Here's a different take on our usual mysteries/conspiracies, let's talk about Goldeen and Smash Bros.
The pokeball (and later master ball) in smash bros can summon a powerful ally, or a Goldeen that just flops about harmlessly. But why Goldeen? Shouldn't it be Magikarp? He's the famous splashing fail-fish, not Goldeen.
I've got a few theories:
1. Tradition: Goldeen's been in every smash bros, so it's continued use is effectively grandfather claused.
2. The Smash Bros developer tradition of not quite understanding IP's that aren't their own (Kirby, Kid Icarus). This isn't unique to the pokemon series representation either (you know what I'm talking about but here's not the place).
3. The ANIME. Goldeen was Misty's first shown pokemon, in Team Rocket's introduction episode, and it utterly failed to do anything but splash around. And this was when Team Rocket was actually really threatening. Honestly, it just made Misty look like a moron. What was she thinking? She was a gym leader for Pete's sake! But the anime was popular (at the time) so add in the above two reasons and you get this.
Edit*: In doing research, it seemed the early anime really hated Goldeen. It has another "fail" scene in the Cerulean Gym episode, where Misty's sisters show that they can't give Ash a proper battle since all they have is a Goldeen (who only knows horn attack). Jeebus anime, really?
Magikarp didn't show up until later, on the St. Anne. And despite definitely being a derp-fish, it did quickly establish it's other famous trait (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagikarpPower) by evolving into Gyarados and causing a Gulliver's Travels plot (or Castaway, take your pick). So I guess if you went by the anime alone, Goldeen does look a lot more fail-worthy.
The pokeball (and later master ball) in smash bros can summon a powerful ally, or a Goldeen that just flops about harmlessly. But why Goldeen? Shouldn't it be Magikarp? He's the famous splashing fail-fish, not Goldeen.
I've got a few theories:
1. Tradition: Goldeen's been in every smash bros, so it's continued use is effectively grandfather claused.
2. The Smash Bros developer tradition of not quite understanding IP's that aren't their own (Kirby, Kid Icarus). This isn't unique to the pokemon series representation either (you know what I'm talking about but here's not the place).
3. The ANIME. Goldeen was Misty's first shown pokemon, in Team Rocket's introduction episode, and it utterly failed to do anything but splash around. And this was when Team Rocket was actually really threatening. Honestly, it just made Misty look like a moron. What was she thinking? She was a gym leader for Pete's sake! But the anime was popular (at the time) so add in the above two reasons and you get this.
Edit*: In doing research, it seemed the early anime really hated Goldeen. It has another "fail" scene in the Cerulean Gym episode, where Misty's sisters show that they can't give Ash a proper battle since all they have is a Goldeen (who only knows horn attack). Jeebus anime, really?
Magikarp didn't show up until later, on the St. Anne. And despite definitely being a derp-fish, it did quickly establish it's other famous trait (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagikarpPower) by evolving into Gyarados and causing a Gulliver's Travels plot (or Castaway, take your pick). So I guess if you went by the anime alone, Goldeen does look a lot more fail-worthy.
Last edited: