What’s sad about Mr. Fuji is that we eventually learn he was Dr. Fuji, Mewtwo’s creator. It feels as though he’s doing a sort of penance for the cruel genetic experiments he did on Mewtwo.
@@maximilianbelmont4901There's the potential for a connection. We know that Mr. Fuji used to be Dr. Fuji, and that he founded the Pokemon Lab on Cinnabar Island. If anyone would be able to do it, it would have been him.
@@maximilianbelmont4901 There was. The fossil lab on Cinnabar Island has a photo of Blaine with the lab’s founder-Dr. Fuji? Even Red seems taken aback by this revelation. Blaine has the key to the Burned Mansion, where Mewtwo was made, so the dots are laid out for us to connect. Gen 1 never laid things out directly; it leaves a lot of implications left unsaid.
@@magicaltour1 the photo you talked about, appeared from Fire Red and Leaf Green on, not Red and Blue. Also there was no key to the burned mansion in Red and Blue, just to the Arena.
@@maximilianbelmont4901 It was in Red and Blue, I’ve re-played both versions and it’s there on the wall. It was always intended; that’s why we see Dr. Fuji in “Mewtwo Strikes Back.” And in any case, Blaine’s can only be accessed by going through the mansion, so he clearly has a connection with it.
you LIKED it being replaced by a Radio Tower...? Even though it was full of pokemon graves?! It was a holy burial ground and should NOT have been vandalized for the sake of entertainment... Especially when there's a perfectly good space in that empty lot just sitting there in the northeast corner of Vermilion City! its been 26 years and I'm still pissed about it
I agree. I think the radio tower choice was bizarre for that reason. It shouldn't have been replaced because there's just an extremely bizarre implication to replacing what is essentially a big mausoleum with... _anything_ else, really. It's not like mourning and grief are bad things, as long as you're not obsessed with it, and suggesting that the town is too focused on death is like suggesting that a town with a graveyard is too focused on death and should move on! If we were supposed to see some kind of "moving on" from an overwhelming sadness in the town, it would've been more appropriate to, say, have a flowers growing around the tower to add some life, or some decorations for colour and more of a sense of "celebrating memories" instead of only being gloomy.
As a child I actually stumbled upon the Pokemon Adventures manga and was so scared by the rotting Psyduck's eyeball falling out that I just ran through Lavender Town as fast as I could whenever I played. I didn't want to go in the tower at all. I legitimately had nightmares about it. Sure it's... pretty tame all things considered, but overactive child imaginations are not to be trifled with.
The scariest part as a kid was when the ghost pokemon was completely invincible to all my pokemon, even my trusty charizard didn't stand a chance and it made me legitimately scared to ever go back. I did everything else possible in the game I could explore, then returned, not realizing that the Silph Scope was why that ghost went away... and always fearing it would return.
Lavender Town is probably one of the most important parts of the original games in terms of cementing the franchise as a cultural phenomenon. The violent tonal shift and easy fodder for mystery and spooky rumor gave a lot of people something to remember even if the rest of the game didn't grab them, like a standout experimental episode in a popular TV show.
To me my head canon is that the Cubone species is a subspecies that branched from the Kangaskan line. In the og games Kangaskan can only be found in the Safari Zone, along with cubone and marowak. I think the reason Kangaskan is only in the safari zone is because team rocket were poaching them to the point of extinction. The surviving Kangaskan babies did the wear the mother’s skull and became Cubone and the skull became a permanent part of their head when they evolved into Marowak. Thats why Cubone and Marowak can be found with Kangaskan in the safari zone and why Cubone is also found wild in lavender town. Where the remains of Kangaskan are probably buried. They are a species that adapted to the trauma of team rocket’s poaching.
I think this location truly shines in Gen 1. Before breeding mechanics existed and made Cubone's lore irrelevant, the fact that Ghosts were actually mysterious and dangerous instead of just run of the mill Pokemon, and with that extremely unsettling music that could only have been produced on the gameboy... it's just a perfect storm of atmosphere. One of the most well-executed locations in all of Kanto for sure.
Speaking about ghastly.. Back then when i was a kid, really thought it evolve from cloyster. They have same facial and also Cloyster pokedex is no 90 and ghastly is no 91. BTW thanks for the nostalgia.
😂 I ALMOST forgot about that tbh, it was such a ‘WTF IS GOING ON HERE!? WHY!? HOW!? WHEN!?’ moment, tho. The Gen one cartoon had SEVERAL of those moments, now that i think back, but i don’t think any topped that one…that episode in particular was such a fever dream. 😅
My favorite part about lavender town is that it’s s a really memorable way to teach players that pokemon are not immortal and when they pass, it’s really heartbreaking (and that you should treat them with respect just like any other animal). It’s an effective to world build is such a simple/limited game. I also really like how the events here imply that this is how Mr. Fuji is attempting to fix his past transgressions with what he did in the mansion in cinnabar island.
Unfortunately for us they took a note from the Casper The Friendly Ghost movie from that era as inspiration for the anime episode. The 3 ghosts were based on Casper's uncles in the movie and how they killed the main character's dad as a prank. It's a neat reference but it came at the cost of our creepy tower becoming a prankster ghost haven
Urns with ashes, tombs with remains or ashes, floor markers that have a slot in the floor for ashes or remains, etc. You don't bury per say, just lay their remains to rest.
My headcanon for cubone is that they wear the skulls of deceased animals nearby in general and if the mother dies they wear the skull of their moms. it makes much more sense
@Meriamfunlandagain Very true, if only we got the prototype Pokémon marowak evolved and kangaskhan had its baby as a separate Pokémon but cubone and baby kangaskhan are two different kangaroos
Or perhaps Marowak shed their skulls once a year, and they just provide the shed ones to their offspring, as their heads aren’t developed enough (like marsupials) so the skulls are to provide extra protection.
when i was a kid, i would walk into lavender town and leave the game idling and listen to the town music or pokemon tower music while doing my homework i never quite got why people were creeped out by the music, but then even as a kid i had pretty morbid sensibilities
Haunter is still my favourite Pokemon of all time. Don't care how creepy they make him. He was there when I started my journey by being my first card from a TGC booster pack and he was my ace in Blue and Gold! Haunter buddy, you do you man. Still my bro.
