Special thanks to Hamada for helping with edits.
Nintendo boasts a rich catalog of properties, and Pokémon sits in a league of its own among them. It’s a perennial fixture in the company’s portfolio, proudly entertaining newcomers to the series and veterans alike for twenty-three years as of today. In commemoration of its anniversary, let’s travel back to the multimedia franchise’s humble origins to look at the hero who helped define it.
Red, as seen in 2004’s Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen (Image: Nintendo/The Pokémon Company)
Pokémon holds many appreciable qualities, from its scintillating, imaginative creature designs to the fun had in collecting them. But if I had to pick the one facet that most strongly resonates with me, it’s the appeal in becoming the very best, and there’s no character who epitomizes that more than the original Pokémon Trainer, Red.
Red’s History
Pokémon‘s origins were unpresuming. It was known as “Capsule Monsters” when third-party studio Game Freak pitched the idea to Nintendo. Much of what would become fundamental to Pokémon was visible even then, including the concept of Trainers – or “dealers” as they were seemingly dubbed then. One specific explorer appeared throughout concept artwork, had a comprehensive assortment of sprites in the game’s prototype, and at one point was even planned to fight alongside his comrades. In terms of his facade, he wasn’t designed to exude coolness, and his most distinctive trait was his baseball cap, a garment he’d retain throughout the project’s maturation.
Welcome to the world of Pokémon! (Image: Nintendo/The Pokémon Company)
Japan caught Pokémon Red and Green on February 27, 1996, scoring their Blue revision nearly eight months afterwards. Elements of both were melded together for the international Red and Blue Versions, with Pikachu’s marquee Yellow following later. Red was our avatar in all of them, allowing us to defeat the nefarious Team Rocket, collect eight Gym Badges, and become Champion through him. He lacked an assigned name, however; instead, players could select one from a list or name him and his rival themselves. (Humorously, their English placeholder names reference Nintendo’s corporate rivalry with Sony.) In addition, Red’s influence transcended the games he starred in; the nameless Trainer in the Pokémon Stadiums strongly resembled him, and many of Pokémon‘s adaptations used his design as a base for their own leads. Ash Ketchum, the anime’s figurehead, persists as Red’s most well-known counterpart, and his journey even inspired the aforementioned Yellow.
Pokémon Gold, Silver, and their update Crystal were the series’ first direct sequels, taking place three years after the Kanto adventure. Beginning in the neighboring Johto region, they introduced a new Trainer whose countryside excursion bore many parallels to Red’s: players fought eight Gym Leaders, the Pokémon League, and even a resurgent Team Rocket. People were well-aware of Red’s accomplishments too, giving the greenhorn Trainer a bar to be measured by and adding weight to what we previously achieved. Upon conquering the League, Trainers gain entrance to Kanto, culminating in a battle against Pokémon Trainer Red atop the dimly-lit Mt. Silver. It was a significant confrontation within the context of the Johto games and for Pokémon as a whole, cementing Red’s canon name (I knew him as “Ash” before this, and series mastermind Satoshi Tajiri had addressed him as “Satoshi“). Pokémon Stadium 2 followed by capping off its Kanto Gym Leader Castle with Red, ready as always for a battle.
Red spent his tween years in isolation, neglecting to even call his own mother. He, thankfully, eventually rejoined society. (Image: Nintendo/The Pokémon Company)
Ruby and Sapphire broke compatibility with the two preceding generations due to an internal architecture overhaul. However, they were followed by FireRed and LeafGreen, remakes of their antiquated namesakes. Pokémon‘s pionering protagonist was redesigned in Ken Sugimori’s refined art style and, respecting the new standard established by Crystal, was bequeathed a female counterpart in Leaf. HeartGold and SoulSilver recreated the Johto games one hardware generation later, perpetuating (but making some modifications to) Red’s status as their ultimate trial. Our next chance to battle Red occurred in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, whose post-game World Tournament served as an assemblage of the series’ most prominent Trainers up until that point.
