WEBVTT - Episode 71: Pokémon 0:00:09.360 --> 0:00:13.200 Hello, and welcome to another episode of Nerdificent. I am 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:15.920 one half of your host, Danny Fernandez, and sitting across 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:20.360 from me. How's it going? And you can't see, but 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:24.360 he's in magino. These are some shorts I picked up 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:27.880 while I was in New York um at the Billionaire 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:31.560 Boys Club. It's the ice cream shorts, and I was like, oh, yeah, 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:35.640 I want to it. Yeah, and today we're joined by 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:38.440 one of our dear friends. We've known him because if 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:41.040 you and I were hosts at hyper OPG where we 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:43.839 met Matt um who's also a host there. He's a 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:46.960 host in producer. It's Matt Asservato. Hey, yeah, thanks for 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:48.880 having me. And I gotta say I love the main boo. 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:51.640 It looks real good, looks really good. If he yeah, 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:54.160 I don't even know what you would call this, but 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:58.400 I am color coordinated and in magenta nice and yeah, 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:03.000 and I'm in a common huh, a unique low Pokemon shirt. 0:01:03.080 --> 0:01:06.000 So yeah. So we normally start a podcast with what 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:09.480 we're seeking out about, but since we're covering Pokemon and 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:11.959 it's such a huge topic, I thought we would dive 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:14.119 right into it. But I do know that when we 0:01:14.200 --> 0:01:17.720 asked for Pokemon people, like, so many people tagged you 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:19.880 and it made sense. I think you were supposed to 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:22.200 come on our Nintendo episode, but you couldn't because you're 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:24.240 also a big Nintendo head. Yeah. Nintendo. It is like 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:27.160 my is my forte. It's what. It's literally the thing 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:29.440 I'm most passionate about of anything. I don't know if 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:31.320 I'd ever want to work for Nintendo because I love 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:35.119 it so much. That's hilarious. We've done hosting for them. 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:36.680 I've like hosted for them, like that's like about the 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:39.360 extent of oh yeah you have Yeah, yeah, that was 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:41.560 really fun. But I just they're just I know, I 0:01:41.600 --> 0:01:44.120 feel I love about this is that company is that 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:46.560 they just focus. It's just so positive. I feel like 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:48.680 like all their content and all their their game is 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:51.240 all about bringing people together and I just really latch 0:01:51.320 --> 0:01:53.400 onto that. Yeah, so is that something? I mean, I 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:56.000 assume that's how you got introduced to Pokemon was from 0:01:56.000 --> 0:01:59.480 the games? Yeah, it was the games and I was 0:01:59.600 --> 0:02:02.120 really young man, I was I was in uh I 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:04.800 think first grade when the game came out, Pokemon Red, 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:06.160 and I got it for Christmas along with the game 0:02:06.200 --> 0:02:09.799 Boy Color, and I just I know was before the 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:12.320 show I think. I think the show came came after, 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:14.000 but the game was what got me hooked on it. 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:16.720 And I just remember like that, that's the feeling of 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:19.600 opening up on Christmas morning and you know, putting it 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:21.360 in here, that the ding, you know, and and just 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:24.640 the dune, like the dunt, the dunt dunt, and just 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:27.160 the sense of adventure that's happening. And from the moment 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:29.520 Professor Oh asked me like what my name was, I 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:34.200 was like, that was the name part of what are 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:37.960 you a boy or girls? Oh customization. I think our 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:41.480 friend Kylie Bear is the voice of Professor Oak. No, Oh, 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:43.440 you would know, because he's a voice of adult go on. 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:48.560 That's right. Yeah, he stoke too. Yeah, well he's got 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:52.880 a great voice he does. Yeah, it's done so many 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:57.240 world the Pokemon Oh, that's totally him. It was wild 0:02:57.280 --> 0:03:01.079 because Pokemon was like kind of, at least for our generation, 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:04.640 this like smash hit and it was like everyone was 0:03:04.680 --> 0:03:07.560 poking crazy. You know. We ended up leading up to 0:03:07.600 --> 0:03:11.000 having a movie and it just kind of took over everywhere, 0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:14.120 and it was a thing that we thought would eventually 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:16.760 grow away with the nineties, and it stood. The anime 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:20.240 kept running. They kept coming out with new versions after 0:03:20.360 --> 0:03:22.480 and it seems like there's a whole new generation of 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:24.760 poke It fans. Yeah, and I feel like what they've 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:27.120 been doing, it's been so great because you know, they 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:28.639 had the games, you have the expement from the games, 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:30.440 and the show comes out and it's like, oh, like, 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:31.880 are we done with the game? Oh, here's a new 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:34.400 game like that. I feel like they're pacing with releasing content. 