Pokmon Red Version and Blue Version, originally released in Japan as Pocket Monst ers: Red & Green

(????????? ?? Poketto Monsuta Aka Midori?), are role-playing vid eo games developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy. The y are the first installments of the Pokmon series. They were first released in Ja pan in 1996 as Red and Green, with Blue being released later in the year as a sp ecial edition. They were later released as Red and Blue in North America, Europe and Australia over the following three years. Pokmon Yellow, a special edition v ersion, was released roughly a year later. Red and Green have subsequently been remade for the Game Boy Advance as Pokmon FireRed and LeafGreen, released in 2004 . The player controls the main character from an overhead perspective and navigate s him throughout the fictional region of Kanto in a quest to master Pokmon battli ng. The goal of the games is to become the champion of the region by defeating t he eight Gym Leaders, allowing access to the top four Pokmon trainers in the land , the Elite Four. Another objective is to complete the Pokdex, an in-game encyclo pedia, by obtaining the 150 available Pokmon. The nefarious Team Rocket provide a n antagonistic force, as does the player's childhood rival. Red and Blue also ut ilize the Game Link Cable, which connects two games together and allows Pokmon to be traded or battled between games. Both titles are independent of each other b ut feature largely the same plot[10] and, while they can be played separately, i t is necessary for players to trade among the two in order to obtain all of the first 150 Pokmon. The 151st Pokmon (Mew) is available only through a glitch in the game or an official distribution by Nintendo. Red and Blue was well-received; critics praised the multiplayer options, especia lly the concept of trading. They received an aggregated score of 89% on GameRank ings and are perennially ranked on top-game lists including at least four years on IGN's Top 100 Games of All Time. The games' releases marked the beginning of what would become a multi-billion dollar franchise, jointly selling millions of copies worldwide. In 2009 they appeared in the Guinness Book of World Records un der "Best selling RPG on the Game Boy" and "Best selling RPG of all time". Gameplay Red and Blue are in a third-person view, overhead perspective and consist of thr ee basic screens: an overworld, in which the player navigates the main character ;[11] a side-view battle screen;[12] and a menu interface, in which the player c onfigures his or her Pokmon, items, or gameplay settings.[13] The player can use his or her Pokmon to battle other Pokmon. When the player encou nters a wild Pokmon or is challenged by a trainer, the screen switches to a turnbased battle screen that displays the engaged Pokmon. During battle, the player m ay select a maneuver for his or her Pokmon to fight using one of four moves, use an item, switch his or her active Pokmon, or attempt to flee. Pokmon have hit poin ts (HP); when a Pokmon's HP is reduced to zero, it faints and can no longer battl e until it is revived. Once an enemy Pokmon faints, the player's Pokmon involved i n the battle receive a certain number of experience points (EXP). After accumula ting enough EXP, a Pokmon will level up.[12] A Pokmon's level controls its physica l properties, such as the battle statistics acquired, and the moves learned. At certain levels, the Pokmon may also evolve. These evolutions affect the statistic s and also the levels at which new moves are learnt (higher levels of evolution gain more statistics per level, although they may not learn new moves as early, if at all, compared with the lower levels of evolution.[14] Catching Pokmon is another essential element of the gameplay. During battle with a wild Pokmon, the player may throw a Pok Ball at it. If the Pokmon is successfully caught, it will come under the ownership of the player. Factors in the success rate of capture include the HP of the target Pokmon and the type of Pok Ball used: the lower the target's HP and the stronger the Pok Ball, the higher the success

rate of capture.[15] The ultimate goal of the games is to complete the entries i n the Pokdex, a comprehensive Pokmon encyclopedia, by capturing, evolving, and tra ding to obtain all 151 creatures.[16] Pokmon Red and Blue allow players to trade Pokmon between two cartridges via a Gam e Link Cable.[17] This method of trading must be done to fully complete the Pokde x, since certain Pokmon will only evolve upon being traded and each of the two ga mes have version-exclusive Pokmon.[10] The Link Cable also makes it possible to b attle another player's Pokmon team.[17] When playing Red or Blue on a Game Boy Ad vance or SP, the standard GBA/SP link cable will not work; players must use the Nintendo Universal Game Link Cable instead.[18] Moreover, the English versions o f the games are not compatible with their Japanese counterparts, and such trades will result in corruption of the save files because the games use different lan guages and therefore character sets.[19] As well as trading with each other and Pokmon Yellow, Pokmon Red and Blue can trad e Pokmon with the second generation of Pokmon games: Pokmon Gold, Silver, and Cryst al. However, there are limitations: the games cannot link together if one player 's party contains Pokmon or moves introduced in the second generation games.[20] Also, using the Transfer Pak for the Nintendo 64, data such as Pokmon and items f rom Pokmon Red and Blue can be used in the Nintendo 64 games Pokmon Stadium[21] an d Pokmon Stadium 2.[22] Red and Blue are not compatible with the Pokmon games of t he later "Advanced Generation" for the Game Boy Advance or GameCube.[23] Setting Pokmon Red and Blue take place in the region of Kanto. This is one distinct regio n shown in later games, with different geographical habitats for the 151 existin g Pokmon species, along with human-populated towns and cities, and Routes connect ing locations with one another. Some areas are only accessible once the player l earns a special ability or gains a special item.[24] Areas in which the player c an catch Pokmon range from caves to the sea, where the kinds of Pokmon available t o catch varies. For example, Magikarp can only be caught either through fishing or when the player is in a body of water, while Zubat can only be caught in a ca ve. Story After venturing alone into deep grass, a voice warns the player to stop in which is revealed to be Professor Oak, a famous Pokmon researcher. Professor Oak expla ins to the player that wild Pokmon may be living there, and encountering them alo ne can be very dangerous.[25] He takes the player to his laboratory where the pl ayer meets Oak's grandson, a rival aspiring Pokmon Trainer. The player and the ri val are both instructed to select a starter Pokmon for their travels out of Bulba saur, Squirtle, and Charmander.[26] Oak's Grandson will always choose the Pokmon which is stronger against the player's starting Pokmon. He will then challenge th e player to a Pokmon battle with their newly obtained Pokmon, and will continue to battle the player at certain points throughout the games.[27] While visiting the region's cities, the player will encounter special establishm ents called Gyms. Inside these buildings are Gym Leaders, each of whom the playe r must defeat in a Pokmon battle to obtain a total of eight Gym Badges. Once the badges are acquired, the player is given permission to enter the Pokmon League, w hich consists of the best Pokmon trainers in the region. There the player will ba ttle the Elite Four and finally the new Champion: the player's rival.[28] Also, throughout the game the player will have to battle against the forces of Team Ro cket, a criminal organization that abuses Pokmon.[14] They devise numerous plans for stealing rare Pokmon, which the player must foil.[29][30] Development

