Obscure Pokémon game trivia

[RileyXY1]

Water and Psychic are the only types where you can fight a specialist of it in every single Pokémon game outside of Legends Arceus. For Water, Misty can be fought in all the Kanto and Johto games, Wallace and Juan in the Hoenn games (with Juan being Emerald only), Crasher Wake in the Sinnoh games, Cress in BW1, Marlon in BW2 (along with Misty, Wallace, Juan, Crasher Wake, and Cress all returning for the PWT), Siebold in XY, Lana in the Alola games, Nessa in Sword and Shield, and Kofu in Scarlet and Violet. For Psychic, there's Sabrina in the Kanto and Johto games, Will in the Johto games, Tate and Liza in the Hoenn games, Lucian in the Sinnoh games, Caitlin in the Unova games (along with Sabrina, Tate, and Liza returning as PWT entrants), Olympia in XY, Faba and Dexio in the Alola games, Bede (initially) in Sword and Shield, and Tulip in Scarlet and Violet. Fighting came close, with it only missing Shield due to Bea being a Sword exclusive character.
Jasmine's backstory is reflected in her signature Pokémon, Steelix. Steelix's pre-evo, Onix, is a Rock type before losing that type upon evolution in favor of Steel. The same is true for Jasmine herself, who is stated in game to have originally been a Rock-type specialist before switching to Steel upon its discovery.
In the Sinnoh games the game will crash if you lose the initial battle against Starly upon receiving your starter. Normally the Starly will flee if your HP gets too low, but your starter can faint, but it requires a very specific setup.
In Gen 3 competitive, it is illegal to use a Wobbuffet holding Leftovers. This is because a battle between two Wobbuffet holding Leftovers will not end in Gen 3, as the Leftovers will heal back more HP than it loses from Struggle, it can only deal direct damage by counter-attacking with Counter and Mirror Coat, and its ability Shadow Tag prevents any Pokémon on the field from switching out. In Gen 4, this issue was fixed by making Shadow Tag have no effect if another Pokémon with the ability Shadow Tag is on the field.
The Sweet Honey mechanic featured in DP was originally supposed to be in GS, according to unused text. More unused text also implies that the Pharmacy was originally going to be in Ecruteak, but it was moved to Cianwood in the final game.
Ghost is the only type to have its matchups modified twice. In GS it became super effective against Psychic (Psychic was immune to Ghost in Gen 1 due to an oversight) and in XY Steel lost its resistance to it.

 

[toastghost]

psychic was super effective against ghost in gen 1 purely because of a programming error

 

[CynthiaLover]

psychic was super effective against ghost in gen 1 purely because of a programming error

Uh, actually, no. Psychic wasn't super effective against Ghost itself in Gen 1, even with the programing error. The reason why it seems that way is because the only Ghost Mons in that game, the Gastly line, are part Poison, which is weak to Psychic. So it wasn't the Ghost side of the Gastly line that was causing the weakness, it was the Poison side that was causing it.

Speaking of Psychic, the first time it ever was able to deal 4x damage to a Mon was due to the introduction of the Croagunk line, and later the Hisuian Sneasel and Sneasler, as both lines are Poison/Fighting, the only types to be weak to Psychic. So Psychic was never able to deal 4x super effective damage was until Gen 4.

 

[Greninjaman]

psychic was super effective against ghost in gen 1 purely because of a programming error

Uh, actually, no. Psychic wasn't super effective against Ghost itself in Gen 1, even with the programing error. The reason why it seems that way is because the only Ghost Mons in that game, the Gastly line, are part Poison, which is weak to Psychic. So it wasn't the Ghost side of the Gastly line that was causing the weakness, it was the Poison side that was causing it.

Speaking of Psychic, the first time it ever was able to deal 4x damage to a Mon was due to the introduction of the Croagunk line, and later the Hisuian Sneasel and Sneasler, as both lines are Poison/Fighting, the only types to be weak to Psychic. So Psychic was never able to deal 4x super effective damage was until Gen 4.

The programming error regarding Psychic and Ghost was that Psychic was IMMUNE to ghost. In Gen 1, Dark didn't exist and the Bug Type was completely useless and weak. This meant that Psychic pretty much didn't have any weaknesses in Gen 1.

 

[CynthiaLover]

The programming error regarding Psychic and Ghost was that Psychic was IMMUNE to ghost. In Gen 1, Dark didn't exist and the Bug Type was completely useless and weak. This meant that Psychic pretty much didn't have any weaknesses in Gen 1.

