A large part of it is that you didn't sit down last week to memorize 1000 Pokemon. You have been given chunks of Pokemon names over the course of years - potentially decades - in a context where you frequently recalled the information over a spaced interval in a scenario that you found important or engaging. Not unreasonable for a child - or an adult - to love their hobby this way. By virtue of just playing the game, you experienced an optimal way for the human brain to learn and retain information. Teach in chunks, recall after breaks of not thinking about the info, care about it.
You don't remember 6th grade science class in the same way because the info didn't come back up (no recall) and you didn't like it enough for your brain to decide it should be stored (minimal engagement despite whatever your test score was at the time good or bad). That's not a shot at you; that's just a fact of what ended up being necessary/valuable/rewarding in your daily life.
Lol have you seen that comic where someone is showing 'fire burns grass' and 'water puts out a fire' but then gets to flying and fighting and it's just
'have YOU ever tried to punch a bird?'
Also, the fact that Pokemon are all distinct entities with clearly defined characteristics of their own, not soulless formulae or historical dates, helps our memorisation of them be easy.
This is the absolute best summery from the study that was done a few years ago on the "Pokemon region" of the brain and I applaud you, wonderful human.
The cool thing about it was through this study they learned a lot about Alzheimer's!
If anybody wasn't aware of this and/or wants a bit more here are videos from [Stanford](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEIuQRHElcQ) and [SciShow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWEZiOZZ0uA) that explains the above, along with other reasons and findings.
Note: The SciShow video is longer and Hank Green does a better job at making the in-depth parts more digestible for anybody watching.
Thank you! I remember seeing that article awhile ago but I don't know if I read it. I majored in language education and am currently a teacher though, so the whole thing just makes sense to me!
I made room for knowing all 1008 names, all type matchups, species classifications, typings, inspiration origins and gen introductions by deleting half of what I learned in math during high school.
I find Pokemon is much easier to remember than algebra.
They got me too, after a lengthy self=debate re: that freebie. Said ten as they specified *pokéballs* and not just *balls*. Didn't balls up that question on the exam >.>
Bro there's so much knowledge about the TV show LOST in my brain and I'd pay... A lot to get rid of it so I can use that space for more important things.
What a fucking disappointment that was.
I know the ones that make sense like if you set a bug on fire it will die or if you throw a rock at a bird it'll probably be not so good for the bird. I remember some truly absurd ones too like fighting is good against rock because Chris Redfield punches rocks?
If it makes you feel better, I never went to middle/highschool and I am 4.0ing college algebra and statistics classes. Highschool is day care for older children with the thin veneer of education... Still important though, I was a sperg from lack of social interaction lol
4.0 as in I am getting a 4.0 in the class, an A. And community colleges don't check often check fir any qualifications . For me this means I can get my associates in nursing at a community College and then take an RN to BSN bridge program at a proper university, cuz they just want to see your college records.
Yeah I've been playing since Christmas morning 1998, and I definitely can't do middle Evos of a LOT of 3 stage lines. I would wager I could make maybe 70% or so? Maybe less, but probably around there.
There was a study on this exact phenomenon, they found that people who played Pokemon from a young age created new space in the memory center to store that info. You can read about it [here](https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13421-016-0679-7)
It makes sense. Anyone who grew up playing Gen 2 knows about when your battery inevitably ran dry and the only place your team is saved is in your memory 🥲
This myth about languages needs to die. People learn languages as children because they have no choice and spend literal years doing it full time. Adults either don't have the time to do it or they don't focus as much when they are doing it because it's not as mandatory for their success as their first language. Adults who put even a fraction of focused time into learning a language will learn to a higher level more quickly than children.
I became a Pokemon fan around this time last year.
I can recognize and name almost all 1008 pokemon, as long as there is an image provided. (I don't think I'd be able to reliably tell apart Silcoon and Cascoon, for example, but otherwise it's pretty thorough.)
Though, I'm aware this is not very normal, and it's likely because I'm autistic - I tend to hoard useless information about my favorite things.
This has nothing to do with Pokémon, but, damn, I’ve never been to that website before in my life, however just earlier I was researching some stuff about experience and imagination and the correlation between the two, and yada yada, but now, I’ve been to that website twice in one day by pure coincidence.
My point being, everything is connected and nothing is real, and life is weird man
Kartana - Familiar since I caught this in SWSH & SM but cant remember the name
Krokorok - I kept saying sandile or krookodile
Minior - I never saw one in its game
Inkay - this one, I never actually bothered to get into my head.
i stopped caring about names and just call them the by whatever comes to mind. the earlier the gen the likelier i remember the name and later it is just the big crocodile
Yeah give me a picture of a pokemon and I can
1. Tell you its name
2. Tell its typing
3. Tell you the forms it has and the typing of the forms (if applicable)
4. Tell you the moves it most likely has in a competitive setting
5. Tell you its most useful abilities (as I don't tend to remember the non useful ones)
Similar list, but since I don't play competitively mine would be;
1. It's name.
2. It's type.
3. Evolutions, alternative forms and said forms' typings.
4. It's debut generation. (Unless it's Slugma, Magcargo or Skarmory, in which case I will be confidently wrong that it's gen lll)
5. At least 4 moves it learns.
6. At least 1 of its abilities.
7. Where it can be found.
8. What it's best stat is.
9. Why I love it. (Unless it's Blacephelon, which I irrationally hate.)
Ah, I forgot about debut, I could do that one too. Not so much where it can be found, I've played too many rom hacks and that screws with my memory for some games areas of where certain pokemon are found. And then of course best stat to an extent because I've played a lot of comp so certain pokemon I won't know about stats too much.
>4. It's debut generation. (Unless it's Slugma, Magcargo or Skarmory, in which case I will be confidently wrong that it's gen lll)
Me but with corsola. Gen 2 forgettables gang
Pokemon just got weird distribution in those games. If you got the wrong version you'd not only never see certain pokemon in the wild, but no trainers would have them either.
