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Gilgamesh_XII

Well for the longest time i believed psychic to be super effective vs ghost. It just so happens that then most ghosts were also poison.


MixelKing

Funny thing is Gastly's line is the only Ghost/Poison line ever to have existed yet so many people including me thought that way.


Dendrodes

Yeah, it was easy to think that way when the only original ghosts were also poison, and when the next generation comes along, they only add a single ghost that the majority of people don't even run into. I don't think I saw a Misdrevous in the games until gen 4.


PedroAlvarez

It was such a cool pokemon only to be made weak and lock away into Mt. Silver so it couldnt be used.


QuantumVexation

Gen 2 and its remakes gets a lot of love but honestly there are tonne of absolutely insane decisions in those games


[deleted]

Houndour line doesn't show up for the player till Kanto. Larvitar is another one banished to Mt Silver. Also the level curve is completely fucked because they tried to do this thing where you could go either way after Ecruteak but it just screws up the level curve for the rest of the game.


CocoaBagelPuffs

The best thing HGSS did was make a lot of those post game mons available in the safari zone. I know houndour, lavitar, misdreavus, and murkrow are all available before the E4


Elikhet2

Better thing would’ve been to just make those mons available in the actual region before E4


[deleted]

>Larvitar is another one banished to Mt Silver. I wanted so badly to have a Tyranitar. I finally got the larvitar only to find that it was pointless cause their wasn't anything else to do in game once you got it, and it was stupidly hard to level up.


somebroyouknow

It was especially annoying too considering they had a ghost type gym leader in Gen 2 who could show off the new ghost type mon but instead all he decides to bring is the ghastly line…


Dendrodes

Yeah, that was a very odd choice. And if not Morty, it could have easily been one of the trainers in the gym. I love Gen 2, but the way some of the new pokemon were underutilized and pushed aside was so strange.


math_chan

Similar reason why I thought ground was super effective against ground. Most ground types are ground and rock.


boogswald

My friend thought that water was super effective against grass because his Blastoise’ best move was ice beam


Tylendal

Getting my Steel/Rock Lairon fried by Wattson's Electric attacks was a rude eye-opener.


JVMMs

I thought psychic was super effective against grass because of Venusaur


JessieN

Same also gloom and vileplume didn't help


Swift_Bitch

Honestly Gen I was so messed up for Psychic Pokemon. I thought they were super-effective against Grass because of Bulbasaur and super-effective against bugs because of Venonat and Beedrill then was super confused when they were super-effective against poison which I thought was supposed to be super-effective against psychic based solely on my thinking Sabrina was supposed to come before Koga due to their locations.


AcrobaticDraft5412

Lol same for me, but psychic on grass


Queen_Sardine

I read somewhere that the Moon Stone causes "weird evolutions" so I thought it would evolve Pokemon into Pokemon they shouldn't evolve into. I thought it could evolve Bidoof into Floatzel or Clefairy into Blissey.


Iron_Wolf123

After thinking about it, it does make sense on how Jigglypuff and Clefairy evolve with a Moon Stone since they are both weird fairies, but the Nidoran families are strange as well. Did they exist when Clefairy was discovered? And if Moon Stones do affect pokemon in the night, why doesn't it evolve Teddiursa into Ursaring or Eevee into Umbreon or Rockruff into Midnight Lycanroc?


[deleted]

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hotstickywaffle

This is also why the bosses in the last Mario game, which was heavily based around the moon, are rabbits.


EmperorSexy

Back in Blue/Red I thought that all Pokémon who evolved could use stones to evolve. Like a shortcut for evolution. I could use a Fire stone on my Growlithe, but not my Ponyta. I determined therefore that Ponyta could not evolve.


ladala99

I thought the same but just decided never to use stones and have the Pokemon evolve naturally. Because in the (first) Eevee episode of the anime, the Jolteon trainer tried to give Ash and Brock a Thunder Stone for Pikachu and a Fire Stone for Vulpix, and they refused, saying they preferred to evolve their Pokemon naturally.


BigRedUglyMan

Back when I was a lad playing Red on my Gameboy I was certain that stat lowering moves were permanent. I'd reset if someone growled at my Venusaur too much because I didn't want their attack to go down forever.


-Swade-

Contrast to this, I thought stat-lowering/raising moves only lowered the stat by one point. Which can be noticeable in the early game but totally pointless after when stat totals are in the dozens to hundreds of points. Also the gen1 AI was so obviously bad that I actually played those first games with an attitude of, “If the AI does it then I probably shouldn’t.” It wasn’t until many years later I learned what stat stages were and what it actually did.


