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A trip through Kanto 3 - Green wants to fight!

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Here's the first encounter in the game, I always saw this moment as just a normal encounter or some kind of tutorial, and it is, however it's such a strong narrative key point that will be relevant to the climax of the game. Thinking about this made me realize, I always saw the story of gen 1 Pokémon games as just an adventure that didn't really had a theme going for and the elements in it were just something that allowed the player to grow their team and become champion. But I couldn't be more wrong, gen 1 story is about rivalry, everything in the game goes around this premise. from the multiple encounters you have with your rival, some characters mention they've met him before you (I'm pretty sure some trainer mention him vaguely, maybe I'm just misremembering), and even the Pokémon gym statues with text have the names of trainers that cleared the gym, and your rival's name is always on the list before yours. I love those details and I think if you don't skip through them, you'll get a richer experience from the story.


Anyways, through the game, your rival has different poses and I wanted to reference that in this piece.

I added a pokeball to his hand because in this illustration it wouldn't make sense if he wasn't looking at the player and just staring to the right, I also used the hairstyle presented in the original artworks instead of his sprite, I would've love to use the sprite hairstyle but it wouldn't be so recognizable and I'd like to keep the consistency with future illustrations.


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What a smug grandson. No wonder Oak was so proud that Red humbled him. I miss the fact that after gen 1 they stopped updating the trainer sprites themselves to showcase a difference in experience. Like at the start, Green's pompous, smug, often mentions you smell, but is always one step ahead of you. Even if the first two matches you have are ones you are allowed to lose, only in Yellow will it influence how he responds to you. Because he will either evolve his Eevee into Jolteon, if you won both matches, Flareon, if you won the first match but ignored or lost at the second, and Vapeoreon if you lost the first match and or ignored the second. His team's composition reflects that and it's fantastic. In a narrative sense, he is willing to go easy on you or give it his all because of how you performed in the first two significant battles. The layers to the very beginning of Pokémon are small but humble in how you eventually sort out the world. These days we don't really get that much since they aren't willing to experiment and bring about a challenge that connects to the narrative. I suppose in that respect that is what makes gen 1 so fascinating... both the glitches and the narrative at hand in how you choose to proceed after your losses and victories. I could go on but I don't want to burn out the character limits on a review like this.
Side note, it is a good detail to add the poster in the back that lets players know how to save. People take for granted just how important of a feature it is and to do so just about anywhere. Since back in those days making a consistent save point for the player was difficult to program. Heck, even the save chime is different in the first three games even if the pitch is only slightly altered.

Orlek-sketch responds:

It's all those small details that enrich gen 1 experience!

What a brat! The first time we both got a Pokémon and already wants to sic his on me!

Credits & Info

Views
222
Faves:
54
Votes
97
Score
4.76 / 5.00

Uploaded
Dec 17, 2023
9:40 PM EST
Category
Illustration

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