Topic: 2016/02: Pokémon: Red, Green (J) & Blue Versions (GB) - RyuMaster & KeyBlade999

[JonLeung]

Pokémon: Red, Green (J) & Blue Versions

For this month's "Maps Of The Month" featurette, I wish to draw your attention to RyuMaster's and KeyBlade999's Pokémon: Red, Green (J) & Blue Versions (Game Boy) maps.

Pokémon, the original "catch 'em all" game series, turns 20 years old this month!  The original games, Pokémon: Red Version and Pokémon: Green Version came out in Japan on February 27, 1996 for the original Game Boy.  It would still be another two years and seven months until Pokémon comes to North America as Red and Blue at the end of September 1998.  In any case, it's been a long time, so if you remember playing the original games at the start of "Pokémania", well, you probably feel old right about now.  And if you haven't, Nintendo is rereleasing the original games for the 3DS!

Back then there was only one region and only 151 Pokémon (not like the 721 there are now, most with two different genders, and some with different "formes" and variations).  But among all the Pokémon that exist, the first 151 species are often regarded as the most popular ones.  And this is where it all began!

The Maps Of The Month honour goes to both RyuMaster and KeyBlade999, but it should be noted that these are two separate mapping efforts.  RyuMaster mapped the game using the original monochromatic scheme but unobscured, and KeyBlade999 mapped them as coloured with lots of annotation.  Both are good map sets on their own merits.  Though as stated, they didn't work together, but if they did, it would fitting as it's just like playing the games...always nice to have a friend with another version!

So to recognize the effort put into mapping 'em all, RyuMaster's and KeyBlade999's Pokémon: Red, Green (J) & Blue Versions (Game Boy) maps will be known as VGMaps.com's Maps Of The Month for February 2016.

[KeyBlade999]

I did not expect to win this. O_O Pretty fitting month to do it for, though.

Yeah, my effort was completely separate from RyuMaster's, mine done originally for GameFAQs when I got bored and played them through (which triggered a rewrite of my Red/Blue/Green guide on the same) because their coverage of Pokemon is usually limited to important/hard dungeons, which neglects a lot of the game. I started out with the intention of mapping them all - this was back when I got into competitive Pokemon, so I was DEEEEEEEEP into Pokemon fanboyism at the time - and ... heh, that stopped quickly. Didn't map Yellow or Gold/Silver until 2015 and I'm so slowly grinding at another project that I haven't even done Crystal yet.

It's fun remembering this project and Yellow and G/S in turn. I think I actually learned some more about these games while making maps for them and all; really, I didn't know some of these hidden items existed at the time (Bulbapedia even missed one in G/S, I swear!). Not to mention trying to get to the Cerulean Cave in Pokemon Green (yes, the Japanese games had a different Cerulean Cave, I dunno why) -- I had to start over and speed through the game in Japanese (which I'm still iffy on), and I sped along so fast that I basically only used Venusaur throughout the entire run, even against Blaine (Fire-type Leader). It was pretty difficult at the time because my knowledge of Gen. I mechanics were plagued by Gen. VI assumptions, and a lack of knowledge of several glitches in the game that result in further erroneous assumptions (i.e. If you use a Fighting move on a Normal/Flying type, it says "Not very effective", even though it's normally effective).

I remember my dad walking in my room when I was about halfway through Green and asking something along the lines of "What the hell is that gibberish?" when I was in the middle of a battle, him referencing the Japanese; I told him "Yeah" and managed to translate the text on-screen at the time, reading it both in the Japanese and English fashions ("Venusaur used Razor Leaf!", or something to that effect, then "It was super-effective!") and he just walked out, baffled. Might be the first time I ever truly blew his mind - and this is that guy who hates the fact that I love Pokemon so much. He didn't stop until he saw me and my sister competitively battling last year and we each explained what was going on and, oh, Helix, the stuttering and the corrections we made to him as we discussed it with him and he tried to feign comprehension. Total pwnage. XD

This was easily one of the more fun projects I pursued, thus why it was probably one of the first "map everything in the game you can" projects I pursued; there are a lot of memories attached to it, even if it isn't my best work.

I've honestly considered remapping the entire set of games a second time, this time from the Japanese games' viewpoints because the graphics are ever so slightly different (and, in my opinion, better), but that's something way down the road.

Okay, I think I rambled enough. Thanks, Jon! Maybe I'll actually finish Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold this month and get back to submitting maps.