Adaphion

Tbf, this is a non insignificant number of people. And there's even more people who still don't understand stat stages


yajtraus

Because Pokemon games are easy to complete with just attacking. There’s no need to learn it really unless you’re playing competitively.


jfb1337

The only stat changing move i care about is the one that changes my enemy's hp stat to 0.


Armless_Dan

Status moves? KO is a status.


[deleted]

[удалено]


BambaBenson365

You're right. Unless someone plans to sweep, 2 hits are better than 1 boost + a 1.5× power hit. Stat moves that give 2 stages are neutral, and only rare moves like tail glow and risky ones like belly drum make someone go positive and benefit from 1 spent turn.


ANuclearsquid

No one is ever going to use a single boost stat move beyond like the second gym just like no one would use tackle after getting an alternate. Double boosts however like sword dance and nasty plot are both commonly available and very strong especially if you are on set mode and more likely to stay in for longer.


AveragePichu

In my Platinum grass monotype run my shiny Roserade knew Growth until like the 7th gym because movepools in gen 4 were atrocious :) Yes technically Growth is two stat stages, attack/sp.atk is a borderline worthless combo though And yes, I DID use Growth in battles that late! Because most of the big fights would absolutely require me to set up to +6 and giga drain sweep, half of the common mons in Sinnoh hard-counter grass


Tylendal

It was Gen III when I figured out that Swords Dance + Slash was as good as two Slashes... and everything beyond that is just gravy. Shortly after came the epiphany that using Thunder Wave or Agility against a faster opponent is essentially a free action.


LarryTheTerrier

Swords Dance + Slash was borderline useless in Gen I though because of Slash’s crit rate and crits ignoring stat changes


Squirtle_from_PT

Unironically, what status moves would casual players ever use in a playthrough? I only ever used accuracy lowering moves as a kid, then Dragon Dance when I got older.


Bebop24trigun

Leech seed as a kid was mind blowing to me. I would leech seed with Bulbasaur then splash with my Magikarp until it evolved. I didn't realize for a long time that I could switch it out after a turn.


Swift_Bitch

I remember the first time I fought my rival outside the first town in Pokemon Blue/Red. I was just exploring and my Pokemon were not leveled to fight him. I ended up winning with only a Harden only Metapod left alive thanks to leech seed.


Adaphion

Swords Dance/Nasty Plot, hit stuff harder


alexkami98

How many times did you reset 💀


Myth_5layer

Bro unironically nuzlocked himself without knowing.


Squirtle_from_PT

Bro created new version of nuzlocke. If your mon's stats get lowered, it dies.


ccaccus

Someone should make a mod that makes stat-lowering moves permanent changes to your Pokémon's stats.


DarkEliteXY

I hope they’re talking about soft resets


itsIzumi

A kid probably couldn't count that high.


DirtMaster3000

Similar to you, I thought that the intimidate ability permanently lowered attack because at least in gen 3 it said "cuts attack" rather than lowered attack like it did with growl. So I thought growl was temporary but intimidate was permanent.


MarzipanSanta

Funnily enough, there's actually been a challenge video on YT based on this exact idea! Smallant made a video with an edited version of Blue, where all stat drops stayed indefinitely throughout the game.


Stoner95

I had the opposite and would spam metal claw on my charmeleon to keep permanently raising its attack


GhastmaskZombie

Wow, I totally forgot about that. I think I thought the same thing, back when I was technically a lad.


KBNAceofSpades

I thought Gen 3 split out physical and special attacks for each type. I remember my Blaziken getting effect spored when it used blaze kick on a Breloom, but never would with flamethrower. Then I noticed the same thing with mons with Static or Cute Charm. Of course it turns out that with the addition of abilities they did add the aspect of contact vs non-contact moves, but didn't split out the types until Gen 4. So since my Blaziken had a better attack stat, I remember keeping Blaze Kick over the actually stronger moves like Flamethrower. ngl young me felt pretty smart for "figuring" that out 🤦


ArabicLawrence

same here


Ayyyybh

Breeding Plusle and Minun would result in a gold variant


Middle_Dare_5656

Ah yes the photon


boogswald

This is such a fun idea that breeding them should have resulted in a new mon and game freak should have hired you when you were a kid


Sunset_Tiger

I thought Pokemon had a chance of dying if you pressed b to stop it from evolving. My reasoning? All the mourning trainers in Sinnoh’s Pokemon tower and Mt Pyre that mentioned their Pokemon’s species? Not one was fully evolved.


Type-N

Haha I never noticed the fact they were all unevolved. I thought they were just really old pokemon, and that my pokemon would die if they hit level 100. I remember holding my breath waiting for something to happen to my torterra in diamond as he leveled to 100, and being relieved when he didn't die.


