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Mystery of Pokemon hack/bootleg game.
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Mystery of Pokemon hack/bootleg game.Posted:
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Hey guys, as I was reading Yankee's post, I realized I've read this before. I've always wanted to read more stories about these Pokemon stories, so I read this one about a creepy Pokemon hack. It's worth the read, trust me.
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Im what you could call a collector of bootleg Pokemon games. Pokemon Diamond & Jade, Chaos Black, etc. Its amazing the frequency with which you can find them at pawnshops, Goodwill, flea markets, and such.
Theyre generally fun; even if they are unplayable (which they often are), the mistranslations and poor quality make them unintentionally humorous.
Ive been able to find most of the ones that Ive played online, but there's one that I haven't seen any mention of. I bought it at a flea market about five years ago.
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Here's a picture of the cartridge, in case anyone recognizes it. Unfortunately, when I moved two years ago, I lost the game, so I cant provide you with screencaps. Sorry.
The game started with the familiar Nidorino and Gengar intro of Red and Blue version. However, the press start screen had been altered. Red was there, but the Pokemon did not cycle through. It also said Black Version under the Pokemon logo.
Upon selecting New Game, the game started the Professor Oak speech, and it quickly became evident that the game was essentially Pokemon Red Version.
After selecting your starter, if you looked at your Pokemon, you had in addition to Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle another Pokemon GHOST.
The Pokemon was level 1. It had the sprite of the Ghosts that are encountered in Lavender Tower before obtaining the Sliph Scope. It had one attack Curse. I know that there is a real move named curse, but the attack did not exist in Generation 1, so it appears it was hacked in.
Defending Pokemon were unable to attack Ghost it would only say they were too scared to move. When the move Curse was used in battle, the screen would cut to black. The cry of the defending Pokemon would be heard, but it was distorted, played at a much lower pitch than normal. The battle screen would then reappear, and the defending Pokemon would be gone. If used in a battle against a trainer, when the Pokeballs representing their Pokemon would appear in the corner, they would have one fewer Pokeball.
The implication was that the Pokemon died.
Whats even stranger is that after defeating a trainer and seeing Red received $200 for winning!, the battle commands would appear again. If you selected Run, the battle would end as it normally does. You could also select Curse. If you did, upon returning to the overworld, the trainers sprite would be gone. After leaving and reentering the area, the spot [where] the trainer had been would be replaced with a tombstone like the ones at Lavender Tower.
The move Curse was not usable in all instances. It would fail against Ghost Pokemon. It would also fail if it was used against trainers that you would have to face again, such as your Rival or Giovanni. It was usable in your final battle against them, however.
I figured this was the gimmick of the game, allowing you to use the previously uncapturable Ghosts. And because Curse made the game so easy, I essentially used it throughout the whole adventure.
The game changed quite a bit after defeating the Elite Four. After viewing the Hall of Fame, which consisted of Ghost and a couple of very under leveled Pokemon, the screen cut to black. A box appeared with the words Many years later It then cut to Lavender Tower. An old man was standing, looking at tombstones. You then realized this man was your character.
The man moved at only half of your normal walking speed. You no longer had any Pokemon with you, not even Ghost, who up to this point had been impossible to remove from your party through depositing in the PC. The overworld was entirely empty there were no people at all. There were still the tombstones of the trainers that you used Curse on, however.
Listen to this as you read the rest of this.
You could go pretty much anywhere in the overworld at this point, though your movement was limited by the fact that you had no Pokemon to use HMs. And regardless of where you went, the music of Lavender Town continued on an infinite loop. After wandering for a while, I found that if you go through Digletts Cave, one of the cuttable bushes that normally blocks the path on the other side is no longer there, allowing you to advance and return to Pallet Town.
Upon entering your house and going to the exact tile where you start the game, the screen would cut to black.
Then a sprite of a Caterpie appeared. It was the replaced by a Weedle, and then a Pidgey. I soon realized, as the Pokemon progressed from Rattata to Blastoise, that these were all of the Pokemon that I had used Curse on.
