Few RPG video game franchises are as robust as the Pokemon series. Each game in the series is packed with content. The stories, locations, battle systems, characters, and of course the Pokemon themselves keep the players enthralled in the adventures for hours upon hours. But, with these games being all about exploration and discovery, one of the most fascinating aspects of the games are all of the secrets they feature.
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Many of the secrets found in the Pokemon games, even the ones fans are not technically meant to find, are often popular points of discussion and sources of entertainment. This hidden content adds a new and rich layer to the player's entire experience.
10 Scrapped Bird Type
In the original Pokemon Red and Blue, a glitch revealed that Bird Type was at one time at least considered for use in the game. The prevailing theory is that it would have acted as a counterpart of sorts to the Flying-Type Pokemon. This type would have almost certainly encompassed all of the Pokemon based on real-life birds, including the likes of the Pidgey evolution family and Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres.
GameFreak has not given an official reason for why the Bird Type was not used. It is speculated that either the team had to abandon the idea due to time restraints or that they decided that the Flying Type was sufficient for the bird-like species.
9 Pokemon Encounter Rate Changes On Historic Dates
On certain days while playing Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, players might notice a difference in how often they encounter the wild Pokemon they are searching for. It is not something that is obvious right away, but the game is programmed to manipulate the encounter rates on real-life historic dates.
For the sake of adding a clever detail, the developers chose to have the game read its internal calendar and increase or decrease the encounter rates on certain international and US holidays. They also chose to have the encounter rates decrease on days that mark more tragic moments in history, such as the bombing of Hiroshima and 9/11.
8 Shiny Pokemon
Starting in the second generation of Pokemon, players would sometimes get the chance to capture Pokemon that had alternate color patterns. These Pokemon are their "shiny" variants. The name stems from the "shiny" sound effects and animations that accompany them whenever the player encounters one.
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In the first five generations of Pokemon, the chance of finding a wild shiny Pokemon was one in 8192. This number dropped to one in 4096 in the subsequent generations, but they still remain incredibly rare finds. These Pokemon are identical to their normal counterparts in terms of abilities and strength.
7 The Pokerus Virus
Much like the shiny Pokemon, players can sometimes find Pokemon that are infected with a virus. This virus will stay with the Pokemon for a set amount of time, with the only clue of its existence being a small notification in the game's menu. After the virus runs its course with the first Pokemon, it can then randomly spread to other Pokemon in the player's party.
Though it might sound bad at first, it is actually a good thing when a Pokemon contracts Pokerus. While they are infected, a Pokemon will gain double the Base Points (or "Effort Values") earned from battles. This is why many players will do whatever they can to ensure that the virus spreads to the other members of their team.
6 Fight With Red
One of the greatest surprises in Pokemon Gold and Silver was the chance to battle the protagonist of the original games, Red. After collecting every badge in the game, the player can travel to Mt. Silver and explore a cave underneath it. When they reach the end of the cave, they will find Red, who will challenge the player to a Pokemon battle.
The fight with Red is one of the most challenging in the entire Pokemon series. He has a full team of six Pokemon, with all of them being level 73 or higher. The battle can be brutal for those unprepared for it, but the chance to defeat the series' original and most legendary trainer can provide the ultimate sense of accomplishment, along with bragging rights.
5 Missing No.
While not at all intended by the developers to be an in-game feature, the MissingNo. glitch quickly became one of the most famous in-game secrets in the entire Pokemon series. It is a glitch that occurs in the first generation of games. If the player follows a specific sequence and then encounters a wild Pokemon along the coast of Cinnabar Island, the game will try to read one of the empty values in its memory dedicated to Pokemon, which produces a bizarre result.
In the game's memory, there are 190 spaces allocated to Pokemon. But with there only being 151 Pokemon species, there are 39 spaces that contain no complete data. When the game is manipulated into reading one of these empty spaces, it creates an encounter with a Pokemon that doesn't exist and has no number, hence the name MissingNo.
4 Fight With Prof. Oak
This was another situation similar to the MissingNo. glitch. Prof. Oak was the character in the original generation that would give the player their first Pokemon. He would also occasionally offer assistance and send his aides to help the player. But, if the player manipulates the games in a specific sequence, they can trigger a Pokemon battle with the professor.
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In the fight, Prof. Oak has a full team of Pokemon. This means that this was not some mere glitch or error but a feature created by the developers. However, it unknown whether this was a scrapped part of the game or if it was built only for testing purposes.
3 Faraway Island
In the third generation of Pokemon, in Pokemon Emerald specifically, there is a small island off of the coast of the game's main region. This island is inaccessible by any normal, in-game methods. The game must either be hacked to access it, or the player must have received a map to the island directly from Nintendo. The second option was only available in Japan and Taiwan for special events that took place in the mid-2000s.
The island itself is of no special interest, with it being small and not having much content to explore. Its main point of attraction is the incredibly rare Pokemon that can be caught there. Faraway Island is the only location in the entire Pokemon series where a player can capture a wild Mew.
2 Mew
One of the greatest promotional points for the Pokemon Red and Blue was the challenge to find all 150 different Pokemon species in the games. So, once the game was available and everyone could begin the mission of filling the Pokedex, the excitement that players felt about a mysterious 151st Pokemon was understandable.
Mew is a Psychic-Type Pokemon and the final member of the original Kanto Region Pokedex. The game references the Pokemon in journals found in the Pokemon Mansion on Cinnabar Island, but there is little additional information elsewhere. It cannot be found or caught, outside of manipulating the game's programming or using cheat codes. Unless a player uses one of these unconventional methods, the only clue as to what kind of Pokemon Mew is can be seen in its mutated clone, Mewtwo.
1 Mewtwo
While it is not as mysterious as the Pokemon is was created from, Mewtwo has an enduring legacy as one of the most famous post-game secrets found in the series. As with Mew, Mewtwo is referenced in the journals found in the Pokemon Mansion. From those journals, players learn that Mewtwo was an incredibly powerful and aggressive creature, and it may have been responsible for the Pokemon Mansion's ruined state.
After the player becomes the Kanto Pokemon Champion, they are allowed to explore a mysterious cave to the north of Cerulean City. This cave is home to many powerful Pokemon. It is also where, at the very end of the cave, the player can find the legendary Pokemon Mewtwo, which is easily the most powerful Pokemon in Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow.