#same for Raikou. and Suicune in Silver

[sage-nebula]

As a Johto native, I have to say, episode 78 of Horizons? Totally unrealistic. The true Johto experience is Entei fleeing the second you get into battle with it unless you secure it with a Mean Look or somesuch similar. And even then, it will usually use Roar to bail anyway. All of us from Johto know this.

[ultchamp]

in which mak lists all of red's in-game pokemon teams where you're able to fight him: (i won't be going over the individual pokemon themselves because i think thats its own post i just wanna focus on his teams as a whole)

okay first off is gold/silver and it's largely the same to his team in heartgold/soulsilver except for one difference:

his espeon gets switched for a lapras and the second team is noticeably more leveled up and i like to think those two switch out depending on his different factors. though its important to know that the SECOND team is what we see him use for the MAJORITY of his appearances from heartgold/soulsilver to black/white 2 and the sun/moon games.

my personal headcanon is he doesn't use his espeon a lot, favoring lapras over it in this specific team but it has largely to do with espeon being his main house pokemon, his little kitty but that's more to go in when i go over individual pokemon. lapras is also more useful for getting around the world.

the next BIG change is when we get to the lets go pikachu/eevee games where we see him with THIS team:

charizard and blastoise are replaced with machamp and arcanine, still a strong fire type and he still has that water typing with lapras so replacing blastoise with a fighting type he didn't have before does give him more type advantage. i don't think he uses these two a whole lot but they're still powerful opponents and its good to switch up, not stick to the same team every time.

now we could stop there. those are the mainline games.

but then we could also look at what this fucker has in pokemon stadium 2:

COMPLETELY NEW GUYS. makes sense. not always using the same team, i get it and its balanced in terms of types. and it's good to train your other pokemon, form bonds and always have friends on hand. normal.

but then. same game, pokemon stadium 2. ROUND 2.

RED. RED HEY. RED WHAT THE FUCK. this is a red not fucking around. he HAS those legendaries, he loves those legendaries and he is not fucking playing around. but snorlax is back AND ALSO ESPEON. ESPEON IS BACK. RED IS A DOG WHO LOVES CATS.

and we could end it there. but then.

mans has a wailord and a fucking deoxys. cool. sure, red and we could stop there.

we could. but also here comes masters ex.

majorly the same guys.... AND THEN HEY ARTICUNO. WHATS UP. JOIN THE GANG. and now that's.. really the end of the CANON pokemon we see IN THE GAMES. THESE ARE JUST THE GAMES.

do i think he owned every single goddamn pokemon at one point? yes. doesnt keep them all. not if they wanna go or send them out on their own lives, yeah.

so. in conclusion.

pikachu

charizard

blastoise

espeon

snorlax

lapras

machamp

arcanine

meganium

feraligator

typhlosion

jolteon

scizor

taurus

raikou

entei

suicune

dragonite

wailord

deoxys

articuno

this has been my descent into madness, i hope you enjoyed.

[skullboneandunown]

On one rare day were the summit of Mt. Silver wasn't being covered in snow and ice, on the same space the legendary Red once stood...a void portal opens. Stepping out from a different point in time emerged a creature resembling a fusion of Raikou, Suicune and Entei: the Primal Beast.

He takes a moment to shake off the feeling of traveling through the void before taking a deep breath. "....Hahh... it's so much cleaner in this era." Looking out onto the Johto region, he pops his neck...and leaps down the mountain faster than a bolt of lightning. "He hasn't found it yet. Good. I have to find it before he does, and destroy it."

He wonders how early he actually is... "....I wonder if she's pregnant with Wyatt yet." He pauses to shake himself from his thoughts. "Focus on the mission."

[lilith-devi-nyx-elsword-theorist]

I'm definitely going to regret this post, but Lugia, is not the leader of the Kantonian birds. THAT IS A MOVIE EXPERIENCE.

Ingame, Lugia has no relation to Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres hence it shouldn't count as a Trio Master.

Indirectly yes the cause of the Legendary Beasts was done by the storm it caused by mistake on that lightning strike, but Lugia must've felt horrible after that and feels responsible to not interact near humans.

" It is said that it quietly spends its time deep at the bottom of the sea because its powers are too strong." - Pokemon Gold dex description.

but here's an interesting description " It has an incredible ability to calm raging storms. It is said that Lugia appears when storms start." - Crystal.

A few theories I've seen being thrown around before was that " Lugia did it as an accident." or " Lugia and Ho-Oh fought one another."

People even stating that Lugia is dangerous and unpredictable but it really shouldn't be treated as such.

But notice how the people of Ecruteak City doesn't necessarily blame Lugia? Let alone mention it? Only on a few occasions where it does get mentioned or referred it doesn't seem as negative. Yes they may assume or call it fierce or strong but it's not it's being seen by players as a destructive force, yes the Dex descriptions made it that way, but its not in the story.

Meaning they knew what really happened as it was written down at the time. The Pokedex just write what it "see's or was written" reminder, computers are not always smart and sometimes copy paste the same information but gets it wrong.

in the animation for Pokemon Evolutions Episode 7, explaining some details.

Ho-oh guardian of the skies, roosts on the Bell Tower.

Lugia Guardian of the Seas, roosts on the Brass Tower *then* / now is the Burned Tower.

A lightning storm disturbed Lugia, the lightning struck the tower thus causing a fire. Lugia had attempted to blow away the flames but it would've spread, thus Lugia wanted the rain. The flames was extinguished. Lugia had left, in the morning hiding in the Whirl Islands. Awaiting for the day it returns to Ecruteak City.

Lugia being seen here, is shown as it did absolutely nothing to the tower Lugia was mostly resting and then suddenly alarmed by a storm thus it was a call to action.

I think it only left because it still feels grief about the 3 animals in the tower, yes the Beasts are still in the Tower as a reminder of their past that once was they seem to be guardians to both the Bell and Burned Towers after Ho-Oh ressurrected them to be Entei, Raikou and Suicune.

So really Lugia should be considered the indirect start of the Legendary beasts, while Ho-Oh is the one who brought them back.

If we ever get a Legends Johto, let us at least worship both Lugia and Ho-Oh, and explore their towers. Maybe let us pay tribute to them like oh my god let us even visit Celebi's shrine, let us leave offerings, if we leave enough offerings to Lugia, Ho-Oh, and Celebi what if we have a chance to create a traditional dance for all 3. I know I'm throwing Celebi into this, but I don't know I just wanna see a Celebi traditional dance. Lugia has the waves with silver feathers, Ho-Oh has autumn leaves. Celebi should have maybe a sparkly diamond with maybe cyan leaves theme like effect to represent that it's a Time Pokemon Guardian of the Forest.

It's not a Third Legendary, as it's a Mythical but Celebi should be represented with Lugia and Ho-Oh. Showing us that Lugia is not the cause, but the guardian that didn't manage to stop a storm that happened suddenly. The storm was an inconvenience Lugia was not the one to blame.

[reestallized]

Eef.

Oh really!?!? /Lh

Again idk if I'll have much to talk about so uh,,,, the guy ever

Back back when Kris first moved into New Bark the three were uh friends?? Until KJR began chasing a Hoppip into the forests and there uh that's where he foua missingno™ and when Lyra tried looking for him uuh he was already possessed and then she was attacked and ran off the forests then in the late night after he was let go of and returned from the forest he was confused as to why Lyra was crying (Kris was there to comfort her while they waited for him) and when Lyra told them that he was the one as to why he was all comfused?? "[Redacted] WAS THERE AND THEN S- [redacted] HURTTNDTNT ME-" "I did what????" Then they all tried forgetting about it and when Kris moved back to Goldenrod bro went to Ken and was all like "I'm not sure I'm agirlanymore" then Ken was like "ok got it let me talk to mama about it" and uuh transitioning stuff

Then when Kris moved to New Bark again she didn't quite recognize him which I already talked about earlier and uuh while he was training to collect the gym badges he encountered the very same missingno™ and got possessed and probably broke a couple trees before he was let go of (glad no one was there) then the missingno revealed to him that it also has a relative similar to him and Ken then like. That bit wasn't important but anyway

When he beat Lance in the Pokemon league something appeared from behind him (the missingno™) sunk him and drained all his life force as the champion (and Lyra and Kris and Ken) watched in horror then the league was closed down temporarily due to what happened and during that the tower duo showed up And blablabla he was brought back to life and when they went to investigate the league battlefield there was no corpse of an 11 year old anymore and the others had to look for him for several days and then found him with Ho-oh and Lugia (the Ho-oh was interested in Silver's determination when he and the others came and that's how he and Ho-oh bonded) their sight of him being alive felt almost surreal because of how they thought he was still dead but uuh yes

Also several years later he and Kris appear in the Hidden treasures of Area Zero

(Ethan voice: Kris are you still sure those are regional variants of Raikou and Suicune?? [Insert Walking Wake and Raging Bolt] Kris voice: maybe try asking those kids over there?? [ Insert Florian and Juliana])

[destinywillowleaf]

i like the johto gang a normal amount (i do play favorites. yes i think Silver's fun. this was all drawn last year but I still love him a whole lot.)

