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Chapter 3: Cynthia's First Experience
🕑 Added 2025-08-09 16:10:55 +0000 UTCObviously, it wasn't just Cynthia who was shocked by this game's price—the viewers in her stream were completely losing it too, flooding the chat:
【5,922 yen?? This little pixel game that's barely a few hundred MB - how much content could it possibly have? And they dare charge 5,922 yen??】
【The game creator is so generous - he could have just robbed us directly, but instead he went to the trouble of making a game to give us too】
【Even Angry Rocks only dares charge 2,036 yen, and Battle Road season passes are just 3,084 yen. What gives this game the right to cost so much?】
【I bet they're using that 2m yen prize as clickbait to make a quick buck, then disappear. Pixel game plus this kind of description... wouldn't be the first time.】
The viewers had no idea about Cynthia's thoughts regarding the Rayquaza cover and the game creator.
To them, this was just an outrageously overpriced cash grab, so naturally, they started tearing it apart.
After all, what good game costs 5,922 yen?
But the next moment, under everyone's gaze, Cynthia pressed the purchase button and chose to pay.
Chat went dead silent.
A few seconds later, it exploded again, question marks flying across the screen.
【???】
【Stay calm!! Honey!! I can afford this money, but you can't spend it like this!!】
【Holy crap, 5,922 yen without even blinking?】
【Boss has lost her mind!】
Facing these comments, Cynthia quickly explained.
"Don't worry, everyone, I'm interested precisely because this game is priced so high."
"If the content isn't good, as a game tester, I can get a full refund."
"Don't worry. Based on what it says, this is a game about Pokémon battles. If I actually manage to clear it, there's even a hundred thousand yen prize to win."
With Cynthia's explanation, chat started to understand a bit better.
【Makes sense. If they dare post that description on the official Alliance website, once someone clears it, if they don't pay out that 2m yen, the creator's going to jail.】
【Hahaha, the creator probably thought they'd make a quick buck and run, making the game super hard, but they never imagined the first person to play their game would be Sinnoh's Champion!】
【Right, right, and Cynthia is the Alliance's designated professional game tester. If she's unsatisfied with the game, she can request a refund anytime.】
【LMAO, so this person's game just sold one copy and now they're gonna lose a hundred grand】
【Guy above, it's losing 2,050,534 yen. Be precise.】
Seeing chat calm down and get playful, Cynthia felt relieved.
She definitely couldn't talk about the game cover information or her real hidden purpose.
Information about the top-tier "legendary Pokémon" was classified and couldn't be casually shared with ordinary citizens, or it might cause panic or other issues.
So she needed a reasonable explanation for buying the game.
Plus, when she saw that price, somehow a thought suddenly occurred to her...
Maybe creating a game like this really is worth that much?
Someone who understood the legendary Pokémon "Rayquaza" couldn't possibly be ordinary. Would they really make a cheap cash-grab game?
Besides, 5,922 yen really wasn't much for her.
So what was the real situation? She'd find out by trying it.
Anyway, being the first to clear the game and get the creator's contact info was her real goal.
With that thought, Cynthia took a deep breath and, under her viewers' watchful eyes, clicked the game download button.
The biggest advantage of pixel games was their small file size. Within seconds, a crisp "ding" sounded and an emerald icon appeared on Cynthia's desktop.
As she clicked with her mouse, a window immediately appeared.
After a black screen, a water droplet fell from a verdant leaf, accompanied by dynamic electronic music, dropping into a pond below and creating ripples.
The camera panned up. Under sunlight, across a vast grassland, a young man wearing a green bandana rode a bicycle, racing with the wind.
Countless Pokémon silhouettes appeared alongside him, keeping pace!
Running Manectric, flying Flygon, following Volbeat...
And one adorable Torchic, clumsily spreading its little claws as it charged forward. Not paying attention, it tumbled head over heels, then quickly scrambled up to keep running, as if afraid of being left behind.
The camera rose again, the screen burst with light, and immediately after, the emerald green game logo appeared—
【Pokémon: Emerald】
This opening animation left even Cynthia stunned.
Six months ago, when the Alliance invited her to become a special game tester, she'd actually streamed quite a few games.
Pixel games made up part of that proportion, and in her memory, these games were characterized by crude, rough graphics that focused entirely on core gameplay.
After all, pixel games had the lowest production costs - they were the top choice for studios and developers with ideas but no startup capital.
But correspondingly, their visual presentation would be very poor.
Yet now, just this opening animation completely overturned her understanding of pixel games.
While it still had that familiar pixel feel, the visuals were incredibly polished, even having a three-dimensional quality, as if truly presenting itself before her eyes.
In this moment, just seeing this opening sequence, Cynthia immediately made a judgment.
This was definitely not just some shoddy cash-grab game!
At the same time, viewers in the stream also realized something was off and started commenting:
【Holy shit? This is a pixel game?】
【How does this visual feel and presentation seem so strong?】
【This music rhythm is amazing too, I feel brainwashed after hearing it once】
【Though it's way behind Battle Road's opening animation... this is already more polished than any other game I've seen!】
【Uh oh, it might actually be worth 5,922 yen?】
Cynthia glanced at chat and shook her head slightly.
Just an animation like this definitely wasn't worth 5,922 yen.
She'd need to see the actual game content to judge.
But her heart was actually starting to feel anticipation.
She took a deep breath and pressed the X key as prompted.
The logo disappeared, replaced by a prompt.
【Please enter your name】
Cynthia hesitated, then typed:
【Strawberry Ice Cream】
Of all sweets, ice cream was her favorite.
And strawberry was her preferred flavor.
On screen, another prompt appeared.
