R/B/Y In-Game Discussion

[Jellicent]

​

All of the other gens have one (B/W even has 2), so let's do this! Frankly, it's a crime that this wasn't created sooner.

The first gen main games were works of art. The in-game world was fascinating, mysterious, and new. There's so much I could say about these games, you'd be left scrolling and scrolling through a gigantic wall of text. I'll spare you all from that (for now) and just make a few bullet points to get this discussion started ^.^

• What starter did you pick for R/B, and more importantly: Why?
• Also, how cool was it that Yellow actually let you get all 3 of the gen's starters in one game without trading or anything?
• You just talk to that old guy that teaches you how to catch Pokemon, then Fly back to Cinnabar Island and Surf along the coastline to the right...
• Best in-game Pokemon soundtrack, yes/yes?
• Oh god, that poor ghost of Marowak ;-;
• "I like shorts! They're comfy and easy to wear!"
• DUX the Farfetch'd. You know you loved him <3
• That moment when you had to rub that Captain's back...
• C'mon, did you think Mew was in the truck?

Nostalgia: give in to it.

 

[The QWAZ]

Bulbasaur, always. I choose it because i saw my cousins venasaur and i knew i would always have it. Tuaros was pretty boss aswell.

 

[Nix_Hex]

I'm on my phone so forgive my brevity, but I'd like to remind everybody of the way you get your bike certificate: listen to a man speak of his Rapidash fetish... I've never had so much as a dog ti keep me warn at night, much less a burning horse.

 

[Jorgen]

Charmander, yo. I wasn't really thinking about it, I just thought Fire was the coolest type. Something just feels more powerful about a fire-breathing lizard than a spritzing turtle and a frog with a plant on its back.

Yellow I remember as just being annoying because Pikachu is really just a bad pokemon. I mean, I was really excited the first time I hunted for an hour in viridian forest to catch one of them, and since I valued it so much I leveled it heavily so it was pretty beast. In Yellow, though, that magic was completely eliminated, and Pikachu was actually godawful as a starter (though taking down Pidgeys in 2 shots was cool, I guess). Plus, that ungrateful little shit was never really happy with me. Don't know why, I mean, it's not my fault it has literally 0 defenses and is 4HKOed by every trainer's Pokemon and can't touch Brock.

I happened to waste a master ball on a cubone. Then I had to catch Mewtwo with an Ultra Ball (I managed it, though!). I was really dumb back in the day, other feats include killing Moltres with Dodrio's Rage, not understanding the Hyper Beam mechanic (I just kinda thought "Charizard must recharge!" was just something high-level Pokemon did from time to time), and deleting Recover for Strength on Mewtwo. Rationale? Recover does no damage, so it isn't important. Granted, I was like 8, so it's kind of excusable.

 

[Showsni]

• What starter did you pick for R/B, and more importantly: Why?
• Also, how cool was it that Yellow actually let you get all 3 of the gen's starters in one game without trading or anything?
• You just talk to that old guy that teaches you how to catch Pokemon, then Fly back to Cinnabar Island and Surf along the coastline to the right...
• Best in-game Pokemon soundtrack, yes/yes?
• Oh god, that poor ghost of Marowak ;-;
• "I like shorts! They're comfy and easy to wear!"
• DUX the Farfetch'd. You know you loved him <3
• That moment when you had to rub that Captain's back...
• C'mon, did you think Mew was in the truck?

Nostalgia: give in to it.

Charmander. And I liked him so much I've gone fire every single generation! Apart from liking fire, it might have been the anime that influenced me; Charmander's character was my favourite. (Why did you have to evolve? Took all the way until you got frozen in Orange for you to come to your senses!) So loyal...

Yellow letting you get all three was awesome! Although it did mean the game pretty much picked your entire party for you. I find it really hard to not use just the first six different Pokémon I find in a playthrough. In Yellow, my party always ends up Pikachu, Pidgeot, Butterfree, Charizard, Venusaur, Blastoise.

Yes.

Wearing your dead mother's skull as a hat is pretty messed up, Cubone.

DUX is the greatest.