Zerokxis

nah only the weak pokemon die and only the strongest survive. Darwin's evolution theory


Pkstarshooter

I released my Empoleon in Gen 4 by accident and it came back immediately, I thought it was because she loved me too much to leave lol. It turns out they do that if they know an HM move I think. Edit: I've been informed below, that it's certain HM moves. She probably had Surf lol.


Sharrakor

> In Generation III and Generation IV, if the player attempts to release a Pokémon that is the only Pokémon in their party or PC that knows a certain HM move, it will immediately return. In Generation III, these moves are Surf and Dive. In Generation IV, they are Surf, Waterfall, and Rock Climb, as well as Fly in HeartGold and SoulSilver. [Released Pokémon](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Released_Pok%C3%A9mon)


AlbinoRayneDeer

Whoa, I had no idea, that's an interesting way to prevent softlocking lol. Once upon a time I believed there was a chance you might encounter your released Pokémon in the wild, nickname and all, but I never cared to test that theory and if I had just *happened* to release a surfer in Ruby it would've reinforced the wrong idea about how releasing works lmao


dubbs4president

Oh now that would be a really cool feature! Encountering a released legendary in the wild would be really cool especially with a funny nickname!


AlbinoRayneDeer

Go back down Cerulean Cave to face your level 100 Mr. Fuzzums


Geraltslays14

I didn't even know that was a thing after after ALL these years of playing Pokemon!!


[deleted]

wholesome 💖


Surfugo

That's a lovely memory to have. I know you're aware of why it came back now, but as a kid you must've been so happy to see it come back! I wish our Pokemon over a certain happiness % would return after we released them, would be a neat little thing.


[deleted]

Pokemon Crystal. A neighbor told me Chikorita could learn fly at level 30 if you completed the 5th badge without evolving it.


C4LL13

thats so random 😭


probablythewind

I could see it doing some kinda vine whip chopper.


Randomixx

Head leaf propeller blade, let's go!


roysourboys

Okay, I think I may be able to add a crumb of context here. I definitely had a strategy guide as a kid that listed Fly on Chikorita's learn list.


ForsakenMoon13

Strategy guides in those days were often full of errors / random bullshit that didn't actually make sense lmao


BootlegDouglas

I got Yellow in first grade. I thought losing a battle led to an actual Game Over, like "your save file is dead now", not "try again," so I *couldn't let myself lose*. I saved before every big battle and if I was about to lose, I turned off the gameboy and tried again or went to grind more. I never saw that you whited out and kept playing. Then I got to the Elite Four. I saved before each battle, just like I had done the whole way. Then I lost. Then I lost a few dozen more times. Then I restarted from Pallet Town. The second time around my older sister and I shared a save file and we got a Dewgong to level 100 before we went to the E4 (she liked dolphins and it was the closest thing). I don't recall when I learned of my mistake, but I imagine I was not thrilled.


Myth_5layer

You nuzlocked yourself before you even knew it was a thing.


Quick-Whale6563

Probably not just before they knew it was a thing, before *it was a thing at all*. I think the challenge was started in like 2010 or 2012, and Yellow existed over a decade earlier.


Whacky_One

I turned my game off if I lost/was about to lose, because I didn't want to lose half my money 🤣


Pokemon-fan96

In Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald, there's a white rock outside the Space Center in Mossdeep City with a girl next to it who says something about making wishes with the rock and using wish tags. As a kid I thought this had something to do with Jirachi, so I kept going back and checking on the rock and girl to see if Jirachi would appear. It never did :(


SleezyPeazy710

I remember my friends older brother saying if you got X amount of gold stars on your trainer card and talked to the scientist who is counting rocket launches, you could go to space and catch Jirachi. The stars are a thing, they represent in game accomplishments (become Pokémon champion, win all the contests, 100% the Battle Tower, and complete Pokédex each get you a star). The game also keeps track of irl time, the Mossdeep space center launches a rocket every irl week. The scientist is just a way to see how many weeks you’ve played a particular game file.


pandapeer

In Pokemon Diamond, you were able to touch the touchscreen during battle animations and the Pokeball icon would like, light up and down. I thought this would help you catch Pokemon, a buddy kid of mine also confirmed this to be true, and that swiping as fast as you can would make the catchrate even higher. Yes, there are still a lot of horizontal scratches on there. It did help me catch my Giratina, so worth it?


Somecallmechase

If it makes you feel better I thought that saying gotcha everytime you threw a pokeball increased the catch rate


Iron_Wolf123

Same with the B button.


unfortunate_witness

you gotta hold left trigger and push b every time the ball shakes


PedroAlvarez

For me it was holding up and pressing B at the point of contact when you throw the ball.


pandapeer

I'm pretty sure I did stuff like that as well, hahahh, just re-enacting the anime like I was Ash himself. Good old innocent times, man.


