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Pokémon Red Version (Japanese: ポケットモンスター 赤 Pocket Monsters: Red) and Pokémon Green Version (Japanese: ポケットモンスター 緑 Pocket Monsters: Green) are role-playing video games developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the handheld Game Boy. They were first released in Japan on February 27, 1996,[1][2] and were later followed by the updated Pokémon Blue and the supplementary Pokémon Yellow. They are the first video games in the Pokémon series of games.

Developed over the course of several years, Red and Green established several standards for later Pokémon games and sequels. They take place in the Kanto region, with the player having to collect eight Gym Badges to become the Pokémon Champion while also completing the Pokédex by collecting all 151 Pokémon. The game was a commercial success in Japan, which prompted the localization of Red and Green for an international release; the games were then released as Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue.

In 1999, the sequels to these games, Pokémon Gold and Silver, were released for the Game Boy Color. In 2004, Red and Green were remade for the Game Boy Advance as Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen. In Japan, the original 1996 games, along with Blue and Yellow, were released for the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console on February 27, 2016—the Pokémon 20th Anniversary.[3] The rerelease also allowed compatibility with Poké Transporter, a tool which can send Pokémon from Virtual Console copies of Pokémon to Pokémon Bank, where they can be withdrawn in Pokémon Sun and Moon and in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.

Plot

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

Red and Green begin the Pokémon series in the region of Kanto, where players play the role of Red, an eleven-year-old boy who has just started his journey as a Pokémon Trainer from Pallet Town, on the same day as his Blue, who is Red's rival and the grandson of the local authority on Pokémon, Professor Oak. Oak lets the two boys choose a starter Pokémon, a choice of the Grass-type Bulbasaur, the Fire-type Charmander, or the Water-type Squirtle (and with the player's rival choosing the Pokémon that has a type advantage over the player's Pokémon). Oak also gives them a Pokédex and asks them to catch all the Pokémon in the region.

During their travels, the player will encounter the villainous Team Rocket and their boss Giovanni, a criminal gang that treats Pokémon as tools, rather than train them as friends and partners. The player must defeat them to put a stop to their crimes, which include killing a Marowak while keeping Mr. Fuji hostage, and taking control of Silph Co. to obtain plans for the Master Ball. The rival will also continuously challenge the player to a battle, with an increasingly powerful team. As the player's own Pokémon become more powerful, they draw closer to the Indigo Plateau.

Between the battles with Team Rocket, their rival, and other trainers, the player journeys across the region, defeating all the Gym Leaders: Brock, Misty, Lt. Surge, Erika, Koga, Sabrina and Blaine. The eighth and final Gym Leader is Team Rocket's boss, Giovanni, who disbands the team after his final defeat within his Gym. After defeating all eight Gym Leaders, the player goes on to challenge the Elite Four: Lorelei, Bruno, Agatha, and Lance, and finally, in the last battle, the current Champion, the player's rival.

The player becomes the Champion after defeating their rival and is commended by Professor Oak for their friendship with Pokémon. After becoming Champion, the player will be allowed to enter the mysterious Cerulean Cave, filled with strong Pokémon, where the Legendary Mewtwo awaits.

Features

Gyms

As would become the case for each Pokémon game in the core series to come, there are eight Gyms in Kanto, each with their own type affiliation. The Gym Leaders are: Brock (Rock) at Pewter City, Misty (Water) at Cerulean City, Lt. Surge (Electric) at Vermilion City, Erika (Grass) at Celadon City, Koga (Poison) at Fuchsia City, Sabrina (Psychic) at Saffron City, Blaine (Fire) at Cinnabar Island, and Giovanni (Ground) at Viridian City.

Elite Four

Another standard established by Red and Green, the goal for players, the Elite Four, is located at Indigo Plateau. The Elite Trainers are Lorelei (Ice), Bruno (Fighting), Agatha (Ghost), and Lance (Dragon). The Pokémon Champion is the rival, Blue, who does not specialize in any one type.

Pokémon

Each game contains pre-recorded data on 151 different species of Pokémon, including Mew, a Pokémon even Nintendo was not aware of initially.[4] However, not all Pokémon are available to the player, regardless of version; trades must occur between players in order to complete their Pokédex without the use of cheats or glitches. In addition, Mew is not normally obtainable in either game; the only legitimate way to obtain Mew is through a Nintendo sponsored event.

