The Steve's spend November discussing their favorite Pokemon regions, starting with Kanto, along with what's making them happy in pop culture today!
What's Making Us Happy?
Kanto Region Poke-Discussion
Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.
The Steve's spend November discussing their favorite Pokemon regions, starting with Kanto, along with what's making them happy in pop culture today!
What's Making Us Happy?
Kanto Region Poke-Discussion
Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.
Hello, returning Happys and new listeners. This is Steve Bennett Martin. And this is
Stephen:Steven Martin Bennett, and welcome to
Steve:a lifetime of happiness. The podcast where we take you on our journey through some of the movies, shows, and other bits of pop culture that are helping to keep us happy, while hopefully bring a smile to your face along the way. And this
Stephen:November, we're preparing for the new Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Games by revisiting some of our favorite regions and games in the world of Pokemon. So
Steve:grab your Pokemons and your favorite partner because today we're going back to where it all began, the Canto region.
Stephen:I feel like I've been there once.
Steve:Or a million times for me But before we get into that, my love, what's been making you happy? So
Stephen:as I had said in many previous episodes, I had been playing Xena Blade Chronicles three for the Nintendo Switch for a year and a week. Yes. And I finished it at about 150 hours. Yeah. And I'm now playing Spirit Farer. Yes. Which is an indie game where you have taken over as the one who helps the. Travel the river sticks. Mm-hmm. and move on into the other world. And it's a kind of a combination between animal crossing mm-hmm. and hints of Greek mythology because of what you're doing. And also like a sim city type of thing cuz you're building all this on your boat and you have these quests that you have to do. It's really good. It's lighthearted. And it's a wonderful palette cleanser in between Xena Blade and the new Pokemon Game.
Steve:Yes. I played it right around the time it first came out. I understand it has some more content since then. Yep. They are
Stephen:now selling it as the definitive edition that has all of the. DLC and things with it now, so it'll be interesting. What all's been added since you played? Yes,
Steve:but when we haven't been playing games, we've also been watching the watcher on Netflix.
Stephen:Yes. And as we were starting to watch this, I was like, Wait a minute, I know this story. And I remembered. It was a New Yorker article I believe, and that we had read it Goodness like seven years ago or more. Yeah. Cuz the house is
Steve:in Jersey.
Stephen:I believe so. And but it's in more of like, this is very, the TV show watcher is set on like secluded estates and things where the article made it seem very much like it's on a street like our street. Yeah. Where you're neighbors on every side and in the back. It's all about these people that move in and they start getting letters that someone has been watching the house and they're part of a
Steve:legacy of people who have watched the house for generations. Yes. And it's just so creepy. We're three or four episodes in, and so far it's very well done. I have no idea how it's going to end, but it is the type of show where if you're watching it before bed, I'm like, Babe, can you double check the locks just in
Stephen:case? And what's kind of interesting about this is that Netflix has labeled this as season one episode, blah, blah, blah. Mm-hmm. I think, I'm not sure how it's going to end, but it seems like there's the potential that we may end up with an open-ended ending for a season two if it's well received. Oh Lord.
Steve:No. I hope not. I want all my answers, all my questions answered by the time I'm done with this I don't
Stephen:think that's always how
Steve:it goes. Then I'll never sleep again.
Stephen:Oh, then you can move to Elm Street and you'll fit in. Right.
Steve:Sounds good. Okay. Or I can move to Canto because I love the canto.
Stephen:Now Cantu is the first Pokemon region most players visited, and it launched the series back in 1996 with red and blue, along with a third iteration yellow in 1998. Now I have to tell you that I remember my cousin Craig playing Pokemon Red back in the day. And it feels like so much longer ago. Yeah. Than 1996 to 1998, somewhere in there. So to hear that the Pokemon video games started barely over 20 years ago is just mind blowing to me.
