Red's Espeon?

[FGWAlex]

Does anyone know why Nintendo gave Red an Espeon in Gold/Silver/Crystal? He has all the pokemon Ash has, or atleast their evolutions, and POOF, Espeon. And then when the remake came along it turned into Lapras. Can you explain?

 

[Blue1225]

All of Red's pokemon in HGSS are pokemon that can be caught in Pokemon yellow. Thats why most people think yellow is the canon version. The Espeon in gen 2 came out of nowhere. Lapras was a pokemon ash had in the orange islands arc.

The Eevee was able to be obtained in...Celadon I think. Overall there were 7 pokemon that could be obtained, i'm not sure why they chose the eevee over lapras back in gen 2. I guess to promote the Johto region.

 

[Karpi]

His Espeon used Mimic to copy Ditto's transform and turn into a Lapras, except there was then a Blizzard which caused Espeon-Lapras to freeze solid and retain its Lapras form permanently. That's why his Lapras knows Psychic.

 

[Falconwing]

I assume because Eevee was also a gift pokemon in Gen 1 and GF quite liked the idea of Red having a pokemon that evolved from happiness.

 

[HexagonStephen]

Perhaps it was because of a new-canon problem. The story seems to change a bit between gen I and II to II and IV. Or, maybe Red had an Espeon to promote gen II, as said before. Of course, it could be that they changed his team so that he would have at least one Pokemon that could resist the weather on Mt. Silver. If anything, there may be no real reason for the change, but I guess it's all up for speculation.

 

[Cyber Jet]

I think its so he would have a Johto Pokemon on his team and Eevee was a gift in kanto so he then evolved it in Johto and it would be better then just giving him a random Johto Pokemon and no reason behind it.

In HG/SS I think GameFreak thought it was a better idea for a all Kanto team for Red and Lapras was a gift in Kanto so they just went with it and it does better in hail so they mabey wanted to make Red's team more powerful in a way that is just not increasing the levels of his Pokemon.

 

[Gligar13]

Has anyone ever considered it was a manga reference? Red in the manga has an Espeon. I also think somewhere along the line, the creator of Pokemon stated that the manga was what he wanted RGB to be.

 

[GoldeenTail]

Has anyone ever considered it was a manga reference? Red in the manga has an Espeon. I also think somewhere along the line, the creator of Pokemon stated that the manga was what he wanted RGB to be.

...No. The games came out before the manga gave manga!Red a Espeon ._....

I not sure why he has a Espeon, but I like it. Show's that Red kept his Eevee, which I like.

 

[potatomon]

Has anyone ever considered it was a manga reference? Red in the manga has an Espeon. I also think somewhere along the line, the creator of Pokemon stated that the manga was what he wanted RGB to be.

I believe Red's Vee didn't evolve till after the release of Gold and Silver were released. So it was a game reference in the manga not a manga reference in the game. I believe they gave Red an Espeon for all reasons above really. It's a Johto Pokemon that is linked to a Kanto gift Pokemon that evolves with Happiness for Pete's sake. I think they decided to make an all Kanto team with references to Ash Ketchum, this time around.

 

[howardtheeduck]

Red had an Espeon due to the fact that 1)Eevee was a rare obtainable Pokemon in Gen I, 2)To show that time has passed since Gen. I, thus having all Pokemon in their final form/high level, and with Red being in Johto, results in Eevee's new evo, and 3)Gary obtained an Eevee which he then evolved into an Umbreon in the anime. Of course, this is a mix of manga, game and anime, but with that being said, Red having an Espeon is not something at all "random".

The fact that they changed Red's Pokemon from Espeon to Lapras was to represent the final battle between Generations I and II. Red representing Gen. I, and Gen. II's protagonist repping the latter. Lapras made the cut due to it being another rare Pokemon in Gen I which was also obtainable as a gift. With Lapras having no evolution of any kind in Generation II, it was chosen as a permanent representative of Gen I, whereas Eevee had a potential evolution for Gen II.

 

[Reyairia]

Him having an Espeon made far more sense than him having a Lapras. You are actually given an Eevee in pokemon yellow, and all the starters in Yellow were given to you/Red as gifts.

 

[Faye Scarlet]

Red isn't allowed to box a Pokemon and use someone else? D8 Considering the top of Mt. Silver in HGSS is now forever in a blizzard, it makes sense that he takes out a Lapras instead of an Espeon. Why replace Espeon, though? Why not? Why does Red need a reason?

 

[Saloma]

Red isn't allowed to box a Pokemon and use someone else? D8 Considering the top of Mt. Silver in HGSS is now forever in a blizzard, it makes sense that he takes out a Lapras instead of an Espeon. Why replace Espeon, though? Why not? Why does Red need a reason?

He doesn't even get the legendaries, Mewtwo was stuck in that cave for three years. Red is just lazy as hell when it comes to actually catching things.

I assumed they gave him Espeon because of the free Eevee, and wanted the evolution to be as player independent as it could (he didn't do anything other than train it, and it happened to evolve in the daytime).

 

[Falconwing]

Him having an Espeon made far more sense than him having a Lapras. You are actually given an Eevee in pokemon yellow, and all the starters in Yellow were given to you Red as gifts.

You are actually given a Lapras as a gift in Pokemon Yellow.

 

[Arc Blader]

I'd imagine they gave it to him because it was a neutral (Read: Obtained in an in-game event) Pokémon that complemented the rest of his team, type-wise.

 

[Reyairia]

You are actually given a Lapras as a gift in Pokemon Yellow.

In that case I stand corrected. It's been over ten years since I've played Yellow.

 

[Me!]

He can still own Espeon but have Lapras in his party right? He's probably put Espeon in his PC to see if Lapras will work better in his team. Also both are gift pokemon.

 

[The Outrage]

You are actually given a Lapras as a gift in Pokemon Yellow.

And unlike Eevee, Lapras was a major plot point if you consider the preceding event you needed to finish to obtain it (Beating Team Rocket).

Really, if you think about it, all his Pokémon weren't just gifts in HgSs, but Pokémon he needed to encounter. Pikachu and the starters was just to not pick a specific canon (as Red wasn't called Red in Yellow and in Japan, the default name was Blue for the rival rather than GSC/HgSs' "Green", if that's your logic) and you needed to fight at least one Snorlax, and do the event to obtain Lapras in the games. Eevee was just incidental.