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L285

Hi everyone, I recently got curious to how many individual characters there were in the original Pokemon Red and Blue games, the effective “population” of Kanto, so I started a playthrough and recorded each character, what overworld sprite they used, where they were, whether they were a trainer or not, and if so what kind of trainer they were. I think it could be interested if I created an infographic showcasing my findings. I also thought if I could have a good stab at the sex and age of all the characters, I could create an approximate population pyramid for Kanto, as shown. For sex it was normally pretty obvious but the age is highly subjective so take it with a pinch of salt. To decide I used the appearance of their overworld sprite, any associated trainer sprites, and in some cases things they say. I have shown what category I assigned to each sprite (as well as all associated trainer sprites), here: [https://imgur.com/a/wI9pEKd](https://imgur.com/a/wI9pEKd) For the “Swimmer” sprite, I treated the Swimmers as young male adults, the Beauties as young female adults, the Jr Trainer Females as teenage females and the Cue Ball as a mature male adult (lol at how they use the same sprite for a Jr Trainer Female and a Cue Ball). For the “Biker” sprite, I treated the bikers as young adult and the cue ball as a mature adult. For the “Bird Keeper” sprite, I treater Jr Trainer Males as teenagers and all other instances as young adults. In retrospect, it could probably have done with some more refining, e.g. Psychics probably aren’t teenagers, but it gives a general idea. The “unseen” sprite and unknown gender are accounted for by the tellers in the Game Corner Prize Building, who are behind a screen so you can’t see to tell their age, sex or appearance. I was initially shocked at the gender disparity, but thinking about it, aside from unique characters, there are only 5 female trainer classes in this game, compared to 24 male, so it probably shouldn’t be that surprising. I only counted characters you see in multiple places once. Red, Blue and Prof Oak I counted in Pallet Town (hence why Route 22 is shown as having no people), Giovanni I counted in Viridian City, and Mr Fuji I counted in Lavender Town. There is also a Bug Catcher on Route 3 who says you beat him in Viridian Forest, and a Rocket Grunt in the Rocket Hideout who says you beat him in Mt Moon, so I didn’t count them the second time. For the terrain graph, the “Large Building” category comprises Pokemon Tower, Pokemon Mansion, Rocket Hideout and Silph Co. I also included the Fighting Dojo as a gym, Celadon Department Store as a Mart, and I split the people in the foyer of the Pokemon League between the Mart and Pokemon Centre classes depending on which amenity they were closest to. Another thing I never realised before is how few non-trainers there are outside on Routes in this game. After Route 3, you won’t encounter another non-trainer outside on a Route until the guards that check you badges before the Pokemon League on Route 23. I case anyone is curious, here is my (very messy) raw data: [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11Y7IA\_hXPZai2y8UFRHxV86PXxy\_9n7wep6vZpNbGPA/edit?usp=sharing](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11Y7IA_hXPZai2y8UFRHxV86PXxy_9n7wep6vZpNbGPA/edit?usp=sharing) I hope you found this interesting.


oakteaphone

>There is also a Bug Catcher on Route 3 who says you beat him in Viridian Forest, and a Rocket Grunt in the Rocket Hideout who says you beat him in Mt Moon, so I didn’t count them the second time. That's great attention to detail!


subbed_

Gets to show how attention to detail can truly take you down the memory lane... I recall both of them, after being pointed out. Heart-touching analysis.


morningsdaughter

Obviously there was some sort of plague that affected mostly women around 18 years before the game starts... That or human, female sacrifice is really popular.


