"What the...": weird moments in Pokemon

[Shadow Wolf]

OK, so I apologize for the weird title, but to put it simple, I thought of a thread where we could discuss our "WTF" moments in Pokemon. I'm not sure if one has been created already, so I would like a bit of light in that part.

Anyway, so pretty simple: discuss any moments which are simply so weird or outrageous in your adventures over the different pokemon games.

I'll share mine, which happened just a few moments ago:

OK, so I'm playing Pokemon Ruby and I have a double battle: My female Gardevoir and my male Heracross against a male Manectric and a female Delcatty. Here's pretty much how it goes:

-Gardevoir uses Trace to copy Manectric's static ability at the beginning of the battle.
-Gardevoir takes down Manectric with Psychic
-Delcatty uses Doubleslap on Gardevoir. Gardevoir's temporary Static paralyzes Delcatty after the first hit of Doubleslap. Doubleslap hits twice.

Now, here's the weird part: Delcatty's Cute Charm paralyzes Gardevoir.

...wait, what?

Yep, just like that. After finishing Doubleslap, for one reason or another, my Gardevoir was paralyzed by Delcatty's Cute Charm. Keep in mind that Cute Charm is supposed to leave your opponent infatuated if the opponent is of the opposite gender.

Anyway, if I remember another one, I'll let you know. How about you guys? Any WTF moments in any Pokemon game?

[Rossymore]

Just moving around on Route 42, surfing on the water, when suddenly, I encounter a Roaming Entei... on the WATER.

I loled.

[Andrew]

My biggest WTF was playing Silver YEARS ago and my Togepi was up against a wild Miltank near Olivine. Miltank used Milk Drink. Togepi used Metronome! It used Sketch!

And that's how my Togepi got Milk Drink.

[Heald]

Bulbapedia says that's impossible (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Metronome_%28move%29)

Not that I'm doubting you, but if it is true, did Milk Drink replace Metronome?

[Magmar]

Oh, channelers. They, in my opinion, are the weirdest moment in Pokemon. BE POSSESSED WITH ME KWAAAAAHHHhhhhhh

[Rossymore]

Having recently encountered them in my Yellow game, I really must ask what the hell GameFreak was thinking when they came up with that general area. Nothing about it screams young kids game, it just... screams. Unless this is part of some old Japanese tradition or mythology that I'm blissfully aware of.

Sure, Gen I was weird, but that part was just strange.

[Magmar]

Well, "Channeler" is a poor Americanization of "Shinto priestess who is here to tame/cast away evil spirits"... Probably to Japanese youth, the Shinto priestesses actually getting possessed could have seemed ironic and comical, if not typical in cultural references. The things they're holding are something or other that you use to cast away evil spirits in Shinto... the :001:pedia article about them is pretty informative.

[Blademaster]

Yeah, the Marowak mother is without a doubt the definitive WTF moment of Pokemon. Maybe the series was originally meant to go a darker path than every generation since Gen 1 (maybe Gen 2) implies, but between poor translations, technical limitations, and many instances of content itself, the first Gen is just a fair share more grim to me than the sequels: The mother Marowak is explicitly stated to have been killed by Team Rocket. Mew is said in journals to have "given birth" to Mewtwo, and Mewtwo in turn slaughtered an entire island. The channelers say the words 'blood' and 'possession,' too.

Also, Lavendar Town came from Gen 1. Thanks a lot to the Internet for both making the music a fuckton scarier in remixes and fanart as well as for the endless volumes of creepypasta that always center on the damned place.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Well if I extend this to the anime, once again, I read the Finnish back cover of Pokemon 4Ever:

Vicious, joka on Rakettiryhmän Jamesin ja Jessien tuleva jälkeläinen
Vicious, who is the becoming descendant of Team Rocket's James and Jessie

Must be a translation error. Where in the movie does it say that he is their future son or anything.

[Andrew]

Bulbapedia says that's impossible (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Metronome_%28move%29)

Not that I'm doubting you, but if it is true, did Milk Drink replace Metronome?

