Have you ever played a Pokémon game without spoiling it?

[Sheep]

Having the internet makes it super easy to spoil yourself on new Pokémon games, be it purposefully or accidentally. Have you ever played a Pokémon game blind, where you didn't know what to expect? How much have you spoiled yourself on with past games?

I played the original RBY blind since it was before internet became popular! GSC too. With RSE, I remember really only knowing what he starters looked like, and checking the official landing page every day waiting until the release day hahaha. Starting with DPPt is when I began spoiling myself since I just couldn't help myself (and since back then, there was a huge 6-month gap between the Japanese and US releases, so I had less patience).

 

[pkmin3033]

Only Gen IV, believe it or not!

Back in the days of Gen I the Official Nintendo Magazine did Pokemon Master Guides (which I still own!) and I got those before I got the game. So I *kinda* knew what was coming before I played Red for the first time. This was just as Pokemon was becoming a HUGE thing too, so it was difficult not to be spoiled.

Gen II got a lot of coverage in gaming magazines and a friend of mine bought a copy in the US - who got it months before the UK, these being the dark, depressing days when that was commonplace - and I followed it religiously, so that kinda got spoiled for me too. Same deal with Gen III, although to a slightly lesser extent.

But thanks to Gen III, I was going off of Pokemon, so I didn't really look into Gen IV...then the games appeared in the shops months before they were due out in the UK, and Dialga looked badass as hell, so I bought a copy and played it with absolutely no idea of what I was getting myself into. I loved it.

Gen V through to VIII I was using the internet a lot more, so spoilers there were inevitable.

 

[XNaut]

Pokemon Gold and Pokemon Ruby were the games I played blind. I played Pokemon Blue and Pokemon Yellow without help from the internet but I already knew what the Pokemon were from looking at magazines and posters.

 

[Roni]

Diamond, Emerald, Leaf Green, & Soul Silver (in that order) are the only games wherein I wasn't spoiled by any online walkthroughs or news regarding it. It helped that I was in elementary at the time and we didn't have internet at home yet.

Come Black and White though, is when I got addicted to watching Poketubers (Marriland actually inspired me to start my YT channel in the first place) and from then on I'd be spoiled to every single Pokemon game onward :(

I've been tryna relive the blind and new experience with rom hacks though, as they seem like a solid alternative, but... I dunno. So far it just doesn't feel the same. I don't know why.

 

[budube]

RSE, FRLG and Colosseum... so, the first ones I played

 

[Amore]

The first one I didn't play blind was SoulSilver...and I basically ruined the experience by having just, so much information about it already. In fact I even swapped it for HeartGold after realising I still didn't have a game where I could obtain a Growlithe (a good choice in the long run). But there was definitely something lost in knowing so much of what to expect - I'd planned my team out and everything.
So I went in to Gen V semi-blind, and the sequels almost completely blind as I didn't buy them for a year or so after their release. Now when I replay games I like to use the Bulbapedia walkthroughs and pick up absolutely everything, at least for my Gen III-IV games where I know them off by heart, but I'm leaning towards playing Gen V and may not consult the guides this time.

 

[Zeostar]

It hasn't happened.

I was extremely late on most of the generations. So by the time I played I heard stuff about them. Gen 5 comes to mind. Didn't play it until 2018. Already heard who the true villain was and what his intentions were.

And now it's almost impossible to avoid spoilers unless you just lock down the internet/social media until release.

 

[PageEmp]

For playing main series games blind? Probably almost never.

For ROM hacks, not usually because sometimes there are things like random fuckin level jumps that I will still come across even after overgrinding.

 

[colours]

nah. i think the last time i've played a pokemon game blind was like.... the spinoff games and that was it, lmao. maybe rse/dppt. i was around the internet during the dppt days, but it was mostly speculation and i dont think it was really spoiled on much besides maybe the pokemon revealed.

ngl i kinda miss that feeling, somewhat. would be nice to go into a pokemon game completely blind and see how that differs compared to my years of being spoiled.

 

[Megagigon]

My parents kept me sheltered from the Internet for a pretty long time, which was a bit annoying at the time, but at least it protected me from spoilers for a pretty long time lol. I could play spoiler-free for up to Gen V, but yeah after that I pretty much knew everything that was in a game before it even came out.
On a related note, this is also why I enjoyed Pokémon Clover so much. Yeah, the humor is sometimes (often) pretty shitty, but it is really well-made and, most importantly, I could play without anybody spoiling me, which helped me recapture the magic I felt with my first few Pokémon games.

 

[Captain Typhlosion]

When I played Pokémon gold the first time I had gotten it for a birthday and had slow as all get out dial up internet, so I couldn't really spoil it even if I tried. I only knew what they box art legendaries looked like, and that is why I asked for Gold over silver. Went in totally blind, and it made the game downright magical.

Then, I was out of Pokémon for a number of years before returning and picked up Pokémon white at the recommendation of someone else. Again, went in blind, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

These experiences were so wonderful it's actually how I would recommend to play the games. It makes it easier to feel absorbed in the world.

 

[Palamon]

In 2020, that's practically impossible. But, eh, not really. I've been playing Pokemon since I've been going on the internet, so I've never really played unspoiled. I don't really care, either way anyway, tbh?

