Despite ascending to icon status in the gaming community and shining as a stellar RPG, the first generation of Pokemon games came with their share of oddities and nonsensical traits. While you can say that most entries have at least a few areas that don't quite make sense, Game Freak's debut Pokemon title has quite a few, in particular. These range from bizarre glitches to random quirks to strange or inconsistent lore elements. This isn't too surprising, given the relatively primitive, humble origins of Red & Blue, which date back to the late 90s, and whose home lies on even older hardware.
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So let's dust off our Game Boys as we examine things that plainly don't make sense about these otherwise classic games.
Updated November 18, 2020 by Tanner Kinney: The original Pokemon games are more than just a phenomena; they're a miracle of programming. Pokemon Red and Blue could be charitably said to be held together by duct tape and string. More than just story inconsistencies or strange locations are the number of bizarre balancing choices. On top of that, the glitches in the game are often hilarious and sometimes even beneficial for the player. For those looking to revisit Pokemon Red and Blue in their original form, we've added a few more odd quirks that don't make sense.
15 Psychic Types Have (Almost) No Weaknesses
In modern Pokemon games, Psychic type Pokemon are considered fairly strong. There aren't too many just awful psychic types, even if there are some. In Red and Blue, Psychic types were the meta-defining Pokemon, and a constant threat for any unprepared trainer.
This is beside the fact they use the overpowered special stat and often have access to Amnesia, one of the most powerful buffing moves in Gen 1. Psychic type attacks are not resisted by any Pokemon, and they have no weaknesses aside from Bug. Ghost is technically a weakness, but the only attacking ghost-type move is Lick. Plus, every ghost Pokemon was also still weak to Psychic. There's a good reason Alakazam should be feared.
14 Wrap, Bind, And Fire Spin Are Super Annoying
Wrap, Bind, and Fire Spin are three moves that get quickly replaced in modern games. They deal little damage, and their usefulness is in locking an opponent in battle and dealing damage every turn. It can be considered niche, but their niche is fulfilled better by other moves.
In Gen 1, they still aren't great, but infinitely more annoying. If hit by Wrap, the player is locked out of using any moves until the 2-5 turns of Wrap are over. In a situation where the opponent is faster, Wrap can be an infinitely chained if the AI wants to do so. The weirdest part: even if the Wrap-user switches out, the immobilization effect stays on its target.
13 The Not-So "Good AI"
The AI of opponents in the original game is somewhat primitive and often unpredictable. Regular trainers will use moves seemingly at random, leading to both funny and irritating moments. It makes regular battles either really easy or surprisingly difficult, depending on the trainer.
However, the best trainers (Gym Leaders, for example) get what's called "Good AI." Good AI will always go for a Super Effective type-advantage if one is had. This seems like it would make sense, but it doesn't just look at attacking moves. All moves are considered for this Good AI. So, using Nidoking against a Pokemon with Agility and no other Psychic moves means that the opponent will always go for Agility, since it's a psychic move. This little bit of prediction can make setting up and defeating Gym Leaders a tad easier.
12 Critical Hits Have Some Issues
Critical hits are broken in many ways in Gen 1. Firstly, it negates all stat changes in calculations, so a critical with boosted stats may often deal less damage, not more. Secondly, moves that boost critical rates like Focus Energy actually reduces the chances of a critical, which makes Focus Energy less than useless.
However, the real kicker is in how critical hits are calculated. The formula for determining a critical is based on the BaseSpeed/512. This is reasonable, mostly. The problem comes in high critical-rate moves like Slash, which make this BaseSpeed/64. That's a pretty comfortable bar to clear, and makes high critical moves more dangerous than in later games.
11 100% Accuracy Is A Lie
Accuracy is important in Pokemon games. It's a stat that's useful for balancing high-power attacks, but also makes some battles a (weighted) coin-flip. There are plenty of moves that do have 100 Accuracy, which means they will connect reliably. In later games, this is 100% of the time without accuracy drops.
In Gen 1, 100 Accuracy is a lie. One of the most unfortunate accidents of Gen 1 coding, the Gen 1 Miss, occurs on a 1/256 chance. This applies to attacks that aren't Swift, or when boosted by the X-Accuracy item. The X-Accuracy basically removes the concept of accuracy entirely, which is hilarious in conjunction with one-hit KO moves. It's all a bit funky, so don't be surprised if sometimes that Flamethrower doesn't land as expected.
10 That Pointless Truck Near The S.S. Anne
It's pretty amusing that such a small, simple element in Red & Blue, specifically a lone truck near the S.S. Anne, birthed such a large, imaginative myth. Given the random placement and the fact that it's inaccessible without glitching, you'd think there would be a point to it.
There were in fact, rumors that this is where the famed Mew could be caught, or that some super potent item could be gathered from underneath. But alas, it turned out this truck yielded no such riches, or anything for that matter. One can't help but wonder then - what was the point of it, aside from serving as a very bland decorative prop?
9 Why So Few Exclusives?
Given that one of Red & Blue's unique draws was that it came in 2 distinct versions, each of which held exclusive monsters, it seems like an odd decision to have so few version exclusives. Not counting the evolved forms, there's really just a handful of Pokemon in each game which can be only obtained in that particular version.