Yep, Milk Drink replaced Metronome. I was a shocked at the time but what all "Eh, whatever. Togepi isn't evolving for whatever reason! You're at level 30 dammit! INTO THE BOX WITH YOU"

It was a fun little oddity, but possibly the only weird thing that's happened in a Pokemans game for me. Outside of Missingno.

[Magmar]

Yeah, the Marowak mother is without a doubt the definitive WTF moment of Pokemon. Maybe the series was originally meant to go a darker path than every generation since Gen 1 (maybe Gen 2) implies, but between poor translations, technical limitations, and many instances of content itself, the first Gen is just a fair share more grim to me than the sequels: The mother Marowak is explicitly stated to have been killed by Team Rocket. Mew is said in journals to have "given birth" to Mewtwo, and Mewtwo in turn slaughtered an entire island. The channelers say the words 'blood' and 'possession,' too.

GIVE... ME.. YOUR.. BLOOD!!!!! Be possessed with me! Kekeke KWAAAAHHHHH!!!
*Screen flashes*

CHANNELER wants to battle!

Definitely creepy.


Also, Lavendar Town came from Gen 1. Thanks a lot to the Internet for both making the music a fuckton scarier in remixes and fanart as well as for the endless volumes of creepypasta that always center on the damned place.

Lavender Town music creepypasta is something I only discovered a couple weeks ago, and it sure was creepy!

[Blademaster]

Not just the music. It seems the early Pokemon games have spawned dozens of creepypastas involving Lavendar Town and other early, spooky places like the Ruins of Alph. I had a whole list of the damned stories at one point...

[Magmar]

Ooh! To the original point of the thread, one time I was battling with my sister on game boy color and my butterfree from pokemon blue came out shiny as I was battling her on pokemon yellow. To date, we have NO IDEA how this happened, other than we messed with the game link chord a bit. It lacked the sparkles of a shiny pokemon but it had the exact coloration of one on her screen. I think I submitted this as a glitch to TPM and they were like uhh no you messed with the system with the cable that doesn't count :P (circa 1998 LOL)

[Rossymore]

Well if you looked at it through your sister's Yellow game, Butterfree would change from http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/f/fa/Spr_1b_012.png to http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/0/02/Spr_1y_012.png
If it had been a G/S/C game when shiny Pokemon actually exist, then it would be http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/f/fe/Spr_2c_012_s.gif

Still looks awesome.

[Magmar]

It was a pink Butterfree indeed! Totally had an OMG MUST SUBMIT GLITCH moment.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

To return to the earlier conversation, I'm always late, but I just found an old notebook from like 2000 where I had listed 'the coolest Pokemon trainers' and Channeler was on the 11th place. What a horrifying meeting with the 15-year-old in me.

[Rossymore]

Oh, the stuff I did when I was younger with Pokemon. It is just so embarrassing and I've thankfully gotten over that stage, but even from an early age, which would be late Gen I, early Gen II, I was pretty much hooked on it.
Safe to say, it has had no effect on my life whatsoever.

[Lady Vulpix]

Sometimes I use moves that have normal effectiveness (my opponent being a dual type where one of its types is weak and the other resistant against that move) and get the message "it's not very effective", or even "it's super effective". I'm sure that's a bug they didn't bother fixing, since the move does regular damage anyway.

Another strange thing was listening Shauntal talk about Distortion World and the single Pokemon who lives there. I think Shauntal is quite an interesting character, if only because she says lots of different things rather than just one or two sets of messages. And also because she's a writer. :keke:

[Magmar]

I found that mistake popped up much more frequently in the older games... the one I played. For example, the Fighting-type should have had normal effectiveness on a Normal/Flying type, but was not very effective against certain Pokemon. I think Articuno was exempt from this unwarranted bonus resistance, as its type was Ice/Flying. I'll have to boot up my ROM of Crystal that I've been Nuzlocke-challenging in downtime from working on my thesis and see what kind of type matchups affect my Noctowl.