Pokémon Blue Version (Japanese)

Pocket Monsters Blue (Japanese: ポケットモンスター 青) is the third main series Pokémon game released in Japan on October 10, 1996, as a minor revision of Pocket Monsters: Red & Green (Japanese: ポケットモンスター 赤・緑), which were released earlier that year. It was thus the first third version in the main series Pokémon games, and was initially sold exclusively to subscribers of CoroCoro Comic.

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 & Green provided the Wild Pokémon and Version-exclusive Pokémon lists for the rest of the world's Pokémon Red and Blue Versions, 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 third versions, players followed the plot of the previous two games. Like in Red and Green, they started 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.

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 and 10.0 kg respectively), showing instead a height of 10.0 ft and a weight of 3507.2 lb.^[2][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

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, an 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, however, it makes sense, as the player trades away a Kadabra, which evolves through trade, for a Graveler in this game.
• 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, however, it doesn't inform the player that the saving process will overwrite the previous save file, 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 Red and Green. The issue also remained in the localizations.

References

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