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Obscure Pokémon game trivia

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Just in case a thread like this doesn't exist yet, a counterpart to the "Obscure Pokémon anime trivia" thread, where you can share Pokémon game details you don't feel get the attention they should, or are just interesting to point out.
 
Couple of odd tidbits from the Kanto games:

It’s well-known that every one of the Nugget Bridge Trainers says essentially the same thing after defeat (“I did my best, and I have no regrets!”), but there is also a Youngster (Eddie) on Route 11 who says that line after you beat him - little dude must’ve got turned around on his way to Cerulean or something.

On another note, Bulbapedia is having a bit of a debate about how to handle the page for the Karate Master/Karate King from the Fighting Dojo. The core of the issue is, in the Kanto games, he’s referred to as the Karate Master and uses the name Koichi. But then when he “reappears” in Mt. Mortar in the Johto games, he’s called the Karate King and is named Kiyo. And that’s its own discussion, but did you know there’s also a Black Belt (Takashi) in the Viridian City Gym who introduces himself by saying, “I am the Karate King!”? Just to make matters more confusing. :confused:
 
When FireRed and LeafGreen were released, Ken Sugimori redrew all of his original artwork for every Generation I Pokémon. However, he also ended up changing the amounts of fingers some of them had: Raticate, Golem, and Haunter previously had four fingers on each hand, but now only have three, while the number Pikachu and Mr. Mime's fingers was increased from four to five. This was done because some Japanese parents complained about Mr. Mime having four fingers being associated with gangs. It turned out that Yakuza sometimes cuts off people's fingers, and some parents may have considered it offensive because of that.

In Japan, it's considered offensive for a cartoon character to have four fingers, because it's seen as being disrespectful towards people like butchers and such who deal with sharp objects and may have lost one or more fingers.
 
This was in a Did You Know Gaming video, but...

Pokémon Red and Blue were the first Nintendo games to be translated into Italian. The translators - a team of two - were basically given a list of move names out of context, which lead to mistakes such as translating "Pound" as the unit of weight. (Several mistranslated move names across languages were corrected in Generation 6.) The reason why the Italian translations use the English names for Pokémon species to this day is because they thought it wasn't worth coming up with new ones, if I remember correctly.

Speaking of which, Type: Null has a different name in every language except Japanese and English, probably because the meaning of its name is important to the plot.
 
I was always amused by the fact that you cannot evolve certain Pokemon in Fire Red after you got the national dex. If you try it starts evolving and it suddenly stops.

This only happens with Golbat and Chansey since Eevee cannot evolve to Espeon nor Umbreon in FRLG


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCMc709l-m4
 
Deoxys-S is so fast it can break Trick Room.
From Generation V onwards, due to the way Trick Room affects Speed calculation, Pokémon with 1809 or more Speed will still act before Pokémon slower than 1809, even in Trick Room.
EDIT: There was once a tale - nay, a legend - of an Ubers player on Showdown who led with Deoxys-S. He used Agility three times before forfeting the game, claiming that he had broken through time and space into the next game he was due to play.
 
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Two mysteries from the Sevii Islands:

The secret that the pattern Bush hides is non other than when you watch the Map of the Forest it has the form of the a circuit bord used in the gameboy games
The Changing cave only hides Pokemon of Johto that could have been accesed via Mystery gift however since they were obtainable in Pokemon Colosseum they ditched the idea

This two now are not that obscure but when we were little we racked our brains on those.

Another one:

Do you know that a Pokémon with Hyper Cutter can eliminate a larger area of grass with Cut.
 
Only three entries in the entire core series do not leave any degree of the League "sequencing" (that is, the order in which the Gym Leaders and Elite Four are confronted) up to the player's decision. These games are Platinum, Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire, and Sword & Shield.

In all Kanto games, you are free to challenge Lt. Surge, Erika, Koga, Sabrina, and Blaine in any order you like, with the single caveat that in RBY and FRLG, you must defeat Koga in order for you to be able to challenge Blaine. (This is no longer required in LGPE, since HMs are removed and thus "Surf" does not require the Soul Badge, meaning that you could now earn the Volcano Badge as your third Badge if you so desired.) Additionally, in RBY, you can actually break the sequencing even further by taking advantage of Pokémon Stadium 2 - if you transfer a Fresh Water, Soda Pop, or Lemonade over from Oak's Color Case in Pokémon Stadium 2, you can bypass the guards and enter Saffron City with only the Boulder Badge in your possession. This makes it possible for Sabrina to be the second Gym Leader you battle, and the only caveat within this approach is that Misty must be defeated before you can challenge Erika (since her Gym requires the use of Cut).

