We’re now in the final part of the article detailing my reminiscing of the pre-Generation 5 days. It was years since that time, so this information should be news for some of the newer fans. This part also contains the most memorable part of the pre-Generation 5 days, namely the period when the games were about to be ready, which solidified my fondness of this Generation.
Let’s get right into the details once you are ready to go.
The Reveals Continue
Last week, I talked about Triple Battles, but there was also Rotation Battles mentioned in the same Corocoro issue. To refresh your memory, it’s also a three-on-three battle, but one one Pokémon actually moves, while the others are at standby. I don’t remember the opinions on that one, but I think it wasn’t as notable as Triples.
There’s also Battle Subway, a new take on the Battle Tower. The fact that you could battle Pokémon on trains was already fascinating, since trains might not be able to take all the destruction.
Miracle Shooter, or known as Wonder Launcher here, was also a notable feature because of the ability to use items in battle, much like in-game battles. The only thing that makes it different is that you have to wait to use items, which should increase the strategic factor, but it also raised concerns that it would drag battles too long.
Even though Generation 5 introduced three new battle styles (Triples, Rotation and Wonder Launcher), their popularity didn’t reach the heights of Doubles. It’s probably because they are underutilised in the game. Triples and Rotation are still practised now, but Wonder Launcher seemed like a one-time idea.
For non-battle-related reveals, there was a leak where it was shown that Pansage wasn’t the only monkey Pokémon. In fact, there was a fire and water monkey as well! No one would have thought that the monkey Pokémon came in three types. Now that was a surprise!
Hand-on Gameplay
Demo sessions with the Pokémon games was available at that time. These demos featured some Pokémon that weren’t officially revealed, but still playable. Darumaka, Audino and Basculin were among the few Pokémon that were shown there.
The quest found in the demo session weren’t actually in the game, which meant that one couldn’t experience what was experienced then. It’s just as well, since the final product has announced and unannounced Pokémon scattered throughout. Route 1, for example, had Lillipup, and Route 2 had Purrloin. If you’re wondering, the area is roughly around Icirrus City and the entrance to Dragonspiral Tower (you can’t go there because it’s blocked by a body of water).
Some players attempted to calculate the stats of the starters, even though their levels were too low to make an accurate assessment. Their only estimations could be to state the highest stat among the six stats, which didn’t give much of an idea, considering that IVs was unknowable on face value.
The Dripfed Leaks
It’s a common occurrence for a popular game to have its information leaked even before the games were release. Pokémon, being a popular franchise, naturally had this happened. Even during the time when X and Y were nearing its release, people were finding new unrevealed Pokémon, which includes Pumpkaboo, Bergmite and Aegislash.
The identity of the leaker would remain anonymous, since that wasn’t important in the grand scheme of things. The most important thing to know is that information was leaked, causing people to be excited. With 156 Pokémon, that was a lot to take in. Keep in mind that the information started coming before the Corocoro leak itself, so the leaks were known first.
Twitter was the place where the leaks would be revealed, which meant that one or two Pokémon would be revealed each tweet over a period of a few days. It was a great time to be impatient and start regularly checking for information. Occasionally, a picture of that Pokémon would be revealed. It was how we know how Gigalith’s pre-evolutions, Scraggy, Joltik (the best reveal because of its cuteness) and Litwick looked like, among others.
Perhaps the leaks were trusted because of Purrloin’s accidental reveal. A silhouette of Purrloin was on Twitter, but the Pokémon Sunday show had Purrloin’s likeness among the Generation 5 Pokémon, followed by Purrloin’s reveal. Because of this, a lot more places trusted that leaked source.
Those weren’t the only leaks that were revealed. The starters’ evolutions were also leaked. This was perhaps what people weren’t quite happy with, and would dismiss it as fakes. For one, the colouring of the starters didn’t quite match with the original starter (Dewott is blue, Serperior had white skin). The fact that the Fire starter was another Fire/Fighting-type was a source of jokes to come, such as Fennekin being jokingly thought to be another Fighting starter (thankfully, that didn’t happen).
With the release of the games, every single Pokémon in Generation 5 were leaked, in picture form. At this point, the dripfeed becomes more torrential. Perhaps the fact that the DS was easy to hack meant that even the event Legendaries were also revealed, and it was on the first day! By comparison, Generation 6 took a few months before we know how the event Legendaries looked like.
Looking at how the new Pokémon looked like was very exciting because we got to know the evolutions of previous Pokémon. Woobat’s evolution, for example, was cute. Klink’s ones seemed repetitive. Pidove’s seemed fancy. Even though a lot of Pokémon was described, knowing how they actually looked like is much appreciated. For example, a Ground/Ghost robot seemed out there, but seeing this “robot” is a lot easier to grasp the concept.
Pokémon’s looks weren’t the only thing leaked. Their information was also leaked, including their stats, abilities, moves, and Dream World abilities. This allowed players to experiment with the new Pokémon for potential stars, as well as some of the new items. The general increase in power for some of these Pokémon was a surprise, leading Generation 5’s Pokémon to be referred as having a “power creep”.
It was such a memorable part of Generation 5 that I’m glad I was part of.
The Leak that was Late to the Party
Even though we were exposed to the Pokémon leaks earlier, Corocoro was still leaked. It was leaked before the games came out, which allowed us to take a better look at a few of the Pokémon before we saw the actual sprites. For example, a mushroom Pokémon was hinted, but we didn’t know it had a Poké Ball pattern (that’s Foongus, if you’re wondering).
It also re-confirmed that some of the leaks earlier were true. Roggenrola was shown earlier, and it was similar to the official reveal. The same goes for Petilil and Cottonee, and of course, the starters (in their first evolutions). The four Pokémon revealed in an earlier advertisement were also finally clearly seen, allowing us to see what Cofagrigus’ and Galvantula’s face looked like, while showing a more detailed close-up of Excadrill and Haxorus.
Some new things were also shown, such as the Gym Leaders. Chili and Cress were shown alongside Cilan, indicating that they would be co-leading the Gym. The elemental monkeys were also shown in the magazine. Another thing we didn’t know was that Basculin had two different varieties.
It should be noted that Corocoro would slowly reveal the other Pokémon and people in the following months, which meant that the only reason to look back was to see the official artwork of the other Pokémon.
That about wraps up my reminiscing of Generation 5’s pre-release. It was quite a time to look forward to, even though I didn’t play the games on time. Every reveal was exciting, but perhaps it was too exciting that when the time comes, that excitement dissipated as soon as every bit of information came.
This was the last time (for now, at least) we have Japan getting the games first, so knowing how it generally went was a time to remember. I hope you enjoyed reading these articles as much as I have writing it.
Thanks for reading.
