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Blue And Yellow: Deciding which one was the true Third Version to GenI

Which is the true Third Version of GenI?

  • Blue

    Votes: 35 27.8%
  • Yellow

    Votes: 91 72.2%

  • Total voters
    126
Pokemon Blue is the third version.

It was released sometime after the original Red and Green versions with updated sprites and other minor changes. Furthermore, its mascot is the third of its respective trio.

Pokemon Yellow, or rather Pocket Monsters Pikachu, was a special edition of Red, Green, and Blue that was specifically targeted towards (but not developed exclusively for) the anime fans. Yellow version also changed the available starter (into Pikachu), and made the 3 original starters available throughout the game--a one-time break in tradition which has never happened again, not even in subsequent third versions.

In addition to that, I don't believe Blue's changes were enough to put it in the same category as Emerald, Crystal and Platinum.

As the games evolved, their respective third versions began introducing more and more features exclusive to them that weren't available in the previous paired versions. Given Crystal's only changes were animated sprites, the GS Ball event and the new Cellphone features, and the subplot with Eusine and Suicune, it's perfectly understandable that Blue's changes wouldn't even measure up to Crystal's--the same way Crystal wouldn't measure up to Emerald, Emerald to Platinum, etc. It's also important to understand Crystal was also a GBC game, unlike Gold and Silver, so it's possible the GS Ball and the Cellphone features wouldn't even be exclusives if Gold and Silver had been released for the GBC.
 
Yellow.

Blue was just a slightly prettier version of RG. If enhanced graphics and sound is the criteria for a third version then you might as well throw in the non-japanese Red & Blue versions too, which you don't.

Besides, it was only released in one country (and there are many regional varieties of pokemon out there). In this respect, blue's more like a special edition R/G version for japan only.

EDIT:

@Ivysaur: I don't think the mascots matter, in this case. GSC didn't have a trio as the mascot, only two trio masters (Ho-Oh & Lugia) and a member (suicune).
 
Blue was just a slightly prettier version of RG. If enhanced graphics and sound is the criteria for a third version then you might as well throw in the non-japanese Red & Blue versions too, which you don't.

Back when Blue was developed, there weren't any criteria for a third version. Given Red and Green's massive initial popularity, there wasn't a need for any extreme revamps.

Besides, it was only released in one country (and there are many regional varieties of pokemon out there). In this respect, blue's more like a special edition R/G version for japan only.

It was released for the country it was developed in by GameFreak. They developed it as Red and Green's third version; Nintendo's later plans to "revamp" the games for international releases (as well as their plans to make Blue a CoroCoro mail-in offer) don't change that.

@Ivysaur: I don't think the mascots matter, in this case. GSC didn't have a trio as the mascot, only two trio masters (Ho-Oh & Lugia) and a member (suicune).

That was only done due to the lack of a third mascot. In all subsequent generations, GameFreak have mad sure to develop trios, in which the first two would be the mascots of the paired versions, and the last members of the trio the mascot of the third version.
 
Pokemon Yellow was the third version. (Officially in the US and internationally)

It is what kick started all other 3rd versions after wards and they all owe homage to Pokemon Yellow for paving the way.

Yes, it was based on the anime. NO, the main character is not Ash Ketchem but actually is Red.

NO Yellow is not filler, unless your going to seriously tell me that Red's team in G/S/C HG/SS is filler as well.

Pokemon Blue simply had revamped graphics, Yellow had alot more which included obtaining all the previous version mascots (Venusaur/Charizard/Blastoise) which still continues to this day.
 
Back when Blue was developed, there weren't any criteria for a third version. Given Red and Green's massive initial popularity, there wasn't a need for any extreme revamps.

Yeah, but we're talking about the here and now and we've had enough third versions to spot a proper one when we see one. Whilst it might have been intended as a third version by its creators (hence the title of Yellow as a "special edition" game) that doesn't mean its really the "proper" third version of the series.

It was released for the country it was developed in by GameFreak. They developed it as Red and Green's third version; Nintendo's later plans to "revamp" the games for international releases (as well as their plans to make Blue a CoroCoro mail-in offer) don't change that.

same as above

That was only done due to the lack of a third mascot. In all subsequent generations, GameFreak have mad sure to develop trios, in which the first two would be the mascots of the paired versions, and the last members of the trio the mascot of the third version.

Translation: Well, GSC is an outlier and doesn't fit with my opinion so I'm disregarding it.

Yeah, no.

Btw, I'd just like to point out that I think a lot of this "which is the real third version?" talk is influenced by the japanese-supremacist views of many anime fans when it comes to issues of canonicality i.e. when there are two possible canon scenarios, side with the japanese (non-dub) one. Blue is the japanese version and hence, in this light, would be the canon one.
 
