Ah, the good old days, when you just needed to catch all of the Pokémon to be a Pokémon Master. The series has evolved quite a bit since then.
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Game Mechanics
- The first two generations allowed trading with each other, not just transferring. But it was impossible to transfer Pokémon from them to later games until their Virtual Console releases (which are compatible with Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, and Ultra Moon), mostly due to the stats working VERY differently until Gen III,note and the fact that games for the original Game Boy and the Game Boy Color cannot link with Game Boy Advance games. This resulted in some weird kludges in Gold and Silver to ensure compatibility with newly introduced features:
- Gender was determined by a Pokémon's Attack IV — at or above a certain value which depends on the species gender ratio, it's a male. Below that, it's female. Future games make a point of not tying gender to stats, except in clear cases of species-wide sexual dimorphism that causes the opposite genders to be considered separate species (e.g. Nidoran and Volbeat/Illumise).
- Shininess was determined by IVs. If three of them were exactly 10 (out of 15) and Attack was one of eight arbitrary values, it's shiny. This meant that shiny Pokémon's stats were slightly above average but not exceptional, and Pokémon with a 1/8 chance of being female would never be both shiny and female. A shiny Pokémon can technically exist in Generation I (whether caught there or traded from Generation II), but it won't appear shiny until traded to Generation II.
- Both the shiny and gender calculations were changed for the Gen I Virtual Console release, to allow transferring to Pokémon Sun and Moon; gender is determined at random, while shininess is calculated similarly to Gen II, but with the roles of the Attack and Defense stats swapped. An update to the Poké Transporter released just prior to the Virtual Console releases of Gold and Silver reverted the formula back to the one used in Gen II for the sake of consistency.
- Catch rates have always been constant and unchanging per species, but in Generation I, this data was saved on individual mons anyway, even though it would never be used again once the mon was caught. Generation II repurposed this bit of the data to store held items in, resulting in some interesting quirks:
- When a Pokémon caught in a Generation I game is transferred to a Generation II game for the first time, it will always be equipped with a held item, which depends on the Pokémon and sometimes the game.note Even more interesting is that if the Pokémon is transferred back to Generation I, the held item that it happens to carry will be intact if transferred to Generation II once again!
- A Pokémon that knows Transform can steal its opponent's held items in Gen I, by copying their catch rate along with the rest of the target's stats. The trick is that catch rate does not reset after battle.
- Breeding didn't exist in Gen I; the daycare was originally an experience shed for a single Pokémon, and was refitted to allow for breeding in Gen II. This meant that capturing and trading were the only ways to get new Pokémon in Gen I, with levels and TM/HMs being the only way to get new moves.
- Time, and by extension day and night cycling, are non-existent in Generation I and its Gen III remakes, and while Let's Go keeps track of the time of day for in-game events, it's always visibly daytime in-game. The other Gen III games had day and night (though in-game it always appeared to be daytime), but lacked the "Morning" time period from Gen II, and had much fewer time-based features (Gen II had time-based wild Pokémon appearances, and events that only occurred on specific days of the week).
- The first generation only has 15 types; Dark and Steel were added in Gold and Silver, and Fairy type was added in X and Y.note This made Psychic very over-powered (especially with the mistake that made Psychic Pokémon immune to Ghost, although it wouldn't have made much of a difference), Fighting quite weak (partly due to Psychic's dominance), and Fire having few type advantages. This also means that Bite was originally Normal-type, and Magnemite and Magneton were only Electric-type.
- Sand Attack, Gust, and Karate Chop were Normal-type in Generation I, despite having their types from later games exist in Gen I, unlike Bite. The only other move to change its type to an existing type between generations was Curse, which became Ghost-type in Generation V so that the ???-type could be retired (later type changes involved making existing moves Fairy-type in Generation VI).
- The type chart was slightly different at first. Bug and Poison were super-effective against each other; later games would have Poison resist Bug with Bug taking neutral damage from Poison. Fire didn't yet resist Ice, and notoriously, Psychic was immune to Ghost instead of vulnerable to it thanks to a programming error.note
- Psychic was undoubtedly the most broken of the Generation I types. Not only were Psychic Pokémon immune to Ghost moves, their sole weakness, Bug moves, had only three attacks — Leech Life, Pin Missile, and Twineedle. Unfortunately, nearly all Pokémon that had access to these moves were part Poison-type, so they were weak to Psychic attacks, which meant the only way to fight Psychic-types (and especially Gym Leader Sabrina) was to use Jolteon or Parasect, or hope that your Pokémon are strong enough to defeat them quickly. To make matters worse, none of those attacks were particularly strong, so even a super-effective hit wouldn't do all that much. Of course, even if Psychic had been weak to Ghost as intended, it would have run into many of the same issues: the only Ghost types in existence were part Poison, and the only Ghost move that didn't do fixed-damaged was the incredibly-weak Lick, which could only be learned by the aforementioned Ghost Pokémon and the exceptionally rare (and not particularly powerful) Jynx.