Steve:Yeah, doing some quick math. I must have been between fourth and fifth grade. Yeah. Around the time that the first ones came out. And I remember like I got blue, my brother got red. Yeah. I fell in love with the series like way more than he did. He was like a little bit younger and it was like too much reading and too complicated for him I think. Yeah. But I remember just like it was the game to play, everyone in my class was playing it. We would bring our game boys with the clunky chargers and well not the chargers cuz there's batteries back then. Yeah, back then. But we used to keep batteries in our backpacks if the batteries were gonna die in our link cords so that we can trade with each other. I remember just this huge scandal where I, like my first time that I ever sold someone on something after, like now I've had a career in sales, was convincing. Jimmy Wagner that like I needed his charizard cuz I had already con someone else at or given me their like Vee and I wanted to have like the trio. And it was like, and I was like to the point where I think I remember like convincing him, like where we tried to do the, like there was like a trick where if. Because it was with an Accord Uhhuh. If you turned off the DS mid or the, Not the Ds, the game boy mid transfer. Yeah. Then it would keep it for the original person and make you a copy. Basically cloning a Pokemon. Yeah. And we did it and it didn't work, but I got his Pokemon and I would not give it back. And like he ended up telling his mom who told the principal and the principal's like it's a video game, And so I got to keep the chars art, but. Took this kitchen shower, sard and like ruined his life. He was convinced he'd have a duplicate and he didn't. And babe, that's awful. I know. I've since made amends. Spiritually
Stephen:was that one of your 12 steps was making amends to this kid you saw? Saw
Steve:his charge? Never, I never reached out to him directly, but I've come to peace with the fact that I was a little shit when I was younger, So that was my first trip to Canto. But you're right, I've been back many times since we've been able to revisit it. First in gold and silver, which came out in 99 and 2000. Then with Fire Red and Leaf Green in 2000. As well as Heart Gold and Soul Silver in 2010, and as if that's not enough, we most recently visited Canto with, Let's go Pikachu, and let's go Evie, in 2018.
Stephen:Now, with all of these times of visiting, you have to assume. That Nintendo's made some bank on the Canto region and from just a couple dollars, just a couple dollars from the research. Red, blue, and green sold 31.38 million units, gold and silver sold 23.1. Yellow sold 14.64. The Let's Go Iteration. Sold 14.53 and Hart Golden Sold silver, sold 12.72 for a grand total of 96.37 million times. Someone has purchased a game. To play in the canto region? Yes.
Steve:And I know that I keep coming back just cuz of the nostalgia. It brings me right back to that joy and amazement I had when I was like in fourth grade. But as someone who came to it, mostly as an adult, what do you think of the canto region? Do you see why we all keep on coming back? I do
Stephen:not. Okay. I do not have the nostalgia factor with it. For me it is. Another region in the game where your parent decides that you should be an orphan and live out in the world on your own. And that's how I see all the regions of Pokemon.
Steve:See, and that's just what I always wanted. Every time my mom and dad would yell at me, be like, Well, you can always just let me go become Pokemon Master
Stephen:Well, it would never be. And your dad, because in the world of Pokemon, there are no dads. There are no dads. It's always a single mom. Who like once you've gone so that she can have sex with Mr. Mime.
Steve:Yep. Yeah, pretty much. Except in just cause I know some listeners are gonna be yelling at you for that. There was one dad in Ruby and Sapphire. Your dad Norman was a gym leader. Oh, okay. And that's why you moved to the areas cuz he was becoming a gym leader. But yes, most of the time, no. I have not
Stephen:played Ruby and Sapphire, so that would be why I don't have the knowledge with this. You know, when it comes to like older movies and things like that, I may, you know, have a little more entertainment knowledge. Yeah. With this, you are clearly the expert and I am the Padawan. Yes.
Steve:Well, the first installments of Pokemon or pocket monsters in Japan were released as red and green with a special edition blue later that. S there were just a few small improvements in blue that were then combined into the international release that we know as red and blue.
Stephen:So you're saying Japan got three before we got two. And Green did not make it here. Correct.
Steve:Because it, while there was a big difference in terms of what happened with red and blue and yellow, you had. Your Pikachu, you had Team Rocket, you had all these extra stories. These were just small graphical improvements, like to help reduce seizures and improve Pokemon Sprites so that they actually look like monsters instead of someone just threw up a bunch of pixels.
Stephen:Now here's another question then. Yes. So is that why it's fire red and leaf green in 2004? In honor of the original Japanese release. Now, did you Yes. Did we get fire red and leaf green in the us? Yes, we did. So there
Steve:was, There was no blue, there was no version. There was no like aqua blue. Okay. It was just fire red and leaf green when it came out because that's what the first two games were. Even though we never saw green in America.