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:37.520 It's just so dang good. Well, you know, Digimon kind 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:39.400 of came out around like a little bit after, but 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:42.160 kind of around the same time, and it just hasn't 0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:45.120 definitely still has its fans and it still has you know, 0:03:45.200 --> 0:03:47.800 things that are coming out, Um, I know Digimon Adventure. 0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:52.200 Uh uh huh. Yeah, Well it hasn't latched on the 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:54.360 same way or has it been blown up the same 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:57.760 way that Pokemon has. Yeah, I think, uh, I love Digimon. 0:03:57.840 --> 0:04:00.720 I think what happened was to uh, you know, American 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:03.360 audiences at least because it came out around the same 0:04:03.360 --> 0:04:05.360 time Pokemon came out, and it has a similar name. 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:08.320 It kind of like became oh it's just a copycat 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:10.760 of this, but did you want it's like a completely 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:14.040 different thing. Which is like, you know, it's and I 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:15.760 don't think it latchunks. I don't think the games are 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:18.600 nearly as good as Pokemon. You know, yeah, they're more 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:22.400 traditional JRPG style kind of games. Yeah yeah, well Pokemon 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:25.320 is a little more user friendly, I think. Yeah, oh yeah. Well. Also, 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:27.880 you know, I feel like I've said this before, the 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:32.320 Digimon anime is way more solid than the Pokemon anime. 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:35.960 Like the Pokemon anime, you know, there are some stands 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:38.360 for it, but I feel like, you know, Digimon had 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:43.000 to beat every time. The design was cooler. But thus 0:04:43.040 --> 0:04:46.720 a last Pokemon is the one that I mean, it's 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:49.360 got one of the best dub theme songs ever made. Yeah, 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:51.880 that's true. I can't I will say that because you know, 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:57.200 it was just Digimon Digital Monsters, Digimon the Champions did 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:01.960 Ultimate Digital Monsters, and then we have Pocket Monsters. So 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:05.560 let's just hop into the history of Pokemon. So it 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:09.000 was created by Satashi Tajii, and he actually when he 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:11.520 was growing up, he had a fondness of catching insects 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:15.560 and tadpoles uh near his home in suburban Tokyo, So 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:18.120 he essentially wanted to make a game. He actually had 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:20.159 a magazine. I don't know if you know. He actually 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:22.520 had a magazine that he made. It was a gaming 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:25.800 one called game Freak that he did with the help 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:29.520 of Ken Sugumori. So they did that, and then when 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:32.919 Tajii discovered the game Boy, then he had this idea 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:36.640 to to move. Essentially, he actually was inspired by ultraman 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:40.400 an Ultra seven, which is a fantasy television show in 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:43.880 which the protagonists used giant monsters contained with small capsules. 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:47.520 That sounds familiar, and so when he made this new game. 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:49.880 When they made the new game, they called it Capsule Monsters, 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:52.720 but then due to trademarking issues, they ended up changing 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:55.479 it to Pocket Monsters or as we know now, Pokemon, 0:05:56.480 --> 0:05:59.120 which is so awesome. I love that even represented in 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:02.080 the game to see like not only is you know, 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:04.120 the element of catching, but also like you know, he 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:06.320 liked to catch bugs, and in all of the Pokemon 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:08.880 games are the trainers like I'm book catcher, you know, 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:12.440 I'm fisherman. I'm definitely shouting out those bug catchers throughout 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:14.680 the whole thing. Yeah, don't sleep on the bug catchers, man, 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:18.200 I know they keep popping off, but yeah, we're talking 0:06:18.240 --> 0:06:20.440 about you popping in the first one. And as you know, 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:25.000 the franchise began as Pokemon Red and Green, which was 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:28.599 in Japan, but we knew it and Pokemon Red and Blue, 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:30.840 and it was a pair of video games for the 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:33.560 original game Boy that we're developed by game Freak and 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:36.840 published a Nintendo in February, which was my birthday, which 0:06:36.880 --> 0:06:38.279 is probably why I was able to get it in 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:45.159 nineteen ninety six, making that um eight years after me 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:49.719 and Danny. Oh my gosh. Well well, well yeah, the 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:51.919 game came out in Japan and then was so popular 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:54.840 they were able to have it come out in right. 