 

[Fatecrashers]

most trainers look happy nowadays but back in the rby they were all angry-looking and most of them carried whips...

i enjoyed that when you looked into the captain's trash bin on s.s.anne it said 'Oh yuck! Shouldn't have looked...', was a really nice touch

also lavender tower and pokemon mansion were just really dark and morbid places

 

[Glen]

the most prominent rby memory i have is the time i had the brilliant idea of trading my level 70-something alakazam to my friend, starting a new game, and getting it traded back to me.

the result, of course, was tons of progress undone and an alakazam that wouldn't obey me. i remember sobbing like a baby when it hit me. i was a sensitive child.

 

[Raseri]

Squirtle is the best starter. It's just so cute and I used it in most of my playthroughs. That or bulbasaur, I wasn't a huge charmander fan when I was a kid.

Also I vaguely recall using Dux in one of my first runs. Because I thought it was good since I could only ever find one! I also wasted my masterball in my first run like most people, I think I used it on a Muk in the cinnabar mansion. Since I had never found a wild one before I wanted it. But R/B/Y isn't the most nostalgiac game for me since I actually played Gen 2 first. I still enjoy a nice run of it once in awhile though.

 

[Codraroll]

Celadon City was such a magic place... Pewter was a remote mountain village. Cerulean a rather sleepy town. Vermilion was a busy harbour, but it wasn't a lot to do around there after the ship left.

After finally stumbling through the exit of Rock Tunnel, emerging somewhere in the high cliffs north of Lavender, then taking the paved road and eventually the tunnel west, we got to the first big city in Kanto. It had rows of houses, some of them even had multiple entrances. You could buy everything at the Dept. store. There was a casino there with a thrilling secret. A hotel. A promising pond you could surf across later to talk to the mysterious man (ooh, Softboiled?). The Grass-type gym, hidden in the outskirts south of the city core. You could go west, to the cycling road, or east to Saffron. At this point, you had gone far away from home, and you started realizing how big things were. The fact that you could go back and choose a path to Fuschia gave the sensation that Kanto was a place to explore, not a path to follow *coughUnovacough*. You reached the half-way point of the game badge-wise, progress was getting visible at this point.

Oh, and the music.

My fondest memory from R/B/Y, short of finally beating Brock, was exploring the sprawling metropolis that was Celadon. It seems a lot smaller nowadays.

Also, the intriguing question in Cinnabar Gym, that has bugged me ever since: Tombstoner? What is that move? It sounds rather eerie. I wondered if it was ever programmed into the game. Perhaps Ghost learned it? What did it do? Why would some consider it a TM? As far as I can recall, tons of Creepypasta have taken these questions further ever since.


Last, but not least: The major flaw with R/B/Y was that it was extremely dull once the main storyline had been completed. There were exactly five trainers to rebattle in the entire game. Once you had caught Mewtwo, you could... yeah. Just bug around, I guess. R/B/Y are the only Pokémon games I have ever started over.

 

[Jellicent]

Last, but not least: The major flaw with R/B/Y was that it was extremely dull once the main storyline had been completed. There were exactly five trainers to rebattle in the entire game. Once you had caught Mewtwo, you could... yeah. Just bug around, I guess. R/B/Y are the only Pokémon games I have ever started over.

This is kind of a curse and a blessing in my eyes. Starting anew was always one of my favorite parts of the game, and it allowed me to have fun replays (mono-type challenges, only unevolved poke run-throughs, speed runs, etc.) that created unique experiences each time I played. Games like DPP, on the other hand, I was reluctant to restart after making it to the Battle Frontier because the game's focus for me had now shifted specifically to that, and I didn't want to give up my mons to start fresh.

While I do love seeing great post-game content, I also love having the freedom to joyfully start from scratch without the guilt of losing everything I've worked on. Plus, RBY has a full feeling of completion after catching Mewtwo. Honestly hard to say which I prefer...