Stephen:That is fascinating to me and I wonder if. All along if they had had maybe a little more time on the first edition, if Blue might never have
Steve:existed. Yeah. If it wasn't necessary. Yeah. But something about Japanese people don't really like having their kids die of seizures induced by video games or anime. Yeah. I
Stephen:was gonna say, as we've talked about in the past, there was the urban legend That was true. Yeah. About certain anime causing Japanese kids to have seizure seizures. Yeah. And so it's interest. That the Pokemon Games did it as well. What, do you know specifically what part of the game, like was it just flashing in the battles or going
Steve:in the battle? Yeah, it was a battle animation of one of the attacks. Probably something with thunder. Yeah, that would make sense. Yes. Now, Pokemon Yellow, as I mentioned, made even more improvements, most notably letting your partner be the famous mascot peek at. As well as including Jesse, James, and me out from Team Rocket to make a few appearances woohoo and letting you catch all three of the original start of Pokemon throughout the story. This began a trend of mainline games, having a third enhanced version released a couple years after its release now. I remember when Yellow was released, no one could have told me. It was basically the same game with a fresh set of paint. Like I got it, like I would any other new release. I played it from start to finish all over again, and sure there was. Maybe one or two hours of new content, right? In that 40 hour game. I didn't care. I got to have all three of my starters without having to swindle a poor child on the playground, and I just loved it. Now when we, when it came out, the virtual console, that's the one that you got, correct? Correct.
Stephen:So whenever it was on the virtual console, on the 3d, I downloaded it and I played about a third of the way through it. Mm-hmm. and because at that point I had already played X and Y and son and moon and
Steve:you had seen what it became and evolved into. So it was like going back in time.
Stephen:Yeah. And I did not care for the clunkiness. Mm-hmm. and how not user friendly. It actually. Back in
Steve:the day. Yes. I remember dealing with items in my box just being not
Stephen:fun. Yeah. And that was like, I appreciated the story and getting to see Pikachu walking beside you and all of that. But I was not having fun playing it. And I know that like I may get hate mail for that, but I couldn't finish the game. I felt that there was. I don't know. I didn't find it user friendly or fun compared to how x and y and sun and Moon had evolved so much.
Steve:Yes. And it, it even was hard for me to like unlearn some of the mechanics that I learned in later generations when I went back and replayed it on the virtual console. Just knowing that like certain things, like there was no such thing as special defense. It was just special. And that was your attack and defense, which made like any special attacking Pokemon like super op compared to their physical counterparts. And the box, like I mentioned, just having to, you know, there's been so many quality of life improvements that that's the words I was looking
Stephen:for. Quality of life
Steve:improvements. Yes. That it was one thing to be able to play through the game when I was in fourth or fifth grade and to know better. But now that I know that all of these improvements have been made and could be there, that's why Fire Right. And Leaf Green were a really fun ru for me because they came around in, I believe, the fourth, third, or fourth generation of games on the Game Boy. And by that point it was in color and the pixels were well enough where it was, You can tell which Pokemon or which Pokemon Swirl was cute again, and it, you know, that was a really good, it was a much better improved version. Than yellow even was because they had the, the years and the time. Did
Stephen:they add any like, so besides quality of life and graphical improvements in color, did they add anything else in fire, red and leaf green to make it worthwhile? Like anything after you
Steve:champion? Yeah, they had a post game where you go to a new area, the savvy Islands. And while the islands themselves were not very memorable. To me, at least with my poor memory. Yeah. It, it certainly was like a good chance to, to go through, fight more battles, catch her new Pokemon. Cuz at that point, you know, they already had generations two and three out at least. So it was your chance to catch new Pokemon that normally you wouldn't find in the red and green. Gotcha. Now, Canto was also able to be re revisited in gold and silver as well as their rema. Now the surprising thing about Canto being in these games is that it was only made accessible in the post game.
Stephen:That's Oh, so what, Okay. I did have questions about that because we were looking at the time that it came out and gold and silver came out in 99 and 2000, so it was right after. So what you're saying is that gold and silver, Is that Jo? To then it is Jo to,
Steve:Okay. You go through Jo to, you play through all eight gyms. You've become Champion Uhhuh, and then they say, Here's remember SSA and that ship that didn't go anywhere in the first one, right? Well now it actually will take you to Canto so that you have an entirely new post game where you get to go after eight souped up versions of the original, and you even get to fight Red. The player protagonist from the first. So it takes place years after red and blue. Where Red is
Stephen:the champion that you made him be when you were playing? Yeah, in the originals. Gotcha. And it is the same original gym leaders as well.
Steve:There were some changes, like Kogas daughter took over because it shows that time passed. Koga became a member of the Elite Four. And like there was like, but it was all the sustained universe. Story, the other characters would mention the player from the first one. It was just really cool because it hasn't been done like that in any of the other generations of Pokemon games where we have, you have post games within their world, or maybe an extra island or an extra area, but this is the first one where you're like, You beat eight gyms now go do it all over again. And that was just something so
Stephen:exciting. Were there any quality of life improvements between red and blue and gold? Silver? Oh
Steve:for sure. They had held items. They had special defense. It was on the game Boy color instead of the Game boy. So the graphics were much improved.
