Who was Kanto's Champion before Blue?

[LilBueno]

Not sure if this belonged here or in Gaming Central. Please move if this is wrong.

I don't know if this has been answered yet, but I can't find one. In Gen I and III, Blue recently becomes Champion shortly before Red. Who did he beat to become Champion? I always assumed it was Lance, but then who was the final E4 trainer?

On that note, in Gen II and IV, why is Blue Virdian's Gym Leader? Instead of in the E4? I understand that Giovanni isn't the Gym Leader anymore and the position is vacant, but as a former Champion, wouldn't it have made sense to have Blue in the E4 -presumably as Champion, or taking Lance's previous spot- and having Will at Viridian City since he was the weakest of the E4?

Not sure if that's been confirmed outside of a gameplay mechanic, but if not, what are your thoughts?

 

[LucarioFan3]

There seems to be no real hints on who was the champ before Blue. So... I guess it's just one of those mysteries that will remain just that: a mystery.

 

[Brendino]

I honestly don't know if there was a champion before Blue- it might've just been the Elite Four. While it's not concrete proof, Lance says this after you defeat him in the Gen I games:

I still can't believe my dragons lost to you, <player>! You're now the Pokémon League champion! …Or, you would have been, but you have one more challenge ahead. You have to face another trainer! His name is… <rival>! He beat the Elite Four before you. He is the real Pokémon League champion!

That would make me assume that to become champion before, all you had to do was beat the Elite Four. Or maybe there had been others that beat the Elite Four in the past and didn't stick around, much like Red. Either way, I don't think there's a solid answer for this.

And while this could probably fit over here, I think it would be better suited in Pokemon Gaming Central, since we seem to be discussing who the champion was in the games, rather than across the multiple forms of media.

MOVED.

 

[Sopheria]

Yea, Brendino summed it up pretty well, I think. Lance's dialog when you defeat him implies that all Blue had to do in order to become champion was defeat the Elite Four. Then you have to defeat Blue in order to supplant him as the new champion.

The way that I've always understood the Champion system to work is, the Champion can stick around the Pokemon League and accept challenges from trainers, or they can choose not to (which is what the player character always does in the games). So my guess: there probably have been people in Kanto who have defeated the Elite Four, but none of them decided to remain anchored to the Pokemon League until Blue.

 

[Masterge77]

This is something I have always wondered, since I played the later two generations before I played Gen 1, but given what above posts said, there was obviously nobody after Lance. This is especially true since the concept of a recurring character being the champion such as Steven, Cynthia, or Alder was not established yet and there was no definite figure leading the Elite Four like there would be in later generations.

Though given how numerous things have been reconnected in the franchise, it's easy to say that there was SOMEONE before the Gen 1 Rival who was the champion.

 

[Wicked3DS]

I'm going to say that there either wasn't a champion or that the previous champion just wandered Kanto instead of staying there.

 

[Aisu]

I don't think there was a Champion, or at least at the time that Blue battled the Elite Four; it sounds like the criteria is, without a Champion, that you only have to beat the Elite Four, then you're Champion, and from there you choose whether you will stay to receive challenges from those that have proven themselves to the Elite Four or wander the region with your title and just do whatever you were doing before.

 

[Hiatus]

As for why Blue is a Gym Leader instead of Elite Four, I suppose he met criteria for both of these positions at one point, and had decided to go with what he believes to be more to his pace and whatnot, which is former--Gym Leader.

 

[AkameTheBulbasaur]

I remember when I read the story Strangled Red, where the author plays a hacked Pokemon Red cartridge that takes place before the original Pokemon Red, the reason they gave was that the previous champion before Blue (who was the player character in the hacked game) lost his favorite Pokemon and became too depressed to continue being the champion.

I think that something like that is possible, although maybe they left for a different reason. Pokemon's had switching champions before, like how Steven is replaced with Wallace in Emerald. My guess is if the current champion retires from that position, they can either find somebody else to replace them or they just leave the spot open again like they did before Blue (if there was a champion before Blue).