Video Game Urban Legends: Pokémon

by Xavier Rubetzki Noonan

As a dominant part of the modern cultural landscape, it’s not surprising that video gaming has attracted a wealth of folklore. From ‘arrow in the knee’ memes to cartridge-blowing nostalgia, one of gaming’s greatest attributes is its ability to unite people through their shared sense of history and experience. And as with all cultures and subcultures, part of the rich tapestry of folklore that video games attract is the urban legend. These legends are pieced together using the things gamers have in common: usually they’re associated with a well-known game, or with a particular gaming experience that people can relate to. From old wives’ tales to spooky stories, the myths and legends that surround video gaming are often extremely interesting. In this series, I will present some of the stories I’ve collected in my time as a gamer. I’m not here to debunk, or cast any new judgment on these stories. Any attempt to do so would merely demystify them. I merely aim to present them for what they are.


This week, I want to write about Pokémon. The Pokémon series is an ideal target for urban legends for two main reasons: one; its massive and overwhelming popularity, and two; its controversial history. Of course, you don’t need me to tell you how hugely popular Pokémon is. From anime to trading cards to an overwhelming amount of merchandise, the Pokémon media empire reflects the games’ international spread. A good urban legend starts with the familiar, in order to establish credibility and plausibility, so it’s natural that the series would spawn some of its own.

What’s more, these myths tie in with a general suspicion with which many view the Pokémon brand. The anime is associated with an incident dubbed “Pokémon Shock”, where over six hundred Japanese viewers were hospitalised with seizures after viewing the episode “Dennō Senshi Porygon” (which featured intense, flashing strobe lights). On top of this, there are many known glitches and errors in the original Pokémon games: the Mew glitch and MissingNo. being prime examples. These examples illustrate the general sense of superstition which is intrinsically tied to the Pokémon brand. Add this to the many criticisms Pokémon has faced over the years (including its promotion of the occult, indoctrination of evolution and deterioration of family relationships)*, and you have the perfect cocktail for an excellent spooky story.
There are two examples of Pokémon urban legends which I’d like to outline: ‘Lavender Town Syndrome’ and the ‘Pokemon Black’ story.

LAVENDER TOWN SYDNROME

The story of Lavender Town Syndrome goes like this: supposedly, the music that plays in the Lavender Town area of the original Japanese Pokémon games caused depressive or suicidal thoughts in children. The games had to be changed for their international release because ‘Lavender Town Syndrome’ was supposedly the cause of over 100 suicides in children aged ten to fifteen in the days following the games’ release. It’s easy to see where the myth sprang from: Lavender Town is the home of Pokémon Tower, a seven-floor graveyard housing hundreds of dead Pokémon, and the site of numerous ghost sightings. As well as this, the music in Lavender Town is simply creepy as hell. Even listening to it while I’m writing this gives me the chills.

Interestingly enough, though, the more fantastic elements of the story still have their roots in fact. For instance, there is evidence that the Lavender Town music was changed between the first and second versions of Pokémon Red and Green (the original, Japan-only Pokémon titles), in order to make the area less eerie and unsettling. However, there is no specific evidence to support the claim that the games were responsible for an outbreak of mass youth suicide. In an interesting epilogue, when Lavender Town was revisited in Pokémon SoulSilver and HeartGold, the music was changed completely, into a peaceful, soothing piece of chirpy Nintendo drivel.

POKEMON BLACK

Now, we turn our attention to something even more fun: the good ol’ fashioned ghost story. It is assumed that the Pokemon Black myth originated online: from a message board like 4chan, or something of the like. The story goes that the writer purchased a mysterious black Pokémon cartridge which was apparently haunted. The player starts off with a Pokémon named ‘GHOST’, which could not be attacked by wild Pokémon. It had just one move - Curse - which would instantly (and spookily) kill (not just defeat) an opponent’s Pokémon. After a Trainer battle, the move could be used again, in the overworld, and would cause the enemy Trainer’s sprite to disappear, to be replaced by a tombstone (like those in Lavender Town’s cemetery).

After playing through the entire game to its conclusion, the writer outlines the game’s new ending - all the Pokémon and Trainers he had Cursed flashed on screen, while the Lavender Town music played, gradually decreasing in pitch. And then, the finale - his character, now an old man, is forced to battle GHOST one-on-one. This battle is impossible to win, and GHOST Curses him, deleting the save file and forcing a total restart.

This story is a classic spooky story. All the hallmarks are there - the game was picked up cheap at a flea market, the cartridge was lost when the writer moved house, and of course, the myriad links to the spookier parts of the Pokémon games (the Lavender Town music, for example). I think what’s really interesting about this one is the plausibility of it. The story isn’t presented directly as a ghost story - by that I mean that it’s never explicitly stated that anything paranormal is going on. It relies on the reader’s imagination to read that into the story. But what’s really cool is the level of believable detail that the story contains. From references to other well-known Pokémon knockoffs and hacks, to explanations of the various sprites used (when the player is represented by an old man at the end of the game, the sprite is that of the man who teaches you to use a Poké Ball in Viridian City), it’s a detailed story that makes logical sense to Pokémon fans. Even the central ‘GHOST’ Pokémon appears in the original games: until the Silph Scope is obtained, Ghost-type Pokémon are displayed simply as undefeatable GHOSTs.

The accuracy or truthfulness of this story is limited by its own specificity - there’s no real way to prove or disprove that some resourceful person could have hacked a Game Boy cartridge and tinkered with a Pokémon game. Interestingly, the popularity of the myth has led to fans creating their own version of the game - a Pokémon FireRed hack called ‘Pokémon Creepy Black’, which aims to provide a playable version of the story. However, in my opinion, a lot of the impact is lost by using a more modern ROM - there’s just something about the older games which is so fundamentally rooted in my mind, that just doesn’t come through in the FireRed hack.

I think that simple truth speaks volumes for the power of myths like these. The classic video game urban legends work because they’re based on something we grew up with: whether it’s their associations with safety, or just their backdrop of common understanding, they work best when they tap into something basic and pure and understood. Maybe in twenty years, there’ll be new scary stories about Modern Warfare 3 or Wii Sports, but for now, I’m quite comfortable shitting my pants over Pokémon.

So this is the first instalment in what I assume will be a series of Video Game Urban Legends posts. I have a few more ideas for future posts, but I’d love you to let me know what you think! Was this too long? Too specific? Not specific enough? Too formal? Too informal? Were there too many questions in italics at the end of the post?

Wing me an email: ssjoystick@gmail.com
-Xavier


*Who am I kidding, these are all the same fucking crazy website...