Stephen:And so whenever you went back to Canto, that was your first time seeing canto improved? Yes. Correct. And getting to play it with some of those quality of life improvements, do you think that was the reason they did it? Do you think it was an easy programming add-in with some small changes?
Steve:I mean, it must not have been easy, cuz I remember the game did have delays, Uhhuh, But it was just, like I said, I mean, I, I wish that they had more post games like this. I mean, how would you feel if you beat X or Y? And they were like, You beat the game, now go to an entirely new continent and do it all over again. Right. I mean, and it's fun and exciting. Mm-hmm. it's like a whole second game within the game. And Heart Gold and Soul Silver were just probably my favorite, like remakes that they've done so far of all the different generations just because it had even more improvements.
Stephen:Now whenever they do like Fire Red Leaf, Green Heart, gold, Soul, Silver. What is the point of doing those re-releases? Like what is added? Is it just graphical and quality of life? Do they change the story for someone who hasn't done any of the remakes? That would be me. What, what do you get from the newer versions?
Steve:Well actually you did play one of the remakes. You just didn't play the original, so you didn't have anything to compare it to. But you did go through Diamond and Pearl. Oh, you're right.
Stephen:I did
Steve:And so it, it does, you know, that's the really bad example because that's been my least favorite remake of all the remakes that they've done, which is saying something. Cuz beforehand I would've thought Ruby and Sapphire were the bane of my existence, cuz he spent half the game surfing But I really find that it is just to kind of reintroduce it to a new generation, there're always as a new slap of paint and new quality of life improvements, the, the best one. The reason why I think heart gold and soul silver. It was probably the best reiteration was because they included a lot of things. Like that was one where your partner Pokemon, the first one in your party would follow you around on the map no matter who it was not just peek at you. Mm-hmm. They had Pokemon, not just from the first two generations, but even some extent after you, you know, beat it and go back to Canto in the post game. It just a lot of improvements. Now, what region was Diamond and. Diamond and Pearl was the Syno region, and
Stephen:that's also the one from Archus
Steve:Arch. Yes. But way back in the past. Now, one game that you did play through in Canto Yes. Was, Let's go Evie, while I was playing. Let's Go
Stephen:Pikachu. And I enjoyed that so much because you know, you really can't discuss the most recent trip back to Canto without talking about why it happened. And that would be the. Phone gaming phenomenon of Pokemon Go.
Steve:Yes. That took the world by storm when it was released on July 6th, 2016, where in the game, the walls between reality and the game blurred and we got to catch Pokemon in the real world on our mobile devices. So
Stephen:we were living downtown. Yes. At that point. And you know, we would go for walks downtown. We'd go down to the Bayfront, we'd go over to ER park, we'd go out to. The area by the aquarium and Yeah. Just because certain areas in town had certain Pokemon mm-hmm. and even though I do think it was kind of crappy that there were only certain Pokemon. That were in certain countries.
Steve:Yes, there was a small number of those, but yes.
Stephen:Like I didn't know anybody in France. Ronnie wasn't there at the time. I know I
Steve:couldn't get a Mr. Mime. I was gonna say Ronnie was still in France. Do you think you can get a Mr. Mi out of him? Yes, I could. I could have
Stephen:taught him how to play it and
Steve:he would've done it. Oh boy. I can only imagine him being just like a horse. Throw the balls horse
Stephen:you use, getting your ball. You think you are good too good for your
Steve:ball? Yes, but I just remember. So many fun memories of like going out and being active and having these like special, almost like date nights with you. And what made it even more fascinating as a Pokemon fan is that for once, I wasn't the only one with my, you know, loved one. I dragged along with me playing it. There were people everywhere, everywhere. All ages to the point where when, you know, a, a rare Pokemon would spawn and someone saw you walking by with your phone, they'd say, Chars aren't up the road. Yeah. And it was just the, it was an entirely huge phenomen. In our country
Stephen:and people were friendlier to each other. Yeah. It was
Steve:a, it was a kinder world when Pokemon Go came out for sure. Than what we got. Later on. Yeah. But I just, I, I had so much fun with it, not just being able to experience it with you, but being able to once have Pokemon be like the cool thing again. Like I felt like I was back in fourth grade where I could talk to anyone about Pokemon and all of a sudden you have these moms and these grandparents who were like, Yeah, Pikachu. Yeah. Yeah. Squirtle. I know
Stephen:them now. Do you like, of course the game is still going, but it is, does not have the players that it once did. Yes. Do you think that if they had release. The second gin Pokemon sooner. They could have kept the momentum going, Momentum going
Steve:possibly, but anything that involves people getting out and being friendly and exercising is only gonna last for so long in
Stephen:America. I mean, we got bored of it because there were no more new Pokemon US and they hadn't updated any of the gym battles or things. And by the time they got around, like we went out again by the time they released the Jo to Po bomb. I think we
Steve:played it when we were in Disney, cuz we were like, Oh, there's pka stops everywhere.