This makes sense to a degree; you want to give players an opportunity to catch most without having to go outside their copy to obtain them. But you'd think Nintendo and Game Freak would have wanted to grant more incentive to have players opt for both versions or at least trade to a greater degree.
This, coupled with the fact that the games were virtually the same otherwise, make the two version seem rather pointless and more of a marketing tactic than anything. The thing that makes the least sense? There are still version exclusive Pokemon to this day.
8 Nidoran The Only Pokemon With A Gender?
Considering Pokemon genders and breeding is a prominent part of recent renditions, it seems a bit odd that gen 1 didn't display the genders of these monsters at all. Oh - there was one random exception, in the form of the Nidoran family, whose genders are not only featured but are actually distinct, separate species of Pokemon.
One explanation is that in the days of Red & Blue, Oak and other researchers had not quite unearthed or gotten a grasp on Pokemon genders, thus the uncertainty. Even if this is the case, how and why is it that only Nidoran and their evolved forms have had their genders discovered?
7 Sleep Is Way Too Impactful
Status effects and status moves can be quite the bother when you're just looking to win a match and take out an opponent unhindered. Yet, most modern versions of these debuffs seem like a walk in the park compared to the first rendition of Sleep.
In Red & Blue, having your Pokemon lulled to sleep could last up to a whopping 7 turns before waking up, and swapping them out wouldn't wipe away the effect. Not only this but even after awaking from their slumber, your Pokemon would still skip a turn when waking up. This just seems like overkill, especially when compared to some other seemingly devastating elemental effects.
6 Safari Balls
These items act as a weird sort of contradiction. On the one hand, they are somewhat coveted and hold a bit of value, as you'll need them in order to catch monsters like Tauros in the Safari Zone. One the other hand, though, they're unusable elsewhere and are only restricted to this one particular zone at this one particular point of the game.
Even in this area, they're pretty weak and often force the user to toss a bunch of them at the opposing Pokemon, who just shrug most of them off. Just how is it that no other Pokéballs have any effect on these relatively average monsters in this place? Does this type of Pokéball just gain powers by simple virtue of being in the presence of this area?
5 Magikarp... Just Magikarp
It's sort of bizarre to have a Pokemon that exists for no other real purpose other than being the manifestation of a joke by the franchise's creators. This is especially weird given that this flailing fish manages to evolve into one of the most beastly Water-types (which it bears almost no resemblance), Gyarados.
Not only is its main function the pointless, ineffective move "Splash," but in Gen 1, it only ever learns the underwhelming Tackle beyond that. Pokemon trainers who have the patience to evolve this thing into a Gyarados at level 20 may find Magikarp worthwhile. To most though, this fish makes little sense and holds little value.
4 Bypassing The Ghost Marowak By Flashing A Poké Doll
The circumstances surrounding this Clefairy doll, and its official use, seems nonsensical by itself. Flashing this doll will somehow allow you to more easily escape a battle. Yet, you've also got the even stranger glitch in the Pokemon Tower at Lavender Town, which apparently is so frightening that a Ghost Marowak will flee from the very sight of it.
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Yes, one use of this doll on the otherwise intimidating Pokemon sends it on its way, allowing you to bypass an entire portion that you'd otherwise need to traverse to get the Silph Scope.
3 Fishing In Statues
As it's been established, Pokemon Red & Blue, for all its greatness, is rife with oddities and weird bugs - and we're not talking about Weedle. Here we have yet another glitch that seems to have no rhythm or reason, and it certainly outdoes our previous entry in strangeness.
As a result of some more limited coding, some of the special tiles in Red & Blue take on the properties of water tiles, which means you'll be able to surf and even fish on a few of them. Yes, you'll actually be able to take a break from your pursuit of a Gym leader and go fishing in one of their statues.
What's even weirder is that you'll be able to catch a Magikarp in there - but only with the Old Rod. The Super Rod will, in fact, yield nothing. Hey, what did you expect it to bring? A Gyarados?
2 Capturing Mew
One of the strangest, nonsensical elements for Gen 1 fans is that the all-powerful, elusive Mythical Pokemon Mew does exist in this game, but can only be caught through glitches or exploits. It's perplexing that a developer would implement such a contradictory element, but here we are...
In order to even coax a Mew appearance, you have to go through a series of random actions/events fairly early in the game. Even more peculiar is that Mew will be found at a meager level 7 when exiting the menu at a specific location.
What exactly is the story behind this Mew, and why is this the way to get it to emerge?
1 The Lackluster Reward For "Catching 'Em All"
It hardly makes sense that a game largely revolving around "catching 'em all" gives you such an anticlimactic ending once you've finally done so.
Sure, you could say the thrill of the hunt is in the hunt itself, and that the real goal is to beat the Elite Four anyway. Still, it would have been nice for Game Freak to have given us something other than a bland in-game "diploma" informing us of what we already know.
You'd just think taking the time and effort to nab a whopping 150 monsters would bring in a real reward.