After the end of my Rivals team, a Youngster appeared, and then a Bug Catcher. These were the trainers I had Cursed.
Throughout the sequence, the Lavender Town music was playing, but it was slowly decreasing in pitch. By the time your Rival appeared on screen, it was little more than a demonic rumble.
Another cut to black. A few moments later, the battle screen suddenly appeared your trainer sprite was now that of an old man, the same one as the one who teaches you how to catch Pokemon in Viridian City.
Ghost appeared on the other side, along with the words GHOST wants to fight!.
You couldn't use items, and you had no Pokemon. If you tried to run, you couldn't escape. The only option was FIGHT.
Using fight would immediately cause you to use Struggle, which didn't affect Ghost but did chip off a bit of your own HP. When it was Ghosts turn to attack, it would simply say Eventually, when your HP reached a critical point, Ghost would finally use Curse.
The screen cut to black a final time.
Regardless of the buttons you pressed, you were permanently stuck in this black screen. At this point, the only thing you could do was turn the Game Boy off. When you played again, NEW GAME was the only option the game had erased the file.
I played through this hacked game many, many times, and every time the game ended with this sequence. Several times I didn't use Ghost at all, though he was impossible to remove from the party. In these cases, it did not show any Pokemon or trainers and simply cut to the climactic battle with Ghost.
I'm not sure what the motives were behind the creator of this hack. It wasn't widely distributed, so it was presumably not for monetary gain. It was very well done for a bootleg.
It seems he was trying to convey a message; though it seems I am the sole receiver of this message. I'm not entirely sure what it was the inevitability of death? The pointlessness of it? Perhaps he was simply trying to morbidly inject death and darkness into a children's game. Regardless, this children's game has made me think, and it has made me cry.
inb4 tl;dr
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Im what you could call a collector of bootleg Pokemon games. Pokemon Diamond & Jade, Chaos Black, etc. Its amazing the frequency with which you can find them at pawnshops, Goodwill, flea markets, and such.
Theyre generally fun; even if they are unplayable (which they often are), the mistranslations and poor quality make them unintentionally humorous.
Ive been able to find most of the ones that Ive played online, but there's one that I haven't seen any mention of. I bought it at a flea market about five years ago.
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
Here's a picture of the cartridge, in case anyone recognizes it. Unfortunately, when I moved two years ago, I lost the game, so I cant provide you with screencaps. Sorry.
The game started with the familiar Nidorino and Gengar intro of Red and Blue version. However, the press start screen had been altered. Red was there, but the Pokemon did not cycle through. It also said Black Version under the Pokemon logo.
Upon selecting New Game, the game started the Professor Oak speech, and it quickly became evident that the game was essentially Pokemon Red Version.
After selecting your starter, if you looked at your Pokemon, you had in addition to Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle another Pokemon GHOST.
The Pokemon was level 1. It had the sprite of the Ghosts that are encountered in Lavender Tower before obtaining the Sliph Scope. It had one attack Curse. I know that there is a real move named curse, but the attack did not exist in Generation 1, so it appears it was hacked in.
Defending Pokemon were unable to attack Ghost it would only say they were too scared to move. When the move Curse was used in battle, the screen would cut to black. The cry of the defending Pokemon would be heard, but it was distorted, played at a much lower pitch than normal. The battle screen would then reappear, and the defending Pokemon would be gone. If used in a battle against a trainer, when the Pokeballs representing their Pokemon would appear in the corner, they would have one fewer Pokeball.
The implication was that the Pokemon died.
Whats even stranger is that after defeating a trainer and seeing Red received $200 for winning!, the battle commands would appear again. If you selected Run, the battle would end as it normally does. You could also select Curse. If you did, upon returning to the overworld, the trainers sprite would be gone. After leaving and reentering the area, the spot [where] the trainer had been would be replaced with a tombstone like the ones at Lavender Tower.
The move Curse was not usable in all instances. It would fail against Ghost Pokemon. It would also fail if it was used against trainers that you would have to face again, such as your Rival or Giovanni. It was usable in your final battle against them, however.