Stephen:And we went once back out to the park. By the aquarium. Yeah. By Mote Marine. And it just, it lost its magic. I think. It it. And I think it had just been too long. Yeah. But the thing that I enjoyed was whenever they took some of the mechanics, And put it into a handheld game for the switch.
Steve:Yes, let's go. He get you an EV combined the simplified game play of actually throwing your Pokemon to catch new Pokemon with the traditional battles we know and love to new generation on the Nintendo Switch, while also highlighting your favorite Pokemon ev.
Stephen:Yay. Hence, Which I always, you know, sometimes whenever I pick a favorite, I'm always like, I doubt it's everybody else's favorite. And to find out that like that was the one that they chose to be the second kind of mascot for the game because Pikachu the most popular thanks to the anime and yellow Yes. And things. So having it be EV was very enjoyable for me.
Steve:Yes. And it was fun using the poke ball accessory that came with it cuz you can actually, you felt like you were throwing, throwing a poke ball. And you also loved how you can see the Pokemon on the map.
Stephen:Oh, thank God. I was, would get so tired. Now there are some of the areas where I get like, Okay, you're in a cave, you can't see anything, and then it's random. But I appreciate that. You saw all the Pokemon on the map. you've already got enough ratata and there's a ratata there. You can just avoid it. Instead of thinking, Oh God, what's this one I'm going into a battle with? Oh
Steve:shit, it's another Ratata or another zoo bat. Yeah. And
Stephen:so I loved that. That was the ability there, but also it wasn't just the Pokemon Go aspect of catching. You still had your trainer battles and. Things like that. So it felt like the best of both games. Yes,
I
Steve:can agree. Not to mention that since your PO partner Pokemon can evolve, they just make them cute and adorable forever, while also making them really powered up virgins of themselves. Cuz normally the main reason to evolve your Pokemon is to make it stronger. But this picks shoe in this EV between the fact that they can learn virtually any type of any move. Yeah. But they also had. Space stats just made it so that there was no need to evolve it. And I think that if there were more Pokemon like that, like if I didn't have to evolve my squirtle into a blast choice to make it stronger, I would just keep my squirtle being super
Stephen:powerful. Which is the other thing that I've always said about certain Pokemon, like some of them, their final evolution looks great. And then some of'em I'm like, You took what we liked about it and it's gone. Yes. Ride chew is fine. Not as cute as peek at you. Peek at chew. Now the evolutions I think are fantastic of course, but you know, you have cute things like Squirtle blast choice is not cute. It is not like that would be the thing that if you could withhold evolution and still make it powerful. Yes, that would be interesting. Just do a better job designing final evolutions. Don't take, like if they're cute to begin with, don't take away the cute.
Steve:No, I love my cute Pokemon. Just the same way. I love my cute husband and my cute puppy. Oh, we love you. Yes. Now after playing through, let's go. There has not been any sort of announcement of any sort of continuation. Would you wanna go? Let's go to Jo to next 100%.
Stephen:And I thought for sure what was going to happen was going to. In the interim years between mainline games, we were going to get, let's go versions of each of the areas so that you introduced all of the new generation of people to those old areas, while also keeping some people interested in Pokemon Go. Mm-hmm. like if you had you know, we had the let's go peek at you an ev. And then we go to Let's go Choto. Well, now I was gonna say, then we had the Sword and Shield. Oh yeah. And then if we went to, Let's go Ev Jo to, and then we had Archus. Let's go Ev What's the third area after Jo? To after Jo to, Yeah,
Steve:After Jo to it is red, Go to Ruby and Sapphire. And they are, A region that I blocked out from my memory, I said, It's not my favorite game.
Stephen:Well that's okay, but that's, I honestly thought that that's what they were gonna do. And if they were selling, you know, 14 million copies of it each time that they could have just gone.
Steve:Ho ho. Sorry, I just wanted to make sure I, I chimed in before the internet really yelled at me. It's the ho region.
Stephen:So yeah, I, I thought for sure in between the mainline games we were gonna get a let's go game every other year or every two years or so.
Steve:Yes. And it would be nice, and I'm never gonna say never. Who knows? That might be what happens after Scarlin and Violet. They outsource a remake of black and white, which I also hope comes out one day cuz I really love that version.