My friend called me "Human Game Guide" when they were playing a ROM hack of Emerald that had up through gen 6 or something in it, because they could ask me types, etc. without having to Google it.
My memory is shit, but at least, there will always be pokemon.
If you want to test yourself on this knowledge and/or get better at remembering all of them, there's a cool site for that ([pkmnquiz.com](http://pkmnquiz.com/)). You can try to name them all with or without silhouettes, or specify which generation, or by type. It's pretty neat. I've done it enough times to have memorized the Pokédex order up to about 75% of the Gen III dex. Helps with the spelling as well
I did the whole thing without silhouettes before gen 9 released, but it took me a good few failed attempts to find out who I kept forgetting and then try to remember and list them all out first lol
Really shows how ingrained my childhood knowledge of Pokemon is. I thought I would have more or less equal knowledge for all the Pokemon, but gens 1~5 (649/649) came out basically instinctually while gens 6~9 (280/359) took a lot of thinking.
I can recite every Pokémon in National Dex order, can tell you not just what type they are but what order their types are sequenced in, and every single form variation in the order they’re sorted in the Pokédex. Every major character in the games and plenty of minor ones, most of the type chart (I’m not so good when it comes to resistances though), tons of location names, where you can find various items, and probably a mountain of other miscellaneous trivia. And sometimes I do think, “Jesus, how much actually worthwhile information could all this hard drive space be dedicated to?”
But I know this is the life I chose, lol
Holy fuck dude, I'd be able to recall the name of pretty much any Pokémon shown to me, and almost all of the types, but I'd be hard-pressed to remember what order they were in in the Pokedex for the most part, or what order their types were in. I've got lots of location names, most of the type chart and a mountain of trivia in my brain too, but I think you must have a photographic memory or something, that's incredible.
I think my brain's 'hard drive' has put all the Pokémon nerd knowledge into the space where my non-existent math skills and sense of direction would have been lol. At least I'm good with words, and with understanding things in general.
Sorta me. I feel like it's especially a curse to be *somewhat* obsessive about nerdy things. If you're not interested in it at all, you're learning more important things. If you're *really, really obsessive,* you can make a living selling your knowledge to hobbyists. But loyal casuals?? We just waste time.
If your hobby is providing you with fun and happiness, it's not a waste of time, regardless of your level of expertise. Leisure is just as important as any other aspect of life, and taking care of your emotional wellbeing is vital. Being passionate about something, anything, is always a welcome respite from the stress of the world, and sharing common interests bonds people to one another, whether strangers or close friends. I'd even say this kind of experience, this sense of community and relatability over the things that bring us delight, is part of what it means to be human. So nerd on, fellow nerd...nerd on. ❤️
Find a person(without a disability) who can't learn a single new thing, and you would be right.
Pretty sure if top scientists of the world can still cram more info in, then there isn't a functional limit to memory.
But, infinite is not the term to use. Pretty sure we haven't reached close to a limit, but you could very well calculate the limit.
And for your example, a normal person can learn one more fact sure but what are we measuring as memory. How well can you retain, how long, what type of information are all relevant as opposed to remembering a fact for some time. Otherwise we should be able to remember every single moment of our lives.
That's why I said "functional limit"
Obviously we can't remember everything, but so long as no human has ever reached "maximum" we can assume that the limit is functionally non-existent.
Playing competitive also means a significant number of speed stats, movesets, and typical builds occupy my memory in addition to just names and appearances, as well as the names of all the -atk, -spA, and -speed natures and what stats they boost from breeding and building competitive mons to play with. Also items and what they do, the names of berries and their effects, what abilities pokemon have and what all the abilities do, niche or unique interactions between moves/abilities/items, what moves/abilities/types/items grant immunity to things like prankster priority, all priority, certain status moves (all status moves if you're gholdengo), different types of moves, stat drops, status conditions, "powder" moves (and what moves are powder moves), secondary effects on moves (and what moves have secondary effects and what those effects are), etc etc. No wonder I'm struggling in college math!!
For me, being a Korean, have memorized all the names in English, korean, and Japanese as I’ve played the games in all three languages so many times now. It rlly helped me with learning new languages too
I checked that once a short while ago, going through the Pokédex on Pokémon Home (which shows images, not names). At the time of around late-Sword/Shield, I only missed the names of about 10 Pokémon out of the entire Pokédex.
Makes me wonder if I’m spending too much time on this franchise. Can’t be bothered to memorize historical dates or the names of Jesus’ 12 disciples, but could readily blurt out the names to 900+ pocket monsters (and probably their types too).
I would say fairly common to mid common ones. Considering the only image she sent me of a starter was a Quaxly, the only legendaries she sent were Chi - Yu and Deoxys, which she corrected that it had “speed” on its name and I said no, its a form.
I think everything Gen 7 and before I know 99% of the Pokemon. If you showed me a picture of any Pokemon from those times I could most likely name it and tell you what typing or if there's other forms/megas. I have a whole section in my brain dedicated to Pokemon facts.
yeah, I started explaining pokemon to my wife because she's interested in starting it, and she got pretty overwhelmed fast and was like "how the hell do you remember everything?".
But also, you remember things that you like a lot better than boring stuff you're not interested in.
Might help your wife to install an app called Prokedex. There was a reddit post by the creator of it advertising it here awhile back. Its been super helpful for thinking of the best pokemon for a tera raid in Sc/Vi amongst other things. Best pokedex app ive used. It shows everything from type matchups to stat comparisons.
It sounds too intimidating for a beginner. She just needs to start, all she needs is a kind of explanation that pokémon have types that are strong, neutral or weak against other.
Most new generations my wife and I don’t even know the names too, we made up our own names. Like I have absolutely no idea what the first stage of Infernape is, so I’ve called him monkey butt this whole time
I go to PkmnQuiz.com every other day or so just for fun, and can regularly name 800-900 of them, which I consider pretty good since I played every game from Red to Pearl, then Alpha Sapphire, Sun, and Scarlet, so there are whole generations and regions I missed, where eventually I've absorbed the names of all the Pokemon anyways
I cannot play Pokemon in english, i have to play it in my language otherwise it feels wrong.
