A literal flamingo is tearing up Pokemon Scarlet and Violet speedruns

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The current record sits at 5h 27m 11s

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Flamigo
(Image credit: Game Freak)

The current Pokemon Scarlet and Violet speedrunning champion managed to beat the game in just under five and a half hours thanks in large part to a Flamigo. 

As spotted by Automaton, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet speedruns are now underway with the current roster (at speedrunning.com) ranging from around five to seven hours. At the time of writing, the one currently sitting at the top of the leaderboard is US resident Truely, who has managed to beat the English version of the game (any%) in just 5 hours, 27 minutes, and 11 seconds. They've documented the entire run on their YouTube channel, if you've got a spare six hours to watch it. 

What's interesting is that Truely managed to do most of this run just using the Flying/Fighting-type Pokémon Flamigo, which was introduced in Scarlet and Violet. After picking Fuecoco as their starter right at the beginning of the game, Truely then catches a Flamigo and swaps Fuecoco out for it to act as their main Pokemon around the one-hour mark. 

As explained in the original story, Flamigo has the ability Scrappy which allows it to use Normal and Fighting-type moves even on Ghost-type Pokemon, and this is partly why Truely and several other people in the speedrunning community use Flamigo for a lot of their playthroughs. It's also one of the first Pokemon you encounter early on in the game, and it has some of the best base stats compared to the other creatures in the area at that stage in the game as well. Expect to see a lot more of this unassuming bird in future runs. 

Wondering what Pokemon you'll use for a speedrunning attempt? Take a look at our Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Pokedex list. 

Hope Bellingham
Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.