Stephen:And I mean, I did not play the original Diamond in Pearl. Mm-hmm. It was very controversial because the Sheb graphics, I thought it was fantastic. Yeah. I thought it was in the quality of life things. I thought it was a fun game.
Steve:I know I. I understand that the main two always do better than the third, but I wish that they took some of the improvements that they had made in platinum, including like expanding the PEX a little bit to make the gameplay a little bit more balanced. But that's not the one we're talking about. We're talking about canto today. Yes. And so one thing that is similar across all of these iterations is that you have starting Pokemon and they're not always speaking to an ebi. They generally are.
Stephen:There. It's always fire, water, and
Steve:grass. Yes, Always. This one, it was Bulbar, Charmander,
Stephen:and Squirtle, and then they change into Ivor, Charmian, and War Turtle. And then finally Veo Charizard and
Steve:blast twice now. N. No matter how cool or awesome the grass and the water type designs are, is that ever going to sway you?
Stephen:Not ever. I am always fire type for life. But I mean, if you were asked nine times outta 10, you're picking water. I know
Steve:you, I know. Except like there are times when. Will sway me. Uhhuh, the same way grass used to sway me before getting clean and sober. But no, I, in the scarlet, I'm like really torn. I think I might be going with the grass cat
Stephen:and the, you know, the fire crocodile looks kind of dirt, but I have faith in him this time that sometimes the derpy ones end up looking better later on. Something that I've noticed like you are a Pokemon, like you, you know, a lot, a little bit. Yeah. Now, whenever it comes to the evolutions, everyone always remembers how it starts. Yes. And everyone remembers how it ends. That one in the middle, that you're only there for a little bit and you don't play as much in the. It always just seems that second form is the forgotten form.
Steve:Yeah. I mean, sometimes they have cute designs, but yeah. No one's ever gonna keep a war turtle as one of their main, or a traian as their main. It is just a stepping stone to get to that final evolution.
Stephen:Now here's a question for you. So in the starters nowadays, by the time you get to the third form, they're like, fire dark. Mm-hmm. at blank blank. is that second form added in the third evolution or does it come during the second ever? Like let's say you know the one that I like where it was Fire and psychic? Yes. So that it became dark Phoenix to me. Does the psychic always come in at the third evolution part of it? Sometimes.
Steve:Sometimes the secondary type comes in in the second evolution, but it's much rarer, I believe, like combustion was a fire fighting and so is bla akin. It's evolution from Torch chick Uhhuh, but it is more often that it's a third evolution surprise.
Stephen:So it is kind of like the second evolution. Okay. You've worked hard and now it's a little bit stronger, but just wait. It's gonna get better. And then you'll forget about the second one all
Steve:together. Exactly. But what is unforgettable is some of those generation one Pokemon designs. Now trivia question for you and our listeners. What was the first Pokemon ever designed and created by game? Oh
Stephen:goodness. The first Pokemon ever is going to be,
Steve:Pitchy ride on,
Stephen:is it a ride on? And I thought you said right on. And I was like, Yeah,
Steve:I got it. Right. Know it's right on. And that's why you see the ride-ons rights in all the statues throughout the region. And all the gyms in everything was, there's right on statues everywhere, because that was the first Pokemon they made. So when they made statues, they made it of the first one that they had to place in the game world and then figure it out. A lot of the other Pokemon later, but other standouts for you include all of the
Stephen:e evolutions. Of course. I love them. I, I like to make a team of the ev illusions. They make me happy.
Steve:Back then there were only three. You have Aurion ion and Joon.
Stephen:And you know, that was enough at that point and then you add some more in. But like other fas from that, I love the Val Picks and Nine Tales. Hell of Growly and Aai. Yeah. Pony to Rapidash. I enjoy the designs for a Gly, Haunter and Ginga. Yep. And of course, a you A list would not be complete without Jinx the Drag Queen Pokemon.
Steve:Yes. And it also had some really good you. Legendary Pokemon, which we'll get into, but
Stephen:I, I, I, I have to, like, every gin seems to have like throwaway Pokemon that are like, they're everywhere. Like Rattata and Pi and Gin one. They're bat Yeah, they're like the Goba or Cupa TROs in a Mario game. It like, why do you think that is with, with 150 Pokemon? Why overpopulate with Rattata and Pji and zba? Easy
Steve:experience points cuz they're weak. Okay. But I mean, every design can't be overpowered. I understand. There has to be a, a range of usable Pokemon to Pokemon that or they are strictly for design and to decorate the scenery. Yeah. You know, and I think. It's not like if you had Raita being only available in the last four hour of the game that anyone would ever seriously use it. But especially back in the days when you would have, when you didn't have the internet to know that all of these Pokemon mostly evolv into just garbage. Yeah. I remember fighting kids on the playground, like not fighting fighting, but like Pokemon battling. Kids on the playground who would have like a level 80 eradicate on their team and be like, Look at how cool I am because like, you play what you love or you play what you know. And back then that was before like the internet had like tier lists and they didn't have online competitions. So like. Piat was on my first team, and I thought that because my rival had one too, that Amenta was good and it was okay in the first game, but the later generations, of course, like they weren't gonna keep up with PIs.
