So, Mew really is under the truck; my uncle is a janitor at Nintendo, he told me himself! You have to fill up the Pokédex four times and then use strength 45 times on the truck and it will move! NO, I AM NOT LYING!
Ah, Red and Blue, the classic Pokémon titles. These games started it all and are now over 20 years old! As wonderful as these titles are, they are truly a product of their time and haven’t quite aged the best. Over the years, more and more tips and tricks have been discovered to be hiding in these games, and whether these are intentional design choices, fun secrets, or just bugs (there's a very large amount of glitches) there is a lot to be discovered in the games that single handedly brought the Game Boy back to life. From MissigNo., to that cursed truck, all the way to skipping gyms and wrapping your way to victory, Red and Blue are filled to the brim with all sorts of content to discuss. Without further ado, let’s get into 25 tricks in Pokémon Red and Blue that players have no idea about!
25 Find Glitch Pokémon (MissingNo.)
Okay, let's make something clear here, these games are a bit of a technical mess. They're filled with all sorts of glitches and incomplete code, which lead to all sorts of weird things, such as this glitch. By performing a series of actions and commands correctly, you can actually encounter a variety of glitch Pokémon that shouldn’t be in the game, such as the infamous MissingNo.
These Pokémon can have varying degrees of effects on your game, all the way to breaking it completely. Now, I just gotta figure out how to unlock Dragonite's hidden evolution into Yoshi.
24 Critical Hit Chance Is Weird
The chance for a Critical Hit is determined differently in the first generation. So differently, in fact, that Persian is actually a good Pokémon!
I know right? In Red and Blue, a Critical Hit chance is determined by speed; thus, a strong hit like Persian's slash will have a much higher chance of landing a critical strike. This completely changes the metagame, along with how battling works as a whole in Gen 1. As I said, Persian is a good Pokémon in Gen 1.
23 Wrap Mechanics Are Poor
In Generation 1, Wrap isn't so great. While it isn’t too popular nowadays, back then, Wrap just stopped the opponent from attacking while it was being used. Seriously? That’s why 90% of my Blue playthrough was me praying that Wigglytuff wouldn’t miss Sing for ONCE in his entire life.
It’s a completely overpowered move that halts the opponent in their tracks. Thinking of switching out? Don’t worry, Wrap will literally just roll over to the next Pokémon. Wrap, please, I have children to feed.
22 Enter Glitch City
Glitch City refers to not just one, but several places that can be accessed in the original Pokémon titles. Through a weird series of entering/exiting doors and confusing attendants in the Safari Zone, as well as doing a bit of saving and resetting, the player will find themselves in glitch city.
The layout of the city depends on where you were when you performed this glitch and has little-to-no functionality. Also, the only way you can escape is to fly or teleport. So, kind of useless, but fun!
21 Rig The Game Corner
If you want to be a thief, Pokémon Red and Blue is the place for you! In the Celadon Game Corner, there is a completely random (it changes too) machine that gives you better odds of winning when you use it.
Essentially, the way to tell when you’re going to have a better chance of winning is to play each machine four times. If one of them hits two or more, that’s gonna be your pick. While it’s still not a 100% method to winning big, your best wagering will be on that machine.
20 Psychic-Type Pokémon
Psychic types were great in Gen 1. For one, they were immune to ghost types in this generation and only weak to bug types and themselves. Along with that, their special attack and defensive stats were one, meaning all types had immense power and defenses.
There’s a reason you see Pokémon like Alakazam and Starmie at the top of so many tier lists. Being psychic really has its advantages.
19 Visit Game Freak
Like all of the mainline Pokémon titles, you can visit Game Freak in their first title about stuffing animals into small spherical prisons! Doing so is a nice little Easter egg for the player, and in Gens 1 and 2, they can be found in the Celadon Condominiums building.
After completing the Pokédex, Game Freak will reward you with a nice diploma. While it’s essentially just a JPEG image, you can actually print the diploma out with the Game Boy Camera in Gen 1!
18 You Can Fish In The Cerulean Gym
Weirdly, using an old, good, or super rod in the Cerulean Gym can net you a Pokémon! Whether this was actually intended or not by developers is unknown (although this is carried into Gen 2), but I mean, you aren’t really going to get anything too special.
All the Pokémon available to be caught in the gym are pretty basic, except for our overlord Psyduck, but if you feel like you need a water Pokémon to take on Misty for some ill- informed reason, here’s your chance!
17 Skip Pewter Gym
Actually, why don’t you just catch a water Pokémon in Misty’s gym so you can have an easier fight against Brock! By finagling a little save and reset action while walking in front of the youngster that usually stops you from entering route 3 before defeating Brock, you can actually pass him and continue onward!
So, again, why not go grab a water Pokémon from Misty before challenging Brock? Or, you can just choose the best starter of all... Squirtle. Either one!
