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Note: Please do not harass the original author or anyone who makes content related to this pasta. This review was simply made for entertainment purposes only. This is all based on MY OPINION as well.

WELCOME BACK TO SAUCEZ REVIEWZ: POKEPASTAS MARATHON!!!

Pasta Name: Strangled Red

Publish Date: 2012

Description: The player finds a hacked cartridge of Pokémon Red and it focuses on a competent and confident Red-lookalike named Steven with his Charizard Miki, but things go downhill once he loses Miki.

Fun Fact: according to the pasta, the hacked game is supposed to take place a year before the original red/blue/green/yellow games.

Highlight: S!3v3n

Quote: "In a world that cheated me, why should I play fair?” -Steven

so I usually read pastas at least 3 times before finalizing my review notes but I read this pasta about 5-6 times to see if I missed anything and because I had questions. I had a couple drafts of my notes for the review in between too. so I'm going to do something a bit different to show you guys how reading the pasta a couple times can change how I feel about the pasta by having the first draft version of a point and have my final draft comment on the same point whether to debunk, criticize, or agree with my first draft points.

I'm going to refer to my first draft points as "first-reader" because a lot of those points were made on my first read xD

I might italicize my first draft points too just to make it easier to tell the difference

So let me tell you that the pasta does not start off very strong in the beginning. yeah I know this a well-respected pokepasta in the community, but there are various holes, errors, and flaws that this pasta has that I'm surprised not many people have pointed out before when talking about this pasta.

I'll admit that this is a nitpick but whatever you do, avoid referencing other creepypastas when writing one because I think that loses some creditability of your pasta. usually the best pastas have you think it's believable or could've happened, but referencing other pastas says you were inspired by other pastas so you wrote one yourself. I get that's the case for every creepypasta in general, but it makes it seem less believable and hard to believe that you coincidentally got this hacked game after reading pastas about other hacked games like creepy black. I get this part was meant to introduce the author's interest in hacked games, but they could've avoid saying creepy black.

the author says that they've read pastas where it has the protagonist dying at the end (was it pokemon dead channel?) and games where the game is talking to the protagonist. huh? I wonder if it was the other (something) red pasta, glitchy red? before you all ask I don't know if I'm going to give a full review on that one

"Don't these writers know that less is more when it comes to these stories?" I see where the author was going with this quote, but 1999 and the showers begs to differ. I mean hypno's lullaby was just a short song and it was good, so they're half right

also this pasta is lengthy xD

They mentioned their interest in hacked games and they found a hacked game in their neighbor's trash bin

you know what's funny? my previous review was on Snow on Mt. Silver and it ended with the protagonist throwing their hacked game away in a trash bin out on the driveway on trash day while this pasta begins with the protagonist finding their hacked game in a trash bin out on the driveway on trash day xD

They asked the garbage man if they could have it and he didn't care wait you were dumpster diving?

That's another issue I have with the beginning, how exactly did you get it from the trash bin if the garbage man was right there?

The cartridge was of pokemon red with a tear on charizard's neck, which is a foreshadowing of something later on

So he asked the neighbor of the trash if they could keep the game and they didn't want it and they were confused because they have never seen the cartridge before. the child comes and sees the cartridge with Charmander on it and begs to his mother: "Pokemon, I want mommy!" but they mother declined and let the protag have the cartridge and they said that the boy doesn't own a gameboy.
Side Note: on Creeps McPasta's read aloud for this pasta, he said the boy saw a charmander on the cartridge instead. not sure if that was an error on his part.

first-reader: how does the boy know about pokemon if he doesn't own a gameboy?
-dear first-reader, he could've own an nintendo ds or some other console with a pokemon game on it, this was written in 2012 and since they reference creepy black which was published in 2010, so we had the sinnoh games and hgss for the ds, the Wii games, and the gamecube games, or maybe he watches the anime. for an anipoke fan like you, you should know that. xD

Still, how did the cartridge get to the trash bin if the neighbors weren't aware of it? did the original owner drive by the dropped it in those people's trash bin just to have it as far away as possible? this isn't a good start for the pasta with these holes/flaws. this is a nitpick but why would you ask the neighbor you could have something that was being thrown away? people often throws things they don't want anymore away or sell it. the whole garage or yard sale trope may be very cliched in creepypastas but at least it makes a little more sense and is more believable than coincidentally coming across the cartridge in a trash bin with the garbage man being there at the same time and the neighbors somehow weren't aware of the cartridges existence.

The author says they're going to play the cartridge out of nostalgia since they played blue version as a kid. The title is Pokemon Strangled Red Version and the author knew right away, "oh great, it's one of those hacked games", but since it was free, might as well give it a try out of curiosity - I would too just to see what all it has to provide. It showed charizard on the title screen but it didn't cycle through like it does in the original games. He won't to continue the original owner's progress to see what they have done so far but the game told them "No..." and after a fourth attempt,, there was a charizard cry barely audible that can be heard from the game. so the author had no choice but to start a new game and the game didn't ask for a name and went straight to the game. The player checked the trainer card and it was a Red lookalike named Steven only with long hair, so it had a name already chosen and with red with longer hair and a confident smirk with an already chosen starter of Charmander named Miki.