The concept of the Pokmon saga stems from the hobby of insect collecting, a popul ar pastime which game designer Satoshi Tajiri enjoyed as a child.[31] While grow ing up, however, he observed more urbanization taking place in the town where he lived and as a result, the insect population declined. Tajiri noticed that kids now played in their homes instead of outside and he came up with the idea of a video game, containing creatures that resembled insects, called Pokmon. He though t kids could relate with the Pokmon by individually naming them, and then control ling them to represent fear or anger as a good way of relieving stress. However, Pokmon never bleed or die in battle, only faint this was a very touchy subject t o Tajiri, as he did not want to further fill the gaming world with "pointless vi olence".[32] When the Game Boy was released, Tajiri thought the system was perfect for his id ea, especially because of the link cable which he envisioned would allow players to trade Pokmon with each other. This concept of trading information was new to the video gaming industry, because previously connection cables were only being used for competition.[33] "I imagined a chunk of information being transferred b y connecting two Game Boys with special cables, and I went wow, that's really go ing to be something!" said Tajiri.[34] Tajiri was also influenced by Square's Ga me Boy game The Final Fantasy Legend, noting in an interview that the game gave him the idea that more than just action games could be developed for the handhel d.[35] The main characters were named after Tajiri himself as Satoshi, who is described as Tajiri in his youth, and his long-time friend, role model, mentor, and fello w Nintendo developer; Shigeru Miyamoto as Shigeru.[32][36] Ken Sugimori, artist and longtime friend of Tajiri, headed the development of drawings and designs of the Pokmon, working with a team of less than ten people who conceived the variou s designs for all 151 Pokmon. Sugimori in turn finalized each design, drawing the Pokmon from various angles in order to assist Game Freak's graphics department i n properly rendering the creature.[37][38] Music for the game was composed by Ju nichi Masuda, who utilized the four sound channels of the Game Boy to create bot h the melodies and the sound effects and Pokmon "cries" heard upon encountering t hem. He noted the game's opening theme, titled "Monster", was produced with the image of battle scenes in mind, using white noise to sound like marching music a nd imitate a snare drum.[39] Originally called Capsule Monsters, the game's title went through several transi tions due to trademark difficulties, becoming CapuMon and KapuMon before eventua lly settling upon Pocket Monsters.[40][41] Tajiri always thought that Nintendo w ould reject his game, as the company did not really understand the concept at fi rst. However, the games turned out to be a complete success, something Tajiri an d Nintendo never expected, especially because of the declining popularity of the Game Boy.[32] Upon hearing of the Pokmon concept, Miyamoto suggested creating mu ltiple cartridges with different Pokmon in each, noting it would assist the tradi ng aspect.[42] In Japan, Pocket Monsters: Red and Green were the first versions released. They sold rapidly, due in part to Nintendo's idea of producing the two versions of th e game instead of a single title, prompting consumers to buy both.[34] Several m onths later, the Blue version was released in Japan as a mail-order-only special edition,[43] featuring updated in-game artwork and new dialogue.[44] To create more hype and challenge to the games, Tajiri revealed an extra Pokmon called Mew hidden within the games, which he believed "created a lot of rumors and myths ab out the game" and "kept the interest alive".[32] The creature was only supposed to be acquired through a Nintendo promotional event; however, in 2003 a glitch b ecame widely known, and it could be exploited to obtain the elusive Pokmon.[45] During the North American localization of Pokmon, a small team led by Hiro Nakamu ra went through the individual Pokmon, renaming them for western audiences based

on their appearance and characteristics after approval from Nintendo of Japan. I n addition, during this process, Nintendo trademarked the 151 Pokmon names in ord er to ensure they would be unique to the franchise.[46] During the translation p rocess, 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 le ngthy development time.[38] Therefore the games were based on the more-modern Ja panese version of Blue; modeling its programming and artwork, but keeping the sa me distribution of Pokmon found in the Japanese Red and Green cartridges, respect ively.[43] As the finished Red and Blue versions were being prepared for release, Nintendo spent over fifty million dollars to promote the games, fearing the series would not be appealing to American children.[47] 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 Hiros hi Yamauchi refused and instead viewed the games' possible reception in America as a challenge to face.[48] Despite these setbacks, the reprogrammed Red and Blu e versions with their original creature designs were eventually released in Nort h America over two and a half years after Red and Green debuted in Japan.[49] Th e games were received extremely well by the foreign audiences and Pokmon went on to become a lucrative franchise in America.[48]