5 Mistakes We All Made As Young Pokémon Trainers

Your Starter Pokémon

Your starter Pokémon, the one that’s going to accompany you from the very start of your adventure, and most likely will remain a core part of your team for a significant amount of  your playtime. Therefore the decision is one of the most thought through processes in Pokémon games. Do you want a water, fire or grass type? Which one is most likely going to fit into your team? You ponder over which one looks the coolest/ cutest at the current time and take a leap of faith opting for that Bulbasaur, recalling how awesome Venasaur was in the Pokémon movie (Don’t deny it you all watched it at some point!).

However when you were younger you didn’t have all these thought processes. Your mind was occupied with which starter was in your favourite colour and whether you could get your mum to cook you sausages for tea that night. But the further you delved into the game you realised that the Bulbasaur you picked because of its green complexion may have been the wrong choice.

Not to fear it’ll get better, but when you’ve bitten the Pokémon bug and you get into the nitty gritty of the games mechanics, the first starter Pokémon you picked is always a hit and miss decision amongst trainers. At least you know for next time eh!

Trainer Used Master Ball…

Ok so I’m sure nobody made as horrific a choice as Twitch did when it came to deciding which Pokémon to catch with the one Master Ball you got… unless you glitched the game out. The majority of us however did all have a regret at some point on what we used the Master Ball on.

You find a legendary out in the wild, or you’ve trawled through a cave of Golbats to get to that legendary bird. You contemplate whether to attempt an ultra ball catch but it’s just too risky, what if something goes horribly wrong and that legendary dog you’ve been running all over Johto for flees, or even worse faints?! After a minute staring at the sprite of said legendary Pokémon you go into your bag and use your master ball. Click, legendary caught= happy days… right.. RIGHT?!

You’re overjoyed with your new caught legendary and it quickly becomes a permanent member of your team, however you then remember that Mewtwo is in the game ready to be caught somewhere. Maybe you should have used that Master Ball on Mewtwo, and so begins the three hours of constantly battling Mewtwo armed with 99 ultra balls and reloading your save every time you accidentally kill it. You did save your game before battle… didn’t you?

Mewtwo Fainted!

So you’ve wasted your Master Ball on a significantly worse legendary than Mewtwo and after another hour or so of battling through a cave of Golbats you reach him. TO BATTLE! You go in guns blazing and don’t think about necessary precautions. You’ve got your 99 ultra balls that only takes a chunk out of all those Elite 4 winnings you’ve made? Check. Teams at full health and a bag of hyper potions is at the ready? Check. You saved the game before pressing A on Mewtwo? ….shit.

And so begins the 15+ minutes where your hands have never felt sweatier and your heart is sat in your throat. It’s a big deal when you’re younger… or 20, love for Pokémon never dies! You decide the best strategy is to constantly use ‘Quick Attack‘ in the hope of chipping away his life bit by bit, solid plan! But then the game just has to screw you over, ‘Critical Hit!’

And so 15 minutes later, 4 Pokémon down and 50 uses of ‘Quick Attack’ later you’re staring at something similar to the screen above. Curse that Articuno and your impulse decision to use your Master Ball on it! You know what I’m gonna say by now right? … Next time… yeah.

Venusaur Forgot Solar Beam

Well you’ve been stuck with Bulbasaur from the start, evolved him into Venusaur and you just wish it was Charizard instead. Well at least there is an up side, he’s learnt Solar Beam and it’s making mincemeat of your opponents every time. However you taught him Cut a while back and he’d be much better if he learnt Strength instead.

You take a visit to this friendly chap, the ‘Move Deleter’, you skip through all the text, select Venusaur and in your frantic attempts to blaze through all his random chatter you select Solar Beam and poof its gone. You knew you should have taken this slow.

If you didn’t do that you’ve more than likely forgotten a move when learning a new one and, in hindsight realised that the move you forgot would have led to a much more well-rounded set of moves. After all a shed load of grass moves ain’t gonna help you when you’re one on one with a fire type and Venusaur is the only Pokémon left in your arsenal.

Did you learn your lesson from murdering Mewtwo and save more often? Nope! So now you have a high level Venusaur, your faithful companion from the beginning lacking its most powerful move, great! A solitary tear trickles down your cheek and you wonder why you’re even putting yourself through this heartbreak of playing anymore.

Game Save Corruption

Things are pretty dire, you may well be the worst Pokémon trainer in the world. You’re at school/ college and hear mutterings of something hidden within the game. A hidden item glitch that occurred if you faced this scrambled sprite in battle. You look it up and go for it, what’s the worst that could happen?

Turns out that done enough times, Missingno would make your game its bitch! Yes you got those 99 ‘Nuggets’ or ‘Rare candies’ which somewhat made up for your horrific experience up until now, but in repayment your Hall of Fame would be goosed and in some instances your player sprite would multiply and like an army of evil clones, attempt to take over Kanto one city at a time. (Slight exaggeration… maybe)

Didn’t know about Missingno? Well now you do and take it from me, it isn’t a pleasant experience! Especially at the age of 8 when your game becomes so unplayable you have to restart. Sad, sad times!

With a horrendous series of events culminating in the corruption or loss of saved game data, your first Pokémon adventure comes to an end. It was one of the most emotional experiences you’ve had when playing games but you can bet your bottom dollar that won’t be the end.

Are there any major mistakes you’d like to add to this list? If so feel free to share.