Miki was said to be a girl.

first-reader: excluding the nidorans, gen 1 doesn't have genders, so how can they be female?
-the protag assumed they were a female judging by the feminine-like name, there's even references to Miki being female in the pasta later on.

Steven had a brother named Mike. Mike comes up and asks "Ready yet?" and Steven replied: "Yeah."

first-reader: whoa. whoa. protagonists in pokemon games can't talk.
-really, first-reader? it's a HACKED game and one of the features is the protagonist can talk which I think is a nice touch for the in-game story besides snow at mt. silver had red and gold saying plenty of lines.

Mike was like the pre-decided rival for the game as they were brother because there were two beds in the room. better than having one bed in the house, where does red's mother sleep?

steven and mike's motivation was to catch 'em all and then there was the introduction battle because steven and mike argued about who was better? charmander or squirtle?

Mike is pretty much blue in this hacked game, only nicer. I guess they're arguably a Trace clone? actually this pasta came years before the let's go games. and the player realizes this is supposed to take place a year before the original games. The people talked to steven like a normal person instead of giving him tutorial stuff.
No forced tutorial? Best hack ever.

Blue's sister gave steven a kiss on the cheek and had a heart over her head. Actually, now that I think about, how were they able to animate blue's sister kissing steven on the cheek with those 8-bit sprites? Must've move her head by 2 pixels or something.

first-reader: then where's blue?
-does that really matter for the story? not really.

Oak gave the dex as a gift of kindness and steven's fame spread like npcs talked to him like they knew him

Miki grew strong fast and handled brock and misty with ease as they did more damage than usual and resisted super effective attacks and she became a charizard at lv. 25.

Oh boy, another issue returns in this pasta with this next part...

"things got weird once we reached lavender town. yes, I know, lavender town is the focus behind every creepypasta story and alike."

I appreciate the self-awareness but it kind of takes away from the experience too like I said before. The notable difference was there was no team rocket invasion since it was a year before the original games. Steven wouldn't go into Pokémon tower so the player forgets about getting a ghastly. eventually they defeat the gyms and the elite four as Mike was the champion, the brothers congratulated each other on their progress and shook hands (how could you tell with the sprites shaking hands?)

After the credits, Steven and Mike were at home arguing about trading Miki to finish the pokedex to become pokemon masters. Steven has already completed the pokedex but Mike only needs charizard to complete his.

WAIT!! HOLD UP!!!

How did mike register charmander and charmeleon then without evolving them into charizard? Did Steven and Mike trade Pokemon off-screen? It doesn't seem like it especially if Steven is refusing to give Miki to Mike because she's his, not Mike's.

And how did steven get the ghastly evolution line if he couldn't enter in pokemon tower, the only place to get ghastly at? the author even mentions that ghastly can only be found in pokemon tower earlier. Did they catch them in the wild later on or something since it's a hacked game? If so, why couldn't the author mention that in the pasta? It's holes like these that are a bit distracting to me.

That's part of my issue with this pasta, it's not just what the author said, but it's what they didn't say or specify in the pasta to fix holes like these.

Keep in mind, this was in-game trading and there are no mention of the player trading with other people in real life.

Steven refused to give Miki to Mike.

Mike: come on, just need her for a minute.
-yes
-no

Mike: "come on, please?" The player kept selecting no, but realizes that the choices are looping and he had to say yes eventually. Mike: "all right, this will take a second and we'll both be pokemon masters."

the in-game trading animation came up as Miki went down the trading tube, when suddenly... CRACK!

the game froze and Miki was still in mid-trade. the protag sighed, turned off the game, wondering when their last save was.

Well, if you just beat the elite four, the game offers you to save your progress afterwards but it's a hacked game, so maybe it's different here.

Anyway, the game turned back on and on the title screen there was no charizard standing next to Steven this time. the new game option was absented so the player must continue. the stats weren't shown and the screen read "one year later".

The lavender town theme played as steven was in pokemon tower and steven was standing in front of a tombstone. the player checked the pause menu and all of his pokemon were gone including Miki herself, Steven had nothing and the pokedex was absent from the menu and the trainer card shown he had no badges or money

The playtime was 8,795 hours and the player said they had 30 hours logged in and the sprite of Steven looked depressed now with messy hair as his sprite got worse every step.

The player realized why there was no champion before blue? because the champion gave up. he threw all of his pokemon, his dex, fame, everything away after losing Miki.

first-reader: why would he do that? he has other pokemon besides Miki especially if he's a pokemon master.
-My first-reader self clearly didn't understand the point of all of this part right here. Miki meant so much to Steven. this is like if Ash were to lose Pikachu permanently. Pikachu may not be Ash's strongest, but he has the strongest bond with Ash. Like if I had a Milotic in real life with a strong bond with them and they died too soon, I'd be very depressed too. just imagine guys losing your favorite pokemon forever?

