That said, creating this run took way longer than I anticipated or care to admit. The routing alone took months before even starting the first frame of the run, and small improvements came up constantly requiring to re-do parts of it. This is submission is the fifth complete start-to-finish attempt I created, the previous four I re-did because of obvious routing improvements I noticed along the way.

The categories for Generation I of Pokémon games have shifted towards being all about the glitches, and efforts to limit which glitches are allowed to show more actual gameplay have been largely ineffective (see the current any% publication). Since I feel partly responsible for this shortcoming, I'll try with this submission to fix it.

Goal choice

The goal of this run is to collect all 150 obtainable Pokemon in both versions and obtain the diploma. No glitches are allowed.

Why glitchless?

The main purpose of this submission is to show more of the actual gameplay and variety, which remain unexplored in other categories just because using glitches is faster. The whole dual GB setup wouldn't make any sense when allowing glitches, you'd be faster just not trading at all, and end up with a solo Catch 'Em All run. And history has shown that trying to limit the amount of glitches does not work, the games are too broken and you'll always find ways around it.

Why Coop Diploma?

First of all, I think it's just a fun category, and something most people have not seen as a category. The concept has been explored before, but there was no polished route developed yet, largely because the possibilities for how to go about things are so vast. I considered doing any% glitchless at first, but the route for this is mostly fixed and everyone has probably seen it. A TAS wouldn't add much to it. In Coop Diploma, you get to do things you wouldn't do in other categories, like fishing, trading, gambling, etc. It shows off most of the things the game has to offer at some point during the run. In Coop Diploma, you get to do things you wouldn't do in other categories, like fishing, trading, gambling, etc. It shows off most of the things the game has to offer at some point during the run. Also, I always wanted to explore the dual GB capabilities of BizHawk. There aren't too many dual GB TASes around, and Pokémon Red/Blue is a game that can actually benefit from these capabilities. Having to sync the games up in the middle of the run poses an extra routing challenge. Also, I always wanted to explore the dual GB capabilities of BizHawk. There aren't too many dual GB TASes around, and Pokémon Red/Blue is a game that can actually benefit from these capabilities. Having to sync the games up in the middle of the run poses an extra routing challenge.

Emulator Choice/Rant