The Evolution of Pokemon: Part 1

Discordman · 02-12-2010, 11:33 AM

With the new remake of Gold and Silver coming in a few weeks, I thought it would be good to write about where Pokemon started and where it is today, the hits, the misses and so on.

I think most everyone who were old enough at the time remembers the first entry and where it started.

Pokemon Red & Blue

Release Date: February 27, 1996 (JP) September 30, 1998 (USA)

Over in Japan, in 1990, the now famed Pokemon creator Satoshi Tajiri wanted to create a game that would recapture his love of collecting insects and give the gamer a ability to personalize these creatures to their liking as well as battle them in a non violent way. Tajiri was friends with Shigeru Miyamoto and had worked on the original Legend of Zelda in the past, so when the concept was pitched, Nintendo listened. Shortly after, a team started to form to create the series known in Japan as Pocket Monsters. After taking 6 years to produce and fighting off many critics who believed a new franchise for the game boy was beating a dead horse, Pocket Monsters Red and Green versions were released. Seven months later Pokemon Blue was then released in Japan with updated sprites and dialogue.

The game concept was simple, a young silent protagonist from a small town called "Pallet" would set off on a journey to travel the region of Kanto, capturing creatures in a "Pokeball" and facing many challenges along the path to be a Pokemon champion. The main focus of the game instead of leveling up the main character, you leveled up each of your Pokemon by battling other trainers and wild Pokemon in a battle sequence. In a battle, the game would turn into a turn based game where you would see yours and the opponents team member and try to take down the opponents Pokemon with the moves you learned via leveling up. Each player could have up to 6 Pokemon on their team, with four moves that could be learned with experience points learned in battle. With leveling up, evolutions would soon follow, evolving your Pokemon into a stronger form. It was a solid system that left each player playing a game in a different way, leading to endless combination's of teams and customization.

The story involved your character traveling from town to town trying to explore the world and be a Pokemon trainer. At the start, you chose from one of three different Pokemon to get you started and to protect you on your journey. You went from town to town trying to capture and raise Pokemon and battle each town's gym leader to get a badge. As well as the eight badges to collect there was a sub plot involving an evil group called "Team Rocket" which you need to foil their plans and save any Pokemon/Trainers they have hurt. When you start, you are introduced to your rival who will challenge you from time to time and try to defeat upon most meetings. (An interesting fact is that The main character "Satoshi" from the anime was named after Satoshi Tajiri and the rival was named after Shiguru Miyamoto.) Many side objectives were thrown in as well which made for a really long lasting experience. By the time you finish all of the story objectives, your team is usually ready for the Pokemon league, which holds the 4 greatest trainers and the Pokemon Champion.

Red & Blue were released in America on September 30, 1998. It became not only a hit, but a phenomenon. Games flew off the shelf due to the hype Nintendo produced, as well as the anime, cards, and the huge load of merchandise selling well and being very popular. You could not go anywhere without hearing about it if you were a kid in that era. The key factor to the success in my opinion was the interaction from others. Each game had a few Pokemon exclusive to each version and with trading via the Game Boy link cable, this made it fun to trade with others and also see who had the strongest team. The replay value was never-ending, there was always something to do, whether it be trading, battling, or just trying to collect all 150 Pokemon. There were also magazines that rumors quickly grew of a 151st Pokemon by the name of Mew being in as well as rumors of a blue Pikachu that many called "Pikablu". Many other such rumors were on the internet as well which always left curiosity about the game.

Almost a year after the first 2 games were released in the states, a new game came out in the series. This time the game had the same plot for the most part, but had a closer tie-in to the anime with updated sprites, as well as the anime's version of Team Rocket making appearances. You had a different choice at the start as well, instead of picking from the three starter Pokemon, you were given a Pikachu who was wild and you needed to develop a friendship with much like the anime. The Pikachu refuses its pokeball and instead will follow you around everywhere you travel. Instead of a standard battle cry, this pikachu would also say its name and had a personality based on its mood. All three original starters were available as well as the game was played in various sub missions. The game shattered records in gaming and sold over a million copies in a month, which at the time was truly an accomplishment and added to the Legacy that was the first generation of Pokemon.

Many argue that the first series were the best Game Boy games of all time, while that is just an opinion of some, my opinion is with all the interaction of the first game, there was nothing like it. It was a great start to a series, and I made a lot of friends I am still friends with to this day because of it. With save batteries no longer working in most carts, you can still buy this game, but you would need to replace the battery in the cartridge. SO if you have never played, this is a fine place to start, there are remakes as well, which will be covered on when I talk about 3rd generation, which are great remakes if you cannot find a copy with a save battery.

