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Was Red's starter his Pikachu?

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Somari

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I used to think that Yellow was the canon RGBY game, like the other third games. That his Pikachu just learned volt tackle somehow (that sounds too OOC for the games), or that they retconned him into knowing it from the get-go.
That he just went into his Pokeball due to Red closing himself off from him or he just matured into being able to enter Pokeballs (or he trusts Red now).

However I'm very unsure if that's the case anymore. I'm leaning more toward it being one of the Kanto three.
 
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I see Red having all the Kanto Starters so as not to canonize one over the others.

Pikachu is there because is was also a starter in the anime inspired games. And Pikachu was only a starter because Ash had one, and he only had one because it was the most popular pokemon.

So, yeah, let's go with Red having Pika as his starter and getting the other three through other means. Note Blue doesn't even have any of his starter options.
 
If we went with RGB and not Y,
Blue would've probably given Red his starter choice while Red got the last one by other means.
If we went with Y, Blue obviously released his Eeveelution or put it in the box. or it died like the raticate!
 
Somari said:
That he just went into his Pokeball due to Red closing himself off from him
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While I think that this is the case, I'm surprised that people don't mention the pelting hail. I doubt a Pokémon would really want to be in that.
 
Ryuutakesh! said:
I see Red having all the Kanto Starters so as not to canonize one over the others.

Pikachu is there because is was also a starter in the anime inspired games.
Click to expand...

I've always thought as him as having a Pikachu because:
A. It's the mascot of the series.
B. It appeared in Yellow as his starter.

He has the Kanto starters because..Well..They're the Kanto starters. His team reeks of RGBY references.
 
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I figure his starter is which ever one of the four you want it to be.

Just one of those things they do to draw you into the game more, by sacrificing facts and logic.
 
In GSC, Red had Pikachu because he was based on the Red from Yellow version, the final Gen I game, where Pikachu was the starter. His other Pokemon (Espeon, Snorlax, and the Kanto starters) could be obtained in that game through special means (in the case of Snorlax; the others were evolved forms of Pokemon that could be obtained through special means in Yellow).

So yes, Pikachu is Red's canonical starter in GSC (at least, that's my understanding).

Now? Who knows.
 
None of them were Red's starter.

Red was based off of Red from the Pokemon Adventures (Special) manga in which his starter was unknown (it may have been a Poliwag). Red caught a Bulbasaur, Pikachu, Charmander, Squirtle, Snorlax, and an Eevee that was tampered with by Team Rocket giving it the ability to evolve and devolve whenever. Red eventually removed this chip and it would evolve into an Espeon. The Lapras he has in HG/SS was also caught in the manga.
 
SHADE 45 said:
None of them were Red's starter.

Red was based off of Red from the Pokemon Adventures (Special) manga in which his starter was unknown (it may have been a Poliwag). Red caught a Bulbasaur, Pikachu, Charmander, Squirtle, Snorlax, and an Eevee that was tampered with by Team Rocket giving it the ability to evolve and devolve whenever. Red eventually removed this chip and it would evolve into an Espeon. The Lapras he has in HG/SS was also caught in the manga.
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No, he wasn't. Don't know the exact time line, but I am sure Red (Game) got Espeon before Red (Special).

All of Red's Pokemon in the original GSC was based on in-game events in Yellow version, Snorlax and Eevee being in-game events shared by all versions of the Gen I game, and the starters, well they're starters.

Even now, Red's Pokemon are all based on in-game events, Espeon had been taken out possibly to remove having a canon "eeveelution" for him in FrLg and replaced by the Lapras recieved in Silph Co.

If it were truly a shout-out to Red from Pokemon Special, they would have given him his more easily recognizable team that he usually uses. And no where do I see him having caught those other starters other than Bulbasaur, he was lent a Charizard and a Blastoise from the other two characters, both in or past the GSC arcs in the manga, therefore the Red in GSC could not be based off of him.

And if that's not enough proof, we can go by the publication and release dates. According to Bulbapedia, the first volume in the GSC arc was released in August 2001.

Gold and Silver version were released (after some delays, which included the production of Yellow version in between) in November 1999.

That his Pikachu just learned volt tackle somehow (that sounds too OOC for the games)
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Under-leveled wild Pokemon, Lance, Battle tower etc.

It sounds right up their alley.

I don't even think Special was the most popular manga in Japan at the time, and don't pull out that old and dated quote from Satoshi Tajiri which may not even apply to the series now :/
 
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SHADE 45 said:
None of them were Red's starter.

Red was based off of Red from the Pokemon Adventures (Special) manga in which his starter was unknown (it may have been a Poliwag). Red caught a Bulbasaur, Pikachu, Charmander, Squirtle, Snorlax, and an Eevee that was tampered with by Team Rocket giving it the ability to evolve and devolve whenever. Red eventually removed this chip and it would evolve into an Espeon. The Lapras he has in HG/SS was also caught in the manga.
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It's the other way around -_-

He have all the gen1 mascots, but Pikachu being highest leveled, I say that might point at something.