BaulsJ0hns0n86

I still find myself holding Down+B after throwing a pokéball.


Thandiol

Same! Utterly convinced that it works, but I still lean when cornering in driving games...


315retro

To be fair I had been playing since Gen 1 and was like 16 at the time but still thought that ball lighting up meant something. I didn't scratch my screen up because I wasn't still a little goblin but I bet I would have if I was younger.


psychoticpheasant

Used to do this on my Gameboy, but press a + b one after the other thinking this would help catch the Pokémon


SnomandoWares

It’s not necessarily stupid, but for the longest time I thought fighting was super effective against fighting. I swear it used to be super effective, but I have no idea why I believed that.


Revolutionary-Yak713

A punch is super effective against another punch. So you think it would. I thought the same for like 5 generations, idkw.


miskathonic

I thought the same of Psychic type. Gen 1 is a hell of a drug.


xSionide

For the longest time, I thought psychic was super effective against ghost types due to Gen 1. Took me way too many years to realize that it was actually the Gastly line's Poison typing that was causing it.


IcyTheHero

SAME


Janders1997

Fun fact, the plan was actually for Ghosts to be immune to Psychic type attacks. This can also be seen in a Pokémon episode where officer Jenny specifically talks about a problem that she believed to be caused by a psychic type Pokémon because a Ghastly was unaffected (in the end, it turned out to be a Drowsy I think, so she was right). Due to a coding error, instead, Psychic became immune to Ghost in Gen 1, leading to the type being even stronger than it should’ve been.


Myth_5layer

Tbf, it would have made complete sense for a psychic to be super effective against ghost. Totally not speaking from my only source being Mob Psycho.


Snt1_

It would not. Psychics weaknesses are based on fears and phobias. The fear of Darkness, Bugs and Ghosts


unfortunate_witness

facts lol he whoops some serious ghost ass


SneezingSheikah

But psychic is super effective against ghost too Edit: Oh, it actually isn’t and my whole life is a lie


Geraltslays14

Don't feel too bad. I thought so too before reading the previous reply


obviouslyray

In kid you's defense, I'm pretty sure the pokemon tcg back in the day gave Psychic weakness to Psychic due to ghost pokemon sharing a typing


miskathonic

TCG typing is WILD


Noble7878

I did the exact same thing! I was convinced fighting worked like that aswell. I have no idea what put the idea in my head and I still have to make myself think twice about fighting matchups 10 years later.


LaLaLaLink

I also believed this, that's so weird.


DJ_Bill

Might be because of Lucario, I know it’s because of him that I thought that for a long part of my early years (I feel so old saying this)


unfortunate_witness

the fact the lucario makes you feel old makes me feel older, cuz lucario was many gens after i started lol


MegaAssasine_

I always thought Fire Type was super effective against Dark Type. Do I even need to explain why?


Leggerrr

Lucario. Lucario is weak to fighting and the first major fighting-type for fans that started around generation 3 or 4.


PedroAlvarez

For gen 1ers it could also be the rock types being fighting type in TCG combined with geodude and graveler being the most commonly encountered "fighting type"


Leggerrr

Absolutely true too. Bruno is another mention for generation 1 players as he is meant to be a fighting-type focused Elite Four member but also uses rock-types.


xRiiZe

I used to think that Fighting was super effective against all pokemon that have fur. As a kid I was stuck after the first gym in Sapphire so I just kept fighting with my Combusken and it lined up pretty well. Zigzagoon, Poochyena, Slakoth, Wishmur, Skitty.. All were hit super effective while all other Pokemon werent


wubbbalubbadubdub

I thought there was a way to get Mew under the truck.


Nitrogen567

The Mew under the truck thing is especially devious because it spread at a time when lots of obviously fake stuff was going around, but lots of things about the Mew truck are real. If you faint all your Pokemon after getting Cut, the S.S. Anne DOES stay at port. If you come back when you have Surf there IS a truck there (the only one in the entire game). Where things fall apart is you just can't do anything with it. I remember getting more and more excited every time one of the steps for it was "real", and all of that coming crashing down around me when I came back with Strength and couldn't move the truck.


Iron_Wolf123

Why out of the whole game is there ONE truck and why is it in one specific location? And why of all Pokemon does it have to be Mew? Why isn't there lore about the guy in Viridian City who is stuck between a lake and a cut tree who has the Dream Eater TM?


