The 2008 Showdown That Gave Birth to Pokémon's VGC

Aug 23

Pokémon Worlds 2008 Official Logo from PidgiWiki!

Most people who play Pokémon know VGC’s standard format. Two Pokémon on each side. Pick four from a team of six, with a list of banned Pokémon. But, most people don’t know what came before. Before 2006, there wasn’t much documentation of what competitive Pokémon was like. There were some local tournaments, but most of them were held in Japan. Generations 1-3 were restricted to wired connectivity, requiring someone to be present with you to play. Even so, it was mostly just single battles! Doubles weren’t the standard until Diamond and Pearl were on the scene.

The Generation 1 European Tour

From what little documents remain before 2006. We know about the first major competitive Pokémon video game event that was held in 2000. It was called the Pokémon World Championships. Where players competed by importing their Pokémon from Red, Blue, or Yellow to the N64 hit Pokemon Stadium. There is some footage of the event from promotional videos uploaded online, where Darryn Van Vuuren won the first-ever world tournament for Pokémon.

Digitized old VHS recording of the official video from the Pokémon World Championships 2000!

The format was a very simple 1v1, pick three, from a team of six. His final team included Zapdos and Alakazam, two of the most renowned Pokémon in generation 1 to this day. After a circuit between several countries all across Europe, and the United States. Darryn Van Vuuren made Pokémon history during the finals held in Sydney, Australia. Becoming the first-ever world champion before the VGC format was even a thought in anyone’s mind!

The Dawn of Online Connectivity

When the DS had online connectivity added during the reign of Diamond and Pearl. It blew up the competitive scene from its tiny grassroots origins. Forums started popping up including the birth of the site Serebii. Many more websites followed as the internet became more developed. People were posting about who was the best of the best, and people wanted more. They were craving competition. The Pokémon Company saw this, and after hosting TCG tournaments for many years, TPCi planted the seeds for what is now known as the VGC.

Pokémania? You Mean Hulkamania Right?

On its 10th anniversary, Pokémon had none other than Hulk Hogan hosting the very first official circuit for the Pokémon video game. Yeah, you read that right, the Hulkamanic himself, the WWE superstar legend, Hulk Hogan hosted a Pokémon event in 2006. The rules were primitive, with a single elimination format. No swiss format here, lose once and you go home. In order to enter, players had to do a quiz for a spot. Only sixty-four entrants were admitted with two age groups—juniors under 12, and Seniors 13 and up.

One thing was also certain. If you wanted a chance to win, you needed to grind those mons to level 100. There was no level scaling at all which we take for granted today. “Game altering devices” were also not allowed. This was the wording used to describe GameShark and Action Replay. The finals were played within Pokémon XD Gale of Darkness, with its superior visuals to the pixelated GBA screen. Players would connect their copies of Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire, Leaf Green, or Fire Read to import their Pokémon to play. A lucky player named Minh Ba Le ended up winning the finals in New York with a prize of $2,500. Not bad for 2006 prize money.

Pokémon Video Game National Champions crowned by Hulk Hogan. August 2006 at New York City.

The Showdown That Started It All

From that point onward it was on, people wanted more and The Pokémon Company delivered in 2008. There were very few qualifiers held for this tournament. With only two in the United States, and two in Japan. The top 16 were invited to play in the 2008 Video Game Showdown. In the same venue as the more popular TCG World Championships. The man, the myth, the legend of VGC himself, Ray Rizzo made his first significant appearance on the scene at this event. Unfortunately, he was eliminated in the first round. He would get his claim to fame in the 2010 World Championships, however, cementing his legacy status.

Fortunately, this tournament had a more developed ruleset that would push the format further. Like the major before it, this event was played within a console version of the game. Players would import their Diamond and Pearl teams to Pokémon Battle Revolution on the Wii. Lucky for us, there is footage that still exists of this event. Check out part 1 of the 2008 Worlds Senior Finals match below!

A Lucario with Sunny Day and Blaze Kick was also given out at the Worlds 2008 Pokémon event.

This is the final battle for the Senior Division (13+) at the LA Pokemon Video Game Showdown held in Los Angeles, CA, on July 12th, 2008. The contestant on the right is from Smogon (zerowing). This is part 1.

The winners taking the prizes home were Knight Silvayne of the USA for the Junior Division, and Izuru Yoshimura of Japan for the Seniors Division. The following year, the very first World Championships as we know it today took place in 2009 in San Diego, California. These events laid the foundation for VGC today, and the scene has been growing ever since!

Stay tuned here for more history on the VGC. Where I will be covering the first-ever Pokémon VGC World Championships!

Disclaimer: The opinions/stories expressed in the blog post are those of the author and are not necessarily reflective of the platform or its affiliates.

Article Sources:

History of VGC - prior to 2009 (competitive pokemon history). YouTube. (2018, September 9). https://youtu.be/PVQX1u21ZRg

Holmes, P. (2014, October 17). Pokemon 2000 world championships. PRovoke Media. https://www.provokemedia.com/latest/article/pokemon-2000-world-championships

Journey Across America: 2006 pokémon video game national championships. Liquipedia Pokémon Wiki. (n.d.). https://liquipedia.net/pokemon/Journey_Across_America/National/2006

Photo of Hulk Hogan and Pikachu at Pokémon 10th Anniversary Journey Across America. Reddit. (n.d.). https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/7q77bo/just_a_couple_of_yellow_people_hanging_out/

Pokémon 10th anniversary Journey Across America. Pokémon 10th Anniversary Journey Across America - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia. (n.d.). https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_10th_Anniversary_Journey_Across_America

Pokémon video game showdown 2008. Pokémon Video Game Showdown 2008 - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia. (n.d.). https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Video_Game_Showdown_2008

Rule variants. Rule variants - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia. (n.d.). https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Rule_variants#Pok.C3.A9mon_2000_World_Championship

Serebii 2006 Snapshot. Wayback Machine. (n.d.). https://web.archive.org/web/20060101000000*/serebii.net

The story of Pokemon’s first-ever World Champion. YouTube. (2022, April 17). https://youtu.be/URX7I9mOEvg

Reddit /u/madvorak. (2021). Pokémon World Championships 2000 videos. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/puomnw/pok%C3%A9mon_world_championships_2000_videos/

Twitter. (n.d.). Twitter. https://twitter.com/ryuzaki_vgc

Marcoangelo

Marco has been a fan of Pokemon since its inception in 1998, with Gengar being his favorite. It wasn’t until Sun and Moon’s release that he started getting involved in the VGC. Marco has published several articles throughout the web as a games journalist and has covered many topics throughout the games industry.