Why does he have all the starters, at the same lvl? Because they don't want to make one more important than the others.

Why does he have a Pikachu? It's the mascot of Yellow, the anime and the whole franchise.

Why does he have Espeon? Eevee is a very rare Pokemon, both in gen1 and gen2, and is given out by a NPC in both gens (does Bill give you one in gen1 as well?). But why Espeon? Well they had all the other types covered, and Karen have an Umereon, so the natural choice would be Espeon.

Why does he have Snorlax? There were two Snorlax' in gen1, and there were one in gen2, Red caught one of them and the second one returned, also while it's not given to you by an NPC it's still special in matter of how to acquire one.

Why does he have a Lapras instead of Espeon in HGSS? 1)The Kimono Girls have all the eeveelutions, so they probably thought he didn't needed one as well, 2)It mirrors the amine, 3)It's a one of a kind in gen1, extremely rare in FRLG, it's rather hard to capture in HGSS and 4)Maybe it's not important, but it take advantage of hail.


Also, Blue has his RBG team, at least in GSC, the Machamp doesn't show up in any other games anyway and it make a lot more sense to have a Machamp on Trick Room team than an Alakazam.

I say that Yellow might be it, but RBG has just as good chance consider Blue, of course you could say that Y is the canon for Red, and RBG is the canon for Blue.
 
Why does he have a Lapras instead of Espeon in HGSS? 1)The Kimono Girls have all the eeveelutions, so they probably thought he didn't needed one as well, 2)It mirrors the amine, 3)It's a one of a kind in gen1, extremely rare in FRLG, it's rather hard to capture in HGSS and 4)Maybe it's not important, but it take advantage of hail.
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The Kimoni Girls had Espeon last time too, so I doubt that's the reason. I like the idea that they'd rather not have a canon eeveelution.

As for the point of trying to mirror the anime more, that is definitely one of the reasons.

If you look at Red's HgSs Pikachu and Ash's Pikachu, they both share the same moves. We know that his Pikachu still has Iron Tail and Volt Tackle, and in the Moves Used section, it notes Quick Attack being a recent move.
 
We'll say that Red started with Pikachu (he did that in Yellow). Then he got the other 3 Kanto starters from other people who he came across.
 
Somari said:
I've always thought as him as having a Pikachu because:
A. It's the mascot of the series.
B. It appeared in Yellow as his starter.

He has the Kanto starters because..Well..They're the Kanto starters. His team reeks of RGBY references.
Click to expand...

that's what I said.
 
Outrage said:
The Kimoni Girls had Espeon last time too, so I doubt that's the reason. I like the idea that they'd rather not have a canon eeveelution.

As for the point of trying to mirror the anime more, that is definitely one of the reasons.

If you look at Red's HgSs Pikachu and Ash's Pikachu, they both share the same moves. We know that his Pikachu still has Iron Tail and Volt Tackle, and in the Moves Used section, it notes Quick Attack being a recent move.
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Yeah, I know that they had it last time to, but in GSC they didn't do anything special, you had to battle them, they weren't involved in the storyline.

And the anime thing is almost certain.
 
red was given all the starter of gen I so no matter what he is you (pikachu is starter if you played yellow) the rest you had in gen I because you would never pass them up
 
My theory on Espeon was that initially they wanted to give him the eeveelution associated with goodness. Think about it. It's a pokemon that evolved from happiness in the daytime. It was also a way to connect him with Gen II, since I guess they didn't want to canonize one of the original three and Karen, leader of the Elite 4, had an Umbreon to counter it. Plus, I don't see a dark type on Red's team.

However, I think Game Freak reconsidered this over the decade and felt that Espeon, due to all the eeveelutions now, still canonized one of them. So they went with a different in-game-event pokemon. Lapras. Which in my opinion was a better choice, but whatever.
 
I see Red having all the Kanto Starters so as not to canonize one over the others.

Pikachu is there because is was also a starter in the anime inspired games. And Pikachu was only a starter because Ash had one, and he only had one because it was the most popular pokemon.

So, yeah, let's go with Red having Pika as his starter and getting the other three through other means. Note Blue doesn't even have any of his starter options.
Click to expand...

I've always thought as him as having a Pikachu because:
A. It's the mascot of the series.
B. It appeared in Yellow as his starter.

He has the Kanto starters because..Well..They're the Kanto starters. His team reeks of RGBY references.
Click to expand...

No, sounds like what I said.
 
Not really, honestly.

You mentioned how they put the Kanto starters there to not canonize them. I said they did that because they are the Kanto starters and thus should appear, due to continuity reasons and reference reasons.

You said how Pikachu is in Red's team because..Oh wait, I think you did say the same thing on the Pikachu's part. But not the Kanto one.

Anyway, forget it. Back to topic.
 
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