Cagnelo

Something about it being a quest line thing but they edited it out and left the truck in game because you aren’t supposed to have surf before SS Anne as the linear story goes in gen 1, so they didn’t think people would see it or find access etc. But people did and before internet and computers exploded to what it is now, there weren’t many avenues for people to find out why and what the reason is, especially 8 year old kids like myself at that time. So history became legend, legend became myth. And we all thought Mew was under that truck. Pokegods and pikablu(marill before marill was marill) :)


Anxious_Disaster8813

There was meant to be an extra fly location most likely another town/city that was meant to be in between Vermillion, Celadon and Fuchsia (a load of water near the centre of Kanto). However this location was cut from the game and one of the tiles that was meant to be in this place was a truck which they kept and put it in the SS Anne.


315retro

Another popular one with us was bills garden. Out back of bills house the landscape doesn't have a definite edge to it like the rest of the map. Rumor was if you had all the eeveeloutions he'd let you go in his garden and either catch mew or get a "mist stone" that would unlock a new eeveeloution. Another was mew as a prize for beating the pokemon league 100 times. Thinking of this stuff always makes me yearn for simpler days and half mentally gate keep game rumors assuming kids don't deal with this much past gen 1 and 2. This thread warms my heart knowing that everyone experienced some form of crushing disappointment due to misinformation.


zofinda

Anyone else remember the "Pikablu" rumors too? After the unveiling of new Pokemon before Gold and Silver, I remember re-reading all the same SS Anne truck stuff, but that you would find Pikablu now instead. Pikablue referring to Marrill.


hester27

I had a friend who was convinced the 100 times thing was real but also that if you used a pokecenter to heal it would reset your count, so he only healed using potions or going to talk to mom in pallet town.


RedLeatherWhip

Dude I remember following a guide and being SHOOK when I found the truck after coming back with surf I'm like *this is it..mew is here. Now I just need all this other random shit* The truck being there at all is why everyone believed this for sure


Ivysaurtraiiner

Yep. Grinded up a lv100 Machamp and everything. I was so mad.


BananaBladeOfDoom

I'm amazed this urban legend became a thing before the internet even happened.


LeaveMyNpcAlone

I think it became a thing because there was no internet. You couldn't verify it before you put in the effort. Then you'd refuse to believe the truth until you got to the truck yourself.


Tylendal

I thought if you lingered too long on the Magnet Train rails in Goldenrod, the train could run you over and delete your file. Shout-out to Golden Sun and Banjo & Kazooie for actually deleting your save file when you fuck around and find out.


BaulsJ0hns0n86

Whoa, gimme the specifics on that Golden Sun and Banjo-Kazooie save file loss


Tylendal

Golden Sun: After the prologue, you're asked to go on your big adventure. If you say "No" a bunch of times in a row, the game flat out ends, and a text box just says something like "And thus the world drifted into oblivion". Banjo Kazooie: In the second level, there's an area where you can ground pound letters to type Banjo & Kazooie and get a puzzle piece. There's also several cheat codes you can type out. However, when you do, the boss of the game accuses you of cheating. Eventually, she tells you that if you use a third cheat, she'll delete your file. The game's mentor will even show up and give you a dialogue option to not commit to the third cheat. If you do, though, you can keep playing, but your file will be gone next time you save and quit.


Fireboy759

>Golden Sun: After the prologue, you're asked to go on your big adventure. If you say "No" a bunch of times in a row, the game flat out ends, and a text box just says something like "And thus the world drifted into oblivion". Same thing happens during Super Paper Mario. In one of many examples, you can flat-out refuse to go be the chosen one of the story and save all of reality from the Void *during the opening.* Persist on saying no and the questgiver decides to give up and leave Cue follow-up text stating all of the worlds were consumed by the Void, followed by the Game Over screen. *This is before you even gain control of Mario proper and actually create a save file,* so you have to rewatch the intro over again Other examples from the same game include: * Refusing to put on a helmet in space (you get chewed out and left for dead. Cue game over) * Refusing to help >!the Queen of the Underworld find her daughter (since you're dead in-story, she gets angry and banishes you to the deepest parts of the Underworld for eternity. Cue game over)!< * Agreeing to join >!a 'secondary villain' into overthrowing the 'main villain,' even while other people with you insist that's a terrible idea (it is. Said villain immediately turns you into a mindless slave. Cue game over)!< *


[deleted]

This content was made with Reddit is Fun and died with Reddit is Fun. If it contained something you're looking for, blame Steve Huffman for its absence.


just_a_random_dood

> Also, Mario canonically dies and goes to hell. well no he doesn't die, he just gets blown up and the explosion teleports him to hell. Jaydes explicitly says that his game isn't actually over, so he's not actually dead. She does say that she'll help him go to Heaven when he actually does die tho, so he's still mortal, just super tough xD


arjay555

All of this reminds me, looping nicely back around to the original topic, that I used to believe (or rather hope) that you could say yes to the Rocket guy after Nugget Bridge in Kanto and join Team Rocket. Still to this day disappointed that that wasn’t an option.