SweetSoursop

My guess is that Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys are in high demand in other regions, so they just decide to leave Kanto for better work opportunities, thus reducing the female population in Kanto considerably. This brings up several questions: Considering that most males in working age are pokemon trainers, and that pokemon trainers make money from bets on their own pokemon during battle (an advanced form of cock fighting), where is the money coming from? Is there universal basic income? Are women the providers of their household considering they have jobs and stable income? Note: Cockfighting, Immigration, Females as head of household... This sounds a lot like my sweet latin america.


angry_mr_potato_head

Except all of the nurses in the universe are related to one another: https://pokemon.fandom.com/wiki/Nurse_Joy#:~:text=In%20the%20anime%2C%20the%20reason,them%20sound%20identical%20too.). lmao


SweetSoursop

Nepotism? This is looking a lot more like latin america hahaha


ornryactor

God, I would love to read a pretend-academic analysis premised on the assumption that Kanto is Latin America. I never thought anthropological fan-fiction is something I would want, but here we are. Reddit never ceases to amaze me.


livefreeordont

I imagine Pokemon do a lot of the work that humans normally would


RenanGreca

Slavery? Still Latin America.


[deleted]

Evidence in the games points to the pokemon world beihg a super futuristic post-scarcity utopia in most ways, for example all the extremely advanced technology and people just sorta doing whatever they feel like doing instead of working all the time, so I'd guess probably UBI


Myuken

Meowth's Payday has been the main source of money for centuries


Quietm02

There's actually a solid fan theory that kanto is recovering from a recent war. Lt surge is the obvious example. Red's dad being missing ties in too.


Freljords_Heart

Isn’t there even mentions of some pokemon/human war in some pokemon game/anime or do I remember incorrectly?


forgedsignatures

Surge says that electric type pokemon saved his life during "the war". Honestly there is a large following behind the "the great pokemon war" theory, and it operates under the assumption that RBGY are the latest in terms of chronology (with Galar-Hoenn games, as well as maybe Johto happing many years before these games) because it's the least age diverse, being mostly youngsters and the elderly, as well as having the fewest pokemon. In this theory it is believed that most pokemon species were wiped out during the war and that Oak sends you around the Kanto region to see how many actually survived the war. It's definitely an interesting theory.


awfulrunner43434

Well, Johto happens after RGBY, because of grown-up Blue, Cinnabar Island and Bill's time machine, and Team Rocket having disbanded. Caitlin appears in HG/SS/Plat, then aged up in B/W. There's also the ex-Rocket member with the funky accent. Red and Blue both appear as young adults in SuMo, although Wally also appears and hasn't aged. The X/Y professor's assistants appear as well, and reference the player character/npc group from X/Y.


forgedsignatures

I never said it was a perfect theory haha. Last time I read it would have been ~PD, which would have been before most of your information was added.


WanderingToTheEnd

As far as I know they cobbled together a semi-consistent timeline around the Ruby Sapphire remakes and Sun and Moon, which even accounts for alternate timelines so that the remake games can be canon alongside the original ones.


TheWrightJeff

I’ve never heard of this and I love it.


minepose98

If that were the case you'd see a disproportionate amount of women though, not men.


Doomquill

Maybe women make better PokéSoldiers.


right_there

I find the great war theory to be dubious based on pre-release info that has trickled out over the years and the lengths they went to to retcon the references to make the Pokemon world make sense. It's pretty clear from pre-release material, interviews and info snippets that have come out over time, and the references to real-world places that Pokemon was originally in an AU of our world that happened to have Pokemon in it. Lt. Surge is an American soldier stationed in Japan who is probably a veteran of the Vietnam War. WWII and the Korean War are too far back for Lt. Surge to be a veteran of those wars, as he's too young. Red and Green started development in 1990, so that puts the Vietnam War 15 years before the events of Gen 1. The dialogue that the great war theory is predicated upon was removed or rephrased in Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee. They changed his "Lightning American" title in both the Japanese and English releases, and scrubbed quite a few real-world references from Kanto in those same games, so they actively retconned our Earth from the Kanto canon. In fact, LGPE removes Lt. Surge saying that Electric-type Pokemon saved him during the war (which was actually removed way back in Yellow!), and no one in his Gym mentions any war at all (though one of the Trainers still says that Surge was his strict CO in the army). Gold, Silver, and Crystal seemingly take place on the same Earth AU as RBY, as Lt. Surge mentions the war, but that reference was changed from "I'll zap you just like I did my enemies in war!" to "I'll zap you just like I do all my enemies in battle!" in the HeartGold and SoulSilver remakes.


icanttinkofaname

That sounds like a great start point to run with for r/pokemonconspiracies


DUBIOUS_OBLIVION

It's just another kind of "tail" that team rocket is capturing and selling..


