How Pokémon Red & Blue Were Made

This Pokémon documentary details the development of the monster collecting RPG Pokémon Red & Blue and goes behind the scenes of their creation. Discover more about creator Satoshi Tajiri and how his love for bug catching led to the idea for Pokémon. The documentary also explores all the design decisions that development studio Game Freak, which consisted of only nine developers at the time, made and shows how Pokémon trainers were initially going to participate in battles with certain weapons for example.

It also takes a close look at all the hurdles Game Freak had to go through. The title was initially going to be “Capsule Monsters” but it had to be changed multiple times, because it resembled Ultraman’s Capsule Kaiju a little too much. Additionally, reducing over 200 designs for all the Pokémon to their favorite 151 proved to be a bigger challenge than anticipated. Furthermore, there was one moment during development that almost destroyed years of work. Lastly, the developers experienced serious problems when they were localizing Pokémon for various regions, because English for instance takes up more space than Japanese.

Outro song: Thank You R.G.E. - Joe Bagale

#Pokémon #GameFreak #GameDevelopment

[Astronic]

It was just something magical about gaming back then. I remember laying in bed playing pokemon yellow and grinding my magicarp to level 20 because a school friend had told me he would evolve into something then. I could barely see anything because it was dark and I used my night lamp. Then it evolved to Gyarados and I was so excited going to bed and telling everyone in school the day after.

[gime]

I don't think anything could replicate that feeling of being a kid in the late 90s, and getting your first Pokemon game. Getting sucked into that world. It was just something magical. If you know, you know.

[RandomGuy]

This man created so many great childhoods. Can't thank him enough.

[RVZION]

My best friend growing up in the '90s was part Japanese. His family in Japan would send he and his brother toys and stuff. Lots of Ultraman. I remember the day I went over and they were playing with Pokemon figurines. It hadn't been released in the US yet. When it did arrive a few months later, it was like, "Hey, these are those monsters from Japan!". I'm proud to have been a fan since the beginning

[EmperorZ]

As much as I think that Pokemon has become a series that lazily rests on its laurels, it can only do that because the original concepts are so excellent, and I feel like the passion that went into those core concepts is communicated well in this video. Nice work

[facelessG]

My father, a 60+ yrs old, retired guy still plays pokemon on an anbernic device. It helps him relax during his dialysis sessions. I tried introducing other games to him like FF, BoF and medabots but pokemon is really his favorite.

[sanjafire]

Satoshi: We need to make sure the player never associates running out of HP with the Pokemon dying.
Nuzlockers:

[DwaineWoolley]

Awesome video. Well researched. Satoshi's story is very inspiring. He turned his childhood memories into a worldwide phenomenon. The man

[aturchomicz]

13:14 Bruh this Pioneer of the accidentally Worlds Biggest Franchise just going onto the Internet of the 90s and asking for help with his outdated Machines really is just precious, has that kind of Indie vibes I wouldnt have expected coming from a Nintendo IP!

[nightnday]

The 90’s was the golden era of video games. Im fortunate to be born in a time where the first franchises were making its break throughs.

[nyquilforthekill]

I cried to this one man made his vision come true and took 8 long years with 8 other colleagues and no one told him he'd make a success, but he prevailed. A true story of a young man and his struggles to make it in a ever growing world.

[Syntax_Error_]

In these times of culture being fragmented between different platforms, it's amazing how Pokémon has been able to link 30 years of people together.
I grew up with pokemon in the 90's, my younger brother grew up with Pokémon in the 2000's, my son grew up with Pokémon in the 10's, my younger son grew up with Pokémon in the 20's. ❤

[submissionsniperfan]

Pokemon was basically my introduction to gaming, I still enjoy the games and have an even stronger appreciation for the franchise than I did even back then!
Also the ost for these games are among the most beautiful in game history

[syllogism]

Having worked in a startup myself I can only imagine the amount of stress there would have been in developing those games, especially with that crash! The creator's passion for exploration and collecting insects really resonates in the early games, and justifies the prevalence of Bug Catchers!

[JoystickDrummer]

I remember exactly how excited I was to open Pokemon Yellow on Chirstmas in 1999. I may not have the same love for the series as I did back then, but I will always get excited for that first generation. Excellent video!

[Varsha_Sajan]

This man wanted to share the feeling that he had when bug catching to the world...and he succeeded.

[laidbackgaming]

Pokémon Red and Blue were indie back in the day when they first released. Remember the games came out before the anime. I remember being on the playground at camp and seeing my friend play this really cool game. I remember him losing his mind because he caught a rattata good times lol. It didn't take long for Pokémon to take over the late 90s though.

[codinginflow]

The drawing style of the original Red and Blue boxes evokes some nostalgic feeling in me that's really hard to describe. It evokes memories of my childhood.

[milesisediting]

"I only do Indie Games" - Sneaky! Love that you covering games like this too!

[trentonziegler]

This video was SO well done and had art and information I've never seen or heard of, which was mind blowing. You put together an incredible video and just hit my feels extra hard. The amount of preservation and willpower that team had to make this dream a reality... It's quite inspiring and exciting to hear this story. Thank you so much for making this amazing video