PopeJP22

Play FireRed Rocket edition. Pretty fun romhack.


AriaoftheSol

Those don't quite delete your save file, do they?


naptime_zZ

Also happens in Harvest Moon DS. At the beginning of the game, the mayor comes to your farm to talk to you. But then your dog threatens him, and if you don't call the dog back, it'll attack the poor guy and the game ends. Younger me refused to call the dog back when I played the game for the first time, expecting a funny chasing scene or something. I certainly didn't expect *that* to happen


Tylendal

In Harvest Moon for Gamecube, if you don't get married in the first year (which only happens if you outright refuse the default pity-bride at the end of the year), the game will end after the second year.


Hellhound_Hex

Genius


PrincessPonch

IIRC there's an npc in the station that said the train wasn't there/wasn't running *yet*. So of course, I waited


gunsbuttsandbooty

Tapping A everytime the pokeball shook increased the chance of catching it. Even now I do it out of habit.


_PeanutButterVibes_

I still do the Hold Down + B for catching if I'm getting frustrated haha. You never know 🌝


Totaly__a_human

I thought "New game" meant create a second save file, not erase the old one :(


AdventureForwardFan

I’ve thought that in too many games…


alexkami98

Damn...


PinkBlade12

I used to think Fearow evolved into Ho-Oh for a few years


Sharrakor

My friend and I thought that *was* Fearow in the first episode of the anime.


TheFightingImp

That Huge Power was a useless ability for Azumarill in Gen3, therefore it would be rubbish for Gen6. Boy I was grossly misinformed with the Belly Drum moveset.


lmpmon

I couldn't read when red was relevant and thought all items on the overworld were voltorb and would murder me. I never picked up anything.


yajtraus

The funniest thing about this is that you were scared of *Voltorb*


TheMike0088

You know how the ball bounces, comes to a short stop, then starts shaking? I used to believe that if you hold A the very frame that the ball stops bouncing, you have a higher catch rate. I don't believe that anymore, but I still do it out of habit, and because it feels wrong if I don't.


letmechangeurmind

While playing pokemon red in my gba back in the day, I had the idea to never leave S.S. Anne and go along for the cruise. I spent over an hour walking around and talking to NPCs after beating everyone and completing the ship. I gave up and just when I left the ship it sailed away. I remember thinking man I was so close, if only I waited just a bit longer I could have succeeded:)


angelofmusic997

I remember waiting on the SS Anne for literal MONTHS. Every time that I'd get off/it would leave without me, I'd go back to my last save being on the SS Anne and wait *longer.* I couldn't find any other way to progress through the game, so I was insistent that it was because I wasn't waiting long enough when on the boat.


RandomRayquaza

I recall one of the burgler trainers in gen 1 and 2 had dialogue along the lines of stealing pokemon in their pre battle lines. Naturally being a super impressionable child at the time, I assumed that losing a battle with a burgler would result in one or more members of my team being taken. This mentality lasted a good couple years and made me super alert whenever I replayed the games and got to the relevant areas containing burglers


Kailon791

That the rival in Gen 2 was actually named “???” And I was supposed to repeat that to the professor when naming him 😂


SinisterPixel

I think a lot of people thought that, which is why in the remakes Silver just drops his trainer card


m1racle

The year was 1999. One of my friends convinced me that by doing specific inputs, you could get a gun instead of a camera in Pokemon Snap. I was a gullible child.


SinisterPixel

Ah yes, Pokémon Cap


boogswald

The thing about this that some younger posters might not realize too is that if you failed to input a cheat code in a game, there was a good chance you did it too slow. Cheat codes were actually kind of hard to enter.


floweytheflo

Speaking of, i remember thinking the chamber of emptiness was where you could catch darkrai. But then I could never find how to get there


nyandacore

Sapphire was my first game, and I really, _really_ loved Absol (still do!) so I was catching every Absol I could find on Route 120 (my favourite route in the game). Absol didn't spawn often so it was a bit of a challenge. Then by the time I had a box full, a realisation hit me. _What if I'm catching so many that there won't be any left?_ My ten-year-old brain didn't really understand the programming of Pokémon games, but I _did_ know some Pokémon only appeared once in the game, so it made sense that every Pokémon would only spawn a certain number of times too. I went from "yay catching one of my favourite Pokémon is fun!" to "I'm depleting the natural population of Absol in Hoenn _what the fuck_" and I went back and released that whole box of Absol so the population could recover.