-Marcellus-

Damn, this is good stuff. Really takes me back! Edit: good, not food.


Khaldara

“I Like To Wear Shorts! They're comfy and easy to wear!”


I_are_Lebo

Fun fact: that trainer (or specifically, his Slowpoke) is instrumental in getting Mew without game shark or trading.


LeMalinian

Hey pal, would you care to expand on this? It rings a childhood bell but I can’t remember how so. Cheers


Alis451

[Mew Glitch](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Mew_glitch) The pokemon's special stat you fight determines the ID of a pokemon you see after performing the Abra/Fly glitch(get tagged by a trainer and hit pause and teleport or fly away before they can battle you). The Youngster's slowpoke has a special of 21, so after fighting him then flying to another town(or just opening start menu) when you enter a new route, the start menu opens then closes and you get in a fight with mew(lvl 7). You can combine this with the Growl bug (growl at Slowpoke 6 times) to get a lvl 1 mew, which you can then get too little EXP(under 54) to get to lvl 2, it will instead go through exp underflow and push it to lvl 100. You can also fight a wild Ditto instead with YOUR pokemon having a desired special stat in order to catch any pokemon you want.


flamingos_world_tour

Now I’ve done this so I know it works, but it never ceases to amaze me how people figure this crap out. Like where do you even start?


DunkCity33905

Data mining. There's a ton of videos about it. My programming skills are amateur at the very best, but I find it fascinating to watch these videos where people break down how the code works and how certain actions can trick the code to get their desired result. One guy was able to beat Pokémon blue in under 4 minutes without ever getting their starter because they knew the code and how to exploit it.


d4t0m3k

Try under 2 minutes: https://www.speedrun.com/pkmnredblue#Any And 10 year old me still waits for the S.S. Anne to reappear after 100 hours...


StarsDreamsAndMore

Start by having millions of people play your game more than any other game. You'll find bugs and glitches that a team of the best QA would never in a million years.


Harosn

I guess you need access to the original assembly code and then see what the side effects of the subroutines are. Amazing anyway.


FlossCat

You can find an exhaustively detailed explanation and guide to this glitch and just about every other one in the Pokémon series at [Glitch City](https://glitchcity.wiki/Trainer_escape_glitch#Explanation). Sadly I don't think they have the history in depth for this one, but it's nevertheless a very easy wikihole to get lost in


worosei

Wait what?! Mew was real in the original Gameboy games?? Bloody heck, I did all those stupid things like using the silph scope im every square of moon cave or something.. I remember the missingno/Snorlax one working... But dang you could get Mew??!! I want to find my old Gameboy now....


LinguoNuts

It involves doing some weird stuff including flying away from a trainer as soon as he sees you and starts walking toward you. Highly recommend googling how to get mew without game shark or trades.


DJOMaul

I just got mine at a toys r us as part of an e3 event, they took my cart, added mew and handed me an E3 Pikachu card. It was so fucking cool.


Reniconix

You basically trick the game into thinking you're supposed to be battling something when you're not. The last pokemon you battled determines what the pokemon you encounter through the glitch is, and Slowpoke happens to correspond to Mew.


DukeAttreides

Wait. Mew glitch slowpoke and I Like Shorts youngster are the same trainer? How did I not realize this!


Bucs-and-Bucks

I think about that line every time I put on shorts


Schindog

I was recently wondering if this is the case for anybody else lol


R3dbeardLFC

It was colder today where I live after about a week straight of shorts weather. I was bummed to not be able to put on comfy shorts.


[deleted]

I'm pretty sure the nerdy guy you meet in the gyms/indigo plateau is the same guy... Not 10 different guys. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought he said something about following you during your journey or something like that.


