Remembering Pokemon Game Corner

Having casinos or gambling mini-games within a video game isn’t that new. Red Dead Redemption, GTA, The Witcher, and Fallout have all featured gambling as both side-content and even as plot-relevant sections of the game. 

Older Pokemon releases had a so-called Game Corner, where you could buy chips, play slots or other casino games, and exchange your winnings for relevant rewards. Of course, it wasn’t real gambling, and it didn’t require you to use real money. What’s more the RTP on casino Pokemon slots was significantly higher than the RTP of games on Yukon Gold Casino NZ or any other legitimate gambling site. Still, this feature had to be removed, and many older players miss it while new fans will never get to experience it. 

To that end let’s take a stroll down memory lane, and revisit the iconic Game Corner.  After all, these casinos had some neat goodies that could help your progression. 

What Were Game Corners and Where They Could Be Found

In essence, game corners were slot parlors, where you would find or buy coins. You could then use those coins for gambling and exchange them for TMs, Items, or Pokemon by talking to NPCs behind the counter. However, you weren’t able to use coins or gamble until you found the coin bag.  

Basically, finding these coins could be regarded as the first version of no-deposit bonuses many online casinos offer nowadays. Back then though, there weren’t any guides like the ones for Captain Cooks by iCasinoreviews.info that analyze operators and their games in detail. So players had to find out how these slots work and where to get free coins all on their own.    

Game Corners with slots have been around until Gen IV and they weren’t exactly replaced, the devs simply excluded gambling content, and added regular arcades. So, should you ever decide to play the old-gen games make sure you visit these relics of the past.

Celadon Game Corner

In Red, Blue, and Green this wasn’t just a location where you get to enjoy side content, Celadon Game Corner was relevant to the plot. It was a secret hideout for Team Rocket and you needed to challenge the grunt in front of the poster to access their hidden base. 

This section has inspired Rocket Game Corner in Pokémon manga – Tauros the Tyrant, where the protagonists discover Team Rocket’s base behind the poster and try to infiltrate it. This also makes Rocket Game, inspired by the Pokémon Red gambling hub, one of the most well-known casinos in comic books as it houses some of the main antagonists. 

Red, Green, and Pokemon Blue slot machines worked exactly the same, the jackpot was triple 7s and it could multiply your bet 300 times. However, the coin exchange prizes weren’t identical:

• TMs – Dragon Rage, Hyper Beam, Substitute (in all versions)
• Abra, Dratini, Cleafery (in all versions)
• Scyther (Red only)
• Pinsir (Blue and Green)
• Nidorina (Red only)
• Nidorino(Blue and Green)
• Porygon (in all versions)

Goldenrod Game Corner

In Gen II you could find the casino in Goldenrod City. But once you beat the game you could travel to Kanto and visit the casino from Celadon. Pokemon Gold and Pokemon Silver slots also worked identically to the ones from the previous gen. The TM prizes you could get were also quite powerful – Thunder, Blizzard, Fire Blast. These were ideal STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus) moves if you had Electric, Ice, or Fire Pokemon on your team. 

You could also get Dratini in both game versions and evolve it to Dragonite, which was a great pseudo-legendary at that time.   

Mauville and Veilstone Game Corner

In Gen III and IV, Game Corners were slightly different when it came to prize exchanges. At this time battle items were added so the dev team decided they were better options than mons. Luckily, powerful TMs were still present, and you could potentially get more of them.

In Mauville you could get Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Psychic, Flamethrower, as powerful STAB moves, as well as Double Team. 

The same TMs were available in Gen IV’s Veilstone and a few other ones that are worth noting:

• Hidden Power
• Giga Impact
• Gyro Ball
• Sword Dance
• U-turn

The items you could get for coins here were a Silk Scarf, a Zoom Lens, a Wide Lens, and a Metronome.  

Why Was it Removed? 

In reality, Game Freak had difficulties shipping the product Internationally because of this feature. They wanted the PEGI rating of 3 or 7 rather than 12, and this is why in certain versions of older-gen titles slots were replaced with mine-sweeper games. In the Black and White releases, the access to these hubs was closed off, and that was the end of it. 

Conclusion

Although the original releases no longer have casinos, some of the fan-made Pokémon titles still use it. These are aimed at more mature audiences and they cannot be displayed in actual stores due to copyright laws. So, the devs don’t mind including casinos in these unique spin-offs. 

featured image Source: Unsplash