Yellow.
Besides, it was only released in one country (and there are many regional varieties of pokemon out there). In this respect, blue's more like a special edition R/G version for japan only.

If you want to get technical, it was Red and Green that were never released outside Japan. Blue was what was released everywhere else, simply renamed and with the wild Pokemon availabilities altered to emulate what the original Red and Green had offered.
 
Yeah, but we're talking about the here and now and we've had enough third versions to spot a proper one when we see one. Whilst it might have been intended as a third version by its creators (hence the title of Yellow as a "special edition" game) that doesn't mean its really the "proper" third version of the series.

If it was intended as the third version by its developers it's not really up to the fans to decide what's the "proper" third version and which is not.

Translation: Well, GSC is an outlier and doesn't fit with my opinion so I'm disregarding it.

Nice try. GSC is the exception, not the rule.

Btw, I'd just like to point out that I think a lot of this "which is the real third version?" talk is influenced by the japanese-supremacist views of many anime fans when it comes to issues of canonicality i.e. when there are two possible canon scenarios, side with the japanese (non-dub) one. Blue is the japanese version and hence, in this light, would be the canon one.

I hope you're not generalizing me as one of the people, since in all honesty I really don't give a shit about anime and my interest in Japan is limited to Nintendo. I go with Blue not because its Japanese, but because it was the one developed prior to Yellow, and therefore was intended as the third version, and it fits in with the rest of the third versions more than Yellow does.
 
If it was intended as the third version by its developers it's not really up to the fans to decide what's the "proper" third version and which is not.

But thats what the whole thread is for.

Nice try. GSC is the exception, not the rule.

We've only had a handful of third versions (discounting gen 1), thats not really large enough to be representative and it looks like BW might break that trend again anyway.

Oh, and I've just thought: even if it were representative, Pikachu still counts as a starter, so I think it still fits the pattern (Gen 1 being all starters), even if GSC were an outlier.

I hope you're not generalizing me as one of the people, since in all honesty I really don't give a shit about anime and my interest in Japan is limited to Nintendo. I go with Blue not because its Japanese, but because it was the one developed prior to Yellow, and therefore was intended as the third version, and it fits in with the rest of the third versions more than Yellow does.

How? Yellow is the one which has the plot changes, the feature most stereotypically associated with a third version. It also has more aesthetic and sound changes than blue. Really, Japanese Blue more similar to non-Japanese Red/Blue in terms of features. At best, it can only be considered a third version in release order only.

Oh, and I wasn't saying you were one of those people particularly, that's just something I feel I have observed and forgot to put in my first post and so tacked it to the end of my second.

@TM-2 Megatron: Are non-JP RB the same as JP-Blue? I thought not but if so that even further weakens the "Blue = third version" argument.
 
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Everything Blue added was improved in Yellow. Game Freak didn't originally intend to develop Blue any more than they did with Yellow; Generation I was only meant to have two mascots. Judging from this interview, Game Freak don't have strong thoughts on the importance of labeling the "true" third version. But if anything, Yellow was the "fun" project that kept fans busy, whereas Blue was just their first step towards cleaning some of the mess in Red and Green.

Given Crystal's only changes were animated sprites, the GS Ball event and the new Cellphone features, and the subplot with Eusine and Suicune, it's perfectly understandable that Blue's changes wouldn't even measure up to Crystal's--the same way Crystal wouldn't measure up to Emerald, Emerald to Platinum, etc.
That's a questionable statement if I ever saw one. First of all, the Mobile Adapter features included the Battle Tower, which was newer at the time than the Battle Frontier ever was. Graphically, Emerald had little going for it (since the animations were a step back from Crystal). The plot deviations boiled down to a consolidation of Ruby and Sapphire, as opposed to being brand new additions like the Suicune and Eusine sidequest (as well as the Ruins of Alph expansion) had been. Then other gameplay additions included Move Tutors (which were admittedly more plentiful than the ones added in Crystal), Gym Leader rematches and overworld ability effects.

Ultimately, Crystal's female player, Battle Tower, animations and online communication have become staples in the series. Emerald's Battle Frontier (which with the exception of the Battle Factory are quite gimmicky) and Gym Leader rematches are expendable as evidenced by their repeated removal from the main versions. It doesn't really seem that the third versions are evolving if the only brand new features in Platinum were the Distortion World, Formes (arguable) and Wi-Fi Plaza.