Red endures as a recurring force in spin-off games and in other mediums. Stadium successors Pokémon Colosseum and XD: Gale of Darkness featured Red in their multiplayer modes provided he was the avatar in a linked copy of FireRed or LeafGreen (their spiritual follow-up Battle Revolution showcased Red in its debut trailer but ultimately neglected to include him). Furthermore, the smartphone hit Pokémon GO eventually scored an outfit modeled after Red’s, merchandise in the kid’s likeness is bountiful, and both animated mini-series Pokémon Origins and Generations venerated his legacy.
Red’s ace Pokémon is frequently (though not always) depicted as a high-level Pikachu. (Image: Nintendo/The Pokémon Company)
Pokémon Sun and Moon, and by extension their Ultra revisions, commemorated the commercial behemoth’s twentieth anniversary in part by bringing back legacy Trainers from preceding generations. Red and his erstwhile rival, now adults, were among them, meeting Alola’s savior outside the post-game Battle Tree facility. Yellow modernizations Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Eevee! are Game Freak’s latest Pokémon RPGs, reimagining the 8-bit title with new protagonists for the Nintendo Switch. Capitalizing on nostalgia for Kanto and its iconography, Red’s inclusion was highlighted during their pre-release period, and proven Champions earned the privilege to challenge him in the games proper.
Masahiro Sakurai further immortalized Red through the Super Smash Bros. series. Melee started this, fittingly giving Pikachu’s red palette a hat resembling his. Brawl went a step further, utilizing Red’s then-latest design for the wholly unique Pokémon Trainer, who stood in the background issuing commands to and rotating between his three-man squad of Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard. Because of hardware limitations imposed by the Nintendo 3DS, transformation mechanics were removed from Brawl’s 3DS and Wii U sequels. However, Charizard survived this casualty and fought without his friends (perhaps it grew disobedient à la Ash’s). Pokémon Trainer returned for Ultimate (retaining his swapping mechanic, making him the sole fighter with such a gimmick) and reabsorbed Charizard back into his party. In addition, Kanto’s female Trainer was welcomed in as an alternate costume. While the male Trainer in Smash is never explicitly dubbed Red, they look identical and his two trophies only cite games Red starred in. We can agree to call him Red, right?
Interestingly, Blastoise was considered for Red’s lineup before Sakurai settled on Squirtle. A few unused animations for Red also exist within Brawl’s files, implying he’d move along with his Pokémon in Brawl’s story mode. (Image: Nintendo/The Pokémon Company)
So, what’re my thoughts on Red?
Gaming has been one of my hobbies for most of my life, having toured vibrant wonderlands like the Mushroom Kingdom and West Side Island in my youth. However, my induction into Pokémon‘s domain was different. Its lead was just a kid, one who rejected the whimsical personalities and prodigious athletics of the platforming mascots I was accustomed to. This salient change helped Red become the first protagonist in this medium I felt I could relate to; we were similarly-aged, we grew up in unassuming towns, we both had a childhood friend who grew into a bit of a jerk, and we both had a deep affection for the color red.
Pokémon was a formative work for me, and I found myself engrossed in it. The games effectively facilitated that immersion by offering considerable freedom in team construction and graciously allowing me to name the hero after myself and his competitor after mine. And thanks to his silent nature, there was never a divide between myself and the boy I was playing as; I was Red, and his companions – whom I caught, raised, and fought alongside – were my own. Even being able to have companions was an appreciated novelty for me; I’m severely allergic to animal dander and didn’t own any pets growing up, so I relished in being able to sort of pretend I did. But most of all, Pokémon taught me through Red’s example that it’s possible to make friends, earn people’s respect, and achieve your dreams through hard work and perseverance. It was a powerful message for a second grader to behold. Considering the prevalence Pokémon enjoyed in the Nineties, I’m confident I wasn’t the only youngster who felt a kinship with the Kanto kid. As a close friend once put it, we were all Red.
