Battle Tower In‐Jokes
In Pokémon Crystal, some trainers in the Battle Tower are in‐jokes which refer to the developers. For instance:
- “Guitarist Masuda,” one of the trainers, may be a reference to Jun’ichi Masuda, Pokemon’s music director.
- “Bug Catcher Tajiri” is a reference to Pokemon’s creator, Satoshi Tajiri, and his childhood fixation with bugs.
- “Scientist Mori” is named after Akito Mori, a programmer who works on the Pokémon games (specifically, in the Pokémon Diamond and Pearl credits he is listed under “Communication System Programming”).
- “Teacher Kawakami” may be referring to Naoko Kawakami, who appears in the game credits. I do not know what role she played in development, only that she was listed under “Special Thanks.”
Below is the entire list of trainers. Are there any other homages I’ve missed?
- Fisher Hanson
- Pokémaniac Sawyer
- Guitarist Masuda
- Scientist Nickel
- Pokéfan Olson
- Lass Zaborowski
- Youngster Wright
- Hiker Alexander
- Teacher Kawakami
- Pokéfan Bickett
- Kimono Girl Saito
- Boarder Crawford
- Picnicker Diaz
- Biker Erickson
- Juggler Fairfield
- Pokéfan Hunter
- Firebreather Hill
- Swimmer♀ Javier
- Swimmer♂ Kaufman
- Skier Lancaster
- Camper McMahill
- Gentleman OBrien
- Beauty Frost
- Super Nerd Morse
- Blackbelt Yufune
- Cooltrainer♀ Rajan
- Officer Rodriguez
- Psychic Santiago
- Pokéfan Stock
- Scientist Thurman
- Beauty Valentino
- Camper Wagner
- Bird Keeper Yates
- Picnicker Andrews
- Pokémaniac Bahn
- Scientist Mori
- Sage Buckman
- Schoolboy Cobb
- Fisher Hughes
- Kimono Girl Arita
- Psychic Easton
- Camper Freeman
- Lass Giese
- Gentleman Hatcher
- Pokéfan Jackson
- Pokémaniac Kahn
- Youngster Leong
- Teacher Marino
- Sailor Newman
- Blackbelt Nguyen
- Super Nerd Ogden
- Cooltrainer♀ Park
- Swimmer? Raine
- Bird Keeper Sells
- Boarder Rockwell
- Lass Thornton
- Officer Turner
- Skier Van Dyke
- Schoolboy Walker
- Swimmer♀ Meyer
- Youngster Johnson
- Guitarist Adams
- Bug Catcher Smith
- Bug Catcher Tajiri
- Pokémaniac Baker
- Scientist Collins
- Super Nerd Smart
- Swimmer♀ Dykstra
- Biker Eaton
- Firebreather Wong
Written 2008‒12‒17
©2008–2010 IIMarckus. Released under a Creative Commons Zero license.