Mascot Pokémon Showdown: Generation I

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After the Gym Leader and Elite Four Showdown, we’re bringing you a new series: Mascot Pokémon Showdown! We’ll look at the cover Pokémon of the original box art from Pokémon Red to Pokémon Moon (ignoring remakes). Who will come out on top as the top Mascot Pokémon? Let’s find out!

First up, is Kanto. Generation I consisted of four games: Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow. These four installments were the only in the series to not feature a Legendary Pokémon, instead, they each contained an image of a Starter Pokémon. Released in Japan in 1996, and in 1998 in the US, they were the first Pokémon games that sucked us into the world we’re still in today.

Pokémon Red Version

500px-red_en_boxartPokémon Red featured the original Fire-type Starter, Charizard, the Flame Pokémon, on its cover art.

Its design is based on a European dragon as told about in legends. The tip of its tail has a flame that burns hotter as it gains battle experience. Mostly inhabiting mountain sides, Charizard is one of the biggest causes of forest fires, even though it’s not their intention.

Its signature move is Blast Burn, introduced in Generation III, which has now become an exclusive move for every Fire-type Starter. Despite being part Flying-type Charizard wasn’t able to learn Fly in Pokémon Red, Blue, and Green. Both of Charizard’s Mega Evolutions have the highest base stat totals of all non-legendary Fire-type Pokémon. Its name comes from ‘charcoal‘ and ‘lizard‘.

Pokémon Blue Version

500px-blue_en_boxartPokémon Blue featured Blastoise, the Shellfish Pokémon. It’s the original Water Starter and it’s based on a turtle with resemblances of a tank.

Because the water jets it shoots from its cannons are so strong, it has to make itself heavy in order to withstand the force – they can even burst through concrete walls!

With the signature moves Skull Bash and Hydro Cannon, Mega Blastoise has the highest Special Attack base stat of all non-legendary Water Pokémon. Its name is a combination of ‘blast‘ and ‘tortoise‘.

Pokémon Green Version

Pokémon Green showed Venusaur on its cover, the Seed Pokémon. 250px-green_jp_boxartAs the first Grass Starter, it’s based on some form of prehistorian reptile with a Rafflesia Arnoldii on its back. It uses its flower to catch sunlight, which it then converts into energy; making its flower more vibrant.

Its signature move is Frenzy Plant. Mega Venusaur has the highest base stat total and Defense stat of all Poison-type Pokémon. Its name comes from ‘Venus flytrap plant‘, ‘venom‘ and ‘dinosaur‘.

Pokémon Yellow Version

500px-yellow_en_boxartOn the cover of Pokémon Yellow is the Pokémon franchise’s mascot: the Mouse Pokémon – Pikachu! This game marked the first and only time where you didn’t actually get to choose your Starter Pokémon – your rival only had one choice as well (although it could evolve into different options), Eevee.

Pikachu is based on various rodents, despite its category suggesting it’s just designed as a mouse. Pikachu stores electricity in its cheeks to release at enemies. It also uses this power to roast hard berries to make them easier to eat.

Volt Tackle is the name of its signature move. Its name comes from ‘pikapika‘, an onomatopoeia for an electric spark, and ‘chuchu‘, which could either be the onomatopoeia for squeaking, or simply a kiss.

That’s it for the first instalment of Mascot Pokémon Showdown. We hope you guys enjoyed the new Showdown format! Keep a look out for Generation II in a few days time!

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685 thoughts on “Mascot Pokémon Showdown: Generation I”

  2. Charizard all the way up! Fuck Blastoise, one of the ugliest starters ever. I hope Venusaur gets second place instead of it.

    Reply

  3. I follow this Tumblr that posts art counting down til Sun and Moon so I’m going to start posting my favorites daily. I’ve been doing some of this earlier but I’m going to try to do this every day!

    https://65.media.tumblr.com/2a5754536eb85092737610210ec3c101/tumblr_ofegozN18J1vu8cs7o1_1280.jpg
    artist: http://huksly.deviantart.com/

    https://67.media.tumblr.com/00c8d35cf4e39115875d1d389ae02ef7/tumblr_ofegng4xzb1vu8cs7o1_1280.png
    artist: http://shou-chii.deviantart.com/ tumblr: http://kiyomitsoo.tumblr.com/

    Reply

  6. Charizard and pikachu are so overrated. There are many better dragons. And that thing is only popular because it’s the mascot, otherwise no one gives a crap about midddle evolutions. Venusaur and blastoise are much cooler.

