Pokémon Blue Version (Japanese)

Pokémon Blue Version (Japanese: ポケットモンスター青 Pocket Monsters: Blue), also known as Pocket Monsters: Blue Version (Japanese: ポケットモンスターブルーバージョン) in the in-game credits, is the third core series Pokémon game for Game Boy, released in Japan on October 15, 1996 exclusively to subscribers of CoroCoro Comic^[1][2] and on October 10, 1999 to general retail^[1][2] as a minor revision of Pokémon Red and Green Versions (Japanese: ポケットモンスター赤・緑 Pocket Monsters: Red & Green), which were released earlier that year. It was thus the first solitary version in the core series Pokémon games.

Various fixes in the game include a graphics and sound upgrade, as well as the removal of several known glitches that had been found in the original pair. Like its paired predecessors, it was never truly released outside of Japan, however, while Red and Green provided the wild Pokémon and version-exclusive Pokémon lists for the rest of the world's Pokémon Red and Blue, Blue provided the graphics, game engine, and script for translation.

Plot

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

Much as would become standard for solitary versions, players follow the plot of the previous two games. Like in Red and Green, the player starts in Pallet Town in the Kanto region, receiving a starter Pokémon from Professor Oak. As before, the choices are Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle, and the rival chooses the starter that is super-effective against the player's starter.

Once more, the eight Gym Leaders of Kanto are Brock, Misty, Lt. Surge, Erika, Koga, Sabrina, Blaine, and Giovanni, while the Elite Four are Lorelei, Bruno, Agatha, and Lance, with the rival still in the Champion's place.

Again, the evil Team Rocket is causing chaos across the region, and it is up to the player to defeat them.

Changes from Red and Green

• Kanto is slightly redesigned, with the design of doors, signposts and other elements changed. Cerulean Cave, the game's final dungeon, receives the most significant overhaul, sporting a different layout. These designs would later be reused for the international Pokémon Red and Blue.
  • Interestingly, Indigo Plateau was the only place in Kanto during Generation I that remained the same in all four games.
• In-game trades are changed to different Pokémon.
• Game Corner prizes are different.
• The introduction of the game features a battle between a Gengar and a Jigglypuff, as opposed to a Gengar and a Nidorino, as it was in Pokémon Red and Green. This change carried on into the localized version of Pokémon Blue, while the original appeared in the localized Pokémon Red.
• Pokémon only available through an in-game trade in Red and Green are now found in the wild.
• Missingno. was given the placeholder Pokédex entry コメント さくせいちゅう Comment to be written. and became the ??? species. This was not translated, resulting in a glitched Pokédex entry in the localized Pokémon Red and Blue and the corruption of Missingno.'s original height and weight (1.0 m (3.3 ft) and 10.0 kg (22.1 lb), respectively), showing instead a height of 10.0 ft (3.1 m) and a weight of 3507.2 lb (1590.8 kg).^[3]

Features

Gyms

Much as in Red and Green, there are eight Pokémon Gyms in Kanto, each with their own type affiliation. The Gym Leaders are Brock (Rock), Misty (Water), Lt. Surge (Electric), Erika (Grass), Koga (Poison), Sabrina (Psychic), Blaine (Fire), and Giovanni (Ground).

Elite Four

The Elite Four at Indigo Plateau also remains unchanged, with Lorelei (Ice), Bruno (Fighting), Agatha (Ghost), and Lance (Dragon). The Champion is Blue, who has no type specialization.

Pokémon

Blue did not introduce any new Pokémon, and so the 151 present in Red and Green are the only ones obtainable. Like Red and Green, some Pokémon are missing from Blue and must be traded from another game to complete the Pokédex or evolved from less powerful forms.

Missing Pokémon

The following Pokémon are not obtainable in Pokémon Blue. In order to obtain any of the below Pokémon, they must be traded from one of the paired versions of Generation I, or Generation II, which has that Pokémon available, which will be indicated.

Blue 0023 Ekans Poison R 0024 Arbok Poison R 0037 Vulpix Fire G 0038 Ninetales Fire G 0056 Mankey Fighting R 0057 Primeape Fighting R 0069 Bellsprout Grass Poison G 0070 Weepinbell Grass Poison G 0071 Victreebel Grass Poison G 0125 Electabuzz Electric R 0126 Magmar Fire G

Development

Main article: Pokémon Red and Green beta

Soundtrack

Main article: Game Boy: Entire Pokémon Sounds Collection CD

The soundtrack release for Pokémon Red and Green also applies to Pokémon Blue.

Staff

Main article: Staff of Pokémon Red and Green

Trivia

• Because the script for Pokémon Blue, rather than that of Pokémon Red and Green, was used for the translation of the Japanese trio into Pokémon Red and Blue, translation errors were made for two of the in-game trades.
  • The old man who trades the player an Electrode on Cinnabar Island claims that the Raichu he received "went and evolved". As Raichu does not have an evolved form, this makes no sense whatsoever. In the context of Pokémon Blue, it makes sense as the player trades away a Kadabra, which evolves through trade, for a Graveler.
  • The old man that trades the player a Jynx in Cerulean City claims that the Poliwhirl he received "went and evolved". While Poliwhirl does evolve, it does not evolve by trade in Generation I but rather through the use of a Water Stone. In the context of Pokémon Blue, the old man trades away a Haunter for a Machoke, which does evolves through trade.
• Pokémon Blue, as well as its older, paired counterparts, are the only Generation I games that don't provide a waiting message when the saving process is in course.
  • Unlike Red and Green, it doesn't inform the player that the saving process will overwrite the previous saved game data, a situation that carried over into the English versions.
• The Pokémon depicted during Professor Oak's introductory lecture is a Nidorino. However, the cry that plays belongs to Nidorina. This is actually a mistake that was carried over from Pokémon Red and Green. The issue also remained in the localizations.

References

This game-related article is part of Project Games, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon games.