Discuss your feelings on the series or your experiences with it growing up, and next week in this four part series, will be Pokemon Gold & Silver.

Live2Die · 02-22-2010, 03:13 PM

I used to love the original Pokemon games. He really came up with a genius idea.

Grogger · 02-22-2010, 08:26 PM

Nice article,

I think Pokemon really went to shambles after Gold and Silver, or when they started having 200+ Pokemon.

Snorlax (spelling?) and Gengar were my favorites.

I think my favorite Pokemon Games were probably the Pokemon Stadium games for N64, while they didn't have much of a storyline, but the graphics were good and their was a lot of variety in games.

Discordman · 02-26-2010, 03:48 AM

thanks for the feedback. Yes, Pokemon stadium was awesome. One of my fondest memories were the Pokemon Snap Kiosks at blockbusters. And Pokemon Stadium was the best add on of the series to me, getting to see the Pokemon you but all that hard work into in 3d.

Bit delayed on the GS article, working on 2 others as well, so I will try to get those up asap.

solid-alchemist · 02-26-2010, 11:39 AM

nice article, this reminds me of the time when these came out. I scrounged so much change and savings just to buy Pokemon blue for my sister as a christmas present. The same christmas i got pokemon yellow, and boy do i love pikachu lol!

Live2Die · 02-26-2010, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by solid-alchemist

nice article, this reminds me of the time when these came out. I scrounged so much change and savings just to buy Pokemon blue for my sister as a christmas present. The same christmas i got pokemon yellow, and boy do i love pikachu lol!

Heh, who doesn't?
I used to like using a little glitch to get pokemon over level 100.

Discordman · 02-27-2010, 12:52 AM

Yes, Missingno. That was awesome, my red and blue carts were full of 100s when I found that. It wasn't in Yellow, but I remember in Yellow you could get surfing Pikachu, which was awesome at the time.

solid-alchemist · 02-27-2010, 03:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Live2Die

Heh, who doesn't?
I used to like using a little glitch to get pokemon over level 100.

lol i use to do that too, but only on my second play through....oh those were the good days. If i can find my copy I think i'll start over a new file again

Live2Die · 02-27-2010, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by solid-alchemist

lol i use to do that too, but only on my second play through....oh those were the good days. If i can find my copy I think i'll start over a new file again

My nephew used to be so shocked by that little glitch. xD
Good times, indeed.