The player realized that about the playtime, there's 8765 hours in a year and just add 30 hours to get the playtime. Even so, the game kept going with no pokedex, no pokemon, nothing.

npcs would say the same things, "are you okay?" "is there anything we can do?" - steven never replied to any of them.

wild pokemon would appear in battle but the battles would end right away whenever steven went into the tall grass

-the wild pidgey ignored you
-the wild rattata left you be
-the wilrd ponyta wandered off, the game would say

Again, I wish the author could've at least specified that the hacked game allowed the player to find certain pokemon in areas that they aren't normally found in the original games, that would've fixed this issue I have. I mention this again like with ghastly evolution line because ponytas can only be found in the Pokemon Mansion of cinnabar island in the original games. Heck, it doesn't even mention how the player got the Blue-Exclusive Pokemon either since this is allegedly a hacked cartridge of red version. I know this is a nitpick, but it's so distracting from the experience though.

the music stayed as lavender town theme, the player was wandering around wondering what they need to do since they got uncomfortable with the experience and they got frustrated because steven would decline offers of help from the npcs and offers of lemonade/coffee and their condolences.

More nitpicks but lemonade was debuted in gen 2 and coffee doesn't exist, but again hacked games. it would be nice to have coffee be an item like replenishes some hp and gives a temporary boost of speed. I don't know, did the npcs like say "Steven, would you like some lemonade/coffee?" but didn't give them as an actual item in the game?

the player slaps themselves realizing they need to go to pallet town, when they got there, Oak said "these things happen... you were just unlucky..." and Blue's sister said "please... don't leave home again..." and red's mother didn't say anything...

first-reader: so Red does exist in this hacked game? then where's steven's house if pallet town only has two houses and oak's lab?
-turns out there is another house far west of the town in this hacked game which doesn't really specify until near the end of the pasta. At first, I was thinking that maybe red would move in sometime between the year before and now, but no apparently.

Mike: "I'm so sorry." Steven was doomed to roam Kanto in misery.

Steven: "I'm going to sleep..." the screen fades black then fades in again as it was night and mike's sprite was laying in bed next to steven's.

Steven: "I'm going to do it..."

The player was confused

Steven: "IT can bring her back... IT can do anything..." he got out of bed and headed outdoors

The player tried leaving pallet town the normal way, but steven said not that way.

Player tried making steven enter in the houses for advice, Steven: "screw them"

Yes, he said screw them.

first-reader: why would he say something like screw them in a kid's game?
-Well, it is a hacked game. What else?

Steven commented: "the missing one..."
first-reader: No, no. you are not, Steven. That would be so stupid.

Steven is able to swim in the water of Pallet Town as he says "I'm going to do it."Half of his sprite is shown out of the water to indicate he was swimming.

Steven was going to cinnabar island as there was no sound or music playing in the background

first-reader: I don't like where this is going...

"A wild Missingno appeared..." Steven: "MINE."

first-reader: WHAT? You bring Missingno into this? That's so dumb! your pasta depends and pigbacks on another pokepasta for creepy factors when Missingno isn't even creepy to begin with and just a glitch? I'm done.
-Clearly, my first-reader counterpart didn't understand the context of Steven getting Missingno here. He has become so desperate and psychotic to the point where he is willing to glitch out and even break the game just in hope to bring Miki back. That's kind disturbing when you think about it because he's becoming a sociopath.

the message said "the wild Missingno was caught" Steven didn't even do anything he just command them to join him without any pokeballs.

Missingno wasn't there as a pokemon but as an item instead, the player went to Lavender town, as nobody looked at Steven along the way. one npc said "just go." and another said "sometimes dead is best."

The player felt uncomfortable about what Steven has become as they went to Miki's tombstone.

Steven: "Miki..."

Player opened the menu and selected Missingno from the bag.

Oak: "Steven, don't use it!" He said that like if you were to use the bicycle indoors.

Steven: "In a world that cheated me, why should I play fair?" Steven used it...

Steven obtained M@#$!

The game took control afterwards as the lavender town theme played progressively getting slower as Steven walked all the way back to Pallet Town.

Steven stood next to Mike and when the player opened the trainer card, this came up... the name was changed to S!3v3n...

Steven's face was now a dark, pitch black with his hair all messy and an ear to ear white grin and red glowing eyes...

The player built up Steven to become famous and the champion, but the player watched his decline after Miki's loss and he became this atrocity.

The player attempted to save to quite the game but couldn't, the text said "nothing can be saved now." you could just hold all four buttons at once to reset the game or just turn the power switch of the gameboy or remove the batteries xD

the player checked the pokemon and there was only one sprite with 0 hp and status of DED and they were named M@#$ with four options to show, the player selected each one of them.

