Pokémon Red and Green Versions

This article is about the Japanese releases. For the North American releases, see Pokémon Red and Blue Versions.

Pocket Monsters Red and Pocket Monsters Green (Japanese: ポケットモンスター 赤・緑) were the first Pokémon games to be released in Japan, on February 27, 1996. Pocket Monsters Red and Green were followed several months later by a minor revision, titled Pocket Monsters Blue, and by a sister game with minor gameplay changes, titled Pocket Monsters Pikachu, over two years later. The English version equivalents, Pokémon Red Version and Blue Version were later released in North America on September 30, 1998. They take place in the region of Kanto (although the region's name was only stated once in this generation) and the player's starting area is Pallet Town.

The games introduce the original Pokémon gameplay concepts. Players travel across the region and battle against Gym Leaders in eight Pokémon Gyms to win badges. Once the eight regional badges are collected, the player may enter the Pokémon League.

Despite Pocket Monsters Green never being physically released outside of Japan, its English version equivalent, Pokémon Blue, utilizes the original Blue Version's engine and graphics, as well as Green's wild and version exclusive Pokémon. Similarly, the English version of Pokémon Red utilizes the original Blue engine and graphics, as well as Red's wild and version exclusive Pokémon.

Plot

At the beginning of the games, players can choose Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle as their starter Pokémon from Professor Oak. They cannot catch any of the starters or their evolutions in the wild or by trading with in-game non-player characters; therefore, to complete the Pokédex with all 151 featured Pokémon, the player must link games and trade with other players, as well as attending Nintendo Events. The basic idea of each game is to become the best trainer in all of Kanto; this is done by raising Pokémon, defeating the eight Gym Leaders for Gym Badges, and eventually challenging the Elite Four and the Champion, the player's rival. Also, throughout the game, the player will have to battle against the forces of Team Rocket, a criminal organization that uses Pokémon for evil, and will eventually face off against their leader, Giovanni.

The player, known by default as Red, has a childhood rival, who happens to be the grandson of Professor Oak. This character's default name is Green. He will battle the player at certain points in the game to test the player's Pokémon; being defeated is an indication for the player to level up his or her team. He will always choose for his starter a Pokémon that has a type advantage over the player's chosen one. For example, if the player chooses Charmander, a Template:Type2 Pokémon, he will choose Squirtle, a Template:Type2 Pokémon, giving it an advantage over the Fire-type Charmander.

Connectivity

Pocket Monsters Red and Green introduced the ability to allow players to trade Pokémon between two cartridges via a Game Boy Link Cable. This has to be done in order to complete the Pokédex without cheating or using glitches, since each of the two games has version exclusive Pokémon which cannot be obtained in the other version. The Link Cable also makes it possible to battle another player's Pokémon team, allowing experienced players to pit their Pokémon against equals, something not possible in the game world without cheating. However, no experience points are earned for link battles. Also, Red and Green are not compatible with their English counterparts, and such trades result in corruption because they are unable to automatically translate the Pokémon that are traded.

Features

Gyms

As would become the case for each Pokémon game in the main series to come, 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

Another trend established by Red and Green, the goal for players, the Elite Four is located at the Indigo Plateau. The Elite trainers are Lorelei (Ice), Bruno (Fighting), Agatha (Ghost) and Lance (Dragon); the Champion is Green, who has Pokémon of mixed types.

Pokémon

Each game contains pre-recorded data on all 151 Pokémon of this generation (including Mew, who even Nintendo was not even initially aware whether Satoshi Tajiri had programmed into the game or not). Despite this, 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. Mew is the only Pokémon in Pocket Monsters Red and Green that must be acquired through the use of attending either a Nintendo sponsored event, or glitching.

Version exclusives

Nintendo Event exclusives

The following Pokémon are available only after having been transferred to a player's cartridge at a Nintendo sponsored event. Several methods of exploiting glitches made sponsored events obsolete in obtaining the game's exclusive Pokémon however.

Legacy

Pocket Monsters Red and Green set the precedent for what has become a blockbuster, multi-billion dollar franchise. In Japan, Red, Green, and the third version Blue combined have sold 10.23 million copies.^[1] In the United States, Pokémon Red has sold 4.83 million copies, while Pokémon Blue has sold 5.02 million copies.^[2]

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

Trivia

• Development of Red and Green started during 1990.
• The game's main characters Red and Green have several default names, among them サトシ Satoshi and オーキド Shigeru, respectively. These names come from Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri and his friend and fellow Nintendo developer, Shigeru Miyamoto. When the games were translated into the English Red and Blue, the defaults became Red and Blue. Alternative names that could be chosen were Ash and Gary, after the anime characters that share the names Satoshi and Shigeru.
• While Red and Green are the first Pokémon games released, they were not necessarily the first Pokémon trademark ever registered. Mew is 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.

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