Yes, I'm aware. Psychic was meant to be weak to Ghost, as stated in many sources, including the anime (it's the reason Ash went out of his way to get a Ghost Mon, ultimately befriending a Haunter, just to counter Sabrina). But instead it did the opposite and made Psychic immune to Ghost. And since the only Ghost moves in Gen 1 were the paltry Lick and the fixed damage Night Shade meant that Ghost wasn't really doing much anyway. And with Bug's best move being Twinneedle, which was Beedril's (formerly) signature move, at a base power of 25 (albeit it hit twice), combined with Beedrill's Poison typing meant Psychic pretty much had no opposition, hence its rather infamous broken status back then. I meant to put that into my original post but I forgot.

 

[Sheep40]

Acrobatics in base SV had a debug menu instead of a stat screen.

Scarlet originates from a series of trademarks filed in 2009. That clutch also included Purple.

 

[RileyXY1]

In honor of Women's History Month, this post will exclusively feature trivia about the various female characters in the game.

In Stadium 2 you can actually play as a female trainer. However this requires a copy of Crystal (which was the very first mainline game to feature a female PC) in the Game Pak.
Gardenia is the only Gym Leader to use a starter Pokémon in their initial fight, with her using a Turtwig.
Every female specialist of the Water type is fought second. Misty and Nessa are both the second Gym Leader of Kanto and Galar respectively and Lana's trial is the second to be challenged in Alola.
All female Johto Gym Leaders have a delay to obtaining their badge. Whitney will have a temper tantrum and initially refuses to give you her badge before being calmed down by a Gym Trainer so she can give you the badge. Jasmine will not challenge you until you've healed the sick Ampharos in Olivine City's lighthouse. Clair will refuse to give you her badge upon defeat until you have found a Dragon Fang inside the Dragon's Den.
Clair will actually call you out as a cheater if you give her a Dragon Fang that is either hacked in or traded from another game.
Bug took the longest to receive a female specialist for the first time, with it not getting one until XY, which came out 17 years after the Bug type was first introduced in RG.
This is the full list of how many female specialists each type currently has:
Bug: 2 (Viola, Katy)
Dark: 2 (Karen, Marnie)
Dragon: 3 (Clair, Iris, Drasna)
Electric: 2 (Elesa, Iono)
Fairy: 5 (Valerie, Mina, Lillie, Opal, Lacey)
Fighting: 5 (Maylene, Korrina, Bea, Eri, Dendra)
Fire: 3 (Flannery, Malva, Mela)
Flying: 3 (Winona, Skyla, Kahili)
Ghost: 6 (Agatha, Phoebe, Fantina, Shauntal, Acerola, Ryme)
Grass: 3 (Erika, Gardenia, Mallow)
Ground: 3 (Bertha, Hapu, Rika)
Ice: 5 (Lorelai, Glacia, Candice, Sina, Melony)
Normal: 2 (Whitney, Lenora)
Poison: 4 (Janine, Roxie, Plumeria, Klara)
Psychic: 5 (Sabrina, Liza, Caitlin, Olympia, Tulip)
Rock: 3 (Roxanne, Olivia, Tyme)
Steel: 3 (Jasmine, Poppy, Amarys)
Water: 3 (Misty, Lana, Nessa)

Ghost currently holds the record for the most female specialists of any type, with 6. Ice, Fairy, Fighting and Psychic are right behind it with 5 each. Bug, Dark, Electric, and Normal are all at the bottom, with all of them only having two female specialists in total.

 

[guzmania]

Fairy: 3 (Valerie, Mina, Opal)
Steel: 2 (Jasmine, Poppy)

there's also lacey and amarys from the indigo disk
i guess she's not scvi's main fighting specialist, so to speak, but dendra also only uses fighting types in all of her matches, so i would count her as well. same with lillie, who is a fairy-type expert according to bulbapedia (though she only uses pokemon as the player's multi battle partner in usum, all of which are fairy types).
cool to see how many women specialize in the psychic type! it's one of my favs so that's a pretty pleasant feeling

 

[Lapidot Matoi]

Following on how many thought there was a poster for gigantamax toxtricity in game freak's office in the alola games. Sword and shield may have hinted at scarlet and violet. On the bottom floor of the Ionia hotel in circhester, there are 2 hallways to the left and right that you can't access. The only noticable features are the wallpapers adorned with grapes and oranges. Which may be a hint to naranja and uva academies from scarlet and violet.

 

[CyanLaser]

Dragon: 3 (Clair, Iris, Drasna)
Electric: 2 (Elesa, Iono)

If you’re counting people outside the League as type specialists, then Zinnia also counts as a Dragon specialist. Also, I can’t believe the statistic is so low for the Electric type. I would have liked the numbers for that type to be a bit kore even between genders.