- The limited number of Pokémon in Gen I created some type weirdness, especially since two whole types were exclusive to a single evolutionary line:
- In contrast to Psychic, Dragon, then exclusive to Dratini and its evolutions, was nowhere near the terror it would later become. While it had perfect neutral coverage on paper, it didn't actually have any moves that could take advantage of type matchups: the only Dragon move was Dragon Rage, which always did a fixed 40 damage, making it basically useless past low levels. Likewise, it should have been great defensively as well, only vulnerable to itself and Ice while resisting Grass, Fire, Water, and Electric. Unfortunately, Dratini's final evolution, Dragonite, was part Flying, cancelling out the Electric resistance while giving it a new weakness to Rock and doubling its existing Ice weakness; this was also the generation where Blizzard had 90% accuracy instead of its later 70%, leaving poor Dragonite to suffer from a nasty case of Kryptonite Is Everywhere in competitive play. And, of course, the aforementioned "weak to itself" was negligible due to the nature of Dragon Rage. Generation II would add in some useful Dragon moves and a new Dragon-type Pokémon that was only weak to Dragon, setting the stage for the type's later dominance.
- Gastly and its evolutions Haunter and Gengar were the only Ghost-types and, for some reason, all of them were Ghost/Poison. Gen II added only one new Ghost-type, Misdreavus, the first pure-Ghost type; this caused some confusion since its weaknesses were different from what many assumed was normal for ghosts — Gastly's family is only weak to Psychic and Ground because it's part-Poison. And then Gastly's family, plus Misdreavus and many other ghosts, got Levitate in Gen III, making them immune to Ground. note
- Pokémon GO had only Gen I Pokémon at launch, but had attacks and types from every generation. This created the odd situation of having Dark-type moves, but no Dark-type Pokémon, because, unlike with the introduction of Steel or Fairy types, none of the first-gen Pokémon were retconned into being Dark-type. Let's Go Pikachu & Eevee got around that by allowing the Alolan forms of Gen I Pokémon, some of which are Dark-type.
- There used to be just one Special stat, which served as both Special Attack and Special Defense, instead of it being divided into two stats like it is today. This also holds some of the blame for helping make Psychic Pokémon overpowered and certain other types weak, as it meant that powerful Psychic-types like Mewtwo, Alakazam and Execgutor had both great damage and a good defensive stat, while other types like Rock or Fighting Pokémon would inevitably have low special, making them highly vulnerable. It also made moves that boosted or lowered Special overpowered. For example Psychic had a 30% chance of lowering Special instead of the modern 10% chance of lowering Special Defense, or Amnesia which would double Special, but now it only doubles Special Defense.
- There was no experience meter during battle in Gen I. The only way to check a Pokémon's experience would be to see it on the Pokémon's Summary screen.
- The first two Generations of games use a different hidden stat system from the rest. The values ranged from 0 to 15 instead of 0 to 31, the value that modified HP was determined by a formula using the other stats, and the values for Special Attack and Special Defense were always identical (as to have the Gen II games compatible with the originals). This means that Pokémon transferred to later games from the Virtual Console releases of the first two generations have their stats completely rerolled (though with a guarantee of some max IVs.)
- Prior to Generation IV the stats a move's damage depended upon (Attack and Defense or Special Attack and Special Defense) was based on the move type. This means that Gyarados wasn't able to utilize its same-type attack bonus because Water is a Special type and said Pokémon has a very terrible base Special Attack stat. It took until Generation IV to actually make the moves be specific on whether it's Physical or Special, thus giving certain types (like Psychic) physical moves when they generally are full of special moves, and vice versa. The exception to this was the Shadow Moves in XD: Gale of Darkness, which were always classified based on the specific move.
- TMs only had one use each in the first four generations. Within those generations, the vast majority of TMs are ones you can only receive one copy of, requiring you to start a new game or (from Gens II through IV) have them traded over to you by having a Pokemon hold a TM in order to receive another copy of a TM. From Generations V through VIII (except for Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl), TMs have infinite uses and can no longer be held by Pokemon, as HMs always have. In the Diamond and Pearl remakes and in Generation IX, they return to being single-use, but they are far easier to acquire multiple copies of in comparison to the first four generations, making them closer to Generation V onward's application of them.
- From Generation II thru Gen VI, using an HM move outside battle is usually as simple as just getting an object that you need to interact with, and pressing A, with a display box asking you if you would like to Cut/Surf on/use Strength on the object, as appropriate. In Generation I, all HM moves require the player to open up the "Pokémon" menu with Start, select the Pokémon that knows the move, and then select the move. This sequence has to be repeated for each subsequent usage of Cut in the area or, when changing areas, Surf and Strength. This was not quite as intuitive or easy as the later installments, as Twitch Plays Pokémon found out. The only HM moves that still followed the Gen I rules were moves that did not have a relevant object to interact with.note Gen VII, however, swapped out interaction moves for Pokéride, meaning that you now have to use a (different) menu to use those Pokémon. Gen VIII took things a step further; whatever Pokéride functions remained, Fly and Surf, were moved to entirely separate categories, through the equivalent of fast travel on the map and via a bike upgrade, respectively, while rock breaking and shifting were removed altogether.