While not specifically Lavender Town, Pokemon Generations Ep. 10 does a pretty good job at making Haunter legitimately terrifying. Haunter is my favorite pokemon and even I got chills from that.
@@kisaragireion I was always held up more by the mystery. I spent HOURS in the Ruins trying to find out that one detail that I missed on my last time there.
How I’ve justified the Cubone skull thing in my head since I was a kid: Marowak is a species with a guaranteed/incredibly high rate of maternal death, so the rare Cubone without a dead mother will take the skull from scavenged prey. Like Vullaby, who would compete with it because they live in similar environments
@logans.7932 What’s also interesting that we never got in the prototype data and full version marowak evolved into another kangaroo, and baby kangaskhan was also another scrapped Pokémon, so it comes full circle but due to cartridge limits this is why gen 1 was unfinished.
My idea is that the Marowak’s skull actually loosens during the gestation process, and by the time the egg hatches, the mother’s skull is shed (with a new one underneath) and given to the infant. Think of it more like a crab shedding its shell to gain a larger one. The Dex entry was just about this one Cubone, but it kept being repeated.
Lavender town and Pokémon tower were certainly memorable and creepy at first. But once you face your fears, it’s easier to manage. I guess that’s a good lesson for children to learn.
I played fire red as a kid, and got to lavender town late at night in a run-down hotel alone during a storm in a state I'd never been to. I was scared of lavender town as a kid for a short time solely based on its hilariously appropriate introduction in my gaming experience
Pokemon Tower & Mt. Pyre played a role in the game's folklore when growing up. "What happens after your pokemon reach level 100?" "They go to the Pokémon graveyard, of course." I don't remember how we picked that up or how much we believed it, but it's one of those things that came from a time when the games weren't 100% understood, documented, and available to look up online. I wonder if anyone else heard that one playing the early generations.
Remember "Pikablu" rumors. Beating the elite 4 so many times would make the key on a desk in Celadons casino accessible which went to the SS Anne truck. So much time wasted chasing those, lol.
Firstly, loved the spooky intro! And as a kid who loved Halloween and all things horror, i was fascinated with Lavender Town and other gravesites in the games like mt pyre in hoenn
My favorite fan theory about Pokemon is that Blue went to Pokemon Tower to bury his Raticate, who was killed by Red on the SS Anne. Suddenly Blue's motivation to train becomes much more tragic and noble
There's a fan manga called Festival of Champions that uses that idea to explain why Blue is so mean, only it's Team Rocket that killed his Raticate, which I feel makes more sense.
@@TheAzulmagia I was never particularly a fan of this overall "dead raticate" theory, because he could literally just... not want to keep using a raticate, but I MUCH prefer the idea of Team Rocket killing his raticate, as blaming it on Red just feels like some edgy "YOU killed it" idea that really doesn't hold up given how ordinary battles really don't kill Pokémon.
You can sequence-break the tower with a PokeDoll, allowing you to bypass Marowak without the Silph Scope. When i was younger i thought this was the intended path, since i didnt figure out how to get the Scope, and it IS faster.
My first playthrough I had a Blastoise I over leveled until it learned hydro pump by the time I made it through rock tunnel. It ran out of pp and died through struggle. I had a dugtrio that died to poison damage right in front of the pokecenter and I was sent back to the front of rock tunnel. I rage quit and picked Charmander after that.
This was so so masterful. I imagine in the actual pokemon tower ghost types are serious and mysterious, but those that live among living humans take the comedic mischief nature.
The Pokemon Adventures manga's best known scene is probably the one where Koga tries to kill Red and Blue in Pokemon Tower. While his Arbok survives being cut in half, the use of zombies in battle was surprisingly dark for what was normally a light-hearted series.
I also find it interesting how the Gen 2/4 version of Lavender Town is a lot less scary. Does make sense and is actually kind of nice. Though, I feel like LGPE had that same kind of feeling, even though it was still supposed to be a weird and gloomy place. Gen 1 having such limited graphics honestly made anything scarier.
So I guess the intention wasn't that the Channelers were sending out the Ghost Pokémon to battle you from being possessed, the Ghost Pokémon you battled WERE the ghosts possessing them, huh? I guess that flew over my head when I was a kid.
Going through dark cave blind was how i did it when i was a kid. Seeing you do it made me laugh and feel nostalgic. I had no clue flash existed, i somehow always missed it, but always managed to beat the game. 😅
Very niiice video! I appreciate when a video is talking about HOW and WHY they made things and create atmospheres, even in old games and old consoles with limited graphics (so into pixel art)! This really push the inspiration on a game creator. Thank you, hope some more "explaining" videos will come.
The true horror is Paraspectre using a remix of Hit me Baby One More Time during the intro. This was played everyday in the morning during my first year in highschool. It brings back the horror of going to my boring class. ;-;
A toast to all the old creepypastas! I kinda remember a story about an undefeatable white hand, and of course the "madness music" of the lavender town ost. Good times.
This really makes me realize how mysterious and dangerous some Pokémon could be in the darker world of Gen 1. This is not the case anymore, and Gastly and Haunter aren't really creepy now. They were really toned down. If you look at the black and triangular sprites of Gen 1 and compare them to the dull purple and rounded shapes they have now, it just doesn't work as well now.
@Paraspectre As for cubone wearing it’s mother’s skull it’s possible it’s not just the skull that was from marowak’s skeleton, it was also from what marowak dug up and wire because they’re bone collectors grave robbers. It’s also worth noting that in the prototype version of gen 1 vulpix could also be found in the poke tower too.
There's a popular fan-theory surrounding the rival battle in the Pokémon Tower. If you pay attention to his line-up, a rattata that he had been using in every battle up to this point is no longer on his team. The fan-theory is that he came to the tower to bury it cuz it died.
I actually found the Let's Go version of Lavender Town to be more emotionally impactful than the OG. The cutscene with cubone reuniting with it's ghost mother had me in tears. So while it may not have been as creepy as the original, I think that was the intention. Because it is an absolute hit in the feels.
What a great video! I think a sort of "exploration" of each town would be a great little series if you ever felt like more, or each route. A short great video to watch on my lunch break!
