The Pokemon Adventures manga series has run side by side with the games for a long time, but tells a very different story. Most of the time, the main characters are the same as are the Legendaries that pop upThe new mechanics added for each generation's games are included in some way.
Other than that, Pokemon Adventures usually tells vastly different narratives. And just like how Ash has a lot to learn from Red, the game versions of these characters have a lot to learn from their manga counterparts. Since the Gold, Silver, and Crystal section is still the longest-running one, it seemed like a good chance to demonstrate how this Johto-based manga differs from the games.
10 Throwing The Pokeball As Another Layer Of Strategy
This concept pops up all over the manga series, but really only starts taking off in the GSaC (Gold, Silver, and Crystal) section. Basically, it’s the concept of trainers using their Pokeballs in unique ways to add new levels of complexity to their battles.
For example, Gold likes to use a pool cue to hit his Pokeballs in ways that allow his Pokemon to pop up behind opponents. Crystal likes to kick Pokeballs at Pokemon to capture them, and can kick several at once to capture groups of Pokemon in a flash. Yellow likes to use her fishing rod to control how her Pokemon are released.
9 Pokeballs Themselves Function Differently
Speaking of Pokeballs, they function a bit differently in the Adventures manga series. Firstly, the red top half of a Pokeball turns semi-transparent once a Pokemon is inside it, allowing the miniaturized Pokemon within to communicate with their trainers while still in the ball. Secondly, this is the first Adventures section to actually discuss how Pokeballs work — which the games do not.
For example, the Bug-type Gym Leader Bugsy's catching net is made from the same thread that Pokeballs use to “capture and tame” the Pokemon. It's nice to have some sort of canonical confirmation that Pokeballs aren't just pure magic.
8 The Entire Pryce or "Mask of Ice" Storyline
Pryce, the Gym Leader of Mahogony Town, is an incredibly different character in the manga than in either the games or the anime. In the manga, he’s the mastermind behind the GSaC section’s main conflict. He's also a manipulative, power-hungry person, trying to control time itself using Celebi.
In the anime and games, though, he’s just an experienced elderly trainer who meditates under a waterfall all the time. The two versions of this character are like night and day in terms of their personality and goals.
7 The Origin Of The Name "Team Rocket"
The Team Rocket organization had a lot more bite in the manga series, where they're a lot more dangerous. However, the manga does one hilariously corny thing to take this villainous team down a notch. It gives their name an absurdly stupid origin.
In the GSaC section, Lt. Surge (a Team Rocket member in Adventures) tries to get through to some brainwashed Rocket goons by talking about how they got their name. Apparently, Giovanni likened their organization and its members to “tusks”, which would be used as tools of evil for his own goals. Hence the phrase "Raid On The City, Knock Out...Evil Tusks" was born. It's never been confirmed if this is the canonical background of the name, but it’s hilariously nonsensical all the same.
6 The Gym Leader Exhibition Match
One of the most exciting events in the GSaC section is the Gym Leader exhibition match. The Pokemon Federation sets up this exhibition match of Kanto vs. Johto gym leaders.
Ultimately, it was a way for Oak and his Pokedex Holders to identify the “Mask of Ice” antagonist of the section, who was known to be one of these gym leaders. It's an awesome event that would have been incredible to see in the games, especially in an already underrated entry like Pokemon Crystal.
5 The Concept Of An “Energy Point”
Interestingly, early concepts introduced in Pokemon Adventures often made their way into game mechanics much further down the line. It does make sense, considering the creator of Pokemon, Satoshi Taijiri, said in an interview that this manga is the closest representation to how he imagined the Pokemon universe to be.
One such example is GSaC's introduction of the concept of each Pokemon having an “Energy Point,” where Pokeballs would have the best chance of working on a Pokemon. Then, seventeen years later, Pokemon Go came out and hinted at a similar concept in their catching mechanics. Who knows what age-old ideas will pop up in the upcoming Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl?
4 Hints At Regional Variants Before They Became A Reality
In the same vein, Bill hinted at regional variant Pokemon in the GSaC section of the manga. At this point in the story, Crystal had already received her Pokedex from Professor Oak and was traveling with her all-star team of surprisingly capable Pokemon, sending anything she caught back to the Professor for his research.
While talking to Bill, he mentions to her that Pokemon have regional variants based on where they’re found and captured. In the GSaC games, this isn’t true (outside of elusive shiny variations). However, a long way down the line, these regional variants became a reality starting with the Sun and Moon games.
3 Silver’s Past With Pryce, Giovanni, & Green
Silver is a much more likable character in the manga compared to his game incarnation. For example, the version of Silver in the manga was kidnapped by Pryce, made into a “slave” along with Green, and escaped. He eventually started working with the ex-Pokemon Champion Lance, and eventually got his own Pokedex.
The game iteration doesn’t have this same background. This is likely because Pryce isn’t nearly the same character in the games, and Green was sadly not around as a character this early in the franchise. That said, both versions of the character are still the son of Team Rocket’s leader, Giovanni.
2 Gold Turns His Bike Into A Scooter
Gold is like the perfect encapsulation of a “90’s kid”. He wears a backward hat, skateboards around, has goggles, and doesn’t listen to authority. So when he ends up facing Whitney, the Goldenrod City gym leader, in a bike race, he’s going to go about it his own way.
Instead of using the bikes the franchise is so iconically known for, Gold instead takes the bike (and his skateboard) apart. He combines them into a scooter, a method of transport that was an icon of the 90s. Sadly, it wasn't an option in the games.
1 The Gym Leaders & Their Legendary Beasts
The three Legendary Beasts have a different purpose in the Adventures manga than they do in the games. All three roam the world in the manga, battling gym leaders to see if they’re worthy of wielding them. Over the course of the story, Suicune (the best of the three, and one of the best Pokemon designs in general) ends up beating most of the Johto Gym Leaders.
It’s not until he comes across Misty that Suicune finds someone he wouldn’t mind lending his power to. A few chapters later, Entei ends up healing and working with Cinnabar Island's Blaine. Raikou (off-screen) lends his power to the one and only Lt. Surge. It’s a neat story element, but it doesn’t at all match the events of the games.