Pokémon 101: The Ins and Outs of the game, the cards and the show by wildtotodile

Summary: I wrote this for fun about four years ago in summer 2004. This tells about the basics of the Pokemon video games, anime and trading card game. I own nothing mentioned in it at all. I wrote it long before Diamond & Pearl and Emerald even came out. I hope that it will give you a better grasp on the Pokemon universe. Please read and review

The world of Pokémon is like an enormous tree, divided into three long branches: the games, the cards and the show. You might think that you just have to pick one branch to climb, but all three branches are connected in different ways.

The games, which include video games for the Gameboy, Nintendo 64, Gameboy Advance and Gamecube systems, are the root of the Pokémon tree, since this is how Pokémon started. It’s like a larger version of the game “Rock, Paper, Scissors”. Grass types beat Water types while Fire types flambé Grass types. Each Pokémon has weaknesses and strengths although there are dual type Pokémon such as Charizard, which is a combination Fire and Flying type. An example of a pure type is Totodile, a Water type. There are many games that compose Pokémon. Ruby and Sapphire take place in the land of Hoenn, where two-on-two battles are common. This is where you and your opponent use two Pokémon at the same time and try to defeat the other team of Pokémon. The original games of Red, Blue and Yellow introduce you to one hundred and fifty (or if you count Mew, fifty-one) creatures of all shapes, sizes and colors that are the original Pokémon. In these games you can explore the land of Kanto. Pokémon Coliseum takes place in the dessert like land of Orre, where you must “snag” Shadow Pokémon from evil trainers. Gold, Crystal and Silver is where you ca travel between the lands of Johto and Kanto and you can capture the original one hundred fifty Pokémon plus one hundred more. You can put your battling skills that you honored in your Gold, Crystal, Red, Blue, Yellow and Silver games to the test in Pokémon Stadium and Pokémon Stadium 2.

In Red and Blue, you can pick your starting Pokémon between Charmander, Squirtle or Bulbasaur from Professor Oak in Pallet Town. However, your rival, the professor’s grandson, will pick the Pokémon that is stronger than yours. For example if you choose a Squirtle, a Water type, than he will pick a Bulbasaur, a Grass/ Poison type. In Yellow, Pikachu, arguably the most popular and adorable Electric type, becomes your partner and follows you around just Ash’s Pikachu in the show. Your rival gets an Eevee, a Normal type that can evolve into three different Pokémon with three different evolution stones. Your goal is to earn all eight Kanto badges, defeat Team Rocket, and basically get all one hundred and fifty-one Pokemon. If you are in a battle and all your Pokémon faint, you just get teleported to the last Pokémon Center you used. It’s hard to pinpoint what types to use during battle because your opponent’s Pokémon can learn Technical Machines and Hidden Machines, called TMs and HMs for short, and use them against you. For instance, when I was battling a Nidoqueen, a Ground/Poison type with my Vaporeon, a Water type, I was “shocked” when it used Thunder, a powerful electric attack, and knocked out my Water type. It doesn’t hurt when your Pokémon is using Thunder, but when Thunder hits your Pokémon, watch out; except if you’re using a Ground or Rock type because they are immune to electric attacks. The “wildcard attack” is Metronome, because you never know what attack the Pokémon will use.

The games extend a branch into the card and show sections of the Pokémon tree with the names of attacks and locations. The games teach you the attack names, some of which are in the card game. Some of the attacks in the cards however are more powerful than the ones in the game. For example, in the games, String Shot is a wimpy attack that only lowers the Pokémon you’re facing’s Speed and does not do any real damage. But in the cards it does ten points of damage and the possibility of paralyzing the Defending Pokémon with a coin flip. The locations in the games are important because then you familiarize yourself with the names of the towns and cities that Ash and his friends visit and where they are located.

The cards are the second branch of the tree. Since the Pokémon Trading Card Game, or TCG, landed on American shores back in January 1999, it has released nineteen sets and countless promotional, or promo, cards as well. The TCG is more complex than the video games because card effects and Trainer cards are used instead of items to heal and help your Pokémon in battle. Instead of earning Experience Points when your Pokémon defeats another in battle, like in the vide games, you get to draw a Prize card. The Base Set introduced us to the energy Pokémon types of Colorless, Fighting, Psychic, Water, Lightning and Grass. It also introduced Pokémon Powers. One example of a Pokémon Power is Articuno from the Skyridge-e card set (#4). It’s Pokémon Power, or Poke-Power is Water Immunity, which states “You can’t attach Water Energy cards from your hand to Articuno”. The Neo Genesis set introduced the world to two new types, Darkness and Steel. The Pokémon EX: Ruby and Sapphire set not only introduced EX Pokémon that are worth two prizes when they are Knocked Out, but also the two on two battling style that was first used in the Ruby and Sapphire games and Poké-Bodies. An example of an EX Pokémon would b e Sceptile ex from the Team Magma vs. Team Aqua set (#93). It has a Green Heal attack, which for one Grass energy lets you remove 4 damage counters from each of your Pokémon that has a Grass energy attached. Vibrava from the Ex-Dragon set (# 47) has an excellent Poke-body called Levitate, which also happens to be a special ability in the Ruby and Sapphire games. Levitate states that “If Vibrava has any basic energy cards attached to it, Vibrava’s Retreat Cost is 0”. The Retreat Cost is a certain amount of energy cards that you must pay to the “discard pile” to pull you active Pokémon back to the bench. It is different for each Pokémon and with at least one basic energy card attached to it; Vibrava goes back to the bench for free!