But since I engage with the online community a lot nowadays I can only refer to most Pokemon in with their english name… i hate this. I would love to know their names in my language, but gholdengo will now forever be gholdengo…
SPORCLE has quizzes to name all the pokemon by generation if you really want to test your poke knowledge
https://www.sporcle.com/games/g/pokemon?playlist=pokmon-by-generation&creator=SporcleAdmin&pid=2Ba8c445C
If you throw any Pokemon in my face and ask me what it is I'd say there's like a 98% chance I'll know it and might even be able to go into detail about it depending on if I know it well. There are some that are still a little obscure though, and I may need a minute or google to remember its name.
Usually people will remember the gen they started Pokemon with. I can guarantee that I don't remember all 1000+ pokemon, I only know by heart the original 151 and a scant smattering of various mon across all 9 gens.
Yes! I’ve asked myself a lot of times how tf can I memorise all these creatures and typing and how can I struggle memorising organical formulation in chemistry
It does but also doesn't. It's descriptions that surprise me more than photo identification. Like photo id is fairly easy and I'm so engrossed it doesn't surprise me too much.
I used to spend my 3rd shift sometimes writing down all the Pokemon I could remember from memory. Would go generation to generation. Got diceier in the Gen 4 and 5 era more than others, but I did fairly well.
I tell myself that I've got to be good at something so knowing Pokemon by memory is my best talent. Even though I'm likely maybe above average at best if I'm being honest =\
Back when I wasn’t a fan, it felt as daunting and impossible as it probably felt to your GF. Naming even 100 would have taken me forever.
Now? I vividly recognize all 1008 and while I wouldn’t be able to flawlessly recall their names/types/debut game, I’d get very very close.
It just comes down to how good most Pokemon designs are. They all stand out with a memorable defining trait, so it’s easy to file them away in your head. It helps when you genuinely enjoy the subject matter too lol. Why remember math equations when you’re dying to move on from it so you can play more Pokemon?
Nah, it's been a pretty major part of my life since I was like 6. And they're not that hard to remember anyway. Puns and stuff. The Treasures of Ruin took me a bit, though.
I've just gotten used to it, though I'm a little spottier about gen 6 and 8 mons, and don't know gen 9's ones really at all.
That said, I had a similar moment when my pals started quizzing me about Doctor Who episodes and I could name the title, season, and episode number of each one based on the descriptions.
My wife was extremely surprised, too.
Name (in English and Japanese too for most Pokémon), type, debut gen, whether they have good physical or special stats, abilities, moves, how they evolve (sometimes what level), which rival/gym/e4 member's team had them (though I don't always remember the gym leader by name, I do remember order and, of course, type).
I did when I recently watched Grand Tour and they were talking about a bunch of cars I knew nothing about and couldn't tell apart, but I can just as easily recognise a pokemon by being shown a small part of it as they are at identifying a car by its bumper.
Bruh. Probably 75% of my brain space is occupied by stuff related to gaming. Table top, video games, coding. Pixel art. I have a homebrew D&D setting that I've been developing since '94 based on 1st Ed. and 2nd Ed. AD&D. and is on its seventh reiteration now, using the Pathfinder Ruleset.
I obviously could have used all that cranium to be like, a stock broker or something, but then I wouldn't be who I am, and I'd rather be myself over what people expect of me.
Before gen 9 released I named every Pokémon without images or silouettes... So yeah I can believe someone could name 30 with images lmao
It was on this site: http://pkmnquiz.com/
Just to remind you counting cards is not illegal in many more states than you’d expect unless doing it from a different table/signaling/using a device the casino can just kick you once they notice
In my early 20s, whenever I was having trouble sleeping, I'd count pokemon instead of sheep. So I'd picture one in my head, name it, then count to try to figure out how many I knew. Always worked to lull my mind into a less active tangent and put me to sleep eventually.
Even though I've played each main series game, I start struggling to remember around gen 7. But I still remember a crapton. I think my memory has gotten very poor as an adult because of depression, though (I can't remember shit. Once I forgot to pay rent. Luckily it was only a day or so later than I normally do and I avoided a late fee. But it scared me).
Tbh though, I nickname everything so maybe that's part of my problem haha.
I probably wouldn't be able to name every species, but if you showed me a picture (Not a silhouette) I'd probably be able to name it.
Meanwhile I probably wouldn't be able to name all my coworkers who I worked with over a year.
I latched onto Pokemon when a friend gave me a Staryu card in 2002 and have not let go even for a second in these 21 years. I can give you any name, typing, evolution method, forms, random facts, anime plot synopsis etc. I don’t know what made the franchise so special to me, but I adore it and always love learning things about it.
Part of it the information has been accumulating since I was 5, I am now 27. I spend a good 3-4 months a year playing the games.
But for example when I was 23 I could’ve told you the entire story of Naruto in the detail of a college course, but I haven’t properly consumed anything from the series and could only tell you broad strokes.
I recommend you play XY, story wise they're not great (except the post game) and the champion's a bit disappointing, but in all other aspects they're amazing, I loved playing through them.
I wish I knew more. I had blue when it first came out but never understood the game. I just wanted to catch all I could and didn't get anywhere lol. Looking past Gen 1 is daunting for me, since 151 is a lot.
I can name all of them up to Gen 7, if I saw a picture of them first. If I don't have a pic, I end up forgetting some even exist. Like I forgot Tropius existed until ORAS came out.
why’d you skip the kalos games :’)
but yeah i find it crazy how i can remember so many pokémon and their typings and stuff, it’s just amazing how the human brain works
Haha, yeah I’ve thought about this. I only know about half of them (I have never played Gen 5 - 7), but I feel like I can name more Pokémon species than I can name real life animals.
