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Which Were The Very First Pokémon Created By Game Freak?

By Ishaan . November 12, 2011 . 4:30pm

Which Were The Very First Pokémon Created By Game Freak?

No, it wasn’t Pikachu. Or Bulbasaur, Charmander or Squirtle. The first few Pokémon created during the development of Pokémon Red and Green (Blue outside of Japan) were Rhyhorn, Lapras and Clefairy, each with their own predetermined roles, such as carrying baggage, giving you a ride across the sea, or simply being a pet.

 

This little piece of history comes from an old three-part interview with the development staff of Pokémon Red and Green, unearthed by GlitterBerri. You can find links to all three parts here. They make for a very interesting read.

 

The interview also reveals that Pokémon was originally more RPG-like. As development progressed, however, it became a game about collecting monsters and trying to complete your Pokédex instead. Memory capacity resulted in there being 151 Pokémon in the first set of games, although many more were designed.

 

This ties into another interesting story we ran last year. Mew, who’s #151 in the original Pokédex, was actually squeezed into the games at the last minute, after the removal of debug features created 300 bytes of extra space on the cartridge. He was never intended to be revealed to players, and was instead intended for post-launch promotions.

 

Unfortunately — or fortunately, rather — a bug resulted in Mew appearing in the games of a few players. Word of mouth got around, and led to Nintendo announcing their first “legendary offer” via CoroCoro magazine in Japan, where they would give Mew away through special events. It was this #151 announcement that kickstarted the popularity of the Pokémon games.


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  • shion16

    I like Pidgey

    • Kitestwinblades

      Pidgey was so awesome back then! Don’t even get me started on that Rare Pidgeotto in Viridian Forest.

      Ironically if you had pokemon yellow- the ONLY thing thats gonna defeat brock in either in that forest or right outside of it. After a little leveling of course XD

  • Bakuryukun

    Lapras is best. I have fond memories of giving it Thunderbolt and Surf. Oh hey there Mr.Swimmer. What’s that, you use water Pokemon? What a coincidence me too…Lapras used LIGHTNINGDEATH.

    • SolidusSnake

      Also giving Pikachu surf. Oh noes, ground pokemon? Thunderbolt has no effect?! lol surf

      • WilliamJasper

        Too bad I couldn’t learn freakin’ Surf when I faced Brock. They raped me so much in Pokemon Yellow when I was younger that I just threw the game and never finished it. That was just unfair. :( There also wasn’t any Pokemon that was useful enough to defeat him at the time as far as I remembered, so I was stuck there. Ugh. A nightmare I tell you.

        • SolidusSnake

          Haha yeah, that was a tough one. At least with Charmander you could knock their health down with ember since rock/ground types had such a garbage special stat

        • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_S2UKKIGGOA4V5EIFXAD7BQQOV4 Heehee

          Thank God for Mankey.

        • http://terracannon876.livejournal.com Laura

          I think I did the old Butterfree trick (confusion, w00t), although I may have taken advantage of Nidoran’s double kick too.

          Either that, or I spammed quick attacks with Pikachu (and an appropriate number of potions too!).  Now that I think about it, I think I did this method… >_>

        • Kitestwinblades

          Fighting and Psychic moves ironically unite to defeat brock.
          Maybe Meditite/Medicham is a Kudos to early pokemon yellow XD

          (I really godda start reading the entire comment layout before posting XD I could have replied with the second part of my first comment lol)

        • Barrylocke89

          In Red, I always liked Squirtle so no issues there. In Yellow I used Mankey, Nidoran (learns Double Kick) and Butterfree to do the job.

          • http://www.youtube.com/user/Kamek20xxExtra?feature=mhee Michael Stevens

            Yep. Same here.

          • WilliamJasper

            But I never did like Mankey at the time, so I never wanted it, and Nidoran was the very first one to get killed by that damn Onix all the time. It took too long to continue leveling up, so I was like screw it. I never liked Caterpie because all it ever learned was Tackle I think, and I never even knew that Caterpie could evolve so easily. Stupid me.

      • Kitestwinblades

        I remember teaching mines Iron Tail around the Gold and Silver era to take care of the rock types and years later a friend of mines told me they did the same thing on the show XD
        Couldn’t Flippin’ believe it.