It's so interesting how what we think of frightening changes over the years. As a kid we are deathly afraid of ghosts, but the thought of being turned into a pokemon is super silly. Then you grow up, and after some thought becoming a bizarre amalgamation with an animal becomes quite horrifying.
Bro the fact that you used “hit me baby one more time” as the back track to discuss the dog fight mechanics of Pokemon is absolutely hilarious. Also stoked for your Fossil set review!
Until recently, that encounter was the only wild encounter that was 100% uncatchable. Even with a master ball. The game actually specifically checks if you're trying to catch that marowak and denies it before it even checks what kind of ball you're using.
The Origins episode actually includes the white hand on Red's shoulder when I think he tells someone he doesn't believe in ghosts. It is actually a kind of creepy freeze frame moment.
Looking back on it almost 25 years later, when you're first introduced to Gastly in the anime, it was legit terrifying: a woman dies waiting for her husband/loved one who eventually turns into Gaslty. And it then tries to lure James and Brock to their deaths.... Then it gets the goofball treatment several episodes later
I had that episode on tape. Gastly wasn't actually the woman's spirit, because at the end of the episode, Gastly is having a nice chat with the woman about how mimicking her story keeps her memory alive, and also makes him big piles of cash as a lovely side benefit. It was never trying to kill anyone, meerly use illusions to frighten.
Thats why the Gastly line is so great and memorable and beloved by early pokemon fans. It’s not necessarily their designs, which, lets be honest, are on the simple side…its the way they were introduced to us.
Haunter has always been my favorite Pokémon throughout every Gen so far. I think the yellow versions sprite is one of my favorite designs for it, and while I agree that the comedic aspect that the anime used to represent them is a little off putting. It does still kinda fit with the overall theme of ghosts when it comes to a adult's perspective of what children should feel when seeing them. At the end of the day its a game/story that is designed for children and fear mixed with horror doesn't seem like something the developers would have gone for when working on this part. Anyway Haunter appealed to me growing up as a Pokémon that looked cool and could be decently strong (especially after gen 2 when they got better moves, and gen 3 with the addition of abilities) if trained properly. Decent stats and move pool also give Haunter a chance to be a powerhouse on any team or solo challenge if that's what you're doing. After all these years I can still say Haunter is my favorite and I dont think that'll ever change either. Lol
Ah, memory unlocked. I recall in gen 2 being actually really upset after I beat everything just to find out that not only did they get rid of Pokémon tower as it was, but they also just seem to have destroyed the graves. Unless they moved them somewhere you couldn't get to. Like gee, thanks for getting rid of the scary place. Now where do I go to pay respects to Gary's dead Raticate?
They moved them to a tiny house in lavender town, which is where you find Mr. Fuji in those games. NGL that always came across as kinda disrespectful even though they definitely didn't mean it like that. Though I thought the remixed song was very good as well. Unlike the original which is dreadful, the gen 2 version evokes more of an intense melancholy and as we all got older, nostalgia. Definitely a stand out tune in its own right even if it'll always be overshadowed by its more infamous older brother.
On my first PkMn Red playthrough as a kid when it came out, I totally accidentally found out about the PokeDoll vs Lavender Town Ghost trick, because I didn't think I should have to beat up the ghost. So, I kinda did some extra back and forth travel to get the doll, but... The PokeDoll instantly puts the Marowak Ghost at peace, and you don't have to take any damage
I always liked the cemetery south of Podunk/Mother's Day in EarthBound Beginnings/Mother. It has a very similar vibe to the Pokémon Tower. The gang leader zombies even have gunshot wounds in the original Japanese version of their sprites! There's a haunted mansion later in the game that had an enemy named Shroudley who was dripping with blood, too, before they also got censored.
All I can ever think about with the Lavender radio tower is how they had to exhume all those bodies. They almost certainly didn't get permission from the trainers. It frustrates me to this day they just shrugged it off like defiling a gravesite -- THE gravesite -- was totally normal and nobody had any problems with it.
Pokemon tower was likely not an actual graveyard. It would be kind of hard to bury pokemon in wooden planks or a tile floor. More likely, it was a japanese shrine where trainers went to pray for pokemon who passed on. The graveyard itself is likely elsewhere, or the pokemon's bodies were stored in balls, so there wasn't any real exhuming.
In the mangá, wasn't there that Green cut Koga's Arbok in half? It's pretty famous this scene, but I can't remember if it's from their fight on Pokémon Tower or in another place. Green uses a otherworldly trick to see Arbok from a distance while Koganis using a Golbat sounds with some sort of radar to see through a dense fog... I think Pokémon Tower in the manga is really amazing. I played this game when I was a kid, but never felt fear while in it. I remember it looked strange, for sure, but if it made me afraid? No. After I discovered some creepy pastas of it it definitely changed in my perspective.
To be honest, some people rated this Lavender Town theme and Tower theme the Lowest ranking of the creepiest theme due to its eerie theme itself making anything scary, sad and creepy moments. It's either because of creepypasta or Hypno s Lulluby lyrics of the Lavender Town theme or the place they don't want to travel to or the suicide rumors in Japan since the 90s. The theme is still memorable at least and remake version of it counts probably. For me, it's kinda unnerving and intimidating at first but I stayed courageous for battling against some Ghost Type specialists or trainer classes, but not some creepy and abandoned locations without trainers or wild Pokemon like N's Room, whether in Gen 1 or from Gen 2 to Gen 9. So far, Ghost Types are some people's favorite typings and useful for their teams, myself included. There's an Elite Four Ghost Type specialist in Gen 1 and four Ghost Type specialists as the Gym Leaders and three or four Ghost Type specialists as the Elite Four members from Gen 2 to Gen 9. Also the Gastly line is a Pokemon Unite Warrior from the Pokemon Unite MOBA game. I may not like Lavender Town theme a bit, however, since I battled against trainer classes with Ghost Type Pokemon and the Ghost Type specialists as the Gym Leaders and the Elite Four members and having some Ghost type Pokemon on my side, there's nothing to fear except abandoned locations like N's Room. Lastly, Lavender Town sounded differently than SNES Ghost Valley from Super Mario Kart.
