Pokémon Red and Green beta

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As with most gaming software, Pokémon Red and Green, in their final release, contain several "dummied out" features that were programmed into the games but for one reason or another had their activating events taken from the final versions.

In addition, the English translations of these games, Pokémon Red and Blue, had several of their own altered aspects during the two years between the release of the Japanese Blue and the English translations.

Concept art

Pokemon conceptart.jpg

The early concept art by Ken Sugimori

In a gaming exhibition called Game On, early concept art of Red and Green by Ken Sugimori was featured, along with beta material from Ruby and Sapphire. The concept art depicts rough versions of various concepts that made it into the final game. They seem to include various battles, the Safari Zone, Red riding on a Lapras, a Blastoise, Celadon City, Silph Co., and a town with a fountain which could have been reworked into Celadon City. Some other Pokémon are identifiable in a raw or semi-normal form, such as Gastly and others are prototypical of an entire class of Pokémon, such as a basic Dragon type.

Game Center CX: Pokémon special

A Japan-exclusive special Pokémon episode of Game Center CX, (or Retro Game Master as it is known outside of Japan) included an interview with Satoshi Tajiri, where he revealed early Pokémon character profiles of Nidoking, Slowbro and Kadabra. Notably, they are given a number which matches their internal index number, rather than their final Pokédex number. Nidoking, for instance is noted as being No. 007, rather than No. 034, either suggesting that there was an earlier method of ordering the Pokémon proposed, or that they reflect the order that they were programmed into the game. The latter is supported by interviews with Ken Sugimori, which verify that Rhydon (index no. 001) was the first Pokémon ever created, and early sketches from Capsule Monsters featuring Rhydon. Nidoking is also referred to as マイコー♂ (Maikō♂) indicating that there were prototype names for Pokémon before the development of Pokémon Red and Green had finished. The following video contains an excerpt from the aforementioned interview.

By ChickasaurusGL
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Gameplay features

Battling against Professor Oak

BoEANSprite.png This glitch is in need of research.
Reason: Needs research about the Blues Eeveelution having any affect on this battle
You can discuss this on the talk page.

At the beginning of the game, Professor Oak introduces the player to the world of Pokémon using a sprite that is similar to the battle sprites of other characters. However, he also has a full team of Pokémon programmed into the game, consisting of a Tauros, Exeggutor, Arcanine, Gyarados, and the final form of the starter Pokémon that was not taken by the player or Blue.

His Pokémon are of an even higher level than those of Blue as Champion, perhaps implying that he was at one point intended to be faced after the defeat of the Elite Four.

This battle is present in all of the Generation I games and can be activated through the Mew glitch with a Special stat of 226.

Bird type

The Bird type may have been a prototype version of the Flying type. This can be seen in the final releases of the games: Missingno. is recognized as a dual-typed Bird/Normal Pokémon. The Bird type is present in the programming of the Generation II games, possibly due to their engine being based on that of the Generation I games.

Directions

It is possible to force a situation where the player has a choice of selecting options NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, and WEST as opposed to the options which appear in the final game such as YES/NO and HEAL/CANCEL. The words WEST and SOUTH in block capitals do not even appear in the final releases.[1]

Female player character

File:Sugimori Starter artwork.png

Artwork featuring an assumed female player character, with a Squirtle

There were originally plans for a female character to be playable in Red and Green, as older sketches suggest. Green from Pokémon Adventures seems to be based on her. The character was redesigned and included in the remakes of the games, to continue the standard of including a female protagonist option.

No Mew present

According to the interview by Satoru Iwata with Tsunekaz Ishihara and Shigeki Morimoto about the release of HeartGold and SoulSilver, localized as Iwata Asks, they admitted that after the debug features were removed, they added Mew in the empty space. Nintendo thought that this would have been risky because altering the games' code after completing testing, meant that any new bugs and glitches created by adding data with no debugging features would have been much harder to be fixed. Standard programming practices usually discourage altering the code and not testing it, just before releasing the game to the customer.[2]

Unused Trainer class

A Trainer class known as Chief (Japanese: シルフのチーフ Sylph's Chief) was omitted from the final releases, though like Oak, a battle with an NPC with this data can be accessed through cheating. It is mentioned in-game by one of the Team Rocket Grunts in Celadon City, and shares its battle sprite with the Scientist Trainer class.

Leftover track

An unused track has been recently discovered in the coding of the games. The music is originally high-pitched and incomplete, since only the individual audio channels are left. There have also been attempts at recreating what the complete theme would sound like.