Red and his story were so effective that shades of them can be seen in all of the subsequent core Pokémon games. (Image: Nintendo/The Pokémon Company)
Gold and Silver introduced another alien concept, that a game’s sequel could feature a new protagonist in lieu of the original. It was an important example to set, both for Pokémon and myself. But Red’s initial absence made his unveiling as the Johto titles’ climax all the more gratifying, which was accentuated by the care Game Freak put into the encounter. Red still humorously abided by the internal logic Pokémon’s protagonists do (turns out he really is that quiet), and I liked the continuity in how his team was comprised of Pokémon players encountered throughout Yellow’s in-game events. None of Red’s subsequent returns matched the awe of his first (nor could they), but his visit to Alola was a sentimental one nonetheless. It was poetic reuniting with him and Blue for the series’ twentieth, all of us having aged into adulthood.
Because of his pivotal significance to Pokémon, Red was the first character I ever advocated to see join Smash. One of my happiest Smash memories was waking to his reveal on Brawl’s DOJO!!; it was intriguing how he represented aspects of his series Smash had heretofore ignored while amalgamating three distinct Pokémon (all of whom my favorites in their respective family trees) into one. Disappointingly, his stellar aesthetic presentation was let down by how he was implemented as a fighter; his trio was trammeled by Red’s stamina mechanic, and Ivysaur’s sensitivity to fire attacks (which weren’t uncommon) crippled it further. Regardless, I still regularly used Red in Brawl. That commitment carried over to Ultimate (where he’s benefited from numerous ameliorations) and it’ll continue into future iterations of Smash, assuming Red becomes a series staple.
Michele Knotz provided Red’s English voice in Brawl. For Ultimate, he was instead portrayed by Billy Bob Thompson, who also voiced Greninja. (Image: Nintendo/The Pokémon Company)
Just as Pokémon has endured for over two decades, Red’s adventures will continue too. We don’t know where or if the Nintendo all-star will show up in the forthcoming Sword and Shield, but we do know he’s still striving to get stronger, still looking to test his skills. I anticipate our next match. And between this piece and Hamada’s Super Mystery Dungeon retrospective, I hope you enjoyed Source Gaming’s humble Pokémon Day celebration.
Congratulations, Red! You’re the very best!
Kanto iconography has been heavily pushed in recent years (many would argue to a fault), but I always smile when Red appears before me. (Image: Nintendo/The Pokémon Company)
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“We can all agree to call him Red, right?” No, not really. Character is not Red, but definitely based upon him to some degree. He’s designed as a generic class to represent the player. The fact that the trophies actually hard mention just the exploits of the class at best, but not a single thing Red actually did further cements that. He’s a generic character just like Villager is. And that’s fine. It’s hard to really make the player feel like they can name the character(just like in the games) if they give Pokemon Trainer a hard identity. So they didn’t, and that makes him(and in Ultimate, also her) even better. It’s good to have some generic class characters in Smash as is. It helps let the players be who they want to be.
A better way to look at the trophy is that’s where the character design comes from, being FireRed and LeafGreen in Brawl. That makes sense. I do find it interesting that Ivysaur seems to have no reason to be chosen beyond “process of elimination”. Were we meant to get Venusaur originally? Who knows. I do like that it coincidentally mirrors Ash’s Kanto Team, as Bulbasaur almost did evolve, where Squirtle did not at any point. The only thing I’d say otherwise is that the fact we have no Squirtle sunglasses alt is sad. Though Fox could use a similar alt… to be a reference to his father, James.
“We can agree to call him Red, right?” and the proceeding bit about the trophies wasn’t me calling on the community to officially canonize Smash‘s Pokémon Trainer as Red. It was basically me saying, “The Trainer looks like Red and references Red’s games, so I’m going to talk about him in my Red-centric article.”
While I do personally like to think of the Trainer as Red regardless, it’s totally fine if you don’t want to. I also respect the importance of how Pokémon‘s protagonists serve as an avatar for the player to experience the journey as their own (it’s even something I discuss in this very article). Back when Brawl launched, I remember a few of my friends were surprised the Trainer wasn’t just called Red. I speculated Sakurai might have opted for the generic “Pokémon Trainer” title in part as to not override that fundamental part of the Trainer.