Silver ends up working as an assistant at the daycare somehow. he's still not 100% how it happened but it's something to do with his life that feels productive.

Ethan and Lyra were once the both the champion at the same time. so was Red. they have match t-shirts about it that look something like this

Kris is usually the braincell holder and works as a researcher, YES she has a suicune-themed labcoat.

Silver is Ho-Oh's chosen human, Ethan is the choice of Celebi of Ilex Forest, Lyra is Lugia's, and Kris is Suicune's (and tangentially Entei and Raikou's).

the Lugia Lyra was bonded to was specifically the one that was Shadow'd in Pokemon XD, so she was mysteriously ill for a while until Michael restored it to a non-shadow state. Michael is also the Lugia's chosen human.

Silver once chugged hot chocolate. he's now under watchful eye because that was A Mistake

Ethan and his mom have the best Halloween parties in New Bark and everyone knows it

Silver genuinely though Ethan's name was "Gold" for the first year of knowing him

with Lyra being sort of a PR manager for Pasio, a lot of the videos will feature at least one of her friends and/or their Pokemon

Silver has Feraligatr, Rthan has Typhlosion, Kris has Meganium, and Lyra didn't get a traditional starter but has an Azumarill. yes i have teams for everyone save for deciding on the Odd Egg. and nicknames for their pokemon. this is what i do for fun.

Kris can and will get into a fistfight with other academics

bonus anime content:

i think it'd be funny if Ash and Silver were half-brothers through Delia instead of Giovanni. Silver won the Indigo League once and only beat Will of the Elite Four, losing to Koga, and not really having a direction in life for a while. thanks to some late-night Sneasel thefts of eggs, he more or less ends up as the night shift for a Pokemon Daycare in Johto. it's a strange life to live. (his starter was sneasel, with his 6th being the Nidoking from the Japanese opening to Legend of Thunder instead of one of the usual Johto starter trio) also i've never drawn ash before this and it shows

[tethrarisms]

if you could write pokemas villain arcs, what would you do? and what do you realistically hope to see in future villain arcs? all i really want at this point is archie and maxie sygna suits

Hi, anon! Thanks for asking and sorry in advance about the long post, I'm releasing my full potential for this question weofwoewo

Well, first, I can understand why they're using Team Rocket over and over in order to manipulate other teams, it works just fine for them, but at the same time I find it a bit repetitive, so I'd avoid that for a new whole arc across generations. The plots would be focused on their own respective regions instead of a main theme. BUT there will be a common theme going on, and that is *VILLAIN ADMINS*

PS: let's just assume Paulo is always involved in these stories, but since he got his own prologues, I won't be focusing on him.

- For Kanto, of course, Team Rocket would the main antagonist. I wouldn't give another alt to Giovanni since he has three pairs already, so I'd focus on other characters. I thought of giving the main trio each a legendary bird just like Galar did but then again, Blue has too many sync pairs, he doesn't need one more. Personally, I'd give an alt to Green (maybe a Jigglypuff?), and since I also adore Brock, I'd give him a "competitive" sync pair (Omastar or Kabutops, perhaps). Lastly, a Cloyster for Lorelei just because. Plot-wise, I'd insert Jessie and James again (and would bring back their event), introducing some kind of character development for them. They're also getting new alts, a Seviper for Jessie and a Cacnea for James. They'd help Giovanni steal some of Lear's technology (or simply stealing money from a random competition, there's plenty of them) at the start of the story, but they'd face a situation that demanded some altruism/heroism from them, forcing them to change sides momentarily and thus frustrating Giovanni's plan, who would be oblivious to their good deeds. Still, Giovanni would get away with some advantage because it's him.

- Johto would follow the consequences of Giovanni's success at stealing info, maybe something regarding the legendary beasts. Since Kris already got a Suicune, I'd give shiny beasts (just like the event) to Lyra (Suicine), Ethan (Raikou) and Silver (Entei). The story would be focused on Silver and Giovanni's relationship (and I know it's cliche but come on, it's the angsty, delicious food we love to see) and also Ethan's bond with Silver. Lorelei and Clair would assist them just because it's my super rare ship and there's so little content on them ;-; Instead of Jessie and James, however, the spotlight would go to the other admins and their sync pairs' debut: Petrel (Weezing), Ariana (Arbok) and Archer (Golbat). See the similarity with Jessie and James? Except that they wouldn't be around. We could also get some hint that Ariana is Silver's mom (if we can get confirmation that Cyrus was the boy who wrote about Rotom, we can have that as well idc).

- NOW BRACE YOURSELF! IT'S TIME TO GO WILD FOR HOENN AND HARDENSHIPPING. First off, nothing against Zinnia and Steven but FUCK THEM. NO ZINNIA AND STEVEN STEALING THE PROTAGONISM FROM MY ECOTERRORISTS. The story could be anything as long as they're following the events of the last Hoenn arc, in which Archie and Maxie agreed on a truce. Except that the legendaries are insane and obviously would end up fighting again. I think Jirachi could be involved, kinda causing trouble bc of the wishes, and that would be the reason they'd fight. I know it's biased af and unrealistic to give alts to villains only, and although there's a hint that Archie met a Jirachi once, I'd do that for either May or Brendan (probably Brendan bc May has far too many alts jfc). Doesn't mean our ecoterrorists are not getting anything, though. That's right, they be getting a primal form for their respective legendaries. BUT the new sync pairs? ADMINS. IDC THERE'S A MEGA-SHARPEDO IN THE GAME ALREADY. MOVE YOUR ASS, GRIMSLEY, SHELLY IS ALSO GETTING A M-SHARPEDO. Tabitha and Matt are also joining the game with sync pairs (Torkoal and Relicanth. Doesn't make any sense but I can't just give them another Sharpedo and Camerupt pls fighting for my life here ;-;). The ending would be gay af idc. It would be so gay Steven and Wallace would feel embarrassed. (Wallace will get a new sync on the next rotation, sorry, Wallace). Also also, next rotation, we're also getting sygna suits for Archie and Maxie, and they be matching!! Any pokémon is alright, as long as they're related. Maybe.. Oh, Plusle and Minun??? Since they're opposites but also red/blue?? I've seen fanart of these alts too now that I think about it!! Perfection!!

- *heavy breathing* Bear with me, we're getting into sensitive territory now (at least for me). Sinnoh... Sinnoh, my beloved *gumball crying meme* Okay, okay. So... Okay let's go with unhinged Arceus. Let's go with bitchy Arceus trying to interfere with Pasio because it was not its creation. Let's go with Arceus forcing the protagonists and Team Galactic to work together to stop its little tantrum. And that would be perfect for Cyrus to bond with the admins. Yes, all the admins are getting sync pairs! Mars and Purugly, Jupiter and Skuntank and Saturn and Toxicroak. But you know who elseeeee is getting a new alt? *evil laughter* I'M GIVING CYRUS A ROTOM. YOU KNOW SOPHOCLES'S FRIEND'S ROTOM? FUCK THAT FRIEND. THEY DIED IDGAF. ROTOM IS ALL ALONE AND WHO WILL TAKE CARE OF IT NOW? THAT'S IT. THAT'S MY CYRUS FTW *explosions on the background* I also love Cynthia but plssss, no more alts oewifewoiwoi and what do you mean the protagonists need new alts? Okay, give Arceus to Lucas whatever.

- Unova, OBVIOUSLY, will have Ghetsis and N involved. But we're also getting Zinzolin and Cryogonal, and perhaps one ninja from the shadow triad (once again, I love you, Grimsley, but you're stealing ppl's signature pokémon ;-;). I also need Colress to go "tee-hee" with the war crimes just because it's funny. Diantha may have stolen Keldeo, but let's give the muskeeters to Rosa (Virizion), Nate (Terrakion) and Iris (Cobalion) (sorry, Pasio's main character). I'd love to introduce the triplets with the elemental monkeys but let's be honest, between the triplets and the submas, who on Earth would not go with submas? Ingo getting a Chandelure and Emmet, a Galvantula or Eelektross. Almost related but not quite, Roxie deserves an EX SO BAD. Roxie is getting an EX. Plot-wise, Ghetsis is after the muskeeters because he wants power and that's it. Family drama unfolds, N will suffer again yadda yadda. Ingo and Emmet are super involved tho. Because I said so. Next rotation, it's the triplets' turn, sorry.

- Oof, let's move on to Kalos. We just recently had a story that I found super boring booooo. Obviously, I'll go with perfectworldshipping, only with more drama. Sycamore getting an alt bc he was supposed to get one LAST MONTH AND HE DIDN'T, THAT'S HOMOPHOBIA. I know this is unpopular opinion but maybe an Aromatisse or Slurpuff. I like these Pokémon and I think Fairy is a type that matches Sycamore. You know who else we getitng? That's right, you were never able to play with AZ's Floette, but this ends NOW! AZ is making it into the game. Drasna and Malva are also debutting as playable characters (it's just a matter of time, after all). Regarding the plot... wouldn't it be chaotic fun if Lear's Hoopa met with a different Hoopa? *evil laughter* yes, I'd force Lysandre to work with the protagonists just for once, jfc, stop being such a little bitch and help them keep Pasio beautiful and less chaotic thanks. Calem is getting Hoopa just bc Serena has too many pairs already.