    DONT LET CHARIZARD WIN. GETS TOO MUCH ATTENTION AS IT IS.

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  7. On the topic of special treatment and overrated pokemon, do you ever think thats probably the reason the some pokemon kind of fly under the radar? Like GF and Nintendo play favourites so much and focus on the same pokemon over an over again that there are a lot of pokemon with like so much potential that are basically just created and ignored

    Reply

  8. I kinda realized the problem I have with mythicals. I can never use them! They are always banned in tournaments, they are rarely able to be obtained, when they are they are usually too powerful to use in game, like there is no time you can really use them!

    Reply

  9. Going to be wondertrading my entire living dex the next few days to start over before Sun and Moon comes out. Can’t wait to marathon FR,HG,OR,Pt,W,W2 and X for next few weeks

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      • and honestly season 7 was not that bad. The problem is that it followed season 6 which imo was the strongest season yet

        Reply

          • Can someone please explain the purpose of the show? I have met some drag queens irl and they were really rude to women who were around them, so is my understanding that they are making fun of women incorrect?

          • not really. Basically this show is to have more recognition in the drag community. Being part of show equals the drag queen being paid higher for appearance because their name will be recognized more. The longer you stay, the more impact you can make on the community meaning more money. And probably you just met a clown queen that her career is basically make fun of everyone

          • I did once with my mom. However some of the episodes they were being very crass and rather disgusting a lot of the things they were saying like. I don’t generally associate with people who act or talk like that. I also thought Adore Delano was a female until her I love u video.

          • yeah there are a lot, and I mean a lot of queens who do crude humour, but then there are other queens like Max who doesn’t like that kind of talk at all and is very tame. Its all in who you are. Adore is very pretty, there are quite a few drag queens who, while in drag you would never know they were actually guys makeup is a powerful tool

          • I guess its probably because I was raised as a princess and generally to sit still and look pretty and to talk eloquently, boys don’t like a foul mouth, etc.

          • theres nothing wrong with being a princess, but please, don’t ever try to be something for a man. You are worth so much more than that

          • People who are transgender experience Gender Dysphoria, when their gender identity doesn’t match their sex (genitals)

            Crossdressers just do it for fun and don’t experience dysphoria

          • they are performers. Drag queens now adays have to have be skilled in so many different things to actually make it one the show, dancing, acting, comedy, make-up skills, sewing. But first and foremost they are performers, some of them excel at stand up comedy, some of them are more into the pageantry of it all, but you cant paint them all with one make-up brush, chances are the people you met were just rude in general. The purpose of drag is not to make fun of women, like at all

          • I get it now, I’m generally put off by stand up comedy and comedic, I understand now why I don’t comprehend it. Sorry..

  11. If you were locked in a room for 3 months with no internet, what three games would you bring? (No internet so no games that rely upon online to play. So no Overwatch or anything like that)

    1. Pokemon Alpha Sapphire
    2. Stardew Valley
    3. Minecraft

    Reply

  13. OH MY GAWD!!! IF THE NEXT REGION IS BASED ON CANADA THEY COULD HAVE LEGENDARIES LIKE THE TAPU POKEMON AS WELL!!!! MORE TOTEMS!!! only they would probs be like grass or something

    Reply

    • dream the impossible dream. Mostly because Sun and Moon requires two screens, which the switch will never have.

      That, and people tend to be quickly disappointed when you give them exactly what they ask for, only to realize it doesn’t really work well.

      Reply

  19. One odd wish I have for SM: I want to lose a battle. I’m not asking for it to be extremely difficult (that’d be nice though), but I don’t want it to be so easy that I never have to scurry to the center. As unlikely as that sounds, I never lost a battle in the main story of XY, so even just one battle would be a step up from that.

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    • How about you’re fighting UB-02 Absorbtion and it powers itself up and lunges straight at you with its proboscis and Prof. Kukui jumps in front and gets stabbed right through

      Shits getting real dawg

      Reply

    • I think I’d like a story driven loss. One to make it seem like there’s actually a threat. In the other games it just feels like the characters are plowing through every problem they come up against.

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    • I don’t think it’s odd at all, a hard game can be frustrating, but that pushes you to improve and try again. I think that is much better than a game that is completed using little to no effort, in fact, I consider easy games somewhat boring. It still baffles me that they haven’t added an Easy or Hard mode for the games, they were kinda along the right track with B&W (it could be B&W 2, don’t remember), except the requirements to access hard mode were ridiculous. I wish for SM to be harder and for the story to be much darker than any past Pokémon game.