        But i love Surfing Pikachu!

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/Kamek20xxExtra?feature=mhee Michael Stevens

    How EXTREMELY interesting, because I always thought it was Pikachu, which makes me wonder why Pikachu is one of the primary Pokemon focused by Nintendo in the first place (enough to make Pikachu the mascot of Pokemon and the main Pokemon in Pokemon anime). Well anyways, one of my most favorite Pokemon, Lapras, is one of the very first to be created. Now I’m even more happy to have been a Lapras fan. X3 Yay for Lapras!

    …….lol to Mew. XD Nice interview by the way.

    • http://terracannon876.livejournal.com Laura

      Love the Lapras!  I have one named Sigurd in my Heart Gold and I luv it.  Didn’t expect him to be one of the first Pokemon either.

      I’m not sure what to think about Clefairy being one of the first, though.  She’s never been a fave.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_Q6NXXGMO5XNSMJ64NIHYHFP56A Vince

    I love Clefairy.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3ITUZUKPZYUV2VUCVXUW3DVO6Y AJ

    Now that is interesting.  I came in thinking it was one of the more visually boring ones.  I’m glad I was wrong.  These three are pretty interesting.  I love Lapras!

  • WilliamJasper

    Wow…..Mew squeezed in at the last minute? Now I feel awful for the little…..thing. :(

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/keyblademaster333#p/a/f/1/oAlztMvvNkk Keyblademaster333

    Actually surprised that Ryhorn was one of the earliest. I alwasy figured Zubat was XD

  • Muggshotter

    See? DLC existed before someone even invented the abbreviation.

    I had no idea. These “happy accidents” are amazing and how they can become so much more over time.

    • Tom_Phoenix

      Of course, in this case, people didn’t have to PAY in order to get it….

    • Suicunesol

      In addition to not paying, it wasn’t even downloadable content since the content was already on the cartridge. You just needed to unlock it via event. It’s like that to this very day.

  • http://gloopyeegra.wordpress.com/ Arla

    A pokemon mount instead of a bike, thats cool.

  • NTyron52

    This is interesting, so I guess the first thing they thought were Pokémons with an important role in the game, not about “which the player should start with”. I wonder if they’ve thought about this during the development of other Pokémon titles.

    You know, I’ve actually never got a chance to play Pokémon Red, because I got Gold first. And boy I spent SO MUCH time playing that… my Typholosion was the first one of my pokemons that got to lvl100, so was Ho-oh, Lugia, Crobat, Dragonite and the list goes on… At the time I thought the secret last boss was Ash Ketchum from the Pokemon anime, since I’ve mainly known about the Pokemon anime, and that anime was awesome too. Damn, I should’ve never given away my Gameboy color >_<".

    This makes me want to buy Pokemon Black and White so bad… but I have to fix my Nintendo DS!

    • http://www.youtube.com/user/Kamek20xxExtra?feature=mhee Michael Stevens

      Well I never had Gold, but I had Silver and Crystal, and I was addicted. When I was younger, I never did train starters lol. I always loved the Pidgeys at the time, and my Pidgeot was beast! I had Pidgeot, Dragonite, Suicune, Pikachu (I didn’t even know where to find another thunderstone at the time, but it was beast though lol), Ho-oh, and Tyranitar. Loved it so much that I bought Heartgold, and I’m still addicted. :P (I still have the Pokemon Silver that I had when I was 5, but I don’t know if it still works)

      Oh and yes, GET POKEMON BLACK OR WHITE! My most favorite Pokemon game, even though most of the new ones look absolutely weird. The music is kickass, and somehow, I like the gameplay on Black and White more than the others, even though they’re the exact same gameplay. I don’t know why. I hope you get your DS fixed soon so you can enjoy such a great game!

      • http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan

        Black and White have a number of tweaks that make them more enjoyable to play than any of the other recent games, so that probably explains why you like them more. :) Battles are faster, even more so if you turn off animations. They’ll be done in a flash, which makes grinding much more streamlined. 