I still like the Gen 1 interpretation of Lavender Town, though I am sad that we haven’t really gotten anything like it in the later games since they clearly toned down the horror aspect in future “creepy” areas in the series.
I will be completely honest, after experiencing Lavender Town as a kid I ceased getting frightened by horror movies (also Courage might've played a part in this) they just didn't 'scare' me as much and that says something
@@ChrrolloDI kinda did, so I was completely addicted to my Gameboy, I'm about 25 now so when I was a kid while some in my class already had the GBA, I was still rocking the og Gameboy since my family couldn't afford the new shit. Was playing it 24/7. At one point my parents actually thrifted a cartridge of Pokemon Red and gave it to me, loaded it, got to lavender tower aaand never touched the gameboy again (for like 2 months), told my dad it was cursed and shit and my dad can vouch it. 2 months passed and I loaded the game again but this time with a classmate next to me lmao. Understand that it was a different experience compared to just watching a horror movie, for me it felt like I was inside the game, that's why. I also mentioned Courage as the show that scared me to a point I could watch a horror movie at like 6-7 yo without even flinching at the jumpscares, was laughing at my friends that did though
Interesting footnote on the inspirations of Haunter's lore! It's definitely the first time I've learned about it! Fun fact, "Dila" literally translates to "Tongue" in Filipino, which makes a lot of sense considering it's an evil spirit that licks people to death :P
Ok so story time. I lived in an area whwre good internet didnt become available until like 2012 so at the time Pokemon Diamond and Pearl came out i was playing through the game completely blind. Eventually i beat tthe main game and just started kind of wandering around, eventually i stumbled into a random cave id never seen before. The super creepy Ghost House music starts blaring out of nowhere and the cave is conpletely pitch black. Its like 2am at this point and i have absolutely no idea whar is waiting in this cave, well eventually i wandered all the way down to the bottom and found Giratina down there. I legitimately noped out and closed the game when that demonic cry rung out.
When I was younger I thought the three ghosts in the original anime were a reference to poltergeists, which are known pranksters but can also turn frightening and malicious on a whim.
personally i think gen 2's lavender town was kind of a missed opportunity for additional story. like youre telling me they bulldozed sacred ground because they wanted more business? and all the pokemon had their final resting places moved to some dinky little hut? and there were no consequences for that? i mean youd think theyd have some restless spirits to take care of after that. but also, why lavender town of all places? why not a big city like celadon or saffron? after all, johto's radio tower isnt in mahogany town or any other small town area.
I like the part where Cubone said “Kyarugoo!”
I know right
What’s sad about Mr. Fuji is that we eventually learn he was Dr. Fuji, Mewtwo’s creator. It feels as though he’s doing a sort of penance for the cruel genetic experiments he did on Mewtwo.
There was actually no connection between Mr. Fuji and Mewtwo in Gen 1 yet.
@@maximilianbelmont4901There's the potential for a connection. We know that Mr. Fuji used to be Dr. Fuji, and that he founded the Pokemon Lab on Cinnabar Island. If anyone would be able to do it, it would have been him.
@@maximilianbelmont4901 There was. The fossil lab on Cinnabar Island has a photo of Blaine with the lab’s founder-Dr. Fuji? Even Red seems taken aback by this revelation. Blaine has the key to the Burned Mansion, where Mewtwo was made, so the dots are laid out for us to connect. Gen 1 never laid things out directly; it leaves a lot of implications left unsaid.
@@magicaltour1 the photo you talked about, appeared from Fire Red and Leaf Green on, not Red and Blue.
Also there was no key to the burned mansion in Red and Blue, just to the Arena.
@@maximilianbelmont4901 It was in Red and Blue, I’ve re-played both versions and it’s there on the wall. It was always intended; that’s why we see Dr. Fuji in “Mewtwo Strikes Back.” And in any case, Blaine’s can only be accessed by going through the mansion, so he clearly has a connection with it.
you LIKED it being replaced by a Radio Tower...? Even though it was full of pokemon graves?!
It was a holy burial ground and should NOT have been vandalized for the sake of entertainment...
Especially when there's a perfectly good space in that empty lot just sitting there in the northeast corner of Vermilion City!
its been 26 years and I'm still pissed about it
I agree. I think the radio tower choice was bizarre for that reason. It shouldn't have been replaced because there's just an extremely bizarre implication to replacing what is essentially a big mausoleum with... _anything_ else, really. It's not like mourning and grief are bad things, as long as you're not obsessed with it, and suggesting that the town is too focused on death is like suggesting that a town with a graveyard is too focused on death and should move on! If we were supposed to see some kind of "moving on" from an overwhelming sadness in the town, it would've been more appropriate to, say, have a flowers growing around the tower to add some life, or some decorations for colour and more of a sense of "celebrating memories" instead of only being gloomy.
@@mastermarkus5307 hit the nail right on the head, my friend
Fr man, ik it's fictional but it still feels disrespectful turning a mass grave into anything but a mass grave..
As a child I actually stumbled upon the Pokemon Adventures manga and was so scared by the rotting Psyduck's eyeball falling out that I just ran through Lavender Town as fast as I could whenever I played. I didn't want to go in the tower at all. I legitimately had nightmares about it. Sure it's... pretty tame all things considered, but overactive child imaginations are not to be trifled with.
Looking up some of those images were pretty shocking. The zombie mons were pretty cool though
Never saw them actually... now i wanna see it
I discovered the Adventures manga as a teenager, and absolutely LOVED it. It was very different, a bit goofy, dark, and extremely entertaining.
I wish i came across that as a child. I think I was about 14 when I found it. I loved the art.
Buried Alive have me nightmares for a good decade
The scariest part as a kid was when the ghost pokemon was completely invincible to all my pokemon, even my trusty charizard didn't stand a chance and it made me legitimately scared to ever go back. I did everything else possible in the game I could explore, then returned, not realizing that the Silph Scope was why that ghost went away... and always fearing it would return.
Lavender Town is probably one of the most important parts of the original games in terms of cementing the franchise as a cultural phenomenon. The violent tonal shift and easy fodder for mystery and spooky rumor gave a lot of people something to remember even if the rest of the game didn't grab them, like a standout experimental episode in a popular TV show.