The following Pokémon are only obtainable in one game of this pair. In order to obtain Pokémon exclusive to the other game of this pair, they must be traded either from that game or from another compatible game of Generation I or Generation II which has that Pokémon available.

Red 023 Ekans Poison 024 Arbok Poison 043 Oddish Grass Poison 044 Gloom Grass Poison 045 Vileplume Grass Poison 056 Mankey Fighting 057 Primeape Fighting 058 Growlithe Fire 059 Arcanine Fire 123 Scyther Bug Flying 125 Electabuzz Electric Green 027 Sandshrew Ground 028 Sandslash Ground 037 Vulpix Fire 038 Ninetales Fire 052 Meowth Normal 053 Persian Normal 069 Bellsprout Grass Poison 070 Weepinbell Grass Poison 071 Victreebel Grass Poison 126 Magmar Fire 127 Pinsir Bug

Connectivity

Players may trade Pokémon between two cartridges or battle with another cartridge using a Game Boy Game Link Cable. To take full advantage of this feature, several Pokémon are exclusive to each game of the pair and others require trading to evolve, making trading necessary to complete the Pokédex. The games can trade and battle with Japanese versions of Pokémon Red, Green, Blue and Pokémon Yellow. They can also trade with Japanese versions of Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal via the Time Capsule. Pokémon Red and Green are completely incompatible with games from Generation III onward.

Trades between Pokémon games in different languages are possible; however, a Japanese game cannot connect with a non-Japanese game without causing corruption. This is due to the fact that the games cannot automatically translate the Pokémon data from Japanese to a different language or vice versa, since neither game fully encodes both kana and the Latin alphabet (only encoding one fully and the other partially). If a battle between a Japanese game and a non-Japanese game is attempted, the battle simply does not work, with the save files left unharmed.

Pokémon Red and Green are compatible with Pokémon Stadium, Pokémon Stadium 2 (released as Pokémon Stadium in English), and Pokémon Stadium Gold and Silver (released as Pokémon Stadium 2 in English). While link battles are not possible directly between Pokémon Red and Green and the Generation II games, a player may challenge a Generation II game using Pokémon Stadium Gold and Silver.

Virtual Console

The Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console releases use 3DS wireless communication as a substitute for the Game Link Cable. Japanese and non-Japanese Generation I core series games do not recognize each other when attempting to link them via 3DS wireless communication.

Using Poké Transporter, the entirety of Box 1 can be sent from the Generation I core series games to Pokémon Bank (regardless of language), from where they can be withdrawn in the Generation VII core series games.

Differences in the Virtual Console release

The Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console releases can link with other Virtual Console Generation I and II core series games via Nintendo 3DS wireless communication, simulating the Game Link Cable. When initiating a link, the Virtual Console menu on the touch screen replaces the Cable Club attendant's dialogue.

Using Poké Transporter, Pokémon can be sent from the Generation I core series games to Pokémon Bank, from which they can be withdrawn in the Generation VII core series games.

The moves Blizzard, BubbleBeam, Confusion, Dream Eater, Explosion, Guillotine, Hyper Beam, Mega Kick, Mega Punch, Psychic, Reflect, Rock Slide, Selfdestruct, Spore, and Thunderbolt had their animations changed slightly to tone down the flashing.

Legacy

Pocket Monsters Red and Green set the precedent for what has become a blockbuster, multibillion-dollar franchise. In Japan, Red, Green, and the third version Blue combined have sold 10.23 million copies.[5] In the United States, Pokémon Red has sold 4.83 million copies, while Pokémon Blue has sold 5.02 million copies.[6] These numbers combine to make a total of 9.85 million copies sold in the US.

Pocket Monsters Red and Green were the namesake of the Generation III remakes of FireRed and LeafGreen released in 2004, even in regions where Blue was paired with Red.

Version history

Version Changelog 1.0 Initial release 1.1 As a possible attempt at fixing the Select glitch, v1.1 restricts the player from performing the Select glitch solely within a battle (through pressing Select in the inventory from a battle, exiting and pressing A on a Pokémon from the party menu). Despite this, the Select glitch can still be performed if Select was pressed on an item from outside of battle first. The glitch continued in Japanese Blue before being fixed in Japanese Yellow.

v1.1 introduces a glitch with partial trapping moves in which the user unintentionally faints at the same time as the opponent after the opponent faints due to poison or burn during the immobile turn of a partial trapping move used by the opponent. Although the user's Pokémon faints, it can still be sent out from the Pokémon menu with the amount of HP it had before the glitch.

v1.0 originally featured a corrupted data error message (【じぶんの データが こわれています！】 " My data is corrupted! " or 【あいての データが こわれています】" [Your] partner's data is corrupted! ") if the user or the opponent attempts to trade or battle when either has the 0x60 character "Ａ" as the first character in their name. v1.1 and all other releases remove the error message.

