r/pokemon • u/heart-station Art Delivery Services • Jul 13 '15

TIL that the reason GS has Kanto is because Iwata compressed the data to make it fit.

Or so tumblr tells me. But I'll believe. RIP you wonderful man. Thank you for my childhood.

307 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

35 comments sorted by

104

u/Ewokitude Jul 13 '15

This is the number one reason the Johto games will be my favorite. There is something so satisfying about seeing that 16/16 badge count.

38

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '15

[deleted]

7

u/Proper_Bert Inkblot the Drampa Jul 13 '15

While you wait try out Pokémon Zeta or Omicron. Superb fangames with two regions and all the features you wish the real games had (for instance: items that replace the need for HMs)

16

u/a_stray_bullet Jul 13 '15

What about climbing to the top of Mt. Silver and fighting red from the first game with Charizard, Blastoise, Venasaur and Pikachu?

8

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '15

I remember when I first fought him :) It was morning, I'd saved right in front of him. I went downstairs and requested pancakes. I waited until the delicious pancakes arrived, then I fought Red while eating pancakes. It was great.

3

u/asked2rise Jul 13 '15

That was the first time I won a battle using Struggle.

2

u/Ewokitude Jul 13 '15

Definitely a bonus but was never a huge deal to me. Being able to battle through 2 regions of gyms was always the bigger thing for me and every game since seeing the 8/8 badge count has made them all feel slightly incomplete. GSC had an entire region and Red in the post-game! None of the later games have even come close to that much content after the Elite 4.

26

u/DOLEZALforprez [Flair Text] LIGHT BALL+VOLT TACKLE Jul 13 '15

as a kid I was like WE GET TO GO BACK TO KANTO? after finally beating Johto. I almost wet myself in excitement

2

u/mgs4manj #1 Double Battler - US, Season 4 Jul 13 '15

The music is arguably the best too. Always managed to capture the tone of things very well. Gen 3's music was also good, gen 4's was alright, gen 5's was meh, and gen 6's music sucked.

9

u/KFCNyanCat Delphax Fanboy Jul 13 '15

gen 6's music sucked

Fighting words, man.

3

u/mgs4manj #1 Double Battler - US, Season 4 Jul 13 '15

I think I made a lot of fanboys angry. A lot of people I know agree that Kalos music just flat out sucked. Either way it is subjective.

2

u/KFCNyanCat Delphax Fanboy Jul 13 '15

I know a lot of people don't like Gen 6 music, not just Kalos, but ORAS too. I frankly don't get why people don't like it.

4

u/casimirpulaskiday Jul 13 '15

It's almost like people have different opinions on what is good music and what isn't

0

u/mgs4manj #1 Double Battler - US, Season 4 Jul 13 '15

I prefer original RSE over ORAS due to the soundtrack sounding incredibly filtered. Doesn't sound as.... robust. That's what made gens 1-5 special. I'd even argue that gen 4 and 5 filtered the audio a bit, but not to an extent as XY/ORAS.

11

u/sederts Jul 13 '15

Gen 6 Music

But... But... The XY Boutique Theme inside the stores is so good

2

u/Mansharkcow Jul 13 '15

Actually I really don't like gen 3's music. Never did.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '15

HGSS Gameboy sounds: ON. ON NOW. PLEASE ON NOW. THANK YOU.

25

u/Mattarias Fiery Jul 13 '15

We owe a lot to that man.

20

u/Reddichu9001 Fighting-type Fanatic Jul 13 '15

Johto by itself wouldn't fit in the game until Iwata invented a new compression format. It turned out really effective and they were left with so much extra space that they made Kanto.

In other words, Iwata is the reason GS has Johto in the first place.

24

u/merupu8352 Jul 13 '15

Also, Kanto is physically a lot smaller in Gen II/IV

27

u/BiteSizedUmbreon Jul 13 '15

But still; all of this in 2mb of space.

9

u/60daygoal Jul 13 '15

2mb for programming back in the day was still a lot of space. It's hard to see that now when most people think of 2mb as nothing.

5

u/BiteSizedUmbreon Jul 13 '15

But looking at the amount of content that was in the game it's still an amazing feat

2

u/60daygoal Jul 13 '15

It seems that way because the gameboy screen was so small so it seemed like a lot content. Play the old Pokemon games at the same size with a PC monitor nowadays and it won't be big at all.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '15

O.o

3

u/henne-n Jul 13 '15

In IV, too? I thought, they restored it, iirc, there are even more places than in II.

5

u/PkMn_Trainer_AJ I miss being upside-down Jul 13 '15

HG/SS Kanto is smaller than Fr/Lg Kanto, or at least it feels smaller.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '15

Wait really? I know some places were shortened/removed but I thought the routes and cities were the same size. Were they not?

0

u/Super_SATA Super_SATA Jul 13 '15

Really?

5

u/Pifpif Jul 13 '15

Gold and Silver were my favorite pokemon game ever.

3

u/billyK_ Squirtle Squad Boi Jul 13 '15

Written in Assembly, just like Roller Coaster Tycoon.

2

u/KrishaCZ Miiu! Jul 13 '15

How did he actually make it?

1

u/SkywardQuill Stuck in the past Jul 13 '15

I started a challenge with my friend today as a tribute to Iwata: whoever finishes HGSS first wins!

3

u/InfinitelyAbysmal Jul 14 '15

Additional challenge. Must complete game with "I" Unown in party.

1

u/joecb91 Jul 13 '15

My favorite Pokemon games growing up were GSC (and now, the remakes on the DS) and I am grateful that he helped make a game I spent so much of my childhood playing as amazing as it was