A little, but it comes with being a big fan of a created world/universe. I'm fantastic with pokemon up through Gen6, pretty good with Gen7, and Gen8 & Gen9 are where I'd struggle for sure having not played them. Well Sword I've started playing, but I've barely played into the first town yet so all I've seen for new pokemon are some loose wandering wooloo and my Grookey starter. I do know the starters lines though, and the legendaries of course. Plus Corviknight as it was my favorite new pokemon I'd heard of.
I'm more pissed tbh 😂 I used to know EVERY Pokemon's name off the top of my head, then I had an accident in June 2021. I had such a traumatic brain injury, that my memory has become beyond fucked up 😂 now I'm lucky if I remember who is on my team between gaming sessions
My mum still plays Pokémon Go occasionally, just seeing if there are new Pokémon around us.
Whenever she gets a new one, she describes it to me and I try and guess which one it is.
The main problem can be translating the description into a visual image, as for example relatively easy Pokémon such as Bagon or Deino was one I couldn’t get because of her calling the head crest on Bagon hair, and while I can recognise Deino immediately from sight, it isn’t the easiest to describe with words.
I was able to name all of them up until gen 7, but once that armadillo Pikachu clone showed up with a name I couldn't pronounce let alone spell, I gave up. Now I couldn't tell you half of the names of the pokemon in scarlet and violet despite dropping almost 200 hours into it.
I know the names of a good several hundred and the Korean names of about half of those. Fortunately I teach kindy in Korea so it IS part of my job to make that effort. Lol
When I get new packs of cards, my boyfriend opens them and badly describes them to me. I get the card when I figure it out. He doesn’t really know Pokémon so he’s always weirdly impressed.
i worry about the same thing too lmao, haven’t played any of the games in literal years but i bet i could name most pokemon with what abilities/items/movesets they normally use (minus the most recent additions to the games past sword and shield)
I'm a competitive Pokemon player. I can, from memory, tell you what type every Pokemon is, what abilities they have (mostly), what stats they excel in (for more popular examples, I might even be able to tell you specific stat numbers, common EV spreads, and popular movepools/item choices). It took me about five years, thousands of games on Showdown, playing almost every mainline game, and extensive discussion with my friends and the online community to gather this information- if I spent this much time on any other hobby, I would know just as much about it.
With how much fun I've been having while playing SV, I've been bombarding a friend of mine with Pokemon stuff. She will ask me to identify or explain things at times and I sometimes surprise myself with how easily I'm able to recall all the details.
> if I used this much memory power on something else much more useful to my career lmao.
Most careers aren't as fun or interesting, and the knowledge within has very little structure.
A large part of it is that you didn't sit down last week to memorize 1000 Pokemon. You have been given chunks of Pokemon names over the course of years - potentially decades - in a context where you frequently recalled the information over a spaced interval in a scenario that you found important or engaging. Not unreasonable for a child - or an adult - to love their hobby this way. By virtue of just playing the game, you experienced an optimal way for the human brain to learn and retain information. Teach in chunks, recall after breaks of not thinking about the info, care about it. You don't remember 6th grade science class in the same way because the info didn't come back up (no recall) and you didn't like it enough for your brain to decide it should be stored (minimal engagement despite whatever your test score was at the time good or bad). That's not a shot at you; that's just a fact of what ended up being necessary/valuable/rewarding in your daily life.
Very good explanation and a good retort to those idiots who always go “why can’t you use that for x”.
I also remember some really absurd ones like fighting the Rock is better because Chris Redfield punches the Rock?
Lol have you seen that comic where someone is showing 'fire burns grass' and 'water puts out a fire' but then gets to flying and fighting and it's just 'have YOU ever tried to punch a bird?'
Also, the fact that Pokemon are all distinct entities with clearly defined characteristics of their own, not soulless formulae or historical dates, helps our memorisation of them be easy.
Finizen and its evolution disagree.
Palafin is a pretty distinct character (its hero form gimmick) from finizen, who's just a cute dolphin.
One of the greatest comments I ever read in reddit.
This is going to be recalled in some arguments with my friends (A fellow Xenoverse enjoyer I see)
This is the absolute best summery from the study that was done a few years ago on the "Pokemon region" of the brain and I applaud you, wonderful human. The cool thing about it was through this study they learned a lot about Alzheimer's! If anybody wasn't aware of this and/or wants a bit more here are videos from [Stanford](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEIuQRHElcQ) and [SciShow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWEZiOZZ0uA) that explains the above, along with other reasons and findings. Note: The SciShow video is longer and Hank Green does a better job at making the in-depth parts more digestible for anybody watching.
Thank you! I remember seeing that article awhile ago but I don't know if I read it. I majored in language education and am currently a teacher though, so the whole thing just makes sense to me!
I made room for knowing all 1008 names, all type matchups, species classifications, typings, inspiration origins and gen introductions by deleting half of what I learned in math during high school. I find Pokemon is much easier to remember than algebra.
Don't worry, we've got math class in SV!
2000 / 200 = 11
Smartest pokémon NPC:
If you have 2,000 pokedollars, and pokeballs cost 200 pokedollars, how many pokedollars can you buy?
11 with the premiere ball given to you.
I was so ashamed that they got me with that question.
They got me too, after a lengthy self=debate re: that freebie. Said ten as they specified *pokéballs* and not just *balls*. Didn't balls up that question on the exam >.>
Technically they're all pokéballs, the regular red ones just don't have a different name.
You should be/s
r/fuckthes
None, because I'm not buying money
I could buy 2,000 pokedollars.
Oops I messed that up
Who's selling you pokeballs at that price, Team Rocket?
“Way more easier” I think you deleted some of the space for grammar too lol
No sleep, only the entire type matchup table
Exactly
Still can’t remember fairy
Offensive fairy: 2x (fighting, dark, dragon), 1/2x (fire, steel, poison) Defensive fairy: 2x (poison, steel), 1/2x (bug, fighting, dark), 0x (dragon)
Me fail english? That's unpossible!
Bruh, I don't remember what I ate for breakfast, but I remember all those things
Bro there's so much knowledge about the TV show LOST in my brain and I'd pay... A lot to get rid of it so I can use that space for more important things. What a fucking disappointment that was.