>STATUS - "it's her..."
>SWITCH - "never..."
>CLOSE - "...no..."
>STRANGLE

The player hesitated with using STRANGLE and when they used STRANGLE...

S!3v3n: goodbye... SNAP!

The game shuts off.

When game was turned back on it shows a maniac S!3v3n and a horribly glitched Charizard. I wish there was a screenshot of it, but there isn't, which is another issue I kind of have with this pasta, it doesn't provide enough screenshots for parts that would be appropriate to have screenshots in.

When the game continued, it shows a zoomed out view of pallet town with Steven's house in the far west blocked from the rest of the town. the image was complete static with no music and no movement... it went back to the title screen with showing a trainer and a Charizard. When the player, went to select "continue"... the screen said "...No..."

That's the end of the pasta.

Steven has lost everything and allegedly strangled himself to death it seems. But, honestly, the ending is very unclear and confusing. What exactly happened?

My thoughts: honestly, it's an interesting story and it would make for a good rom hack, but it had various holes, flaws, and errors that were so distracting. However, it's far from being considered the worst pokepasta though in my opinion. It has good potential. I mean, glitch creepypastas are interesting and all, but it had a weak opening.

As far as creepy factors, I think it had plenty of them with Steven going insane and the use of missingno.

Problems I have with the pasta:
-What happened to Mike and the mother though? Did S!3v3n kill them too? It doesn't quite specify. I'm not sure if the author intended to make the ending like "it's up to the reader's interpretation" type of thing on what happened to them.

-The self-awareness and mentions of other creepypastas was a bad idea and can make the pasta lose some creditability. I get that's the actual reason why the pasta was made, but the best of pastas are usually to make you believe it can be real despite being fake.

-the beginning was so over-the-top with how the protagonist got the hacked game. it's way too convenient for the protagonist to be there on time before the garbage man throws the cartridge away from a neighbors' garbage bin that apparently doesn't belong to the neighbors nor were they aware of it. If it was something like the neighbors were aware of the cartridge, but they threw it away because their son was complaining about how off and unusual it was, then that would make a little more sense. Some people may say maybe the protagonist noticed the cartridge from being in the garbage truck, but that wouldn't connect with why the protagonist asked the neighbors about the cartridge. I'm not sure if the author intended to make it mysterious on how it got there, but it's still over-the-top.

-the ending is a bit confusing - like what was the point of steven getting missingno if it didn't actually end up bringing Miki back? or did it bring Miki back to life? It's confusing with the status: DED part. Is Miki supposed to be like a zombie Pokémon or something now?

-How did Mike register the entries for Charmander and Charmeleon? And how did Steven register the entries for the Ghastly evolution line if he couldn't enter in Pokémon Tower? If the author pointed out that he could find other Pokemon in unusual places, then that would easily fix this hole.

To be honest, the creepy factors and the thing with Steven going insane saved this pasta from being a Spoiled Pasta.

But I'm afraid that I can't make there be three Fresh Pastas in a row because Strangled Red has some problems that are so distracting when you think about it. If I didn't read this more than once, yeah, it would probably give the Spoiled Pasta rating, but that's why I like to make sure I read it more than once in case I miss anything. So in the end, I'm calling it a DRIED PASTA. It's not a bad pasta. I would consider it okay yet flawed though. In my opinion, it's decent enough to not be a Spoiled Pasta, but not good enough to be blessed with the fresh pasta rating because of its flaws, holes, and errors.

I understand this is a well-respected pasta in the community. If you consider it a fresh pasta, then I can see where you are going, but the flaws were just too distracting in my opinion. I know some of them were nitpicks, but still.

I think I would've given it a Fresh Pasta if it had way more screenshots provided for the pasta for effort, like show us the battle screens with Steven and Missingno, or show us the title screen with maniac S!3v3n and the glitched out Charizard, or screens of the game glitching out. We don't even get to see Steven's battle sprite in the game for this pasta. That would have been a great touch. I think with more screenshots, this would've redeemed the pasta from the flaws.

So, the rankings so far (from best to worst, top to bottom):
1. Easter Egg - Snow on Mt. Silver – Fresh
2. Hypno's Lullaby – Fresh
3. Strangled Red – Dried
4. Lost Silver – Dried
5. Creepy Black – Dried
6. Pokémon Dead Channel – Spoiled

2 Fresh Pastas | 3 Dried Pastas | 1 Spoiled Pasta

I personally think it's better than Lost Silver because it has creepy factors unlike Lost Silver. Lost Silver had an interesting story, but wasn't really that creepy at all. Like I said a bunch of times before, Strangled Red had an interesting story too, but it was flawed though.

I thought this was going to be my most controversial review, but I think some of my Eevee Pasta Reviews are going to be my most controversial reviews once I get to them. xD

Next time on PokePasta Reviews: I'm going to be looking at two Milotic pastas because I'm curious on what creepypastas have done with my beloved Milotic.

