon Crystal. 🎉
That sick transition from Saffron Gym teleporter to white to battle!
Without looking up learn rates and move pools I'm actually really stuck on this one. They both have great stats, early powerful STAB, are fairly quick and tanky. I think it might be Starmie because they get harden (I think?) and therefore the badge boost, but there's a lot of "maybe" in this run. Very excited!
E: Half way through the second playthrough (about to get to the league) The thing I think is jumping out to me is that Scott is, IMO, a bit scared of using Surf, especially on Tentacruel. Surf, coming off a 120 special 100 speed with STAB, would be a very powerful move and solve a lot of problems. Swords dance is obviously appealing and wrap can solve some damage range problems, but because tentacruel doesn't really have a great physical damage dealing move (unless you wanted to use Double Edge which Scott obviously prefers not to use) I think it makes sense to lean in to what Tentacruel is good at.
Final E: I am satisfied that both pokemon got a fair shake with optimisations. Great job as always!