30 Hidden Details In The Original Pokémon Games Real Fans Completely Missed

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30 Hidden Details In The Original Pokémon Games Real Fans Completely Missed

The original Pokémon video games are loaded with hidden things that even serious fans of the franchise completely overlooked. As Pokémon has gotten older, it’s been harder to look back on the once mysterious franchise with the same eyes. The newer games, while certainly polished and quite good in their own right, just don’t have the same mystique surrounding them as Generation I and II once did. It certainly doesn’t help that we live in a more technological age than ever before with data mining more or less breaking games apart before they ever get the chance to harbor any genuine secrets, but it seems like Game Freak, in general, just doesn’t care to revisit the wild west of Pokémon. Which is a shame considering how wild the first two Generations are. From story, to gameplay, to just pure design, Generations I and II are home to some of the most obscure details in the entire franchise. It’s quite clear, playing through both Generations, that Game Freak was a much different company back then. The dev team was rustic, doing what they could with what they had, and this often resulted in some strange choices. Generations I and II of Pokémon almost feel like different games entirely. They have their own vibe, their own secrets, and a story filled with hidden details you likely missed. THEGAMER VIDEO OF THE DAY

Cinnabar s Gen II Eruption Is Foreshadowed

via glitchcityDOTinfo Cinnabar Island’s complete destruction in Generation II is one of those surprising bursts of reality that shows just how much can change thanks to time. Weirdly, this isn’t all too surprising in hindsight. If you pay enough attention to the layout of Cinnabar in Generation I along with NPC interactions you’ll find that Game Freak has been planning Cinnabar’s annihilation from the get go. Cinnabar was doomed from the start. By Gen I, Cinnabar Island has already lost a good chunk of its land from a previous eruption. Geographically, it’s clear that Cinnabar was once bigger and the NPCs do reflect that idea. Not only that, Cinnabar Mansion was clearly once a part of a large city, but is now, more or less, the only remaining structure of a once proud island. By Gen II, it should come as no surprise that Cinnabar has been reduced to a simple cave.

You Can Cut Grass

via sweetyhigh.com Cut isn’t just useful for knocking down those pesky trees in your path. For whatever reason, Game Freak programmed in the ability for players to cut up all grass in their path in Generation I. Essentially what this means is that anyone with even the slightest modicum of patience can get through the majority of the game without running into wild encounters. Obviously, this exploit doesn’t work out on sea or in caves, but most wild encounters do occur in grassy fields so you’d be cutting back a good half of the entire game. Of course, this will wind up with you ferociously underleveled for the Elite Four on all fronts, but that’s the price you pay to walk a quiet path.

The Safari Zone s Free Pass

via reddit.com Theoretically, you can get stuck in Generation I should you, for whatever reason, run entirely out of money before you get to the Safari Zone. If you: pick up every single item in the world, battle every trainer, sell everything you own, and then black out enough to lose all your money, you won’t be able to get into the Safari Zone. Who needs money when you've got charity? Except Game Freak did think this through. Should you run out of money, but attempt to enter the safari Zone enough times, you’ll get a free pass with one single Safari Ball. Obviously, tossing the Ball will end the game, but this is done so you can at least try and get the HM deep in the Zone.

You Can Skip Pokémon Tower

Via YouTube.com (Gondor1990) Near the midpoint of Generation I, players will find themselves needing to take a detour from Gym battling to infiltrate a Team Rocket base to find the Silph Scope, scale Pokémon Tower, and then use said scope to banish the ghosts inside. Interestingly, this entire segment, which is actually narratively important, can be skipped. So long as you have a Pokémon Doll, you can use it from your inventory to end the fight with the Ghost Marowak. Once you do, the game will trigger the fighter as having been won, allowing you to progress up the rest of Pokémon Tower. Naturally, you won’t be able to catch any Ghost Type Pokémon, but that’s the price you break for sequence breaking.

How To Win Bonus Pokémon

via: nepascene.com Completing the Pokédex is a pain in any game in large part due to starters and gift Pokémon. Starters speak for themselves. You get one, your rival gets another, and the third sits on Professor Oak’s desk for the rest of the game. Gift Pokémon, like the one you get from the Fighting Dojo, can often proposition you with a choice, meaning you can’t get both. Too bad you can only get one extra Eevee, though. This is where Stadium comes here. So long as you have Stadium and a way to connect your Gen I game to your N64, you can get bonus Pokémon from completing events in Stadium which you can then transfer to your main game. This means, via Stadium, you can get all three starters, another Eevee, both fighting types, and both fossils.

