Current Events > The reason why Pikachu was so rare in Red/Blue was because...

(+) Yeah! (+)

...One of the art designers liked Pikachu so much that he didn't want other players to have it. >_>

http://www.siliconera.com/2018/05/03/pikachu-originally-second-evolution-called-gorochu-large-fangs-two-horns/

In the game, Pikachu is kind of a rare character who doesnt appear much.

Nishino: This is embarrassing, but since I like Pikachu so much, I get this feeling of not wanting to let other people have Pikachu. At first, I even considered simply hiding Pikachu.

Sugimoto: Compared to other Pokmon, its appearance rate was extremely low. So Nishinos mysterious possessive nature worked out.

Nishino: I felt that if the appearance rate were lower then it would work out because players wouldnt catch it as much. As a result, the opposite happened when strategy guides and such had stuff written like first, catch a Pikachu. And before I knew it, everybody had Pikachu, and my plan completely backfired

Dude...
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What a dick.
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It wasn't that rare was it? Usually only took 10-20 minutes. I had a harder time catching one in LG/FR.
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That makes no sense. Why design something really good if no one sees it? If anything it helped make it more valuable but he doesn't see it that way?
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I dont remember them ever being frustrating to find or catch.
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Sucks to fucking suck.
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The path to Pikachu is littered with the dead bodies of Metapod and Kakuna.
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Honestly I've long assumed that this kind of adversarial attitude towards players is probably somewhat common in the games industry. A whole lot of weird design decisions make more sense if the developers are partially upset at the idea of those damn players getting to play with their toys or hurt their precious enemies they spent so much time on.
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SpiralDrift posted...

It wasn't that rare was it? Usually only took 10-20 minutes. I had a harder time catching one in LG/FR.

HaVeNII7 posted...

I dont remember them ever being frustrating to find or catch.

It had a 5% encounter rate in Viridian Forest, though it was significantly easier to find at the Power Plant (25%).
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No, they aren't *super* rare, like Dhelmise or Mareanie, but you can easily go through the whole game without ever finding a wild one. And usually if you want one, you have to rifle through the grass in Viridian Forest for a good 10 minutes or so.
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Huh... I must just have lucked out a bit.
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Pikachu was a Zubat compared to fucking Tauros and Chansey in the Safari zone
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Wasn't aware you could encounter it in viridian forest. Then again I hate that place and always blew through it. Also never cared for Pikachu. Electabuzz was my go to electric in R/B
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Pikachu sucked in the OG games. Why would anyone want him
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It always took me a while to find a pikachu in Viridian Forest.

But one time I came across like four of them before seeing my first Weedle. Wow did that piss me off. Freaking RNG. I spent hours trying to find the stupid thing.

I literally came across Clefairy in less time. A lot less time.
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Solar_Crimson posted...

SpiralDrift posted...

It wasn't that rare was it? Usually only took 10-20 minutes. I had a harder time catching one in LG/FR.

HaVeNII7 posted...

I dont remember them ever being frustrating to find or catch.

It had a 5% encounter rate in Viridian Forest, though it was significantly easier to find at the Power Plant (25%).

Wasnt the Power Plant optional? I forget :/

EvalAngell posted...

Pikachu sucked in the OG games. Why would anyone want him

Cause we were all kids who watched the anime and saw how badass he was.
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Touch posted...

Pikachu was a Zubat compared to fucking Tauros and Chansey in the Safari zone

to be fair there was at least a reason for tauros to be hard to get

tauros was the second best overall pokemon in red/blue due to the same-type attack bonus with hyper beam

second only to mewtwo who got his own category in competitive play
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Touch posted...

Pikachu was a Zubat compared to fucking Tauros and Chansey in the Safari zone

I was going to say "Why bother with Chansey in the Safari Zone?", but then I checked and it was only in GSC that you could find Chansey in the southeast areas of Kanto.

Oops.
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EvalAngell posted...

Pikachu sucked in the OG games. Why would anyone want him

Was an electric type that you could get super early. Plus, you had the water gym coming up soon in Cerulean City.
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Wetterdew posted...