In the Johto games, you can challenge Chuck, Jasmine, and Pryce in any order. Additionally, the Kanto region Gym Leaders can be battled in any order in GSC, while HGSS only requires that you battle Blue last.

In RSE, challenging Brawly can be put off until after Flannery, at the latest, and challenging Winona can be put off until after Wallace. (It is indeed possible to get all the way up to the Pokémon League without the Feather Badge, and Wallace/Juan even have special case dialogue in the event that you challenge them without having defeated Winona beforehand.)

In DP, you can battle Maylene either before or after battling Wake.

And then the Unova, Kalos, and Alola games all allow you to choose the order in which you face the Elite Four.
 
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  • In Japan Kanto badges are named after colors. They really sticked to the generational theme...
  • BW's beta files contain what appears to be a music studio as a minigame.
  • Pokedex 3D was meant to come preinstalled within all Nintendo 3DS when it launched but they couldn't get the game ready on time.
  • The attack animation of Sky Attack in Gen I was shaped like a Fearow, but it couldn't learn the move.
  • Marshtomp is the only dual-type second-stage Water starter.
  • There isn't yet a Pokemon which changes form automatically depending on the time of the day.
    I see Shaymin more as reverting to a default form, since it doesn't automatically become Sky form when it's day again. And Lycanroc can't change form, sadly.
  • Buying the Mega Pencil in Picross results in a net loss as you don't gain the same picrites you invest.
 
Some type-based trivia:

Only two types have never graced the cover of a main series game: Bug and Rock.

Not counting Arceus’s forms, there has never been an Ice-, Poison-, Ground-, or Dragon-type Mythical Pokémon.

Meanwhile, not counting Silvally’s forms, Bug is the only type that remains unrepresented by a Legendary Pokémon (unless you count the Ultra Beasts, in which case there’s Buzzwole and Pheromosa).

More generally, there are currently 17 completely unused type combinations:

Normal/Ice
Normal/Poison
Normal/Bug
Normal/Rock
Normal/Ghost
Normal/Steel
Grass/Fire
Fighting/Electric
Fighting/Ground
Fighting/Fairy
Poison/Ice
Poison/Steel
Fairy/Fire
Fairy/Ground
Bug/Dragon
Bug/Dark
Rock/Ghost

In addition, due to the removal of Mega Evolution (and thus Mega Altaria) in Sword & Shield, there are currently no Dragon/Fairy-type Pokémon, either.

As it stands, some type combinations have only ever appeared on Legendary or Mythical Pokémon, or Ultra Beasts. These are:

Fire/Water (Volcanion)
Fire/Steel (Heatran)
Fighting/Ghost (Marshadow)
Rock/Fighting (Terrakion)
Rock/Poison (Nihilego)
Psychic/Ghost (Hoopa Confined, Lunala, Shadow Rider Calyrex)
Dragon/Ice (Kyurem)
Dragon/Psychic (Latias, Latios, Ultra Necrozma)

And lastly, Ice/Fire and Dragon/Fairy are the only extant type combinations that cannot yet exist outside of battle, since they are borne only by Galarian Darmanitan’s Zen Mode and Mega Altaria, respectively.
 
Some type-based trivia:

Only two types have never graced the cover of a main series game: Bug and Rock.

Not counting Arceus’s forms, there has never been an Ice-, Poison-, Ground-, or Dragon-type Mythical Pokémon.

Meanwhile, not counting Silvally’s forms, Bug is the only type that remains unrepresented by a Legendary Pokémon (unless you count the Ultra Beasts, in which case there’s Buzzwole and Pheromosa).

More generally, there are currently 17 completely unused type combinations:

Normal/Ice
Normal/Poison
Normal/Bug
Normal/Rock
Normal/Ghost
Normal/Steel
Grass/Fire
Fighting/Electric
Fighting/Ground
Fighting/Fairy
Poison/Ice
Poison/Steel
Fairy/Fire
Fairy/Ground
Bug/Dragon
Bug/Dark
Rock/Ghost

In addition, due to the removal of Mega Evolution (and thus Mega Altaria) in Sword & Shield, there are currently no Dragon/Fairy-type Pokémon, either.