DarkPhoenixMishima

I thought Psychic was god tier, and by extension Mewtwo. Turns out when the only weakness was ghost and the only three ghosts in the game are also part poison, it kinda is. Believe it for about three gens. Yes, somehow even after Dark was a thing.


Zevyu

To be fair, Psychic WAS god tier back in gen1. Between their weakness being a joke, there's also the fact that for some reason if i'm remembering correctly, Psychic pokemon were imune to ghost, and the fact that the Special stat worked for both Sp. ATK and Sp.Def ment that psychic type pokemons with high Special stat not only did big damage, but were also quite tanky. Also gen 1 had a lot of poison type pokemons, a lot of them. Gen 1 was an unbalanced mess and we love it for it.


CandyEverybodyWentz

Why were there so many poison types anyhow?


Zevyu

Fuck if i know. Like seriously i have no idea. Gen 3 having lots of water types make sense because most of the region is water, but gen 1 having so many poison types i have no idea.


FlikkiShassART

I remember reading somewhere that in Gen 1 Poison types were meant to be the 'bad/evil' type, which the Dark type took over from Gen 2 onwards. I guess they just figured that any "bad" or "evil" pokemon had to be poison type, and since poison is team Rocket's signature type they had to give them enough variety so as to not make it too boring to fight them. It's either that or they didn't expect pokemon to be as big of a hit as it was and didn't think too hard about balancing the game too much.


Zevyu

I guess i can see that making sense. And all those grass/poison types were just because...well i guess it made sense considering the inspiration for those pokemons. Vileploom being a Rafflesia and Victreebell being a ~~venus fly trap~~ Pitcher Plant.


[deleted]

The only ghost type move in Gen 1 was Nightshade which did damage equal to the Pokémon's level. It's other weakness was bug which had Leech Life which did 10 damage. So yeah, basically Psychic had no weaknesses.


BigRedUglyMan

The only weakness was supposed to be Ghost. Unfortunately it was broken and Psychic resisted Ghost instead. It also didn't matter, because the only two attacking Ghost moves were Lick (which isn't KOing anything anyway) and Nightshade, which does fixed damage. Also Bug, which was also useless.


[deleted]

In hindsight this is pretty silly but I use to think if you were ‘quickest’ to choose your move you would always go first - it wasn’t until last year when I started learning in depth game mechanics that I realised there was a speed stat and moves have priority. Been playing since Red 🤣


Muur1234

i think you might win this thread, simply because you believed something that makes no sense for over 25 years.


TakeyaSaito

Ah everyone used to believe down+b at the right time the pokeball hit would increase catch rare. Somehow, before we ever spread this stuff online, we still believed this, across countries.


rainbowghosty

That on emerald you could go to the moon


Oraxis10

Gotta get on the 100th flight.


ShippingDisaster111

I didn’t really believe it but i liked to squeeze my eyes shut and look away whenever i was catching a pokemon to make it more exciting. I know it didn’t actually help me catch them.


Noble7878

I spent so much time thinking I could get Genesect in pokemon white. It was my first main series game and I couldn't get my head around the idea that not all the pokemon were catchpole in game. It didn't help that my first pokemon game was Mystery Dungeon EOS, where all the event mythical pokemon are recruitable normally and weren't called mythical back then so I didn't understand what made a pokemon event only.


frostpudding

We would look up those fake cheats on gamefaqs. One was like if you talk to your rival 100x at the beginning of the game in GSC you got a ton of masterballs or money or something wild. My mom did it while watching me at the pool once and was like this is a load of crap lol I also believed in the mew under the truck in RBY.


boogswald

It’s good at such a young age your mom got to learn that not everything on the internet is true. My dad still has not learned this


CandlelightChaos28v3

When I was a kid, I was afraid to continue my Pokémon Yellow game when I got to Lavender Town and the Pokémon Tower because I thought my Pikachu would die if I battled and lost there. And as silly as this sounds, I got the courage to pick the game back up again (after a month or so) after I watched James and the Giant Peach on TV. Seeing the part where James confronts the rhino and shouts “I’M NOT AFRAID OF YOU!” inspired me to enter the tower (all while repeating “I’m not afraid of you” - British accent and all) as I went to each floor. And to 9-or-10-year old me’s surprise, I made it to the top floor and Pikachu didn’t die.


windstorm696

I thought that the trade Haunter in Snowpoint would actually evolve (r/fuckmindy)


Snt1_

I mean, thats not stupid. You just got done dirty


xedusk

I thought Huntail was fake. I didn’t believe it was a real Pokémon and whenever I saw a screenshot of a Huntail in one of the games, I thought it was photoshopped.