To me my head canon is that the Cubone species is a subspecies that branched from the Kangaskan line. In the og games Kangaskan can only be found in the Safari Zone, along with cubone and marowak. I think the reason Kangaskan is only in the safari zone is because team rocket were poaching them to the point of extinction. The surviving Kangaskan babies did the wear the mother’s skull and became Cubone and the skull became a permanent part of their head when they evolved into Marowak. Thats why Cubone and Marowak can be found with Kangaskan in the safari zone and why Cubone is also found wild in lavender town. Where the remains of Kangaskan are probably buried. They are a species that adapted to the trauma of team rocket’s poaching.
I think this location truly shines in Gen 1. Before breeding mechanics existed and made Cubone's lore irrelevant, the fact that Ghosts were actually mysterious and dangerous instead of just run of the mill Pokemon, and with that extremely unsettling music that could only have been produced on the gameboy... it's just a perfect storm of atmosphere. One of the most well-executed locations in all of Kanto for sure.
I know the Lavender theme gets all the attention but the Pokemon Tower theme is really great and creepy too.
Agreed. I think I played that in the video longer than the town theme.
Tower is waaaaay more spooky while the Town music is more on the soothing side.
Speaking about ghastly.. Back then when i was a kid, really thought it evolve from cloyster. They have same facial and also Cloyster pokedex is no 90 and ghastly is no 91. BTW thanks for the nostalgia.
Gastly transforming into Venustoise is still my most memorable episode.
One of my favorite creature designs isn't Zangoose or Yungoose, but MONGOOSE. In Japanese it even has a cry where it just says "MONGOOSE"
I never forgot Venustoise either :D.
😂 I ALMOST forgot about that tbh, it was such a ‘WTF IS GOING ON HERE!? WHY!? HOW!? WHEN!?’ moment, tho. The Gen one cartoon had SEVERAL of those moments, now that i think back, but i don’t think any topped that one…that episode in particular was such a fever dream. 😅
The midi version of Baby One More Time in the opening was a nice touch. Brings us right back to 1999 🤌
I honestly wish more Pokémon games tackled more serious themes like this.
They did tackle "gangsta" culture in Sun&Moon
My favorite part about lavender town is that it’s s a really memorable way to teach players that pokemon are not immortal and when they pass, it’s really heartbreaking (and that you should treat them with respect just like any other animal). It’s an effective to world build is such a simple/limited game. I also really like how the events here imply that this is how Mr. Fuji is attempting to fix his past transgressions with what he did in the mansion in cinnabar island.
You are a fantastic storyteller. Seriously great job.
You perfectly described what playing these games as a kid felt like.
I definitely agree and I’m watching it again :3
Unfortunately for us they took a note from the Casper The Friendly Ghost movie from that era as inspiration for the anime episode. The 3 ghosts were based on Casper's uncles in the movie and how they killed the main character's dad as a prank. It's a neat reference but it came at the cost of our creepy tower becoming a prankster ghost haven
The biggest mysterie in lavender town is haunting me for over 20 years now... how do you bury something on higher levels of a tower?
Urns filled with ashes
Urns with ashes, tombs with remains or ashes, floor markers that have a slot in the floor for ashes or remains, etc. You don't bury per say, just lay their remains to rest.
@TinosNL I asked the same thing, they dig into the floor but not too much and bury the ashes that’s why they don’t fall through the floors.
😂
That's bugged me ever since i saw an animation where diglet fainted because it used dig on the top floor.
My headcanon for cubone is that they wear the skulls of deceased animals nearby in general and if the mother dies they wear the skull of their moms. it makes much more sense
@Meriamfunlandagain Very true, if only we got the prototype Pokémon marowak evolved and kangaskhan had its baby as a separate Pokémon but cubone and baby kangaskhan are two different kangaroos
Or perhaps Marowak shed their skulls once a year, and they just provide the shed ones to their offspring, as their heads aren’t developed enough (like marsupials) so the skulls are to provide extra protection.
when i was a kid, i would walk into lavender town and leave the game idling and listen to the town music or pokemon tower music while doing my homework
i never quite got why people were creeped out by the music, but then even as a kid i had pretty morbid sensibilities
Haunter is still my favourite Pokemon of all time. Don't care how creepy they make him.
He was there when I started my journey by being my first card from a TGC booster pack and he was my ace in Blue and Gold!
Haunter buddy, you do you man. Still my bro.
Lavender Town is such a memorable place in the OG Pokemon games and it has the best song in the game for sure.
I like the anime episode with the gastly portraying a maiden that lost her husband. Atleast thats what i think happened lol its been 20 plus years
As a kid, I misread the text to say "The mother's soul was **claimed."** I was like damn that's kinda heavy.
While not specifically Lavender Town, Pokemon Generations Ep. 10 does a pretty good job at making Haunter legitimately terrifying. Haunter is my favorite pokemon and even I got chills from that.
Would you ever do this for other creepy locations in Pokemon? For a kids game there's a lot of creepy places in this series.
My personal favorites are the sunken kingdom in Black and White or the crashed ship from RBE. I like water things.
Absolutely, yeah. Maybe next Halloween season
For me I was a bit scared of Ruins of Alph’s mystery
@@kisaragireion
I was always held up more by the mystery. I spent HOURS in the Ruins trying to find out that one detail that I missed on my last time there.
The Lavender Town music will forever be legendary. Even playing it as a kid I knew it felt very eerie.
How I’ve justified the Cubone skull thing in my head since I was a kid:
Marowak is a species with a guaranteed/incredibly high rate of maternal death, so the rare Cubone without a dead mother will take the skull from scavenged prey. Like Vullaby, who would compete with it because they live in similar environments
@logans.7932 What’s also interesting that we never got in the prototype data and full version marowak evolved into another kangaroo, and baby kangaskhan was also another scrapped Pokémon, so it comes full circle but due to cartridge limits this is why gen 1 was unfinished.
My idea is that the Marowak’s skull actually loosens during the gestation process, and by the time the egg hatches, the mother’s skull is shed (with a new one underneath) and given to the infant. Think of it more like a crab shedding its shell to gain a larger one. The Dex entry was just about this one Cubone, but it kept being repeated.