- I must confess that I haven't played the games from this point on cause I can't afford them anymore but let's try my best with the little I know about the next regions. Alola will be once again focused on Guzma and Lusamine. But I want to give the spotlight to Team Skull and not the Aether Foundation. Maybe, MAYBE, we can work with Giovanni, forcing the teams to fight in order to prevent him from bringing the rest of Rainbow Rocket to Pasio. But why Selene and Elio are so underappreciated in this game????? I'll most definitely give them alts. Zeraora is going to Elio and Blacephalon, to Selene. Melmetal goes to Guzma bc I said so.

- Galar already has a hint that Rose is making it to the game this year, so I'll just assume he'll be involved in whatever. Leon already got Eternatus, so I really don't have any idea of what could be possibly used as a plot device to move things around. Just please give someone, ANYONE, a Cinderace. No more alts, tho. Galar had the spotlight just this month, that would be insane and I can't take any more crystal wall characters, PLEASE, and I say that with tears in my eyes because I love Leon.

- No idea what's going on with Paldea aside from the professors abandoning Arven. I just need Rika and Clodsire, Larry and Komala, and whatever Geeta's signature pokémon is. Sorry, I don't know much about this region and I'm trying to avoid as many spoilers as possible until I can finally play it someday.

Aaaaand that's it. I'm not normal about pokemas as you can see =D thank you for the opportunity to go wild for them <3 have an excellent day/night!

[characteroulette]

Okay Colosseum rant time.

Pokemon Colosseum came to me because, naturally, I was a Pokemon kid. Not only was I a Pokemon kid, though, I was specifically a Gen2 kid. I grew up with Red and Yellow, sure, but Gold and Silver were mine and my sister's (respectively), specifically. Crystal was the first game I fell in true and hard love with, all because I loved Gold and what does Crystal add? The female protagonist who I adopted into myself pretty immediately.

Colosseum has a lot going against it, to be fair. It's main goal is to get fans to spend money and a BUTTLOAD of time to maximise profits and drag out the whole completing the Pokedex thing for Gen3. It's got no wild Pokemon, is double battles only (which was new and scary then and is still contentious???? with fans today???), AND there are only 48 available Pokemon. Less so for the main campaign!!

But for me, it just...works.

For one, the Orre region was the first region based on the US. That's huge to begin with, but it's more personal to me as it's based specifically on the southwest US, which is where I lived for a good majority of my life. The desert is familiar to me and so Orre has a real certain charm to me.

For two, it's edgy lol with crime and darkness everywhere in the same vein as Jak 2, which I enjoyed watching my sister play (I could not play it myself) and was definitely in the age range for it to work. (Hell I think Wes might be the start of my love for white-haired anime boys hahaha) But for real, the idea of Shadow Pokemon is so neat. Pokemon that have closed their hearts off from humans, even willing to attack humans and grow so wild they literally will not listen to you or accept healing. Fascinating! They are mechanically kinda boring, sure, but narratively?? There's so much to do with them!

Three, I actually like double battles a lot! This game is single-handedly the reason, too. I get so upset I usually reset if I miss one of the double battle opportunities in the other games hahaha. Apparently this is an unpopular opinion??? I just want more Pokemon games that are only double battles like this one, I dunno what else to say. (I like pairs.)

Four, your starters are an Umbreon and Espeon!! A hint that our protag Wes is actually a kind Trainer because friendship evolutions!! And remember I'm a Gen2 kid, so Espeon and Umbreon mean a lot to me (and also they are paired forever for me now because of this game. Seeing people take Umbreon off their team because "stats" reasons never fails to make me sad). I even did a whole playthrough of this game using only my Umbreon and Espeon and this game is actually built to combat that! Which fascinates me, too.

Five, again with the Gen2 thing, I was definitely obsessed with the big legendary cat trio as a kid. Entei was always my fave (thanks Pokemon movie 3) (also my natural affinity for Fire types), but I also liked Suicune a lot due to Crystal (and hey! My sis' fave of the bunch is Raikou), so this trio being the big legendaries of this game really appealed to me.

(This is also why XD disappointed me so much, so many Kanto Pokemon.... but a different rant)

Lastly, the soundtrack is an absolute banger!! I love like every single song in this game, but I have also beaten this game like five times over by this point so I've grown very fond of all of them.

I get that this game ain't for everyone. Pokemon fans are generally just not fond of having their options so limited like this (see: Dex outcry time and time again), but it can also get a bit grindy and that ending challenge is... a big one. (Y'all why do you ask for harder difficulties but then decry them when they appear....? Y'all baffle me.) I have never failed to make my sis or friends fall asleep when I play this game while they watch (and to be fair, I get caught in the grind wayyy more often than most).

But it's a weird thing to call it outright bad or just made up of bad decisions?? Like Tama pls you don't have to like it, no one's forcing you to like it, you don't gotta call it absolute garbage. It was formed from terrible marketing shit, yeah, but it's also just not your type of game.

But it sure as hell my type of jam lol. I wasn't even able to get past the Suicune battle for like the first ten years I owned the game and I still loved the shit outta it. I remember restarting the game a lot just to get stuck there again and again and never once was I actually frustrated. For some reason. I was upset about not being able to catch Suicune because I was bad at Pokemon, but never frustrated with the actual game.

And now I've beaten it five times over and I'm sure I'll beat it many times more. So yeah 10/10 game for me personally but 6/10 game when recc'ing it to others for real only 48 available Pokemon and huge difficulty spike right at the finale.

[tolovel]

When the New York Pokémon Center first opened its doors in November of 2001, the Pokémon video game series was already into its second generation, having released both Pokémon Gold and Silver versions in the United States that previous year, as well as Pokémon Crystal version on July 30th, 2001, for the Gameboy Color handheld system. With this new addition to the original Pokémon video games (Red, Blue, and Yellow) came several revolutionary features to the main series. Pokémon Gold and Silver introduced a day/night cycle, the new ability to breed, differently-colored sprites that were later named “shiny” Pokemon by players, and probably the most exciting of all— one hundred new characters to catch!

 Although, there was one problem: certain Pokémon were still un-obtainable within normal gameplay. Some mythical Pokémon, such as Celebi and Mew, were “event-exclusive”, meaning that a player could only receive one by either hacking their game (otherwise known as “cheating” — not cool!) or going to an in-person event. This is where a trip to the New York Pokémon Center came in handy…

Pokémon Distribution Machine:

 On the second floor of the New York Pokémon Center, there were four large Pokémon Distribution machines, appropriately referred to as the “Gotta Catch ‘Em All! Stations”. Once a week, a player could come to the store and insert their game cartridge into one of the machines to receive a “special” Pokémon. Each week, different sets of Pokémon were distributed to players. The very first distribution week was for the “Legendary Beasts” and took place from November 22nd to the 29th, 2001. The Pokémon given to players was a shiny version of Raikou, Entei, or Suicune. These events followed different themes each week, sometimes matching the current season, such as the store’s “Christmas Week” in late December 2001, where the store distributed a Delibird with the move “Pay-Day” and Celebi.

One important note is that the term, “shiny” Pokémon was not coined as an official Nintendo name for Pokémon with differently-colored sprites until much later (around when generation 4 games were released in 2006-2007). Instead, original press releases from the old Pokémon Center website refer to them as “Rare” Pokémon, whereas the classically-colored Pokémon were simply referred to as “Normal”.

 By March 2003, the Pokémon franchise had once again evolved, with their first generation 3 games, Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire for the Gameboy Advance system. No longer did Nintendo make such large cartridges for Pokémon games and as a result, they updated the outdated distribution machines. Pokémon Center NY closed the original “Gotta Catch ‘Em All! Station” machines on January 2nd, 2003 and re-released them with generation 3 support in September of that same year. Unfortunately, due to the store’s renovation into “Nintendo World”, there aren’t as many documented distributions for Gen III games (Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, FireRed, LeafGreen, but NOT Emerald). Pokémon Emerald was the exception, since it was released in the United States on May 1st, 2005 and the Pokémon Center reopened as “Nintendo World” just two weeks later (May 15th), so there were no “Gotta Catch ‘Em All! Station” distribution events available for it. During this gaming era, the Pokémon Center website was updated with event news far less frequently as the Gen II events prior, which has ultimately left many questions as to how many distributions actually occurred towards the end of the store’s existence. To this day, many specific details about the Gen III distribution events remain unclear as they seem to have been lost to time.

Pokémon Given Through Events:

 The event Pokémon that were distributed at the New York Pokémon Center are generally categorized into two groups by event archivists. The first group is “Generation II Event Distributions” for Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, while the second group is “Generation III Event Distributions” for Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, FireRed, and LeafGreen (with the exception of Emerald because it wasn’t released in the United States at the time).

