7 Pokemon Facts You Never Knew

We take a look at 7 Pokemon facts that you almost certainly never knew before today. Covering everything from the reason some Pokemon were cut, to why some were created, along with some fun facts along the way.

Follow DYKG on:

Research/Writing by Dr Lava
Video Editing TheCartoonGamer
Voice Over by Dazz

Special Thanks: HiResPokemon for most of the scans from today’s video.

Sources/Further Reading:
Akihito Tomisawa's 2000 book "Game Freak: The Creative Group Rewriting the Rules in the World of Play"
Masakazu Kubo's 2000 book, "Pokemon Story"
Japanese magazine "Nintendo Dream" issue 201

#Pokemon #Nintendo #GameFreak

[TheRothwoman]

I'd known the name Porygon was supposed to be a pun on "polygon" for years, but its specific nature of Tajiri including it to go "oh, you want me to make a game with polygons? Here's one!" is absolute gold.

[espeon]

I’m not surprised at the Miyamoto not wanting Pokémon to be an RPG. He said something similar about The Legend of Zelda at one point. He has stated in the past that he is just not a fan of the RPG genre as a whole. I’m glad Tajiri held his ground. The RPG core of the series is what has continued to keep it relevant all these years later.

[piacrt]

Hello, this is Pia Carrot. I should mention everything about the forest map *is* speculation, but I am very confident based on how maps between different builds of the prototypes link up that this is what it was meant to be! Thanks so much for the shoutout!

[GreyWolfLeaderTW]

The origin of badges as whips-like martial arts belts certainly explains why Pokemon would pay attention to little metal decorations their trainers earn. They originally had a discipline element to them.

[supergenods]

I didn't know a lot of these. The Porygon one is fascinating! I kinda thought he was a representation of the graphics at the time (N64 polygons) and how as technology improved graphics got better (Porygon 2) and were hacked to do things they weren't supposed to do (Porygon Z.) The fact that Porygon was designed to be ironic is pretty funny in hindsight!

[braetorius]

Porygon is legitimately my favorite pokemon and I never knew it was meant as a joke. This just makes porygon more special for me.

[justageorgeandmore]

I LOVE the commitment to originality of information here! It's become very rare in the Poketuber space, and it's presented fantastically well! Well done, Great video, & Merry Christmas

[genwye]

Please, please continue to get this info translated. As a longtime fan its so hard to find new information on the development of Pokemon as a series, especially information that doesn't shy away from the darker undertones of the concept (and treating it matter of fact instead of making stereotypical youtuber jokes). Keep up the fantastic work!

[monkey_blu]

I always thought that Porygon was supposed to represent the future and how humans were on the cusp of making a technological leap. It didn't occur to me that it was supposed to be ironic that a creature made of polygons was in a sprite-based game.

[MmeCShadow]

"Alder never learned to use a computer."

That's adorable.

[Nephritesword]

"Porygon is meant to be ironic."
I'm 30 and have known about Porygon since I was around 8 so yeah this is pretty wild to finally learn.

[LunarWingCloud]

I stand with Tajiri on the decision. Being an RPG has opened up tons of fans to the games that love the mechanics that can only exist in the RPG genre

[MrTroxel]

I didn't know literally any of these, so y'all did a great job finding rare facts

[LamanKnight]

Concerning the Porygon fact, I noticed a long time ago that "Porygon" was a pun on "polygon, " but I never knew the reasoning behind the creation of that Pokémon. And it makes me smile. Here they were telling Tajiri to make 3D polygon games, but little did anyone know, Pokémon would become one of the main reasons for the Game Boy continuing to be popular for another decade.

[justinnyugen]

It's cool how a game formed from the developer's nostalgia has itself become nostalgic for so many people. Even as the games lag behind in content and graphics and pretty much everything else nowadays, its core tenants of battling and collecting critters will always have appeal

[dawakat]

Sitting here dumbfounded on the Porygon part, even thinking about how the L and R switch from Japanese is a thing so it really just blew my mind on that one lol

[BriskWalkZombie]

You need certain badges to make high-level trade Pokémon listen properly. Wonder if that in-game explanation is a remnant of the belt whip concept.

[ChefJoy]

Tajiri was 100 percent right, with complete respect to miyamoto. I've been playing this series for 20+ years specifically for its rpg mechanics and collectable creatures

[kevinescobedo]

Porygon's my favorite Pokémon, but I had no idea that it was meant to be ironic. You learn something new everyday, really good job with this video!

[BeaglzRok]

Using belt whips for pokemon would make more sense explaining why some badges are required to have pokemon above a certain level obey consistently.