Pokemon - Blue Version
Pokémon Red and Blue allow players to trade Pokémon between two cartridges via a Game Link Cable.[9] This method of trading must be done to fully complete the Pokédex since certain Pokémon will only evolve upon being traded and each of the two games have version-exclusive Pokémon.[1] The Link Cable also makes it possible to battle another player's Pokémon team.[9] When playing Red or Blue on a Game Boy Advance or SP, the standard GBA/SP link cable will not work; players must use the Nintendo Universal Game Link Cable instead.[10] Moreover, the English versions of the games are incompatible with their Japanese counterparts, and such trades will corrupt the save files, as the games use different languages and therefore character sets.[11]
Pokemon - Blue Version
In Japan, Pocket Monsters Red and Green were the first versions released, having been completed by October 1995 and officially released on February 27, 1996.[45][46] After a slow start they continued to sell well. [47] Several months later, Pocket Monsters Blue was released in Japan as a mail-order-only special edition[48] to subscribers of CoroCoro Comic on October 15, 1996. It was later released to general retail on October 10, 1999.[49][50] It features updated in-game artwork and new dialogue.[51] Using Blastoise as its mascot, the code, script, and artwork for Blue were used for the international releases of Red and Green, which were renamed to Red and Blue.[48] The Japanese Blue edition of the game features all but a handful of Pokémon available in Red and Green, making certain Pokémon exclusive to the original editions.
During the North American localization of Pokémon, a small team led by Hiro Nakamura went through the individual Pokémon, renaming them for western audiences based on their appearance and characteristics after approval from Nintendo. In addition, during this process, Nintendo trademarked the 151 Pokémon names in order to ensure they would be unique to the franchise.[54] During the translation process, it became apparent that simply altering the games' text from Japanese to English was impossible; the games had to be entirely reprogrammed from scratch due to the fragile state of their source code, a side effect of the unusually lengthy development time.[37] Therefore, the games were based on the more modern Japanese version of Blue; modeling its programming and artwork after Blue, but keeping the same distribution of Pokémon found in the Japanese Red and Green cartridges, respectively.[48]
As the finished Red and Blue versions were being prepared for release, Nintendo allegedly spent over 50 million dollars to promote the games, fearing the series would not be appealing to American children.[55] The western localization team warned that the "cute monsters" may not be accepted by American audiences, and instead recommended they be redesigned and "beefed-up". Then-president of Nintendo Hiroshi Yamauchi refused and instead viewed the games' possible reception in America as a challenge to face.[56] Despite these setbacks, the reprogrammed Red and Blue versions with their original creature designs were eventually released in North America on September 28, 1998, over two and a half years after Red and Green debuted in Japan.[57][58] The games were received extremely well by the foreign audiences and Pokémon went on to become a lucrative franchise in America.[56] The same versions were later released in Australia sometime later in 1998[59] and in Europe on October 5, 1999[60][61] being the second-to-last video game released for the original Game Boy in Europe with Pokemon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition being the last.
