Revision as of 11:51, 7 June 2018

Red is the playable protagonist of the first generation Pokémon games (Pokémon: Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, FireRed and LeafGreen Versions) and the most well-known of the game's main trainers. In addition to his original playable appearance, he has also made guest appearances in several other generations as an optional opponent.

Background

	Red as seen in Pokémon: FireRed and LeafGreen Versions
Red
Species	Human
Hair color	Black
Eye color	Brown
Relatives	Mother
Debut	Pokémon: Red Version/Pokemon: Green Version

Red was raised by his mother in Pallet Town. In the game, it is said that he and Blue were rivals since infancy, while one instruction manual instead says that they were best friends until Blue started acting like a bully. The adventure began when Professor Oak called the two to his lab. In Pokemon: Red, Green and Blue Versions, Red was allowed to choose the first starter Pokémon (out of Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle), and Blue proceeded to choose one with a type advantage against Red's choice. In Pokémon: Yellow Version, the only available Pokémon was an Eevee that Blue claimed, and so Professor Oak instead helped Red to catch a Pikachu. In all versions, both Red and Blue received a Pokédex that Oak wished for them to complete.

Red traveled throughout Kanto, captured various Pokémon, battled other trainers, and earned Gym badges. He was always a step behind Blue, who battled him most of the times that their paths crossed. Aside from the regular business of a Pokémon trainer, Red found himself battling Team Rocket several times. At Mt. Moon, he foiled their plot to steal fossils and defeated them again at Cerulean City. He saved the Pokémon Tower from them, and he also shut down their operations at the Game Corner and at Silph Co. In those latter encounters, Red met Team Rocket's boss, Giovanni. He later discovered that Giovanni was the eighth and final gym leader he had to battle for the Pokémon League challenge. Red managed to defeat him once more, at which point Giovanni decided to disband Team Rocket.

When Red reached the Elite Four, he found that Blue has already beaten him and became the league Champion. Red challenged and defeated Blue to win the championship, with Professor Oak entering him in the Hall of Fame. In FireRed and LeafGreen, Red and Blue's Pokédexes were updated by Professor Oak afterwards to include a number of recently-discovered Pokémon. Red and Blue journeyed out to the Sevii Islands to find them. There, he also battled the remains of Team Rocket. Red later challenged the Elite Four and Blue again, this time with all of them having new Pokémon. In all versions of the first generation, Red also had the option of challenging and defeating or capturing Mewtwo at the Cerulean Cave.

At some point after becoming the Pokémon League Champion, Red gave the title up and traveled to Mt. Silver to train. When Ethan/Lyra came to battle Red in Pokémon: Gold, Silver, Crystal Versions, HeartGold and SoulSilver Versions, he had the most powerful team of Pokémon in the game. He was found within deep within the mountain's cave in Gold, Silver and Crystal, and at the very peak of the mountain in HeartGold and SoulSilver.

He reappeared in Black 2 and White 2 as a potential opponent in the Champions Tournament of the Pokémon World Tournament at Unova. Red also made an appearance in Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, where he and Blue were called over to the Alola Islands to run the Battle Tree. When Alola's champion, Sun/Moon, first approached the battle tree, Red and Blue met them, and they could challenge one of the two to a battle. Within the Battle Tree itself, Red could be faced as a boss in Single Battles or teaming up with Blue in Multi Battles.

Pokémon Roster

Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow/FireRed/LeafGreen

The player controls Red in these games, so they have complete control over what Pokémon Red catches and which ones he uses to battle.

Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal

His roster contains the evolved forms of all three of the original starter Pokémon, as well as an unevolved Pikachu in reference to Pokémon Yellow. His other Pokémon are ones that Red must battle or receives as gifts in all games (Snorlax, the Eevee that becomes an Espeon, Lapras) as well as possible references to his anime roster at the time (the Espeon in particular possibly contrasting his rival's Umbreon from the anime).

Pikachu
Espeon (Gold/Silver/Crystal)/Lapras (HeartGold/SoulSilver)
Snorlax
Venusaur
Charizard
Blastoise

In Black 2/White 2 and Sun/Moon/Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, he has the same roster as he does in HeartGold/SoulSilver.

Pokémon Stadium 2

In Pokémon Stadium 2, Red has two teams, one for each round he battles.

Round 1

Round 2

Spin-Off Games

In Pokémon Stadium 2, Red appears as the last trainer whom players battle in the combined Gym Leader Castle.

Ash Ketchum, the anime counterpart of Red, appears is the main character of Pokémon Puzzle League. Professor Oak invites him to the Puzzle Village and he competes in the tournament there to become a "Puzzle Master".

Other Major Roles

Video Games

Red also appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl under the name "Pokémon Trainer". He does not attack directly but sends out his three Pokémon - Ivysaur, Squirtle and Charizard. He has his own trophy, a trophy of his Final Smash and a sticker, as well as one trophy for each of his Pokémon. Red was left out of the next installment, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U, in favor of promoting Charizard into being an independent playable character.
- In Brawl's "The Subspace Emissary", Red is first seen in the Ruined Zoo, where he helps to protect Lucas in a battle against the Subspace Army. Apparently his Ivysaur and Charizard had gone missing, as the only Pokémon he still had was his Squirtle. The two hunted down the remaining Pokémon, eventually finding Ivysaur in the ruins and recapturing Charizard after defeating it in battle. They also battled Wario and the Galleom. The Galleom attempted to self-destruct to finish them off, but Lucas saved them both by destroying the Galleom's arm, and Meta Knight caught them to save them from the fall. They then joined up with the main party for the remainder of the game.