        I think the biggest difference is that the wild Pokémon are really strong this time, even early on. It’s kind of amazing that one of the early level 7 bugs or birds or rats can KO a couple of your team if you aren’t careful. I think that helps a lot because it makes every encounter feel more meaningful.

        • http://www.youtube.com/user/Kamek20xxExtra?feature=mhee Michael Stevens

          Oh yeah. Forgot about those. Those pink Pokemon (I thine the name is Tabunne) also really made me keep playing because of the easy EXP you get from them, making grinding a breeze.

        • Suicunesol

          “KO a couple of your team if you aren’t careful”

          This is true. When I encountered a wild Sawk on Route 3ish for the first time, I went “WHOA what is that?! I have to catch it!”

          It KO’d my entire party after I spent all of my Pokeballs. Of course, that only made me want it more.

          • http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan

            Yea, that happened to me quite a bit. It was like a splash of cold water, hahaha. I love what they did with Black and White. That 3DS Pokémon has some giant boots to fill…

      • NTyron52

        Yeah I want it NOW! I want to build my old team again… Crobat was one of my favorites, Aerodactyl was one that I really liked too… I want to play them so much! And of course, I want to try out some new ones.

        Anyway, is anyone else having the same problem as I am with my DS? The problem is that, the lower screen is practically not visible, it has some sort of white horizontal lines that keeps bouncing up and down… and the upper screen is also having the same problem at the bottom of it. Well, not only that, but my DS doesn’t load any games anymore… I might as well buy the 3DS (I suppose it supports DS games right?)

        • Suicunesol

          I’d say wait for Gray at this point if you can. If Nintendo is smart, they’ll release it for 3DS. That’ll give you an excuse to buy it.

          That, and DS games don’t tend to look great on 3DS systems.

      • Joanna

        My Blue version still works but Silver and Crystal’s battery died, so my saved files got erased. They would work like new if I replaced the batteries. I’m probably the biggest Pokemon addict around, I’ve been playing since Blue and have at least one copy per generation. But agreed, Black and White are probably one of the best generations. :D

    • Solomon_Kano

      I miss my GBC too. I have no idea where it is either. I know I didn’t sell it… or at least, I don’t think I did.

      I started with Red, but I got it shortly before G/S/C came out, so I ended up abandoning it — not before getting a lvl 100 Onyx though. For whatever reason, I had some compulsion to do that. Maybe it was because Brock seemed cool *shrug*. In fact, by way of hand-me-downs, I ended up with 2 copies of Silver and Crystal. And played the hell out of both (or all 4, I guess) lol. My Gengar was a BOSS. And my Red Gyrados? Crazy. Never could catch a Suicune though… Man. Nostalgia trip haha.

  • Apache_Chief

    This is the best news story I’ve seen all day, and it technically shouldn’t even be called”news”. It should be “olds”.

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/xxHiryuuxx Hiryuu

    I somehow assumed Lapras would be in there.  Since every water poke turns into its icon.

    The original gen 1 icons as well next to each of the Pokemon in question was another hint.

    • http://gloopyeegra.wordpress.com/ Arla

      Oh yea, I forgot about that.

  • http://myanimelist.net/profile/Kuronoa Kuronoa

    More of a traditional RPG is interesting, I wonder what it would of been like to have seen many of the Pokemon as evil beings and not because of the trainer.  At least I wouldn’t feel bad killing the thousandth Zubat in a cave.

    Probably wouldn’t see the series as strong is it always now that I think about it…

  • Solomon_Kano

    Huh. Ryhorn, Lapras and Clefairy? Interesting. I never thought the starters were actually who they started with, but I’d never have guessed these 3. The interview was a good read.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002868112952 Blaine Frisbey

    Odd, I thought it was RhyDON who was the first, at least according to Bulbapedia.  Maybe a mistranslation?  Or maybe Bulbapedia’s had it wrong all this time.

    • http://twitter.com/sheleigha Shel

      I thought it was too, since I heard that’s why Rhydon is one of the default icons. Makes sense with Lapras, since no mater what you use to surf, it’s Lapras!

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kristóf-Muzsik/100000290116010 Kristóf Muzsik

        What are you talking about? A Seel/Dewgong thing is the surfing icon in generaion I. Lapras was in gen II.