16 Hyper Beam Mechanics
Hyper Beam is one powerful move, but that power comes with a price as your Pokémon has to take one turn to recharge after using it, and nothing can be done during that move.
However, in Gen 1, there are a few ways this recharge can be avoided. The most common method is if Hyper Beam was used to KO an opponent's Pokémon, in which case, no recharge will be needed. This made the move very overpowering as you could continually charge your way through the opponent's team like it was nothing. Thankfully, this was fixed in later generations.
15 Catch Safari Zone Pokémon Easily
Enter and exit the Safari Zone, go to Route 20, and surf along the coast to encounter Safari Zone Pokémon! I could explain to you why exactly this occurs, but why wait any longer!
Just know that if you want to catch Safari Zone Pokémon in a way that isn't just completely lousy, and a way that actually gives you a chance to succeed, you now have a method for it.
14 Pokémon Stadium Coloration Changes
Pokémon Stadium, one of the N64 Pokémon titles (and home to minigames that all deserve their own Oscar) has a cute little Easter egg hidden within it. Depending on what nicknames your Pokémon have, they will have a slightly different coloration compared to their usual pallette.
Things such as upper and lower case nicknames affect what color your Pokémon will be. This feature adds a nice little touch of personalization that will make your Pokémon really feel like they're all yours.
13 Don't Use Counter
Hi! Don't use Counter! It does not work! Hooray! From another cute little programming error in this generation, Counter actually only activates against fighting- and normal-type moves.
This makes it essentially useless compared to its normal effect of reflecting any physical move. However, this error was fixed in subsequent generations. Weirdly, it can also land as a Critical Hit, but this will not affect the damage the move provides at all. Wow, it was all sorts of broken wasn't it?
12 Pass The Marowak Ghost
Want to literally skip an entire portion of the game? Because who wants to play games, right? Usually, in order to progress past Pokémon Tower, you’ll need to obtain the Silph Scope in order to identify the ghostly Pokémon that you’re facing.
While the ghost of Marowak is actually an important part of the story, you can just use a Poké Doll on the ghost (before it is identified with the Silph Scope) and make it flee. Thus, you never actually need to obtain the Silph Scope in order to progress. Fun!
11 Gen 1 Pokémon Can Kind Of Be Shiny
Fun fact, Pokémon caught in Gen 1 can actually be shiny! That’s right, in older generations, a Pokémon’s shiny status was determined by its DVs, which have now essentially been replaced by IVs.
So, while a Pokémon might not necessarily look shiny in Gen 1, if you transfer it up to 2, you might be surprised to find out that you had shiny Pokémon the entire time. And I can’t even find one after 7,000 resets! Great.
10 Freezing Is Absurd
Did you know in Gen 1 that freezing just… doesn't stop? You do not get thawed out unless you use an ice heal or your opponent uses haze or a fire move. Essentially, if you didn't have an ice heal, your Pokémon was just useless until you got to a Pokémon center. Yikes!
These games have no remorse. They either aren't programmed correctly, or they are programed correctly and are just like, really extreme.
9 Battle Professor Oak
At some point in Red and Blue's development, you were supposed to fight Professor Oak as a sort of final boss. His trainer data is still in the game and he is the strongest trainer of them all.
His team consists of a strong lineup of Pokémon, including the fully-evolved starter that wasn't chosen in the beginning of the game. I don't know why Game Freak chose to remove this battle as it would have been a great final boss, akin to Red in Gold and Silver.
8 The AI Can Be Overpowering
The AI trainers of Red and Blue were gifted in a few ways… and also cursed. For one, they can’t run out of PP for any move, meaning they will always have a leg up on you. Along with that, they will always use a move that is super effective should they have it available to them.
But, when I say that, I mean any move at all. Barrier, for example, will be used over any powerful move if it is super effective, meaning that the opposing trainer will never be able to deal any damage. While they’re a bit more stable in Gen 2, we also get Struggle battles, so there’s something.
7 Fish On Statues
Why fish in Misty's gym when you can just aim at the statues? Oh, because you can literally get nothing from doing this? Ok cool. Yup, unintentional by the developers, you are allowed to fish on statue tiles.
Does this do anything relevant to the game whatsoever? Not at all. Does it look kind of funny? Yes. Will you spend more than seven seconds doing this before you get bored? No. Still, I thought you should all know that this is a very possible thing to do.
6 You Can Cut Tall Grass
Weird, right? You can actually do this! Anytime there is tall grass in the overworld, you can just… get rid of it. Using cut will, well, cut the grass. I mean, if you’re trying to make sure you get zero encounters on a route, this will do the trick.
However, you’ll be losing tons of experience. Also, you’ll just end up taking more time as opposed to walking through the grass and getting a few encounters. But hey, it is a neat little attention to detail put in by the developers.