By ChickasaurusGL
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


By Koolboyman
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


By ChickasaurusGL
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Locations

Alternative map locations

There are three map locations which are each identical to another map used in the final game, except for the fact that the default music used in the alternative location is different.[3]

These locations are:

Extra location accessible via Fly

Formatted data exists for an additional map location.[4] It is located straight after the final town in memory (Saffron City) but just before Route 1. Its associated data is completely blank, even its header data and coordinates on the Town Map (where the game defaults the location as part of "Pallet Town" with coordinates 0,0), except for the fact that an unused flag when checked allows the player to Fly to it. Attempting to travel to this location simply freezes the game.

Unused shop data

A part of the games' code relates to a shop and may be associated with the formatted map location as mentioned above. The "shop" lists Great Balls, Super Potions, Hyper Potions, Full Heals and Revives.

Items

Main article: List of dummied out items

Badges

Unused items with the names of all the Badges exist in the games' programming. This could mean that the Badges were originally going to be items that were carried in the player's bag. The BoulderBadge and CascadeBadge are the only ones that do something when used in battle - they allow the player to throw Bait and Rocks, respectively, as in the Safari Zone battles. When used outside of battle, they have another strange effect - after the throwing animation, the music changes to a loop of Professor Oak's "good Pokédex" jingle.

?????

There is an item in the game named ?????, which enables the player to Surf without using a Pokémon. Due to this ability, it is often referred to as Surfboard. In the final releases, the move Surf can be used by a Pokémon as a field move serving the same function. This has led a few players to speculate that either the move Surf was not originally implemented as a field move or that the move did not initially exist as an HM.

Poké Balls

Some concept art depicts Poké Balls on the ground, in two pieces. This is most likely just a carryover from when Pokémon was in its initial concept of Capsule Monsters. Strangely, the original Poké Ball sprites from Red and Green don't show the button in the center of the Poké Ball.

Pokédex

This item allows use of the Pokédex inside battle, much like Ash does in the anime. However, due to its incomplete nature, it causes various graphical glitches upon usage.

Localization

Prototype names

Generation I prototype English names.jpg

Unknown poster showing early names
for Generation I Pokémon

During the promotional period that preceded the English release of both the anime and games, a large amount of Pokémon were shown with different names than they had in the games at release. Some of these names were similar to their current names, but some were quite close to their Japanese names, and others were completely different from any current Pokémon name. Interestingly, the names appear to have been initially limited to 7 characters as opposed to 10 as in the final releases, something that has set a standard that remains today in Generation V.

#   Final name Beta name Japanese name
014 Kakuna Kakuna Kokoon Cocoon
016 Pidgey Pidgey Pidge Poppo
018 Pidgeot Pidgeot Pidgeott Pigeot
019 Rattata Rattata Rattatak Koratta
023 Ekans Ekans Arbo/"Nagahis" Arbo
024 Arbok Arbok Nagaasp Arbok
028 Sandslash Sandslash Sandstorm Sandpan
035 Clefairy Clefairy Aria Pippi
036 Clefable Clefable Ariala Pixy
037 Vulpix Vulpix Foxfire Rokon
039 Jigglypuff Jigglypuff Pudding Purin
040 Wigglytuff Wigglytuff Custard Pukurin
043 Oddish Oddish Ladish Nazonokusa
046 Paras Paras Parasyte Paras
050 Diglett Diglett Digda Digda
058 Growlithe Growlithe Flamie Gardie
059 Arcanine Arcanine Blaze Windie
060 Poliwag Poliwag Aqua Nyoromo
061 Poliwhirl Poliwhirl "Aquanau" Nyorozo
062 Poliwrath Poliwrath "Aquamar" Nyorobon
063 Abra Abra Hocus Casey
064 Kadabra Kadabra Pocus Yungerer
066 Machop Machop Kara-tee Wanriky
067 Machoke Machoke Kung-foo Goriky
068 Machamp Machamp Ju-doh Kairiky
072 Tentacool Tentacool Jilly Menokurage
073 Tentacruel Tentacruel Man O War Dokukurage
078 Rapidash Rapidash Gallop Gallop
079 Slowpoke Slowpoke Slowmo Yadon
081 Magnemite Magnemite Coil Coil
082 Magneton Magneton Recoil Rarecoil
083 Farfetch'd Farfetch'd Fowler Kamonegi
084 Doduo Doduo Dodo Dodo
087 Dewgong Dewgong Manaty Jugon
092 Gastly Gastly Spirit Ghos
093 Haunter Haunter Spectre Ghost
094 Gengar Gengar Phantom Gangar
096 Drowzee Drowzee Sleeper Sleep
099 Kingler Kingler Kingle Kingler
102 Exeggcute Exeggcute "Eggstre" Tamatama
103 Exeggutor Exeggutor "Eggscut" Nassy
104 Cubone Cubone Orphon Karakara
105 Marowak Marowak Guardia Garagara
106 Hitmonlee Hitmonlee Lee Sawamular
107 Hitmonchan Hitmonchan Chan Ebiwalar
108 Lickitung Lickitung Tonguetyd Beroringa
109 Koffing Koffing Ny Dogars
110 Weezing Weezing La Matadogas
113 Chansey Chansey Lucky Lucky
114 Tangela Tangela Meduza/Medusa Monjara
118 Goldeen Goldeen Goldy Tosakinto
119 Seaking Seaking Neptune Azumao
123 Scyther Scyther Stryke Strike
130 Gyarados Gyarados Skulkraken Gyarados
131 Lapras Lapras Ness Laplace
132 Ditto Ditto Morpho Metamon
133 Eevee Eevee Eon Eievui
137 Porygon Porygon Poregon Porygon
138 Omanyte Omanyte Ess Omnite
139 Omastar Omastar Kargo Omstar
140 Kabuto Kabuto Att Kabuto
141 Kabutops Kabutops Lantis Kabutops
142 Aerodactyl Aerodactyl Ptera Ptera
147 Dratini Dratini Dragoon Miniryu
148 Dragonair Dragonair Dragyn Hakuryu