- The official tournament formats have gone through several changes, but the ones featured in the early generations were especially different. Pokémon entered could be between Level 50 and 55, and there was a Cap of 155 on the combined total of all three Pokémon's levels. Generation II's Battle Tower restricted levels to multiples of 10, but allowed any multiple, not just 50 or 100 like later games. (So you could fight a challenge with Lv 10 Pokémon) It also allowed Olympus Mons to be used in the Lv 70 or over categories, while most later battle facilities banned them entirely. Generation III introduced the now-standard Lv 50 cutoff, but any Pokémon higher were forced to enter the Lv 100 category. It wasn't until Generation IV that the games were able to de-level Pokémon to 50 for battle facilities and multiplayer.
- The Exp. Share item had a lot of changes between the generations. The original Exp. Share, Exp. All, would be given to the player as a reward for registering 50 Mons in the Pokédex, and would divide experience between all Pokémon. With an individual message for each Mon each time. From Generation II to Generation V, the EXP Share would be a held item that would divide up EXP between the Pokémon that fought and the Pokémon who held the item. Starting with Generation VI, it controversially went back to its original functionality (which has been indirectly enhanced by the fact that multiple Mons earning experience from the same source would each be awarded the full amount) but it does it silently and is given out early on as part of the plot, and is forced upon the player automatically from the start in Gen VIII.
- Want to get around more quickly, but don't have a bicycle yet? Running didn't show up until Ruby and Sapphire, and even then it actually used an item that you only got after acquiring the Pokédex (which, in Gen III, required you to go up and down through the first route without them twice over) before it became a standard feature in Generation VI. It wasn't until Diamond and Pearl that you could run indoors either.
- In Gen II (but not Gen I), about a dozen seemingly arbitrary species of wild Pokémon will flee from battle 10% of the time. In addition, Cubone, Quagsire, Delibird, Teddiursa, and Phanpy have a 50% chance to flee each turn! This is not a glitch, but an intentional mechanic meant to make up for the lack of a Safari Zone. However, you're supposed to use the Fast Ball to catch these targets, and that item is glitched, only working on three of the 10%-runners, and none of the 50% ones. In all other generations, only Safari Zone wild mons can run away, barring special cases like roaming legendaries and wild mons using Teleport.
- Up to Pokémon Crystal, the Speed stat was the fourth one down on the list of a Pokémon's stats, right after Defense. From Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire and onwards, the Speed stat would be the sixth and last stat.
- Generation III introduced Double Battles, though its mechanics were somewhat different compared to the following generations. If a Pokémon faints in Gen III (even in singles), switching occurs immediately afterward; this was reverted back to occurring at the end of the turn from Generation IV onwards. Furthermore, spread moves deals 50% of the power on multiple Pokémon rather than 75%.
- Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness are the first games to allow catching Pokémon during double battles. Unlike later games, it's possible to catch an opposing Pokémon while it still has a partner out in those games.
- The Poison status was completely different in the early generations. Poisoned Pokémon could take damage outside of battle and even faint if their HP reached zero. Generation IV changed it so a poisoned Pokémon would be cured automatically once the poison brought them down to one HP, before Poison simply stopped damaging outside of battle in Gen V. The animation for poison was also different, the first two generations used a skull and crossbones, while the third generation onwards used a purple sludge effect.
- Trading Pokémon between Gen I and Gen II, or transferring between Gen III and Gen IV, also transfers the Pokémon's held item (though the item itself does not appear in Gen I, it will reappear if traded back to Gen II). Later games would not allow you to move items between generations this way, instead returning the items to the previous game's inventory (or in some cases just not allowing you to transfer Pokémon while they are holding an item).
Other Game Aspects
- Each generation introduces lots of new Monsnote , but while Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire and Pokémon Diamond and Pearl show off the new Pokémon as much as possible and Pokémon Black and White have only new Pokémon until after the credits roll, Pokémon Gold and Silver mostly rely on the original 151 with the others hanging around. Justified in-universe because Gen II happens right next to the setting of Gen I, which is actually visited later in the game (the only games with this feature released since Gen II are the Gen IV remakes of those games), while the others are farther away, with Gen V focusing on new Pokémon more so than usual due to being even farther away (Unova is implied to be in a different country, as the foreign Team Rocket Grunt in Gen II and their Gen IV remakes is revealed to be from Unova, with the now-reformed Team Rocket Grunt residing in Unova's Icirrus City in Black and White). Flipside, it also means Gen II has very few expies and Suspiciously Similar Substitutes compared to later generations, with the vast majority of new Pokémon with similarities to old ones generally evolving from (or into) said old ones - in fact, almost half of the new Pokémon introduced in Gen II were leftovers from Gen I's original intended roster of 190 Pokémon. Some of this weirdness makes a return in the 3DS games, though it's likely because the developers were more focused on the new mechanicsnote than on newer mons.
