This is very likely to be the last time I cover this magazine until someone translates the Hideo Kojima area of the magazine (someone is doing it for me, next week seems promising). Also, apologies for my inconsistent uploading of articles, I like to keep it spaced out but it gets a bit much sometimes. I have covered parts of "Hitmontop" before, but never actually went in depth or put it all in one place. So, it feels correct to put it here. Given the turtle has no real thoughts on it, I don't think it warrants an article (Unless I need filler...heh). This article is mainly to compile my thoughts, and to clear up any misinformation regarding this thing. So, let's begin this with what is the speculative history of Hitmontop. All the images here will be recycled from my previous articles, since there's no point in redoing them: they're fine! One thing I questioned in my initial research of the Spaceworld 1997 Demo back in June-July times, the biggest thing I questioned was the drastic difference in design. The only similarity was the concept of a spinning top, but even then it is quite the reach. Now, let's bring up the interview retranslation that Obskyr did. It has been agreed upon that the designs were never intended to be canon from the beginning: notice that Tyranitar wasn't in the Spaceworld Demo. It wasn't intended to exist up until after Spaceworld when the designs were looked over again. I believe that as a result, we can say the same for "Hitmontop", who I don't think is Hitmontop at all. Thinking about it, the only way that we can really explain the drastic design difference and the existence of Hitmontop in the Spaceworld Demo is that this Pokemon is not actually a beta Hitmontop. It never was. Hitmontop is based on a practitioner of Capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian Martial Art. Got to commend Game Freak for researching such an obscure thing tbh, pretty cool. Hell, the Japanese name is a homage to it. Anyway, getting off track. This weird Pokemon doesn't feature any implications of any kind of fighting style, and is simply a spinning top. If anything, I really think it looks like Clefairy. Here's an image I put together using my HQ scanned images of it; Ken Sugimori stated in the interview with the writers of the magazine, that he had the idea of a parallel universe when designing these Pokemon. They were not meant to be canon, but obviously Tyranitar really complicated this when Ken looked back at his old designs and thought "hey let's contradict this for a laugh".
So really, this Pokemon was never meant to be used from the beginning. As I said in my previous articles, this Pokemon was a throwaway design, just like the turtle and Tyranitar (god it still feels weird saying that). All in all, the most this Pokemon could have done is indirectly contribute to Hitmontop's inception: the concept of a spinning top, that evolved from there thanks to the drug-fueled beings that are Pokemon's designers. So, not Hitmontop. It's about as irrelevant as the turtle Pokemon that may or may not have become Tirtouga.
1 Comment
But what do you mean, Papa Plague? We got Pokemon Blue! Hold your horses there, pardner. Because that Pokemon Green you keep talking about? You already played that, it's Pokemon Blue International bar the sprites. Yeah, as you can tell, this will be a very complicated article. So, let's talk about Gen 1 some more. I like Gen 1, you probably know it for the hilarious glitches. But did you know that we never got the definitive experience? Pokemon Blue JP, as I call it, is the Japanese Pokemon Blue. You see, we never actually got Blue: we got Green. I have a lot to talk about here, since there are also some sprites that never got released too. I was going to do this in 2 articles, but the sprites are pretty minor overall, and I didn't enjoy writing that small Game Boy Camera article. So as you can see, Corocoro has a small oddity going about. You see, Blue JP was initially released through there on October 15th 1996, a while after Red and Green were released that same year. However, in the two later magazines - November and December - show entirely different sprites. I have not seen a copy of Blue JP with these sprites, so I am assuming that there is an error here. However, this could also imply the existence of copies of Blue JP with these sprites. I cannot clarify this however. What we do know, however, is that Mewtwo was packing some SASS in that beta sprite.
Anyway, what's this about Blue JP being a different game? Well, it's quite the interesting debacle. You see, Blue JP (as said in that research image), was used for the scripts in Red and Blue International. Thus, we got those trades implied. You know, the Raichu and Poliwhirl evolving and such? This is because Blue JP was essentially a 3rd version, with different in-game trades to boot. Those version differences you see between Red and Blue, well, there were more in Blue JP. Ditto in Rock Tunnel, Rapidash in Cerulean Cave, Golem can be obtained via In-Game Trade, etc. There are many, but Bulbapedia sums it up quite well. I'd say that Blue JP is among the most friendly games to players. You can get Tauros, Golem, Gengar and Kangaskhan via In-Game Trade, all of which are amazing Pokemon. Hell, Tauros, Golem and Gengar can form a very good Gen 1 OU Team on their own. Kangaskhan was even nicknamed Rodan: a Godzilla reference! This is also the only way you can get a Lickitung in the wild: via the Safari Zone. Jynx can also be found in the Seafoam Islands. It is among the most complete of the Gen 1 Games, with only the Arbok Line, Ninetales Line, Primeape Line, Victreebell Line, and Magmar and Electabuzz missing. Nidoran wasn't available early game though (and Mankey completely gone), so have fun killing Brock with Charmander. Not too shabby, really. Hell, Porygon was cheaper in the Game Corner. It also fixed some minor glitches, such as Sabrina Skip. There is a patch available replicating the version differences, but I'm not sure if it patches out the glitches Blue JP did. No translation patch is directly available, however. Anyway, if you're interested in the version differences across the board, Papa Plague can provide!
The release schedule of Gen 1 was so hilariously bad, that it forgot a whole game. How fantastic is that? |
About meSo I really, really like researching Prototype Pokemon information. That's about it. I also do things on Smogon, I guess. Archives
January 2021
Categories
All
|