Click here to view the full list of every PokéPasta review so far

Description
Note: Please do not harass the original author or anyone who makes content related to this pasta. This review was simply made for entertainment purposes only. This is all based on MY OPINION as well.

WELCOME BACK TO SAUCEZ REVIEWZ: POKEPASTAS MARATHON!!!

Pasta Name: Strangled Red

Publish Date: 2012

Description: The player finds a hacked cartridge of Pokémon Red and it focuses on a competent and confident Red-lookalike named Steven with his Charizard Miki, but things go downhill once he loses Miki.

Fun Fact: according to the pasta, the hacked game is supposed to take place a year before the original red/blue/green/yellow games.

Highlight: S!3v3n

Quote: "In a world that cheated me, why should I play fair?” -Steven

so I usually read pastas at least 3 times before finalizing my review notes but I read this pasta about 5-6 times to see if I missed anything and because I had questions. I had a couple drafts of my notes for the review in between too. so I'm going to do something a bit different to show you guys how reading the pasta a couple times can change how I feel about the pasta by having the first draft version of a point and have my final draft comment on the same point whether to debunk, criticize, or agree with my first draft points.

I'm going to refer to my first draft points as "first-reader" because a lot of those points were made on my first read xD

I might italicize my first draft points too just to make it easier to tell the difference

So let me tell you that the pasta does not start off very strong in the beginning. yeah I know this a well-respected pokepasta in the community, but there are various holes, errors, and flaws that this pasta has that I'm surprised not many people have pointed out before when talking about this pasta.

I'll admit that this is a nitpick but whatever you do, avoid referencing other creepypastas when writing one because I think that loses some creditability of your pasta. usually the best pastas have you think it's believable or could've happened, but referencing other pastas says you were inspired by other pastas so you wrote one yourself. I get that's the case for every creepypasta in general, but it makes it seem less believable and hard to believe that you coincidentally got this hacked game after reading pastas about other hacked games like creepy black. I get this part was meant to introduce the author's interest in hacked games, but they could've avoid saying creepy black.

the author says that they've read pastas where it has the protagonist dying at the end (was it pokemon dead channel?) and games where the game is talking to the protagonist. huh? I wonder if it was the other (something) red pasta, glitchy red? before you all ask I don't know if I'm going to give a full review on that one

"Don't these writers know that less is more when it comes to these stories?" I see where the author was going with this quote, but 1999 and the showers begs to differ. I mean hypno's lullaby was just a short song and it was good, so they're half right

also this pasta is lengthy xD

They mentioned their interest in hacked games and they found a hacked game in their neighbor's trash bin

you know what's funny? my previous review was on Snow on Mt. Silver and it ended with the protagonist throwing their hacked game away in a trash bin out on the driveway on trash day while this pasta begins with the protagonist finding their hacked game in a trash bin out on the driveway on trash day xD

They asked the garbage man if they could have it and he didn't care wait you were dumpster diving?

That's another issue I have with the beginning, how exactly did you get it from the trash bin if the garbage man was right there?

The cartridge was of pokemon red with a tear on charizard's neck, which is a foreshadowing of something later on

So he asked the neighbor of the trash if they could keep the game and they didn't want it and they were confused because they have never seen the cartridge before. the child comes and sees the cartridge with Charmander on it and begs to his mother: "Pokemon, I want mommy!" but they mother declined and let the protag have the cartridge and they said that the boy doesn't own a gameboy.
Side Note: on Creeps McPasta's read aloud for this pasta, he said the boy saw a charmander on the cartridge instead. not sure if that was an error on his part.

first-reader: how does the boy know about pokemon if he doesn't own a gameboy?
-dear first-reader, he could've own an nintendo ds or some other console with a pokemon game on it, this was written in 2012 and since they reference creepy black which was published in 2010, so we had the sinnoh games and hgss for the ds, the Wii games, and the gamecube games, or maybe he watches the anime. for an anipoke fan like you, you should know that. xD

Still, how did the cartridge get to the trash bin if the neighbors weren't aware of it? did the original owner drive by the dropped it in those people's trash bin just to have it as far away as possible? this isn't a good start for the pasta with these holes/flaws. this is a nitpick but why would you ask the neighbor you could have something that was being thrown away? people often throws things they don't want anymore away or sell it. the whole garage or yard sale trope may be very cliched in creepypastas but at least it makes a little more sense and is more believable than coincidentally coming across the cartridge in a trash bin with the garbage man being there at the same time and the neighbors somehow weren't aware of the cartridges existence.

The author says they're going to play the cartridge out of nostalgia since they played blue version as a kid. The title is Pokemon Strangled Red Version and the author knew right away, "oh great, it's one of those hacked games", but since it was free, might as well give it a try out of curiosity - I would too just to see what all it has to provide. It showed charizard on the title screen but it didn't cycle through like it does in the original games. He won't to continue the original owner's progress to see what they have done so far but the game told them "No..." and after a fourth attempt,, there was a charizard cry barely audible that can be heard from the game. so the author had no choice but to start a new game and the game didn't ask for a name and went straight to the game. The player checked the trainer card and it was a Red lookalike named Steven only with long hair, so it had a name already chosen and with red with longer hair and a confident smirk with an already chosen starter of Charmander named Miki.