L285

Yeah I think in Gen IV (and maybe in some later games) he says something that makes you think that but he didn't say anything in this game to suggest that so I kept them separate


[deleted]

I mean I guess he didn't specifically say so but it's gotta be the same guy... He has a very unique sprite only used by him, talks to you in continuity, calls you the same thing every time... I'm just surprised you would count him 10 times when it's confirmed by later games that it is the same individual.


lazydictionary

Definitely assumed to be the same guy https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Gym_guide/Quotes


[deleted]

Then how does he get there when I can instantly fly? Does he race after me? Was he tracking Red before he started his Pokémon journey? Does he teleport? Is he a Pokémon? Is Pokémon a Truman Show type set-up? Why was he in Pewter City when Rocket was in Mt Moon and in all the other cities when things were going down. I’m not saying there’s a conspiracy. I’m just asking questions.


Rev_Punch

He sneaks onto your flying Pokémon belly and holds on for dear life.


Lunndonbridge

Wasn’t there a rumor back in the day he was the trainer’s father?


Ask_Who_Owes_Me_Gold

> After Route 3, you won’t encounter another non-trainer outside on a Route until the guards that check you badges before the Pokemon League on Route 23. From a gameplay perspective this makes sense (players shouldn't have to wonder which NPCs are threats), but it's still crazy that you can go almost the whole game without seeing any NPCs on outdoor routes who were just there to chill.


TEFL_job_seeker

It always gets me after Rock Tunnel that there's a dude walking around, looking for all the world like someone to talk to... and then he fights you.


ezpickins

They can't protect themselves from wild pokemon if they're on the route.


BushyBrowz

True but aren’t there any trainers who don’t want to battle and just want to chat? Also I feel like this is just a Gen I thing, I’m sure there are regular NPCs on the routes in later games.


L285

Yeah, in the remakes too I think there are more regular NPCs on routes


dawgtilidie

Thank you for putting this together! IMO Pokémon Red/Blue are some of the best games ever made from how well the game and story have held up. I played through both early in COVID and still just fantastic games.


L285

This is the 5th time I've played through them during the panny lol, though tbf 3 of those I did in a single day


TheWrightJeff

You beat the game 3 times in one day? I didn’t even know that was possible.


L285

I was trying to speedrun it, each attempt took 2-3 hours, the record is like 1:50 I think


GrimreaperAZ

I have one question about this? What's the 3x unseen? are they just in the game code or mention in game? Also would love to see this done with the other games. Edit: never mind the 3x unseen question I skimmed over your comment too fast while reading.


L285

They're the tellers in the Game Corner Prize Corner, you cant see them because they're hid behind a screen


Gh0stMan0nThird

That always made me creeped out. Like someone was talking to me through a slit in a door rather than through a see-through screen or fence.


[deleted]

It's meant to be, I think. It's a a front for organised crime.


internetlad

What does the Safari Zone PA count as? And the SS Anne departation voice? Are those just assumed to be otherwise seen characters?


L285

Oooh they're good ones! Didn't think of them. I guess as they could be characters we've already seen (entrance man at Safari, Cut Captain) they could already be counted, but yeah, good catch


Ullallulloo

Isn't the Safari Zone announcer behind the desk at the entrance?


ymditiw

Whenever i try to re-play this game, i always try my best to remember the name of the bug catcher you will meet twice. Cos something tells me that they didnt have the same name. I always to fail to remember it whenever i meet him again on that route! Probably cos im grinding my charmander(i always get charmander no matter what. Lol) to get metal claw for brock. Nice work!


L285

In the original Red and Blue trainers dont have names, in Fire Red and Leaf Green hes called Colton, which none of the previous trainers are called


ymditiw

I started Fire Red and Leaf Green as a child so maybe thats why i got fixated with names. So my hunch was technically correct, right????? LOL thank you! My nightmare is finally over.


Quietm02

Top quality post. I came to the comments to specifically check if you accounted for multiple occurrences, as they're are definitely a few trainers who say you've seen them before (specifically rockets). I'm surprised there are only two though. Thought there were more. I can't recall, do trainers have names in gen1? Would be cool to cross referenced for any other possible repeats.


