Ahh, Pokémon. Few game franchises have brought us greater joy over the last 20 years, and none has seen the same success with its tie-in media. And really, is that any surprise? With their upbeat music, adorable monsters, and 🍷addictive level progression, the Pokémon games serve up a delightful combination of aesthetic pleasures with each passing generation. But underneath all the bubblegum pop-culture are a lot of dark secrets that you probably do not want to learn about your childhood fave. Naturally, this list of 25 facts about Pokémon Red and Blue is here to shatter yoꩲur conceptions of Pokémo𒁃n’s innocence.
Pokémon dates all the way bacℱk to 1996, when Game Freak and Ninten🌞do released the first two games in the series on the Game Boy: Pokémon Red Version and Pokémon Green Version. “🗹Green” would later be localized as “Blue” in the North American, Australian, and European releases💦 in 1998. Those original games had 151 Pokémon for trainers to catch, trade, and battle. It was a simpler time.
Over the last 20 years, what began as two lowly children’s games ha🅷s exploded into a worldwide franchise. Today, Pokémon exists in spin-off video games, manga, trading-card games, anime series, and a mobile gaming phenomenon, Pokémon GO. — named for in-game stores where trainers may purchase items and heal their injured Pokémon — have sprouted up across Japan and the U.S., offering fans the chance to buy exclusive merchandise, such as plushies, gallery figures, a🌸nd Pokémon TCG cards.
But don't let all that glitz distract you. You're here for those dark Pokémon facts. So, without further ado, here's the stuff you never wanted to know about Pokémon Red and Blue.
24 🦹 Lance May Have Gotten His Pokémon From Team Rocket ♕
Over the years, gamers have noticed something strange about the Pokémon that belong﷽ to the final member of the Elite Four, Lancꦰe, who sported a kick-ass team of Dragonites. There was just one small problem: Lance’s Dragonites were Level 48 and Level 50, and Dragonair can’t even evolve into Dragonite until it hits Level 55. And so we’ve all been left wondering: How did Lance get such powerful Pokémon so early? The answer might disturb you.
Only Team Rocket is known for prematurely evolving Pokémon, as they would ♏do at Lake of Rage in Pokémon Gold and Silver. Coincidentally, Lan🅰ce just happens to show up at the Team Rocket Hideout in those games, where he helps the trainer to defeat the Pokémon villains. Is it possible that Lance wanted to clear out the Rocket goons and steal their Pokémon-leveling technology for himself? Seems logical to me.
23 You Can Calm A Raging Ghos𝓀t By Reuniting It With Its "Child" 🌄
After being killed by Team Rocket in their pursuit of Cubone skulls, a Marowak ghost won’t let anyone climb to the top of the Pokémon Tower, unless they find some way to calm her down. There are two ways to accomplish this objective. Players must either obtain the Silph Scope, which will identify the ghost and allow it to be fought, or they can deploy a Poké Doll against it. This item generally works as a decoy to allow trainers to escape from combat, but using it against Mama Marowak ends the battle and allows the trainer to progress. Why does the Poké Doll work against the ghost in Pokémon Tower, which is technically not able to be battled unless the player has 𝓀the Silph Sܫcope? Because it confuses the Marowak ghost into thinking that it has been reunited with the Cubone it died to protect. Pretty heart-breaking, honestly.
22 There's A Disturbing Reason Why Charmander🌼 Is So Rare
The original Starter Pokémon are one of a kind in the Kanto Region, but there might be a good reason for that, at least so far as Charmander is concerned. The little fire lizard has a live flame on the tip of its tail, and growing up Charmander means learning tꦓo avoid burning yourself with that fire. (Thank the PokéGods that Fire-type Pokémon are resistant to Fire-type attacks.)
The idea of bumbling baby Charmanders learning to use their tails might warm your heart, but those flames also have a darker purpose: to represꦬent the life-force of the Pokémon to which they are attached. As a Charman🌜der’s health declines, so does the strength of its tail-flame, and if the fire goes out, the Charmander will die. Now just think about how often it might rain in the Kanto region, and you’ll see why this revelation is so disturbing.
21 Your Pokémon May Be Usinಌg You 🍒
Although the argument tha🔴t humanity’s relationship with Pokémon is inhere🌳ntly abusive is a compelling one, there’s another, perhaps more sinister possibility: that Pokémon are the ones who control their trainers.
The Pokémon franchise makes it very𒅌 clear that Pocket Monsters do not have to obey their trainers; they only do so out of respect for a proven Pokémon master. Because Pokémon 🤡are free-thinking enough to choose whom they allow to command them, they might also be capable of manipulating thei♐r trainers into doing their bidding instead.
It’s not just a certain type of Pokémon, either. Because of the way the Pokémon Gym system is designed, even the most ambitious Lucario or Mewtwo would need a t𒈔rainer in order to become a champion. So, what’s a wanderlusting Caterpie to do when they want to see the world? Convince a 10-year-old kid that they are destined for greatness, of course.