Other Media

In the Pokémon anime, Ash Ketchum is based on the character of Red. Like Red, Ash has a rival, Gary, who is based on Blue, although the battles between Ash and Gary usually result in stalemates or victories for Gary, until Ash finally defeats him in the Silver Conference. Ash is also battling Team Rocket constantly, but he never battles Giovanni and convinces him to reform. Unlike Red, Ash also has traveling companions such as Misty and Brock, and he is also known for his Pikachu that does not stay in a Pokéball and has been the only companion to accompany Ash throughout every series. Instead of the Elite Four, Ash competes in a tournament at indigo Plateau and loses. The only championship that he's won has been in the Orange Islands, a region created for the anime. He continues to journey through Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos and the Alola Islands.
Ash appeared in the Electric Tale of Pikachu mange, which was based on the anime series. This featured a different version of Ash's adventures in Kanto and the Orange Islands, and it ended with him traveling with Gary.
Red is featured in the Pokémon Adventures manga, being the main character of the original Red/Blue/Green arc and playing important roles in later arcs. In this arc he has both a Bulbasaur as his starter Pokémon and a rebellious Pikachu that he tames, and with the help of Blue and Green, as well as the good gym leaders such as Borck, Misty, Erika and Blaine, he defeats Team Rocket. Afterwards he wins the Pokémon League championship by defeating Blue and aids Blaine in capturing the rebellious Mewtwo. Afterwards in the Yellow arc he is challenged by Bruno of the Elite Four, but it is a trap and he is frozen by Agatha, but freed by Giovanni. He shows up to help the other trainers with the final battles against the Elite Four and defeats Bruno. In the Gold/Silver/Crystal arc, he recovers from the partial paralysis caused by the freezing at Mt. Silver, and turns down the Viridian City gym leader position after winning it. He goes to Johto to battle the Mask of Ice and then is dragged off by Gold to train with him. Misty and Yellow are established as his two potential love interests. Red is once more featured on an adventure with Blue, Green and company in the FireRed/LeafGreen arc. Though the trainers are all turned into statues at the end of the arc, they are restored by Jirachi's wish near the end of the Emerald arc, leading to all of the ten Pokédex-bearing trainers uniting against Archie and his artificial Kyogre. His specialty among the Pokédex trainers is shown to be Pokémon battling.
The Pokémon Origins anime miniseries starred a version of Red that was more directly based on the game storyline. This miniseries followed the basic plot of the first generation games.
In the Pokémon Generations anime, which was also more directly based on the games, Red was featured in one episode which featured his adventures with a Pikachu across multiple regions. Another episode was about Blue's defeat of the Elite Four and ended with showing Red's arrival to challenge him.

Trivia

His official name is confirmed as Red in Gold, Silver and Crystal, although in the earlier games and their remakes his name was chosen by the player.
He is named after the Red Version, which was released alongside Red Version as the first Pokémon games in America.
FireRed/LeafGreen gives the player the option of choosing between two gendered characters. Red's female counterpart in this game is known as Leaf.
He is the only playable protagonist to make appearances in games outside of his playable appearances.
Red is known for never speaking in any of his appearances, something which Blue jokingly points out occasionally. His dialogue is only ever shown as sets of ellipses with punctuation marks to show his mood. The closest thing to dialogue he has in any game are the words that Copycat echoes to him in the first generation games.
For his appearance in the seventh generation games, he wears a t-shirt with the number '96' on it, in reference to the release year of the first generation games that he starred in and the beginning of the series.

@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 =Background=
-Red grew up in [[Pallet Town]]. In the game, it is said that he and [[Blue]] were rivals since infancy, while one instruction manual instead says that they were best friends until Blue started acting like a bully. The adventure began when [[Professor Oak]] called the two to his lab. In ''[[Pokemon: Red, Green and Blue Versions]]'', Red was allowed to choose the first starter Pokémon (out of [[Bulbasaur]], [[Charmander]] and [[Squirtle]]), and Blue proceeded to choose one with a type advantage against Red's choice. In ''[[Pokémon: Yellow Version]]'', the only available Pokémon was an [[Eevee]] that Blue claimed, and so Professor Oak instead helped Red to catch a Pikachu. In all versions, both Red and Blue received a [[Pokédex]] that Oak wished for them to complete.
+Red was raised by his mother in [[Kanto|Pallet Town]]. In the game, it is said that he and [[Blue]] were rivals since infancy, while one instruction manual instead says that they were best friends until Blue started acting like a bully. The adventure began when [[Professor Oak]] called the two to his lab. In ''[[Pokemon: Red, Green and Blue Versions]]'', Red was allowed to choose the first starter Pokémon (out of [[Bulbasaur]], [[Charmander]] and [[Squirtle]]), and Blue proceeded to choose one with a type advantage against Red's choice. In ''[[Pokémon: Yellow Version]]'', the only available Pokémon was an [[Eevee]] that Blue claimed, and so Professor Oak instead helped Red to catch a Pikachu. In all versions, both Red and Blue received a [[Pokédex]] that Oak wished for them to complete.
 Red traveled throughout [[Kanto]], captured various Pokémon, battled other trainers, and earned Gym badges. He was always a step behind Blue, who battled him most of the times that their paths crossed.  Aside from the regular business of a Pokémon trainer, Red found himself battling [[Team Rocket]] several times. At Mt. Moon, he foiled their plot to steal fossils and defeated them again at Cerulean City. He saved the Pokémon Tower from them, and he also shut down their operations at the Game Corner and at Silph Co. In those latter encounters, Red met Team Rocket's boss, [[Giovanni]]. He later discovered that Giovanni was the eighth and final gym leader he had to battle for the Pokémon League challenge. Red managed to defeat him once more, at which point Giovanni decided to disband Team Rocket.

Difference between revisions of "Red"