- Your rivals in the series often have the Trainer class that's simply Pokémon Trainer, which is the default class name used for important and storyline Trainers. However, your rivals in Gen I and Gen II actually had the Trainer class of Rival, and are also the only two who actively antagonize (or otherwise be a jerk to) the player. The two also stand out in other ways. Blue, the Rival of Gen I, is always trying to one up the player and is still the only Rival who ends up being the Champion until Trace in the Gen VII pseudo-remake. Meanwhile Silver, the Rival of Gen II, is a selfish thug who steals his Starter Pokémon, is completely abrasive towards others (at least at first), and is one of only two Rivals with connections to a villainous team (being Giovanni's son and all. However, this is a Retcon as mentions of him being Giovanni's son didn't appear until the FireRed and LeafGreen). Until the introduction of Bede in Pokémon Sword and Shield, two decades after the release of Gen II, the closest to this sort of rival was either Gladion (the other Rival with a connection to the villainous team), who is mainly just cold and aloof, or Hugh, whose hostility isn't even directed at the player; almost every Rival character introduced after Gold and Silver is a lot nicer and just ends up competing with the player in friendly competition and nothing more,note with a few of them even being childhood friends of the player.note
- Team Rocket was also a more realistic Mafia-like or Yakuza-like organization that are something of a Knight of Cerebus in the plot: they're stated to have killed several Pokémon just because their skulls sell for a high price, for one. Yes, Never Say "Die" is averted in the first games, which makes most others seem Lighter and Softer by comparison (until Pokémon Sun and Moon). Gold and Silver made Team Rocket the goofy comic relief villains they're known as today, probably influenced by the anime. Later games would follow this route for the Grunts of villainous teams, though the bosses and admins are still treated seriously. Villain teams as a whole would also come to have greater and greater aspirations with each passing generation, from terraforming the planet to world domination to world destruction, making the illegal trafficking operations of Team Rocket seem quaint in comparison. Generation VII would return to the early days of the villainous teams with the Team Skull Grunts being goofy while Guzma and Plumeria are serious but they don't have any real aspirations beyond causing trouble. Team Yell and Team Star don't even count as villains at all.
- Rayquaza is the only "third mascot" that never got an alternate form which debuted in games following its original debut as a seemingly unimportant Pokémon. By contrast, Giratina obtained its Origin Forme in Platinum, Black and White Kyurem appeared in Black 2 and White 2, Necrozma got new forms in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, and while Zygarde never got a game to itself, its forms appeared in Sun and Moon (and before that, it was a major character in the anime's XY&Z series). Though Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire gave Rayquaza a Mega Evolution, retroactively giving it an alternate form, it isn't an exclusive transformation akin to Black Kyurem et cetera.
- In Gen I and Gen II, as long as you have the basic type relationships in your head, you could get by in most Gym battles. note Fast forward to Generation VI, and now you will actually need to think about your Mons and their movepools, abilities, and stats more, because the Trainers are more savvy.note
- Generations I and II are the only generations which play music on the file select menu. Generation I continues playing the title music, and Generation II has an original theme which was rearranged for the game start sequence in the remakes.
- A couple of series-standard jingles were in odd locations or didn't exist in Red and Blue: The fanfare for obtaining an item and leveling up were switched originally, the TM-acquired theme debuted in Generation II, and Gen I, its remakes, and Emerald play a unique fanfare after catching a Pokémon that no other game in the series uses (they instead opt for using the same jingle played after a successful evolution).
- Since Gen I, different battle themes are assigned for encounters with certain characters, but only four battle themes are present in said generation. These were for wild Pokémon, Trainers, Gym Leaders, and the Champion. Since Gen II, themes were also given to the Rival and the evil team's Grunts, while battle themes for the evil team's Leader became a standard since Gen III. As such, battles against Bluenote , Giovanninote , and the Team Rocket Grunts used the "Trainer" theme in the Gen I games.
- It didn't become a standard for Legendary and Mythical Pokémon to have their own battle themes until Crystal, where one was given to the legendary beasts, Raikou, Entei, and Suicune. Prior to this in Gold and Silver, encounters with them only used the "Wild Pokémon" theme. The same applies for Lugia and Ho-Oh in all Gen II games. However, they each gained their own unique battle themes in the Gen IV remakes HeartGold and SoulSilver. In said remakes, the Crystal battle theme for the beasts was arranged three different ways for each of them.note
- Gen I and II had a few Pokédex entries and bits of text that reference real-world events and countries, notably referring to Lt. Surge as "The Lightning American", Mew being found in the jungles of Guyana, and a few others. While the Gen III remakes preserved them, the series generally avoids explicitly referencing real countries anymore. Instead, cultural differentiation is done slightly more subtly. Unova, which is based on New York and part of New Jersey, has a notably more ethnically diverse set of NPCs and a few indigenous Pokémon (like Braviary) that reference local wildlife. Kalos (which is based on most of France) uses Gratuitous French in dialogue, Alola (which is based on the four largest islands of Hawaii) takes some of its place names from the Hawaiian language, and Galar uses British expressions and spelling. Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! goes an extra step and changes Lt. Surge's title to Lightning Lieutenant (or Lightning Tough Guy in the Japanese).
- Pokémon Red and Blue established that Trainers need to obtain a license to legally raise Pokémon with a minimum age of ten. The anime reinforced this concept at several points, even doing so as late as Generation III with Tagalong Kid Max being prevented from having any mons because he was too young. However, later games would show Trainers in kindergarten raising Pokémon with no issue, although it's possible the rules vary by region.
- It was Gen III that first fully codified the concept of what a Generation is in Pokémon; Gen II was much more closely tied to Gen I, as they had the same evil team, the League was in the same location, the regional Pokédex was not a sub-set of the National Pokédex (which didn't even exist back then), but a mere re-ordering of all Pokémon of the time, and it was possible to visit the former games' region. This gives Gold & Silver quite a few comonalities to Black 2 & White 2, the chief difference being that the latter was in the same region as its predecessor, albeit significantly expanded.
