Text entry (Generation II)

This article is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this article to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Stadium 2 text entry

There are several different menus that allow text entry in the Generation II core series games. The selection of characters available varies based on the type of text entry, the language of the game, and sometimes even the game itself.

Text entry types

There a four different types of fields in which the player can freely enter text:

• Player and rival name
• Pokémon nicknames
• Box names
• Mail

Additionally, in the Japanese version of Pokémon Crystal, the easy chat system is used to enter messages at the Mobile Center.

Character limits

Each of these free text fields has a different limit on the number of characters that they can include. For Korean, each Hangul block counts as a single character.

Blank submissions

If the player submits no text, or text exclusively consisting of spaces, the default name is used instead.

• For Pokémon, the Pokémon keeps its current name
• For the player's name, they are assigned the first preset name
• For the rival's name, it defaults to "GOLD"^S/"SILVER"^GC (in the appropriate language)
• For boxes, the box keeps its current name
• For Mail, blank messages and space-only messages can be used

Western languages

Entering a nickname in English Pokémon Crystal

Entering a nickname in German Pokémon Crystal

The Generation II Pokémon games are available in five Western languages: English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. All of these languages are written in the Latin alphabet, so have very similar text entry systems.

In Western languages, there are three distinct text entry interfaces, each of which has a different set of characters that can be entered. The player and rivals' names, as well as nicknames, are entered using the default interface; Boxes and Mail each have their own unique text entry interfaces.

In some languages, in the Box name and Mail interfaces, there are several apostrophe and letter ligatures. These characters allow apostrophes to be used, without requiring the apostrophe occupy the width of an entire character. These ligatures only exist in lowercase, and do not have uppercase counterparts—they correspond to special characters in the uppercase section. In some cases, the standalone apostrophe is not present, leaving these ligatures as the only way to write text including apostrophes.

All characters in the keyboard area add exactly one character (i.e. there are no modifier keys in this area). Blank tiles in the keyboard area add spaces. The characters present in the keyboard area can be toggled between uppercase or lowercase using the leftmost button of the controls. Toggling the case also swaps which special characters appear.

The default interface and available characters are very similar to the Generation I interface, but with a few key changes:

• There are now only 4 rows of characters rather than 5, so the special characters now also change when switching cases.
• The gender symbols (♂, ♀) can no longer be entered.
• Submitting a message of only spaces is now treated the same as submitting an empty message, meaning that it is no longer possible for the player's name or a nickname to consist solely of spaces.
• In German, it is no longer possible to enter semicolons or the multiplication sign^GS/spaces^C.

Available characters

Default interface

The default interface is used for the player's name, the rival's name, and Pokémon's nicknames.

The following are characters that can be entered in Western languages. German has a unique default interface that includes several characters with umlauts (at the expense of removing some other characters). All other Western languages use the same default interface.

Characters available in all Western languages are listed under "All"; characters only available in some languages are listed against each language they can be used in.

Box naming

Box naming uses a unique input interface, with a wider variety of characters than the default interface. Unlike the default interface, the available characters greatly differ between Western languages.

Characters available in all Western languages are listed under "All"; characters only available in some languages are listed against each language they can be used in.

Mail

Mail uses a unique input interface, with a wider variety of characters than the default interface. Unlike the default interface, the available characters greatly differ between Western languages.

Characters available in all Western languages are listed under "All"; characters only available in some languages are listed against each language they can be used in.

Japanese

Entering a nickname in Japanese Pokémon Crystal

In Japanese, there are two distinct text entry interfaces. The player and rivals' names, nicknames, and box names are all entered using the default interface; Mail has its own unique text entry interface with several additional characters.

In the Generation II games, Japanese is typed as hiragana and katakana. Kanji are mostly not used in these games, and cannot be entered by players.

The default interface and available characters are very similar to the Generation I interface, but with a few key changes:

• There are now only 4 rows of characters rather than 5, so the special characters now also change when switching cases.
• The kana wo (を / ヲ), small vowel katakana (ァ ィ ゥ ェ ォ), and question mark and exclamation mark (? !) can now be typed.
• Submitting a message of only spaces is now treated the same as submitting an empty message, meaning that it is no longer possible for the player's name or a nickname to consist solely of spaces.

Kana

Hiragana and katakana are collectively referred to as kana. Hiragana and katakana represent the same sets of sounds, but are used in different contexts (comparable to lowercase and uppercase letters in the Latin alphabet). Hiragana are primarily used in native Japanese words, whereas katakana are primarily used in loanwords; katakana is also often used in the names of fictional characters, such as Pokémon.

Kana each represent a single mora (a phonological unit equal to or shorter than a syllable), comprising an optional initial consonant and (almost always) a medial vowel; the moraic n (ん/ン) is the only kana not to include a vowel.

All characters in the keyboard area add exactly one character, except the dakuten and handakuten buttons, which instead modify the previously typed character. Blank tiles in the keyboard area add spaces. The characters present in the keyboard area can be toggled between hiragana and katakana using the kana button (the leftmost button of the controls). Toggling the script also swaps which special characters appear. Additionally, the small vowel kana can only be typed as katakana.

No distinction is made between the hiragana へ he and the katakana ヘ he (and their dakuten/handakuten variants) or between the hiragana り ri and the katakana リ ri. The hiragana and katakana variants use the exact same code point and as a result have the exact same appearance in these games. (Consequently, when sending Pokémon to Pokémon Bank via Poké Transporter, Poké Transporter has to infer whether the character should be hiragana or katakana based on context.)

