Generation I Pokémon Cries Explained

Why do some Pokémon sound like they have the same cry? It's all explained right here.

CORRECTION
At 2:02 I claim the waveform sample data is signed, but it is actually unsigned. To make the waveform shown in the video, the values should be (6, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, A, C, D, E, E, E, E, F, F, F, F, F, F, E, E, E, D, D, C, B, 9).

LINKS
INLINE LINKS
PATRONS
Thank you everyone who supports my work. I can't thank you enough!

[Rukathesoldier]

I feel like I simultaneously understood all of this and none of it.

[LaZinga]

"i would like to share a small web app i created that lets you explore all the pokemon cry sound effects"
he didn't have to go that hard, but he did. he did that for us.

[coolbrotherf]

The fact that people were not only able to make Pokemon cries, but entire songs and tons of unique sound effects shows how much work good sound in games was at the time.

[BlueSatoshi]

It should be noted that when Game Freak first pitched Capsule Monsters, they only had 38 pokémon designed. Kinda interesting considering there's only 38 unique cries...

[Goosaphone]

When I was a little kid I thought people would audition and make some weird noise and then they put it in the game

[MaximumADHD]

These visuals are fantastic, it really makes the technical details much more interesting.
I love learning about the tricks early developers used to work within their limitations.

[mrb]

After all these years, I had no idea Articuno and Raichu shared a cry

[geofff.]

I have never been so interested in something I have no understanding of whatsoever.

[TrateMusic]

Drowzee's cry ending in that "crash" has always been a super interesting sound, and it's crazy that it's almost an incidental consequence of the sound design, rather than a particular decision made

[akirabaes]

I love when people start analysing not a game's themes or story or visuals, but the tech behind it that made it possible.
Some things are the way they are shaped due to their limitations and wouldn't have existed in a similar form in a world where just "everything is possible" in development and programming. Exploring such rules feel like exploring a subtle meaning of existence.

[terrariafan]

Me: trying to understand this
*[IT HURT ITSELF IN ITS* *CONFUSION]*

[Ranzord]

Also isn't it impressive how, despite the hardware limitations, they gave each creature in pokemon a cry when most RPGs back then wouldn't even consider that? Goes to show how they wanted these fantasy creatures to feel deeper and more complete than just creatures to command and enemies to defeat

[Bia_R_]

Wow. I thought that this video was going to be like "opinions on why the cry sound like this for thsr and that pokemon", with a clickbaity title and overextended production. I'm so glad I was wrong and watched this. A great video, a lot of effort put into it, technical stuff crunched for regular folks... Amazing.

[komurohokyoji]

Limitations breed creativity indeed, they made timeless gems with such a limited engine.

[shanoabelmont]

Entered just to hear some pokemon sounds and left with a masters degree on game boy sound 👌

[eyemotif]

i always wondered why a lot of pokemon cries ended in a crash

[pathagas]

6:56 Quick explanation for why the pitch is logarithmic! The frequency of notes on a piano is determined by the formula a*2^(n/12) where *a* is some pitch and *n* is how many semitones the note wanted is away from *a*. The frequency ratios between notes are supposed to be close to small integer ratios of each other, which makes them pleasing.

Mathematically, you’d want the freq ratios between C4 and G4 to be the same as between a C3 and G3, which it is because of this model (it’s about 3:2, which is a perfect fifth and is very harmonious).

[SmashHighlights]

I really like how you edit videos programmatically. The production of this video is probably more complex than pokemon cries.

[thecodingethan]

The effort that goes into making these videos is astounding, love the cry generator, it's so much fun to play around with.

[teavis]

Incoming creepypastas of old pokemon games using "Unused game assets" that people make using the synthesizer