 The Pokémon given out by the “Gotta Catch ‘Em All! Station” machines (both generations) were special for a few different reasons— one being that many of these event Pokémon knew battle moves that they were not able to learn through normal gameplay. In addition to giving out Pokémon with exclusive moves, the stations sometimes gifted players mythical Pokémon, like Mew or Celebi, which, in some cases, had a small chance of being shiny.

• Wow! You made it all the way here? Nice!! To read the rest of my report on the Pokémon Center NY “Gotta Catch ‘Em All!” Station, please go here:

[jaybug-jabbers]

Pokemon Gold/Silver Beta Pokemon: The April 2020 Leak

Look, 2020 was a rough year. So maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised that the April 2020 Gold/Silver source code leak flew almost entirely under my radar. If you Google about it, you’re find it’s very rare for news outlets to cover it. This is probably because many folks are hesitant to cover leaks. Also, the US was warming up to a truly awful pandemic around that point, not to mention other civil unrest, so it’s no surprise some people were a tad distracted. 

But the fact is, another leak turned up in April of last year, following a recent trend of huge Nintendo leaks. And this one was a doozy. I’ve only truly realized its full extent in the past few days. As such, I’d like to do a post that covers some of the new information. In particular, I’m focusing on beta pokemon that were cut or heavily reworked.

Now, back in 2018, the Spaceworld ‘97 Pokemon Gold/Silver Demo was leaked online. I made a post about some of my favorites. So, from this leak, we already knew of a while slew of beta pokemon. However, as it turns out, there were still more new faces to find-- and a lot of them! I list 45 new beta pokemon here, in fact!

In the April 2020 leak, several sprite sets were found as internal files, each at different phases of game production. The sprite sets were dated May 6, 1998, June 13, 1999, June 21, 1999, and September 17, 1999. The August 17, 1999 Spaceworld ‘99 Demo build was also found, so we have information on that as well.

Essentially, if you want to see this information at The Cutting Room Floor, then head to this page for the sprites discovered as internal backups/sprite banks. Head to this page for the Spaceworld ‘99 demo information page. And, if you need a refresher for the older leak, you can go to this page for the Spaceworld ‘97 demo build.

For this post, we will focus on the May 6, ‘98 set of sprites, which contain the vast majority of new faces. So, without further ado, onward to the pokemon!

(#300) Kokopelli Pokemon/Celebi

(May 6, ‘98)       (Spaceworld ‘99 Demo)

This first pair of sprites looks very much like Kokopelli, a fertility deity of some Native American cultures. This deity can be seen in ancient Native American petroglyphs, as a humpbacked flute player with feathers on the head. Surprisingly, we find that Celebi in the Spaceworld ‘99 Demo seems to be an updated version of this design, making Celebi’s design origins much different than expected. However, its fertility diety inspiration is still somewhat apparant in the modern Celebi, as a creature that causes plant life to flourish.

(#301) Eel Pokemon

While the sprite files did not reveal a name or other data, this eel’s sprites were numbered right beside the Gurotesu (Grotess) and Ikari (Anchorage) sprites, suggesting it once was the start of their evolution chain. 

(#304) Fire Fox Pokemon

This little fellow is a fox that seems to have a fiery tail. It’s possible this fire fox was inspired by kitsune (just as Vulpix/Ninetails were) and that it was later redesigned as Fennekin. 

(#305 - 308) Snow Bunny Evolution Line

These four pokemon seem to belong to the same evolutionary line. The second one seems to based on the Yuki Usagi, a ‘Snow Bunny.’ In Japan, these cute little critters are made in the snow (using leaves for the ears). They also sometimes make these Yuki Usagi as little marshmallow or mochi treats. So this pokemon line could be inspired by either of these. Considering the leaves and the snow, I would guess these would have been Grass/Ice. 

(#309) Elephant Pokemon

You might wonder if this chonky boy-- looking tough with horns on his head and back-- was an early version of Donphan, but Donphan and Phanpy were present in the Spaceworld ‘97 demo. Indeed, this elephant and Phanpy/Donphan both exist in the same set of sprites from May ‘98, so it was simply a case of two types of elephants. This pokemon also calls to mind a glimpse of a cut beta pokemon we saw from Generation 1 (from ‘Satoshi Tajiri: The Man Who Made Pokémon’):

Same fierce eyes, at any rate! Alas, these both never saw the light of day. However, it’s possible this elephant was reworked into Piloswine, which is not in the May ‘98 collection but does appear in the June 13 ‘99 collection (although Swinub is absent). While Piloswine and Swinub are more akin to wild boars, there is also some relation to mammoths (an inspiration more heavily leaned on with Mammoswine in later games). Then again, there’s another pokemon you’ll see a little further down this list that might have inspired Piloswine instead.

(#311) Natu/Xatu Mid-Evolution

What is clearly a mid-evolution (its file number sits between the two). Has a peacock-like tail. Honestly, I think this works really good as a mid-evolution, and I don’t know why it was cut. I want to name it “Watu.”

(#313) Drunk Kiwi Pokemon

This one is just hilarious to look at. It appears to probably be a kiwi-bird? A very crazy-eyed, loopy one. I can see why this one was cut. The goofy, simple design kind of looks like a knockoff cartoon character for children. 

(#314) Scorpion Pokemon

A pretty badass-looking scorpion, although a rather basic design. I dig the funky head, though. It seems like it has a single, beady eye and is rather menacing. This pokemon may have been later reworked into Gligar, a pokemon that first appears after this sprite set, in the June 13 ‘99 group:

Admittedly this is rather different from the Gligar we know, but it is an early design.

Or, who knows-- maybe this little fellah was later reworked into Skorupi. (If so, it’s a shame, as I don’t dig the weird accordian-like design of its limbs and its evolution.)

(#315) Quail Pokemon

A pudgey little quail pokemon. Doesn’t seem related to the kiwi pokemon. It’s a very cute little thing, and has lots of potential to evolve into something interesting, but it seems they scrapped it pretty quickly.

(#316) Music Note Bird Pokemon

Although these sprites are numbered right after the quail, and they are both birds, the designs are very different, so they seem unrelated. It seems the beta pokemon were simply blessed with a lot of birds. This little bird is in the shape of a clef, giving this bird a musical theme. It seems very likely it was later reworked into Chatot, a bird with a music-note shaped head and metronome tail.

(#319) Boar Pokemon

A cute, grumpy little boar with antlers. Probably what eventually led to Piloswine found in the June 13 ‘99 group. A bit of a shame, in my mind, as I kind of prefer this design.

(#325) Spikey Dog Pokemon

The curious thing is that this dog looks very similar to “Pudi,” a pokemon we saw in the Spaceworld ‘97 demo, which was intended to be a pre-evolution of Growlithe. But Pudi is also in this same collection of sprites!

Perhaps they were toying with the idea of re-designing Pudi (and had already scrapped a bunch of baby pokemon) and just hadn’t bothered to remove the old Pudi yet. It’s hard to say. Ultimately, these both were scrapped, but at least we still have Subbull/Granbull.

(#331) Yūrei Ghost Pokemon

This little ghost has two things that are common in Japanese folklore: the hitaikakushi (the white cloth headband it wears) and the two little balls of fire called hitodama. It is unknown why this ghost pokemon was scrapped, but perhaps they thought the little fellow wouldn’t translate well overseas? 

(#344) Viking Ship Pokemon

Look at this beauty! A pokemon based off some sort of Viking ship. I absolutely adore this one. It’s creative and charming. I hope to see it in the future.

(#349) Wooly Dog Pokemon

This canine-like creature is fluffy as all out. Honestly I think it’s a tad odd, with how tangled and disheveled its fur looks. I can’t help but compare it to the early desings of the three Legendary Beasts, since they also are very canine-like:

These three designs are present in this same May 6, 98′ sprite collection as the representations of Raikou, Entei, and Suicune. Were they possibly playing with a different design idea for the Legendary Beasts? Perhaps Suicune. The Wooly Dog is just such an imposing sprite, that I can’t help but wonder. All pure speculation, of course. 

(#350) Rabbit Pokemon

This rabbit has a rather intense look about him, and it makes me curious what the ideas were behind it. TCRF suggests it’s a possible pikachu clone.

(#351) Snake Pokemon

This cute little worm or snake seems to be wearing a feather headdress, suggesting its design may also be Native American inspired, like the Natu line. On the other hand, this could be inspired by Quetzalcoatl, a feathered serpent deity in Aztec culture. I would have loved to see this little guy’s evolutions.

(#352) Scarecrow Bird

A bird with a hat that kind of looks like a scarecrow. Honestly, it’s a super-cute idea.

(#353) Gargoyle Pokemon

This crouching beastie sort of looks like a gargoyle with a long, sharp tail. I can’t quite tell if those bits on the side are little wings or just a part of its legs. It would be interesting to see this creature standing in a different position-- I feel like that would give us a better understanding of what it looks like. Interestingly, there are striking similarities with Aerodactyl:

I wonder why they are so similar?