  • WilliamJasper

    @Michael Stevens
    Tabunne is the Japanese name, and Audino is the English one.

  • WilliamJasper

    @NTyron52
    I did, but that was when my DS was really old, or that I kept dropping it on the floor lol. Anyways, the 3DS does support DS games, but not as good as the DS or DSi. The games will be stretched out, and the colors are not as colorful on the 3DS than the DS. You can fixed the stretched out screen by hold Start and Select, but that doesn’t effect the colors, so it’s better to play it on the DS, but it’s very good on the 3DS as well. Just not as good.

  • MrRobbyM

    And guess what? That led to the first movie. Without that last minute Mew cram-in, I probably wouldn’t like Pokemon nearly as much as I did.

    Sigh…so much nostalgia.

  • heartless141

    Oh god Lapras, i miss you :(

  • http://twitter.com/digtrioPortable Digtrio

    Rhyhorn is the MAN! I loved him so much back in the day (and he’s still pretty rad). It’s just he’s frustrating in the games. He’s not quite the powerhouse he appears and his movepool is dull. Rhydon gives you more power but he loses the cool design and I haven’t even touched Rhyperior.

    Also, Lapras is rad. ;D

  • Wake

    I like that Lapras pic. He’s like “Yo bro, hop on! We are so gonna destroy that punk Gary.” I only played yellow but those were fun times. 

  • Daniel13789

    Huh, very interesting. Learning new stuff every day.

  • JustThisOne

    Wait, so Rhyhorn carries your luggage? D: Poor guy.

  • theworldofnoboundries

    Oh man seeing those first generation pokemon makes me feels old lol. As my first pokemon is yellow and then red and blue. I even could still find the game lol.

    Well Clefairy is always one of my fav especially it is one of the first pokemon in the time using moon stone to evolve.
    Clefable for the the way!!!!

  • http://twitter.com/Megawarrior345 Elle

    *sigh* so much nostalgia. I was so happy when I got a Clefairy in Pokemon Yellow, and  I never wanted to evolve it. Rhyhorn as one of the first? Very random lol.

  • MrSirFeatherFang

    Aw man, one of them wasn’t Scyther (I’m sorry I had to post this, it’s hilarious! Though the gratuitous swearing is what makes it funny haha). Nice to know that they were the first 3, Lapras is the only one with no evolution! (no don’t pull that there was a baby one in the anime bs on me lol)

  • Deluode Koyor

    There are a ton of interesting things about Pokemon in fact just going to bulbapedia will give you a plethora of things that you probably didn’t know about http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Beta even also on 4chan /tr/vp/ had a lot of interesting things as well that are archived. 
    http://chanarchive.org/4chan/vp/6795/gen-1-strategy-guide-art
    http://chanarchive.org/4chan/vp/6794/gen-1-strategy-guide-art-part-2

    While this includes a misc book that someone apparently bought at one time that includes a plethora of interesting things as well such as beta art. 
    http://chanarchive.org/4chan/vp/8494/capsule-monsters

    • JustThisOne

      I was kinda digging around, when I noticed that Gold/Silver’s original starting town was called Silent Hill.

      Hm.

      • Deluode Koyor

        I just completely forgot about that until you mentioned it. I used to have a large folder that contained a lot of neat things in it nabbed from Gamefreaks old website, from image boards, to digging around. One of my favorite things were the original beta names http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/9/9c/Generation_I_prototype_English_names.jpg

  • http://twitter.com/DeepGamersisGay CB Beta Never Forget

    Clefairy was originally supposed to be the mascot of Pokemon. He was even supposed to be Ash’s starter in the anime but he was replaced with Pikachu at the last minute. Him being one of the first three Pokemon created drives the point home further.

  • Michael Vincent

    Nostalgia. Ah. back then, I was kid who relied on his parents to make decisions for him. The very first big decision-making of my life is when I had to choose which among squirtle, blubusaur, and charmander should be my starter pokemon. lol.