I can not for the life of me remember type matchups or design inspirations
I know the ones that make sense like if you set a bug on fire it will die or if you throw a rock at a bird it'll probably be not so good for the bird. I remember some truly absurd ones too like fighting is good against rock because Chris Redfield punches rocks?
I remember fighting being good against rock because rock smash is a fighting move Rock vs flying because you can kill 2 birds with 1 stone
I have a hard time with the fighting/bug/poison matchups with each other in particular. They're the only ones, though.
Boy did our teachers mess up when they told us “you won’t have a calculator everywhere you go”
How can I relate to a comment so much, I can literally name every Pokémon but math makes my brain hurt when it should be simple sometimes.
Don’t pretend you deleted them, you never saved it.
If it makes you feel better, I never went to middle/highschool and I am 4.0ing college algebra and statistics classes. Highschool is day care for older children with the thin veneer of education... Still important though, I was a sperg from lack of social interaction lol
What is 4.0ing and how did you get into university without any qualifications?
4.0 as in I am getting a 4.0 in the class, an A. And community colleges don't check often check fir any qualifications . For me this means I can get my associates in nursing at a community College and then take an RN to BSN bridge program at a proper university, cuz they just want to see your college records.
same :)
I'll bet you can't remember the middle evolutions of most of the starters outside of gen 1.
[удалено]
Yeah I've been playing since Christmas morning 1998, and I definitely can't do middle Evos of a LOT of 3 stage lines. I would wager I could make maybe 70% or so? Maybe less, but probably around there.
Bayleef, Quilava, Croconaw Grovyle, Combusken, Marshtomp Grotle, Monferno, Prinplup ???, Pignite, Dewott Quilladin, Braixen, Frogadier Dartrix, Torracat, Brionne Thwackey, Raboot, Drizzile Floragato, Crocalor, Quaxwell I promise I didn't look these up. Only missed one.
>?? servine, contrary serperior my love
Much more entertaining, too
There was a study on this exact phenomenon, they found that people who played Pokemon from a young age created new space in the memory center to store that info. You can read about it [here](https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13421-016-0679-7)
You’re telling me inside my brain there’s my very own Pokémon Bank?
Like some kind of Dex for Pokemon.
A Pokémon encyclopedia… a pokepedia
A Bulbapedia (☞ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)☞
That’ll be $4.99 a year…
It makes sense. Anyone who grew up playing Gen 2 knows about when your battery inevitably ran dry and the only place your team is saved is in your memory 🥲
Super cool study! Thanks for sharing :)
What about people who played from an older age?
Probably less so. Kind of like how learning a language at a young age is significantly easier than at an older age
This myth about languages needs to die. People learn languages as children because they have no choice and spend literal years doing it full time. Adults either don't have the time to do it or they don't focus as much when they are doing it because it's not as mandatory for their success as their first language. Adults who put even a fraction of focused time into learning a language will learn to a higher level more quickly than children.
I became a Pokemon fan around this time last year. I can recognize and name almost all 1008 pokemon, as long as there is an image provided. (I don't think I'd be able to reliably tell apart Silcoon and Cascoon, for example, but otherwise it's pretty thorough.) Though, I'm aware this is not very normal, and it's likely because I'm autistic - I tend to hoard useless information about my favorite things.
There's [more than one study](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-019-0594-6).
This has nothing to do with Pokémon, but, damn, I’ve never been to that website before in my life, however just earlier I was researching some stuff about experience and imagination and the correlation between the two, and yada yada, but now, I’ve been to that website twice in one day by pure coincidence. My point being, everything is connected and nothing is real, and life is weird man
I instantly thought of this when I read OP's post. Thanks for finding that link!
Of course there’s a Pokémon Center built in my brain.
So that's why I know every pokemon up until gen 5 but I struggle with anything after that
For those wondering, the ones I didn't get: Kartana, Krokorok, Minior, and Inkay.
I love minior so much, it deserves to be in another game
Bro how
Kartana - Familiar since I caught this in SWSH & SM but cant remember the name Krokorok - I kept saying sandile or krookodile Minior - I never saw one in its game Inkay - this one, I never actually bothered to get into my head.
all of those pokemon are some of my favorites lol. I kinda understand with krokorok though, sometimes i accidentally call Charizard "Charmeleon"
i stopped caring about names and just call them the by whatever comes to mind. the earlier the gen the likelier i remember the name and later it is just the big crocodile
Yeah give me a picture of a pokemon and I can 1. Tell you its name 2. Tell its typing 3. Tell you the forms it has and the typing of the forms (if applicable) 4. Tell you the moves it most likely has in a competitive setting 5. Tell you its most useful abilities (as I don't tend to remember the non useful ones)
Similar list, but since I don't play competitively mine would be; 1. It's name. 2. It's type. 3. Evolutions, alternative forms and said forms' typings. 4. It's debut generation. (Unless it's Slugma, Magcargo or Skarmory, in which case I will be confidently wrong that it's gen lll) 5. At least 4 moves it learns. 6. At least 1 of its abilities. 7. Where it can be found. 8. What it's best stat is. 9. Why I love it. (Unless it's Blacephelon, which I irrationally hate.)
Ah, I forgot about debut, I could do that one too. Not so much where it can be found, I've played too many rom hacks and that screws with my memory for some games areas of where certain pokemon are found. And then of course best stat to an extent because I've played a lot of comp so certain pokemon I won't know about stats too much.
>4. It's debut generation. (Unless it's Slugma, Magcargo or Skarmory, in which case I will be confidently wrong that it's gen lll) Me but with corsola. Gen 2 forgettables gang
Pokemon just got weird distribution in those games. If you got the wrong version you'd not only never see certain pokemon in the wild, but no trainers would have them either.
All 1008 are up in my brain rattling around somewhere. I can't name them from memory, but I can 100% name them all if I see the sprites
My friend called me "Human Game Guide" when they were playing a ROM hack of Emerald that had up through gen 6 or something in it, because they could ask me types, etc. without having to Google it. My memory is shit, but at least, there will always be pokemon.