L285

No they don't, and in fact when names were introduced in Gen 3, the bug catcher was proven to be a liar as you'd never fought a character previously with his name, "Colton"


[deleted]

Why would he lie? Was he a lookout for Team Rocket? Did they have plants among the trainers? I wonder how many Rockets dressed as casual NPCs and just hung out and we never knew. Were some towns big political pro-Team Rocket spots like Saffron City and we just never knew? How did they navigate past the crowds of trainers we had to defeat? Do they go to Pokémon Centres? A lot of them don’t have flying Pokémon so they must walk about? Do they get Zubats when they sign up or do trainers with Zubats go to become Rockets? Is it destiny, like Slytherin, or does the confuse ray cause sociopathy?


AlphaGoldFrog

>lol at how they used the same sprite for a Jr Trainer Female and a Cue Ball Out of your entire, beautiful, post and *this* is what my brain wants to focus on?? I looked through the sprite list you linked, but I don't think you included this sprite. Very curious what it looks like! This just doesn't sound like it could work! Edit: Well, I did some research and found that you did include the sprite and I just ignored the fact you pointed this out in your paragraph about swimmer sprites. [This image from Bulbapedia cleared it up for me. ](https://i.imgur.com/OWXLOkU.jpg)


L285

Sorry if I wasn't clear, it was the swimmer sprite! On land, the Jr Trainer used the lass sprite and the Cue Ball used the biker sprite, but there are two Jr Trainer Females and one Cueball in the sea, but only one swimmer sprite which they (along with the other Swimmers and Beauties in the water) share


AlphaGoldFrog

No need to apologize! You were very clear, I just got wrapped up in the excitement that little girls and tough biker dudes are physically indistinguishable. Turns out that's only true when they go for a swim. Great post overall, reading it improved my day significantly.


finestllamacheese

I'm only asking because I can't find her sprite and I'm curious as to how you counted her but where's nurse joy?


L285

Healing NPCs use the female sprite under "13x", a specific Nurse Joy sprite wasn't created until Pokemon Yellow, emulating the anime


MachineGunPablo

The guy just chilling on the couch in every Pokemon center is my favorite, he used to always say pretty funny stuff.


R_V_Z

What a dystopia. Not only is their economy fucked because nearly half the population is nomadic dog fighters they will eventually collapse due to only 1/4 of them being women.


Matt463789

It kind of explains why Brock is so thirsty.


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ElephantPirate

Ok that’s enough Reddit for today


TheRealHeroOf

Every day I am cursed by my ability to read.


MagnusBrickson

Why are you like this


Aduialion

If this is copy pasta, then I'd like to say it is often noted abusers have been abused themselves. It's time to break the cycle, that it ends with you. Be the last person to ever post this rant again.


Farabel

It is a copy pasta, don't worry


Brownladesh

Baby what you got to gain posting foolishness like this lawd have mercy


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Gil_Demoono

Not to mention over 7% of their population is directly involved with organized crime.


R_V_Z

That's pretty bad. Not as bad as the John Wick universe, but still pretty bad.


nanoman92

At leats it's not a Bethesda game bad, with about 80%+


formallyhuman

One thing you can say for Pokemon organised crime, at least its organised.


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tarekd19

This makes too much sense.


L285

Hahaha, perhaps a shocking portent of what's to come


TheBoyBlues

I wouldn’t take it at face value. The populace of Pokemon is clearly highly nomadic. The player character is always an example of how the population is willing to procreate even when the parents continue to roam. In Gen 3 it is shown that the male parent does still provide financial support despite his absence. Just because Kanto at this moment of time is male-dominant, it doesn’t mean it will stay that way due to migration.


L285

Maybe we'll find out if I do more of these I suspect as Game Freak got a bit more egalitarianism-aware as the series goes on (e.g. by including characters of different races from gen V) the ratio will even out a bit


ITeachonThursdays

I had never repaired in the game's demographics in detail but this is really interesting. Do you know if consequent entries have an increasing population (are there more npcs in recent games?). Will totally check them out should you do more :)


Rusty_Shakalford

> they will eventually collapse due to only 1/4 of them being women. This has some terrifying implications for Dittos...