(#354 - 356) Manbō Evolution Family

The first of these three fishies was someone we already met in the Spaceworld ‘97 demo-- it was named ‘Manbō 1.′ In the demo, it evolved into  Ikari (Anchorage) and then Gurotesu (Grotess). It seems it’s now been split off from those and given a new evolution family here. While I find that neat, and I quite like the expressions on these fish, they are admittedly a little bland. 

(#360) Flying Squirrel(?) Pokemon

TCRF guesses this is a flying squirrel, and it seems to be wearing a sheathed sword. Not sure about the headgear it’s sporting. Is that a ninja star? 

(#364) Early Cyndaquil

So, this May 6, ‘98 collection is really exciting. The original Gold/Silver fire starter line we saw in Spaceworld ‘97 (Honooguma’s line) is still present in this collection (as is the water-type ‘Cruz’ line and Chikorita’s line). So, what we have here seems to be an early Cyndaquil before they decided to turn it into a fire type and make it the fire starter! In fact, those spikes might even be icicles (like Alolan Sandslash), for all we know. If so, Cyndaquil’s typing pulled a 180.

(#377) Early Furret?

Possibly an early Furret. Looks pretty awkward, not gonna lie; I’m glad it was probably refined into modern Furret, with more body definition between the head and tail.

(#378) Stork Pokemon

It’s a stork, based on the myth of where babies come from. A cute idea, although its curly ‘hair’ looks a little funny to me. 

(#380) Squid Pokemon

A squid with drills for its mantle and arms. Since that’s kinda Beedrill’s thing, I’m glad they scrapped the idea. The backsprite lacks drills so it’s probably from a different design stage. 

(#382 - 383) Early Burmy/Pineco

Burmy/Wormadam/Mothim is based off the bagworm. Bagworms are grubs that use silk and lots of bits of leaves, bark and other objects to create a camouflaged cocoon. When they turn into adults, some species of female bagworms just look like their larval stage, while the males turn into winged moths. That is why Burmy/Wormadam/Mothim have their unique evolution situation. Clearly, these two beta pokemon are playing around with the bagworm idea. They probably went on to inspire both Pineco (another pokemon based on bagworms!) and the Burmy line in gen 4.

(#386) Koala Pokemon

It’s so cool to see they were thinking about a koala pokemon this early. We would not finally get one until gen 7′s Komala.

(#387) Tanuki Pokemon

A Tanuki that is carrying campfire kindling on his back, but the kindling has caught fire. Apparently based on the Kachi-Kachi Yama folktale, which is a surprisingly violent story, but I suppose folktales often are. Who knows why it was cut, but Sentret is the closest thing we have to a tanuki pokemon for now.

(#392) Megaphone(?) Bird Pokemon

Yet another bird pokemon! There sure were a lot of beta birds. This one appears to have a megaphone-shaped beak. Or, possibly, its head is shaped like a gas mask (the strange eyes seem  to support this idea). Honestly I really dig the look of this one.

(#397) Frog Pokemon

It’s tough to tell but it has a small horn on its head. It has a long tongue and is probably shouting “ribbithhhhhh!” It’s cute, but a little plain.

(#400) Tiny Hippo Pokemon

Look at this little weirdo. I think it’s a tiny hippo? With a mohawk and a big grin and wild eyes. It doesn’t really seem to have a head, its mouth/eyes/ears are just stuck directly to a body. Looks pretty awkward, probably needed some polish. No idea what they were going for with it, but it’s interesting.

(#401) Skeleton Pokemon

A very spooky, bipedal, living skeleton beast. It has a long snout and sharp teeth, almost like a crocodile or a dinosaur-like creature. Its head and shoulders have bony spikes and the front of its snout has markings that seem to be a nasal cavity. Very detailed. It also reminds me of Missingno, as some Missingno used the fossil skeletons as their front sprites. I would have loved to have this pokemon, and it’s a real shame they didn’t use it.

(#402) Rodent Pokemon

A mouse or bunny with gigantic, spotted ears and no arms. Those are some serious ears; it almost looks like it could fly with them. 

(#403) Fly Pokemon

A bug-type!! It has a huge, creepy face, curly antenna and wings strangely really close to its head. I love it?? But it’s a bug, so of course I do.

(#404) Plant Pokemon

The Snow Bunny was likely part grass-type, but other than that, this is our first grass beta! It has one eye, a spikey head, and almost foot-like roots. I love how grumpy it looks. There’s a possibility it was a pre-evolution for Sunflora, before they had created the idea of Sunkern (which is not present in this collection).

(#405) Ant Pokemon

Another bug!! This one looks a lot like a winged ant. (Those do exist-- usually a temporary thing for mating flights) It’s possibly related to the fly pokemon above, sporting very similar wings. However, it doesn’t really seem like an evolution.

(#406) Dinosaur Pokemon

A little dinosaur-like pokemon, looking up at you. It’s unclear if that’s a tough, bony skull, or if it’s maybe a hat. The clubbed tail makes me wonder if it’s related to #415 below, but it’s probably unlikely. However, it is pretty likely that this later became Cranidos.

(#407) Early Cherrim

This clearly was a design that was picked up later, in gen 4, to create Cherubi/Cherrim’s sunshine form. I am glad the design was improved, because the lips on this one scare me.

(#412) Early Dunsparce

Dunsparce looking quite different. No wings, no drill tail, with a much more typical snake-like face. 

(#415) Dinosaur Pokemon

It looks like an aquatic version of an Ankylosaurus or something similar. It’s possible it’s related to the Viking Ship pokemon (as a pre-evo), but there’s no way to know. I quite like it, though.

(#416) Flying Fish Pokemon

This magnificent beast, this miracle of creation, is surely my favorite beta pokemon of all time. Revel in its glory. You may not like it, but this is the ideal pokemon body. What a perfect way to round off our collection of betas.

[mountmortar]

I can’t help but think of the quartet’s legendary shenanigans as so sweet funny when they’re little tiny kids. Suicune will wiggle underneath Kris to pick her up and spin her around to hear her giggle. Entei will knock Lyra over gently and lay down on her lap if it thinks she’s cold. She thinks it’s adorable and it usually ends with her sleeping right on the floor. Raikou will pick up Ethan by his hood and parade him around to show him off like This is my Boy!! Look at him!!! Ho-oh picks Silver up by the pant leg and swing him around (carefully) to distract him from sad thoughts because it thinks it’s funny. Silver does not think this is funny. Silver constantly thinks “the other one wouldn’t treat me like this” because he doesn’t know Lugia’s name because he doesn’t know what legendary Pokémon are at first. But Lugia would absolutely treat him the same it’s so funny to make him flap around.

THIS IS SO FUCKING CUTE..............I CAN'T EVEN ADD ANYTHING TO THIS IT'S PERFECT JUST LOOK AT IT

[crabas-lordes]

Gen 2 Explanation -- Pokémon Remakes

According to the Games/Anime:

Entei - The Volcano Pokémon, a pure Fire type, unknown gender, 6′11″ tall, weighs 436.5 pounds, represents the flames that burned the Brass Tower, and whenever Entei roars, a volcano erupts somewhere in the world. Entei’s fire is said to be hotter than magma. 

Raikou - The Thunder Pokémon, a pure Electric type, unknown gender, 6′03″ tall, weighs 392.4 pounds, can fly through clouds during thunderstorms, and is distrustful of most humans. It represents the speed of lightning and the lightning that struck Brass Tower. Its barks are like thunder and can send shockwaves through the air and ground. 

Suicune - The Aurora  Pokémon, a pure Water type, unknown gender, 6′07″ tall, weighs 412.3 pounds, can walk across water and purify any murky waters. It travels after the north winds, and is the closest one to Ho-oh and connected to the Unown. Suicune represents the rain that drenched the fires of Brass Tower. 

Ho-oh - The Rainbow Pokémon, a Fire and Flying type, unknown gender, 12′06″ tall, weighs 438.7 pounds, those who bear witness to it are promised eternal happiness. It is has the power to resurrect the dead, and flies the skies in search for a trainer with a pure heart.

Lugia - The Diving Pokémon, a Psychic and Flying type, unknown gender, 17′01″ tall, weighs 476.2 pounds, monitors the Bird Trio. It can create storms, it’s wings are able to produce a 40-day hurricane in a single flap. It is referred to as the Guardian of the Seas and is extremely intelligent. 

Celebi - The Time Travel Pokémon, a Psychic and Grass type, unknown gender, 2′ tall, weighs 11 pounds, known as the Voice of the Forest. Plants flourish in its presence and it has healing powers. It often maintains its current timeline as to prevent time distortions, anomalies, or loops. 

My Take on Gen 2 Legendaries/Mythicals:

Entei - Entei likes to monitor the nearby volcanoes in the Johto, Kalos, and Kanto regions. Entei has the power to erupt a nearby volcano with a roar at will. Entei is a male in my remakes and has fire hot enough to turn igneous rocks into lava within minutes. Entei cannot verbally or telepathically speak, but can understand body language very well. He is highly intelligent. He likes to lead wild Pokémon to safety and defends towns from erupting volcanoes. Entei is the most independent canine with the Legendary Beasts, and is the middle sibling. 