I figured this was the gimmick of the game, allowing you to use the previously uncapturable Ghosts. And because Curse made the game so easy, I essentially used it throughout the whole adventure.
The game changed quite a bit after defeating the Elite Four. After viewing the Hall of Fame, which consisted of Ghost and a couple of very under leveled Pokemon, the screen cut to black. A box appeared with the words Many years later It then cut to Lavender Tower. An old man was standing, looking at tombstones. You then realized this man was your character.
The man moved at only half of your normal walking speed. You no longer had any Pokemon with you, not even Ghost, who up to this point had been impossible to remove from your party through depositing in the PC. The overworld was entirely empty there were no people at all. There were still the tombstones of the trainers that you used Curse on, however.
Listen to this as you read the rest of this.
You could go pretty much anywhere in the overworld at this point, though your movement was limited by the fact that you had no Pokemon to use HMs. And regardless of where you went, the music of Lavender Town continued on an infinite loop. After wandering for a while, I found that if you go through Digletts Cave, one of the cuttable bushes that normally blocks the path on the other side is no longer there, allowing you to advance and return to Pallet Town.
Upon entering your house and going to the exact tile where you start the game, the screen would cut to black.
Then a sprite of a Caterpie appeared. It was the replaced by a Weedle, and then a Pidgey. I soon realized, as the Pokemon progressed from Rattata to Blastoise, that these were all of the Pokemon that I had used Curse on.
After the end of my Rivals team, a Youngster appeared, and then a Bug Catcher. These were the trainers I had Cursed.
Throughout the sequence, the Lavender Town music was playing, but it was slowly decreasing in pitch. By the time your Rival appeared on screen, it was little more than a demonic rumble.
Another cut to black. A few moments later, the battle screen suddenly appeared your trainer sprite was now that of an old man, the same one as the one who teaches you how to catch Pokemon in Viridian City.
Ghost appeared on the other side, along with the words GHOST wants to fight!.
You couldn't use items, and you had no Pokemon. If you tried to run, you couldn't escape. The only option was FIGHT.
Using fight would immediately cause you to use Struggle, which didn't affect Ghost but did chip off a bit of your own HP. When it was Ghosts turn to attack, it would simply say Eventually, when your HP reached a critical point, Ghost would finally use Curse.
The screen cut to black a final time.
Regardless of the buttons you pressed, you were permanently stuck in this black screen. At this point, the only thing you could do was turn the Game Boy off. When you played again, NEW GAME was the only option the game had erased the file.
I played through this hacked game many, many times, and every time the game ended with this sequence. Several times I didn't use Ghost at all, though he was impossible to remove from the party. In these cases, it did not show any Pokemon or trainers and simply cut to the climactic battle with Ghost.
I'm not sure what the motives were behind the creator of this hack. It wasn't widely distributed, so it was presumably not for monetary gain. It was very well done for a bootleg.
It seems he was trying to convey a message; though it seems I am the sole receiver of this message. I'm not entirely sure what it was the inevitability of death? The pointlessness of it? Perhaps he was simply trying to morbidly inject death and darkness into a children's game. Regardless, this children's game has made me think, and it has made me cry.
inb4 tl;dr
The following 2 users thanked wut for this useful post:
nasa (10-17-2011), UJellyBrah (10-17-2011)
#2. Posted:
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Motto: poggers
Motto: poggers
Status: Offline
Joined: Oct 01, 201013Year Member
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Motto: poggers
I never played Pokemon.
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#3. Posted:
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How old to you have to be to find Pokemon for 8 year olds...
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#4. Posted:
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AwesomeJames221 wrote How old to you have to be to find Pokemon for 8 year olds...
I don't understand your question?
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#5. Posted:
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Nice post, very detailed. Got me thinking
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#6. Posted:
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Good post, I like pokemon it's great no matter what age you are you just need to give it a chance my favorite pokemon was pokemon blue, i always remember i used to sit there and research everything about it like any secrets or hints i could find about the game
good post have some rep
good post have some rep
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#7. Posted:
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Man ive read like 3 of these, I hate pokemon. But these are super interesting.
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