Trivia about Pokémon development

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This article is an incomplete list of trivia about Game Freak Co., Ltd. , other Pokémon development companies, and their development on the Pokémon games in no particular order.

Generation I

  • Before Game Freak became a recognised game company, it began as a fan-zine by Satoshi Tajiri illustrated by Ken Sugimori about video games particularly at the arcades, once referred to as Tajiri Corp in the first issue; which was also eventually included in the book Satoshi Tajiri: A Man Who Created Pokémon.
    • Gypsy Juggler was one of the arcade games covered and may have inspired the original Japanese name of the Juggler Trainer class (ジプシージャグラー).
  • Special artwork of Satoshi Tajiri and a bear was created in a promotion between Chica Umino and Satoshi Tajiri (羽海野チカx田尻智) as seen in Shin Game Design (literally New Game Design); a book written by Game Freak about video games in history with prerelease Pokémon information.[1]
    • Also there are a number of other important books related to Game Freak, including and not limited to Satoshi Tajiri: A Man Who Created Pokémon (book), Game Freak Asobi no Sekai Hyoujun o Nurikaeru Creative Shuudan, Ken Sugimori Works and Satoshi Tajiri: A Man Who Created Pokémon (manga).
  • The change from Generation I to Generation II wasn't necessarily straight forward, because eventually Game Freak revealed there were unreleased Pokémon in both Generations I and II, such as Raitora; and the Nintendo Space World demos were more similar in code to Generation I. In fact there were many changes between the prototype game hidden in the Space World demos, with a different distribution of monsters, different locations, a thinned down Kanto and many other details. Satoru Iwata (former president of Nintendo) was reportedly one of the Nintendo employees who helped Game Freak rework the game including more efficient location code which lead to a fuller Kanto. (source needed)
  • During the localisation process, staff from Nintendo of America wanted to alter the Pokémon designs believing they were "overly cute" including a humanised Pikachu like "something out of Cats", but the decision was rejected [2]
  • There is a misconception that the trademark for the Pokémon Mew (as ミュー) was registered by Pokémon developers in 1990, but this was actually a trademark by Yokohama Rubber Factory representing the Greek letter μ.[3]
  • The save game jingle was made to be slightly different between each version of Red/Green/Blue/Yellow, which can be confirmed by analysing the wave of each jingle (though further research needs to be published on which versions of the sound aren't unique)[4]
  • A Pokémon Pink version was hinted at in leaked code, but never surfaced; although there is a frame featuring Pikachu and Clefairy in the Game Boy Camera (thanks SnorlaxMonster for the latter fact)
  • Satoru Iwata worked on the creation of Pokémon graphic compression tools and porting the battle system from Red/Green to Stadium; adjusting some mechanics and fixing various glitches (see also Kamex's old RBYStuff guide about battle mechanics and Stadium) .[5]
  • Pokémon was inspired by a number of things Satoshi Tajiri and Game Freak were interested in; such as Satoshi Tajiri's fascination of collecting bugs (later cameoing as a Bug-Catcher in the Battle Tower of Pokémon Crystal with other staff references), Kaijuu from franchises like Ultraman and the Capsule Monsters within Ultraman (in fact the original concept of Pokémon was Capsule Monsters).
  • Many elements were changed since the beginning such as the player being able to fight themselves (with the Trainer sprites with whips believed to be an early remnant of this), the inclusion of exclamations from the battle participants, less of a focus on Pokémon being more like dinosaurs/large monsters, and the Pokédex quest.
    • It can be inferred from this the Pokédex order may not have existed; only the very different index number ordering of 190 entries (39 not appearing as Pokémon in the final game but rather MissingNo.), with Rhydon the first entry matching an account of the first three Pokémon added into the game. ("Sugimori: The first Pokémon were Rhydon, Clefairy, and Lapras") (source: Glitterberri's translations of a web interview)

Various Generations

  • Many draft Pokémon designs are made which aren't included in the final games (more than 151 or even more than 190 before Generation II), and some of these Pokémon designs were eventually leaked; not even programmed in the prototype builds. (Not to be confused with concept art designs such as Papyo, Kabin)
  • One of the Game Freak staff members Kōji Nishino is the subject of various jokes within Game Freak, such as his habit of eating moldy (kabi in Japanese) food. This is speculated to have inspired Kabin, Kabigon (Snorlax's Japanese name), and Kabichuu (the Japanese name for Teru-Sama) and is supported by Game Freak Nishino's use of Snorlax in Pokémon Black 2/White 2. Less likely it may have also inspired the name of protagonist Kevin in the game Monster Tactics, related to a presumably defunct company associated with Creatures, Inc. and Marigul Management called Spiral.

