ladyappletun

[ladyappletun]

What's the use of feeling, Blue?

After playing through Pokémon LeafGreen, I'm surprised how bad I feel for Blue. His own grandfather doesn't remember his name, and then throughout the story Prof. Oak just pushes him aside and focuses on you for no reason. He lets you pick your starter first and he ignores Blue's accomplishments with the Pokédex (which seems especially harsh if you aren't completing the dex yourself, so throughout the game he literally is doing better than you). Sure, Blue's a pretty big jerk, but we never get to see how he treats his Pokémon, so he's not necessarily mean to them. Aside from him being so arrogant, I'm not sure why the story punishes him so often, especially if you're not focusing on the Pokédex. Just seems harsh.

#pokemon #pokémon #pkmn #pokemon rby #pokemon blue #rby #pokemon frlg #frlg #rival blue #blue oak #trainer green #trainer blue #gameboy #gameboy advance

[ladyappletun]

I did an in-game trade so I could use Jynx on my team, and it came with this letter 😂

#pokemon #pokémon #pkmn #pokemon frlg #frlg #jynx #jynx pokemon #gameboy advance #kanto pokemon

[ladyappletun]

One of the things I really love about Pokémon, especially the older titles, is how going through the game feels like checking off items on a to-do list. YouTuber @shoogles talks about this in his latest video, "An Exhaustive Look at Pokemon Brilliant Diamond," and he put into words marvelously what I've been feeling for years. I think FRLG is the ultimate expression of this; most of the game is clearing through routes at your own pace, and it's pretty open for a game that's so old, so you get to decide exactly how to move through the game. It's so satisfying to finish an area and move on to the next one.

#pokemon #pokémon #pkmn #pokemon frlg #frlg #kanto #kanto pokemon #gameboy advance

[ladyappletun]

Pro tip: If you're ever playing through Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen and don't want to use any of the starters on your team, pick Bulbasaur. Ivysaur makes an *incredible* HM user. It learns Cut, Flash, Strength, and Rock Smash, literally everything you need except for the Water type moves and Fly, and it's pretty likely that you'll have mainstays on your team that can learn those moves anyway.

#pokemon #pokémon #pkmn #pokemon frlg #frlg #gameboy advance #bulbasaur #ivysaur

[ladyappletun]

Playing through all these games again with Pokémon I've never used before is making me realize how little I've used Normal types in the past. Every time I start planning my team for a new game, there's tons of Normal types to choose from, and sometimes I have to be careful not to use too many to give my team some more balance. When I was a kid, I used to see the Normal types as kind of useless because they only got STAB on Normal moves. But now I'm realizing how versatile they are. Granbull was the star of my team in Gold because it could learn all the elemental punches. And going into LeafGreen, I was adamant about using Persian, just because I like its design.

#pokemon #pokémon #pkmn #pokemon rby #pokemon blue #rby #pokemon frlg #frlg #gameboy advance #normal type #granbull #persian

[ladyappletun]

So, when you fight Blue in Cerulean City, he tells you about Bill. And he mentions that Bill showed him a lot of rare Pokémon and helped him fill out his Pokédex. But then when *you* go visit Bill, he doesn't show you any Pokémon??? He even asks you if you want to see any but you're not given a Yes/No option?

#pokemon #pokémon #pkmn #pokemon frlg #frlg #leaf green #gameboy advance #bill pokemon #pokedex

[ladyappletun]

Generation III (again): Pokémon LeafGreen

Team: Persian, Electrode, Dodrio, Jynx, Slowbro, & Pinsir

Time for our first remake of the series! Originally, I was going back and forth on whether I wanted to include the remakes. Even though I play a lot of Pokémon, I was a little worried that doing this challenge would burn me out eventually. Playing several games "twice" (once for the original and once for a remake) might only add to that problem. But even though I didn't start with FireRed & LeafGreen, I have a lot of nostalgia for them. I think it's the art style and the simplicity of Kanto?