I still find it lamentable that Game Freak didn't do a better job with Yellow. Generation I could have especially benefitted from plot deviations, but the ones in Yellow were few and far between and did in fact tie into the anime (although that's still better than having no changes at all).

It's also important to understand Crystal was also a GBC game, unlike Gold and Silver, so it's possible the GS Ball and the Cellphone features wouldn't even be exclusives if Gold and Silver had been released for the GBC.
Gold and Silver were GBC games; they didn't lack anything compared to other GBC titles released around the same time. It would not have been possible for them to utilize the Mobile Adapter unless they had been delayed for another year. Nintendo needed time to make their first transition to the online realm, which they had originally only planned on doing with the GBA.
 
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MOD HAT ON

Let's not use the phrase "japanese-supremacist views". That's just asking for trouble. If similar things are said, there will be official consequences.

You may now return to your normal business.
 
But thats what the whole thread is for.

Yeah, a debate's that's been done to death and which I initially planned on closing just because the supports on either side are firmly rooted to their opinion.

We've only had a handful of third versions (discounting gen 1), thats not really large enough to be representative and it looks like BW might break that trend again anyway.

GameFreak wouldn't waste their time developing a third counterpart to Reshiram and Zekrom, especially one that's hidden away in a random cave, if they weren't going to develop it further.

Oh, and I've just thought: even if it were representative, Pikachu still counts as a starter, so I think it still fits the pattern (Gen 1 being all starters), even if GSC were an outlier.

You're not getting my point. Yellow version, a self-titled "special edition", is the only mainstream game to feature Pikachu as a starter. It aside, as a special edition, Pikachu is not a starter.

How? Yellow is the one which has the plot changes, the feature most stereotypically associated with a third version. It also has more aesthetic and sound changes than blue. Really, Japanese Blue more similar to non-Japanese Red/Blue in terms of features. At best, it can only be considered a third version in release order only.

Yellow has no plot changes, only occasional appearances from the Rocket Trio.

As subsequent third versions were developed, the amount of exclusive features for them began to increase. Crystal's improvements are minimal when compared to Emerald, for example.
 
Let's see. First, there was Red and Green. Then, there was Blue. I think my math says it is the third version. It is the first game to be not paired with another one, and it shares the plot with the first two. While it didn't bring much into the series (updated graphics mainly), it still was the "updated" version of Red and Green. Yellow is a game labeled as Special (Pikachu) Edition, a title that no other game has obtained ever since.

Thus, my opinion is that Blue is the third version while Yellow is a special one-off edition aside from the regular paired + updated pattern.
 
Blue. 3rd Versions never did substantial changes to paired Versions before Emerald anyway, and no 3rd Version shakes things around so much as to feel unfamiliar, which is what Yellow did with its Anime aspects and major Roster changes. Yes, 3rd Versions often change rosters, but never in such a major (Not to say overall boring) way as Yellow, save very few exceptions.

Plus, as much as GameFreak drops the ball, if Yellow was meant to be the 3rd Version, there would've been Yellow elements in FRLG, and we had a grand total of zero. So... yeah. I agree with Ivysaur.
 
Some arguments that I'd like to address:
-Yellow was released for the anime fans.
No. Yellow was released because GameFreak needed time to re-work Gold and Silver. Yes, Yellow did take certain elements from the anime, but that doesn't mean that it was developed with them specifically in mind.

-Yellow Version is a self-titled "Special Edition," and thus not a true Third Version.
First of all, is there any evidence that the "Special Pikachu Edition" tagline was used for anything except the English version of the game? I know for a fact that it wasn't present in the Japanese version, and I haven't heard of it being used in any of the other localized international versions.

Also, even if it is a "special edition," so what? All Third Versions could be considered to be a "special edition." Does the fact that Yellow actually bothered to have it on the boxes of some of the localized versions really change any of the other facts that support it being the proper Third Version?

The games and manga are canon, not the anime.
The games and the PokeSpe manga are two very seperate canons. Yes, they generally follow the same plot, but they have some pretty serious divergences, even as early as the first arc. For instance, in the games, Sabrina, Surge, Koga, and Blaine are not members of Team Rocket, like they are in PokeSpe.

It was released for the country it was developed in by GameFreak. They developed it as Red and Green's third version; Nintendo's later plans to "revamp" the games for international releases (as well as their plans to make Blue a CoroCoro mail-in offer) don't change that.
I don't think that's an entirely accurate statement. Yes, they developed it third, but can you really say with all honesty that they developed Blue with the same intent as with the third versions that followed? I think it's much more likely that they saw how successful Yellow was, and worked their way forward from there.

