The Official Pokémon Handbook
The Official Pokémon Handbook by Maria S. Barbo (ISBN 0439103975) is a handbook that was published in July 1999, advertised as "Your complete companion to all 150 Pokémon characters!" to serve as a rudimentary, paper version of a Pokédex. It contained an entry for each of the original 150 Generation I Pokémon, and in the second, Deluxe Collector's Edition, an extra entry for Mew and Togepi.
Entries
The entries for each Pokémon were structured in an easy-to-read page setup. Each Pokémon has either an entire page to itself, or shares a page with one of its evolutions.
Name
Each entry is topped with a large, slab-shaped bar of a color that quickly indicates the Pokémon's element; green for Grass, red for Fire, dark blue for Water, etc. Imposed over this bar is a smaller, rectangular, red bar with the Pokémon's name and number in yellow letters.
Stats
On a side bar, the entries list the following stats:
- Pronunciation
- Element
- Type
- Height (in inches)
- Weight (in pounds)
- Techniques (moves the Pokémon will already know)
- Other Techniques (moves the Pokémon will learn as it levels up)
- Good Against (lists what type advantages it has over other Pokémon)
- Bad Against (type disadvantages against other Pokémon)
- Evolution (Normal, Stone, Trade, or None)
- Evolves at Level: __
Note that many of these stats are now obsolete except for Generation I games.
Element in this case refers to elemental type, and Type refers to what is more commonly known as species - for example, Diglett's Type, as listed, would be Mole, while its Element is Ground.
Techniques and Other Techniques are not listed with the levels at which they are learned, though they are listed in the order in which they are learned.
In the Generation II Handbook, "Good Against" and "Bad Against" did not appear.
Image and other information
Each Pokémon has an anime-style picture on its page, overtop of a quick blurb similar to the 'flavor text' that shows up on a Pokémon's entry on any game Pokédex, but considerably longer. Some pages also feature a "Pokédex Pick," with extra trivial information often concerning the anime, or sometimes helpful game tips.
Evolution chain
At the very bottom of the entry there are pictures with arrows between them to show what the Pokémon evolves into. Pokémon that do not evolve do not have any Evolution Chain. In the later-generation Handbooks, Pokémon often evolved into a question mark- or rather, a Pokémon that was not included in the handbook.
Other content
Besides the entries on each Pokémon, the book includes A word from Professor Oak, similar to his speeches that welcomed players into first Generation games, but longer. It also contains a preface called The Pokémon Journey, an illustrated map of the Kanto region, and another preface, Battle Basics, as well as a How to use this book diagram. At the end it features Top 10 Ways to Care for your Pokémon, some FAQs, and a checklist for each Pokémon Species.
Errors
- The back cover says "Did you know that the swirls on Poliwhirl's stomach changes direction when it evolves into Poliwag?" The change of direction is correct, but Poliwhirl evolves from Poliwag.
- The entry for Venusaur lists its element as Grass/Poison, and then also lists its element as "Seed". This is a misprint, as while Grass/Poison is its elemental type, "seed" refers to its species (known as "type" in the book), not its element.
- Psychic is misspelled as "Pychic" in Beedrill's entry.
- In Gengar's page, "mite" is misspelled as "might."
- In the listing of Gym Leaders, in Sabrina's profile, the book claims that "a very goofy Gengar taught her to smile." In fact, in the anime, it was a Haunter who did this.
Sequels
An Official Pokémon Handbook was published to each subsequent generation of the Pokémon games, though the following editions were not as complete as the original, with many Generation II Pokémon missing in the second handbook. The third handbook contained the missing Pokémon.