Funny story about me: Since I started with Diamond & Pearl, when I first heard about FRLG, I assumed that they were the original Kanto games and not remakes. I didn't know anything about the original GameBoy, and I couldn't imagine a video game more simplistic than something for the GBA. The first time I ever turned on my copy of LeafGreen in middle school, I remember thinking, "Wow, these are the original Pokémon games. I'm literally playing history right now." It was a few years before I realized that Pokémon was even older than I'd thought 😅

#pokemon #pokemon rby #pokémon #pkmn #pokemon blue #rby #pokemon leafgreen #pokemon frlg #frlg #gameboy advance #gba

[ladyappletun]

Pokémon Improvements I Loved

Gold to Ruby

The MUSIC! I never thought I was the biggest fan of RSE's soundtrack (I think my favorites are DPPt, HGSS, and XY), but just hearing the improvement in the quality of the music, seeing how the composers could play with more instruments and parts to make the music more dynamic, was really cool. I was particularly fond of the Dive theme.

RUNNING SHOES!!! It is soooo nice to be able to go fast without getting on and off the bike constantly. I'm not sure running had to be associated with an item, especially these days, but just the fact that you can run at all and run so easily was wonderful.

Being able to choose your gender. It's kind of wild how, 20 years ago, having the choice between a boy and girl player avatar was a big deal, especially because games nowadays are kind of moving away from that (e.g., in Animal Crossing New Horizons, you're prompted to choose your "style" instead of your gender, and you can change it at any time). But for me at least, being able to play as a girl is nice. I could mostly ignore the fact that you have to play as a boy in RBY, but in Gold and Silver, there's quite a bit of gendered language and it just took me by surprise. My favorite is when you battle Blue; before the fight, he says "Ready, Johto boy?" P.S. I know you could play as a girl in Crystal, but since I played Gold as my Gen II game, this is the first time I'm getting the option.

The game makes it much clearer when an attack misses and when an attack doesn't affect the opponent. In Gens I and II, if an attack misses or it doesn't affect the opponent (like, using a ground move on a flying type), the game just says "It didn't affect ____!" It was really unclear to me, so I'm glad they finally changed it in Gen III.

When you're going to teach a Pokémon a new move, the game shows you a screen with all its current moves and the new one. You can see all the moves' power and accuracy, so you can make an informed choice about which moves you want your Pokémon to have.

The little pop-ups that tell you what route or town you're (again, I know this was added in Crystal, see my point on gender above).

Every city has unique houses, which really sets them apart from each other.

Dive is a really cool concept as an HM. Unfortunately, I didn't end up using it that much, because I didn't have enough patience to deal with the slow movement speed. But it's such a neat idea! Diving underwater to discover new Pokémon and hidden caves (especially as a part of the Regi Trio side quest) made me feel like I was discovering an uncharted new world. I'm looking forward to diving more in ORAS, where your character will hopefully move faster than in the originals.

Double battles! As I've said before, I'm not a huge fan of the meta game, but double battles give a lot more variety for Pokémon. It's nice to just have a different style of battling in the main game from time to time. Plus, at least in later games if not this one, you can team up with a friend in multiplayer battles, so battling with your friends can be a teamwork experience or an adversarial one.

Every Pokémon has a unique sprite in the party menu. It's nothing particularly mind-blowing, but it's a nice touch.

The PC's Pokémon storage system! God, it is so much easier to organize your Pokémon into little boxes instead of having a bunch of lists to navigate. It makes the Boxes feel much bigger, too, like you can store more Pokémon than you used to.

#pokemon #pokemon gsc #pokémon #gsc #pkmn #pokemon gold #gameboy color #pokemon ruby and sapphire #pokemon rse #rse #gameboy advance

[ladyappletun]

Not quite a mechanic, not quite a QoL improvement

Whenever you want to teach a Pokémon a new move, the game will ask "Which move should be forgotten?" and then show you a list of your Pokémon's current moves. In most of the Pokémon games, you have to press A in order for the game to pull up the list. But in the first two gens, the list just appears without you needing to press A. This trips me up *every time* I play Gen I or II, and I always end up deleting the first move on the list when I don't want to. I'm not sure if it counts as a QoL improvement, since it's such a small thing, but I am sooooo glad they changed it in Ruby and Sapphire.