- Gold & Silver (and their remakes) are the only games in the series to feature two different regions. Every game afterward would focus only on one region.
- Poké Marts didn't have their own musical theme until Generation III. Before then, the Pokémon Center theme would play while inside a shop.
- Prior to Generation V, Poké Marts and Pokémon Centers were housed to separate buildings. From Generation V onwards, Poké Marts are found inside the Pokémon Centers, to make healing and shopping more streamlined. This change also negates the need for a distinct Mart theme, more or less restoring the format to both using the Pokémon Center theme.
- If a Pokémon uses Minimize in the first two generations, their sprite will actually become tiny until they switch out or faint.
- Some Pokémon, notably Gastly
◊, Cloyster◊, and Koffing◊ looked rather Off-Model in Red and Blue Versions. Even the Pokémon who were portrayed accurately had a lot of weird spriting, with some surreal proportions on the Pokémon (such as Pikachu◊ or Golem◊) compared to Game Freak's artwork or the anime. Yellow completely revamped the sprite-work to make the Pokémon look less bizarre... but messed up some of the colours when the international releases converted the game into a Game Boy Color-enhanced game (the Japanese version was designed solely for the original Game Boy and Super Game Boy), making some purple Pokémon an ugly green-yellow colour. - Until Platinum, there were always a few Pokémon that were designed so that not only could they not be caught in the wild, but they couldn't even be seen — literally no Trainer had them on their team and the player could complete the entire game without ever coming across them, which could make catching them very much a Guide Dang It!. This was changed in Generation IV, especially in Platinum.
- The three Pokémon Stadium games use less digitized, more animal-like cries for the Pokémon. Succeeding games in a similar style, such as Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon Battle Revolution, use the normal cries from the handheld games.
- The fact they are called "regions", as well as the term "National Pokédex", imply that the areas the series takes place in are parts of a bigger country. In fact, the first four regions are based off of Japannote . Over time, however, it seems regions have become more similar to individual countries. In XY, one Tourist in the Battle Maison even refers to Kalos directly as a country upon being defeated, at least in the English version, making the use of "regions" sound jarring.
- The National Dex may imply that the games are all part of one, well, nation. It made sense in Gen II, as Kanto and Johto were literally right next to each other, and still sort of worked in Gens III and IV, as they were still based off parts of Japan and could be assumed to be close by. However, it's still referred to as such in Gens V-VIII, despite Unova, Kalos, Alola, and Galar being further away, making it sound a downright example of Grandfather Clause.
- Red of the Kanto games is the only protagonist to be firmly established and defined in the series' canon, appearing as a recurring Optional Boss with a set team. Later protagonists never appear past their own games, and whenever their exploits are brought up in other games, they're referred to only by gender-neutral terms ("that Trainer" etc), leaving it ambiguous as to who "really" saved the region/world/universe that one time. The one time this was averted was in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, albeit via an optional Old Save Bonus with no "canonical" protagonist. Red was also the only protagonist with a confirmed age until Sun and Moon. This is likely a result of the prior Early-Installment Weirdness of the female trainer being cut from the Gen I games early in development.
- In the first three iterations of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon (Rescue Team, Explorers, and Adventure Squad), many moves worked different from the main series; for example, Future Sight caused all of the user's attacks to deal a fixed amount of damage for the next few turns, and Disable paralyses the target. Starting in Gates to Infinity, moves such as these were changed to be more in-line with the main series; Future Sight now damages the Pokémon in front of the user on the next turn, while Disable seals the last move the target used.
- Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team:
- You aren't able to freely recruit Pokémon in this game, unlike later ones. Instead, you have to purchase their Friend Areas from Wigglytuff or acquire them otherwise, allowing Pokémon who live in that area to be recruited so they can move into there. The later Mystery Dungeon games let you recruit Pokémon freely, accessing them through a menu instead of Friend Areas.
- This is the only game where boss battles give you experience points.
- This is the only game in the series without Treasure Boxes.
- All the other games have a final boss that is unique to the subseries in some way: Explorers has Primal Dialga, Gates to Infinity has the Bittercold, and Super has Dark Matter. Rescue Team only has a normal Rayquaza as its final boss who isn't even the Big Bad - that's an ordinary Gengar.
- While Hidden Machines appear in other games, they are only necessary for entering dungeons in Rescue Team.
- Pokémon Trainers are mentioned. Later games would have fewer references to the main series.
- The Kecleon Shop does not have its signature Kecleon-shaped roof, instead just being a generic open-air storefront.
- In this game and the first two versions of Explorers, there is only one explorable non-dungeon town. Explorers of Sky added Shaymin Village, Gates has the Paradise in addition to Post Town, and Super has many towns around the world.
- The story is much simpler and shorter than the later games, with fewer main story dungeons overall. There is only one extended leave from the main hub area instead of two, and the final dungeon is a single long dungeon with a single boss fight rather than a gauntlet of two or three with multiple boss fights in between as in the later games. Cutscenes are also generally fewer and shorter.