Lavender town and Pokémon tower were certainly memorable and creepy at first.
But once you face your fears, it’s easier to manage.
I guess that’s a good lesson for children to learn.
Can confirm, I avoided the 'GHOST's like the plague originally but nowadays I go out of my way to visit those guys.
I played fire red as a kid, and got to lavender town late at night in a run-down hotel alone during a storm in a state I'd never been to. I was scared of lavender town as a kid for a short time solely based on its hilariously appropriate introduction in my gaming experience
I remember playing this back when I was learning to read.
It was more sad than scary.
But it made team rocket more serious.
I agree. The stakes with Team Rocket really started to get real here.
It's not as close to Team Neo Plasma and Team Flare or Team Galactic.
Their goals are to destroy, recreate or exterminate the region or the world.
Pokemon Tower & Mt. Pyre played a role in the game's folklore when growing up. "What happens after your pokemon reach level 100?" "They go to the Pokémon graveyard, of course." I don't remember how we picked that up or how much we believed it, but it's one of those things that came from a time when the games weren't 100% understood, documented, and available to look up online. I wonder if anyone else heard that one playing the early generations.
I never heard this but I believe it probably was a thing back then. Right up there with the Mew truck
@@Paraspectrethe mew truck lmao or behind bills house
Remember "Pikablu" rumors. Beating the elite 4 so many times would make the key on a desk in Celadons casino accessible which went to the SS Anne truck. So much time wasted chasing those, lol.
6:56 after all these years, I can finally see the chamander wearing a Charizard skull
I do not remember being scared of Lavender Town but I do remember trying to catch the Marrowak.
I really couldn’t remember if you could or not until looking it up.
Same here. Lavender Town has always been my “safe haven”, after that grueling trek through Rock Tunnel.
@@Paraspectreimpossible
The pokeballs dont work
Haha yeah that was an experience I clearly remember too
Firstly, loved the spooky intro!
And as a kid who loved Halloween and all things horror, i was fascinated with Lavender Town and other gravesites in the games like mt pyre in hoenn
Mt. Pyre is also pretty awesome. I like a lot of the horror themed places but Lavender Town is legendary.
My favorite fan theory about Pokemon is that Blue went to Pokemon Tower to bury his Raticate, who was killed by Red on the SS Anne. Suddenly Blue's motivation to train becomes much more tragic and noble
There's a fan manga called Festival of Champions that uses that idea to explain why Blue is so mean, only it's Team Rocket that killed his Raticate, which I feel makes more sense.
@@TheAzulmagia I was never particularly a fan of this overall "dead raticate" theory, because he could literally just... not want to keep using a raticate, but I MUCH prefer the idea of Team Rocket killing his raticate, as blaming it on Red just feels like some edgy "YOU killed it" idea that really doesn't hold up given how ordinary battles really don't kill Pokémon.
You can sequence-break the tower with a PokeDoll, allowing you to bypass Marowak without the Silph Scope. When i was younger i thought this was the intended path, since i didnt figure out how to get the Scope, and it IS faster.
The Lavender Town theme gives me chills, but it's also nostalgic, as it was my introduction to creepypastas.
I didn’t even want to touch on the creepypastas, but yeah, there’s so much there. I wanted to stick to main canon stuff.
@@Paraspectre Fair enough
A parasect fan youtuber? What time to be alive!
My first playthrough I had a Blastoise I over leveled until it learned hydro pump by the time I made it through rock tunnel. It ran out of pp and died through struggle. I had a dugtrio that died to poison damage right in front of the pokecenter and I was sent back to the front of rock tunnel. I rage quit and picked Charmander after that.
This was so so masterful. I imagine in the actual pokemon tower ghost types are serious and mysterious, but those that live among living humans take the comedic mischief nature.
lavender town is my favorite city in pokemon. the music is beautiful for gameboy music. it rlly captures the emotion and mood of the town.
The Pokemon Adventures manga's best known scene is probably the one where Koga tries to kill Red and Blue in Pokemon Tower. While his Arbok survives being cut in half, the use of zombies in battle was surprisingly dark for what was normally a light-hearted series.
I also find it interesting how the Gen 2/4 version of Lavender Town is a lot less scary. Does make sense and is actually kind of nice. Though, I feel like LGPE had that same kind of feeling, even though it was still supposed to be a weird and gloomy place. Gen 1 having such limited graphics honestly made anything scarier.
I really like and appreciate the sheer amount of a particular area's appearances you include here. It adds more to the videos.
So I guess the intention wasn't that the Channelers were sending out the Ghost Pokémon to battle you from being possessed, the Ghost Pokémon you battled WERE the ghosts possessing them, huh? I guess that flew over my head when I was a kid.
Going through dark cave blind was how i did it when i was a kid. Seeing you do it made me laugh and feel nostalgic. I had no clue flash existed, i somehow always missed it, but always managed to beat the game. 😅
Very niiice video! I appreciate when a video is talking about HOW and WHY they made things and create atmospheres, even in old games and old consoles with limited graphics (so into pixel art)! This really push the inspiration on a game creator. Thank you, hope some more "explaining" videos will come.
Don't be silly. Ghosts aren't real! I guess I just imagined that white hand on your shoulder.
One of the best lines
That white hand on your shoulder is not real!!!
It's somehow a design made by a character designer. That's what it looked like.
The true horror is Paraspectre using a remix of Hit me Baby One More Time during the intro. This was played everyday in the morning during my first year in highschool. It brings back the horror of going to my boring class. ;-;
I really wanted to set the mood 😎
A toast to all the old creepypastas! I kinda remember a story about an undefeatable white hand, and of course the "madness music" of the lavender town ost. Good times.
the Red/Blue Haunter sprite is so good. Yellow was my first video game ever. i definitely remember going through Lavender town for the first time
This really makes me realize how mysterious and dangerous some Pokémon could be in the darker world of Gen 1.
This is not the case anymore, and Gastly and Haunter aren't really creepy now. They were really toned down. If you look at the black and triangular sprites of Gen 1 and compare them to the dull purple and rounded shapes they have now, it just doesn't work as well now.
Absolutely yes. Gastly and Haunter went the way of Freddy Krueger. Scary at first and then slapsticky.