Grammar

"The <Trainer's class/name> wants to fight!"

File:BrockRB beta.jpg

"The BROCK wants to fight!" battle message

Before the American and European releases of Red and Blue, screenshots were released of a rival battle with the text "The BLUE wants to fight!". While this text would work with a typical Trainer, such as "The LASS" or "The HIKER", as they were not given personal names until Generation II, it would cause problems with Gym Leader, Elite Four, rival, and link battles, leaving them to end up as "The MISTY" or "The LANCE", as these Trainers did not at the time have titles, only their names. Because of this, the definite article The was dropped in the final releases, leading to the somewhat odd sentence style used until Generation III of "<Trainer's class/name> wants to..."

A screenshot in the instruction manual of Red and Blue still contains the text "The BROCK wants to fight!", possibly suggesting a late removal. The instruction manual also mentions Pokémon Leaders instead of Gym Leaders.

"<Player> sent <Pokémon> out!"

A slightly different grammar was going to be used for the message displayed when the player sends out his/her Pokémon in battle. Whereas in the final releases, the message appears as "<Player> sent out <Pokémon>!", the development builds used "<Player> sent <Pokémon> out!" instead.

"A wild <Pokémon> appeared!"

During the localization process, the message that appears when encountering a wild Pokémon read "A wild <Pokémon> appeared!" instead. This is similar to the situation with Trainer battles since the indefinite article A was dropped in the final releases, leading to the awkward sentence style of "Wild <Pokémon> appeared!" used until Generation IV, which brought back the initial style to the English versions of the games.

"The enemy <Pokémon> fainted!"

Akin to other sentence styles used in the pre-release builds of the English versions, the message shown when either a wild Pokémon or another Trainer's Pokémon fainted appeared as "The enemy <Pokémon> fainted!" instead. Like with the initial message of Trainer battles, the definite article The was dropped in the final releases. This style would later be reintroduced and improved in Generation IV, where the message appears as "The wild <Pokémon> fainted!" in the case of wild encounters and as "The foe's <Pokémon> fainted!" during Trainer battles.

"<Pokémon> CUT down a bush!"

ODDISH CUT.png

"ODDISH CUT down a bush!" field message

On page 31 of Red and Blue's Nintendo Player's Guide, a different dialogue string that reads "ODDISH CUT down a bush!" is used in a screenshot when cutting down the bush next to Vermilion City Gym. The fact that Cut can also be used to destroy areas of tall grass may have been the reason why the text was converted to "<Pokémon> hacked away with CUT!" in the final game.

References


Beta versions of Pokémon games
Generation I
Red and GreenYellow
Generation II
Gold and Silver (Spaceworld '97 demo) • Crystal
Generation III
Ruby and SapphireFireRed and LeafGreenEmeraldColosseumXD
Generation IV
Diamond and PearlPlatinumHeartGold and SoulSilver
Generation V
Black and WhiteBlack 2 and White 2
Generation VI
X and YOmega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire
Generation VII
Sun and MoonUltra Sun and Ultra Moon
Generation VIII
Sword and Shield
Unreleased
Pokémon Picross


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