Part 7: Green Version Blues

Welcome to Pokémon Green Version! Today we're looking at the "lost third version of Generation 1" as some put it. As I'm sure most of us know already, the first release of the games were Japanese Red and Green. These games were positively bugged up the ass even moreso than future versions. So Japanese Blue came out, which fixed bugs, updated the graphics, and had a few minor additions.

Red and Green's game data was combined with Blue's graphics and engine to give us the international Red and Blue versions - no Green cartridge, because no self-respecting trainer would ever buy something with a grass starter on the cover.

Now, Japanese Blue's script was also used in the international games, which leads to a hilarious oversight: In Japanese Blue, a trainer will trade your Kadabra for his Graveler and remarks that Kadabra evolved suddenly, as Kadabra does that when traded. In Japanese Red/Green and International Red/Blue, he trades your Raichu for his Electrode, but they kept the remark about the trade evolution, so he now proudly proclaims, "Your Raichu went and evolved!" Yeah, that didn't spawn rumors at all, now did it.



Anyways, Green version has even more glitches to explore, so today's update is dedicated to that. Here's one you can do at the very start of the game.



Withdraw the Potion, and try to use it. The Pokémon menu appears even though nothing is there to use the Potion on. Future versions make the game say "You don't have any Pokémon!" if you try it there.



Ah, don't you just love the graphics of Japanese Red/Green?



There's a rather detrimental bug with the PokéDex, too. If your starter evolves before getting the PokéDex, it becomes impossible to deliever Oak's Parcel, because the game thinks, "You have two Pokémon owned, you obviously have the PokéDex." And if you can't deliever Oak's Parcel, the old man won't move out of the way for you.



Speaking of which, the Old Man glitch doesn't work because that was introduced in the localizations. However, there's another bug in its place: If you view the capture tutorial while your current box is full, the old man can't throw the ball. Because your box is full. And he gets stuck trying to use it over and over. Oops!



Fortunately we are not him. I capture Rattata and Nidoran (either gender works) in preparation for using Brock Through Walls.



Yes, Brock Through Walls works here, but this time it's based on the icons of your Pokémon. I'm not kidding. You need Rattata's mini-sprite in the third slot, and Nidoran's in the fourth. Multiple Pokémon use the same mini-sprites, of course, so get what you can.



Here we go again!



Oh...uh...never got that to happen before.



So we walk all the way to Saffron, you've seen all that before.



Welcome to Saffron Gym! I'm lucky I can remember how the stupid teleport puzzle works. If you want to avoid the trainers here, don't worry - they can't see you from the very top of the screen. Ever.



Then we find Sabrina and--

I can't talk to her. Um. What's going on?

...Don't tell me. Does Brock Through Walls disable NPC interactions in this version?...Why? Okay fine then, I blackout to one of the trainers.



The instant I get back, the Brock fan talks to me and disappears again. Interesting.



So I set the trick up again. I don't think I've ever shown the weird map effects you can get when wandering anywhere so let's look at those.



Like this, for instance. Literally the edge of the map.



I think we found Glitch City.



There we go. This time let's stop at the Pokémon Center.



Apparently you only get eight boxes in this version, not twelve. That's 160 stored Pokémon, interestingly enough - JUST enough to store all 151 Pokémon.



We need a way to walk through walls to get back in the gym, and I've got just the thing for that. This is the biggest glitch in Generation 1 by far.



Get three items, push Select on the third, then close the menu with B.



Then enter any battle and open the Pokémon menu (which in this version is below "Fight" instead of to the right.)



Put the cursor on the third Pokémon and push A. What the heck just happened? This is the famous "Select trick" that was fixed in all future versions. I just swapped an item...with a Pokémon.



Oh hello there, Green version Mew! Don't send this out in battle though, the game freezes.



Oh dear. Let's get out of the battle before Squirtle loses the rest of himself.



And it looks like we have an item underflow effect. Now switch the 32nd item with the third Pokémon again.



This is what it should look like.



Why hello there Missingno.! In Green version, his glitch sprite freezes the game in this version. You can still duplicate your items safely by encountering the Ghost or Skeleton forms, and the Mew Glitch still works, too.



After doing that, hop any ledge and you'll have walk-through-walls until you enter a door.



Okay, NOW we can fight Sabrina.



I'm beginning to think this effect is caused by viewing the stats of a glitch Pokémon.



WHERE ARE ITS PUPILS?



Well, I lost, but surely her morale is damaged as well.



So we get sent back to--

PALETTE TOWN?! EXCUSE ME?! I...did heal in Saffron, right?...wait. This must mean...check the PokéDex!



Oh dear. What has happened.



Missingno.'s dex entry is #152. Wow. There really are 152 Pokémon in the Kanto Dex. As stated earlier, in Japanese Blue this entry has text reading "comment to be written". So...if that text was added in Japanese Blue did they intend to add a 152nd Pokémon...?



This is beautiful. The Select Glitch is beautiful. Thank you, Green version.



Okay, time to Brock Through Walls and all that AGAIN.



I'll say this about Green version: Getting its exclusive glitches working is far more annoying.



Wait a minute woah woah woah what.

70...46...Sabrina gives TM46 and the Marsh Badge makes all Pokémon up to Level 70 obey.

Yep. She just gave me the badge and TM! Even though I lost to her before! How in the world did nobody notice this one?!



I'd screenshot the badge in the Trainer Card, but...I'm kinda stuck, and can't interact with anything...time to reset.



During yet another Brock Through Walls, I come across this oddity. This is what's in between the houses on Route 2: A garden I guess, and a random cuttable tree. You never see this in normal play.



This time, we're off to Seafoam Islands!



But first, I audition for a role in "The Trainer on the Roof". Also, aren't there normally coastline tiles and a fence there...?



Okay, here we are! So there's a bug in Green Version where there's an invisible sign.

Which I can't show you because Brock Through Walls removes tile interactions...uh...actually you know what, just watch this instead.



Okay let's start over and use the Select Glitch to swap Oak's Parcel with Squirtle.



Be sure to open the Fight menu then close it before continuing.



Oh hey there Oak! So in this state the game thinks I have 255 Pokémon, which means it's treating RAM as Pokémon data.

This causes it to think one of these "Pokémon" is "Poisoned" which causes it to decrease a certain RAM value every four steps, which...uh...okay I fully admit I couldn't get this to work and speedrunners know it far better than I do, so go ahead and watch this run from AGDQ 2015. And watch the other Pokémon runs while you're at it.

So, that's a basic rundown of all the glitches that they managed to get fixed in time for the international releases! Next time we'll move on to yet another version that was released internationally, that got rid of some now-obsolete glitches in exchange for even crazier new tricks!