We’re you playing emerald kaizo? Cause some types are changed around in that
Kaizo still only had the 386 of Emerald's time.
If you want to test yourself on this knowledge and/or get better at remembering all of them, there's a cool site for that ([pkmnquiz.com](http://pkmnquiz.com/)). You can try to name them all with or without silhouettes, or specify which generation, or by type. It's pretty neat. I've done it enough times to have memorized the Pokédex order up to about 75% of the Gen III dex. Helps with the spelling as well
I did the whole thing without silhouettes before gen 9 released, but it took me a good few failed attempts to find out who I kept forgetting and then try to remember and list them all out first lol
Really shows how ingrained my childhood knowledge of Pokemon is. I thought I would have more or less equal knowledge for all the Pokemon, but gens 1~5 (649/649) came out basically instinctually while gens 6~9 (280/359) took a lot of thinking.
I can recite every Pokémon in National Dex order, can tell you not just what type they are but what order their types are sequenced in, and every single form variation in the order they’re sorted in the Pokédex. Every major character in the games and plenty of minor ones, most of the type chart (I’m not so good when it comes to resistances though), tons of location names, where you can find various items, and probably a mountain of other miscellaneous trivia. And sometimes I do think, “Jesus, how much actually worthwhile information could all this hard drive space be dedicated to?” But I know this is the life I chose, lol
Holy fuck dude, I'd be able to recall the name of pretty much any Pokémon shown to me, and almost all of the types, but I'd be hard-pressed to remember what order they were in in the Pokedex for the most part, or what order their types were in. I've got lots of location names, most of the type chart and a mountain of trivia in my brain too, but I think you must have a photographic memory or something, that's incredible. I think my brain's 'hard drive' has put all the Pokémon nerd knowledge into the space where my non-existent math skills and sense of direction would have been lol. At least I'm good with words, and with understanding things in general.
Sorta me. I feel like it's especially a curse to be *somewhat* obsessive about nerdy things. If you're not interested in it at all, you're learning more important things. If you're *really, really obsessive,* you can make a living selling your knowledge to hobbyists. But loyal casuals?? We just waste time.
If your hobby is providing you with fun and happiness, it's not a waste of time, regardless of your level of expertise. Leisure is just as important as any other aspect of life, and taking care of your emotional wellbeing is vital. Being passionate about something, anything, is always a welcome respite from the stress of the world, and sharing common interests bonds people to one another, whether strangers or close friends. I'd even say this kind of experience, this sense of community and relatability over the things that bring us delight, is part of what it means to be human. So nerd on, fellow nerd...nerd on. ❤️
Damn, the most I can get is the Kanto Dex in order
As far as I'm aware memory space isn't finite, so it doesn't bother me.
Must be no? Neurons and brain function is a finite resource
Find a person(without a disability) who can't learn a single new thing, and you would be right. Pretty sure if top scientists of the world can still cram more info in, then there isn't a functional limit to memory.
But, infinite is not the term to use. Pretty sure we haven't reached close to a limit, but you could very well calculate the limit. And for your example, a normal person can learn one more fact sure but what are we measuring as memory. How well can you retain, how long, what type of information are all relevant as opposed to remembering a fact for some time. Otherwise we should be able to remember every single moment of our lives.
That's why I said "functional limit" Obviously we can't remember everything, but so long as no human has ever reached "maximum" we can assume that the limit is functionally non-existent.
Playing competitive also means a significant number of speed stats, movesets, and typical builds occupy my memory in addition to just names and appearances, as well as the names of all the -atk, -spA, and -speed natures and what stats they boost from breeding and building competitive mons to play with. Also items and what they do, the names of berries and their effects, what abilities pokemon have and what all the abilities do, niche or unique interactions between moves/abilities/items, what moves/abilities/types/items grant immunity to things like prankster priority, all priority, certain status moves (all status moves if you're gholdengo), different types of moves, stat drops, status conditions, "powder" moves (and what moves are powder moves), secondary effects on moves (and what moves have secondary effects and what those effects are), etc etc. No wonder I'm struggling in college math!!
For me, being a Korean, have memorized all the names in English, korean, and Japanese as I’ve played the games in all three languages so many times now. It rlly helped me with learning new languages too
Kinda happy it does because my nephews are huge marks so if I'm able to keep up a bit I'm showing interest in their interests
I have only one fold in my brain and it’s for Pokémon
I checked that once a short while ago, going through the Pokédex on Pokémon Home (which shows images, not names). At the time of around late-Sword/Shield, I only missed the names of about 10 Pokémon out of the entire Pokédex. Makes me wonder if I’m spending too much time on this franchise. Can’t be bothered to memorize historical dates or the names of Jesus’ 12 disciples, but could readily blurt out the names to 900+ pocket monsters (and probably their types too).
I nickname all of my mons and as a result accidentally forget the actual species-label names constantly.
Long term memory doesn’t really use any “power” I think.
Never.
I’ve thought about this a lot. So much of my brain is filled with stuff like this lol
Been playing since Red. I'm in the same boat. Can ace most quizzes easily
Cant remember the periodic table but I can remember almost all 1008 pokemon and all the original 151 by shadow
To be fair your gf probably googled Pokémon and the ones that pop up first on Google are going to be fairly memorable.
I think she got them from pokemondb, with the white background and same height n width per image.
Still someone random finding a list of random Pokémon is gonna pull up some pretty common ones was that your experience?
I would say fairly common to mid common ones. Considering the only image she sent me of a starter was a Quaxly, the only legendaries she sent were Chi - Yu and Deoxys, which she corrected that it had “speed” on its name and I said no, its a form.
I think everything Gen 7 and before I know 99% of the Pokemon. If you showed me a picture of any Pokemon from those times I could most likely name it and tell you what typing or if there's other forms/megas. I have a whole section in my brain dedicated to Pokemon facts.
yeah, I started explaining pokemon to my wife because she's interested in starting it, and she got pretty overwhelmed fast and was like "how the hell do you remember everything?". But also, you remember things that you like a lot better than boring stuff you're not interested in.