No, they aren't *super* rare, like Dhelmise or Mareanie, but you can easily go through the whole game without ever finding a wild one. And usually if you want one, you have to rifle through the grass in Viridian Forest for a good 10 minutes or so.

Is that even hard? With metapods and kakunas, it is a pretty good place to grind. Specially if you chose charmander and need the help.
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I'd like to hear from DuncanWii on the matter.
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EvalAngell posted...

Pikachu sucked in the OG games. Why would anyone want him

It's the first Electric-type you have access to, and helps in the battle against Misty if you started with Charmander or--to a lesser extent--Squirtle (and didn't go north of Cerulean to get Bellsprout or Oddish).

sktgamer_13dude posted...

Wasnt the Power Plant optional? I forget :/

Yes. At no point are you required to go to the Power Plant.
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Pikachu

Thundershock
Thunderbolt
Thunder Wave
Thunder
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Irony posted...

Electabuzz was my go to electric in R/B

I always went for Zapdos. High power electric type immune to ground moves? Very nice.
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Ehhh I never use legendaries
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Touch posted...

Pikachu

Thundershock
Thunderbolt
Thunder Wave
Thunder

Yup thats my pikachu
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Irony posted...

Ehhh I never use legendaries

Fair enough.

He was overpowered as hell.
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Pikachu is a weakling
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Touch posted...

Pikachu

Thundershock
Thunderbolt
Thunder Wave
Thunder

I was about to say; why waste the Thunderbolt TM on Pikachu when other Electric-types could use it (such as Electrode--who didn't even learn a single Electric-type move by level--or Magneton, whose only offensive Electric move by level was Thundershock), but then I remembered that this is the gen where the Missingno. glitch could be easily triggered.
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Musourenka posted...

Touch posted...

Pikachu was a Zubat compared to fucking Tauros and Chansey in the Safari zone

I was going to say "Why bother with Chansey in the Safari Zone?", but then I checked and it was only in GSC that you could find Chansey in the southeast areas of Kanto.

Oops.

IIRC you could get Chansey from the Unknown Dungeon though

I think I only spent time with the Safari Zone for Tauros and Kangaskhan. Can't remember if Scyther and Pinsir were SF exclusive in their respective games.
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AvlButtslam posted...

Musourenka posted...

Touch posted...

Pikachu was a Zubat compared to fucking Tauros and Chansey in the Safari zone

I was going to say "Why bother with Chansey in the Safari Zone?", but then I checked and it was only in GSC that you could find Chansey in the southeast areas of Kanto.

Oops.

IIRC you could get Chansey from the Unknown Dungeon though

I think I only spent time with the Safari Zone for Tauros and Kangaskhan. Can't remember if Scyther and Pinsir were SF exclusive in their respective games.

Game corner as well I think.
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IloveJesus posted...

Irony posted...

Ehhh I never use legendaries

Fair enough.

He was overpowered as hell.

just as much a victim of tauros sweepers as anyone else
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Pikachu was not worth the 30 minutes you spend getting him, unless you picked Charmander or something.
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SavenForever posted...

Pikachu was not worth the 30 minutes you spend getting him, unless you picked Charmander or something.

If you grind to Charmeleon you can just ember Geodude and Onyx to death. It won't be effective but they have ass special stat so you still end up doing decent damage.
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GiftedACIII posted...

That makes no sense. Why design something really good if no one sees it?

It's actually a perfect parallel to Nintendo's long-running habit of short-stocking their new consoles.
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SavenForever posted...

Pikachu was not worth the 30 minutes you spend getting him, unless you picked Charmander or something.

That was the case for many people, myself included.

Touch posted...

If you grind to Charmeleon you can just ember Geodude and Onyx to death. It won't be effective but they have ass special stat so you still end up doing decent damage.

You don't even need Charmeleon; regular Charmander does fine.