 

[Nix_Hex]

I'm doing a cart run through Blue and I am stuck at Safari Zone. I don't plan on leaving until I catch Chansey, Tauros, Pinsir, and Kangaskhan. Eh, maybe I can wait on Kangaskhan. Chansey is driving me absolutely bonkers though. No bait + No rock = missed the pokemon. 1 bait = missed the pokemon. 1 rock = one shake + run (unless you are REALLY lucky). I haven't gotten lucky yet, needless to say. Right now my team is Snorlax, Dugtrio, Spearow, Ivysaur, Mew, and Jolteon. Mew Cuts and Surfs, Ivysaur is my starter, Snorlax is powerful and can Rest, Spearow flies, and Jolteon is specially powerful. Do you guys recommend swapping Ivysaur for Exeggcute? I've never raised Eggy in game and i think it would make for some nice variation.

 

[Naix]

@NixHex
I'd personally stick with Ivysaur. Exeggcute, when you catch it, is level 27 at best, while Ivysaur (I'm assuming) is a few levels higher. Ivysaur is in the Medium Slow experience group, which is nice, but Eggy's in the Slow group, meaning that it would slow down your team's Exp. more than it already is (Snorlax). One would also want to remember what Eggy and Ivy have over each other. Exeggcute has access to Hypnosis, which is always good (when it hits), it can also be taught Psychic when you get it, and don't forget its resistance (instead of weakness) to Ground-type attacks. Ivysaur on the other hand has access to Razor Leaf (99.6% Critical hit ratio, anybody?) and it can evolve without missing out on its level-up movepool.

TL;DR: Exeggcute - Hypnosis, Psychic, Ground resistance. Ivysaur - Razor Leaf, better immediate stats, already higher level when you get Eggy (presumably)

Personal Opinion: Stick with Ivysaur; it's already there, and it's less reliant on TMs.

 

[Glen]

i'm replaying red right now, and the strangest thing happened. i burned brock's onix with my charmander's ember, and he used full heal the same turn ?_?. like, after i attacked.

said onix's bide also had some weird priority shit going on, both in storing the energy and unleashing it. this game is weird man

 

[Jimera0]

i'm replaying red right now, and the strangest thing happened. i burned brock's onix with my charmander's ember, and he used full heal the same turn ?_?. like, after i attacked.

said onix's bide also had some weird priority shit going on, both in storing the energy and unleashing it. this game is weird man

I fairly recently did a Scramble of Blue, and in generation I the computer could use items AFTER you attack. Happened to me several times throughout the playthrough, and each time I called the computer a cheating bastard in my update :P. My guess is that in generation your opponent's actions aren't actually decided until AFTER you attack, which is how this happens.

Anyway, onto the main post...

I always started with Bulbasaur, for some reason the guy has always been my favorite starter, though these days I tend to alternate whenever possible.

Back then I also tended to give my Pokemon the most generic nicknames ever. Charizard? "FIRE-MAN". Venusaur? "VINE-MAN". My Fearow, which I usually used to take out ghosts? "GHOST-KILLER". Hey, I was like, 10! XD

One thing I noticed when playing through Blue a couple months ago was just how much DARKER everything is. I mean mood wise, not actual brightness (though that too, thanks to the lack of backlighting :P). Team Rocket is flat out said to have KILLED Pokemon, half the trainers have whips in their sprites, and Lavender Town... just all of Lavender town. Everything feels so much more serious and dangerous than it does in later games.

Oh, I also had a lot of fun abusing all the glitched moves back then. I had Venusaur for my Scramble so my rival had Charizard, which had Rage. Rages accuracy rolls over into ridiculously low numbers if it misses. My Pidgeot had Sand-Attack. You can figure out the rest ;). Also, I'd stack Toxic and Leech Seed, which causes Leech Seed's damage (and healing) to increase along with Toxic, allowing the two to KO a Pokemon in just a few turns while healing you to full health (in Generation I you heal all the damage you WOULD have done when the Pokemon faints, so even if the opponent has just a sliver of health left you heal as much as you would have had it been at full health). That was pretty fun to mess with :P.