Two years after Red and Green, Nintendo released Pokémon Yellow, an enhanced version of Red and Blue, in Japan in 1998,[62][63] and in North America and Europe in 1999[64] and 2000, respectively.[65] The game was designed to resemble the Pokémon anime series, with the player receiving a Pikachu as their starter Pokémon, and their rival starting with an Eevee. Some non-player characters resemble those from the anime, including Team Rocket's Jessie and James.[citation needed]
Pokémon Yellow was developed by Game Freak and first began development after the completion of the Japanese-only version of Pokémon Blue, which itself followed the Japanese-only versions of Pokémon Red and Green. Work on Pokémon Yellow was contemporaneous with that of the lengthy development cycle of Pokémon Gold and Silver.[citation needed] Nintendo may had been considering a "Pokémon Pink" alternative version of Yellow, based on source code leaked from Nintendo.[69]
On the 20th anniversary of the first generation Pokémon games' Japanese release, in February 2016, Nintendo re-released Red, Blue, and Yellow for their Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console service. The games include a first for the Virtual Console: simulated Link Cable functionality to allow trading and battling between games.[76] As was the case with its original release, Green is exclusive to Japanese consumers.[77] These versions of the games are able to transfer Pokémon to Pokémon Sun and Moon via the Pokémon Bank application.[78]
A special Nintendo 2DS bundle was released in Japan, Europe, and Australia on February 27, 2016, with each console matching the corresponding color of the game version.[79] North America received a special New Nintendo 3DS bundle with cover plates styled after Red and Blue's box art.[80]
The video game website 1UP.com composed a list of the "Top 5 'Late to the Party' Games" showing selected titles that "prove a gaming platform's untapped potential" and were one of the last games released for their respective console. Red and Blue were ranked first and called Nintendo's "secret weapon" when the games were brought out for the Game Boy in the late 1990s.[31] The game's success revitalized the Game Boy in the late 1990s.[117] Nintendo Power listed the Red and Blue versions together as the third best video game for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, stating that something about the games kept them playing until they caught every Pokémon.[142] Game Informer's Ben Reeves called them (along with Pokémon Yellow, Gold, Silver, and Crystal) the second best Game Boy games and stated that it had more depth than it appeared.[143] Official Nintendo Magazine named the games one of the best Nintendo games of all time, placing 52nd on their list of the top 100 games.[144] Red and Blue made number 72 on IGN's "Top 100 Games of All Time" in 2003, in which the reviewers noted that the pair of games "started a revolution" and praised the deep game design and complex strategy, as well the option to trade between other games.[145] Two years later, it climbed the ranks to number 70 in the updated list, with the games' legacy again noted to have inspired multiple video game sequels, movies, television shows, and other merchandise, strongly rooting it in popular culture.[146] In 2019, PC Magazine included the games on their "The 10 Best Game Boy Games".[147] In 2023, Time Extension included the game on their "Best JRPGs of All Time" list.[148] In 2007, Red and Blue were ranked at number 37 on the list, and the reviewers remarked at the games' longevity:
The games are widely credited with starting and helping pave the way for the successful multibillion-dollar series.[31] Five years after Red and Blue's initial release, Nintendo celebrated its "Pokémonniversary". George Harrison, the senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications of Nintendo of America, stated that "those precious gems [Pokémon Red and Blue] have evolved into Ruby and Sapphire. The release of Pokémon Pinball kicks off a line of great new Pokémon adventures that will be introduced in the coming months".[149] The series has since sold over 300 million games, all accredited to the enormous success of the original Red and Blue versions.[31][150]
On February 12, 2014, an anonymous Australian programmer launched Twitch Plays Pokémon, a "social experiment" on the video streaming website Twitch. The project was a crowdsourced attempt to play a modified version of Pokémon Red by typing commands into the channel's chat log, with an average of 50,000 viewers participating at the same time. The result was compared to "watching a car crash in slow motion".[151] The game was completed on March 1, 2014, boasting 390 hours of multi-user controlled non-stop gameplay.[152]
Pokémon FireRed Version[e] and Pokémon LeafGreen Version[f] are enhanced remakes of Pokémon Red and Blue. The new titles were developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance and have compatibility with the Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter, which originally came bundled with the games. However, due to the new variables added to FireRed and LeafGreen (such as changing the single, "Special" stat into two separate "Special Attack" and "Special Defense" stats), these titles are not compatible with older versions outside of the third generation of Pokémon. FireRed and LeafGreen were first released in Japan on January 29, 2004,[154][155] and released in North America and Europe on September 9[156] and October 1, 2004[157] respectively. Nearly two years after their original release, Nintendo re-marketed them as Player's Choice titles.[158] A bit of trivia; The infamous/famous Nintendo Gigaleak featured a list of pokemon games, and one portion of it may be suggesting a scrapped remake of Pokemon Yellow, which can be considered as "Pokémon Thunder Yellow", before the real remakes 20 years later 041b061a72