Pokémon FireNan and LeafGran

Pokémon is odd sometimes. Technically speaking, it’s a franchise of games made for children, but despite that, it just doesn’t bother explaining a whole bunch of mechanics. There isn’t a handy in-game list of type matchups that you can refer to in times of need. There isn’t an explanation of the difference between Attack and Special Attack. There’s absolutely no indication as to what STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus) even is. So it’s really a minor miracle the franchise has a huge sect of fans who understand the intricacies, the weird manipulations that you can do, and the hidden mechanics. 

Thinking about all of that got me wondering. I play Pokémon ROM hacks all the time; I use difficulty hacks as a way to unwind. But what if I introduced somebody to the series who doesn’t really have a background in video games at all, and only explained the basics to them? Would they have fun? Would they even be able to get past the first gym? Luckily, I had the ideal test subject for this – my Grandma.

My Grandma is a lovely person. I’m not just saying that because she’s absolutely reading this (Hi Grandma!), I’m saying it because it’s true – I’ve lived with her since I was 17, and we’ve been through a lot together. But one thing she’s never really understood is video games – her main experiences are with puzzle games on her “Nintendo Switch” (she meant Nintendo DS). She’s not accustomed to games as big as Pokémon. But maybe I can change that. When asked what she was thinking going in, she told me that she “doesn’t know whether she’ll be able to manage it.”

So, before we get into her journey, here are a few basics. I decided on Pokémon FireRed for a few reasons – it’s probably the most iconic game in the series, it’s fairly basic, and it’s a game I know extremely well, so if I need to guide her, I can. I was also implementing the following rules:

• I wasn’t going to explain any hidden mechanics
• I was allowed to help guide my Grandma through battles and the world

Grandma named her character and went through the motions right up until she chose her starter. She looked at the three and decided on picking Charmander, which she then named ‘Bert’. Sadly, she lost the first rival fight in the lab – but that was to be expected. She wasn’t exactly going to immediately become an expert. She then left the lab and headed up to Viridian City, deciding to stop along the way to talk to the PokéMart representative in the first of many instances where I couldn’t help but laugh.

The representative was facing the wrong way, and I hadn’t yet explained to her that it doesn’t matter which direction they’re facing when you talk to him. She just stood there as he walked up, and I asked her what she was doing.

“Hang on, I’m just waiting for him to turn around [so I can talk to him],” She explained to me.

Ah, of course.

On the way up to Viridian City, she ran into several Pokémon that she couldn’t yet catch due to not having Poké Balls. Instead of running, she decided to fight them. She decided to fight every single one. There was a brief moment when I thought I’d made a mistake asking her to play the game. Had I unleashed a bloodthirsty monster onto the world of Pokémon? What had I done?

She reached Viridian, grabbed Professor Oak’s package, and took it back to him, finally unlocking access to Poké Balls. The game was really starting. On her way back up through Viridian City to fight the rival just outside Victory Road, she caught three Pokémon before handily defeating Gary – a Rattata, which she nicknamed “Gorge,” a Pidgey, which she did not nickname, and a Mankey, which she also did not nickname. 

Making her way through Viridian Forest, Grandma grabbed two new Pokémon – a Weedle named “Sid” and a Caterpie named “Pat,” who soon evolved into a Metapod. None of this really mattered, though, as Grandma explained to me.

“Bert is my favourite,” she said when I asked which Pokémon on her team she liked the most. 

One thing I made sure she did before we left Viridian Forest was grind until Bert unlocked Metal Claw, just to make Brock a little bit easier. But as we approached Brock in Pewter City, I turned to Grandma and told her that, for this first attempt at the Gym, I would no longer be helping. I wanted to see what she had learned, and more specifically, what she had retained, over her time playing the game so far. 

To my surprise, without any guidance at all, she immediately used Metal Claw on Brock’s Geodude, taking him down with ease. I couldn’t believe it – maybe it was possible to get somebody who was almost seventy years old into Pokémon. But then a critical hit from Onix caused Bert to faint under the pressure of a Rock Tomb, and the rest of the team was so underleveled that they didn’t really stand a chance.

I turned to Grandma as Nurse Joy healed up her Pokémon and explained the problem that faced us. I pointed out to her the level disparity, but assured her that she didn’t need to spend hours levelling up everybody – she had a Mankey, and all she needed to do was level up the Mankey until it unlocked Low Kick. Onix is famously a rather heavy Pokémon – so my thinking here was that if Grandma used Mankey on Onix, it would do enough damage that Bert could come in for the kill when it inevitably died. 

I was right. Grandma got through Geodude with Bert no problem before switching into Mankey as Brock switched into Onix. She hit Onix with the Low Kick before Onix made Mankey faint, but it was too late for Brock. Bert came back in and took the kill. 

Grandma had done it. She had beaten the first gym in Pokémon without giving up. I was ecstatic, and she was pretty happy too – one down, seven more to go. 

As she left Pewter City and headed down the route towards Mount Moon, she got into a series of trainer battles during which Bert became Charmeleon (“Bertmeleon”). Grandma also saw an Ekans for the first time, and I pointed out the very smart name that The Pokémon Company had given him – Snake backwards.

Grandma rolled her eyes and sighed.

On the way to Mount Moon, she also caught a Spearow, which she nicknamed “Will,” which went straight into the box before going into Mount Moon itself, catching a Zubat named “Tex” and reawakening her bloodlust.

I witnessed a massacre in Mount Moon. Grandma killed countless Zubats as she made her way through the area, getting angrier and angrier at seeing them, and taking more and more joy in crushing them underneath her boots. Luckily, once she climbed down the ladder, she found Pokémon that weren’t bat-related in any way – a Paras that she nicknamed “Anie” and a Geodude that she named “Dude”. Can’t really say my Grandma isn’t imaginative when it comes to names.

She fought the Team Rocket members and the Fossil scientist with no issues at all, took the Helix fossil and left Mount Moon, finally putting those bats behind her. Well, the corpses of those bats, anyway.

Sadly, this is where things became a little more difficult.

Grandma headed straight through Cerulean City to the bridge in order to do the rival fight, and whited out twice in a row. Her team wasn’t ready for this, with only Bert actually powerful enough to survive more than one hit. So, she went back to the grass patch just before the city and caught herself an Ekans, which she named “Nake.” Now, she had a plan.

The plan was, essentially, to poison stall Gary’s most powerful Pokémon. If she could reduce his health enough, then Bert could take it out before he himself was taken out. And guess what? Grandma was right! She managed to beat the rival and took herself to Misty with a newfound confidence.

A confidence which would not last for very long.

Misty absolutely destroyed her team. The lack of levelling the rest of her team had finally caught up with her, and even though she managed to take down Staryu with only one lost Pokémon (Mankey), Starmie turned the rest of the team into dust and atoms, which is where we stopped playing, at least for now.

If I’m totally honest, I’m extremely impressed with how far Grandma got, and the fact that she stuck with it. I was expecting her to decide to drop FireRed, but she kept at it, and I’m extremely proud of her for that. But what I think isn’t really important – what did she think? After all, she’d said she wasn’t really sure she could manage all of this.

“Turns out I can manage it with your help. It’s been okay, but the music gets on my wick. I think I would [like to continue] if I could take my time.”

You heard it here first, folks. Prepare yourself for more Grandma Plays Pokémon.

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