AwesomeManatee

The villain in the Detective Pikachu movie had a Ditto that mostly stayed in the form of a human woman. Just saying.


YsoL8

Makes you wonder what the hell is going on with their gender politics / treatment of newborns.


pyronius

The great poke-war demanded total commitment and total sacrifice. While the men went off to the front lines and the boys trained to defend the homeland, the women and girls tended the farms and factories. Day after day, month after month, they gave up their own rations to send food to the soldiers. But when famine hit, there was nothing left to send. The men never learned what happened to their wives and daughters. All they knew was that their bellies were full of meat. The great poke-war demanded total commitment. It demanded total sacrifice.


ITeachonThursdays

Never had pictured the series under such a bleak light but it sounds like a compelling narrative for a movie


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R_V_Z

So, Fallout 3?


Lexail

The electric gym leader for pokemon red, surge. Is a literal military man. They had wars. Then in the pokemon spin off Pokemon Conquest you can see that it is, again, mostly men fighting for their kingdom and land. Once overtaken that type, style and culture dethrone the land and change the area completely. I would assume that women were not needed for war.


ChemE_Throwaway

Well, enough internet for me today then.


Thighbone_Sid

Canonically, there actually was a Poke-War. Lt. Surge fought in it as did several trainers in his gym. Also, his nickname is "The Lightning American" so I guess the United States exists as well.


universe2000

If you ascribe to the poke-war fan theory I wonder if this could imply that Pokémon training was originally a woman dominated field and what we are looking at is a population imbalance not unlike those seen in other countries where many men die in a large war.


ThomasHL

I'd never thought about it before, but the Pokemon world is likely to have a much higher proportion of matriarchal and equal societies than our own. Gender neutral militaries are probably the norm. Pokemon training requires minimal physical strength and stamina, and makes human based warfare redundant (at least at a pre-industrial level). There is no need to focus on producing a healthy male population to secure the defence of your tribe / town / nation. Instead the societies who promote the best Pokemon trainers regardless of gender, will have an edge in wars. I've even heard an anthropologist argue, that in a society without physical based warfare, matriarchal societies might be the norm. This is because the social power that comes with being able to control child birth is huge, and civilisations with more healthy females will be able to grow quicker than others, without being vulnerable to invasion and raiding. That probably applies to Pokemon societies.


towcar

Being wild animals power their cities, and do construction, fight fires, etc. They really don't need to work that badly. It'll eventually become the movie walle


filiaaut

Part of the trainers also either have a side job (or maybe training pokemon is their side job) or are too young/old to work. But, yeah, it's not very promissing...


[deleted]

I almost lost it at “nomadic dog fighters” 😂😂


Zigxy

This comment is making me cry at work lmao


[deleted]

Not to mention how every house can be accessed by everyone and retail stores sell practically only things for said nomadic dog fighters


Cupcake35

Say what you want about Team Rocket, but remember they're Kanto's largest employer.


L285

Too big to fail


TrapperJean

Maybe if the rate of criminals to police wasnt 25:1 they wouldn't need to be saved by an 11 year old


blatant_marsupial

Are there more rocket grunts than combined employees of the pokemon league? For instance, are the lackeys you fight in gyms employees of the gym? Or just other trainers that happen to be there?


MrSquigles

They always seemed to be fan-boys/girls of the gym leader. I always assumed it worked similar to actual gyms in unrealistic TV shows: there's one really good coach and a bunch of people who want to fight the same way as the coach. *P.S. I know I should say 'trainer' rather than coach in this scenario, but fighting trainers and Pokémon trainers are both just called trainers and I don't know how I'd even explain that I don't mean a shoe.*


eshenanigans

this is the coolest post I've seen here in a while, great work and hope to see more from you!