The object of the TCG is to knock out all of your opponents’ Pokémon, just like in the game. For every Pokémon that you knock out you get to take one of your opponent’s Prize cards, except if you knock out a Pokémon-ex you get to take two Prize cards. There are six Prize cards in all and once you take all six you win. There are familiar attacks for those who have played the video games or watched the show, such as Thundershock and Pay Day and some unfamiliar attacks such as Crushing Wave and Rainbow Burn. You have to pay a certain amount of energy cards to the “discard pile” every time you do an attack. For example, Sealeo from the Hidden Legends set (#47) has a Skull Bash attack that causes 50 points of damage for one Water energy plus three Colorless energies, which can be any type of energy. A Special Condition, which can be one or more of the following, can affect the Defending Pokémon or your Pokemon: Sleep, Burned, Poison, Confusion or Paralyzed. When your Pokémon has a Special Condition, when it’s your turn you have to flip a coin if the Special Condition will go away. If not, then you’re in trouble because some Poke-Powers and/or Poké-Bodies will be turned off and not work when that a Special Condition affects Pokémon.

The cartoon is the final branch of the Pokémon tree. The anime series, which began in September 1998, is s popular that there have been six movies and the show is currently in its sixth season. There are countless minor characters and a fair amount of main characters. One of the three major characters is Ash Ketchum, a thirteen-year-old boy from Pallet Town. He is an excellent trainer, but there are occasions on which he can make rookie mistakes. He is a good guy to have as a friend, but there are times when he can be as stubborn as a Tauros, a bull- like Pokémon with three tails. Ash’s goal is to become the world’s greatest Pokémon Master with Pikachu, his starting Pokémon and best non-human friend, at his side. Ash’s first traveling companion he meets is Misty, a twelve-year-old girl from Cerulean City, whose sisters run the Cerulean City Gym. They meet when he “borrows” her bike to get Pikachu to the nearest Pokémon Center and in the process the bike is destroyed. Misty states that she is going to follow Ash until he can repay her back for the bike. She wants to be the world’s expert on Water type Pokémon. Misty will never admit it, but she has an enormous crush on Ash. Misty has a fear of Bug Pokémon, which came out when Ash made his first capture, a Bug-type Pokémon by the name of Caterpie. She is a great trainer, although her Psyduck, a yellow duck Water Pokémon with a blank expression on its face, has a habit of coming out of its pokéball when she doesn’t call it out nor can it swim. Since her sisters, Daisy, Lilly, and Violet won a trip around the world, Misty has been fulfilling their gym leader duties, until they come back. Ash’s other traveling companion is Brock, a fourteen-year-old boy who used to be the gym leader of Pewter City. Brock’s goal in his life is to be the world’s greatest Pokémon breeder. Unfortunately for Ash and Misty, Brock falls head over heels every time he spots a pretty girl. If he sees a Nurse Joy or Officer Jenny, Brock completely flips out. It is hilarious watching Misty pull him by the ear or whacks him over the head with her mallet every time he begins to flirt.

Of course, we can’t forget the villains. Villains add an important part to a show and Pokémon is no exception. Villains can also be comic relief. Butch and Cassidy, two members of Team Rocket, pop up occasionally but the show's main villains are Jessie, James and Meowth. Jessie, James and Meowth are the three members of Team Rocket that follow Ash, Misty, and Brock around with dreams of stealing rare and valuable Pokémon for their boss, Giovanni and receiving a big fat paycheck or promotion in return. They have their greedy little eyes set on Ash’s Pikachu, since it is more powerful than an ordinary one and has been know to knock Rock types out with a single electric attack. Over the years, they have tried every trick and machine in the book to grab it, but they have never succeeded. Meowth taught himself how to talk and walk like a human in order to impress a rich, female Meowth he had a crush on, but she dumped him for a more mature Persian, his evolved form. He was also Team Rocket's Top Cat for a while before another Persian took his place. Meowth has an intense dislike of Persians and will never evolve into one because of these reasons. James was born into an enormously prosperous family but he ran away when he was forced to marry a wealthy woman named Jessibelle. Not much is known about Jessie's past before she joined Team Rocket except her family was awfully poverty-stricken. In their boos’ eyes, these three are an embarrassment to Team Rocket seeing as they can’t capture a Magicarp (one of the weakest pokemon of all) to save their lives. These three can brighten up a dull episode, what with their annoying motto, their plans to capture Pokémon which never seem to work and the like. Watching Ash, Misty and Brock cream these three that we love to hate is always entertaining.

As you can see, theses are the three branches of the Pokémon tree. You can see how they are all interconnected in one way or another. The cards connect to the video games and visa versa. The anime connects to both the video games and the cards. Don’t get frustrated, I know I have given a lot of information, but if you practice it will soon be “ Horn Drilled” into your head and become second nature. It is a good way to make friends, a great stress reliever and it is loads of fun! If you get really good at the TCG, you can enter one of the numerous competitions to win rare cards. The most important rule is to have fun so I would suggest that you start climbing!

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