Other related projects

Games related to Pokémon developers share assets, or reference Pokémon in certain ways.

Game Freak

  • Many music similarities detailed here (archived forums thread), beginning as early as even Game Freak's first game (Blue's approach theme is similar to a boss theme in Mendel Palace).
    • Mendel Palace seems to have a major game freezing glitch involving a transforming character (note Transform became a move in Pokémon).
    • Non music references to Pulseman exist in Pokémon such as the Japanese name of S.S. Anne (St. Anne) referring to a home computer in the game, and the Japanese name of Volt Tackle (Volteccer) is the name of Pulseman's special electrical move; however Volteccer itself was based on another franchise (elaborate). On of the cover arts (there are at least two) for the Satoshi Tajiri: A Man Who Created Pokémon book (not to be confused with the later manga) features Pulseman with Pikachu.
  • Toby Fox the composer of Undertale worked on a Battle Tower song in Pokémon Sword/Shield, and also on Game Freak's game Little Town Hero, so a similarity in style could be expected.
  • Electivire's cry actually uses elements from a guitar sample which can be seen in Zero-G's "Chemical Beats" library. The elements were later reused for Pokémon Black and White music and Lysandre's theme from Pokémon X and Y.[6]

Creatures, Inc.

  • Various of Creatures, Inc.'s games share sound effects and jingles, such as the Game Boy Camera (however, the only Pokémon content in it include Pokémon stamps).
  • Creatures, Inc. tried their own character franchise and minigame compilation called Chee-Chai Alien, with the intro sequence even having one of the main characters Saraba commenting that the game is like Pokémon. It has since faded into relative obscurity, but it received three games (Chee-Chai Alien, Nonono Puzzle Chalien and Spin Six); with the last being spun-off from the Spin Six mode from Nonono Puzzle Chalien. Spin Six is also the only Chalien game to have been officially localised, including localisations of Chalien names themselves. Despite the obscurity, one of the other main characters Li'l Blue appears as a Spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
    • The exclamation mark from Pokémon curiously appears in Chee-Chai Alien as well in Myd's Mystery Circle minigame.
Spiral/Marigul Management
  • The previously mentioned Monster Tactics (Kakurenbo Battle: Monster Tactics) which Tsunekazu Ishihihara (president of The Pokémon Company) worked on is roughly like Pokémon, but is a strategy game where the player collects monster's marks in the dark instead.

Denyusha/Missing Link

  • The Japanese version of Pokémon Crystal was one of several games which featured support over the Internet using the Japan-only Mobile GB Adapter; a short-lived Japan-only peripheral for Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance, as well as a compatible cell phone. It allowed for paid content such as online battling/trading and was set up using the Mobile Trainer cartridge, formally known as the Mobile Starter Cartridge. Datamining the software has revealed curious content including:
    • Unknown Pokémon graphics
    • A test message referencing a mysterious "Pokémon Moss" (but possibly a joke easter egg) as "moss" (苔) and "fool" (虚仮) can share the same reading "koke".
    • Two music tracks that seem original but actually originate from Creatures, Inc.'s unreleased Hello Kitty Pocket Camera (Game Boy Camera) project.

Nintendo

  • Shigeru Miyamoto and Tsunekazu Ishihara were responsible for an unreleased Nintendo 64DD game called "Cabbage" that would connect to a Game Boy in some way, and it is speculated/rumored but not confirmed elements from the game became Nintendogs, which could classify this game as a similar 'pet-raising' (but probably not 'monster battling') project.
  • Trade & Battle: Card Hero is a card game by Intelligent Systems and Nintendo with collectable monsters, which included a joke by one of the characters about Pokémon, referencing a show called "Rocket Monsters".

References

  1. ↑ [1]
  2. ↑ Helix Chamber Twitter posts (1)
  3. ↑ Helix Chamber Twitter posts (2)
  4. ↑ Interview (add); Legendary Star Blob 2 analysis (?) (add)
  5. ↑ Iwata Asks
  6. ↑ Twitter (VGMResources)
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