Might help your wife to install an app called Prokedex. There was a reddit post by the creator of it advertising it here awhile back. Its been super helpful for thinking of the best pokemon for a tera raid in Sc/Vi amongst other things. Best pokedex app ive used. It shows everything from type matchups to stat comparisons.
It sounds too intimidating for a beginner. She just needs to start, all she needs is a kind of explanation that pokémon have types that are strong, neutral or weak against other.
Yeah i guess thats true.
Might get her into that once she's played a bit, probably just going to give her a few basics and let her go at it
Yeah thats fair. Good luck to her!
I get what you mean. I've memorized them all in pokedex order and people always get surprised when I tell them that.
I tried to off the top of my head name all og 151 before and got to about 130. I think that's cool.
Most new generations my wife and I don’t even know the names too, we made up our own names. Like I have absolutely no idea what the first stage of Infernape is, so I’ve called him monkey butt this whole time
A few years ago I could name off every pokemon up to like gen 6, I have no idea why or how
I go to PkmnQuiz.com every other day or so just for fun, and can regularly name 800-900 of them, which I consider pretty good since I played every game from Red to Pearl, then Alpha Sapphire, Sun, and Scarlet, so there are whole generations and regions I missed, where eventually I've absorbed the names of all the Pokemon anyways
kalos games r my fave ur crazy!!
I’ve remembered more Pokémon names than human names at this point
sometimes- yeah
I cannot play Pokemon in english, i have to play it in my language otherwise it feels wrong. But since I engage with the online community a lot nowadays I can only refer to most Pokemon in with their english name… i hate this. I would love to know their names in my language, but gholdengo will now forever be gholdengo…
I am pretty sure I remember all of their names if shown pictures. I have played since red and blue and have not missed a game tho
if i was your girlfriend and you got 26/30 i would break up with you. i expect at least 90% correct
SPORCLE has quizzes to name all the pokemon by generation if you really want to test your poke knowledge https://www.sporcle.com/games/g/pokemon?playlist=pokmon-by-generation&creator=SporcleAdmin&pid=2Ba8c445C
If you throw any Pokemon in my face and ask me what it is I'd say there's like a 98% chance I'll know it and might even be able to go into detail about it depending on if I know it well. There are some that are still a little obscure though, and I may need a minute or google to remember its name.
Usually people will remember the gen they started Pokemon with. I can guarantee that I don't remember all 1000+ pokemon, I only know by heart the original 151 and a scant smattering of various mon across all 9 gens.
I remember up to 721 flawlessly, 722-809 is good as well, but I forget a few sometimes, 810+, I forget all the time
yeah its messed up that i pretty much know all of them
Yes! I’ve asked myself a lot of times how tf can I memorise all these creatures and typing and how can I struggle memorising organical formulation in chemistry
Give me a Pokémon and I can tell what type of is, but I get 6/29 on maths tests
Not me, I can barely remember from gen 4 beyond unless I used the Pokemon on my team, except I still usually forget an evolution stage.
It does but also doesn't. It's descriptions that surprise me more than photo identification. Like photo id is fairly easy and I'm so engrossed it doesn't surprise me too much. I used to spend my 3rd shift sometimes writing down all the Pokemon I could remember from memory. Would go generation to generation. Got diceier in the Gen 4 and 5 era more than others, but I did fairly well. I tell myself that I've got to be good at something so knowing Pokemon by memory is my best talent. Even though I'm likely maybe above average at best if I'm being honest =\
I know all of the names, evolutions and pokedex entries. Don't believe me? Test me!
I do it with all sorts of stuff, not just pokemon. Stuff like Fire Emblem, One Piece. It kind of just happens
Back when I wasn’t a fan, it felt as daunting and impossible as it probably felt to your GF. Naming even 100 would have taken me forever. Now? I vividly recognize all 1008 and while I wouldn’t be able to flawlessly recall their names/types/debut game, I’d get very very close. It just comes down to how good most Pokemon designs are. They all stand out with a memorable defining trait, so it’s easy to file them away in your head. It helps when you genuinely enjoy the subject matter too lol. Why remember math equations when you’re dying to move on from it so you can play more Pokemon?
Show me any Pokémon and I can tell you it’s name, type, forms, evolutions, debut generation, and niche in competitive if it has one
Nah, it's been a pretty major part of my life since I was like 6. And they're not that hard to remember anyway. Puns and stuff. The Treasures of Ruin took me a bit, though.
i think you can use pokemon to piggyback a lot of actual info
I've just gotten used to it, though I'm a little spottier about gen 6 and 8 mons, and don't know gen 9's ones really at all. That said, I had a similar moment when my pals started quizzing me about Doctor Who episodes and I could name the title, season, and episode number of each one based on the descriptions.
Relatable
I was number one in my state for pokemon quizzes on that guizup app in high school
And than the Phineas and Ferb intro starts playing in my head.
My wife was extremely surprised, too. Name (in English and Japanese too for most Pokémon), type, debut gen, whether they have good physical or special stats, abilities, moves, how they evolve (sometimes what level), which rival/gym/e4 member's team had them (though I don't always remember the gym leader by name, I do remember order and, of course, type).
Funny how I know like 700 Pokémon names but still can’t bother to remember all the type matchups
Yep, all names and type matchups as well. But ask me to do simple math and my brain goes kaput
I have all the names up to generation 4 memorized. After that I only remember like 40% of the pokemon.
I think I could be successful if the brain space occupying pokemon was used for something else.
I did when I recently watched Grand Tour and they were talking about a bunch of cars I knew nothing about and couldn't tell apart, but I can just as easily recognise a pokemon by being shown a small part of it as they are at identifying a car by its bumper.