- The first few post-Crystal games mostly used Gender-Inclusive Writing. Starting with the DS games, the series makes more of an effort to use gendered pronouns for the protagonist.
- The first regions up to Sinnoh had a nonlinear geographical progression. The regions were maze-like, and the next town over on the route was not necessarily the next one you'd visit. As a result, these regions were full of blockades of various sorts to prevent Sequence Breaking, from a house closed off by police in Kanto's Cerulean City to a power outage in Sunyshore City. From Unova and onward, you pretty much travel a direct path from one town to the next, with much fewer obstacles in the way, though at the cost of the adventure being more predictable when you look at the fully illustrated regional map.
- In the first generation, some HMs are located in obscure or unintuitive locations, sometimes being held by Oak's assistants and requiring a number of Pokémon to be caught to obtain. They were definitely living up to the "Hidden" part of their names. Cuttable trees would actually hide or get in the way of more important things such as Gyms and other HMs. Later generations would make them progressively easier to obtain, until eliminating them entirely.
- The Unown made more sense when the series still used real-world written languages. Since Black & White, the games have switched to the anime's usage of Wingdinglish. However, some English text still remains (such as Team Rocket's symbol) which suggest that English text still exists in the Pokémon world, even if it's not as common as the made-up text.
- The theme of Single Palette Towns was abandoned in the third generation, as the technical restrictions which brought it on were no longer in place.
- The Running Gag of ghost girls didn't start until Diamond & Pearl.
- Red is the only protagonist who doesn't speak in official game depictions. In cut dialogue for Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, both Hilda and Hilbert had lines. In Pokémon Masters, all the protagonists speak except Red (including his Distaff Counterpart Leaf). This all stems because Red didn't speak in Pokémon Gold and Silver, so it stuck. In Pokémon Red and Blue, Red actually did speak when shown certain objects and Mimic mimicked his speech as well, but he's been silent since the sequels.
- Pokémon Diamond and Pearl:
- These games introduced gender differences, and they were given to many Pokémon (both old and new) and were mostly subtle changes, such as one gender's body part being slightly bigger than the other's. Subsequent generations have each only introduced single-digit numbers of Pokémon with gender differences, most of which are much more drastic.
- Champion Cynthia has a Gastrodon on her team, which is notably mismatched when compared to the other five Pokémon on her team: Garchomp is a psuedo-legendary (and thus very powerful), Spiritomb are extremely rare and can only be found in Odd Keystones, Lucario is also very rare and powerful, Roserade is only obtainable through using a rare evolutionary stone, and Milotic is notoriously difficult to evolve from Feebas (its Beauty stat needs to be maxed for it to evolve). On the other hand, Gastrodon are fairly ordinary and can be obtained easily in the wild on multiple routes. Not helping is its redundant typing that overlaps with the aforementioned Garchomp and Milotic on a trainer who is consistently distinguished for her team diversity in all her other appearances in the series. Her Gastrodon was later replaced by the considerably stronger and rarer Togekiss in Pokémon Platinum. Cynthia would reappear in later games with a wide variety of powerful Pokémon each time, but her Gastrodon never returned outside of the remakes, where she once again replaces it with Togekiss when you get to re-battle her. Amusingly, Cynthia's Masters 8 battle with Ash in the Journeys anime would feature both Gastrodon and Togekiss on her team, at the cost that Cynthia's Lucario is absent (though likely due to Ash himself having a Lucario on his team when he battled her, as the anime does not frequently have both trainers in a fight use the same exact species as often as in the games).
- Similar to the Cynthia example above, Red also had his team roster change but his change was the opposite of Cynthia. Originally in Gen II, Red had an Espeon on his team as a resident Psychic type making his team very diverse, with the roster mostly consisting of Pokemon that are gifts (Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise are fully evolved starters, Pikachu was a starter in [1], and Espeon is implied to be the Eevee from Celadon Mansion) or required encounters (Snorlax being one of the two Snorlax that block the way). However, in the Gen II remakes his Espeon was replaced with a Laprasnote , but since Red already had a water type in the form of Blastoise, this ended up removing the type diversity that his team originally had. This change has been retained for all of Red's subsequent appearances, with the sole exception being his appearance in Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! where he once again has a diverse team due to his Blastoise being replaced by the Fighting-type Machamp.
- Pokémon Sun and Moon introduced regional variants, but unlike subsequent games, they're all based on Generation 1 Pokémon and none of them have regional evolutions with separate names and Pokédex numbers.
- In the 3D games, such as Pokémon Stadium, Pokémon that were knocked out would have a fainting animation before being recalled by the Trainer. This was eventually changed to having the Pokémon immediately recalled before they passed out, cutting the animation short.
- Miltank's Pokédex entry in Silver and FireRed implied she gave live birth even though in Generation II, it was firmly established that all female Pokémon lay eggs during breeding. The entries in SoulSilver and X changed it to Miltank being around babies instead.
The Trading Card Game
- The Base Set had the card PlusPower, which was attached to a Pokémon, before Pokémon Tool cards were created. Since it was a Trainer card and not a Pokémon Tool, this created a loophole where PlusPower was not bound by the same rules as a Pokémon Tool card, such as being able to equip more than one of them to the same Pokémon or combining PlusPower's effect with a Pokémon Tool's. PlusPower would continue to be reprinted again and again, making it nearly always relevant in tournament play.