Miki was said to be a girl.

first-reader: excluding the nidorans, gen 1 doesn't have genders, so how can they be female?
-the protag assumed they were a female judging by the feminine-like name, there's even references to Miki being female in the pasta later on.

Steven had a brother named Mike. Mike comes up and asks "Ready yet?" and Steven replied: "Yeah."

first-reader: whoa. whoa. protagonists in pokemon games can't talk.
-really, first-reader? it's a HACKED game and one of the features is the protagonist can talk which I think is a nice touch for the in-game story besides snow at mt. silver had red and gold saying plenty of lines.

Mike was like the pre-decided rival for the game as they were brother because there were two beds in the room. better than having one bed in the house, where does red's mother sleep?

steven and mike's motivation was to catch 'em all and then there was the introduction battle because steven and mike argued about who was better? charmander or squirtle?

Mike is pretty much blue in this hacked game, only nicer. I guess they're arguably a Trace clone? actually this pasta came years before the let's go games. and the player realizes this is supposed to take place a year before the original games. The people talked to steven like a normal person instead of giving him tutorial stuff.
No forced tutorial? Best hack ever.

Blue's sister gave steven a kiss on the cheek and had a heart over her head. Actually, now that I think about, how were they able to animate blue's sister kissing steven on the cheek with those 8-bit sprites? Must've move her head by 2 pixels or something.

first-reader: then where's blue?
-does that really matter for the story? not really.

Oak gave the dex as a gift of kindness and steven's fame spread like npcs talked to him like they knew him

Miki grew strong fast and handled brock and misty with ease as they did more damage than usual and resisted super effective attacks and she became a charizard at lv. 25.

Oh boy, another issue returns in this pasta with this next part...

"things got weird once we reached lavender town. yes, I know, lavender town is the focus behind every creepypasta story and alike."

I appreciate the self-awareness but it kind of takes away from the experience too like I said before. The notable difference was there was no team rocket invasion since it was a year before the original games. Steven wouldn't go into Pokémon tower so the player forgets about getting a ghastly. eventually they defeat the gyms and the elite four as Mike was the champion, the brothers congratulated each other on their progress and shook hands (how could you tell with the sprites shaking hands?)

After the credits, Steven and Mike were at home arguing about trading Miki to finish the pokedex to become pokemon masters. Steven has already completed the pokedex but Mike only needs charizard to complete his.

WAIT!! HOLD UP!!!

How did mike register charmander and charmeleon then without evolving them into charizard? Did Steven and Mike trade Pokemon off-screen? It doesn't seem like it especially if Steven is refusing to give Miki to Mike because she's his, not Mike's.

And how did steven get the ghastly evolution line if he couldn't enter in pokemon tower, the only place to get ghastly at? the author even mentions that ghastly can only be found in pokemon tower earlier. Did they catch them in the wild later on or something since it's a hacked game? If so, why couldn't the author mention that in the pasta? It's holes like these that are a bit distracting to me.

That's part of my issue with this pasta, it's not just what the author said, but it's what they didn't say or specify in the pasta to fix holes like these.

Keep in mind, this was in-game trading and there are no mention of the player trading with other people in real life.

Steven refused to give Miki to Mike.

Mike: come on, just need her for a minute.
-yes
-no

Mike: "come on, please?" The player kept selecting no, but realizes that the choices are looping and he had to say yes eventually. Mike: "all right, this will take a second and we'll both be pokemon masters."

the in-game trading animation came up as Miki went down the trading tube, when suddenly... CRACK!

the game froze and Miki was still in mid-trade. the protag sighed, turned off the game, wondering when their last save was.

Well, if you just beat the elite four, the game offers you to save your progress afterwards but it's a hacked game, so maybe it's different here.

Anyway, the game turned back on and on the title screen there was no charizard standing next to Steven this time. the new game option was absented so the player must continue. the stats weren't shown and the screen read "one year later".

The lavender town theme played as steven was in pokemon tower and steven was standing in front of a tombstone. the player checked the pause menu and all of his pokemon were gone including Miki herself, Steven had nothing and the pokedex was absent from the menu and the trainer card shown he had no badges or money

The playtime was 8,795 hours and the player said they had 30 hours logged in and the sprite of Steven looked depressed now with messy hair as his sprite got worse every step.

The player realized why there was no champion before blue? because the champion gave up. he threw all of his pokemon, his dex, fame, everything away after losing Miki.

first-reader: why would he do that? he has other pokemon besides Miki especially if he's a pokemon master.
-My first-reader self clearly didn't understand the point of all of this part right here. Miki meant so much to Steven. this is like if Ash were to lose Pikachu permanently. Pikachu may not be Ash's strongest, but he has the strongest bond with Ash. Like if I had a Milotic in real life with a strong bond with them and they died too soon, I'd be very depressed too. just imagine guys losing your favorite pokemon forever?