Diacritics

Two diacritics are used in kana: dakuten (゛) and handakuten (゜). Dakuten is used to mark that the kana is voiced (e.g. changing か ka to が ga). Handakuten is used to mark that a kana beginning with h (in Nihon-shiki romanization) should be pronounced with a p instead (e.g. changing は ha to ぱ pa). Only certain kana can use dakuten; only kana beginning with h can use handakuten.

The only kana that appear on the keyboard are base kana (i.e. kana without dakuten and handakuten) and small kana. To enter a kana with dakuten or handakuten, the player must first type the base kana, then type the diacritic itself. Typing a dakuten or handakuten adds that diacritic to the previous character typed, if possible. If the preceding character already has a diacritic, typing a new diacritic has no effect. It is not possible to type a diacritic without attaching it to a kana. Backspace always deletes the entire previous character, even if it has a diacritic.

The player can only apply dakuten to ka, sa, ta, and ha-group kana; and they can only apply handakuten to ha-column kana.

Available characters

There are two distinct user interfaces for text entry: One for Mail, and one for all other circumstances. The default interface has all kana needed to write modern Japanese words (except some extended katakana for certain loanwords) as well as some basic punctuation; the Mail interface additionally has digits 0-9 and a slash.

Default interface

Characters are arranged into groups of five, which are then distributed across three columns each consisting of four rows. The left and middle column contain all full-size kana from groups with kana for all five vowels; the right column contains the wa and ya groups (which do not have kana for all five vowels), moraic n, the dakuten and handakuten modifiers, small kana, and special characters (including the chōonpu and spaces).

Reading from top-to-bottom, left-to-right, kana are mostly listed in gojūon order; however, ya-group kana are listed after ra-group kana, due to the ya group only having three kana rather than five.

Mail

Characters are arranged into groups of five, which are then distributed across three columns each consisting of four rows, plus an additional one-character column on the right edge. Reading from left-to-right, top-to-bottom, kana are mostly listed in gojūon order; however, ya-group kana are listed after ra-group kana, due to the ya group only having three kana rather than five; the ya group is combined with the wa group to form a group of five kana, with moraic n placed in the extra sixth slot on the right side.

The first three rows contain all of the full-size kana, as well as the dakuten and handakuten modifiers. The bottom row contains small kana, the chōonpu, digits, and punctuation (spaces, slash, exclamation mark, and question mark).

Korean

Entering a nickname in Korean

In Korean, there are two distinct text entry interfaces. The player and rivals' names, nicknames, and box names are all entered using the default interface; Mail has its own unique text entry interface with several additional characters.

Hangul

Korean is written in Hangul. Hangul is a script that is rendered as Hangul blocks (syllables), which are composed of up to three Hangul jamo (letters). A Hangul block contains an initial consonant, a medial vowel, and optionally can contain a final consonant. Hangul jamo usually do not exist on their own, except as letters.

In the Korean games, the player types Hangul jamo, which the game composes into Hangul blocks when possible. For clarity, this section describes individual jamo as "characters" and Hangul blocks as "glyphs". A glyph can consist of a Hangul block, a standalone jamo (i.e. a jamo that has not been assembled into a block), a digit, or punctuation (such as a space).

All glyphs are the same width. Backspace deletes the previous character (not the previous glyph). Text fields are limited by the number of glyphs they can contain (not the number of characters).

Block construction

If a vowel is entered when the previous character is a consonant, that consonant is joined with the entered vowel (if possible) into a block with that consonant as the initial consonant. If the preceding consonant was already serving as the final consonant of a Hangul block, it is removed from that block to become the onset of the new block. Otherwise, if the newly entered vowel cannot join with the preceding character and there is room to add another glyph, it is entered as a standalone jamo. (If the preceding character is a vowel or space, it is impossible to join with it, so the new vowel will always be added as a standalone jamo.)

If a consonant jamo is entered when the previous character is a Hangul block without a final consonant, it is immediately joined into that block (if possible). Otherwise, if the newly entered vowel cannot join with the preceding character and there is room to add another glyph, it is entered as a standalone jamo. (If the preceding character is a consonant, standalone vowel, or space, it is impossible to join with it, so the new consonant will always be added as a standalone jamo.)

Some blocks cannot be created, even when they exist in modern Korean. For example, typing ㄴ followed by ㅒ will result in two standalone jamo, rather than forming the block 냬. This is due to limitations within the character encoding, which only contains 2,353 blocks (~29.49%) out of the possible 7,980 with the jamo in the game (19 starting consonants × 21 vowels × 20 final consonants).

Available characters

There are two distinct user interfaces for text entry: One for Mail, and one for all other circumstances. The default interface has Hangul jamo and the space character; the Mail interface additionally has digits 0-9, a question mark, and an exclamation mark.

The keyboard is ordered the same as below, across the same four rows. The first two rows contain consonants, while the last two rows contain vowels. The remaining gaps on the right side of each of their second rows remain blank, and can be used to type spaces. For Mail, the additional characters are all placed on the fifth and final line. Unlike other languages, there is no Shift key when entering Korean text—all of the possible characters to enter are displayed on a single screen.

For both vowels and consonants, the single jamo are listed first, followed by the composite jamo. Within each of these subsets, the jamo themselves are sorted in South Korean order. (South Korean order normally intersperses single and composite jamo, whereas North Korean order places all single jamo before composite jamo. However, North Korean order differs from the games as to how the jamo are sorted within these subsets.)

Default interface

This comprises all Hangul jamo used in modern Korean, except composite consonants other than double consonants (i.e. ㄳ ㄵ ㄶ ㄺ ㄻ ㄼ ㄽ ㄾ ㄿ ㅀ ㅄ).

Mail

See also

• Text entry in the Pokémon games
• Character encoding (Generation II)

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