Google Gemini Beat Pokemon Blue, and I Have Questions

CNET

20-05-2025

While Google spent most of its I/O event Tuesday showing Gemini's new features, CEO Sundar Pichai announced an important Gemini milestone: it beat Pokemon Blue.
That Pokemon game holds a special place in my heart, since it was the first game in the series I played on my original GameBoy when I was seven years old. I remember booting the game up for the first time, collecting badges around Kanto and watching as my Pokemon evolved from cute little critters to behemoth creatures with elemental powers.
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So when I heard Gemini beat Pokemon Blue, I was excited to revisit this piece of my childhood. And as I thought about this milestone for Gemini, I had some questions about Gemini's run through.
Pichai posted a video on X (formerly Twitter) showing Gemini beating Pokemon Blue that answers some of these questions, but the video has only fueled more intrigue. So here are the questions I have about Gemini's Pokemon Blue playthrough, and what we know about it so far.
What starter Pokemon did Gemini pick?
Choosing your starter Pokemon is an important choice in any Pokemon journey.
Nintendo
It's the first choice you make in the game. Do you pick grass-type Bulbasaur, fire-type Charmander or water-type Squirtle? From the video Pichai posted on X, we see Gemini playing with a Blastoise, the final evolution of Squirtle, so we can assume that Gemini chose the water-type at the beginning of the game.
Nothing against Squirtle, but we all know the correct starter Pokemon is Charmander. No -- I will not be elaborating.
What Pokemon team did Gemini face the Elite Four with?
After you collect all the badges in the game, you face the Elite Four, which is a collection of some of the strongest Pokemon trainers in the game and the last trainers you have to beat to claim the title of Pokemon champion. Each Elite Four trainer has a team made of a different Pokemon type. For example, one trainer specializes in water-type Pokemon and another specializes in dragon-type Pokemon. This means you should have a well-rounded team to tackle this challenge. And from what we see in Pichai's post on X, Gemini's team was trash.
From a grainy screenshot, we can see Gemini's Lv. 86 Blastoise, which is pretty overpowered for the Elite Four, but that's Gemini's starter so I can forgive it. But that's the last good thing we see in this team.
I made a team better than this when I was seven years old.
X
From there, Gemini's team includes what appears to be a Lv. 37 Weepinbell, Lv. 9 Zubat, Lv. 8 Pikachu, Lv. 22 Nidoran♀ and a Lv. 15 Spearow.
Woof. That might be the worst Pokemon team I've ever seen.
All of these Pokemon are underleveled to take on the Elite Four, who all have Pokemon between levels 55 and 65. With a team like that, no wonder Blastoise was so overpowered. That Pokemon's back is hurting from carrying the team. Give them a break, Gemini!
How many Pokemon did Gemini catch?
From Pichai's post, we see that Gemini's Pokedex has 26 of 151 Pokemon. The only way you get an entry in your Pokedex is by catching a Pokemon or evolving one, so Gemini has caught or evolved 26 Pokemon.
We know that Gemini evolved Squirtle into Wartortle into Blastoise, so that's three Pokedex entries. Just by looking at Gemini's team, we see that Weepinbell was likely evolved from Bellsprout, which counts for two entries, so there's five entries. Adding the rest of the team makes nine total Pokedex entries.
So nine of the 26 Pokemon are accounted for in Gemini's team. That means Gemini could have caught 17 other Pokemon that are being held in storage in the game. What those other Pokemon are, I have no idea. Maybe a Pidgey and a Caterpie, since you encounter those early in the game, and maybe even a Geodude. It's hard to say, but from what we can see from Gemini's final team, I wouldn't be surprised if Gemini tried to catch the first Pokemon it encountered in a given area.
Did Gemini catch any Legendary Pokemon?
From left to right, Zapdos, Moltres and Articuno.
Pokemon the Movie 2000
Pokemon Blue has three legendary birds, Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres, that you run into at various points in the game. While you might run into endless Pidgeys in the game, you will only encounter one of these birds throughout the game. That means if you want to fill up your Pokedex, catching them is very important.
Given Gemini's Lv. 86 Blastoise, I'm willing to bet Gemini wiped those birds out of the sky without a second thought. If I had to guess, Gemini had an issue with electric-type Zapdos, that's strong against water types like Blastoise, and ice-type Articuno probably put up a good fight.
But fire-type Moltres probably got blasted out of the sky and curbstomped by that giant, bipedal turtle. The poor bird never stood a chance.
What about Mewtwo?
Mewtwo is still waiting for Gemini.
Bulbapedia
Mewtwo is a very strong and rare Pokemon, and from what we've seen, Gemini hasn't found Mewtwo yet. The cave Mewtwo is in can only be accessed after defeating the Elite Four and becoming the Pokemon Champion, and the video Pichai posted shows us Gemini becoming champion. So as far as we know, Mewtwo is still chilling in a cave, waiting for Gemini.
What Pokemon did Gemini use the Master Ball on?
A Master Ball is a special Pokeball in the game that can catch any Pokemon. It's best used to catch high level or legendary Pokemon. I used mine to catch Mewtwo when I was younger.
And after everything I've said above, do you really think Gemini knows what a Master Ball is? If it did use the Master Ball, it probably threw it at a low-level Rattata or Magikarp. Whatever the first Pokemon Gemini saw after getting the Master Ball, Gemini probably used it on that Pokemon.
What was Gemini doing for 800 hours?
During Google's presentation, we saw that it took Gemini about 800 hours to beat Pokemon Blue. According to How Long to Beat, it should take someone between 26 hours to beat the base game and about 101 hours to complete every quest, collect all badges, beat the Elite Four and collect all the Pokemon. So it took Gemini about eight times as long to just beat the game as it should take to fully complete the game.
I can't say for sure what Gemini was doing in that time, but I imagine it had some trouble navigating from gym to gym. And since Blastoise is so overpowered, I'm willing to bet Gemini spent a lot of time losing Pokemon battles, working its way back to where it lost and then losing again. I don't even want to know how long it took Gemini to beat the Elite Four.
For more on Google I/O, here's what was announced at the event.