" or 【あいての データが こわれています】" ") if the user or the opponent attempts to trade or battle when either has the 0x60 character "Ａ" as the first character in their name. v1.1 and all other releases remove the error message. The locations of internal functions (e.g. the bank switch function) are changed.

There are some unintended differences in glitches. For example, a glitch item known as GoldBadge (hex:6A) brings up a Poké Mart exclusively in v1.0.

Development

Main article: Pokémon Red and Green beta

Pokémon Red and Green had many pre-release elements that differ from the final release, although the international Pokémon Red and Blue would later have several altered aspects of their own during the two-and-a-half years between the release of Red and Green, their bug-fixing release Blue, and the release of the merger of the trio into Red and Blue for overseas markets.

An error made during development causes the Pokémon depicted during Professor Oak's introductory lecture to be a Nidorino but with the cry of a Nidorina. It was not fixed in the Japanese Blue or in the international Red and Blue.

Soundtrack

The Game Boy: Entire Pokémon Sounds Collection CD soundtrack, released on November 1, 1997, contains all of the background music and sound effects used in the games, all of which were composed solely by Junichi Masuda. This includes Pokémon cries and Pokédex entries read by "Dexter", Ash's Pokédex. A reissue of the Red and Green soundtrack was released on April 27, 2016 as Pokémon Red & Pokémon Green: Super Music Collection.

Staff

Main article: Staff of Pokémon Red and Blue

Gallery

This section is incomplete.

Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it.

Reason: Virtual Console icons.

Title screens

Pokémon Red title screen (Game Boy Color)

Pokémon Green title screen (Game Boy Color)

Pokémon Red title screen (Super Game Boy)

Pokémon Green title screen (Super Game Boy)

Flyers

Front of Japanese flyer [7]

Back of Japanese flyer

Trivia

Pre-release flyer with the earlier release date

Development of Red and Green started during 1990, making their development the longest of all Pokémon games by far.

The game's main characters, Red and Green, have several default names, among them サトシ Satoshi and シゲル Shigeru , respectively. These names come from Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri and his friend and fellow Nintendo developer, Shigeru Miyamoto. In the English counterparts Red and Blue, the default names are Red and Blue. Alternative names that could be chosen were Ash and Gary, after the anime characters that share the names Satoshi and Shigeru, respectively.

and シゲル , respectively. These names come from Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri and his friend and fellow Nintendo developer, Shigeru Miyamoto. In the English counterparts Red and Blue, the default names are Red and Blue. Alternative names that could be chosen were Ash and Gary, after the anime characters that share the names Satoshi and Shigeru, respectively. While Red and Green are the first Pokémon games released, they were not necessarily the first Pokémon trademark ever registered. Mew was the first Pokémon trademark ever applied for; the application for the Pokémon was submitted on May 9, 1990, while the application for Pocket Monsters Red and Green was submitted on September 11, 1995. Before Red and Green were granted registered trademarks on December 26, 1997, Mew (then spelled ミュー, not ミュウ) had already become the first Pokémon trademark registered, granted on March 31, 1994; ミュウ was later granted on August 6, 1999.

Mew was added to the internal data after the debugging features were removed. The programmers took a great risk in doing so, since further tests for glitches that would have been caused by adding Mew could not be done, which goes against standard programming procedures.

The games were originally scheduled for a December 21, 1995 release, according to an old Nintendo of Japan flyer. [8] This could explain the copyright year of 1995 that appears in the games' introductory sequence, and all subsequent games and official merchandise.

This could explain the copyright year of 1995 that appears in the games' introductory sequence, and all subsequent games and official merchandise. In The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon, Professor Oak references these games with his password, "REDGREEN".

In other languages

Language Title Japanese ポケットモンスター 赤・緑 French Pokémon Version Rouge et Version Vert German Pokémon Rote Edition und Grüne Edition Italian Pokémon Versione Rossa e Versione Verde Korean 포켓몬스터 레드・그린 Spanish Pokémon Edición Roja y Edición Verde

References