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:58.400 I was so interesting too because it was two separate 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:01.560 games but the same game, which I mean now Fire 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:03.839 Emblem is kind of doing that with the houses, but 0:07:04.000 --> 0:07:08.920 they had Fates and birthright the one before that, and 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:11.640 and that is like a different energy to kind of 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:15.400 capitalize on a craze because not only do you customize 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:17.880 your character in the game the names of your Pokemon, 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:20.480 but also you can have a choice of which version 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:22.600 you want to have and the Pokemon you're able to 0:07:22.640 --> 0:07:26.320 catch changes between that and there are you know, as 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:28.360 you said, there were there are exclusive to each game, 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:30.360 and back then it was like a way bigger deal 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:32.600 because you want to catch them all. You either needed 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:34.880 the link cable, which I feel like no one happened, 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:36.920 or you needed to just get both copies of the game. 0:07:37.120 --> 0:07:39.560 You needed a friend with rich parents who bought them 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:42.040 every accessory for the thing. But like even that weird 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:44.679 reading light that would plug I had the reading light. Man, Okay, 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:51.120 so you're the rich I guess so heard it here first. Yeah, man, Like, 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:53.320 I don't know. It was just like and now it's 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:55.800 it's just easier with with online, everything is just so much. 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:57.520 You don't I don't feel like you need to get 0:07:57.640 --> 0:07:59.600 the other ones. I think if you were talking about 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:01.600 fire mb them, like at least with each house it's 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:03.960 like different stories a little bit like you're getting different 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:05.720 sides of it. But at least like nowadays, if we 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:07.920 do Pokemon, you can just trade, Like I can just 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:10.000 trade with Iffy's Like, oh, like if you have an exclusive, 0:08:10.320 --> 0:08:12.480 but mankey on your I need to make you so 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:14.800 I'll go to you and we'll trade. So yeah, yeah, 0:08:15.040 --> 0:08:19.080 can you walk people through what those first games were like? Oh? Man, 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:22.280 so the first games, well, it's what it was like. 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:25.320 The just the overall experience, yeah, or like you know, 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:28.000 playing them on the game Boy essentially was your goal 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:31.560 and the characters that you ran into. I'm gonna transform myself. 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:33.959 I'm gonna go back into the shoes of seven year 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:36.880 old Matt and my experiencing it. It was the first 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:39.360 time for me that I was the one. It was 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:41.800 like my journey. It was like Matt is in this game. 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:43.800 I named him Matt, and you know, I was going 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:46.679 on this journey and I got to go and you know, 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:49.680 make new friends and allies and rivals, and it was 0:08:49.720 --> 0:08:52.480 just this discovery and growing not only with myself, with 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:54.440 my Pokemon who became my friends, who had name after 0:08:54.480 --> 0:08:57.080 my friends back in you know, first grade. I would 0:08:57.120 --> 0:08:59.360 name him like, oh, this one's Patrick and this one's 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:02.200 like just even or whatever. But it was like my 0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:05.080 party of friends that we like we grew together. Um. 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:07.120 But at the same we're not just only not only 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:09.040 are we like just trying to be the best, we're 0:09:09.080 --> 0:09:11.880 also like uncovering like a mafia plot going on and 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:15.000 like thwarting like bad guys at the same time. Um, 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:17.400 because you know, in the first game, there's Team Rocket 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:20.000 and Team Rocket is doing this whole thing where they're 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:22.960 trying to you know, replicate you, which is the first 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:25.720 ancient Pokemon, and so they created me two and they 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:27.840 did a bunch of shady stuff and like you're just 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:30.760 this ten year old kid going around busting their chops. Uh. 0:09:30.760 --> 0:09:34.240 And that was like real, real cool. So I don't know, man, 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:36.439 it's just I just get so happy thinking about it. 