And even then, you could raise a Caterpie to a Butterfree and have it learn Confusion, which absolutely wrecks them. And since none of Brock's Pokemon have any actual Rock-type moves, Butterfree typically has nothing to worry about (unless you're not careful with Onix's Bide move).
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Zapdos,Moltres and Articuno were really strong back then as the only threat to them was the Rock type which at the time only had Rock Throw, a 50 base power move with only a 65 percent chance of hitting something and only learned by the likes of Golem and Onix, both of which were weak to Ice and very slow compared to the birds.
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Basically what I'd do with my waifus so that only I can have them. ;p
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tremain07 posted...

Zapdos,Moltres and Articuno were really strong back then as the only threat to them was the Rock type which at the time only had Rock Throw, a 50 base power move with only a 65 percent chance of hitting something and only learned by the likes of Golem and Onix, both of which were weak to Ice and very slow compared to the birds.

Rock Slide existed back then, and it was a TM as well.
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Solar_Crimson posted...

tremain07 posted...

Zapdos,Moltres and Articuno were really strong back then as the only threat to them was the Rock type which at the time only had Rock Throw, a 50 base power move with only a 65 percent chance of hitting something and only learned by the likes of Golem and Onix, both of which were weak to Ice and very slow compared to the birds.

Rock Slide existed back then, and it was a TM as well.

zapdos and articuno were still seen as OU tier pokemon

ps the best electric pokemon was jolteon
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Finding a Chansey in GSC was the most arduous shit ever. Finding a Tynamo in B/W or a Surskit in RSE was also annoying, and finding Feebas in RSE was annoying as well, but I never even got to encounter a Chansey in GSC.
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Even then Tauros still sweeps them.
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Solar_Crimson posted...

tremain07 posted...

Zapdos,Moltres and Articuno were really strong back then as the only threat to them was the Rock type which at the time only had Rock Throw, a 50 base power move with only a 65 percent chance of hitting something and only learned by the likes of Golem and Onix, both of which were weak to Ice and very slow compared to the birds.

Rock Slide existed back then, and it was a TM as well.

Did it? I guess that's why Aerodactyl was so popular, it was the only rock mon capable of one shotting the birds if you ran into them, especially articuno and moltres
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tremain07 posted...

Solar_Crimson posted...

tremain07 posted...

Zapdos,Moltres and Articuno were really strong back then as the only threat to them was the Rock type which at the time only had Rock Throw, a 50 base power move with only a 65 percent chance of hitting something and only learned by the likes of Golem and Onix, both of which were weak to Ice and very slow compared to the birds.

Rock Slide existed back then, and it was a TM as well.

Did it? I guess that's why Aerodactyl was so popular, it was the only rock mon capable of one shotting the birds if you ran into them, especially articuno and moltres

Aerodactyl actually couldn't learn Rock Slide until Gen 3 via a move tutor.

Which makes Lance in Gen 2 a filthy, dirty cheater.
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SpiralDrift posted...

It wasn't that rare was it? Usually only took 10-20 minutes. I had a harder time catching one in LG/FR.

Yeah... pikachu was rare?

Solar_Crimson posted...

Which makes Lance in Gen 2 a filthy, dirty cheater

Once a cheater, always a cheater.
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Touch posted...

Pikachu

Thundershock
Thunderbolt
Thunder Wave
Thunder

Holy shit that drudges up some good and yet embarrassing memories.
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I bet he was pissed when the next game was Yellow and everyone got a pikachu
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I always felt like a few of the Safari Zone pokemon were harder to come across, like Dratini, Scyther, and Pinsir. Chansey as well.

@MKScorpion posted...

I always felt like a few of the Safari Zone pokemon were harder to come across, like Dratini, Scyther, and Pinsir. Chansey as well.

Well, yeah.

https://www.serebii.net/pokearth/kanto/1st/safarizone.shtml

Scyther and Pinsir both have a 4% encounter chance in the grass, while Chansey is a fucking 1% chance encounter (and all three are very hard to catch, too). Not to mention that the Safari Zone has a lot more Pokemon in it than Viridian Forest does.

Dratini is actually easier to find than Viridian Forest Pikachu, sitting at a 25% chance when fishing with a Super Rod.
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