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If you wanna be the very best, like no one ever was, then these might be the games for you.

Much like the early entries in the Final Fantasy series, these games have a messy history when it comes to localization. As a result, this page covers the initial Japanese versions, titled Red and Green, the updated Blue revision, and the subsequent international localizations (dubbed Red and Blue) that drew from the latter.

Sub-Pages#

Development Info

Bugs

Unused Song#

Red and Blue contain a short unused song with no defined pointers. The song appears to be incomplete, and while it only has two channels whose octaves are set too high, it does have a defined song tempo, being relatively quick. The two channels are located in the ROM at offsets 0xA913 and 0xA9CF, and the tune can be patched into Pallet Town by using a Game Genie code or manually patching a set of offsets, both displayed below.

Game Genie Code	Offsets to Patch
132-2FB-F7D	0x822F to 13
692-30B-7F7	0x8230 to 69
CF2-32B-917	0x8232 to CF
692-33B-4CB	0x8233 to 69

The full two-channel song was later found in the English source code leak, there known as Koukan, which translated to "Trade". Based on the commented-out headers and the channel data itself, the track's channels were meant to be split between both Game Boys with one channel playing on one Game Boy and the other playing on the other. A similar behavior was ultimately used in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire for multiplayer Pokémon Contests. Additionally, this song was also found in the Pokémon Gold and Silver source code leak as EFFDATA/M_TRADE.DAT, which plays the source version.

Damaged Version:

Restored Version:

Source Version:

Unused Cry Base#

In the first generations of Pokémon games, the various Pokémon share a relatively small number of cry bases that they each modify to create a larger diversity. This cry base is not referenced by pointer table, therefore there is no ID associated with it for any Pokémon to use. It would later find its way into Pokémon Crystal, where it remains unused and unreferenced.

Unused Type#

Pokemon_MissingNo..png

Found in both Generation I and Generation II games is an unused type known as "Bird". This type, which lacks any weaknesses or resistances, is only assigned to MissingNo. and is believed to have been either an earlier or alternate version of the Flying type.

Unused Celadon Warp#

Location of the deleted entrance.

An unused warp to the fifth floor of the Celadon Department Store (map 136) exists in Celadon City, located on the building to the right of the Prize Corner where a door would normally be found. Exit location data also exists for the map, with the exit point index number being 08. Going from street level to the fifth floor makes little sense and the other Celadon Department Store floors number maps 122-125 consecutively, suggesting the fifth floor is a later addition.

You can create a door to access the warp with the GameShark code 017C72C8. You can appear where the warp is by using the GameShark codes 0108B5D3 0108B1D3, entering a certain map in Celadon City (such as the Pokémon Center), and exiting.

(Source: Glitch City Laboratories)

Unused Scripted SFX#

There exists three unused scripted events in which a sound effect would have been played using a text command. For example, the Dewgong cry would have played if the player interacted with an NPC version of Dewgong. However, in that specific case it never gets used as no Dewgong exists on the overworld in the final games, with only a member of the Pokémon Fan Club owning a Seel.

TX_SOUND_POKEDEX_RATING, SFX_POKEDEX_RATING
TX_SOUND_GET_ITEM_1_DUPLICATE, SFX_GET_ITEM_1
TX_SOUND_CRY_DEWGONG, DEWGONG

(Source: Pokémon Red Disassembly)

Unused Learned Moves#

Unlike future titles, Pokémon Red and Blue lack a move relearning facility, meaning that there are occasions where a Pokémon may be caught at too high a level to learn certain moves that are in its learnset. Getting these moves on a Pokémon from this generation is only possible through Pokémon Stadium 2's move relearner facility.

Confusion / Disable Mewtwo#

The most notable case is Mewtwo, which has Confusion and Disable in its Level 1 learnset. However, because it learns Barrier at Level 63 and Recover at Level 70, and it's caught at Level 70, it cannot learn them under normal circumstances. Glitches such as Trainer-Fly can allow the Level 1 learnset to manifest.

(Source: Pokémon Red Disassembly - Mewtwo Learnset)

Wrap Lickitung#

Lickitung can only be obtained via trading a Slowbro, and Slowbro's lowest possible level is 23. At this level, Lickitung learns Defense Curl, which overwrites Wrap. Japanese Pokémon Blue and any version of Yellow fix this by having Lickitung obtainable at a low enough level to not overwrite Wrap.

(Source: Pokémon Red Disassembly - Lickitung Learnset)

Starter Dex Entries#

Note Ivysaur (002)

To display the Pokédex entries for the starter Pokémon, the game marks them as owned for a brief time, then shows the Pokédex data screen, and then clears the Pokédex. However, for an unknown reason, aside from just marking Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle as owned, the code also marks Ivysaur as owned. This doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, as it gets cleared and the player never gets to see this, but it's still there. Ivysaur was probably not meant to be a starter, and it was likely added into the function by mistake.

Note that this doesn't mark the starters as seen, only owned, as it wasn't necessary for the Pokédex entry to work. However, if it was possible to view the Pokédex's list during this time, the entries, while owned (with a Poké Ball icon) cannot be viewed and are not named, as in the screenshot on the right (unless the player had already seen them, e.g., receiving the gift or as wild Pokémon).

Additionally, if the player already owned Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, or Ivysaur in the Pokédex prior to viewing the Pokédex entry and backed out, all of those owned entries will be disabled after backing out with B. This also doesn't really matter, however, as there is no way to get Pokémon, and as such the player is expected to not own any Pokémon prior to getting the Pokédex.

Watch on YouTube

; this function temporarily makes the starters (and Ivysaur) owned
; so that the full Pokedex information gets displayed in Oak's lab
StarterDex:
   ld a, 1 << (DEX_BULBASAUR - 1) | 1 << (DEX_IVYSAUR - 1) | 1 << (DEX_CHARMANDER - 1) | 1 << (DEX_SQUIRTLE - 1)
   ld [wPokedexOwned], a
   predef ShowPokedexData
   xor a
   ld [wPokedexOwned], a
   ret