20 Pokémon We🌞re Weaponized In The Not-So-Distant Past
You can b♕lame Lt. Surge for this one. The Vermillion City gym leader frequently references a war that he survived in the not-so-distant past. Those quotes, combined with the fact that the Pokémon franchise focuses heavily on combat and features few adults🅰, lend credibility to the theory that there was a Great Pokémon War, in which Red’s father, Blue’s parents, and many of the world’s unique monsters vanished. In this war, Pokémon like Magmar and Electabuzz were weaponized, and it’s highly probable that many species did not survive the fighting. Although some would say that the Great Pokémon War was actually a nuclear crisis that led to the creation of Pokémon, it’s far more likely that the nuclear fallout came long before Red and Blue were born.
19 🀅 Nuclear Fallout Might Explain The Pokémon World
I’m sure there are a lot of reasons why Pokémon could or could not exist, from a scientific perspective, but this is one of my favorites. Because so many Pokémon look like mutated versions of animals in our own world, some fans have theorized that the Pokémon games actually take place on a version of Earth that has been consumed by nuclear fallout. It explains the elemental moves, the awakening of formerly inanimate objects, and why Pokémon are so uns💃table as to make constant evolution possible.
The theory is so pervasive that it actually🐎 gave rise to a fan game𓃲, nine years in the making, called Pokémon Uranium. Unfortunately, Pokémon Uranium shut down shortly after its release, und📖er pressure from Nintendo and Game Freak, but not before it racked up more than 1.5 million downloads in its first week on the Internet.
18 You Can See This Pokémon's Internal Orꦡgans
Aww, ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚlook at the little Poliwag with its teeny spiral belly and it𓄧s bouncy good looks. Surely there’s nothing disturbing about this Pokémon, right? Right?!
Wrong. As it turns out, Poliwag is based on a species of Costa Rican tadpole that has a coiled intestine visible through its translucent skin. That’s right, Poliwag’s cute little swirly belly is actua✤lly an instance of body horror so severe it will make you think twice aboutꦅ petting your next animal tummy.
Of course, if you are paying attention through your disgust, you will note that this perfectly explains my point about Pokémon being mutated versions of real-world animals. Poliwag is one of many, many Pocket Monster♓s that bear an uncanny resemblance to creatures in our own world. Unfortunately, it just so happe🌌ns to be one of the most disturbing facts about the Pokémon franchise.
17 Kanto Allows Childr๊en To Fight...
Can we talk about kids in the Pokémon games for a second? At 10 years old, I barely had the motor skills to make a peanut butter sandwich, much less travel across the continent, battling m෴ons💫ters that could hypnotize me and eat all of my dreams. But here are Red, Blue, and the other young Kanto trainers, heading off on their own adventures and calling their mothers as little as possible.
This dark fact about the Pokémon franchise didn’t occur to m♐e before I was far past the age of 10, and for good reason. You aren’t supposed to realize that kids are fragile creatures that may be killed by pretty much anything until you aren’t a kid anymore. So, in a twisted way, this utterly disturbing aspect of the Pokémon games actually helps to keep their magic alive.
16 ౠ ...And Gamble
OK, adventuring, sure, but gambling?ꦇ Aren’t there any laws that say 10-year-olds can’t throw away their hard-won Pokédollars on tokens for playing roulette and the slot machines? Evidently not.
In Kanto, trainers of all ages can waste their money in pursuit of elusive Pokémon, some of which are only available at the Celadon Game Corner. The child-protection aspect aside, should we even bother getting into how disturbing it is to think of the dozens of Abras, Clefairys, Nidorinas, Nidorinos, Pinsirs, Porygons, and Scythers waiting underneath the Celadon Game Corner’s prize counter for some poor gambler to cash in their coins for one of them. The animal lover in m💯e does not even want to imagine what kind of abandonment issues those poor Pokémon must have.
15 ൩ 🐷 Pollution Has Created Toxic Pokémon
Even if the world of Pokémon was not altered forever by nuclear radiation, it is still pretty clear that humanity managed to mess up the environment so horribly as to spawn unt𝔉hinkable monsters in their streets. Case in point: the pollution Pokémon.
Koffing, Weezing, Grimer, and Muk are all pretty clear manifestations of humanity’s garbage lifestyle. The Pokédex does not bother mincing words about the toxicity of these Poison-type Pokémon. Koffing and Weezing both inhale and exhale noxious fumes, while Grimer and Muk thrive on the industrial w🐲aste that factories pump into the environment.
Don’t worry, though. The Pokémon franchise’s creators didn’t let humanity off scot꧟-free. All four of these pollution Pokémon may cause harm to humans through their own toxic emissions, s📖o the people of the Pokémon world are probably getting a just payback for their misdeeds.