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The Kanto region is known to Pokemon fans as being the place that kickstarted the franchise in the mid-90s. While it may seem a bit dated in the eyes of modern fans of the series, Kanto was such a strong force of fan service to the community that Game Freak remade the region four different times (counting the Japanese Red and Green releases of the original games).
As the franchise moves forward and the community gets older, the sense of nostalgia for the Kanto region only increases. As such, it can be nice to look back on the oldest region in the Pokemon series and the many secrets and details it held. Here are five fun facts about the region.
5 pieces of trivia for Pokemon's Kanto region
1) Gary's Raticate
Being a game in the mid-90s, Pokemon Red and Blue received their fair share of playground urban legends back in the day. Unlike the ridiculous rumors of Mew under the truck or the existence of Mewthree, the mystery of Gary's Raticate is one of the few rumors that had some merit.
In the Kanto titles, Gary has a Rattata that eventually evolves into a Raticate towards the beginning of the game. However, before the Lavender Town battle between him and the player, Gary comments on how the player should not be there because none of their Pokemon are dead. In this battle, Gary's Raticate is suspiciously missing, leading many to believe it died.
2) MissingNo
MissingNo is the glitched remnants of a scrapped creature that was set to be a part of the original Pokedex. This creature could be encountered by interacting with the old man who teaches the player how to catch wild monsters. Afterwards, they will need to fly directly to Cinnabar Island and surf up and down on the shoreline to the east.
MissingNo can be captured and battled with in the original games. If it were to receive enough experience points to level up, it will trigger an evolution cutscene after the battle. The odd thing about this glitched monster is that it evolves into Kangaskhan, leading many to believe that it was once the Kangaskhan's pre-evolved form.
3) Bill's Garden
The famous collector and creator of the PC storage system, Bill, was rumored to have a special garden in the backyard of his property north of Cerulean City. This garden was said to house various rare monsters, as well as some that could only be seen there and nowhere else across Kanto.
Many players thought this area of the game could only be accessed after defeating the Elite Four a certain number of times, while many others believed that the Kanto Pokedex had to be completed. However, this rumor ended up being entirely false as details for Bill's Garden are absent from the game's files.
4) Odd HM compatibility
Movesets of different creatures are bound to shift throughout the years. However, a given species' access to HMs, or Hidden Machines, mostly remains consistent. In Red and Blue, there were some creatures that were missing access to these HMs, which was most likely caused by an oversight. Some of these changes were fixed in later generations.
Funnily enough, despite being two big creatures with wings, Dragonite and Charizard lacked access to Fly in Red and Blue. Charizard would receive access to this Hidden Machine in the reworked Yellow version, while Dragonite would have to wait until generation two. Dewgong and Seel had access to Strength in Red and Blue, but have not in any game since.
5) Original Red and Green versions
Some long-time fans of the franchise may know that the original releases of the first titles in the series were the Red and Green Japanese releases. These games were very similar to the Red and Blue international releases but hosted many more bugs and unfinished sprite art for the namesake monsters.
Most of the issues with these games would be patched out before being released as the iconic Red and Blue titles internationally, then later as a tertiary title in Japan, marking the start of the franchise's tradition of releasing three games per generation. While the revisions in the local and international releases of Blue are much better ways to play the games, this has made the original Red and Green valuable collector's items.