- Early sets were full of cards that could outright discard Energy cards from the opponent's Pokémon, most notably Poliwrath and Energy Removal. This was found to be such a Game-Breaker that Energy destruction in sets from Generation II and onwards either had drawbacks or relied on chance. On top of that, Energy accelerators were introduced, which allowed easy access and rapid attachment of Energy cards.
- Initially, Trainer cards in the western-language versions came in every rarity, but over time, most of them would be classified as Uncommon, with a few Commons out of tradition (though these were sometimes Uncommon anyway) and a few Holo-Rares as collectors' cards.
- The Quilava card from Neo Genesis had an attack that placed a "Char counter" on the target, requiring a coin flip between turns or the affected Pokémon takes 20 damage. This was an early attempt to replicate the Burn status effect from the videogames, but it was unique to this one card and wasn't considered a Special Condition, making it prone to Loophole Abuse. Later expansions would officially introduce the Burned status, which works the same way Char did but is an official Special Condition.
- Originally, Pokémon that were considered Poison type in the video games were grouped under Grass type for the TCG (This was represented by the Science Club in the Pokémon Trading Card Game for Game Boy); beginning with the Diamond & Pearl set they would instead be grouped under Psychic, while the Sword & Shield set moved them into Darkness. Also, before Dragon was its own type, Dragon-type Pokémon were considered Colorless, though they still frequently used the type's gimmick of relying on multiple Energy types to attack. Fairy type was introduced as its own type in the XY sets before being folded into Psychic in Sword & Shield.
- When the Darkness and Metal Energy types were first introduced, they were only printed as Special Energy cards. Thus, a player could only have four of them in a deck, limiting the ability of players to use Pokémon that used those energy types. Later sets, starting with Diamond & Pearl, would include basic energy versions of those types.
Other Adaptations
- Early chapters of Pokémon Adventures have some differences from later chapters, likely by the mangaka trying to figure which game elements he wanted to use in his stories. Things got smoothed out a bit in later arcs:
- In the RGB arc, there was no Ground immunity to Electric, and it was claimed that there were only 150 Pokémon (and Mew). In addition, Ghost-types like the Gastly line are completely impervious to any physical attacks, where Red and Blue have to find a way around that.
- The Gym Badges had their subtle Power-Up mechanic from the games turned into a kind of Applied Phlebotinum that could do strange things like fuse Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres into a single super-Mon when brought together, and it was implied that only one of each Badge existed. Later chapters completely dropped these aspects and just made the Badges like they are the games (including the removal of the Power-Up part).
- When people claim that Adventures is dark, they are mostly referring to Kanto and occasionally Johto. While other arcs are still Darker and Edgier and Bloodier and Gorier than most of the franchise, they're quite toned down from the original arcs. Humans get bruised up a lot less and the battles are less brutal. Red was once attacked by zombie Pokémon (one of which was dissolved by acid), Blue seemingly had his Charmeleon kill Koga's Arbok by cutting it in half, and Giovanni ordered his Cloyster to freeze a Magmar then shatter it. It is still, however, darker than the anime, which was Lighter and Softer than the Adventures manga to begin with and has gotten more so over time. That said, it’s not without its own darkness every now and then.note
- Characterization Marches On is quite noticeable. Red's Pikachu was a Jerkass for all of one chapter before mellowing down for the most part. Red himself was interested in girls (including Green and Misty) before becoming an Oblivious to Love (willfully oblivious, at that!) Chaste Hero. Blue's personality change is so noticeable that even Red lampshaded it. Blue started out as a snarky jerk, more on-par with his game counterpart, but a few chapters in he reappeared as The Stoic he is today.
- The series is prone to changing characterizations, however Kanto featured the most dramatic ones. Due to the lack of notable villainous NPCs beside nameless grunts and Giovanni, the entirety of the Elite Four and several gym leaders were given Adaptational Villainy, although they all later had Heel Face Turns with the sole exception of Agatha. Johto continued this trend somewhat, with Will and Karen, the two new characters introduced to join Gen II's Elite Four, being members of Neo Team Rocket, and Pryce, a gym leader in Johto being its leader. Later generations would have more notable NPCs they could draw from without as dramatically changing their characterizations as much.
- The first gym battle in the manga is Red vs Brock. Red wins by having his Pikachu use an electric-type move on Brock's Onix to one-hit KO it. This is despite Onix having a type-advantage over Pikachu. Future gym battles stick closer to the game's mechanics aside from Red's Pikachu knocking out Giovanni's team with Thunderbolt though that's vaguely justified by Pika's Thunderbolt having supercharged inside his Poké Ball.
- In an early chapter Red is nearly eaten by a Victreebel. Amongst the prey, what look like small animals can be seen, which the Victreebel siphon as nutrients to administer to their children so they can evolve. This is the only time real world animals are shown in the manga.
- Crystal's original hair color in colored official artwork was brown. Later she was given blue hair like her game counterpart.
- In the final chapter of GSC, Green's Blastoise Blasty runs out of water and Red refills its cannons via gas-filled water from Mt. Silver's hot springs. The idea that Water-type Pokémon could run out of water was dropped after this most likely because future games showed that Water-types could summon water for their attacks anywhere such as in the desert or in space.