【Welcome to the world of Pokémon, Strawberry Ice Cream.】
【An adventure filled with courage and friendship awaits you!】
【Never forget your original intentions - use bonds and passion to become the strongest Pokémon trainer!】
Right then, chat flooded with comments.
【She still loves ice cream so much, I'm crying.】
【Haha, if I said the streamer is already the world's strongest trainer, how would you respond to that?】
But Cynthia, looking at those words, suddenly paused.
Courage, friendship...
Bonds and passion...
Something different seemed to flicker in her eyes.
After a long moment, Cynthia took a deep breath and solemnly pressed the 【Start】 button.
Upon officially entering the game, a little girl wearing a green cap representing her appeared on a moving truck.
Jumping down from the truck, "Mom" came forward to explain the current situation - the player and family had moved to a new home in a small town in the Hoenn region called Littleroot Town.
Today was also an important day when the player would receive their starter Pokémon and set out on their trainer journey.
As Cynthia played, Littleroot Town's exquisite architectural design again surprised and amazed her.
Though she'd never been to Littleroot Town in the Hoenn region.
The appearance of these surrounding buildings was exactly identical to the Hoenn regional features in her memory, completely consistent.
You could tell the creator had definitely researched materials carefully and compared them to real examples.
The swaying grass and trees in the wind, blooming flower details, and even the Pokémon accompanying the townspeople around town left Cynthia somewhat incredulous.
All of it was lifelike - though somewhat blurry, it was remarkably realistic.
Could a pixel game really achieve this?
Next, as the plot advanced, after adjusting the clock at home and meeting a boy from the neighboring house, the boy asked Cynthia to call out his name.
She hadn't realized this would be her rival going forward. Being terrible at naming, she just called him "Black-Haired Boy," causing another round of laughter in chat.
【That's just how Cynthia is - without ice cream, she can't name anything.】
【Haha, seeing the Champion name things just like me puts me at ease.】
At the same time, discussions about the game's core mechanics appeared:
【So next is getting Pokémon, right? How's this pixel game going to do Pokémon battle animations? Feels impossible to pull off.】
【Yeah, will they just skip battle animations? This game's scenery is already worth seeing - treat it like going on a trip?】
【Shouldn't be. Didn't this game's description say the difficulty was really high? Something about heart disease and cerebral hemorrhage not being their responsibility】
While chat discussed, Cynthia's character reached the forest entrance above the small town.
Cries for help came from the distance - a Poochyena was chasing a professor in a lab coat around.
Cynthia looked at this professor's appearance and blinked.
Why did this professor seem familiar??
Wasn't this Professor Birch from the Hoenn region?
"Strawberry Ice Cream!! Perfect timing - there are Pokéballs in that bag over there, help me out!"
A dialogue box popped up.
Chat immediately burst into laughter.
【Holy crap, Professor Birch, is that you? Just a few days and you're this weak? A Poochyena can chase you around?!】
【The top research professor of the Hoenn region is asking Sinnoh's strongest Champion for help dealing with a Poochyena biting his butt - why am I having dreams like this】
【HAHAHAHAHAHA Strawberry Ice Cream, please help me HAHAHAHAHAHA】
【Hey, you in front, your comment is hurting my ears!】
At the same time, the Pokémon selection interface appeared before Cynthia.
Three Pokéballs, corresponding to—
A chick-like Fire-type Pokémon with orange down: Torchic.
A lizard-like Grass-type Pokémon with a twig in its mouth, cool and handsome: Treecko.
And a Water-type Pokémon that looked honest and cute: Mudkip.
These three Pokémon were the "starter trio" unique to the Hoenn region - popular starter Pokémon choices for new trainers in that area.
Looking at the three Pokémon's images, Cynthia began considering.
If this was a high-difficulty battle game, then this starter Pokémon choice would naturally be crucial.
After all, she'd need to rely on this Pokémon to get through the early stages.
As Cynthia pondered, Chat was giving her advice.
【Pick Torchic! Torchic is so cute!】
【Mudkip is the GOAT, okay? Like my Swampert's pentagon warrior stats?】
【When can something 4x weak to Grass sit at the table? Here's a Grass Knot for you!】
【How about Treecko? I think Treecko's pretty well-rounded, and evolving into Sceptile is pretty strong too.】
Looking at chat and combining her own thoughts, she quickly made her final decision, choosing Treecko's Pokéball.
The reason for this choice was that she'd been somewhat interested in Treecko as a Pokémon before.
Now that she had a chance to experience it, that was pretty good.
Besides, Grass-type Pokémon should indeed have some early-game advantages, with various recovery moves like Absorb and Leech Seed.
As cool ripples appeared on the screen, the game instantly switched to battle view.
Stirring battle music immediately began - boiling drumbeats and orchestral electronic harmonies that got your blood pumping!
Looking at the interface and options before her, Cynthia instantly understood this game's battle system.
Turn-based.
Simply put, both sides took turns acting, with whoever was faster getting to move first.
For a pixel game, this battle format did seem most appropriate.
While controlling Treecko to attack with "Pound," she spoke to her stream viewers:
"From what I can see so far, this game is quite creative."
"But I haven't encountered a game that uses turn-based Pokémon battles before, so I don't know how deep this game's system goes in that regard."
Chat chimed in with their opinions:
【Yeah, turn-based seems pretty decent】
【You move once, I move once - feels kind of boring though. Wouldn't that leave no room for skill, just whoever has a type advantage or higher level wins?】
【True, that does seem like an issue.】
【Polished graphics, great music, nice creativity, but the battle system is weak and boring - just number comparisons. Not as good as Battle Road. 4 out of 5 stars overall, assessment complete.】
