I <3 this thread
Memories from Pokemon Red, my first game:
--I hadn't watched the anime much, so games were all i had to go on. I thought geodude was some weird rubber ball thing with slicked-forward hair, and he was sort of like Fonzi giving the "AAAAYYYYY" gesture.
--Thinking antidotes did the same thing as potions, but were just cheaper.
--Squealing in delight upon seeing that Snorlax (nicknamed "FATTY") could learn Earthquake.
--Hating the Safari Zone (bait --> "Wild XX is eating...you missed the pokemon!" --> "Well if it's eating then why isn't it standing still?!?!?") and getting so angry at the uselessness of bait that I just started throwing rocks at everything until it ran. Then Exeggcute refused to run. ("Oh, sure, NOW they stick around!!)
--Wondering how Dugtrio can use slash w/o any hands or fingers. I decided "Well, there's three slash marks, maybe he uses his three heads!" But then that left Diglett unsolved. Oh well.
--After catching Mewtwo and the legendary birds, going back to like Route 1 and obliterating a whole flock of Level 3 Pidgeys. IRL probably 5 of them would have died. "Zapdos used Thunder! It's super-effective! Enemy Pidgey fainted! Zapdos gained 24 experience points!"
--Deciding the game narrator was always very excited, since every sentence ended in an exclamation point. "Enemy Caterpie used String Shot!" (calm down there, buddy)
In Crystal:
--Getting thrown for a massive loop when Meowth's bite (in Goldenrod Gym) was normal effectiveness against my prized Geodude. "WAT??"
--Taking days to figure out how to "wake up" Sudowoodo, and then another one trying to figure out why Quilava's fire attacks weren't super effective against this mysterious wood-type pokemon.
--Trying to figure out how to use Kanto's Pokegear Pokeflute station in battles.
--And, of course, trying to catch those mangy dogs that ran around the world in half a second. "Forget Lugia, I'm using my Master Ball on one of THESE giant pains!"
--Trying to figure out (w/ no research) what pokemon would become the strongest. I said "Well, in Red, Magikarp was the most useless thing ever but evolved into an awesome Gyarados. What's the weakest thing in THIS generation?" I thought it was good logic at the time. You know who I raised until L50 waiting for it to evolve? SUNKERN. It was a seed and everything! I expected to get some massive tree out of it at some point. Way later on I find out it evolves by SUN STONE.