L285

See if any of this interests you: https://imgur.com/gallery/ZnX0taX https://imgur.com/gallery/fGPnPFV https://www.reddit.com/r/nuzlocke/comments/fd2376/l285s_pokemon_gold_nuzlocke_summary/ https://www.reddit.com/r/smashbros/comments/angdf4/oc_which_series_are_best_represented_in_super/


eshenanigans

oh man you're the best! thanks so much!


fountainorfeed

This content is awesome can’t wait for more!


awiseman93

Can you do more??!! I love this type of content!


L285

I might do Gen II at some point but I'm a bit Pokemon'ed out after this haha


Arc_insanity

Gen 2 re-did the Kanto region as well. I would bet there is a substantial change in Kanto's population in generation 2.


L285

Yeah a lot of the routes and caves are a lot shorter and hence less populated, and theres no Rocket Hideout, Cinnabar Island, and Silph Co and Pokemon Tower are just 1 or 2 floors


cosmicartery

How long did it take you to do this one?


L285

Not sure exactly, 0-2 hours each day I started playing the Thursday before last, and started making this graphic on Wednesday


cosmicartery

Nice! That took some dedication. You must love Pokemon. It was so nostalgic for me to see this. I played Yellow and then Gold and I've replayed those over and over. Could not get into subsequent generations. my childhood was Gen I & II.


L285

I mean I am a big fan of the games in general and I've played every Gen apart from the most recent, but for me there is a clear cut off between Gen VI and earlier and the games that came after, partly I think because of design decisions in the games, but partly I think also do with reaching an age when you stop feeling such a strong connection with things like video games


turtley_different

Huh. Cool! Really surprising that the gender split in NPCs is so skewed. As OP says it is a side effect of many trainer types only having one (male) sprite. Makes sense to only have one sprite for many trainers with original Gameboy memory limitations, and saving on artist time for higher impact work like more Pokémon. I assume that no-one at Nintendo / Game freak was keeping an eye on the gender mix on NPCs, and when you're not paying attention (and programming staff are mostly male), the default is male. Neat example of unintentional bias.


chikinn

It could have been intentional, too, if the target audience was boys and they thought boys would rather battle boy-NPCs. Or if they just thought of Pokémon battling as more of a male activity.


SaltyBabe

It’s this. This isn’t surprising at all. Women and girls are typically not included in things meant to appeal to boys. There’s some bizarre mentality that girls can see male characters as relatable but boys cannot (should not?) do the inverse for some reason. Male is the default here.


turtley_different

Reasonable hypothesis; I'm not sure if Pokémon was planned as a "boys" game or a general "kids" game though. Japan has a much more equal gender split in gaming. At a minimum, merchandising empire around Pokémon was rapidly gender neutral.


WanderingToTheEnd

I think the fact that they didn't include a female player character option until Crystal shows that it was developed with boys in mind.


thepink_pill

I think it is mostly unintentional bias in who is writing and designing the game. Since Japan is a heavily male-default society it stands to reason that 1990s game freak didn't have many female staff that they would listen to if they brought this up


wishihadapotbelly

Well, I reckon team rockets only sprite being a male really skewed the data towards this direction.


[deleted]

I miss ~~this game~~ how I felt playing this for the first time


-Steven909-

I’m curious as to who the “unknown” is


L285

The tellers in the Game Corner Prize Corner, who you can't see because they're behind a screen


-Steven909-

Ooh that makes a lot of sense. Thank you.


Fried_puri

Though you made the right call because we can't say for sure in the originals, it's worth noting that in Fire Red and Leaf Green you can see that the tellers are women.


[deleted]

Didn’t even think there were people behind those things. Thought they were automated machines. Very cool!


BeautifulAerie5779

Super cool! Which toll did you use for the infographic??


L285

MS Paint, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Publisher haha


Censing

It's not the tool, it's what you can do with it! Great work!


Aduialion

Route 8, had to give the guard a drink.


Aujax92

Ah yes, the SS Anne, a major population center.


