The Hidden Legends Behind the Pokemon Game Franchise: Unveiling the Unsung Heroes!

Highlights

Gym Leaders like Brock often go underappreciated, as they are designed as easy obstacles for new trainers to overcome.

Nurses Joy play a vital role in healing Pokemon at Pokemon Centers, yet they rarely engage in any other activities.

Despite playing a crucial role in enhancing the Pokemon experience, NPCs who explain important technology features in the games are often overlooked.

The Pokemon franchise boasts a plethora of unforgettable characters, encompassing the ever-growing library of 1000+ Pokemon that can be captured, as well as the humans who nurture, train, and engage in battles alongside them. Some of these Pokemon and Trainers have garnered an abundance of adoration from the fandom, such as the beloved series ambassador Pikachu, formidable Champions like Cynthia and Blue, or the notorious antagonists like Team Rocket.

Nevertheless, there exist certain Pokemon characters who possess an unquestionable iconic status and play a vital role in maintaining the franchise's success, yet unfortunately receive insufficient recognition from the fans. These unsung heroes of the Pokemon world deserve acclaim, and this selection aims to shed light on just a few of them.

The First Gym Leaders

These characters serve a singular purpose, which is to introduce players to the concept of Gym Battles. Typically encountered early on in the player's journey, often in the first or second town they visit beyond their hometown, these Pokemon Gym Leaders tend to have a minimal number of Pokemon, despite being skilled enough to have a full team of six. Their main function is to provide easy obstacles for new Pokemon Trainers to overcome.

Among these Gym Leaders, the most well-known and memorable is Brock, the Rock-type Gym Leader from the original Pokemon games. Unlike other early Gym Leaders who are quickly forgotten, Brock had the opportunity to accompany Ash, the protagonist of the TV series, for several seasons. This allowed him to participate in numerous battles and even achieve victory on several occasions. Unfortunately, other first Gym Leaders were not as fortunate. Some examples include Viola from Kalos, Falkner from Johto, Milo from Galar, and many others.

The Nurses Joy

In order to address the issue of a "weak first Gym Leader," Pokemon Scarlet and Violet implemented an open-world format, enabling players to challenge Gym Leaders in any order they desired. While some Leaders, like Katy who specializes in Bug-types, or Brassius who focuses on Grass-types, are admittedly easier to defeat, all Gym Leaders in Paldea are permitted to employ larger teams and present a greater challenge. Additionally, players have the opportunity to rematch the Gym Leaders during the post-game, with significantly higher-level teams, allowing each Leader to truly showcase their strengths and ensuring that no one is left filling the role of the underwhelming "Brock."

Within the Pokemon universe, Nurse Joy, or rather the network of Nurses Joy, plays a pivotal role. These virtually indistinguishable women oversee the Pokemon Centers in every region, offering complimentary healing services for players' Pokemon in every game generation. As a result, players can save a substantial amount of money, which they can then allocate towards evolution items, top-tier Pokeballs, and stylish outfits and hairstyles for themselves.

The Technology Fans

Despite appearing in almost every game in the series, Nurses Joy are usually limited to standing behind a desk and solely focusing on healing Pokemon. Dialogue for most Joys is restricted to reassuring the player about taking good care of their Pokemon. However, in the Pokemon anime series, it is revealed that Nurses Joy undergo training for their role, and a few of them are even given opportunities to pursue alternative careers or engage in Pokemon battles. Nevertheless, these occurrences are rare, with the majority of the Nurses Joy family being destined to spend their entire lives stationed behind desks, tending to the healing needs of other people's Pokemon.

Since the introduction of the Link Cable in the first generation of Pokemon games, numerous items, technologies, and features have been developed to enhance the experience of capturing and battling Pokemon for players. However, it is necessary to provide explanations for all these features within the game. This responsibility typically falls to non-player characters encountered early on in the player's hometown. These characters serve no other purpose than to elucidate their assigned features, often accompanied by a generic statement such as "Technology is incredible!"

It's an unconventional method for imparting crucial information, but the role of NPCS as mere tutors for Pokemon players lacks the charm and appeal. These characters fail to leave a lasting impact. While some NPCs, such as the Youngster who adamantly professes his preference for shorts, have managed to achieve meme status within the fandom, the unfortunate technology enthusiasts are limited to endless discussions about the incredible Link Cables or Scarlet and Violet's exhilarating multiplayer exploits. The majority of these individuals don't even possess noteworthy Pokemon; their sole existence revolves around admiring the marvels of technology.

Jack, Galar's Pokemon Center Staffer

In previous Pokemon games, there were numerous non-playable characters (NPCs) who had various minor yet essential roles. These included the Move Reminder, the Move Deleter, the Memory Girl for reviewing Pokemon experiences, and the Name Rater, who had a self-explanatory role. However, Pokemon Sword and Shield streamlined all these functions into a single individual known as Jack, who tirelessly fulfills these demanding tasks.

Jack can be found in every Pokemon Center in the Galar region. It is unclear whether all of these Jacks are the same person or if they are identical men from the same family, unlike Nurse Joy. His name may be derived from the saying "Jack of all trades," which is fitting because he provides all the services mentioned earlier, free of charge. This is a significant improvement compared to previous Move Reminders, who usually required players to trade Heart Scale items whenever they wanted a Pokemon to learn a move it had forgotten.

Sadly, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have taken things even further by allowing players to relearn moves directly from the in-game menu. As a result, it is unlikely that Jack (or his predecessors) will appear in future games. Despite this, Jack remains one of the unsung heroes of the Pokemon franchise. While he only appears in a single generation of games, he fulfills numerous essential functions simultaneously.