Introduction
Hello, welcome to my first post! For now, I will be revisiting Pocket Monsters Green. This is a cute little Game Boy game that came out in 1996 and was the start of the Pokemon craze along side its sibling Pocket Monsters Red.
These games take place in the Kanto region which is the equivalent Eastern Chuubu and Kanto of Japan. This means we start in Shizuoka then make our way through Saitama, Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Chiba, Tokyo, Saitama, Kanagawa, and finally Yamanashi which is near Mt. Fuji. Kanto is a region that features a lot of flat land and plains with some mountains which I thought was really nice as the real life versions of the land is around the same.
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| Map of East Chuubu and Kanto |
With all the real world stuff, I want to set the preface for these games with some lore from a guidebook called "An Illustrated Book of POCKET MONSTERS" (released by Creatures Inc. and Famitsu in May 1996 and got reprinted a bunch of times). This book is pretty much a bible or a must-read for fans of the original Japanese games and almost all of the cool watercolor Ken Sugimori art you see of the Pokemon were originally created for this book. Anyways, here we have an excerpt on the origins of Pokemon and Pokemon study:
The first systematic study on Pokemon was performed by a French author, Count Satoshi, in the second half of the 18th century. At the time, only 30 species of Pokemon have been discovered, but the detailed data and sketches recorded by Count Tajiri became the foundation of study later on.
After that, Pokemon study spread from France to western Europe as a whole, including England, Germany, Spain, and Italy. With the tremendous progress of transportation systems, by the end of the 19th century, it was practiced in our country (Japan).
The founder of Pokemon study in our country is said to be Professor Nishinomori. In 1889, Professor Nishinomori published the thesis "A Study on Pikachu's Evolution," which clarified that two types of Pokemon, who were thought to be different until now, were in fact the same and were evolutionary forms.
Pokemon research entered a new stage and Professor Nishinomori earned worldwide appreciation due as a result of this accomplishment. After the publication of the thesis, our country became the leading country in Pokemon research. Incidentally, 80 species of Pokemon were discovered by this time.
Currently as of 1996, 150 species of Pokemon have been discovered through the investigation and research of Dr. Ohkido with their ecology, evolution, and preferences becoming more clear."
Dr. Ohkido is a pretty big deal in the Pokemon universe. Also, Professor Nishinomori's descendent appears in the anime in the 68th episode, ヤドンがヤドランになるとき (When Yadon Becomes Yadoran), where he is trying to figure out the mystery behind Yadon's evolution into Yadoran. He also apparently programmed the Pokemon Field Guide which we will get into later. The English dub directly translates his name which is Westwood. Also as you may have noticed, a lot of these names come from Pokemon staff like Satoshi Tajiri, Ken Sugimori, and Koji Nishino respectively. By the way, he's called Dr. Ohkido because the 博士 in オーキド博士 means he received a PhD. The English versions call him a professor for some reason.
Start of Game
Anyways, here we have the regular world of Pocket Monsters introduction with Dr. Ohkido. I put my name and named my rival "Hisagi" because I asked a Discord server what to name him and that's the name I was given. I guess they were reading/watching Bleach. Go figure.
真新鎮 Masara Town
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| Shimoda City Office (Photo: Wikipedia) |
We start in Masara Town, where according to HeartGold & SoulSilver it is a very recent and quiet town. The town's name マサラ comes from 真っ新 which means brand new; a blank slate. If you are a Chinese Pokemon player, this is where you will notice a lot of things in the Chinese games are very literal translations or borrowed from the Japanese games. This also seems to be the case for the Thai and Vietnamese games as well.
With naming conventions aside, Masara town is geologically where Shimoda, Shizuoka is, but series creator Satoshi Tajiri has stated it resembles Machida in Tokyo. In the Game Boy Advance remakes, FireRed & LeafGreen, it seems the in game map has it around Itou, Shizuoka. I'm not too familiar with Machida outside of its universities (this is probably where the idea to put a research lab in Masara Town came from) and its history is also very brief, however Shimoda has a very rich history where it was an important foreign trade point at its port where it did trade with the Americans and Soviets during the Bakumatsu era. The city then suffered many fire bomb attacks during World War II. It's known today for hot springs, commercial fishing, and beaches with Iritahama being a very popular spot. Itou is known for its onsen.
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| Masara Town in the original anime series |
For Masara Town itself, there is really not that much to talk about. In my room there is a Famicom (yeah the original from 1983 lol, the overseas versions upgraded it to a Super Famicom) and Mama has Stand By Me playing on the TV downstairs. There is the rival character's house where he and his older sister, Nanami, live as well as Doctor Ohkido's Pokemon laboratory.
We get some medicine out of the PC, get out of the house, then walk out into the tall grass, which the Dr. Ohkido says we are not supposed to do without a Pokemon. I still do not know any RPG where I am supposed to start the game doing something wrong and I like this. He bring us to his lab with his impatient grandson and we get a choice between three Pokemon: Hitokage, Zenigame, and Fushigidane. Fushigibana, the final evolution of Fushigidane, is one of my favorite Pokemon and has competitive relevance in Japanese tournaments for this game so I picked him, naming him フシちゃん (Fushi-chan). My rival picks Hitokage and we battle in which I get my ass kicked. He walks out and I am about to take my first step into Route 1.
１道路 Route 1
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| West Coast of Izu (Photo: Wikipedia) |
The first route in the series. HeartGold & SoulSilver says it is a very rough road with lots of greenery. It's honestly a very simple route, but I appreciate how it is not too linear with its zig-zag like pathways. It is simple, but effective.
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| Route 1 in Best Wishes |
Route 1 is geographically where the Izu Peninsula is. This peninsula connects Shimoda to Mishima, both in Shizuoka prefecture. It is a very beautiful coastal area with rugged cliffs, beaches, and is a very popular vacation area for tourists with its various outdoor water activities and famous onsen. The peninsula is also part of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. Anyways, we go north from here where we will reach Tokiwa City, but I stop and get some medicine from the Friendly Shop employee on the way. ★
- 黄 美鈴 ( ദ്ദി ˙ᗜ˙ )