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:38.679 I know. It's what's cool too, is you know it's 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:42.560 a solid formula because it's kind of repeated in every game, 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:44.560 and there's minor tweaks here and there, but you know, 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:48.000 you have your hero character, which is you. You have 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:52.839 the Professor, You always have a um what is whether 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:55.240 they called at the Pokemon Center, is it nurse Nurse 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:58.839 Joyce and Officer Jenny's. Yeah, Nurse Joy's, Officer Jenny's you 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:02.200 haven't him. Leaders and you have the eleait for and 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:05.360 you have your team Rocket or it's changed over the years, 0:10:05.400 --> 0:10:09.240 but you're your antagonist Gang and then of course your rival. 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:11.600 And now they've kind of added a buddy to take 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:14.560 that like last Pokemon. Yeah, I Do'm not you know, 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:17.280 the buddy. He's cute. The buddy's usually cute. Well, I'm like, 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:20.600 all right, get out of here kids, let me get 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:25.839 my rival there, let me be him. Yeah, show Who's boss. Yeah. 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:27.920 But you know, even though in the first game, because 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:31.280 like I wasn't aware, like I think the main weakness 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:33.600 has made sense, like fire beats you know, grass, grass 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:36.560 uh beats uh you know, water, water beats fire. But 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:38.559 like outside of that, it was a lot of discovering 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:41.440 of like, oh my gosh, like what defeats rock and 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:43.400 what defeat the psychic you know, and it was just 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:46.680 this like water biting. Yeah, So like that, especially that 0:10:46.720 --> 0:10:49.439 first time through, it was just like really just figuring 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:52.120 it out, you know. I know, it is funny the 0:10:52.120 --> 0:10:55.000 the types and the weaknesses because it all starts. I 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:57.079 feel like it was pretty like I can see why 0:10:57.120 --> 0:10:59.400 water would beat rock, I can see why fighting might 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:03.360 defeats kick. But now we've got we got very right. 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:08.120 Very is good against dragons because dragons were repie for 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:10.120 a long time. They were very They were only week 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:12.760 to drag. Yeah, I mean, and Lance was the guy. 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:15.200 You know, Lance was super cool man. I loved Lance. 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:20.199 He was the dragon elite. But it was like, it's 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:22.520 so cool and I wanted to punch his face and 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:24.560 I was like, I have you keep beating me and 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:27.040 I'm going to end you. Yeah, you know, and like 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:29.360 talking going back and talking about like our first time through, 0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:32.920 I'm remembering like every like now it's just kind of 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:35.480 the subconscious that I know all these Pokemon they could 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:37.319 they bring him back, you know, but the first time 0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:39.880 I every single time you see a new Pokemon, you'd 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:42.160 be like, oh my gosh, what is this thing? You 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:44.840 know I used I used to masterball the first time 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:47.440 on a Ditto because in the show that was like, 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:50.320 oh wow, Dido can transform into anything. And I was like, 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:52.400 I have to catch that Ditto, and I was just 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:54.080 so excited the first time I saw I was like, 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:55.920 oh my gosh, this is so rare, Like I've never 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:58.640 seen ditto again. So I just I didn't even tried 0:11:58.720 --> 0:12:00.520 a weekend. I just threw my mask ball. I got 0:12:00.559 --> 0:12:03.160 silf Coo and on this ditto and I had when 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:05.760 I got to mewtwo, I was just using like ultra balls. 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:09.840 I did it backwards, man. Yeah, but you still caught 0:12:09.880 --> 0:12:13.160 me too, so there you go. Yeah. So this year 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:17.120 the games came out also saw the release of the 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:20.360 trading card game, which was huge. By the way, it 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:23.679 had a hundred and two cards and was super popular. 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:25.880 I was like the person that had all of my 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:29.160 cards in the little card holder and then I would 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:30.880 just like take them to school and I just like looking. 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:32.680 I just thought they were so pretty. I did that 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:35.160 with like all of my anime trading cards. I just 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:38.160 thought I just didn't want to give them up. I totally. 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:40.040 I'm totally with you on that though. I don't want 0:12:40.040 --> 0:12:42.360 anything to happen to them. Same and for me, you know, 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:44.880 it's weird. Me and my cousins we didn't play the 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:48.520 card game until later. We just collected the cards. It 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:52.000 was just weird, should not be doing that. I was thinking, 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:55.600 I had a set of Pikachu and um, it was 0:12:56.240 --> 0:12:58.160 this Pikachu toy. I think it was like the Here 0:12:58.200 --> 0:12:59.840 No Evil c No Evil or something. I don't know, 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:01.960 it was something like that, and I literally did not 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:03.800 take it out of the box. I did not. I 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:05.560 was that kid, and I just left. I thought my 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:07.440 Pikachu was so pretty and I didn't want anything to 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:09.400 happen to it, and I just left it. So in 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:11.600 the starter set where you can where it has the 0:13:11.640 --> 0:13:14.320 window so you can see the card in there. Yeah, see, 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:17.679 I never had that. My parents would never invest that 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:20.280 much money into a thing I liked, so I always 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:24.880 bought boosters, And if you aren't aware, boosters don't come 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:28.600 with energy cards, they just have other Pokemon card. Uh. 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:30.920 So what that means is I had a whole bunch 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:33.679 of Pokemon but no way to play him, so I 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:36.240 never was able to play the game. Meanwhile, my best 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:39.240 friend Welton, his parents were taking them to Walden's Book 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:42.920 to compete in the Pokemonage because they had the local 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:45.840 Pokemon leagues where you would play against people and then 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:48.520 when you would win, you'd get a badge, a physical. 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:51.480 If you actually got badges, that's like a drink of 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:55.280 true man missed out on it. They still have them 0:13:55.320 --> 0:13:57.480 that you could go to. I mean they're the league 0:13:57.520 --> 0:13:59.840 is still going strong. They go live on Twitch quite 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:04.719 often for the championships. But that you know, we'll get 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:08.240 to this later. But even like watching like pro Pokemon fight, 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:11.360 like it really seems like the stratus to one shot 0:14:11.480 --> 0:14:14.320 every Poke, so like it's never that exciting to watch 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:16.360 because it's like, all right, this guy has the thing 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:19.880 to one shot. Yeah. I never got into the competitive 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:22.400 aspect of the of the game like that because of 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:24.440 that I'm like, well, we're just gonna keep you know, 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:27.960 trading in like you know, returning Pokemon and sending out 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:30.080 the ones that's gonna match that type, you know. But 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:32.160 it's kind of like a gamble. It's like, oh, I 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:34.680 hope he throws out this. But there are crazy combos 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:36.200 that you can't do. Like there's there's moves that like 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:39.160 can you can like I forgot the name of this move, 0:14:39.240 --> 0:14:41.280 but it was like returned to other person's Pokemon to 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:42.600 the pokemall and they have to put through in the 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:44.400 next one other party, and there's like, you know, there's 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:46.160 combos you can do and stuff. But I never got 0:14:46.200 --> 0:14:48.560 that deep into that because it was it was mostly 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:51.680 just for me, you know. Yeah, same same here. Yeah. 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:55.120 Was a huge year because after so they have the 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:57.840 game release, they have the trading card release, then they 0:14:57.880 --> 0:15:02.520 have the manga release, you know, then and then finally 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:05.880 this is when I really got into it. Finally the 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:10.560 following year, April is when the anime series premiered. We 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:13.920 had Pokemon Trader Satashi, who was later dubbed as we 0:15:14.080 --> 0:15:17.640 know Um as ash Catchum, who was named after Satashi, 0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:22.200 the creator Um based on Red and another character introduced 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:25.240 in the first episode was his rival, who was later 0:15:25.400 --> 0:15:30.520 Gary Oak based on Blue Gary Guy. So yeah, the 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:35.640 the anime is I mean, I will be the best 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:46.320 no one ever was catch them. So yeah, that's so iconic. 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:57.560 Gotta catch up. You teach me. We might not have 0:15:57.560 --> 0:15:59.520 gotten to that park, Danny. We don't know how much 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:08.200 we can easily played because it could have been. It's 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:14.440 back to us the first ten seconds. Okay, so talk 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:17.400 us through some of the main characters here. Team Rockets, 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:18.920 so you touched on them, but we didn't really talk 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:22.000 about you know who they are. Yeah. So Team Rocket is, uh, 0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:26.480 this corporation that basically they're trying to take capture strong 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:29.080 Pokemon for their own purposes. And the ones that we 0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:32.160 see primarily it's it's ran by the eighth gym leader spoiler, 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:35.960 which is Giovanni UM and he uses normal type Pokemon 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:38.520 