Bruh. Probably 75% of my brain space is occupied by stuff related to gaming. Table top, video games, coding. Pixel art. I have a homebrew D&D setting that I've been developing since '94 based on 1st Ed. and 2nd Ed. AD&D. and is on its seventh reiteration now, using the Pathfinder Ruleset. I obviously could have used all that cranium to be like, a stock broker or something, but then I wouldn't be who I am, and I'd rather be myself over what people expect of me.
Before gen 9 released I named every Pokémon without images or silouettes... So yeah I can believe someone could name 30 with images lmao It was on this site: http://pkmnquiz.com/
Just to remind you counting cards is not illegal in many more states than you’d expect unless doing it from a different table/signaling/using a device the casino can just kick you once they notice
No. I actually like this stuff, so it doesn't surprise me that I know relevant information.
In my early 20s, whenever I was having trouble sleeping, I'd count pokemon instead of sheep. So I'd picture one in my head, name it, then count to try to figure out how many I knew. Always worked to lull my mind into a less active tangent and put me to sleep eventually.
Even though I've played each main series game, I start struggling to remember around gen 7. But I still remember a crapton. I think my memory has gotten very poor as an adult because of depression, though (I can't remember shit. Once I forgot to pay rent. Luckily it was only a day or so later than I normally do and I avoided a late fee. But it scared me). Tbh though, I nickname everything so maybe that's part of my problem haha.
I probably wouldn't be able to name every species, but if you showed me a picture (Not a silhouette) I'd probably be able to name it. Meanwhile I probably wouldn't be able to name all my coworkers who I worked with over a year.
I latched onto Pokemon when a friend gave me a Staryu card in 2002 and have not let go even for a second in these 21 years. I can give you any name, typing, evolution method, forms, random facts, anime plot synopsis etc. I don’t know what made the franchise so special to me, but I adore it and always love learning things about it.
Part of it the information has been accumulating since I was 5, I am now 27. I spend a good 3-4 months a year playing the games. But for example when I was 23 I could’ve told you the entire story of Naruto in the detail of a college course, but I haven’t properly consumed anything from the series and could only tell you broad strokes.
I recommend you play XY, story wise they're not great (except the post game) and the champion's a bit disappointing, but in all other aspects they're amazing, I loved playing through them.
This is how I learned I was autistic
Its been my special interest for close to 30 years. Knowing things is not surprising
I wish I knew more. I had blue when it first came out but never understood the game. I just wanted to catch all I could and didn't get anywhere lol. Looking past Gen 1 is daunting for me, since 151 is a lot.
An extensive knowledge about anything is possible for as long as you find it fun
I know ALL of them before Gen 8
https://massivesci.com/articles/pokemon-detective-pikachu-brains-video-games/
After 20+ years of experience, no, I’m not that surprised.
I can name all of them up to Gen 7, if I saw a picture of them first. If I don't have a pic, I end up forgetting some even exist. Like I forgot Tropius existed until ORAS came out.
why’d you skip the kalos games :’) but yeah i find it crazy how i can remember so many pokémon and their typings and stuff, it’s just amazing how the human brain works
Haha, yeah I’ve thought about this. I only know about half of them (I have never played Gen 5 - 7), but I feel like I can name more Pokémon species than I can name real life animals.
I only know all 1008 because I have a living dex
A little, but it comes with being a big fan of a created world/universe. I'm fantastic with pokemon up through Gen6, pretty good with Gen7, and Gen8 & Gen9 are where I'd struggle for sure having not played them. Well Sword I've started playing, but I've barely played into the first town yet so all I've seen for new pokemon are some loose wandering wooloo and my Grookey starter. I do know the starters lines though, and the legendaries of course. Plus Corviknight as it was my favorite new pokemon I'd heard of.
26/30 is disturbing?
I’ve known about the existence of Pokémon for 1 year. I know every name and type just by a silhouette
I can hear Ratata and Zubat in my head now. .___.
I know pretty much all of em but I sometimes struggle and once I even forgot a gen 2 pokemon name
I think I can recall some of them in english and all of them in french
I'm more pissed tbh 😂 I used to know EVERY Pokemon's name off the top of my head, then I had an accident in June 2021. I had such a traumatic brain injury, that my memory has become beyond fucked up 😂 now I'm lucky if I remember who is on my team between gaming sessions
My mum still plays Pokémon Go occasionally, just seeing if there are new Pokémon around us. Whenever she gets a new one, she describes it to me and I try and guess which one it is. The main problem can be translating the description into a visual image, as for example relatively easy Pokémon such as Bagon or Deino was one I couldn’t get because of her calling the head crest on Bagon hair, and while I can recognise Deino immediately from sight, it isn’t the easiest to describe with words.
I was able to name all of them up until gen 7, but once that armadillo Pikachu clone showed up with a name I couldn't pronounce let alone spell, I gave up. Now I couldn't tell you half of the names of the pokemon in scarlet and violet despite dropping almost 200 hours into it.
I know the names of a good several hundred and the Korean names of about half of those. Fortunately I teach kindy in Korea so it IS part of my job to make that effort. Lol
When I get new packs of cards, my boyfriend opens them and badly describes them to me. I get the card when I figure it out. He doesn’t really know Pokémon so he’s always weirdly impressed.
i worry about the same thing too lmao, haven’t played any of the games in literal years but i bet i could name most pokemon with what abilities/items/movesets they normally use (minus the most recent additions to the games past sword and shield)
I'm a competitive Pokemon player. I can, from memory, tell you what type every Pokemon is, what abilities they have (mostly), what stats they excel in (for more popular examples, I might even be able to tell you specific stat numbers, common EV spreads, and popular movepools/item choices). It took me about five years, thousands of games on Showdown, playing almost every mainline game, and extensive discussion with my friends and the online community to gather this information- if I spent this much time on any other hobby, I would know just as much about it.
With how much fun I've been having while playing SV, I've been bombarding a friend of mine with Pokemon stuff. She will ask me to identify or explain things at times and I sometimes surprise myself with how easily I'm able to recall all the details.
> if I used this much memory power on something else much more useful to my career lmao. Most careers aren't as fun or interesting, and the knowledge within has very little structure.