Raikou - Raikou monitors thunderstorms -- whether natural or caused by Zapdos -- and likes to jump the clouds to travel. Raikou is male in my remakes and can send shockwaves from his bark at will. Raikou doesn’t care much for people, and prefers to stay in the wild. Raikou circulates the regions between Kalos, Johto, and Kanto. Raikou is the oldest of the Legendary Beasts. 

Suicune - Suicune is nomadic, and always searches for watering holes to purify. Suicune is a female in my remakes. Suicune tends to help flourish environments with Celebi and also calls to Ho-oh when she has to. Suicune also monitors both seasons of winter and summer in the regions of Kalos, Johto, and Kanto. Suicune is the youngest of the Legendary Beasts, but very mature. People in small villages see her toward the north where the winds rest, and her howls can be heard on the nights the aurora borealis tears through the skies. 

Ho-oh - Ho-oh is nomadic, but stays in the same three regions as the Legendary Beasts. Ho-oh is a male in my remakes, and now stands at fifteen feet tall and weighs closer to 500 pounds due to his hollow bones. Ho-oh’s fire are as hot as the flames expelled from Moltres. Ho-oh is the father of the Legendary Beasts, having created them from the fall of Brass Tower. Ho-oh can speak telepathically occasionally, only to those he feels worthy. He is intelligent enough to know no-one is pure-hearted, but he wants someone that he knows that would always do the right thing, even in the toughest situations. It is said his tears can heal even the most fatal wounds. Ho-oh is the youngest of the Tower Duo.

Lugia - Lugia is a female in my remakes and always isolates herself. She can create storms at will with her wings, but will be absolutely incapable of that power if her wings are damaged in any way. Her roars are like music and anyone who hears her bellows cannot help but falter in her voice. She speaks telepathically to anyone who deserves it. She is the mother of the Legendary Birds and always monitors their doings. It is believed whenever she bellows a song, she is calling for either Kyogre or Palkia to her aid, or simply, trying to captivate anyone within an ear’s distance. Lugia has many routes within the ocean, but she is only ever seen around the coasts of Johto and Kanto. She is the oldest of the Tower Duo. Even though she is considered female, she is also considered asexual. A fisherman once discovered a metallic, silver egg the size of a basketball. Upon inspection, the egg was indeed made entirely of silver with tracings of Lugia’s DNA. 

Celebi - It is believed that there is more than one Celebi -- wrong. There is only one, but that one Celebi has many alternate universe versions of it due to the vast and branching timeline. This one Celebi is female and is the daughter of Dialga. While Dialga rests and keeps track of the time spent, he left it to Celebi monitor the alternate timelines. Celebi remains in touch with Suicune, often wanting her aid to purify environments. Celebi never leaves the Johto region. She is very sensitive to her environment, and once she’s emotionally attached to someone, she always craves their attention. 

Disclaimer: These Pokémon remakes are for fun and by no means meant to replace the Pokémon franchise. 

[redlegend-a]

According to the anime, Ho-Oh lived in the Tin Tower in ancient times. When a war broke out, burning both the Tin Tower and the Brass Tower down, it created Raikou, Entei, and Suicune, and all four disappeared. Later, a new Tin Tower was erected, but Ho-Oh since then has never come back for sure. A sacred flame from Ho-Oh burns in the Ho-Oh Shrine at Mt. Silver; it was obtained during the same war.

[alolanrain]

Can you expand upon your tattoo au? Like which tattoo belongs to each legendary and mythical and their different effects?

I’ve stated a lot in my beginning chapters of my fanfic Alola Rain, which is what this blog was supposed to be mostly about but shit got out of my hands. So I’m going to reference some sections out of a couple chapters.

“But after Ash came back from the Orange Island’s with a large Y running along his back from shoulder blades to tailbone that shunned silver and small blue bumps with a burn mark on the left side that's always run hotter than the rest of his body, a blue patch of skin on the right side that forever feels like ice no matter how many hand warmers or heating pads lay on top of Ash, and an electric burn on the top that gives anyone a tiny shock if touched skin to skin. And an odd shaped paw mark with three dots on the base of his back in the center of the Y, and a smaller one inside the bigger paw print.”

Okay so the first mark that is detailed is the one Ash got from Lugia, since it’s the main legendary birds out of the four. It’s cold and wet to the touch yet it doesn’t damn clothes and other object, except for skin on skin. So if you touch it, or run your hand along the mark, your hand would come back damp with sea water.

The burn mark on the left side of the giant Y is Moltres’s mark, it will never heal and is a very sensitive mark yet Ash deals with the slight pain that always comes from it. If a patch of skin presses to muc against it, it WILL burn you badly. It does have a plus side where Ash is partially immune of fire, and by that I mean he won’t burn from Charizards or a normal Pokémon flames.

The blue patch on the right is a patch of Ash’s skin that is frozen, hence blue being used as a descriptor. It’s basically a half way melted ice cube that’s forever part of his skin. The plus side is that Ash can’t get hypothermia.

The electrical burn on top of the Y will give a tiny shock and sometimes if a certain kind of fabric rubs against it for so long, Ash can touch someone with his fingers and give a strong shock to the person. The plus side is making him immune from dying of electricity attacks.

The smaller paw pad in the middle of Ash’s back is Mews paw print, the bigger one is Mewtwo’s, and both marks are kinda like “trackers” to put it lightly. Mew and the Male!Mewtwo keep track of how many times Ash has died and where. There is no plus side and sometimes Ash will get an a sting ach in his spine that most of the time renders him unable to walk for a few days, that is just when Mew and Male!Mewtwo is checking if their tracker is working and that Ash is still alive.

“ Soon he’s off on another journey to Johto and coming back all to quickly with more contacts in his phone and more marks. This time on his left arm with a thunderbolt strike that’s naturally black and thinner than the one of the bases between his shoulders, a purple sphere on the upper part of his arm that everytime she sees the panic sets in, a large thin flat piece of ice shaped like a crown forever frozen onto his forearm skin, and lastly a sunset colored outline of a very fluffy feather cradling a pale green colored raindrop with lines burned into Ash’s wrist.”

The small, thin, lightning bolt is from Raikou. It and Ash met briefly, but it was long enough to last a dark mark on his arms. It’s the same like Zapdos, but in a different position on his body. It adds to the immunity against electric attacks.

The purple sphere is from Entie, Ash always wears shirts with sleeves long enough to ALWAYS cover the mark at all costs. Souly on the fact that he hates what Entei did to his mother. It adds no immunity or perks what so ever, it burns every now and then and it makes it hard for Ash to use the arm when it does.

The ice crown is from Suicune. It makes sure that Ash can’t completely freeze in cold weather if Ash is stuck outside for a very long time. Ash has found it as more of a curse than a positive thing, since he’s still dying but just at a slower rate.

The fluffy colorful feather is from Ho-Oh. It’s located on Ash’s inner wrist because he had gain the tick to press a few fingers against his pulse when he gets scared. It secretes a sweet smell that’s kinda like his moms and Brocks cooking, it will cling onto him for the rest of the day until he falls asleep. 

The green dew drop is from Celebi. It’s another “tracker” to put it lightly, but it’s only activates when Ash is thrown back to the past and or present. It also allows Ash to know that Celebi is near by and it adds a scent to Ho-Oh’s, it smells like ink and old book smell you would find in an old library or Lance’s office. He can only smell it when he gets two close to the deep end of fear or by pressing his wrist against his nose.

“But he also brings home marks on his left leg; a green outline of a dragon wined down his leg to where it ends with two triangles on the top of his foot, one blue and the other red, and through out the open space there's three different spots of seven dots, and on the back of his thigh there's two weird circles with lines.”

The first tattoo is listed is from Rayquaza. It does come with a perk, it allows Ash to be able to fly on any legendary at any speed or height. Though it also has a down side, every time Rayquaza leaves or entered the earth atmosphere it makes that leg give out and go weak under Ash.

The two triangles on top of Ash’s feet are respectively from Latias and Latios. The tats don’t give him any kind of boat or immunity and he hates the giant blue one that surrounds the red one. Since it’s a constant reminder that Ash should have tried harder to save Latios. So he ends up trying to wear socks at all times.

Through the spaces of the dragon tat is multiple places of seven dots. All three is resemblance of the Legendary Titans, they give Ash the boost of strength. That’s literally it. Though Ash doesn’t really notice it at all through his life since other Legendaries and mythical s give him a bigger spot of strength.

The two weird circles with lines are from Groundon and Kyogre. Kyogre gives him a longer span of holding his breath and wash movement through water, like he can run normally in water up to his waistline when he’s running on land. Groundon adds a boost of strength.

And so on. I’ll do a complete master post but that requires google docs and I’m just doing a short list for now. But yeah! That’s Kanto, Orange Isles, Johto, and Hoenn. 