 

[Mekkah]

Yeah, the RBY AI decides what they do after you make your move. It's why so many times I've gotten stuck against that Butterfree Bug Catcher (I heal his status, he just uses another god damn powder), or Gary's Exeggutor (Poke Flute, Sleep Powder, Poke Flute, Sleep Powder, Poke Flute, Hypnosis, Poke Flute, Hypnosis...). And yeah, I think most Gym Leaders actually have a Full Heal to prevent them from being completely screwed over by freezes and burns and stuff.

Bide was NOT a priority move. I remember it being a "big deal" when it became one. I'm going to guess maybe your Charmander had a speed tie with the Onix? I'm not sure what the weirdness exactly entails. Maybe the amount of turns is varying (iirc it's 2-3).

 

[Zowayix]

I know from experience that at least Brock has an infinite number of Full Heals and will use them immediately after getting statused, even when such a move would be illegal (such as in the same turn if you went first, or in the middle of Bide). I don't remember any instances of RBY AI choosing their move after yours, and from (very shoddy) TASing attempts I know that a trainer will never attempt to use a sleep move on the turn you wake up naturally even when they are perfectly allowed to.

 

[Nix_Hex]

After a spending a few weeks in the Safari Zone catching the three out of the "big four" (Chansey, Tauros, Kangaskhan, Pinsir), I have finally moved on. I swear, if you have the patience to catch a Tauros, the payoff is amazing. I am at Sabrina's gym and here's what I'm running:

Tauros
lv. 37
Stats (raw): 122 HP / 96 Attack / 86 Defense / 104 Speed / 66 Special
-Stomp
-Strength
-Tackle
-Earthquake

Stomp is for flinching if I know that Strength won't OHKO. Strength makes Tauros an HM slave and is its most powerful attack. Tackle saves PP against weakened enemies. Earthquake beats Gengar, giving Tauros perfect coverage bar Aerodactyl (that's what Blizzard will be for once I finally get it). It's fast and gets tons of crits, and gets STAB on most of its moves. Unfortunately, I left TM 08 Body Slam on the S.S. Anne but Stomp works just fine.

What other in-game Pokemon / sets do you guys usually run?

 

[TrueSoprano]

• What starter did you pick for R/B, and more importantly: Why?
• Also, how cool was it that Yellow actually let you get all 3 of the gen's starters in one game without trading or anything?
• You just talk to that old guy that teaches you how to catch Pokemon, then Fly back to Cinnabar Island and Surf along the coastline to the right...
• Best in-game Pokemon soundtrack, yes/yes?
• Oh god, that poor ghost of Marowak ;-;
• "I like shorts! They're comfy and easy to wear!"
• DUX the Farfetch'd. You know you loved him <3
• That moment when you had to rub that Captain's back...
• C'mon, did you think Mew was in the truck?

Nostalgia: give in to it.​

My first playthrough of Blue, I started with Charmander. I beat the game. Then I restarted and started with Bulbasaur. I don't think I got past Lavender Town. Then I started with Squirtle, and I don't think I've started with any of the others since.
My friend taught me how to find Missingno. I didn't actually catch it, though.
The shorts guy. I would quote that line nonstop and annoy everyone.
I don't think I ever seriously thought I could find Mew, but I always blacked out on purpose on the SS. Anne just in case...​

 

[Ratatat]

After a spending a few weeks in the Safari Zone catching the three out of the "big four" (Chansey, Tauros, Kangaskhan, Pinsir), I have finally moved on. I swear, if you have the patience to catch a Tauros, the payoff is amazing. I am at Sabrina's gym and here's what I'm running:

Tauros
lv. 37
Stats (raw): 122 HP / 96 Attack / 86 Defense / 104 Speed / 66 Special
-Stomp
-Strength
-Tackle
-Earthquake

Stomp is for flinching if I know that Strength won't OHKO. Strength makes Tauros an HM slave and is its most powerful attack. Tackle saves PP against weakened enemies. Earthquake beats Gengar, giving Tauros perfect coverage bar Aerodactyl (that's what Blizzard will be for once I finally get it). It's fast and gets tons of crits, and gets STAB on most of its moves. Unfortunately, I left TM 08 Body Slam on the S.S. Anne but Stomp works just fine.

What other in-game Pokemon / sets do you guys usually run?

