Pokemon Facts

I have seen many lists of Pokemon facts while browsing the world wide web and have decided to make my own. I have no idea if these will ever serve useful at any point in your life, but hey there here if you need 'em.

1. Ash Ketchum's first Pokemon was originally going to be Clefairy. However it was changed to Pikachu to appeal to boys along with girls.

2. Venonat was originally intended to evolve into Beautifly, and Metapod was supposed to evolve into Venomoth. You can see in the designs that the Pokemon are similar to their intended pre-forms.

3. In the Red/Blue/Yellow & Fire Red/Leaf Green games your rival has a Raticate when you battle him on the S.S. Anne. When you next see your rival in Lavender Town he no longer has the Raticate in his team. Many people assume that the Raticate died and Gary (or whatever you chose to name your rival) was in Lavender Town to mourn the passing of his beloved Pokemon.

4. In the Red & Blue games there was a truck visible from the dock in Vermillion City. It was a common theory that by moving this truck would lead you to encounter the legendary Pokemon Mew. However this was not true.

5. Baby Kangaskahns are suspected of being either a Cubone without a skull, or a pre-evolved form of Cubone. The same with Marowak rumored to be the pre-evolved form of Kangaskhan. The glitch Pokemon Missingno evolves into a Kangaskhan causing some to believe that Missingno was linked to the Cubone-Marowak-Kangaskhan evolution chain.

6. Hitmonlee was named after legendary martial artist Bruce Lee, and Hitmonchan was named after Jackie Chan (but I'm sure you all figured that out).

7. In early versions of Pokemon Blue & Green there is unused data for a battle with none other than Professor Oak! His team consisted of a Tauros, Exeggutor, Arcanine, Gyrados, and the starter chosen neither by you or your rival. All his Pokemon were at high levels so he was probably intended for use late in the game.

8. Brock was taken out of the Anime series for the Orange Islands series due to his squinty eyes "racially profiling" him (i always thought they were just closed). He was returned later on.

9. Funny thing about racial issues. The Pokemon Jinx was criticized for baring too much of a resemblance to blackface and episodes featuring Jinx were banned in America. Subsequently Jinx's face was changed from black to purple.

10. After the episode "Electric Soldier Porygon" aired in Japan thousands of Japanese children were sent to the hospital from seizures caused by rapid color changing light flashes. The episode has never aired again, even though it had been dubbed in English. Subsequently Porygon and it's evolutions have appeared only briefly in the Anime, despite the fact that Pikachu was the one that caused the flashes. (I prefer Porygon).

11. Aside from "Electric Soldier Porygon" there have been several other banned episodes of the Pokemon series. Here they are along with the reason they have become banned

• "Beauty and the Beach"-James wears inflatable breasts in attempt to win a swimsuit contest. This episode was actually dubbed in English and aired in the U.S. (without the James scenes), but is still a rather disturbing episode.
• "The Legend of Dratini"-Heavy use of gun threats.
• "The Ice Cave"-Jinx
• "Shaking Island Battle! Barboach vs. Wiscash!!"-Never aired anywhere in the world due to use of earthquakes (Japan had recently had an earthquake).
• There are also several clip show episodes that were never aired in the U.S., but are not "banned".

12. The Pokemon Mr. Mime can be male OR female. This comes as quite a shock since the word MR. is right in its name. But hey it's Pokemon.....

13. There was originally supposed to be a female playable character in Red/Blue/Green, but was scrapped. The first female playable character didn't appear until Pokemon Crystal. The original design was later used in Fire Red/Leaf green.

14. Arcanine was originally supposed to be a legendary Pokemon, specifically as part of the Zapdos, Moltres, Atricuno trio either as a leader of the three birds, or in place of Moltres. An Arcanine was seen in a panel in the first Pokemon episode along with the three birds. Arcanine's original intention as a legendary Pokemon would also explain its above-average stats in the games.

14. Ditto is actually a failed clone of Mew. The evidence?

• Both weigh 8.8 pounds
• Both are pink in their normal form and blue in their shiny form
• Mewtwo is described as "the first successful clone of Mew" which could means are unsuccessful attempts.
• Both are the only Pokemon that can learn Transform
• In Pokemon Yellow the only two places you can find Ditto is at the Cerulean Cave (where Mewtwo can be found) and the Pokemon Mansion where Mew is said to have been cloned.

15. Although he was only mentioned a couple times early on in the series Ash does in fact have a dad. He has only been seen once in a flashback scene in the episode "Strategy Begins at Home!". Before this episode aired many fans speculated that Ash's dad was either Giovanni-the leader of Team Rocket or Silver who appeared in the Pokemon Chronicles. His only known Pokemon is a Rapidash.