- In the RBG arc, characters would frequently nickname their Pokémon. This was quickly dropped in later arcs, and would only come up every so often.
- Pocket Monsters: Red and Green's names are only mentioned to be nicknames in the first chapter. They're presumably nicknames to better explain their unusual color-related names, except that the manga later introduces a ton of characters with equally odd names like "Blue", "Fire", and "Diamond" without explanation.
Pokédex book
There is an official book called Pokédex. It was published by Creatures Inc, received contributions from Pokémon's creator Satoshi Tajiri, and Ken Sugimori (who is Pokémon's art director) claims he made his first set of Pokémon art for it. There is also reference to a Professor Westwood, who's implied descendant Professor Westwood V actually appeared in the anime years later as a One-Shot Character. So, there is a lot of support for this being official, but now outdated.
It was published in Japan in 1996, but took until 2021 to be translated into English by fans. This book contains an extended alternate Pokédex, as well as a lot of other Pokémon lore, much of which is clearly no longer canon because it is contradicted by later retcons, but it's still interesting to see the ideas they originally envisioned for Pokémon:
- Pokémon are said to vary in intelligence, with some being like simple animals, and the ones on the higher end being capable of understanding human speech. The very highest tier are capable of human speech. This would later be dropped, with most Pokémon roughly being around human intelligence, with a few exceptions being lower, such as Slowpoke, and a few being of much higher intelligence than humans.
While not directly mentioned in this book, in a interview with Tsunekazu Ishihara about why the anime Meowth can talk, he said that during development they had made a chart mapping out each Pokémon species by intelligence, with the very smartest being capable of human speech. This implies that Meowth (both the anime's Meowth and the species as a whole) were in the highest intelligence tier before this idea was dropped. - This bizarre origin given for Poké Balls that would be contradicted later: A professor was giving his Primeape drugs to try to find a way to extract its angry energy. Because of his senile old age, he accidentally give it too many drugs, and it curled up like a fetus and shrunk. It was small enough to fit into his eyeglass case. He got the idea to put it into a ball, and after more testing created the first Poké Balls. The idea of shrinking Pokémon was kept with the move Minimize, and the idea of shrinking being something all Pokémon can do was later brought back in Legends: Arceus.
- There is some reference to real animals, and extensive reference to real-world countries. While Pokémon Red and Blue's Pokédex does mentions real animals and countries a few times, and the anime would show animals rarely, the whole series would later undergo Earth Drift and stop mentioning them. This book claims among other things, that Pokémon research begin in 18th century France.
- Pokémon are classified by habitat typenote . This results in some Pokémon's evolutions being listed separately in other sections instead of coming right after them because they live in different habitats. Pokémon are also said to have characteristics depending on habitat, like that Forest Pokémon are all small because they eat fruits and nuts, and that Ocean Pokémon have not evolved much (in the Darwinian sense, not regular Pokémon evolution) because the ocean has not changed much.
- Various different Pokédex entries. Some of them are just alternate, less concise wording of Pokédex entries that made it into the games, but here are some facts listed in interesting ones that never made it into the games (not copied word for word):
- Nidoran male's horn glows in different colors during breeding season to attract females.
- Nidoran female's evolutions lose the ability to lay eggs for unknown reasons. This has actually been retained since this book, but most fans wrongly assumed it was a bug or oversight because it isn't mentioned in any of the in-game Pokédexes.
- Male Kangaskhan are implied to exist. When breeding was introduced later in Gen 2, Kangaskhan would be an all-female species.
- Exeggcute is theorized by a few researchers to be the same as the plant growing out of Bulbasaur's back, although this is not proven.
- Charizard droppings can be found on Mount Fuji, a real world location.
- Smokers use Charmander's tail to light their cigarettes. There is actually an official playing card (unrelated to this book) showing this. None of this could be done in Pokémon today without stirring up controversy.
- Some researchers categorize Dugtrio, Dodrio, Exeggcute, and Exeggutor as one "genre" ("genus" is probably the word they were going for), apparently because they're all multi-headed creatures.
- Machamp is thought to be Machoke's evolution, but this is "not confirmed". The reader is expected to be aware that they are in fact related, but presents this as unknown because the book is intended to be set in a time when Pokémon are still being researched. So the "researcher(s) that wrote this dex entry" just aren't sure of this yet. They have noticed the similarities between the two, but have not yet found a way to induce the evolution.
- Rhyhorn are unsuitable as house pets, but their evolution Rhydon are easier to raise. Pokémon X and Y would later feature a Rhyhorn as a pet who lives around the protagonist's house, though never in it, but downplaying the difficulty by hinting it to be the result of their size, as it is otherwise a friendly creature. Serena, the female protagonist in the game, would later learn in the anime that all Rhyhorn can be quite gentle and affectionate, rather than the rowdy creatures she assumed them to be at first.
- There is an in-universe novel about a boy inexplicably turning into a Kadabra (a likely reference to The Metamorphosis) that won an award. In the games, several of Kadabra’s Pokédex entries either explicitly say that such a transformation really happened or at least consider the possibility, perhaps because outright saying the event is definitely fictional in-universe wouldn’t be as interesting.