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Michael in the Mainstream: Pokemon Generation I & II

Pokemon is one of the biggest media franchises on the planet since 1996, and while it’s never exactly hit the same highs as it did back in the 90s, the franchise has been going strong for over two decades regardless. So, in honor of the latest entries in the franchise, I decided to take a look back at the old generations and look at what worked and what didn’t about them, though obviously in my own style. And what better place to start than the original two generations, Generations I and II?

Let’s start with Generation I, which includes the three games that started it all – Red, Blue, and Yellow, though back in the franchise’s homeland of Japan they had Green instead of Blue (hence why we got FireRed and LeafGreen, but no WaterBlue). These are the games that launched the franchise into the stratosphere of popularity, and for a long time they were held up as the gold standard of Pokemon games, attracting a die-hard base of “fans” known as Genwunners, who would bash anything outside of the first 151 Pokemon. Lately that sort of opinion has declined, though you still get the odd person here and there whining about how newer Pokemon designs look like Digimon, which indicates that the person saying that is unfamiliar with either franchise.

But what of the games themselves? What are they like? I have long expressed distaste for the Gen I games, mostly because of my hatred of Genwunners, but ultimately my opinions on the games are a lot more mixed. I do believe that Yellow is a genuinely good game and probably how the first generation should be experienced if you really want to go back to the old games, but my opinions on Red and Blue are a bit more mixed – but, shockingly, mostly positive.

You see, here’s the thing with Pokemon games – even at their worst, they’re still fun, and Red and Blue prove that. These are impressive games for their time that had the misfortune of aging far worse than a lot of their contemporaries, mostly due to the nature of the games themselves – any sort of franchise based on collecting and battling among groups of friends is going to need a lot of polish between releases, which will inevitably leave older games in the dust, especially when each generation after would add more and more Pokemon with each new generation. But even if they haven’t aged all too well, there’s still plenty of fun to be had here, though a lot of it is not in ways the creators intended.

Let’s get the bad stuff out of the way first – the balance in this game is absolutely atrocious. There are some types that are just objectively better than others, some types are so scarce as to be utterly useless, some moves don’t work like they’re supposed to, some of the computers use moves they shouldn’t know… the game is a hot mess, to put it lightly. At points the games feel frustratingly unplayable, especially when you come up against Sabrina, the gym leader wielding the all-powerful type of Gen I, Psychic.

The more mixed parts of the game are the story and the beloved, exploitable glitches. The story here… well, there isn’t one. There’s sort of an excuse plot in place - you have to beat all the gyms, challenge the Elite Four, and battle your rival (who you can name whatever, but I’ll be referring to him by his canon name, Blue). Other than that, though? There’s not really any sort of overarching plot. You kind of just wander into situation after situation on your way to the next gym. Even the whole Team Rocket plot here is mostly just you beating them up because they prove to slightly inconvenience you at every turn. Unlike in later entries, where the player is roped into saving the world from destruction at the hands of all-powerful PokeGods. Here the plot is basically “Young boy accidentally foils the Mafia while on a walk with their pet.” It’s so hilariously simple it’s hard to totally hate it, and to be perfectly fair a lot of early RPGs had rather simplistic plots, and this was one of the first handheld RPGs, so I cut them a bit of slack here, especially seeing as we at least got Giovanni out of this.

The glitches are infamous and iconic, but even them I’m a bit mixed on. Like, I love Missingno as much as everyone else, but I think tat if you need to break a game this hard to have fun, it kind of ruins things. I feel the same way about the glitches as I do the Crissaegrim in Symphony of the Night sure, they’re cool, flashy, and powerful, but they make the game so pathetically easy from that point onwards it just isn’t that entertaining anymore.

Still, this game does excel in one area: character. There are a lot of great characters in this game, human and Pokemon. A lot of the gym leaders are absolutely iconic, and the Elite Four is mostly interesting, though I will say that they lack a lot of character compared to later Elite Fours (though he Gen III remakes ameliorated this problem). It’s pretty impressive how so much character was able to be crammed into these characters even though they are ostensibly just roadblocks on your way to the next gym.

Then there are the Pokemon. The designs in this generation are pretty simple, occasionally to a fault, but there is a reason for this: a lot of Pokemon are based on yokai or tsukumogami, both of which are pretty essential in Japanese folklore. Tsukumogami in particular are something the franchise seems to absolutely love, with the Voltorb and Magnemite lines being notable examples from this generation. Other Japanese folklore represented in this Generation include kitsune, which the Vulpix line is explicitly based on, kappas, which Golduck is inspired by, baku, which the Drowzee line represents, and so in. In fact, the entire concept of Pokemon is so entrenched in the concepts of yokai and Japanese spirits that it is endlessly amusing to see Westerners nitpicking the designs, ignoring the cultural meaning behind them. Pokemon have a variety of inspirations obviously, but the weirder you think a design is the more likely it is to have been based off of some sort of yokai.

I think the definitive Gen I experience is Yellow, which is inspired by the anime. You start off with Pikachu who follows behind you at all times, you can acquire all of the starters, the game overall feels more polished (but not overly so), and you get to fight Jessie and James. It’s a lot of fun, and it doesn’t heavily alter the story, instead adding a few neat little additions, something that would become common with third versions in the franchise. The Kanto games are a solid start to a franchise, but they definitely could have used a bit more work…

That’s where Generation II comes in.

Generation II honestly feels like what Generation I should have been like, leaving Red and Blue as the unpolished alpha, Yellow as the beta, and Gold and Silver as the full release. In fact, it kind of leaves the  second gen feeling a lot more like an expansion pack than anything else, but not in an obnoxious or bad way like a certain other game (COUGHOverwatch 2COUGH). These games are so much better in just about every conceivable way, it’s not even funny.

A lot of important series mainstays made their debut here. The biggest and best is probably the introduction of the Dark and Steel types, the latter of which really feels like it should have been in Generation 1 to begin with. Steel quickly established itself as a very defensive type, and Pokemon of that type are just naturally tough due to Steel resisting nearly every other type in the game, with it only being nerfed slightly once the games jumped to 3D. Dark on the other hand was extremely cool in concept, but a lot of the Pokemon of the type were not able to properly utilize their impressive movepools due to Dark being classified as a Special type and a lot of early Dark-types running with high physical stats.

Let me clarify real quick: prior to Generation IV, the type of the move determined whether it ran off of Physical or Special Attack, no matter how ludicrous it seemed. That means Dark moves like Bite and Fire moves like Blaze Kick ran off of the Special Attack stat despite almost always appearing on Pokemon that had much higher Physical Attack, leaving a lot of Dark-types in the dust until the Sinnoh games rolled along and balanced things. Still, this bump in usability did not stop Dark-types from being popular and beloved, with Pokemon like Umbreon, Sneasel, and Houndoom all debuting here in the land of Johto.

Speaking of new Pokemon, fewer were added this time around, only about 100, sort of fitting in with this game feeling like an expansion pack. A lot of the new Pokemon are odd and gimmicky, with strange creatures like Unown, Delibird, and Shuckle making their debut here, as well as the almighty Dunsparce. While time would be kind to some of these (Dunsparce and Shuckle in particular have gained niche uses and cult fandoms), other gimmicky Pokemon got left in the dust. Still, I do think having weird, gimmicky Pokemon adds some flavor to the world. If there’s one thing I am upset about, it’s some of the Pokemon that were cut from the game, revealed to the world in the prototype version of Gold and Silver that leaked online. We almst got a new Shellder evo that looked like Slowbro’s tail, as well as Pokemon like Lickilicky debuting two generations earlier (and with a far better design). Still, what we got is pretty impressive, and though I find Johto a tad bit vanilla, there are a lot of Pokemon I love in this generation.

Another great addition to the franchise is lore behind the Legendary Pokemon. Gen I did have a bit of lore in regards to Mew and Mewtwo if you chose to read all of the journals in Cinnabar Mansion, but the bird trio got nothing and sort of just felt like random bonus bosses than Pokemon really deserving the title of legends. In this game, every legend introduced feels legendary. Entei, Raikou, Suicune, Ho-Oh, and Lugia all have fascinating lore behind them, and while they don’t play a major part in the story or factor in to Team Rocket’s plans (save for Suicune in Crystal, who has its own subplot), it showed that even this early on they were working on making the legendaries feel bigger and more impressive to the point they deserved their title as legends.

Then of course there are the new additions to gameplay and collecting that helped really make the franchise shine. The introduction of held items is one of the most significant; now there were even more ways to improve your standing in a battle! Give your mon a berry, they’ll eat it when their health gets low! This feature would be expanded on in later games, but its start here introduced a whole new world of possibilities. There was also the splitting of the Special stat into Special Attack and Special Defense a choice that helped balance the games and not completely overpower the Psychic type. And speaking of, Type distribution was quite a bit better in these games, though the new types Steel and Dark as well as Ghost and Dragon were still fairly underutilized and rare.