Fighting: 5 (Maylene, Korrina, Bea, Eri, Dendra)

It’s still neat that the Fighting type has so many female specialists, especially considering that in the U.S., at least, martial arts is usually associated with masculinity.

 

[toastghost]

the only type alola doesn't have a specialist of is ice.
normal has ilima, grass has mallow, fire has kiawe, water has lana, fighting has hala, electric has sophocles, steel has molayne, dark has nanu, ghost has acerola, poison has plumeria, dragon has ryuki, bug has guzma, flying has kahili, ground has hapu, rock has olivia, psychic has faba, and fairy has mina.

 

[guzmania]

the only type alola doesn't have a specialist of is ice.

apparently sina is an ice specialist (and dexio is a psychic specialist)

 

[toastghost]

apparently sina is an ice specialist (and dexio is a psychic specialist)

i didn't even know sina was a character before this

 

[BeautifulSylveon]

In the French localization of ORAS, the Unovan Backpacker (who’s still Unovan in this localization) who gives the Sharp Beak to the player speaks in a thick southeastern French accent. It’s thick because of the way words are pronounced (so the fact he asks the player if they can understand him can still work). You can tell what kind of thick accent it is by the fact that he says "peuchère", an interjection that means "what a pity", mainly said there.

 

[Nichole the Otter]

If you’re counting people outside the League as type specialists, then Zinnia also counts as a Dragon specialist. Also, I can’t believe the statistic is so low for the Electric type. I would have liked the numbers for that type to be a bit kore even between genders.

It’s still neat that the Fighting type has so many female specialists, especially considering that in the U.S., at least, martial arts is usually associated with masculinity.

It's so weird how the Electric-type is so heavily masculine when it comes to the amount of characters who specialise in it, coupled with the fact our two female Electric Gym Leaders were introduced a whopping 12 years apart. We really need another female specialist in Gen 10 because I'm getting sick of male Electric specialists.

I'm also surprised that Fighting has so many female specialists, considering it's often the most masculine type with several Pokemon that are either male-only or have a gender ratio favoring males.

 

[RileyXY1]

The name "Pokémon Scarlet" was trademarked 14 years before the game actually came out.
Poison is the only type to lose and gain the ability to deal 4x damage. In Gen 1 it was super effective against Bug (so the Bug/Grass combo had a 4x weakness to Poison), but then it lost this in Gen 2 and could only deal super effective damage to Grass. From Gen 6 onwards Poison is super effective against Fairy, so the Grass/Fairy combo had a 4x Poison weakness.
In Gen 1 bad poison (caused by Toxic) would turn into normal poison if the Pokémon is switched out.
Originally Illuminate had no in battle effect and would only increase the chances of encountering wild Pokémon. With random encounters removed in Scarlet and Violet it now prevents accuracy loss similar to Keen Eye.
Yellow has an unused battle mechanic where you enter a battle without any Pokémon on hand at all. Picking any option other than "run" in this scenario would cause a text box to appear with the text "Hurry get away".
Bite is the only move to change category twice. It was physical back in Gen 1 when it was Normal-type. It was changed to special in Gen 2 when it became Dark-type, and when the physical/special split was overhauled in Gen 4 it reverted back to being a physical move.
There were quite a few references to real life animals and places in Gen 1. Raichu's dex entries mentioned that it could electrocute an Indian elephant (which was referenced in Legends Arceus with the mention of the Indian elephant being replaced with Copperajah, a Pokémon based on an Indian elephant that was introduced in Sword and Shield). Arcanine was called a Chinese Pokémon in its dex entries, Poliwrath was mentioned as being able to swim the entire length of the Pacific Ocean, and Mew in the Pokémon Mansion journals was mentioned to be from Guyana, a real country in South America.
Psyduck was almost Pikachu's counterpart in the Let's Go games, but due to the two having a similar color scheme Psyduck was dropped and Eevee took its place.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

Poison, from Gens 2 to 5, was the only type capable of doing 2x damage, but not 4x damage

That applies to Dragon, too.

 

[Greninjaman]

That applies to Dragon, too.

Psychic as well until Gen 4.

 

[Thegameandwatch]

The Manaphy egg still exists in Generation 5 and seemingly works but probably just leftovers from Gen 4 rather then being planned.

 

[Handium]

The Manaphy egg still exists in Generation 5 and seemingly works but probably just leftovers from Gen 4 rather then being planned.

Adding on to this, it’s the same with Eternal Flower Floette still being in sun and moon AND the ultra games