This year, we celebrated 20 years of Pokemon. In that spirit, let's take a look at some very funny, weird, creepy and maybe even interesting trivia. Fair warning that I grew up on Pokemon games more than the anime and therefore am more biased towards that.
1. The three legendary birds of Kanto
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Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres have obvious names. Artic for ice; uno for one. Zap for electric; dos for two. Mol (as in molten lava) for fire; tres for three.
2. The three legendary dogs of Johto
Suicune, Raikou and Entei share their typings with the first three Eeveelutions. Since they were said to have been revived by Ho-oh following the destruction of Brass tower, it is suggested that they were evolutions who were granted extra, special powers.
3. Each generation has had a few things in common when it comes to Pokemon distribution.
All of them have fire, grass and water type starters (Duh!).
All of them gives access to a Normal/Flying type early on (Pidgeot, Fearow, Dodrio, Noctowl, Swellow, Staraptor, Unfezant and Talonflame). Talonflame is an oddity in that it is the only one that doesn't retain it's normal typing.
All of them gives early access to a rodent Normal type (Raticate, Furret, Linoone, Bibarel).
4. Arceus is the God of Pokemon, having created the Pokemon Universe from virtual nothingness.
In creating space and time, it created Palkia and Dialga as guardians. By the virtue of law of energy (that nothing is created nor destroyed, merely changed in form), for the good that was now present, darkness was formed.
Giratina is this dark pokemon. But here, I could also talk about Mespirit, Uxie and Azelf and their importance to the creation of the Pokemon world and then about Heatran, Regigas, Rayquaza, etc. But it is better that you watch the video below or read this article instead, to understand the timeline of the Pokemon world.
5. Sometimes, Pokemon's Pokedex entries can get weird.
For example, for Kadabra, "It happened one morning — a boy with extrasensory powers awoke in bed transformed into Kadabra. (FireRed)"
For Drowsee, "It remembers every dream it eats. It rarely eats the dreams of adults because children's are much tastier. (Silver)"
For Banette, "An abandoned plush doll became this Pokémon. They are said to live in garbage dumps and wander about in search of the children that threw them away. (Emerald)"
Before I lose my sanity writing this, read more here.
6. Pikachu, as much as we adore it, was not supposed to be the Pokemon mascot, nor was it the first Pokemon created.
The first Pokemon created was Rhydon, and Clefairy was supposed to be the mascot.
Speaking of Pikachu, did you know that every generation has tried to recreate it? Gen 2 had Pichu, 3 had Minun and Plusle, 4 had Pachirisu, 5 had Emolga and 6 introduced Dedenne.
7. If a Pokemon existed that was all 18 types at once, it would have just the one weakness — to Rock-type moves.
8. Pokemon Company has tried to appeal more to younger audiences by introducing baby Pokemon like Pichu.
Sadly for some, like Azurill, this has come with costs because of the difference in sex ratios of Azurill compared to its evolution Marill; it implies either mass deaths or sex change.
9. The three hitmon Pokemon are each a different type of fighter and named after a different celebrity (except Hitmontop who looked too "top-like" to be named anything else.)
Hitmonchan is a boxer named after Jackie Chan, and Hitmonlee is a kickboxer named after Bruce Lee.
10. And finally, there is a base power 120 move (more powerful than Hydro Pump, Fire Blast or Leaf Storm in Gen VI) that is named after Magikarp, Magikarp's revenge!
Sadly, it's only a debugging tool for Pokemon Showdown.
To me, Pokemon has always meant a lot. Pokemon Emerald is still my favorite video game of all time, and you will still see me de-stress in the middle of work, study or exam preparation with it. That it is now 20 years old makes no difference, really, for my loyalty and devotion to it has grown. I am confident that I will still be playing Pokemon decades from now.
Thank you, Pokemon!