#pokemon #pokémon #pkmn #pokemon ruby and sapphire #pokemon rse #rse #gameboy advance #pokemon rby #pokemon blue #pokemon gsc #gsc #rby #pokemon gold #gameboy color #gameboy

[ladyappletun]

I *always* get lost between Mauville and Lavaridge. I think it's a combo of the desert on Route 111 and the cable car. Like, I see the desert, know I don't have the Go-Goggles, and think I have to come back later. And then when I remember that I can go around the desert, I don't see the cable car station and thus forget to use it. Does that happen to anyone else?

#pokemon #pokémon #pkmn #pokemon ruby and sapphire #pokemon rse #rse #gameboy advance

[ladyappletun]

Idk why but I really like the little coffee cup sprite in RSE. It's so small, it looks like something out of a dollhouse. It just brings me joy

(I couldn't find any images of the sprite online, so I had to take one 2009-style with my phone camera)

#pokemon #pokémon #pkmn #pokemon ruby and sapphire #pokemon rse #rse #pkmn rse #coffee #sprite art #pokemon sprite

[ladyappletun]

General Observation #4

Why is the Devon Corporation building so freaking cool? It looks like a cathedral! I always loved the doors in particular, since it's a double doorway with no actual door in the frame. Like, what office building would have that? 😂

Photo crédit: Bulbapedia (https://m.bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Devon_Corporation#/media/File%3ADevon_Corporation_E.png)

https://m.bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Devon_Corporation#/media/File%3ADevon_Corporation_E.png

#pokemon #pokémon #pkmn #pokemon ruby and sapphire #pokemon rse #pkmn rse #devon corporation #devon corp

[ladyappletun]

Generation III: Pokémon Ruby

Team: Sceptile, Exploud, Hariyama, Absol, Whiscash, Walrein

It's time for Gen III! Finally, we're out of the 8-bit era and into some territory I'm a little more familiar with. I didn't start with Gen III, but it plays very similar to Gen IV, where I did start. And even though the first two generations have a lot to offer, I really don't have a lot of patience for them. At the very least, I'm very glad that I'm finally going to play a game with Running Shoes!

This is also the first game that I'll be playing the original version of. I have Blue and Gold on Virtual Console, since I never owned a regular GameBoy. But Ruby & Sapphire never got a Virtual Console release, so all I have to work with is my partner's copy of Ruby from their childhood and their Nintendo DS Lite. I had my own copies of the Gen III games and several systems that could play them at one point, but I sold them all to GameStop over the years. Biggest regret of my life!

Also, little side note: Steven Universe has permanently altered my brain to always associate these games with the Gems Ruby & Sapphire. Has this happened to anyone else? 😂

#pokemon #pokémon #pkmn #pokemon ruby and sapphire #pokemon rse #rse #pkmn rse #generation 3 #gameboy advance

[ladyappletun]

General Observation #3

As someone who's more familiar with HGSS than GSC, I'm really surprised by how much of Kanto is simplified in the postgame. Viridian Forest is so small it doesn't even count as its own area, and Mt. Moon is only 2 floors! It's totally understandable why; from what I understand this was a very expansive game for its time. It's just kind of surprising. I'm glad in HGSS they brought Kanto back to what it was in Gen I instead of just keeping the smaller areas from Gen II.

#pokemon #pokémon #pokemon gold #pokemon gsc #gsc #pkmn gsc #virtual console #gameboy color #kanto #johto

[ladyappletun]

Pokémon Mechanics I Loved

Blue to Gold

The day/night cycle. Having video games mimic the real world can be tedious, since you have to wait real time for certain things to occur, but it helps you slow down, stop and smell the roses, and it gives you something small--but fun--to plan for. I'm a huge fan of Animal Crossing, so I guess it makes a lot of sense that I'd vibe with this mechanic, too. For the first time, I took a little bit of time each day to find all the Day of the Week Siblings, and it was fun to chip away at that goal every day.

