Pokemon is something of a gaming cultural phenomenon, rife with takes of all sorts of odd glitches, rumors, and urban legends. The first generation of the series especially comes with its share of myths, given its relatively new, unknown nature during the time of its release in꧅ the late 90s. With such vas🍬t, unexplored territory, many early adopters were seemingly ready to believe all sorts of whispers or rumors we'd now consider pretty silly.
Still, these early Pokemon titl🐠es - in addition to the anime - did have their share of weird evenꦬts and lore surrounding them, and there are some odd happenings, traits, and exploits that turned out true. Let's dive right in and take a look at some of these rumors now, along with those that we now know are false.
Updated on November 20th, 2020 by Juliet Childers: There have been so many rumors involving Pokemon from the games to the cards to a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:suspected Pokemon MOBA title. But the original game sparked so many rumors before and after its release🐲. Some persist even to this day while others fizzled out only to exist as ghosts on the least tra🐲veled to Reddit pages. Which rumors about Pokemon Red and Blue were lies and which ones turned out to be true?
14 Fake: 🎶Yoshi Can Be Obtained In The Game
Even most casual fans of Pokemon are now well aware of this cheeky April Fools prank courtesy of Nintendo Power. Still, back in the simpler, more humble era of 1999, when the internet was still pretty young, a number of kids did buy into this supposed glitch which would 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:transform your Dragonite into a Yoshi, sporting the ID number of 999.
A spot in a '99 edition of Nintendo Power informed the reader of an elaborate, lengthy process that could land players this charming green dinosaur from Mario. Fans would apparently have to swap a Dratini back and forth, train it so that it 🌞evolved into a Dragonite, and use a Fire Stone in the Unknown Dungeon near Mewtwo.
Hopefully not too many kids fell for this one, giv𝓰en all the work and grinding involved.
13 True: The Curious Case Ofไ MissingNo. 🔥
Many players enjoyed the exciting prospect of seeking rare monsters previously unknown or undiscovered. Pokemon ex💜plorers and conspiracy theorists were eventually at le👍ast somewhat validated, as talks of a strange unknown Pokémon appropriately labeled "MissingNo" were confirmed true.
Like some sort of weird glitch in the Matrix, this mys🤪terious Pokemon, which was the product of a data snafu, took the form of an ambiguous jumble of static. This event could be triggered by speaking to the old man in Veridian City and using Surf on the coast of east Cinnabar Island.
This essentially gets the game confused as its 🥃signals get crossed in ꧂the coding, and files meant to be obscured are now accessed, leading to the bizarre encounters seen in this location.
12 Fake: Hitting Down-B To Increase Your Chan♛ces Of Catching Tough Pokémon
Much to the delight of many playing Red & Blue, it was supposedly discovered that players could bump up the effectiveness of Pokeballs when attempting to catch a monster simply by holding "down" and "B" on a GameBoy. This would act as a sort of subtle "cheat code" that would make for💫🐓 a more likely catch, mitigating the need to spend on wasteful Ultra or Master Balls.
This rumor became so embedded into the minds of many gamers at the time that some - like this writer - still reflexively hold these buttons dಌown even on modern renditions of Pokemon.
Un🍰fortunately, this rumor 🐟turned out to be unverified and most likely false, as programmers and hackers alike had tapped into the code and found no such exploit.
11 Tꦿrue: The Banned Pokémon Episode That Gave Kids Seizures
Pokemon is no stranger to controversy and bizarre stories surrounding it, particularly in the early days when people were still learning about these curౠious games and featuring weird-looking creatures. One eerie rumor that actually turned out to be true is the infamous incident of the season 1 episode of the Pokemon TV show, entitled "Denno Senshi Porygon."
Those of the Western audience may have wondered why we never got to see Ash and friends encounter the cool, unique polygonal Pokemon. The reason can be traced back to an incident involving the Japanese airing of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a Porygon-centered episode.
An action-laced scene at the end showed some harsh flashing lights, which had actually triggered seizures in hundreds of Japanese viewers. Alas, this episode never 💟found its way to Western shores.