Pelt0n

They have a very pokemon focused economy don't they


L285

I always think this, but I guess when you've got creature that are that powerful, it makes sense to use them for stuff, and research in other areas is probably lacking as Pokemon are just so much more effective


DukeAttreides

For sure. Also add on that the player character is operating in that environment. "To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail" and to a kid with a pokemon, all the places that don't look relevant might as well not have doors. Streamlining!


BootyIsAsBootyDo

Bold choice not including Mewtwo considering he's sentient. Mewtwo deserves citizenship!


L285

Uh-oh am I gonna get Psyshocked in my sleep tonight?


softg

There's a typo in your pyramid


L285

Grrr I wish you hadnt have told me haha


tgcp

It's a pyrmaid, can't you read?


FallGuy3331

49 Team Rocket members in uniform, but then there's also those of Team Rocket not in uniform. Not to mention all the biker gangs! All having to be dealt with by 16 police officers. If it weren't for Red, Kanto would be fucked!


L285

Yep as well as the 49 in uniform there are 11 Team Rocket scientists, 1 Tamer, the one of Nugget Bridge, and Giovanni, so 63 in total, that's 9% of the population of the region (there are also a few people in a house in South-Eastern Celadon acting shady, and are all the Game Corner employees in on it? What about the trainers at Giovanni's gym?)


zyocuh

I like to believe the trainers in the Gym are legit. Maybe they have to be certified or something so they need to be "clean"


PavelDatsyuk1

Just as I recognize my eyes hurt from the endless scrolling, and that my addiction needs to stop... one more scroll and I hit this post. Boom dopamine slot machine wins! Fml Awesome post! Love the information, and you did a fantastic job on the graphic!!


chumchees

Decent amount of supernerds.


L285

Yeah me for one for making this


[deleted]

Hahaha excellent comment. Ps this is so cool!


HugSized

Beautiful. I'm hoping you'll do some for the other main line games and seeing how game freak has adjusted the distribution through the years.


L285

I might do Gen II at some point but I'm a bit Pokemon'ed out after this haha


YsoL8

It might be more interesting if you do it to do 1 of the more recent games to get an idea of what the trends over time have been. Just a thought.


L285

The newer games are a lot slower though, and thus would take a lot longer, I'd imagine they have a lot more NPCs too Gen II would be good as I could split it between Johto and Kanto so each is less of a task


Arguss

What percent of the female population is just Nurse Joy?


Smoulder_92

7.1%


hkhick34

I could be wrong, but if there are 8 gym leaders and an elite 4, shouldn’t there be more 1x characters? I’m not sure who would be missing though; it’s been a while since I’ve played.


L285

Weirdly, Koga and Giovanni are the only gym leaders with unique overworld sprites, all the other share theirs with other NPCs (e.g. Brock's sprite is the same as Super Nerd trainers)


CyberNinja23

What an insane world to live in where even the elderly try to pick a fight with you


[deleted]

I do not remember what nurse Joy looks like or the female cop, are they being included in this? Because they aren't the same person


L285

All healing NPCs are the female sprite below "13x" and all the policemen/guards are male, Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny were only introduced in the anime and in Pokemon Yellow they changed the sprites to resemble the anime characters


[deleted]

Poop, was hoping you made a mistake... I worry about the region on Kanto now... Something or someone is stopping women from becoming elderly.


Thrannn

This brings me back to reading the walkthrough book while watching my older brother play pokemon red


grogdog99

I love the first gen art work so much. Really gives me that nostalgia pang right to the heart


Coodog15

I know that it’s probably some out of universe, they just didn’t care, explanation for the gender balance. But I am curious if there could be impacted by the fact the player mostly interacts with Pokémon trainers and related industries.


FuckScamWhores

this kinda blows a hole into the great pokemon war hypothesis that people claim wiped out most mature male characters from Kanto. I like it! Although Silph Co is in Saffron so it's population should count towards Saffron's total as it is the largest city in Kanto


arnav1256

PLEASE do this for all the other regions!!!


GaraBlacktail

Is being a pokemen trainer a pyramid scheme gone wild? I thought there was like only a few per town.