GAME · 1996 · JAPAN
Poketto monsutâ aka
35 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (35)
- #001
Cerulean Cave was slightly redesigned for the American release of Red and Blue out of concern that the dungeon would be too difficult for American players.
- #002
Koffing and Weezing's original prototype names were NY and LA, referring to dirty cities such as New York and Los Angeles.
- #003
Satoshi Tajiri wanted Pokémon to faint rather than die for two reasons, one of which was to keep the game from becoming excessively violent and to prevent children from equating death with losing.
- #004
Mew was not going to be included in the game, but was later added to fill the empty space left after debugging features were removed.
- #005
There were initially going to be more than 150 Pokémon, but several were cut from the final product.
- #006
Between the game's release in Japan and in North America, one layer of the background music in Lavender Town was changed. In the original version the pitch was set an octave too high, just outside the normal hearing range for an adult but within the average hearing range for children. The music caused strain on the GameBoy's speakers and required GameFreak to lower the tone of the music in later versions.
- #007
Rhydon was the first Pokémon designed and programmed into the game, and Victreebel was the last, giving Victreebel the highest index number among the non-glitch Pokémon.
- #008
The "game with Mario carrying a bucket on his head" (seen on the game console in the Impostor's house in Saffron City) is Mario & Wario (1993), a Super Famicom (also known as Super NES) game released only in Japan. In the game, Wario drops a bucket on Mario's head, causing Mario to wander around blindly. The player controls a character named Wanda with the mouse accessory also used with Mario Paint, and must manipulate the terrain (activating block platforms and so on) to guide Mario to Luigi, who then pulls the bucket off to finish the level. Meanwhile the player must keep Mario from falling onto spikes or other dangerous obstacles and must also get him to Luigi before time runs out. The game contains more than 100 levels of this kind.
- #009
The game began development in 1990, giving it the longest development period of any game in the entire Pokémon series.
- #010
The game was rejected seven times before Nintendo agreed to support the project. With the help of well-known game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, the project was finally given the green light.
- #011
The first prototypes had 55 Technical Machines (TMs). Five were removed and reintroduced in later games.
- #012
There were initially plans to let players use their Pokédex in and out of battle, but this caused glitches and the idea was abandoned.
- #013
Cubone's prototype name was "Orphan", alluding to the story of the Marowak that died defending its child at Pokémon Tower.
- #014
Mr. Mime's Japanese name is Barrier. This led to an unfortunate absurdity in later games, when male and female Pokémon were introduced.
- #015
Lavender Tower became a phenomenon in its own right and spawned popular urban legends. One in particular claims that in 1996 the background music of Lavender Town drove players in Japan to madness and then suicide, with other symptoms said to include headaches, nosebleeds and aggressive behavior. However, these events never happened. Known as "Lavender Tower Syndrome", the legend first appeared on the internet in 2010 and has gained popularity since then.
- #016
The first concept art indicated that a woman would be included as a player character.
- #017
Initially the Boulder Badge allowed the player to throw stones at Pokémon as in the Safari Zone, and the Cascade Badge allowed you to throw bait.
- #018
Unused Trainer data belonging to Prof. Oak is found in the game's coding. This means Oak was originally meant to be battled. It is still possible to fight the Professor by glitching the game.
- #019
The original Green Version was released only in Japan and was never brought to the United States. Aside from some graphical variations that were later slightly redesigned for the Red and Blue versions, there is little difference between the first Green release and the later Red and Blue releases.
- #020
In an early beta version, there is an unknown dummy item represented by five "question marks" that allows the player to surf. In the final version, Surf is used as a move taught by a Hidden Machine (HM).
- #021
The game began development under the name Capsul Monsters, and due to trademark issues it was changed to CapuMon before the developers settled on Pocket Monsters.
- #022
A Trainer class known as Chief (Japanese: Silph's Chief) was cut from the final versions, but like Professor Oak, a battle with an NPC using this data can still be accessed by modifying internal or saved game data as well as through cheating. It appears to be mentioned in-game by one of Team Rocket in Celadon City and shares its battle sprite with the Scientist Trainer class. However, it does not appear to have a specific team.
- #023
The game's concept was born from Satoshi Tajiri's childhood love of insect collecting.
- #024
When the player meets certain requirements to trigger a specific glitch, a Missingno with a characteristic pixelated appearance appears. However, it is not actually a Pokémon but rather the glitch itself (the name "Missingno" is in fact an error message meaning "missing number"). It can be caught like any normal Pokémon, which is not entirely without risk since the game's graphics and gameplay can be affected. This glitch became popular because, depending on the slot it occupies, it can be used to duplicate items and even Pokémon.
- #025
When a United States release of the game was considered, Nintendo doubted it would succeed and thought its chances of success were only 10%.
- #026
In most versions of the game, the film playing on the TV in your house is Stand by Me (1986), but in the French version it is the Dragon Ball (1986) anime series.
- #027
At one point redesigns were proposed for many monsters, including Pikachu. Tsunekazu Ishihara recalls that one Pikachu design was so strange that it resembled a large tiger with breasts and something out of the musical "Cats."
- #028
The design proposal document indicated that Pokémon could be bought and sold for money.
- #029
In Japan, a highly detailed map was included with the game.
- #030
This video game takes place in the Original Timeline of the Pokémon multiverse, alongside Pokémon: Green Version (1996), Pokémon: Blue Version (1996), Pokémon Gold Version (1999), Pokémon Silver Version (1999) and Pokémon Crystal Version (2000).
- #031
Team Rocket is based on the Red Ribbon Army from Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball series.
- #032
The main professor of this video game is Professor Oak.
- #033
Kanto's main gym leaders are Brock of Pewter City, Misty of Cerulean City, Lieutenant Surge of Vermilion City, Erika of Celadon City, Koga of Fuchsia City, Sabrina of Saffron City, Blaine of Cinnabar Island and Team Rocket leader Giovanni of Viridian City.
- #034
The main region is called Kanto, sharing its name with the real-life region of Japan that includes Tokyo, Chiba and Yokohama, which inspired Vermilion City (along with some elements from Yokohama and Chiba seen in other media) and Saffron City (Tokyo). It is also the only region in the Pokémon series to use the same name as its real-life counterpart.
- #035
The main Elite Four members are Lorelei, Bruno, Agatha and Lance.
Sources & editorial notes
Sources for the entries on this page
- IMDb IMDb kaydı
Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work