The player realized that about the playtime, there's 8765 hours in a year and just add 30 hours to get the playtime. Even so, the game kept going with no pokedex, no pokemon, nothing.

npcs would say the same things, "are you okay?" "is there anything we can do?" - steven never replied to any of them.

wild pokemon would appear in battle but the battles would end right away whenever steven went into the tall grass

-the wild pidgey ignored you
-the wild rattata left you be
-the wilrd ponyta wandered off, the game would say

Again, I wish the author could've at least specified that the hacked game allowed the player to find certain pokemon in areas that they aren't normally found in the original games, that would've fixed this issue I have. I mention this again like with ghastly evolution line because ponytas can only be found in the Pokemon Mansion of cinnabar island in the original games. Heck, it doesn't even mention how the player got the Blue-Exclusive Pokemon either since this is allegedly a hacked cartridge of red version. I know this is a nitpick, but it's so distracting from the experience though.

the music stayed as lavender town theme, the player was wandering around wondering what they need to do since they got uncomfortable with the experience and they got frustrated because steven would decline offers of help from the npcs and offers of lemonade/coffee and their condolences.

More nitpicks but lemonade was debuted in gen 2 and coffee doesn't exist, but again hacked games. it would be nice to have coffee be an item like replenishes some hp and gives a temporary boost of speed. I don't know, did the npcs like say "Steven, would you like some lemonade/coffee?" but didn't give them as an actual item in the game?

the player slaps themselves realizing they need to go to pallet town, when they got there, Oak said "these things happen... you were just unlucky..." and Blue's sister said "please... don't leave home again..." and red's mother didn't say anything...

first-reader: so Red does exist in this hacked game? then where's steven's house if pallet town only has two houses and oak's lab?
-turns out there is another house far west of the town in this hacked game which doesn't really specify until near the end of the pasta. At first, I was thinking that maybe red would move in sometime between the year before and now, but no apparently.

Mike: "I'm so sorry." Steven was doomed to roam Kanto in misery.

Steven: "I'm going to sleep..." the screen fades black then fades in again as it was night and mike's sprite was laying in bed next to steven's.

Steven: "I'm going to do it..."

The player was confused

Steven: "IT can bring her back... IT can do anything..." he got out of bed and headed outdoors

The player tried leaving pallet town the normal way, but steven said not that way.

Player tried making steven enter in the houses for advice, Steven: "screw them"

Yes, he said screw them.

first-reader: why would he say something like screw them in a kid's game?
-Well, it is a hacked game. What else?

Steven commented: "the missing one..."
first-reader: No, no. you are not, Steven. That would be so stupid.

Steven is able to swim in the water of Pallet Town as he says "I'm going to do it."Half of his sprite is shown out of the water to indicate he was swimming.

Steven was going to cinnabar island as there was no sound or music playing in the background

first-reader: I don't like where this is going...

"A wild Missingno appeared..." Steven: "MINE."

first-reader: WHAT? You bring Missingno into this? That's so dumb! your pasta depends and pigbacks on another pokepasta for creepy factors when Missingno isn't even creepy to begin with and just a glitch? I'm done.
-Clearly, my first-reader counterpart didn't understand the context of Steven getting Missingno here. He has become so desperate and psychotic to the point where he is willing to glitch out and even break the game just in hope to bring Miki back. That's kind disturbing when you think about it because he's becoming a sociopath.

the message said "the wild Missingno was caught" Steven didn't even do anything he just command them to join him without any pokeballs.

Missingno wasn't there as a pokemon but as an item instead, the player went to Lavender town, as nobody looked at Steven along the way. one npc said "just go." and another said "sometimes dead is best."

The player felt uncomfortable about what Steven has become as they went to Miki's tombstone.

Steven: "Miki..."

Player opened the menu and selected Missingno from the bag.

Oak: "Steven, don't use it!" He said that like if you were to use the bicycle indoors.

Steven: "In a world that cheated me, why should I play fair?" Steven used it...

Steven obtained M@#$!

The game took control afterwards as the lavender town theme played progressively getting slower as Steven walked all the way back to Pallet Town.

Steven stood next to Mike and when the player opened the trainer card, this came up... the name was changed to S!3v3n...

Steven's face was now a dark, pitch black with his hair all messy and an ear to ear white grin and red glowing eyes...

The player built up Steven to become famous and the champion, but the player watched his decline after Miki's loss and he became this atrocity.

The player attempted to save to quite the game but couldn't, the text said "nothing can be saved now." you could just hold all four buttons at once to reset the game or just turn the power switch of the gameboy or remove the batteries xD

the player checked the pokemon and there was only one sprite with 0 hp and status of DED and they were named M@#$ with four options to show, the player selected each one of them.