As for whether Venusaur was considered, who knows, but it’s fun to imagine one plodding and jumping across the battlefield. I definitely think Ivysaur and Bulbasaur’s smaller builds loan themselves better to Smash‘s gameplay, and I’m glad the former got in since it’s always been my favorite of the three (and I still kind of wish Ash’s Bulbasaur evolved into one). Would you have preferred Venusaur? And seeing Squirtle or Fox with sunglasses alts would be pretty cool.
I think Ivysaur was the better option. The trio feel really balanced as a group. I hope he talks about how he chose Ivysaur at some point. I do find it interesting that he compares Pokemon Trainer to Ash specifically(as well as the anime) in 4’s Trophy, so I wonder if he did get some anime influence for it. I mostly doubt it, though overall the anime has influenced choices/movesets to some degree. It wasn’t coincidence that Mewtwo had Shadow Ball, after all. Or that Charizard has Seismic Toss similar to the anime’s usage.
Yeah, I agree the Squirtle-Ivysaur-Charizard trifecta is a balanced group, partially owing to their different evolutionary stages. And I too hope Sakurai elaborates on his choice to include Ivysaur sometime, it’s always appreciated when we gain greater insight into his thinking process.
Though one element to Ivysaur that might have given it an advantage over Bulbasaur is its leaves; Ivysaur uses the leaves by its flower for a few attacks, something Bulbasaur can’t do since it doesn’t have any leaves there. Ivysaur even utilizes its leaves more in Ultimate, now using them in its neutral air. Conversely, Wartortle doesn’t really have an extra part to its anatomy that Squritle doesn’t (Wartortle’s not using its ears for a tilt attack).
As for why they referenced the anime in Red’s trophy, well, it’s a prominent part of the Pokémon franchise. Perhaps they simply figured Ash would be an easy point of reference to make when explaining the concept of what a Pokémon Trainer is (after all, Ash is the Trainer in the anime). But, yeah, though the Pokémon are ostensibly based on the games, anime influence has creeped into Smash, from voice actors reprising their roles to it seemingly influencing some of the Pokémon’s characterizations and moves. So who knows, maybe Ash influenced Smash‘s Trainer a bit too.
I remember Red being a newcomer and the Pokémon Trainer in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
Ivysaur, Charizard, and Squirtle accompanied him.
The only time I heard him utter words was during the Pokemon switching and his victory.
He was not programmed to fight.
Red only shows up in the background to instruct his Pokemon.
In story mode, using him will make him follow the character until the part where he’s no longer usable, but sometimes pops up in the character’s front.
Red used Pokemon with different evolution and weight.
His Charizard was fully evolved and was very heavy.
Ivysaur only evolved one time and was just average in weight.
Squirtle was his lightest Pokemon and did not evolved.
I hope that Red does make an appearance in Sword and Shield.
It would be fantastic.
Anyway, great write up!
I really cannot understate how happy I was when Red was shown off on Brawl‘s DOJO. Back during the original Smash, it always caught my attention how, unlike the other franchises, Pokémon was the only series that didn’t have the games’ protagonist among the roster, with Pikachu being the series’ main representative instead. That’s of course not to undermine Pikachu’s credentials (Pikachu was a totally logical, deserving choice), but I always wanted the red-capped Trainer in too even if I didn’t know how he’d work at the time. So finally getting him, along with the Kanto starters, in Brawl almost felt like Sakurai was personally fulfilling my own biggest request. And not only were his three Pokémon my favorites in their respective family trees, Charizard was (and still is) my all-time favorite Pokémon.
Personally, I’ll be happy if Red returns in Sword and Shield but I’d also be fine with him sitting them out. I always smile when he appears and he’s had reason to do so every time he’s returned thus far, but I don’t want his cameos to get too overplayed. Though if he does come back, I hope (and would bet on) him using his adult design again.
And thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed this piece, friend. It was fun carbon dating myself, ha ha.