I just want you to know how pumped I am when I see you upload a new vid. You’re such an underrated channel, keep it up. :)
Well thank you! 80 videos and counting now 😊
@Paraspectre As for cubone wearing it’s mother’s skull it’s possible it’s not just the skull that was from marowak’s skeleton, it was also from what marowak dug up and wire because they’re bone collectors grave robbers. It’s also worth noting that in the prototype version of gen 1 vulpix could also be found in the poke tower too.
Wear*
Every time I hear those npcs mourn their pokémon, my heart cracks a little.
There's a popular fan-theory surrounding the rival battle in the Pokémon Tower. If you pay attention to his line-up, a rattata that he had been using in every battle up to this point is no longer on his team. The fan-theory is that he came to the tower to bury it cuz it died.
Loved the story telling in this one, great video!
I immediately honed in on the Hit Me Baby One More Time lol unless I'm going crazy and just hearing it in my head lowkey
This was awesome! Please do more of these types of videos!
I really enjoyed making this one a lot!
I actually found the Let's Go version of Lavender Town to be more emotionally impactful than the OG. The cutscene with cubone reuniting with it's ghost mother had me in tears. So while it may not have been as creepy as the original, I think that was the intention. Because it is an absolute hit in the feels.
What a great video! I think a sort of "exploration" of each town would be a great little series if you ever felt like more, or each route. A short great video to watch on my lunch break!
you make high quality vids you're going to blow up soon
I will never get over how eerie Lavender Town is.
It's so interesting how what we think of frightening changes over the years. As a kid we are deathly afraid of ghosts, but the thought of being turned into a pokemon is super silly.
Then you grow up, and after some thought becoming a bizarre amalgamation with an animal becomes quite horrifying.
Haha yeah, the Bill part is the real horror
Bro the fact that you used “hit me baby one more time” as the back track to discuss the dog fight mechanics of Pokemon is absolutely hilarious. Also stoked for your Fossil set review!
Until recently, that encounter was the only wild encounter that was 100% uncatchable.
Even with a master ball. The game actually specifically checks if you're trying to catch that marowak and denies it before it even checks what kind of ball you're using.
The Origins episode actually includes the white hand on Red's shoulder when I think he tells someone he doesn't believe in ghosts. It is actually a kind of creepy freeze frame moment.
11:59 Hold on I grew up in the Philippines for almost half my life and I've never heard of this "Dila" monster although "Dila" does mean tongue 👅 so..
Yeah. As someone who lives in the city, all I can think of is the Manananggal, which also has a noticeable tongue.
In the origins anime you can actually see the white hand on Reds shoulder in that Lavender Town episode.
I skipped talking to the NPCs in most of my playthroughs, so I had no idea until now that Team Rocket was outright killing mons.
Haunter is my favorite Pokemon. I never forgot that episode where Ash dies and Haunter separates his soul from his body. Amazing stuff.
It was crazy that even after boxing my Silph Scope and using Mewtwo, that they were still terrified of the ghosts.
Looking back on it almost 25 years later, when you're first introduced to Gastly in the anime, it was legit terrifying: a woman dies waiting for her husband/loved one who eventually turns into Gaslty. And it then tries to lure James and Brock to their deaths....
Then it gets the goofball treatment several episodes later
That’s right, I forgot about that one. Where did that episode take place in Kanto?
@Paraspectre I've seen different postings, some sources say episode 19 but most agree episode 20: The Ghost of Maiden's Peak.
I had that episode on tape. Gastly wasn't actually the woman's spirit, because at the end of the episode, Gastly is having a nice chat with the woman about how mimicking her story keeps her memory alive, and also makes him big piles of cash as a lovely side benefit.
It was never trying to kill anyone, meerly use illusions to frighten.
Thats why the Gastly line is so great and memorable and beloved by early pokemon fans. It’s not necessarily their designs, which, lets be honest, are on the simple side…its the way they were introduced to us.
Haunter has always been my favorite Pokémon throughout every Gen so far. I think the yellow versions sprite is one of my favorite designs for it, and while I agree that the comedic aspect that the anime used to represent them is a little off putting. It does still kinda fit with the overall theme of ghosts when it comes to a adult's perspective of what children should feel when seeing them. At the end of the day its a game/story that is designed for children and fear mixed with horror doesn't seem like something the developers would have gone for when working on this part. Anyway Haunter appealed to me growing up as a Pokémon that looked cool and could be decently strong (especially after gen 2 when they got better moves, and gen 3 with the addition of abilities) if trained properly. Decent stats and move pool also give Haunter a chance to be a powerhouse on any team or solo challenge if that's what you're doing. After all these years I can still say Haunter is my favorite and I dont think that'll ever change either. Lol
Ah, memory unlocked.
I recall in gen 2 being actually really upset after I beat everything just to find out that not only did they get rid of Pokémon tower as it was, but they also just seem to have destroyed the graves. Unless they moved them somewhere you couldn't get to.
Like gee, thanks for getting rid of the scary place. Now where do I go to pay respects to Gary's dead Raticate?
They moved them to a tiny house in lavender town, which is where you find Mr. Fuji in those games. NGL that always came across as kinda disrespectful even though they definitely didn't mean it like that. Though I thought the remixed song was very good as well. Unlike the original which is dreadful, the gen 2 version evokes more of an intense melancholy and as we all got older, nostalgia. Definitely a stand out tune in its own right even if it'll always be overshadowed by its more infamous older brother.
Not gonna mention the myth of the Lavender Town Music?
I just realized your background music is Hit Me Baby One More Time. Now that's taste. 👑💅🖤
I still have a ton of nostalgia for BURIEDALIVE lol
On my first PkMn Red playthrough as a kid when it came out, I totally accidentally found out about the PokeDoll vs Lavender Town Ghost trick, because I didn't think I should have to beat up the ghost. So, I kinda did some extra back and forth travel to get the doll, but... The PokeDoll instantly puts the Marowak Ghost at peace, and you don't have to take any damage
I always liked the cemetery south of Podunk/Mother's Day in EarthBound Beginnings/Mother. It has a very similar vibe to the Pokémon Tower. The gang leader zombies even have gunshot wounds in the original Japanese version of their sprites!