Stephen:No. Now one of the most exciting parts of any of the Pokemon games is the map and the towns you get to visit. Yes,
Steve:and especially in this one, I mean for me it's the nostalgia I'm sure for a lot of these places. But I love Vermilion City with SS, and I remember there was that mute sheet that was floating around the internet where if you do a certain thing at a certain time and surf by not finishing up the boat completely and then getting surf and then coming back, that if you lift a truck with strength, you can get mute and you couldn't, but it was like an April fool stay joke that people took seriously. That's me. It was in the early days of like the internet and Nintendo power, it was still a thing. And so there were
Stephen:trolls back in 98?
Steve:Yes. That were like, Well, here's how you get me. And you had millions of little kids like me being spending hours, hours, like restarting their game to manipulate it under the circumstances. Oh, how
Stephen:awful. Yes. But to all of the people that are listening, if you were one of those people that. Told others that the mu sheet was real shame on you. Yes.
Steve:And then of course the unknown dungeon maze at the end was just normally caves. I'm just like, Let me get out of the caves. It's like the ugliest mostra part of the Pokemon world, in my opinion. Yeah, and you can only fight so many zoo bat before you just wanna tear off their wings. But that maze trying to find and catch you too, there was just something like knowing that, like you were on your way to catch like the ultimate Pokemon. Yeah, that was just really.
Stephen:Now there was also Lavender town, which I enjoyed. Not just because everything had a purple hue to it. Yes.
Steve:That certainly is probably a perk for it. Yeah. But I was also shocked to learn that Pokemon die and
Stephen:like these
Steve:games are dark. Yes. And this features one of the more emo Pokemon of its time, Cubone. Oh. Who runs around wearing the dead skull of its mother, Which, or the skull of its dead
Stephen:mother. Yeah. Dark. Yes. Dark. Dark, Dark. For children like so much, it doesn't get better
Steve:as the generations go on. No, and I love it cuz you have these little kids that play these games and they're like, cheer flu. It takes away the souls of children to the afterlife. Yeah. But it just
Stephen:looks like a cute little balloon. Yeah. Now I did enjoy Pokemon Tower that was all ghosts and things like that. That was. Yes.
Steve:And then of course, nothing like a good place to go shopping for you,
Stephen:Huh? Which is the sell Iton city department store where you can buy anything, especially tms. I love that. You know? Finally sell Iton City was like, Oh yeah, there's Pomar, but why not come to the department store where we've got everything? Oh, you just shop at p. Haha.
Steve:Yes. It was a certainly fun place to go shopping as well as gambling in the casino. Yes. Now the gym leaders are also a huge part of the Pokemon game, cuz as you mentioned, each game starts off with your parents basically orphaning you and sending you out into the wild and only letting you come home if you need to heal your Pokemon.
Stephen:Right. And then when you come home, they're like, Oh, what are you doing here,
Steve:Yeah. But you go and you beat eight gym leaders and then eventually the elite fort and the champion, and then you become the champion. Tried and true throughout the series. Now, in my opinion, even before you played these games, were you aware of Brock and Misty from anime and like pictures online and from
Stephen:anime with you? When we were watching Saturday morning cartoons. Okay. Not from any of my own viewing and nothing from online. I knew of Brock and Misty from being your. On the TV show. Mm-hmm. So whenever they ended up being gym leaders, I was like, Oh my God, I know
Steve:them. Oh yes. See? And like, I was like, Oh, of course everyone knows them. Like their pictures are all over the internet and all of the little Pokemon memes and everything. But I guess we're not part of the same groups.
Stephen:I was gonna say, we might have been traveling in different circles on the internet. Yes.
Steve:Were there any other gym leaders that stand out to you? So I
Stephen:always enjoy the psych. Gym leaders. So Sabrina with her psychic type challenge, that one stood out to
Steve:me. Yes. And overall, you know, especially just as kind of a comparison, I know that if I pick any, pick a number one through eight besides one, four. Okay. I, in the fourth generation, that would've been cno, which we recently played. Yep. Pearl, I, I can't remember a single one of the gym leaders by name. I could probably 0.1 or two out if they were in a lineup. Yeah. But here I know that there's Brock, there's Misty, there's Lieutenant Serge, there's Coga, there's Sabrina. Sabrina, there's Erica, there's Blaine, and there's Giovanni. Like I know all eight gym leaders. Now, are they more memorable because. Played them so many times or do any of them stick out for you? When I say their names, like you kind of remember them.