to fight. But Giovann is like a mob guy and 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:40.680 like and the people that we see all the time, 0:16:40.760 --> 0:16:43.400 or two people, one named Jesse and one named James 0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:46.720 in the American version, um because they're thieves and you know, 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:49.680 like Jesse James, uh, and they have their me that 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:53.520 talks that's talking to me outright, that's right, um, and 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:56.120 they're just trying they see the speaking tune and Ashes 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:58.160 speaking to is pretty special. It's kind of I like 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:00.000 to think of it as like a shiny Pikachu because 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:02.680 is is very powerful. And they're always trying to capture 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:04.920 this Pikachu for the boss because they're Jesse and James 0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:07.840 were there like meant to be like someone like, you know, 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:10.040 one of the top grunts, but like they kept getting 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:12.000 thwarted by like Ash. Now they're kind of like fools 0:17:12.000 --> 0:17:13.520 because of it. And I think there's like a vendetta 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:15.600 because of that. That's why they want to catch the 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:18.480 Pikachu to like get there, get it. Yeah, that's always 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:22.440 been funny because like Pikachu is such a whatever pokemon. Yeah, 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:26.560 but you know, it's cute, it's yellow, it's a mascot. Yeah. 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:31.199 But yeah. One of the mottoes of Team Rocket that 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:32.640 you can see on the walls of one of their 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:37.160 facility in the game is steal Pokemon for profit, Exploit 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:40.800 Pokemon for profit. All Pokemon exists for the glory of 0:17:40.880 --> 0:17:44.080 Team Rocket. Yeah. Yeah, it's not funny that they would 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:49.239 just put that weird bad boy in case you were 0:17:49.280 --> 0:17:52.600 wondering who stole it? We did? It was me Team 0:17:52.720 --> 0:17:58.800 Rocket Yeah, um, yes, so, I mean it feels weird 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:01.959 like being like playing Pikachu, who's like the you know, 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:05.879 the most famous ever. But let's dive into some of 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:09.440 the Pokemon. So Pikachu arguably one of the most famous 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:14.040 the mascot iconic Pokemon we had. I can say that 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:16.760 officially because we have Detective Pikachu. So yeah, he's his 0:18:16.880 --> 0:18:19.720 name was on it, so he is the goat. I 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:23.359 mean they created a whole version for Pikachu because there 0:18:23.400 --> 0:18:26.800 was red, blue, and then we had yellow, which copied 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:29.639 the uh anime, and you were able to walk around 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:31.520 with Pikachu at your side, and there was a big 0:18:31.520 --> 0:18:33.720 surf mini game that I was never able to reach. 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:36.600 Everyone talked about it. I could not find the surf 0:18:36.600 --> 0:18:40.800 mini game. Where was that? That's a rule that was 0:18:41.280 --> 0:18:45.119 I don't remember. That was I don't know, Matt, remember 0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:50.399 how I said, I didn't. You're like, oh man, that 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:52.119 wasn't It was a little fun. That was such a 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:55.399 fun mini game. Whoa well do you remember playing it? 0:18:55.480 --> 0:18:59.119 Like nine hours? He didn't get there? Yeah, no, I 0:18:59.160 --> 0:19:03.440 did not. Can you describe like starter Pokemon and then 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:06.480 how they level up. So every game has there's three 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:11.119 starter Pokemon. The standard is fire, grass and water um 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:14.800 and so and there's and for every generation of Pokemon, 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:16.840 there are different types. You know. There's literally a new 0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:20.440 generation of Pokemon and the original we have Charmander, Squirrel 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:25.320 and bobble Star um and those evolved. You know, as 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:27.840 as you train them, you get to a certain level 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:30.399 UM and they gain XP and you can kind of 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:32.639 like focus that XP if you want to like gain 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:34.600 you know, maybe you want this one to be like 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:37.600 have higher speed. Like it's told evy training, which we've 0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:41.240 always skip that because that's very deep. Yeah, that's super deep, 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:45.240 but we we can essentially, uh, just if you're curious. 0:19:45.280 --> 0:19:49.920 Ev training is basically essentially hunting for specific Pokemon with 0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:53.240 like these hidden stats and you have to uh and 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:56.359 there's like certain like qualifiers you have to do to 0:19:56.480 --> 0:20:00.199 train each of those stats. It's very very deep in 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:03.959 the game. And yeah, I remember it was explained to me, 0:20:04.000 --> 0:20:05.320 and it was explained how to do it, and I 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:07.239 was like, yeah, I ain't doing all that. Yeah. So 0:20:07.280 --> 0:20:09.560 with with your starter, you choose one uh and you 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:11.360 get to name it, you know, name you your best friend, 0:20:11.480 --> 0:20:12.679