Pokémon TCG Pocket Fans Reveal More Gen 1 Locations Hidden In Card Backgrounds
Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket has adapted the 30-year-old card game to mobile devices and the modern age, but fans are discovering that the game has sprinkled some nostalgic Easter eggs within the virtual cards. The free mobile game allows fans to open booster packs, collect and display their favorite cards, and battle other players, just like they would with the physical cards. The cards featured in the virtual game have been overhauled for more streamlined digital play, and many of the game's illustrations are entirely new to the game.
Earlier this week, Redditor asch_win discovered that a Spearow card exclusive to TCG Pocket hid some clues to its location in the card's background. The card, it appears, was set on Route 16, just outside Celadon City in the original Pokémon Red, based on background details included in the drawing.
The same Redditor has found several other cards do the same, hiding clues to their in-game whereabouts in the art. Other Redditors have joined in with playing the Pokémon version of GeoGuessr and uncovered several homages to the origins of the franchise that had been hidden in plain sight all this time.
Pokémon TCG Pocket Players Pinpoint Several More In-Game Card Locations
All The Cards Point To Spots In The Original Pokémon Red And Blue Games
The original finder of the Spearow spot has also found the locations of a few other cards in another Reddit post. The cards with location Easter eggs include the full art Diglett card (found on Route 11, next to Vermillion City), Haunter (in Lavender Town, in front of the Pokémon Tower), Doduo (by the bike path in Route 17), and Rattata (in a patch of grass just outside of Pallet Town).
Surprisingly, Pokémon aren't the only cards that have gotten this treatment, as several Trainer cards also include background details that place them in specific locations within the game, like Professor Oak's lab or the gym trainers within their respective gyms, also shared by asch_win on Reddit. TCG Pocket player and Reddit user Lord_Snaps also had some insight into the location of the now-famous Exodia-like Snorlax (the Pokemon's limbs can be seen in a few other cards in the game), placing it in Route 12 in Kanto.
Our Take: Pokémon TCG Pocket Easter Eggs Show That It Remembers Its Roots
TCG Pocket Feeds Into Fans' Nostalgia
Pokémon TCG Pocket is the most modern version of the trading card game. It's been overhauled for the digital age and made accessible to all players young and old, whether they have the funds (or storage space) for Pokémon card collecting. And yet, despite being a very modern version of the game, the game remains true to its roots. Finding little details like this seems like a small present for the older fans, the ones for whom the Gen 1 card locations are a nostalgic treat.
Of course, some fans have also gotten a little silly with the idea, with posts pinpointing cards in really obvious locations, or implying that certain trainers (mainly, Sabrina) are located in the players' hearts. So far, though, all the legitimate locations that have been found are located in the original Pokémon titles, giving the classics a nod and feeding into the nostalgia of the player base for Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket.
Source: asch_win/Reddit (1, 2, 3), Lord_Snaps/Reddit