  • http://www.facebook.com/JaeWhy SasuleUchiha

    Oh hahaha , I never knew it. It was like ten years ago and the first Pokemon game I’d played is Pokemon Yellow. The game was really good. Bring back memories :D

    • darkraiders

      Actually that more like 15 years ago first pokemon was released in Japan.
      Each time you start a pokemon game you always have 1996,1998 and the last date is the date of the last pokemon game released.
      1996 is the date of the first pokemon game released in Japan and 1998 for NA.
      Also in case you didn’t know the first pokemon game wasn’t in set it was Pokemon green which was never released outside of japan after that Blue and Red was released worldwide.

      • LynxAmali

        Actually, that’s a general misconception. Japan also got Red. But instead of getting Blue, they got Green. Only the name was different.

        As for this, that was…new. I swear it would have been Meowth. Not surprisingly, Lapras was one of them.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kevi-Johnson-el/100001847029873 Kevi Johnson-el

        you know to much about pokemon 

      • Solomon_Kano

        He didn’t say that was when it came out, only when he played it. “[T]he first Pokemon game I’d played” is what he said, not “the first Pokemon game that came out.” Perhaps he’s younger than you.

        • http://www.facebook.com/JaeWhy SasuleUchiha

          You are right :D. I’m 18

          • Solomon_Kano

            Ah. I figured. Well, not the exact age, but you get me.

      • http://www.facebook.com/JaeWhy SasuleUchiha

        I got my gameboy advance around 2001 or so , lol I’m late. :D

  • SuigetsuHiramura

    Awh Lapras… one of my favorite pokemon ever XD

  • aoihana

    Unfortunately, my Pokemon Blue cartridge was faulty, so my progress was lost literally over night. The worst part wasn’t losing my progress, but rather having to go through the conundrum of picking my starter Pokemon all over again. My heart can’t take it!

    • Solomon_Kano

      That’s awful. I was fortunate enough to have all of my old Pokemon games survive, but that happened to me in one of the GBA ones, Ruby, I think. Picking between Treecko and Mudkip a second time, the torture! D:

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kristóf-Muzsik/100000290116010 Kristóf Muzsik

    I’m pretty sure Rhydon was the first Pokémon ever designed, not Rhyhorn. Every source I found so far claimed so.

    • http://backloggery.com/wanderingmind WanderingMind

      Yup.  That and the fact that Rhydon’s index number is 001.

  • http://www.fanfiction.net/u/601368/ Sharda Colon

    *feels nostaglic* Ah… Lapras.. How I miss thee… *Gets on Lapras back and both swim towards the horizon* >:D

  • https://twitter.com/#!/SplashdownTiger STiger

    So is this why Lapras is the default sprite when using Surf?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimm-Alonzo/100000405718066 Jimm Alonzo

    Lapras has always been one of my favorites. When I bought the original Red Version, that’s one of the Pokemon I had to have in my party. Lapras, Charizard, Pikachu, Dragonite, Chansey, and Alakazam.

  • http://twitter.com/ChaseBurr Chase Bonner

    i enjoy reading Pokefacts

  • http://twitter.com/ninoislucky Nino Topalcevic

    Clefairy and Rhyhorn are bosses. I always use Blastoise+Clefable+Rhydon in all my playthroughs of the 1st gen Pokemon games (I had Blue and FireRed). 

  • Joanna

    Wait, I thought Mew was given out in the game when you caught all 150 pokemon and talked to the dude in the building in Celadon City in the Japanese version. Or was that also an internet myth (never tried the Japanese version to check if it was true)?

    Also, sort of weird to think Mew was squeezed in at the last minute when Cinnabar Island’s Abandoned Mansion has the whole Mew/Mewtwo backstory. Were they planning to include it from the start but had to scrap plans when they ran out of space, only to be able to squeeze it in at the last minute again?

  • http://backloggery.com/wanderingmind WanderingMind

    One thing that I always find interesting is looking at the index number for the Gen I games on Bulbapedia.  It’s pretty interesting to see which Pokemon were created first and what Pokemon were going to be included in that gen, but later got cut, and then introduced in the next Gen.

    It’s kind of a shame that Scizor and Kingdra were cut out of the original games, but at least they showed up in Gen II.  It’s also interesting how pretty much all the baby Pokemon were cut out of Gen I.

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