Mew Can Actually Be Caught Without An Event

via: lolicrescendo.deviantart.com Thanks to Game Freak easing up on the rarity of Legendary and Event Pokémon, basically ensuring that you’ll get everything you want so long as you have even the most basic of internet connections, the concept of a catchable Mew in Generation I without an event may not mean much to you. For those who grew up with Generation I, however, this is a big deal. Back in the day, Mew was the event Pokémon. There were no others, so for fans to discover that Game Freak had accidentally left Mew’s code in the game and could be triggered via a glitch saved a lot of fans the headache of scouting for real-life events.

The Ditto Theory Isn t A Theory

guff.com Mew & Ditto For the past few years, there’s been a theory within the series that suggests that Ditto is actually a failed experiment in cloning Mew. The only problem with this theory comes from a lack of literary knowledge. Ditto being a clone of Mew isn’t a theory whatsoever. Rather, it’s just basic subtext. Time for a literature lesson. As Ditto and Mew have the same weight, same height, and the former can only be caught in Gen I where Mewtwo was canonically cloned from Mewtwo, it is quite obvious that Ditto is a clone of Mew. Nothing in the games outright confirms this, but that’s just what subtext is. It’s an implication that very clearly suggests one interpretation.

Mew Being 151 In The Pokédex Is A Plot Hole

via: wikihow.com You won’t find many fans arguing over Mew’s status as the 151st Pokémon in the Kanto Pokédex. After all, Mew is the only Pokémon that cannot be caught in-game (or at least was Game Freak’s initial intention,) and is the single Pokémon with the most amount of lore. Naturally, Mew would be listed last. Narratively, however, this makes no sense as it suggests that Professor Oak did not know Mew existed. As the Pokémon Professor, he should naturally be familiar with the origin point of all Pokémon. Not only that, Oak recognized Mewtwo as a Pokémon in the Dex before Mew. Mewtwo’s mere existence implies that there’s a Mew.

Kanto s Pokémon League Is Actually Johto s

via.ScreenRant.com In a truly bizarre twist of fate, although the Pokémon League in Generation I is stationed within Kanto, it logically cannot have originated in the region. As Generation II reveals, Johto shares a Pokémon League with Kanto. However, while the implication is that Johto is the one borrowing the League, it’s actually Kanto doing so. Kanto's got nothing on Johto. In Generation II, Johto is depicted as a much older region that Kanto. Johto outright has creation myths tied to its geography while also having ancient ruins and an active religion. Kanto has no such history. Rather, the implication is that Kanto is rather new. As a result, if there were to be a past Pokémon League, it would have been Johto’s, not Kanto’s.

You Don t Have To Fight Brock First

Via: PokeChronicles Brock is, for all intents and purposes, Generation I’s first boss. Before you can even leave Pewter City, you need to defeat Brock and get your first Badge. From there, you’re welcome to tackle Kanto more or less how you please. Interestingly, you can actually skip Brock via the use of a pause based glitch. When you try to leave Pewter City before defeating him, quickly prepare to save your game as the Youngster is coming towards you, but press B. Once he starts speaking, press “B” immediately and then press Start. Your cursor will still be ready to save so do that. Once you boot back up, he’ll be gone and you can proceed without ever fighting Brock.

Yellow Is Based Off The Anime But Also The Canon Version

via modojo.com Anime adaptations of video games are seldom canon to their game worlds, let alone a video game adaptation of an anime adaptation, but Pokémon is actually quite the interesting case. Per Generation II’s depiction of Red, a trainer with all three starters who also mains an unevolved Pikachu, Gen I’s canon version is Yellow. Pokemon's timeline is somehow weirder than Zelda's. In a bizarre twist of fate, Generation I’s canonical version is derived entirely from anime promotion. This does mean that Jesse and James do actually exist in the game world as well since they’re the trainers who actively battle Red in place of Team Rocket grunts. Of course, this does only apply to the pre-Gen III canon.

Nicknames Matter

via Devianart : MasamuneMarth Most fans like to see nicknames are little more than flavor text. They’re just a way to personalize your otherwise uncustomizable Pokémon. In Gen I, especially, nicknames were a way for players to form a bond with their Pokémon. They aren’t purposeless, however. Not at long as you own a copy of Pokémon Stadium. Before Shinies were ever introduced as an official concept in Generation II, Stadium gave fans the chance to see recolored versions of their favorite Pokémon. Depending on the nickname of any given Pokémon, there was a chance they’d get a new color variant when transferred into Stadium. If you want your own pseudo Shiny, you better have been tossing out nicknames.

You Can Fish In Gyms

via redbull.com You really do have to wonder how some of these details were discovered. Who in their right mind would you to fish in a Gym? Sure, fishing in Misty’s Gym actually makes a considerable amount of sense between both Gens, but this entry doesn’t focus on fishing in her Gym. It’s about how you can fish in every Gym. Get yourself a statue Magikarp. By simply tossing your fishing rod into those statues that welcome you into each and every Gym, you can actually find Pokémon there. These are legitimate Pokémon who you can battle and catch as if you were actually fishing. It is truly bizarre on every front. Was this intentional? An oversight? Why did someone decide to fish in the statues in the first place?