      Reply

  20. Ok for fun:

    Recommend a game you don’t think many people have played!!
    ______________________________________________________________________________

    To The Moon – What seems like just another RPG Maker game turns out to be one of the most emotionally gripping games I’ve ever played. It is about two people from a company that goes into the memories of those on their death bed and changes their memories so they can die with memories of them living their greatest wish. Neil Watts and Eva Roseline go into the memories of a dying man and witness his life unfold backwards.

    I have yet to play a game that left me in tears like this one. I can not recommend it enough. One flaw is that the game play is almost non-existant. But this really isn’t that type of game. You don’t play this game for fun. You play this game to experience a truly wonderful story. If you choose to watch a let’s play, consider buying the game on Steam or from the developer’s website. This game deserves the purchase.

    Reply

    • Does Yo-kai watch count I’ve only seen in person 1 person who played it and only know of two people who played it here excluding me

      That or Dinosaurs Battle of the Giants 3D wasn’t the best but it was good to an extent

      Reply

    • If I had to say a game that I don’t think many people here have played it would Dragon Age: Inquisition, its actually one of the most amazing games I have ever played, and I got more attached to a character that I myself created then I ever thought would happen, its a long game though with tons to do, like skyrim only with a huge and better main story that you don’t forget about. Oh and you can be gay, and there is an openly trans character.

      If I had to say a game I don’t think people have played in general it would be Fantasy Life, its a solid game, it has great combat, adorable characters, solid gameplay that can go on for a very long time and its just so great and cute

      Reply

    • Uhhhhhhh hmmmmm yeah I got nothing honestly right now I’m slaving away in World of Warcraft but I hit lvl 110 on my Monk so that’s 6 110s and 6 to go

      Reply

    • Gotcha Force. seriously this hidden gamecube gem is a total blast to play, its an open arena 3rd person fighter by Capcom, where you take control of a squad (1 at a time) of small toy like robots with varying abilities and stats. there’s many classes, like ninja borgs, gunner borgs, knights, knuckle, vehicle, machine, flying, dragon, fortress, etc. it has a roster of about 200 playable characters.

      Reply

    • Armello – An innovative digital board game. The goal is to take over the throne, whether through amassing prestige, killing the king, banishing the king/cleansing his corruption, or being even more corrupt than the king and killing him later.

      What sets it apart from other board games are the use of mechanics that real world board game can’t possibly manage properly (like stealth, NPCs that move around, randomized quest locations).

      Oh and it does have online multiplayer with randoms (or your friends) if you love screwing people over with spells and perils on the board.

      —

      I also recommend Stardew Valley, but it is very popular so I won’t describe it in length, except that its an indie farming game in the vein of Harvest Moon.

      Reply

    • No More Heroes 1 & 2 for Wii. Seriously so interesting. They’re not perfect games but I love them for what they are.

      House of the Dead: Overkill for Wii. But I only recommend this one to be played with a friend and binged over the course of one evening/night.

      Reply

  22. For anyone who says Alola can’t have fossils because of geography, T-Rexes aren’t native to Europe, Pterodactyls aren’t native to Japan, etc., so if they took geography into account at all we would have gotten different fossils. 😛

    Reply

  25. It’s incredible to think that in 1-2 weeks’ time, someone could have their hands on a copy of Sun and Moon, revealing every secret there is to know: every pressing question, every store detail, every postgame opportunity.

    That is, if they don’t get busted by Nintendo beforehand 😛

    Reply

    • I remember the guy who got x version quite a bit early. the internet RAGED at greninja’s design, and now everyone loves it. hawlucha was leaked that way too if I remember correctly. good times!

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      • Yeah I remember exactly that, absolutely hating greninja when I first saw it (the pics weren’t really doing it’s coolness justice tbf), but adoring hawlucha so being massively conflicted about wanting it to be real or fake. Binacle was also revealed at the same time, I remember thinking it was hella ugly wanting it to be fake but also thinking it was a pretty flawless goose barnacle pokémon. Good times indeed! (Actually, not that good, discovering we only got 71 new pokés and spoiling myself the whole dex in frustration wasn’t that fun…. How delightful it’s happened all over again…)

        Reply

    • Canada was threatened with 1 week delay in ORAS too with Nintendo only saying USA (instead of “NA”) for the release date. But fortunately (unfortunately?) they didn’t get delayed in the end.

      Reply

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