10 Fake: "Lavender Town Syndrome" Drove Kids To Madness And Death ꦰ
Despite the lighthearted and kid-friendly nature of most of Pokemon Red & Blue, there are a few moments where the game gets a tad eerie. Enter Lavender Town, a secluded, spooky area featuring a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:tower crawling with Ghost-types. The town's harsh, unsettling music, coupled wi💦th a partic🔴ularly popular Creepypasta tale, has birthed a popular urban legend again involving tragedy amongst Japanese youth.
Unlike the Porygon episode, though, this proved much more serious and unsettling, as it was said a number of Japanese children listening to this music loudly and over extended periods were driven to commit acts of suicide. Unlike the Porygon f🍌iasco, 🦄however, this was shown to be naught but a creative tale of fiction.
Still, there was a shred of truth to it...
9 🃏 True: The Lavender Town Music Was Changed For Being Too Harsh
While a simple 8-bit melody obviously hadn't triggered the madness and self-inflicted deaths of Japanese kids, it was reported that the original overseas version of this audio file had coa💫xed some headaches and discomfort.
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The music of Lavender Town operated on just two frequencies. Both repeated rather harsh, contrasting sounds that a number of gamers listened to loudly with headphones. They experienced migraine headaches as a result of the odd combination of tones. Thus, the melody was actually changed to be more subdued for the English ꩵrelease.
8 Fake: Pikachu's New Watܫer Form "Pikablu"
It wasn't long after the release of Red & Blue that fans started speculating about future evolutions for Pokemon, some of which may have even b🌠een hidden within this very iteration of the game.
Various leaked screens of a strange🐓 new Pokemon that seemed to resemble a water-type version of Pik♏achu swiftly sparked a rumor that this was in fact a current or future evolution of this popular monster. This odd new blue mouse was dubbed "Pikablu" and was speculated to be manifested by using a Water Stone on the electric mouse Pokemon.
While this was soon proven to be false, fans did get the eventual appearance of the monster this was meant to represent - the Water/Fairy-type named Marill. This little guy was in fact not related to P𝓡ikachu despite their similar appearance, but an evolution of Azu൩rill.
7 Tr♐ue: Pokémon ꧙Black
This one can mainly be filed under true and false, as it involves another Creepypasta. This time, it featured a possessed or "cursed" game cartridge. The legend has it tha♏t the game will prompt a series of odd events, centered around a mysterious Pokemon simply labeled "GHOST," sporting the ominously named move, "Curse."
Still, while the cursed, ghostly nature of this mysterious cart is, of course, false, there does exist an actual ROM which largely emulates the events told in the Creepypasta entitled "Pokemon Black." It's a rather spooky 🅰and jarring experience, revolving around the message of inevitab🅷le mortality.
6 🐭 Fak🌠e: Mew Is Under A Truck Near S.S. Anne Port
Mew has typically existed as this odd, mystical figure in the Pokemon world, particularly in the early days when fewer monsters existed and less was known about the series. The very nature of this largely mysterious creature birthed plenty of rumors, both false and true, involvingꦫ Mew encounters in Red & Blue.
One such rumor claimed this elusive Pokemon could be found hiding underneath an oddly placed truck near the port of the S.S. Anne. Through either a glitch or by use of the Strength HM, it was said that this truck could be moved or otherwise traversed to nab or engage in battle with Mew. While this turned out to be naught but wishful thinking, players can find a Lava Cookie juꩲst south of the truck in FireRed and LeafGreen.
5 🍨 🍌 True: Mew Glitch
Fans were surpris𓆏ed and delighted to learn that they could in fact nab the super-rate Mew if they w♑ere knowledgeable enough to exploit one of the implemented glitches.
One of the more famous exploits involves a series of moves that initiate the rare encounter with Mew, which is b🍷egun by capturing an Abra (a tough task in and of itself). Fans then needed to go to Route 24 where they must teleport just as the trainer nearby spots them. Fans arrived at Route 25 and beat thꦦe Younger and his Slowpoke.
Returning to the Route 24 spot will initiate the battle with this mysticaꦑl Psychic-type. Aren't glitches fun?