500 Words About: $500…for a Magikarp?
Screenshot from playthrough by Vari Primedus
I bought a Magikarp for $500. Before my reader says “dude, for real,” I was nine, and it was my first playthrough of Pokemon: Blue version.
Here’s what happened.
After defeating Brock in Pewter city, and then fighting every lass and bug-keeper on Route 3, I reached the Pokecenter at the entrance to Mt. Moon. Since this was my first playthrough I decided to talk to everyone in the Pokecenter; I didn’t realize these non-playable characters(npcs) all possessed a single line of dialogue and would just repeat it every time I spoke to them. In the corner of the Pokecenter next to Bill’s PC, was a man who identified himself as a traveling salesman, and boy did he apparently have a deal for me.
For the low, low price of $500 I could buy a one of a kind Pokemon named Magikarp. It was a water type, and even though I had started the game with Squirtle, I decided to go ahead and buy it. Walking into Mt. Moon, I had my Magikarp set at the front of my roster, and a Zubat appeared four steps into the mountain. My Magikarp had a single move called “splash,” so, obviously, I ordered it to attack.
A boulder sized despair pummeled me as I watched my Pokemon flop up and down and cause no damage.
Splash, as a move, is comparable to Abra’s move teleport in that it causes no damage, but unlike the latter spell Splash is entirely useless.
Which means that Magikarp is entirely useless.
I marched Ash back to the salesman who informed me that there were no refunds; I was stuck with this stupid fish.
I would later learn that Magikarp could evolve in Gyrados, arguably one of the most powerful and useful Pokemon in the entire game. Years later, once I figured out how to trigger MissingNo, I became that loser-dork who would trade Pokemon with himself between his Red and Blue cartridges. I would buy Magikarp, trade it, use unlimited rare candies to level it into a Gyarados, trade it back, and march through Mt. Moon like I owned the place…because I pretty much did.
This $500 Magikarp is fascinating as a narrative structure because I know I wasn’t the only one to fall for this snake-oil salesman. Magikarp is not a bad investment, because it will turn into one of the strongest Pokemon in the game. But having an npc sell this objectively weak Pokemon for such a high price this early in the game reveals a designer's touch. Players could grind their Magikarp into a Gyrados by having it, and other Pokemon in their team, fighting. This would just take a great deal of time, patience, and possibly a little madness.
Question is, do I want to play a trainer who’s put in the time to raise an arguably pathetic fish into a magical dragon, or, do I want to tell that salesman to flip off?
Probably both.
I’ll probably still buy Magikarp.
Joshua “Jammer” Smith
2.2.2026
The cover and top image of this essay were provided by the YouTube Playthrough of Pokemon Blue which was done by the host Vari Primedus who has played the game and assembled a playlist for content creators wanting to write or vlog about the original Pokemon Games. I cannot express how helpful this playthrough his given the fact I can’t get the saves in my Gameboy emulator to work, not to mention the fact that I don’t have enough free-time to playthrough Pokemon again at this stage of my life. So, to Vari Primedus I say thank you. You can watch his playthrough by following the link below.
Go check it out, if not for nostalgia, but because Vari totally owns.
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