There's a haunted mansion later in the game that had an enemy named Shroudley who was dripping with blood, too, before they also got censored.
All I can ever think about with the Lavender radio tower is how they had to exhume all those bodies. They almost certainly didn't get permission from the trainers. It frustrates me to this day they just shrugged it off like defiling a gravesite -- THE gravesite -- was totally normal and nobody had any problems with it.
Pokemon tower was likely not an actual graveyard. It would be kind of hard to bury pokemon in wooden planks or a tile floor. More likely, it was a japanese shrine where trainers went to pray for pokemon who passed on. The graveyard itself is likely elsewhere, or the pokemon's bodies were stored in balls, so there wasn't any real exhuming.
Gen 1 is my most memorable too
In the mangá, wasn't there that Green cut Koga's Arbok in half? It's pretty famous this scene, but I can't remember if it's from their fight on Pokémon Tower or in another place. Green uses a otherworldly trick to see Arbok from a distance while Koganis using a Golbat sounds with some sort of radar to see through a dense fog... I think Pokémon Tower in the manga is really amazing.
I played this game when I was a kid, but never felt fear while in it. I remember it looked strange, for sure, but if it made me afraid? No. After I discovered some creepy pastas of it it definitely changed in my perspective.
To be honest, some people rated this Lavender Town theme and Tower theme the Lowest ranking of the creepiest theme due to its eerie theme itself making anything scary, sad and creepy moments. It's either because of creepypasta or Hypno s Lulluby lyrics of the Lavender Town theme or the place they don't want to travel to or the suicide rumors in Japan since the 90s. The theme is still memorable at least and remake version of it counts probably.
For me, it's kinda unnerving and intimidating at first but I stayed courageous for battling against some Ghost Type specialists or trainer classes, but not some creepy and abandoned locations without trainers or wild Pokemon like N's Room, whether in Gen 1 or from Gen 2 to Gen 9.
So far, Ghost Types are some people's favorite typings and useful for their teams, myself included. There's an Elite Four Ghost Type specialist in Gen 1 and four Ghost Type specialists as the Gym Leaders and three or four Ghost Type specialists as the Elite Four members from Gen 2 to Gen 9. Also the Gastly line is a Pokemon Unite Warrior from the Pokemon Unite MOBA game.
I may not like Lavender Town theme a bit, however, since I battled against trainer classes with Ghost Type Pokemon and the Ghost Type specialists as the Gym Leaders and the Elite Four members and having some Ghost type Pokemon on my side, there's nothing to fear except abandoned locations like N's Room.
Lastly, Lavender Town sounded differently than SNES Ghost Valley from Super Mario Kart.
Your style of videos are so refreshing and original. I've seen a few and I'm surprised you don't have more subs!
I still like the Gen 1 interpretation of Lavender Town, though I am sad that we haven’t really gotten anything like it in the later games since they clearly toned down the horror aspect in future “creepy” areas in the series.
Is the background music at the beginning Brittany Spears midi?!
Really appreciating going thru ur vids :) good editing and content, audio etc.
The music of Lavander town is still so eerie
I still love it
Yea than they changed it in silver and gold
The true horror is the pixel smoothing emulation setting making the visuals and sprite work look so bad
I actually didn’t realize it was smoothed until I was editing. But hard disagree, I liked it.
I will be completely honest, after experiencing Lavender Town as a kid I ceased getting frightened by horror movies (also Courage might've played a part in this) they just didn't 'scare' me as much and that says something
Return the slab or suffer my curse
Watch Talk to Me
Dang bro got desensitized for life because of an 8 bit game.
RUclips comments will say the most random bs
@@ChrrolloDI kinda did, so I was completely addicted to my Gameboy, I'm about 25 now so when I was a kid while some in my class already had the GBA, I was still rocking the og Gameboy since my family couldn't afford the new shit. Was playing it 24/7. At one point my parents actually thrifted a cartridge of Pokemon Red and gave it to me, loaded it, got to lavender tower aaand never touched the gameboy again (for like 2 months), told my dad it was cursed and shit and my dad can vouch it. 2 months passed and I loaded the game again but this time with a classmate next to me lmao. Understand that it was a different experience compared to just watching a horror movie, for me it felt like I was inside the game, that's why. I also mentioned Courage as the show that scared me to a point I could watch a horror movie at like 6-7 yo without even flinching at the jumpscares, was laughing at my friends that did though
All these years later and only now have I realized, I’ve never read any of those signs in Lavender!
Interesting footnote on the inspirations of Haunter's lore! It's definitely the first time I've learned about it!
Fun fact, "Dila" literally translates to "Tongue" in Filipino, which makes a lot of sense considering it's an evil spirit that licks people to death :P
Ok so story time. I lived in an area whwre good internet didnt become available until like 2012 so at the time Pokemon Diamond and Pearl came out i was playing through the game completely blind. Eventually i beat tthe main game and just started kind of wandering around, eventually i stumbled into a random cave id never seen before. The super creepy Ghost House music starts blaring out of nowhere and the cave is conpletely pitch black. Its like 2am at this point and i have absolutely no idea whar is waiting in this cave, well eventually i wandered all the way down to the bottom and found Giratina down there. I legitimately noped out and closed the game when that demonic cry rung out.
When I was younger I thought the three ghosts in the original anime were a reference to poltergeists, which are known pranksters but can also turn frightening and malicious on a whim.
Cubone was my favorite pokemon so i spent a lot of time in the tower trying to catch one. I really like Lavender town as a kid. I was a weird one 😂
Lavendar town was so shocking that I actually thought something was wrong with my game as a kid, I was like what?? These ghosts can’t be real…
personally i think gen 2's lavender town was kind of a missed opportunity for additional story. like youre telling me they bulldozed sacred ground because they wanted more business? and all the pokemon had their final resting places moved to some dinky little hut? and there were no consequences for that? i mean youd think theyd have some restless spirits to take care of after that. but also, why lavender town of all places? why not a big city like celadon or saffron? after all, johto's radio tower isnt in mahogany town or any other small town area.
This was super great. I mean all the Pokemon content is great, but I enjoyed watching, thank you.