 Then there is the introduction of gender and breeding, which allowed players to get new Pokemon by leaving two Pokemon in the same egg group in a day care together. This not only allowed for the introduction of new baby Pokemon (which are largely useless and Pokedex filler if I’m being honest), but it gave the transforming blob of jello Ditto a new lease on life, as it could breed with absolutely ANYTHING, even some genderless Pokemon. Finally, we have the introduction of shiny Pokemon, Pokemon that had a different coloration than normal Pokemon and that almost surely existed to show off the power of the Game Boy Color. Back in Generation II, shinies were guaranteed to have perfect IVs of some sort or another to make their rarity more worthwhile, but this was scrapped after this gen. Still, there is nothing cooler than having that fabulous Pokemon with its incredible sparkle pop up while you’re roaming the wild, and nothing sadder than realizing you don’t have any balls to catch it.

The story here is also improved, which is a plus. A rarity for Pokemon games going forward, these games were true sequels to the originals, taking place a few years after the events of the Gen I games, and so the plot concerns the player getting roped in to not only stopping the remnants of Team Rocket trying to rise to power yet again, but also fighting off a mysterious rival named Silver, all while trying to complete the gym challenge. The stakes are a bit higher this time, but not overly so, and the plot definitely feels bigger and more important, with their being a sense of “I have to stop Team Rocket or something bad could happen” rather than “Ugh, these guys are blocking the way to the next gym, guess I better get rid of them.” And if that’s not enough, this has one of the more impressive post-games for the series… for its time. Much has been made of the late, great Satoru Iwata’s impressive cramming of the entirety of Kanto into the game, and you won’t hear me say that for the time these games came out what he did was impressive. 

The thing is, this accomplishment has aged about as well as the games the Kanto region debuted in. Gen II’s version of Kanto has a very poor level curve, meaning you can basically steamroll through most of the gyms, and a lot of areas are blocked off, gone, or cut down. While it is cool to see all these places two years after the original games, it’s not nearly as fun when you’re crushing underleveled Pokemon and you can’t access Cerulean Cave or the legendary birds. When you finally acquire all the badges though, you get to head to Mt. Silver and make your way up to one of the definitive bonus bosses of the franchise – Red, the player character of the original games. He’s a pretty tough opponent, and the game seems to lean towards making Yellow the true canon game as Red has all three starters plus Pikachu,

There’s not much else to say, as there isn’t too much negative to say about the Johto region or the games. The definitive version is, of course, Crystal, as it has a bit of extra story and polish to it and even let you play as a girl for the first time, and though there are aspects that the remakes of these games would improve on, the Generation II games are actually extremely solid and a lot of fun to play to this day, even if they haven’t yet achieved optimal balance for Pokemon. At the very least, they’re a lot more fun and playable than the Gen I games.

It’s pretty undeniable that the first two generations put Pokemon on a pretty solid path of progression and started the franchise off with a bang. There was really nowhere to go from here but up, and boy oh boy did they ever go up from here.

[theangrypokemaniac]

Fav pomemon?

Hello!

I'm sorry if expect you expect a one-word answer, but I don't seem to be capable of those. I'm ashamed of how long it is, as I realised I had a lot I really liked, and I don't know if I feel strongly enough about any of them specifically to warrant promotion to favourite.

Prepare yourself:

Such a question to ask, and so many to choose!

Being wholly indecisive, I have several answers to give:

1. It'll seem strange but I don't remember ever having a favourite Pokémon. It was the people that interested me the most, their quirks and personalities. There being Pokémon was a means to an end.

2. At the same time, I had a soft spot for Pokémon that, once evolved, just looked like fatter versions of their previous selves:

• Pikachu and Raichu

• Clefairy and Clefable

• Jigglypuff and Wigglytuff

• Chansey and Blissey

• Marill and Azumarill

3. Out of love for the anime, all the Pokémon Ash, Misty, Brock, Jessie and James had from Kanto to Johto, but especially Pikachu, Meowth, Butterfree, Psyduck, Vulpix, Togepi, Lickitung, Victreebel, Horsea, Lapras and Snorlax.

4. My mom's favourite's still remain Vulpix, Ninetales, Gastly, Haunter, Gengar, Ponyta, Rapidash, Horsea, Seadra, Staryu, Starmie, Eevee, Vaporeon, Jolteon and Flareon, so them too.

5. Vileplume, not only it belongs to my main girl Jessibelle, and is capable of holding a cup of tea at last, but because it sounds like a Cockney flower girl, like Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady.

Vyyyyyulploooooom!!!

6. My favourite film is The Power of One, so Lugia, Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres. I always preferred Pokémon Silver to get Lugia at the earliest.

7. Mewtwo and Mew for giving us the only film based on the games' plot.

8. I'm still stuck on Johto being 'new', because no following generation has ever made me that excited. These days fans expect another generation every three or four years, but then it was genuinely surprising for there to be a sequel.

What, you mean there are more of them?!

All of that set. Particularly Mareep, Flaaffy, Ampharos, Wooper and Quagsire. Never once played a game without them on my team.

9. Groudon. Can't remember why. I just know I played Ruby a lot more than Sapphire.

10. I quite like Xerneas's delicacy, but they gave it a female voice in the Diancie film.

It's a stag!

11. Shaymin when a hedgehog, and not the mouthy film one that slags off Ash.

12. Eeveelutions, although it still niggles there wasn't a Grass type in the First Generation that needed a Leaf Stone.

13. Houndoom, the dog of Satan!

We have a lot of folklore about demonic, fire-breathing dogs in England, so it makes me feel at home.

14. Sabrina is my favourite Gym Leader as she has a backstory, so Abra, Kadabra, and Alakazam.

Everyone had Alakazam! He laid waste to enemies!

15. Jigglypuff! There ain't no party without Jigglypuff. I never knew why the posters had her dark pink with green eyes whereas the anime version was light pink with blue eyes, but I preferred that.

16. Snubbull for being adorably gruff and grumpy looking yet still being a girl in the series. I liked the set up of Jessie and James having a cat and a dog. Her owner looked just like my nan too.

That's where she went!

17. The sort of bizarre freaks there were in the First Generation that you don't get anymore, where you'd just stare at them in disbelief.

Mr. Mime, the slave of Dame Ketchum.

A mime artist!

There are female ones!

It was called 'Marcel' in Red and Blue, after Marcel Marceau, so was probably a Frenchman.

Jynx, the slave and possible wife of Santa.

An opera singer!

It's got armour-plated bosoms!

It's from The Ring Cycle!

To this day I wonder where that man in Cerulean City got his.

If from Johto, why is it a Kanto Pokémon?

18. Slowpoke and Slowbro, for their Psyduck-esque bossed-out expression.

19. Litwick, Lampent and Chandelure. Interesting idea.

20. Bulbasaur was my first ever Pokémon, so it will always be special, even more so because it was erased by an Xploder cheat cartridge! As was the Mew I had, and you had to attend the download then!

Rest in peace.

21. Babies, so Pichu, Cleffa, Igglybuff and Azurill, but not Mime Jr. or Smoochum.

I can't believe they try and make Mime Jr. 'cute'.

It's a clown! It's evil!

Smoochum is alright, but it's a duck.

Isn't it?

A duck with the haircut of a mediæval page.

22. Gible. Not just Ash's, which brightened up the series and always came across as far more knowing than it let on, but the one Lyra and that fella she was with had, because it honked when it fell over!

23. Cofagrigus for being Tutankhamun's sarcophagus. It's surprising James didn't have one. Every time it came out, it could've stuffed him inside, but I suppose that doesn't fit with such a humourless era.

24. The Pikachu character, though I went right off Emolga when it was caught by Iris.

Togedemaru is the anarchic one, does what it wants and doesn't care.

25. Cats, especially Espurr because of the noise it makes, and being all alone in that old woman's house.

26. I like Empoleon's design. It looks to be wearing a doily for a waistcoat, but Barry is a dickhead!

27. Hoppip, Skiploom and Jumpluff. Useless in battle, but they're so sweet!

28. Shinx, Luxio and Luxray: thunder cats!

29. Raikou, Entei and Suicune, but especially Raikou for it's colours. I still remember the first time I ran into one in the grass of Johto, and being frightened as to what it was coming at me.

30. Magmar for the classic volcano war with Charizard, though slightly spoiled by speculating that it too is a duck.

31. Tough Pokémon like Gyarados, Dragonite and Tyranitar that are difficult to obtain, worth it, and have to be given double weakness to make it fair for everyone else.

Why is Gyarados a Flying type?

32. I do like Type:Null and Silvally as they remind me of Final Fantasy foes, but 'Type:Null' is one of the worst names there's ever been.

33. Zeraora, even if it does looks more like a Digimon having gone through Golden Armour Energise.

34. Cubone wears the skull of its dead mother! Marowak is her avenger!

Brings out the emo in me.

35. I realise how strange this is, but Tangela. I think because the only one you see in the Indigo League is Erika's, so it had mystery. Not to mention not being able to see its face.

It wears shiny red shoes!

Another Grass Pokémon who can't have a cup of tea with no arms!