Gaming History You Should Know – Pokemon Live February 18, 2018

It’s Sunday, and that heralds the return of Gaming History You Should Know, where we look at some of the best content from across the web about gaming industry. Even in today’s world of video games, HDTVs and IMAX movies, there’s always room for the live stage. Heck, many of the greatest stories ever told started as stage productions made for a live audience. With high end stage productions so expensive, Broadway is now taking safe bets. Today’s Broadway lineup is filled with adaptations of recognizable properties from film, television and comic books.

Did you know that back in the early 2000s, there was one live stage production so ahead of its time, no company has dared do something similar to it since? It was an adaptation of the most successful gaming franchise in history, Pokémon Live.

Whether you’re a Pokémon fan or just a fan of theatrical productions, doesn’t this look awesome? Pokémon Live was a live-action musical stage show which launched during the peak of Pokémon’s popularity. The show was written by the same team members responsible for the English dub of Pokémon: The Animated Series, and featured an entirely original non-canon story based on the characters from the animated show.

I actually remember hearing about Pokémon Live, back when it first launched. I was watching Pokémon: The Animated Series daily at the time, and I would have loved to check out the show back in the day. Unfortunately, like with everything popular and important, no production of the show ever came anywhere close to where I lived, and I could never afford to go and see it. To make things worse, Pokémon Live didn’t last very long on stage. Pokémon Fever died down shortly before the release of Pokémon Crystal, and interest in the show must not have been able to sustain its production costs, closing the opportunity for me to ever witness it.

So while the show was no longer in production, was any footage of the show recorded on video? Enter the incredible YouTube video producer, Chadtronic. His channel describes him as “a pillow throwing manchild stuck in the ’90s [who] makes a variety of comedic videos.” I first heard about him when I was doing some research on Pokémon toy collecting, because he did a great video about Burger King’s original Pokémon Kid’s Meal toys. If you’re unfamiliar with them, they were a huge promotion during the height of Pokémon‘s popularity and you can watch it right here.

It’s clear to me that Chadtronic is a Pokémon fan, as he’s done plenty of more original videos about the franchise over the years. However, one video he did that should be considered his crowning jewel is his video about Pokémon Live, particularly his search for high-quality video footage of the live show.

After Chadtronic published his video about Pokémon Live, the internet set to action. One of those people from the internet, known as The Gamer From Mars, has been a great resource when it comes to finding lost material. While he hasn’t found that Disney Channel movie I talked about a few years ago, he first came under my radar when he made a video about the Nickelodeon made for TV movie, Cry Baby Lane. a film that most people believed was actually a myth… until it turned out it was real. The Gamer From Mars did a video of his own about the lost Pokémon Live production tapes. Some of his video covers the same information Chadtronic found, but some new information about the production surfaced since Chadtronic published his video, and it was included. I highly recommend giving it a watch.

So after all that anticipation, you want to see Pokémon Live for yourself, don’t you? Well here it is courtesy of its production stage manager, Chris Mitchell.

Unfortunately, this low-quality video is the best complete footage that currently exists of Pokémon Live. While I appreciate Chris uploaded what he recorded online, the public has never been able to get their hands on a higher quality video recording of the show. What a shame.

Some day we may see an official professionally recorded release of the original Pokémon Live stage show. Until then, you can read the actual script for the stage show right here (hosted with permission of the writer). The musical notes for the live show’s original songs are not included in the script but you might be able to listen to the show’s soundtrack with a simple Google search.

Here’s my question, with the entire script and a high quality recorded soundtrack now available to the world, is there a chance someone might try to resurrect Pokémon Live for a new generation? I guess we will just have to wait and see. I hope you all enjoyed this look into Gaming History You Should Know, post a comment below with your thoughts on the future of Pokémon Live!

Gaming History You Should Know – The GameCube/Game Boy Advance Link Cable February 11, 2018

Welcome back to a new edition of Gaming History You Should Know, an ongoing series where we take a look back at some of the best stories in gaming history, as chronicled by some of the best people across the Internet. Today, we will be taking a closer look at the Nintendo GameCube, the first gaming console I owned since the original NES. Nintendo’s GameCube may have come in last place when stacked up against the PS2 and Xbox console generation but Nintendo took some risks with it and it had some great games. One of the risks it took was in the form of a custom cable. While the GameCube may have been in last place, at the same time Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance was running nearly unopposed in the handheld market.

The Game Boy handhelds, with the help of a custom cable could allow for data transfer between two units. Eventually, someone at Nintendo realized they could use the Game Boy Advance’s data port to send data to and from a Nintendo GameCube, and they released a new cable to take advantage of that capability. Eventually, Nintendo released some incredible games to take advantage of GameCube to Game Boy Advance connectivity. Games like Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, Metroid Prime, and The Legend of Zelda: Four Sword Adventures are still discussed to this day. But how exactly did this technology work, and what were its limitations?

Enter Derek Alexander, formerly known as The Happy Video Game Nerd and now known as the host of Stop Skeletons from Fighting, produced this incredible documentary on the cable. If you ever wanted to know how the cable worked, what it could do, and how various GameCube games supported it, give this a watch.