I've always just used the Cinnabar Island Surf glitch to get everything I want from Safari Zone. That place drives me up the wall and I just can't do it the "right" way. I just can't I tells ya!

Body Slam is seriously one of my most coveted TMs. Every time I play I have like 2 or 3 'mons I want to give it to. Probably my favorite Venusaur set is Razor Leaf / Body Slam or Strength / Sleep Powder / Swords Dance just for sheer, unrelenting power and free set-up. I also like to run an Aerodactyl with Fire Blast / Wing Attack / Hyper Beam / Fly for pretty good coverage and as a TM slave, even if these are seriously the only good moves it can learn in Gen I. Slowbro is usually my go-to Surf slave since Psychic is also so dang overpowered in general, and I try to have something resembling TobyBro by end game.

 

[Jade88]

Playing Pokemon Red again!

Getting ready to start playing again after a few years and have a few questions, i could also use some general noobie tips.

How do iv/evs work? How can i raise my pokemon as i go along? I'm pretty sure ivs don't exist so you can just max stats out, but how do i keep boosting stats before i hit lv 100? Can i fix my evs if i make it to 100 and t stats aren't maxed?

Any pokemon worth picking up early in the game? Any other tips would be appreciated!

 

[cjrocker]

My starter was Squirtle, named him Al. No idea why but it stuck.

I caught a Clefairy in Mt. Moon and immediately evolved. I was so happy to have a "rarely seen" Pokemon, as the Pokedex put it, I literally started bouncing around the room and accidentally turned the game off. :(

Lt. Surge's gym took me FOREVER. Hated that place. I remember looking at my trainer card and seeing that I had the Thunder badge. Ecstatic, I would go to play later only to realize that what I saw was a dream. :(

On Yellow, I ditched Pikachu early and grinded for a Butterfree in that grass patch between Petwer City and Viridian Forest. I kept that Butterfree for the rest of the game; in my Hall of Fame was a level 55 Butterfree named Flasher (so creative.) I also had a Zapdos named Shocker and a Gengar, which is strange because I don't ever remember trading for it. That's all I can think of now.

 

[Hemp Man]

Memories of R&B
* Getting the game on Christmas 2000.
* Using all 3 starters in 3 playthroughs, and decided Bulbasaur was my favourite.
* When I team was just an overleveled Venusaur, and the legendaries.
* Buying the Magikarp, and being pissed off that it couldn't attack.
* Getting stuck at LT. Surge's gym Puzzle
* Getting my entire team killed by a Wild Dugtrio
* Getting lost in Silph Co, and begging a friend to finish that portion of for me.
* Fighting Sabrina even though
* Getting Dratini!
* Ditching Dratini when it took forever to level up.
* Getting trolled to death by Agatha's hax
* Not knowing what type was good against Lance's Dragonite.
* Getting Mewtwo
* Discovering Missingno - 99 Rare Candies and Gyarados/Dragonite were mine.

Will post my Yellow memories tomorrow.

 

[Jade88]

Getting ready to start playing again after a few years and have a few questions, i could also use some general noobie tips.

How do iv/evs work? How can i raise my pokemon as i go along? I'm pretty sure ivs don't exist so you can just max stats out, but how do i keep boosting stats before i hit lv 100? Can i fix my evs if i make it to 100 and t stats aren't maxed?

Any pokemon worth picking up early in the game? Any other tips would be appreciated!

Also, what is a decent team early in the game?

 

[Progeusz]

There are IVs, but called DVs and they go 0-15, not 0-31 (each is worth 2 points, not 1). There is Stat Exp instead of EVs: http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/EV#Generation_I

Starter + Butterfree + Nido(king) + Geodude/Dugtrio?

 

[Jade88]

There are IVs, but called DVs and they go 0-15, not 0-31 (each is worth 2 points, not 1). There is Stat Exp instead of EVs: http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/EV#Generation_I

Starter + Butterfree + Nido(king) + Geodude/Dugtrio?

Thank you! I'll check the article out now.

Edit:
What could happen after speaking with the guy who teaches you how to catch pokemon and than surfing on cinnabar island?