I always found the fact so many first generation trainer classes carry whips to be a fascinating detail. Considering also some of the kinds of trainer classes that never really made it to newer games (cue ball; tamer) and the way a lot of trainers objectify their Pokemon ("I caught the wrong ones"; "there should be one that's pink with flowers on it"), it seems the creatures themselves were imagined as being a bit more unknowable and untamed and the setting as a whole was a bit more brutal or ruthless. Red was notable for treating his Pokemon with love, and quite far from the norm at the time. But they went from monsters to pet-pals very quickly in the real-world collective-consciousness with the success of the anime.