User:Frozen Fennec/Development Cycle of Pokémon Red and Green

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This page describes the development cycle of Pokémon Red and Green.

Pre-release flyer with the earlier release date

Capsule Monsters

During the year of 1990, Satoshi Tajiri showed off the concept for a game that would have been called Capsule Monsters. This game acted as a predecessor to Pokémon during it's development and would have introduced a new unique way of using the link cables for GameBoy Pockets to trade and battle with other players.

No Mew present

According to the interview by Satoru Iwata with Tsunekazu Ishihara and Shigeki Morimoto about the release of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, localized as Iwata Asks, they admitted that after the debugging tools were removed, they added Mew in the remaining space on the ROM. Nintendo thought that this would have been risky because altering the internal data after completing the testing period meant that any new bugs and/or glitches created by adding data without recurring to debugging tools would have been much harder to fix. Standard programming practices usually discourage altering the source code and not testing it just before releasing the software to the customer.[1]

Poké Balls

Main article: Poké Ball

Some concept art depicts Poké Balls on the ground, in two pieces. This is most likely just a carryover from when Pokémon was still the concept of Capsule Monsters. Strangely, the original Poké Ball sprites from Pokémon Red and Green lack the button in the center of the Poké Ball.

Rebattling Trainers

In an interview with Shōko Nakagawa in her book Shōko Nakagawa: Pokémon Taught Me The Meaning of Life, Tsunekazu Ishihara revealed that originally, the game was programmed to trigger a battle with each Trainer any time the player walked by them, regardless if the player had already defeated them in battle previously. The wild Pokémon encounter rate was also significantly higher originally. The Trainer rebattling was omitted from the final release and the wild Pokémon encounter rate was significantly reduced.[2]

Release date

The games were originally scheduled for a December 21, 1995 release, according to an old Nintendo of Japan flyer.[3] This could explain the copyright year of 1995 that appears in the games' introductory sequence, and all subsequent games and official merchandise.

Prerelease border

On page 153 of the December 1995 book New Game Design by Game Freak is a summary of Red and Green's final plot. Two screenshots of the game are shown which use an unseen border resembling a Super Game Boy border. In it, "POCKET MONSTERS!" is written in a different size. The border has more Pokémon on it than the Super Game Boy borders from the final game. Clefairy and Pidgey are included, suggesting the screenshot may be from Japanese Red. Kangaskhan does not appear in the border.

  • Title screen screenshot from New Game Design.
    Title screen screenshot from New Game Design.
  • Battle screen screenshot from New Game Design.
    Battle screen screenshot from New Game Design.
  • Final game's Super Game Boy border for comparison.
    Final game's Super Game Boy border for comparison.

Concept art

Early concept art by Ken Sugimori

During a gaming exhibition called Game On, early concept art of Capsule Monsters by Ken Sugimori was featured, along with pre-release material from Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. The concept art depicts rough versions of various concepts that made it into the final releases of the Generation I games. 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.

GameCenter CX

This section is incomplete.
Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it.
Reason: Expand based on the information provided by Satoshi Tajiri, if applicable

A Japan-exclusive special Pokémon episode of GameCenter CX, known as Retro Game Master 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 National Pokédex number which matches their internal index number, rather than their final Kanto Pokédex number. Nidoking, for instance is noted as being #007, rather than #034, either suggesting that there was another method of ordering the Pokémon proposed, or that they reflect their ordering in the internal data. The latter is supported by interviews with Ken Sugimori, which verify that Rhydon, which has an index number of 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 either placeholder or alternate names for Pokémon before the development of Pokémon Red and Green had finished.

Pokémon names

Australian 1998 promotional poster with early names for Generation I Pokémon

During the promotional period that preceded the English release of both the anime and Pokémon Red and Blue, a large amount of Pokémon were shown with different names from those they had in the final releases. Some of these names were similar to their final names, but some were quite close to their Japanese names, and others were completely different from any current Pokémon name.

In addition to promotional materials distributed before the games' English releases, the book Pokémon Trainer's Survival Guide, one of the earliest player's guides available in North America, erroneously refers to Haunter as Spectre, its pre-release name.

#   Final name Early name Japanese name
006 Charizard Charizard Charizr Lizardon
010 Caterpie Caterpie Catterp Caterpie
014 Kakuna Kakuna Kokoon Cocoon
015 Beedrill Beedrill Beedril Spear
016 Pidgey Pidgey Pidge Poppo
018 Pidgeot Pidgeot Pidgeott Pigeot
019 Rattata Rattata Rattatak Koratta
023 Ekans Ekans Nagahis/Arbo 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
038 Ninetales Ninetales Ninetai/Nine Tales Kyukon
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/Polihirl Nyorozo
062 Poliwrath Poliwrath Aquamar Nyorobon
063 Abra Abra Hocus Casey
064 Kadabra Kadabra Pocus Yungerer
066 Machop Machop Karate/Kara-tee Wanriky
067 Machoke Machoke Kungfo/Kung-foo Goriky
068 Machamp Machamp Judoh/Ju-doh Kairiky
072 Tentacool Tentacool Jilly Menokurage
073 Tentacruel Tentacruel Manowar/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 Medusa/Meduza Monjara
118 Goldeen Goldeen Goldy Tosakinto
119 Seaking Seaking Neptune Azumao
122 Mr. Mime Mr. Mime Mrmime Barrierd
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

Text

"The Brock wants to fight!"

Before the English releases of Pokémon Red and Blue, screenshots were released of a battle with the rival where the text string "The Blue wants to fight!" was used. While this text would work with a typical Trainer, such as "The Lass wants to fight!" or "The Hiker wants to fight!", 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 wants to fight!" or "The Lance wants to fight!", 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 in Generations I and II of:

  • "{Trainer's class or name} wants to fight!"RBY
  • "{Trainer's class and name} wants to battle!"GSC

A screenshot in the instruction manual of English 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.

A slightly different grammar was also going to be used for other text strings.

  • "{Player} sent {Pokémon} out!" instead of "{Player} sent out {Pokémon}!"
  • "A wild {Pokémon} appeared!" became just "Wild {Pokémon} appeared!" (this change would be reverted in Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, where it has been kept since then)
    • Similarly, "The enemy {Pokémon} fainted!" became simply "Enemy {Pokémon} fainted!" (also reverted in XD as the definite article The was reinstated)

In a screenshot from the instruction manual, Professor Oak says "PLANT POKé BULBASAUR?" instead of "plant POKéMON BULBASAUR?" as in the final game.

References

  1. ↑ Iwata Asks - Pokémon HeartGold Version & SoulSilver Version
  2. ↑ Dogasu's Backpack: Nakagawa Shouko "Pokemon Taught Me the Meaning of Life"
  3. ↑ すばらしきポケットモンスター赤緑（表側）の広告
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