Stephen:Giovanni, just cuz I know he is the bad guy. Yep. And Brock and Misty from the cartoon. But no, I think honestly they're
Steve:more memorable because of my experience. Correct. Okay. I
Stephen:think honestly that's what it is. Because I think if you only played each of them once, I think you'd have more often where somebody would go. That third gen one, that one is actually my favorite. Mm-hmm. But where people have played it so many times, it's kind of like whenever you talk about favorite horror movies and stuff like that, if there's one series that has more. ver like
Steve:history, like you, you know, Halloween trivia more than anyone else. And it doesn't mean that everyone knows the Halloween trivia. It's cuz you, Yeah. And I've
Stephen:experienced it again and again and again. And that's cuz there's over 10 Halloween movies. Yeah. So I think that it's possibly because you've gone back to canto so many times.
Steve:Yes. And now of course, as you mentioned, Giovanni is the leader who we all. Was our daddy cuz people were desperate
Stephen:to figure out, But not, You mean father not Daddy,
Steve:Correct. Yes. Everyone I remember at the time speculated that Giovanni was Ash's father because his father was missing. Never confirmed, never denied. But I think that something about Team Rocket, their simple goal is just to take other people's Pokemon and
Stephen:oh, which I learned the hard way the first time I was. A Pokemon game, and it was in one of the trainer battles on one of the routes, and the other trainer had a Pokemon that I liked, and I had gotten it down pretty far. So I tossed a poker ball at it. And the other trainer hit the ball away. And I was like, Babe, what did they just do? And you're like, You can't steal other people's Pokemon. Yes. And I was like, What do you mean? And you're like, That's what Team Rocket does.
Steve:Yes. So my little lomo wanted, it's a join team Rocket. Cuz it was easier than catching them himself. I just didn't know it was a
Stephen:rule.
Steve:Yes. But I, I love them, especially their upgrade in the Let's Go Games since it was our desperately duo from the anime.
Stephen:Ugh. I. Who is going to be better than our team Rocket Duo. Honestly like that. And whenever you talk about you know, Brock and Misty being your favorite, whenever you're talking about some of the villains, team, Rocket is always gonna be my favorite of the villains, and I'm shocked that it's not Team Rocket every time. Yeah,
Steve:no, I, I agree. And as you beat Team Rocket and all the gym leaders, then you phase off against the elite. Laura lie, Bruno, Agatha and Lance who used Ice Fighting Ghost and Dragon and respectively before beating your rival Good. All blew the champion.
Stephen:And I enjoy that. You know, these aren't your typical Pokemon that you're going up against because you've got Ghost and you've got Dragon. And you know, usually when you think about the eight you're thinking of. You know there's gonna be a fire gym, there's gonna be a grass gym, there's gonna be a water gym, maybe a bug gym. A psychic gym. But you get to the Elite four and you're like, No, we're gone. A little more
Steve:hardcore with that. Yes. I remember the, the challenge that they posed at first, especially as a younger kid. But of course, you know, once you know what types the elite for have, you know, to come in prepared. Right, but Or overpowered. Or overpowered. Yes. Now, did you ever catch'em all in
Stephen:Canto? I did. In the Let's go game. I caught them all and also in. the Pokemon Go. Thanks to being able to trade with people and us on our trip to New York, I was able to get all of them and Pokemon Go as well.
Steve:awesome. Yes. And so we had a really good timing. Canto, any final thoughts on the region?
Stephen:It's very much enjoyable. It is you know, akin to the mushroom kingdom and high rule. It, it kind of is what is associated with Pokemon in terms of home worlds.
Steve:Yes, and it was a great place to start, but I can't wait to see where we're going next. Where are we going next, babe? I don't
Stephen:know. Callos. Oh, I get, I know that one because that was the first time I ever played a Pokemon game. Way back in 2013.
Steve:Exactly, Yes. And so we started with my first time, We'll move on to your first time, but we would love to hear what your first time playing through a Pokemon game was like. What was it and what'd you think of it? You can get in touch with us by email at Happy Life pod@gmail.com, or
Stephen:you can get in touch with us on all the socials, but that is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok. At Happy Life
Steve:Pod and until next time, everybody, let's go catch'em all and stay. And stay happy.