Hold items. I'm really not into the metagame, but it's still interesting to experiment with different items through the course of the game. I gave my Pokémon berries a lot this time around, and sometimes I would forget which berries I gave to whom, so when they were used in battle I was pleasantly surprised. It was like past me was giving future me a helping hand.

Shiny Pokémon. I'm not a big shiny hunter, either, but I do like the thrill of finding a shiny when you weren't expecting it. I do wish the odds were a little higher, though. As I get older, I get more annoyed with game mechanics that rely on very low probabilities. It discourages me from even engaging with those mechanics at all, because I don't want to put in the time necessary to even have a chance at getting the outcome I want.

#pokemon #pokemon rby #pokémon #pkmn #pokemon gsc #gsc #pokemon gold #shiny pokemon

[ladyappletun]

Pokémon QoL Improvements I Loved

Gen II (Blue to Gold)

The bag has pockets now! I absolutely cannot STAND the bag in RBY; you're limited to only 20 items, and there's no organizational system whatsoever. The Gen II games not only sort items into appropriate pockets, but also (according to Bulbapedia), only kept the 20-item limit for the main Item pocket and not the others. So you're still running to the PC occasionally, but not nearly as often as in Gen I.

The music seems more elaborate. I'm no game development expert, but as far as I know the first 2 generations use 8-bit, and thus have the same sound system to work with. But Gen II really seems to have more interesting music, with multiple instrumental "parts" playing at the same time.

Your Pokémon's Exp. bar is visible in battle. I'm not 100% sure why I'm so desperate to know how much experience my Pokémon have at any given moment--maybe it's just because it's a staple in future games and I'm really used to it--but it is so nice to have that information without combing through a bunch of menus.

When you close and re-open a menu, the cursor stays where it was when you closed the menu instead of resetting to the top. A super minor thing, but it saved me a lot of scrolling in the long run.

If your Pokémon has been affected by Wrap, you can still take your turn.

You can use HMs in the overworld by clicking on the object you want to use an HM on, instead of navigating through the menu. This saves so much time it's not even funny.

Registering an item to the Select button. Especially helpful to use on the bicycle, since you can't run.

The names of TMs are listed in the bag. I'm so glad I can see what moves my TMs are for without looking up a list or running through the dialogue to teach my Pokémon the move.

The move deleter! I was so surprised to find that there wasn't a move deleter in Gen I. I was teaching my Pokémon HM moves with the expectation that I could just change them later, and I couldn't!

Trainers have names in addition to their trainer class. It just makes the world seem more real to have Big Catcher Larry and Big Catcher Steve, as opposed to them all just being called "Bug Catcher."

And finally, the color! For a graphical jump that feels, to me at least, pretty minor (just going from black-and-white 8-bit to color 8-bit), they really made everything as beautiful as it could possibly be within the limits they had at the time. The color adds so much more to the world, and it seems the environments are a lot more detailed than in the previous game, too.

#pokemon #pokemon rby #pokémon #pkmn #pokemon blue #pokemon gsc #gsc #pkmn gsc #pokemon gold

[ladyappletun]

Hey there! Something i think is interesting is that, they had the Exp All in gen 1, and while a little annoying because you have to scroll past it telling you all of your pokemon gained experience in every single battle. I think it's interesting that they exchanged it for only 1 pokemon all the way up until sun and moon (i think) where they finally go back to giving all of your pokemon experience points again.

My first game was gold version (and i wouldn't play blue version until 2019) so i had i thought it was Just general innovation to expand it, but when i played blue version i was shocked to see they had it originally. Just an interesting thing to me. Thanks for reading.

Hi! Thanks for reaching out!

I had definitely never heard of the Exp. All either until the current exp system was introduced. It is wild that they revisited an idea after so much time had passed, but good on them honestly.