 

[Unwoken Dream]

Well, for me it's been hard to be spoiled because I haven't been interested enough especially in the recent games to seek any vital information. I literally knew nothing about sword/shield other than the initial trailer. Usually when I know a new pokemon game is coming I stay away from any thing related to pokemon.

I will say I WISH sun/moon had been spoiled for me, if I had known trials were in place of gym battle I would've never gotten that game but luckily shiny trading gave me a lot to do in an otherwise less than mediocre game.

Other than that I honestly don't believe a pokemon game can be " spoiled ", for me at least. No matter what " new " function they bring to pokemon it'll all be based on the same premise lol.

 

[EmTheGhost]

I'm assuming you don't mean just avoiding major story spoilers here, but not spoiling anything about the region, mechanics, Pokemon if it's a new generation, etc.?...

I tried it deliberately with Black 2, but that happened to be right around the time my interest in Pokemon fell into a slump, and I ended up not playing past Nimbasa until years later by which time I had long given up. Honestly, I didn't much like the experience for the short time I did it - looking at Pokemon, locations, story elements, etc. outside of the game sorta helps cement them in my brain, y'know? Everything felt so ephemeral, only seeing it for the short time it appeared in front of me on my DS.

Then when I played Moon, I was just coming out of my Pokemon slump, and hadn't been keeping up with the info, so I sorta did it unintentionally. I enjoyed it better then than with Black 2, I guess my feelings shifted as I got older? I'd say there were good and bad points to doing it - example of the good: seeing Type: Null for the first time and feeling like I was in a creepypasta is one of most cherished poke-memories. Example of the bad: okay, I happened to have only 5 Pokemon on my team when it came time to catch the cover legendary (not knowing why I'd really really want to use it), but if that incredible coincidence hadn't happened, I would've been so upset! Also, there were some Pokemon like Mimikyu and Oricorio that I didn't love as much as I do today just from seeing them in the game without knowing the concepts and lore behind them.

In any case, apparently I didn't feel it was worth repeating for Ultra Moon, because I followed everything with that up to and including story spoilers. I enjoyed the experience, and it was probably a good idea, seeing as most of the game is the psyducking same and I might've lost motivation to continue without having the climax to look forward to, but I do sorta wish I got to be surprised by Ultra Necrozma.

Sword and Shield, I followed all the information (which was permanently traumatizing, but not for spoiler-related reasons); I tried to avoid story spoilers, but at some point I just gave up and started looking at them. I'm not sure how I feel about that, since, well...I hate the story (or at least the climax), and now I'm having trouble motivating myself to play through that part and beat the game. If I'd gone in unspoiled, I would've at least gotten to play the climax with complete optimism once, but I also feel like it would've been worse to have it just dropped on me with no preparation...

 

[mastroh]

When i was 9 and played Silver i had seen the game only other child without play, beautiful and nostalgic the first play e find out things without internet
with Saphire this was a magazine that explained Pokemons'game every month

 

[TacoTach]

When I started playing pokémon, in gen III (with Fire Red & Sapphire, and then Emerald), I didn't have the Internet, so I played them without knowing anything about the games. In Emerald I even managed to (believe it or not) catch the Regis before having the Internet, just with the Emerald manual that had the whole Braille Alphabet in it.

I would, however, often get stuck on fairly easy things. I think what got me stuck for the most time, all games combined, was the part between the 6th and 7th gyms in Fire Red where you had to find the key to the Cinnabar gym. For some reason, I spent months and months stuck in that part of the game. I ended up building a pretty strong team in the meantime, which was pretty cool, I remember the weakest Pokemon in my team when I took on the 7th gym was an Aerodactyl around lv 50. I also remember teaching other kids in my school how to reach Articuno lol

And gen 4 onward, even with the Internet, I always did my best to not know anything about the game before playing it. It's just more fun. Usually, when playing the main game story, I only use the Internet for checking certain pokémon's locations and encounter rates. Or when I get really, really stuck (which rarely happens).

 

[Lysander]

I played Ruby and Pearl the first time around without knowing hardly anything about the games, not even what the starters looked like or what they were called or evolved into. I didn't know much about the villainous teams or the legendary Pokemon either, though its harder to do that with the newer games.

 

[Lunar]

I'm pretty sure I played almost all the earlier Pokemon games blind, like up until the end of Gen 3! FireRed and Emerald were the first two games I played and they were 100% blind, I was a younger kid and didn't really use the internet to research games like that. Crystal was another one I played without knowing anything soon after those two, so my early memories of Pokemon were unspoiled which is nice!

Going into Gen IV though I discovered Marriland and his playthrough of the Sinnoh games, so a decent amount of those was spoiled for me, and I found Serebii around the same time and remember frantically searching for any information I could on HGSS. Ever since then, I think almost every Pokemon game I've known a decent amount of what to expect, it's a shame the days of going into a game completely blind or gone for me!

 

[Raicheot]

I don't mind finding out about new pokemon as that give me more motivation to get a game if I see one I like but I try to avoid the story line as much as possible

 

[Ninetales]

My first ever pokemon game (Pokémon Pearl) I mistook it for PMD Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky! I expected to be a pokemon and was immensely disappointed that I was a lowly trainer instead. I was about 7 or 8 at the time and evidently I went in completely blind! I also was quite clueless when playing HGSS and Black & White as well. I recall being baffled at Servine's loss of limbs upon evolution.