It's hard to imagine how Pokemon rumors spread today. Are they born on Twitter and Reddit, and amplified by thousands of equally confident and uninformed voices? That's how things used to be on the playgrounds for millennials growing up with Pokemon Blue, Red, Silver, Gold, etc.
As Pokemon generations march on and new generations of players pick up the games, will increasing access to press releases, online guides, and data mining spell the end of sensationalized Poke-myths? In celebration of the series' 25th anniversary, let's reminisce about the outrageous things we believed before every game console had web browsers and Google.
10 Who's On First?
Who is the first Pokemon? Easy. Bulbasaur, no self-respecting Pokemon trainer could forget Pokedex entry #001. But wait, all Pokemon share an ancestor in Mew, which is why it can learn every move. So was Mew first? Dialga controls time, Palkia controls space, and Giratina controls the void, so were the creation trio first? Arceus is God in the Pokemon universe, it created the creation trio, it must be first right?
There's no "correct" answer in Pokemon lore (though Arceus is probably most correct). Fortunately the real-life answer is straight forward. Game Freak Art Director Ken Sugimori settled the dispute by declaring that Rhydon was his first monster designed for the series. Game Freak had a tendency to reuse sprites wherever possible in the early days, which is why vaguely Rhydon-esque statues appear everywhere in the Gameboy Color generations.
9 Azure Flute... Any Day Now
Speaking of Arceus, does you know where to find it in its debut game? By generation four most Pokemon die-hards knew someone who used a Gameshark or Action Replay cheat cartridge on one of their games. Though the competitive scene looks down on hacking monsters, for obvious reasons, these cheat cartridges were a necessity for many. Nintendo has a history of forgetting to roll out events for event-exclusive Pokemon, including Arceus.
The Azure Flute item that's required to access the Hall of Origin and battle Arceus was only available by cheating. Eventually Nintendo distributed Arceus to players directly, but only in Japan. Rumors about how to fight Arceus with vanilla copies of Diamond/Pearl circulated but all were untrue, which only made Action Replay more popular that generation.
8 Bill's Backyard
There were plenty of cool finds north of Cerulean City on routes 24 and 25, such as TM 15 Seismic Toss, and more notably, Bill's house. Bill is the Poke-fanatic and tech wizard behind the computers that allow you to upload and download Pokemon from your PC. Stumbling upon his residence is a milestone in your adventure since Bill is, rightfully, a bit of a celebrity.
But why is Bill's house here? A renaissance man like him must have set up shop amongst pastures and mountain ranges teeming with exotic fauna. This reasoning led to the rumor that the small patch of grass behind Bill's house, known as Bill's backyard or garden, was home to extra starter Pokemon or legendary birds, yours for the taking if only you could find a way over Bill's fence. Hacking through the walls revealed that those few squares of grass were exactly that and nothing more. How anti-climactic.
7 Your Friend's Uncle Made The Games
Everyone had that one friend. That friend was directly responsible for the majority of the untrue Pokemon legends shared up and down your block. Why did anyone believe that friend? Because their uncle worked for Nintendo and he totally created Mewthree. That friend wouldn't lie to you — you've known each other your entire lives, a whole six years!
Of course, that friend didn't have an Uncle Pokemon, but one man has since claimed that title. In 2018, Chen San Yuan went viral when he was spotted riding a bike with his 11 smartphones all running Pokemon GO. Since then, Uncle Pokemon has leveled up his rig a few times, it can now carry 64 phones at once.
6 Where Is Celebi?
How many hours were spent bringing an assortment of rare items, trying to use different HMs, and performing elaborate dance steps before the Ilex Forest shrine, praying for a chance to encounter Celebi? Celebi was never obtainable in Gold/Silver, but the fact that Suicune — who starred in Pokemon 4Ever with Celebi — could be caught lent credence to this rumor.
The Gold/Silver developers have since stated that they were surprised by this myth's popularity, as the shrine was simply made out of assorted, resized house sprites and placed there as decoration. This rumor became true in Pokemon Crystal, however, as the developers made the shrine the site at which you summoned Celebi after receiving some Japan-exclusive event items — a nod to the earlier urban legend.
5 Surfing Pikachu
During generations one and two cheat code sites of yesteryear were flooded with fictional instructions on how to unlock a Pikachu with the Surf move. This rumour started because of a mini game in Pokemon Yellow where the player would control Pikachu on a surfboard to make it flip off of waves. In that sense Pikachu could surf, but it could never Surf. This myth was also eventually made a reality in Pokemon Ultra Sun/Moon where the Mantine Surfing mini game could actually reward you with a Pikachu that knew Surf.
4 Mind Your Language
Any game that allows the player to name even a single character is eventually descended upon by middle-schoolers itching to show their friends which naughty word they've assigned to themselves or their in-game rival. Myths about getting scolded by NPCs for naming your Pokemon crude epithets were abundant but never true.
The Pokemon devs accidentally put themselves on time-out in generation four when Froslass was automatically banned from online trading due to the last three letters of her name triggering the profanity censor. This roadblock could be sidestepped by renaming your Froslass.
3 The Goddess Lugia?
As the box art model for the sequel to one of the best selling video games of all time, and the star of the sequel to the first Pokemon movie, Lugia has earned its place as one of the most iconic monsters in the Pokemon pantheon. What many fans don't know about Lugia is that — despite its essential role in Pokemon Silver — it was actually designed for the Pokemon 2000 movie, and not for the game, by writer Takeshi Shudo.
Furthermore, Shudo didn't want Lugia to be given stereotypically male features, nor did he even intend for it to be a Pokemon. Environmentalist sentiments were still coming to the forefront of pop culture in the '90s, this is reflected in the film's theme of maintaining harmony with nature and the elements.
Though most legendary Pokemon are officially genderless, many fans think of Lugia as male due to its deep voice in the film. This creative choice frustrated Shudo, who thought of his creation as a sort of goddess of the sea, or an analogue for mother nature, that existed above the legendary birds and indeed above Pokemon as a whole.
2 Lavender Town Syndrome
The Pokemon franchise has spawned a truck load of infectious tunes including the undeniable king of English-language anime opening themes. One of the most fabled tracks, however, is also one of the most grating. The Lavender Town theme from generation one is notoriously unnerving, and for good reason, the song needs to reflect that fact you're walking towards a mass Pokemon grave.
The tune achieved folkloric status, a creepypasta before creepypastas, because it was said that children who listened to it for too long would be hypnotized and commit suicide. Of course, this never actually happened, but the possibility spooked plenty of millennials into passing through Lavender Town as quickly as physically possible.
1 Trucker Mew
Finally, the motherlode of Pokemon mythology. The generation one games featured yet another mysterious, and ultimately meaningless, sprite beside the S.S. Anne in Vermillion City. Just like the Ilex Forest shrine that followed it, fans drove themselves crazy imagining what tantalizing loot must lie beneath the pickup truck, if only it could be moved. Naturally, the most popular myth came to involve the most sought after Pokemon, Mew, who was said to be hiding under the truck. These claims were never true, but a host of glitches could allow players to catch Mews, which only made more players believe the truck legend.