>STATUS - "it's her..."
>SWITCH - "never..."
>CLOSE - "...no..."
>STRANGLE

The player hesitated with using STRANGLE and when they used STRANGLE...

S!3v3n: goodbye... SNAP!

The game shuts off.

When game was turned back on it shows a maniac S!3v3n and a horribly glitched Charizard. I wish there was a screenshot of it, but there isn't, which is another issue I kind of have with this pasta, it doesn't provide enough screenshots for parts that would be appropriate to have screenshots in.

When the game continued, it shows a zoomed out view of pallet town with Steven's house in the far west blocked from the rest of the town. the image was complete static with no music and no movement... it went back to the title screen with showing a trainer and a Charizard. When the player, went to select "continue"... the screen said "...No..."

That's the end of the pasta.

Steven has lost everything and allegedly strangled himself to death it seems. But, honestly, the ending is very unclear and confusing. What exactly happened?

My thoughts: honestly, it's an interesting story and it would make for a good rom hack, but it had various holes, flaws, and errors that were so distracting. However, it's far from being considered the worst pokepasta though in my opinion. It has good potential. I mean, glitch creepypastas are interesting and all, but it had a weak opening.

As far as creepy factors, I think it had plenty of them with Steven going insane and the use of missingno.

Problems I have with the pasta:
-What happened to Mike and the mother though? Did S!3v3n kill them too? It doesn't quite specify. I'm not sure if the author intended to make the ending like "it's up to the reader's interpretation" type of thing on what happened to them.

-The self-awareness and mentions of other creepypastas was a bad idea and can make the pasta lose some creditability. I get that's the actual reason why the pasta was made, but the best of pastas are usually to make you believe it can be real despite being fake.

-the beginning was so over-the-top with how the protagonist got the hacked game. it's way too convenient for the protagonist to be there on time before the garbage man throws the cartridge away from a neighbors' garbage bin that apparently doesn't belong to the neighbors nor were they aware of it. If it was something like the neighbors were aware of the cartridge, but they threw it away because their son was complaining about how off and unusual it was, then that would make a little more sense. Some people may say maybe the protagonist noticed the cartridge from being in the garbage truck, but that wouldn't connect with why the protagonist asked the neighbors about the cartridge. I'm not sure if the author intended to make it mysterious on how it got there, but it's still over-the-top.

-the ending is a bit confusing - like what was the point of steven getting missingno if it didn't actually end up bringing Miki back? or did it bring Miki back to life? It's confusing with the status: DED part. Is Miki supposed to be like a zombie Pokémon or something now?

-How did Mike register the entries for Charmander and Charmeleon? And how did Steven register the entries for the Ghastly evolution line if he couldn't enter in Pokémon Tower? If the author pointed out that he could find other Pokemon in unusual places, then that would easily fix this hole.

To be honest, the creepy factors and the thing with Steven going insane saved this pasta from being a Spoiled Pasta.

But I'm afraid that I can't make there be three Fresh Pastas in a row because Strangled Red has some problems that are so distracting when you think about it. If I didn't read this more than once, yeah, it would probably give the Spoiled Pasta rating, but that's why I like to make sure I read it more than once in case I miss anything. So in the end, I'm calling it a DRIED PASTA. It's not a bad pasta. I would consider it okay yet flawed though. In my opinion, it's decent enough to not be a Spoiled Pasta, but not good enough to be blessed with the fresh pasta rating because of its flaws, holes, and errors.

I understand this is a well-respected pasta in the community. If you consider it a fresh pasta, then I can see where you are going, but the flaws were just too distracting in my opinion. I know some of them were nitpicks, but still.

I think I would've given it a Fresh Pasta if it had way more screenshots provided for the pasta for effort, like show us the battle screens with Steven and Missingno, or show us the title screen with maniac S!3v3n and the glitched out Charizard, or screens of the game glitching out. We don't even get to see Steven's battle sprite in the game for this pasta. That would have been a great touch. I think with more screenshots, this would've redeemed the pasta from the flaws.

So, the rankings so far (from best to worst, top to bottom):
1. Easter Egg - Snow on Mt. Silver – Fresh
2. Hypno's Lullaby – Fresh
3. Strangled Red – Dried
4. Lost Silver – Dried
5. Creepy Black – Dried
6. Pokémon Dead Channel – Spoiled

2 Fresh Pastas | 3 Dried Pastas | 1 Spoiled Pasta

I personally think it's better than Lost Silver because it has creepy factors unlike Lost Silver. Lost Silver had an interesting story, but wasn't really that creepy at all. Like I said a bunch of times before, Strangled Red had an interesting story too, but it was flawed though.

I thought this was going to be my most controversial review, but I think some of my Eevee Pasta Reviews are going to be my most controversial reviews once I get to them. xD

Next time on PokePasta Reviews: I'm going to be looking at two Milotic pastas because I'm curious on what creepypastas have done with my beloved Milotic.

Click here to view the full list of every PokéPasta review so far