As it stands, some type combinations have only ever appeared on Legendary or Mythical Pokémon, or Ultra Beasts. These are:

Fire/Water (Volcanion)
Fire/Steel (Heatran)
Fighting/Ghost (Marshadow)
Rock/Fighting (Terrakion)
Rock/Poison (Nihilego)
Psychic/Ghost (Hoopa Confined, Lunala, Shadow Rider Calyrex)
Dragon/Ice (Kyurem)
Dragon/Psychic (Latias, Latios, Ultra Necrozma)

And lastly, Ice/Fire and Dragon/Fairy are the only extant type combinations that cannot yet exist outside of battle, since they are borne only by Galarian Darmanitan’s Zen Mode and Mega Altaria, respectively.
Additionally, Grass/Ground, Fire/Fighting, and Water/Steel are currently exclusive to starters.
 
Reposting what was off-topic in the anime forum (though kind of relevant for a game mechanic used sparingly), in the original Famicom/NES of Dragon Quest II, there was a very rare headwear called currently in localizations, the Mad cap (Originally Mysterious Hat). Great for your traveling companions in that they were limited in the equipment available to them (changed a bit in remakes).

But the only way you could get them in the original version is the occasional item drop from some monsters in the game, which again remakes changed it to having one available in a chest from the final cave.

No, I didn't forget the forum I'm posting it:), and am upset at the implications of my insanity:cry:. Satoshi Tajiri never seemed to get one, while Ken Sugimori did and held onto one for Tajiri. Except you know, the impossibility of transferring items to another person's and all.

Yeah, Dragon Quest V is one of the early monster recruiting games and is known as a possible influence for a franchise which became popular worldwise, but the Map cap's rareness in DQ 2 is why the Pokémon games have trading.

And to finish this post: Pokémon - Dragon Quest Wiki
 
In HeartGold and SoulSilver, there's a trainer in Cianwood City who will give you a Tentacool if you have only one Pokemon. This is to prevent you from getting stuck there if you have no Pokemon that can Surf.

Softlock checks are a good source of this kind of trivia. Just today I happened to be looking at the page for Cinnabar Island, and learned that in HGSS, if you black out or use Teleport while the Pokémon Center on Cinnabar is the most recent one you’ve visited, the game will actually bypass it and send you to the second-most recent one instead, so that you don’t accidentally get stuck by not having access to any Pokémon with Surf or Fly nor any Poké Balls with which to catch something on the coast.
 
Around the time of Super Mystery Dungeon's release, we got several videos released on YouTube that show scenes that we don't actually see in-game. They vary from comedy to outright deepening the Mystery Dungeon universe lore. They were only released in Japanese, but fan translations do fortunately exist.







 
Gen 1 doesn't track the PP of AI teams. Gen 1 AI trainers will always use a move of a type that is super-effective against you, even if that move is non-damaging. Taken together, the consequences can be disastrous and darkly hilarious.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CClsivwN8aw
 
Damn most people already said the ones that I was gonna point out. :p I guess I'll just say that a Yungoos and a young trainer appear in Hau'oli city near the tourist bureau building in S/M but they can't actually be interacted with - they were removed in US/UM iirc.

Also and this is just me reaching for something to point out if you run away from event Pokemon in FR/LG/E on the special islands, they'll reappear if you go back to that area. This doesn't work with Latios/Latias at Southern Island in R/S however.

I dunno if that's true for the Gen 4 games though; does anyone know?

In HeartGold and SoulSilver, there's a trainer in Cianwood City who will give you a Tentacool if you have only one Pokemon. This is to prevent you from getting stuck there if you have no Pokemon that can Surf.

Oh wow I didn't know this! That's awesome.
 
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In HeartGold and SoulSilver, there's a trainer in Cianwood City who will give you a Tentacool if you have only one Pokemon. This is to prevent you from getting stuck there if you have no Pokemon that can Surf.
What if your one Pokemon was Totodile? Or any Pokemon that can surf?
 
What if your one Pokemon was Totodile? Or any Pokemon that can surf?
I don’t think the game would run checks for a Surf-capable ‘mon. I’d imagine it’d be simpler to just give the player a Surf-capable ‘mon without checking.
 
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