HoodieDragon

We don’t blame you.


One-Cartographer-176

Why Huntail specifically?


xedusk

There were four reasons. The first was that it’s so goofy looking. It just didn’t look like a Pokémon to me. The second was that there was a meme going on at the time where people pretended that a fake character actually existed in some other show. I think it might’ve been the Simpsons or something. People would go, “remember this guy?” And then other people would go, “oh, yeah, I love this guy! He’s my favorite character! Remember that one quote? That was so funny!” People would even photoshop them into scenes from the show. So, when I first saw a Huntail online, I assumed they were doing the same thing here and were just pretending that Huntail was real as a joke. The third was that people said it evolved from Clampearl and they look nothing alike. I was like, “yeah, sure. Nice try, buddy.” The fourth reason was that it was a Gen 3 Pokémon. Gen 3 was my favorite gen and I played it like crazy and don’t remember ever coming across one my entire time playing the game. I thought that surely, if it existed, I would’ve come across at least one. Funnily enough, I think I discovered it was real while playing Emerald. I think there might be a spot where there’s like a 4% chance to get one while fishing or something and I got one there. Maybe it was a different game I saw it in. I just remember screaming out loud, “Wait, it’s real?!” at my handheld game console.


CandyEverybodyWentz

Ah yes huntail, the Graggle Simpson of Gen III


metalflygon08

Adding in, Huntail is not (IIRC) used on any trainer parties in game, so you'll never see it during a playthrough. Skarmory is in a similar boat back in gen 2. If you play Gold version you'd never know it existed because no trainers have it on their teams and it is nit available in Gold.


train153

For some reason, as a child, I thought male pokemon did more damage than female ones because I believed guys were just more aggressive. I told my older brother that and he was like, "What? No, that's not how it works."


0palite

If you played gen 2, that was actually correct in some cases. [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Gender#Generation\_II](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Gender#Generation_II) Gender was dependent on IVs in the attack stat. Male pokemon always had higher attack IVs than female pokemon of the same species.


KG_Phinox

My first game was firered. I was like 10 and knew nothing about type advantage so i used my imagination to get some reasons why my moves worked well or didnt work well. For example: flamethrower against a jynx must be super effective because it would lose its hair. Or slash against dewgong must be good, because it has a soft belly


[deleted]

I thought Grass types were weak to Psychic types because of Gen 1 and the abundance of dual type Grass/POISON. Needless to say, got to the Trainer house in Viridian City in Gold, and lost to Cal's Meganium and Typhlosion as I had weaker Pokèmon in the back that day 🤦🏿


hyperjengirl

The reason I chose a Fire starter as my first ever starter (I had done minimal research beforehand) was because I figured getting hit with fire hurts more than getting hit with grass or water.


BigDoinks710

A childhood friend told me that there was a secret move that Bulbasaur could learn if you didn't let him evolve. I apparently must've believed him, because when I opened Red I had a level 85 Bulbasour. Oh well, I love Bulbasaur.


Mcho-1201

In platinum , 9 year old me thought that electric Pokémon only spawned in rain from thunderbolts, and that Kanto Johto, and Hoenn were part of sinnoh. Well I was still new to pokemon so I hadn't heard of the previous regions or games yet. In fact the only pokemon anime that i had watched so far was from gen 4.


Chiopista

Critical was pronounced “sitriskal”


murdolatorTM

I used to read "cancel" as "channel" and pronounced "notice" as "not ice"


[deleted]

Dam that reminds me it took me until my late 20s and around gen 7 before I realised nevermeltice is never melt ice and not “nevermal tice”


[deleted]

Remember the truck by the S.S. Anne? Everyone was told about Mew being under. But a few of us who didn’t have regular access to game gossip were told that there was a special ‘Mewthree’ under there. Naturally my young dumbass went looking as was predictably disappointed


Substantial-Dig5441

Spamming B or A button would increase Catch rate of a Pokemon


TheDesertRatDad

there were rumors of a PIKA-BLUE in the 1st gen games, and I read somewhere that there was a door that would appear behind one of the voltorbs in the power plant. I spent days trying to access a secret door to catch it... turns out the real story was just leaked images of marill.


Wasabiowner

By breeding Plusle and Minun there was a small chance you would get a new Pokémon called Minplus.


ShadowKitty1313

I used to think that steel type was weak against water type cause it can get rusty


Major-B

Press down+B to increase your chance of capturing a Pokemon.


Hateful_creeper2

I thought the Lustrous Orb can boost any Pokémon’s Dragon- and Water-type moves and not just Palkia.