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Sometimes, the presence of the words "part one" in an episode title can seem like a goof where a topic got away from us. Or maybe sometimes it even sounds like a threat. In this case, it's an inevitability. We've talked about Pokémon before, of course, but never in significant depth—an oversight that changes today, right here, in this very episode. I called in the ringers for this one, too. Known pokémaniacs Kat Bailey (of IGN and Axe of the Blood God), Shivam Bhatt (of Casual Magic), and newcomer Casey DeFreitas (also of IGN!) join me to discuss the history of Pokémon's first generation, as well as their experiences with Red & Blue. But, as we all realized midway through the recording, this is all only the top of the monster-catching iceberg—there's far more to Nintendo's opening Pokémon salvo than we could capture in an hour and a half of recording! So, stay tuned.

Edits by Greg Leahy and illustration by Greg Melo.

Music selections this episode:

09:23 - Anime: Wild Pokémon Battle

18:50 - Red/Green/Blue Version: Gym

27:22 - Red/Green/Blue Version: Rival's Theme

38:46 - Red/Green/Blue Version: Professor Oak's Laboratory

45:50 - Anime Series: Come Along

53:08 - Anime Series: To Be Continued... | Red/Green/Blue Version: Opening & Title Screen

1:03:35 - Red/Green/Blue Version: Gym Leader Battle

1:13:09 - Red/Green/Blue Version: Pokémon Center

1:22:22 - Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition: Pikachu's Beach

1:30:20 - Red/Green/Blue Version: Hall of Fame

Closing - Anime: Meeting and Parting

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Comments

AlbertH

Thank you everyone for the intruiging discussion, even as a lifelong Pokémon fan I learned a few new things about the first entries of the franchise. It's April 2023 now, any chance for a part 2...? 🙂

Andrew Eikum

Apologies if this is my error, but I never know who "I" is in these posts (Jeremy, Bob, Diamond...?). Would you be OK "signing" them to make it clear? Or maybe someone can clue me into something I'm missing in the Patreon app :)

Steven Babb

That was great fun! I had Pokemon Red and a purple Game Boy color. I played that game so much my hands would cramp and my neck hurt from looking at that little screen. I absolutely loved the sprite art in that game and just the whole concept of it. I loved the gyms and how simple and charming everything was.

Adam Esat

Awesome episode! So glad to see you're going through all the generations too. I played the first gen (Red) before it officially came out in the UK when my best friend lent me his friend's US imported copy, and after that weekend my life pretty much changed. Absolutely formative experience. I'd say me living in Japan now is a direct result of Pokémon. I don't even remember where I first heard about the Missingno cheat. It just entered into the schoolyard language much like the S symbol. One thing i wanted to shout out as well is the insane contribution of Atsuko Nishida. She's responsible for two most popular Pokémon out there right now - Pikachi and Charizard. In General I feel like a lot of design credits go almost exclusively to Ken Sugimori, but much of the other design teams are left out. The inclusion of Mew as a last minute thing by Shigeki Morimoto was the biggest contributor to the explosion in popularity in Japan as well. I can't even recall where I heard the whole truck rumour either. But it's the only truck you see in the entire game, so I guess that's where it started off. There is actually a glitch where you can get Mew, which you can do in the 3DS versions. Loved the ep, can't wait to hear the rest of the series!

Wood Duck [Legacy Edition]

Hmm this ep simply refuses to DL from my patreon feed using castbox on Android. Subsequent episodes DL fine.

Michael

Please have Casey on more!! Loved her on NVC, her knowledge on Pokémon & Monster Hunter is MASSIVE!!