The games are supposed to give 30-50 hours of fun and enjoyment.
Well, some think that doing it in 4 HOURS is still too long.
From what I have gathered, the strategy involves the following:
1.) Get a decent starter.
2.) Raise essentially only your starter, while abusing the power-up of Torrent / Overgrow / Blaze.
3.) Skip all but the essential battles
4.) Use your master ball on a legendary of choice.
5.) Utilize an excessive amount of items
6.) Sell off and spend all useless items picked up, such as the TM for Rock Tomb.
7.) Be wholly underlevelled for your fights.
8.) Fix the options to save time where you can - text speed, battle mode, etc.
Ruby:
1 hr, 31 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ple2dFyh35g
Sapphire:
2 hrs, 2 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwVBE-vvS2E
1 hr, 35 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAAIzI5pIRE
Emerald:
2 hrs, 50 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeM6wtVu6MQ
2 hrs, 43 minute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7uaLOssZF8
Fire Red:
3 hrs, 31 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqx4kcm_Sow
2 hrs, 57 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuFfLtX4rWA
2 hrs, 49 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3vxS6z_YSY
2 hrs, 7 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuFfLtX4rWA
Leaf Green:
2 hrs, 43 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYkylKqnJ7A
2 hrs, 9 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1iQ7CtgHLk
Just, if you get bored, might be something to consider for a Sunday afternoon.
Note that for Fire red and Leaf Green, it is critical to actually catch a bunch of pokemon, and not just repel, so you can get to 60 pokemon for the national dex immediately after the first elite 4.
There are some things I disagree with - the benefit of using certain TMs that should probably wait until later, use of some items. But let's face it - Rock Tomb, who uses that? Or Mega Punch? It's probably faster if you need access to the Rock Slide tutors for 3 pokemon to beat the game 3 times than to run through Emerald's Battle Frontier for the BP. OR substitute for that matter.
I may try my luck with a 4 hour run through for Emerald - without using Rayquaza, and somehow getting (close to) 100 pokemon for the dex, to access Pokemon Box. I'll do that in May (maybe
)