Blue s Raticate Passes Away

via: youtube.com Vangaard) As kid friendly as Pokémon is, it is not a series that shies away from morbidity. Across all seven Generations, Pokémon has time and time again brought out some truly uncomfortable concepts in the name of realism. This can be seen as far back as Generation I. After countless battles against Blue, you, the player are responsible for the loss of a Pokémon. Once you get to the Pokémon Tower, you’ll notice that Blue is curiously hanging out by a gravestone. He challenges you to a battle immediately, of course, and things proceed as normal from there. Except, if you’re perceptive, you’ll have noticed that Blue was missing a Pokémon: Raticate. The scenario speaks for itself with that in mind.

Giovanni May Have Been Trying To Protect Kanto

via: eternalegend.deviantart.com Like any good villain, fans have spent hours theorizing whether or not Giovanni was actually a good guy or not. Spoilers, he’s not, but the evidence leaning towards him actually using Team Rocket to benefit Kanto is shockingly accurate to the point where it’s easy to believe that maybe Giovanni was trying to protect Kanto in his own way. Not all heroes wear capes. The theory states that Giovanni specifically wanted to defeat Mewtwo to protect Kanto. As Mewtwo is a Psychic Type, he stole the Silph Scope so that he could catch a Ghost Type in order to defeat Mewtwo. Of course, Red shows up and foils his plans, but Red does go on to beat Mewtwo anyways. Maybe that’s why Giovanni isn’t too upset about his constant losses.

Yellow s Minigames

via Player.One In Pokémon Yellow, off Route 19, you can find a house that’s home to a surfer. Under the right context, said surfer will let you play a mini-game where you take control of Pikachu as he surfs across Kanto. It’s a cute little distraction from the main game that’s honestly surprisingly addictive. If you have the Virtual Console release of Pokémon Yellow on the 3DS, you can even play it right away without the need to go out of your way. Should you be playing on an original copy of Yellow, however, you’ll find yourself needing to do quite a bit of work. Specifically, you’ll need to get your hands on a surfing Pikachu.

The Early Game Ending Glitch

via: rollingrabbit.deviantart.com It’s actually possible to completely ruin your game before you even give Professor Oak his parcel. Funny enough, this glitch actually involves his parcel in a major way. Should you, for whatever reason, grind your starter to Level 16 before you ever get the parcel, it’ll evolve and block your progress. Normally, when you have the parcel, Professor Oak will trigger a dialogue that will allow you to progress the game. Since you now have two Pokémon in your Pokedex, however, this dialogue tree takes precedent since Game Freak did not anticipate players to grind so early. Oak will never take the Parcel and you’ll be stuck with two Pokémon for the rest of your days.

Bill s Box Can Buff Your Pokémon

via amino apps In Generation I, Pokémon get stat experience along with regular experience. This concept went on to become EVs for the later games, but they were still in their infancy here. With all things in their infancy, at least as far as video games go, this can be used to your advantage. Just make sure you have a box ready. When it doubt, dump your Pokemon into their box. First, go out and fight some battles. Once you’ve fought enough, place your Pokémon in a box and take them out. That’s really it. The game will register all the stat experience into your Pokémon through the box, buffing them up. This is especially useful for Level 100 Pokémon who naturally cannot level up anymore.

The Mean Old Man Was Actually Passed Out From

via: Super Cheats and Bulbapedia The old man who blocks your path in Viridian City acts as a rude awakening for many young gamers. Rather than allowing you to progress on your fun Pokémon journey, he stops you right in your tracks, demanding you deliver Oak his parcel. He claims it’s because he didn’t have his morning coffee, and while this may be true, it isn’t the full story. In the game’s Japanese release, the old man tells Red that the reason he was so grouchy was because he was hungover. This is an old man who drank enough to pass out in the middle of the road telling a ten year old that the reason he couldn’t pass was because he drank too much. Then he teaches you to catch Pokémon. Doesn’t seem so appropriate anymore, does it?

Yellow Pikachu s Stats Increase Based On Friendship

Via: N3rdabl3 While it’s cute enough having your own Pikachu as a starter in Pokémon Yellow, it isn’t exactly practical is it? As is the case with the anime, Pikachu will refuse to evolve by any and all means, locking you with a pre-evo for the entire game. Naturally, this would result in your team being intentionally held back, but Game Freak foresaw this issue. Be kind to Pikachu and Pikachu will be kind to you. So long as you continue to use Pikachu in battle without letting it faint, you’ll notice that Pikachu will start to do a considerably better job. Interestingly, your Pikachu’s stats are directly tied to its happiness. The happier Pikachu is, the stronger it becomes. Whenever you talk to your Pikachu, you’ll get a visual indicator how much he likes you, letting you know how strong Pikachu should be.