Kris (game)

This article is about the female protagonist whose default name is クリス in the Japanese version of Pokémon Crystal. For the male player character in Pokémon Crystal with the same Japanese name, see Ethan (game).

Crystal (game) redirects here. For the game titled "Pokémon Crystal Version", see Pokémon Crystal Version.

Kris クリス Kris
Art from Crystal
Gender	Female
Eye color	Blue
Hair color	Teal*, Navy Blue*
Hometown	New Bark Town
Region	Johto
Relatives	Mom
Trainer class	Pokémon Trainer, player character
Generation	II, VII
Games	Crystal, Pokémon Stadium 2, Masters EX
English voice actor	Cherami Leigh (Masters EX)
Japanese voice actor	N/A (Masters EX)
Anime counterpart	Marina
Counterpart debut	The Legend of Thunder!
Manga counterpart(s)	Crystal, Chris

Kris (Japanese: クリス Kris) is the female playable character in Pokémon Crystal. Her male counterpart is Ethan.

She was the first female player character in the core series games, a feature that would be carried on in subsequent game releases.

As she only appears in Pokémon Crystal, she has the fewest appearances by a player character in the core series. In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, she is replaced by Lyra.

In the core series

Kris's journey as a Pokémon Trainer begins when Professor Elm asks her to run an errand for Mr. Pokémon, who lives north of Cherrygrove City. Because she may encounter dangerous wild Pokémon along the way, Elm gives her a choice between three Pokémon to protect her: Cyndaquil, Totodile, or Chikorita.

Kris meets a boy watching Elm's Lab from outside. When she tries to talk to him, the boy abruptly shoves her away. The boy, Silver, will become Kris's rival, analogous to Blue in Generation I.

Kris continues onward and finally meets Mr. Pokémon and completes her errand. While there she meets Professor Oak who, upon realizing Kris's bond with her new Pokémon, gives her a Pokédex. On her way back home, Kris again meets Silver, who has stolen one of Elm's remaining Pokémon. After defeating the boy in battle, she learns his name and relays it to the police in New Bark Town. Professor Elm allows Kris to keep the Pokémon she chose earlier, and encourages her to compete in the Johto League.

From there Kris begins on a Pokémon journey in the Johto region, facing off against its eight Gym Leaders, defeating and disbanding the newly reformed Team Rocket, and becoming Pokémon League Champion by defeating the Elite Four and its previous Champion, Lance at Indigo Plateau. Along the way she also teaches Silver to respect Pokémon as living creatures and not just as tools for battle. Kris also uncovered the mystery of the Tin Tower and its legendary Pokémon, Entei, Suicune, and Raikou.

After being declared the Pokémon League Champion, Kris then takes a short trip on a ship, the S.S. Aqua, from Olivine City to Vermilion City in Kanto. Journeying across that region, she battles against its own set of eight Gym Leaders, including two new faces, Janine, who replaced her father Koga on his promotion to the Elite Four, and Blue, who was formerly Pokémon League Champion himself, and replaced Giovanni after the latter fled. Upon getting permission from Professor Oak in Pallet Town, Kris heads for Mt. Silver via Route 28. Her journey comes to a close when she faces the Champion from Pallet Town Pokémon Trainer Red deep in Mt. Silver Cave, who had been training there since shortly after he became Pokémon League Champion three years prior.

In spin-off games

Pokémon Masters EX

Main article: Kris (Masters)

Kris forms a sync pair with Totodile and its evolved forms Croconaw and Feraligatr in Pokémon Masters EX.

Artwork

	File:Game Freak Kris.jpg	File:Kris Portrait.png
Walking	Relaxing with Togepi	Posing for a portrait

Sprites

In the core series

Sprite from Crystal	Overworld sprite from Crystal	Back sprite from Crystal	Unused PokéGear icon from HeartGold and SoulSilver

In other games

Portrait from the credits in Stadium 2

Quotes

Main article: Kris (game)/Quotes

Optional names

Counterparts

Marina, Kris's anime counterpart

In the anime

Main article: Marina (Johto)

Marina, one of the main characters in The Legend of Thunder!, is the anime counterpart of Kris. In her debut, Marina is presented as a girl who dreams of becoming famous with the help of her Pokémon. In her latest appearances, she was shown to be a talented Pokémon Coordinator, having won the Grand Festival to become a Top Coordinator. She is friends with Jimmy and Vincent.

In the manga

Pokémon Adventures

Main article: Crystal (Adventures)

Crystal from Pokémon Adventures is based on Kris's design. She is unique among all Pokédex holders in the sense that her primary goal is to fill the Pokédex.

Pokémon Gold & Silver: The Golden Boys

Main article: Chris (Golden Boys)

Chris from Golden Boys is based on Kris.

Trivia

Screenshots of an earlier design for a female protagonist

• Kris is the first playable female character in Pokémon games, a feature included in all traditional Pokémon RPGs since. Despite this, the female choice in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver is Lyra, who was designed from scratch by Takao Unno.
  • However, an unused PokéGear icon in HeartGold and SoulSilver, resembling Kris rather than Lyra, suggests that this was decided at a later point of development.
• Several pre-release screenshots for Pokémon Crystal show an earlier design for a female protagonist.
• Kris's alternate Japanese names would later be shared with Leaf, Dawn, and Lyra.
• Kris is the only playable character in the core series to be exclusive to a solitary version.

Names

• In all Generation I and II games, the first suggested name for the player character is based on the game title. In the Japanese version of Pokémon Crystal, the name "クリス" is the first option for both the male and female player characters. In the English version, this name was romanized as "Chris" for the boy and "Kris" for the girl.
• The Trainer's Guide released with Pokémon Crystal tells a short story where the player character starts their adventure. This is almost the same as the story previously released in the Trainer's Guide from Pokémon Gold and Silver, except the player is no longer referred to specifically as a boy.
  • In the Japanese version of that short story from Pokémon Crystal, the Japanese name "クリス" (which may be romanized as Chris or Kris) applies equally to both the male and female player characters. However, this changed in the English version, where the name of the player character is not mentioned.
• She was named "Clis" (which is another possible romanization of her Japanese name "クリス") in at least two image files from Game Freak's Japanese website: CLIS.JPG and CLIS_2.JPG.
  • Both images used to have their modification date listed as March 2, 2001.^[1] This indicates that she already had her Japanese name at the time, decades before she used it in Pokémon Masters EX. (notwithstanding the Japanese manual, which used that name for both the male and female player characters)
• The first known use of the name "Kris" in English (aside from the list of optional names for the player character) was on the back of the American and Australian boxart of Pokémon Crystal. Unlike the Japanese manual, this specifically referred to the female player character.
• Years later, she also debuted in Pokémon Masters EX, where she was named Kris (Japanese: クリス Kris) for the first time in-game.

References

This game character article is part of Project CharacterDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each character found in the Pokémon games.