10 Pokemon Facts You Probably Didn’t Know

The first Pokémon games, Red and Green, came to the Nintendo Game Boy system on February 27, 1996 in Japan. This was the fulfillment of Satoshi Tajiri’s dream. Tajiri, the creator of Pokémon, was inspired by his childhood fondness for capturing insects and small creatures, such as tadpoles and watching them grow. This game allowed people of all ages to catch, train, and trade 151 creatures to become a Pokémon Master. Due to high sales, after Pokémon caught on, Pokémon Blue was released fairly soon with improved graphics and sounds. Blue was followed by the Pokémon Trading Card Game developed by Media Factory that had its own set of rules.  The anime series based on the games premiered in Japan on April 1, 1997. Due to its success in Japan, the series was released overseas and quickly caught on in North America. Today there are even more Pokémon, TV shows, and games than a decade ago, stirring up in the younger generation the same excitement that we who grew up on Pokémon experienced when it exploded onto the scene. Now let’s take a look at some little known facts about the beloved franchise!

 1. The Banned Episodes

During the initial anime series, there were two episodes that were banned from the United States and one that was banned worldwide by the Japanese Government. The first, episode 035, was banned in the United States because there were too many guns shown in the episode. Kind of funny to think of with kids’ shows nowadays. The second one banned was banned world wide by the Japanese Government because it caused over 700 seizures in Japanese children!

2. Racism?

In the animated series, Tracey replaced Brock during the Orange Islands adventure because the artists thought that Brock was too racist.  They brought Brock back when no one seemed to care. To find out more about this fact check out this interview with the former anime director and storyboard artist Masamitsu Hidaka.

3. Word Play

Girafarig, a Normal/Psychic type Pokémon, was first introduced to watchers in the episode The Psychic Sidekicks! Girafarig’s name is a palindrome, which is based on the original art of Giragarig, where he had two heads on each side rather than a head and his tail with a smaller head.

4. Pokémon in Other Games

Ditto is a normal type Pokémon that uses the move Transform to copy its opponents in various ways. Ditto can also breed with any Pokémon species–male, female, or genderless–other than the Pokémon in the Undiscovered group. Ditto then produces eggs of the same species as its mate. In Super Smash Brothers Melee, Ditto can be summoned from a Pokéball through hacking, but once he appears he disappears within seconds. A cool little Easter Egg for those who love both Pokémon and Super Smash Brothers Melee.

5. Real World Info.

Parasect, a bug/grass type Pokémon whose abilities are “effect spore,” “dry skin,” and “damp,” looks like a little crab whose shell is a pinkish red mushroom with yellow spots. “One of Parasect’s Pokedex entries says its spores are used as medicine in China, which is a rare reference to the real world.”

6. Mew, You There?

In the original Red and Green versions of the Pokémon Game Boy games Nintendo had not known that Mew was programmed in. Only after it was released did hackers find Mew by accident.

7. Different Original Evolved States

In the Red and Green Beta versions of the original game, Venomoth was originally Metapod’s evolved form and Butterfree was originally Venonat’s evolved form. Which is now not the case.

8. Always the Same

Linoone, a normal type Pokémon who looks a little like a badger and whose abilities are pickup or gluttony and quick feet, has used the “same set of sprites in every main game made so far.”

9. Brock’s (relatively) Unknown Catch

“Brock once caught a Tauros. But it was in one of the infamous ‘banned’ episodes, so it was never mentioned even once after said episode.”

10. Love Connection

As a lot of viewers in America figured, Misty had a thing for Ash. “In the Japanese version of the anime, Misty had genuine romantic feelings for Ash. This is edited out altogether in the English version.”

So there it is–10 facts that were probably unknown about Pokémon. For more information and more facts that are obscure read this article.