[JonLeung]

I also remember playing the game in Japanese prior to the North American release...looking back at it now, I'm surprised that I made it through the whole game without translation patches (if I remember correctly).  Me and my brother actually did not have a Game Boy at the time (well, we had a Super Game Boy, but we wouldn't've been able to trade) so we got a Game Boy Pocket and a Game Boy Color that Christmas to be able to do so.  I'm a Nintendo fan, but it seems funny to me that I never had a Game Boy until Pokémon.  Sure I wanted one at first, even my dad was nuts about Tetris and borrowed one whenever he could just to play it, but even so, my parents were insistent it would screw up my eyes.  Too late, anyway.    I'm sure they would have let me have one later but after the first few years there just wasn't much compelling (that needed to be portable and multiplayer - I had a Super Game Boy, after all) until Pokémon hit the scene.  Finally got an original model Game Boy last year I think, and two copies of Tetris recently as well (though I have to find out where my Game Boy Game Link Cable went, still haven't done two-player with my brother on copies we now actually own).  Also crazy to think that Pokémon came out the month I started university (and now I'm dating myself).  So of course at the time with my friends now busy with books, booze, and women, it's pretty clear there's a divergence here with my gamer friends who now clearly see Nintendo's appeal to kids (and think they've outgrown their games) and I bet most of my friends can't name any Nintendo franchises that came out in North America after Pokémon (except Super Smash Bros., I guess).  Sigh.  Anyways, good memories of Pokémon, but man that makes me feel old.

But wow, did that turn me into a portable gamer - no Game Boy until then, and yet I've been carrying a 3DS on myself almost constantly since March 2011!  Gotta get those StreetPass tags! 

(Since you mentioned considering remapping these maps, can I make a suggestion?  Hope it's not too scathing to criticize maps in the same topic that I am praising them...  But since the series is about how you "gotta catch 'em all" (I mean, it says so right there on the box), would it be much to ask for the maps to indicate where each of the Pokémon species are found and their rarities and other pertinent information?    I know there are entire web sites dedicated to Pokémon but even so I still haven't seen really good maps that show all their locations.  Now that would really be something!)

Good job in any case, and your semi-recent submissions of these and other Pokémon maps made me correct and revamp all their listings here on VGMaps - previously I'd just use a single letter, like the filenames would say "Pokémon-E..." instead of "Pokémon-EmeraldVersion..." - so I thought that was a really good and necessary thing, just needed your kick to my butt to finally do it. 

(Wow, I sure use the "" emoticon a lot...)

[KeyBlade999]

(Since you mentioned considering remapping these maps, can I make a suggestion?  Hope it's not too scathing to criticize maps in the same topic that I am praising them...  But since the series is about how you "gotta catch 'em all" (I mean, it says so right there on the box), would it be much to ask for the maps to indicate where each of the Pokémon species are found and their rarities and other pertinent information?    I know there are entire web sites dedicated to Pokémon but even so I still haven't seen really good maps that show all their locations.  Now that would really be something!)

I was actually tempted to do that with Pokemon Crystal as a bit of a test-run for the idea - it danced around in my head during G/S. Granted, it's not as pertinent in Gen. I & II (because the Pokemon earned there can't be transferred to the newer ones, whereas they can in Gen. III onwards), but I figured it'd be worth a shot. I probably WOULD have tried it during G/S, but localization complicated the issue. (The Japanese Silver exclusives are the international Gold exclusives, and the reverse is true as well, so the thing would've been plagued by complex tables from the start.)

Really, it shouldn't be that hard. Just give my guide on GameFAQs some HTML formatting and copy and paste a screenshot of it and it might work. ... Not that it's really ideal to reformat a whole guide, because it can be tedious, so I might just do the tables and use their preview tool for HTML guides. It might end up being a problem for larger areas like the Safari Zone, though, because of the huge number of encounters present there, varied based on the portion of the area, so it could clutter the map up. I might have to reinvent my formatting for that scenario, but I think I already have a prototype in mind.

What kind of data do you think would be relevant? Pokemon species and possibly rarity, if I can find the values, obviously, but beyond that? The thing is that I would probably get too anal on this and list type, ability, EV yield, base stats, possible hold items ... lol.

In any case, any project redos are a bit down the road. EO2U is kicking my butt at the moment; a week or so from now mark six months since I started working on it, by far the lengthiest project I've ever tried -- and I'm the guy who documented EVERY bit of data for Pokemon, learnsets, EV yields, base stats, everything for Black/White 2 -- and even then the maps themselves could use a redesign, though their reception on GameFAQs has been decent thus far. I only hit 21F last night, marking 25/35 (5/7 or about 70%) completion. >_>