Who Discovered EV Training? A discussion of Nintendo's deceptively simple gameplay

[Justjack91]

We know about how Columbus discovered America, the Wright Brothers figured out flight, and how Tay Zonday discovered chocolate rain. All of these have had a significant impact on our society as a whole and on how the world works. Various inventors and explorers of different backgrounds have found things either by accident or with careful research.

Even in video games, we can name people who have contributed to the industry. Nolan Bushnell was an electric engineer who founded Atari. Shigeru Miyamato created Mario among many other famous Nintendo characters. Satoshi Tajiri created something all of us know and love today: Pokemon!

All of these people have done something amazing in some large (or small) way.

Now onto my main topic.

Many of us understand the complex system that exist in Pokemon. EV training, IV breeding, Stat boosting: all of these are common knowledge to a professional Pokemon gamer.

EV training and other special methods of training have existed as far back as the first generation days of R/B/Y in the form of a complicated formula. Yes, even in a small GBC cartridge, the complexities of the game play we know today existed secretly.

I know how to EV train and breed for awesome stats, but I never learned this from Nintendo. No, no magazine or players' guide produced by Nintendo has ever given in-depth information on this intricate system. I DARE you all to try to show me where Nintendo talks about it in any official way outside of possible webchats. It is essentially something gamers have found by way of complex calculations and hacking. How they did this is a mystery to me today.

Which brings me to my question: who discovered EV training and the other training methods? Someone had to have discovered it first if Nintendo was so intent on hiding it from us. How has it become so common knowledge and yet we don't know the person or people who truly found EV training?

You may say that it doesn't really matter or that the people who found it did so simply to prove they could, but I say that it's significant that someone found this and it became so important to standard gaming today.

So discuss this: how do you think the "special" training methods were discovered? Who/what people do you think found them in the games?

[The Spirit of Time]

A very complex question. I am not sure, but I heard that Serebii knows someone who works in Nintendo and that they are friends. IS it possible that that guy had told Serebii? I also think of Smogon as the one who discovered it, or simply, Nintendo leaked everything unofficially.