The Pokémon franchise has spawned a lot of weird fan theories over the years, but there is one that dates back to the days of Pokémon Red and Blue, as there might have been a connection between the Graveler and Machoke lines. Trading Pokémon was a huge selling point for Pokémon Red and Blue, as it encouraged social interaction between players.

It was necessary for the player to trade with other players in order to complete the Pokédex. The player couldn’t catch every Pokémon in one version of the game, such as Ekans only appearing in Pokémon Red and Sandshrew only appear in Pokémon Blue. There was also only a single Eevee available in the game, so the player would need to trade in order to receive all of the Eeveelutions. There was also a handful of Pokémon that could only evolve by trading. It became a lot easier to finish the Pokédex and perform trade evolutions from Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, as players could trade online, but Pokémon Sword and Shield owners now need to pay for that privilege on Nintendo Switch.

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In Pokémon Red and Blue, four of the Pokémon could only be evolved by trading with another player. The only way to get Alakazam is by trading Kadabra, the only way to get Gengar is by trading Haunter, the only way to get Golem is by trading Graveler, and the only way to get Machamp is by trading Machoke. It’s speculated that Game Freak had wanted to limit some of the trade evolutions, based on design choices made in the game.

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The DNA Trait Trade Pokémon Theory

The Graveler/Machoke trade theory claims that they could only evolve through trading with each other, unlike similar Pokémon, which could evolve from trading with any other Pokémon in the game. The reason for this theory is the designs of the Pokémon in question. Graveler is a boulder with four arms, while Machoke is a humanoid Pokémon with two arms. When they evolve, Golem loses two of its arms, but it takes on a more human-like appearance, while Machamp gains two arms out of nowhere. The idea of Pokémon DNA splicing is referenced in Pokémon Red and Blue, as Bill accidentally merged with a Pokémon when his teleporter malfunctioned. The Pokédex entry for Mewtwo also references gene splicing, as it was created by messing with Mew’s DNA. It’s possible that the Golem/Machamp designs come from an era when some Pokémon would swap attributes when traded, but this was eventually scrapped.

The idea of trade evolutions only occurring with specific Pokémon did happen in Pokémon Black and White, as Karrablast and Shelmet can only evolve when trading with each other, in reference to their rivalry. It’s possible that the limitations of the hardware prevented the Graveler/Machoke trade from happening, as Pokémon Red and Blue were already filled with glitches, and there might have been issues related to the trading mechanic. The Graveler/Machoke line existed in the leaked Pokémon Red and Green beta, so these designs existed from an early point in development, but the connection between these Pokémon might have been lost over time.

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About The Author


Scott Baird
(2522 Articles Published)

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Scott has been writing for Screen Rant since 2016 and regularly contributes to The Gamer. He has previously written articles and video scripts for websites like Cracked, Dorkly, Topless Robot, and TopTenz.
A graduate of Edge Hill University in the UK, Scott started out as a film student before moving into journalism. It turned out that wasting a childhood playing video games, reading comic books, and watching movies could be used for finding employment, regardless of what any career advisor might tell you. Scott specializes in gaming and has loved the medium since the early ‘90s when his first console was a ZX Spectrum that used to take 40 minutes to load a game from a tape cassette player to a black and white TV set. Scott now writes game reviews for Screen Rant and The Gamer, as well as news reports, opinion pieces, and game guides. He can be contacted on LinkedIn.

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