02-12-2010, 11:33 AM	#1 (permalink)
Discordman Writer Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 90 gXboxLive Leaderboard: 14^th	The Evolution of Pokemon: Part 1 With the new remake of Gold and Silver coming in a few weeks, I thought it would be good to write about where Pokemon started and where it is today, the hits, the misses and so on. I think most everyone who were old enough at the time remembers the first entry and where it started. Pokemon Red & Blue Release Date: February 27, 1996 (JP) September 30, 1998 (USA) Over in Japan, in 1990, the now famed Pokemon creator Satoshi Tajiri wanted to create a game that would recapture his love of collecting insects and give the gamer a ability to personalize these creatures to their liking as well as battle them in a non violent way. Tajiri was friends with Shigeru Miyamoto and had worked on the original Legend of Zelda in the past, so when the concept was pitched, Nintendo listened. Shortly after, a team started to form to create the series known in Japan as Pocket Monsters. After taking 6 years to produce and fighting off many critics who believed a new franchise for the game boy was beating a dead horse, Pocket Monsters Red and Green versions were released. Seven months later Pokemon Blue was then released in Japan with updated sprites and dialogue. The game concept was simple, a young silent protagonist from a small town called "Pallet" would set off on a journey to travel the region of Kanto, capturing creatures in a "Pokeball" and facing many challenges along the path to be a Pokemon champion. The main focus of the game instead of leveling up the main character, you leveled up each of your Pokemon by battling other trainers and wild Pokemon in a battle sequence. In a battle, the game would turn into a turn based game where you would see yours and the opponents team member and try to take down the opponents Pokemon with the moves you learned via leveling up. Each player could have up to 6 Pokemon on their team, with four moves that could be learned with experience points learned in battle. With leveling up, evolutions would soon follow, evolving your Pokemon into a stronger form. It was a solid system that left each player playing a game in a different way, leading to endless combination's of teams and customization. The story involved your character traveling from town to town trying to explore the world and be a Pokemon trainer. At the start, you chose from one of three different Pokemon to get you started and to protect you on your journey. You went from town to town trying to capture and raise Pokemon and battle each town's gym leader to get a badge. As well as the eight badges to collect there was a sub plot involving an evil group called "Team Rocket" which you need to foil their plans and save any Pokemon/Trainers they have hurt. When you start, you are introduced to your rival who will challenge you from time to time and try to defeat upon most meetings. (An interesting fact is that The main character "Satoshi" from the anime was named after Satoshi Tajiri and the rival was named after Shiguru Miyamoto.) Many side objectives were thrown in as well which made for a really long lasting experience. By the time you finish all of the story objectives, your team is usually ready for the Pokemon league, which holds the 4 greatest trainers and the Pokemon Champion. Red & Blue were released in America on September 30, 1998. It became not only a hit, but a phenomenon. Games flew off the shelf due to the hype Nintendo produced, as well as the anime, cards, and the huge load of merchandise selling well and being very popular. You could not go anywhere without hearing about it if you were a kid in that era. The key factor to the success in my opinion was the interaction from others. Each game had a few Pokemon exclusive to each version and with trading via the Game Boy link cable, this made it fun to trade with others and also see who had the strongest team. The replay value was never-ending, there was always something to do, whether it be trading, battling, or just trying to collect all 150 Pokemon. There were also magazines that rumors quickly grew of a 151st Pokemon by the name of Mew being in as well as rumors of a blue Pikachu that many called "Pikablu". Many other such rumors were on the internet as well which always left curiosity about the game. Almost a year after the first 2 games were released in the states, a new game came out in the series. This time the game had the same plot for the most part, but had a closer tie-in to the anime with updated sprites, as well as the anime's version of Team Rocket making appearances. You had a different choice at the start as well, instead of picking from the three starter Pokemon, you were given a Pikachu who was wild and you needed to develop a friendship with much like the anime. The Pikachu refuses its pokeball and instead will follow you around everywhere you travel. Instead of a standard battle cry, this pikachu would also say its name and had a personality based on its mood. All three original starters were available as well as the game was played in various sub missions. The game shattered records in gaming and sold over a million copies in a month, which at the time was truly an accomplishment and added to the Legacy that was the first generation of Pokemon. Many argue that the first series were the best Game Boy games of all time, while that is just an opinion of some, my opinion is with all the interaction of the first game, there was nothing like it. It was a great start to a series, and I made a lot of friends I am still friends with to this day because of it. With save batteries no longer working in most carts, you can still buy this game, but you would need to replace the battery in the cartridge. SO if you have never played, this is a fine place to start, there are remakes as well, which will be covered on when I talk about 3rd generation, which are great remakes if you cannot find a copy with a save battery. Discuss your feelings on the series or your experiences with it growing up, and next week in this four part series, will be Pokemon Gold & Silver. __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

02-22-2010, 03:13 PM	#2 (permalink)
Live2Die Moderator Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 95	I used to love the original Pokemon games. He really came up with a genius idea. __________________ “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

02-26-2010, 03:48 AM	#4 (permalink)
Discordman Writer Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 90 gXboxLive Leaderboard: 14^th	thanks for the feedback. Yes, Pokemon stadium was awesome. One of my fondest memories were the Pokemon Snap Kiosks at blockbusters. And Pokemon Stadium was the best add on of the series to me, getting to see the Pokemon you but all that hard work into in 3d. Bit delayed on the GS article, working on 2 others as well, so I will try to get those up asap. __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

02-26-2010, 11:39 AM	#5 (permalink)
solid-alchemist Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 173	nice article, this reminds me of the time when these came out. I scrounged so much change and savings just to buy Pokemon blue for my sister as a christmas present. The same christmas i got pokemon yellow, and boy do i love pikachu lol! __________________ You love free stuff? I do too, so then check this site out! To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

02-27-2010, 12:52 AM	#7 (permalink)
Discordman Writer Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 90 gXboxLive Leaderboard: 14^th	Yes, Missingno. That was awesome, my red and blue carts were full of 100s when I found that. It wasn't in Yellow, but I remember in Yellow you could get surfing Pikachu, which was awesome at the time. __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

02-22-2010, 08:26 PM	#3 (permalink)
Grogger Regular Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 24	Nice article, I think Pokemon really went to shambles after Gold and Silver, or when they started having 200+ Pokemon. Snorlax (spelling?) and Gengar were my favorites. I think my favorite Pokemon Games were probably the Pokemon Stadium games for N64, while they didn't have much of a storyline, but the graphics were good and their was a lot of variety in games.

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