Yellow has no plot changes, only occasional appearances from the Rocket Trio.
I think that changing your starter to a Pikachu that attacks you at the beginning of the game instead of one of the original three starters and that your rival gets an Eevee both qualify as pretty significant changes to the plot.

As subsequent third versions were developed, the amount of exclusive features for them began to increase. Crystal's improvements are minimal when compared to Emerald, for example.
Kind of undermining your previous argument, but ok. What you're saying is true though. However, Blue had no exclusive content. It had everything that Red and Green had, just with slightly prettier graphics.
 
Both versions are special in their own right. On one hand, Blue was originally exclusively sold through CoroCoro with slightly improved graphics and audio, as well as it's own Pokemon encounter rates (With the enhanced graphics and audio being used for the international releases).

On the other hand, Yellow introduces most of the changes a normal 3rd Version would add, such as storyline changes and some modification to Pokemon movesets (Both Nidorans learning Double Kick at far lower levels as they do now for instance). Yellow's graphics also got enhanced to match the Anime art for some of the Pokemon at the time, rather than the unusual designs for some of them seen in R/G/B.

Which version is the true 3rd Version is still a bit to debate though, but when you consider some of the changes brought in future 3rd Versions, Yellow fits the case better than Blue would.
 
-Yellow Version is a self-titled "Special Edition," and thus not a true Third Version.
First of all, is there any evidence that the "Special Pikachu Edition" tagline was used for anything except the English version of the game? I know for a fact that it wasn't present in the Japanese version, and I haven't heard of it being used in any of the other localized international versions.

Also, even if it is a "special edition," so what? All Third Versions could be considered to be a "special edition." Does the fact that Yellow actually bothered to have it on the boxes of some of the localized versions really change any of the other facts that support it being the proper Third Version?

I mentioned that the Japanese title is Pocket Monsters Pikachu. The point I was making is that Gamefreak made a decision to give the game a title that distinguished it from the other titles of Gen I. I believe their reason for doing this was to make it clear that the game was not in the same category as Red, Green, and Blue. To this day there has not been another game named in this manner, Crystal was not Pocket Monsters Suicine, or Special Suicune Edition; same for Emerald, and Platinum.

As for the features, many of those are what distinguishes the title from the rest of the series canon:

-Blue's team has a very different make-up, which is shown by his G/S/C/HG/SS team to not be his canon team.

-Professor Oak only has Eevee in his lab as the Starting Pokémon.

-Jessie, James, and Meowth appear in the game.

-There are no other wild Pikachu at all in Kanto.

It is very likely that between developing Blue and Yellow, Gamefreak started to form the ideas of the levels of improvements that third versions should have, but from a canonical standpoint Yellow can't be the third version, and that is noted by the titles name not lining up with the traditional naming conventions.
 
Plus we also have to consider that the Deluxe version (I will be calling these games by that term from now) are usually shown to be the canon version. Considering Red's team in GSC/HGSS where his strongest Pokemon is Pikachu, we can safely say that Yellow is the canon version of Gen I.
 
I don't think that's an entirely accurate statement. Yes, they developed it third, but can you really say with all honesty that they developed Blue with the same intent as with the third versions that followed?
I recall an interview saying they wanted a version for every colour of the rainbow, but could only afford the two at that time. Whether a joke or not, Blue version probably wasn't intended to be like the other third versions.
 
Trainer-c said:
but from a canonical standpoint Yellow can't be the third version, and that is noted by the titles name not lining up with the traditional naming conventions.
Yellow being labeled as a special edition was just a marketing scheme. I've seen no evidence in any of Game Freak's interviews that suggests that they prefer Blue to Yellow in any way, so there is no simple answer. You'll note that both Blue and Yellow were referenced in FRLG's credits.

Ranger Jack Walker said:
Considering Red's team in GSC/HGSS where his strongest Pokemon is Pikachu, we can safely say that Yellow is the canon version of Gen I.
It's an obvious reference to Yellow, but again, things aren't that simple: Neither Blue nor the Gym Leaders have any of their Yellow-exclusive Pokémon, and nothing suggests that Jessie or James ever existed. The only other Yellow reference is in the form of the Persian statues in Team Rocket's Mahogany Hideout.

But Red's Pikachu is an interesting case, as we can essentially assume that Red didn't obtain it in the same way as we did in Yellow (otherwise Blue would have one of the Eeveelutions). Whenever fans suggest that Leaf and Kris can't exist because they only ever served as alternative characters to Red and Ethan, I'm reminded of Red's Pikachu. It was only a replacement for the Kanto starters in Yellow, but it somehow still exists in the canon story.
 
Please note: The thread is from 12 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
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