The Pokemon Company has been on many people’s minds over the last several days, mainly because of the introduction of a “rival” that has gotten many people wondering if legal action might be coming because of said rivals’ actions. But not to be outdone, the company is trying to showcase its long history while honoring one of the coolest moments in the OG series via a unique piece of artwork. As you’ll see below, the piece features the clash between Red and Gold on top of the frozen peaks of Mt. Silver. It’s a simple yet impactful piece of art highlighting just how good Pokemon trainers had it back in the day.
For those who weren’t around during that time, allow us to explain the importance of this clash. The original pocket monster titles weren’t meant to be the global phenomenon they are now. If you look at what happened to the original Japanese versions before they even got to the West, you’ll understand how much had to be done just to get them released. Anyway, once everything became popular, The Pokemon Company worked on the Johto sequels.
In a move that hasn’t been replicated to this day, those Johto games allowed you to go back to the Kanto region and beat the original gyms all over again, but with some updates and new gym leaders, and then, after doing all of that, you would be able to go to Mt. Silver and find the OG Pokemon champion. The very character that you played in the original games: Red.
This was the ultimate challenge during that period. You weren’t facing a trainer with a simple set of Pokemon based on typing; you were beating the champion who had conquered them all and had a wide variety of Pokemon for you to face and defeat.
Those who beat Red could hold themselves high as they had done what no one had done in the original games, which was pretty cool. So, seeing this artwork? Yeah, it takes us back.
The irony of all of this is that the games have evolved so much since the days of the Game Boy and Game Boy Color that you almost wonder why The Pokemon Company hasn’t tried to replicate these moments within their mainline titles.
Then again, given the state of Gen 9 and the numerous bugs that they still haven’t worked out, it might be for the best that they stick with just trying to make a quality title before doing something as grand as hopping to another region again.
